By
Jerry Smith
Staff Writer Updated: 02/19/2020
Jerry’s greatest advantage is his extensive experience on the casino floor. His time as a casino manager taught him everything about what makes a player tick. Besides being a skilled poker player, he has deep knowledge of all live table games and gambling regulations in the US.
Sahara opens Las Vegas Strip’s newest poker room, Photo by Unsplash
Last week, Sahara Las Vegas officially opened its new poker room, making it the second poker room to be opened in the Las Vegas Strip in almost ten years. After a soft opening the weekend before, the grand opening celebration was held last Friday.
Sahara’s new poker room has a total of seven tables and is described as very “luxurious.” Apart from the table food and beverage service, it also has multiple television screens, and a large 16-foot by 9-foot LED video wall. Each table is equipped with mobile phone charging points for guests as well. The nine-handed cash tables have a maximum rake of $4.
This is not Sahara’s first poker room. The first one was closed in 2011, during a time when many of the smaller rooms in the city decided to shut their doors. However, the trend seems to be reversed in recent years as Sahara is not the only casino that has decided to bring back its poker room. In 2017, Westgate also opened a six table-poker room in Las Vegas.
The soft opening held two weekends back was hugely successful, with more than half of the tables filled up. According to Steven Pique, Poker Operations Manager at Sahara, the poker room is likely to have a “busy week” ahead now that the word is out. Apart from the usual guest service, Pique says he has to come up with “new and exciting ideas” to keep the momentum going and retain the interest of guests. If every working day is going to be like the first weekend, then the room is set up for huge success.
One of the “new and exciting ideas” that Pique has involves bringing back some memorable elements of the original poker room, including the $ 50-midnight poker tournament, which was a favorite among guests. Pique said:
I have heard an immense amount of positive feedback on this particular tournament. I intend to utilize the poker world’s sense of nostalgia and excitement surrounding this tournament to resurrect it into something great.
Sahara’s new poker room is already offering daily poker tournaments and is slowly but surely establishing itself as a home for all kinds of low-staked games. The first day saw plenty of $1 to $3 no-limit hold’em and a $1 to $2 pot-limit Omaha game, while the rest of the week saw a number of $4 to $8 mixed games running.
By offering a wide range of small-stakes games, Pique believes Sahara’s poker room can fill a niche role in the Las Vegas Strip. He said that he had met with “dynamic room managers in Las Vegas” to discuss game protection and theories on long-term growth and sustainability and that he feels fortunate to be surrounded by many poker enthusiasts.
Pique added that since he is a player himself, he understands what his guests want and what no other operator is willing to provide them.
The Sahara was opened in October 1952, until it was shut down in 2011 after years of being an iconic Las Vegas Strip destination. In 2013, it rebranded as SLS but decided to go back to its original name in 2-19.
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