The daily poker tournament scene in Las Vegas will add another venue starting Saturday, August 21st. Resorts World announced via Poker Atlas that they will be offering two tournaments daily at 12:05pm and 7:05pm. Both tournaments will follow the same structure, with a $140 buy-in and $3k guaranteed prize pool.
Poker offerings on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip seem to follow a cyclic pattern, particularly for the daily tournaments. The merry-go-round of the last few years first saw the closure of the Sahara. Their budget-friendly dailies were popular with locals and tourists alike. Notably, the 11pm event was the latest scheduled tournament on The Strip every night, frequently attracting a colorful crowd.
When the old Sahara closed, the Stratosphere filled the tournament void, emulating the Sahara's tournament structure and vibe. The most recent ebbing of the sands saw the Strat poker room closing, and the new Sahara opening a poker room and offering low buy-in ($60) daily tournaments. With the nearby Wynn recently upping its daily entrance fee from $140 to $200, Resorts World has cunningly occupied the center ground with its $140 buy-in.
Now we know that the Resorts World poker room owns tournament chips, Poker.org reached out to the room to ask if the new dailies were a prelude to something bigger. Specifically, we asked Director of Poker Operations Gary Hager if tournament series were part of the room's plans.
Gary was coy on the topic of any future multi-day series, but indicated that he saw Resorts World as having a significant tournament presence moving forward. Notably, he told Poker.org that the room was soliciting feedback from players on what they wanted to see in the dailies, in terms of tournament structure and buy-in. He also told us that, in response to such player feedback, he anticipated a refined set of daily tournament offerings once the WSOP was in the rear-view mirror.
This all comes as good news to poker tournament enthusiasts visiting and living in Las Vegas.
The multiple poker room closures over the last few months have worried many in the community that casinos were pulling back from a commitment to poker. The addition of Resorts World to the poker tournament map is therefore extremely welcome, as is the continued aggressive tournament scheduling of its neighbors to the south: the Wynn and the Venetian.
And for anyone who has been around the Las Vegas poker scene for a while, a poker room on the site of the old Stardust has nostalgic value. Although with all due respect to the previous occupiers of the storied north Strip lots, the new poker rooms at Resorts World and Sahara are rather more attractive than their previous incarnations.
Featured image source: Twitter
