LV Poker Room Closings

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2026/03/resorts-world-poker-room-closure-50796.htm
Las Vegas tourism dropped over 8% year-over-year in 2025, and that appears to have carried over to the local poker scene. Planet Hollywood's poker room, eight months after reopening for the first time since COVID, closed at the end of January. Resorts World will become the second card room on the Strip to shut down already this year.

Quote: ChumpChange

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2026/03/resorts-world-poker-room-closure-50796.htm
Las Vegas tourism dropped over 8% year-over-year in 2025, and that appears to have carried over to the local poker scene. Planet Hollywood's poker room, eight months after reopening for the first time since COVID, closed at the end of January. Resorts World will become the second card room on the Strip to shut down already this year.
link to original post

The poker boom ended more than 10 years ago. I am surprised that anyone would open another room in Vegas.

There is a poker room about an hour away from me in Florida, I really want to play but can't justify driving two hours to play poker. I am surprised Florida hasn't opened an online poker site yet.

I figure the 90% of losses are deductible rule will kill off poker tournaments. Cash games may go on unaffected as long as they are under the radar. But the hit to poker tournaments will definitely kill off poker rooms across the USA. Players may test their luck hoping for a rule change this year, but if that doesn't happen, they will rue their next tax season.

Quote: DRich

...The poker boom ended more than 10 years ago. I am surprised that anyone would open another room in Vegas....

<SNIP>

link to original post

^ ^ Yes, this.

Quote: ChumpChange

...But the hit to poker tournaments will definitely kill off poker rooms across the USA...

link to original post

...Planet Hollywood's poker room, eight months after reopening for the first time since COVID, closed at the end of January. Resorts World will become the second card room on the Strip to...

link to original post

Ehh? The overwhelming majority of poker tournaments are simply loss leaders, returning much less than nothing for the room after paying minimum wage to staff them, even with a hold/rake of tourney fees that often approaches 30%. Most are similar in importance and purpose to parking a piano player in the lobby or a fountain by the entrance or a snack tray in back of the room. A poker room that is "killed off by" something like that was already hooked up to jumper cables.

The Planet Ho poker "room" was struggling badly trying to keep games going there more than a decade ago. Outside of an uptick in business during the temporary extra special house-funded promos they ran for a while when they were required to return money some of the staff & select "players" were jailed for stealing from the promo fund with fake "jackpot" hands.

Quote: DRich

The poker boom ended more than 10 years ago. I am surprised that anyone would open another room in Vegas.
link to original post

I noticed that too 10+ yrs ago when the 1st vegas poker room i played in, Monte Carlos, closed.

But why did live poker cash games die?
Online poker became easy access again?
Poker being 'solved' by GTO?

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: DRich

The poker boom ended more than 10 years ago. I am surprised that anyone would open another room in Vegas.
link to original post

I noticed that too 10+ yrs ago when the 1st vegas poker room i played in, Monte Carlos, closed.

But why did live poker cash games die?
Online poker became easy access again?
Poker being 'solved' by GTO?
link to original post

My opinion: too many would-be "pros." For a while everybody and their brother was showing up in Las Vegas hoping to support themselves as a full time poker player.

So a tourist would come in and find himself at a table with 5 guys who read all the books. That's not a good day for the tourist, and it might be the only day when those grinders make close to minimum wage. Not very profitable for the casino either. So who's the winner?

That's why I never got much involved with poker. Sure, I know how, but it's not as reliable as the other kinds of AP where I know what I'm going to be doing in this casino before I walk in the door.

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: DRich

The poker boom ended more than 10 years ago. I am surprised that anyone would open another room in Vegas.
link to original post

I noticed that too 10+ yrs ago when the 1st vegas poker room i played in, Monte Carlos, closed.

But why did live poker cash games die?
Online poker became easy access again?
Poker being 'solved' by GTO?
link to original post

My opinion: too many would-be "pros." For a while everybody and their brother was showing up in Las Vegas hoping to support themselves as a full time poker player.

So a tourist would come in and find himself at a table with 5 guys who read all the books. That's not a good day for the tourist, and it might be the only day when those grinders make close to minimum wage. Not very profitable for the casino either. So who's the winner?

That's why I never got much involved with poker. Sure, I know how, but it's not as reliable as the other kinds of AP where I know what I'm going to be doing in this casino before I walk in the door.
link to original post

How do you get a poker pro off of your front steps?

Yeah, that makes sense. When everyone at the table knows the theory, it stops being gambling and turns into a grind with razor-thin edges. Hard to make consistent money like that

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: DRich

The poker boom ended more than 10 years ago. I am surprised that anyone would open another room in Vegas.
link to original post

I noticed that too 10+ yrs ago when the 1st vegas poker room i played in, Monte Carlos, closed.

But why did live poker cash games die?
Online poker became easy access again?
Poker being 'solved' by GTO?
link to original post

Yeah, I think it’s a mix of all the things you mentioned rather than just one reason.

Live cash didn’t exactly “die”, but it definitely changed. Higher rake and costs in live rooms make it harder for games to sustain, especially at lower stakes . At the same time, online poker became way more accessible again, so a lot of volume just moved there.

Another big factor is the player pool. Online games are much tougher now — way more regs, solvers, and overall stronger baseline strategy. Even if GTO didn’t “kill” poker, it definitely raised the skill floor and made games less soft.

Also feels like recreational players just have way more options today (sports betting, casino apps, etc.), so fewer of them end up in live cash games long-term .



Overall I’d say live cash isn’t dead — it’s just less casual and a bit tougher to keep running consistently unless the player pool is right.