General Casino News

In a town constantly remaking itself, poker is the latest phoenix to rise in Las Vegas.

Poker rooms waned in the late 1980s and '90s. But with an unprecedented craze fueled by televised tournaments and online gambling sites, casinos are responding.

Last year, the Golden Nugget, Harrah's, Bally's and the Imperial Palace all re-established poker areas. And Caesars Palace and the MGM Grand have announced plans to get back in the poker game this spring or summer.

"Caesars has a history of having a great poker room, and that's going to come back," said spokesman Michael Coldwell.

In fact, the return of poker has been so popular at Bally's, also run by Caesars Entertainment, that the hotel has already expanded the number of tables from 14 to 20.

The MGM Grand, too, saw the increasing success of poker rooms at sister casinos Bellagio and the Mirage and decided to open 25 tables in late March or early April.

With so much proliferation, gamblers have their choice of setting and stakes. Most rooms, however, are dominated by Texas Hold 'Em, the variation that has all but taken over poker, in many cases crowding out 7-Card Stud and Omaha, the next most popular games.

At all but a few casinos, the low end of hold 'em starts in structured $2-to-$4 games, meaning that bettors can initially wager $2 before and after the flop and $4 after the turn and the river, also known as fourth and fifth streets. The casinos offering $2-to-$4 hold 'em include the Orleans, the Palms, Gold Coast, Harrah's, Bally's, Imperial Palace, the Golden Nugget and famous poker destination Binion's Horseshoe downtown.

A few cheaper games are also available. The Luxor offers $1-to-$2 stakes while Excalibur and the downtown El Cortez run $1-to-$3 games. At the other end of the spectrum, stakes in high-end rooms such as the Mirage start at $3 to $6 and can reach $40 to $80. At the Bellagio, the wagering starts at $4 to $8 and can climb to $30 to $60. Some casinos will put on even richer games if there are willing players.

Most casinos also offer no-limit games – the most common form of hold 'em on television – with minimum buy-ins ranging from $60 to $200. And no-limit tournaments are a growing phenomenon.

The Luxor may be the most budget-conscious, with $25 buy-in tournaments at 10 a.m. weekends and noon daily. The Orleans also has $27 buy-ins several days and nights a week on not just hold 'em but also Omaha Hi-Lo.

Bigger no-limit action prevails at Bellagio and the Mirage, which along with the Palms' high-stakes room are considered the nicest poker settings in Las Vegas. No smoking is allowed at Bellagio and the Mirage. With about 30 tables each, they are the biggest Vegas poker rooms besides the Orleans, with 35 tables, and Binion's, which has about 45.

The Golden Nugget also prohibits smoking in its poker room, and the Nugget and Palms display horse racing and other sporting events on plasma TVs.

Bellagio's Friday-evening tournament has a $1,060 buy-in, a Wednesday afternoon event commands $540, and the Mirage's range from $130 to $330.

For pros and those who want to take them on, January brings two big hold 'em tournaments: the Memorial Championship of Poker at the Orleans ($5,000 buy-in) and the All-In Texas Hold 'Em No-Limit $70,000 Poker Challenge at Imperial Palace ($299 buy-in), both Jan. 27-29.