MGM Grand Poker Room Review

Fun, diverse, and loose. Those three words sum up the live poker room at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The MGM offers some of the best games in town for visiting tourists and local players alike.

MGM Grand Poker Room Overview

With a weak U.S. dollar and strong European currencies, travelers from around the world are visiting Las Vegas in huge numbers right now.  Due to attractive room rates and discounts to foreign visitors, the MGM has a very high population of Europeans. It’s very common to find as many as 6-7 foreign players seated at any random table.

The high number of foreign players has created games with unbelievable amounts of action, and about as much fun as you’ll find anywhere in the world. Many of the European visitors are here to gamble, and with a strong exchange rate they have money to burn. While the constant flow of California gamblers tend to play very loose as well, they can’t compare to the vacationing Europeans. What’s more, these people are fun to play with! When they get drunk, it’s a riot. Personally, I’ve never had more fun at a $2/4 FL Hold’em game in my life.

The MGM poker room offers all players a fun, upbeat atmosphere. If you’re looking to have a good time, a few drinks, and to meet some fun people from around the world, the MGM is your place. All of the dealers and poker room staff do a great job of making your time at the tables an enjoyable experience.

Locals

For local players, these games offer an opportunity to clean house as long as you don’t mind watching your stack take large swings. You thought online poker was loose? Try going 7 handed into the river all night long! You’ll never get runner-runnered more often than you will at the MGM. However, smart & disciplined players can also take advantage of opponents who have never even heard of pot odds, let alone care about them. Local players who play to win need to play a smart post-flop game, always keeping in mind the number of players in each hand. When there are consistently 5-7 players seeing a river, your hands have to be strong to win. Don’t expect your top-pair & top kicker to win very often. Pocket aces only have about a 44% chance to win against 4 average starting hands, and of course that percentage continues to go down with more players seeing a flop.

Player Volume

The poker room is always busy, with a good game to find any time of day or night. In fact, when tables are being broken down at other casinos due to low player volumes, many of the orphaned players head to the MGM for late night action. $1/$2 NL Hold’em is the most popular game here, and there are several tables running 24 hours a day. The same can generally be said about $2/$4 FL Hold’em as well. Although the $2/$4 games may get down to 2 or 3 tables in the wee hours of the morning, the game never ends. The MGM also runs Sit and Go tournaments every day, and multi-table tournaments 6 days a week. See below for more information about tournaments at the MGM poker room.

Massage

The MGM offers licensed Massage Therapists at the tables for $2 per minute. Although I have yet to indulge in a massage, a couple of days ago one of the girls gave me the “how about a lap dance” look which almost convinced me to drop a Jackson or two.

Food & Beverages

Cocktail waitresses can often be difficult to hunt down in poker rooms. That’s not the case at the MGM poker room where there’s typically a sufficient staff to serve the tables. Early in the mornings from around 2 – 8 am, the staff is reduced and it can be more difficult to get a drink. With that said, the poker room is layed out easily enough that with a quick walk around, a waitress can always be found. The cocktail waitresses at the MGM are also very good at what they do, and extremely polite – treat them well!

The Stage Deli sits within chip-flipping distance of the poker room and is a great place to grab a bite during long sessions. I highly recommend trying any of their daily soups, which upon request can be put into a drinking cup so you put it in your cup holder at the tables. While there are plenty of choices for finding good food at the MGM, the Stage Deli is the best choice for poker players who want to eat during their sessions.

What To Wear

When it’s 110 degrees outside like it is most of the year, it may seem silly to wear more than a t-shirt and shorts. However, if you’re going to put in a long session at the poker tables, you’ll thank me later for this advice – bring a sweatshirt! The ceiling of the poker room isn’t as high as it is in other parts of the casino, which means the air conditioning vents are lower as well. After a few hours in the poker room, don’t be surprised to find yourself literally freezing. You’ll feel so smart putting on your sweatshirt, or even having it to share with the hottie seated next to you.

Cash Games

$1/$2 No Limit Hold’em: $40 – $200 Buy-in
$2/$5 No Limit Hold’em: $100 – $500 Buy-in
$5/$10 No Limit Hold’em: $200 – No Max Buy-in (This game runs when requested, typically by groups already assembled)

$2/$4 Fixed Limit Hold’em: $40 – $200 Buy-in
$3/$6 Fixed Limit Hold’em: $40 – No Max Buy-in
$4/$8 Fixed Limit Hold’em: $40 – No Max Buy-in

I spoke with Mike Green, the Director of Poker Operations at the MGM poker room, who told me that they will run just about any game that players want. If you have a group that is visiting Las Vegas, and you’d like to play any other game, simply request it and they will do their best to accommodate you. If you and your friends prefer to play Omaha, Stud or any other game, and if you have enough players for a table, they’ll open up a game just for your group. Also, the same is true for higher stakes games. As a casino that is typically filled with tourists, the poker room doesn’t tend to generate as many high stakes players as some of the other casinos. Mike told me several times “it’s all about the players and what they want, we always do what we can to accommodate the players.”

Cash Game Rake

The rake at the MGM poker room is one of the most attractive of any of the strip casinos. For players that aren’t interested in high-hand or bad-beat jackpots, the MGM is the best place to play. The MGM poker room doesn’t offer any jackpots which means that there isn’t anything taken out of the pots to pay for them. This means that your winning pots are bigger than at casinos that offer jackpots.

All games have a no-flop /no-drop policy, meaning that any hand in which there is no flop, there’s no rake.

$1/$2 NL Hold’em, $2/$4 & $3/$6 FL Hold’em:

$1 taken at each strike point. Strike points are $10, $20, $30, $40. $4 max rake.

$2/$5 NL Hold’em:

$1 taken at each strike point. Strike points are $20, $40, $60, $150. $4 max rake.

$4/$8 FL Hold’em:

$1 taken at each strike point. Strike points are $10, $30, $50, $90. $4 max rake.

Sit and Go Tournaments

Sit and Go Tournaments play as they fill up, so they essentially run as long as there are enough players. They’re offered in two buy-in amounts.

$60 Buy-in (50+10), 1000 Tournament Chips, 12 minute blind levels.
Payouts: 1st – $300, 2nd – $200

$115 Buy-in (100+15), 1500 Tournament Chips, 15 minute blind levels
Payouts: 1st – $600, 2nd – $400

Blind Schedule – All Sit and Go Tournaments

25-50
50-100
100-200
200-400
400-800
800-1600
1500-3000
3000-6000

Multi-Table Tournaments

Day Tournaments – Monday through Friday at 11:05 am (Registration begins at 9:30 am)

$60 buy-in for $1200 tournament chips
Buy an additional $800 chips for $5
No rebuys
Alternates accepted during the first 4 levels
20 minute blind levels

Blind Schedule

25 – 50
50 – 100
100 – 200
200 – 400
400 – 800
600 – 1200
800 – 1600
1500 – 3000
3000 – 6000
5000 – 10,000

Payouts

4 – 49 Players – 4 places paid: 40% – 30% – 20% – 10%
50 – 59 Players – 5 places paid: 40% – 30% – 15% – 10% – 5%
60 – 79 Players – 6 places paid: 40% – 25% – 15% – 10% – 5.5% – 4.5%
80 – 89 Players – 7 places paid: 37% – 25% – 15% – 10% – 5.5% – 4.5% – 3%
90 – 99 Players – 8 places paid: 35% – 25% – 15% – 10% – 5.5% – 4.5% – 3% – 2%
100 + Players – 9 places paid: 35% – 25% – 15% – 10% – 5% – 4% – 2.5% – 2% – 1.5%

Evening Tournaments – Sunday through Thursday at 7:05 pm (Registration begins at 5:30 pm)

$70 buy-in for $2000 tournament chips
Buy an additional $1000 chips for $10
No rebuys
Alternates accepted during the first 4 levels
20 minute blind levels

Blind Schedule – Same as Day Tournaments (See Above)

Payouts

4 – 49 Players – 4 places paid: 40% – 30% – 20% – 10%
50 – 59 Players – 5 places paid: 40% – 30% – 15% – 10% – 5%
60 – 79 Players – 6 places paid: 40% – 25% – 15% – 10% – 5.5% – 4.5%