Poker News

Home > Poker News > Other Poker Tours > WSOP isn't the only game in town

Subscribe to PokerListings.com news feed:

Online Bonus

Monthly $5,000 freerolls at Titan Poker
Read More

Saturday, May 31, 2008

WSOP isn't the only game in town

By Sarah Polson

The Rio may have the most publicized game in town with the start of the World Series of Poker today, but several other casino resorts in Las Vegas have big poker action to offer as well over the coming months.

Binion's Poker Classic

Binion's got a jump on the action with the start of its Second Annual Poker Classic on Wednesday. The Poker Classic will offer up 43 tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $100 up to $2,000 for the main event.

The tournament series began with a casino employee event on Wednesday, and a $150 No-Limit Hold'em event wrapped up on Thursday. Today features another Hold'em event, and players can look forward to future poker tournament action in just about any poker variation they can think of.

For a full schedule of events, visit the Binion's Web site.

Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III

The Venetian started up its latest Deep Stack series on Thursday with a casino employee event, and the first regular event of the series coincided with the start of the World Series of Poker today.

With a $540 buy-in and $7,500 in chips to start for the first event in contrast to the $10,000 event taking place at the WSOP today, the Deep Stack offers more poker play for the average Joe.

"With lower buy-ins, larger chip counts, more play and great blind structures and our luxurious, spacious and exquisitely decorated poker room, these tournaments are like no other in Vegas," said Kathy Raymond, The Venetian director of poker operations, when the tournament was announced in October.

Past Deep Stack Extravaganza events have attracted players from all over the world, including Australia, Colombia, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Mexico, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The tournament series has also seen its fair share of pros take on the events. Professional players who've taken on the event include Kenna James, Marsha Waggoner, Frankie O'Dell, Chris Moneymaker, Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher.

The Deep Stack Extravaganza III will mainly offer No-Limit Hold'em poker action, but there will also be a couple Omaha events and a H.O.R.S.E. tournament. There will be a new event starting daily at noon up until the $5,000 main event starts on July 13.

For a full schedule and details for the events, visit The Venetian's Web site.

Golden Nugget The Grand

The Golden Nugget was inspired after the movie The Grand was filmed there featuring a poker tournament called The Grand. Poker players can take part in the inaugural, no-longer-fictitious Grand poker series starting June 6.

The series will offer No-Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Omaha Eight-or-Better, H.O.R.S.E., Pot-Limit Omaha and Limit Omaha Eight-or-Better events. Special components include a senior event and the GN Poker Queens Ladies Event plus the Cards, Celebrities and a Cause tournament hosted by Montel Williams to benefit MS research.

The charity event will kick off the series of 30 events on June 6 with a $1,080 buy-in. For this tournament, half of the $1,000 per-person prize pool will benefit the Montel Williams MS Foundation, with the other half distributed to the winning tournament players.

The winner of the event will also earn a Grand series bracelet. The only other events awarding bracelets are the Ladies Event and the $1,080 main event.

For more details and the full schedule of events, visit the Golden Nugget Web site.

Bellagio Cup IV

Just as the World Series is heading into the final stretch in July, the Bellagio will be firing up its Bellagio Cup IV, which culminates in a World Poker Tour main event.

Last year the main event was won by Kevin Saul, aka beLOWaBOVe, after he defeated Mike "The Mouth" Matusow in heads-up play. True to WPT form, the tournament paid out more than $1 million for the winner, and even Matusow went home more than $600,000 richer.

All of the events of the Bellagio Cup IV are No-Limit Hold'em tournaments. They range in buy-ins from $2,000 up to the $15,000 needed for the main event.

This year the events of the Bellagio Cup IV will begin play July 1 with the main event starting July 11. For the full schedule, visit the Bellagio Web site.