IT's BEAUTIFUL!

Sahara poker room scheduled to reopen Friday, June 18.

https://www.pokeratlas.com/poker-roo...gas/cash-games

https://twitter.com/Robvegaspoker/st...128175617?s=20

I'm not sure why they would re-open the poker room right now.

I've been to the Sahara twice since re-opening (just to go to the William Hill betting kiosk), and the place is an absolute ghost town. I think I saw maybe 20 people total on the casino floor each visit.

I’d think it would be busy based on other traffic I see on Bravo. Seems like every room that opens is packed with long lists. Plus it gets people into their casino.

They're not looking to get the 20 or so people from the casino to play poker, they are targeting the pretty large group of people that seem willing to play at SP, Venetian, Orleans, and GN. The demand for 5 handed poker seems to be real.

They should hand out monorail tickets in the poker room.

I had a chance to check it out after it opened and before **** hit the fan with COVID and all that. It's a really nice small little room. As with all new rooms, chips, cards, tables, chairs and atmosphere make for enjoyable playing. At the end of the day though, it's Sahara and the action was so so in terms of games, selection etc. I will say though for low stakes game play was much softer for the moment then some other rooms on the strips which contain a ton of grinders and "try hards"

https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports...rsday-2054264/

Looks like you can reserve your seat ahead of time for Poker and other games.

"The venue will be open 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily"

Wow, they are really confident. 3 other rooms that are all way off the strip are having big success. Sahara is barely on the strip and is so scared they post these hours. lol

I believe Orleans poker room is the same hours too.

As of June 12th The Orleans is 8am to 4am. It's on the bravo app.

What I meant is: some poker rooms are having limited hours, Sahara isn't the only one.

someone on 2+2 has to have played here since the poker room re-opened. any TRs?

fwiw i was there about 5:30 PM on Friday (not at the poker room, doing other stuff). walking by there were 3 people on wait lists iirc.

Hi, I have a game I think some of you will be interested in at the Sahara, which hopefully features the right combination of meaningful but not too high stakes and low rake.

I'm hosting a 2/3 NL game with a 200 bb min, no max buy in. It started January 14th, and will run on Thursdays starting at 7 p.m.

This is a time game, $5 per half hour.

You can lock up a seat on my website persuadeo.nl, not sure if I am allowed to post links here.

This structure is based on a popular format I have run online and live, and I think and hope it offers the right combination of fun, depth, and cost.

Contact me through any channel with questions. Thanks.

who are you again?

Reading the comments from Q1 2020 there was such a positive energy and vibe around the future of this poker room ... as with most things everything went pear shape from April onwards :-(
I have great memories of the Sahara in 2009, when I stayed there for 2 weeks on my first ever Vegas poker trip :-)

Good question. My name is Chris, and I have been playing poker for a living and writing or podcasting about it since 2015, mostly in the PNW and NY/NJ. I also did tournament reporting for the Borgata for several years.

Covid brought an end to live poker where I was living, and new management at the Borgata ended my affiliation there. I've now moved to LV and am looking to recreate certain things I and my friends enjoyed, in this case, very deep but affordable poker. This stems from the games I've been in but is also influenced by time spent with Christian Soto and his mentor, both of whom are or were advocates of this kind of game.

I originally imagined opening this game at the Mandalay, which was always too empty for such a nicely designed room, but they have closed. The Sahara is in many ways the perfect replacement, maybe even better- especially with its semi-private Table 1 in the back corner of the room. The tables and chairs are nice, and everything is still new. Steven Pique, the Poker Operations Manager, has been great.

Going through this thread, I see you have some doubts about the viability of the room, and I can't blame you, given all circumstances. You mention the "miserable" players - well, that's a lot of 1/2 poker, is it not? Further, while it looks like the room brought in some celebrities to kick it off, which is normal enough, that's not really what ultimately makes for a healthy and sustainable game environment.

This game isn't like that - it's a lot of fun and a little more challenging, which is why it generally works when I run it. DGAF will drop a podcast about it next week, and he describes finally having fun again at the table during our kick off game on the 14th.

Can I get this game to stick? Not sure, but going to try, and probably a part of that is getting the attention of people in this sub-forum. We'll see - thanks for listening to my pitch.

Would have been terrible at Mandalay Bay, the poker staff seemed to have no imagination.

Celebrities? Like who?

Being on Thursdays you expect it to be reg-heavy? You chose that on purpose? Or you're just trying to keep Trooper out of the game?

I did hear the management there was not so great, so things have worked out for the best.

Just looking through the pictures I recognized Ingram and some others, I assume they had to be asked to come.

Thursdays because it 1) worked for the Sahara, and 2) I'd imagine most regs want their Fridays and Saturdays free, for obvious reasons. Yes, I'd expect this game to be reg-heavy, in a sense, meaning to draw on people experienced in the game, to like low rake, a better environment, etc. (And yes, I can't let the Trooper come and destroy everyone.)

Sounds like a good game, I hope you get a solid table each week. I also really hope the Sahara succeeds. It’s a nice room and with all the recent room closures it would be nice for them to make it.

Thanks!

GL!

Thanks. We're on our fourth week, and the game is starting to stick.

Couple more commitments tonight, and we'll open a second table.

A few updates:

The Thursday 2/3 deep stack time game is in its tenth week, and seems to be sticking. DGAF covers it in a couple of his podcasts.

I interviewed Sahara poker operations manager Steven Pique on the latest Poker Zoo podcast, and we talked a bit about what they are doing and what he thinks about Vegas poker in general.

Mason Malmuth came on the show to dispute the running of deep stack games and what is good for poker rooms; that will be released soon.

Lastly, we'll be starting a 1/1 PLO game this Tuesday. It seems to me that the bring-in games are little too big for the low stakes regs who fill 1/2 tables - this keeps them from the game. In fact, these smaller PLO games have been missing from the strip for a while, and this might be a thing for some. If this interests you, please consider coming out!

I played there once before the shutdown. Great room, but haven't been back because I don't feel like I can count on being seated in a game in under an hour.

What's the max buy for the 2/3? And you mean it is time charge instead of raked?