I don’t play no limit. Perhaps later. I tried one nice cheap tournament at Fiesta Rancho, $23 and no rebuys. I did well but after two tables were eliminated and the blinds getting pretty stiff, I got in that place where I felt I needed to make a play, so I called an all-in bet by a guy who was too often going all-in to be believed. There was an Ace and a Jack on the flop and I had Jack- King. He had Ace-ten but no Jack or King came on the Turn or River So his low kickered Ace held up.

I played a lot of 2-4 and some 3-6 when I felt comfortable. I really got the sense that it all depends on the game. At El Cortez I played the 1-3 spread limit game with 6 on the flop. One time the pots were $5 with all tight players. Another the preflop betting was capped almost every hand. I played 3-6 in games when after playing tight for an hour I could steal a pot with the right bet or at least pay a $3 pot flop raise on the button to see 2 free cards. And I played 3-6 at Paris where the betting was nuts.
I used to think of Texas Hold Em as a game for grumpy old men. I’m almost 60. If I want to talk to grumpy old men or look at them, I can talk to myself in the mirror. On this trip I was amazed to find myself sitting next to some of the sexiest young women. I just seemed to get lucky. Of course, I kept my mind on the game. In fact, I improved my game because I tend to spend too much time looking at the cards and not enough studying the faces of the players. So I studied these women carefully. I think live poker is the only place in American society where you can spend long minutes gazing into the face of some sweet young thing and not be breaking social protocol.

My favorite 3-6 games were at the Plaza and I want to play there again when I go back. Comps were easy, rake reductions radical, and the players I met a good mix.

EL CORTEZ - If you can take the smoke, these games are fun because they are full of characters, not the least of whom is Jackie Gaughan himself who comes down to shout, “One for the money!”, then misread his cards, and finally call you when he should know better. all the way to the river. The rake is low here. I played next to a sweet faced Black girl with a good humored personality and Cute embroidered on her shirt. Very pretty and funny, but she needed to clean her nails. That is the El Cortez.

PLAZA - Rake is $3 and then $1 that goes back out in high hand awards. When we got down to 5 players on the 3-6, I asked for a rake reduction and the woman dropped it to just the dollar for the high hand. You could not ask for a better game than that. I liked every game. There was one Black guy cursed with an incredible get-in- your-face attitude; he berated another old scruffy beard white guy when that fellow dared to explain why one more bet to call was needed. Mr. Attitude also kept trying to remove a hundred in bills from the game, and the dealer had to repeatedly call the floor to get him to keep the money up and playable. On top of that he was a poor player. I only saw him take one pot in a showdown. He had an eight-five off suit. the Plaza was easy with food comps. The woman gave me one even though I just got tired and only played for a couple hours one late night. I used it at the Chinese buffet. Such a contrast to the El Cortez idea of food comps. There one must play a consecutive 4 hours and ask the old beauty there for a comp, you’d think that she had to take it out of her salary. You get just $5 which is not enough to buy anything at Careless Kitty’s where the food is not that great anyway AND if you get that $5 comp one day, you can’t get one the next day. The woman said they wanted me to come back and play, but I guess not two days directly in a row.

CAESAR’S - Very nice and comfortable with a mix of very good players and guys who just thought they were very good. When at about 2 AM the table got down to six players, I indicated that I would leave if I had to play at a short table as did another fellow. They broke up the table and we drew cards for open seats at the other table. One fellow got irate at this policy and there was an hour of bedlam even though a seat soon opened for him at the other table. They took my name and card number to be able to defend themselves against this irate jackidiot. You earn a dollar comp here per hour on your card, but don’t try to go to Caesar’s buffet on it. It is only good for food served in the poker room. The staff is super friendly and one young woman in particular was enough entertainment for me to fold hands for an hour and just watch her walk across the floor. I liked getting large cans of Guinness or Bass. Most places did not have any dark beers to bring. I saw a fellow drinking Johnny Walker Black. I played one 3-6 with a half kill, but I really don’t like the kill pots. I don’t know how to read them.

IMPERIAL PALACE- They offer $3 in comps per hour, but you should act quickly. The poker room is ready to be moved soon and that might mean a comp reduction. The entire casino is scheduled to be demolished by Harrah’s in 2007 as they have bought most of the entire LV Boul./Flamingo corner for some megaproject that you and I will pay for in poorer video poker schedules and fewer comps. But I managed enough comps on my card to pick up the $69 tab for a room I need in April when I am coming in on a Saturday. Imperial Palace will rent to me for just the one night and my comps will make it free. The 2-4 games were fine here, not too loose with enough space to actually play poker and very friendly folks so the banter was great. I sat next to a couple of guys from Wales and listened to the music of their accents and exotic vocabulary and next to a very good player, a beautiful Chinese woman. She beat my pocket jack with pocket kings on one hand and two hands later, but I later took her and her husband down when another pair of pocket jacks went to trips and neither her pocket kings nor his pocket queens could touch them. It was a profitable hand. The Imperial Place is one place where I believe you could go and pay for your rooms and just play live poker. In fact, if you play there, look for Dennis from California who knows all the dealers because he does that often. They also offer free flavors of coffees and nice cookies and finger sandwiches as well as a small bad beat bonus that is not raked. They also fixed any drink that was described to them, and I had a few weird ones suggested by a young fellow who had had a few too many. He did not always know what cards he had, but he did seem to always win. It was strange. I tried a 3-6 game there but it just seemed hard to figure and tight, so pots were not very big anyway and I went back to the 2-4.

PARIS- a few tables squeezed right in the middle of the casino. I played 3-6 on a Saturday night. It was wild. The players were the most terrible I have ever seen. But if you wanted distraction during the long waits between playable hands, this is the place to play. I liked it. I’ll try again when perhaps there are a few sane people at the table. While there I raised with A-J in middle position in order to push out some of the calling stations, and found that they had no clue that I had established myself as a tight player, and no respect for the raise. I was reraised by something that soon folded and that person was again reraised by pocket tens that bet into my Jack flopped pair right thru the river. All the raises put too much money in the pot for me to fold, but I was very shocked when I won with just a pair of Jacks. I would like to play there again in calmer waters. they comp a dollar an hour and I expect that it could be applied to that fine buffet they serve.

BALLY’S - I heard a lot about this place, but they did not have a 3-6 game when I showed up early on Saturday night.

FIESTA RANCHO- Again a smoky table but very interesting. I had avoided most locals games because I did not want to play with people who played every day with each other, but this was like a kitchen table game transported to the casino. It was a 2-4 game and pretty loose but not filled with maniacs. Most people wanted to see the flop. Many would pay to see draws. Some times against the people they knew, instead of trying to maneuver for a check raise on the river when they held the nuts, these folks would be “nice” and show their nut hands early. It was strange to me. Here a young Black social worker named Tania started a conversation with a reformed member of the Aryan Nation complete with a swastika tattooed on his hand. That was interesting!! Had pocket kings on the button when the first to act had placed a blind straddle and then raised in the dark. Oh, I love those blind straddles. He put money in the pot, pushed out the trash hand holders, and in the end had nothing as my kings held up. Later 4 fours got me an $8 food comp which had not been raked. Also my play earned a $10 food comp over a couple days and it was immediately posted. I used it my last morning there. It may even be that those folks sending out the free nights will consider my live poker play as well as the video poker. I am not certain if that improves my rating or if they want to avoid having live poker players in free rooms, but I’ll see.

GOLDEN NUGGET- A good spot to play always with a fine mix of good and bad players. I lost one full house to a bigger one held by a Caesar’s dealer who later remembered me. I was dumb and bet into the higher house even though I should have sensed it was there. They do have some Sam Adams drafts. I don’t generally like that beer, but the drafts were great. The good trick here is to play 4 hours and quit after midnight. 4 hours of play will get you a $10 buffet comp which can be used the next day for a nice brunch at the Nugget’s fine buffet. And the comp is a line pass so you get to go right in. I met a cool young guy on a table here from Nova Scotia.

BINIONS- fine tables but some of the most uptight crabby players I have ever seen. Why do no limit players come down to the limit table and then run a steady stream of complaints about how it is not “real poker” there. One woman was totally obnoxious, but got some better when she started to get cards and win. Another old, thin, Jewish fellow was so intense and so unfriendly and so mad when he did not get cards that I wanted to tip the dealer when the disdainful grump finally gave it up and left. He is a regular. He knew the dealer’s names. If I were that miserable playing poker, I’d find something fun to do, like walking over hot coals barefoot or hanging myself from a light fixture. There were other friendly tourists there, but after that one game, I did not want to go back. One cool collectible there are the $4 binions chips which are just used by the dealers for the rake.

ORLEANS- I just watched. I love this casino. I hope I can get so these tight and skillful locals don’t intimidate me so much.

STRATOSPHERE- My plan was to take the Deuce from downtown and play poker there for a while, then take my comps from last April, see Huck Daniels and use the comps for a good graveyard 3 AM breakfast afterwards. But the Stratosphere has not yet posted the comps from LAST APRIL. So don’t expect to play there and get anything except what you earn that day. The staff was very friendly, and actually after a lot of very polite talk, the fellow gave me an $8 food comp instead of my earned $4 so it worked out, but I don’t know if I’ll make the effort to go again. I will write a letter of protest and urge you to do the same. What is taking them so long to get a little swipe technology up and running? The more people who ask, the better. also, I learned not to play there on Mondays because the high hand awards have been sucked dry on the weekend and not had time to build up again so you don’t get much value for the high hand rake.

SOUTH COAST - I did not play here but did check it out and liked it fine. i wrote down the comp policy but I cannot find it. It was complicated, like $1.25 each hour for the first four and 50 cents per hour after that.

MEMORABLE POKER HANDS

Check raised twice on the button with king high spade flush in a 3-6 at Plaza. I was called the second time because they thought I was trying to bluff.

4 fours at Fiesta Rancho with a nice full house betting into me.

4 Aces at Paris and no one even interested. Slow played and still nothing.

Check raised with a river caught nut straight at Fiesta and was reraised by a guy with 3 tens. I almost assumed that we had the same hand and almost did not reraise, but too often I lose money by quitting early. He called me and then acted very surprised even though the nut was not necessary for victory; a hand as weak as trip kings would have also beaten him.