Poker Room

If your experience of Vegas is through movies, you might think poker is where it's at. Suave high-rollers, beautiful women, James Bond, etc. But in terms of floor space, poker is usually a small part of what casinos do. Mostly they are endless expanses of old carpeting, slot machines, and very depressing people. Marc Maron, podcasting from Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut, put it memorably:

"Who the fuck comes to these places, where do these people come from, do cracks in the Earth open and release these people, these troll-like, obese people, these people dragging oxygen tanks behind them...I can't even explain the people who are up here, but they all seem to have something in common. That is, they seem to have given up on themselves."

I'd make the case that poker is a little less depressing, because A. it involves human interaction and B. if you're good you can be a favorite to win money, which of course is impossible when you play against the house.

In any case, the poker room is typically a small area tucked away in the corner of the casino. Thus the poker room that the Rio set up for the WSOP is both unusual and impressive. They've filled a room the size of an airport hangar with poker tables. Many are for the tournaments that run constantly, but a lot are for cash games as well. The room is filled with the tinkling of chips being shuffled.

It reminds me of my middle school years, when I used to go to huge national chess tournaments. Everything set up, an eerie calm, the magnetic field of thousands of brains working very hard.