To the dismay of all participants, the two remaining events from the PokerGO Stairway to Millions poker series hosted by the poker room at the Venetian in Las Vegas have been cancelled by the Las Vegas behemoth.
Events Probably Cancelled Due to Expected Overlay
Pokernews reported that the tournament, which was supposed to be played on Sunday, September 25, has been cancelled. The buy-in for it had to be $25,500 with a prize pool of $500,000. Some of the players participating in the PokerGO Stairway to Millions have already won seats for the Sunday event.
Then on Monday, September 26, there should have been another event with buy-in of $51,000 and guaranteed winnings of $600,000 but that was cancelled as well. Free seats could have been won by players participating in the Sunday even, which has already been called off.
The Venetian Resort Poker Room has cancelled both events and there are speculations that the decision is due to overlays, which the host is expecting.
Eight Events Exceeded the Guarantees, Two Fell Short
During all of the first eight events of the PokerGO series the guaranteed prize pools were exceeded. However, the last two events did not reach the guarantee.
The tournament that was played on Friday, September 16, had a buy-in of $10,400 and a guarantee of $200,000. However, only 18 players signed up. This meant that an additional $20,000 were needed to reach the promised prize pot.
The same happened with the event played on Saturday, September 17, which also fell two players short and had an overlay of $30,000. The buy-in for it was $15,500, while the guarantee was $300,000.
Players Are Furious at the Venetian’s Decision
The participating players were furious at this cancellation. Adam Hendrix, who finished second in the 9th event of the Stairway to Millions series and participated in the event that ended up as the final due to the cancellation, was offered cash instead of his seat. Hendrix tweeted that it is absolutely unacceptable to cancel an event with a guaranteed prize pool.
Other poker players also chimed in with similar critiques. There were comments that the Venetian has done this before and that players should stop playing poker there. Players also called for PokerGO to stop organizing their events in partnership with the Venetian.
According to calculations, the cancellation meant that the overall prize pool of the PokerGO series was reduced from $2.15 million to $1.05 million.
Unfortunately, other casinos have done the same before and probably this will not be the last time that it happens.
For example, this summer Los Angeles’ Hustler Casino cancelled events in the middle of an ongoing tournament with $250,000 guarantee as it became clear this amount would not be reached.
The Venetian has so far declined to comment on the cancellation of the events.