First Impressions of the new Poker Room are that it reminded me a bit of a sports bar, and had a very casual feel to it. The Poker Room is now located just inside the main doors to the casino, and to the right. You really can't miss it, since your eyes are immediately drawn to it, because of the glass enclosure, which blocks it from the entry and separates it from the rest of the casino.

I had previously read another report on this new room which mentioned that it was drafty/cold in the IP Poker Room, but it now seems that they've taken care of that problem with the glass windows/wall. Games typically being spread were strictly Hold 'em, 2-4 Limit, 3-6 Limit, and 1-2 No Limit, and they also put together a 2-5 No Limit one evening while I was there. Standard buy-ins were $40-$100, and you could rebuy if you dropped below $40. I saw this when a local showed up for the No Limit game, he bought in for $40, sat out a hand, tipped the dealer $1, then immediately rebought for $100, of course making his initial buy-in $139, in an attempt to make himself a chip force to deal with. Yes, it wasn't a bad idea...but with his 3 or 4 seat changes to better "position" himself at the table, his constant mouthing off, and just general attitude, I dismissed him as a jerk.

There were a number of other locals that played, and each of them were good people to play with. I enjoyed the company very much, and didn't let one bad apple destroy the experience.

The IP ran a daily tournament, and as I recall it alternated between 1PM and 7PM. I believe it ranged from 30-50 players. They also held a drawing later for all the participants who were still active in a ring game. So this tended to boost the available games.

The dealers and room supervisors, were friendly and very helpful. Each was effective in their job and maintained a very good structure.

Cocktail service was great! There is still a bar right in the room, since this "space" used to be one of the casino bars. There were usually 1-2 waitresses taking care of the room. ALL waitresses were very friendly!

The Poker Room at the Imperial Palace is an ideal place for the player with a smaller bankroll. It is obviously not on par with the Wynn/Bellagio/Mirage, but it didn't profess to be. It was a very relaxed all around nice place to play and frankly enjoy yourself. I highly recommend it to anyone who is planning on visiting Las Vegas in the future.

Other rooms that I visited on "this" trip were Harrah's, which really is separated by a door from the rest of the casino, with windows allowing onlookers to take in the site. It too ran the typical games. It had more tables, but seldom seemed full. I also saw the room at Hooters, which frankly I passed on, simply because it was tiny and very cramped. I think they only had 3 tables in the place, and they were pretty close together. They will have to improve upon this. On a side note, I enjoyed the rest of this casino very much. Bright, friendly, fun atmosphere. A little smaller than most casinos...but quaint. Oh yeah, did I mention some very nice "eye-candy."

I also checked out the MGM Grand, which has a very nice Poker area which sort of surrounds the "Centrifuge" bar, in the heart of the casino. It was very attractive and seemed very well run. Unfortunately, I was pressed for time that day, and didn't get to play.

Two other rooms that I checked out were Bally's and the Stratosphere, but both of these Poker areas, at least to me, seemed just to be part of the casino floor. I prefer my card room to be a bit more separated from the traffic flow, the clutter and noise of the rest of the casino.

See you all at the tables.

Regards,

cheer_dad