An idea that probably would have seemed impossible and laughable to Vegas Rounders 20 years ago came to pass last night, as ten of poker's top players took to the stage in the premiere of Vegas' newest stage show, "The Real Deal!"

The Real Deal!, which will take place six nights a week at the Venetian, is an interactive poker based stage show that gives audience members a chance to compete against some of the games best players for cash and abundant prizes. The audience will compete via handheld devices that allow them to play as the last player at the table. Scores for audience members are kept on a leader board and are determined by how well they played each hand as well as how they did on the random prop bets that came up during the game (like what color card is coming up next). The audience members with the best final scores get to go on stage and compete heads-up against one of the masters.

Each unique show will feature at least two top pros, but for yesterday's premiere all ten were on hand: Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Eli Elezra, Scotty Nguyen, Todd Brunson, and PokerRoad Radio's Gavin "The Caveman" Smith.

For more information on The Real Deal! or to purchase tickets, visit www.venetian.com.

Story by Mark Anderson