The new poker room at the LVH is on the move. In late July, the property started spreading poker for the first time in more than five years. The five tables initially were in the main pit of the casino, and in just a few months the room has proved to be successful enough to given its own room, right by the main showroom.
Mark Selby, the lead supervisor of the poker room, is excited to earn a permanent location. I asked him to discuss the decision to bring poker back to the LVH.
“The LVH is a legend reborn,” Selby said. “A part of that is bringing us back to being a full service hotel and casino. Our guests have asked for poker and we have listened. … Poker players and sports bettors are often one and the same. The biggest, best and most successful sports book in Las Vegas history perfectly complements our new poker room.”
What does the future hold? “I think our intent has been shown in moving the room from a location on the casino floor to one where it is more permanent,” Selby said. “The new room is perfectly appointed and ready to grow. We see poker continuing to grow at LVH, as our guests become accustomed to us once again having poker and word spreads what a great room we have.”
Next to the Las Vegas Convention Center, the hotel guests are predominately convention attendees. But Selby isn’t settling for just that market.
“All successful poker rooms have a core group of locals,” he said. “Here at the LVH we hope for the same. The conventions that the hotel hosts and that are hosted close by will provide the bulk of our tourist traffic. In time, I am sure that tourists will hear about the friendliest room in Vegas and stop by to check it out for themselves. I am confident once a player tries our room, they will become a repeat visitor. Being a small room, capitalizing on gaining repeat business from our guests will be the key to our success. As a team, we’re working extremely hard to provide the best level of hospitality available today in Las Vegas or indeed any poker room in the country.”
Selby wasted no time in getting the LVH poker room on social media, with a dedicated Facebook page and Twitter account, keeping the Vegas poker community apprised of the games LVH is spreading. At this point, it’s mostly $1-$3 no-limit hold’em and $4-$8 limit. The room opens daily at noon except on NFL Sundays, when things get started at 8 a.m. Selby expects to announce a tournament schedule soon.
PALMS: The six-table room off the Strip has a new manager. Todd Buechler, formerly of the M Resort, is the man in charge of the room that’s owned by Cantor Gaming. He replaces Bobby Griffith, who left in September.
Buechler has an ambitious slate of new promos for the room. On Fridays, drawings every half hour give away a total of $3K between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m. Players earn tickets for every hour played during the week. Every day but Friday, players who have aces cracked win a minimum buy-in for the game they’re playing ($200 for $2-$5 NLHE, $100 for $1-$2 NLHE, $40 for $4-$8 limit and $20 for $2-$4 limit).
They offer high-hand bonuses for quads or better, and a splash pot for any table where a player hits a high hand. Check the Where to Play pages in the back of the magazine for more.
PLANET HOLLYWOOD: Phamous Poker Series II was a five-day series in early September and offered $1K prize to the player with the most points during the series. Las Vegas grinder Mike Davis won the championship Sept. 7, which had a $10K guarantee, and then used his seventh-place finish the next day in the series finale to win Player of the Series and the $1K bonus. Phamous Poker Series III is scheduled for Dec. 26-30.
BELLAGIO: David Sands of Montana won top prize in the main event of the Festa al Lago Classic ($83K). Thirty-eight players paid $5,180 to battle for the $184K prize pool. Matt O’Donnell of Florida ($49K) and Frank Rusnak of Chicago ($31K) rounded out the top three. The series ended Sept. 13.
The Bellagio just completed a slight remodel of its popular room, removing three tables to make things more comfortable for players. The new 36-table configuration gives more room for the $1-$3 and $2-$5 players.
CAESARS PALACE: Ross Fabrizio of Las Vegas won the championship at the Kickoff Classic on Sept. 15, earning a $16K first prize. More than 150 entrants vied for the $75K prize pool in the $560 event.
VENETIAN: The room’s Deep Stack Extravaganza 3.5 completed its two-week run with a three-day, $1,600 main event on Oct. 1. Nearly 230 players competed for the $332K prize pool, and the winner was Thomas Mohler of Florida. He took home $79K.
— Email Rob Solomon at rob@allvegaspoker.com. Follow him on Twitter @Robvegaspoker and read his blog at robvegaspoker.blogspot.com.
