Welcome to Vegas Boards!

The only Las Vegas Message Board and forum built by enthusiasts for enthusiasts.
Join today for free!

Your First Vegas Poker Tournament

Discussion in 'Poker, Race & Sportsbook' started by Breeze147, Jun 26, 2016.

  1. Stillsober

    Stillsober
    Expand Collapse
    Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2016
    Messages:
    120
    Likes Received:
    120
    Trips to Vegas:
    20
    Where can I find that trip report? Archived somewhere or on the VMB site?
     
  2. VEGASBJ

    VEGASBJ
    Expand Collapse
    Member
    Founder's Club Gold Linker

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2016
    Messages:
    2,352
    Likes Received:
    1,058
    Location:
    Rolling Hardways!
    Trips to Vegas:
    257
    probably archived on the VMB site
     
  3. mjames1229

    mjames1229
    Expand Collapse
    Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2016
    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    16
    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    Trips to Vegas:
    23
    Each year since 2009, I make a trip to Las Vegas with a number of others in the fall to play poker tournaments (that
    You must be a registered user with confirmed email address to view this content.
    Register or Login
    ). We play cash no-limit home games one or two times per month, but those have $50 buy-ins, and since we all know each other’s games, nobody ever wins or loses a significant amount.

    However, we’ve had numerous conversations (they seem to happen each game) where we discuss that we choose not to have bankroll for a proper casino no-limit game. A couple of the single guys do play no-limit at the local casino, and they always have the same story… a regular who buys in for the table max makes a killing early, then plays bully for hours on end. Then we married guys respond that there’s no way we could gather bully-proof money to play cards, so we don’t. I’ve played 3/6 limit, but my game is more geared to no-limit (in other words, I can’t manage to lower my starting hand standards, or I’ll fold to a raise when I don’t like my kicker, then I get frustrated when I see what wins. Of course, if I do play a hand with crappy cards, it just costs me money. I just can’t find that limit sweet spot).

    So prior to our 2009 trip, we decided to just play tournaments (generally $40-$80 buy-in). Yes the structures suck, and yes the house rake is silly, and yes they become shove-fests. But we can get three tournaments per day, so for about $200, we get to play a lot of poker. Our group is good enough that it is rare for none of us to not cash.

    Often, we’re told that the “good” games are at the Aria, Wynn, Bellagio, etc., and that buy-ins of $300 will get better structures and avoid the players that can’t play. But we LIKE the low-buy in tournaments. We like hanging with tourists, as we are (obviously) tourists ourselves. We like to think we’re going fishing, which gives you a nice ego boost when you knock a few out. On the other hand, we’ve been to a couple of local casino tournaments (one at Santa Fe Station really stands out) which was a game in which the regulars aimed to get us out of “their” game. Although we do get to South Point and The Orleans, we generally try to stay on the Strip or Downtown.

    Again, our goal is not to get rich. Vegas is supposed to be fun, and we’ve nailed a way to play no-limit poker all day long and not have it cost us a fortune. And we’re happy, so we go back every year.

    Back to the question of the first game, that would have been at the South Point on a Saturday morning in November, 2009. We had been off the plane for about 90 minutes when the game started. I was very nervous, as I had just joined our poker group a year or two earlier, and was basically a novice. Having more locals than tourists, the game play was pretty good. I got bumped out in the middle, but one of our guys hung on and chopped 1st/2nd/3rd, and he was thrilled to have won enough to pay for most of the tournaments that weekend.

    My first cash was that same weekend. We played a game at the Plaza (that was before the electric tables and before the renovation). I was still nervous, as this was my fourth tournament of the weekend and my weak skills had been taken advantage of. However before the break, I flopped a nut-flush, went all-in after the turn and doubled up. After the break, it was an extreme shove-fest, as at one point, three players dropped out and lost on consecutive hands. I was in the final four of a tournament that paid three spots. I recall flopping two pair and I shoved, the caller had flopped a set. Luckily, I went runner-runner for a miracle flush, then held on for second place.

    In other words, at that time I wasn’t good enough for real players, but cashed in a shove-fest.

    Since then my play has improved significantly, though we still plan on playing the $50-$100 entry tournaments this coming trip.
     
    #23 Aug 8, 2016
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2016
  4. MatthewNL

    MatthewNL
    Expand Collapse
    Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2016
    Messages:
    85
    Likes Received:
    49
    Trips to Vegas:
    9
    Well, the very first live poker tournament I ever played I won, this was in Canada though and I was 19. Definitely such a rush, I actually played poker full time in my early twenties for awhile but I find Poker is way better when playing recreationally, way too stressful even if you are winning year after year, the swings can be gross.

    I find the Aria has really good poker tournaments these days, hoping to play in one this weekend If I make it out there.
     
  5. momnkid

    momnkid
    Expand Collapse
    Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 8, 2016
    Messages:
    11
    Likes Received:
    6
    Trips to Vegas:
    20
    Have played in a few daily tournaments at Bally's in AC, Paris/Sahara/Binion's in LV. Won a couple - they do become shovefests but I need that as I don't want to cut too far into my gambling time. (poker is not gambling in my book) I had a much harder time than my husband because I am female - guys absolutely hate losing to a chick. It's all good with me, their play gets more aggressive and sloppy the more I play the timid card. The best game was down at Sahara because of the locals. They would get to the final table and basically end it there, splitting the pool. They didn't get fancy, no slowrolls or hamming like a TV camera is watching them.
     
  6. chico7800

    chico7800
    Expand Collapse
    Chip and a chair
    Founder's Club

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2016
    Messages:
    34
    Likes Received:
    19
    Trips to Vegas:
    20
    We used to play lots of the low buy-in tournaments when poker was still a big thing. We pretty much stopped after the poker boom stopped as the fields shrunk so much that the payouts were horrible. I was finding we would play a $60 buy in and first was around $450 with the house taking a solid 25% of the prize pool.

    As for the op question. The tourneys have a few hellmuth wannabes wearing sunglasses and critiquing every play with their running commentary but most just sit there quietly with their headphones on oblivious to everything.
     
  7. DonkeyPuncher

    DonkeyPuncher
    Expand Collapse
    New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2016
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Location:
    Las Vegas
    ** Long time lurker, 1st time poster **

    My first tourney was at TI in 2014, 11am Sunday morning tournament. $60 buy in and about 25-30 players/buy ins. There were a few chumps that had no clue, but for the most part it was a pretty fair tourney. I ended up winning 1st that tourney and was hooked. The next weekend bought in same tourney and cashed 3rd. It was a nice little win for a newbie poker player like my self at the time. Now I play the occasional Bounty Tournament at RR, but besides that try to stick to cash games, as there are too many rich people that like to give $$ away thinking there QQ will always win the pot (IMO).
     

Related Threads

Share This Page

Loading...