For close to a year, now, rumors floated around Las Vegas about if and when the Caesars Palace poker room would reopen. It had been temporarily shut down in June of last year to make room for high limit slots while the old location was being renovated. There was no further information provided and when you looked on the Bravo Poker Live app, it said stay tuned for further information. Speculation lingered until players started to find out where the poker room would be newly located. The only thing left was to get a confirmation date. A few days ago, Caesars Palace quietly posted on X that they would be reopening the poker room the following morning.
Unlike the Planet Hollywood reopening, there were no cameras, no celebrity spokesperson, no champagne. It was like a family reunion. When I arrived around 9 AM, there were not any players present. Instead, I was greeted by familiar faces of staff that had come to know me over the past five years of my playing at the (old) Caesars Palace poker room. Hugs were exchanged as I said to hello to the familiar faces and we caught up with what we had been up to.
The new poker room located in the Appian Way mall just across from the statue of David is small, with only eight tables, until they can expand further. I was able to get confirmation from multiple members of the management team that they will be expanding into the shop next door. Once that happens, the poker room will have a total of 23 tables. The games play nine-handed, so it can feel a little cramped. These ceilings are low and if the air conditioning is not running it can start to feel a little warm.
The room offers two sports betting kiosks for the convenience of the players and there is great big window that allows you to look out into the hall of the Appian Way to see all the people that are passing by. To my surprise there is a considerable amount of foot traffic that passes through that area. Some were concerned that the poker room would not get enough foot traffic due to its location.
Caesars Palace Poker Room: Tournaments and Cash Games
Caesars Palace poker room was able to secure six tables in the sports book next to the old poker room location. They are running four daily tournaments at 10AM, 2PM, 6PM, and 9PM. Once the summer ends it is not clear how that will affect the daily tournaments. With only eight tables to use in the current location there may not be enough room for a daily tournament in the poker room.
♣️ The Caesars Palace Poker Room opens tomorrow (5/16) at 8am! ♥️
We’re excited to welcome back all of our poker players with 24/7 live poker action. Find us in Appian Way near to the statue of David – just after the food court if you’re walking from self parking.
Daily… pic.twitter.com/R36Iweo4r8
— Caesars Palace (@CaesarsPalace) May 16, 2025
The first hand of poker played on the morning of the soft reopening was in the 10 AM daily tournament in the sportsbook. It was won by a player who rivered a wheel against another player who had rivered two pair.
After watching the first hand that was played in the tournament, I made my way back to the poker room where cash games would be played. I took my seat and waited for more players to arrive. One by one people would arrive to see what the poker room looked like, and once they saw no game was running, they would leave. That’s understandable; it’s always hard to pack that first snowball together, but once it starts rolling downhill…
Some of the people who appeared I recognized, while others seemed to be regulars as they were recognized by the staff. Others still were just people passing by who may have heard about the poker room or happened to come across it during their walk. Eventually we had a total of four players sitting there and we were all willing to start playing. Sure enough, once we started playing more players started to show up. By the time it was time for me to go, there were a total of three games running.
Overall, the room is not bad. It’s a nice, central Strip location to play poker in a well-lit room. Caesars Palace is doubling down on no promos, as the tables no longer have a promo drop slot. The rake structures to the games are great ($100-$500 buy-in for $1/3 and $500-$2,000 buy-in for $2/5) and we may soon see others follow. There may be some struggles for the room in the months to come but I think Caesars Palace poker room will be fine once they complete their expansion to the full 23 tables. For now, they are trying to take some steps in the right direction by providing another poker room in Vegas for players to play in, and I applaud their efforts.
