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We just came back from a trip to Vegas and played quite a few times in the Bellagio poker room as we were staying there. Granted, this is during the WSOP so the city is overrun with poker players and they are busier than normal. But boy do they need help! Literally.
The room was extremely short-staffed. Dealers were visibly tired, yawning and bleary-eyed, after being requested (required) to work lots of overtime. One of the dealers at our table kept slapping herself in the face to stay awake. Getting chips for a fill? Not when there aren't any chip runners. After about two hours of multiple requests for an "emergency fill" on our $1-$3 table, one dealer literally had no $1 or $5 chips and was down to just a few $3 chips. Players were having to make change for each other and the dealer stopped taking a rake because he couldn't make a change. Talk about ridiculous!
This is one of the tighter rooms and depending on where you sit, you can count on being jostled as people walk by or get to their seats. This is especially true in the Sportsbook, where they run a lot of their lower limit overflow tables when it's so busy.
If you want table food service during this busy season, you should start looking for a server very early. It took me almost an hour to get someone to the table and then another 45 minutes to get the food! And when it came it wasn't hot. Cocktail servers were on it, though, and friendly and helpful.
Most of the dealers were very professional and pleasant and the play was good overall. Management and front desk personnel, however, weren't the best. The wait was very long for many of the tables and one of the front desk guys started getting really grumpy as people asked where they were on the list. I've honestly never heard anyone in a poker room be that downright rude to anyone before. (It wasn't directed at me, but as I was sitting at a table right next to the front desk, I heard his bad attitude for quite a while!)
All that being said, if you are a high limit player, you may really like it here. They had a great mix of games in higher limits that you don't see at most rooms. For me, a $1-$2 or $1-$3 player who occasionally ventures to a $2-$5 game, I really enjoyed the Venetian room much more. There is room between the tables, it's not so frenetic, and everyone was pleasant, friendly, helpful and professional.
