Caesars Poker Room Raising Standards in Vegas

The poker room at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas is now one year old and, with the help of a new manager and "customer first" philosophy, is setting itself to act like Mohammad Ali as the biggest heavyweight of poker rooms in the city.

Regular Caesars Palace players probably have noticed a change that went into motion three months ago when Jim Pedulla came on as poker room manager. The foundation to create one of the best rooms in Vegas was already there, as the room is a gem.

With nearly 70 tables in a space that has set the standard for poker room beauty - large, glossy photos of boxers and champion racehorses hang on the walls and the room is set back from the casino in its own bright space - Pedulla knew customer service was the key ingredient to elevate the room to a must-stop destination for poker players.

"The room was lacking passion," Pedulla says. "We have a beautiful room. Now we need to fill it."

Pedulla, who has been in the casino industry for 15 years, has come into the room with the knowledge that treating the customers right - listening to what they want, being extra nice, keeping things clean, making things as comfortable as possible - will win Caesars loyalty from the players.

He also worked to expand the tournament offerings and introduced a high-hand jackpot to the room, which went into effect on the first day of 2007.

A few other changes to the game is Pedulla decided to limit the number of players to a table to nine instead of 10, which makes things less crowded, and now new players don't have to post blinds whenever they're out of position when they enter a game.

Also, whenever players are seated, they are taken to the table by a poker room employee, who will pull out the chair and actually seat the player.

"Our philosophy is that there are a lot of poker enthusiasts out there who want to play in a classy room without being intimidated," Pedulla says. "We treat our poker players like we treat our high rollers."

A chorus line of real high rollers will pass through the poker room at Caesars during the first half of 2007. First, plenty of pros are bound to play in the satellite to the NBC National Heads Up Poker Championship, which takes place at Caesars in March. The satellite takes place Feb. 10, and is a $230 multi-table event with $200 rebuys and a $200 add-on. The winner gets the 63rd seat. The 64th and final seat will be won through the Championship's website.

A World Series of Poker Circuit event is also scheduled to take place there from April 22 to May 2.

For the not-so-high rollers who want good, reasonably priced events, Caesars offers a nice daily and weekly tournament schedule, which grew for 2007. The biggest change is that now every Tuesday night a tournament specifically for women will be run. The $75 plus $5 add-on event takes place at 6 p.m. The winner - and maybe even the top two finishers - will also receive a $30 gift certificate to QUA Spa at Caesars.

A Valentine's Day couples tournament will take place Sunday, Feb. 11, at 2 p.m. The $225 tourney will have each partner switch in the middle of each round.

Caesars has also introduced a Second Chance Jackpot to each of its daily tournaments. Everyone who plays in any of the daily tourneys will automatically be entered in a drawing that will take place an hour after the tournament ends. If the player whose name is drawn is playing in a live action game at the time, he will win the jackpot. The jackpot will be seeded with $100 from each tournament and will grow until it's hit.

Daily tournaments are: noon, $80 plus $50 rebuy; 7 p.m., $120 with a $100 rebuy; and 11 p.m., $60 with a $10 add-on for the dealers. For more information, visit Caesars Palace's website.

Another improvement is a new cashier counter specifically for tournament players that will be located in the tournament room. This should eliminate the frequent logjam that occurred at the front during busy nights.

With these improvements, Pedulla feels his room will set the bar high for poker rooms all over Vegas.

"Now we are at the highest level of professionalism in the poker room," Pedulla says.

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