Bally’s Poker Room
- Loose games
- Occasional fixed limit action
- Experienced staff
- Charges for parking
- Poker room can be noisy and smoky
- $5 rake plus jackpot drop
Bally’s is located on the southeast corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Flamingo Road. It serves as both the poker room for Bally’s and neighboring Paris Las Vegas, which does not offer a poker room. A shopping corridor connects the two casinos. The two resorts are owned by Caesars Entertainment.
The Bally’s poker room was relocated in 2014. It was moved closer to the rear of the casino. This has hurt its foot traffic to some extent. On the other hand, it is not as loud as it used to be as its previous location was just off the casino floor by a bar. Guests arriving by the Las Vegas Monorail walk by the poker room on the way to the casino. This helps it draw some traffic from tourists.
Bally’s Casino and Poker Room Photos
Bally’s Cash Games
The poker room at Bally’s spreads 14 tables and is surprisingly active. Players will always find multiple $1/$2 No Limit Texas Hold’em 24 hours a day. The buyin for this game is the typical Caesars Entertainment $100-$300. A $3/$6 limit game is relatively common, but does not always run. There is also a rare $2/$5 No Limit Hold’em game.
Bally’s Poker Rake
Bally’s rakes 10% up to $5 from all cash games. This has become standard for the Las Vegas Strip.
Bally’s Poker Tournaments
Bally’s spreads five tournaments each day. The start times are 9am, noon, 3pm, 5pm and 8pm. The buyin is $60, with just $42 of that going to the prize pool. Each of these tournaments offer a $500 guaranteed prize pool. This is hardly an issue as the tournaments always draw at least the required 12 players.
Bally’s Poker Promotions
Bally’s takes $1 out of cash game pots to fund several promotions. There are high hand promotions that pay starting at four of a kind. Players that give at least 12 hours a week of cash game action qualify for the weekly $6,000 freeroll. Players that clock in with their Total Rewards card also receive $1 an hour in comps that may be used at any Caesars Entertainment casino for food, hotel, gift shop, or hotel services.
Environment
The Bally’s poker room is medium-sized. The competition varies greatly, but in general the games are great.
Its ambience is average in almost every way. All tables are equipped with automatic shufflers and the dealers are all experienced. It is generally a fun environment. At night, the level of alcohol consumed by players tends to go above average, making for some great games on graveyard. The Bally’s poker room uses the Bravo Poker system for player check in and game management.
Bally’s Poker Room Opinion
What We like about Bally’s
Bally’s achieves its goal flawlessly. It spreads 24 hour action and generally offers above average games. Its biggest negative is the $5 max rake, a staple at Caesars Entertainment casinos. Bally’s charges for parking but locals are free.
What We do not like about Bally’s
Locals will find the parking situation annoying. The parking deck at Bally’s is shared with Paris Las Vegas. It could be the worst in Las Vegas. This may be why the games are so good. Locals don’t want to bother with it. Tourists will not have this problem and may even benefit from it.