MGM Grand in Las Vegas will play host to three special freerolls in November. The Strip casino will hand out the leftover jackpot money from three local poker rooms that won’t be reopening.
The live poker scene has changed dramatically around the globe since COVID-19 struck earlier this year. Las Vegas, the poker capital of the world, is no different.
The poker town is going through a transformation and a rebuilding process. Prior to the casinos shutting down in March, Sin City had 31 open card rooms. That number is down to 19 at present, although it’s grown significantly in the past couple of months.
However, some poker rooms in town won’t reopen anytime soon — if ever.
Large Prize Pools Await at MGM Grand
Three Las Vegas card rooms you can rest assured won’t be reopening any time soon include Mandalay Bay, Excalibur, and Mirage — all MGM Resorts properties on the Strip. MGM, however, still has a few places to play cards in Las Vegas (Aria, Bellagio, MGM Grand).
Each of the three permanently closed poker rooms still has some outstanding bad beat jackpot money leftover. That money is player-contributed, meaning the cash doesn’t belong to the casino. So, MGM Resorts is required to pay it out to the players in some way — and they’ve come up with an interesting solution.
MGM will host three separate freeroll poker tournaments — one for each closed poker room — at the MGM Grand over the next month. Players can register for free for each event, but space is limited. The first freeroll, with Mandalay Bay’s $24,022 jackpot money up for grabs, begins at 5 pm on Election Day (Nov. 3). Registration opened Oct. 28 and has already sold out. Seats may become available on the day of the tournament.
There’s still time to get in on the action in a couple of weeks if you missed out on the first freeroll. The second tournament will award Mirage’s $69,804 jackpot cash in a Nov. 17 event. Registration will open on Nov. 11 at 5 pm. The final freeroll will take place Dec. 1 and will disburse Excalibur’s $27,837 prize pool. You can sign-up for the finale at 5 pm Nov. 25. All three tournaments will take place at MGM Grand.
