How does a card room go from pioneering to non-existent to poker celebrities hotspot?
The fate of poker at Golden Nugget Las Vegas Hotel and Casino is as dramatic as cinema; little wonder it is now attracting poker celebs as the setting of a hot new poker movie. The story so far involves Sin City history, a changing of hands, and Shannon Elizabeth. Golden Nugget casino hotel was the place that would change the way Las Vegas poker is played. From 1946, when it opened in what is now Downtown Vegas, to 1950, it was the gamblers who dealt their own cards in no-limit poker games here. Golden Nugget was the first to introduce the center deal, in which a dealer deals the cards to players. Hence, the leap from home poker to casino poker involving dealers. Poker had a long good run in Golden Nugget Las Vegas, and then it was dropped. For close to 18 years until April 2004, the casino hotel did not have a poker room, which makes it an even bigger deal that the card room has returned. New owners Landry’s Restaurants, which acquired Golden Nugget in 2005, spurred on a wave of impro
