“Hall of Ivey” Poker Room – Aria Resort and Casino Honors Phil Ivey

People usually have to wait until they are past their prime, or dead, to be recognized by having a street, high school, auditorium, etc. named after them. Well, that does not apply to the Tiger Woods of Poker. MGM Mirage announced that they are opening a very high end poker room with a single table at the Aria Resort and Casino in honor of the man many believe is the world’s best living player, Phil Ivey. Unlike the typical memorial to a great person, this “hall of ivy” is not some dull old building that everyone soon forgets. It is an exciting poker room where the best will come to play.

The MGM Mirage has chosen an appropriate means of inaugurating this “hall of ivy,” The Ivey Room. They are putting on a gala VIP and celebrity, high roller tournament on Saturday, May 22 with a first place prize of a quarter of a million dollars. Anyone who can knock Ivey out of the tournament will get $100,000 extra.

MGM Mirage’s Aria Resort and Casino is located in the newly opened Las Vegas City Center (December 16, 2009). City Center is a 76 acre multiuse complex and the largest privately funded construction project in United States history. The complex is so large that it uses a “people mover” system to get guests from site to site. The Aria is the only casino in City Center.

It is in this spectacular complex that MGM Mirage chose to locate the Ivey Room, a living memorial to the world’s best living player. Someone who has won seven WSOP bracelets and millions of dollars in tournament play deserves recognition, and there seems no better way than to do it while he is in his prime with a room where the world’s best poker is being played.