The $5,000 WPT Venetian Las Vegas Fall Championship, a $2 million guaranteed tournament, is the first World Poker Tour event in the United States where dealers use the slide dealing technique, according to PokerNews. The event runs from Nov. 5-10, with the final table livestreamed on PokerGO.
Dealers at the Venetian last month were required to stop the traditional pitch technique and switch to slide dealing. The report says no other card room on the Strip had used this method before. South Point became the first poker room in town to start slide dealing earlier this year.
Slide dealing means dealers slide hole cards to players instead of tossing, or pitching, them around the table. The report says the purpose of the method is to help prevent cheating. A player could sneak a peek at cards that are pitched carelessly, but the bottom of a slid card is not visible.
The report says a recent WPT event in Sydney, Australia used slide dealing, and by all accounts the dealing went smoothly with no player complaints.
Players at the Venetian event are already noticing a difference in how the cards are dealt, according to the report. Cherish Andrews took the chip lead on Day 1a, which had 103 players. Andrews is among 32 players who