Arrived in Las Vegas on a Thursday and played the first night at the Monte Carlo poker room (our hotel). This beautiful old fashioned poker room is located a sufficient distance away from the casino floor, which gives it a private feel, has short waiting lists, friendly and competent poker room staff, friendly and experienced dealers (with the exception of one very curt female dealer), and an impressively decorated space. The only real drawback were the NOT too friendly and very slow drink servers. If you want a soft low-limit game, and a medium ability level no-limit game in a friendly, comfortable atmosphere, and you can stand to wait 30 minutes between drink order and delivery, this is the place for you.

Day two: Played at the Excalibur and never totally felt comfortable or well taken care of here. The poker room is within plain sight of the casino, with high ceilings (which make it a bit noisy for a poker room). The waiting list was a little longer than other rooms but not too bad since there are lots of tables here. The staff at the front desk were somewhat short/impatient with us, dealers were slow to come to conclusions regarding winning hands, drink servers were competent but horribly dressed (not their fault - the costumes are very unflattering), and the WORST poker room atmosphere I have ever seen. This used to be the sports book room and has all the ambience and charm of a basement or a bingo hall. Very little attention paid to the players physical or visual comfort. Found some of the worst "chaser" players I've ever seen at both the low limit and no limit games and had the impression that this was a poker room for beginners. Not a good experience.

Day three: Played at the Luxor and was pleasantly surprised at the overall feel given its close proximity to the casino floor. This room is not large and not very private, but they made the best of the space. Waiting list not too long, friendly staff, not entirely experienced dealers, and friendly but very slow drink servers. One thing I noticed here more than anywhere was that the dealers were not in control of the tables - allowing rude and unsportsmanlike behavior as if they were too afraid or not able to take a stand, in fact, the staff at the desk had to be prodded by other players to take action against one particaularly obnoxious player and explain the rules of the game.

Day four: Played at the Alladin. This is a very nice, comfortable and well decorated room. There is even a very cozy sitting room within the poker room for those not playing, where magazines are laid out on the "coffee table" to read - for those who might be with players but not playing cards - (great idea!). The room is located off the casino floor which allows for privacy, no waiting lists (Sunday), very friendly and competent poker room front desk staff, experienced and friendly dealers (they actually talk to the players), and the most prompt and pretty drink servers in Vegas. Sundays they have well run 10 person "sit-and-go" tournaments for 50.00 + 5.00 buyin. Payout goes to the top 2 finishers. Although we saw quite a few "locals" playing in these tourneys, it was a fun and inexpensive way to spend a couple hours playing tournament style poker without the huge buy-in fee. The dealers for these games appeared exceptionally patient with new players as well. Played a no limit game and lost my shirt in no time flat by the amazingly good quality players there that day. Limit game was much more friendly and predictable.

Wish I could have hit a few more casinos but one casino a day was really enough for me, spending 5-8 hours in each room. Next time I'm in Vegas I'll head for the Alladin and Monte Carlo first....then maybe check out all the fuss at the Bellagio and MGM Grand.