A Guide to the Best Poker Tournaments in Las Vegas
Las Vegas rates as one of the top poker cities in the US, which means you can expect to find some of the best poker rooms and tournament action in the country there. If you usually play online poker or you’re new to the City of Lights’ poker-tourney scene, we’ve gathered information about the best poker tournaments you can enter in a handy guide to get you started.
MGM Grand
If you’re familiar with the best online poker sites, then you’ll know that BetMGM is “the” place to play poker online. But MGM is equally well-known for its brick-and-mortar establishments that form part of the MGM Resorts International group.
The MGM Grand Poker Room is the Strip’s number-one hotspot for Texas Hold’em poker, and it’s come to be known as the $1-$2 No Limit Capital of Las Vegas! If that isn’t reason enough to head on over, the smoke-free casino offers services and amenities to make participation in its daily poker tournaments a fun and pleasant experience. These include tableside massages, as well as a tableside food and beverage service.
The MGM Grand offers daily tournaments at 12pm and 7pm on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, with extra tourneys on the weekends. Texas Hold’em tournaments include: $1-$2 No Limit Hold’em, $2-$5 No Limit Hold’em and $5-$10 No Limit Hold’em.
If you want to brush up on your poker smarts or take them to the next level before choosing your table, you can access MGM Resorts’ comprehensive Guide to Poker, which gives helpful poker tournaments tips for complete newbies and pros alike.
Bellagio
Another iconic Las Vegas venue, the Bellagio Poker Room, is one of the stops on the World Poker Tour. The walls in the stylish 7,000sq ft space display an art collection of past Bellagio tournaments and WPT events, and there is also a LeRoy Neiman-commissioned painting of high-stakes poker greats to take in while you wait for your next hand to be dealt. The poker room has 40 tables and two high-limit areas, one of which is the Legends Room, with just two high-roller tables.
The Bellagio runs a daily $130 buy-in No Limit Hold’em tournament at 2pm, seven days a week for poker players of all skill levels. One thing’s for sure, playing a tournament at the Bellagio Poker Room gives you a great shot at seeing some of your favorite high-stakes pros doing what they do best.
If you plan to visit the Bellagio regularly to play in tournaments and enjoy the other casino games on offer, as well as the resort’s many other amenities, you might want to join its customer loyalty program, which is called M life Rewards. This way you can be rewarded over time for playing poker and experiencing the hotels, spas, entertainment and dining options.
ARIA
The ARIA Resort & Casino hosts classic, stylish and serious poker action at its best. Here the buy-ins do not come cheap, with daily $140 and $240 buy-in tournaments starting at 7pm every evening, seven days a week. You can also experience the ambience of the PokerGO studio, which hosts some of the swankiest high-stakes events in the game.
There’s plenty more besides the pricier No Limit Hold’em tournaments, not least Limit Hold’em, Omaha 8, Pot Limit Omaha, 7 Card Stud, and Draw and Mixed games, which are hosted throughout the day in the 24-table poker room.
Look out for specials at this resort that include reserving a room with special rates exclusively for poker players. You’ll want to make the most of your stay and experience the amenities, from pools and cabanas to an array of choices and world-class entertainment events.
Venetian
The Venetian Poker Room is one the most popular venues in Las Vegas for daily tournaments. The 37 tables offer some of the highest guarantees on the Las Vegas poker-tournament calendar. This includes a $340 buy-in Double Stack tournament on Saturdays at 12.10pm and the periodic DeepStack series (one of the most popular poker tournaments in the world, with five major events a year.) At the Venetian, there’s always plenty of great tournament action and excitement, whether you’re a player or spectator. The luxury resort also hosts two daily contests, where the action starts at 12.10pm and 6.10pm.
The Orleans
The Orleans’ 35-table poker room is a comfortable daily tournament venue that’s popular with low-stakes gamblers who want to play not only Texas Hold’em, Omaha 8 and Stud 8, but also variants like H.O.R.S.E and PLO. Daily $130 buy-in tournaments take place Monday through Saturday at 11.05am and 7.05pm.
What’s more, a $200 buy-in No Limit Texas Hold’em tournament gets going at 11.05am every Sunday with a $30,000 guaranteed prize pool. So whatever day of the week you visit, you’re bound to see some exciting felt action at the Orleans’ poker room.
