Even in Vegas, there\’s poker going on elsewhere from the WSOP. The Rio itself has left its Westside poker room open — really, I bet it\’s more than a mile away from the Amazon room — offering $1/$3 NL, plenty of low-stakes limit, and $2/$5 NL games with a waitlist more than a dozen long. In previous years the Rio shut that room down during the WSOP. But this year it\’s open … and it\’s boomin\’.
There\’re also two other tournament series going down in town that coincide super-intentionally with the World Series to offer a high-thrill tournament experience for buy-ins in the hundreds as opposed to the thousands. Basically you\’ve got the Minor League World Series at the Venetian (Deep Stack Extravaganza II) and Little League World Series at the Golden Nugget (Grand Series of Poker). I actually wrote about these two poker festivals over at Thrillist this week … along with some info about a kick-ass new steakhouse at the Monte Carlo, a cool near-daily free happy hour that moves around town, and an apparatus you can attach to your penis for greater comfort at the poker table and beyond.
Check it out, and of course sign up if you want a Vegas-minded weekly email of this important-service ilk …