As things (hopefully) continue to get better with COVID-19, a few questions:

(1) If "10" is pre-covid business as usual Vegas and "1" is that time period last year when covid was really cooking and many people in Vegas considered tourists to be "a**holes" / many games/restaurants were closed -- where does it feel like we are today, April 11, 2021?

(2) How many people to a poker table?

(3) What's the restaurant scene like? Are there any permanent closures that really suck?

(4) Any insider news on the WSOP?

I understand that these are subjective, but as someone who is itching to travel and itching for Vegas, I'm curious. Add anything I'm missing.

Thanks! JB

Looking forward to May 1st when mitigation authority transfers from the governor to local authorities. Nye County is already planning to open up 100% with no masks. We'll see what Caroline Goodman does with the city council.

I'm heading there for a week on Tuesday. I was there last month for a day and while it was definitely slower there were definitely plenty of people milling about.

Following. Booked a trip for late May. Hoping for good news on May 1st easing of restrictions.

No doubt the situation will be rapidly evolving. As long as there aren't any case spike setbacks, everyone is very likely to get immuno-confident after their shots, and hopefully, be excited to go crazy and donate at the tables.

I liked it more for the entertainment than the food, but Rose. Rabbit. Lie. announced a few weeks ago that they were closing for good.

Firefly on Paradise rd seems to still be closed. They have another location farther from the strip that's open, but it's not as nice

For sure it's picked up a lot the last few weeks. I thought it was just March Madness, but that's over now and there's still tons of people everywhere.

1. Caroline Goodman is NOT the mayor of the Strip, which is outside the city and in unincorporated Clark County. The Clark County Commission regulates Clark County. The State's Gaming Commission regulates casinos throughout the State.
2. Masks are likely still going to be required to sit around a poker table.
3. Expect plexiglass will remain in place for poker tables. Restaurants may be expected to continue to operate at a reduced capacity, but that glass was seldom more than half-full pre-covid.
4. There ARE more people on the Strip than a few months ago, but social distancing is likely to remain a policy, with the expected effect on entertainment venues.
5. Fwiw, my flights into Las Vegas in 2021 have been much more crowded than in 4Q 2020. Air travel to Las Vegas seems up, and there are plenty of options for domestic flights here.
6. Vaccinations are promoted for Nevadans, but tourists are a different category. (I cannot see rushing into a crowded venue filled with tourists.)

All things considered, the people you see these days on the Strip and in the casinos I've visited seem to be having a good time.

Expect the pool-side experience to go mask-less, as an outdoor activity.

You are looking forward to going to Nye county; what has kept you from doing so to date ?

In the absence of a government directive to do so, you would not choose to wear a mask in public, crowded places ? You really depend upon the government to tell you what to do?

Sounds kind of like sheep-like behavior, sorry.

[QUOTE=Gzesh;57021087]1. Caroline Goodman is NOT the mayor of the Strip, which is outside the city and in unincorporated Clark County. The Clark County Commission regulates Clark County. The State's Gaming Commission regulates casinos throughout the State.
2. Masks are likely still going to be required to sit around a poker table.
3. Expect plexiglass will remain in place for poker tables.



I disagree with these two.

The hatred of masks is huge and widespread, for fully vaxxed people to have to wear them is absurd, and goes against all the "science" we hear so much about.

why must the vaxxed continue to protect those who refuse to get vaxxed by wearing a mask? Variants are gonna be with us for decades, just like the flu virus mutates constantly.

And if you're at such a high risk, why are you out of the house at all? The only people left unvaxxed are those doing it voluntarily and those who are in the most frail 1% of Americans, and it's time the 99% get to go back to their lives.

The plexiglass at poker tables is ridiculous, it protects no one, it's hysterical grown adults said at a meeting, "so, ya, we're gonna put these dividers in and that'll protect everyone" and no one said, "ummmm, wut? how?" How am I safe in my little cubby hole of plexiglass (and that's if you have some in front of you too, some places just have it on your left and right, but if I lean back in my chair, my life is at risk? What is the virus falls from above me? Do I get to sue the casino? They didnt protect me from vertically falling viruses!!!!

If Vegas isn't the first party town to say "f-this!" and remove these token efforts such as masks and dividers then Vegas truly has become a corporate bore.

If you're scared of covid, or the vax, good for you, I have no problem with that, but it's time to let the rest of the world go back to their lives.

If you're still scared, or at risk, or wont take the vax, stay the F home and let life return to normal. You dont get to hold the rest of us hostage for eternity.

QFT.

If you believe the clinical trial data in terms of the effectiveness of the vaccines, you really can't support continued restrictions once vaccines are readily available. At least locally, there's been plenty of availability since about 2-3 weeks ago. It then takes 3 weeks for the 2nd shot and 2 weeks after that for full immunity. So 2-3 weeks from now, everyone who wants to be vaccinated will be.

At that point, restrictions need to end. They've really been mostly farcical thus far, but even a farce needs to end.

A number of states ended restrictions weeks ago.

People really still believe masks or any of the silly non sensible rules have done any good?

I had decent masks all year. Play live poker 5 days a week. Never got the rona. And first time in my 49 years never got a cold or fever all year.

I virtually never wore one, played live poker a bunch of times with maybe 5 percent of the player pool wearing one, and also have never been sick.

Let’s balance our ranges. Masks are not worthless. The do some good. But th are not the panacea that som claim. Expected liability if not worn properly.

The flu season in the US was better than normal. This was not by chance. People were out less was a big part but masks distancing sanitizing and other behaviors helped.

I agree with this. Masks are probably not completely worthless, but their value has been blown out of proportions by media & Health Officials. It's such a visual statement that screams 'look at us, we're taking steps to fight the pandemic'.

So unfortunately people who know nothing about combating viruses (like gaming boards & casino operators) will keep it around for much longer than necessary.

That said, I have no problems if people want to wear masks while visiting a casino & playing poker in the future. But it has to be voluntary and not a mandatory thing, otherwise all the fun is sucked right gambling as a whole, and especially poker. No rec player is going to show up if it's hardly possible to keep a conversation and have a laugh etc.

Tell that to the people who were 50, 60 deep on waiting lists at the Aria when I was theee last weekend.

The plexiglass is a much bigger barrier to socializing.

I think the no food at the table rule is the biggest mask-related issue, and it will
Be really helpful when that goes away. Right now people are gone for a long time to get food, and nobody seems to be in much of a hurry to pick people up for being away too long.

I just got back from 10 days in Vegas and the above claim is not only totally false, but proven to be 100% fantasy within mere minutes of stepping near a poker room. Plenty of recs, plenty of conversations, plenty of laughs.

That said, the plexiglass sucks and I can't wait for it to be gone.

The masks are annoying, but I have no problem being lightly inconvenienced for a few more months in the interest of public health. Given the extraordinary circumstances, I am able to withstand temporary inconvenience and mild discomfort without throwing a fit.

1. Masks may be just "annoying" for you, for me they are a deal breaker.

2. Some areas with strict lockdowns and mandatory "preventing measures" have ended up with the same mortality rates as others with none/little.

3. Tremendous harms to public health and the economy have derived directly from lockdown measures, which in turn have not proven to be any substantial help to the covid final mortality figures.

Poker rooms are busy despite the mask and plexiglass but a third of poker rooms have no reopened and most of the ones that are are 8 handed. That's about 40% of players not playing.

In my most recent survey article for the 2+2 Magazine, I registered an 11.9% drop in the number of tables compared to two years ago on the Strip.

The big rooms on the Strip actually seem to be doing a little better, probably because action is coalescing there.

Action off-Strip is actually up.


Status of Las Vegas Poker, Spring, 2021

I'd trade the minor inconvenience of plexiglass for the 8-handed and no food on the cards any day.

Just being 8 handed instead of 9 is an 11.1% drop in players per table. If the number of tables is down 11.9 that's about a 22% drop in the number of players overall.