Written by Tim Lavalli
 LAS VEGAS/Thursday, 27 September 2007

The poker room at Treasure Island, like many of the new rooms in Las Vegas, 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, and 10pm). 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, it’s not turbo but it’s not a deep stack event either.

I have only one real complaint about the room at TI and that is table felts. They are bright yellow or orange and have a large, semi-naked woman who dominates the center of the table. Now I am nearly as interested as the next guy in attractive members of the opposite 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. The tables are good for one look and then a royal pain to find colored chips and cards among the exaggerated top heavy sci-fi babe on 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.