3700 W. Flamingo Ave.
Las Vegas, NV

Phone: (702) 777-7777 - Simply ask for the Poker Room

Official Rio Poker Room Website

Comments:

It’s the home of the 2006 WSOP, but other than that, it’s a somewhat ordinary (but fine) card room.

The Rio poker room was carved out of the Sport Book, and usually has a decent selection of Limit and NL games running.

Personally, I have never gotten a great vibe here. The staff has always been a bit rude. Maybe they just don’t like the way I look, I don’t know - but I’ve always gotten the impression that they thought they were doing me a huge favor by getting me in a game, and the podium has always been a bit curt and disinterested when I approached. I sometimes have a wait a bit to even be acknowledged.

I think the presence of the WSOP may have given a few of the staff members the “Bellagio Syndrome”, but I don’t think the room warrants said syndrome.

The tables are standard and fine. The dealers are good and usually friendly. The waitresses are thonged and usually of good quality. If you play at the right time, you can get a good view of the Bikini Blackjack dealers who set up adjacent to the Poker Room.

Other than that, it’s squarely average in every other respect.

If I was staying at the Rio, I would play the room without any qualms. I don’t know if it is worth a journey from a strip hotel, though … unless you are going there to see Prince or The Show in the Sky.

In short, worth playing if you will be there for something else, but not worth the trip just for poker.

Just my opinion.

Update: The thongs are gone, as is the bikini pit. A bowling alley and more conservative costumes have taken their place. The room has become more enclosed, but the thongs and bikinis were really the only thing that attracted me the extra distance to the Rio room.