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Posted by on Jun 27, 2013 in Blog, General Poker, Las Vegas, Politics, Sports Betting | 12 comments

Poker Players Unite! Let’s All Boycott the Venetian for One Week

 

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Poker players have been notoriously apathetic give our sheer numbers and the size of the industry, which employs tens of thousands.  Yet, many have done nothing to help the cause.  We bitch and complain, but when it comes to action, we’ve done next to nothing.  Inaction has allowed anti-poker activists to make the rules.  We abdicated the fight with indifference and a lack of willpower.

Until now.

 

Let’s prove everybody wrong.

One time.

Let’s stand together for one shining moment.

Let’s do this.

Poker players sat on our asses for years.  The vast majority of us did nothing to help our cause.  We bitch and complain and talk a good game, but when it comes to action, we’ve done nothing.  And so inaction allowed the zealots to take over and make the rules.  We abdicated the fight with utter indifference and a lack of willpower.

We lost.

Well, now is the time to take our game back.  So, let’s seize this moment.

I hereby call for a five-day boycott of The Venetian poker room.

Starting at 12:01 am on Monday, July 22nd, I ask that everyone who supports online poker’s legalization in the United States stay out of The Venetian.  The boycott will end when the clock strikes midnight on Friday-Saturday, July 26th.  That means, no poker action during Monday through Friday for that entire week.

One more time:  Monday, July 22nd through Friday, July 26th.  NO POKER AT THE VENETIAN.

I’m not asking for much.  No personal sacrifice is required.  Those of you who enjoy playing poker at The Venetian can continue doing so — before and after those dates.  During that week go play someplace else.  Moreover, I don’t want to see any of the employees hurt who work at The Venetian.  Some of them are friends of mine.  From the private conversations I’ve had with them, they’re embarrassed to be working for someone as selfish and hopelessly out of touch as Sheldon Adelson, who owns The Venetian.

So let’s now send a clear message that the poker community is outraged by Adelson’s comments and actions about online poker.  A five-day boycott shows Adelson and his corporate enablers that we mean serious business — and we’re taking it elsewhere for a week.

Sure, this boycott won’t bankrupt Adelson.  He’s worth billions.  It won’t impact The Venetian’s bottom line much.  But unity and action show we’re no longer going to let our lives be shaped by some self-centered Neanderthal with no understanding of how online poker really works and continues to lie about the dangers he sees only in his imagination.

What do I expect the boycott to accomplish?  Perhaps The Venetian’s numbers and revenues will drop a little.  That’s not the point.  This isn’t a fight about profits.  It’s about making a statement.  Let’s do whatever we can to create an empty poker room for five straight days.  Let’s show Adelson that the poker community will not sit passively and remain silent while he trashes our game and denies us our rights.

We must do something.  We must take a stand.  We must vote with our feet and our money.  This is truly a “we will no longer sit in the back of the bus” moment for poker.

Let’s boycott The Venetian poker room for one week.

Please join the fight.  Just as important, please help us to spread the word.  Twitter.  Facebook.  Word of mouth.  Bring it up at The Venetian if you play there.  Ask if anyone at your table has heard about the boycott.  And when they say no, then tell them about it.

In the coming weeks leading up to the boycott, I’ll be posting additional suggestions on how players and media can help get the word out so The Venetian stays empty for five days.

For once in your life, let’s do something.  This time for action is now.

Note:  Be advised that my comments are entirely my own and do not reflect the views of any of my associates or employers, past or present.

READ:  Las Vegas Sun coverage

READ:  An update

12 Comments

  1. If anyone has their hands on the pulse of the Poker Community, it’s Nolan Dalla. Hopefully news of this boycott will spread throughout the poker community and it can act in unison, rather than like the herd of cats that poker players usually are. My cynical side asks, what about the grinders who see this not as a boycott to benefit their own interests, but as an opportunity to take advantage of an unusually soft room because the pro’s are playing elsewhere for a week. Either way, you won’t find me at the Venetian during that stretch. Then again, you haven’t been able to find me at the Venetian much anyway. Besides, I prefer that my clothes don’t smell like they’ve been drenched in Orange-flavored Axe Body Spray for a month after I leave the room, so there’s that.

  2. Hey Nolan,

    Great seeing you at the WSOP!

    Bad news. Sheldon Adelson just doubled down with http://www.stopinternetgambling.com. The bottom of the page reads, “Paid for By Las Vegas Sands Corp.” 🙁

    I can’t imagine why any poker player would play at Venetian now. There are so many other rooms to play.

    Rich

  3. I can’t go along with your boycott Nolan. You said: “Moreover, I don’t want to see any of the employees hurt who work at The Venetian.” That’s exactly who will be hurt. The innocent employees will be the ones to suffer, not SA. I think that the Sands Cardroom at the Venetian has been very good to poker players. They give generous comps per hour played and were the first cardroom I am aware of to allow players to use their points for tournament buy-ins, massages, food at the table, etc.

    In addition, the Venetian just generously sponsored the TDA Summit. I hate that SA feels the way he does about online poker and poker being luck, but that attitude is not necessarily shared by his employees IMO. Why punish them?

  4. Oh No, Not That…

    Clearly you know very little about the business model of Las Vegas Sand’s. Maybe when they shut down the poker room, they can turn it into a larger Asian baccarat pit or a noodle bar.
    The US based operations of Las Vegas Sand’s make less than 6% of their global earnings, of which poker accounts for scratch all.
    Sorry, but one has to agree with the earlier poster, your just hurting the employees and players in the Venetian poker room.

  5. I guess I am a little confused. Are we boycotting just the Venetian because of SA being a “self-centered Neanderthal with no understanding of how online poker really works” or all casinos/poker rooms where the management could be considered “self-centered Neanderthals with no appreciation of poker players”? If it’s the latter, I think our options of places to play may be somewhat limited. I don’t agree with SA’s comments, but of all the ways to try to hurt him, isn’t this one of the least effective? If all we wanted was revenge or failure for SA and his operations (think money), wasn’t the last presidential election enough to allow us to sit back and smugly scoff at him? I mean, $150 million wagered to win elections nationwide with zero return? He would have had a better return on his money backing good online poker players.

  6. nobody at the wsop could care less about online poker or the scammer rich muny. What did he do to warn us about black friday? Nothing. He’ll take credit if it ever becomes legalized. In the meantime,ill play on carbon and bovada and take everyones money since i never liked tilt or stars anyway.

  7. I am in total disagreement with Sheldon Adelson’s point of view regarding internet gaming. But the man is entitled to his opinion, and trying to punish him financially or even with slight inconvenience, for having and expressing that opinion is ridiculous. Further, it not only makes the poker community look petty, it makes us look scared.

    The best thing that can be done is to counter his ‘points’ with fact, do a better job of explaining why regulation is far superior than prohibition.

    Make the case why he is wrong, don’t attack him for being wrong. All this attention the poker community itself has brought to his opinion has been, and continues to be, counter productive to our cause.

    We win by making a better argument, not by shutting down those who argue against.

    • NOLAN REPLIES:

      Yip. Pretty much it. Sort of like drinking. I’m for legal drinking, “despite all the problems that come with it.” I guess you could say I’m against Prohibition.

      — ND

  8. It’s not just Adelson…LV Sands Corp. itself is lobbying Congress for a ban.

    I guess the merits of a boycott may or may not be debatable (I can’t imagine playing there myself, but that’s me), but it seems the target is appropriate.

  9. I was on the Strip at about 10:30-11:00pm on Monday night and checked out the action at the Venetian and Bellagio (for comparison purposes).

    The Venetian had 20 cash games running. The breakdown of the games was typical for the room, except a 10-20 NLHE game was running and no 5-10 NLHE game was. The Venetian’s $120 7pm tournament had 37 entries.

    The Bellagio had 21 cash games running. The typical games for that room were going except for a couple fairly big open-face Chinese games which were likely WSOP stragglers.

  10. So you want to boycott Venetian???? wsop.com and ultimatepoker.com are the most crooked sites of all time with collusion present 24/7 on them. I called gaming the other day and asked if a third party is monitoring these sites. There answer……UMMMMMMM THERE IS NO THIRD PARTY WHO MONITORS EITHER. These sites should not be allowed. Come up with a sure fire way to have more volume and better MTTs for the online community….. O ya did I mention I am playing on table 20 seat 3 in the Venetian 2/5nl game right now….

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