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The Mirage’s Poker Room

Friday, May 15th, 2009

The Poker Room at The Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas is one of the most popular rooms at the Strip. Experienced Vegas poker players fancy the tough competition at the Mirage Poker Room even at the low-limit stakes. Obviously not for newbie’s and curious first-timers, the Mirage’s Poker Room has one of the longest wait times in all of the Strip’s poker rooms and for good reason. Expect at the very least a 30-minute wait time especially on weekend nights.

Poker Room Features

Spacious and well-lit, the Mirage’s Poker Room is kept at a superb condition and is well-designed, giving this 25-table poker haven a professional look and feel. Of course, the Poker Room, as is the entire Mirage, is a no-smoking zone. However, it’s easy for poker enthusiasts to step outside and have a puff.

Dealers at the Mirage Poker Room are certainly above average and definitely experienced at handing out deals to experts and professional poker players.

Because the Mirage Poker Room is always crowded, service is rather slow. However, pretty cocktail waitresses make up for the lack of service speed.

To their credit, management does a wonderful job of keeping the place running smoothly. The Mirage Poker Room’s continued popularity among tourists and professional poker players is more than enough proof of that efficiency.

The Famed Competition

The Mirage Poker Room is for professionals and experts. If you’re up for some decent competition, swing by in and join in poker action. The Mirage houses the toughest in town and it’s apparent throughout the room. Many consider the $6/12 Texas Hold‘em game to be the toughest match in town.

That, however, doesn’t have the mediocre folks shy away. Despite the lot of professional poker players playing at the Mirage, average poker players are still able to beat the game. Hordes of tourists are routinely attracted to the Mirage and they provide a welcome skill variety. Moreover, guests playing for the pleasure of the game don’t mind dumping a few hundred bucks at the poker tables.

A crowd of professional players playing for the big bucks, wealthy patrons dropping big bucks just for the fun of it and a selection of average poker players all make the Mirage Poker Room crowd one of the best mixes in Vegas casinos.

Player Benefits and Freebies

Generally, the Mirage doesn’t offer its patrons and poker enthusiasts much in freebies and perks. However, there are a couple of tasty nuggets:

The dawn sandwiches are a selection of really mouth-watering sandwiches served up by the kitchen staff at around four in the morning daily. These sandwiches are on the house and are really a winner amongst the poker crowd.

The US$15 food voucher, this comp is good at various restaurants around town, especially the California Pizza Kitchen. Play a minimum of four hours and you’re entitled to it. However, you have to ask a manager for the comp. If you don’t, you’re not going to get it.

Wynn: Poker Room Profile

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

If you fancy the fanciest in the Strip, the Wynn Poker Room is on top of the list. Located in tallest building in Nevada, inside one of the most posh casinos in Sin City, the Poker Room at Wynn is a cozy, non-smoking enclave of 26 poker tables with automatic shufflers in a wide spacious room where cramp is an alien word.

Poker Room Features

Is convince and accessibility most important to you? The Poker Room at Wynn gives you that. Strategically located a few steps from a parking garage, you can drive in, park your car and be in the Poker Room in less than a minute. This is convenient, easy access for patrons with physical disabilities or if you just don’t fancy a long walk.

Wynn Las Vegas has top-of-the-line electronic queue system. Players need only walk up the front desk to be added to any list they like. If there’s a vacant seat at table you asked to be queued at, the floor brings you there directly. A good thing to do is to ask to be added to several lists as some tables have more movement than others. Your name will be called out when there’s a vacant seat. A bonus to hotel guests the waiting in the comfort of their hotel rooms. Guests can put their names of n the waiting list and watch the queue from an in-house poker channel from their suites.

Similar to the various offerings at Wynn Restaurants, this poker room offers a variety of limits and games to suit everyone’s playing level. Limit Hold‘em games start at $4 to $8 and go up to as much as $100 to $200 and above. No-limit games of Texas Hold‘em begin at $1 to $3.

The Wynn Total Poker Experience

Wynn’s poker operations are directed by a single principle: providing each poker player a truly pleasant playing experience. Spacious, the poker room gives more than enough breathing space for every excited poker player in the house. Monitors are strategically placed where waiting players lounging can see the progress. Rails provide an excellent view of the game and the players and there’s always a crowd watching.

Players get the convenience of shuffle master tables, digital player red cards, and a staff on foot that’s well-trained and pleasantly friendly. Cocktails flow on demand. But the best feature of the Wynn Poker Room is not its modernistic stylish design or it’s state-of-the-art queuing technology; it’s table service. That’s right. At Wynn’s Poker Room, everything a player needs comes to the table. Order food from a menu and have it delivered right up to your seat. What’s more? You can earn food comps by playing in the Poker Room. Earn $1 per hour of play on Rake games and $1.50 per hour of play on timed games. Play as long as you want and earn as much as you play – there’s no limit to food comps earning. Premium quality service at a discount – that’s the Poker Room at Wynn.

Poker Room at Ceasar’s Palace

Monday, May 4th, 2009

Style, class, mystery! Does that sound like Agent 007’s high stakes poker games? You bet it is and you bet it’s right where it should be – at the Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. True to its name, the Caesar’s Palace offers the fun and excitement of poker action in a luxury hotel and casino ambience – just as you would expect of a Vegas strip hotel.

The Mysterious Location

The Poker Room at Caesar’s Palace is typically located between the in-house nightclub Pure and the sports book. That sounds very much like every other location design in a Vegas hotel casino. But scour the Caesar’s Palace and you’d find that a mystery. You’ll miss the entrance at first glance because it’s intentionally hidden from view. This makes for the fun and excitement of a mystery novel. When you find the door and let yourself in, you’d be greeted by a silent, empty diagonal hall. Only the curiously anxious who follows the path down the hall shall find the animated excitement of a poker game down the end – similar to a tavern tucked in deep through a maze of dark rooms in a basement.

This tucked away location of the poker room in Caesar’s Palace is both a cool design twist and a drawback. The location is perfect for pure poker focus. Only the curious and the anxious find their way to the bowels of the hotel to get to the poker haven. There’s less distraction from a homogenous crowd. The very same thing works against it. Although the huge signage atop the entrance door is hard to miss, no signs nor sounds of a highly animated game permeates through to regular guests just passing by the door. This excludes the curious visitors who might have just needed some whetting of appetite to get in the mood for a game.

The Poker Room Features

The poker room at Caesar’s palace caters to gaming comfort. With wide spaces between tables, players can move around simultaneously without having to worry about bumping into the player on the next table. Cramp is not a word you’d give this gaming haven. Stylish new poker tables feature built-in auto shufflers, large, comfortable and wheeled poker chairs and overhead chandeliers for both quality lighting and style.

Caesar’s Palace’s poker room also features a screened off area for its daily poker tournaments. A waiting lounge for players has comfortable seats for viewing the action in total comfort, or you can let your eyes roam the room’s walls for various sports-themed decors lined up there. If anything, the Poker Room at Caesar’s Palace is the real-life secret garden of a poker aficionado

The Experience

The Poker Room at Caesar’s Palace may not be as high-stakes as the other Vegas Poker Rooms and its dealers may not be outstanding but it definitely serves the best margaritas in town. Cocktails of course are flowing and the staff is generally pleasant and capable. When the service staff floors its cocktail service speed, they’ll keep a happy, fully-quenched crowd of poker players happy.

The MGM Grand Hotel’s Poker Room

Friday, May 1st, 2009

The MGM Grand is not only a famous venue for top entertainers performing live; it’s also famous among high-stakes gamblers because of its Casino. One of its notable features is a late addition to the gambling Strip – the Poker Room, which opened in 2005. Located half a mile from the garage both ways, you’d save yourself the walk if you park right across the street as it is on ground level. Or if you’re looking to catch some exercise before tying yourself down to a comfy chair for hours on end, the walk from the garage to the bowels of the poker room should do you well.

The Poker Room’s Unique Service Line

Service par excellence is what keeps this poker room full besides the usual fast-paced poker action. A no-smoking zone, the MGM Grand’s 22-table room dedicated to poker and poker enthusiasts features top of the line amenities and services for an unrivaled comfortable player experience. Open 24/7, the MGM Grand’s Poker Room offers tableside food and beverage service round-the-clock, plus a daily tableside massage service by professional therapists. Is it a wonder why this Poker Room is quick to become the crowd favorite at the southern Strip?

The Features

Besides its excellent location, the MGM Grand has the most visually appealing poker room in all of Las Vegas. Much like other poker rooms, it’s located between the sports book and the MGM’s nightclub – Studio 54. The round Centrifuge Bar is adjacent to it, giving the Poker Room and amazing hour-glass backdrop. The cashier’s cage is hard to miss and the ten plasma monitors strategically scattered about the room makes viewing of games-in-progress easy from any seat. A higher-stakes gamer would enjoy the solitary room upstairs that gives a fantastic view of the sports book.

The latest in gaming technology is right here. Everything, from the list to the comp system to communication of open seats is done electronically. Dealers press a button from a console at each table to convey the number of vacant seats at their table. Not only does this save your eardrums from concussions but facilitates efficiency. What’s more? MGM is by far, the only room in town that gives you the freedom to roam around and do what you please while waiting for your turn; you’ll get a beep when your seat is ready so go ahead and explore if you wish to.

Oh, and be sure too sign up for a player card. You’ll need to swipe the card every time you switch tables; the hours you spend in the MGM Poker Room is tracked electronically and earns you a dollar per hour in. California-styled, the Poker Room is a hungry poker’s place with the deli counters only a few steps away. You can even request for a menu to be brought to you.

With the usual combination of limit and no-limit, low stakes or high stakes games and mixes, the MGM Grand’s Poker Room combines fast-paced excitement, superb service and top-of-the-line technology for a totally fun, exciting and rewarding gaming experience.

Poker Room at The Binions Horseshoe Hotel

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

If you’re looking to set foot at the place where it all began, the Poker Room at the Binion’s Gambling Hall is where you should be. Having been in the casino business since 1951, owner Benny Binion – hence the name – is a gambling legend, and his brainchild holds more poker history than any other Casino’s poker room in history.

Poker History with the Legend

Originally named Binion Horseshoe, the Binion Poker Room has pioneered many pokers first as its legendary owner reshaped downtown Las Vegas gambling. When it opened in 1951, bets were capped at $500, a good ten times of what the cap was at every other gambling house in downtown Vegas.

Benny also brought gambling standards to a much higher level as he sought to make it player-friendly. Offering free drinks to patron, limousine transport to and from airports and a carpet-lined walk are all Binion firsts. And what is poker history without a legendary player? The Old Man of Poker, Johnny Moss was dubbed the Binion’s Ambassador of Poker. Back in the day, he and his wife literally lived at the Horseshoe.

In all its poker history, the Binion’s played host to the World Series of Poker until 2004, as the privately owned property has fallen into a state of neglect on the death of its owner and the departure of his heir. For many years, Wall Street had to speculate on the Binion’s worth and earnings. But because it was privately held and did not need to make public its finances, nothing could be substantiated.

The Drama in 2004

The property temporarily closed for a couple of months in 2004 before intervening owner Harrah’s hastily bought the properly, cleaned the dump up, repainted walls, reopened the casino and hired staff a mere days before the WSOP 2004 Tournament. At the tournament’s conclusion, the property, except the Horseshoe name and the World Series of Poker Tournament, to new owners, MTR Gaming. The world-famous Casino was then renamed Binion’s.

Binion’s Poker Room Today

Binion’s Poker Room offers a total of 95 tables – the most in any Vegas Strip casino poker room. These tables are spread out into three sections, the regular hall has 18, the tournament hall has 28 and the rest -50- are upstairs at Benny’s Bullpen. Poker history is on the Binion’s walls as its Wall of Fame holds portraits of famous poker players. Out back of the poker room, the red-lined Gallery of Champions holds the portraits of various World Series of Poker Champions.

True to its tradition, Binion’s poker room offers $2/4, $4/8 and $3/6 Texas Hold’em. The $1/2 no-limit Texas Hold’em game comes with a $100 minimum buy-in and it always features action-packed games. Remaining true to Benny’s tradition of feeding its patrons, Binion’s has a more liberal comp policy than most in Las Vegas. Four hours of play earns you an $8.00 food comp you can use at most of the hotel’s restaurants and food outlets.

The Venetian Hotel’s Poker Room

Friday, March 27th, 2009

Unveiled in 2006, the Venetian Hotel’s Poker Room is one of the largest in Vegas. Holding 39 poker tables, it offers a whole range of games and limits to make every poker player of whatever skill and risk level happy and satisfied.

The Poker Room in a Posh Hotel

The Venetian Hotel and Casino brings Venice to life right in the middle of the Strip. The Hotel’s 500 000 square-foot mall holds hundreds of retail shops right inside the hotel’s premises. Beautiful, arched fresco ceilings great you at the lobby’s entrance. Holding the largest spa in Las Vegas, its 62 treatment rooms offer a wide variety of services and package selection. With that kind of luxury and grandeur, you expect nothing less of its casino. The poker Room is one of three luxury poker rooms at the Strip that’s catering to the needs of high-end crowd.

Poker Room Features

The hotel’s 10, 500 square feet of space has more than enough room dedicated to poker and its patrons. The Venetian Poker Room is easily a poker playground. No player complains about cramp spaces at the Venetian Poker Room, although smokers might be annoyed that it’s a non-smoking room like most at the Strip. The tables are evenly spaced out and moving about is definitely hassle-free and easy.

Designed with appearance at the forefront, 21 large plasma TV screens are scattered in strategic locations on the floor. All its poker tables are beautifully-designed art pieces that are richly appointed with comfortable arm rests. This elegance is matched with adjustable poker chairs for maximum comfort. Superb décor has been especially chosen to match the muted tasteful and coordinated color scheme of the entire room. This heady combination gives this poker room an unmatched air of sophistication, style and comfort. With the Venetian Poker Room, the standards in Vegas casinos and poker room elegance has just been redefined.

The Venetian Poker Room Highlight Features

Players have a choice of three games – Hold‘em, Omaha and Stud, with the Texas Hold‘em being the crowd favorite. Limit and no-limit games are available, with limits starting at $4/8. Food service is available at the main poker room and a complimentary valet service ensures you hassle-free, convenient parking.

Two high-stakes areas are carved out of this vast space featuring seven high-limit tables and the total repertoire of comfort – butler service, gourmet dining and a couple of relations areas. The regular high-stakes area sits behind a wall, partially hidden. The premium or VIP high-stakes area is an entirely separate room within the floor, similar to Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio.
Competition is relatively tough at the Venetian Poker Room. Many of the players here are experienced, lured by the game or the posh classy air. It shouldn’t be surprising when the regular high-stakes game played at the Bellagio begins to migrate to the Venetian Poker Room.

Bellagio’s Poker Room

Friday, March 27th, 2009

Popular among poker players flocking to the Sin city for a dose of fun and excitement, Las Vega’s Bellagio Hotel has a poker room is known as the Mecca of Poker.

The Total Hotel Experience

The Bellagio Hotel offers guests to the hottest gaming strip in the world total hotel experience. In-house spa and salon takes care of your need to be pampered. But that’s a common offering of Vegas hotels, isn’t it? The Bellagio Hotel is nothing quite like the ordinary hotels. Exploring the entire property itself is quite an experience. If the spas and the salon treat your to modern pampering and comfort with old-world anointments, escaping to the Mediterranean-styled courtyards and luxury pools take you back in time, to the ancient glory of the old world. The Conservatory and Botanical Garden is a treat to the wonders of the world’s flora. In-room accommodations are beyond standard accommodation as each is designed for VIP luxury appointments with luxurious furniture.

Hosting Elite Guests and Players

Gambling is one of two reasons holiday-fun seekers go to Vegas. And poker aficionados know the Bellagio’s Poker Room is the place to be. The Bellagio’s scenic serenity comes alive at night at the Poker Room – the site of the most gaming action in the Bellagio’s seven-diamond casino. Sophistication is in every detail of the hotel and is evident even in its 40- table Poker Room. Exhilarating hand after hand of classic poker on these 7,000 square feet of luxury gaming area featuring the latest in design, comfort and technology. Entry is limited to a select few and the list of those waiting for a pass is long. VIP guests pay top dollar to be on that list.

A prominent feature of the Bellagio’s Poker Room is a dedicated Bobby’s Poker Room, named in honor of the Champion of the World Series of Poker in 1978, Bobby Baldwin. Bobby’s Poker Room is an exclusive two-table enclosure that has hosted the master himself and several other VIP guests and players. Is it any wonder Bellagio’s Poker is one of the stops of the World Poker Tour?

To ensure your total poker experience, the Poker Room features top-of-the-line overhead music system, 24/7 table-side dining, complimentary beverage, full-service cashier cage, safe deposit boxes, eight TV monitors on 32-inch screens and 11 of the latest 42-inch plasma TVs. But that’s not all; the place is lined with exquisite poker-related artwork you just have to see for yourself.

The Action in the Bellagio Poker Room

To get started, pick between the high-limit and the no-limit board to sign up. The desk out front signs up for lower stakes of $4/8 and $8/16 limit games of Texas Hold’em, and $2/5 and $5/10 no-limit. If you fancy a high stakes game, ask where to sign and you’ll be escorted to sign up man. Keen on playing in more than one limit or game? Sign up for two lists. As the night wears on, some move faster than the rest.