Card Player Poker Tour Returns To The Venetian® Resort Las Vegas In 2021

The tables are heating up this February with one of the most dynamic events in poker: the DeepStack Extravaganza Poker Series. Offering the largest suites on the Strip, The Venetian® Resort Las Vegas has three luxurious all-suite towers, award-winning restaurants, and one-of-a-kind cocktails at the bars of The Cocktail Collective. Players have everything they need under one roof, and then some.

From Feb. 2-28, 2021, the series takes over with a four-week frenzy of spirited gaming that boasts 35 tournaments and more than $2 million in guaranteed prize pools.

The DeepStack Extravaganza Poker Series plays out with several options and formats that include bounties, freezeouts, plus multi- and single-day tournaments. No-limit Texas hold’em and pot-limit Omaha are popular events that fill up quickly. Tournament buy-ins begin at $200 and vary all the way up to $2,500, ensuring there are accessible and exciting options for everyone.

The Card Player Poker Tour also returns Feb. 19-22 with a $2,500 buy-in and a $500,000 guarantee.

Other highlights on the schedule include:

• $800 No-Limit Hold’em UltimateStack with a $300,000 guarantee, Feb. 11-14, 2021
• $600 No-Limit Hold’em UltimateStack with a $200,000 guarantee, Feb. 25-28, 2021

The Venetian Resort sets the stage with unparalleled hospitality and action-packed gameplay. Filled with high stakes, stellar prize pools, and friendly competition – this is where true poker players come to show off their skills and reap the highest rewards.

A Look Back At Previous CPPT Main Events Held At The Venetian Poker Room

This marks the ninth time that the CPPT has made its way to The Venetian Poker Room since first joining forces in 2013, with over $12.3 million in prize money awarded in the previous eight CPPT main events held at the property.

The events are consistently some of the largest on the CPPT circuit, and as a result, the top four players on the tour’s all-time earnings list are all champions from CPPT Venetian events. All-time CPPT career earnings leader Jon Turner has won two of the CPPT Venetian main events in recent years, cashing for a total of $737,858 in those title runs.

Allyn Shulman won the first-ever CPPT Venetian main event, defeating a field of 262 entries in the $5,000 buy-in tournament to earn $293,966. Shulman’s route to the title included overcoming a stacked final table that included the likes of Card Player columnist Jonathan Little (5th place – $67,367), three-time WPT champion Anthony Zinno (4th – $86,964), and Dan O’Brien (3rd – $122,485).

The tour returned in 2016. The $5,000 buy-in event attracted 537 entries to create a final prize pool of $2,497,050. The largest share of that money was ultimately awarded to the aforementioned Turner, who defeated Artem Metalidi heads-up to secure the title and the $536,858 top prize. The following summer Javier Gomez won the third CPPT Venetian main event, outlasting a field of 688 total entries to earn the largest payday of his career ($561,349.)

The three previous events all took place in the summer months, around the conclusion of the annual World Series of Poker. In December of 2017 the CPPT and The Venetian® Resort Las Vegas teamed up for their first winter series. Mike Dentale emerged victorious in the $3,500 buy-in main event, outlasting a field of 235 entries to secure the top prize of $185,061. Dentale faced plenty of tough competition at his final table, including two-time WSOP bracelet winner Mark Radoja (2nd – $115,035), 2010 WSOP main event third-place finisher Joseph Cheong (3rd – $82,908), high-stakes tournament regular Ali Imsirovic (4th – $61,441), World Poker Tour main event winner Dylan Linde (6th – $34,792), and three-time bracelet winner Paul Volpe (9th – $17,026).

There were once again two CPPT Venetian events held in 2018. 2015 Card Player Player of the Year winner Anthony Zinno defeated a field of 547 players to secure the $466,670 top prize in the summer, beating out the likes of 2019 POY Stephen Chidwick (4th – $177,091), 2013 WSOP main event runner-up Jay Farber (5th – $134,083), and 2014 WSOP main event champion Martin Jacobson (9th – $48,068). Turner then earned his second CPPT title at the venue in December of that year when he topped a field of 341 entries to win $247,055.

The summer of 2019 saw Russian poker pro Andrey Pateychuk overcome a field of 564 entries to secure the $547,777 top prize. Stephen Chidwick improved on his fourth-place finish in this event in 2018 with a third-place showing for $245,199, while WSOP bracelet winner Chris Klodnicki banked $182,595 as the fourth-place finisher. The most recent CPPT Venetian took place in December of 2019. Ukrainian poker pro Valentyn Shabelnyk earned $136,080 for the win, defeating two-time bracelet winner Steve Sung heads up for the title (2nd – $85,176).

Make sure to make your way to The Venetian® Resort Las Vegas in February to see if you can become the ninth CPPT champion decided at this tournament poker hotspot. ♠