To the World Series of Poker visitor to Las Vegas, Henderson is a place to pass en route to the Hoover Dam, if it is even noticed at all. Henderson, however, is where tens of thousands of Las Vegas area residents make their home. Though they sometimes drive to the big rooms on and near the strip -- they enjoy, on a regular basis, the poker rooms in their neck of the woods -- Sam's Town, Cannery East, Boulder, and Sunset Station on the southeast edges of Las Vegas, or Green Mountain Ranch and Club Fortune in Henderson itself. There used to be Joker's Wild -- but it closed; and before that there was Nevada Palace -- and way back when Ligouri's -- but they've been gone a while.
I'd played at all but Club Fortune -- where I had stopped in a few years back. But there hadn't been a poker game going at the time -- so I vowed to return and experience the full range of this small room.
This I did on a June 29-July 4th trip to Las Vegas -- at least in part motivated by the WSOP that was going strong during that time.
I played at the Orleans, the Mirage, and the Rio -- in $1-2 or $1-3 games at those places. I also managed an insane trip up and back to a northern Utah private game -- wanting to take one step further in my quest to play poker in all 50 states (Utah was state number 46. Idaho, Oregon, Nebraska, and Hawaii remain). but my chief play was at the wonderful Club Fortune.
I had written an article for Poker Player Newspaper that was published just before I arrived. In it I mentioned things to do other than play at the Rio during the World Series of Poker. I mentioned coming down to Club Fortune -- suggesting that a good player had a better chance of cashing in a tournament there than at the Rio -- with the expected "weak field" at Club Fortune.
My remarks did not go unnoticed -- and were taken as an unfair insult to the players in the Club Fortune game in which I sat -- a $.50/$1.00 blind affair. The insulted locals did not just take me to task verbally -- but proceeded to demonstrate their true poker acumen by fleecing me for upwards of $300 in just a few hours. Weak field indeed.
I came back, however, to play in the Wednesday "deuce" -- a $30 tournament that goes off at 2PM daily (hence "deuce"), the cash game before and after it, and the 7PM deep stack. I redeemed myself, winning over $100 in the $.50/1 cash game, chopping for second place in the 2PM event, and finish exactly one off the money in the 7PM tournament. I was pleased with my performance and even more pleased with the atmosphere, ambiance, cleanliness, order, friendliness, and comps in the room. Where else can someone earn $5/hr. in comps between noon and 2 PM, while also getting fed decent food for free at 6PM?
What a great trip -- and what a great room is Club Fortune. It gets my highest recommendation (and they didn't even give me a free hat, jacket, or any other swag).