Poker Room Review: Treasure Island (or 'T.I.'), Las Vegas
The poker room at Treasure Island has been open for just over eight months now. The TI room like many of the new rooms is actually separate from the rest of the casino. If you are coming over on the tram from the Mirage the room is right down the staircase; from the rest of the TI casino floor just go to the far back southwest (left) corner. The room is quiet without being isolated and the staff is going for an interesting mix of games.
First, on the tournament side, they deal $60 +$5 No Limit Hold'em tournaments six times a day (2am, 4am, 11am, 2pm, 7pm, 10pm). 2,000 starting chips (the $5 is an add-on for another 1,000 chips) with 20 minute rounds, paying 6 places. On the weekends the late night/early morning events (2am & 4am) are very interesting events, usually with well "fueled" fields, if you catch my ("Cocktails!") meaning.
Because Treasure Island is an MGM/Mirage property, the events tends not to conflict with other nearby rooms, like the Mirage, and the TI room seems to have found its niche of players. The Treasure Island poker room has been busy every time I have stopped by.
On the cash game side, this is a $2/$4 limit and a $1/$3 NLHE room; they offer $50 NLHE Sit & Go's all day long; these actually go off on a regular basis, especially on the weekends. If you and some poke buddies are looking for a single table tournament you can all play, then the TI room is just the ticket. The SnG rounds are only 10 minutes, so be prepared to gamble, its not turbo but its not a deep stack event either.
During their early days, the Treasure Island floor staff were also offering Badugi and a special mixed game called The Tangerine Mixer, which is a TI special mix of alternating rounds of Texas Hold'em, Omaha High, and Crazy Pineapple. The staff tells me they will still spread these exotic games with enough interest. You can call ahead and request an interest list be started.
Why Tangerine? Well that's the name of the Nightclub and Lounge at Treasure Island, which brings me to my only issue with the poker room at TI—the table felts. Now I am nearly as interested as the next guy in attractive members of the other sex but I am a strictly old school player when it comes to table felts. The felt should be green, just the way it is when they shear the felt sheep on the table felt farms. In TI the felts are a yellow/orange and they are adorned with sci-fi fantasy depictions of nearly naked young ladies. You know the babes with bodies like a Barbie Doll, which would make them 6'7" with measurements like 40-14-38. The tables are good for one look and then a royal pain to find colored chips and cards among the exaggerated T&A of the table tops.
All in all the room at Treasure Island is a nice bright and clean room, eight tables with generally little or no wait list for games, except the Sit & Gos. The room is no smoking, of course. The TI poker room staff is very attentive and eager to answer questions and open up any interest list you might wish to explore. If I had to review the play there in my several sessions, I would have to say more rocks than maniacs; the tournaments give you a fair amount of play and very few (if any) local sharks are patrolling the waters off Treasure Island.
