Old Man's first time in Vegas

I'd suggest hitting all the classics. Vdara is near both Aria and Bellagio, so start there. Be sure to take a day and venture north, perhaps with a morning session at either Wynn or Venetian, a break for a nice lunch, then an afternoon session at the other. Although not at the same level as these rooms, also get a session in at Caesars, Horseshoe (the Shoe might be promo-nitty), and MGM. And if you're up for a short road-trip, Uber or cab downtown, take in Fremont St., and get a session in at Golden Nugget.

What is the standard of play like?
UK games outside of London and it makes a massive difference what time you are playing.
A tueaday afternoon for example and it's usually just going to be a bunch of regs and not particularly great games to play. Not necessarily difficult, but not particularly action packed.
To be honest UK cash games in general are not what they used to be, and you always see the same faces passing money around to each other.

I am looking forward to the Vegas games being more action packed. (hopefully)

the main rooms for action are Aria, Bellagio, Wynn and Venetian. but really you can get a good game or bad game anywhere at anytime in Vegas.

I find the 2/3 game at Venetian to be my favorite, and that's been even weekday afternoons.

My opinions:
Every time I've tried Wynn lately, it's been filed with hyper-aggressive sharks. I'm lucky to still have all my limbs.

Horseshoe, yesterday there were a few astoundingly bad players. Calling on the river with 2 high cards, stuff like that. Unfortunately they don't last long. It's also not necessarily easy to beat really bad players. Sometimes they overvalue everything, like betting like crazy on paired boards and NOT having trips. They have similar promos as Venetian, so there are promo chasers at both Venetian and Horseshoe. The Venetian promos pay a lot better though, if you're in a mood to chase also.

Bellagio, I hate, because the room is so poorly run, but YMMV.

If you want the complete Vegas poker experience I would suggest checking out the local scene at the Orleans (4/8 or 8/16 limit O/8 - will be a lot of regs but some of them like to gamble) or Boulder Station (the 4/8 limit Omaha high game can get wild - depending of course on time of day and lineup).

games at the Big Four rooms are pretty consistent throughout the day. there will be more tables in prime time but you shouldn't get stuck in a bad table at any time that you can't move from at W V B or A.

The Bellagio games are very hit and miss. They can be good but they are also capped at $300 so can be a nit fest.

I would suggest Aria, especially if you can play early morning/night when you are jet lagged. It’s $500 instead of $300 at 1/3 and the games are always crazy.

I will deffinatly give this a look.
What about the 2-5 games? I have been told anecdotaly that this is where the real action games are?

Is the bellagio 2-5 capped at £500?

Jet lag is no issue for me, I basically run on US time all the time anyway. Have never been able to shake the habit of being up all night playing poker, even when I don't play anywhere near as much

I am sure I will get some hate, but imo the Venetian is the #1 poker room in Vegas now. The Wynn is a close 2nd.

Aria and Bellagio have both been going downhill in recent years..

Why though?

As a tourist I don't really care about perks and benefits, and I won't be playing tournaments. (maybe 1 or 2, but pretty unlikely)

What I really want is an action game, a game where I'm not surrounded by nit regs playing ABC poker.

I played 30 hours at Venetian last week chasing the promo, and don't remember ANY nit regs.

Your best bet is something like 3-6 limit lol. Or maybe PLO but I don’t play that game.

You may just have to get lucky. Players in Vegas are often pretty cautious even if they aren’t exactly nits. I’m sure there are action tables but many of the bad players are players I wouldn’t describe as action players, just players that play too loose and make mistakes that you can still easily beat.

rather than evaluating the rooms, just evaluate the games themselves. If you're at Bellagio or Aria or Venetian there will be multiple games at whatever stake you're playing so if you're sat on a bad table, just change to a different one

I haven't been for two years and go at wsop which has more traffic, but Aria and Venetian have regularly had 6+ 2/5 games whenever I've been there.

This.

Aria and Bellagio are chock-ful of sunglass wearing, backpack carrying regs. At least in 2/5, so probably also at 1/3.

Venetian and Wynn games are much more fun and tourist-spewy. Of course that’s a very general statement and ymmv but that was my observations on my last three trips since November of last year. V and W also have MUCH better tournament structures than A and B, but you did say you were mostly playing cash.

I really like the Venetian new poker room a lot..

I've played at the V several times the last few years. 1/3 is a lot of promo hunting nits. I don't find the games that interesting. the 2/3 game is a different animal where the game is much splashier and nobody nits up waiting for high hands, even though they are still in play. 2/3 is $600 max, although I felt comfortable buying in for $400.

also, in many of my V 1/3 games (waiting for 2/3), the players don't even want to play the bomb pots at all. at 2/3 they run regularly and are where I have the most success.

Wynn is a real nice room but the competition is definitely tougher overall

I'm not a big fan of Bell or Aria

I also highly recommend Venetian's 2/3 game. Wynn was a terrible game quality in comparison when I went.

What is a bomb pot?
In UK that usually means the casino drops a certain amount in the pot before the hand even starts.
I assume it's something different over there because who wouldn't want to clean up some of the casinos money?

Everyone at the table agrees to put in an amount pre flop blind and then you go straight to the flop where betting starts.

At Venetian the bomb pots happen at every dealer change and they are Double Board PLO. Some of the 1/3 players feel uncomfortable playing Double Board PLO so they sit out those 2 hands every hour.

I can kind of see that tbf.
I always get involved in such things, just because I don't want to be the guy who isn't.
But I do hate it when people want to play plo hands at a nlhe table. Especially if there are plo games running (and assume in Vegas there are?)
Like if I want to play plo.... I will just go and play plo.

Anyway, old git rant over.

I’ve played 50 hours this trip alone at Aria and probably 1500 hours or so over the past 4 years or so and can probably count on one hand how many sunglasses wearing pros I’ve seen at 1/3. 2/5 is a different story, but 1/3 is so ridiculously easy it’s unbelievable.

Contrary to that I played 30 hours of nit fest at the V, games were absolutely horrible.

But then again it simply comes down to everyone’s very own personal experience

That's the typical meaning here too, but the Venetian is different.

I resemble that remark. Not so much that I don't want to cough up 6 bucks, it's that I can't stand Omahahaha.