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Bobby’s Room at Bellagio Now Legends Room

RIP Bobby Baldwin. At least his poker room anyway. The famed high stakes poker room at the Bellagio in Las Vegas has undergone a name change. No longer will it be referred to as “Bobby’s Room.” Instead, it will be referred to as “Legends Room.”

The move comes a little less than a year after Baldwin left his position with MGM Resorts to become the CEO for the soon to be opened Drew Las Vegas. The casino will open sometime in 2022. This is the second high profile high stakes poker room to undergo a name change since 2019.

Bobby’s Room Now Legends Room

One of Las Vegas’ most storied high stakes poker rooms is Bobby’s Room at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The room was named after Bobby Baldwin, Poker Hall of Famer, and the 1978 WSOP Main Event Champion. For decades, Bobby’s Room has been the play to go in Las Vegas to play high stakes poker. However, that has now changed as Bobby’s Room has been renamed Legends Room.

As some of you may know, Baldwin left his position with MGM Resorts in 2019. He had been with the company since 1982. Originally a consultant for the Golden Nugget, Baldwin later became the President of the casino. Later, he became President and CFO of Mirage Resorts. After a merger rebranded the company as MGM Resorts, Baldwin moved on to become the President of the Bellagio in the latter part of the 1990s.

Bobby's Room has been renamed 'Legends Room' because Bobby Baldwin took a job at the Drew. 😂 pic.twitter.com/TVoLK9RUtO

— Las Vegas Locally 🌴 (@LasVegasLocally) November 25, 2020

In the 2010s, Baldwin became the Chief Customer Development Officer for MGM Resorts and then the President and CEO of CityCenter. However, in 2019, he left MGM to become the Drew Las Vegas’ CEO. The casino will open sometime in 2022.

When Baldwin left MGM Resorts, the company claimed that they would continue to honor him by retaining his name on the Bellagio’s high stakes poker room. That’s not the case as the poker room quietly was renamed. It was overlooked due to all of the insanity going on in the poker world due to the pandemic and the deaths of both Mike Sexton and Darvin Moon.

Second High Stakes Room Rename in Two Years

Some of you may remember that ARIA’s high stakes poker room was named after Phil Ivey. Ivey’s Room was an alternative for high stakes players, but never quite had the same notoriety as Bobby’s Room. However, the name was changed from Ivey’s Room to Table 1 back in February 2019 due to the edge-sorting scandal involving Ivey.

You’ll remember that the Borgata in Atlantic City was permitted to go after Ivey’s Las Vegas assets. The ARIA chose to distance themselves from Ivey and rename their high stakes poker room. You may remember that Ivey has his earnings from the 2019 WSOP Poker Player’s Championship seized as part of the judgment in Atlantic City.

Legends Room Fitting But Really Should Be Named After Doyle Brunson

One thing that I never understood about Bobby’s Room is its name. It was seldom that you ever heard of Baldwin taking part in any games in that room since the Poker Boom. The one person that seems synonymous with the room was Doyle Brunson.

Just saw Doyle Brunson in the Bellagio poker room #Legend

— Pat Jennings (@TheRealPjenns) June 19, 2013

It almost seemed a right of passage that top players in the poker room go to Bobby’s Room and try and get them some of Texas Dolly. You never hear about people bragging about meeting or playing Bobby Baldwin. However, there are many that would brag about just seeing Dolly play.

Renaming the poker room Doyle’s Room or Dolly’s Room would have been much more fitting considering how many people associate the room with him. Granted, the generic Legends Room is less problematic and still fitting for poker’s elite.

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