November in Las Vegas. Perfect weather, car conventions, and the North American Poker Tour. At least that's how it has been for the last three years.
But trouble may be ahead for poker at Resorts World. The embattled casino is now rumored to be rethinking its world class poker room in the face of declining foot traffic. We hear rumors every day in Las Vegas, but there's enough smoke to pay attention to this one.
That plus more in our weekly roundup of everything Inside Vegas:
- The future of the NAPT
- Boston Jimmy's high-stakes straight flush
- Robbie and Chainsaw host mixed game festivals
- The Orleans drops a Winter Poker Open schedule
Resorts World rumors fly
The NAPT is holding down its temporary home at Resorts World until Wednesday, but the series couldn't escape town before rumors about the casino's poker room hit the X-verse.
There's no reason to panic just yet. Vital Vegas, known to the government as Scott Roeben, has a checkered batting average as the local rumor dealer. Resorts World, however, has been embroiled in a great deal of legal controversy and financial struggle, so it's a believable scenario. The casino is not speaking on it, but the rumor suggests brass are thinking on the possibility of closing the poker room or bringing in a third-party operator. Roeben predicts its closure by the end of the year, and we probably agree. It's a shame, as Leon Wheeler and his team run one of the best rooms in town.
Meanwhile, the NAPT is wrapping up this week with a Main Event that drew 738 entries to the upstairs space. The turnout was down from 2024, where 895 entries showed up for the $5,300 championship. NAPT's first year in 2023 ran a $1,650 Main Event with 1,095 entries. The streets are saying that this is the final pass of a three-year deal for the NAPT at Resorts World. No word yet on if it will return, but numbers are down this year, and the casino may be moving away from poker altogether.
High-stakes straight flush
Elsewhere on The Fabulous Las Vegas Strip, we stopped by to see Boston Jimmy this weekend at Wynn Poker Room, where he runs one of the biggest and best games in town. Wynn remains the top spot for cash poker and Jimmy's high-stakes game holds down the back room from Thursday through Sunday every week. The game was six deep on Sunday in the echo of afternoon football games.
Jimmy, who shoots, edits, and publishes the best hands from the game every week, put us on to a flopped straight flush that has to be seen.
"Twenty five years in poker and I’ve never seen anything like it," Jimmy said. See it for yourself below:
That's not all. Jimmy tossed us another one where Mariano and Nik Airball clashed over a $42,000 pot. "Welcome to the game," Airball said as he sucked out on the river. Never a dull moment in Jimmy's game at Wynn Las Vegas.
All mixed up next week
If we are witnessing the last days of poker at Resorts World, we will go out with a bang next week when Robbie Strazynski's Mixed Game Festival hits from November 16-20.
Five days of fun are on offer in the 12th edition of Robbie's Drawmaha paradise, with a $300 Miami John commemorative Omaha 8 tournament, a $300 TORSE, and plenty of cash poker in between. Check out the full schedule and grab a seat next week.
Meanwhile, Allen Kessler's Chainsaw Mixed Series of Poker is underway over at Planet Hollywood, where the titular host has designed 12 events through Nov. 20. The series makes the jump to The Strip after a successful outing at The Orleans in October.
Speaking of The Orleans, they have dropped a schedule for their Winter Open Series. The locals-focused room broke records all summer long with its WSOP counterprogramming, but they've shortened their Winter Open by more than a week from a 2024 schedule that featured $2.1 million in guarantees from Nov. 17-Dec. 22. This year's festival will put up over $1.5 million in guarantees from Nov. 28 through Dec. 21, culminating in a $600 event with a $300K guarantee. The shorter schedule avoids a typically slow Thanksgiving week.
Keep an eye out for the Battle of the Sexes event on 12/12. They'll play two separate tournaments (Gentlemen and Ladies), where the top three finishers in each flight advance to play a winner-take-all final table for a $2,000 bonus.
Images courtesy of Julie Thomson/Rachel Kay Winter/Rational Intellectual Holdings, Ltd.
