The Tropicana Hotel and Casino was remodeled and renovated in 2011. After the remodel, the Tropicana reopened their poker room to the public. The poker room had been closed for about three years before its relaunch.
This small 6 table poker room is anchored by Jamie Gold, the 2006 World Series of Poker champion. There are special nights where Jamie Gold plays with players. The main Jamie Gold game is on Wednesdays when the game is uncapped 2/5 No Limit Texas Hold’em and the button has a mandatory $25-$100 straddle.
Other games spread at the Tropicana Poker Room include 1/2 No Limit Texas Hold’em with a $40-$300 buyin. There is also an occasional 2/4 fixed limit game. On Monday nights, there is a 4/8 mixed game.
Amenities
Since the renovation, the Tropicana Poker Room is very modern. The chairs are extremely comfortable, high end office chairs. The tables and felts are in high quality condition. The sports book is right next door, but the bathrooms are a small walk away across the casino. The only food that can be ordered tableside is pizza. If the poker room is busy, they will order pizza for the players. There is also a coffee and water bar in the back. While the poker room tries very hard, it is too small to offer the types of amenities that higher end poker rooms are able to offer.
Playing Environment
The poker room has just one small open wall to the casino floor. The other three sides are completely walled in. This makes for a quiet and smoke free atmosphere. The sports book is slow compared to most Las Vegas Strip books. This makes the noise much lower than one would expect and makes for a really relaxing environment in which to play, much more so than some of the other south strip poker rooms.
Earning Comps at the Poker Tables
Players receive $1 an hour while clocked in at the tables in the Tropicana. Comps may be used for hotel, food, or gift shop purchases. Players that average 6 hours a day will qualify for the poker rate. The rate is $50-$60 on weekdays and around $100 on weekends. That said, a better hotel rate can often be found at Tropicana without having to play six hours.
Non Hold’em Games Offered
Every Monday there is a 4/8 mixed game that spreads almost any game ever dealt in Las Vegas. From time to time, this game is spread a second day of the week. A Razz game has also been spread in the past on Tuesday and reappears from time to time. Tropicana will deal any game that there are enough players to start. They will also make a rake reduction upon request, and do not rake jackpot dollars out of non hold’em games.
Tropicana Poker Tournaments
The Tropicana offers four low buyin tournaments a day. However, not all the tournaments get off the ground. Those that do are often just one or two tables. The buyin is $30+$10, but there is also a $10 staff bonus. Players start with 4000 chips, but the staff bonus is 2000 chips, making it impossible to play without it. If you include the dealer addon, this makes the fees for the Tropicana poker tournaments 67%, the worst tournament rake in Las Vegas.
The Canadian Poker Tour attempted a series at Tropicana. It too ran into problems, partially due to its excessive rake and dealer addon. The Canadian Poker Tour is the only special series that has been set at the Tropicana Poker Room since it reopened.
Waiting Lists for Poker
The Tropicana Poker Room will be happy to add a player to a waitlist by phone. Signups for the mixed game and any other special game are taken by phone during the day. Tropicana’s poker room is also included in the Bravo Poker app so that players do not have to call or drop by to see what games are running.
Rake and Jackpot Drop
The Tropicana Poker Room rakes 10% up to $4 for most games, but has a $3 cap on mixed games. The jackpot drop is the largest in Las Vegas, if not the world. The drop is $3 and goes towards several promotions that essentially pay for prop players. There is a $100 giveaway every day at noon. The giveaway is based on tickets earned by players that show up at 10am. Players that show up at 10am receive 5 tickets to the giveaway.
Players that arrive before 11am receive two tickets. At noon, a ticket is drawn and $100 is given away to the winner. Between the hours of 10am and midnight, players may earn up to $12 an hour playing at Tropicana. Players receive $5 an hour for playing 5 hours in a day, $10 an hour for playing 6-9 hours, $11 an hour for playing 10-11 hours, and a player that plays for 12 hours in a day will receive $12 an hour. Take note that the extra jackpot rake covers much of the hourly payback.
Getting There
Players that arrive by self parking, valet, taxi, or from the Excalibur walkway will walk in the front door and make a left. The poker room is along the left wall on the way to the sports book. Players arriving from the MGM walkway should enter from the doorway along the bridge marked sports book. After going downstairs, the poker room is just to the right after leaving the sports book.
