11011 W. Charleston Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89135

(702) 797-7777

15+ tables

Official Red Rock Poker Room Website

This is the first $1 Billion Vegas Casino ever to open off of the Las Vegas strip.

At the time of my various visits they were spreading almost everything. They’ll probably deal “Go Fish” if you can get enough people to fill the table.

I finally carved some time out of the busy week to make it over to Red Rock today/ Being only 10 minutes from my home at the time, I should have made it sooner, but better late than never ….

After last years Grand Opening of the Wynn, which left me underwhelmed, and some preliminary negative feedback about Red Rocks, I went to the Red Rock with very low expectations today. After all, a casino is a casino … right?

Well, I have to tell you, I was quite overwhelmed when I walked into Red Rock.

Since many locals read VegasRex, first things first …. parking.

Parking is a snap. The garages are located so close to the casino, that you can’t really get a bad spot. It was packed, and I was a 30 second walk from the casino door. Parking was planned with locals in mind, and they succeeded. A breeze in and out.

When I walked in, I was immediately struck by a huge chandelier, a jewelry store, waterfalls, and sights usually reserved for high-end strip casino’s.

Walking past these, you enter the Casino. This casino is the best overall planned casino that I think I have been to. It is quite easy to walk around, and not laid out in the chaotic mess that other casino floor’s are famous for. There is a kind of racetrack where you can actually walk around most of the casino, without having to slide through machines. The place is clean, modern, and yet classy at the same time.

THIS is a locals casino, I thought? No F’ing way. It is beautiful. It looks a bit like a cross between the Wynn and the MGM. All of the gaming machines are computerized, top notch, and they all have height adjustable chairs. At 6′ 3″ this comes in VERY handy for me. Helpful staff is all around, and they are happy to show you where things are.

Waitresses: Whereas at the other local west side casino, the Suncoast, emphasizes the breasts AND butt …. the Red Rocks goes for the latter. Lots of cleavage, but no thongs. The skirts are short, but you are not going to see any butt cheek. I think they are skimpy enough to keep most people who are concerned about such things happy. If anything, the remind me of the Palms uniforms.

I sat down and played a few of the Video Poker machines ended up winning a few bucks, and then I worked my way to the poker room.

The Poker Room is quite nice. Actually, it’s damn nice. Save for the Venetian, Wynn, Bellagio, Caesar’s and maybe MGM and Mandalay …. it’s the nicest. And I can’t really say it it’s not a little better than the MGM, Caesar’s or Mandalay.

This room is easy to get to. The lists are state-of-the-art and computerized just like the MGM and Wynn, and the tables are spaced much farther apart. Heck, if it wasn’t for the somewhat lackluster cafeteria chairs, and spotty drink service, I might put it in the Top 3 rooms in all of Las Vegas.

There is plenty of room between tables, and the tables are nicely sized to provide plenty of playing room. The tables are red felt with a racetrack. Now, as all of you know, I HATE racetracks, but this one was actually not bad at all. It was below the felt so that it didn’t glue your cards down, and it was straight and level marble with no gaps to eat your chips. I actually liked THESE racetracks. I guess they can be done right after all.

The dealers were extremely friendly, and every one of them was competent. No misdeals, no misreads, and kept the game going.

The competition was actually great. They were mostly locals, who just casually chatted, and were very friendly to you. They were trying to take your money, but weren’t being assholes about it. They played well, they played clean. They eschewed drama. Personally, I enjoy playing with decent players rather than reckless tourists with money to burn. I just prefer a more sane game. And most of these guys were really, really good players. Definitely not a place for someone new to the game to cut their teeth. As a matter of fact, one frat-boy type who was obvious tourist sat down, and started running his mouth to an older local gentleman after he bluffed him off a pot. The rest of the table glared at him, and it soon because apparent that everyone was out for frat-boy’s money. I can’t prove anything, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t seem like the rest of the table didn’t tag team him until he busted out (which took about 15 minutes). He left, tail tucked between legs. Back to the Mandalay Bay, bro ….

This is NOT a place for owners of the “Rounders” DVD to sit down and pretend to be Matt Damon. There are enough people here than can eat your lunch until you cry for your mother. They also aren’t amused by the drunk “Vegas Baby!” routine. These are local folks who love the game of poker and love to chat it up cheerfully while playing. They don’t want the drunk-off-your-ass Las Vegas Boulevard drama. They will give you respect if you act humble, but they make no bones about the fact that this is THEIR room, and if you are from out of town, you are a guest in their casino. Act accordingly. These folks realize what a good thing they have going out in Summerlin, and after two days, they are already extremely protective of their turf.

I had a blast. After two hours, I walked out only a couple of bucks up, but I thoroughly enjoyed chatting it up between hands with the mostly 35-65 year old locals, exchanging favorite routes to the casino, speculating on when we would get our first 100 degree day, which restaurant in the Casino was their favorite, etc. Good people. All good people at the table, because I was good to them. Everyone seemed to know each other, whether they did or not, and if you are a local it will be hard not to love this room. As a matter of fact, it very well may be MY new home room (sorry Luxor, but these guys are much closer).

Nothing lacks in this room. Plasma TV’s ring the walls, the huge podium cashes you in/out, and everybody smiles and thanks you for everything. This is a high-end-strip quality casino, for local Las Vegans.

The only drawbacks were the lack of rolling chairs, was is not so much of a big deal, and the lack of drink service … which did annoy me a bit. I was really thirst and was craving a bottled water. I didn’t get a waitress for 45 minutes, and didn’t get my water until 20 minutes after that. I usually bring my own, but I wanted to test the drink service. Next time I am bringing my own. The waitresses were very friendly, but not frequent.

All in all, this is a GREAT casino and a GREAT poker room. I never in a million years would have known that I was NOT on the strip. This place actually lived up to the hype. And they did not skimp on the poker room. They gave West Side poker players a fantastic room to play. A room that will make trips to the Wynn and Mirage to play poker completely and utterly unnecessary, IMHO. This is a room where I may one day have a table named after me ;-)

This property holds it’s own to ANY casino on the strip, and actually surpasses a great many of them.

P.S. They do swipe the “Boarding Pass” when you sit at a poker table, as well as the video machines. The Boarding Pass program is supposed to be the most generous comp program in town, though since I just obtained a card today, I don’t know how much it takes to get specific things.