For starters, my main consideration in selecting a room is table difficulty. All else is secondary, so I don't pay much attention to stuff like cocktail service, flat screen TVs, etc. I'm reviewing principally for the level of competition. Where I noticed significant things, I'll point them out.

Aladdin. Very soft room, but spreads mostly 2/4 limit. Took a very long time to get a 3/6 game going, and a 4/8 game never took off (although the players did agree to a 3/6 kill at one point). Some locals, mostly younger ones. A number of dealers seemed to play there, which is a plus since they are so awful and play too many hands. Tourists tended to be very very passive, with a few young punks who played like Cappy McCap on every street. All in all, a great room with nice tables. Restroom is very close by, so you can take a piss without missing a hand if you time it right. Dealers are competent, nothing special. Overall, I made the most money here, although this was skewed by the fact that I won a 3/6 kill pot that got capped on the river 4 ways. Also, they have a high hand jackpot, which is nice. They allow the use of Ipods.

Ballys. Soft competition, similar to Aladdin in skill level. Lots of stupid tourists, no locals. Again, same problem with only spreading micro games (there was only one 4/8 table running). Not really a "room", just a roped off area near the bar. Cocktail service was slow... 1 older woman for 8 tables or so. The 4/8 could be a good game though, since the skill level of the players was quite bad. No jackpots. Ipod use prohibited.

Imperial Palace. Competition again like Aladdin & Bally's, i.e., just awful. Noticed a few more drunks, which was good, but that could have been a function of the time of day more than anything. Again, it took forever to get the 4/8 interest list going. I didnt like this cardroom though because although the competition stunk, the bathroom was very far away, the dealers were horrendous (misreading the board, not saying things like "5 players" after collecting the bets, floating/exposing cards, etc.), and the chips were absolutely filthy. No high hand jackpot, which was annoying as hell, since I flopped quad aces once, and my wife flopped quad kings. We got zippo, whereas at a different card room, we could have made a ton off these hands.

Harrahs. A very nice cardroom that caters to extremely bad locals and tourists. Ipods permitted. Competition here was again soft, perhaps a tad better than Aladdin and Ballys. (Had a few out of town tourists to my right playing weak-tight.) Earlier in the night there were some Asian/Philippino locals on one end of the table, truly horrible players cold calling 3 bets, etc. Unfortunately, they made money and left. I did take some satisfaction in hearing the Philipino lady tell her neighbor that she was leaving the table because of "that guy over there" (me), who was raising every pot he was in. Bathroom very close by. Overall, a pleasant cardroom that I enjoyed.

Monte Carlo. Played the 4/8 half kill here. A terrible room competition wise. More than 50% of the players were locals, and at least 1 guy was a genuine rounder. If it weren't for a few stupid Israeli tourists, I dont think I'd have made money. The 4/8 game here features a strange 1/2 blind structure, with the raise coming on top of the blinds, so it encourages a lot of limping. Locals like to try to get in cheap to see pots and flop a monster, so more than at most places, if you're playing at the MC you need to raise preflop to get the money in and the limpers out. In multiway pots, a TPTK hand is really in trouble here. If ever there was a place to raise AJo or ATo under the gun, it's here. Many of the local rocks will fold out, a handful of dumb tourists will call, and you'll play a 3-4 handed pot. Nice high hand jackpot. One old grinder picked up $500 for the str8 flush while I was sitting there. Some tables have Shufflemasters.

Bellagio. Now that I've played here, I can see why people both seek this room out and avoid it. On the plus side, the room is fantastic. All tables with Shufflemasters, and the dealers were absolutely the best. I played 10 hours str8 and saw 1 exposed card. Action was fast, cocktail service great, free copies of Cardplayer mag, etc. The floorman was great. There were also some (3-4) really atrocious players at every table, ranging from the loose-passives who don't know what the hell they are doing and will pay you off with ace-high (no joke), to the loose-aggressives who raise under the gun with 45s (no joke). One lady in particular was so LAGgy, I played well beyond when I should have simply because I was waiting to catch a hand so we could autocap when I had the edge. (Unfortunately, this never happened).

On the downside, the Bellagio attracts some good players. At my table, at any given time 40%-50% of the players were TAGs who played solid, thinking poker a la Ed Miller's book, or guys who at least played a competent game like Ciaffone/Jones recommend. This is really the biggest negative to the Bellagio room as far as I can tell. I ultimately lost a small amount of money at the Bellagio (the only room where this occurred), but I'd like to blame this on card distribution and a few mistakes from tiredness. I would play here again, but you need to be willing to get a table change if your table is too tough. One other negative I forgot to mention is the waitlist. On Saturday, by noon there was a monster waitlist, so I ultimately had to come back early Sunday morning when everybody was watching sports.

Overall. An excellent trip. I'd recommend Aladdin, Ballys and Harrahs, for microlimit 2/4 against atrocious competition. If you want to play higher limits like 4/8 or 3/6 kill, the games are hard to put together. Bellagio is great, but table selection is key. No reason to go to Imperial Palace when you can play elsewhere.