For the first time in 12 years, poker is coming back to the Palms Casino in Las Vegas. The World Poker Tour has chosen the off-Strip property to host its new live-streamed cash game, “The Victor” — reviving card-playing action at a venue that shut its poker room down back in 2014.
🃏 Poker is back at the Palms
The WPT brings three days of high-stakes, live-streamed cash games to a property that has been without poker for over a decade.
The Victor at a Glance
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Show | “The Victor” (World Poker Tour) |
| Dates | June 4–6, 2026 |
| Venue | Palms Casino, Las Vegas (off-Strip) |
| Format | Live-streamed cash game |
| Blinds | $25 / $50 |
| Buy-in | $5,000 (second $5,000 allowed after hand 50) |
| Betting | Pot-limit pre-flop, no-limit post-flop |
| Match length | 100 hands |
| Stream | WPT YouTube channel + social media |
How “The Victor” Works
This is not your average cash game. The format mixes things up with pot-limit betting before the flop and no-limit after it, and every session is built around conflict: two players are designated as “rivals” at the table, adding a layer of head-to-head tension to the action.
Each rival buys in for $5,000, with the option of a second $5,000 bullet — but only once the 50th hand has been dealt. After 100 hands, whichever rival is sitting behind the bigger stack is crowned The Victor and scoops up their opponent’s entire stack.
“One hundred hands. One rivalry. One Victor.” — how the WPT pitched its new show.
A Star-Studded, Influencer-Heavy Cast
The WPT assembled a colorful mix of poker pros, content creators, and personalities across the three days.
- June 4: entrepreneur Roger Nahum, vlogger Alexander “Wolfgang Poker” Seibt, actress and writer Nikki Limo, plus pros Jared Jaffee, Nick Rigby and Jouhan Allende.
- June 5: pros Ryan Depaulo, Kyna England, Lily Kiletto, Rigby and Limo, alongside attorney-player Michael “Cinnabon” Ely and vlogger Tim “The Trooper” Watts.
- June 6: pros Kelly Minkin, Tyler Patterson, Rigby, Limo, Nahum and Kiletto, joined by marketing pro and player Patrick Harvey.
Why Poker Left the Palms
The Palms poker room had a short life the first time around — it opened in 2012 and closed just two years later in 2014, a casualty of the wave of Las Vegas room closures that followed online poker’s Black Friday.
The property itself went dark for several months in 2020 before being bought by California’s Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation, which acquired it from Red Rock Resorts — the parent of Station Casinos — for $650 million.
A Decade of Vegas Poker Room Closures
The Palms was far from alone. A long list of Las Vegas rooms shut their doors in the years after Black Friday:
- Tropicana (2012), M Resort (2013), Circus Circus (2013), Texas Station (2015), Hard Rock (2017), Monte Carlo (2017), Treasure Island (2018)
The COVID-19 pandemic claimed several more, including the Rio, Palace Station, Mirage, Harrah’s, Flamingo, Green Valley Ranch, Planet Hollywood and Binion’s. More recently, Resorts World closed its room in March and the Sahara’s shut in 2024, while Planet Hollywood pulled the plug again in January just months after reopening. One bright spot: Green Valley Ranch unveiled a brand-new room in December that remains open.
A Moment, Not a Comeback — For Now
For all the buzz, the WPT’s visit does not signal a permanent poker room returning to the Palms — at least not yet. But after 12 years of silence, even a three-day, made-for-streaming cash game is a notable moment for a property that was once a fixture of the Vegas poker scene.
