My friends and I are avid poker players and just returned from our annual poker trip to Vegas; I couldn't have imaged a worse set up for the "new" poker room. It was a disaster. We loved playing at the MGM but will now go elsewhere. MGM should either invest in a poker room or don't have one at all.
There is no cage, the chairs were uncomfortable, the TVs are lousy, and the barrier between the cigarette smoke filled slot area and the poker area was divided by the main walkway, which left the poker area abnoxiously loud and stinky.
You can already see it in the numbers. They raised the prices of the tourneys to those comparable to ARIA, but with fewer amenities, the new poker area was averaging only two tables of players on a weekend (It used to average 5-10)! There were only two 1-2 cash games going at 4pm on a Saturday!
Disappointed!