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The Demise of Las Vegas Poker
By John Hill
Having recently read of the imminent closure of the poker rooms at
Harrahs Las Vegas and the Venetian, I was more than a little disappointed
to see these two fine establishments following in the footsteps of
so many others in recent years. Now as someone who has had a bit of
experience at the game; not only enjoying the rush of victory and
the despondency of defeat, but the camaraderie of the tables as well,
I am beginning to feel somewhat paranoid. It's getting more and more
difficult to find a game in sin city and I'm wondering if a small
recreational player like myself is about to be consigned to the scrap
heap of obsolescence. A couple of months ago I tried to find a game
within walking distance of my hotel and was finally gratified to discover
that the Venetian still catered to my simple needs, providing me with
an enjoyable evening of poker with players of like mind, spirit, and
ability.
Alas, no longer! On my next visit to the "city which never sleeps"
I suspect I will have to do just that; as the haunts which have provided
me with so much nocturnal pleasure in the past seem to be closing
their card rooms with an alacrity which leaves me not only breathless
with chagrin, but also at a loss as to what to do with my time! Slots
and games of pure chance leave me cold, as do the scantily clad ladies
of the evening who occasionally accost me offering to expensively
relieve my boredom. Damn I say, I want a poker game and I'm getting
hard put to find one close at hand! Now of course I can always taxi
over to the Bellagio or the Mirage to find a game. I've certainly
done that in the past only to find myself consigned to a waiting list
of an hour or more for a seat at a table I can just afford.
I've been offered several reasons for the increase of poker room closures,
the most prevalent one being the dearth of high stakes players who
seem to be concentrated in only a few establishments like the Bellagio
and the Mirage. In other words unless I'm sitting at a table with
20Gs riding on each hand, I'm apparently going to be considered somewhat
of a persona-non-grata with no room at the inn. Now unless they've
changed the rules, I fail to see how this applies. Poker tables, no
matter what the stakes, all generate a certain hourly rate, (or rental
as it were), whether you're playing two-four, or two hundred-four
hundred. So what's the beef? Ahhhh, the beef! As succinctly put by
an executive of one casino whose card room disappeared into the desert
sands, "poker is a low profit margin game and space is valuable."
Indeed, testimony to this philosophy is the impending closure of Harrahs'
poker room to make way for a gift shop!
But, to each his own! I'm certainly not averse to a casino making
a profit, especially a megacasino that has spent billions to impress
me with elegance and opulence, but the question arises as to how I
am going to be impressed if the casino doesn't offer the games I want
to play. I suspect that I, and others like me, will stay away in droves
until our puny needs are satisfied. What I'm saying though, is that
I'd really like to play in the same luxurious atmosphere and stratosphere,
(and yeah, I can still play at the Stratosphere thank you!), as gamers
of more plebian pursuits, those who find joy in pushing buttons, pulling
handles, spinning balls and reels, and shaking dice!
I don't mean to whine, my lady thinks it ill becomes me, but as a
pernicious stock day trader I can definitely see the trend! The Rio,
Treasure Island, and a myriad others on the Strip and environs have
traded in their card rooms for the greener pastures of machines and
four deck or more blackjack tables. Dealers I have known over the
years are finding it more and more difficult to practice their specialty
in Las Vegas. Facing layoffs, they likewise are departing for the
greener pastures of Indian reservations where poker is a growing and
profitable draw. "You'd think," remarked a dealer who now flips the
cards at the Spa Casino near my vacation home in Palm Springs, "that
some of those places I used to work in would consider marketing poker
rather than closing down their rooms. Poker players are a mainstay,
regulars they are for the most part, whether they're locals or visitors,
and they lend an air of the old time gambler, a part of the old west
you won't find any place else. It's a shame to see it disappearing
in Vegas!"
Perhaps disappearing is too harsh a word. You can still find games
on the strip if you look hard enough but nothing like it used to be
in the "good old days," when just about every casino, large or small,
had a poker room, presided over by a courtly white haired gentleman
of the old school. At last count, in addition to the Bellagio, Mirage,
and Stratosphere, you could find a game at the New Frontier, Luxor,
Excalibur, Flamingo, Circus Circus, Monte Carlo, and possibly one
or two others, though on my last trek down the Strip I wore out the
soles of my shoes looking for one!
HAhh nostalgia! As I grow older and more conservative I find myself
resisting the trends I see in the city that gave me birth as a writer
and a poker player. I suppose that's natural though, it's tough to
see familiar things fading away. The skyline has changed as has the
spirit of the city. From my perspective I kinda liked it as it was,
an adult playground where just about anything goes, but I guess change
is inevitable. I'm not so sure about this kinder, gentler, family
kind of place. We already have two Disneylands! I guess I'll go along
with it though, I'm not yet that reactionary, but like I said, damn!
Find me a poker game!
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