Poker Wannabe: 5/18/2005 - Vegas Trip Report--The Wynn and the Brand-Spanking-New Bellagio Poker Room

Well, despite my whining and complaining about having to go to Vegas, I had a lot of fun. This time, it was four of us staying at the Wynn.

The Wynn

Oh, the Wynn, the new hotel that was supposed to revolutionize the casino industry or some such nonsense. Don't get me wrong--it's a very nice hotel with a lot of great features. But upon walking around and getting a good feel for the place, I just couldn't get over the feeling that the Wynn was really just the Bellagio, version 2.0.

Okay, admittedly, saying a casino is "just" like the Bellagio is an insult on par with saying a baseball player is "just" like Babe Ruth, or a girl looks "just" like Jessica Alba. But it seems to me that much moreso than other things in life, for casinos on the Vegas Strip, exclusivity and uniqueness are key. Most Strip properties are built around a particular theme. The Excalibur, Luxor, Paris, Treasure Island, etc, are all very distinct experiences. Even the more generic casinos are very distinguishable from one another--Harrah's and Bally's are two very different places, for example.

The Bellagio and the Wynn, on the other hand, while the two places may seem very different on the surface, both seem to be crowding the same theme. While there is an unmistakable Italian flavor, the main theme behind the Bellagio is sheer elegance. Everything is ritzy and posh and whatever other synonymous adjective you want to use. From the carpeting to the chandeliers, with all the trimming and decorations in between, everything is super-expensive and a work of art.

But just a few blocks north on the Strip, the Wynn experience is almost identical. Without the time-period themes used by Caesar's Palace or Luxor or "location" themes used by the Mirage or Circus-Circus, the Wynn must also rely on sheer elegance. Everything is chandeliers and trimming and decorations on par with that in the Bellagio, just somewhat more colorful and with a more new-age feel to it. From the cafe to the pool area to the rooms, everything is just updated Bellagio. v2.0. I can almost imagine Steve Wynn taking the second-place design idea for the Bellagio and saying "hey, we flipped a coin over whether to go with this design for the Bellagio or the one we actually used, so let's use this one now!"

Wynn Poker Room

Overall, of course, the Wynn is an excellent place, and that exellence definitely extends to the poker room (follow the link for some pictures). As discussed in lots of poker circles, the rail is definitely a bit short and the room is a bit cramped, but neither seems to be as big of a problem as some might think. Despite the short rail and the room's somewhat out-of-the-way location, there was still a dense crowd of railbirds at all but the most off-peak hours. And the room is a bit more cramped than most, but it's still very livable. And everything else about the room, the staff, the dealers, the chairs (very comfortable, although they don't lean back), are all top-notch.

One nit-pick is that they offer 15/30, and then the next level up is 40/80. Er, c'mon guys, can't you offer something in between there? They had a 30/60 list of interest going, which got to about 12 or 15 people at one point, but the game still never started. Overall, they offer 4/8, 8/16, 15/30, 40/80 in limit hold 'em, 1/2, 2/5, 5/10, 10/20, 50/100 in NL HE, and then various high-limit mixed games--at different times I saw 200/400, 300/600 and 2000/4000 being spread. All games 40/80 and higher are played in a separate high-limit area that is very similar to the way the Bellagio's used to be--a slightly elevated section that is still clearly visible to the rest of the room.

Some of the big names I saw in my time there were Daniel Negreanu (of course), David Williams, Erik Seidel, and Antonio Esfandari.

I did experience a problem with their comp system. (Note: people who don't give a rats ass about the intricacies of the comp system should skip to the next bolded section.) Players get $1/hr comp credit at most games, and $1.50/hr at some of the higher-limit games. However, in order to actually use a comp, one needs at least $20 saved up. This is a minor inconvience, but it becomes more annoying when combined with what really irked me--the comp can only be applied to one person's order.

What happened is I got my $20 comp and proceeded to the Terrace Pointe Cafe with a friend. Our bill came to about $23 and we tried to leave $7 and have the comp pick up the rest. Nuh-uh. We were told (after about 20-30 mins of discussion and confusion on the part of the staff) that it could only be used towards one person's meal. One appetizer, one entree, one drink and one dessert could all be discounted by the comp, but not two entrees. This is in stark contrast to, well, every single other casino I've ever been two, in which a comp can be applied to the entire bill.

And so because of this, the whole comp system is even less impressive than it initially sounds. One has to play at least 20 hours to get a comp, and even then that person can only use it towards his or her meal. The comp has maximum utility at an expensive restaurant, but for low-brow degenerates such as myself, who prefer a good, quick meal, I'm only ever going to use $10 or $15 of the value--I'd much rather get meal I like for free than one I might like slightly more for $30 instead of $50. However, by going the less expensive route, I still lose the entire value of the comp--I have expended my $20 comp value for a $10-15 meal. Since I still have to play 20 hours for said comp, I am therefore only racking up $0.50 to $0.75 per hour of playing time. Considering that I also discovered on this trip that both the Mirage and Bellagio are handing out food comps much more freely now, the Wynn system, rather than being an enticement, is actually a dissuasion.

All told, it's a very poor comp system.

What About The, er, Trip?

The trip itself was a huge success. The first night--Thursday--found me playing the 4/8 at the Wynn next to my friend since she had never played 4/8 before and wanted some company and support. It was a crazy table, definitely a great game, but a few suckouts had me up only $9 at the end of the night. My friend did better, winning $19.

Okay, $28 in combined winnings do not constitute a huge success in most people's books, but it gets better.

Day 2 had me once again trying no-limit. I was waiting for a 15/30 seat and so sat at an open 1/2 NL game for the time being. I actually enjoyed my time there, and think I will have to start playing more live NL. I was only there for 30 mins, but I could tell the players were downright horrible. The no-cap buy-in is great. I was able to sit with $500 and instantly be the big stack. I finished down $6, but the good news is that that 30-min NL session would be my only losing session of the entire trip.

Also, the numbers start getting bigger now, I promise.

Finally at 15/30, I was at a tight table for a while, but I was able to catch some good cards. The best hand of the day, and one of the best of the weekend, was when UTG was dealt QQ, UTG+1 was also dealt QQ, and UTG+2 (yours truly) was dealt AA. Long story short, that was a very nice pot I won.

The game remained too tight for my liking and so I eventually moved to an extremely lose-passive game, with one fairly aggressive but completely clueless player. He, for example, capped it all the way to the river with an unimproved 82s against a super-tight player who had (quite obviously) flopped a set of Kings. Good times. I was able to get a fair amount off of him despite being two to his right, and when he was finally scared off after a pretty severe berating from a local (why do so many Vegas locals not know any better??) I decided it was time to quit as well, up $803.

(For those keeping track, that would represent just the second winning live 15/30 session I've had since July, spanning over 100 hours of play. The only other winning session was a one-hour session back in January which found me up about $180.)

Now, it was time to check out the remodeled Bellagio poker room.

Bellagio Poker Room

Very nice. Great, in fact. Okay, fine, I absolutely love it. It is the best poker room I've ever been in. Check out some pictures. It's very elegant, and I much prefer the darker color scheme to the Wynn's rather bright colors.

The entire room seems more open, and generally more exciting. The high limit area is somewhat more private with higher, albeit glass, walls separating it from the rest of us peons, and then there's Bobby's Room, the super high-limit room which is literally a separate room, although there is enough visibility to still see the who's who list of big poker names around the tables.

The chairs offer much improved comfort over their predecessors, but there is one problem--they no longer roll! I found that very annoying, as getting in close into the table requires an awkward series of semi-hops as one has to lift the chair off the floor but is severely limited by the amount of room between one's legs and the table itself.

I was also able to get a full $15 comp after only three hours of play. The floor manager didn't even make me beg or sweat a bit for it--Can I get a comp? OK!. I came back the next night, played another three hours or so and once again got a comp without any difficulty (I also found the Mirage to be equally accomodating). This is quite different from all my previous trips to the Bellagio, as I would have to play there all weekend, and beg my case in front of the floor man at about 6am before he would reluctantly bestow his comp upon me. Perhaps the increased competition from the Wynn is the cause for the change?

Overall, between the Wynn and the Bellagio, it's a close call, but I think the Bellagio is clearly the better room. Both are fantastic rooms, and the reasons I choose the Bellagio are mostly personal taste. I like 30/60, and the Wynn jumps from 15/30 to 40/80 without anything in between. The Bellagio has a little more room, and is more attractively decorated. They also seem to now have a much nicer food comp system than the Wynn.

Also, and most importantly, the games had a lot more action. The 15/30 at the Wynn, for as well as I did, was quite tight most of the time. I didn't see or play in the 40/80, but according to some of the dealers who came through, that game was exceedingly tight. The 30/60 at the Bellagio? Why, that was almost like a 4/8 game.

Playing at the Bellagio

The Wynn 15/30 was a continuous stream of two- and three-way pots, but the Bellagio 30/60--perhaps because so many of their good players were off checking out the Wynn--was nothing but four-, five- and six-way pots, sometimes more. There were many, many pots in excess of 20BB's. A few crazies, a few clueless dolts and the rest solid, aggressive players all made for a perfect storm of action.

The guy to my right was the best, a really rich inexperienced player who was playing 30/60 hold 'em because it's "really cheap compared to blackjack." Woo hoo! He capped it against my AK with 63o, for example (and of course the board came A65...3, but nevermind that), and generally made the game absolutely great.

I of course was stuck $1500 at one point, but after winning one pot and splitting another, I was back up to even. The split pot was crazy. This one very good post-flop player had been raising real light all evening, surprise, raised preflop. There were the normal four or five people in, so I called out of the SB with QTo (believe me, the conditions were right). Flop: KJ9, two-tone. No slowplaying here, I bet out, and the pot ended up being capped four ways, with me and the PF raiser going to war and the other two calling the whole way.

I wasn't thinking the PF raiser had QT, but figured he most likely hit his set, either KK or JJ. The guy to my left, the BB, was calling the whole way, and up to that point had played fairly solid poker, so I was afraid of what he had, figuring either a flush draw or at the very least top pair, probaby two pair.

The turn was a 9, and that scared the bejesus out of me, but I still bet out, letting them tell me when I was beat. Now, unexpectedly, the BB raised. Well obviously he has at least a 9, but in no way could I see him calling all that action on the flop with just bottom pair. How could he not have had at least two pair on the flop?

I figured he most likely had J9, and so I was ready to fold to what I figured would most likely be a three-bet from the PF raiser. The PF raiser took a long time to agonize, however, and so I knew he didn't have a full house. He finally just called. I almost three-bet, but I really couldn't put the BB on anything less than a full house, as reasonably as he'd played up to this point. But the pot was huge, and so for the 10% of the time or so I figured I could still be good, I called down.

At showdown, the PF raiser also had QT, and the BB? 95s (not the flush draw). The final pot was about $1600, and I got half, or $800 which still accounted for a gain of over $400.

As it turned out, the BB was on uber-tilt from the wacky table and what was some very obvious tiredness on his part. He would sit there and donate the rest of what at one point was a considerable stack before leaving quietly.

And despite being down the $1500 at one point, I would end my session up $307.

Saturday

Saturday evening found me back at the Wynn 15/30--I had a room rate to work off after all. It was once again a pretty tight-passive game which made it quite profitable, but quite boring as well. Once again I hit some good hands, including one where I had KK against 77 and the flop came KK7. Of course, every time I bet out on what's a great (for me) flop like that, I get no callers. So, I slowplayed, and of course the 77 guy also slowplayed and as a result I think I may have gotten the minimum--the 77 guy only put three more BBs into the pot and the other three players put in nothing. No more slowplaying, damnit.

During the hand, the 77 guy produced the second-funniest line of the whole trip. When an A hit on the river and I finally raised him, he sat there and agonized, saying "I think you just rivered me!" No, sir, I really don't think I did.

As it got later, I once again decided to hit the Bellagio 30/60, and so I left, up $533 for the session.

The 30/60 was once again a wild game, and once again the total lunatic was on my right. I was in the absolute golden seat, as again it was the type of guy who would (and did) raise with 63o and such. Even better, after an hour or two another complete donk sat down, two to my right. I was in a dream situation.

Unfortunately, I was also completely card dead. I managed to hit one good hand against the wacko immediately to my right when he flopped a straight draw which he of course played very aggressively and I hit top pair that eventually turned into a full house. I won one other decent-sized pot, when I was the CO and got into a bluffing war with the button (I knew she was bluffing, damnit!), and I was lucky enough to hit a pair on the river.

Otherwise, nothing. My reraising standards were very low since the donk was raising anything and everything, but I still couldn't even meet those low standards. 82o, 64o, 94o, 24o. I actually went one stretch of seven consecutive hands that had a four in it. Because of the two crazies, pots were often four-ways or more for two or three bets preflop. We even had one that was raised seven-ways preflop and capped six-ways on the flop (I had JJ on a 643 board and was the only one to get out--don't ask me what those other guys were possibly calling with).

I won a couple other small pots and with those two decent-sized ones I won, I was able to finish the three-hour session up $425, and more importantly, get another food comp. Go Bellagio!

Sunday

Sunday found me at the Mirage, considering 40/80. It was a good game from the looks of it--okay a great game--but I still decided to stick to 20/40.

While waiting for a seat at the 20, I played some 5/10 Omaha8 with a full kill. Wow are those players bad. I raised preflop and the lady on the button looked up at me incredulously. "Wait, you raised??" She looked like she didn't even know what to do--how could someone possibly raise preflop in Omaha? She folded but for the next two minutes was just looking at me like I was an alien. Even 20 minutes later she was giving me the occasional strange look. Definitely the funniest moment of the weekend, but maybe you had to be there.

I won $78 in my 30 minutes there and realized that 5/10 Omaha players really have no clue whatsoever. Wow.

A brand spanking new 20/40 game opened up and I was called. I started out as the small blind and then after the hand (I folded) the floor came over and asked for a volunteer to go to the main game--my game was a must-move for the first hour. Having seen and liked the main game, I instantly volunteered. But what the heck, I'll play my button, first.

JJ.

Two limpers to me and I raised. The first limper three-bet, and the second one called. I didn't know either player from Adam, but both had the donk look about them, so I four-bet without any reservation. Both called. I ended up betting two bets in on the flop, and both ended up calling me down to the river, on a board that ended up being 9854T. The limp-reraiser mucked, and I imagine he had AK or AQ, and the other player showed his AT as if catching his T on the river meant that were a bad beat or something.

$566 was shoved my way and feeling slightly like an ass, but more like perhaps I should stay with these morons, I got up and went to the main game.

There, I had an amazingly good run like I haven't seen in a live game in a looong time. Capped five ways, I had AK and hit a K against QQ and TT and held up. AQ, I got top-two. JJ, the board was all rags. I had K9s in the BB against a PF raiser and cold-caller and the flop came A99--the PF raiser of course had AK and paid me off big. Heck, both 55 and 33 held up for me unimproved in four-way pots.

After about two and a half short hours of playing 20/40 I cashed out up $1603.

My friends were playing 3/6 and so I sat down to join them and donk it up for a while. I still made hands and after less than an hour of play, I was up $81 there, to finish out the very profitable weekend up $3833.

The breakdown is as follows (22 total hours of play):

1/2 NL: ($6)

3/6: $81

4/8: $9

5/10 O8: $78

15/30: $1336

20/40: $1603

30/60: $732

Total: $3833

Definitely not a bad weekend.

Ah, Vegas. Why do I ever even leave?

Poker Wannabe

Life at the bottom of the barrel

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5/18/2005 - Vegas Trip Report--The Wynn and the Brand-Spanking-New Bellagio Poker Room

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