Venetian Las Vegas Cancels Final Two ‘Stairway to Millions’ Poker Tourneys and $1.1M in Guarantees

The Venetian Las Vegas canceled the final two events in its PokerGo “Stairway to Millions” series this weekend — in the middle of the tournament — rather than risk missing published guarantees. The series promised $2.15M in prize money over 12 events. But it only lasted 10, leaving $1.1 million in guarantees on the poker table.

According to Pokernews.com, a $25.5K tournament with $500K guaranteed in the pot was scheduled for Sunday. Players who finished in the money were to receive a seat at Monday’s $51K event, which had a $600K guarantee. (The series used a unique format in which all players finishing in the money automatically advance to the next event.)

Both events were folded, Pokernews.com reported, even after a few players won free entries into the Sunday tournament.

According to the poker website, the first eight events all surpassed their guarantees. Last Friday, however, a $200K-guaranteed tournament with a $10.4K buy-in attracted only 18 players, so the guarantee fell $20.8K short. Then, Saturday’s $300K-guaranteed event fell more than $30K short. So, when Paul Zappulla defeated Stephen Song heads-up for $124K that night, it was the series finale.

Twitter Complaints Go All-In

Following Saturday’s event, PokerGO wrote on its website: “The Stairway To Millions originally had 12 events on the schedule, but due to decisions made by The Venetian Resort Poker Room, the final two events were canceled.” This launched a flurry of Twitter bitterness.

“Canceling a guarantee to a tournament you won a satellite into already is unacceptable,” tweeted Adam Hendrix, who finished as runner-up in Event No. 9 for $37K.

“This is why you do things right,” tweeted Terrance Reid. “@LodgePokerClub  still getting good press months later while @VenetianPoker (expletive) over their tournament players yet again.”

Neither the First Nor Last Time

Though canceling guaranteed events in the middle of a tournament series is considered bad form, it’s not uncommon. In August 2022, LA’s Hustler Casino canceled a $250K-guarantee tournament with four days of play remaining. Casino general manager Shaun Yaple explained on Twitter that a “bigger club stepped on us after we released our schedule,” and that it would be “better to regroup and plan for the future (than) head off a cliff.”

Casino.org  received no reply to its request for a comment from the Venetian at the time of publication.