When is a man tired of Las Vegas

On September 20th 1777, Samuel Johnson, aka Dr Johnson, wrote these never to be forgotten lines…

"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave Las Vegas. No, Sir, when a man is tired of Las Vegas, he is tired of life; for there is in Las Vegas all that life can afford."

OK, that's not quite correct, he was, of course, speaking of London, and as it happens, Las Vegas did not even exist in those days, so I'm using a little artistic licence. I'm pretty sure, though, that he or anyone else who visits Las Vegas would feel exactly that, as Las Vegas is, in poker and entertainment parlance, the stone cold nuts.

Blessed with the guarantee of blistering heat in what is otherwise a parched Nevada desert, Las Vegas is truly - pardon the cliché - the entertainment capital of the world, and every great modern-day artiste from Frank Sinatra to Taylor Swift has appeared in Shows at the local Casinos. Plenty of British acts there, too, including Elton John, Rod Stewart, Matt Goss (remember Bros?), and Tom Jones. 

It's poker that interests us though, and at this time of the year every poker player yearns to go to Vegas and be part of poker's Greatest Show on Earth, when the WSOP comes to town, and alongside it, every other Casino runs poker festivals.

Poker takes many forms and formats, and if it exists, you can play it in Las Vegas. I had a look at the schedules recently, and counted 27 different formats, and Tournament buy-ins ranging from $11 to $111,111. Can you even begin to imagine paying over a hundred thousand dollars to enter a poker tournament? Crazy times, but at least some of that money goes to charity, and that has to be good.

The annual festival of poker begins in late May, at The Venetian, which, with its sister Palazzo Hotel, is the largest hotel in Las Vegas, and the 2nd biggest in the world, surpassed only by The Venetian Macau.

In early June, most of the other Casinos start their Summer Festival, and this year, in addition to The Venetian, we can look forward to poker series at Planet Hollywood, Wynn, and Aria, all of which sit on the "The Strip", whilst 20 minutes away, in Downtown Vegas, Golden Nugget and Binions will host series, many of which include the so-called "mixed games".

These annual poker festivals all feed off the daddy of them all, the World Series of Poker, which this year comprises no less than 69 different tournaments. It's the 47th renewal of the WSOP, which began with just one event, the $10,000 World Championship of Poker. 47 series later it just gets bigger and better every year.

The WSOP is held at The Rio Hotel, which is "off-strip", but if that confusing, don't worry, all will be explained in subsequent articles, as well as the quirks foibles and eccentricities of many of the Las Vegas Hotels, which generally tend to be themed around a famous location. These include Paris, Rio, New York New York, Planet Hollywood, Monte Carlo, Mandalay Bay and perhaps most bizarre of all, Caesars Palace. 

They do say "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas", but that's not quite true - I'll be there again this year, my 10th foray to Las Vegas, and will be reporting on all the stories from the tables, the what, why and who won of Las Vegas poker, as well as news on everything else happening out there.

That includes, of course, EDC, or to give it it's real name, Electric Daisy Carnival. EDC takes place from June 17th to 19th this year, and during those 3 days, Las Vegas is invaded by youngsters who dress up in all manner of weird costumes for EDC. Quick word of warning if you plan to visit Las Vegas this summer - hotel room rates during EDC triple or quadruple, and even Vegas, with more Hotel space than any other place in the world, pus up the "No Rooms Available" signs, so try and book early if you plan to head across the Atlantic in a 747.

In the build up to this year's various Summer Series in Vegas, I'll be writing about the history of Las Vegas poker, and Vegas itself, where best to stay, what to do, and perhaps more importantly, what not to do, and where not to go.

So bookmark this page for regular poker previews, reviews and all things Las Vegas in the coming weeks and months, alongside regular news and views from the poker tables around the world. Poker is one of the true global games, it is played everywhere, and a deck of playing cards is universal, 52 cards divided into 4 suits, it never changes whether we play it in Hong Kong or Hull, Macau or Manchester, Las Vegas or London.  

So there we are, nobody should ever tire of Las Vegas, it's such an exciting and exhilarating place, and if dear old Samuel Johnson were still alive today, even at the age of 306, that famous poem of his might have looked a little different.