Riviera and Stardust were still operating farther down the Strip then, maybe the Frontier too.

Correct. All of those were there when the Wynn opened in 2005, I think. The north strip to Circus Circus wasn’t an abandoned wasteland at that time.

Probably not another Sahara but it is farther away from the rest of the casinos than Wynn/Encore ever was and it’s a bit of a walk even from the Encore, especially in 115 degree heat. But it looks so massive and noticeable on its own that it will get a lot more attention than anything that has opened in a long time. Interesting to see how it goes. The town has been overcrowded lately too, and poker rooms have been really busy so maybe I was wrong earlier and the room might succeed here.

BUT, its closer to Sapphires... so then there's that.

Best move this room can make to differentiate from the pack and building a base of regs would be to offer 2/5 as the smallest NLH cash game

Because spreading less games is better? Ya let's not spread the most popular level NL game in Las Vegas. I guess you're right though as that would differentiate themselves from busy rooms.

Yes- less options would lead to more games. I hope management can see the value in attracting wealthier players by removing the bottom rung of the ladder. Many others have predicted this will be a room that only sees a few 1/3 tables, as that is all most casinos in this town are shamefully able to boast. They will be better off catering only to those looking to play 2/5 or higher

Bellagio did that for years but ultimately had to cave with poker's waning popularity and the shrinking of game sizes.

Bellagio 2/5 was the most fun low stakes game in town when it was the smallest game in the casino.

Maybe the post-Covid world looks very different and breaks the trend of the majority of casino poker games getting smaller and smaller. That might make your suggestion viable.

But if poker in LV goes back to the way it was pre-Covid, your idea would create a poker room that’s almost empty during the day on weekdays and maybe halfway full during the busiest weekend nights.

I remember several times in 2019 when I played 2/5 at Bellagio in the early afternoon. They had 2 tables running and according to Bravo those were the only two 2/5 games in town.

If they wanted to have the busiest room possible, they would make the game $0.5/$1. Luckily there are way too many good reasons against doing that.

In the post covid-era- I can think of several casinos that have eliminated their former smallest games. PARX got rid of 1/2 NL. Foxwoods got rid of their small limit hold em games that always had more tables running prior vs their bigger limit holdem games. This is a real trend and with inflation continuing the way it is Resorts World should be a smart early-adopter and ax NLH games smaller than 2/5 from the start. And I think Bellagio would immediately follow their lead.

Why would someone that wanted to play 1-3 at Bellagio, now play 2-5 if that was the smallest game vs going to another casino like Caesars next door that runs 1-3? How many casinos are within walking distance from PARX and Foxwoods? How many are within walking distance from Bellagio? Also PARX spreads 1-3 so 2-5 isn't their lowest available game either.

Because they are staying at Bellagio or because they like to play at Bellagio. PARX and Foxwoods have more competing poker rooms nearby than ever before.

what is nearby foxwoods besides Mohegan sun?

A room offering $0.5/$1 with $7+$3 rake so they could do their “giveaways” would get more business than the room that offers 2/5 and above with a rake of $3+$0.

MGM Springfield, Encore, Resorts World Catskills, all the New Hampshire cardrooms, Twin River, Mt. Airy, Wind Creek, Rivers... just to name a few that have been taking business away from Foxwoods ever since they opened

I disagree

Twin Rivers (Rhode Island) - which had a pretty buzzing poker room pre COVID

MGM Springfield MA - which had an up and coming room

Of Course Encore Boston Harbor - which had an awesome room pre COVID

Then...all of the New Hampshire Rooms - Chasers, Boston Billiards Room etc

The market has actually gotten very diluted over the past 5-7 years. Those two had been the only games in town for a longggg time - but not anymore

Mild derail: I remember playing $0.5/$1 at Wild Bill's Gambling Saloon (I think it's now the Cromwell?) back in the day. Multi-way jamfest on any wet flop, with at least one person reloading for another $100 afterwards, haha.

Maybe not with that rake. But if rake was the same as 1/2 (or 1/3) games, I'm pretty sure.

If you want to see where the trend has been going, at least in Las Vegas, just look at the numbers from the 2019 WSOP. I think total number of entries across all events was in the neighborhood of 200.000 and except for the Main Event, there was exactly one single event with a buy-in above $1500 that attracted more than 1.000 runners. The $2,620 No Limit Hold'em Marathon had 1083 runners, because of the super slow structure that made it a 6-day event.

20 years ago the smallest buy-in for an open event was $1500. In 2019, roughly 90% of entries came from events $1500 and smaller. If you adjust for inflation, $1500 in 2001 is close to $2300 today.

Same for the O'Sheas game that had tables on the sidewalk.

maybe I've lost track of the point.

I thought this had something to do with Resorts World being far from Bellagio and therefore not a competitor.

And yet, now we're considering casinos in different states to be close to each other.

Is the poker room going to be open on 6/24 as part of the grand opening?

I'm probably going to wait until next week before I trouble with it, but am hopeful about the poker room.

I am going to check it out and see...

does anyone know the hack for covered self parking? is it resorts world blvd off Industrial or is it Goh Tong Way off Sammy Davis blvd?

Hopefully you are right. However, we have already seen something not much different than that. Right before the shutdowns, Venetian tried having a $6+$3 rake with high hand promotions and jackpots and the room was by far the most crowded on the Strip, easily beating the rooms that only offered $5+$0 rake. And the most popular game by far in the Venetian room was 1/3 NL.