Mirage poker room closed, to reopen in 3 months

The Mirage poker room (which was once the premier poker room in town some years ago) is now closed. Contrary to some rumors, the closure is temporary, and when they reopen they will not be moved out of the space they've been in. They will be smaller, at 12 tables, down from about 19 or 20, after part of the space is remodeled for some kind of new bar/loungey type thing on the casino floor and/or moving the cage.

I first heard about it from a pit dealer last month, who of course had it wrong, as he repeated one version of some of the rumors going around to the effect that they'd be losing the very attractive (and highly visible for attracting casual walk-by players) space they've been in for so long. The straight story from discussing it with the folks who manage the room is as described above.

The reopening is said to be scheduled for May 15th, but in my experience those things often end up sliding back on the date to some extent. It is a bit of a tough thing for some of the poker staff to deal with, at least for now, but twelve tables is about what they actually had in use at peak times in recent years, so it isn't really forcing a downsizing in the actual volume and variety of what they're likely to have available, in my opinion. So long as that new thing doesn't get in the way of making quick trips to the bathroom located over on that side where they're putting the new somethingorother.

Quote: The Mirage

The Poker Room is currently closed while we make improvements to bring a better experience to our valued guests. We’ll be dealing cards again this Spring!

http://www.mirage.com/casino/poker.aspx

Michael McDermott is going to have to find a different room for a few months.......

Poker is clearly in a major ebb. Locally, 15 years ago you might have to wait an hour for a table. 5 years ago there was always action going at several tables mid-day, mid-week. Last month for the first time when I walked in late morning there was zero action going. Other than Christmas Eve I never saw that.

Right about as soon as most rooms close I expect online will be legalized and another movie or something will create another boom, keeping the construction guys busy putting rooms back in.

5 years there was also a tournament every 30 minutes somewhere mid strip if you looked. Times have changed, but like you said, it all comes back around.

Quote: Boz

5 years there was also a tournament every 30 minutes somewhere mid strip if you looked. Times have changed, but like you said, it all comes back around.

Yeah, look at bell bottoms.

Quote: DrawingDead

I first heard about it from a pit dealer last month, who of course had it wrong,

It's amazing how everything a dealer says is wrong.

Did Mirage get any spillover from the WSOP? That may encourage them to re-open by July. What are the dealer's supposed to do during the down time? Are they moved to other properties, or temporarily laid off?

Why would that be amazing. It is my experience that when something that any company closes down, they keep the employees from as much information as humanly possible, and then rumors come up and persist. The dealer isn't on a need to know basis except on the issue the room is closing for a period of time, temporary or permanently. The extent of when and what it will re-open as they won't get from management

The newly redone Mirage poker room has (re)opened. Apparently right on schedule, amazingly enough. The "new" room is in the part of the old poker room space that's closest to the race & sports book & nearly in it on that side. I think the overall look & feel of the remodel is a lot more sleek & modern than the classy old & larger one, but I think still quite nice and probably fully adequate in size to accommodate their peak business along with anything but the largest tournaments. They were very busy in late afternoon to early evening on a Saturday even though they'd only been open for less than a week, with multiple tables of 1/2NL & 3/6L, a substantial interest list for 2/5NL that I think was probably about to start as I left, and a small interest list that had been started for 10/20L. I may miss the old room, but when I stopped by briefly between doing other things, I got the impression that having about the same volume of business in a less cavernous space did seem to give it a more energetic atmosphere.

Just in time for WSOP traffic. I'm sure that was their plan.


ZCore13