Golden Nugget, Las Vegas

Right in the middle of downtown, the Golden Nugget has probably the fanciest poker room downtown.

Games
Limit hold 'em: 2/4 and 3/6. Will spread 4/8 or higher upon request.

 No-limit hold 'em: 1/2. Will spread 2/5 or higher upon request.

Game Character: Attracts many tourists and gamblers, but some locals frequent the place as well; games often feature a few rocks and a few maniacs.

Rake: Standard Vegas rake: 10% rake, max $4, but taken in 50-cent increments.

Posting: New players need not post.

Shuffling: All tables shuffled by hand.

Wait Time: Can be anywhere from 0 to 90 minutes or more for a seat. At peak times, the place is really packed, and is never really empty.

Tournaments

 * every day, 11 am NLHE $48+12+5 1x$40 RB
 * every day, 3 pm NLHE $48+12+5 1x$40 RB
 * every day, 7 pm NLHE $48+12+5 1x$40 RB
 * every day, 1 am NLHE $48+12+5 1x$40 RB

all tournaments have 20-minute levels.

Jackpots and Promotions
Standard monte carlo jackpots. No bad beat jackpot.

Atmosphere
The Golden Nugget is clearly aiming at the upscale downtown vacationer, and does it in style: their poker room is simply gorgeous. Surprisingly, they don't regularly offer any limits higher than 3/6, but based on the look you'd expect them to offer 10/20 on a regular basis. The poker room is an entirely separate room in back of the casino, and is done up elegantly. Six huge plasma televisions are hung on the walls, but high enough up that they don't distract from the general ambience unless you want to look at them.

The walls are decorated tastefully but expensively, the lights and decor all scream "understated class". Rock music playing softly in the background lends a further air of quiet entertainment.

Neighborhood: Directly in the middle of the Fremont Street Experience, surrounded by glitzy casino lights. As with any place downtown, though, you're only a couple blocks from seediness.

Parking: Free self parking if you have your ticket signed by the shift supervisor.

Tables and Chairs: Standard Vegas 10-player tables are also gorgeous with rich brown felt and coordinated tan vinyl armrests that are wider than typical, and accommodate inset cupholders. Felt has a clean commit line. The chairs are wheeled for easy adjustment and access, padded generously for comfort, covered in velour for rich velvety smoothness, contoured to hug you as you sit, but short-backed to keep you from feeling overwhelmed or smothered. Some of the nicest poker chairs anywhere.

Smoking: Not allowed in the room, and since the poker room is an entirely separate room, no siginificant drift from the rest of the casino occurs.

Service and Comps
The only knock on the Nugget was the poor service. Only occasional forays by the waitresses into the poker room, despite the full-service bar being literally outside the door of the room. Interestingly, entire meals are available here and you can eat at the table, though it's not frequently done.

Notes and Links

 * Visited by MarkT in Nov 2006.