The Heartland Poker Tour and the Commerce-Cry me a river...

Michael Paler

Michael Paler

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Apr 27, 2013
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A few month's back I took a trip to Palm Springs. At the Agua Caliente Casino they were running sats for the HPT. These are so cool! How it works was easy....but read on, because thinking I could do the same at the Commerce for the upcoming HPT main event turned out to not be so "structrued" as I had hoped....

Step one: The 80.00 Sit-n-go
I was on a roll in this first game, literally destroying my table. I had so many of the chips in play by the time we got 3 handed, it was very hard to tell who would get 2nd place. So, you play the 80 and two get a ticket to another SNG, a 340.00.
Step two: The 340 Sit-n-go
This was nice as well. While the 80 only starts you off with 5k in chips, this one got you 17k. Sadly, only 8 players signed up, so the winner would get the main event seat, and 2nd would get cash (almost 1k, not bad). I went out 4th, and had it not been a 4 hour trip to get there, I would have returned the next weekend.
Contrast this with the Commerce.....
They had no less than 3 SNG tables, all receiving tourney chips as a prize.:dontknow: So, with a 120.00 table (hard to fill), a 40.00 table (everyone wanted to play this one) and an 80.00 table, which, in 4 days had not seen play at all, you could pretty much kiss this idea goodbye.
Now, don’t get me wrong, they have other sats, but those SNG’s are probably the best value. I mean, better than 150.00 to get in, 5k chips to start and 15 minute levels. With re-entry, this turns into quite the shove fest, as players try to suck out rather than actually play good poker. 2-3 main event seats are up for grabs, and it really goes to the ones who can luck out the most.
I was really disappointed. The Commerce could have at least tried to square this up by only offering the structured 80 and 340, seats only, no Tourney chips. I think if given only these choices, they would have filled up. Instead, it was off to the donk-fest games for main event seats. While they also did have a 240.00 (15k start chips, 15 minute levels) game for seats, again, with re-buys it’s just a joke.
I just find it odd that the worlds largest casino could not get it’s act together to offer what far smaller and almost unheard of casinos do. I relaize SNG's are no longer what they once were, still - if you only offer the 80 and the 340, it's either going to work or be no better/no worse than the 40-80-120.
Guess I'll go on being Heart-Broken until the next stop at Palm Springs. In the meantime, anyone got a solid 15 minute level, 5k to start, 30-40 man stratagy that works? Becasue I saw nothing short of the same all in hands and calls that you would see in penny online MTT's.
 
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