Out With the Old: Say Goodbye to the Arena Poker Room at Talking Stick Resort

In poker, casino gambling and, I guess, life in general, the old saying "The Only Constant Thing is Change" is true. This currently applies to poker at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona. I had been told that the last major move was in 2010 when Arena Poker Room moved into the space in the west side of the resort. However, today there is no poker as everything is being moved to a temporary home.

I had heard talk about the move for some time, mostly from the poker dealers at The Stick. Last Sunday, July 31, the room officially closed at midnight. The last promo dollars were given out at 10:00 p.m. and poker stopped being dealt at 10:30pm. Almost immediately, supplies began to be packed up and tables were already on the move.

One dealer told me that the vacated area will house a sports book/betting area that will also have electronic games, but that report in unconfirmed. The gambling area outside the just closed poker room gets quite crowded on weekends, so moving things like the craps and roulette tables there might not be a bad idea.

The end result is supposed to be that in two years, a new building will have been built and will open, featuring a new poker room. This new building will apparently be located just off when the Arena room was located. In the meantime, everyone had been told that things would be set up in a huge tent.

What? A tent in place of what had been the premier poker room in Arizona? Well ... I guess my idea of a tent is not quite the same as the Talking Stick people. I envisioned what a traveling carnival might set up. Instead, this is the "tent" where things are being set up today - in the area just beyond valet parking:

Some tent, huh?

People who had been through the last move have told me that I won't even realize that I am in a tent. It seems like they should have used a different term like "temporary building" instead.

Poker is set to resume at Talking Stick Wednesday morning around 3:00 or 4:00a.m. We have been told that the new poker room/building is scheduled to be ready in two years. With all the supply chain issues Arizona and much of the United States experienced since COVID began, I think my friend, Sheila (@Z0oo0ks) had it right by saying "Over under on it finishing in 2 years? I totally take the over on that."

Thanks for reading. 😀