From another HRH-lovin’ tipster (the words … photo by me):
Perhaps if the music thing doesn’t work out for Billy Bob, he can take up professional poker as his next gig.
Billy Bob Thornton was spotted playing poker in the new Poker Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Thursday night. He was joined by friends and bandmates from The Boxmasters in the back room of the lounge that some are calling the Billy Bob Thornton room – an oversized image of the actor/musician hangs on the wall above the table. Thornton was back inside the Poker Lounge Friday morning signing the large picture of himself. Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters performed yesterday night at The Joint.
ALT CAP: Billy Bob Thornton doing his best Sammy Farha at the Hard Rock.
The Hard Rock Poker Lounge is almost ready to serve you.
The PR people at Hard Rock are trying to keep a tight lid on the unveiling of their new “Poker Lounge”, which opens to the public tomorrow — they don’t want any bad pictures getting out that fail to capture the venue in all its glory, nor any inaccurate information being spread widely for many to misconstrue. Er … ok, but that’s kinda what we do, ya know?
I’ve heard two numbers about how costly this new construction was — $12 million and $30 million. While there’s a big difference between the two, and at least one of them is probably wrong, either way, you get the picture … it’s a really nice place — built from the ground up and the inside out. Brian from the Poker Atlas and I swung by yesterday, where they were busily at work in their final stages of preparation, and we got a little tour from the Director of Poker Operations, Houston Waldie, who was brought to HRH after his success turning the Golden Nugget’s rinky-dink room into arguably the best game downtown. No cameras allowed as he pointed out features he was most proud of, but I did manage to sneak a few pics from behind the ropes to give you a sense of the space we’re talking about here.
I gotta say … Fuckin’ A …
Go Hard Rock. (General info and future reviews here; official site here.)
The luxe tables, couches, chairs, flatscreens, etc. were all expected, maybe a tad nicer. But the art, the architecture, the vibe — all created specifically to be a poker room, the most well thought out and well funded since the Venetian — make me miss living on the east side of town, where the Hard Rock was the most convenient casino to my old pad. And though I suspect it may take some time to build up a player base (perhaps when the new hotel rooms at the Hard Rock open?) that should make it one of the premiere poker destinations in LV, at least the set-up for the action seems pretty sweet. Here are a few tidbits I picked up without the benefit of tape recorder or notepad:
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