When Las Vegas' Venetian debuted their deep stack concept a few years ago, it was an instant success-and why not? The simple act of offering competitors more chips for their buy-in along with slowly escalating blinds-and therefore more play for their money-struck a responsive chord with players.
The Venetian now runs deep-stack events four times annually, including a deep stack event that runs during the World Series of Poker, and takes advantage of the hordes of poker players who descend on Las Vegas during the early summer.
This April's 2009 Deep Stack Extravaganza II, the second of four this year, is pegged to the mid-range tournament market.
As we go to press this event is nearly complete, but not concluded, and we'll have wrap-up coverage next issue, including their most expensive event, a $2,500 no-limit hold 'em tournament. This series got off to a good start when Ryan Avery of Redmond, OR bested 276 players to take home $24,772. In the second event, Robert Sanders of Ontario, Canada prevailed over 340 entrants to win $30,515. In Event No. 3, 2008 WSOP finalist Dennis Phillips showed he still has the right stuff by overcoming a field of 244 players to take home $36,496.
More coverage follows, and we'll bring you the conclusion of this tournament series next issue. If you're a fan of Deep Stack, stay tuned. We'll be reporting on this summer's event while we also bring you results from the WSOP.
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/17/09 DEEP STACK EXTRAVAGANZA
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $50
PLAYERS 196
PRIZE POOL $98,298
1. Thomas Slifka . . . . . $37,371
2. Jeff Adams . . . . . . . $16,070
3. Rafael Mendoza . . . . $9,713
4. William Purcell . . . . . $7,947
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/16/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $30
PLAYERS 298
PRIZE POOL $86,271
1. Jon Ho Christensen $26,746
2. Steve Rosling . . . . . . $15,529
3. Kevin O'Leary . . . . . $8,627
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/15/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $30
PLAYERS 285
PRIZE POOL $82,508
1. Jason Stern . . . . . . . $25,578
2. Silvian Centiu . . . . . $14,851
3. Amoz Tong . . . . . . . . $8,251
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/14/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $30
PLAYERS 258
PRIZE POOL $74,691
1. Leo Vargas . . . . . . . $23,155
2. Hassan Kamoei . . . . $13,444
3. Joannis Xirotyris . . . $7,469
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/13/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $30
PLAYERS 224
PRIZE POOL $64,975
1. Robert Welsh . . . . . $13,051
2. Vincent Rossi . . . . . $11,065
3. Robert Pisano . . . . . $10,102
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/12/09
H.O.R.S.E.
BUY-IN $300 + $30
PLAYERS 136
PRIZE POOL $39,372
1. Daniel Brodie . . . . . $12,207
2. Daniel Espiritu . . . . . $7,166
3. Ben Landowski . . . . . $4,331
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/11/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $50
PLAYERS 239
PRIZE POOL $115,318
1. Luis Rosa . . . . . . . . . $35,749
2. Christophe Morenas $20,988
3. Bill Stegall . . . . . . . . $12,685
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/10/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $50
PLAYERS 259
PRIZE POOL $124,968
1. Daphne Turner . . . . $38,738
2. David Snyder . . . . . $22,494
3. Eric Schwartz . . . . . $12,497
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/9/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $30
PLAYERS 326
PRIZE POOL $94,377
1. Gary Bolen . . . . . . . $29,255
2. King Chin . . . . . . . . $16,988
3. Amador Trinidad . . . $9,438
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/8/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $30
PLAYERS 246
PRIZE POOL $71,217
1. Robert Fitzgerald . . $22,076
2. Hassan Kamoei . . . . $12,961
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/7/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $30
PLAYERS 261
PRIZE POOL $75,560
1. David Redlin . . . . . . $23,422
2. Mark Jeans . . . . . . . $13,601
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/6/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $30
PLAYERS 252
PRIZE POOL $72,954
1. Rob Tanniru . . . . . . $22,614
2. John Royan . . . . . . . $13,132
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/5/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $1,000 + $70
PLAYERS 84
PRIZE POOL $81,060
1. Doug Lee . . . . . . . . . $26,750
2. Gioi Luong . . . . . . . $16,212
3. Joe Brandenburg . . $11,348
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/4/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $500 + $50
PLAYERS 244
PRIZE POOL $117,730
1. Dennis Phillips . . . . $36,496
2. James Sansone . . . . $21,427
3. Allen Carter . . . . . . $12,950
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/3/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $30
PLAYERS 340
PRIZE POOL $98,377
1. Robert Sanders . . . . $30,515
2. Behzad Teranie . . . . $17,717
3. Anthony Weber . . . . $9,843
VENETIAN RESORT CASINO 4/2/09
NO LIMIT HOLD'EM
BUY-IN $300 + $30
PLAYERS 276
PRIZE POOL $79,902
1. Ryan Avery . . . . . . . $24,772
2. Mark Jeans . . . . . . . $14,382
