On May 9, 2025 the Planet Hollywood Poker Room was re-opened. It was one of the many poker rooms that fell victim to the COVID pandemic. Shuttered in the summer of 2021, I personally had never played in the previous room. That said, if you spend enough time playing poker in Las Vegas, it was one of those places that many players still talk about fondly. So, when I heard that Planet Hollywood Poker room would be making a comeback, I was all-in to see what it was about.
The poker room is located upstairs on the venue’s mezzanine level, off the casino floor. Right near the new poker room are two restaurants, Caramella and Strip House Steakhouse. The Criss Angel Theater is also there along with conference space, a wedding chapel, and a spa. There is a LOT of floor space available, perfect for expanding when needed for tournaments. It will be interesting to see if the restaurants, theater, and amenities located on the second floor will contribute to the poker room foot traffic.
The Planet Hollywood poker room is now open. We just visited it. Several tables of cash game action are available. pic.twitter.com/MxPdtVOFH5
— John Mehaffey (@John_Mehaffey) May 9, 2025
While there was certainly some buzz around town ahead of the reopening of the Planet Hollywood poker room, compared to the August 2024 grand opening of the Venetian’s new poker room, which I attended, there did not seem to be as many people waiting at the doors for the ceremonial first hand of play.
That said, there were several staff that looked to be busy as they set up the finishing touches on the room. Since I did arrive a little early, I decided to walk around the casino and familiarize myself with what the casino had to offer. It isn’t often that I find myself at this part of the Strip, as there just hasn’t been a poker room at this property for four years. The nice thing about where the poker room is located is that it is directly above the casino floor, unlike the Venetian, where their poker room was relocated to the Canal Shops. Time will tell if this will be a good location for the poker room.
I made my way back to the poker room to wait. A few people had started to hang around as there was still a small barrier blocking the poker room to indicate it had not opened yet. As I stood there waiting, someone came out of the poker room and asked us if we wanted to play in the official first hand dealt in the new poker room. All of us who had been standing there said yes and we were invited inside to play a hand.
As I made my way into the 4,800-square foot poker room, I noticed that it was very spacious and well lit. Some of the walls are adorned with scenes from iconic movies and there are several flat screen televisions located near the tables so that players can view sports or other programming on TV. In the back of the room there is hall that leads to where the restrooms are located. There are a total of 23 tables, 12 dedicated to cash games and 11 dedicated to tournaments. There is also a room located towards the back that appears that it could be used for high-stakes games, but as of the opening there was no activity in that room.
Planet Hollywood Poker Room Opening: An Appearance by Jack Effel
Jack Effel, Caesars Entertainment’s Senior Vice President of Poker Operations, was present for the grand opening. Jack kindly gave me a few minutes of his time to discuss the opening of the poker room and some of his thoughts on poker. He was very excited to be there for the grand re-opening of the poker room at Planet Hollywood. Jack spoke very highly of how poker can be fun and enjoyable. He hopes that with the history of Planet Hollywood they can bring back a fun place that is enjoyable for people to play poker.
In particular, Jack hopes that the room will gain a reputation as a place not too far off the beaten path from the WSOP “where people do not have to worry about the typical poker grinder who wears a hoodie and sunglasses.” Jack was excited about the poker room’s future, noting that “there’s plenty of floor space available in the room for growth or perhaps potential tournaments.”
As we all lifted our glasses of champagne in celebration for the opening of the room. Jack spoke those famous words, “Shuffle and deal!” and we played the first hand in the new room. There were lots of cameras, including one held by PokerNews’ Jon Sofen, as the dealer dealt us in. I managed to win the first hand!
🎉🥳🎊 | The new poker room at Planet Hollywood opened today!
Our very own @jonpokerwriter was there to capture the very first hand at the new @PH_POKER!
He also snapped some photos that you can see in this 🧵🪡👇 pic.twitter.com/SPJE4dXAAi
— PokerNews (@PokerNews) May 9, 2025
As the game continued, the fun began. There were drinks, laughter, and chips flying about the room. Names populated the waitlists, and soon more games were starting. After a while we decided to change the game from $1/$3 to $2/$3. The opening was a success! Many games were being played and the poker was fun. I look forward to this next chapter of poker at Planet Hollywood.
