There are more than more than 4,200 poker tables in more than 400 poker rooms in the country in the 28 states that allow table gaming. Some of the rooms are as small as the Buzz Inn Steakhouse and Casino in Mukilteo, Washington, which has one poker table and a full menu. Some are as large as the Commerce Casino outside of Los Angeles, which happens to be the largest poker room in the country with 162 tables.
The country is loaded with poker tables. It's only natural to start in California and Nevada, which are home to almost half the number of legal public poker tables in America.
The Big Two
California and Nevada have just under half the tables with 1,889. California has the most poker rooms in the country with 115 licensed by the California Gaming Control Commission. (In May, 2004, there were 91.) They range from large L.A. cardrooms like the Commerce Casino and the Bicycle Club (125 tables), to smaller places like Kelly's Cardroom (4) or Angie's Place (3).
Although Las Vegas will always be like Mecca to poker players (who have to go there at least once in a lifetime), Los Angeles is the place where the regulars live and worship. Within 25 miles of downtown L.A., a dozen poker rooms – including three of the world's largest – exist to choose from.
Because of those enormous clubs, L.A.'s poker rooms easily have more tables than Vegas.
Just among Commerce, the Bike, and Hawaiian Gardens (87) in Long Beach, 374 tables are available. That's more tables than in New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas combined.
The three rooms have 117 more tables than in all of Atlantic City.
Poker in California doesn't begin or end in L.A.
Within 50 miles of San Francisco, Bay 101 and the Garden City Casino each has 40 tables, and in San Bruno, Artichoke Joe's has 18.
San Diego has at least six poker rooms surrounding the city and residents there are a short drive away from tables at Barona Valley Ranch and Resort (15) or Lake Ellsinore (13).
And if players get tired of playing in their backyards, the Nevada border is only a few hours away.
In Nevada, 45 of the state's 92 poker rooms are in or around Las Vegas. That means 486 out of 732 poker tables in Nevada are only a short taxicab ride away from any point on the Las Vegas Strip.
Whenever the World Series of Poker isn't in town, all the large poker rooms in Vegas carry around 30 tables. When it is, there are plenty more. At 45 tables, Binion's Horseshoe is the largest poker room in the city. Following close behind is the Bellagio (40), The Orleans (35), Caesars (31), The Mirage (31), and the Wynn Las Vegas (26).
All the poker rooms have the ability to set out more tables for tournaments. For example, Caesars, which just opened its poker room as part of a $12 million expansion, has a 6,000-square-foot room next to its poker room where an additional 33 table can be set up for tournaments. Most of the top rooms in Vegas have this ability.
Of course, unlike Los Angeles, players can walk or take a short cab ride to any of the poker rooms in Las Vegas, no matter what kind of mood they are in. With 45 poker rooms in the city, players have a choice of the kind of game, atmosphere, company, and skill of players that's just not available anywhere else in the world.
Outside of Vegas, Harvey's Resort Hotel in Lake Tahoe has the greatest number of tables at 17. The Oasis Resort Casino in Mesquite has 16, which is up from three last time Card Player checked. Reno has 61 tables in eight poker rooms, which are all located in casinos.
The Rest of the Country
Take away California and Nevada and there's still a country with more than 2,300 poker tables sitting in more than 200 poker rooms.
Poker can be legally played in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.
With a little more than 400 tables, Florida has the most tables outside the big two. Many of the racetracks in Florida have low-stakes poker games, and Florida is also the home to the most casino ships in the country, most of which spread poker.
In terms of poker rooms, Washington state more than doubles Florida's total, with 64 rooms that hold more than 240 tables. The biggest room in the state is Tulalip Casino and Bingo, which has 20 tables. Most of the cardrooms in Washington carry a handful of tables at the most. They are in bowling alleys and steak houses like Cedars Tavern (3), Kenmore Lanes (5), and Slo Pitch Pub & Casino (4).
New Jersey has only eight places to play poker, but is behind only Florida for the number of tables available, with 257. Trump Taj Mahal has the most tables, with 82, followed by Tropicana (48), Borgata (34), Showboat (25), and Caesars Atlantic City (24).
Arizona isn't a bad place to live for poker players, either. With rooms in 16 different casinos, the state has 237 poker tables. Casino Arizona at Talking Stick has the most tables in the state, with 46. Bucky's Casino and Resort is a close second, with 44. Most of the casinos carry more than 10 tables, although Mazatzal Casino has only one poker table.
Within about two years, Oklahoma has become a poker powerhouse. Before 2004, poker was illegal there. Now, Oklahoma is right behind Arizona, with 15 places to play cards at more than 120 tables.
The casinos there even entered the world of big-buy-in tournament poker. The "Oklahoma Johnny" Hale Open is set to take place at the Cherokee Casino Resort in Tulsa in March/April, and Cherokee Casinos, which has five casinos scattered throughout Oklahoma, even hired Scotty Nguyen as its poker ambassador.
It's similar in Mississippi, which has several casinos that offer big buy-in tournaments. Tunica is the state's poker heart, with 10 casino that offer poker on about 70 tables.
Thanks to the casinos that are only a short drive away from Chicago, Indiana is able to have 94 tables in five different casinos. Minnesota offeers 88 tables at 11 different places.
Connecticut has one cardroom, but it's one of the largest on the East Coast. That's because it's in one of the largest casinos in the world, Foxwoods. The cardroom at Foxwoods has 76 tables.
Iowa has 71 tables in 10 rooms. Harrah's Council Bluffs has 23 alone, which almost matches or beats the number of tables in Texas (8), South Carolina (7), North Dakota (26), Montana (5), Kansas (12), Illinois (14), and Georgia (5).
Colorado has 79 tables in 12 rooms and Minnesota has 88 in 11 rooms. The rest of the states where poker is legal have fewer than 10 rooms, where the number of tables range from 22 at Turning Stone Casino in New York to five at the Harrah's Prairie Band Casino in Kansas.
A note on the research: I used the Internet – particularly CardPlayer.com's poker directory – and a popular casino guide to find and call the rooms. In some instances, a cardroom or casino could not be reached. In those cases, I used CardPlayer.com's poker directory table numbers. When no figure was available, I omitted the room from the list in order not to inflate the figures.
