By livetronix on May 21st, 2008 (more posts by author)

Hi everyone - I consider myself a rookie at poker, I used to play some online. I've only played in Poker Rooms about 5 times (Morongo, near Palm Springs, Bally's in LV and Harrah's).

We got to a table around 10pm Friday night. Harrah's room is near the Sports Betting area and has it's own room about 10 tables. Action seemed quite small, maybe 5 no-limit tables and two tournament tables finishing up.

My friend is a big fan of poker and plays online, but had never played in a Casino (that's why we picked Harrah's). We asked to play together at a 1/2 table and waited about 15 minutes, they started a new table for us. We each bought in for $100.

We both played really tight until we got comfortable with the table. It seemed like the typical crowd... 2-3 people who play semi-tight and make money, 3-4 touristy type people who think they are good and 2 donkeys, who love flushes.

I didn't really have any notable hands, but the table was playing really tight, so about half-way through our play, I loosened up. I was fortunate to get some decent cards, when the donkey of the table wanted to chase his flush/straight/anything draws.

Best part, was when Scotty Nguyen showed up to the room. Everyone pretty much stopped playing, he was tossing chips to each dealers as tips. After a little while he came up to our game and threw a black chip, with his picture on it into the pot. Some guy bet $100 pre-flop for it (he also had AK).

I finished up about $150, my friend finished even.

Harrah's room is decent and not very intimidating for a rookie. Drink service was pretty good. Dealers where so-so.