The Venetian has switched to slide dealing across its entire poker room this week. Whether other major operators will follow suit remains to be seen.
Traditional pitch dealing has always provided an opportunity for cheaters to see their opponents’ cards. As cameras become smaller and cheaper while still producing razor-sharp images, this problem has become more serious than ever.
Following the South Point’s switch to slide dealing, the Venetian has also adopted the method at all tables this week. Poker pros such as Matt Berkey have welcomed the change:
“Appears the Venetian is the first major room (South point was the first off the strip room) to fully convert to the slide deal. 18 months ago I was told this could NEVER happen & that it would do more harm than good.
Day 2 and there is at least one example of this going well. Appears as though Venetian switched to speed felt, have a shoe to pull from, & no major hinderances to interfere with the deal.
Huge kudos to the operators that listen and take game integrity seriously!”
Appears @VenetianPoker is the first major room (South point was the first off the strip room) to fully convert to the slide deal.
18 months ago I was told this could NEVER happen & that it would do more harm than good.
Day 2 and there is at least one example of this going well.
Appears as though Venetian switched to speed felt, have a shoe to pull from, & no major hinderances to interfere with the deal.
Huge kudos to the operators that listen and take game integrity seriously!
— Matt Berkey (@berkey11) October 14, 2026
However, the transition has not been without its challenges. Depending on the poker felt, cards may not slide to players quickly enough, and the switch cannot happen overnight. PokerStars LIVE began rolling out the method in 2024, and it took until 2025 for it to become the new standard.
Speed is one reason why casinos, dealers and some players oppose the switch. Even with Speed Felt, some dealers cannot maintain the same number of hands per hour. It remains to be seen whether other casinos in Sin City will make the change.
“‘The other side’ is that good dealers fear that it will slow them down and therefore cost them money and the casinos revenue. They also say that the cheating is such a minuscule issue that changing the entire industry is overkill,” tournament director Matt Savage commented on Twitter.