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Stratosphere Poker Room Review Last updated: 11/19/08 Sponsored Advertisement Phone: (702) 944-4915 Web: www.stratospherehotel.com Email: Address: 2000 Las Vegas Boulevard South Editor's Review Stratosphere Poker Room News Stratosphere Poker Room Information Tables: 8  Full Tilt Poker 100% Deposit Bonus up to $600! Use Code: ALLVEGAS. Full Tilt Poker Betting Limits:
Stratosphere Poker Tournaments: Yes
Weekend Wait-Time: Often very short, 10-15 minutes, depending on time of day Smoking Allowed: No Poker Room Rate: No Editor's Review - Stratosphere Poker Room Total Rating: 3.20 Room Quality Rating: 3 **Last Updated: 11/19/08** The Stratosphere poker room is a venue in transition. New management has taken over the casino and the poker room, resulting in a new aggressive approach to rebuilding the strong local and tourist base that the Stratosphere room once had. Some of these changes include removing the Hours of Operation policy that they were following, adding adjustable height swivel chairs for players’ comfort, expanding their tournament schedule, continuing in their bi-weekly freeroll promotion, offering tableside foodservice, and offering hourly comps on the Stratosphere Players’ Card. The room aesthetics are about one would expect from a middle market hotel/casino. The room has one permanent wall and two half walls that enclose the poker area. Though not a formal room, the area is quite expansive, and allows for significant room between the tables. The color palate of the room is a little on the bland side, but it does match the overall color scheme of the casino in general, focusing on the neutral taupes and whites with stark contrast to the dark blacks and browns. The ceiling is painted in the familiar (yet slightly overdone) blue sky with cloud pattern seen at such trendy hotspots as Forum Shoppes, Miracle Mile Shops, and Paris Las Vegas. The chairs are quite impressive, swivel/adjustable height on wheels. This is a detail that is often found only in higher end rooms, and is something that Stratosphere customers can sincerely appreciate. Physically, the room itself is not extraordinary or even that different from any other middle market poker room. However; there are a few small details that seem to set the Stratosphere apart and enable them, if managed properly, to benefit from a good balance of hotel guests, recreational visitors, and locals. All three are absolutely necessarily in order to maintain a successful small poker room (especially in the current state of the Las Vegas poker landscape). The Stratosphere attempts to be a destination resort (with the single draw being the Tower), but falls short of really grappling the casual tourist that the casino depends on. The Strat is a casino of practicality. Generally, the people wandering the casino are there because they are staying in the hotel or wanting to go up in the tower. People generally do not visit the Stratosphere specifically to play in the Strat casino or poker room (unlike true destination resorts like Venetian, Mirage, Caesars Palace, and to a lesser extent, MGM Grand). The poker room, due to its monthly promotions, continuously offered lessons, low buy in NL game, and low buy in rolling tournaments, seems to maintain a fairly steady level of business. It will take some time to recover from the former management’s disastrous decision to implement strict hours of operations, but with the current management immediately rescinding that policy, and even going so far as to encourage graveyard action by offering special graveyard only promotions, it is evident that the room is indeed going forward with a positive expectation. Competition Rating: 4 The quality of play at the Stratosphere poker room is certainly unskilled, but not as amateurish as one would think. Due to the bi-weekly freeroll, the room gets its fair share of local rocks and nitty regulars, especially on dayshift. The freeroll chasers are often the most unpleasant and unwelcoming group that Vegas poker has to offer. Fortunately, this reviewer tends to play late at night, when the freeroll chasers are often home planning out their next chase. Now please understand that just because the local nits tend to chase these hours promotions, doesn’t means that the games aren’t good. Often, quite the opposite, as the predictable style of play that the hours chasers employ is very exploitable by even the most elementary attentive poker player. The tourists and casual casino patrons that the Stratosphere garners add to the overall softness of any random Strat poker game, on essentially any night. Overall, the competition of the Strat poker room is a solid 4, with a 5 being earned only if the hours freeroll dies off, and the chasers go back to their homes at Stations, Monte Carlo, and Circus Circus. Dealer Rating: 2 The quality of the dealers at the Stratosphere poker room has significant room for improvement. Though generally friendly and seemingly competent, there are a few dealers there that are outright bad for the game, and bad for the room. On more than one instance, at least 2 different dealers commented on a hand at showdown, commented on bet size mid hand, and even went so far as to question a player about how he chose to play a hand. Also, the game control by some other dealers seems to be a major area of concern, as players that seem to get out of line there on a fairly frequent basis are not talked to, reprimanded, or directed to the floor on the few times I have witnessed an altercation in the Strat poker room. The mechanical competence of the dealers is about on par with what you would expect from the Strat. A few excel, but the majority are not necessarily exemplary or unsatisfactory with regard to speed, shuffle, pitch, and overall mechanical skill. Cocktail Rating: 3 The cocktail waitresses seem to be a stretched a little thin at times, often covering wide spanses in the casino. The ladies are friendly, and do seem to be working hard. RockStar is offered to poker players for an energy drink, but is not offered in the can (Red Bull is not available, nor are most top shelf liquors). Generally a little older then what one might expect, the cocktail servers are generally much quicker during the day then they are late at night. Management Rating: 3 The Stratosphere’s poker room seems to be managed significantly better now than it once was. However, the room is still living in the past when it comes to many modern upgrades that are not available to room management. When rating room management, the whole picture is evaluated, not just the actual people managing the room. Room management encompasses everything from list management, to comp handling, to chip running, to tournament payout speed, to decision rendering. When taking into account all these aspects, the Stratosphere poker room is heading in the right direction, but is still far from where it needs to be to achieve long term success. The current management team is making some good decisions. They knew to abolish the hours of operation. They knew to offer hourly comps on the players’ card, and they knew to attempt to build a local base again by offering a freeroll. Though these are all good recovery decisions, the last should only be a temporary one. A room should not need an hourly freeroll to survive. A room properly managed should be able to maintain its daily customer base without having to sacrifice a pleasant gaming experience to its mass clientele base by catering to local grinders and hours chasers. The paper and pen list system is a bit old fashioned, and the lack of a genesis Bravo player tracking system in the tables (along with the inclusion of only 3 autoshufflers out of 8 tables) demonstrates an obviously budget focused room. However, the decision to keep the rake at a reasonable 10%/$4 max rake (plus $1 jackpot) shows that the room is not taking advantage of every angle available to increasing the bottom line, thus allowing the customers to reap the minor rewards of an extra dollar or two in their pocket every half hour or so. The few conversations that this reviewer had with the management were generally all pleasant. The staff seemed cordial and receptive to courtesy. In general, the current management rating is based strongly off the previous management’s decisions and the lack of current technology in the room, and not necessarily on the current staff. This section will be re-evaluated shortly and the Strat will have every opportunity to improve its management score (as well as all scores thus far). Comps Rating: 4 The Stratosphere poker room comps are tracked on paper, but credited to the players’ card within 24 hours. The earned comp rate is $1 per hour of live play. The money earned can be used for food only at any restaurant in the Stratosphere property. This is an obviously antiquated system, but it far superior to only offering a single paper comp. The management believes that the players’ comp card tracking will be streamlined and improved in the near future. The room does not offer a poker room rate. They do offer a Bad Beat Jackpot that starts at $2,000 and is progressive. The qualifying beat is Aces Full beaten (both hole cards must play, and one card must be an ace). The room does not offer high hand jackpots, other than a special early morning only promotion that runs from 6AM to 9AM. The highest hand during those three hours will win $100, and the winner must be present. Stratosphere offers a bi weekly 5K guarantee freeroll (using the jackpot funds) that runs on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month. 25 hours are needed to qualify, and the tournament is played Monday night at 8PM. Overall, the comp system that the Stratosphere utilizes could use some work, but is generally better than one would arbitrarily expect. Though we would like to see a high hand jackpot promotion as opposed to a bad beat jackpot or hours based freeroll, it is strictly a matter of preference. Generally, the Stratosphere seems to moving in the right direction on many levels. Stratosphere Poker Room News Stratosphere Editor Review is now posted! Date: 11/19/08 Summary:Stratosphere, located on the far north of the Strip, offers low limit poker 24 hours a day! The official AVP Editor review is now posted! Stratosphere Poker Room Open in Las Vegas with Poker Tournaments, and Low Limit Texas Hold'em. Date: 06/06/05 Summary:The Stratosphere, which closed its poker room a few years ago, is back in the poker business. And, early reports are that the new Stratosphere poker room is pretty respectable. |
Stratosphere Poker Room Player Reviews Summary of Player Reviews: Overall: 3.28 Room Quality: 3.26 Competition: 3.68 Dealer Rating: 3.56 Cocktail Rating: 3.42 Management Rating: 3.48 Comps Rating: 2.54 Becoming one of the better small rooms in Vegas By: Spankenstein 04/01/10 nothing short of terrible By: rjgibson 06/10/09 Where the dealers that work there lose their rent By: KYGrinderMedic 03/26/09 Fun Tourneys; Fun for low-rollers By: mbrnkl 02/14/09 Standard By: LukeSLTS 11/21/08 not worth going to. By: thedrjayman 06/17/08 Stay far away! By: vegaspokerguy 03/23/08 Meh...only if... By: Flushgarden 02/28/08 Okay room... inexpensive tournaments By: TexCuso 02/10/08 Poker Room Has Moved; Best Rake Structure in Vegas By: Ian 12/30/07 Great NL game By: Scootduke 11/25/07 Profitable By: craigo19 08/27/07 Best $60 Tourney in Vegas! By: kahalbers 07/21/07 love the tourneys By: crazygrace 07/19/07 Fun... Easy money! By: Noldberg 06/08/07 It's A Room. . . . By: eddiebo 03/12/07 What a hole By: boomer262 02/23/07 Strat...fun...don't go out of your way By: scottyg66 01/11/07 Not bad, better than expected By: TheCaptain 11/19/06 Poker Room By: pokerswild 10/21/06 Complete Incompetence and Mismanagement By: bobbyrazz 10/13/06 Location, location, location By: Dariaphile 10/11/06 Struttin' into the Strat... By: FlyPaper 08/27/06 At least now it's really a "Room" By: soup_ 08/01/06 Easy Money By: Patience72 07/17/06 Easy Little Tourney By: MariaTortilla 07/10/06 1 pm tourney By: talon1964 04/07/06 Good Room By: T E X A S 03/19/06 Nice Tournament at 9am By: IndyGirl 03/02/06 Small room, goor tournament By: jro11 02/20/06 No fantasyland, but lots of fun and low-limit profit By: Siseremerpoc 01/08/06 Good times in this quaint room. By: corsairmedia 01/05/06 not too bad of a place By: mihklo 12/30/05 fun place to play By: chachi 12/18/05 Good times By: fishbonesoup 12/12/05 Nice Room, Great Dealers By: IAPETE 12/11/05 Awesome room - easy money By: pete921 11/22/05 New Tournament Structure "Best in Las Vegas" By: RiverC 11/21/05 Make money but watch out. By: Bruce9999 11/15/05 Liked it By: DMan 11/08/05 "The Aquarium" By: LemonButt 11/04/05 Some good, mostly bad By: Evolver 10/22/05 Bad and worse By: dog1dog2 10/11/05 Great for novices By: icpstu 09/16/05 Bad Tournament By: WIZARD 08/16/05 Great Action By: big_ran 08/15/05 NLHE Tournament Busy Action Good and Bad! By: Phade 07/11/05 Not too shabby, cant complain it's a good room By: Al Capone Junior 06/26/05 NL and 8PM Tourney Review By: PokerStar 06/14/05 Cozy new room By: Photoc 06/07/05 Trip Reports About Stratosphere Poker Room Too excited to play in person 01/25/06, Player: sarsgolfs For Rooms: Stratosphere,Wynn, Ladies Beware 01/31/06, Player: jobot For Rooms: Binion's,Circus Circus,Luxor,Mandalay Bay,MGM Grand,Sahara,,Stratosphere,Sunset Station,Wynn, 16 nights in Vegas 01/31/06, Player: dewey089 For Rooms: Bally's,Binion's,Caesars Palace,El Cortez,Golden Nugget,Imperial Palace,Orleans,,Plaza,,Stratosphere, First time Playing Poker in Vegas - Novice Perspective 03/01/06, Player: IndyGirl For Rooms: Harrah's,Imperial Palace,Orleans,Sahara,Stratosphere, Bad luck or just Bad Poker 03/02/06, Player: AJHRAIDER For Rooms: Bally's,,Hooters,Luxor,MGM Grand,Stratosphere,Wynn, Phoenix to Vegas 03/21/06, Player: mikeypoker For Rooms: Stratosphere, A week of Vegas poker 04/12/06, Player: nounet For Rooms: Mandalay Bay,MGM Grand,Sahara,Stratosphere, Poker week 4/16-4/20 04/21/06, Player: penfold914 For Rooms: Luxor,Red Rock,Stratosphere, Stayed and played at Imperial Palace 05/05/06, Player: cheer_dad For Rooms: Bally's,Harrah's,Hooters,Imperial Palace,MGM Grand,Stratosphere, 24 days in Vegas for 60 years of life 01/06/07, Player: dewey089 For Rooms: El Cortez,,Gold Coast,MGM Grand,Orleans,Stratosphere,Texas Station,Venetian, Holidays Super Extravaganza! 01/09/07, Player: rlloydevans For Rooms: Binion's,Caesars Palace,Fitzgeralds,Golden Nugget,MGM Grand,Stratosphere, Lots of Poker 02/13/07, Player: scottyg66 For Rooms: ,Sahara,Stratosphere, One of my worst trips! 02/25/07, Player: goldenrat For Rooms: Stratosphere, Female Poker Addict- Cumulative Trip Report 03/20/07, Player: PairofJacks75 For Rooms: Bellagio,Caesars Palace,MGM Grand,Orleans,,Stratosphere,Venetian,Wynn, Poker over the 4th (LONG) 07/09/07, Player: whozurfan For Rooms: Binion's,,Hooters,MGM Grand,Planet Hollywood,Plaza,Sahara,Stratosphere, Pretty good first Vegas Poker experience 08/06/07, Player: ddmacRN For Rooms: Binion's,Hooters,Planet Hollywood,Sahara,Stratosphere,Venetian, Card Dead 08/27/07, Player: craigo19 For Rooms: Binion's,MGM Grand,Sahara,Stratosphere, Fast weekend in Vegas 09/01/07, Player: paigow vicki For Rooms: Bally's,Harrah's,,Planet Hollywood,Stratosphere, Reno, Tahoe and on to Vegas 09/22/07, Player: gutshot For Rooms: Sahara,Sam's Town,Stratosphere, First time in Vegas from Europe. 10/04/07, Player: Vardoulacha For Rooms: Bally's,Bellagio,Binion's,Caesars Palace,,Golden Nugget,Hooters,Imperial Palace,Mandalay Bay,MGM Grand,Mirage,Riviera,Sahara,Stratosphere,Treasure Island (TI),Venetian, What every player needs to know 10/17/07, Player: VegasDailyPlayer For Rooms: Bellagio,Binion's,Caesars Palace,Green Valley Ranch,Sahara,Stratosphere,Venetian,Wynn, Quickie 11/22/07, Player: Kidrino For Rooms: Binion's,Caesars Palace,Harrah's,MGM Grand,Stratosphere, So many rooms, so little time 12/22/07, Player: MickeyD For Rooms: Bellagio,Binion's,Caesars Palace,El Cortez,Flamingo,Golden Nugget,Mirage,Orleans,Palms,Riviera,Sahara,Stratosphere,Wynn, The city that nevers stop playing by dannowon 02/21/08, Player: dannowon For Rooms: Bellagio,Caesars Palace,,MGM Grand,Mirage,Monte Carlo,Stratosphere,Venetian,Wynn, Fun Times, Fun losses 02/23/08, Player: River_Ram For Rooms: MGM Grand,O'Shea's,Sahara,Stratosphere, 4th b-day (March, 07) 03/08/08, Player: Dartin_Dave For Rooms: Caesars Palace,MGM Grand,Stratosphere, A total amateur's first trip to Vegas + friend 03/31/08, Player: ocean59 For Rooms: Bally's,Binion's,Circus Circus,Fitzgeralds,Golden Nugget,Hooters,MGM Grand,Planet Hollywood,Sahara,Stratosphere,Treasure Island (TI),Tuscany,Venetian,Wynn, solo poker trip - my way - part 3 04/26/08, Player: ocean59 For Rooms: Bally's,Bellagio,Planet Hollywood,Stratosphere, SPPerry and LVMike's Excellent Adventure III 05/27/08, Player: SouthPointPerry For Rooms: Arizona Charlie's,Riviera,Stratosphere,Wynn, My First Solo Trip 06/14/08, Player: NoSunglasses For Rooms: Mirage,Rio,Sahara,Stratosphere, 6/13-6/17 - Five Days, Nine Poker Rooms, Six Tournaments 06/19/08, Player: unklepaddy For Rooms: Golden Nugget,Imperial Palace,Orleans,Palace Station,Sahara,Sam's Town,Santa Fe Station,Stratosphere,Treasure Island (TI), First poker trip to vegas 08/16/08, Player: gregajacobson For Rooms: Caesars Palace,Monte Carlo,Planet Hollywood,Red Rock,Rio,,Stratosphere,Treasure Island (TI), August 08 poker trip 08/16/08, Player: Unclel For Rooms: Harrah's,Imperial Palace,,Stratosphere, An Eight Day Romp With Some Pokering 11/18/08, Player: LukeSLTS For Rooms: Bellagio,Binion's,Imperial Palace,MGM Grand,Mirage,O'Shea's,Stratosphere,Treasure Island (TI),Tuscany,Venetian,Wynn, Poker, sore feet, and copious amounts of beer (Very Long) 02/02/09, Player: feltbettor For Rooms: Bill's,Binion's,Eastside Cannery,Flamingo,Hard Rock,Harrah's,Imperial Palace,Luxor,Mandalay Bay,Mirage,Orleans,Plaza,Sahara,Sam's Town,Stratosphere,Tuscany,Venetian, For a budgeted vaca, visit the Strat! 02/03/09, Player: award5 For Rooms: Stratosphere, this is called running bad... 03/03/09, Player: ebert19 For Rooms: Bally's,Bill's,Circus Circus,Stratosphere,Treasure Island (TI),Venetian, Awesome 4-Day Trip, Incredible Stories 03/03/09, Player: JamieTee For Rooms: Bellagio,MGM Grand,Monte Carlo,Stratosphere, Annual Vegas Pilgrimage -- Four Days of Poker 04/20/09, Player: cheecher For Rooms: Bally's,Imperial Palace,Stratosphere,Venetian, Annual trip becomes trip of firsts 04/21/09, Player: Stranded in Indiana For Rooms: Bally's,Imperial Palace,MGM Grand,Stratosphere,Venetian, A trip with a little bit of poker in many many rooms (long) 07/13/09, Player: Topher70 For Rooms: Bally's,Bellagio,Caesars Palace,Circus Circus,Excalibur,Flamingo,Harrah's,Imperial Palace,Luxor,Mandalay Bay,MGM Grand,Mirage,Monte Carlo,Planet Hollywood,Sahara,Stratosphere,Treasure Island (TI),Venetian,Wynn, vegas-trip 07/17/09, Player: fountain For Rooms: Circus Circus,Sahara,Stratosphere, The Ultimate Las Vegas Tournament Report 01/21/10, Player: howardle For Rooms: Bally's,Bellagio,Bill's,Binion's,Caesars Palace,Excalibur,Flamingo,Golden Nugget,Hard Rock,Harrah's,Imperial Palace,Luxor,M,MGM Grand,Mirage,Monte Carlo,O'Shea's,Planet Hollywood,Rio,Sahara,Stratosphere,Treasure Island (TI),Venetian,Wynn, Discovering the secrets of the humane genome 02/25/10, Player: k9dr For Rooms: Aria (CityCenter),Bally's,Excalibur,Flamingo,Hooters,M,Mandalay Bay,MGM Grand,Red Rock,Stratosphere,Venetian, 50th birthday treat 04/05/10, Player: markturner For Rooms: Binion's,Golden Nugget,Sahara,Stratosphere, Riding the No-Limit Roller Coaster 06/27/10, Player: JamieTee For Rooms: Bellagio,Stratosphere,Venetian,Wynn, |
 View of the main entrance  View of the poker room signage  View of the action from the front  View from the back corner.  View from the back wall into the room.  View of one side of the tables.  View of the main poker room thoroughfare |
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