By Alexis Russell

08/27/2008

                Connecticut wouldn’t be the first place to come to most people’s minds when they think of poker.  However, this often snow covered north east state is home to one of the world’s largest gaming establishments, the Mohegan Sun.  But I guess it didn’t seem to be quite big enough so they decided to add the $925 million Casino of the Wind to their property. 

                The first phase of the Casino of the Wind will be unveiled this Friday, August 29^th 2008, for players and spectators alike to get there first glimpse of the mammoth construction undertaking.  Eventually the Casino of the Wind will have 28 table games and a poker room with 42 tables as well as over 650 slot machines occupying the casino’s 64,000 square feet. 

                The Grand Opening on Friday will include a ribbon cutting ceremony in addition to a formal tribal blessing, but there will also be celebratory events inside the casino as well.  Starting October 1^st there will be an entire month of special tournaments and events to kick things off.  Visitors can expect fantastic entertainment and celebrity appearances, but players will be more interested in the daily car giveaways and the Mohegan Sun's Super Stack Tournament with a $750,000 prize pool.

                This is quite a turn of events seeing as the Mohegan Sun actually closed its poker room in 2003 to make way for additional slot machines.  However, since the sport of poker has gained such popularity they decided to bring back their poker room in a big way.  The next phases of the expansion include the addition of the House of Blues this time next year and then finally the Hotel Tower which will feature 1,000 rooms, spa and members-only House of Blues Foundation Room.