The Mandalay Bay poker room is reopening on Thursday, July 22. An announcement was made on Bravo Poker this week. It was first reported and confirmed by Rob Solomon on Twitter.
The hours will be 3pm to 11pm Thursday through Monday. The Mandalay Bay poker room will be closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Only cash games will be dealt. There will be no tournaments during the first reopening phase.
Few details are available. The Bravo Poker page notes that the cash games available will be 1/2, 1/3, and 2/5 no limit Texas Hold’em with optional or mandatory straddles and 3/6 fixed limit Texas Hold’em. The buy-in is $100 to $300 at 1/2, $100 to $1,000 at 1/3, and $200 to $2,000 for 2/5.
The only promotion listed on the Bravo Poker page is a high hand. It pays $250 for royal flushes, $100 for straight flushes and $50 for four of a kind. Cash game tables may opt out of promotions. Otherwise, a drop from the pot is taken to fund it.
The previous Mandalay Bay promotional fund was given away in 2020. This freeroll to loyal players included the promotional pools at Excalibur and Mirage. Both of those poker rooms remain closed.
The Mandalay Bay poker room was converted into a BetMGM lounge in 2020. The poker tables were removed and replaced with other seating. In June, I visited Mandalay Bay and noticed that the poker tables were back in the area where the room was before the pandemic closure.
Las Vegas back to 21 open poker rooms
The reopening of the Mandalay Bay poker room will bring the number of open Las Vegas poker rooms to 21. It was previously at 21 between the June 24 opening of Resorts World and the closure of the Planet Hollywood poker room on July 11.
There were 31 Las Vegas poker rooms open in March 2020. Of those, 10 have not reopened. Those are located at Binion’s, Cannery, Club Fortune, Excalibur, Green Valley Ranch, Harrah’s, Mirage, Palace Station, Rio and Sam’s Town. In addition to these, Planet Hollywood reopened and closed permanently.
