Sheldon Adelson strikes poker again

Sheldon Adelson, the man who was greatly behind restricting U.S. online poker, has done it again. I first learned about this from a live feed from Neeme & Owen. As I'm sure all poker players here know, when a card room lists a guarantee on a tournament, the amount of money that people who cash in the tournament increases when entree fees surpass the guarantee level, and the card room also makes money off the rake. Not so now with the Venetian structure.

https://www.cardschat.com/news/venetian-poker-room-las-vegas-tournament-84381

I guess this could be a +EV for those who play as I'm guessing that a number of players, like myself, will be giving up on DeepStake and others tournaments there. The Venetian was my favorite room when it opened, what with meals for tournament players and outstanding customer service in an attractive room. I'm now avoiding it.

 

I read this a couple days ago. It is no longer a guaranteed minimum prize pool it is now a stated prize pool.

 

Yeah, we were talking about this elsewhere. Madness.

https://www.pocketfives.com/articles/venetian-poker-room-earns-criticism-over-total-prize-pool-series-626520/

Another good breakdown of it on P5s.

 

Crazy. Hopefully it doesn't oversell and he loses out.

 

More the reason why I have only played in cash games for many years now.

 

This is kind of insane. I really hope this is a bust for them. I'm sure you're going to have people hanging around to see if there is a shot to be made if the turn out is low. You'll also have players who simply don't understand the difference here.

 

I am not aware of any casino on the planet that charges 100% rake on entries over a guarantee. Casinos don't list guarantees for big prize pool tournaments without the near certain likelihood they will reach the threshold and more. The first major poker boycott revolved around Shelton's lobbying against online poker. This institution of an 100% rake is far more egregious than the former.

I have boycotted the Venetian for many reasons well before the first major poker boycott. Venetian/Palazzo are the only Las Vegas Strip casino hotels I have never stayed at least once, and I won't until Sheldon and or his estate fully divests all interests in the property.

 

Unless you are ignorant of the entire situation I have never understood why any self respecting poker player would step foot on his property.

 

Thank you, I second that...also for a variety of reasons!

 

What's next guaranteed prize cash game pots? Sheldon Adelson has been anti-poker/internet for 20+ years now, and poker players are still supporting him, at least indirectly.

 

The problem is not everyone knows who he is or what he stands for and it is a nice property. That means a lot of recreational players, who don't know better, end up there. When you get a lot of recreational players it creates good games and the pros will go where the soft games are because it's good for their wallet, regardless of the moral/political stance they might be making.

 

He's been anti-gambling in general for that long. Which I could be sympathetic to if coming from other advocates (I'd disagree, but I'd at least understand the sentiment), but the man literally owns casinos.

 

He’s a small minded man who doesn’t understand the internet and technology. That’s a shame because the Venetian is a nice property and the poker room has generally been a decent option to play at. I do agree with you, he’s not anti gambling, he’s anti internet.

 

wrong again. he's neither anti gaming, nor anti internet. he likes his money and therefore, he is anti competition.

 

I think you've hit the nail on the head,

 

How many entrants did this get?

 

I try pretty hard to not give that man a dollar. He’s a loathsome toad.

I was annoyed last time that I cracked fractionally and had a pizza at Grimaldi’s (was pretty good pizza though), that’s as far as I’ve gone in a decade.

 

I like Sushi Samba too much not to give him any money, lol.

 

Damn it Marky, now I’m gonna have to give him more, I love sushi and my annual conference is at Sands.

Still not playing poker there though. I mean Playing 2/5 as I do (seldom do tournaments unless I’ve busted my bank roll and need to burn time) m, the rake is effectively nothing (vs my $2k a day non poker gambling budget) but principles gosh darn it.
Alas I’m not good enough for 5/10, that’s when people get immune to me tilting ‘em

 

Sushi Samba has a great happy hour, from memory, so it's almost like him giving you money

I gave him some this year, as I had 4 comp nights to use the back end of my trip, and because packing is a hassle for me in my mobility scooter (probably amusing to watch) I paid for 2 nights casino rate.

Grimaldis & Sushi Samba will always get my money, and I've got a return to CUT & first visit to Delmonicos on the list.

That said, I've only played 3 poker tournaments there in 10 years.