With the rapid growth of online gambling in Canada, many players experience the thrill of poker from the comfort of their own homes. However, for those who want to take their skills to the grand stage, an unmistakable buzz replenishes the air when the bright lights of Las Vegas fill the horizon. Whether you are a regular visitor to the city by plane or a first-timer as part of a Route 66 road trip, the city is a magnetic molehill on Nevada's great plains.
It holds a particular charm for the poker community - the city can make a career and break a dream. It is the home of dark poker shades and large Texas hats, weird and wonderful lucky charms and the most colourful table characters.
Since 1970, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has been the biggest highlight of the poker playing calendar. According to the WSOP website, it is "the longest-running, largest, richest and most prestigious gaming event in the world".
It makes sense, then, that Las Vegas is brimming with an assortment of world-class poker rooms fit for the capital of worldwide poker.
We take a look at the top five poker rooms in Las Vegas, and give our reasons why.