Vegas trip report, long, lots of smaller low buy-in tourneys

[heyrocker]

First a word about poker. Ten years ago I made my first trip to Vegas as part of a conference I was attending with a large group of friends. I had already been playing poker quite a while at that point and the one thing I wanted to do was play poker in a casino. I was playing mostly 7 Card Stud at the time. I was met with a chorus of jeers, including one person who offered to host the game in his room if he could collect the rake himself. My how times change.

My intention this trip was to play as many tourneys as possible, and I played 5. The biggest guideline was I was not going to play any multiple rebuy events. I played one at Orleans a couple years ago and it was terrible. I also wanted to keep the buyins at $100 or less. Thankfully there are now a wide variety of tournaments meeting these guidelines. The rest of the time I played low limit ring Hold 'Em (2/4 - 4/8.) I was all alone so I could pretty much set my own schedule and play as much as I wanted, which ended up being around 12 hours a day. I also spent some time watching the WPT tourney at Bellagio which was a blast. It was painful watching poor Howard getting his aces cracked by Ted Forrest, but he just shrugged it off and kept at it like a true pro.

All the tourneys I played had close to the same format. For $x you bought 1000 chips, for an additional $y you got the bonus buy of 500 more chips (with $y going to the dealers), and you got a single rebuy of 1500 for $z. The blinds in all the tourneys came in 20 minute intervals, and I believe that they all began 25/50, 50/100, 75/150, 100/200, 100/200/25. At this point some got nastier than others. Someone, I can't remember who, jumped straight to 200/400/100 here, while most went to 150/300/50 first. I didn't keep a record of all the blind schedules.

My first tourney was at Binion's on Tuesday night. They run these tourneys twice daily at noon and 8. $50 buyin, $10 bonus buy, $50 rebuy. On weekends they are more expensive. In every tourney I played I always took the bonus and I took the rebuy immediately. People always look at you oddly when you take the rebuy immediately, but my point of view is that if I get into a tussle with someone who has 2500 in chips, I don't want just 1500 of them, I want them all. I know I'm going to take the rebuy anyways, so why not get it over with. The afternoon tourneys are apparently far more well populated than the night ones. This one had 38 people with top 5 paid. The population of all the tourneys I played was pretty similar to what you would experience online. Early on the new players and wackos go out, and the people left at the end all basically know what they are doing to greater or lesser extents, with one or two being loose / new players who just got lucky. This was true here as well. I got to final table in this one without too much work, but went out 8th. A shortish stack was to my right in MP. Folded to him he pushed and I had ATo. I don't remember what the blinds were but they were pretty high, we were into the 4th hour. I knew he could (and probably did) have two overcards, and I was willing to take him on those terms, so I reraised all in to drive everyone else out. The guy on the button, a knowledgeable player who had obviously played this tourney many times before, squirmed and moaned and finally mucked, what he claimed was pocket tens. When he saw my ATo he was quite irritated, but acknowledged my play had served its purpose. Sadly my right had pocket sevens, and I did not improve. The blinds got me four hands later. This was by far the most professionally and well run tourney I played the whole trip. They had the big TV running the tourney software, and the staff was very well versed and conscious of tourney play.

The next tourney was at Sahara Wednesday night. I thought they ran these only on Wednesdays but someone told me they run them every night. The buyin was $40 with the optional rebuy being only $20 making it a true no-brainer, and there was no bonus buy that I can recall. The one twist in this tourney, which I didn't find out about until it had started, is that you can buy back in as a new player for another $40 after wasting your buyin and rebuy. So in reality it is really an unlimited rebuy tourney, thankfully it didn't get too crazy. This was by far the biggest tourney I played, with 180 entries, although only 11 paid, which seems pretty tight to me. I got it down to around 24th, and shortstacked in early position facing what I believe was 2K/4K blinds, pushed with A9o and got called by AJo. This was also the only tourney where someone threw a punch, it was a few tables away and security was called and dragged the guy out. This tourney was decently managed, but the card room was REALLY hot and stuffy with all those people crammed into it. Also with all the money in the pot and the payouts limited to 11, the prize money was pretty good albeit harder to get to.

Third tourney was a morning affair Thursday at Harrahs, which I really only played because I happened to be staying there. I also played a decent amount of 2/4 limit ring here. It is nice, because the place is filled with tourists and new players. Every morning before the tourney they run a "How To Play Poker" seminar, and then a lot of those players end up in the tourney. However the tournament is not particularly well run, it seems pretty new and the staff could use some help. I saw disputes with the dealers at both the tourneys I played. They cap the entries at 60, and it filled up both times I played. $30 buyin, $10 bonus, $40 rebuy. Once again I made the final table, but went out in tenth.

Fourth tourney was that afternoon at Plaza. They run these tourneys every day at noon, 4, 8 and midnight. $40 + $10, $40 rebuy. This tourney also had the most player-friendly blind schedule of all the tourneys I played. The blinds went up more slowly, but most helpful is they never add an ante. This is huge in later rounds, esp if you are short. Unfortunately this also had the lowest turnout, at a 4:00 tourney I think we had 32 people. I don't know if its better or worse at other times. This tourney was also pretty well run, with the staff knowing what they were doing and handling disagreements very nicely. Got to yet another final table, down to 8. I had come into the table with a pretty good size stack, but twice recently had pushed with a middle pocket pair (6s and 9s I believe) only to be called by a short stack with a high pocket pair. So I didn't get knocked out, but both hits took a good piece of my stack away. Finally I am on the small blind with K4s. Button just calls. I very highly suspect him of having a speculative hand trying to see a cheap flop. Like I said the blinds don't go as fast here, and with less players the final table wasn't as high as in the other tourneys I had played. I'm thinking we were 400/800. The big blind is a very tight adn conservative player so I think this is a good time to steal. I push. Big blind JUST BARELY has me covered (mostly with my own chips as he is one of the short stacks who had doubled off me earlier) and sadly calls. Button mucks quickly. Big blind has 88. Argh. But lo, I flop my king! I'm quite excited until the turn brings a shocking 8. ARGH. No more help, 5 paid, and I got saddled with yet another final table loss at 8th again. This is getting sad.

This trip to Vegas was prompted by the fact that I have moved from Chicago to Seattle, and thus while my belongings went on a truck, I drove my car and met them there. I couldn't well take the trip straight through in the winter because they often close the roads in the mountains, so instead I went South on Route 66 which leads almost straight to Vegas. Three days driving, four days in Vegas, three more days driving. I was supposed to go home on Friday, so I checked out from Harrah's and started driving. I got out to Nevada Landing when I realized I really didn't want to go home yet, and my schedule was such that I could stay one more day, so I turned around and got back in time for the morning tourney at Harrah's again.

There were quite a few players I noticed from the day before, at least 6. I don't know if they were also tourists just playing while staying there, or regulars who circuit the local tourneys. This was easily the most contentious of the tourneys I played, and its a good example of the problems at Harrah's overall. First we had a dealer after the first break, this woman was very nice and I had played with her the day before with no problems. However this time she was making some errors. She mishandled the blinds when a new player joined our table, and she miscalculated a side pot and got into an argument with someone about it for a good four or five minutes until finally she realized she was wrong and fixed it. Tourney clock running the whole time of course. A couple minutes later she made another mistake, I don't remember what specifically, and one of the players started really going at her. Finally she yells to the manager "Thats it! I need to get out of the box!" Throws down the cards and takes off. The dealer on break quickly takes her place and play continues. Now, I don't condone getting abusive with dealers at all, but she did mess up quite a bit. Finally we are down to 11, with final table starting at 10. One gets dropped from our table, and we're waiting for the other table to finish their hand so we can combine. Everyone wanders over to that table, and what has happened is this. Everyone folds to the player in the small blind. He goes all in. The big blind, a very loose player who has been getting lucky and calling a lot of big bets, looks at his cards and without saying "call" or making any motion to his chips, flips AKo up on the table. The small blind takes this as a muck and shows his cards up (AJo) and throws them down and waits for the dealer to push the chips his way. Now my understanding was always that in this situation if the BB flips up his cards without indicating that he is calling, then its a fold. Someone here can tell me if that is traditionally the case. However the big blind says, wait I'm calling. The small blind is pissed off and says, you can't call you folded. Big blind says, I showed my cards but I didn't fold. Naturally a ruckus ensues and unbelievably the poker room manager actually lets the big blind call. He had the small blind well covered and needless to say the small blind lost and was supremely pissed. He had it out with the manager for quite a while after that but to no avail. So now we are down to 9, with 6 paid. A couple very short stacks left quickly in 9th and 8th. I am somewhat short, probably second shortest at the table, and very concerned about bubbling. At this point, one of the players pipes up with the proposal that the first place winner agrees to take a piece of his prize and give it to 7th place. First prize is $1097 and he proposes that first place give the $97 to 7th. Most people at the table seem pretty amenable to this suggestion, however one player refuses to buy into the idea. He says, "If I win I am going to give the $97 to the dealers, and I want to win a full thousand, not 900." Some people try to goad him into it, but he is immovable, saying "No I won't do it, and I don't give a [censored] what any of you think about me because of it." I am marveling at the amount of conflict an $80 buyin tourney can arouse. Finally everyone gives up and play resumes.

The loose player from the big blind above is on my right, probably about UTG+2. Folded to him, he calls and I muck some garbage. Everyone folds to the BB who checks. Flop comes QQx. Both check, and at this point the guy to my right holds up his cards in such a way that I can see them and I see he holds JJ. Turn is a blank, both check. Finally the river also a blank. My guy bets out the minimum, I believe around 2K at this point. The BB thinks and pushes. My right calls and sure enough big blind has a queen. Big blind has my right covered and he is GONE, although sadly he's not the guy above who fought off 7th place's money. FINALLY. I survive another round of blinds, and 6th falls. Down to 5 and at this point I'm pretty sure the blinds are 2K/4K. In the big blind, with about another 4K left, I find myself with 66. Not much choice in the matter here. One limper and the small blind completes, and I throw in my last 4K. Both call. Small blind has 4050 left, limper is the big stack who was one of the players from the "How To Play Poker" seminar in the morning, but has been hitting everything she went after. She is a very gracious winner who understands she's just getting lucky, and cute to boot, so nobody is really holding it against her. Flop comes AKx and I'm pretty sure I'm toast. Limper bets, small blind goes all in for his last 50 and is called. I have 66, limper has QT with the Q of diamonds and two diamonds on the board, small blind has AKo. [censored]. And on the turn, a beautiful glorious 6!! I totally freak, as tripling here would be huge, and I can feel that $1097 in my reach. However, it is the 6 of diamonds. Small blind is all black, so 8 diamonds to kill me. Of course, one of them comes, and that is it for me. 5th place, $280 in prize money. However this, combined with my winnings in limit ring games, make me even for the trip.

Looking back, I can really see where my frequent bubble finishes were to some extent caused by a lack of situational agression, I was often sitting around waiting for the small stacks to fall instead of taking charge of my own destiny (although I obviously had some crappy luck too.) I also think I was a little predictable, I can think of a couple specific times when I got reraised on semi-steals by people who I'm pretty sure didn't have much, but also knew from my play that I was unlikely to call without a monster. A good education for me. It was also nice playing in larger tourneys. I have had enormous success playing SNGs online, and some small 1-2 table home tourneys, but the larger events I had played online had never really come through. One thing I confirmed which I had always suspected is that I play far far better poker live than I do online. When playing online I just have too many distractions, and I lose focus way too easily. Thankfully my new home has card rooms too! See everyone at the Muck!

[HoldingFolding]

Thanks very much for that. I got the impression that the vagaries and hassles of tournaments can make it a lot more frustrating than, say, ring games. Would you make a similar trip again or would you focus on ring games?

[heyrocker]

I think it just depends on you and what you prefer and where your strengths lie. I had played limit ring games (both Hold 'Em and Stud) for years with limited success, and when I started playing NL tournies I felt like I had a much more instinctive handle on it from the get go, so I have focused on that and had success. Through those tourneys I have learned a lot and it has helped my ring game become more successful so now I do both. I really had fun splitting it up this trip. It kept the days from getting boring and allowed me to do different things.