Reviewing Las Vegas Poker Rooms. Today a visit in the Horseshoe Casino

17.10.2003, Lesen Sie hier den Bericht über «Reviewing Las Vegas Poker Rooms. Today a visit in the Horseshoe Casino».

HORSESHOE IS NO RINGER! By Gone West Everyone has watched it, "Live from the Horseshoe Casino, the 2003 World Series of Poker!" At least based on the ratings, everyone is watching ESPN and the Travel Channel during the 48th run of these No-Limit spectacles. Yes, the Horseshoe in Downtown Vegas is Mecca for all those who make the annual spring pilgrimage to say they busted out of their $10,000 on the first day because Scotty or Johnnie re-raised his Kings with 3-8 off-suit. Yes, there is no tournament quite like it. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, that is all true. However, the Horseshoe does have an everyday poker room that lies quietly in the back of the casino, a faded icon of those long gone days when you needed a password and a pistol to play poker at some seedy Southside joint.

ACTION The Horseshoe's everyday room is home to about 15 tables of various spreads. They will spread any game that they can fill and will tell you so. However, the average day will yield the lower limits, $2-4, 4-8, 1-4-8 Hold-em are very popular. There is a strong $4-8 Omaha Hi/Lo game that will be around long after Israel and Palestine reconcile their differences. They also have the very dangerous $1-5 Stud. I regularly make fun of this game but it is very popular all over the country. It just seems that every time I sit in a $1-5 or $2-4 game I am continually searching for the secret hole in the table put there by some evil pit boss. This is because I am convinced that my $100 had to fall through this hole in some secret plot to pay the casino's electric bill rather than losing it all in THIS game. I, like most Americans, am quite comfortable with my state of denial. You know, foreigners really don't hate us and that guy just did not turn over 7's and 3's for two-pair from Under-the-Gun. However, these games are taking over the town as people are flocking to learn poker and want to play smaller limits. In the few months I have lived out here, the $2-4 Hold-em game has exploded. The Horseshoe has pounced on the opportunity to be at the forefront of this low-limit tidal wave and seems to be benefiting quite nicely.

Weekends provide a better taste for higher limits as a regular $10-20 Hold-em can be found and the City's only No-Limit game can now be found here. These games can and do go off during the week but demand dictates the action. So, if you are in town on a Tuesday, they may have a game or there may just not be enough players to fill a table. I have also seen some Pot Limit action but it is sporadic and really cannot be considered a regular game. My advice to anyone who wants to play something higher than $4-8 during the week at the Horseshoe is to call ahead and see what is going on at that time.

Unlike other rooms, the Horseshoe does not have a Marquee game that you simply have to play. One would think that because of the World Series this is the place to go for X or Y, but in reality the every day poker room is just that, an everyday room with everyday games. Now, the Horseshoe is making an effort to change that appearance with the No Limit Hold-em game. It is a $1-2 blind game that only requires a small buy-in of $100. It is an excellent opportunity for people to play No- Limit without an enormous bankroll and the risk of losing it all. I have not played in it yet, but it seems to be a very good way to gain some valuable live No-Limit Experience. There are some guys that have figured out that if they have a bankroll way over the top of everyone else, they can bully a table. They will be obvious and everyone can easily figure out what they are trying to do and adjust accordingly.

A word of warning to those who are not familiar with the Downtown experience, you must be comfortable with an eclectic mix of players. I have seen every type of player profile roll through this joint. The drunken frat guy, angry old guy, and crazy bag lady are just a few characters that sit in these games. They get loud, they complain, they get pissed easier than the other rooms in town. I do not know why this is but I do not know why the next Governor of California is qualified because he once played a Cyborg in a movie either. If you are going to play here, it is not Monte Carlo, more like Abilene.

Overall, I give the Action at the Horseshoe a pair of Queens. They are willing to spread what you need but not necessarily have enough to get you through until the end of the hand.

SERVICE QUALITY This is where the Horseshoe has completely lost touch with reality. I can say this without losing one bit of sleep. I can easily isolate the problems with service in this room down to one group - the Dealers. The poker dealers at the Horseshoe are the most surly, combative, disgruntled, and completely jaded group of card-droppers in this town. On regular occasions, I have witnessed heated arguments with players over minor matters, heated disputes with other dealers and staff across tables while all the patrons stop their games to observe the dispute, several comments on the quality of people's play WHILE they are sitting at the table, complaints about the management to the players, and questionable looks at players because of the size of their tip. That one has blown me away on several different occasions! At several points, I just wanted to stop the game and say, "Hey buddy", I came here to escape reality. If I wanted to listen to someone's woes, I would have tape recorded Sunday dinner at my family's house.' I am not one of those sunglasses and headphone guys, but after two sessions at the Horseshoe, I brought my headphones just to drown out the dealers' crap. The card dealing part is strong as a whole, but the extra curricular garbage has to go. Just shuffle up and Deal!

The floor person always appears overwhelmed. They are trying to fill games, open new games, get chips, run money, chase down the cocktail waitress, give comps, and provide new set-ups. It is too much for any one person to handle. Thus, they really have no time to watch over the games. This may be some of the cause of the dealers' contempt overall. They do fill responsibilities with other staff, but it appears sporadic and just seems like the organization of the room is running by the seat of its collective pants. Another great example is that the poker cash cage always seems to be closed at the worst times. Thus, everyone is forced to lug his or her chips across the casino to find a cashier. This can be a huge pain if you are hauling several racks of $1 chips.

I just cannot give the Horseshoe a rating of more than 7-3 off-suit for this section. Especially, for the Horseshoe, who once separated itself from the pack purely on customer service and the promise of a "good gamble". I may be a little harder on the Horseshoe, but they have held themselves out for it. They are like today's movie star. You cannot take the cash and the fame and then cry because someone snapped a photo of you picking your nose and sold it to the tabloids. You asked for it, remember, when they were calling you the best young actress since yesterday's best young actress, the distinguishable gal with the fake breasts!

COMPS For the poker room, the comps system is as simple as can be. You walk up to one of the floor staff and ask. You can get a $6.00 comp for either the coffee shop, the snack bar, the Chinese restaurant, or the deli counter. I am sure that you have to play for a few hours, but I did not witness anyone being turned down. Now six dollars may not cover your whole meal even at the coffee shop, but it will get you one of the best pastrami or corned beef sandwiches west of the Mississippi. The Horseshoe has won the "Best of" in this category often and I see no reason why it should change.

I give the comps system a pair of sevens, to be played only under the right conditions. If you have a hankering for a sandwich the size of your head, then it is the right conditions. Also, the Chinese restaurant is very good.

MISCELLANEOUS The miscellaneous category is best explained as to what the Horseshoe does not have. There are no bad-beat jackpots. You will not find any rewards for a high hand. There is no special treatment available for hours played. No T-shirts, hats or drawings. You get just what you came for, a game. I personally am against this philosophy in low-limit parlors. There are far more low-limit games around than higher limits. These people are not trying to squeeze out a living in a $2-4 game of Hold-em. They are coming because they like to play and sit with others in a friendly game and win or lose a little money. If they win a free T-shirt, they are yours for life. If they win a bad beat jackpot, then you will be sure to get it all back within three months.

The location of the poker room is as far back from the Fremont Street Experience as possible. This always kills me. The Horseshoe is supposed to be the center of the poker world. However, to see any poker being played, you have walk all the way to the back of the building. Every time I walk back there, the trek makes me think as though someone has put the Shroud of Turin in his or her bathroom next to the fish-shaped soap.

So if you are entering from Fremont Street, which most people do, just start walking to the back until you hear that unforgettable sound of chips clicking together. Also the Horseshoe has two prongs. I always feel like Ray Liotta's character in Goodfella's when I have to walk from one side to the other through the service area. You know, the scene where he takes his date through the kitchen and down the hall so he does not have to stand in line and pay the cover. That scene always kills me. What girl is going to be impressed that she just had to walk past the cook dropping tonight's special on the floor and putting it back on the plate instead of just cutting to the front of the line? Anyway, make sure that you go in the furthest left section of the casino away from Las Vegas Boulevard. Once you make the mistake everyone else does, you'll remember what I am telling you.

I give the Horseshoe an A-Q for the Miscellaneous; I know what it is and what is not, a pair of A- A.

JOKER When I first walked into the Horseshoe, I said what I have heard at least four other people say since, "Jesus, they play the World Series here?" It never fails, someone always immediately chimes in, "Oh no, they play that upstairs." Every time I hear this exchange, I start thinking that "Upstairs" is some secret Eden that only opens for five weeks a year and is where the famous "girlfriend from Niagara Falls" and the Ark of the Covenant reside.

However, I must give some credit to the Horseshoe. When I walked into the room this May, the poker room was dead. However, over the past few months the Horseshoe has changed its attitude. They have added emphasis to having the beginner $2-4 game and the City's only No Limit Game. A great idea that is long overdue. I was told that they have actually added tables due to the low limit demands. They even added a small entry weekend No-Limit tournament. Also, they have hired the Legendary Nolan Dalla to support Poker Services. I am not quite sure what he does as of yet. I do know what he does not do - shave regularly. However, Mr. Dalla is a great player at heart and can easily assess the keys to a great poker room.

After these changes went into effect, I have noticed that the room is much fuller and there are far more games going than my first trip inside Benny's Barn. I actually witnessed seven $2-4 Hold-em games going at once on the weekend. That is simply amazing and good for the games. The Horseshoe has caught on to the trends in the game and exploited it quite nicely. I must always reward effort and change. There seems to be so little of it around anymore.

I have to give this section Pocket Aces. Raise and Bet, it should be a winner.

My final opinion of the Horseshoe started much lower but has improved greatly since I have witnessed first hand the results of the changes that have been implemented. Thus, I have to give the Horseshoe an overall hand rank of Two-Pair. You can play it and win. Sometimes you have to muck it at the end and other times, the right River Card can improve you to a Monster! This is the Horseshoe at its best and at its worst. If you are a beginner, by all means try it out. See the photos on the wall of the past champs. Smell the stale air and think "Sistine Chapel of Poker." Sit down and play a beginner game or two. Get comfortable and try some different games like the No- Limit Hold-em. If you are a seasoned, live-game player though, there are simply better rooms in town for your action.

Über Binion's Gambling Hall:

Binion's Gambling Hall is the place that made poker famous. Iconic among poker players for its unmatched legacy in the game today, Binion's Hall of Fame Poker room offers 10 tables in a contemporary setting with large screen TVs throughout the room. Poker players will experience excellent service and some of the best deals in the game, including a $4 rake on all cash games, $2 in comps per hour on rated live poker play, tableside food service, and special room rates.

Table Games You haven't done it all until you have gambled at Binion's Gambling Hall table games. Enjoy all your favorite games including traditional blackjack dealt by our beautiful cowgirls, craps with 5x odds, roulette, and specialty games including Progressive 3 Card Poker, Let-It-Ride, Pai Gow, and more. The excitement never stops at Binion's.

Top of Binion's Steakhouse Top of Binion's Steakhouse has the most spectacular views of the great Las Vegas valley. Located on the 24th floor, this gourmet restaurant is a step back in time with its vintage Vegas décor, romantic atmosphere and first class service. Enjoy our Creekstone Farms Midwestern, corn fed, Black Angus beef that has been aged a minimum of 28 days. Some menu items include Rib Eye, Filet Mignon, Prime Rib of Beef, Porterhouse Steaks, Australian Lobster Tail, Salmon, and our signature dish, Chicken Fried Lobster. All entrées are served with a choice of four side dishes and a vegetable.

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