There were six open downtown Las Vegas poker rooms about 15 years ago. Today, Golden Nugget is the lone survivor. The reason for this is that it has quality management and a large hotel to support it. The competing rooms slowly dropped over the years due to a lack of action.
You can play 3/6 fixed limit hold’em and 1/2 no limit hold’em in the Golden Nugget poker room. The no limit game has no cap. There are no daily tournaments at Golden Nugget. However, it hosts the Grand Poker Series in the summer.
The other five downtown Las Vegas poker rooms that were open 15 years ago are described below. The last closed in March 2020. Here is a trip down that Memory Lane.
Binion’s poker room
Binion’s was the last downtown Las Vegas poker room to close. It survived until March 2020. That is when Nevada casinos were ordered to close due to the pandemic. The room died in the years leading up to that. Binion’s, the original Horseshoe where the World Series of Poker was born, ran summer poker series. That ended a couple of years before the room closed. By the end, it was not open 24 hours, and was lucky to get a cash game off the ground most days.
El Cortez poker room
There were three tables in the El Cortez poker room. It was home to a 2-6 spread limit hold’em game during the day and a 1/2 no limit one at night. A 1-5 spread limit seven card stud game was played on Saturday mornings.
The El Cortez poker room stayed open so that its former owner, Jackie Gaughan, could play during the day. He would tell stories that entertained other players at the table. Many patrons dropped by just for the chance to play poker with a Las Vegas legend. When Gaughan’s health prevented him from playing poker anymore, the room closed.
This work of art is above where the poker room once was. It is across from the players club where the U1 machines are today.
Plaza
The Plaza offered poker in four different parts of the casino over the last 15 years. The main room was in the area where the Plaza Rewards desk is today. It was home to Panguingue, often called Pan.
It was also where Sand Dollar Lounge is now, Omaha Bar, and the keno lounge. The last two spots were where the Pokertek electronic tables were. The company that owned the machines was acquired by a group that did not want to pursue a Nevada gaming license. That caused the room to close as there was no alternative on the market at the time.
Fitzgeralds
Fitzgeralds is called The D today. It was home to a small poker room in the area where the Circa Sportsbook is on the second level. The Fitzgeralds poker room struggled to get a game most days. It dealt a daily tournament at 7pm that often never got off the ground. The poker room closed when the casino was rebranded to The D.
Las Vegas Club
The Las Vegas Club was on the parcel that is now Circa. Poker rooms came and went a few times. The locations were either in the back near Frisky’s Bar or between the main bar and casino cage.
The Las Vegas Club poker room only had a few tables. The same company owned Plaza, which had an active poker room at the time. It seemed odd that it kept trying to get another poker room off the ground. Las Vegas Club gave up on poker for the last time around 2009.
