Today, at 11:10 AM Vegas time, the WPT Venetian kicked off. Today is just one of three Day 1s. So players need not worry about having missed the boat. The $5,000 buy-in event is one of the jewels in the World Poker Tour's crown. Especially this season with its U.S.-centric schedule. It comes with a $3 million guarantee. Plus the winner's name will be engraved forever on the Mike Sexton Cup.
Already, the Palazzo gaming room at the Venetian is filling up with stars.
Veerab Zakarian, hot off his WPT win at the Borgata Poker Open, is riffling his chips in the field. Kitty Kuo is playing too, chasing a last-longer bet with her coach according to her Twitter account.
Chance Kornuth has already busted at least one player at his table. Kenny Hallaert and Darren Elias are locked in combat at another table, while Xuan Liu and Maria Konnikova looked much friendlier at theirs.
Chips are flying and bodies falling.
"Day 1A of #WPTVenetian is underway w/ unlimited re-entries until registration closes at 9pm, and a guaranteed prize pool of at least $3 million," the WPT's publicity team wrote.
"Recent WPT Champion Veerab Zakarian is one of 12 champions we've spotted in the field so far," the team added.
The WPT Venetian structure
Players all start with 40,000 in chips. Blinds start at 100/200 with a big blind ante of 200. Blinds increase every 60 minutes, and the day's play will continue until ten levels have been played.
Days 1B and 1C will take place tomorrow (July 3) and the day after (July 4). Late reg is open for the first nine levels. Players who bust out in level 10 on days 1A and 1B can still re-enter the next day. The final chance to re-enter will be at the end of level 9 on day 1C.
Anyone looking for details once they are actually at the Venetian might want to note the unusual reference numbering system. While the WPT considers the WPT Venetian series a separate event, the Venetian's poker room rolls the WPT tourneys in with the rest of their Deep Stack season. As a result, the WPT Venetian is numbered #88 on the poker room's Deep Stack schedule. Look for info under that reference.
The Venetian's poker room tweeted the Cliff Notes version of the tourney details.
"Registration is open," the poker room's Twitter account said this morning. "For today's 11:10 AM DCPS Event #88 $5,000 NLH @WPT Venetian $3 Mill guarantee Day 1A (4Day). 40,000 chips with 60/90 minute levels. Registration & re-entry until 8:40 PM."
Featured image source: Flickr by WPT
