Review Criteria

As regular readers will have gathered, I'm off to Vegas this August for a monster poker trip of epic proportions (well, for me anyway). As explained, I'll be gathering $1 chips, as momentoes, from the 25 casinos that run from Mandalay Bay all the way up to Wynn. I don't intend venturing north of Wynn (to Stratosphere, Encore, Riviera and Circus Circus) as the casinos start to spread out, but I might do if I have time to kill or if I need a long extended break from the tables. Here are the places in question (from south to north):

1.    Mandalay Bay - SW

2.    Luxor - SW
A.        Tropicana - SE

3.    Excalibur - SW
B.         New York-New York - SW
4.    MGM Grand - SE

5.    Monte Carlo - SW
C.         Cosmopolitan - CW
D.         Aria - CW

6.    Planet Hollywood - CE
E.         Paris - CE

7.    Bally's - CE

8.    The Bellagio - CW

9.    Bill's Gamblin' Hall - CE
F.         Ceasars Palace - CW

10.  Flamingo - CE
G.         O'Shea's - CE

11.  Imperial Palace - CE

12.  Harrah's - CE
H.         Casino Royale - CE

13.  Mirage -NW
I.          Treasure Island - NW

14.  The Venetian - NE

J.         The Palazzo - NE
K.         Wynn - NE

Those that are in a larger font and underlined are my "Vegas Fourteen." These are casinos which have poker rooms that run $1/$2 cash games and which restrict maximum buy-ins to $200-$300 thus making them lighter on the pocket for the small stakes poker player such as yours truly. I hope to sit down in all poker rooms of my "Vegas Fourteen" and to do reviews of each. Obviously I'll be spending many more hours at some rather than others, but I reckon a sit down period of an hour or two (minimum) should be enough to get the flavour of the place.

There will be five aspects of the poker room to take into account and I'll be giving a mark out of 10 for each. I'll then double that mark to arrive at a clear percentage or a mark out of 100:

1.  Quality
Here, I'll be looking at the general comfort offered to the players. The space to move around in, upkeep and cleanliness, general quality of the furnishings like carpet, tables and chairs, along with overall decor and surroundings will all be taken into account.

2.  Atmosphere
This will be based on the general ambience of the place. If it's an enjoyable and relaxing experience with most players just enjoying themselves and chatting nicely then this is all good.

3.  Traffic
No one wants to walk into a dead poker room with just 2 or 3 players sitting there staring into space or reading while waiting for more players. Similarly, just one table of serious nit-types is kinda rubbish as well. Good traffic with a good choice of tables to play at is essential to make a decent poker room.

4.  User-Friendly Factor
General ease of access to the poker room within the building is a bonus. Clarity of table stakes being played and knowing where to go is a must as is ease of getting and cashing chips. The system of registering to play and getting to the table should not make visitors feel awkward and being kept well-informed is a must.

5. Staff
Friendly, co-operative and helpful staff are a must from the waitresses to the dealers to the cashier clerks. It all adds to the experience.

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I was going to give a separate category for "Competition" but as the standard of opponent fluctuates so wildly on a day to day, table by table, room by room, basis I won't include this as part of my criteria for reviewing the rooms.