I have to say that I am one of the luckiest guys in the world.  The fact that Lori loves everything I do (Gators, Lakers, Johnnie Walker, and of course Vegas) makes life that much easier.

She happens to be a great poker player as well, which makes for great trips to Vegas where we do nothing but play poker.  We just went there two weeks ago to play in a couple of daily tourneys as a warm up for the WSOP trip that we will be going on early next month.  I will be posting throughout that trip, but here is a quick review to wet the palate.

Caesars Palace $300+$30 (Saturday @ Noon)

The poker room is located through the sportsbook and is fairly large.  The tournament area is actually a separate room altogether and has recently been redone since they held a WSOP circuit event earlier in the year.

The chairs, tables and general atmosphere are all top notch.  Oddly though they don’t have automatic shufflers which isn’t terrible per say, but you don’t get as many hands in per round.

Personnel is always key in every well run tournament, and these guys are good.  The dealers are efficient and knowledgeable and move the games along nicely.  Both food and beverage service is good; however the woman running food was a bit elderly and ornery.  Loved her.

You start with $10k worth of chips and there are 40 minute levels, so the play is nice and long.  I will spare you the bad beat stories, but I will point out that both Lori and I got bounced with QQ.  There is no justice.

The Venetian $130 +$20 (Sunday @ Noon)

The poker room in the Venetian is right next to the escalators leading up to the main entrance of the casino.  It’s very open and has a comfortable feel to it.

The chairs at the Venetian are a bit more “comfy” (Lori’s favorite descriptor) with more cushion and wheels.  This is key when you reach the 4th hour of a 9 hour tourney.

The dealers and floor personnel are solid; although there was almost a mutiny when the main floor guy turned off the Lakers/Jazz game right at the moment of the final shot which ultimately went to overtime.  The Lakers blew the game in OT, but they soldiered on and closed out the series in 6.  But I digress…

One of the nicest amenities of any poker room in Vegas is the Venetian water, which is bottled Fiji water.  They pass it out like candy, and it’s just a bit nicer than your normal purified water that you will get out on the casino floor.  Very Choice.

Nothing great to report other than I got out kicked on my set in a three way early on and then donked the rest of my chips off when this incredible Magoo woke up with KK.  Lori of course just had her AA cracked by a set of K’s with the last coming on the river.  Solid.

So over all I would have to say that the Venetian was the overall better experience.  They have a $500+$50 on Saturdays that is normally pretty good, but that’s for another post.

Pictures provided by www.allvegaspoker.com.  We forgot our camera.