Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

Does anybody here have experience playing the Act tournaments for the NEPC? I'm curious, in general, how tough the competition is. If it's possible to compare them to different buy-in levels of NL STT at Stars, I would appreciate it.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

How tough is the competition? It isn't. Admittedly, I've only played one of each, but in the ones I played, there were one or two people I thought might be better than me. Note that I'd primarily a limit player, and relatively clueless when in comes no NL tournaments. If you play STTs regularly, you should be able to get the top 3 as long as you don't get unlucky. I think you could expect to cash well over 50% of the time.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

Hi.

I was wondering the same thing before the WPF in October/November last year. I was taking a vacation in the US and wanted to try playing B+M poker for the first time. I'd only played online for less than a year, and didn't consider myself to be any better than a novice. Yet, I managed to get ACT II tickets in all but one attempt. I also managed to get a few 2nds and 3rds in the ACT IIs, but unfortunately no ticket into an ACT III. But the bottom line is that it's probably not as tough as you think.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

Neither of them are very tough. The more solid NL players buy directly into Act III generally. I have a couple Act II coupons sitting around from Act I's I have won.
~Justin

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

[ QUOTE ]
How tough is the competition? It isn't. Admittedly, I've only played one of each, but in the ones I played, there were one or two people I thought might be better than me. Note that I'd primarily a limit player, and relatively clueless when in comes no NL tournaments. If you play STTs regularly, you should be able to get the top 3 as long as you don't get unlucky. I think you could expect to cash well over 50% of the time.

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Agreed. to paraphrase hellmuth, if there were no luck involved I'd win every one of these things. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Wait a minute, I believe I did, NEPC main event baby!

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

Thanks for the information. I'm looking to get some experience playing live, and I was thinking of starting with these Act tournaments. Looks like I'll give them a shot.

My next decision will be whether to buy into the Act II's directly, or start with Act I. I will probably just start with Act I until I get comfortable with the whole "live" thing, even though the VIG is the same for both I's and II's.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

Toro,
What day did you play your ACT III and how big was the field? How about the competition? I'm playing in ACT III this Sunday so I'd love any info you can share on your ACT III experience.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

based on reading the website, they sound really strict about when you can use your act 3 entry - something like one of the next two available tourneys.

are they actually that strict? i live in boston so it's a hike.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

[ QUOTE ]
based on reading the website, they sound really strict about when you can use your act 3 entry - something like one of the next two available tourneys.

are they actually that strict? i live in boston so it's a hike.

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Yes, you have to decide when they give you the coupon which of the next two Act 3s you want to use it for.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

I had planned on playing them last week when I was there Thursday. But I wound up making a final table in the morning $60 tourney (180+ players) so I was pretty tired after that and didn't feel like sticking around.

So now I'll have to travel another 100 miles there to play in the Act tourneys. It used to be that you'd play an Act I and had to come in the top 2 to move on to an Act II, and then in 1st to move on to an Act III.

It should be relatively easy to finish in the top 3 in both Act I and II satellites. The Act III you'll need to be one in 11.55 players in order to win your way into the main event.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

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Yes, you have to decide when they give you the coupon which of the next two Act 3s you want to use it for.

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I was speaking to someone during an Act I who had played an Act III the previous Sunday and didn't win an entry into the main event, but did win another Act III entry, and they let him carry it over until the following Sunday (i.e., the third Act III after he won the coupon). I think the "next 2" wording is a holdover from when they only ran two Act III tourneys a week; I think what they really mean is "Any Act III within the next week".

Still, I'd ask the tournament manager when you get there to be sure.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

These are simply the softest games ever. And by ever I really do mean EVER. The play in these satellites is so consistently awful that you just play on auto-pilot and you'll do fine. Nothing tricky. Between the WPF and the NEPC, I've played a combined 7 ACT 1s and 2s, and have only placed out of the top 3 twice. It was a little trickier during the WPF, because if you placed 2nd or 3rd in an ACT 2, you got a retry. For the NEPC, top three make it to the ACT 3. As for the ACT 3, it's a bit tougher. I ran over the field for the WPF, but I was card dead through my entire NEPC Act 3 and was busted out rather quickly when my A-10 failed to overcome the odds against pocket Jacks and pocket Aces (imagine that). As far as scheduling, they make you choose an ACT 3 within a week of your ACT 2 win, and I believe the ACT 3s are run Wednesday and Thursday at 8:00 PM, and Sunday at noon.

Out of curiosity, why would you practice your B+M play at a non-cash (vouchers only) event? Why not play some dailys or something?

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

[ QUOTE ]
Out of curiosity, why would you practice your B+M play at a non-cash (vouchers only) event? Why not play some dailys or something?

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b/c the FW schedule is horrible and the only NL tounaments they have are at 8am or are 120+30 rebuy tourneys, which are pretty expensive if you want an insta-rebuy and a double add-on (does anyone know how expensive?)

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

[ QUOTE ]
Out of curiosity, why would you practice your B+M play at a non-cash (vouchers only) event? Why not play some dailys or something?

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Three reasons:


1. Foxwoods schedule for daily NL tourny's doesn't work for me
2. It's hard to find a live game for $60, even though $15 juice is a bit much
3. I would love to play in the NEPC, the gods be willing, and I certainly cannot afford to buy my way in

Thanks everyone for all the responses.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

$150 entry + $60 insta-rebuy + $120 double AO = $330.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

I won an ACT II for the $10 WPF ACT III. The floorman told me I could use it for any act III. But wrote on the ticket that it was supposed to be used for a particular date. I never saw it, so I went to another Act III. It took 25 minutes to straighten out, but they were gracious enough to let me enter even though I had in fact been entered, and my stack had been blinded off, in a previous ACT III.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

So I finally got to Foxwoods to play some Act I's on Friday and Saturday, and did fairly well. I placed in the first Act I and then also in the Act II, so I am registered to play in the Act III next Friday at 9:30 p.m.

My ultimate goal for the weekend was 2 Act III entries as cheaply as possible, so on Saturday I played another Act I and bubbled off 4th. I then bought my way into an Act II and imploded with pocket J's early. Stupid, stupid...

In one of my Act I's, I was forced all in as I was short stacked. The SB called, and then told the BB that he would check down to the river if he also called. Now I know that is proper strategy, but I don't think you should be able to talk about it. The dealer said nothing, which I thought was wrong. In any case, they tripled me up, and the BB cripled himself in the process, so I let it go.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice.

John

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

The Act I & II are the easiest tournaments i have ever played in. 80% of the players are people who watch
celebrity poker and think it will be fun to play an NL tournament. So they come to foxwoods and realize they only tournaments they can play in are the ACTs. And even though there is absolutely no chance of them winning any type of money (because they would have to place in 3 or 4 tournaments to get anything) They still play.


Here is one scenario I experienced from the ACT II. The second hand I'm in the big blind with pocket kings and two callers in front of me (button and small blind). I raise all in (this is the rediculous extent you need to go to protect your big hands). The guy on the button calls (mind you this is the second hand with the first level of blinds and everyone has full stacks with next to nothing committed. He ended up having A7 offsuit and half of the people let out a chuckle and the other half thought it was a good call.

Oh, and the ACT I is even more of a joke.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

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In one of my Act I's, I was forced all in as I was short stacked. The SB called, and then told the BB that he would check down to the river if he also called. Now I know that is proper strategy, but I don't think you should be able to talk about it. The dealer said nothing, which I thought was wrong.

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John, this is a classic example of the ACT. Everyone knows this is proper strategy accept for these fish who need to verbally collude in order to make the correct play. Im glad you tripled up off of those morons. And you're right, they are definetly not allowed to communicate like that.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

How soft? In the past 2 years (2 WPF and 1 NEPC) I've cashed in the Act I's 62% of the time. This year in the NEPC Act II's, I'm 2/4. This includes the 2003 Act I's where only 2 places paid.

Re: Foxwoods Act I & II Tournaments
 

I played my Act III last night (Friday), and against all odds actually won an entry into the main event. As I've only been playing poker online since this past December, and these Act events were my first attempt at live poker, I'm pretty damn excited.

Greg Raymer was at the final table, and also won his entry along with one other guy. Greg was pretty funny at the table, and seems like a really nice guy. I got to chop a pot with him when my chip position forced me to push from the SB with A,4 and he called from the BB..... with A, 4.

I get to tell all my buddies I went all in on the world champ! What a thrill for a poker rookie.