South Point Poker Room Review
Had the best time last night in the South Point poker room. The floor staff and dealers were great. Wearing masks, enclosed by plexi glass.the reality is that the room still had a great energy and positivity that made for a great experience. Well done Jason and team! South Point Details Located not far from the main Las Vegas Strip, the South Point Hotel, Casino and Spa has a well-proportioned poker room that spreads more than 30 tables of your favorite games. Limit and no-limit hold’em make up the bulk of the South Point’s action, but this still includes a variety of full blind and half-kill choices.
South Point Poker Overview
Note: South Point Poker is not yet live for real money play. They are due to open sometime in late 2012 or early 2013. Therefore, the review you see here is speculation. It is based on our research and how we feel the site will be ran. Everything will be updated once South Point is live!
Introduced in October, 2012, SouthPoint is the first website affiliated with a brick-and-mortar casino in the United States to legally allow U.S. citizens to play poker on the Internet. Even though only Nevada’s residents and visitors are currently allowed to play poker at SouthPoint, its owner, Michael Gaughan, has repeatedly discussed his plans to partner with other states and foreign countries to increase SouthPoint’s online player pool when it becomes permissible to do so.
Licensed and regulated by the state of Nevada, SouthPoint uses software it developed itself to power its colorful poker room. With graphics based on the South Point Hotel, Casino, and Spa’s physical poker room, players will feel like they are playing cards in an actual casino when they visit SouthPoint.
Setting up an account with SouthPoint only takes as long as you need to type in some personal information and choose a screen name. While it’s not required, SouthPoint does let you upload your own personal avatar if you want to.
Once your account is set up, you can visit the website’s lobby, which decorated with a colorful combination of golds, reds, and burgundies. SouthPoint lists all of its ongoing cash games and tournaments, as well as upcoming competitions, in its lobby and gives you tools to sort and filter the list so you can find a game that you want to participate in.
By far, the most popular game that is played at SouthPoint is NL Texas Hold’em. While you’ll be able to find NL Hold’em games at various stakes no matter when you visit SouthPoint, you may have trouble finding any other type of poker game during off-peak hours. The other types of poker games you can enjoy at SouthPoint include Five Card Stud, Seven Card Stud, Omaha, and Omaha Hi/Lo, among others.
South Point is a locals casino on Las Vegas Blvd just south of the Strip. It has 22 tables. Many of these tables are only for tournaments.
The poker room is located on the south end of the property. Poker players visiting South Point may want to check out the independent sportsbook. South Point is also known for having the best bar-top video poker in Las Vegas. It spreads “No-So-Ugly-Deuces” at the bar in quarter, half-dollar, dollar, and two-dollar denominations.
South Point has grown into a respectable option in the locals poker market. The two closest casinos – Silverton and M Resort – closed poker rooms in recent years. The gives South Point a monopoly in the southern end of the Las Vegas Valley.
South Point launched a licensed Nevada online poker site in February 2014. It was called Real Gaming. It may be the worst online poker platform to ever hit the market. The software failed to even make basic features available to players, such as the ability to sit out, among other glaring bugs.
South Point Poker Room Review
Real Gaming folded in August 2016. The website still exists, and the interactive gaming license appears to still be valid. However, there are no tables to play games. South Point once advertised this site on its table felts. Those have since been replaced.
Best and Worst Features of the South Point Poker Room
The South Point poker room is spacious and comfortable. Its dealers are experienced, and there is action most or all hours of the day. The players tend to be friendly. Most are locals with a few tourists coming in now and then. Parking is always free at South Point.
The games can be full of nitty locals, especially during weekday mornings and afternoons. This can take some of the fun away. This is not an issue during busy weekends when California tourists tend to vacation at the property.
The two main games at South Point are 1/2 no-limit Hold’em and 2/4 fixed-limit Hold’em. The no-limit game has a buy-in range of $100 to $300. South Point typically has an equal number of no-limit and fixed-limit games.
There may be a mixed game on certain weekends. This coincides with the poker room’s new HORSE tournaments.
South Point rakes 10% up to $4 plus a $1 jackpot drop.
Players earn $1 an hour in comps when clocked into a cash game with a The Club players card. This may be used for anything on the property. That includes the hotel, dining, bowling, movies, and shows.
South Point offers a $60 no-limit Hold’em tournament at 10 am daily. The house takes $15 of this for an admin fee.
The daily 2 pm tournament offers something different. On Mondays and Wednesdays, the buy-in is $60 for a bounty tournament. The bounty is $40 with $5 going to the prize pool and $15 to the house. Tuesdays and Thursdays have a $45+$15 fixed-limit Omaha Hi/Lo tournament. The Friday tournament has a double starting stack for $45+$15.
The stakes are raised on the weekends. The Saturday 2 pm event is $100+$30. Players start with 20,000 in chips and get a slow structure. Sundays offer a $100+$20 bounty tournament. The bounty is $75 with $25 going to the prize pool.
The 6 pm tournament also mixes the games up. Monday offers a $100+$25 HORSE tournament. This is a mixed game with a fixed-limit structure. The games are Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi/Lo, Razz, Seven Card Stud, and Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo. There is a $62+$18 no-limit Hold’em tournament on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. These events have a $1,500 guaranteed prize pool.
Wednesdays and Sundays have a $100+$25 deep stack tournament. This is no-limit Hold’em. The guaranteed prize pool is $6,000 on Wednesdays and $9,000 on Sundays.
Part of the juice in the tournaments goes towards high hands. In Texas Hold’em tournaments, four of a kind with a pair in the hand wins $25 cash. A straight flush using both hole cards wins $50. A royal flush using both hole cards wins three times the tournament buy-in. These are all paid in cash.
In Omaha tournaments, a player that makes a straight flush wins $50. A steel wheel (which is a five-high straight flush) and a royal flush receive three times the buy-in.
South Point Poker Room Reviews
South Point offers high hand bonuses and a seasonal freeroll where players meet certain hourly thresholds to qualify.
There is usually a $200,000 freeroll for players that log in 120 hours during a two-month period. All players receive at least $120 in cash.
South Point has a large independent sportsbook. Its race section is separate. Bettors receive drink tickets, so you can sit back and enjoy a game and a cocktail.
There are several dining options at South Point. There is a Steak ‘n Shake steps away from the poker room. For a finer dining experience, we recommend Don Vito’s. It has great Italian food and an upscale atmosphere. The café offers great graveyard specials. Comps earned in the poker room may be used at any South Point dining establishment.
South Point has typical amenities found at a locals casino. There is a movie theater and bowling alley on the property. There is a show almost every night. A free comedy show called the “Dirty at 12:30” is on Friday nights.
South Point is the only poker room south of the Las Vegas Strip. The ones at Silverton and M Resort closed years ago. The closest poker rooms are at Mandalay Bay and Green Valley Ranch. Mandalay Bay is probably not worth driving to, as it has fewer games than South Point and charges for parking.
Green Valley Ranch may be a nice change of pace. It is also a locals poker room that is well managed. It spreads similar games as South Point. You may even find a 2/5 no-limit Texas Hold’em game there on weekends.