Excalibur Poker Room Review

[krw17]

Excalibur Website | (702) 597-7625
Location: 3850 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas NV
Games Offered: Limit Hold'em, NL Hold'em and Excalibur supposedly offers 7 card stud. I didn't see a table playing stud while I was there though.
Number of tables: 20
Smoking allowed? No
Member Review by: krw17


I visited the Excalibur poker room on an early Saturday afternoon. Only about three tables going if I remember correctly. I was able to get immediate seating at their 2/4 limit table. They had a full 1/3 limit game going on as well. List management is done via a white board and if you were interested in playing but needed to get on the list, you were going to have to stick around that general area.


Games/stakes available

Limit games normally available for 1/3,2/4 and 2/6.
NL 1/3 games with a 100 min buy in and $200 max
7 card stud limit 1/5

Daily NL tournaments are offered at 9AM [$25 buy-in + $10 fee]

Decor and atmosphere

The tables were very wide and the dealers had a hard time pulling in the bets. One dealer actually carried around a stick with her that resembled something they might use at the craps table for pulling in chips. As such, the dealers were constantly asking players to push their bets farther in and push their mucked cards to them. To make matters worse, the table felt did not have a betting line, so the dealers had no marker to point to when telling people how far they needed to push their bets in. The felt itself was in pretty bad shape at the table I was sitting at, it was balling up pretty bad. I didn't notice any casino noise in the room, it appeared to be far enough away from the slots to at least be comfortable.

A picture of the room courtesy of AllVegasPoker. This picture just about sums it up, you can see the bonus wheel by the management desk.

Quality of opponents

First off, I felt the competition was pretty soft, not sure if this picks up during prime time or not. The Excalibur does some nifty things to try and keep you hanging around as well. For example, if you get pocket aces cracked, you get to spin the bonus wheel. You also get to spin the wheel for quads or better I believe. The bonus wheel is a wheel of fortune looking wheel and there is no losing spots on it. You will make anywhere from $20 to a possible $300 by spinning the wheel. In order to be eligible, you have to be playing at least their 2/4 game or higher limit. Only their 1/3 limit games don't qualify ( I think the 1/2 NL does qualify ). This bonus wheel probably does keep the game interesting for most newbies, I however, found it to be a bit more like a circus act. In fact, I was a little dejected when I broke a guy's pocket aces with my pocket kings that caught trips, because in the end, I drug the pot, but he ended up winning more on the wheel than I took down in the pot.

Chips

These were the absolute worst chips that I saw while in Vegas, not to mention played with. They were extremely dirty and worn. Most chips were very rounded and mostly black looking even though they were white chips. The better chips were brown at best. Half of the chip racks were plastic, but half were a hard cardboard looking rack.

Pictures from silver-state-treasures

BTW, silver-state-treasures also mentions that these chips are circa 1990. After that many years of casino use, its no suprise that they looked awful.

Additional perks

Cocktail service isn't that frequent, and they didn't even have Maker's Mark, so I'm guessing the selection of spirits might be a bit slim (based on the assumption that Makers Mark is a commonly stocked bar staple).

You can sign up for a One Club membership - other participating casinos in One Club are Luxor - Mandalay Bay - Monte Carlo - Circus Circus - Slots-A-Fun. I think they also have a mini buffet in the poker room during dinner hours, which might explain the nasty looking chips.

Reviewer Comments

If you are looking for low limits and a friendly poker room to cut your teeth on, then this is it.


I found the dealers to be talkative and enjoyable. They were particularly interested in helping out the beginning poker player. In fact, they would push back hands that someone folded if it had only been checked to them (as long as the cards hadn't hit the muck). This seemed to be a bit too gracious for some to handle as I did hear a comment about it once. It didn't bother me that much, but I could see the point in the argument. I didn't see any mistakes while playing.

I walked away slightly down from this room, but I just wasn't catching cards, when I did get a hand, I was usually paid off well. Given another hour or two, I'm sure I would have walked away with positive earnings. I would recommend this room to poker beginners, but would recommend someplace different for those who are looking for a good poker experience.

[Felt Lizard]

I thought the dealers at the Excaliber were among the nicest in Vegas. Very talkative and helpful, and I recall excatly that, them pushing back checked, non mucked hands to beginners that were trying to fold.

Interesting story:

I'm sitting across from the dealer, and from time to time, I look over my shoulder to give my wife more $$, or order a drink from the server..or to watch someone spin the wheel of fortune. And while my back is turned, I hear this "thump" behind me. It sounds like its coming from the area right around my chips. I immediately spin around to see what's causing the sound, and...there's nothing...just the players sitting arond the table and dealer doing his thing.

It happens like 2 or 3 more times in the space of about 10 minutes. Every time I look away, I hear that thump. And every time I look back, there's no indication as to what's causing it.

So about the fourth time, I spin around looking for sound, and I must have a fairly puzzled look on my face at this point. I notice that everyone else at the table is about to crack up, especially the dealer.

So naturally, I'm like: "Ok, WTF?" And the table explodes with laughter in all directions.

The dealer grins, picks up a chip, puts it on edge and reverse spin rolls it across the felt at me where it perfectly misses my chips, hits the rail, and rolls back across the felt and into his hand. All in about one second.

[dexterlab]

Excalibur Update:

According to the dealers at the Excalibur they are replacing the tables and dealers with automated poker tabels with screens. Should happen before the end of Sept. Room should close one week for install.

They told the dealers they could continue to deal and collect tips until that time or stay home and collect regular pay (which according to the dealers is 7.75/hr). While I certainly felt for the dealers (all were very nice folks) it was fun to sit with them - they couldn't care less about badmouthing the boss, Harrah's etc. What were they going to do ...fire them?

[T-Money-4-Life]

My first experience w/the Ex poker room was when it was operating in the south enteracnce. Back in the day they used to spread a buffet each night with different food (some good some not so good). The next thing I know is that the poker room is in the middle of the casino. This was the biggest joke to me. There was always action to be found at the Ex and the dealers were always in a good mood. Each year a group of us stays at the Ex for 10 days in July. You cant go wrong with the upgraded rooms there for the price.

[dad604]

Originally Posted by dexterlab

Excalibur Update:

According to the dealers at the Excalibur they are replacing the tables and dealers with automated poker tabels with screens. Should happen before the end of Sept. Room should close one week for install.

They told the dealers they could continue to deal and collect tips until that time or stay home and collect regular pay (which according to the dealers is 7.75/hr). While I certainly felt for the dealers (all were very nice folks) it was fun to sit with them - they couldn't care less about badmouthing the boss, Harrah's etc. What were they going to do ...fire them?

It has been done, all electronic tables now. Stake has been lower NL .50/1.00. Rake is 10% to max of $3 no matter what limit and no tips to the dealer. I was trying for a higher stake game but only NL .50/1.00 was going.

[Sijuki]

I just can't wrap my head around electronic poker tables. I like the interaction of a live table with a dealer and cards and such. Excalibur has been off my list for a couple years.

[cdnmoose]

The electronic tables have been gone for at least 6 months.

[schullerjason]

considering this is a 2 year old thread, not surprising

[Sweet]

I actually enjoyed playing at those electronic tables. You can play more hands per hour, no tipping the dealer. It was almost like playing online but with live people across the table from you. I'm assuming it was a germaphobe's dream come true, no dirty chips or cards . I was sad when they got rid of them. I haven't been back since.