O’Shaes Las Vegas – Poker Room Review
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The smell of cigarettes and carpet stained with beer. The sound of everything from Garth Brooks to AC/DC turned up much higher than needed. The sights of a triple sided bar with three bartenders overworked and well behind the needs of all the people waiting for a drink. Vince Neil Ink tattoo parlor… Police arresting someone on the sidewalk while thousands of people walking north and south along the Las Vegas Blvd look on, and someone just opened raised the $1-$2 NL game to $20, only to watch the cutoff, button, and both blinds flat call the raise. This is an average night at the $1/$2 NL tables at O’Shaes Casino, located directly across the street from Ceaser’s Palace in the heart of Las Vegas Boulevard.
Cash Games
$1-$5 Spread Limit Holdem
$1-$2 NL Holdem
The cash game wait list is a simple piece of paper with your first name written in pen, and if you aren’t within earshot after your name is called, you will be skipped quickly. There are two areas of this poker room, with the tournaments played in a slightly secluded and quiet area, and the cash game tables a few feet from the sidewalk sandwiched between the doors and a bar. The staff is not accommodating in spreading other games, mostly because there are no extra tables. The cash game rake is standard, and the comps are also standard for Harrah’s properties with $1/hr to the total rewards card and can be redeemed at any property.
TV/Food/Drinks/General
By all standards, this is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to amenities. There are no TV’s, and with the volume from the live music that is normally going on, concentration is gone. I have played O’Shaes many times, and most nights the cocktail staff is never visible at the poker tables. When you ask the dealer for help, they kind of give a “I feel your pain, but I can’t help” type of look and shrug their shoulders after calling for the floor person that didn’t hear them anyway.
Cheap eats are within a short walking distance; Burger King, Subway, and other options can be found in a mall food court style setting in the back of the casino. There are no side tables to be found to eat at the table though, and speaking of equipment most poker rooms have- O’shaes does not have nice chairs, in fact they have the worst. No auto shufflers in the tables, and the felt and cards are both worn out and terribly overused.
Tournaments
O’shaes has a short list of tournaments. Usually a $40 buyin and they start at staggered hours around 6 times per day. Listing the exact schedule is pointless though, because they never start on time and are usually waiting for more players. This is nothing more than a home $20 or $40 buyin you would play with friends, and a mass % of that is going to the house anyway. I don’t recommend looking to O’shaes if tournament poker is your thing. The one positive though, the tournament area is away from the cash game area, so a bit of focus and the feel of an actual poker ROOM become slightly evident in the tournament area.
Staff
Another O’shaes review that I read stated there is a rumor of dealers who get in trouble at Flamingo being sent over to O’shaes as punishment. That is very possible. In my many trips to O’shaes, they always seem to be the most irritated and unhappy to be there, “I hate my job” types of people that I have ever come across. You have to understand something though; this place has $5 limit blackjack, live country/rock n’ roll cover bands, $1 drafts, beer pong tables, and a tattoo parlor. This is a place meant to cater to the low end tourist crowd; so the crowd is usually a bit on the rough side. Dealers are forced to put up with a ton of play errors, and they enforce etiquette rules very loosely. F-bombs at O’shaes are commonplace, betting out of turn is just sort of forgotten.
I’ve had one experience with a dealer who seemed to be having a good time here, and he was actually farting loudly and laughing with other players about it while sitting at the table and dealing…
In closing; this is my favorite place to play in town. My favorite? with everything I just wrote? YES. This game is FREE. If you can force yourself to block out all of the chaos around you, you will find yourself in the easiest game you have ever imagined. Every drunk idiot can see the poker game going on without even being inside of the place, and just walk up and plop down in the game. Good players? How many good grinders that play on a regular basis would you expect to find in an environment like I described? I’ve played 8-10 sessions in my life and with zero batting of my eye or exaggeration I have walked out a winner on every trip. Its just really impossible to lose in this game if you have any clue.
If you don’t need fast drink service, don’t care that you know more than the dealer about the rules, and can handle loud obnoxious music and people, this is a great place to grind out your expenses on your next trip to Vegas.
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