I had just arrived in Vegas at 11 in the morning, and after getting to the hotel and being informed I couldn't check in yet I decided to go ahead and hit the felt ASAP. After having to be pointed in the direction of the poker room, when I first got there, I thought there was something wrong due to the number of players sitting down. There was only one table running and it was a slow 1/2 NL game. First hand AK, pop it to 15 in LP,(one caller) flop AK3...Checked in first, bet $20, reraised all in...Pocket 3's for a set of crabs. This did not shake me up until this happened over and over again. 6 times in about 3 hours of play I had an overpair before the flop QQ v 99, 77 v 44, JJ v 99, and got out flopped every time! The worst part is that after busting out playing the 1/2 game there, there is nothing else to do. Im going back to Vegas for the world series in 2 weeks, and could not be happier about staying at the bellagio.
Although it was my first trip to Vegas to play cards the players were average to what I have normally played against in AC or home games. Some, as expected were very aggresive, and profitable to anyone who had the patience to smooth call that at the end. Otherwise it was a total crap shoot.
The dealers at the Strat were probably the only semi decent thing I enjoyed while playing here. They were very friendly as they seem to know most of the people at the table, as many people were locals.
If you are thinking that the cocktail waitresses are going to be attractive, you are going to be more than upset. Under 40 would have been a good start, but it felt like someones grandmother was walking around serving drinks, with just as much excitement as you could expect.
The management was fine, as they had very little to do besides taking down the occasional name every hour. Although when I had questions they were very polite and answered them as best they could.
I don't even think the Stratosphere knows the word "comps"