Venetian CEO Poker Tournament Main Event Furor
 

A near riot broke out when a few of the players at the Venetian CEO Poker tournament learned that almost $500 was taken out of each persons $2600 main event entry fee. There was a long line to sign up. Players signed a release that if they win they will allow the CEO Poker Tour to use their likeness in advertising etc. The entry card says the typical $2500 + $100 for a total of $2600. It is the same layout as those used at the WSOP. What they didnt tell everone was the following: First, Everyone is charged $100 for the house (4%); Next, an additional 6% is taken out for the CEO Poker Tour itself; Next, an additional 3% is taken out for Venetian staff; Finally an additional 5% is taken out for a charity designated by the CEO Poker Tour. It took a lot of searching, but in the fine print of the Structure sheet one player found the charity 5% information. JC Alvarado, who was doing pretty well when I busted out about 2:30 AM asked, can players deduct the amount they are giving to the charity? No one knew the answer to this question, or what the CEO poker tour charged an additional 6% fee for. The total juice was a staggering 18% on a $2500 buy in event. The Venetian wouldnt even give the players a $10 food coupon at the Dinner break; stating those are only for the $1000 tournaments at noon. Many of the players said they would not have entered if they knew about the 18% juice; others said they would never play in a future CEO Poker Tournament without knowing exactly what they were taking out of the prizepool.

Re: Venetian CEO Poker Tournament Main Event Furor
 

Does anyone have the list for the final few tables?

Re: Venetian CEO Poker Tournament Main Event Furor
 

Come on, did a near-riot really break out or did that just happen in your mind?

Re: Venetian CEO Poker Tournament Main Event Furor
 

Two players at one table were screaming at the tournaament guy. Then other players got involved from other tables. No one could believe it. The tournament guy was saying you want to take money from sick children? The whole thing was underhanded to charge people $500 without even a clue they were paying more than $100. "riot" may be overexaggerating.

Re: Venetian CEO Poker Tournament Main Event Furor
 

I was there, and it wasnt a furor. Played in most of the events and had a great time. Great bunch of players. Didnt cash but will next time. Want to win Chairman of Poker.

Re: Venetian CEO Poker Tournament Main Event Furor
 

youre happy with 18% juice?? What a Stepford.....

Re: Venetian CEO Poker Tournament Main Event Furor
 

Was in line to play this, but someone was talking about the fine print charges, so I left.

Re: Venetian CEO Poker Tournament Main Event Furor
 

You Shouldnt have to read fine print to play in a poker tournament

Re: Venetian CEO Poker Tournament Main Event Furor
 

this tournament was one of the best tournaments I have played. But 18% is ridiculous -- I like most other players thought I was getting a great deal on $2500 + $100 vig.

Re: Venetian CEO Poker Tournament Main Event Furor
 

[ QUOTE ]
Come on, did a near-riot really break out or did that just happen in your mind?

[/ QUOTE ]

I heard that the cocktail waitress on perpetual X calmed everyone down [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

How the hell can a non-licensee get juice from an event in LV ?
 

This seems a pretty clear violation of gaming regulations, sharing revenue by a licensee, the Venetian, with a non-licensee, the CEO Poker Tour.

Even the WPT never crossed that line so blatantly.

I would strongly urge a complaint to the Gaming Control Board by anyone who wants his $500 back.

Re: How the hell can a non-licensee get juice from an event in LV ?
 

Mr. Friedman,

I am the President of CEO POKER TOUR, and I can assure you that as required by the Gaming Commission, we do not take a percentage of the buy-in, we are provided a flat fee for holding the event at the Venetian, just like a WPT, or other tournament.

The charity was approved by the Gaming Commission to receive a percentage of the buy-in, and a percentage of the buy-in went to Venetian.

I want to make sure that rumors do not start on the Internet that are not true about CEO POKER TOUR or the Venetian.

The CEO POKER TOUR co. abides by all gaming rules and regulations. We pride ourselves on holding successfull events and try to give back to the players as much as possible.

The charity component raised badly needed funds for the children of Nevada and will help a VERY special group that is not always remembered or considered by many.

I hope that this response addresses your concerns and if you have any additional comments that you would like to send on directly to me please feel free to email ceopokertour@aol.com.

Have a great night.

Maria Gomez
President
CEO POKER TOUR

Re: How the hell can a non-licensee get juice from an event in LV ?
 

[ QUOTE ]

The charity component raised badly needed funds for the children of Nevada and will help a VERY special group that is not always remembered or considered by many.


[/ QUOTE ]

Is Nevada that bad these days?

Re: How the hell can a non-licensee get juice from an event in LV ?
 

Ok I always thought at tournaments that the part the house took out was the + part so in $2500 + $100, the $100 is for the house.


Is this how it's done or have I been stupid for not reading the fine print all these years. At the WSOP ME it is $9700 + $300. Is the house getting more than $300 per person? If so what the hell is the $300? I guess sometimes I thought they took an addition like 1-2% for the dealers but that was it. Ie the casinos got the $300 and the dealers 1-2% or something.

But maybe I'm wrong.

I'm glad my brother didn't play the tournament. They have great structures but they need to be more above board in their dealings.

I played one of the $1k events. How much did I donate to the CEO above?

Re: How the hell can a non-licensee get juice from an event in LV ?
 

Hi Maria,

at the line to sign up for tourneys at the Venetian, there was a board advertising the CEO poker tour. It listed the main event as $2500 + $100 (someone with a ballpoint pen had changed it from $2500 + 120).

I hope you can see why the players have concerns over this false advertising. Please comment on this.

Re: Board edit
 

This was an error on our part that we immediately caught the morning of the event, and was changed as soon as we found the mistake. It is exactly as you stated the poster read ($2,500 + $120) but should have been ($2,500 + $100) and we immediately changed the poster to benefit the player. We didnt increase the registration, we brought it down. ALL structure sheets were correct. ALL other print ads were correct, just the poster was not correct.

Let me know if you need any other clarification.

Great board by the way.

Have a good night.

Maria
CEO POKER

Re: Board edit
 

[ QUOTE ]
This was an error on our part that we immediately caught the morning of the event, and was changed as soon as we found the mistake. It is exactly as you stated the poster read ($2,500 + $120) but should have been ($2,500 + $100) and we immediately changed the poster to benefit the player. We didnt increase the registration, we brought it down. ALL structure sheets were correct. ALL other print ads were correct, just the poster was not correct.

Let me know if you need any other clarification.

Great board by the way.

Have a good night.

Maria
CEO POKER

[/ QUOTE ]

wow, are you for real?

Re: Board edit
 

Maria,
You need to advertise the 500. Since all of this money is going to the Venetician, it is all vig to the player and must be advertised as such. I will advise you that this is completely non-competetive, and unless you are able to reduce these cost you will not be able to get players in the future. It is also completely unfair to force players to contribute to a charity when they did not know they were playing in something that was partitially a charity tournament, and didn't know what the charity was. I will tell you that even in charity poker tournaments it is usual that the players have the option to contribute, it is not mandatory. Get a poker person on staff.

Re: Board edit
 

I was sure those bs accounts that were clearly made to push CEO poker would be on by now. Gee, you set it up, make it obvious they're not real accounts, then you still don't use them when people are critizing you tourney except the one post. Weird.

Re: Board edit
 

We will be reducing cost going forward and we will not be including a charity component. The charity component was promoted on the website and detailed in the structure rules and regulations. However, if we decide to go the charity route in the future, CEO POKER will make the donation directly to the charity and not involve the players.

Thank you for your comments.
Maria
CEOPOKER

Re: Board edit
 

[ QUOTE ]
We will be reducing cost going forward and we will not be including a charity component. The charity component was promoted on the website and detailed in the structure rules and regulations. However, if we decide to go the charity route in the future, CEO POKER will make the donation directly to the charity and not involve the players.

Thank you for your comments.
Maria
CEOPOKER

[/ QUOTE ]

You have still yet to address the absurd 18% juice that this tournament had.

Clearly you do not play poker yourself, or you would realize that just about no-one can overcome an 18% vig on an MTT.

Re: Board edit
 

It also doesn't really help for the company to make the contribution, as this will be coming from profits generated by the vig on tournaments, so is you have excess profits to afford to do this, you can afford to charge less. This is similar to this issue we have with WTP about casino licensing fees. You need to understand that once word gets around about the absurd $500 vig that players were not clearly advised about at the tournament site, you will have a bad reputation. As a new player in tournaments, you need to confront this going forward by saying that you will carry on your charity work as a completely separate issue. You can do voluntary donations, do a charity tournament with voluntary donations, but having any percentage come out of the company will still hit players. I suggest you establish yourself first, and then you will be more able to support this charity work. What charity was it, by the way?

Re: Board edit
 

lol, guilttripaments.

Re: Board edit
 

You would be happy if someone advertised 100 juice and charged 500 for a 2500 tourney?

Re: Board edit
 

[ QUOTE ]
This was an error on our part that we immediately caught the morning of the event, and was changed as soon as we found the mistake. It is exactly as you stated the poster read ($2,500 + $120) but should have been ($2,500 + $100) and we immediately changed the poster to benefit the player. We didnt increase the registration, we brought it down. ALL structure sheets were correct. ALL other print ads were correct, just the poster was not correct.

Let me know if you need any other clarification.

Great board by the way.

Have a good night.

Maria
CEO POKER

[/ QUOTE ]

According to this post, of the $2600 paid by each participant $2500 went to the prize pool.

I would like some further clarification. Is this a lie?

Re: Board edit
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
This was an error on our part that we immediately caught the morning of the event, and was changed as soon as we found the mistake. It is exactly as you stated the poster read ($2,500 + $120) but should have been ($2,500 + $100) and we immediately changed the poster to benefit the player. We didnt increase the registration, we brought it down. ALL structure sheets were correct. ALL other print ads were correct, just the poster was not correct.

Let me know if you need any other clarification.

Great board by the way.

Have a good night.

Maria
CEO POKER

[/ QUOTE ]

According to this post, of the $2600 paid by each participant $2500 went to the prize pool.

I would like some further clarification. Is this a lie?

[/ QUOTE ]

It is not a lie, it is a very literal response to the previous post, which ignores the implied question (why did the poster say 2500 + 100 when in fact it was essentially a 2100 + 600 tourney).

If you read the first response in this thread by ceo poker it is clear that $2500 did not go to the prize pool.

Still, I wouldn't call ceo poker's post an actual lie.

--Zetack

Re: Board edit
 

Just an "untruth"?

She belongs in politics.

Re: Board edit
 

They clearly do not really understand how these thing are normally run. They say it was listed clearly on the website, (which obviously many people won't see), but at the tourney site they listed it as 2500 +100, as the 100 was going directly to the Venetian for the tourney. They did not list the 3% being taken out for tourney personnel, or the 6% that was being passed throught the Venetian to the CEO Tour, or the 5% that was going to this charity, whatever it was. Unless you read the fine print, you thought is was a 2500 +100, but I think they were just incompetent, rather than intentionally deceptional.

They also seem to have set up some accounts so they could comment positively on the tourney. There were like five accounts that signed up recently at the same time, and were clearly writen by the same person, and were making a bunch of bad postings all on this forum last night. One of which being the one who said he would be happy paying 18% because he wanted to be the "CEO of Poker".

Re: Board edit
 

[ QUOTE ]
One of which being the one who said he would be happy paying 18% because he wanted to be the "CEO of Poker".

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd pay 19%!

Re: Board edit
 

[ QUOTE ]
They clearly do not really understand how these thing are normally run. They say it was listed clearly on the website, (which obviously many people won't see), but at the tourney site they listed it as 2500 +100, as the 100 was going directly to the Venetian for the tourney. They did not list the 3% being taken out for tourney personnel, or the 6% that was being passed throught the Venetian to the CEO Tour, or the 5% that was going to this charity, whatever it was. Unless you read the fine print, you thought is was a 2500 +100, but I think they were just incompetent, rather than intentionally deceptional.



[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I'm with you there. And I agree that for the players it seems pretty clear many of them were unaware of the real juice, and that you can't put up a sign that says $2500 + 100 and then take more money out of the $2500.

But what I was responding to was the poster that said that according to the Ceo Pokers POST $2500 went to the prize pool and asking if that was a lie. I was merely pointing out that the relevant post from Ceo Poker did not say that $2500 went into the prize pool, and that Ceo Poker aknowledged in its first post in this thread that in addition to the + $100, money was taken from the $2500.

Re: Board edit
 

I think the smart thing for them to do, being new players, would be to at least give back the 5% charity vig. This would at least tell players they are making an attempt to make this right. I'm sorry but this is a business, not a charitable organization. Set up a charity for this group, raise money, fine. However, people who do business with you should not be essentially taxed to support your own personal charity. This needs to be an entirely separate financial endeavor for this woman. I'm glad she's supporting charity, I work in not for profit fundraising myself, (though not charitable), but tournament poker players have enough trouble financially without people's pet causes taking a chunk out of the pot as well. 18%, unbelievable!

Re: Venetian CEO Poker Tournament Main Event Furor
 

I wasn't in that event, but if anyone has complaints they should email the Venetian itself.

Venetian's Deepstack events were great and I would think they would want to keep their increasingly positive tournament reputation intact. Therefore they would jump on this fiasco since it impinges on them...

Re: Board edit
 

[ QUOTE ]
We will be reducing cost going forward and we will not be including a charity component. The charity component was promoted on the website and detailed in the structure rules and regulations. However, if we decide to go the charity route in the future, CEO POKER will make the donation directly to the charity and not involve the players.

Thank you for your comments.
Maria
CEOPOKER

[/ QUOTE ]

You are off my list. I would never play one of your events.

It's a simple concept, "Let the players know in advance how much of their cash they hand over actually goes into the prize pool"

Not only did yopu not do that, but you continue to try to hide this in your responses.

Think "snake"

Re: Board edit
 

LOL, arguingwithfakeCEOaments

Re: Board edit
 

On their website, they do say they take 9 (Nine) percent of the prize pool for Venetian staff. I couldn't find anything about charity, so a link would be great.

Also, a breakdown of why the staff percentage is so very high will also be needed.

Re: Board edit
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
One of which being the one who said he would be happy paying 18% because he wanted to be the "CEO of Poker".

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd pay 19%!

[/ QUOTE ]

Do they get a 100 million dollar golden parachute like all the other CEO's? I wanna be CEO too.

Re: How the hell can a non-licensee get juice from an event in LV ?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Mr. Friedman,

The charity component raised badly needed funds for the children of Nevada and will help a VERY special group that is not always remembered or considered by many.

Maria Gomez
President
CEO POKER TOUR

[/ QUOTE ]

Am I the only one who immediately read VERY special group to be ceopoker1's kids? [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

Given the shocking nature of this vig, I think giving the full name of the actual charity, at this point, is more than appropriate.

Re: How the hell can a non-licensee get juice from an event in LV ?
 

They do not take out nine percent for the staff. This is getting seriously shady. They take out 3 percent for the staff, then they take out 6 percent for the CEO tour, as the casino fee. However, instead of the casino paying it, it seems the players are. What is super shady is that on the web site they were disguising this as money going to the staff, when it wasn't. I want to know what is going on here now.

Re: How the hell can a non-licensee get juice from an event in LV ?
 

It is actually an extremely good charity, the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation. You can read more about them at the following link: http://www.nvccf.org/camp.htm

I encourage you to visit the website and see how they use their donation to better the lives of children with cancer,AIDS, hemophilia, sickle cell disease and other immunological disorders.

Maria Gomez
CEO POKER

Re: How the hell can a non-licensee get juice from an event in LV ?
 

Maria, can you please address the fact that the website stated that 9% was being witheld for staff? Isn't this completely incorrect? Did you know it was incorrect when it was put on the website? Can you please address that neither the website, nor the tournment site had acurate information on the tournment vig and where it was going to? Since players were totally unaware they were "donating" 5% of their buyins to this charity, shouldn't you allow players the choice of donating or not as they choose? Why is the "casino fee" coming out of the players money? This should be a completely separate issue from the prize pool. This is really not a casino fee at all, just another exorbinate piece of vig at the players' expense. Please respond.