Steven Wynn is bipolar in mood. He’s happy with one thing, namely Wynn Palace, and that happiness leads to unhappiness with existing properties, namely Wynn and Encore back stateside. Need evidence? Look around. New art, chefs shifting around, restaurants closing, renovating, reopening. It’s like someone’s playing Wheel of Fortune in his brain and he’s hoping to hit the million dollar wedge with maddening speed over and over again.
After our last article discussing the dining shifts, it would behoove us here at TZ not to mention that the Steve has also decided to shift some nightlife around, playing up on strengths and weaknesses to get every last dime out of the club kids that swarm around his roster of EDM all stars.
Encore Player’s Club
The first major shift is over at Encore and is kind of, well, a mixed bag. The pit located next to Surrender has always been home to low limit tables with bad odds, ready to milk money out of any drunk schmo who stumbles out of the club. (Fun fact, having a good run, I asked the dealer to raise the limit to $100 and she was told Wynn personally would not allow them to raise the limits.) Turning that into even more of a destination area, adjacent to the “hip” Andrea’s and VDKA and whatever becomes of Society and Southside Bar, Encore has created a new “zone” within the casino. And behold, Encore Player’s Club was born.
The space itself, outside of some fancy and shiny signage, uses the same “fences” Encore has always used for special events in the slower pits. But this time, the signature red chandeliers have been removed and the regular tables and dealers are gone. In their place are tables in white and blue, with model dealers and a crowd that wears sunglasses at night. Oddly it seems that the dice tables now only exist here in Encore, with the former location replaced with a pit of carnival games.
But even more bizarrely, the space is interspersed with bar height tables, lounge chairs, and…pool tables, which weren’t used when I was there at all. The only real activity seemed to be a group at a table drinking (drinks by the way are regular cocktail service, not a dedicated bar) and people playing blackjack at one table and dice at the other. Otherwise it was a decidedly blah affair. I’m wondering if this experiment is playing into the closures of Society and Southside, but time will tell. So far the Player’s Club seems like more of an experiment than anything permanent.
No More Tryst
In bigger news, but yet with less detail to report, Tryst is no more. This may have been long standing news to many, but to me it came as a bit of a shock. Tryst has always had a steady clientele and an amazingly defined spatial atmosphere, but like La Bete, or Lure, or any of the other cadre of clubs that have come and gone at Wynn, the time was ripe for change. And so Tryst will be transformed into Intrigue, and although the waterfall will stay, I’m certain the rest of the club will receive a transformation that it was likely overdue for. Lets just hope that charm of the open air doesn’t fade.
