This Week in Vegas: Could You Become a Poker Master?

If you’ve been considering a shot at a prestigious tournament, the next seven days could be your chance. The annual Poker Masters event series is running in Las Vegas, and this week, my hunt for value around Sin City starts at ARIA on the world-famous Vegas Strip and includes a series especially for women.

With great value No Limit Hold’em elsewhere too, as well as some bargains at the lower-level buy-in, I’ve got a full round-up of which seats to take in Las Vegas over the next seven days, plus a truly out-there way to step back from the felt.

Let’s shuffle up and deal.

Playing the Board: Become a Master

Playing in a high-value No Limit Hold’em poker event might not be for everybody, but if there’s a series to do it in, the 2026 Poker Masters might be it. It could be a good week to try, especially for another live player enjoying the result of his life this week. 

It might have been the best part of a thousand miles east of Las Vegas, but rookie Shrikant Pillamarapu won a top prize of $148,527 in the $1,100-entry WPT Prime Lodge Championship in Texas this week, plus a $10,400 seat in the WPT World Championship at the Wynn. Pillamarapu previously won $381 in total, according to his Hendon Mob page.

So, how can you get into a Poker Masters event if you’re a recreational player? Well, through in-house satellites or by taking a shot with your bankroll. The series is already producing big scores: the $10,500 opener drew 78 entries, American Daniyal Gheba took $54,600 for fifth, and it was won by Myles Mullaly, a young pro from New York, who took home the $218,400 top prize and his first-ever PGT trophy. 

Events #4 to #6 run Thursday to Saturday at $10,500, before the buy-in steps up to $15,700 for Events #7 and #8 on Monday and Tuesday, all starting at 7pm in the PokerGO Studio at ARIA.

This week could be a great week for you to break through too if you take a shot at the big time.  

Here are the tournaments worth considering in Las Vegas this week.

Around the Rooms: The Fall Classic Steps Up, Ladies Take the Bellagio

At The Orleans, their NFL Football Mystery Hot Seats promotion continues to pay out, with their fourth big envelope of the year being drawn on Sunday to award one lucky player $1,999, as a massive 13 other $100 splash pots were awarded around the room. Draws can happen at any time from 6am to 10pm on Sundays, so make it a ‘Hail Mary’.

Over at the Wynn Las Vegas, this week’s highlight event takes place during the penultimate week of the Wynn Fall Classic. At $800, it’s $200 pricier than last week’s big-ticket event, but the guarantee is bigger too, at $400,000. 

Flights run Thursday at 11am, then Friday and Saturday at both 11am and 6pm, with Day 2 on Sunday at 1pm. The 6pm flights play 20-minute levels rather than 40, so take a morning flight if you want the full structure. And if $800 is a stretch, a $600 event with a $150,000 guarantee starts on Sunday.

The Venetian’s DeepStack Showdown events have been as lit as the Vegas Sphere. Winners included Donnell Dais (above, left), who won $4,076 in a four-way chop in the $300-entry Event #16, while Floridian Michael Moseley topped a three-way chop in Event #17, the $200 buy-in NLHE Bounty event for $1,705. This week sees a very good $300-entry event as part of the DeepStack Showdown, offering a $100,000 guarantee. It runs Thursday to Monday.

At the Bellagio, a very special event is sure to grab a lot of attention in the next few days. Running October 16-18, the World Poker Federation (WPF) Ladies Weekend features a number of events aimed at welcoming more women into the game. 

From the $230 NLHE Main Event on Saturday to the coffee and chat on Sunday morning, the festival has something for everyone, with the ‘Kings & Queens’ event on Sunday welcoming male players to the table too. That event costs $150 to play, and you can find out all the details by contacting the Bellagio cardroom directly at +1-702-693-7291.

One to Swerve: Rake Hikes on the Rise

Following the permanent closure of the Planet Hollywood poker room and Resorts World’s cardroom too, the Las Vegas Strip is down to just eight active poker rooms, and we’ve noticed a slightly concerning trend. Most major Strip properties such as those owned by Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts have now standardized their rake to a baseline of $5 or $6 per hand. 

At low limits, rake falls hardest on poker’s most valuable and least affluent demographic, the recreational player, and pricing them out seems nonsensical for any Vegas cardroom. While the post-WSOP cash games and tournaments are a little lighter than at their annual summer peak, I’d like to see cardrooms such as those mentioned be a little more reflective of the lack of value by adjusting the rake down, not up. 

Off the Felt: Dig This Las Vegas

If you’ve spent the week pushing chips around the felt and fancy getting your hands dirty instead, then why not head to Dig This Las Vegas? This isn’t your average day out: you’ll get behind the controls of full-size excavators and bulldozers, operating the kind of heavy machinery most of us have only ever watched from behind a safety barrier or on TV. 

You can dig trenches, move enormous piles of dirt, and take on challenges that turn a construction site into an unlikely playground for poker players hoping to excavate gold from tough situations at the felt. 

With qualified instructors showing you how to operate the machinery before you get to work, you can take on challenges like moving giant tires, and if you go all in on the Full Throttle combo, you can even crush a car… I’ve always wanted to do that! It’s a pretty spectacular way to spend an afternoon away from the felt, and while a tournament might end after you’ve dug yourself into a hole you can’t escape, Dig This puts you behind the controls of the standard Big Dig Excavator for $359 per person, while kids aged two and up can take a 1-Ton excavator for a spin for $27.50.

It’s pretty busy, so book ahead at 702-766-4374 before making the trip. It’s less than 20 minutes from the Strip.

However deep you go in Vegas this week, I hope you strike gold when you get there!