ES
Been coming here for over 20 years, when it was still downstairs in the Venetian. While the new poker room has some perks (bathrooms in the PR, chairs comfy, etc), the location (upstairs in the Palazzo) is less than ideal. Not close to restaurants, smoking areas or outside; cell service was non-existent; I had issues logging into free wifi (it doesn't consider "long" email addresses to be valid & rejects them), and I was a bit disappointed by the decline in how friendly the staff are, in general. Not that they were rude -- but they just don't seem all that happy to be there.
My real issue, though, was their dismissal when I pointed out that a card had a tear in it & suggested it be replaced. First the dealer said the tear was "only on the face, not the back," and told me if they did that, they'd be replacing cards all day long because the shufflers regularly scratch & tear them. When we looked closer, she admitted the tear really did go all the way through to the back of the card...but still resisted replacing it. I was surprised at that, but still (pleasantly) insisted that I thought it should be replaced, and she finally called a floor person over -- who also needed cajoling to replace it -- but they finally did so.
I've never seen a card room so unconcerned about dealing what I would consider marked cards, nor would I think it commonplace for them to use shufflers that regularly mark & tear cards...but sure enough, 10 minutes later I saw yet another card with a section of the face scratched/torn.
Call me old-fashioned, but it just doesn't seem very kosher to me.
On the pro side, the wait list clears quickly, dealers are professional and even-tempered, and players are generally well behaved and the games are run professionally. Still one of the best rooms in Vegas, overall.
