So who's going to play some poker in Las Vegas?

[jmhorstman]

I always find it a bit ironic to attend a conference full of statisticians, programmers, and data analysts in Las Vegas.  Ignorance of statistics is the lifeblood of the casinos, and I can't bring myself to bet money on games wherein the odds are against me.

Poker, on the other hand, is a game where a skilled player can have a statistical advantage, which makes it much more enticing.  The variance is huge and must be carefully managed to allow the positive expected value to win out over large numbers of hands.  I have played a fair bit and think I might test the waters in some low-stakes games next week.

Just curious if there are any other poker players among us, and if so, which poker rooms in Las Vegas do you like?  I've heard the poker room in the Venetian is pretty good, but I'm curious if anyone has other recommendations.  Maybe someplace filled with lots of tourists and really soft games?

[jwaller]

Not me. They will be lucky if I put a quarter in a slot machine. I just can't ever bring myself to give my money away. Which is what I would be doing, knowing that the odds are always with the house, regardless of the game played. Now if we were playing with M&Ms that might be a different story and I would be happy to lose. And I do lose, quite a lot!

Jenn

[Rick_SAS]

In the late '80s the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) held it's annual meeting in Reno, Nevada. The opening keynote speaker was the Nevada Gambing Commissioner, whoc opened his talk by joking, "I'd like to thank the math teachers in this room for doing such a poor job teaching probability and statistics to their students. The State of Nevada has profitted from your teaching."

I heard anecdotally that the MAA officers were not pleased by his attempted humor.  I also heard that the casino we stayed in was not happy by the small crowds of mathematicians who visited the gaming rooms.  Regardless of how well they teach, mathematicians know the odds (and tend to be cheap as well!).   As I recall, the MAA and the City of Reno mutually agreed that future conferences should be held elsewhere.

[andy_smith_amadeus_co_uk]

I'll be spending a bit of time at Excalibur the week following SGF. I've heard it's full of recreational players, and I love the smell of blood in the water. I'm also aiming to pop in to the Bellagio to see if any of the big pros are there. 

[mbuchecker]

Be aware that you'll need to buy in with a serious amount of cash. Not that the casinos require it, but when you sit down at a table of a game already in progress with only a small portion of what the top 2 chip leaders at the table have, they will bet large trying to get you to play mediocre hands, or bluff you into thinking they have something better. So you'll be folding a lot and if you don't have good hands when the blinds come around to you, you'll be out pretty quickly.
signed,
voice of experience

[jmhorstman]

Thanks, Michelle.  Great point!

I probably won't buy in for less than 100 big blinds, but it's a good idea to take a look at the stack sizes around the table before sitting down to see what you might be up against.

Looks like the smallest NLHE game at Venetian is typically $1/$2.  Anyone know of any smaller games being spread in the other casinos?