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News Opening Night - Steve Wynn's New Poker Room Hits The Target. Wynn's new poker room is as classy as they come. But, more impressive than its high quality furnishings is its high quality staff. My extraordinarily high expectations were met. Date: 04/28/05 Room: Wynn Summary: Wynn's new poker room is as classy as they come. But, more impressive than its high quality furnishings is its high quality staff. My extraordinarily high expectations were met. Content: Steve Wynn knows how to build a great poker room. But, more importantly, he knows how to staff a great poker room. The poker room at Wynn Las Vegas employs some of the best people I have ever met. Everyone is among the best in the business at their respective job. The dealers are excellent, the chip runners are excellent, the cocktail waitresses are excellent, and of course, the management is excellent. And, on opening night, these excellent people pulled off the smoothest poker room grand opening I have ever attended. Just after midnight on Thursday, April 28, 2005 Wynn Las Vegas opened its doors to the public. The grand opening was off the hook. Thousands of people lined up outside and waited to get in. Once inside, visitors were not disappointed. The entire hotel and casino is undeniably beautiful. Of course, the poker room was particularly happen'n. I was one of the first players to take a seat at a $4/8 table. There was no wait-list because the poker room was only half full when I got inside. And, throughout the night, Wynn's new poker room filled up with some of the most recognized faces in poker. I saw Mason Malmuth (2+2 Publishing), David Williams (2nd place in 2004 WSOP main event), Mike Paulle (PokerPages.com), Mike Sexton (World Poker Tour host), Darryl "RazzO" Phillips (Razzo.com), and of course Daniel Negreanu, one of the top poker players in the world. Daniel Negreanu was really working the room. He was extremely personable – signing autographs, and shaking hands with people all night long. I had a chance to meet and speak with Daniel briefly. All I can say is that he is a hell of a nice guy, and the perfect ambassador for Steve Wynn's poker room. You see, Daniel Negreanu actually contracted with Steve Wynn to play at Wynn's poker room. I don't know if it is an exclusive contract, but I expect to see him at the Wynn poker room a lot. So, if you have ever wanted to meet a top professional poker player, you should definitely stop by. Actually, you should stop by Wynn's new poker room regardless – because it's fantastic. The actual poker room at Wynn Las Vegas is elegant and classy. It has, perhaps, the finest furnishings of any poker room in Las Vegas. Where the MGM poker room is hip and cool, Wynn is polished and refined. It has more of a gentleman's atmosphere. Very upscale. Dignified, if you will. The poker chairs are the most comfortable I have ever sat my butt in. The poker tables are new and simple – no drink holders, no commitment lines, no logos, nothing – just an auto-shuffler and clean green felt throughout. Wynn's poker room also incorporates the latest technology. There are over a dozen LG HDTV plasma televisions hanging on the walls. There is also a computerized list management system that displays each game available and the number of players on each wait-list. Furthermore, I was told that players waiting in their hotel suites at Wynn can view the wait-lists at the poker room from their in-room televisions. This is a really snazzy high-tech touch. If I were staying at Wynn's hotel, I would definitely tune-in to check out the wait-list at the poker room before heading downstairs. I bet this will be popular among poker playing hotel guests. So, of course Wynn's new poker room is stunningly beautiful, but honestly – that's not its greatest asset. As I mentioned above, Steve Wynn knows how to hire the best people. His staff is his poker room's greatest asset. The environment of the poker room tonight was that of well-managed chaos. Throughout the night, there were thousands of people walking by the poker room, and hundreds trying to get a seat at a table. For opening night, I was consistently impressed by the people working in the poker room. The dealers knew how to deal. These are all experienced dealers. The chip-runners knew how to seat people at tables and bring chips quickly – best of all they did this with a respectful and friendly attitude. The cocktail waitresses are among the most attractive ladies I have ever seen, and they provided fast and friendly service. Finally, the poker room management was on top of their game. They went out of their way to answer my questions – not with any answer – but with the correct answer. Here's a short anecdote to support my praise. Shortly after I sat down at my $4/8 table, I saw a poker room manager holding what looked like a comp card. I raised my voice and asked “Hey, what's that, and how do I get one.” -- The manager responded, “It's a comp card. just fill out a form, and turn it into the cashier.” -- But, she didn't stop there. Without me asking, she walked to the front of the poker room, picked up a form, and brought it back to me, along with a pen. This doesn't seem like much, but you have to understand that the poker room was slammed. Nevertheless, this poker room manager was providing me, her customer, with excellent service. But, here's the kicker – when the manager returned with the form, I asked her, “so, how much can we earn in comp dollars?” -- she quickly replied, “$1 per hour, sir”. Then I asked, “and what's the daily maximum?” -- Ah-ha! I stumped her! She didn't know the answer. In fact, she told me she didn't know the answer. But, you know what else she told me? “Just one minute sir, let me ask” -- She ran over, asked another manager, came back and said, “no daily maximum sir.” -- Wow! That is FIRST CLASS service! Unfortunately, Wynn's new poker room does have a few shortcomings. First, the tables are too cramped. There is just not enough space between the tables, especially at the lower limits. Honestly, It feels like 27 tables were crammed into a 20 table room. Second, the poker room was overstaffed. Make no mistake, the staff is outstanding, but it seemed like they may have been 'bumping into one another' throughout the night. I'm sure everyone was there because it was opening night. And, it's definitely better to be overstaffed than understaffed. But, there were a few too many poker room employees. I don't expect this to be a persistent problem. And honestly, you can tell I'm really having to look hard to find flaws when I'm calling a poker room “overstaffed”. Finally, and I hate to say this, but Steve Wynn was outdone by Bobby's Room at the Bellagio. Steve Wynn does not have a private poker room for big-game players, and this is a problem. Wynn's room does not offer the privacy that players at the $2,000/$4,000 game probably want. Will Wynn's room attract some big time action? Yes. I have no doubt. Daniel Negreanu will see to that. But, will the big-game leave Bobby's Room at the Bellagio? I'm not convinced that it will. Not yet. Despite the minor blemishes, Wynn's poker room is easily among the top-three poker rooms in Las Vegas (along with Bellagio and MGM). Well done Steve. Well done. |
 Inside Wynn poker room from front.  Action inside Wynn poker room.  Another front picture of Wynn poker room.  Entrance to Wynn poker room (see all the rail-birds?).  Action from side of Wynn poker room.  Corner of high limit poker area at Wynn poker room. |
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