Most days I look at the Bravo poker app to see how many games are running in anticipation of my August trip. Today I opened it and saw the Mirage poker room listed with two tables open? My understanding was that they shut it down and filled the space with slot machines. I'm thinking this is some kind of computer glitch, but has anybody heard any rumors about it re-opening? I loved playing LHE there as an alternative to the Flamingo.
When they shut down in November, MGM's message was that the closure was permanent at all three of its Strip properties that had poker rooms. I very much doubt that they've changed their minds. Bravo may have used to be accurate but it sure isn't now. The times I've used it recently, the information has been seriously outdated.
My Mirage poker room memory: about 20 years ago, I was startled to see Bill Gates at the next table playing 3/6 limit. He appeared to be having a good time. This was a huge coincidence for me, as a few months prior, I had found myself playing a couple of hands against him at a bridge tournament. Maybe this was his card-playing era, or something. Nice guy, still pretty much the shy geek.
Anyway, get this: after about fifteen minutes, he was down to $6 in chips and his wife called him on his cell phone and told him to meet her for dinner. He then stood in line at the cage to cash out his $6.
In the early year of the Mirage, I used to wander around its live games in the wee hours out of boredom.
I never played live poker, but I used to watch games by standing on the other side of the poker room's low railing. The room was visually open to bystanders, and I could stand just a few feet from the player who was closest to the rail. No one ever asked me to move on. Even when the player looked at his cards the way players do by just turning up the minimum amount of card, I could see his hand. If I had been an accomplice of another player, I could have exploited what I saw by sending prearranged signals to him. I aways wondered why no one ever suspected me of being in cahoots with another player. I was always careful not to have a reaction on seeing the player's cards, although it did occur to me to roll my eyes to the ceiling after seeing a hand just for fun.
Being that when I played BJ ($1 ) for the first time, I picked up my cards and brought them close to my eyes causing the dealer and pit boss to go balistic, it always seemed strange to me that watching those poker games up close and personal at the Mirage poker room never set-off any bells.
