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Play fun video poker games with friends in Vegas World and win tons of Coins! Try your luck at playing free video poker games including Puppy Poker and Swimsuit Poker. Use your Gems to get Good Luck Charms, which boost your coin winnings from playing free video poker games in Vegas World. Only on Vegas World - Good Luck Charms. Poker in Las Vegas is Back! Premier venues like Caesars Palace (shown) have reopened - with.+ limitations. I’ve enjoyed a long love affair with Las Vegas poker rooms. Status of Las Vegas Poker, Winter, 2021 by Bryan Clark Two Plus Two Magazine, Vol. 2 In the early evening of Saturday, January 23, I completed my fortieth survey of the poker rooms on the Las Vegas Strip.
The Nevada Gaming Control Boardreleased regulations directing casinos on how to keep properties as sterile and safe as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. Limiting live poker tables to four players is one of the directives.
Poker players and industry followers immediately noted that this plan is not feasible. Most players will not want to sit in a four-handed game. The rake and tips, even if reduced for the faster games, become unbeatable to most at this level. It also takes the social aspect out of live poker.
Will any Las Vegas poker rooms deal four-handed games?
It is apparent that most Las Vegas poker rooms will not reopen under the conditions required by gaming regulators. On the same day as the poker player table limit announcement, there were reports of Station Casinos laying off all its poker employees. Other casinos showed a lack of interest in spreading shorthanded poker before the mandatory closure by shuttering rooms early. For example, Venetian attempted three-handed tables but gave up before the closure order.
There may be some exceptions to this. According to data on Bravo Poker at the time, South Point spread games until the last hour before the forced closure on March 17. Its games were five-handed at the time. The Orleans dealt long into March 17 with the same five-handed policy. Two other Boyd Gaming poker rooms – Cannery and Sam’s Town – also stayed open until nearly the end. Golden Nugget dealt six-handed games.
If any Las Vegas poker room attempts to deal four-handed poker, I feel like these are the big favorites to do it: South Point has the biggest chance. The Orleans is a close second place.
Several Station Casinos poker rooms dealt into the last day. Red Rock Resort was the last to close before South Point. It spread seven-handed games and has reportedly already laid off its poker staff, making it highly unlikely it will restart poker any time soon.
Las Vegas Strip poker rooms unlikely to reopen in first phase
I do not believe any Las Vegas Strip casinos will launch poker immediately upon reopening. These resorts will try to generate as much cash flow with as few employees as possible due to the massive cash burns experienced during the closure.
Poker rooms, especially four-handed ones, are not conducive to generating rake that could help the bottom line in any meaningful way. I do not think any Las Vegas Strip poker room will deal a hand until the restrictions are relaxed to at least six-handed tables.
Will Las Vegas poker rooms survive?
This is all an educated guess. I have watched Las Vegas poker rooms closely for nearly 10 years and drew some conclusions from that experience.
A poker room not immediately reopening is not a cause for concern, even if the space is converted into slots. I believe some casinos will do this to help spread the machines out to comply with social distancing in the interim but will not mean permanent death for poker at that casino. Other poker rooms that do not reopen in the coming months will be walled or roped off. This allows the casino to easily bring poker back when conditions improve.
Las Vegas poker room prediction
There has been a trend of Las Vegas casinos dumping poker rooms in the last decade. I counted 27 in an article I wrote after the one at Strat closed last year. This shutdown will make that number skyrocket. I predict about 12 of the 31 Las Vegas poker rooms open in March never return. Some that do come back may be closed for a year or longer.
The poker rooms best suited to survive are destination and locals ones. I feel that Aria, Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Golden Nugget, Venetian and Wynn/Encore are huge favorites to keep poker rooms.
Others likely to retain poker are smaller locals casinos where the space inside the property is already underutilized and there is no need to remove tables. This includes most or all the casinos along Boulder Highway and in Henderson, like Boulder Station, Club Fortune, Green Valley Ranch, Sam’s Town and Skyline. The two in North Las Vegas – Cannery and Poker Palace – are also likely to be safe. Orleans, South Point and Red Rock are examples of large Las Vegas locals poker rooms that I expect to return when the dust settles.
That leaves small poker rooms, mostly along the Strip. I expect Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts to consolidate a few rooms. This will depend on the demand these companies see at the flagship poker rooms. This list includes Bally’s, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Planet Hollywood and Rio for Caesars. I think it is about guaranteed that the Rio poker room never reopens unless the World Series of Poker returns before the two-year leaseback ends. Small MGM Resorts poker rooms are Excalibur, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and Mirage.
The balance of rooms left in Las Vegas are small and mostly at independent casinos. This list includes Binion’s, Palace Station, Sahara, Santa Fe Station, Silver 7’s and Westgate.
The two Station Casinos poker rooms are presumably closed indefinitely, though one or both probably comes back in the end. The others all feel like underdogs to relaunch.
I want to be wrong
I hope I am wrong. I do not want to see any poker room close or any employee lose a job. However, I am also more optimistic than most seem to be. When I predicted 20 Las Vegas poker rooms would survive this on Twitter, most replies took the under.
Regardless, the market will have ample space for the demand. There may just be fewer small rooms for players that prefer that setting over a large destination poker room.
There are rumblings Las Vegas is about to get its video poker bars, and its groove, back soon. (Update, 9/17/20: Bars will reopen at 11:59 p.m. on Sep. 20, 2020.)
Bars (that don’t serve food) have been shut down for weeks due to the pandemic, including the most important bars, ones with video poker.
Let’s just say we have some pent-up demand.
While some bars have found workarounds, like free-standing video poker away from the bar, it’s just not the same, and video poker fans are champing at the bit to have their favorite places back online again.
Drink or video poker at the bar, dangerous. Drink at a table next to the bar, you’re good. There will be a quiz.
Here, then, are 11 places we’re going the moment Las Vegas has its video poker bars back again.
1. Vue Bar at The D
This is at the top of our list of favorite video poker bars. The machines are generous, the bartenders are friendly and they pour liberally from the bottle. Pretty much a trifecta of video poker bar greatness.
Vue Bar has gotten a little competition from the new Bar Canada, but Vue still has our heart. And possibly liver.
2. Whiskey Licker Up at Binion’s
When Whiskey Licker Up opened at Binion’s, there was no video poker. We changed their mind. There are four machines at one end of the non-revolving bar, and there’s something magical about that spot. Bonus: Epic chicken tenders.
We’re only telling you about this spot because we know you’ll relinquish your machine if we show up. Ahem.
3. Front Yard at Ellis Island
Front Yard barely had a chance to get rolling before the closures hit. While the restaurant at Front Yard is open, we need the bar back! Pours from the bottle (no guns), a great atmosphere, awesome food menu and outstanding value make Front Yard a must-do near The Strip.
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Try the pretzel, it’s as big as your mother-in-law.
4. View Bar at Strat
This one’s a gem we sometimes refer to as our home away from home. View Bar at Strat is all the things we love about a video poker spot. We’ve rarely had a losing session on their machines, the drinks and service are excellent, and the food (served from the nearby PT’s Pub kitchen nearby) is top notch. Another video poker bar, Remix, is great, too, if food isn’t one of your requirements.
Remember when people could play video poker sitting next to each other? Weird.
5. Lobby Bar at Mirage
We don’t play at Lobby Bar a lot, but when we do, it’s mostly for nostalgia. Lobby Bar at Mirage was the first video poker bar in Vegas that used drink monitoring via a voucher system. Drink monitoring has become pretty universal in Vegas now, but sometimes we play at Lobby Bar just to chat up the bartenders and beat the house to remind them who’s boss.
Furnace at Downtown Grand probably should’ve had this spot on our list. You’re welcome, Mirage.
6. Prohibition Bar at Golden Gate
Prohibition Bar at Golden Gate is a glorious stretch of everything Vegas. Long pours, good games and a view that’s hard to beat. (Two words: Dancing dealers.) Golden Gate is a tad loud, but if you’re in the mood, it’s hard to find a better spot to settle in and flex those quads.
A day without bartenders Valeria and Spyder barely qualifies as a day.
7. West Bar at Park MGM
The bar is recognizable to many, even if the name isn’t. This petite casino bar at Park MGM is the quintessential casino bar, and has just the right amount of comped drinks (you have to use a players card now), socializing and service. Park MGM reopens Sep. 20, 2020, and we suspect our bars will be back by then, so we can’t wait to visit West Bar at the first opportunity.
Park MGM is going smoke-free, another reason to drop some cheddar here.
8. Palace Bar at Four Queens
It’s not fancy, but Palace Bar at Four Queens downtown is nevertheless epic. We’ll always have a special place in our heart for Palace Bar, as it was where we got our first and only royal flush, ever. Honestly, all the video poker at Four Queens is great, including at another casino bar, Kings Bar, and inside Chicago Brewing. We can’t wait to return.
Who doesn’t want to play video poker at their wedding reception?
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9. Longbar at The D
Longbar has a lot going on. It’s loud as hell. There’s a lot of sports. There’s flair. There’s testosterone. There’s the energy of the table games nearby. The people-watching is off the charts. Oh, and there’s also video poker. Longbar is the undisputed center of the action on Fremont Street, and seeing it without people has been a daily gut punch. We need our Longbar like a pack needs a fanny. Or something.
10. SG Bar in Summerlin
We had to include one for the locals, and SG Bar is one of our absolute favorite locals joints to drink, play, drink, eat and drink. Although, not always in that order. SG stands for “Sierra Gold,” from Golden Entertainment, owners of The Strat. The atmosphere is a notch above the typical PT’s or Sierra Gold, and SG Bar just does everything right. It’s about 15 minutes west of The Strip, and the minute bars open again, we’ll be there downing pot stickers and foolishly giving up full houses to go for four-of-a-kinds.
SG Bar is always happy to see you.
11. Chandelier Bar at Cosmopolitan
Last, but not least, is the jewel of The Strip. Chandelier Bar isn’t so much a video poker bar as an experience. The gorgeous surroundings and liberal drink vouchers make this spot a vital part of any visit to Las Vegas. Vegas won’t really be Vegas again until we can play video poker at Chandelier Bar, so let’s make it sooner than later.
Chandelier Bar at Cosmopolitan is the fancy by which all other fancy is measured.
So, that’s our itinerary for when video poker bars open up in Las Vegas again.
We’d love to hear about your favorite places to play.
For the record, Boar’s Head Bar at Main Street would’ve been on our list, but the casino isn’t open yet.
Has the closure of video poker bars influenced your decision to visit? Can you scratch your itch playing video poker on the casino floor?
Not that itch, the metaphorical one.
Let’s get video poker bars open again in Las Vegas. These machines aren’t going to “one jack off” themselves!