Where You Can (and Can’t) Play Poker in Las Vegas This Week

Las Vegas poker rooms, and casinos, are reopening soon, some as early as Thursday. Well, a few of them. Most card rooms will remain closed due to the new stringent restrictions set by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. So, the question is, which card rooms will have a game waiting for you this week?

• Only three card rooms out of 31 in Las Vegas are confirmed to be opening this week
• Poker tables, per gaming board restrictions, will be limited to four players, maximum
• Just one poker room on the Strip will open

For the first time since mid-March, live poker will return to Southern Nevada on Thursday. Most of the card rooms in the area, however, will remain closed, some potentially permanently. And the game of poker we’ll see in Las Vegas this week will look different than in the past.

The gaming board is currently limiting poker games to four-handed play. That, of course, isn’t a popular format among poker players, but some casinos will give it a shot, and hope demand is higher than anticipated.

Which Las Vegas Poker Rooms are Reopening?

The three Las Vegas poker rooms opening this week include Venetian, The Orleans, and South Point. Those were three of the last card rooms to close before the coronavirus shut down all gaming in the city. Venetian is the only casino on the Strip that will reopen its poker room.

Venetian is going to try something new to live poker in Las Vegas. Due to the four-handed restrictions, the Venetian poker room will host $100 winner-take-all sit-n-gos. Once four players are seated, the game will begin. Cash games will also be available.

Card Rooms That Will Remain Closed (for Now)

Many of the top Las Vegas poker rooms won’t be opening any time soon. These include the poker rooms at Wynn, Caesars Palace, and Aria on the Strip, along with the Golden Nugget (downtown), and Red Rock Resort (Summerlin).

There simply isn’t enough demand for four-handed poker to justify most of the card rooms reopening. Here is a list of all 31 Las Vegas poker rooms and their current status.

Of those 31 casinos, seven won’t be reopening at all this week, even for non-poker games or the hotel. Those include Aria, Bally’s, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, Mirage, Planet Hollywood, and the home of the postponed World Series of Poker, the Rio.

Once the gaming board relaxes its four-max restrictions, it’s likely other rooms will reopen. Until then, don’t expect to find a lot of places to play unless the four card rooms that are opening this month are busier than expected.