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why and how do the casino's take a vig? I always thought the +25 of the $200+25 was the house's take. Don't get me wrong...that's still 12.5% of the prize pool, but they don't take anything above the "entry fee" do they?

Please inform the uninformed...

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Yes, many low limit tournaments have an entry fee and take out a percentage of the prize pool. Every casino I know of rakes the hell out of their cheap regular tourneys; although, I haven’t checked out Paris/Bally’s, which sound like a good deal.

The reason they do this is because, well, they can. I work in a room on the strip and get asked on pretty much on a daily basis what the buy-in is for the daily tournament. I have NEVER been asked what the vig is, EVER! All 99.9% of the people who play these want to know is how much it’s going to cost and how much 1st place gets. In fact many places don’t even list an entry fee (such as where I work). The tournament just costs $X to enter and then they take out like ¼ of it.

But, hey, they’re fun. It’s a cheap way to get some live experience and the typical play in these things is about as weak as it gets (many 1st time players) so a decent player can make up a good chunk of the vig by just not sucking.