Decent March Tournaments
See http://www.senecapoker.com/tournaments/details.php?tourneyid=10004 for the next decent casino tournaments within reasonable driving distance from the GTA. I am heading for the casino soon, so I'll post my analysis later.
Comments
SKILL LEVEL 6 TOURNAMENTS:)
You know what... I think I will try my hand at this. This will be my first legal tournament so how does one go about registering?
The rake/fee for the March 16 and 29 U$200+$25 tournaments is 14.7% (including 4% staff gratuities). The heads-up tournament is not a good value since you only get 2000 chips and it is single elimination. I am going to a freeroll heads-up tournament this weekend that has more chips, is double-elimination and I save U$225! PM me if anybody is interested.
I guess I will call Sunday morning and see if there are any spots open still before making the trip.
Does Seneca still take 30% off any winnings from Canadians? Between that and the 15% rake/fee, how can this not be -EV for anybody? Have you ever asked them why they don't do what many US casinos do and pay out wins <$5000 in chips?
This is the exact reason I've played as little as possible in the US. They say you can claim it back, but between the headache of going after them for it and the fees you'll pay to companies for getting it back for you, it's just not worth it anymore. Play in Canada or if you crave bigger action there's the EPT, APPT, Aussie Millions, and WPT Niagara etc...
Easy to say but when was the last time there was a decent casino run tournament in with in the Greater Toronto Area that is between the $50 - $300 buy-in ranges?
If you're looking for low buy in tournaments then your best bet is online. For B&M tournaments, there's the Sarnia series later this month, Rama has monthly tournaments and so does Port Perry (although their structure sucks hard - I would only bother playing in their $1k or $2k freezeout tournaments which run twice a year).
The GTA is not vegas, LA or even vancouver - where their are low buyin tournaments almost daily.
The bottom line is with the 30% withholding tax - even if you claim it back you'd be lucky to get half of that. In that case, the tournaments are just not beatable long term.
It would be nice for some of the casino have some events like that have in states. Nothing too crazy but something good.
Even the WPT here is lame. Most casinos that run a WPT event have several other events leading up the main event, but here it is just the 10K event and nothing else.
http://www.foxwoods.com/OurWonders/Gaming/Poker/FPC/FPC.aspx
http://www.grandsierraresort.com/images/casino/table_games/poker/2008_gsr_wpc.pdf
So sad
We also need to remember that tournaments are like a loss leader for the casinos. They make very little with a poker room already compared to slots and other tables games, and even less holding tournaments, so it's not in their best interest to always have them all the time.
GTA certainly has the market to sustain, reopen Richmond Hill talks or Harbourfront Casino and they both would be huge.
Niagara needs to hold something, or at least try to have a tournament week.
They were thinking of a casino on the hill at one point?
If anyone knows of any decent skill level tournaments in the Canadian Falls or Brantford let me know.
Unsurprisingly, the WSOP satellite at 7 PM sold out earlier this month, but there may be $40 sub-satellites for the next one on May 15. Note that the maximum buy-in for 2/5 NL has increased to $500 from $400, which is much better than Fallsview Casino's $100-$300 buy-ins.
Unfortunately, the minimum for the 2/5/10 bring-in has increased to $500 from $200. I loved going against the whales with thousands of dollars in stacks and me shortstacking for $200. It doesn't make sense to me that Seneca's three higher limit games now have a MINIMUM reguirement of 100 big blinds. They have enough problems getting a second 2/5 table going unlike Fallsview's eight 2/5, five 5/10 plus 10/25 tables on weekends.
I tried to play once bit got there a bit late and there were no more spots (I guess it's because they need to have new players in increments of 10) so I suggest going early. What I'm wondering is if you can play in both shoot-outs, for example if you bust out in the first one. I had been thinking of playing in both but now I realize that 10am is much too early anyway.
By the way, everyone in the poker room got a free gym bag when the March 16 tournament started. I think they really know how to treat the players well over there compared to Ontario.
Second place wins U$1,000. The prize pool is supposed to be U$16K, so it seems that Seneca is valuing the first prize as $15K. If you have other questions, you can phone Seneca at 1-877-873-6322.
Regarding withholding, my friend has applied through a refund firm for all his US winnings. He was told that they will probably get back all of the 30% withholding back minus their 25% commission, which works out to 7.5% of your original winnings. So for Canadians who manage to apply for their refund through that company, the extra "rake" for playing in US tournaments is approximately 7.5%.
You can play in both. I was there for the last one they held and my buddy played the first then after busting out registered and played in the 2nd one as well.
Third-party registrations for players are not permitted unless submitted by Official
WSOP sponsors; Official WSOP promotional partners, or Official WSOP product
licensees. No third-party registrations will be accepted from online gaming sites
conducting business with U.S. residents.
Please post your friend's experience, hoping it works out.