Cashing out: Poker notables auctioning Versailles-themed penthouse

By Thomas Moore

Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Depending on your taste, it’s either $8 million of baroque beauty or another example of over-the-top Las Vegas excess. But a three-floor penthouse condo owned by Barry and Allyn Shulman, scheduled to be auctioned on Oct. 18, actually started life as an outsize wedding gift.

“We got married in 2004, and we bought this right before or after we got married,” Barry said. “We bought it in 2003. It hadn’t even started coming out of the ground yet. It was a presale in every sense and every manner.”

According to New York-based Concierge Auctions, the company handling the auction, the Shulmans paid $2.5 million initially for the top two floors and then $5 million for the renovations.

Including the custom-made furniture, just under $8 million was spent to re-create Versailles, with a view of the Las Vegas Strip, in the 19-story Metropolis tower on Desert Inn Road just west of Paradise Road.

Barry — who said his real estate and business experience helped in designing and building the condo — and his wife, Allyn, have both been involved in the poker world for some time.

The publisher of Card Player Magazine and a player himself, Barry won a gold bracelet in the 32nd World Series of Poker (WSOP) held in 2001 and the WSOP Europe Main Event in 2009. Allyn, a former defense attorney, won the 2012 Seniors WSOP championship.

Barry admits the style of the condo isn’t for everyone.

“Different people have different things that are their hot buttons,” he said. “My lovely wife loves Versailles. She thinks it’s the greatest place in the world. So (the condo) is a knockoff of Versailles.”

Owning the top two floors gave Barry the canvas he needed to fulfill his wife’s wishes.

“Right from beginning, we had it planned,” Barry said. “I wanted a high-rise, and Allyn wanted a house with a garden. I said, ‘How about I buy you the roof?’ and she thought I was kidding. Then I bought her one.”

The third floor gave the Shulmans room to include family-friendly conveniences while fulfilling Allyn’s French fantasy.

“Even though Allyn wants Versailles, which is exactly what the first and second floor are, she had a son and a daughter, and they often visited us,” Barry said. “So the third floor has a theater … and a karaoke bar. That’s what the family was used to doing, and we had the luxury of having the space to accommodate that.”

So, if Barry managed to build the perfect Las Vegas home for his wife and family, why exactly is he selling it?

“Things change,” he said.

“As much as I love all that … I am now 70 years old in this three-story place. And we use the second and third story on day-to-day basis more than the first. And it’s hard on my knees.”

For Allyn, giving up her dream home was also a gift of sorts.

“When we first talked about moving somewhere else, it broke my heart because I love that place …,” Allyn said. “But I thought about the logical part of it.

“At first, I wasn’t sensitive,” Allyn said, referring to Barry’s knee issues. “Then I thought, ‘I have to be understanding about it.’”

Given the economics of the deal, selling his dream home may be slightly more bitter than sweet (the couple are moving to the Lakes to be closer to their grandchildren) for Barry.

“This will be first piece of real estate I’ve ever had that I’ll sell for less than what I paid for it,” he said. “You don’t get out the extra money for the finishes. We’ll probably get more or less than half of what we put into it.

“Am I happy about it? No. But I’ve already lived through the decision and the grief.”