Hollywood Aurora Weekly $150

[alittle]

In case anyone was wondering about the new weekly NLHE tournament at Hollywood Casino in Aurora, IL, I just got home from playing today. This is the third week, I think.

First, just a quick note on my play, I finished 22nd out of 70 and was fighting all the way. Most interesting play was when I was in the $800 BB with a stack of $1100. Not much to do other than push, so I took my chances with 62o and was ready to leave. Flopped a six and it held up against an AQ! Kept me alive for a while and I helped with some blind stealing, but I just barely made it into the 3rd hour (800/1600).

Anyway, the tournament was fun, but the structure is deadly. $150 buyin, 70 seats, 9 pay. Start with $2500 in chips and 25/50 blinds, doubling every twenty minutes! Then when it got to 400/800 and we were 8 handed, they started adding a small blind on the button - I don't play a lot of B&M tournaments, so I hadn't heard of that before.

I though the quality of the players was pretty good and a lot of people knew each other, so it seemed many of the local money players were there - my guess is at least half of the field.

Oh, and to get your seat, you need to get there between 9 and 10am, and get a wrist band. They draw a number at 10:30 and if yours is within the next 70 of that number you can register. I estimate about 200 people tried to play today. Then you need to wait for play to begin at 1pm.

I really needed to get some B&M tournament experience since I'm headed to the UB Aruba event, so it was worth it for me, but I don't think I'll make this tournament a habit.

If anyone has experience with the Wednesday tournament at the Trump boat in Indiana, I'd be interested to hear about it.