The innovative Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas is introducing a new way of playing poker this August.

It is called a “poker lounge”. No more playing poker huddled straight-backed around tightly packed tables.

Laid-back, cool, player friendly will be the new watchwords at Hard Rock. 18 tables will be spread over 7,000 square feet. This means that players will not have to walk gingerly through narrow gaps between tables but can saunter around as if they own the place. Loud rock music will drown the clatter of the chips and also the swear words at the tables. Even the losers will be enjoying themselves. Steve Cyr, who heads the marketing of this lounge, describes the product as a cross between a poker room and a nightclub, where novices, pros, and celebrity will gather play poker. There are already more than enough poker rooms in Las Vegas and therefore  the Poker Lounge.

The Poker Lounge has outlined the poker games it proposes to play. These will include three daily $100 buy-in no-limit Hold’em tournaments and round the clock Sit N Gos. Money is not the only thing players can hope to win at the Poker Lounge. Prizes will include $5,000 bar tabs and premium tickets to Las Vegas concerts. There will be 5 private tables roped off from the rest where celebrities can party and play at the same time. The latest technology available will be utilized. This includes the Genesis System for cash-game seating. There is good news for spouses and friends who have been forced to tag along. They will not be forced to watch their friends and spouses play poker. The Poker Lounge has two bars and a lounge with big screen televisions especially for them. According to manager Houston Waldie, the Poker Lounge is geared to giving its customers whatever they want.

Poker players are not the only gamblers who will see new things at Hard Rock. Blackjack players also have a treat in store for them. For starters they can play blackjack in the waters of the Beach Club pool, while sipping a drink and listening to party music. Then there will be Hell’s Belles, featuring blackjack with scantily clad, beautiful female dealers and go-go dancers. Even the normal casino space will be doubled.

These initiatives are a part of a $1.4 billion all around expansion. Morgans Hotel Group and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners acquired the 16.7 acre property in early 2007. They aim to ensure that Hard Rock Hotel and Casino stays at the forefront of Vegas entertainment. Fortunately they are not changing the essential philosophy of being different.

Hard Rock has always done things differently. This comes as no surprise because its name derives from the brand of music that dares to be different, as its larger than life neon guitar landmark signifies. When it introduced a bar in the middle of the casino the industry declared that the idea would flop. Today all casinos have a center bar. Tomorrow all casinos will have a poker lounge.