Poker rooms at three Station Casinos in Las Vegas re-opened Monday, offering fans of cash games a chance to experience the thrill of a live game again. The rooms at Santa Fe Station, Boulder Station, and Red Rock Resort resumed operations playing 8-handed with plexiglass barriers installed to separate players from each other and the dealer.
Station Casinos operate 10 gaming properties in Nevada and all of them re-opened June 4 after being closed since mid-March to comply with Governor Steve Sisolak order issued to support federal and state efforts to halt the virus outbreak. The casinos resumed operations but their poker rooms remained closed.
Live Cash Players Can Get Back to the Tables
All three poker rooms will operate around the clock, offering 10, 14 and 20 tables at Boulder, Santa Fe and Red Rock, respectively. Games offered will be predominantly Texas Hold’em and Omaha, with some promotions also running alongside the cash games.
Stations Casino announced in June that their poker rooms will restart August 3 with cash tables capped at 5 players, but as restrictions were eased later on, the operator increased the number of players to 6 in its July update. And now the poker rooms re-opened with poker tables being 8-handed.
Players will have to undergo temperature checks and wear face masks, and the poker rooms will implement an enhanced cleaning protocol. Station Casinos announced it will issue updates as to when their other poker venues will resume business as soon as information about re-opening dates becomes available.
Poker Rooms Are Gradually Returning to Business
When casinos in Nevada resumed operations, June 4, only 4 poker rooms re-opened. These were the poker rooms at The Venetian, The Orleans, Golden Nugget, and South Point, and all have to follow the guidelines from the Nevada Gaming Control Board and cap tables at 4 players.
By the end of the month, another 3 poker venues joined the list, Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Sahara Las Vegas, introducing 6-max tables as restrictions eased meanwhile. Some of them saw a good number of players coming to play, but the expected turn up in the high-roller segment did not materialize.
At the moment, out of the 31 poker rooms in Las Vegas, 14 are up and running, less than half of the total available.