The Strip casino is expanding its poker options, while other venues stay away from the game
A little over a week after Las Vegas casinos reopened for business, The Venetian’s poker room seems to be more comfortable operating under new conditions. The gambling house has announced that it is ready to host multitable tournaments in a shootout format on Fridays and Saturdays at 11:10 AM. These $250 buy-in tournaments will be capped at 80 players who will be spread out at 16 five-handed tables.
A shootout tournament means that a player needs to defeat all the opponents in the table in order to move forward. 80 participating players will play in five-handed tables that will be reduced to 16 winners, who will then advance to the next round. Those winners will then face each other in four-handed tables, which will define the last four competitors advancing to the final table.
The format of the tournaments had to be adapted to the regulations for five players maximum per table and also keeping social distancing guidelines established by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The Venetian is also offering other single-table tournaments with a $230 buy-in that runs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 AM to 4 PM. These are more like sit-and-go events, which will start as soon as five players register.
Besides the Venetian, poker players can also find live poker action at the Golden Nugget, the Orleans and the South Point, which are the only other gambling venues that brought back live poker after reopening. Besides the Venetian, tournament action can only be found in South Point, which is also running single-table tournaments.
