Las Vegas has always been the biggest sandbox on the planet – attracting some 33 million visitors a year – but until recently poker hasn’t been the big draw. In the last two years, however, Sin City’s casinos, which previously pooh-poohed the poker player, have remodelled and expanded to include poker rooms. MGM Grand, Tropicana, Aladdin, Monte Carlo… the list goes on. This means more cash games, more tournaments and more options.

Admittedly the casinos aren’t as committed to poker as their housefavouring table games, but poker’s undeniable popularity has meant they can no longer ignore it. Where once the TVs over every bar screened basketball and baseball, now every other monitor has Hellmuth and Negreanu beaming down.