Poker has always seen its fair share of boom and busts. Right now in Las Vegas, it’s not a good time for poker rooms. The Sahara Casino, located on the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip, recently announced that it will shuttered its doors in a couple of weeks. Another legendary poker room is never more.
Here’s your last chance to play at the Sahara. The official shutdown day is November. Poker players do not generate the same insane amount of revenue like slot machines can do. Floor space is a premium, especially on the Strip, so the bean counter decided that poker was a costly offering. Once again, the Excel-spreadsheet-wielding suits made a decision that’s just a gut punch to poker players.
Sahara will renovate the poker room in favor of a slots area. The space will be redesigned as a test space for new slots.
“When it debuts in mid-December, the enhanced offerings will include dedicated slot banks where players can be some of the first in Las Vegas to play the newest test games from top gaming content providers,” said Sahara’s general manager Paul Hobson. “More details about this latest Sahara innovation will be announced soon.”
With every innovation in Sin City, there’s a crusty poker player cast aside.
Dring the glorious online poker boom, the Sahara poker room attracted both locals and tourists, so it was a good mix for low-stakes action. The Sahara hosted fun daily tournaments. The poker room treated players to an oversized deli platter sandwich that was free for all poker players during the nightly 7pm tournament. Even a couple of local homeless guys found out about the deli sandwich and would show up during the tournament for a free meal.
I played that 7pm tourney a lot but never came close to winning it. Made the final table a couple of times, but could never be the last one standing. Friends have shipped it in the past, including the midnight tournament, but I also did much better playing cash games there after I busted for the tournament.
During the poker boom, there was a poker room in almost ever casino with 58 around Las Vegas and nearly 420 tables. Shortly after Black Friday, several rooms began to disappear.
By 2014, the list of closed poker rooms included the Palms, Tropicana, Circus Circus, Texas Station, Sunset Station, Silverton, Fitzgerald’s, O’Sheas, Ellis Island, Bill’s Gamblin Hall, The M Resort, and El Cortez.
Shortly before the pandemic, another wave of poker rooms shut down. The Strip lost Treasure Island, Monte Carlo, the Linq (aka the old Imperial Palace), and Luxor. On the north end of the Strip, the Strat kissed poker goodbye. Just to the east of MGM, both Hooters and Hard Rock lost their rooms. There were causalities off the Strip including the Aliante, the Plaza, Eastside Cannery, Suncoast, and Arizona Charlie’s.
After the 2020 pandemic, Las Vegas shut down numerous poker rooms or a few never reopened. That sad list includes Binion’s, Excalibur, Green Valley Ranch, Harrah’s, Sam’s Town, Rio, Flamingo, Mirage, Planet Hollywood, and Silver Sevens.
The Hard Rock took over the Mirage, which is under renovation. The Seminole Hard Rock is a poker destination in Florida, so there’s hopes that the Vegas Hard Rock will include a cool poker room.
Over the summer, the Venetian opened a new poker room that is the largest in Sin City with 50 tables. It located in the shopping arena in between the Venetian and Palazzo and it’s swanky.
Caesar’s Palace temporarily shut down its poker room while the are underwent renovations. They said it will return… eventually… but you never know.