Question of the Day - 07 January 2025

We don't often run all the thank you's and keep up the good works and we love QoDs, but to start the new year, our 21st of Question of the Day, we couldn't resist. You're welcome to everyone and thank you for submitting great questions all year long and showing up with relevant, incisive, and often amusing comments. 

As for the Poker Palace, how many of you have never heard of it? That's because it's a standalone joint without a hotel on Las Vegas Blvd. North in North Las Vegas between E. Lake Mead Blvd. and E. Cheyenne Avenue a couple of miles north of Jerry's Nugget up near Nellis Air Force Base. 

As such, it's strictly a low-rise low-limit low-rent locals casino. In a 2008 Las Vegas Sun casino roundup, the writer described it: "If you're a tourist and you end up here, you're probably very very lost."

The only thing "palatial" about it are the red crenelated battlements atop the square white turrets. Not a bad effect, especially considering the name, but as faux as it gets. In fact, the Poker Palace website describes its own décor as "rustic." 

The building started its life all the way back in 1951 as a bar called Bunny's. In 1974, it was purchased by a husband and wife team, Marvin "Mickey" and Laura Coleman when Mickey was 31 and Laura was 22; Poker Palace celebrated its 50th anniversary last April. The Colemans still own the joint and Laura has been a major booster of North Las Vegas, including a stint as director of the North Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, for many many years. 

When they bought Bunny's and opened the casino, it was 700 square feet, with a blackjack table, eight slots, and two pool tables. 

Since then, the Colemans have expanded it several times and Poker Palace is now 26,000 square feet, with several hundred slots, several table games, eight poker tables, a fairly spacious sports book, and a 5,000-square-foot bingo hall.

As for stories, the one that made the most headlines was the $250,000 fine in 2009 for problems in the race book, where three employees "provided unlawful rebates on pari-mutuel wagers, unlawfully shared pari-mutuel revenue, illegally accepted wagers from messenger bettors, and illegally paid winnings to persons who didn't place bets." Marvin Coleman was also cited for "failing to adequately supervise his employees and his casino." 

The casino also offered Experto blackjack and here's how we wrote about it in the April 2000 LVA. "Experto first surfaced at the old Vegas World. In Experto, a single deck is dealt all the way to the bottom; even the last card is played. But naturals are paid at even money instead of 3-2. This is a terrible trade-off for basic strategy (or regular hunch) players, because it raises the casino's advantage by a whopping 2.3%. However, a proficient card counter can overcome the casino's off-the-top advantage with a large enough bet spread. When Vegas World dealt this game, the casino imposed a maximum 3-1 spread (e.g., $10 minimum and $30 maximum). Poker Palace seems to have no such concerns about limiting the spread and allows players to jump wildly from as little as $2 to two hands at the table max of $50. That's a 50-1 bet spread, sufficient for a good counter to easily beat this game."

Poker Palace experimented with a fancy restaurant, Laura's Vineyard, but that failed; the coffee shop is now called Maddy's Paddy Cafe.

Over the years, we've covered Poker Palace for its good coupons, football contests, $1 blackjack, and dining deals. Here's what the latter looked like in 2003: all-you-can-eat spaghetti for $2.99 on Mondays, all-you-can-eat shrimp for $3.99 on Tuesdays, and a complete NY strip dinner for $3.99 that came with a big salad, baked potato, vegetable, and rolls. LVA members could avail themselves of a 2-for-1 coupon, which was good for the specials -- two steak dinners for $3.99! In 2016, we reviewed a 16-ounce T-bone, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and a roll served 24/7 for $7.98.

Anyone out there in QoDland have any Poker Palace stories?