Vegas – The 2024 Summer Tournament Lowdown!

The World Series of Poker is the standout highlight of the Vegas summer season and is often the main reason people head to Nevada every year. The 2024 series will run from May 28 to July 17, 2024, offering nearly 700 tables, many new events and, of course, the highly-coveted WSOP Main Event Bracelet.

This year’s WSOP sees another four events added to the schedule bringing the grand total to 99 different events. New tournaments planned for 2024 include the $10,000 Big O Championship, a $5,000 Seniors High Roller, the $1,500 Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot Limit Omaha Double Board Bomb Pot, the $800 Independent Day Celebration, a $3,000 Mid-Stakes Championship, and the $600 PokerNews Deepstack Championship.

The Main Event begins on July 3, with four starting flights running until July 6. Late registration will be available on July 7-8 through Level 7 or around 4:40 p.m. on Day 2 of each day. Last year’s Main Event drew a record 10,043 entrants with Atlanta native Daniel Weinman taking it down for $12.1 million, the largest Main Event first-prize payout in series history.

Weinman and many former WSOP Main Event champions will kick off the 2024 series with an all-new event, the Champions Reunion No-Limit Hold’em Freezeout. Serving as Event #1 on this year’s schedule, the contest features a $5,000 buy-in and an exciting twist, allowing players who knock out a former Main Event champion to receive an automatic entry into the 2024 WSOP Main Event as a bounty. All living Main Event champions will be invited to play in the event complimentary.

Do note that most Las Vegas hotels only accept bookings up to 28 days’ duration. If you wish to stay longer, please email lasvegas@maineventtravel.com and we’ll sort out a bespoke hotel solution for you.

Vegas Summer Tournament Lowdown

Whatever the lure of the WSOP, Sin City offers a great selection of other festivals while the World Series is on and it’s well worth checking some of these out if you can tear yourself away from the Horseshoe and Paris. Check out our guide below to this summer’s Vegas festivals at the ARIA, the Venetian, MGM Grand, the Wynn, the Golden Nugget, and the Orleans.

Between them, these casinos host hundreds of tourneys over the Summer giving you plenty to choose from between now and the end of July. There are events to suit players of all standards and bankroll size with buy-ins starting from just $120.

Wherever and whatever you’re playing, MainEventTravel can help you with all your Vegas travel needs – from our comprehensive flight booking service to bagging the best hotels. Whether you choose to stay at the heart of the action on the Strip, or don’t mind more budget options a cab ride away, we have hundreds of Vegas hotel options this Summer.

Aria: The 2024 ARIA Poker Classic runs from May 29 to July 13 with 45 different tournaments, all featuring prize pool guarantees and an overall prize pool guarantee of more than $12,000,000! Yet again, Aria is joining forces with presenting sponsor BetMGM to host the $3 million guaranteed BetMGMPoker Championship on June 6th-11^th.

The ARIA Poker Classic is ideal for early birds as most tournaments get going at 11am each morning including two $800 Seniors events. The $3,500 buy-in BetMGM Poker Championship (June 7-11) comes with a bigger-than-ever-before $3 million prize pool, 50% up on last year and the final will be streamed on PokerGo. The opening event of the festival is a $800 PLO Mystery Bounty and there are tons more during the six-week event.

Venetian: The Venetian’s ever-popular DeepStack Championship Poker Series comes with nearly $14 million in guaranteed tournament prize pools this year and gets underway on May 22. This is the largest high-stakes poker tournament series of the summer and has earned a reputation as one of the best Las Vegas poker festivals. The series continues right through to the end of July, with a stonking 79 different tournaments on the schedule. Players travel from around the globe to get in on the action at the Venetian so it’s definitely worth checking out.

MGM Grand: The Grand Summer Poker Festival runs from May 29 to June 26. The fun includes a $250,000 guaranteed NLH Mystery Bounty as well as a $250,000 PLO Mystery Bounty. There are Championship events in several non-NLHE variants such as PLO, PLO-8, BIG-O, HEROS and Omaha-8. The series mainly comprises low-to-middle buy-in events – all with guarantees – and millions offered in prize pool guarantees overall. The MGM Grand will also once again be welcoming the Moneymaker Tour from June 28 to July 6 including the $1,000,000 guaranteed NLH Moneymaker Main Event which starts July 2. Other schedule highlights include the $400 Grand Stack ($100k guarantee).

Orleans: The Orleans Summer Open is a six-week series with a huge roster of affordable tourneys from May 26 through to July 14. The Main Event will take place between June 26 to June 30 with a $600 buy-in and prize pool guarantee of $500k. There are eight starting flights in total including a Day 1h turbo on June 29. The $100k guaranteed H.O.R.S.E. Championship starts on May 31 but if that $1,100 buy-in is a little too steep for you, there are four other H.O.R.S.E. events on the schedule, all with a $240 buy-in. The off-Strip location – The Orleans is located some two miles down Tropicana Boulevard – is also a plus for a lot of players: fewer queues, easier parking and less traffic is always a bonus!

Buy-ins for most events range from $200 to $400, with a few $120 “1k Milestone Bankroll Builder” events thrown in along with a few higher-priced championship events. The $200 Sunday Special event takes place every week with guarantees of either $50,000 or $60,000. 

Wynn:  The Wynn Summer Classic, which runs from May 22 to July 18, prides itself on providing the “ultimate action and classic style”. This year’s festival features nearly 100 events with buy-ins at every level and more than $37 million up for grabs in guaranteed prize pools. The schedule highlight is the $10 million guaranteed Wynn Summer Championship along with the World Poker Tour Alpha8 Trifecta comprising three $25,000 buy-in tournaments. Last year Steve O’Dwyer was one of the three winners snagging $1,009,520. Another highlight on the schedule is the $1,600 Century PKO, an event that will introduce $10,000 bounties in a PKO format once the tournament gets down to 100 players.

Golden Nugget: This year marks the 16th annual edition of the Golden Nugget’s Grand Poker Series and the downtown casino is going all out this summer with an expanded schedule featuring 96 different tournaments from May 28 to July 1. With a wide range of events on offer, the Series is popular with players of all kinds, particularly low to mid-stakes grinders and recreational players. There’s a good mix of NLHE and non-hold'em events including numerous tournaments for fans of mixed games, such as the $340 Mixed Triple Draw Lowball Limit tournament on June 5. highlights include the $1 million guaranteed Goldenaire Mystery Bounty, a $1,200 buy-in NLHE tournament starting June 27.

The MainEventTravel travel team has been to Vegas dozens of times and has unparalleled expertise in helping you get the most out of Sin City. Just get in touch and we will help you – whatever your budget, schedule and any other requirements.

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