stayed at binions first night, saturday 7/25. it's clean....and....well....it's clean. very basic rooms, but....it was clean. and cheap. played the poker room a few times over the next few days. pretty mixed field of players, but more solid players than i found on the strip. did ok. poker room was nice but at 10 pm on a week night, two tables going. 1 @ 2/4 and 1 @ 1/2 nl. no complaints.

golden nugget. played several different times of day over several days. nice room. staff was good, waits were minimal if at all. multiple tables going of 2/4 and 1/2 nl. my favorite place downtown. walk down the street for cheap shrimp cocktails at the golden gate, cheap crab legs buffet at one of the boyd properties, good buffet at the golden nugget, and a superb cuban restaurant about a block and a half south of where the canopy ends on freemont. did well there. stayed in a suite at the golden nugget for 3 nights. very nice.

plaza. poker area is roped off on the main floor. talked into playing a SNG by some people we met on freemont street. 30 dollar buy in with a 25 percent casino rip off the 30. not the wisest place to play, but i took my wife there to play a cheap SNG. we had fun. i went out on the bubble. crazy all ins, bad players, home players, everything you would expect in a 30 dollar tourney in vegas.

fitz. played in a 4 man mixed game (omaha h/l, omaha high, hold 'em). made no money but enjoyed playing a mixed game.

imperial palace on the strip. stayed there for 3 nights. women's roller derby convention there for the week. colorful crowd to say the least, but the roller girls (around 2000 of them) were probably the most courteous people i ran into during my entire trip to vegas. buffet there sucked, and the poker room is basically an area on the main floor with half walls. very noisy and populated with people who will call 30 bucks pre flop with a 3/7 os to your kings. set the kings on the flop and they put ME all in. called of course, for them to draw runner runner for a straight. players there were recreational players with little poker/odds knowledge. but as i've said to many people over the years, when there are one or two decent players on a table full of fools......you're outnumbered. eventually they'll get you. there are just too many of them.

harrahs. similar crowd and situation to imperial palace. didn't really like it much. staff was cordial and the room was nice.

venetian. top shelf. one of the (if not THE) nicest poker rooms i've ever played in. standard water is FIJI. top shelf liquors if you drink. good dealers, good staff.....actually, the staff was so good it was like i didn't even notice them. things ran very well. truly recommend the room. played two sessions there. made probably 50 bucks total. competition is top shelf too. great place to play.

Treasure island. played 1/2. mix of tourists and locals. made a little money. nice room, fantastic buffet. small and quiet, off the beaten path.

mgm. BIG room. right in the middle of everything. noisy as hell...you couldn't hear yourself think. made maybe 100 bucks then got out of there. didn't like so much noise. room was well appointed and well ran other than that.

luxor. didn't get to play...waited on the list for a while then said the hell with it and went to mandalay. couple tables going and i didn't feel like waiting.

o'shea's. didn't play here...but if you wanna play "on the strip", this is the place. you're basically playing on the sidewalk out front.

mandalay bay. great room, good staff. made really good money there. i liked mandalay. buffet was good, and while the room was open to the casino (half walls), it wasn't that loud and you could actually carry on a conversation.

biggest recommendations to mandalay, the venetian, and the golden nugget for card rooms. treasure island, golden nugget, and mandalay bay for buffets. mamacita's downtown for cuban food. get a deuce pass and travel on the bus. easiest way to get around.