Reviews of Las Vegas Poker Rooms

There are a ton of places to play live poker in Las Vegas, but I keep going back to just a handful of them. I have been playing live ring games and tournaments for years now and would like to share some information and brief reviews of my favorite poker rooms in Las Vegas. (date of reviews May, 2005)

The Bellagio

My very favorite place to play poker would be The Bellagio. Their poker room offers a ton of different limits. $2.00/$5.00 and $10.00/$20.00 no limit are a few of the games I regularly play there. They also run $2.00/$4.00, $4.00/$8.00, $5.00/$10.00, $10.00/$20.00, $30.00/$60.00 and $100.00/$200.00 fixed games. They offer a daily $42.00 + $20.00 add-on tournament that brings in 100+ entrants per day. The atmosphere is great, and the dealers are very friendly and easy to be around.

The Horseshoe

One of my next all time favorite poker rooms in Las Vegas is The Horseshoe. The Horseshoe runs a $2.00/$5.00 no limit game that usually gets up and running after a tournament. All day long they run $2.00/$4.00, $4.00/$8.00, and $10.00/$20.00 fixed games. I love The Horseshoe daily tournaments: $70.00 + $40.00 add-on, and on Saturdays they run a $75.00 + $50.00 add on. These tournaments usually get 80-100 entrants.

One of the reasons I like The Horseshoe so much is because it is like the holy ground for poker players - you can feel it in the air when you play there. In addition, The Horseshoe has easy access to Freemont Street. If I want to take a break and walk around for a few minutes, Freemont Street is like a 24 hour party going on - just steps away from the poker room.

The Sahara

The Sahara is next on my list. They have a nice little $1.00/$2.00 no limit game that typically runs after tournaments. Their daily tournament is a $42.00 buy in with a $20.00 add-on that pulls in around 100 players. The only problem is that if you don't get there in time, they may run out of table space and you have to get alternated in.

The Golden Nugget

The Golden Nugget has a good morning tournament in which I frequent - a $60.00 re-buy run daily. Besides different fixed games they also run one of my favorite kinds of no limit ring games - $2.00/$5.00 no limit. Once in a while I see them running a $4,000.00/$8,000.00 fixed game. This kind of game is a little too rich for my blood but is fun to watch.

The Cannery

I also like to play at a newer local casino by my house, The Cannery. They have a cool little $25.00 buy in daily morning tournament. At night they run a $1.00/$2.00 no limit game, which I have cleaned house on several times. It is not hard to buy in $100.00 and walk away with 10 times up your original buy in.

The Excalibur

One casino at which I have not yet played but been meaning to try is The Excalibur. I was there visiting some out of town friends and saw that they have a huge poker room. One thing that poker rooms don't offer much anymore is a food spread for their players. Once in a while you will see free donuts in the morning, and in a casino drinks are always free, but I noticed that the Excalibur had a buffet type spread for their players. I will have to get down there and actually play sometime soon.

All of the above mentioned casinos are worth playing poker at. I like how all the games are run as well as the atmospheres of the casinos. If you are planning to visit Las Vegas, you should try one or all of them. And as always, good luck at the tables!

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