The Venetian Hotel and Casino Resort opened it's new 10,500 square-foot poker room on Sunday with an inaugural poker tournament attracting many professional poker players, including former WSoP champions Johnny Chan (1989) and Doyle Brunson (1976 & 1977). With almost 300 players showing up for the event, the grand opening was a huge success and promises a bright future for the new poker room.
The Venetian experimented unsuccessfully with poker on several occasions since it's launch in 1999, but it looks they did it right this time. After spending $2.6 on the new poker room, The Venetian now has something to be proud of: a state-of-the art poker room that will appeal to all kinds of players, both recreational and professional.
The Venetian poker room is one of the largest on the Las Vegas Strip with 39 poker tables covering nearly 11,000 square feet. It's exquisitely decorated with rich leather and wood, and equipped with the latest technology, including 21 large-screen plasma televisions.
The poker room is completely smoke-free and offers a separate high-stakes area with 7 high-limit tables. Currently you can play Limit and No-Limit Holdem, Seven-card Stud and Omaha at various limits.
The room is managed by Kathy Raymond, who managed the poker room of Foxwoods Casino, the largest casino in the world, for over 14 years.
The inaugural grand-opening tournament was a huge success with almost 300 players participating, much more than expected. Many professional poker players and celebrities attended the event, including Johnny Chan, Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, Howard Lederer, Phil Laak and Annie Duke.
The first prize of the tourney, a brand new Lotus sportscar, was scooped by Beatric Stranzixger after beating former World Series of Poker champion Carlos Mortensen in an exciting heads-up finale.
If you plan to visit the new poker room at the Venetian make sure to also checkout the Guggenheim Hermitage museum, which is part of the Venetian complex. The museum was designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and is currently exhibiting works from the Flemish baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) and some of his pupils.