Caesars

As I mentioned before, Caesars has a new poker room. It opened mid-December. The room is very large and has state of the art technology. It's located in its own alcove right between the sportsbook and Pure (supposedly the most popular nightclub in the world right now). I've played there several times and the games are reasonably good. However, I don't plan on going back anytime soon for the following reasons...

1. Unreasonable rules. The MGM room had this same problem when they opened up. The people in charge want to make strict rules to try to eliminate any gray area when disputes arise. This is understandable - advisable even. The problem is that players and dealers are used to a certain set of rules, written and unwritten, that are used in all the other poker rooms in town. When you make new rules and tell neither the players nor the dealers, it is unreasonable, and will only cause more disputes. The solution is probably to have strict rules that conform to the current customs of play in poker rooms around Vegas. A good example of this is "cutting your stack" when betting. If you want to bet $70 and you bring out a stack of sixteen $5 chips, most casinos allow you to count out these chips and then bring two back, as long as you leave your hand on them. At Caesars, this is an $80 bet unless you verbally declare "$70". This rule alone makes me very unlikely to want to play at Caesars again, unless they change it.

2. Poor service. I wanted to get some food and another player told me they will bring food to the table, and all I had to do was ask for a menu. This is a nice feature that some, but not all, casinos offer. I got my menu and the floorperson asked me for my ID so I could get a comp card. All I had to do was give the waitress my card when I ordered. Well, four hours, $17, and one cheeseburger later, I still didn't have my comp card or any discount, and I was out of my seat asking the floorperson where I could get my card. She said I should go to the front desk. The front desk told me I had to go out into the casino, past the deli to the rewards center to get it. So I searched the casino for a few minutes, found the rewards center, got my card, and went home. The next time I went to Caesars I had been playing for about 6 hours when I decided to order some food. Suffice it to say that an hour and a half later, after they had finally gotten around to asking me for my order, I was ready to leave. And not come back. Now, I realize getting food brought to me at the table is a luxury, but expecting the casino to follow through on their offer of it should not be to much to ask.

3. Inadaquate restrooms. The restroom has just a few urinals and is located just outside the poker room, to be shared with sportsbook patrons and nightclub goers. This means lines are common, especially when the nightclub is hopping. On the plus side, it makes for an amusing social scene as the world of the drunken nightclub people collides with the world of the poker players.

All of these problems, particularly the first two, can be fixed rather easily. In fact, I expect them to be fixed within a month or two. Until then, Las Vegas has plenty of other more worthy options.