Playing "turbo" tournaments in Las Vegas ...

I recently returned from a trip to Las Vegas. I decided to try a few of the morning "turbo" tournamants at Luxor and Mandalay Bay. You start out with very few chips (around 300). Betting starts at $10/15 and raises to the next level every 15 minutes. After one hour, betting is no limit.

Mandalay Bay - Geez ... registration for the 10:00 a.m. tourney starts at 7:00 a.m. I got up early and got registered just after 7 am. The tourney filled up quickly. I swear, this tourney was just like playing an online freeroll! Two people had quads in the first five hands. One woman won a big pot by hitting a heart flush on the river. Her starting hand: 3h, rag! I was sitting with some guys who seemed to be good players. We couldn't believe the crap that was going on. I got no cards and had to settle for finishing in the top half.

Luxor - Played three morning tourneys there. Basically the same type of format as Mandalay. Finished in the top half in one, just missed the final table in another, and finished third in one. In the one I finished third, the final three only played one hand together. I was on the button and got A-K, so I go all in. The next player, who had a little more than me, called me. Last player, who had way more chips than anyone, raises, and the other player goes all in. I, of course, had A-K. The second player had K-Q suited, and the chip leader had 7-7. The flop is rags, the turn sucks, then the river ... a 7! Since two players went out together, the one who started the hand with the fewest chips (me) got third. I swear, when I got the Big Slick I just had the feeling that I was going to come back and win the tourney. Check out my siggie!

What I learned: I had read that if you played in one of these turbo tourneys, you have to have good cards early and press them, then have good cards toward the end. Not surprisingly, that is exactly what happened when I finished third. In these quick turbo tourneys, a run of so-so cards is a death blow. The tourneys were fun, but luck seemed to play into things way too much. Gotta admit, though - making the final table is always a great time!

Live poker is so rigged.

With the turbos you basically just have to loosen up from the start and outplay people - it's not necessarily just about getting good cards, though obviously it helps to somewhat more than it does in a 'regular' tournament.

Ah, but the challenge with these turbos is that you have basically no chips and don't get to no limit until after the first hour. Lose out on a close call in the first hour and you are hurting. I crippled one guy when I flopped a BB special full house (7-7-7-6-6) and snuffed out his straight.

Would have made another final table except that my full house lost to a higher full house. But ... dat's poker!

Those are the 2 worst tournaments in the entire city of Las Vegas! Crapshoots all the way. Try the Alladin they run a good fair low buy in tourney.

I also dont recommend the sahara tourney. They play 11 handed, the blinds move quickly. The better tourneys are of course larger buy ins at the Bellagio, and the Mirage.

The plams has some good tourney formats also.

Bill

Bill, you'll get no argument from me on that! I was surprised that Mandalay's was so crappy since Mandalay Bay is such a nice casino.

I played the Alladin morning tourney on a previous trip, but was turned off by some locals who bitched about every little thing that was done in running the tournament. I think that next time I'll forgo the morning tourneys and play in some of the real ones later in the day. I guess you really do get what you pay for. Thanks!