I noticed 4 or 5 nits outside by the gondolas holding picket signs and leaflets. Something about fair working conditions.

The front man was someone named Adam or Alan, who looked a bit like Seidel.

Whats next?
Get rid of dealers and let the players take turns dealing?
Get rid of floor and let arguments get settled the old fashioned way...arm wrestling!
Get rid of sign in desk and just put a white erase board up and let the players figure it out!

Linq is opening up their poker room again on Aug 24th or so. Maybe they can steal away some Venetian business if they do $4 comp, no promos, comfortable (smaller) room, and add some cosmetic things kind of what Hard Rock did years ago but they were too off strip to get enough traffic.

I'm sure there are tons of cosmetic things that will cost pennies to add and won't hit the bottom line. Venetian is probably just concerned about poker's bottom line. It's all business decisions, not poker player decisions.

I feel like you fundamentally misunderstand why people play nitty in a full-handed ring game. If a game was six-handed most nits (or at least the ones you're annoyed by) would happily start playing more hands.

edit: Like, I read more of the thread and I don't even know where to go with you. You're like, "Do winning nits even exist?" "Nits suck and are easy to beat" and then a few responses later you're celebrating a hypothetical that would run nits out. And we're talking about full ring live 1-2 in Vegas. Such a dumb place to be nitty! So much smarter to master the art of creativity and aggression so you can extract more value from the complex dynamics you're creating on the felt.

Excellent posts by calli in this thread.

Expiration of unused comps is not surprising. Easy way to strike liabilities from the balance sheet. Same reason airlines expire miles.

Hi Everyone:

For what it's worth, here's my prediction:

1. The other Las Vegas Poker Rooms will not be affected by the drop in rake at The Venetian. That is those rooms that offer $2.00 hour for comps will stay that way.

2. The Venetian Poker Room will be downsized in the not to distant future and it will not be one of the major rooms in Las Vegas when that happens.

Best wishes,
Mason

I strongly disagree. They often just leave the game when it gets short. Or they ask the dealer to call the floor because they don't want to play short and they want to move to a full game (this is how many tables break).

They don't think "Oh good now I can get position more, play more hands and use more aggression." A lot of these guys tend to limp a lot and make fundamental mistakes.

I think it's a huge leap to assume the average nit at 1-2 NL plays well. Being a nit doesn't mean a player is even decent. Otherwise I should fear a guy like Iceman at the table.

I'm not celebrating that hypothetical. I just think it's amusing. I actually don't hate nits btw. I just don't think much of the way they play.

I think a lot of nits only know one way to play. Their plan is to wait for big hands, and then try to stack people. When the game gets short, they can easily become afraid because when they do make that big hand, fewer players will be there to pay them off (fewer pots go multiway). Nits also have silly fears like "Playing short is more expensive because they have to pay the blinds a lot more.".

I don't doubt that someone can be nitty and play well, but I rarely see that in 1-2 NL games. If they can play short then they are way better than many of the other 1-2 NL players and are likely to move up to 2-5.

Yeah, I didn't say they'd be back in rake competition, I said

interesting predictions. can you say why (for both)?

i think its because all the vegas locals and homeless people would walk into the casino, bee line it to the coffee bar and then bolt out before anyone noticed.

I can see the truth in masons predictions... casinos really want to reclaim the floor space tye major rooms have occupied in the past and turn it back into profitability.

As a customer its felt like the poker room wasn't a priority recently. Wouldn't be surprised to see the room downsized.

It wasn't that long ago when they increased the size of the room (I think only 2 years ago), but with the way things are going I wouldn't be surprised if Mason is right.

I remember the Venetian going to $2 when the Wynn increased comps from $1 to $3 for a few months before finally settling on $2. I think Aria was usually at $2 before those two did it but I'm not 100 percent sure.

It's a shame. I think that V is the most aesthetically attractive and comfortable room in Vegas. It's my favorite room ever in fact. Great lighting, comfortable seats, soothing color scheme and nice cards and chips.

I'm going to be at the V this weekend. Looks like I'll be using up all my comps. Thanks for the info guys.

You're right. Drunk posting on my part. There is no denying that an absurd number of tables break quickly when games get slightly short, and that there are a ton of low stakes Vegas nits who are bad at poker. Sorry for derailing the thread. I appreciate the respectful reply when you had me by the balls.

I assume there enough casual players in Vegas that solely playing tight is enough to offset the rake.

I think it's best to do away with games naturally. Right now there are more people playing 1/2 than 2/5, no? At some point when most people are playing the second lowest stakes, you can drop the lowest.

I watched the 1/2 LHE die at my local cardroom. As people quit (or die, given the average age of the table), the game just got spread less and less often.


As someone pointed out, it's more likely min buyins and more likely 1-2 sessions, so $200-$500, not $2,500.

But the overall question is valid, $200 is a lot of money to some people. My first TRIP budget was $150, so I totally understand.

The simple answer is that with each year, $200 means less and less. Every 25-30 years money is halved in value, so $200 in the late 1980's would be worth what $400 is worth now.

Beyond that, though, most peoples' salaries grow faster than inflation for their working careers. People get promoted or job hop in addition to inflationary adjustments. That $150 I took to Vegas in the late 1990's represented 5 months of savings; that's less than a day's salary for me now.

True, but as with most flat taxes, the devil's in the details. An income-neutral hourly disproportionately hits slow tables, e.g., small stakes NL at 20-25 hands/hr, over faster ones, e.g., medium stakes LHE at 45-50 hands/hr. You also end up with coordinated exoduses when time is collected.

When I was in Vegas in June I was playing at the V on a Tuesday night at like 10:30PM. It was a full table and it a few people left and we were down to 6 handed. We played 1 hand 6 handed and then this old go calls floor and says bring more people!!!

The floor says the list is empty and the old guys go then lets break the table and move. Floor asks is that's what everybody wants, a couple people said yes, I said I don't care and 2 guys said lets play short handed.

I said sure lets play short and floor goes $1 rake for 3 handed. The old guy was like WTF and says. There are FULL tables you can move to over there. None of us said anything and the 3 people who wanted a table change moved.

We probably played probably 3 hands max of 6 handed and then 5 new players get sent over. lol

Nits going to nit.

There were building the expansion June 2014 from what I remember. So it opened maybe a year ago.

lol I got like $400 in poker comps and no plans on going back soon, but when I do I will definitely be splurging like you will be.

It would be great if I could use it at like Cut or something like that.

So glad I don't live in Vegas. SoCal poker > Vegas.

Are Wynn comps really at $1.50 an hour now? Can anyone confirm this? I asked how many comps I had a month or two ago and it was clear that they were still at $2 an hour then.

I don't buy the Wynn comps being at $1.50 simply because an employee at the Venetian said that. I've seen employees in poker rooms make what were clearly inaccurate statements about other rooms before.

Possibly so, but not in the way that is relevant to this thread. The rake in SoCal is much higher, and the comps aren't really any better. They recently reduced comps in the high limit games in LA as well.

Isn't the max rake $7 with money dropped even if there isn't a flop?

I just called them to settle the uncertainty in this thread. The Wynn poker hourly rate is now $1.50.

.

Terrible terrible idea