Circa opened on the former Las Vegas Club parcel in downtown Las Vegas at 12:01am on October 28. It held a massive grand opening party. We arrived around 10am to look around figuring the crowd would be much thinner by then. We were right.
We entered the door closest to the Fremont Street side of Binion’s. Our IDs were scanned and temperatures taken. The Mega Bar is immediately on the left. It is massive like the one at The D.
Table games are in front of this bar. Another pit is on the second floor. It is the only Las Vegas casino with a standard table game pit above the first floor.
The sportsbook is along the Main Street wall. It is viewable from both levels and takes up around 15 percent of the casino space. The only video poker at Circa that is not on a bar top can be found near the sportsbook on the first level and in the entrance of the high limit slot room. Most of the other machines on the floor are modern slots with a few electronic table games.
Circa table game selection
The Circa table games are split into three sections. There is a pit on both floors of the casino. There is also a high limit salon on the second floor. All blackjack games pay 3:2. The tables on the floor use six or eight decks. High limit has two and six-deck blackjack tables.
All blackjack games permit double down before and after splitting. Most tables hit soft 17. The exception is the six-deck high limit game where the dealer stands on all 17’s. Circa is the only downtown Las Vegas casino with any blackjack tables that stand on soft 17.
Craps odds are 3-4-5 times. This is a change from Golden Gate and The D where it is 10 times. The field pays double on 2 and 12. The other table games are baccarat, double zero roulette, Face Up Pai Gow Poker, Three Card Poker and Ultimate Texas Hold’em.
All table games had a $25 minimum bet during our opening morning visit except for the ones noted below:
- Three Card Poker: $20
- Six-deck S17 blackjack: $100
- Double deck blackjack: $1,000
I suspect blackjack will drop to $15 during slower times with most other tables outside high limit and baccarat maybe dropping to $10. I predict the double deck blackjack table will normally be $100 and that this was just opening day pricing for VIPs.
Update: We visited Circa on November 3 and found $10 craps and a $15 minimum bet for all other table games on the floor. The minimum in high limit was $100 for all games.
There is a stadium gaming setup with baccarat, blackjack, craps and double zero roulette. The minimum bet is $1. The game was not in operation so I do not know its blackjack rules.
There are four video table games. One is $5 bubble craps. The other three are $3 roulette. Two are double zero. The other is triple zero.
Circa video poker
Circa video poker is comparable to Golden Gate and The D. The best game I found is 8/5 Bonus Poker. This game is available at half-dollar up to $5 denominations. Other pay tables available are 9/6/5 Double Bonus, 9/5 Double Double Bonus, 17/7/5 Joker Poker, 12/9 Deuces Wild, 8/5 Jacks or Better and 9/6 Triple Double Bonus.
Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus and Jacks or Better drop a notch on quarter. The other pay tables are available on all denominations. The 7/5 Bonus Poker game is the best quarter video poker offering at Circa I found.
The other video poker bank had multiple games like Triple Play, 25/50/100 Play and Super Times Pay. The denominations are generally nickel, dime and quarter. The 25+ play had a two-cent denomination. These machines are by the sportsbook on the first floor and back up to the machines mentioned above.
High limit has a large variety of games on Super Star machines. The pay tables are better on the floor where you can find up to the $10 denomination. High limit single line games start and $2 and go up to $100. It offers 30/6/5 Bonus Poker, 8/5 Double Double Bonus, 9/6/4 Double Bonus and 8/5 Triple Double.
Variants include Super Times Pay, Double Super Times Pay, Spin Poker, Triple Spin Poker, Extra Card Frenzy and Deal Draw. Denominations here are quarter up to $5.
Circa bar top video poker
The bars at Circa are magnificent. They cannot be described without seeing them for yourself. There are some 98 percent games at these bars.
The Mega Bar offers 8/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe at half-dollar and above. There is also 9/6/5 Double Bonus, 9/5 Double Double Bonus, 10/8 Deuces Wild, 10/8/5 Bonus Poker and 9/5 Triple Double Bonus. Denominations go from quarter up to $5. Many of the quarter pay tables are a step below the half-dollar and higher ones. All denominations have a progressive jackpot.
The upstairs bar has a mix of machines. There are Super Star II bar tops with single-line and variants that include 3/5/10 Play, Super Times Pay, Double Super Times Pay, Spin Poker, Ultimate X, keno, slots and blackjack. The single line pay tables and denominations are the same as Mega Bar. The variants offer dime, quarter and half-dollar denominations.
There are two stories of bar top machines that surround the sportsbook. The lower level starts at the half-dollar denomination. The second story has $1 as its lowest denomination. The games are the same as the Mega Bar. Our pick is 8/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe if you would like to enjoy the Circa sportsbook experience while playing.
Photo credit: Kristina Mehaffey
