Caesars Palace Poker Room...a review

Dr. Pauley From Tao of Poker is live blogging the WPT Borgata Winter Open poker tournament. Click on over to read his best-of-the-web live blogging direct from the Borgata in Atlantic City, then take a look as his photos only minutes from the tournament floor. The action begins at 11:00 AM EST. And, remember, the Dr. will be live blogging the LA Poker Classic from the Commerce Casino.-Flipchip

Caesars Palace opened its doors to the public in 1966 and was immediately accepted as the most luxurious place in Las Vegas. Las Vegas' original entrepreneur, Jay Sarno, borrowed $10 million from the teamster's pension fund and began construction of the resort in 1962. His goal was to produce a Las Vegas hotel/casino that would provide guests with the experience of visiting the home of a king. The original Caesars Palace opened with 680 guest rooms on the 34 acre site owned by Kirk Kirkorian at the corner of Flamingo and the Las Vegas Strip. The famous fountains were an immediate hit and quickly became a must see for Vegas visitors. On New Year's Eve in 1967 motorcycle daredevil, Evel Knievel, attempted to jump over the fountains and failed, breaking many bones for the huge crowd of watchers. His son, Robbie Knievel, attempted the same jump in 1989 and was successful.

Caesars Palace has been the scene of many championship boxing matches staged in the outdoor sports arena, now gone after being replaced with more family oriented attractions in the early 1990's. Gran Prix racing enjoyed a brief stay at Caesars' strip side racetrack. The Omnimax theatre was added and thrilled the masses with realistic surround video and sound movies. The largest game arcade in Las Vegas, the Atari Room, opened on the open air second floor above the poker room.

The racetrack was bulldozed to make way for the Forum Shopping Mall which opened in 1992 and recently completed its second expansion. The showrooms of Caesars Palace have featured all of the top name stars including Liberace, George Burns, Gloria Estafan, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. In recent years the outdoor Roman Plaza has opened on the strip corner, once again championship boxing has been broadcast worldwide from Caesars and the Colosseum was constructed to house the Celine Dion musical show. Elton John's Red Piano also performs from the showroom.

Caesars Palace has changed hands a half dozen times in the last four decades with each new owner continuing to maintain and improve the resort. Now under the flag of Harrah's Entertainment the hotel has grown to 3348 guest rooms, has one of the largest sports books in the world, miles of exclusive shops, world class restaurants, Cleopatra's Barge and after a sixteen year absence, a poker room.

Caesars Palace opened the poker room on December 21. The fourteen thousand square foot facility is divided with eight thousand square feet in the live gaming area and six thousand in the tournament area. The poker room is located adjacent to the sports book next to Pure Night Club. The entrance to the room features eleven original LeRoy Neiman paintings. Poker room manager, Michael Matts, has over a decade in gaming including managing the live poker games during the WSOP. He opened the Rio's poker room and now brings that experience to Caesars Palace.

The poker room is one of the most spacious to be found anywhere, offering 30 tables in the live game area and an additional 33 tables in the high ceiling tournament area. Large sound damping fabric panels control the noise. The poker player is surrounded by luxury and conversations are at normal levels without players having to talk over the casino sounds of the slot machines or screaming fans in the sports book. Digital boards display the wait list for games and a service bar assures fast drink service. Food comps are available at the standard rate of $1 per hour of play with no maximum limit.

Caesars Palace poker room spreads limit Texas Hold'em $3-$6, $6-$12, $10-$20, $20-$40 and up. No Limit Hold'em is available in $1-$2 with a $100-$500 buy-in, $2-$5 with a $200-no max buy-in, $5-$10 with a $500-no max buy-in and up. The room will spread almost any poker game and limits if there are enough players.

Tournaments are offered twice daily every day at 12:00 Noon and 7:00 PM. Tournament Director, Paul Lord, brings a decade of poker experience to the operation including the WSOP and he has designed one of the best tournament schedules and structures to be found in any poker room. The tournaments are mostly $120 buy-in with one $100 rebuy No-limit Hold'em. The exceptions are Monday and Tuesday Noon tournaments being an $80 with one $50 buy-in, Tuesday 7:00 PM is a Limit $120 buy-in with one $100 rebuy, Wednesday 7:00 PM is Omaha High $120 buy-in with one $100 rebuy. The Friday and Saturday 7:00 PM tournaments are $530 buy-in No-limit Hold'em freeze-out with no rebuy. Players begin play with $1,500 in tournament chips ($4,000 for the two $530 buy-in tournaments) and the blind levels are forty minutes. This tournament structure was designed to attract the amateur and expert alike with the larger starting chip count and longer sessions it becomes more of a game of skill instead of a lucky shootout.

Two major poker tournaments are already scheduled for the new Caesars Palace poker room. The first will be the NBC National Heads-Up Championship that will fill the tournament area for three days, March 4, 5 and 6, 2006. The World Series of Poker Circuit Series will be at Caesars beginning April 28 and concluding May 10 with an ESPN filmed championship event. Caesars Palace has made a long term commitment to the game of poker and offers one of the best poker rooms to be found on the planet. Contact the poker room direct at 702.785.6566.

Caesars Palace
3570 Las Vegas Blvd., South
Las Vegas, Nevada 89109
Toll Free 877.427.7243
Local 702.731.7110
www.caesars.com