Live tournament poker has basically been non-existent since March of this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak. As the virus took hold around the world, casinos began to shut down and avoid offering services in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. Once casinos began opening back up, they still did not offer poker gaming in the beginning as it consists of high contact elements like poker chips and cards. As poker players have been strained to find gaming, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The Venetian Casino in Las Vegas is now offering the DeepStack Showdown Poker Series. This is the first major event to take place in many months in the region.
Poker Series Gaming
Players were happy to see a poker series emerge in Las Vegas. The event began on September 7 and will continue through September 27. There is over $400,000 in total prize money up for grabs across 32 events.
The poker room of the Venetian was one of the first to offer tournament style gaming after the pandemic shut down casinos earlier in the year. They started in June with single-table SNGs and then moved to MTTs with shootout events soon after. Single-day events were added in late July.
The casino has stated they have seen great support for their poker tournaments and decided to put together the poker tournament series to offer the community even more. They have made adjustments to the tournament setting to ensure player safety and health.
The goal was to provide the poker series and keep safety in mind. The series has no set participation requirement, which is good, as the casino does not know how many players will show up to compete in the various events.
The casino requires that all players wear masks even through plexiglass dividers have been installed. tables and chairs will be sanitized regularly along with chips and dividers as well as other elements of the game.
Series Breakdown
The Venetian really took time to consider the schedule for the series, offering value as well as protecting themselves. The largest event on the schedule is the MonsterStack No Limit Hold’em event. This tournament has a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool and a $400 buy-in. It runs from September 23 to the 27.
According to the casino, the initial series has guarantees that are 50% less than the events held before March’s shutdown. The casino has a policy of evaluating each DeepStack Poker Series after it is completed and then makes adjustments as needed base on participation.
The series began with a NLH SuperStack and Bounty. Throughout this week, players can participate in additional Bounty events as well as SuperStacks, Pot Limit Omaha events and more. There are many events on the schedule and it will be interesting to see how much participation these tournaments stir up as the pandemic is still ongoing.
