Three weeks from today I am in Vegas

Hey Everyone... Pretty excited as three weeks from today I'll be in Vegas for the World Series of Poker...

I fly down from Ottawa on July 4 and am currently staying till July 9. I am staying at Caesar's Palace... It is my 3rd trip to Vegas, but I have not been in about 8 years so there have been alot of changes.

Anyways, it will be an intensive 5 days of gambling and fun... I am still on the fence about entering the WSOP Main event. I won my 10k from Poker Stars in March and since that time have been doing my best to work on my game and learn more about live tournament play. More recently I have been thinking of not entering the main event and instead "investing" about 3k of that money on some of the regular tourneys and cash games. That way I am still coming home with $7k, even if I lose this money.

If I don't play the Main event, I have made a plan of what tourneys I would like to play each day (ranging from one $60 donkament at IP's, the $330 7pm at Caesars, one at Venetian, building up to the $1000 event at the Bellagio on Saturday at 2pm)... In between, I'll hit the cash tables.

I also play alot of roulette and craps, but I have a separate bankroll for that gambling... It should be fun.

I don't mind meeting any other cc'ers in Vegas at that time...

I.. am.. so.. jealous.
GL buddy. I hope you win the the main event. lol
(It can happen)

Haha.. Thanks for the good luck, much appreciated! I'm afraid I really don't think I can win the main event!

The more I have learned about this game over the past six months has made me realize that I have many weakneses and leaks in my game and have alot to work on before I can proceed to higher levels.

I completely agree about not entering the ME. I recently played a WPT super sat (only $1580), but could have instead played the $330 everyday at the Venetian.

There are a ton of alternate events parallel to the ME this year in Vegas, including, the Bellagio Cup.

I suggest you skip the donkament at IP, and skip the Caesar's tournament as well-- there are far better options. Also might consider a "re"-satellite for ME on the fourth if you want to spend big bucks ($1k ish).

Instead I suggest this "play : value" itinerary:

1. Scuffle on Wed night (if you don't get in too late), all day Thursday, and Friday day (until Binion's tournament at night). This should net you around $300-$400 free dollars, enough to cover an meals and/or incidental expenses for your trip. In addition, you will get to travel all around the city, seeing all the changes from you last trip, getting the lay of the land, etc. This will also give you an opportunity to play your neg. EV pit games ().

The $330 at the Wynn at noon on Thursday is very playable if you want a tournament.

2. On any of the days you don't play your "big" event: Friday and Saturday and Sunday night at 8pm, (5th-7th) the $200 at Binions ($150 + one $50 rebuy, which can be taken immediately). Super structure, with 5k in chips and 30 min. blind levels. This is hands down the best value tournament in terms of "entry fee to play/structure" in Las Vegas. Yes, you get more play in the bigger $ events (especially the $1k+), but the price/buy in can not be beat for what you get.

If you DO decide to play the Caesar's tournament be aware of an odd structural anomaly: to quote the Bishop AS it is "jarring". His comment: "at blind level two, the blinds are $50-$100. At level three, they shoot up to $100-$200 with a $25 ante. That means the cost of going through a round of ten hands almost quadruples, from $150 to $550 in a single jump." (my emphasis). However, perhaps you can figure out a way exploit this if you are aware of it and others are not.

Anyway, good luck, and have fun!!

Personally I would take the 10K and play in 7 WSOP Bracelet events in 2008.

Thanks for your recommendations – I want to play at Binions as well; I forgot to mention it…. I have pretty well decided that I am not playing the main event; the only way I see myself entering it now is if I head over to the RIO to check things out on July 5 and get caught up in all of the excitement and jump into the registration line!!! But the thought of starting on day 1a/b/c, playing tight for a couple of hours, then having my pair of Kings get beaten by someone with pocket Aces…. Well, I think I would not enjoy paying 10k for just a few hours of tournament play (I know risk versus reward…)

My plan was to experience a variety of tournaments so that I can play against different types of players. Keep in mind my live poker experience in formal tournaments (I am not counting house games with friends) is very low (less than 10).

So I wanted to experience a low buy-in donkament full of tourists that becomes a push-fest after two hours, then some larger buy-in games with better players and higher patience factors.

Do you not recommend Caesar’s due to the strange blind structure? Perhaps I will switch that one to the $330 Wynn event. And Yes, I will add the $200 Binions to my list.

What do you think of the $1000 Bellagio tourney? It seems to be a very deep-stack game and I believe a lot of good players play this one. With the WSOP going on, I was hoping that a few pros that get kicked out of the Main Event might play the Bellagio.

I arrive by 2pm Wednesday… So my plan was to play a tourney and cash games Wednesday evening. Thursday morning was walk-around time. Then mid-afternoon till evening was my “comp time” where I use my table game bankroll to earn my comps for the rest of my stay. Then late Thursday was poker cash games… Friday to Sunday was more tourneys and whatever else sounds good at the time.

Any advice is appreciated!

"I don't think that's necessary, go sit in a 2/4 limit game if you feel the need to get a bit comfortable w live game siutations"

Where? When I was out there the lowest spread game was 3/6 limit. Which wasn't bad.

Binions has a 2/4 limit game for sure, even Fri and Sat night. I'm sure you can find others. Here , and here are room reviews/limits.

Binions was one of the few places I hadn't visted. Will definitely have to stop by next time in Vegas. Thanks for the info!

Aliengenius - thanks for the additional feedback.. Binions is definitely in for at least one 8pm tourney on Friday night. I need to reserve Saturday for the Bellagio $1000 + 80 2pm game.

I have also heard good things about the Venetian deep stack tourneys... They have a $500 + 40 tourney at 12 noon on Friday and Saturday that starts with T$7500 and the $10 staff bonus gives you T$2500 more! Their 8pm games are lower <$200 buyins, so if I am booted from the noon tourney I can hang around and play the 8pm. This hotel is supposed to be absolutely amazing, so it will give me a chance to check it out - and I hear the cocktail waitresses are amazing ...

I am obviously running out of time in a 5 day visit for too many deep-stack tourneys, so some scheduling will depend on how long I survive.

Overall, of my $3k poker bankroll, I will be reserving between $1800 - 2000 for tournament fees and $1200 for cash games ($1/2 and $2/4).

YW. Yeah, the Venetian's room is great. Very big, very spread out, lots of room, good cocktail service too . Some of the other strip rooms like Bellagio you feel like you are sitting in the other tables lap after playing at the Venetian. When you make a millon dollars an hour you can do it up right!

good luck in Vegas, looking forward to your trip report when you get back!