The quality of the poker room at the Imperial Palace is below average but has some good points. It houses the biggest tables I've seen in Vegas. The poker room is in plain view from the entrance which attracts more bad players, however, it's also located next to some very annoying slots. The whole time i was there, I had that Hot Shots slot jingle in my head. Made for a noisy environment. Yarg! They rarely had anything other than $1/2 NL and $2/$4. Tables were in rough shape. One would wobble if you leaned on it too hard. Two nice big TVs for those who like that sorta thing while playing. $1 chips are plain gray BJs which were in fair shape. The $5 chips were nice red orange & green Paulsons with a house mold of the casinos name, mostly all worn with very rounded edges.
The competition at the IP was quite easy. I was there for 12 days and didn't encounter a local grinder or player who was super aggressive. $1/$2 NL was usually profitable. $2/$4 was not profitable, basically because it's $2/$4.
The dealers at the IP were average. Most were great, but a couple bad ones. Couple instances "Bill" (nice guy but didn't seem to alert on the night shift) had trouble splitting up side pots. One dealer (I forget who) gave a pot to the wrong player but the players noticed and made them correct it. Jenny the little asian pregnant dealer looked like she wouldn't be that knowledgeable, but she really knew her stuff. One dealer named "Michael" had "North Pole" on his name tag which was comical as he looked like Santa. They were all very friendly and kept the action going as there are usually many drunks playing $2/$4 and it's tricky keeping them in line. I heard one dealer complaining about the management, which doesn't project a professional image.
The cocktail service was good at the IP. The gals weren't much too look at (there was one very attractive one) but that it's really their purpose. On all occasions but one, the were there often and promptly returned. One gal seemed to avoid us most of the evening, even though it was around 5am. They didn't have red bull or iced cappuccino, but they'd make just about anything else I ordered. All drinks were tasty.
The management was average.
The night manager, (a tall shaved head dude) handled most issues well. One evening he kicked out some drunk loud obnoxious guy from NY which was quite entertaining. He also was quick to solve any dealer mistakes, but he seemed hard on Bill when he messed up a side pot. He was also reciting quotes from Dolemite which was entertaining, but got old quick.
The day managers were nice enough. The one tourney I played there they were in a panic like it was the 1st one they've had. During the start of the tourney, some of the other management looked like they were going to take the poker room manager away for an issue they were having. Kinda disorganized.
I wouldn't want to deal there.
Imperial Palace pays $2/hr with the Imperial Palace players card, which is free. This is the best comp rate on the strip. It can be used in almost every shop in the casino. Don't use it at the buffet as it's not that great of value, even though it's free. They have free cookies and coffee available at the bar located in the poker room. Cookies were yummy but get your coffee from the cocktail waitress. No high hand or bad beat JP.
