Experienced travelers know that the best times in another town are often in places that locals frequent, not the glitzier tourist sites. It might be the best clam chowder on Cape Cod, or an authentic Western bar in Colorado, or the finest food in New York’s Little Italy. For local Las Vegas poker players, one of the favorite poker rooms for the past 25 years has been the one in the Palace Station Hotel and Casino, off the Las Vegas strip.
Originally known as the Bingo Palace, the Palace Station is certainly not some hole-in-the-wall. Its casino offers 84,000 square feet, a Sound Trax Club, a variety of award-winning restaurants, and hotel rooms of either the luxurious Tower rooms variety or more modest Courtyard rooms.
But it caters to the locals, many of whom feel that “Heaven is nine white shirts and an empty seat,” as the saying goes. The newly-remodeled Poker Room offers 10 tables, and, recently, plasma wall-to-wall TVs so that players can keep track of sporting events. It used to be known as a “smokey” Poker Room, but, like many other Poker Rooms, has now gone non-smoking. The room can get crowded with locals, and often features a somewhat older crowd than in trendier Poker Rooms on the Strip.
The comps are also not known as the best in town, but out-of-staters should know they can get a comps book by showing an ID at the slot club. It offers discounts on the buffet and a variety of different match plays.
Regular games include Texas Hold'em, Seven Card Stud and Omaha. Free poker lessons are available Weds through Fridays, at 11am, teaching 2 & 4 Hold’em, 3 & 6 Hi-Lo Split Omaha, 1-3-6 Hi-Lo Split Stud, and 4 & 8 Hold ‘em Half Kill.
In fact, the Palace Station’s success has spawned other Station casinos, in Boulder, Colorado, Santa Fe, New Mexico and Sunset, Texas.
