Not the guarantees we're used to from the Venetian, but that's understandable, and man, is this a sight for sore eyes. I heard these will be 8-handed with plexiglass dividers.

https://www.venetian.com/content/dam...0-Schedule.pdf

I played the evening bounty tournament there Thursday. It was the only poker I played during my trip to Vegas this week. (got home last night)

Thoughts:
This my first live tournament poker since the first weekend in March, and playing again was fun.

The Venetian floor and dealers did an awesome job with keeping things clean and safe. A few times they had to remind one or two players to pull their masks up over their noses. They wiped down the table, seat and glass anytime a player was eliminated and before bringing a new player to that seat. I saw them hand cleaning chips and cards at different locations as well. The dealers were asking players to hand sanitize - either at a station near the table or by taking some out of the handheld sanitizer they had on the table.

The tables were 8 handed (should be the new norm post-pandemic, IMO), and the glass walls for each seat/player were not bad at all. You had the feeling of having a set space for your chips, cards, beverage, arms, legs... no cramping, no players on top of you in any capacity like at some 9/10 seated games.

If all poker rooms had glass like this - and maintained the same cleaning procedures as the Venetian staff did, I would play pandemic poker on the regular... if it were available to me locally.

I’m set to return to Vegas next month when this series is scheduled and of course would play 3/4 events during the days I’d be there - however - I’m on the fence about going back in September. The airports and airlines and most spaces in the casino were great and for the most part I felt safe or distanced enough. Masks everywhere inside was mandated at the 11 casinos we gambled out this week. We go to LV 2-4 times per year, but something this trip was off. I can’t even say it was just not having the bars open and being able to play some VP and have some easy access to cocktails. It was a general feeling. I’ve never not felt comfortable or safe in Vegas, until this trip. And again, I wouldn’t say it was all because of the coronavirus. I was disappointed by the clientele and the behavior. Rude, loud, disrespectful, obnoxious, entitled are just some of the adjectives I’d use to describe things.

Great Rrport . Very encouraging 👍

Looks like it's getting a great turnout!

DeepStack Showdown
Event #3 $340 NLH DoubleStack
$50K Guarantee
Day 1A + 1B
Chip Counts:

Players: 668
Prize Pool: $187,040
82 players remaining
72 places paid
Day 2 Thur Sept 10 @ 11:00 AM

I played the 6:10 $125 on Monday and Wednesday. First time in a poker room since COVID. Kind of a surreal experience. Plexiglass dividers between each seat, 8-handed play, dealers requiring hand sanitizer before you sit down after each break, wipe downs on empty seats when a player is busted. Field sizes are quite decent, given the context. I had fun. Is it safe? I kind of doubt it. It feels like a lot of placebo to me, and if you had an in irresponsible person in the field with COVID, I imagine it could still spread despite all the precautions. Ultimately, you're still sitting in a confined space with hundreds of people for several hours. You have to decide for yourself whether the thrill of live poker justifies the health risk. I did not come out here for the purpose of playing. Actually, I was taking refuge from some of the horrible West Coast fire smoke, but since I'm here anyway, I decided to jump in and play some small stuff.

I'll say this though: LV feels surprisingly "normal" given the crazy situation right now. Most people are wearing masks everywhere (some idiots are going maskless and a decent chunk are pulling it below their nostrils to make it pointless). Seating is limited at bars/restaurants and some things are closed outright. Really though, it's more crowded than I would've expected and hardly has the "ghost town" vibe I read about a couple months back when I was contemplating coming out for the online WSOP.

Very Honest review . How many runners when you played ?

99 on Monday and 107 last night.

thanks for reporting this. I'm considering going for the november series. The gtns are solid for these times honestly. This sept series is showing they are going to smash the small guarantees. I find gtns kinda stupid anyways bc casinos tend to lay out gtns that will easily be hit.

Could you pull your mask down at all to breath for even a few seconds? I find wearing a mask really uncomfortable when I walk at work per se. I def need to test out wearing a mask for a while when sitting before I go.

I'm just worried that covid will hit the fan when I go and tournies will somehow be cancelled. I was in AC when this started going poorly. I won my first wsop circuit event..... Played the rest of the series but they ended up cancelling the main event in AC and a few other events. I don't want this to happen when I go to Vegas as I don't have a ton of vacation time and try to save it.

BTW i think 8 handed tables would be great but casinos need to make money. Tournament poker / poker in general isn't some big money maker for the casinos so I really don't mind 9 handed play. 10-handed tables suck but its necessary for most rooms with limited staff / etc.

I agree with your point that casino has to make money . And that’s the reason we see no hurry to open up Poker room or tournaments.
I love to play 9 handed but due to current condition I would not mind 8 or 7 handed table (More room between the players is better) . And I even don’t mind paying little more fees ( rake or juice )