The New Room

I drove to Planet Hollywood today to check out their new poker room.

The old room was on the mezzanine between the high-limit area, guest check-in, and the convention halls. It kind of had a big space to itself in the middle of it all, which I liked. It didn't feel like playing in a casino so much as playing in a hotel lobby.

The new room is downstairs between the main street entrance, Starbucks, and the table games. Its location is good cause more potential players will see the room and make their way to the games. The downside to the location is that it's noisier, especially given the cabbage patch of slots planted on the Starbucks side. But it should be noted the back wall is specially sound-proofed with the kind of insulation used to dull background noise. The entire room is partitioned with a sloping chest-high wooden barricade, the only foot entrance being over a speck of marble floor. Overall it's kinda themeless in its style, relatively minimalist for a casino like most of the new Vegas builds where they've figured out adults don't want to gamble in kitchy theme parks. Lots of wood paneling and support pillars. I especially like Table 5 and Table 8 cause they are at the back, walled in on three sides and isolated from the main casino. A secret door leads to a staff office.

They don't have the plasma screens and card-reading comp system set up yet, but I am told they soon will.

As for my play at PH, I got in a hole early when my top set of 9s lost to runner-runner flush. Then a hand came up where the Duke, after losing the previous hand, raised to $15 on the button, and after the SB called I repopped it to $50 with QQ. The Duke came over the top, making it $150 straight. I mucked, and the shortstacked SB called and his 8-7 clubs made a straight vs. the Duke's KK.

I did turn the session into a decent win, but I was annoyed at myself for playing in the first place since almost my entire bankroll is online right now and I don't really have a live game bankroll.