The World Series of Poker dominates poker headlines to such a degree that it’s easy to forget just how many other festivals take place in Vegas over the Summer. The WSOP is certainly the biggest series and this year is set to host a record 95 different live tournaments but it would be a mistake to ignore the other exciting schedules on offer.
Amongst the festivals taking place this summer are the regular offerings at ARIA, the Venetian, MGM Grand, the Wynn, the Golden Nugget, and the Orleans. Between them, these casinos host hundreds of journeys 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.
Here’s a round-up of this year’s Vegas summer fun. For more info on the WSOP, see our schedule story here.
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Aria: The ARIA Poker Classic runs from May 31 to July 15 with more than 50 different tournaments, all featuring prize pool guarantees. The ARIA Poker Classic is ideal for early birds as most tournaments get going at 11am each morning including the $600 Seniors event and $500 Ladies tournament. The schedule highlight is the $3,500 buy-in BetMGM Poker Championship (June 9-13) which comes with a guaranteed $2 million prize pool, doubled from last year. The final of this event will be streamed on PokerGo. After the success of their debut Mystery Bounty event last year, the ARIA Poker Classic organisers have scheduled a ton of them this year. The opening event of the festival is a $800 PLO Mystery Bounty and there are five more during the six-week event.
Venetian: The Venetian’s celebrated DeepStack Championship Poker Series starts May 22 and runs right through to the end of July. The series offers the largest, high stakes poker tournament series in Vegas as well as an enormous prize pool guarantee totaling $14 million. No surprise then that USA Today dubbed the series one of the best in Vegas. This year there is a total of 75 different tournaments on the schedule including the $1 million guaranteed NLHE Ultimate Bounty tournament starting on June 14 (Event #28) and the NLHE Ultimate Stack tournament starting July 12 (Event #58). You’ll need to get your skates on to get involved in the €750k guarantee MSPT NLHE tournament which starts on May 29. The Series ends on July 31.
MGM Grand: The Grand Summer Poker Festival gets underway on May 30 and runs through to July 11. It’s a series of mostly low-to-middle buy-in events featuring nearly 60 tournaments in total and millions in prize pool guarantees. All the MGM Grand Summer Poker Festival journeys have a prize pool guarantee and there’s a ton of non-Hold’em events on the schedule as well. Some of the more unusual variants include TORSE, PLO Double Board Bomb Pot and the Big O. There’s also a $20k guaranteed LIPS Ladies Event. Schedule highlights include the $400 Grand Kickoff ($200k guarantee) plus the $500 GCP Golden Ticket, $500 Super Stack, $500 NLH Mystery Bounty (with $300k guaranteed prize pool), $600 PLO Mystery Bounty ($300k guaranteed) and $1,700 buy-in, $1 million guaranteed Grand Finale.
Orleans: The Orleans Summer Open is a six-week series running from May 29 through to July 10. It features more than $2.7 million in guaranteed prize pools including a $100k H.O.R.S.E. and $250k Main Event. The popular series offers reasonable buy-ins and a nice mix of games as well as The Orleans’ friendly environment. The off-Strip location – The Orleans is located some two miles down Tropicana Boulevard – meaning players can avoid the queues, parking and traffic issues that sometimes occur at other venues.
Buy-ins for most events range from $200 to $400, with a few $120 Bankroll Builder events and some higher-priced championship events. The Main Event has a buy-in of only $300 with eight starting days. The $200 Sunday Special event takes place every week with a $50,000 guarantee.
Wynn: The Wynn Summer Classic, which runs from May 25 to July 19, features nearly 50 tournaments and more than $28 million in guaranteed prize pools, close to double last year. New for 2023 is the WPT Everyone for One Drop, a $10,500 buy-in tournament featuring a $10 million guarantee, as well as the $111,000 WPT Alpha 8 for One Drop. There are 16 multi-flight events including a Seniors Championship event and a Seniors High Roller. Other events with big prize pool guarantees include the $2.5 million Mystery Bounty kicking off on June 19 and the $4 million guaranteed No Limit event starting June 27.
Golden Nugget: This year marks the 15th annual Grand Poker Series and the Golden Nugget has gone all out with a giant schedule featuring nearly 90 different tournaments and more than $3 million in guaranteed prize money between May 30 and July 3. The Grand Poker Series is one of several lower-buy-in options available during the summer, with most tournaments ranging from $200 to $300 and many as little as $130. The three-day $1,100 PokerNews Cup starts on June 29 and comes with a $1 million guarantee. As well as No Limit, the schedule offers a mixed bag of other variants including Omaha, tag team and 8-game. The Series kicks off with a $250k guarantee Mystery Bounty with nine different starting flights, and the $500k guaranteed Championship No Limit event starts on June 23. The Golden Nugget’s summer offering is considered one of the better tournament series for low-stakes players and the downtown location makes a change from the Strip.
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.
Photo Credit: Las Vegas
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