Last weekend's trip to the felt jungle clearly demonstrated the evolution of Vegas poker during the last several years...Out with the old, in with the new, in a cold-hearted manner befitting Trump or Simon.

The most stunning change was at the Horseshoe, er, Binion's, now just a spectral memory of its former self. At a time of year when it historically basked in the limelight of the WSOP, it has now been reduced to just another downtown grind joint, its internationally-recognized Fremont Street facade all but dismantled, and its reputation sadly frayed like the carpet underfoot. No longer Mecca during the Haij, it is now Duluth in January, unable to get even a single table of action going early last Sunday morn.

I don't know what is more tragic, that the grand dame has lost her glory, or that there are so many new employees at the place (which used to have life-long workers) who don't even know about the legends of gamblers past. The 4-8 games had a favorable, diverse mix of players: locals and tourists, more loose than rock, more talkative than gruff, and more than four decades between old and young. But a certain sadness welled-up more than once when table talk turned to WSOP and yesterdays brighter fires.

The cocktail waitresses were like rare birds, someone claimed to catch a glimpse of one once but the rest of scanned the horizon to no avail. But what do you expect when the closest bar is across Ogden at the Cal.

I passed on the tournaments, which were a prime reason for staying there, as they lacked spark and it was unseemly hearing the dealers scream out for players, verablly chasing them out the nearest door ("Only five more players needed...").

At least the pre-restrictor shower heads still gush at rates putting all the super-resorts to shame.

Conversely, the modern face of the game was on sparkling display at the stunning new MGM Grand and Wynn rooms. Both of which were buisy, with the MGM running at near full bore all weekend.

Apart from the exceptionally long-hike from the parking garage (near Koval Lane) to the poker room (near the strip), the MGM facility is world class; a must see for any Poker enthusiast. I recommend setting up the first night base camp in the main lobby before striking out for the summit the following day.

The new sports book next to the poker room is absolute leading edge, with sturdy comfortable chairs, dozens of HiDef flat screens, an upscale bar (talk about expensive) and snack bar. It even has luxury sky boxes, who thought of that, but I don't think my $2 exacta ticket qualifies for entrance. But the room seems too narrow and elongated, and I don't see how it can hold an NFL Sunday crowd for a 5,000 room hotel.

The gaming venues are coupled with a trendy overhead nightclub within a pulsating pleasure dome, thick with the steam of youthful energy and too much money.

The attitude of the players also reflected the evolutions in Poker. No longer do guys expect to sit down for hours until they "crack the game". A significant portion are there for just a few hands like at some corner blackjack table before going up to the room at 4AM.

Couples sat in for brief stints before going on to other entertainments, and a father/son combo joined in; a touching gesture on Father's Day weekend. For the most part, these players happily left their money behind, making all of us richer for their experience.

In one session I sat hard against the rail on the edge of the room near the entry to the sports book and the spiral staircase. It was amazing the number of people that stopped to view the action; ten-fold the interest of a decade ago and with much more than passing glances.

The conversations behind me showed great awareness of the game (virtually all had seen it on TV), and a high percentage talked of playing on-line or seemed to know what they were generally talking about (for the most part.)

As if my game needed or could withstand this kind of scrutiny, or our $3-$6 table would be anything like what they had seen on the tube. But the critical oversight from the yakkers did keep me from going on tilt when one young Gus, deemed "lucky" by our ever attentive cocktail wench, decided to take the four percent plunge and drew a 4s on the river to match his pocket pair and fill up against my set of jacks w/A kicker.

The drinks were potent, continuous and free flowing. One of my buds, not much of a poker player, even sat down at a table when he quickly realized that folding every hand (even some blinds) and tipping the waitress made for cheaper drinking than paying $6 a beer in the sports book bar. And, there are plenty of monitors in the poker room to watch the games on.

This is truly one of the great spots in the world of poker today.

The Wynn room is classy, but the tables are too close together, and the lay-out looks more like an afterthought than the impeccably designed other aspects of the hotel. Given its location, well apart from the rest of the casino and deep in the retail/restuarant "mall" of the hotel, it seems more of an afterthought, a change in plans made on the fly during construction.

"Hey Steve, this poker thing is getting pretty big, maybe we should have more than the 10 X 12 space allowed for in the plans...Remember how they had to expand Belaggio...Let's turn one of the seven Italian restaurants into a poker room...yeah, yeah, the one at the very end out there."

But like all Wynn properties, the access from the parking garage is easy (the counters saying how many empty spaces are left on each level of the garage are really cool) and the professionalism of the employees unmatched.

We gave up after waiting 20-plus minutes for a seat (with no end in sight), it was about 8AM Saturday morning and only a couple tables were in action, and cruised the rest of the joint, finding one of the great bargains in Vegas.

At the bar by the sports book they have $.25 multi-game video machines in the bar top with blackjack on them. So for a $5.00 buy-in we drank $50 of bloody mary's apiece in a luxurious setting watching the US Open and college world series, while analyzing that days baseball line. I even made a few bucks in the process, and left the ticket for the incredibly friendly bartenders, clearly demonstrating what big wheels we were.

Ended up spending most of the weekend playing at Orleans. Its the only place that regularly deals my game, Omaha Hi-Lo. It has easy access, good parking and a favorable mix of players. However, between the strong local presence, increasing recognition for the joint from websites like this one, and a large tournament crowd, the place was overcrowded and the crew overstressed. Further, some of the locals were just too damn comfortable there, trying to dictate action, telling the dealers what to do (often wrongly), and acting like they owned the place.

Had a strange experience at the Plaza poker room late Saturday night where a group of guys watching the game would steal from their "friend's" stack on the table whenever he won a hand. It got kind of ugly, a little violent and way out of hand. Security was too slow in dealing with it and the poor guy was placed in the middle between laughing with his drunken pals or having them busted. Finally, a diminutive latin lady player had enough and created sufficient stink for the house to deal with it.

Also went to the Rio to view the WSOP. Now that is one long walk from the parking lot to the convention center gaming room. And, made the trek to the El Cortez to enjoy the seamy side of LV poker. But those are other stories...