Two big poker tournaments — including one with a guaranteed $1 million championship — are coming to MGM National Harbor in 2020. They're part of MGM's new East Coast Poker Tour. One of the largest poker rooms in the United States is set to reopen this Wednesday after being closed since mid-March due to the pandemic. Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

1. East Coast Poker Tournaments Wayne Pal
2. East Coast Poker Tournaments

Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, features the biggest poker room on the East Coast. It is also the biggest casino-based poker room in the world and the home of World Series of Poker (WSOP) circuit events, WPT tournaments, and the Foxwoods World Poker Finals.

Foxwoods Casino was founded in 1986, on Mashantucket Pequot tribal grounds. At first, it was a simple bingo hall, but in 1990s slots and table games were added and in 1995, a poker room opened. In 2006, the casino opened the poker room as we know it today.

The Foxwoods Poker room features almost 100 tables on the main floor, with additional tournament room upstairs with 50 more tables. Here you can play any type of poker game in existence, like No-Limit Hold’Em (NLHE), Limit Hold’Em, Stud, HORSE, Razz, and Omaha.

The area is designed with honoring Native American origins in mind. It has huge windows, comfortable chairs, and bathrooms are nearby. Some players have complained in the past that the room is too dark and crowded.

With a poker room this size, one would expect the signing process to be tedious and long, but Foxwoods introduced a new automatic signing system that speeds thing up. You can easily see your place in line for the tables on many monitors in the room. One thing that is missing are the chip runners, forcing players to get up from the table in order to buy more chips. Foxwoods prohibits use of mobile phones at tables, unlike many other casinos.

Food is also prohibited at the tables, but drinks are allowed. There is almost a general consensus that the drink service can be greatly improved and it is something that the management is taking under advisement. If you do get hungry, there is a Fifth Street Grill on the premises.

Foxwood poker room hosts World Series of Poker (WSOP) and WPT tournaments. Apart from those, it also has several other similar events. Twice a day, at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., there are NLHE tournaments. The buy-ins range from $60 to $160, starting stacks of $10,000 and $20,000, and 15- to 20-minute blind levels. Every Wednesday, the casino organizes NLHE Double Green Chip Bounty Turbo tournament, starting at 2 p.m., with a $120 buy-in.

MGM Resorts International has announced the upcoming launch of the East Coast Poker Tour (ECPT), a new mid-stakes tour designed to expand the availability of that level of tourney to players based predominantly in the eastern United States. The new ECPT will launch in February of 2020. Three MGM Resorts venues have already been slated to hold tour stops, including MGM National Harbor in Maryland, MGM Springfield in Boston, and Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa (owned by MGM) in Atlantic City.

While mid-range poker tourneys have been available at all these and other East Coast venues for years, the “mid-priced” tour, as it’s popularly developed, has succeeded in the US’s central states more than other regions. (Examples include the Heartland Poker Tour, which is now more national, the Mid-Stakes Poker Tour, and the newer RUNGOOD Poker Series.) MGM hopes to shift that balance with the launch of the ECPT.

“MGM Resorts offers players the best poker product on the East Coast,” said Jorge Perez, Portfolio President. “Our East Coast Poker Tour is a great way for us to showcase three of our industry-leading properties while creating an exciting tournament series for our guests and poker enthusiasts.”

A total of six series stops for 2020 have been announced, with three of the six to be held at the Borgata in New Jersey. The six stops are co-branded as ECPT offerings to build upon existing individual series. In the Borgata’s case, for example, that includes the venue’s Spring Poker Open, Summer Poker Open & Fall Poker Open Championship. MGM National Harbor’s Potomac Poker Open series in February and July get the ECPT treatment as well, as does the MGM Springfield Armory Classic. The Borgata’s Fall Poker Open will now double as the ECPT’s championship, with a leaderboard and points chase already in place to generate interest and interest in the 2020 ECPT’s $2 million finale.

A few other details have been announced as well. According to MGM, “Players can qualify for the MGM Resorts ECPT leaderboard between February 5, 2020 and August 24, 2020 by registering in any of the five tournaments prior to the championship. A minimum of 100 players, including the five winners of the tour’s previous tournaments, five randomly selected participants (one from each tournament), and the top 90 participants on the leaderboard will receive a complimentary two-night stay at Borgata and entry into the Borgata Fall Poker Open / MGM Resorts East Coast Poker Tour $2 Million Guaranteed Championship November 15-20, 2020. Additional prizes include a $500 MGM Resorts gift card, $250 hotel credit at Borgata, and a Cartier watch. Participants must be M life cardholders to qualify.”

The ECPT has also created a new online home at http://www.mgmecpt.com/. More information on the tour and the 2020 stops can be found there. Here’s the 2020 MGM Resorts ECPT Schedule:

POTOMAC WINTER POKER OPEN – MGM National Harbor

February 5 – 17, 2020

* featuring guaranteed $500,000 championship ($3,000 buy-in)

BORGATA SPRING POKER OPEN – Borgata

April 7 – 24, 2020

* featuring guaranteed $1 million championship ($2,700 buy-in)

East Coast Poker Tournaments Wayne Pal

BORGATA SUMMER POKER OPEN – Borgata

July 7 – 24, 2020

* featuring guaranteed $1 million championship ($2,700 buy-in)

POTOMAC POKER OPEN – MGM National Harbor

July 22 – August 3, 2020

* featuring guaranteed $1 million championship ($3,500 buy-in)

THE ARMORY CLASSIC – MGM Springfield

August 12 – 24, 2020

BORGATA FALL POKER OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP – Borgata

November 15 – 20, 2020

* featuring guaranteed $2 million championship ($3,500 buy-in)

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