Not really surprising to me. The room probably knows the regs who only look at raw numbers and what this will do to their win rate won't show up and play which is also good for the games.

Tourist only see that, hey they are giving away $800 four times an hour and don't have a clue what the rake is, nor do they care. They just came from playing triple zero roulette and BJ where they don't even know basic strat, and decide to try their luck at poker because "free" moniez.

And I get why regs hate it is because the promo money usually goes to a tourist and gets taken out of the local poker economy. But that's also what makes the games great. It's still a math question as to whether your win rate will increase enough playing against tourist to overcome the rake or nitting it up against other regs with the best rake structure in town.

Im a tourist and know where I'd play.

How do you figure that money that "comes back" is "extra" money in any sense of the word ?

How are stacks also "deeper" ? Unless that money now is more likely to get into action than it was prior to confiscation/redistribution, how are the players who were taxed the $3200 better off ?

This, especially at $1-3 where an $800 score is significant.

That $800 will walk before it gets lost back into the games.

Why not just drop the pretense and call it Jackpot Bingo ?

Have you ever been to a bingo hall and see how many people show up. And how many of those people that show up know or care what the rake is. People play the lottery and the rake is 50%.

So yeah I agree.

I agree with those two types of players, but I think there are also other types. One is the promo chasing reg that tries to hit the promo and hopes to risk as little as possible. This is the player that gets mad if someone raised PF because he thinks we should all be there to get the promo money, not money from other players. He will want to check it down postflop. Obviously this isn’t going to be one of the better regs. It might be a nit or a really loose player.

Another type is the reg that thinks the higher rake is great because it chases away some other regs. This is the guy that thinks he can have all the fish to himself so the higher rake doesn’t deter him at all and can even encourage him to play in the room.

Some of the players that played online hate the Venetian and that could be a reason the games are better there (if they are).

My biggest concern with this is other rooms in town will raise the rake. And then Venetian will raise it again. And other rooms will follow. Etc. In the last 4-5 years rake has gone up a lot faster in Vegas than it ever did before.

I’ve heard a lot of tourists in Vegas complain when the room didn’t have a promotion. They are used to it and expect it from a poker room.

I agree with this as well. But to your point made in the last paragraph, we all know that they don't care about Vegas grinders if the tourist are willing to pay it and it increases their bottom line. There has to be a tipping point I would think but they have changed most if not all of their pit games to the detriment of the player, yet tourist still play.

When did the V NOT have a promotion of some sort ? They have been running that BBJ for a long time.

I recall the days when the V frowned upon promotions. Years ago. That was their "niche." No promos.

Apparently it didn't work.

Venetian has 25 tables right now. Next highest number on the Strip is Aria with 12 tables. Highest off strip is Orleans with 17. Venetian has 19 1/3 NL tables right now. Aria and Orleans each have 3.

Seems like every time Venetian gets really busy they hurt the other rooms on the Strip.

25 tables raking max $6 . . . that's a lot of beans.

Back when they used to have limit games. They used to not have promotions for a long time. Rake was $4 max with no jackpot drop and $2 an hour comps 4-5 years ago. The rake was that low for several years. It went from $4+0 to $6+$3 REALLY quickly.

Actually it worked. They used to be the busiest room then too and they had other games besides NL. They don’t have the same management and started going in a different direction when they downsized the room, increased rake, cut the comps in half, etc. When they added the promotional drop they started getting a lot more business again.

right now for 2-5 games running on Bravo:

Venetian 6
Wynn 3
Aria 3
Bellagio 4

Any more questions?

Yeah That’s pretty sick.

Doesn't hurt Bellagio. In fact, 1/3 has been really good this year probably because all the reg nits are chasing jackpots at Venetian.

I just realized something. If the Venetian cancelled their BBJ and are now giving that money back to the poker players this month in promotions, are they violating gaming laws by increasing the rake this month from $5 to $6?

It depends on whether they're allowed to keep a portion of the promotional money or not. Some have opined that they can't. If it's a fact they can't, they may be in hot water for charging that extra $1 rake. And the advertisement posted earlier in this thread makes it clear they increased the rake just for the promotion. So the players have to pay a fee above and beyond what was understood when the BBJ monies were taken from the players.

I recommend someone in Vegas stop by the gaming office and make an inquiry/complaint. Maybe they will have to return that extra $1 (add that amount to the promo monies). Even better, they may have to return the monies and pay a fine too!

Yeah, prior to the construction in the poker room a few years ago there were no promotions. During that time rake went up and comps went down and then they started with the promotions. That's when I moved to Aria and I haven't been back since. Maybe things have changed but the games at Aria are much better than when I played at V.

How is the game quality? Nitty because people are there just for the promos? Or juicy because the more players usually means more bad players?

Someone in another thread said a reg calculated each player would make an extra $200 a day (on average) from the promotion. It’s interesting to see the room increase the rake and the jackpot drop and see one of its customers use this type of reasoning. He just ignores the rake, looks at the prizes and thinks it’s literally a free giveaway.

Says on Bravo the bad beat will continue as usual until hit, then it's over.

I played last week and watched everyone fold or limp/check to the river with aces or kings trying to hit a high hand. After a couple hours of $10 pots I couldn't take it anymore

If you think about it all you probably need is a good full house to win either the 1k or $600 prize since they're drawing every half hour.

Venetian was an awesome room back in those days. I can’t recall exact time frame but seems like 2005-2015, it was the crown jewel of low/mid limit NL poker.

Low rake, high $ comps, and outstanding management and dealers.

Haven’t played there in years now.

Have a few friends out there this week they said the evening/nights are still good. The nits seem to head out by 7 they said

I don't know about that. I thought the Wynn was better in the no-cap, peach chip days. It was fun watching guys reload 2 grand at a time in your 1/3 game. The way the comps worked was nice too. They gave them out in $20 increments and if you only had $15 coming to you, they would "lend" the rest to you, figuring you would "pay them back" with your play later.

But, as horrible as the room, tables, management, and dealers were, I still spent most of my time in the Bellagio 2/5 back in the day. The players were sooooooooo bad. The funny thing was, that even when really good players, like 5/10 players, tried to play in those essentially 1/2 games, they didn't know how to play them properly and lost money too.