Poker Rooms Of The Vegas Strip: A Local’s Guide (Updated 2025)

One of the most common questions we get from Vegas rookies at the Red Chip Poker Discord server is “where should I play poker?” We addressed this question in our WSOP Guide, but that, of course, is tailored specifically to the situation during the annual WSOP. Since 85% of the poker year occurs outside the WSOP summer, we’ve decided to put together a brief summary of each of the Strip poker rooms to give you some idea of what to expect.

There is one meta-room consideration that you may wish to factor in to your decision of where to play. The bulk of rooms on the Strip either fall under the umbrella of Caesars Rewards (formerly Total Rewards) or M life loyalty programs. While both struggle with punctuation, the far greater popularity of Caesars Rewards with locals has an important impact on game texture. This is largely driven by local-friendly promos that are funded by a $2 jackpot drop. Particularly during the day, this tends to promote a fairly high proportion of nits in these rooms, some of whom haven’t smiled since the Nixon administration.

For the sake of balance, it’s fair to point out that such individuals are not completely absent from the M life promo rooms, but their dominance is far more dependent on which promos are currently being run there. The M life promo rooms have, at least in the recent past, run promos that vary in their popularity with the locals, including some offerings that are so complex most Vegas grinders cannot comprehend them. The takeaway is simply that a promo that favors locals can distort the general guidelines given below.

One other key factor that gives an overall indication of game type is how expensive the property is to stay at. Recreational players often default to playing where they are staying, particularly when it is late and they are tired or worse for wear; in other words, precisely when you’d most like to make their acquaintance. The simple consequence of this is that in a card room in which many opponents think nothing of spending $300/night and up for a room, you’ll typically find more money in play than at a property in which the resort fee is greater than the midweek room rate.

Finally, most of the observations below are directed at what one might expect in cash games. Most of the tournament “dailies” on the Strip have such high juice that they’re only worth playing for fun and not profit. Once buy-ins get above about $100, as is the case in some of the larger rooms, one could imagine turning a healthy ROI, but even here close attention to the rake and staff fees is required. More details are given in our tournament strategy series.

In what follows, the rooms are listed alphabetically, with Caesars (CET) or MGM resorts (M life) identified where appropriate and rake and promo drop for entry-level NLHE given. (Some rooms offer lower rake on non-NLHE games that are featured on specific days, or are currently being promoted.) Note for pedants: yes, it’s true that exactly when rake and promo dollars are taken is important, but if you’re thinking at that level you doubtless know how to find out those details by yourself.

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Aria

(M life; $5+$0)

The (relatively) new posh kid on the block, the Aria poker room is extremely attractive and has uncommonly comfortable chairs. If one of your Vegas poker goals is to spot a famous player, “Table 1” is only surpassed by Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio. (The name change from “The Ivey Room” was made shortly after Mr. Ivey’s difference of opinion with the Borgata over how baccarat should be played, although according to the Aria these events were not linked. Right.) Given its opulence, some patrons find the room rather crowded and complain of the noise from the casino floor. Perhaps a bigger issue is that the $1/$3 and $2/$5 games are frequently populated by the local hoodie-backpack-headphones brigade, who couldn’t be less welcoming to recreational players if their comfort animal was Cerberus. To be fair, these concentrations of baby pros can show up anywhere and tend to drift from room to room. Aria daily tournaments have the reputation of being softer than their counterparts at the Wynn and Venetian, supporting the view that as the density of nightclubs increases, the average IQ drops. The entry-level $1/$2, $5 bring-in PLO runs fairly regularly and usually features excellent action.

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Horseshoe

(CET; $6+$2)

The Horseshoe (formally Bally’s) is something of a conundrum. When the room moved from the center of the casino floor to a quieter corner, many players confidently predicted the action would dry up. For the most part, this was not the case initially and the large room became a favorite with locals and tourists alike, not least because the levels of smoke are commendably low. The room also used to get games going earlier in the day than its CET sister properties, apparently because the hotel is favored by older guests. The room then suffered something of a decline in action, which was promptly reversed by the closure of other CET poker rooms such as the Flamingo and Harrah’s. Whether the recent increase in rake to $6 impacts the room’s popularity is yet to be determined.

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Bellagio

(M life; $5+$0)

The self-appointed queen of Vegas poker, the Bellagio is also probably the most polarizing room in the city. There are locals and tourists alike who rarely play anywhere else, and an equally resolute group of players who refuse to set foot in the place. One area of agreement is that the room is crowded, at least outside of the high-limit areas. There are times when the back of your chair will be bumped so regularly you’ll think you’re flying economy directly in front of a six year-old who just consumed three Red Bulls and a pound of hard candy. Whether this explains why many players and dealers often seem irritable is open for debate. There are reports that customer service is improving, but it is still common to hear of haughty floor who seem incapable of being polite to patrons playing the lower limits. You may have been told that “every poker player should play in the Bellagio at least once”. A significant number of people who have done so have concluded that “once” is also the maximum number of times anyone should play in the room.

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Caesars Palace

(CET; $6+$0)

May 2025 update: After being shuttered for almost a year, the Caesars Palace poker room has reopened. Sort of.

The musical chairs of the Caesars Palace poker room over the last couple of decades represents a puzzling series of decisions. Before the construction of the nightclub, poker could be enjoyed in a large enclosed space off the main casino floor. Connected to it was a ballroom that could comfortably host large tournaments. This facility was lost when the room moved to a pleasant area next to the sports book. As of the latest reopening, cash games can be found in what is essentially a corridor near the Appian Way, whereas tournament tables are set up in the remainder of the old area not infested with slot machines. As of this update, the tournament tables have no auto-shufflers, and the noise level is reported to be high, thanks to being sandwiched between the book and the slots.

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Mandalay Bay

(M life; $5+$2)

The Mandalay Bay poker room has historically set itself apart from other Vegas rooms, primarily in negative ways. The most troubling for unwary visitors was a handful of unusual, yet strictly-enforced non-standard house rules. These led to a couple of incandescent threads on well-known poker forums involving stories of unscrupulous locals exploiting these rules to effectively angle shoot tourists. Combined with dealers that ranged from surly to plain rude, this led to many locals simply avoiding the place. Based on recent reviews, it seems that dealer turnover has produced a more pleasant current crop, but direct information is not available to us at Red Chip since we don’t know anybody who has played there in the last seven years. Anecdotally at least, the games are good. While the usual entry-level game is $1/$2, unusually the room also offers $1/$3 with a $1000 cap. If a band of Red Chippers would like to take advantage of this quirk, we’d be interested in an account of the experience.

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MGM

(M life; $6+$1)

For many years, the biggest problem with the MGM poker room was finding it. It moved so regularly that it was recommended players not linger in the bathroom lest it had upped sticks again by the time they got back. The new location is a bit lacking in character, but as advertised the chairs really are surprisingly comfortable. The game texture seems to be even more sensitive to current promos than other Strip rooms. When a freeroll qualifying period is running, the room can get quite busy but the games are dominated by local grinders. The action seems loosest when the promos get so complicated that even dedicated promo-chasers cannot estimate the hourly $EV. Perhaps best described as “exceptionally unexceptional”, but with softer than average games outside of freeroll promos. The room spreads one of the few surviving $1/$2 games on the Strip, with the added twist that the buy-in is uncapped.

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Planet Hollywood

(CET; $5+$2)

After a long closure, Planet Hollywood opened a new poker room in May 2025. Unlike the previous location in the midst of the noisiest casino floor on the Strip (at least once The Link closed their room), the new room is situated on the Mezzanine level overlooking the chaos below. (This is the same area that used to host large poker tournaments.) The current $5 rake constitutes a discount relative to other CET rooms, although our guess is this is an introductory offer that will soon align with the others. Other than the new location being quieter, we have yet to get a feel for the games, which tend to be skewed anyway during WSOP. Late-night action used to be excellent, but it is possible the more isolated location away from the pit may create a more sober game texture.

Resorts World

($5+$0)

Sprouting on the site of the old Stardust like some multi-colored and extremely large phoenix, the spectacular Resorts World complex adds a compelling new poker room to the north Strip landscape. With 30 tables spaciously arranged in the opulent environment, Resorts World has the immediate potential to compete with the other major poker rooms in Las Vegas.

The current cash game staple is $1/$2 and $2/$5 NLHE, but $5/10 is a common fixture at weekends. The rake is taken commendably deep in each pot, and the $1.50/hr comp rate is competitive. The room is notable for having an almost-daily $80/$160 mix, and its low-stakes $4/$8 cousin has a rake capped at $4.

The most common observation made by the first wave of visitors to the room revolves around its comfort. Not only are the chairs crying out to be sat in, the well-spaced tables means there isn’t some headphone-crested clown banging their backpack into you at every opportunity.

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Sahara

($4+$0)

Closed November 2024. No current anticipation it will reopen.

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Venetian

($5+$2)

In August 2024, the Venetian poker room upped sticks from its long-time location near the main entrance, and migrated upstairs to the Palazzo Grand Canal Shoppes. In addition to the annoying spelling, the new location is controversial. Poker folklore suggests you’re more likely to enjoy good action in a room near casino pit games. Equally, the price of some of the merch in the Palazzo suggests that anyone ambling by probably has money to burn. The room feels somewhat antiseptic compared to its predecessor, but it is well run and comfortable. The addition of a promo drop moves the V off the Wynn-Bellagio-Aria axis. The Deep Stack Extravaganza tournament series now run essentially year-round, guaranteeing MTT action whenever you need it. For many locals, the $2/hour comps are a big draw, particularly given the popularity of the Grand Lux Cafe locations in both the Venetian and Palazzo.

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Wynn

($5+$0)

The Wynn poker room at the Encore is beautiful. The people wandering around the casino floor are beautiful. The artwork is… frequently incomprehensible, but extremely expensive. Many of us had misgivings when it was announced that the Wynn poker room was moving from its location opposite the Ferrari store to the Encore. The room was so comfortable and attractive it was difficult to imagine how any change could be anything but for the worse. We were wrong. The majority opinion seems to be that the new room is even more spectacular. Floor and dealers are some of the best in Vegas and the daily tournaments are arguably the best value in town. Unlike the other big four, the Wynn caps it’s $1/$3 at $500 and its $2/$5 at $1500. It seems probable these higher caps attract better players, so that the cash-game regulars at the Wynn are tougher than elsewhere. The only knock on the place has been the claim that at $5/10 many of the players are on the same bankroll. At weekends some very good action can break out in the $1/$3 if well-heeled tourists are kind enough to “try their luck.”

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