Considered by many to be the best, the poker room at the Bellagio has been the home of the richest game, the World Poker Tour's 5 Star Classic event with a buy in of $25,000, and the largest cash games in all of poker.

The Bellagio is tradition. The biggest names, the brightest stars, and Bill Gates play here. But there are also tables for the little guys and you can watch Phil Ivey, Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson, and Barry Greenstein stride to the back of the poker room as you raise your four bucks and wish you were them.

Andy Beal, the billionaire banker from Houston, took on the big names of poker at the Bellagio in the early 2000's, dropping $20 mil to them according to Todd Brunson, who along with his Dad, Doyle, put together a consortium of top pros who got up enough of a bankroll to challenge the banker with mega-bucks.

Beal disputed the $20 mil and reminded the players that he rang the chimes of some of the best in the world including Chip Reese. In 2006 Beal returned to Vegas, this time to the Wynn to take on the pros again, now called "The Corporation." Up substantially and looking like an ultimate winner, Beal ran up against poker's best, Phil Ivey, and returned home to replenish his poker account.

The Bellagio is also the home of the World Poker Tour's Five Star World Poker Classic event, a No Limit Texas Hold 'em tournament with a buy-in of $25,000. It was won in 2005 by Tuan Le, who took home $2,856,150.

There is a room at the back called Bobby's room, named for World Series of Poker champ and Bellagio exec, Bobby Baldwin. It sits on a platform, elevated a bit above the rest of the room, away from onlookers on the rail.

You go to Bobby's room when you are ready to pony up $4,000 and $8,000 for openers and then play No Limit Texas Hold 'em poker. Not even Bill Gates goes up against them, the greatest players in the world. Bill sticks with the $4/$8 games.

A new movie, Lucky You, slated for mid-2006 release, has a poker room showdown at the Bellagio. The movie-makers duplicated the room on a Hollywood sound stage.

Many top pros make cameo appearances in the film. When they arrived for their scenes they were amazed to see how realistic the set was. They felt at home.

The Bellagio Hotel's poker room: the place to see and be seen.

Murphy James is the pen name of Harry Murphy. He is a frequent contributor to Poker News and Strip Las Vegas. His website is http://www.murphyjames.com His email address is murphyjames@murphyjames.com.