The poker room at the MGM Grand is redistributing unused jackpot money from three unopened Las Vegas Strip through three separate freeroll tournaments.

All MGM Resorts properties on the Las Vegas Strip are now open, but three of those properties, Mandalay Bay, Excalibur and Mirage, have yet to reopen its poker rooms. Since the jackpot money is taken from the players as extra rake and used to fund the rooms promotions, the casinos cant take that money and must find a way to give it back to the players.

Each closed room will have its own freeroll with the jackpot money funding the prize pool. The first freeroll will use Mandalay Bays $24,022 unused jackpot money and will take place today at 5 p.m. Mirages $69,804 will be up for grabs on Nov. 17 and Excaliburs $27,837 will fund a tournament prize pool on Dec. 1.

While there hasnt been an official announcement yet by any of the three properties, the fact that the unused jackpot money is being redistributed makes it much more likely than not that these rooms will be closed for good.

While Excalibur was never much of a poker destination, Mandalay Bay hosted several World Poker Tour main events during the peak of the poker boom. Before the boom, Mirage was home to the biggest poker games in Las Vegas.

During one of the most famous poker scenes in movie history in the 1998 classic Rounders, main character Mike McDermott, played by Matt Damon, uttered the line I want him to think Im pondering a call, but all Im really thinking about is Vegas and the f***ing Mirage right before he lost his entire bankroll.

Registration for todays freeroll is already closed, but you can sign up for the second tournament starting on Nov. 11 and the final tournament will open registration on Nov. 25.

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MGM Grand To Host Freeroll Tournaments Funded By Unused Jackpot Money From Closed Strip Poker Rooms - CardPlayer.com