Golden Nugget Poker Room

If this review was strictly based on the poker offerings in Downtown Las Vegas, this would be a ⁵⁄₅ easily. Considering the only viable competition is the dead Binion’s room, the Golden Nugget poker room truly dominates the downtown poker scene, offering ½ NL with no cap as well as ²⁄₄ LHE around the clock.
Being someone that has been intimately involved in the poker industry in Vegas as a player for over ten years now, I have seen the GN poker room change significantly over the years. Back when it first reopened in 2004 to when it relocated to its current location a few years ago. The room
is aesthetically very beautiful with dark brown and tan tonals and velvet chairs. 13 total tables with daily tournament and cash game offerings. Most tables have automatic shufflers but lack the Genesis Bravo player tracker system that most poker rooms use in Vegas. This means that you can’t view the poker room list on the Bravo app and have to call to get on the list like the old days. Also, there is no player card comp tracking. These are major criticisms as the ability to view the list via mobile is a wonderful convenience.
Another major criticism are the chairs. Though aesthetically pleasing, the wooden legged velvet chairs are not only uncomfortable but not adjustable or easily moved. They should really look at updating their chairs with office adjustable style chairs like most rooms use nowadays.
The action is good and the fact that the NL game is one of the only ones in town that has no max buy in adds a significant amount of action to that game. The ²⁄₄ game is a fun game with tourists and locals recreationally hanging out.
All in all, the GN poker room easily rivals the Strip casinos and is clearly the busiest room Downtown.

Golden Nugget Poker Room — 4 stars
Location: Golden Nugget main floor. Close enough to the restrooms to only miss one hand.
Games/​Jackpots: 1 – 2 NL, 2 – 4 Limit, and six daily tournaments. High hand bonuses.
Atmosphere: Smoke-​free! Friendly games. Nothing too crazy. More regulars than tourists. I like seeing the same faces over and over. Only one con, and this is why it’s not a 5 star rating. Absolutely NO cell service inside the room. You can’t text your friends to tell them you’re still at the table. You can’t make plans to go to dinner afterward. And most importantly, you can’t check in on Unilocal!So do all that stuff before you’re actually inside the room.
Cleanliness: Tables are kept clean and relatively uncluttered. Racks are always nearby but never in the way. Décor looks a bit dated, but it adds to the old-​school charm.
Dealers/​Cashiers: Helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable. I love playing here. Never had any issues with anyone.
Drink Service: Cocktail waitresses are friendly and attentive. You can get a great mudslide here, which I found surprising. Elizabeth is my fave. She’s so cute!
Comps: Play for four hours and get a $ 10 voucher for the grill or the buffet. I suggest the buffet. Only drawback is you have to know to ask for it. Have your ID or your players card handy.

I had my ups and downs at the Golden Nugget poker room. In the end, I came out ahead … but I wouldn’t base my review on whether or not I came out ahead. (Mostly)
Overall, the vibe in the GN Poker room has been casual when I have played there. There occasionally may be someone running a large stack and a few $ 100 bills on the 1 – 2 NL table, but nothing unusual. However, the table I was at my first night threw me off. Two guys at the table brought in stacks of 20K each, and there was about 45K in play at the table overall. My measly $ 200 that I start with was feeling rather intimidated. And while these guys weren’t pushing the play at crazy levels, they were raising up to $ 20-​$ 30 any time they had a hand. I decided my best strategy was to wait for a hand and push it. And I did … with pocket Aces. And as often happens in Vegas, my A-​A was busted. I got two callers, and one of them hit a Q on the river to make their straight with their Big Slick.
This shell-​shocked me a bit and I didn’t hit the poker room for two whole days, but finally made it back and found that the level of play noted above was more the exception than the rule. I wound up having a pretty good night — although I did fold 7 – 7 and two 7’s came on the board, missing my first chance at a big pot bonus. Still, I came out ahead enough that night and the next day to overcome another bad beat my last day and come out just a bit ahead.
The poker room itself is nice … it’s one of the rooms that was used a lot on NBC’s Poker After Dark, and it has that dim, old school vibe. The clientele is a mix of what you’d get from The Strip (tourists) and locals casinos. (The local grinders.)The chairs are nice, but the tables are cramped when carrying the full 10 players, which is often the case late night. Most of the dealers here are pretty friendly and fun, and the table service is generally good. They run a lot of tournaments during the day, but there’s always room for a couple of 1−2NL and 2 – 4 Limit games as well.
I believe this and Binion’s are the only poker rooms downtown, and while I have never played at Binion’s, I don’t have any real reason to try them over GN. Win or lose, I’ve always had a fun time there.

Played poker here a couple of times during my stay at the Golden Nugget. First time was late morning. Played 1 – 2 NL, the table was pretty much locals and regulars. Most everybody called each other by name. Was a pretty wild game because of one guy who sat down with a mountain of $ 100 bills and was open raising most hands $ 15. Didn’t play a lot of hands, but got doubled up so that was nice. The dealers were efficient and ran the game.
Second time I played was late night. Sat down at a 2 – 4 limit game. Again the dealers were very good and kept the game moving. The table was mostly tourists this time and was kind of quiet when I first sat down. After about 20 minutes a couple of people left and the table started to talk and we were having a lot more fun. The dealers we had didn’t mind chatting during hands and were a lot of fun to talk with. Overall the poker room is very nice and the dealers are very good.

Came in to play the HORSE tourney (taking a day off to relax on a small buyin tourney) and was severely disappointed. They blind off empty seats in these tournies for over a round then take the chips off the table allowing for all kinds of shenanigans like staff dumping chips to regulars, since there is no accountability or exact chips in play. What a joke.
Structure was pretty poor too, with 80 plus players remaining from the 101 that entered. The average stack was around 12bb’s only. The receipts they offered for the tournies looked retarded and very unprofessional.
One plus is that they will validate parking for you if you play the tournaments, but I will not be back unless they change a lot of things, especially upholding the integrity of the events by not blinding off empty stacks.

Old school looking, looked slightly dead. Had about 2.5 tables going, mostly elderly people. Probably a lot of Old town Vegas locals who have been playing here for years. I do like how they have a seperate tournament room though. And the hall of fame portrait photo wall of all the famous poker players that had played there. A damn good amount of them have been there. That was a cool feature.

When it comes to poker, you’re either a Shark or an Fish. I admit, I am a fish but that doesn’t stop me from playing/​donating.
One poker room where a fish like me can hide from the sharks is Golden Nugget’s Poker Room. This poker room has a few locals, but is dominated by tourist. This means a fun and sometimes profitable game. Each night about 2 NL tables and 3 structured games are held. I never go in here thinking that my mortgage is going to get paid, but I always leave with a good time. The poker room is great for beginners or that player that is too intimidated to play on a real table. Most of the players here are new to the game or don’t play as much anyway. Again, everyone here is out to have a good time.
The room and dealers is comforting. It can be 5 months since my last visit and some of the dealers still recognize greet me like I never left. Maybe it’s because I tip. I like to think it’s because they value their customers.

I LOVE this poker room. Sure, it’s true that it may seem cramped and the décor may be a little outdated. Heck, when the main table in the front has a constant game, sometimes there are empty water bottles and a chip rack graveyard down there. But keep in mind it IS downtown, people! If you want to experience an elegant, spacious poker room, you’d best find it on the Strip.
With that said, I LOVE this poker room! Whenever I need my poker fix and I head to Vegas alone, I stay at the Golden Nugget just for the poker room and it’s staff. The dealers are friendly and the floor staff keep obnoxious players in check so I feel like I’m playing amongst buddies that have got my back.
There are a lot of locals that play here so it may not be the easiest game in town but there’s nowhere else in the world that I get the feeling that Norm did in Cheers when I walk in, where everyone knows my name. LOVE it!

Outdated poker rooms for sure and the carpet needs replacing. Dealers are friendly and the tournament was fun. $ 140 for $ 15,000 chips, 30 minute blinds and guaranteed $ 5,000 prize pools every Sunday morning. Definitely will be back

I often hit town to play the daily tourneys… dealers range from efficient to some of the best in town. Management always makes me feel welcome and the waitresses are always quick bringing me a Sam Adams. The one drawback is lack of comps for tourney players… overall the best poker room in downtown.

Played in the regular poker room a couple of days ago and I liked it. Well run, good tables and chairs. All good dealers and management. I’ll play here again…$ 65.00 Tournament was entertaining with a mix of average & awful players.

Surprised at the poor reviews below, overall, my experience was pretty good (maybe it was only because I came out ahead??)
Friendly group of ppl (even at 3am on Wed. night), good number of players and tables in action, free $ 10 promo bonus cause I stayed at GN hotel, and nice/​friendly dealers…
Also, none of the crazy seriousness of the big game rooms (where so many where the glasses and give the stare)… This is purely for fun, and not to make money. That can just be a bonus.
I recommend the place.

I’m an LA Poker player, so I prefer the large LA casinos. There is always a game going. In Vegas, not the case. However, I usually frequent the GN poker room for a couple of reasons:
a) I win money there.
b) It has, what I would call, an upscale feel. The chairs are plush with high backs and the décor is, well, lots of brown, which I like.
The staff is friendly and the dealers are among the best in Vegas. They run a lot of tournaments, but I usually don’t play because they just don’t attract a large field.
If you are looking for a big-​time Vegas poker room, then head to the Bellagio, the Mirage, or Ceasar’s. However, if you want a friendly game in a calm atmosphere, then head downtown to the GN.

This review is just for the poker room at the Golden Nugget. I added it as a separate business to not unfairly affect the rating of the hotel itself.
We’ve loved the Golden Nugget poker room for years and always make a point to play there when in Las Vegas. The last two visits were disappointing. Oh, the dealers are still great and the poker room managers are still on the ball and attentive. The room itself is comfortable though a bit overcrowded at times, and the room spreads a wide variety of games and offeres some very good tournaments. You may be wondering why then I have chosen to give only 1 star. The reason for the 1 star rating is the riff-​raff clientel who are allowed to cause trouble and act inappropriately while in the poker room. We witnessed a «stand-​off» between a drunk (high?) patron who was causing a scene, two poker room managers, and two security guards. The guy was yelling and stomping around and the casino personnel just stood and watched and tried to talk him into leaving. Back before the corporations took over the casinos, the guy would have been physically removed at the first sign of trouble and the rest of us would have been left to enjoy our game feeling quite secure in the fact that non nonsense would be tolerated. The Golden Nugget needs to get back to a no tolerance policy for drunk and disorderly patrons — tact and diplomacy don’t work well in those situations. On our last visit a guy at the table was mocking one of the other players and disrupting the game. One of the players reported the problem to the poker room floor manager who simply stood by the table a minute or two then went back to seating other players leaving the table once again at the mercy of the obnoxious patron. We left and won’t be back.