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At long last, The Orleans poker room is back to being open around the clock, as of Friday, October 9. For the first time since the pre-coronavirus days, you can play cards at the off-Strip property at any time of day.

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The Orleans boasts one of the top and largest poker rooms in Las Vegas. With 35 card tables, the card room has a game for just about anyone — at least if you’re a low to mid stakes player. Most games spread in this often packed poker room are low stakes. Occasionally you’ll find some $5-$10 and above games as well.

Mark your calendars poker players! 📆

We are going ALL-IN at The Orleans Poker Room with operations moving back to 24 hours a day starting this Friday, October 9! We will open at 8am on Friday morning then be open around the clock going forward. pic.twitter.com/76BaqjxiA2

— orleanscasino (@orleanscasino) October 6, 2020

Another draw to the casino for poker players is that it’s located away from the Strip, but not too far . The Orleans is about one mile west of the Strip. Some players who don’t want to deal with the hassle of the crowded Strip enjoy playing at more removed casinos like Orleans.

You won’t just find cash games at The Orleans. There are two daily tournaments beginning at 11 am ($100 buy-in) and 7 pm ($150 buy-in). On Friday nights, the 7 pm tournament costs $130 to enter and has long been one of the most popular weekly tournaments in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas poker is rebounding nicely

In mid-March, every casino in Las Vegas was forced to close down until June 4. That led many to believe the live poker scene in Sin City was dead. That didn’t turn out to be the case.

During that reopening weekend, only four poker rooms returned to action, one was The Orleans. But that number has grown drastically over the past few months and is now up to 18 open poker rooms. There are still 13 closed card rooms in town, but the live poker scene has rebounded despite the global health pandemic that doesn’t seem to want to go away.

The Orleans initially reopened on June 4 with restrictions set at four-handed play. But the Nevada Gaming Control Board (GCB) has since permitted the card room to spread seven-handed games. Face masks are required during play. That goes for every Las Vegas poker room.

One drawback for non-smokers is that The Orleans poker room is rather smoky. So, if you prefer playing in a card room that doesn’t have a strong stench of cigarette smoke, there are many other options. That includes Aria, Bellagio, Venetian, and Wynn, all Strip properties considered among the best poker rooms in the world, and not just Las Vegas.

If you’re trying to avoid the craziness of the Strip and a heavy cigarette stench (smoking is banned in every poker room but often lingers throughout the casino), Red Rock Resort in Summerlin has a lively poker room that’s mostly enclosed.

Featured image source: Flickr

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Three more Las Vegas poker rooms are no more.

According to a report from CardsChat, MGM properties Excalibur, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage have shuttered their poker rooms for good. They'd all been shut down since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic but company officials had called them 'temporary' and said they'd be 'continually re-evaluated.'

Evidently, the evaluations have determined that the properties would be better off moving forward without spreading poker. While that will be sad news for many, there's some silver lining in that six figures worth of bad beat jackpot must still be distributed back to the players, and it'll happen in a series of freerolls.

Continuing Trend of Nevada Consolidation

None were particularly robust rooms, each having between seven and 12 tables, and their closures continue an industry-wide trend of shrinkage in the Las Vegas market and Nevada in general.

In February, the last full month of pre-pandemic operations, there were 34 rooms in Clark County with 430 poker tables running, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Today, those numbers are 21 and 285.

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Statewide, it's much the same. Where today one can find poker at 29 locations with the possibility of being seated at 338 tables, there were 57 venues hosting poker at 540 tables in February.

Even that number of 57 was lowest the industry has seen in Nevada since 2002, according to the UNLV Center for Gaming Research.

Good News for Freeroll Hunters

The good news to come out of the closures is that the bad beat jackpot money must be distributed back to the players, per gaming regulations, as it's money that belongs to them and not the venues. That means more than $100,000 will be given away in a series of three upcoming freerolls, CardsChat reported.

The poker room at MGM Grand, which opened back in July, will host the freerolls. The first is tomorrow but has already 'sold out,' while the others will take place Nov. 17 and Dec. 1.

Date	Venue	Registration Date	Bad Beat Jackpot
Nov. 3	MGM Grand	Sold out	$24,022 (Mandalay Bay)
Nov. 17	MGM Grand	Nov. 11	$69,804 (Mirage)
Dec. 1	MGM Grand	Nov. 25	$27,837 (Excalibur)
$121,663 (Total)

Players who want to get their hands on some of the free dough can head to the official MGM website on the appointed sign-up day at 5 p.m. local time to try to secure a seat. Alternately, the official ticketing page states that, 'If spots are available on the day of the tournament in person registration will be accept on a first come, first serve basis.'

According to PokerAtlas, MGM Grand has 13 tables, which represents the likely full capacity for the tournaments.

Sad News for Many in Industry

For many in the industry, though, the closures of these three rooms will be seen as sad news, especially for the employees who will now have to find new work if they hadn't already.

Particularly given its storied history, the Mirage will be missed. The room was remodeled and downsized in 2015 to its smaller size of 12 tables. However, it was formerly one of the top poker destinations in the city.

Many players who came up in the late 1990s and early 2000s cut their teeth in the limit games there, something they discussed fondly a few months back on Twitter. There, Daniel Negreanu took part in a trend by posting a photo of a chip stack from the Mirage:

I grew up here https://t.co/UPpFSAxxP1

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker)

Eli Elezra, David 'ODB' Baker, Layne Flack, Bruno Fitoussi and Gavin Griffin were among those who recalled building their bankrolls at the property's $20/$40 limit.

Of course, it also played a small but memorable role in the film 'Rounders', representing the ultimate destination for an aspiring poker pro who wished to find fortune in Las Vegas.

'I want him to think I'm pondering a call,' Mike McDermott says. 'But all I'm really thinkin' about is Vegas and the f*****' Mirage.'

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Aspiring poker players can no longer identify with that particular dream, and the live poker capital of the world is down three more rooms in this time of industry upheaval.

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