EN
The Bellagio is the Bellagio. The poker room oozes poker. It's great, too, that they have a graduated rake that is better than most in Vegas: $1 at $10, $10 at $30, $1 at $50, and then $10 at $80, making it as low as 5% at the final cutoff.
I played only one session there on my recent trips, at the $4/$8 limit game, and most of the players there are worse than in most of the low-limit California games. Very loose, overly aggressive with marginal hands, and calling stations abounded. You;ll take beats, and it's a high-variance game, but play well and you should win in the long run. You'll do better still if you are used to making thin river calls.
Dealers were not only technically competent, most ran the game well. Some were chatty and friendly, and yet did not loose focus on running the game. Some were very sympathetic about the terrible service, but were very professional in refusing to offer their opinion. Once, when two different conversations were doing between hands, a dealer actually spoke up and stated that the room rule is English only at the table at all times. To do that, to enforce house rules without being asked by customers, is a mark of excellence.
I have never seen such poor service. Many players at the table waited a down or more for service, and then waited again for their orders. Waitresses walked by and ignored the calls because we weren't "their" table. I was given to understand that this is union rules, that waitresses can serve only specific tables. If true, it is a horrible way to provide customer "service." In fact,I'd say it's no service at all. While I understand that waitresses have to be primarily responsible for a specific set of tables, thereby evening the workload, to be specifically prohibited from pitching in and helping elsewhere is anathema to the idea of service.
Floor management runs the room well, in spite of being saddled with an inefficient, poorly designed work environment. Everyone I saw was snappily dressed. The floor personnel I dealt with were all friendly.
What comps?
