An iconic Las Vegas poker room will reopen in April after closing for a change in ownership and a full renovation last year.
Poker Palace, once home of the last $20 poker tournament in Las Vegas, will now be known as Club Fortune North. And the new name comes with new renovations, including a brand-new poker room.
The new digs will also feature an entirely new exterior facade and an interior that Truckee Gaming CEO Ferenc Szony called a "pretty dramatic change from what it was."
'If Circus Circus and Excalibur had a baby'
Truckee Gaming, which operates slots-only casino Club Fortune in Henderson, purchased the property last year for around $20 million. They immediately decided to ditch the familiar white-and-red castle for a more modern approach.
"If Circus Circus and Excalibur had a baby," is how Szony described the old Poker Palace to the Nevada Gaming Control Board in a meeting this week. "It needed to have a dramatic change."
That change included a "total gut job" of the interior, Szony said. "We had to rip out part of the floor."
Poker Palace was known for its home game atmosphere and low buy-ins, with a handful of poker tables in a relatively simple space. It opened in 1974 and served dutifully in the northwest section of the Las Vegas Valley.
The new casino will make better use of the plot on Las Vegas Blvd with a fresh bar, upgraded kitchen, and a brand-new poker room. Truckee Gaming has some previous poker room experience with the sister property Club Fortune in Henderson, where a small room offered low-stakes cash games until it closed for renovations in 2019.
The old Poker Palace employed around 125 people and the new Club Fortune North will be at around 100 employees with a lack of table games. Employees who worked at the location before it closed will have the preference to return.
Players can expect their first looks in a couple of months.
"The target was to get it open by April 1," Szony told the board. "We may be a week behind. Maybe two."
