Room Quality: The rooms are old and range from decent to downright dingy. All are a little bit shabby. Because of the funny shape of the main tower, some rooms are huge, with two queen beds and a couch, table and desk. Others resemble a typical Days Inn. The bathrooms tend to be very, very small, so if stretching out in the john is high on your list of requirements, steer clear. The decor is sort of flowery and a bit old but at least it's not bright or obnoxious.

Service Quality: Fair. You're likely to not have much interaction outside of checking in and checking out. There is no staff wandering about to help you out, and very few convenience services available.

What You Get Bottles of in the Bathroom: Soap and a bottle of shampoo/conditioner are all you get. Check the room for the ultradeluxe "amenities kit" that is occasionally--but not always--there.

Clientele: An older, lower-middle class crowd who feels more comfortable in the Plaza's unpretentious surroundings than they do on the Strip.

How's the Pool? The pool is old and ratty, but decent for downtown. It's nowhere near as nice as a place like the Mandalay Bay, but the big rectangular pool on the roof of the casino is the second best downtown (after the really swank Golden Nugget). There are also some dilapidated tennis courts up there.

Table Games: Blackjack, craps, poker, Pai Gow, Let It Ride, baccarat, mini-baccarat, roulette and 3-card poker. The blackjack is generally good, especially the single deck.

Bet Minimums: Blackjack is $5 minimum ($3 games do pop up but don't count on it), and that's sort of steep for this place. The craps is usually $3 or $5, with good 10x odds. Roulette usually has toney dollar chips. Oo la la, some casino executive has mistaken this place for the Bellagio.

Machines: Older variations on slot machines and video poker. The casino is wall to wall with slots, actually. They have some full pay video poker at the quarter denominations. Most machines are in the penny to dollar range. Some go as high as $5, but for that much scratch, you're better off playing somewhere with fresher air.

Cocktails? Good cocktail service. The cocktail waitresses here have to put up with a lot of cheapskates and no-goodniks, so a smile and a toke just plain warms their hearts and keeps them coming back quick.

Who Gets Comps? The slot club is pretty generous. They are also very good about sending out coupons to consistent players.

Firefly: Firefly, a branch of a local eatery, occupies the dome overlooking Fremont Street, and is a terrific use of the space. The restaurant serves tapas, which means you can make your meal of several small servings of tasty different mediterranean dishes. Or, just have appetizers wile enjoying the view. Open for dinner only.

Lombardi's Italian Kitchen: It's not really a kitchen, and we don't even know if anyone named Lombardi is involved. The restaurant is Italian, though, and mid-priced for moderate tastes. Open for dinner only and closed Sunday and Monday. So, if you're eating at the Plaza on those nights, it's the buffet or fast food for you!

Omelet House: This place serves reasonably-priced, tasty and standard breakfast and lunch fare and only open for breakfast and lunch. Look for omelets, typical egg dishes and pancakes at breakfast. For lunch, dig into burgers and several different types of sandwiches. all of which can be ordered with sliced banana!

Stuffed: This depressing buffet serves up all-you-can-eat Chinese and American food in an area right off the casino floor, and within stumbling distance of the bathrooms. The price for breakfast and lunch is low, under $10, and dinner is pricier because each night has a different specialty like steak and crab legs, or "southern fried." A buffet to forget.

Aqua Lounge: The Aqua Lounge appears to be about as low-rent a place can be in an attempt to jack up drink prices. Tired from the moment it opened, this small lounge is dull and and a weak imitation of the Strip's overpriced drinkeries. There is a stage for live Karaoke on Wednesdays, and a few blue lights.

The Rat Pack is Back: A tribute to the days when the Rat Pack were the kings of Las Vegas. Impersonators do Sammy, Dino, Frank and even Joey. Mostly it's singing, but there is also some banter and old jokes, just like they told 40-odd years ago at the Sands.

Number of TVs: About twenty TV s overall are split up for sports and racing, with the sports on one wall facing away from the windows.

Number of Seats: 100 unreserved seats for the racing fan. Bring your own cushion. Actually, the 54 that have individual TVs, which only show racing, are pretty comfy. The sports seats are comfy if you can get one. If not, you may sit at the uncomfy barstools at the back of the sports area.

How Many Betting Windows? There are about ten total. Sports boards are electronic.

Free Drinks? Nope, none that we could see.

Snack Bar? Yes, it's on the wall a short walk from the sports book. So you'll never be to far from a source of grease.

Minimum Wager: $5 sports, $2 race.

Other Notes: This is a good sports and race book for downtown. It is operated by Lucky's, which also operates a few casinos in Northern Nevada, and claims to offer the most bets of any book in town. So, if you're itching to put some money on a curling match in Ottawa, this is the most likely spot.

Number of Tables: Three poker tables are all they have space for these days. Or maybe they only had three tables left that weren't too worn out.

Comfort of Chairs: Let's just say you're not going to be tempted to cart one of these off to put in your living room. They are as average as it gets. Actually, let's make it below average since there are so many good chairs in town now.

Closed Room or Open to Casino? Open to the casino and its funny smell. On some nights it's quiet, especially during the week. But if the casino is busy, this is one of the noisiest parts of it.

Game Spreads and Limits: It's all Hold'em, and not good hold'em. $3-$6 and maybe a no-limit game if enough of the wild youngsters stop in.

How Crowded is the Room? The one cash game table they get going fills up, but rarely spills onto a second table. Our last trip, when two seats opened, they were relentless in announcing it over the PA system.

Comps? Free drinks while playing. Play for a few hours a day and they'll give you the room rate. Otherwise, you get $5 worth of comps for every four hours of play.

How Good Are the Players? Well, the players are pretty bad, loose and passive. Chew them up. They dont even look like they're having any fun.

What Else Do I Need to Know? Weak! This is a pretty poor poker room overall. Not poor, downright lousy. It occupies space that was better used by the legendary Omaha Lounge, it's noisy as all get out, it has nothing special to offer and it's small. Boo!