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Spring Break in Vegas
Just got back from a week in Vegas. Stayed at NY-NY, Mirage, & Monte Carlo. Hung with the family during the day, hit the tables at night.
Brief synopsis of my tournament play:
Sunday Night - Played in the $120 NL tourny at MGM. 86 players. Loved the poker room. Almost got blinded out after ~2 hours. Hit a couple of hands and made the final table. We all chopped for $860.
Monday Night - Played the $180 NL tourney at Venetian. Great structue. Played like crap and got bust out before the first break. Note: This is by far my favorite poker room on the strip.
Tuesday Night - Checked into the Mirage and played in the $130. ~60 players. Probably played my best in this tourny. Made the final table and we chopped at 6 players. $750. Overall good tournament with a decent structure. Would definately play again.
Wednesday Night - Checked out the 10:00 $60 tourny at TI. 56 players. Not a big fan of this tournament. Blinds double every 20 minutes. Once we hit the final two tables it became an allin fest. Got lucky and finished in fourth. $255. Will not play in this tourny again.
Thursday Night - Tried the Venetian again. Played better, but when my AA's got busted by 88's I was short stacked at the table, got busted out when my A-10 didn't hold up against A-5. Still like the tounament and will try again on my next visit.
Friday Night - Settled with the 1-2 cash game at Monte Carlo. Started with ~350, got down to ~50 and tightened up, finished up ~850 and cashed out.
Also played in a few sit-n-gos. The first one I convinced my wife to play with me at Mirage. Like the structure of 15 minute blinds. The wife has never played a live game of poker in her life, only a little on-line. After knocking me out in 8th, she goes on to win the whole thing for $420. Some of the players were a little frustrated in her lack of poker ediquite, but once she figured out the rules she played real well. Even slowed played pocket rockets against the table bully and when he went allin over the top she busted him out. I played in another one later that night and won.
Also tried the MGM s-n-g. Blinds are a little quicker, 12 minutes, and got knocked out in 4th place. Just couldn't get the cards.
All in all a very successful trip to Vegas. Can't wait to make it back and try a few other rooms out.
Highly recommend the Mirage, Venetian and MGM tourny's for low stake tournaments. i.e
Nice report. Thanks for posting.
Word of advice: No real need to build a bankroll to play at Bellagio. It is easily the most overrated poker room in Vegas, unless seeking the mid and high limits.
I would recommend the Venetian $540 over the Bellagio $1050 any day. That is a tournament worth building a bankroll for.
Even without a bankroll, you can sat into it for $130. Two seats are awarded.
I agree that the TI tournies are not good. They are similar to Paris's rolling tournies. They are not designed to be "good" tournies. They are designed to be fun tournies for the average tourist.
For a good tourney at the $60 level, I recommend the $62 at Sahara that runs 3 times a day, 11AM,7PM, and 11PM. There you get decent levels, 5K chips, and quite a few runners, usually 90-150.
Nice report. How did you convince your wife to play? Great that she won! My wife and I will be in Vegas 5/31 - 6/4 and I'd love to get her to play, even if only 2/4 LHE.
great trip report..
I am going end of April and plan to play similar schedule...Glad to hear more compliments about Venetian and cannot wait to check it out...
IAPETE - When the wife dumped $1000 on slots and blackjack, it was easy to convince her that it wouldn't hurt to try poker. I mentioned the fact that most men don't give women any respect at the poker table and that got her even more interested. Her only issue with poker is the time commitment, she likes to jump around alot where-as I enjoy grinding it out.
LasVegasMichael - Played my first live tourny at Sahara around two years ago. At the time I didn't know what I was doing and was not impressed with the casino. Next time out I will give it another shot. Thanks for the feedback.
Thank you for posting and for following up on the comments posted about your trip report!
Sahara and its poker room are certainly not impressive by any means, but for a cheap tourney, despite the atmosphere, it is easily the best structure in town.
Thanks again!