Downtown Las Vegas Poker Rooms
Don't visit Las Vegas without going downtown, even if you don't want to play poker there. It is a different experience altogether from the Las Vegas Strip and the Fremont Street Experience really rocks! If you want to play poker in a place with a rich history, go to Binion's, where the World Series of Poker is held each year, although starting in 2005, only the final 2 days are held at Binion's. The remaining days of the championship event, along with the other events are being held at the Rio.
The Golden Nugget has a small, but nice poker area. We would say that Golden Nugget has more tourists and Binion's draws a good mixture of locals and tourists. The Plaza, on the West end of Fremont Street has a surprisingly big poker room, a bit worn, but perhaps a fun place, especially if you like a table that might get a little rowdy. If you're driving and you're on the freeway, take the 95/I-515 freeway and get off at Casino Center Blvd and park in one of the parking lots nearby. The 95/I-515 freeway is accessible from the I-15 freeway, North of the Las Vegas Strip. Or, if you'd prefer driving through some of the worst neighborhoods in Las Vegas and you're coming from the strip, just head North on Las Vegas Blvd (the strip), and when you come to the Y in the road near the Stratosphere, take the left arm of the Y which is Main Street and that will take you right to Downtown Las Vegas. If you prefer the right arm of the Y, which continues up Las Vegas Blvd, you can still get downtown eventually by turning left on Fremont Street, if it's not a one-way going the wrong way. If you do it that way, you'll find yourself at the East end of Downtown Las Vegas and you could then visit the El Cortez poker room first, the smallest of the 4 downtown poker rooms.
Binion's
Binion's is no longer called Binion's Horseshoe Casino, although if you go there pretty soon, some of the Horseshoe signs might still be in place. The poker chips no longer mention Horseshoe. The casino was bought out by Harrah's Entertainment. Some East Coast casino company that manages or managed the place has control of the Horseshoe name. Harrah's has the rights to the Binion's name and the World Series of Poker name. The Binion's poker room is a favorite of many locals and tourists alike. A quite large poker room with 46 tables is in the back of the casino, which puts it in a very convenient place if you're driving because the rear entry is across from one of the main parking garages. A big draw are the exciting no limit tournaments at Binion's. They are featured daily in the afternoon, evening and again at 2:00 AM. $2-$4, $4-$8 and No Limit Texas Hold Em cash games are also popular and if you're looking for the dying stud or other variations of poker, Binion's might be a place to check because there are plenty of tables there, so the chances of there being enough interest in another type of game besides Texas Hold'em are higher than at some of the smaller poker rooms.
Golden Nugget
Now here's a place downtown with a little class. The Golden Nugget Casino is a glitzy, crowded place with a first-class steakhouse and lots of updates and add-ons compared to the old days. The current owners have really done a great job with this place. The poker room is small, but when we've gone there to play, we've never had to wait long to get in a game even though at night, the place gets pretty full. Beginners lessons are available at the Golden Nugget Poker Room at 10 AM Monday through Friday. $2-$4 and No Limit Texas Hold Em seem to be the most popular games.
The Plaza
Located on the West end of the Fremont Street Experience, where Fremont meets Main, the Plaza Poker Room offers an abundance of no limit holdem tournaments, 4 of them a day, every day, with a new one starting every 4 hours, beginning at noon. This is a good place to go if you really like playing in tournaments and you want to play another one as soon as you bust out of (or win!) the one you just got through playing in. Since you're already downtown and within a short walk of both Binion's and Golden Nugget, you could arrange your day so that if you bust out at the Plaza a little earlier than you would've liked, you could hustle over to Binion's and make it on time for one of their tourneys or if the timing works out, perhaps the Golden Nugget, returning to the Plaza later in the day depending on the timing. See the complete tournament schedules for more information. The staff at the Plaza poker room are very nice people. They have surprisingly large poker events sometimes, such as the Plaza World Poker Classic, a $50,000 buy-in main event, April 18th - May 17th, 2005.
El Cortez
You may prefer a taste of the old wild West. The El Cortez poker room is the smallest of the downtown poker rooms, with only 3 tables, unless they've expanded since the last time we were there. A spread limit $1-$3 or $1-$6 Texas Hold-Em game is played there, which is a little different than the structured limit poker games which are much more prevalent in Las Vegas. Instead of a certain fixed betting amount before the flop and right after the flop, and then the bet doubling after the turn card, these spread limit games (see also Excalibur and Tropicana on the Las Vegas Strip), usually allow any betting amount through the entire range of the limits at any time, before the flop, after the flop, and all the way to the river card. Good strategy in these games might be a little different than a structured game, but the other rules of Texas Hold'em are the same. If you play poker at the El Cortez, your opponents will most likely be old-timers.