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| - The Bellagio poker room is a rather tough review to write, as it always pains me to see things falter, show their age, and adapt to unfortunate, modern times.
First, a little background. I have been playing poker about 15 years, before the "poker boom" of 2003 and after the poker bust of sorts in the past few years. I remember when the Mirage had the highest limits and games in town, prior to being overtaken by the Bellagio. Make no mistake, the Bellagio Poker Room remains as the most popular, high end poker room in the city. The only room to consistently get nosebleed action including $1500/$3000 Mixed games in Bobby's Room. Though other luxury resorts such as Aria and Venetian have attempted to steal some of Bellagio's thunder, Bellagio still remains on top.
However, times have certainly changed, and the modern poker bust that has been occurring in recent years is certainly taking its toll on the Bellagio poker room. Dealers are more beaten down, tired, mechanically sound, but showing more resentment than I remember from years past. The room isn't adequately staffed. Chip runners are non-existent, even on a busy Saturday night with 32 games running. Dealers are desperately calling for chips and get no responses from overworked floor personnel. New regulations do not allow cash to play on the tables, so it becomes that much more vital that chip runners are available, yet none are to be found.
On a personal note, I have never been a big fan of the Bellagio poker room, especially at the lower limits like 1/3 NLHE. Much better games are found elsewhere. Even though the Bellagio does not drop a jackpot rake, and the rake is 10%/$4 max I the low limit games, the games are simply better across the street at Bally's. The serious, nitty, grinder players are the norm at Bellagio, which leads to tight aggressive games that are at times, very hard to beat, even for a skilled player.
There are some amenities that I'm impressed are still offered, though. Fiji water is still available, complimentary, from the cocktail waitress. They have Genesis Bravo player tracking and comp $2/hour on the M Life players card. And they have USB outlets under the table at each seat for phone charging. All nice, luxurious touches.
Perhaps I am being too harsh to rate the Bellagio at 4/5 stars, but the look of desperation on so many dealers faces last night begging for someone to brush the table, get chips, or make a decision is simply inexcusable, and quite sad.
With the poker rooms in Vegas slowly constricting down to the survival of the fittest, I hope to see Bellagio fully staffed and ready to truly define what high end poker dreams are made of once again.
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