Poker returning to Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the Mid-Stakes Poker Tour undergoing a “major” change, and a luxury car lost in a poker game sold at auction are some of the short stacks CardsChat picked up in its latest orbit of poker news.
Poker returns to the Palace
Caesars Palace, which shuttered its poker room in June, will reopen it in time for the World Series of Poker that begins at the end of May.
The casino closed its poker room to install a high-limit slots area.
This is good news for Las Vegas poker players, and hopefully will reverse the trend of casinos closing poker rooms during Covid. Since then, Planet Hollywood, Flamingo, Excalibur, Harrah’s, Sahara, and Mirage closed their poker rooms. The Mirage closed permanently last summer after it was bought by Hard Rock International for $1 billion.
Scheduled to open in 2027, Hard Rock Las Vegas will feature a giant guitar on its facade and most likely a poker room inside.
MSPT rebrands
The Mid-Stakes Poker Tour is no longer. It is now known as the Major Series of Poker: The Tour.
The successful poker tour announced the rebranding change this week. Along with the announcement came several significant changes which are:
With the name change comes five “major” tournaments that will each carry at least $1 million in guarantees. A special “custom” award will be given to the winners of these majors, and Player of the Year points include a 1.5-times multiplier in these events.
All side events with buy-ins of $200 or more will be counted in its Player of the Year race. Also, a “collectible” will be given to the winner of every MSPT event. Details are forthcoming, but it won’t be a long like the World Series of Poker Circuit series gives away. MSPT will keep track of who has the most hardware on player profile pages on their site and through leaderboards.
Seniors tour announced. Every series will include a senior’s event for players 50 and older who will battle for their place on the new MSPT Senior leaderboard. Events will generally cost $300 or $400, but expect some larger buy-ins as well. The player on top of the Senior leaderboard at the end of the season will receive a $5,000 bonus.
The complete rebrand will be completed by June 1.
The popular series started as the Minnesota State Poker Tour in 2009.
Rocker’s car lost in poker game sold
French rocker Johnny Hallyday’s classic car that he lost in a poker game in 1977 has been sold at auction. The 1975 Panther De Ville was sold for €132,000 at an auction run by French house Osenat, well above its estimated value of €55,000 to €80,000.
Hallyday is credited with bringing rock ‘n roll music to France. The Panther De Ville was given to Hallyday as gift from his then wife Sylvie Vartan. He owned Neo-classic British-made car for two years before losing in a poker game at his friend’s house in 1977.
According to the BBC, “Hallyday sold more than 110 million records and starred in a number of films over a career that spanned 57 years. He continued to tour until shortly before his death of lung cancer in 2017, aged 74.”
