Poker, once nearly muscled off casino floors by gimmicky table games and flashy slot machines, is hotter than ever in Las Vegas, thanks to the game's popularity on TV.
Now the Venetian Resort Hotel & Casino will try to build on those winnings by staging "The Real Deal," an audience-participation show, in its Venetian Showroom. It was scheduled to begin last week.
The show combines the elements of a game show with comedy and celebrities, all revolving around the now-familiar poker game of Texas hold'em. Since this is Las Vegas, there are prizes, including the long-shot possibility for an audience member to win $1 million.
In "The Real Deal," the audience watches a 90-minute poker tournament featuring some of the best-known players, such as Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth and Daniel Negreanu.
(Read Negreanu's poker column Tuesdays inside Accent.)
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About 10 pros have signed up.
Every audience member can play along because each theater seat is equipped with a wireless, handheld touch-screen device.
"People who come to Vegas want to play poker," Negreanu says, "but obviously they can't play in a big game with the likes of Doyle or Phil Hellmuth. But in this show, they actually can."
At the beginning of each show, six audience members are chosen at random to sit at the poker table onstage with two pros. Each audience member becomes the virtual ninth player, as every person in the theater is electronically dealt a hand on the handheld device to go along with the cards dealt onstage. Big-screen monitors help everyone keep track of the action.
Each audience member starts with 100,000 points and tries to increase his or her total, with an electronic leader board keeping track.
Near the end of the show, the surviving professional player and the final amateur from the original six are joined by the audience member who accumulated the most points. The three battle it out in a showdown.
"But you don't have to be a poker player to enjoy the show," says Merv Adelson, one of the show's creators, who once helped run Lorimar, the company that produced "Dallas" and other hit TV shows.
Adelson explains that audience members also can add to their point stacks by making simple bets, such as the suit of the next card or whether a poker pro can correctly guess whether anyone in a certain row is from, say, Pennsylvania — all on the handheld devices.
"The technology is what makes this show so amazing," he says.
Comedian Paul Rodriguez should produce some laughs as the show's host, but the poker pros are expected to ante up most of the entertainment.
"You get a guy like Scotty Nguyen, and to watch him work a room is absolutely amazing," says Negreanu, referring to the flamboyant player and five-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, nicknamed the Prince of Poker.
"The professionals can joke and needle each other and be more comfortable in a way that they can't when they're playing for hundreds of thousands of dollars," Negreanu says. "Plus, the audience will learn a little bit about the game as the players explain why they played a hand a certain way."
Audience members will get prizes — from logo merchandise to jewelry and plasma-screen TVs — at random and for playing performance.
At the end of each show, a $1 million jackpot will be up for grabs when selected audience members are dealt a royal flush. For more information, see www.therealdeallv.com.
