TI Poker Room was just what the pictures show--8 tables in it's own room with televisions on the wall. It's a little dark, but otherwise a comfortable atmosphere. The room was clean. My only complaint is the location in the casino. It is in the corridor between the casino floor and the parking garage where there are some shops. If you're not 100% focused on the poker game and zoned out, you feel like you're sitting in a food court at a shopping mall. The Cirque de Soleil theater/show is right across the way and you can hear loud applause etc. at times from the show. Beyond the external pet peeves, everything inside the poker room was good. Late night and on the weekends you see TONS of gorgeous women dressed to the nines and you can't beat the people watching. During the summer, you have to walk by the poker room to get to the pool, which means lots of women in bikinis walking by.
TI just started a new promotion and the freeroll is gone. There is now a rakeback for playing 10-60 hours/week worth $50 to $599, which attracts the local pros/grinders. There weren't many tourists and I would say out of the 3 days I stayed and played at TI, 6 out of the 9 people sitting at the table were grinders. I used to be semi-pro when I lived in Vegas and managed to average $35/hour at the $1-3 game, but if you aren't a seasoned poker player you will likely get eaten alive.
I've played a lot of poker in Vegas (1000's of hours) and at first I was turned off by the dealers--they didn't say much. Most of the dealers are late-20s/early-30s and when they sit at the table, they largely just deal cards versus run the game. The external noise made it difficult to hear what the dealers were saying a large part of the time. There are a few standout dealers, such as Matt who owns the table when he is dealing--he is assertive and ensures that players know the rules and the game keeps moving. Rick is also another great dealer with a cut-up personality and runs the table well. I took an older aggressive asian gentleman's stack after he called me all-in with the best hand and I sucked out. The guy was directing some hateful comments towards me and Rick didn't hesitate to confront him about his comments and proper behavior in the poker room.
Cocktails were hit/miss. Angela I think is the regular (blonde) and does a great job, but some of the other cocktail waitresses were just flat out awful. One of the third shift girls has a reputation with the dealers for being terrible and actually talks back to players when they order a second cocktail when the first one shows up due to her slowness. If you ask for cocktails, the dealers/poker room manager will get you service.
Management was great. Troy is a young guy, but seems to be on top of things. Even in his absence, the dealers who were managing the room during the slow hours were empowered to make decisions and knew how to keep things running, including jackpot payouts, ordering room service, running the tournaments, etc.
The rakeback promotion is a big plus. Comps are $2/hour ON TOP OF the rakeback, so if you play the max 60 hours for the rakeback you get $599 in cash plus $120 in comps. The high hand jackpots leave much to be desired. If you hit a high hand (straight/royal flushes only) you get to spin the wheel in the back of the room. Straight flushes payout 2x and Royals are 5x. You spin the wheel and get $25-100 depending on where it lands multiplied by the multiplier. I hit a Royal Flush (you have to use both hole cards) and got a $150 bonus. This is $150 more than I had before I walked in, but other rooms have much better high hand promos.
