March Madness March 11th through 23rd 2026 Poker Vegas thoughts after 150 trips State of the Strip
History
From the midwest, late 40s
Profession: serial entrepreneur (2KPR, Not Gen Pop, 2000% Raise)
150+ trips to las vegas for 7-16 days at a time
7 weeks per year in vegas
no limit, mixed games
Stayed at Flamingo this trip. Hard to beat 7 nights for $250 out the door.
Poker rooms played in:
Aria
Room was packed. Played mix game (13 game) here for the 1st time since the game moved from Resorts World.
Very friendly group of players
Competition: difficult
Drink service: average
Dealers: average
Caesars Palce
Room was very busy with short waitlists. Played 1/3 NL here for the majority of the trip. There was consistent hitting and running in this room. Started a new table and saw 4 people H&R in the first hour the table was open for no obvious reason. They did allow $5 DBPB holdem at each dealer change. Struggled to get enough people to play in these.
Competition: average
Drink service: good
Dealers: good
Rake: 10% $6 max
Resorts World
Played 1/3 NL here along with mix games (13 game). The NL game played big with the locals filling seats for the $400/hr high hand promo where any flush was enough to get on the board. $10 DB PLO BP were consistent even outside of dealer changes.
Competition: average
Drink service: excellent
Dealers: good
Rake: 10% $6 max
Venetian
I have struggled to get behind this room with the new location.
Room was busy with the PLO series tournaments taking place. Players in this room were not very friendly.
DB PLO $5 with each dealer change.
Competition: avg
Drink Service: poor
Dealers: good
Rake: 10% $6 max + $2 promo drop
Wynn
The toughest game in Vegas hands down. To me, this is the nicest room in town.
Competition: very good (reg heavy)
Drink Service: excellent
Dealers: excellent
Rake: 10% $6 max
Horseshoe
Promo chasers. A number of people at my table continued to check their hours during the sessions to make sure they qualified for the Player Appreciation Freeroll. Each player needs 12 or 15 hours to qualify. Once the player his the exact number of hours needed, it was straight to the cashier to cash out. There were others who were there in an attempt to put a number of hours in for the $10k WSOP main event seats they are giving away. Lots of short stacks just putting in time with no action.
Competition: poor
Drink Service: poor
Dealers: below average
Rake: 10% $6 max + $2 promo drop
In closing, I would strongly advise in playing rooms with promo drops unless that is what you are there for. The players are there for 1 thing and 1 thing only, the free rolls that require x amount of hours. They give no action, buy in short and fill up space. Hard to beat $8 coming off the tables before tip almost each hand.
Back again in April for another 9 nights
