Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

I agree with Negreanu on the Mirage's poker room. For me, Bellagio and Mirage's poker room is still the best to me.

I agree as well, the Mirage poker room in a way was the first to pay respect to the guys by giving them a stage in a classy place. My Binions memories of seeing the legends play will always have a special place for me in Vegas history, but what Wynn did with the Mirage elevated the game from its normal smokey, back room game persona. Not being too much of a poker player myself, the atmosphere the Mirage room had in the early 90's always had me leaning for a few hours against that short wall that bordered the poker room near the Siegfred and Roy showroom exit. The guys weren't household names yet, and you can tell they liked being the center of attention, now its a different atmosphere and fame has these guys looking more for privacy than back in the day. Like many great things of Vegas past, it was cool while it lasted.

Daniel's right about almost everything but left out a few points. The big limit/mixed game did move from Bellagio to Aria, but the biggest no-limit games are almost always still at Bellagio.

As far as the parking situations go (my favorite), Bellagio was hurt when they closed the underground self-parking garage at the Flamingo Road entrance (most of that space became Light and is now the Bank). The Flamingo Road valet parking is great.
The Venetian's parking is pretty far away from the poker room (similar to, as Daniel mentioned, the Mirage). Aria's room is very close to the self-parking garage but not-so-close to valet drop-off.
One thing that Daniel noted was the excellent location of the Mirage poker room. It has the best location of any room in the city, right in the center of the casino, across from the cage.

Posted by Hunter

Not to throw this off topic but as far as Bellagio spaces go, I thought that The Bank (formerly Light) is in the upstairs space that was originally penciled for a Bellagio-Mirage-TI tram that they could never convince Caesars Palace to allow them to build and that the underground parking area was closed post 9/11 because it's proximity to the high-rise was troubling to MGM execs after a bombing looked like it was at least possible.

My understanding was that the underground self-park there is now storage.

I'm mistaken (and forgetful in my old age); you're right, Hunter.
The self park, I was told on background almost a decade ago, was closed after 9/11 because of its location directly under the casino.