My favorite time of year is fast approaching - 55 tournaments over a month and a half of poker madness that is the World Series of Poker!
A big congratulations to PSP newcomer Eric T. who took down our second WSOP satellite this year and grabbed himself a seat in a 1K bracelet event! Well done Eric! I am HELLLA JELOUS!!!!
But even though it looks like I won't get a seat at the actual big dance this year, I'm still planning on making the pilgrimage to Mecca anyways! And speaking of wonders of the world let me just say quite truthfully that I've seen the Great Wall of China, The Taj Mahal and the Great Pyramids - and they all gave me major chills. But these chills were about the same as the ones I got when I saw the Pavilion room at the Rio loaded with 3000 poker players! If you've never been, and you love poker - you really owe it to yourself to make the trip!
I will be there in Vegas on the weekend of June 25/26. I'll be staying at the Orleans through Tuesday the 28th, leaving early Wednesday morning the 29th. While there I'll be playing in as many tournaments as I can without exhausting myself or my wallet.
Joining me for the fun will be PSP regular Jason H. We'll both be there to play, but also to support both WSOP seat winners Allen Q. and Eric T. who will be in WSOP event #45 on June 26th! Should be a rollicking good time, with two reps in the WSOP this year, we might actually make the monies!!!
As I implied, I won't be plunking down 1K for a single seat in the WSOP, instead I'll likely spend about that on multiple tournaments over four days. Hopefully I will cash at least once or twice to offset this expense and ideally help pay for the trip, but either way, it's going to be a lot of fun playing in a bunch of different rooms.
Purely for enticement purposes, here is a look at what's available every day -
9am $75 Mega-Satty Turbo Rio
11am $60 NLHE Turbo Mirage
Noon $80 Daily NLHE Caesers
1pm $125 Daily NLHE Aria
2pm $240 Deep Stack Rio
7pm $125 Daily NLHE Aria
10pm $50 NLHE Turbo T.I.
I'll for sure play one of the 2pm Deep Stacks at the Rio, probably on the Sunday where Allen plays in the bracelet event. That way I can at least be in the same room and pretend I made it. It's a truly great tournament, with 15K in starting chips and a slow structure that typically sees a final table at two in the morning and a winner as the sun comes up.
Other than that, my budget dictates that I'll likely play in a modest daytime tournament, $100 or so, and a cheapie at night such as the $50 turbo at T.I. which is great fun even though it's structure is brain damaged. The Mirage also has less expensive options, with a morning $60 and an evening $80 that are chock full of recreational players and plenty of drunken revelry.
There are also a number of special events going on that I may or may not indulge in - most have higher price points, but the structures are generally much better than regular daily tournaments.
The Venetian has their Deep Stack Extravaganza. You simply can't beat the Venetian for a quality poker experience. Their tournament structures are better than most of the WSOP and the room is spectacular.
Caesar's is running a Megastacks Series. This is probably the weakest of the bunch, but the lower entry fees are enticing.
Across town, I may make it yet to historic Binion's for their Poker Classic event. Especially tempting is the Pot Limit Omaha/8 event on Tuesday the 28th.
Nearby, an outstanding series that has Caesar's price points but with infinitely better structures and variety of events is the
Grand Poker Series at the Golden Nugget.
Too many choices!
