It was an interesting week for anyone in Las Vegas for the 2014 World Series of Poker, as the hordes of poker players who have descended on the city may have to adjust their off-site Las Vegas poker playing plans as they’ll find a familiar poker room has been closed but a newly renovated has reopened to take its place.
In this installment of the Nevada Online Poker Review we’ll let you know which properties are taking part in this poker room musical chairs game, as well as the latest news coming out of the Rio during the 2014 WSOP over the past week.
We’ll also look at the latest online tournament results in Nevada, check out how the WSOP has affected the online poker traffic numbers, and detail the latest promotion Ultimate Poker has cooked up for its Nevada patrons.
So sit right back and you’ll hear a tale… Sorry, the Gilligan’s Island theme song has been running through my head because I’m heading to Martha’s Vineyard tomorrow.
Palms shutters poker room
The Palms Poker Room has always been considered one of the nicer and more player-friendly in Vegas, with even the hard to please locals fond of the poker games at the Palms. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and after a period of feast the Palms poker room has gone through a period of famine over the past couple of years, and the room was simply unable to maintain its player base after moving to a new location inside the casino according to USPoker.com’s John Mehaffey, who was also a big fan of the room.
As Mehaffey explains, the Palms closure is yet another in a long line of closures across Vegas over the past year.
Fortunately, the Palms closure was a trade-off, as Caesars Palace recently reopened their poker room, and the room looks terrific.
Caesars Palace reopens renovated poker room
Once again I’m going to turn to John Mehaffey for help with this story, as John got a behind the scenes look at the room (and snapped a dozen or so pictures you can view here) which just opened in the area next to the sports-book.
The spacious 16-table poker room is one of the bigger in Las Vegas and fills a nice void for players looking to play a little poker that want to avoid the hotspots like Bellagio, Aria, or the Venetian.
#WSOP2014 Updates
The WSOP always produces too many stories to cover appropriately, especially when you’re devoting about 100 words a week to it like me! So with that in mind I’m going to steer you to a couple of the bigger stories over the past week.
Matusow’s penalty brings about the first right or wrong debate of the 2014 WSOP
Weekly Guaranteed Tournaments in Nevada
WSOP Main Event Satellite
With the WSOP in town it was only a matter of time before these online satellites started heating up, and this past weekend saw the best turnout to date as 65 players registered for the tournament with dreams of Main Event seat, creating a first and second place prize.
- tommasera – $10,000 WSOP Main Event seat
- Maynardo – $3,000
The $10K Guarantee tournament at Ultimate Poker
Ultimate’s weekly guarantee pulled in 94 runners this week, which meant a nearly $1,500 overlay for the participants.
Here are the final table payouts from the tournament:
- Blane_cards $2,900
- jeff89074 $2,000
- BIGP707 $1,500
- jigglybluff $1,000
- Shoveitrick $800
- KillGameKat $600
- bansman $500
- twinsdad $400
- Slowbedon $300
$15k Chase the Dream
If you’re into overlays than Ultimate Poker’s Chase the Dream tournament series is right up your alley (more on Chase the Dream below) as this past week saw 107 entries for just $25 a piece, which meant the overlay for this tournament was north of $12,000!
- Limpkin $5,000
- whaassuuppp $5,000
- Other Level $1,500
- WhiskeyNeat $1,000
- bosilla $700
- JILLIAN $550
- floppintrips $400
- SpewArtist $250
- $Annunaki$ $150
Traffic trends in Nevada
WSOP.com has seen their average cash-game traffic tick even further upwards over the past week, with an average of 150 cash-game players populating the site’s tables according to www.pokerscout.com.
The traffic increase seems to be coming from new players (very good news for Nevada) as Ultimate Poker has been able to maintain their traffic numbers, which is now just 1/3 of WSOP.com’s, as Ultimate Poker is averaging just 50 cash-game players..
The word on the street
Ultimate Poker wants you to Chase the Dream
Ultimate Poker is back with a new promotion for their Nevada customers, giving players in Nevada the opportunity to turn $1 into $10,000 every week during “Chase the Dream,” which is running from now through July 5.
Here is a look at the company’s press release on the promotion:
Arguably the most exciting promotion Ultimate Poker has ever created, “Chase the Dream” features daily qualifying events and a weekly tournament in which the top two finishers each week are awarded $5,000 in cash. Winners are then able to choose whether or not they want to try to double up their prize in an adrenaline pumping 50/50 blackjack wager at Red Rock Resort or Green Valley Ranch Resort. Those that win will be awarded $10,000, while others that are not as lucky will get 2,500 U-Dollars credited to their account.
In addition to daily qualifying tournaments, players can earn a spot in a “Chase the Dream” final tournament by participating in Ultimate Poker’s “100% Reload Bonus.” Now through June 15, any player that deposits $100 or more into their account will have a pending bonus of $100 released in $25 increments for every 500 XP earned and will also receive a ticket for the “Chase the Dream” final event.
“Chase the Dream” is held each week, features a $15,000 prize pool and will conclude on Saturday, July 5. For complete details on “Chase the Dream,” visit www.UltimatePoker.com.
