The Maloof family not only owns the Sacramento Kings basketball team but they also own a Coors beer distributorship and have for many decades. No wonder George Maloof knows the service oriented hospitality business so well. As a young college student at UNLV where he oick up his undergraduate degree in hotel management, he learned the gambling business, usually first hand, frequenting the strip resorts. George combined his insider knowledge of operating a major sports team, selling more Coors than anyone on the planet, plus the creation and wild success of the Fiesta Casino to create the Palms Resort. The Palms opened and immediately became the number one place in Las Vegas to watch a never-ending parade of the beautiful and famous people, all friends with George Maloof. George knows how to attract a special crowd even by Vegas’ standards. Hang out at the Palms on any evening and watch the limos tool in and discharge the rich and famous.
After all that people watching its time to relax and have a great meal in one of the many Palms’ restaurants…including the only genuine “New Mexican” food in town. The authentic taste of New Mexico can be had at Gardunos Restaurant located within the Palms. From Hatch, New Mexico comes the finest red and green gourmet chili in the world and Gardunos turns it into wonderful New Mexican dishes sharing a rich, earthy flavor unique to Land of Enchantment grown chilis.
Want a really great steak? How about a stop at one of the most popular restaurants in all of Las Vegas, the N9NE Steakhouse? An evening of dining at this trendy spot will be a remembered event, but be sure to make early reservations for the N9NE, its that popular. The Alize French restaurant is located at the top of the hotel tower and offers a breathtaking view of Las Vegas to go along with the gourmet entries from Chef Andre Rochat. Maybe you prefer the culinary delights of the Blue Agave where fresh seafood and panroasts are so good you’d swear you’re sitting in a restaurant on a Mexican beach. The Little Buddha restaurant offers a traditional Asian menu and includes a superb sushi bar. The award winning Fantasy Market Buffet caters to the eat-everything crowd while the 24/7 Cafe does exactly that, serves up Vegas coffee shop fare around the clock. Even hard core fast food junkies have their own section with recognizable fast food choices in a food court right in the casino where you’ll also find a tempting array of fresh pastries and designer coffees.
The Palms Resort has some of the most original and certainly most unusual hotel suites found anywhere on the planet. From a 10,000 square foot $40,000 per night palace with its own hardwood basketball court to more modest accommodations that the average vacation budget can love, a stay at the Palms is a true Vegas experience, to be remembered always. The available choices of hotel options are too numerous to list here but a complete description of suites and amenities with a really easy to use photo tour for each is available here. The hotel will offer just over 700 rooms and suites when the Fantasy Tower is fully operational later this year. Your stay at the Palms Resort can be the experience of a lifetime. The Fantasy Suites are exactly that, a real life fantasy.
Shopping at the Palms Resort is a totally different experience. Where else will you find a major destination resort with its own Hart and Huntington Tattoo store? How about a full time Palm Reader shop? You can find it at the Palms. OK, you’ve gotten the tattoo and its time to head to the club and show it off. The Palms has the Ghostbar, the 55th floor Night Club that is considered to be the pinnacle of the Vegas club scene. Maybe you’d prefer Rain, the other club with hip DJs and the fire and water decor. And now, both Ghostbar and Rain are joined by the first Playboy Club to operate anywhere in two decades. The new Palms’ Playboy Club occupies the top three floors of the Fantasy Tower and comes complete with a retractable roof and its own casino, another first. Of course, if you just want to record some of your music there’s the Palms’ professional recording studio or maybe you just want to see a movie at the resort’s Brenden Theaters. Of course, we came to the Palms to play poker.
The best Poker Room in the city to have a celebrity playing at your table is the Palms. The Palms’ 10 table poker room is conveniently located, close to everything including self-parking which couldn’t be easier and valet that’s really close and always available. The poker room is divided into two rooms with 6 tables in the main room offering limit games and 4 tables on the high limit side where no-limit is played. The Palms Poker Room is under the management of Mike Vento, a two decade veteran of the Las Vegas gaming industry. I’ve known Mike for a number of years and am aware of his room management style that’s centered around the poker players. Mike provides a comfortable poker room with a knowledgable staff, located in one of the most exciting casinos in the world and throws in the convenience of modern technology…plenty of reasons to play the Palms Poker Room.
All of the Palms’ poker tables have Shufflemasters so players will see more hands per hour for a livelier, faster action game. No more standing around the room waiting for a seat. Players on wait lists for a game pick up a pager and then can freely wander around the casino until their seat comes open. Poker players earn food comps at the rate of $1/hour-of-play up to a max of $10 per day and the comps are accepted at most of the resort’s food outlets. Players are tracked through their Palms Player Club Card so get one before you play. Poker players can also get casino room rates based on play. You need a Palms Player Club Card for the benefits so get one before you play. Sign up online for your card here.
The Poker Room spreads Limit-Hold’em $2-$4 and $4-$8 with a half kill. Both limits have $1-$2 blinds. The No-limit players is also offered choices of $1-$3 blinds with a $200-$500 buy-in and $2-$5 blinds with a $200-$1000 buy-in. The room will spread any games and limits that have enough player interest. It is not unusual to have a high limit game going with one or two celeb types playing in the Palms Poker Room. The Palms Resort has become a magnet for the younger, upscale, casual-money gamblers. Many of these trendy guests can be found playing in the Palms Poker Room. My first hand experience of the Palms poker room is an unusually nice crowd having fun playing poker.
The Palms Poker Room offers an ongoing progressive jackpot for 4 of a kinds and high-hands. Complete details of the promotions are available in the poker room. Tournaments at the Palms Poker Room are a daily $40 buy-in No-limit Hold’em event at 10:00 AM. More tournaments will be added to the schedule as determined by player response and request. Manager, Mike Vento, has much planned in the way of tournaments and promotions so stay in touch and receive all the latest news for the Palms Poker Room by signing up for the Palms email newsletter. For complete details of games and times call the poker room direct at 702.942.6961. A few days at the Palms playing poker is a dream vacation.