I walked thru the Binions poker room a few years ago and it seemed so gloomy and slow that I kept walking. Visited in June 08 and it was a pleasant surprise. The poker room had been renovated. With the poker room in a wide open area set off from the rest of the casino, the smoke-free poker room was really smoke free. What was really great was it seems poker rooms around Vegas were all coordinating their tournaments with the WSOP including Binions. This resulted in a lot of action at the tables.
Not sure if the players were tough, but I couldn't make any money, just about breaking even over several days of play.
The dealers seemed generally good. Some of them seemed like old timers and gave the room a more colorful atmosphere.
Not a drinker so the waitresses seemed ok.
the floor room managers seemed very professional given the limits of the room. The tracking of the players (waiting and filling open seats) could be greatly improved if Binions spent a little more money computerizing their system. However, one area that was really lacking was in managing guys walking. One guy at our table seemed to keep leaving just before his blinds. It looked the dealers knew him well and let it slide when he returned without posting. Another guy would play an hour then "walk" for an hour, and so on, without being picked up, evidently wanting to keep his comp time running. The combination of this type of things resulted in the table not being a full ring game. There was a lack of monitoring of this which, I guess, is a management thing.
I ended up with over $100 in comp, which I haven't used yet since the hotel package I had already included my meals.