Casino Profiles

Mirage
By Jan Fisher

Interview With Donna Harris

Donna Harris is the manager of the Mirage poker room, the second largest cardroom in Las Vegas. She supervises the 24-table cardroom and handles about 150 employees; all of that in addition to being the ultimate host to the thousands who come by to say hi, play poker, or just to see the place and enjoy the lush, tropical surroundings. With Donna in charge, the Mirage poker room has found its niche in the low to middle limit market.

Donna has worked for the same corporation since I first met her back in the early eighties. She began as a blackjack dealer at the Golden Nugget in 1980, stopping across the street at The Mint to play poker on her way home almost every night.

Dealing blackjack and playing poker didn't seem to be the path for her, so she transferred from the pit to the poker room and began her career in poker under the tutelage of the late Bill Boyd. It was here, at the Nugget, that Donna met Eric Drache and Bobby Baldwin who, along with Mr. Boyd, became her poker mentors. She worked her way up the corporate ladder to a relief floor position and then to shift manager. When The Mirage opened in November of 1989, she became the swing shift manager. She was promoted to cardroom manager in August 1998 when Bellagio opened down the road.

The opening of this new sister property caused some real disruptions to the poker action at the Mirage, and took with it much of the action at the time. What was once a 31-table room was ultimately downsized to its current 24 tables. Now, under the leadership of Harris, the Mirage poker room has once again become a major player in the Las Vegas poker market.

Eighteen or nineteen games every day is the norm, and the evening tournaments have gained tremendous popularity. Called The Poker Zone Tournaments, Sunday through Thursday nights at seven, a wide variety of events are offered. Beginning right after Superbowl weekend, an additional event will be added, and on Wednesday's two events will be held. Please see the Poker Zone schedule for further details or call the poker room at 702-791-7291.

The tournaments generally begin with three to seven tables and any that have four or more are Tournament Of Champions qualifiers. The Mirage has qualified about 180 players for this year's TOC in July! Once in a while, the demand to participate in the evening's event is too great due to the live action, and players may be turned away. It is best to come in and sign up early to avoid possibly being shut out. Harris asks that players understand the room's limitations for seating.

There are plans for some other events in the future, and a major annual poker tournament may very well be in the works. Stay tuned for more information about that. Another tournament that was offered recently by the Mirage, was a fund-raising event for one of the Mirage's own family members; Pam Vatrano, who was recently diagnosed with advanced brain cancer.

Although Pam had moved up the street to deal poker at Bellagio, Donna was happy to host this event for her. Thanks to Harris's efforts, the Mirage did not take any juice, only a fee withheld for the dealers' tokes. Much of that money also went back to Pam. Along with donations, this event raised about $3,000 for Pam and her family during this most difficult struggle.

One of the things that I have always admired about the Mirage is the beauty of the room. The decorations are appealing and the area is always neat and clean. I asked Donna how she was able to keep everything so appealing for the public and she proudly showed me her customer survey forms. These are kept in full view and handed out upon request or may be taken at will.

The survey consists of a two-sided sheet with questions about what the customer's experience was like, both the good and the bad. There are questions about game and limit choices, lighting, friendliness of staff, how long was the wait to get into a game, and how long did the player stay in a game. There is also a rating section where customers are asked for their opinions on the cardroom, from overall impression, to management, staff, handling of reservations, noise, and smoke situations. In a separate section the customer may rate the tournaments. It would seem that enough players are taking the time to fill out these forms and, more importantly, management is listening.

As I wound up my interview with Donna, we started talking about old times. Needless to say, we had shared a few as our poker paths had crossed often since we worked together at the Golden Nugget back in the early 80's. I was reminded how it was that Donna first came out to Las Vegas from her home in California. Harris is a pretty cracker jack darts shooter. While she worked in bars, she played eight hours a day, and then began to compete. She even came to Las Vegas as an official for the World Cup of Darts.

Of course, like any other specialist, she has her own darts and still shoots a mean game. If playing for money ever came up I certainly would want her on my side, not my opponents! She told me some bad-beat dart stories but laughed when she related her favorite comment to her opponent. "Mugs away" she would say. In dart lingo, this means loser goes first. I get the feeling that Donna didn't go first too often. Perhaps it was her early affinity with numbers, which was necessary for playing a great game of darts, which led to her poker prowess today. She regularly competes in her evening events and encourages her dealers and regulars to do so as well.

The Mirage poker room has come full circle and seems to have a bright future. Taking into account some of the adversities that were encountered over the years, I think that Mirage Resorts has hit a bulls-eye with Donna Harris.

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