The Golden Nugget drew plenty of criticism on Tuesday after canceling a starting flight after the event had already begun. The $1,200 Goldenaire event promised a $1 million guarantee as part of the casino’s annual Grand Poker Series.
Prior to the event, however, the casino got rid of the guarantee and that didn’t sit well with players. After receiving criticism for the move, the property canceled Day 1B entirely and refunded buy-ins to players.
Although not available in Nevada, Golden Nugget’s online casino arm is available and popular in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan.
Director of poker operations Joel Garcia told PokerNews that some of the guarantees in the series had been changed to “estimated guarantees” because of low turnout. He noted that the property had axed the guarantee for the Goldenaire before the event, but some players weren’t aware of the change. That led to the session’s cancellation.
British poker player David Mcconachie told the outlet that only 19 had registered when the event began. Then, he found out there was no $1 million guarantee on the prize pool. As a result, he tried to unregister, but was told that wasn’t possible.
Mcconachie escalated the situation and appealed the decision to Garcia. Then, staff canceled the entire flight and refunded all registered players.
The tournament is scheduled to resume the event on Thursday with its next starting flight. However, there is still no guarantee on the event.
Cancelation Sparks Criticism
News of the move brought plenty of criticism online from players. Poker enthusiasts will decide whether to play a tournament based on whether it has a guarantee. Some see canceling the guarantee on a tournament as an unscrupulous business practice.
“Wow, I’ve never seen this happen in over 30 years playing poker tournaments,” poker circuit regular Allen Kessler noted on Twitter/X.
Others wondered why the property continued advertising that the guarantee was still at $1 million despite cutting the amount.
Golden Nugget canceled today’s $1200 buy-in w/ $1 million guaranteed prize pool event after it started. The $1 million gtd is still advertised on Golden Nugget’s website on page two of this pdf, even though GN claimed the event didn’t have this guarantee. https://t.co/t8FlDl2Air pic.twitter.com/0tomIgEbYV
— John Mehaffey (@John_Mehaffey) June 26, 2025
Poker streamer Aaron Barone referred to the scenario around the tournament as a “complete clusterfuck.”
This isn’t the first time a casino has canceled an event or lowered the guarantee because of low turnout. In 2022, Hustler Casino faced some backlash for canceling a tournament with a $250,000 guarantee mid-tournament.
Last year, WSOP Online canceled a $5,300 bracelet event after only four players were registered before the tournament began. The site noted that the tournament didn’t meet the minimum of eight players to run.
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