Caesars Palace Las Vegas opens new poker room

Large crowds greeted Caesars Palace Las Vegas representatives when they officially opened the doors of the new $12 million poker room on Dec. 21, welcoming the game back to the hotel-casino after a sixteen year absence.

The newest poker room to hit the Las Vegas Strip in recent months, it boasts a separate space for tournament play and 30 tables.

The 8,500 square foot poker room is a spacious, high-tech, smoke-free environment. The walls are adorned with 25 high definition televisions and 11 different LeRoy Neiman paintings that previously hung on the walls of the hotel-casino's executive offices.

A 6,000 square foot tournament room was constructed adjacent to the poker room for tournaments taking place at the hotel-casino, the first of which will be the Heads-Up Poker Championship in March followed by a World Series of Poker Circuit event in April. The tournament room can hold up to 33 tables. According to Caesars Palace spokesperson, Ken Langdon, "The idea behind that is we can hold a poker tournament and don't have to close the poker room."