The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on live poker rooms across the US throughout 2020. Las Vegas, Nevada stood at the front of the curve in relation to reopening poker venues, allowing live rooms to resume business as early as June 2020.
Some Las Vegas poker rooms remain closed, however, with some venues in the city shuttered for good. Here’s a look at the status of some of Las Vegas’ most popular poker rooms as of mid-April 2021:
Las Vegas: Open Poker Rooms
Aria
The Aria hosts one of the most prominent poker rooms on the Las Vegas Strip. High-stakes players can take advantage of the recurring Aria High Rollers series, featuring buy-ins of $10,000 and higher.
Players looking for more affordable stakes can find daily $140 buy-in tournaments and No-Limit Hold’em cash games starting at $1/$3.
Some of poker’s biggest televised games occur at the PokerGO Studio, located on the Aria property.
Bally’s
Bally’s revived its live tournament scene with multiple major series in the early months of 2021. The 14-table poker room includes around 30 weekly tournaments, running at buy-ins from $75 to $400.
Cash games take a back seat to multi-table tournaments at Bally’s. Low-stakes cash game grinders can find a $1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em game running regularly, however.
Bellagio
A legendary venue on the Las Vegas live poker scene, the Bellagio poker room spreads cash games at some of the highest stakes found on the Strip.
No-Limit Hold’em cash games up to $10/$20 stakes run regularly. The “Legends Room” (formerly known as Bobby’s Room) sits at the epicenter of the Las Vegas high-stakes cash game economy, with games that attract some of the biggest names in poker.
Plenty of cash game action awaits at the Bellagio, including No-Limit Hold’em and many other poker variants. The Bellagio poker room is a must-visit venue, whether to play or catch a glimpse of your favorite poker pro.
Caesars Palace
The venerable Caesars Palace operates one of the longest-running poker rooms in the city. The venue offers four daily tournaments all seven days of the week, at stakes from $100 to $150.
Cash game players might want to look elsewhere for action on the Strip, however. Caesars Palace runs a $1/$3 No-Limit Hold’em game at all times, but other cash games can be tough to find at the poker room.
Golden Nugget
The Golden Nugget poker room sets a scene that’s unlike any other in Las Vegas. A legendary property on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, the Golden Nugget hosts a live poker venue that cash game players should stop by at least once on a trip to Las Vegas.
The primary cash game runs as an uncapped $1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em game. Despite the low stakes, the uncapped buy-in allows players to put any amount of money on the table before the start of each hand.
The uncapped structure makes the $1/$2 game at the Golden Nugget often feel like a much bigger game.
The Orleans
Limit poker enthusiasts can count on the Orleans poker room to spread some of the best games in town. Limit betting structure variants of Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi, and Omaha Hi-Lo run around the clock at the Orleans.
The property sits just west of the Strip, providing the backdrop for one of Leas Vegas’ most lively poker venues. Two daily tournaments run on most days, with a rotating selection of No-Limit Hold’em and limit poker variants.
Red Rock
Players in the Summerlin area can enjoy a 20-table poker room setup at the Red Rock Casino. The stylish property is set near the entrance to Red Rock Canyon National Park, offering some of the best hiking trails and outdoor views in the Las Vegas area.
No-Limit Hold’em cash games always run at $1/$2 stakes, with steady action for $2/$5 limits. Stud, Pot-Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, and Limit Hold’em also await cash games players at the Red Rock poker room.
South Point
Situated on the south Las Vegas Strip, the South Point plays home to one of the city’s largest poker rooms.
Tournaments always take center stage at the South Point, which offers one of the most extensive lineups of daily events in the city. Around 30 tournaments run per week, and that doesn’t include the occasional special tournament series that run at the poker room.
The Venetian
The Venetian poker room sits at the center of live poker in the western US amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Strip poker venue reopened in June and has since hosted multiple major tournament series.
The 38-table setup at the Venetian facilitates No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha cash games around the clock. Both the World Poker Tour and Mid States Poker Tour stop at the Venetian regularly.
A house-branded poker tournament series known as the DeepStack also frequently runs at the Venetian. The latest chapter of that series, the DeepStack Extravaganza II, runs through April 25.
Wynn/Encore
The Wynn/Encore poker room returned to its usual backdrop inside the Encore, as announced Monday on the WynnPoker Twitter account.
The poker room was moved to the Wynn side of the Strip property for months, running at half-capacity. The full 28-table setup is now back in business, however.
The Encore poker room hosts a $1 million guaranteed tournament series later this month. The Signature Series runs April 26 through May 9 and features an $1,100 buy-in, $400,000 guaranteed Main Event May 6-9.
Other Poker Rooms Open Around Las Vegas
Apart from the venues outlined above, the list of open poker rooms in Las Vegas also includes the following:
- Boulder Station
- Flamingo
- Planet Hollywood
- MGM Grand
- Poker Palace
- Rio
- Sahara
- Santa Fe Station
- Silver Sevens Casino
- Westgate
Most of the poker rooms on our list here at LegalPokerSites.com are running eight-handed. All are operating with plexiglass dividers between players and with enhanced sanitation protocols in place.
About the Author
