Las Vegas Poker Rooms: MGM Grand

My recent trip to the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas was an interesting one. While the caged lions for our visual consumption were nice and the nightlife at the hotel was top-notch, I was much more interested in the poker room at the MGM Grand. If you have been to Las Vegas in the last six months, then you should be well aware of the recent changes at this casino. Nowhere is this more evident than in the revamped poker room.

Everything in the MGM Grand poker room is state of the art. From the brand new comfortable chairs to the modern tables, the place was set up as a haven for poker comfort. With the recent renovations, the fine staff at the MGM made sure to add brand new poker tables that feature fine felt and marble table rims. These tables are made for speed, as well, as they all come with complete automatic card shufflers and convenient drink holders. If it's a hip, comfortable environment that you are looking for, then the MGM Grand poker room is your place.

The room is located right in the middle of one of Las Vegas' most chic locations. Inside the MGM, there is the live lion exhibit, the popular Club 54, a new bar called Centrifuge, as well as a couple of other attractions. Appropriately, the resort placed their poker room in between all of this action. Simply put, the setup attracts poker players from just about every angle. The very hip Centrifuge bar is one of the Strip's hottest new attractions. It features loud music, hot women, and unique go-go dancers. While this adds a certain young feel to the atmosphere, it does make playing poker a little bit of a challenge. With loud music coming in at almost every minute of the night, it can sometimes be difficult to hear the other players. With gorgeous women swarming the place, it can be an even greater challenge to focus on the play at the table. Still, there isn't a more hip place to play poker in the entire city.

Keeping with the young and modern theme, the competition at the MGM Grand poker room is somewhat weak. Since action within the bars and clubs is still going strong late into the night, poker players are drawn from their locations to play poker just like the pros do it. If you guessed that this means some weak and drunk players, then you were right. For serious players, the best time to stop by the MGM is at about midnight. From then until early morning, there are a number of struggling players who are willing to dump their money at the tables. The best game for finding this weak competition is the No-Limit $1/$2 game, which runs all day.

As far as tournament play goes, the 6PM $65 dollar buy-in no-limit tournament is one of the most popular "cheap" tournaments in the city. The play here is fairly weak and experienced players should find it easy to make big winnings with the somewhat limited competition. Beyond that, there isn't much need in playing tournaments at the MGM Grand. Stick to the weak cash games and the money should flow in.