Funny Article on Poker

[LearningVegas]

....

I was just reading an article from the Review-Journal on December 5, 2000, which said that Harrah's and the Venetian were closing their poker rooms due to lack of interest. MGM had closed theirs earlier in the year, and Rio and Treasure Island a few years previously.

I thought that was pretty funny, given the huge boom in poker that started shortly after that and continues to the present. The article did explain that there was stilll some interest in poker, but the huge poker rooms at Bellagio and the Mirage had taken enough business from the others to force them to fold...

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[ November 15, 2004, 05:46 AM: Message edited by: LearningVegas ]

[doctor_al]

That is pretty funny. Especially MGM - like they needed the floor space. :rolleyes: But then, shows what a little promotion will do.

[blackjack]

That is funny. Last March the Venetian poker room was packed at 4:00am. They obviuosly re-thought about closing it or re-opened it recently.

[Jer]

Does the Venetian have a room now?

[veck101]

I think blackjack is confused with another casino. I checked the Venetian's website (http://www.venetian.com/casino/tables.cfm) and no mention of a poker room.

[blackjack]

veck is correct - I am confused (at least that's what my wife tells me graemlins/laughing.gif ). You know I stayed there for 4 days & never noticed that the poker room that used to be is now a Baccarat room. We played poker at the Orleans & spent little time in the V casino at all. I saw people at a glance when walking back up to the room sitting at low tables & assumed that it was still poker (I know it used to be). Just another reason to do business elsewhere I guess. Mirage has a poker room - this I am sure of. :D

What marketing genius made that decision? :confused:

[ November 15, 2004, 11:45 AM: Message edited by: blackjack ]

[chef]

Good catch Learning LasVegas,
Never underestimate the power of television (WSOP). I wonder how long poker's staying power will be?

[Falcon_Rob]

I keep reading articles and hearing rumors that poker's popularity is now on a downward slide, or at best tapering off. I just don't see it! Who's with me? I'm still up for playing hold 'em any day of the week!!

Also, with all of the media access and the $ involved, I don't see any reason why this "fad" should ever taper off or decline. To make a very weird comparison, poker right now kind of reminds me of NASCAR in the early 90s. NASCAR always had a regional and select appeal, but when ESPN starting telecasting every race and the sport became more accessible to everyone, it's appeal skyrocketed into what we see today. On a smaller scale, I can see this happening with poker. I guess the ONLY difference would be that poker does not lend itself to live telecasts very easily.

[abner2xday]

I am with you Rob. I don't see any decline. However, at least here locally in Washington, the casinos will have to start making hard choices poker choices, tournaments vs. live games. Tournaments are supposed to feed live games where the casino makes their $$. But what is happening are players are not sticking around for the live games. They are leaving once they are eliminated and going to another casino for another tournament. Just in my local area there are two daily tournaments at 11:00 AM, one at Noon, and another at 2:00 PM, all with $25 buy ins. If you do reasonably well in two tournys, you could play almost 6 hours worth of poker, eat two comped meals, have all you can drink non alcoholic beverages for $50 (plus tip for the servers) I know guys that will play nothing BUT tournaments, not even $3/$6. The casinos will have to either add more tournaments each day to keep people there or drop the percentage that they payout.

You know tournament poker is hot when a casino has a daily midnight tournament that sells out everyday (40 people). Final table does't START until 2:00 AM at the earliest

[Dougie]

The house never loses at poker.

Goes to show it takes more than a few tables to create a good poker room.

[ November 15, 2004, 04:04 PM: Message edited by: bazootch ]