While Las Vegas may be packed to the brim with gambling options, there’s one place that many poker players (including pros like Phil Hellmuth) turn to for a great time at the felt: ARIA Resort and Casino. If you generally prefer to play online poker for money but want to take a break from playing digitally, ARIA offers players an excellent offline experience. Let’s find out more about this premier poker venue and some of the exciting poker tournaments that take place there.
What you can expect
The ARIA Poker Room is the go-to venue for many poker players in Las Vegas. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect when you visit the ARIA Poker Room, the main venue for regular games.
Location at ARIA
It is located on the east side of the casino floor, next to the main valet pick-up area, making it easily accessible.
Poker games
Once you’ve arrived at the poker room itself, you’ll be able to enjoy poker games at one of 24 tables, all of which are equipped with automatic shufflers and have room for 10 players. There is also a dedicated poker cashier cage, and if the standard tables don’t offer you enough stakes, there is a high-stakes section with multiple tables. If even these tables aren’t high enough stakes for you, you can find a seat at the Table 1 private poker room. This room has only one table but offers the highest stakes games in the ARIA Poker Room.
Getting back to the main poker room, players will be able to enjoy the following poker games:
- No-Limit Hold’em
- Limit Hold’em
- Pot-Limit Omaha
- Omaha 8 or Better
- 7 Card Stud
- Draw Games
- Mixed Games
These games all offer a variety of blinds betting options, starting from as little as $1 or $2, with buy-ins varying depending on the game.
Poker room environment
While some folks may have really nice home setups so they can sit back and relax when they play poker games online, few will be able to recreate the incredible environment of the ARIA Poker Room. As expected from a premium experience, the Poker Room has a luxurious feel with an aesthetic that makes use of deep reds, browns and golden lighting, creating a grand atmosphere. Combine this with incredibly comfortable seating and side tables for drinks and food, and you’re undoubtedly going to enjoy a pampered experience.
Other amenities and services
Being such a popular poker room, there are times when players may find the room full. In the event that a player has not booked a place and is not able to get a seat straight away, all they need to do is present their MGM Resorts M Life card to the dealer, who will reserve a seat for them. Players will be notified by text message and the audio system to let them know when their seat has become available.
Additional amenities and services include certain beverages being free, a great selection of alcohol, a massage service and additional HD televisions placed around the room. The restrooms, snack bar and sportsbook are all located close to the Poker Room.
If you’re visiting ARIA to play poker, you’ll also get special rates if you book a room at the resort.
Exciting poker tournaments
While it’s undoubtedly fun to pop by for a quick game in the Poker Room, you may take your poker a bit more seriously and want to compete in an exciting poker tournament. ARIA has you covered there, with numerous tournaments taking place at the resort.
Daily poker tournaments
At the Poker Room itself, players can sign up for one of the regular No-Limit Texas Hold’em tournaments that take place at different times of the day. Monday to Thursday, players can join in tournaments that start during the day at 11 am or 1 pm or at night at 7 pm. From Friday to Sunday, tournaments are scheduled at 11 am and 7 pm. These events offer up to $5,000 in winnings.
Note that these tournaments may be rescheduled if there are other poker tournaments taking place at the same time.
The World Poker Tour
ARIA has hosted The World Poker Tour (WPT) several times in the past, with the first WPT500 event held at the resort in 2014. Since then, the WPT has hosted numerous other events at ARIA, including the WPT Tournament of Champions, WPT Bobby Baldwin Classic and WPT ARIA Summer Championship.
These events have resulted in many lesser-known professional players walking away with hundreds of thousands of dollars. These include the likes of Sean Yu, who won $260,000 at the first tournament held at ARIA and Craig Varnell, who walked away with $330,000 for his efforts. Not to mention Andreas Olympios, with his $260,000 win after it looked like he would be one of the first players to be knocked out at the final table.
The ARIA Poker Classic
The ARIA Poker Classic is another major tournament that’s been hosted by ARIA several times in the past and offers a wide range of buy-ins to cater to all types of players, with numerous budgets. One of the other major drawcards of this event is the range of poker variants, with more than just Texas Hold’em poker to keep players glued to their seats. If you’re a fan of Pot-Limit Omaha or HORSE poker, you’ll be able to compete in tournaments for these variants as well.
The ARIA Poker Classic is also hosting satellite online tournaments to qualify for the latest addition to the event, the $1 Million BetMGM Poker Championship. These games will take place between May 8 and June 12. Finalists will also have the opportunity to win a $6,000 BetMGM Poker Championship package, which includes $700 in travel expenses, as well as paid lodging at ARIA for five nights.
The poker tournament schedule is available online for those who want to participate in any of the ARIA Poker Classic events.
$1 Million BetMGM Poker Championship
The BetMGM Poker Championship has been welcomed into the ARIA Poker Classic schedule by Luke Staudenmaier, the director of poker at BetMGM. Announcing the event, Staudenmaier said:
“The first-ever BetMGM Poker Championship descends on Las Vegas during one of the most exciting times of the poker season. ARIA is a legendary poker brand and we’re thrilled that the Championship has become an integral part of this year’s Poker Classic. Through our relationship with MGM Resorts and its world-class US properties, we’ll continue to leverage event programming and connect with players both online and in their favorite poker rooms.”
If you’re excited to be part of this poker tournament but don’t make it through the qualifying events, it’s still possible to join by paying the $3,500 dollar buy-in. Make it to the final table and not only will your game be recorded live at the ARIA PokerGO Studio, you’ll also get your share of a guaranteed minimum of $1 million!
Other major tournaments
Some of the other major tournaments that have been hosted at ARIA include:
- Poker Masters
- Super High Roller Bowl
- US Poker Open
Play poker online at BetMGM
While you take the time to plan your dream trip to ARIA, it’s good to know you can have a great time playing online poker at BetMGM. Whether it’s online sit-and-go games or online poker tournaments, Omaha or Texas Hold’em, there’s an abundance of options to suit all poker players on our online poker sites.
Register at BetMGM to join in all the online poker thrills!
