Two More Las Vegas Poker Rooms Reportedly Leaving Casino Floors
Posted on: April 23, 2025, 11:32h.
Last updated on: April 24, 2025, 07:59h.
- Caesars Entertainment is reopening its closed poker rooms at Caesars Palace and Planet Hollywood, according to reliable reports
- Both will be located away from their more profitable casino floors
- Caesars Palace’s poker room will be half the size of its predecessor, but Planet Hollywood’s will be much larger
Following the lead of the Venetian, which moved its casino floor poker room to the second floor of the Grand Canal Shoppes last August, reliable reports have Caesars Entertainment reopening both its Caesars Palace and Planet Hollywood poker rooms this spring in less valuable real estate off their casino floors.
According to John Mehaffey of Vegas Advantage, the Caesars Palace poker room will reopen inside the Appian Way Shops on May 16. This upscale retail area, near Gordon Ramsay’s Pub & Grill and the Statue of David, is about a five-minute walk from the gaming area.
With eight tables, the new room will be only half the size of its predecessor, Mehaffey reports, with potential room for expansion if the new location doesn’t deter foot traffic and casual player participation as expected.
The Caesars Palace poker room has had two previous locations, both on the gaming floor. Originally located opposite the sportsbook, the first boasted 63 tables. That location was closed in 2014 to expand Pure (later rebranded Omnia) Nightclub.
That same year, the poker room reopened between the sportsbook and Colosseum with only 16-18 tables. It lasted there until Aug. 4, 2024.
At the time, Caesars Entertainment announced the closure as only temporary. Supposedly, the room closed to accommodate a renovation of the casino’s high-limit slots area and would reopen “in 60-90 days.” However, that area now hosts lower-limit slots.
Two of a Kind
Planet Hollywood’s poker room, which closed in July 2021, is also reopening off its casino floor, according to Mehaffey’s sources. But it will more than double in size.
The new room, expected to open May 2, will be located in the former London Club space, off the mezzanine level across from the wedding chapel. It will feature 23 tables, 12 dedicated to cash games, and it will overlook the casino’s Pleasure Pit, where the original 10-12 table poker room was located.
The London Club, shuttered during the pandemic shutdown, was a 4,800-square-foot private space rented out for parties and corporate gatherings.
These moves align with the general Las Vegas corporate trend of deprioritizing poker in favor of slots, which vastly outperform poker’s modest rake-based revenue. (In poker, the house doesn’t compete against its guests. It only earns money via a percentage, typically 10% of the pot with a maximum cap of $4 to $6 per hand.)
Around 40 Las Vegas poker rooms have closed for good since the early-aughts poker boom started going bust around 2012. Currently, Las Vegas has 17. The last to close was at the Sahara, which became the seventh Vegas Strip poker room to fold in five years when the casino replaced it with slots in November 2024.
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Last Comments ( 14 )
Rob R. Ree, I think the rationale is that the new Caesars room can be smaller given how close it is to Horseshoe's poker room while Planet Hollywood's room needs to be larger given it is nearer non-Caesars Entertainment poker rooms than it is to CE poker rooms.
I take issue with the headline saying the poker rooms reportedly leaving the casino floors given that neither are currently open on the casino floor.
They both will do good business during WSOP, but what happens in late July and August to these rooms. That is typically slowest time for poker in Vegas
I wonder what the rationale is for two poker rooms owned by the same company (Caesars) taking opposite approaches on room sizing. It wasn't that long ago Caesars Palace was trying to out-flagship Bellagio and/or Wynn and/or Venetian in everything including petty stuff like the number of tables and types of games. Meanwhile in an era of contraction, Planet Hollywood's poker room doubles in size?! But I'm glad there still are some new poker options to explore.
I'm a long time poker player and in my home casino, Peppermill Resort in Reno NV, the drop is $5 every dealer change except for the 3x6 limit game. All the no-limit games are pretty lively, with a matching stack for buy in. It's 24/7 action, and even at 3 am there will be 2 or 3 tables going. I only go to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker so I don't really know how it goes down there, but I can tell you that poker is pretty popular in Reno. So, it doesn't really matter where you play, poker is forever. In a strip mall, on the casino floor, it makes no difference.
Sad Boi is just that...a sad boy. If people want to play poker, they will find the room. If you think people walk by a poker room and just decide to play impromptu, you're talking about 1% of all players. Almost NOBODY does that. People that WANT to play poker, set out to play poker. Slots are impromptu, so are blackjack or roulette tables..but poker is a time investment and people PLAN that. Venetian is doing WAAY better than they were before. They are getting their same volume as before...PLUS people that hate the stink of smoke, prefer better lighting, like quick access to their car and don't want to be an alternate for tournaments constantly. If you check poker atlas, they have more games going at almost any given time then Wynn or any other room. The games are still very lucrative too. Maybe you should actual GO to the room and play...if you're any good, you would profit.
Being adjacent to the sportsbook at Caesars was the perfect placement for that room. Plenty of walk-in traffic to feed the tables. Now players will have to search for the poker room or more likely just wander off. A room full of wanna be pros grinding away is not fun or profitable. Looks like I'm stuck playing at the Horseshoe until they ruin that room by moving it down by the food court in the basement.
I have played Poker in Las Vegas since 1978. Casinos are getting greedy with Rakes. Players are more comfortable playing 8 handed, but there are less playable hands making poker more booring to play. Many players are finding out that winning has become more difficult and are leaving the game. Poker needs to make the game more attractive to new players. Good poker games are not made up with only good players, you need a cross section of the poker population for good and profitable games. I suggest that casinos go back to at least 9 handed games and reduce the rake.
Unfortunately, Strip casinos continue to make bungled changes that are alienating poker players and those which discourage new players to become interested. Vegas is about the only American city whose poker rooms are not populated primarily by above-average or semi-pro players, and making the rooms more quiet and intimidating to newbies is not good for the game.
Correction: The rake is universally 10% of the pot (up to $5 or $6) or a time rake starting at $14/hour per seat.
Worst thing to happen to poker since PokerGo. Now with absolutely no visibility beyond people who already play, less and less casuals will get in. Walking to the Venetian’s Poker Room, I’m sorry…walking to the shopping mall at the Palazzo poker room, with zero quick food options within a 15 minute walk…you can just feel the excitement get sucked out of you.
Slots are fucking boring lol And they're guaranteed to lose.... I spent 100 bux hit the bonus round and got back to 97 bux.... Gotta take a real bo bo to give into that shit. I cannot fathom how a machine that grants like 13% wins or something is the favorable option of betting. People are stupid.
CP will be busy depending on placement, but PH will still be too close to the casino and noisy. Better than where it was but not a good choice for the new room! Venetian is awesome now, smoke free and noise free!!
Finding enough dealers is going to be enough trouble for any poker room!