Written by Tim Lavalli
 NEWS/Tuesday, 06 November 2007

Two recent polls were conducted in Las Vegas about the best poker rooms for player comps. Poker rooms have been notorious for being cheap with player comps, while slot players are getting free food and free rooms, poker players tended to be overlooked by casino management. This is still the case in many casinos but the times seem to be changing as the competition for the poker dollar heats up in Las Vegas.
The two polls asked simply: “Which poker room offers the best comps to players?”

It was no surprise that Treasure Island made it to the top of both polls. TI actively promotes its poker room with comps to players and the floor staff is more than willing to provide food comps on request to any player with a reasonable amount of play in the room. It was also no surprise that some of the best known rooms are very cheap when it comes to comping players. Bellagio is known far and wide as being nearly a “no comp” room. In fact, it remains a mystery to many players how Bellagio keeps its room so full when they give so little back to the players.

On the big room plus side was Venetian. Rated in the top five in both polls, the Venetian is fairly generous with its comps as they continue to build a loyal following among Vegas poker players. Like many rooms the comps at Venetian go more to the cash game players than to the tournament players.

Off the strip, two properties were rated high in both polls. Downtown the clear winner was Binions, which continues its long tradition of treating poker players better than almost any other casino. The Orleans also rated high in the comp poll but I must add that even though these polls were run on the internet, I suspect a large number of respondents were locals and The Orleans is known as a “locals” house and I have heard visitors say that comps are not so easy to get at The Orleans unless they know your face.

In any case, the comps polls refer to food and rooms and even shows over and above the “at the table service”. All poker rooms in Las Vegas serve free drinks and many have table side food service at reduced prices.