Vegas trip
So it is finally nearly here... a year after I won a 45ish player sit n go...my trip to Vegas is just a few days away... this will be first trip to Vegas.. and actually first trip to the States that I can remember.
So with this coming I've gotten numerous advice and tips from many people telling them all to try out their favorite restaurants and which bars have the best $1 dollar margaritas... how many "cards" to take from the guys on the corner...etc.
Now I can't honestly remember half of what they all say and since i'm going to hear a bunch more of it before I leave Saturday evening I figured I might as well post a thread here and maybe some more of you Vegas vets will offer some Wisdom.
I will have limited funds while there around 700-800.. thinking that should be enough for just a few days.. will try to cap at 200-300 a day we'll see.. obviously some poker will be played but it is not like i'll be spending the entire time gambling... some advice was given that I do remember was do not play at any of the big casinos on the strip.. only go there for sight seeing and hopefully running into a Negreanu/Brunson/Hellmuth/Dwan etc..
Yay Vegas.. touching down at around 9PM on the Saturday and after I check into my room at Ballys.. should be a nice little night that hopefully will be more than me looking at the bright lights.
So with this coming I've gotten numerous advice and tips from many people telling them all to try out their favorite restaurants and which bars have the best $1 dollar margaritas... how many "cards" to take from the guys on the corner...etc.
Now I can't honestly remember half of what they all say and since i'm going to hear a bunch more of it before I leave Saturday evening I figured I might as well post a thread here and maybe some more of you Vegas vets will offer some Wisdom.
I will have limited funds while there around 700-800.. thinking that should be enough for just a few days.. will try to cap at 200-300 a day we'll see.. obviously some poker will be played but it is not like i'll be spending the entire time gambling... some advice was given that I do remember was do not play at any of the big casinos on the strip.. only go there for sight seeing and hopefully running into a Negreanu/Brunson/Hellmuth/Dwan etc..
Yay Vegas.. touching down at around 9PM on the Saturday and after I check into my room at Ballys.. should be a nice little night that hopefully will be more than me looking at the bright lights.
Comments
2. At Bally's only order this beer:
3. Ellis Island BBQ - one block behind Bally's off the strip.
4. Ask at Total Rewards desk if they have any coupons for Le Burger, which is just outside Ballys on the way to Paris via the indoor concourse. You might get a $5 off coupon on checkin but the TR desk might have a BOGO. Good place to hit at the end of your trip because you can also give them your TR card and any comps you earned at Caesar's properties (Ballys) can be taken off your bill.
5. Make sure you use your TR card everywhere you spend money/gamble on a Caesar's property, even when you check out. If there is a buck or two on the card they will take it off the bill and you earn comps wherever you spend money, even if you are just buying a coffee or whatever. It's also your path to cheaper rooms on your next trip.
But I don't have TR card.. just sign up for one when I arrive or what?
What else should I know?
So should I only play at pretty much ceasers properties? Been checking around and the only tournament I kind really want and would have time for is Venetian.. but only seen a few things.. im expecting all the Daily Tournaments sucks ass.
Also.. this may be a problem.. but are there any umm Canadian places that would be showing the Playoffs 100%? Never know in Vegas..
So what other good eats down there on budget? Ellis Island BBQ will probably be first stop and Le Burger.
Will probably do the 6 buffets for 50 bucks deal.
However, best bang for the buck will be the daily tournaments at the Rio anyways. Cash games there will be tremendous too. Note: during WSOP you want the convention centre, not the regular poker room.
World Series of Poker - Official Tournament Coverage and Results
For buffet of buffets I would recommend the Rio World buffet, eat there late 7-9pm ish, have breakfast anywhere, through the Flamingo is pretty decent for breakfast then hit the Paris buffet line about an hour before your 24h pass runs out.
Bally's does not have a buffet except on Sundays and is not part of the buffet of buffets.
Any sportsbook will do to see the playoffs, however the screen at the Palms is unbelievable. If you make some bets at whatever sportsbook you choose, then you should be able to drink for free. Don't forget to use your card if you make a sportsbet at a Caesar's property.
With the WSOP going on won't the tournaments be really lame as well?
Check out bravopokerlive.com
This is the info from the WSOP poker room at 5:30 am Vegas time. Into the evening there will be 50+ cash game tables going. I believe the daily tourneys get 1000+ entries.
Room DescriptionHide
Cash games run 24/7/365 in the Rio Poker Room (located next to the Race & Sports Book), and beginning May 29, 2013, the Pavilion Ballroom in the Rio Convention Center opens up to allow 79 additional cash game tables to run concurrent to the WSOP schedule. The "green" section of the Pavilion Ballroom is the epicenter for WSOP cash games. To locate the green section, simply enter the Pavilion Ballroom and locate the signage in the walkways with green-colored table numbers.
Tournament InfoHide
During the WSOP, three daily one-day Deepstack events are scheduled. They begin promptly at 3 PM, 6 PM and 10 PM, beginning May 29 and continuing through July 17.
Current Live GamesHide
75-150 Omaha 8-B 1
1-3 NL HOLDEM 2
2-5 NL HOLDEM 2
25-25 Chinese 2
5-10 NL HOLDEM 1
20-40 Omaha 8/B 1
1-2 Big O 1
5-10 PLO 1
Current Waiting ListHide
1-2 Big O 2
1-3 NL HOLDEM 1
1-2 PLO 1
2-5 NL HOLDEM 1
5-10 PLO 1
5-10 Big O 1
5-5 PLO 2
5-5 Big O 1
5-10 NL HOLDEM 1
5-10 P L O 1
10-25 PLO 4
10-20 MIX 2
20-40 Omaha 8/B 1
50-100 7 Card Stud 8-B 1
75-75 Chinese 2
100-200 Limit Hold-em 1
Daily TournamentsHide
WSOP $235 DeepstackAll players will begin 15,000 Tournament Chips starting chips.
All levels last 30 minute.
Play continues until we have a winner.
Re-entry is allowed in these events through 4 levels of play. Players must be out of chips before they can re-enter, but they can re-enter as many times as they wish, prior to registration closing at the end of Level 4. (Approximately 2 hours, 20 minutes after event start time)
Start Date: 05/29/2013End Date: 07/14/2013Days: Sun,Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri,SatStarts at: 03:00 PMBuyin: $235
WSOP $185 DeepstackAll players will begin 10,000 Tournament Chips starting chips.
All levels last 30 minute.
Play continues until we have a winner.
Re-entry is allowed in these events through 4 levels of play. Players must be out of chips before they can re-enter, but they can re-enter as many times as they wish, prior to registration closing at the end of Level 4. (Approximately 2 hours, 20 minutes after event start time)
Start Date: 05/29/2013End Date: 07/14/2013Days: Sun,Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri,SatStarts at: 06:00 PMBuyin: $185
WSOP $135 DeepstackAll players will begin 5,000 Tournament Chips starting chips.
All levels last 30 minute.
Play continues until we have a winner.
Re-entry is allowed in these events through 4 levels of play. Players must be out of chips before they can re-enter, but they can re-enter as many times as they wish, prior to registration closing at the end of Level 4. (Approximately 2 hours, 20 minutes after event start time)
Start Date: 05/29/2013End Date: 07/14/2013Days: Sun,Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri,SatStarts at: 10:00 PMBuyin: $135
Every sports book will be showing hockey for sure, and lots of sports bars likely as well.
Any chance I can get on one of those ballin shuttles with no roof? lol
With less than <$800 cash, avoid buying into any US tourney unless you love tourneys and there are no good tourneys available in your area; if you can't resist, confirm first that there there will be no withholding tax even if you win the top prize (I got taxed even though my first-place win was <$5K in the LAST US tourney I bought in).
Since you are in Bally's anyway, avoid the cash games in the WSOP area since the rake policies are worse (e.g., pot is raked even when everybody folds to a raise preflop! :mad2:) and there are a higher proportion of non-WSOP players in the regular Rio poker room and the Strip.
P.S. If you just want to gambool, disregard all the above advice and just have fun!
Thinking I'll just play a smaller tourney at Ceasers the 130 6-max with 15k chips sounds really good and I have 30% sold in that.. so.. why not?
That'll be only tourney I play.
Have to disagree with you on this one BF. Although the rake is higher at the WSOP poker room (not really sure how much the difference is?), the number of bad players with big bankrolls busting from the numerous tournaments more than makes up for the additional rake. I usually start my day off at Bellagio around 10am (usually find there are still players left over from the night before), head over the Venetian or Wynn in the afternoon and get to the Rio by around 7/8pm when the cash games are really getting good. Don't think the Rio is that great for cash in the morning before the tournaments get started.
http://www.thepokeratlas.com/city/las-vegas/228/
Has pretty up-to-date info on tourneys in Vegas. If you click on a tourney they usually have more info about starting stacks, blind lengths, etc.
Or you can click on a casino on the left and get the info for just that casino.
Though it turned out funds were very, very limited.. as money that was owed to me was not paid.. so I pretty much was in Vegas with 350... so yeah I didn't play ANY of the tourneys i thought I would.. But the one I did at the Stratosphere I cashed..7th place.. yay!
Will write up a bit more after some sleep.. fun Fun.
When I was at the WSOP last year, I found the strip casinos were filled with the same grinders from my previous trip in January. The Venetian only had a single 5/10 game going! While the Rio had a much bigger selection of cash games. I mainly stuck to 2/5 at the Rio and these players are pure aggression. They will get all their money in the middle with bottom pair and get called by another 'pro' with second pair. Its actually great poker to watch. Just have to pick your spots and you can make money.
It was the same aggression at the PCA this year. I played a lot of 5/10 and players try to push you out of the hands when you show weakness, which you play off of, and use to your advantage. There will be suckouts but such is poker. See what happens.
I got in around 10 or so and checked in at Ballys at roughly 11:30.. funny enough another winner from the group who won a seat into the 1k event was on the same shuttle as me so we spent the night walking the strip.
What a fun place, we all had to meet at the Rio in the morning and since the shuttle wasn't going to be running early enough we decided we would walk there in the night seeing as how it was so close it would probably only take us 10-15 minutes or so (hahaha) said trip took us a very long time as surprisingly alot of the streets are blocked off so a number of stairs and bridges had to be taken.. anyways because of this it led us to walking around in the Bellagio and out.. I was disappointed the fountains weren't running.. eventually the quest for the Rio was given up that night and I returned to my room to bed at around 3 and had set a wake up call for 8.
The Sunday was nice, had breakfast with the other winners and owners of the company and checked out the poker rooms at the Rio and had some pictures taken.
Then spent the day checking out mostly the older sites like Golden Nugget and Binions which were cool and just walked up and down that street so just chilled until it was time to go to Palms to watch the Hawks.. I put 20 bucks on moneyline and won.
So I watched for a little bit then continued walking down at the end of the room there is a tipsy Canadian superstar Gavin Smith who was pretty funny and then on the table behind was Maria Ho who is a total babe.
The best part though was as they went on break I was slowly walking not looking ahead and as I turn around who is standing right in front of me? Why it is Phil Hellmuth again.. I didn't say anything to him (i get kind of star struck) but he did give me a slight smile and a nod which I thought was really cool.. don't want to imagine what reaction I would have got if I was walking slightly faster and bumped into him... eep.
I've been four or five times and have enjoyed myself every time. Brought my wife along last time and it was cool to see the overwhelmed look on her face all day every day as we toured around just looking at things.
Oh, the poker is fun too if you're winning! I've managed to cash at least once in the daily tourneys at various places the last three times I've gone which made things fun.
I love the wide eyed approach to your TR. Nice...maybe I am too old to be like this anymore!