Coolest Poker Rooms in the World
By Cliff Spiller
Those wanting to visit the coolest poker rooms in the world should start in Las Vegas because it remains the capital of high-stakes card games. The best Vegas Strip card rooms combine opulence, convenience, and high rollers. Outside of Las Vegas, though, both new and old poker rooms are must-see experiences. Keep reading to learn.
Aria Las Vegas
Aria is known for its elegant interior and exterior design. With its high-end shopping mall and Vdara spa, Aria Las Vegas is exquisite. Aria's high roller poker room has some of the biggest stakes in town and is now known as a popular spot for big buy-in players. The $20 million venue hosts tour events on the World Poker Tour.
The PokerGo Studio at Aria Las Vegas is known for hosting Poker After Dark, Dolly's Game, Rob's Home Game, and Friday Night Poker.
Wynn Las Vegas
Wynn Resorts are known for their opulence and that goes double for Wynn Las Vegas. The grandeur applies to Wynn's poker room, which hosts several regular series. Besides the 2023 Wynn Fall Classic, the site is also home to the WTP World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.
Located in the Encore, the Wynn poker room has daily poker tournaments twice a day. It has a No-Limit Hold'em rebuy events on Friday and Saturday, along with a $10,000 guaranteed tournament every evening at 5 p.m.
Venetian Las Vegas
One would expect the world's largest casino company to feature a first-class poker room. The Venetian Las Vegas poker area features a wide range of No Limit Hold’em, Limit Hold’em, Omaha 8 or Better, and Pot Limit Omaha events with limits starting at $4/$8.
The staff is professional and courteous, while players receive 24/7 tableside food service from Grand Lux Cafe. Venetian Las Vegas is home to the popular Deepstack Poker Series.
Resorts World Las Vegas
Players should not ignore Resorts World Las Vegas, which opened in 2021. With a cost of around $4.3 billion, Resorts World Las Vegas is the most expensive resort in the history of Las Vegas. It's owned by Genting Group, a Malaysian casino company so rich that it also owns oil refineries and banana plantations throughout Southeast Asia.
The poker room at Resorts World Las Vegas has cash games for No-Limit Hold'em, Pot Limit Omaha, and mixed games. Resorts World Las Vegas features two $160 buy-in NLHE tournaments every day. Resorts World Las Vegas spared nothing when building its lavish poker room, which has abundant space and luxurious seating.
The tableside food service allows for GrubHub orders from the resort's 40 different food and beverage outlets. Options include Bar Zuzu, Carversteak, Brezza Italian, Genting Palace, Kusa Nori, Chef Ray Garcia's Viva!, and the 16 hawker stands at Famous Foods Street Eats.
The Gardens Poker Club
The poker room at the Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens (Los Angeles) has a more low-key atmosphere than most of the entries on this list. Still, it has 300 poker tables and a wide range of stakes. After a $90 million renovation in 2016, the Gardens is nice enough to host two WPT events each year.
Because it's a poker club and not a full casino, The Gardens has the feel of a setting for serious card players. Since no slot machines dot the gaming floor, poker players don't have to deal with slot players mucking about.
Borgata Atlantic City
Borgata is an institution in the East Coast poker scene. Atlantic City's most successful casino is home to WPT events and other regular tournament series. Its inviting poker room has been home to several big moments in card playing, and it's the best poker scene east of the Rockies.
Hippodrome Casino London
The Hippodrome Casino London is a poker experience card players should have. The Hippodrome dates back to 1900, when the place was a theater. Over the years, the venue has seen its share of spectacles – the theater once had a 100,000-gallon tank that was home to elephants, polar bears, and sea lions. Since 2009, the Hippodrome Casino has operated as a land-based casino and cardroom.
The quaint poker room on the third-floor partners with PokerStars Live for a first-rating card-playing experience. Stakes for the No-Limit Texas Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha games start at £1/£2. These max out at £10000-No Max for Hold'em and £5000-No Max for Pot Limit Omaha. Hippodrome Casino also operates an online casino, which is part of the GamStop network - players looking for a workaround to GamStop can instead refer to https://non-gamstop-casinos.com/ways-around-gamstop/ for information.
Crown Casino
Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia is the annual home to the Aussie Millions. Since 1997, the Crown Melbourne has been Australia's leading integrated resort. The gaming space features over 2,500 pokies and 450 gaming tables, while the poker room features 50 tables and a wide list of cash games and tournaments. Crown Casino's poker room offers a roomy, well-furnished, and comfortable setting for high-stakes poker.
Crown Towers Melbourne is a world-class hotel with nearly 500 rooms. Card players bringing a significant other should consider the Suite Indulgence spa package, which includes a stop in the Indulgence Suite for a 60-minute relaxation massage and 30 minutes in a private steam room and Jacuzzi. Whether that’s in the cards, Crown Melbourne is the premier poker room in Australia.
Casino di Venezia
Casino di Venezia is the world's oldest casino, having opened in 1638 along the Grand Canal in Venice. While the casino doesn't have a poker room, its sister site, Ca' Noghera, does host card games. Visit Ca' Noghera for cash games and daily tournaments alike.
The site has its own ambiance, such as the restaurant which honors the German composer Richard Wagner. If you prefer, you can also eat at the Marco Polo Restaurant.
King's Resort Rozvadov
King's Resort Rozvadov has the biggest poker room in Europe. Since 2017, King's Resort Rozvadov has been the host of WSOP Europe. Located in the Czech Republic along its border with Germany, King's Resort draws card players from all over Europe. Along with King's Prague and Casino Admiral Rozvadov, King’s Resort is the brainchild of former art dealer-turned-casino operator Leon Tsoukernik.
Tsoukernik regularly participates in high-roller poker tournaments and high stakes cash games around the world. He has $4.9 million in live tournament earnings, so the King Resort’s owner is no slouch when it comes to poker.
As one might expect of a casino owned by a former antique and art dealer, King's Resort features a 25-piece art gallery between the hotel and the gambling area. The gallery features Daimler Motorkutsche (1886) and the Benz Patent-Motorwagen (1886) by Andy Warhol, along with works by Tony Cragg and Vaclav Radimsky. The resort is also home to Japanese, Turkish, and Swedish saunas.