When poker exploded after Chris Moneymaker's WSOP Main Event victory in 2003, Las Vegas poker expanded right along with it. Poker rooms — once an amenity reserved to a few casinos for reasons of their own — became the must-have feature for any casino that wanted to drive traffic on and off the strip.
And while this has resulted in some of the greatest poker rooms in the world being built, there were quite a few stinkers along the way.
Thank goodness for PokerAtlas and its ongoing record of poker room reviews, both good and bad (mostly bad).
PokerAtlas has been a cornerstone of the Las Vegas poker scene since it was founded as AllVegasPoker.com in 2004 by WSOP bracelet winner Jon Friedberg. Its review scores — though not scientific — represent years of opining tourists and regulars.
Of course, you may well have some suggestions of your own; if so please share them at Ask The Org where we're asking: What's the worst poker room?
Shuffle up and deal with it
The overall score represents six categories: quality, competition, dealers, cocktails, management, and comps.
Among the highest-scoring rooms are the obvious choices like the Wynn, Aria, Venetian, South Point, Mirage, and Bellagio — and a few surprises like the now-closed Club Fortune and M Resort. Scores range on a scale from 1-5, with 5 being the highest.
Most of the lowest scores belong to rooms that are now long gone. We hit the road in Las Vegas to track down a few of the old, bad rooms and see what they look like now.
Circus Circus (2.8 overall)
The Circus Circus poker room closed in 2013, but not before it earned review comments like “crooked, dirty tables” and “kids running and screaming.” It was not a well-reviewed room, to say the least, but there were a few positives — like the fact that it was located near the front valet entrance. Multiple commenters pointed out that this made it easy to turn around and leave when there wasn’t a suitable game.
The front area of Circus Circus — now filled with slots — made for a convenient getaway when players were repulsed. Circus Circus carries a 2.8 overall rating, with an ultra-low 2.4 for quality. Its one bright spot is the competition score of 3.8, probably because the competition was drunk.
Rio (2.94 overall)
The Rio may be known as the home of the World Series of Poker from 2005-2021, but it was also the caretaker of a small cash poker room with around 14 tables next to the sportsbook. When the WSOP closed up shop and left town at the end of the summer, the Rio continued to serve regulars and tourists throughout the rest of the year with a modest daily tournament schedule and cash poker.
All that's left of the Rio poker room — slots. Most categories have the Rio pulling low scores and its overall sits just below 3, which puts it on the very bottom tier of the dozens of casinos that players have reviewed on PokerAtlas.
In fairness to the Rio’s low score, many commenters have left their negative feelings for the WSOP on the poker room page. These common WSOP/Rio complaints bring back memories of long waits and crowded bathrooms, but the room still catches a few strays in the review section — including a complaint about a very angry manager.
The room did not survive the WSOP’s move to The Strip and it is now used as an area for slot machines.
Linq/O’Shea’s (3.04 overall)
The Linq/Imperial Palace/O’Shea’s/Quad area has gone through massive changes over the last two decades and it's hard to make out exactly where the poker room sat after multiple renovations.
The area near the Strip entrance at the Linq has changed dramatically to include a Dunkin Donuts — and slots. The poker room area was just steps away from the Las Vegas Strip and it boasted small-stakes cash games and the occasional tournament, with free cookies for all players (not kidding). The location — a similar spot where a room once stood when the casino was known as O’Shea’s — eventually hopped around the casino with subsequent renovations and the poker room closed for good in August of 2016.
Reviews are mixed with worn chairs and old tables dominating the negative comments. It's too old to have a reliable set of scores, but it would rank among the lowest anyway. The air conditioning problems and its proximity to wandering drunks did not do the room any favors.
Palms (2.96 overall)
The Palms poker room closed in 2014 but not before review comments like “slow”, “the size of a restroom” and “full of locals that know each other.” Long waits and tough players dragged down the scores but a few bright spots included the regular $4/8 game and the energetic vibe of the casino at the time.
The scores are low across the board, except for the cocktail score which helped boost the overall to 2.9.
The area where the poker room sat is now occupied by slot machines and some sportsbook seating.
The Palms poker room used to sit near the sportsbook and it is now the home of — you guessed it — slots. Poker Palace (2.5 overall)
Poker Palace is a long-standing Vegas Valley poker room that all of the cool kids know about — and it's the only one on this list that is still open. It’s also far away from the heart of The Strip — in North Las Vegas — where you don’t expect to find much poker.
Reviews like “old”, “sad” and “unreadable chips” are peppered throughout a comment section that also includes accusations of coaching and betting line infractions. Positive comments refer to it as an “old school gem” with an excellent Friday night tournament.
It’s not much to the eye, but the negative reviews are wrong: Poker Palace is a great spot. The $20 tournaments run Thursday through Sunday at 6:30pm with unlimited re-buys and they have to be seen to be believed. The food specials are a throwback.
Do you think they have poker here?Honorable mentions
Plenty of now-closed and once-bad rooms like Arizona Charlie’s and Hooter’s have a small amount of reviews, but they never really occupied a large amount of space in their respective casinos for any memorable amount of time.
Arizona Charlie’s, a casino you can still find in two locations in Las Vegas, had one of the two rooms that still allowed smoking as of 2008. Almost every review of the era mentions it. The regulars were “bad players” and more than one commenter said that everything at Arizona Charlie’s is exactly how Las Vegas should be.
Hooter’s — now the Oyo Hotel — had two tables, sometimes three, and they all had frayed edges and wobbly legs. It was tucked out of the way and comments range from love for $3 rake to hate for extra-drunk players. The room closed in 2015.
Images courtesy of Matt Hansen/Poker Palace
