If you take Las Vegas Boulevard north of The Strip, Downtown, and just about everything else, you'll eventually come across one of the longest-operating poker rooms in town, and there's a good chance you'd never even know it was there if it weren't a giant castle.
Poker Palace, a white-and-red throwback to a time when a building's theme meant something, opened in 1974 and has since grown to 26,000 square feet of gambling and dining space in North Las Vegas. The casino sprung out of a bar on the property, serving a regular crowd from nearby Nellis Air Force Base. It debuted with a blackjack table, pool, a few slot machines, and a bar.
In the 50 years that followed, the humble casino has since added a restaurant, bingo hall, and everything else a local might need. The big white castle sits in the pocket of town that also includes Jerry's Nugget and the Silver Nugget, two hyper-local casinos in their own right.
The big draw, at least for poker players, is the $20 daily tournament. Poker Palace operates poker Thursday-Monday, with the $20 bird at 6:30 pm and a $30 bounty on Sundays at 1pm. In a Las Vegas that has turned a lot of its smaller poker rooms into high-limit slot salons, the budget-friendly buy-in stands out on the daily Poker Atlas lineup. You can grab a small add-on when you sign-up or after the break, and rebuys are unlimited for five 15-minute levels. Or, just ride the wave with $20.
And now, thanks to a wave of growth that recently increased the room's operating hours from two days weekly to five, Poker Palace will begin to offer poker seven days a week on May 22.
The home game casino
It's a small room with a lot of regulars, poker room manager Timothy Shawi says, and a very loyal following.
"Poker Palace has a very home game feel. And it's been like that since it opened. It's pretty much the same players over the last 30, 40, or 50 years. We have people who've played every Friday, like literally every Friday."
The cash games also kick off, usually with the tournament bustout crowd. Both cash games and tournaments are seeing bigger numbers this year. "When I got here a little over a year ago, it was two days a week, Fridays and Saturdays. Fridays was maybe three tables max, and Saturdays was two to three." Friday cash games were great, but Saturdays were hit and miss.
Now, Shawi says, tournaments will fill five tables on Fridays and Saturdays. It's all the result of an increased effort to bring life back to the poker room. "We have a new General Manager who has supported us since he started. We have new TVs. These were not here before. We have new felt and new tournament chips. We have new cash game chips. We have excellent dealers now. We have way more dealers."
'Where the action is at'
One regular, Joshua, couldn't wait to talk about the place. "The Saturday night tournament is where the action is at, man. Honestly, it's good action, you know, it's a fun game. It's more like your standard home game vibe but at a casino so that's really what makes this place interesting."
However, the bigger crowds and crazier games have come with a small downside, Joshua says. "Before, there used to be a lot of shit talking, a lot of table talk. That was the beauty about the casino here because you were allowed to pretty much talk about the hands, mainly if it was only heads-up. You could get a little creative. But they started to crack down more on the rules, trying to keep it standard."
Ultimately, it's a welcoming spot, even if you have preconceived notions about the area in which it sits. "We're friendly people here, especially in North Las Vegas. A lot of people think that just because it's North Las Vegas, it's not going to be a friendly place, but that's not the case."
Bingo room takeover?
The expanded schedule will give Poker Palace a chance to pick up more fans during the WSOP, and Shawi hopes that the room can one day expand beyond its small corner next to the sportsbook. "Our goal, maybe in 5-10 years... we want to take over the bingo room."
In the meantime, small improvements make up a long wish list.
"I've been trying to keep the cigarette smoke out. I put signs up and I tell them. It's been a lot better. We're hoping to maybe get a wall or a glass that goes up to the ceiling to enclose it."
Anything to set the right tone for the new faces that are trickling in. "When I put a tournament on Poker Atlas, our tournament is the cheapest tournament, by far. And that's what attracts a lot of visitors. They come here, they see the vibe. It's very friendly."
Poker Palace is located at 2757 Las Vegas Blvd N, North Las Vegas, NV 89030.
