Venetian CEO Poker Tournament Main Event Furor

[TxRedMan]

No one has a problem with your charity, or with the CEO poker tour helping to further your cause. However, please understand that most of us do not play the game as strictly a hobby, and do not have enough wealth that would allow us to essentially play in a tournament that was unbeatable. And by unbeatable, I mean that if you played in a tournament that withheld this much of the prizepool (x) amount of times, it's likely that the best tournament players around would go broke b/c of the money withheld.


Furthermore, this is clearly false advertising and extremely unethical. If you want to run a charitable event, by all means do so, but advertise it as such that there is no doubt, i.e., ante-up for Africa in the WSOP.

In sum, we respect your charity and your cause, but we do not respect the CEO Poker Tour, and I'm betting that the rest of the forum is like me in thinking that CEO Poker Tour asked you to post here to both attempt to calm us down and dodge the issues we want addressed immediately.

[doublejoker]

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I am an attorney, and I would expect that most people would believe that filing complaints with the AG, Gaming Commission, and BBB, would have negative impact on their future business. She is more than welcome to file suit, although internet communications are a more protected class, and without wanting to get in a full discussion of this subject - really all she could do is ask 2+2 to remove the information. Then if they do not, she/the business, would have some addition rights. Suing an individual for what they post on an internet group is extremely challenging. In this case, it is not close to be actionable if it were not on the internet. The facts are not under dispute for anyone at the event, in fact we have learned they were even worst and more misleading. We are perfectly entitled to file complaints, to start a boycott and discuss these matters fully with the poker community. The fact that this will have a negative effect on their business, I think is self-evident, and self-inflicted.

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I cant beleieve they still have addmitted no wrongdoing.

[apefish]

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man, mrs vig was (and presumably still is) f hot.

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Quoted for god damn right.

[ericicecream]

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It is ABSOLUTELY correct.

Please know that the casino fee is NOT coming out of the players money. I explained this in a letter that I posted last night. We only accept a site fee from the casino. The 9% goes to the Venetian and a 5% donation, ONLY from the main event, which was stated in the website, and in the tournament rules and regulations, went to the Nevada Childrens Cancer Foundation.

However, going forward we are not going to be including a charity component within the tournament structure, and if we do include a charity in our event we will be paying them directly from our site fee.

Please let me know if you have any other concerns or questions.

Maria Gomez
CEO POKER

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These posts are useless without pics

[stephenNUTS]

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One thing is for sure. There won't be a Pro that won't know by the end of the month. CEO tour bites the dust.

You think when they found they only had 38 entries, they decided, well, this isn't gonna take off, let's make sumpin for a charity and let it die .

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BINGO

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The more I think back to the TAJ disaster from their prospective,I am now leaning towards their thinking....."how can we make some money since A/C was such a BUST"?

"lets find some other loophole,fineprint a 20% fee/donation and cut some Nevada charity a check,and we can take an even bigger cut,once we bury it in some legal/charitable/fineprinted BS clause"

"we will now make some money this time,and IF anyone happens to revolt/notice/complain,we can show them the sheet with the fine print deductions ,that unfortunatley most players dont bother to read anyway,including ME,and say it was all on the Up and UP guys,it says it right here in writing"

I am not an attorney but I am almost 100% postive,in New York at least,there are specific guidelines,laws,restrictions,etc. that MUST be followed regarding charities,and I would also agree Nevada Gaming would have their eyes on this as well.

I would love to see the paperwork that states all these percentage deductions are in line,but legal as well,from a charitable standpoint,and properly allocated accordingly!

And last but not least...............Where does The Venetian Hotel itself stand in this mess?

Its obvious they had the charity President sign on as a member here at 2+2,and defend his charity(which in all fairness could just be an innocent party in this mess receiving a check for a good cause).

But my street instincts are telling me, The CEO Poker tour got alot more money ,than the charity itself,The Venetian,or whatever other BS donations to the staff,etc.than ANYONE else did!

As a couple of posters have already said,NO ONE in the world could/would play on this "Tour" and not go broke in fees alone,trying to overcome a 20% haircut.The variance in standard tournaments ,with 3-5% haircuts is tough enough given the size of the fields,luck,afterwinning tip-outs,etc

IMO ,they have buried themselves already with NO chance of survival going foward,but I am [censored] steaming when I feel I have been taken advantage of,and made the sucker!

~stephen feraca [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[PokeReader]

Stephen, did you play the AC event, what was the vig there?

[stephenNUTS]

PokeReader,

Yes,I played in the A/C CEO Tour Main Event,and I am going to check my seat card for the exact amount of the entry.I put a deposit via C/C over the phone,as Maria STRESSED how the event was almost SOLD out,and in order for me not to "lose out",I gave the $500 deposit over the phone,and as soon as I arrived I paid the balance in CASH to her and Willaim.
They actually had a little desk and chair in the front of the poker room,and were counting the cash together,with NO CASINO personal around .It was a wierd set-up,but I assumed since the TAJ was holding the event,looking at their numerous e-mails,websites and MULTIPLE converstaions with both of them the weeks prior,I didnt think anything was wrong.

I obviuosly would NEVER have played if I knew there were only 38 players!

I am trying to hunt down the structure sheet,as I do NOT think there ever was a mention of a charity.That is why I commented above,about them "figuring out" another way to make some $$$$,as they must have took a beating at the TAJ,and came up with the charity brainstorm at the Venetian Series

I just KNOW something aint right though now!

Shame on me,
~stephen feraca

[PokeReader]

CEO Poker Challenge Rivals World Series of Poker Tournament While visiting Las Vegas this summer for the World Series of Poker, it will be worthwhile to check out other poker tournaments, such as the CEO Poker Tournament.
The event will be held at the Venetian Casino and Resort from July 2-8, 2007, following the last days before the start of the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event, which will begin on July 6, 2007.
The event may not be as big as the World Series of Poker Event, but the CEO Poker Challenge winner will take home cash prizes as well as a championship bracelet and trophy.
William Peraza, the Chief Executive Officer of CEO Poker, said that the CEO Poker Challenge is one of the inexpensive bracelet events in Las Vegas this summer with a buy-in starting at $500-$2,500.
Pre-registration for the tournament is every Tuesday at the tournament's official website. The tournament is open to all interested players. The schedule of the tournament will start on July 2, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. with event 1 $500+$50 No-Limit Poker Hold'em Event.
The second day will be held on July 3, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. with the Event 2 $110+$20 Super Satellite Poker Events 5, 6 and 7. The third day will be at 5:00 p.m. of the same day with the Event 2 $500+50 No Limit Hold'em poker tournament.
The fourth day will be held on July 4, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. with $110+$20 Super Satellite to Poker Events 5, 6 and 7. At 5:00 p.m. of the same day, the Event 3 $500+$50.
The fifth day will be held on July 5, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. $110+$20 Super Satellite to Events 5, 6, and 7. At 5:00 p.m., Event 4 $500+$50 No-Limit Hold'em Tournament. The sixth day will be on July 6, 2007 at 5:00 p.m.
Event 5 $1,000+$75 No-Limit Hold'em event. The seventh day will be on July 7, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. Event 6 $1,000+$75 No-Limit Hold'em event. The eight day will be on July 8, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. Event 7 $1,000+$75 No-Limit Hold'em Event.
The ninth day will be on July 9, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. Event 8 $2,500+$100 No-Limit Hold'em event and the tenth day will be on July 10, 2007 at 12:00 noon $2,500+$100 No-Limit Hold'em final poker game.


This was a press release they sent out. These people must have gone to the effort of asking them about the vig, because the score plus of the other releases I went though conviently just had buy-in numbers. However, since in every p.r. they sent out on this they failed to disclose the charity/fundraising aspect of the tournament, and in this one they clearly intentionally misreport juice amounts in exactly the same way they did at the day of the tournament. What I really don't understand is that if they have been doing this all the time, how has it not blow up yet?

http://www.alldaypoker.com/ceo-poker...-06-27-07.html

[PokeReader]

In addition, CEOs who sign up for the tournament before October 22 will also get free entrance to a poker bootcamp organized by the company, which is scheduled to take place the day before the tournament.

Did you get your bootcamp Steve? Lol.

[PokeReader]

They are prominently featuring your name in their press, I assume you signed a release,

Attendees included: Stephen "the NUTS" Feraca, who also placed in the final table of the US Poker Championship at the Trump Taj Mahal, Harry White, executive and poker aficionado, Tom Messner, CEO and advertising guru, Bobby "Blaster" Payne, of Smilingbulldog.com, among hundreds of others.

Just another thing to &*%$ you off with these people. I really don't understand it, they both seem very competent individually from a business prospective, I guess they just thought they didn't need some one who already knew poker, and now it will cost them.

http://news.bigg.net/n58781-CEO_POKER_TO..._Taj_Mahal.html