Bellagio Poker Room: A Review
December 13, 2008
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The Bellagio poker room is known as one of the classier poker rooms in town. Not only do they offer some of the highest stakes poker games in the world, they also offer a great game selection. With a choice of 16 different games and stakes available, there isn’t much you won’t find. While the room is a favorite amongst high stakes players, there are some things they could improve for the lower stakes areas. There are two high stakes areas at the Bellagio, where the tables are laid out nicely and drinks are easy to come by. For lower stakes players, some improvements could be made.
First, the cocktail waitresses are nearly impossible to find when the room is busy. Cocktail waitresses are not only hard to find, but they can also be a bit rude. While I’m sure this is partly due to being over worked, don’t cocktail waitresses make most of their money on tips? They do of course, so I can’t understand the negative attitude many of them display. It’s possible that management doesn’t want their players drinking too much, keeping the belligerence to a minimum. However, it’s not cool to have to go to the bar outside of the poker room to get a drink. Plus, drinks aren’t free at the bar.
I’d also like to see them remove a few tables from the room and open it up a bit. The tables are placed too close to each other, causing players to back into each other when they get up. During non-WSOP times, this room generally has plenty of tables not in use. Why not remove a few tables and allow players a bit of breathing room?
Okay, with the gripes out of the way, let’s get on to the things we like about the Bellagio.
Game Selection
The Bellagio boasts the best game selection in Las Vegas. Texas Hold’em starts at $4/8 fixed limit, or $2/5 in no-limit games. They also run tables for Stud, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, and the occasional Razz game. If you have a group coming to Las Vegas, and have a particular game you’d like to play, the Bellagio will run a table just for you. $100/$200 Monopoly anyone?
Massage Therapists
Ahhh, if you can’t splurge on a massage while you’re on vacation, when can you? For $25, players can get a heavenly 15 minute massage while they play. If that’s not enough time, you can get 30 minutes for only twice the price!
Televisions
Players can watch dozens of 32” – 42” plasma tv’s located throughout the poker room. If there’s a game you want to watch, they’ll probably have it on.
Tournaments
The Bellagio poker room has a great, daily tournament that they run. From Sunday through Thursday, it has a buy-in of $500+$40, with $6,000 in starting chips. On Friday and Saturday, the tournament has a buy-in of $1,000+$80, with $10,000 in starting chips. Both tournaments begin at 2 pm, and have the same blind structure. The blind structure of these tournaments are very good in comparison to most daily tournaments in Las Vegas. Blinds increase every 40 minutes, and they don’t double every time the level changes. There are too many levels to show here, but to give you an idea, the blinds don’t get to 1000/2000 until 6 hours have been played! In many tournaments, that level is reached within 2 hours. This obviously benefits better players, giving them time to be selective and make good decisions.
The Bellagio poker room offers 10 player sit and go satellites for both of these daily events. Players can buy-in to the $540 satellite for $130, or the $1080 satellite for $240. In both cases, the top 2 players win an entry to the event.
Rake
The cash game rake at Bellagio is typical at the lower stake levels. They have a $4 maximum rake per hand, and the strike points are similar to other rooms in town. For example, the strike points at a $4/8 game are: $1 once the pot reaches $10, $1 at $30, $1 at $70, and $1 at $110. Above the $5/10 level, rake is taken in time, instead of per hand. In a $5/10 game, each player pays $5 per half hour at the tables. As the stakes increase, so do the time fee’s, up to a maximum of $10 per half hour. This is a great rake system for higher stakes players, as they end up putting a lot less into the rake.
The Bellagio poker room doesn’t run any high hand or bad beat jackpots. This is good for cash game players as the jackpots accumulate their money from extra rake taken out of each hand. For players who don’t want to be forced to give away their winnings, this is great. The odds of winning these things are terrible, and it’s no different than trying to win a progressive on a slot machine.
Food & Cocktails
If you’re looking to find something quick to eat, the Snacks restaurant is located about 100 feet directly in front of you as you exit the main entrance to the poker room. They offer pizza, sandwiches, and soups for a reasonable price. Soups cost around $4, and sandwiches are in the $8 - $11 range. The food is pretty good, and a lot of the locals eat their daily.
If you’re looking for a more formal dining experience, there are lots of choices throughout the casino. The food at Bellagio is typically good at any restaurant, you can’t go too wrong anywhere.
Summary
I spoke with Chris Gabriel, the shift manager while I was there recently. I asked him his opinion on what makes the Bellagio’s poker room stand out, what makes it different or better? He told me “we have the best dealers in the world. Our dealers deal all 16 games, and they’re the best in the business. Our dealers can go anywhere in the world, say that they worked at Bellagio, and get a job. They’re the best.”
While I’ve had the pleasure of sitting at the tables with some great dealers, as an overall group, he may be right. The Bellagio dealers make very few mistakes, deal fast, and are very professional.
The Bellagio is a great room to visit if you’re looking to see some of the big-name pro’s. Doyle Brunson, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, and many others play here commonly. I’ve also seen Joe Hachem, Johnny Chan, Cindy Violette and Marcel Luske at the tables. This is a great poker room to challenge your skills and take your game to the next level.
If you haven’t played at the Bellagio, it’s obviously worth your time. Don’t forget your flask.
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