Vegas Poker Scene (March Ante Up Column)

Here's my newest column for Ante Up.  The link for it on the Ante Up website is here.   Remember, my contribution is embedded in the entire West Coast report.  So below is just my Vegas report.  The magazine should be in your local poker room soon.

CAESARS PROPERTIES: The WSOP.com site is sponsoring the Players Choice Tournament Series at six Caesars Entertainment poker rooms in Las Vegas. These are weekly $125 buy-in tournaments in each room. Online $10 satellites will be offered at WSOP.com to give players the opportunity to win seats to these tournaments.

The schedule for the live tournaments is as follows: Rio, Sundays at 7 p.m. ($2K guarantee); the Linq, Mondays at 1 p.m.; Planet Hollywood, Tuesdays, at 11 p.m. ($500 guarantee); Harrah’s, Wednesdays at 10 p.m., ($2K guarantee); Caesars, Fridays at 6 p.m. ($2K guarantee), and Bally’s, Saturdays at 8 p.m. ($2K guarantee).
All players who enter these tournaments receive WSOP.com card protectors and the winner of each tournament receives a champion’s WSOP.com coin. Additionally, the winner will receive entry into a $1K online monthly freeroll. The prize pool of the freeroll is funded by WSOP.com. The freerolls will be March 25, April 22 and May 20.

All CET poker rooms, including the Flamingo, are offering players a free buffet for playing poker. Players who earn 50 tier credits in a 24-hour period will get a coupon for the buffet of their choice, with the exception of the buffet at Caesars Palace. It takes three hours of live play to earn that number of credits, except at Caesars, where only 1.5 hours of live play is required.

LINQ: The four-table room on the center Strip added a new promo. Cash drawings are twice a day, at 5 p.m. and midnight. Two $100 winners are awarded each time. Players earn tickets by making hands. Each straight earns one ticket, two tickets for a flush, three tickets for a full house, five tickets for quads and 10 tickets for a straight flush or a royal. Only one card in the player’s hand must play. You must be present to win, but need not be playing at the time of the drawing. Tickets earned before 5 p.m. remain in the drum for the midnight drawing, after which the drum is emptied.

The Linq still offers high-hand bonuses. It’s $50 for quads, $100 for a straight flush and $200 for a royal. Daily $45 tournaments are offered at 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.

The main cash game is $1-$1 NLHE. The minimum buy-in is $50 and the max is $300. Sometimes a $1-$1 PLO game spreads (also $50-$300 min-max) and a $1-$3 NLHE game with a $100 minimum and no max.

BALLY’S: The 14-table room announced it’s decreasing the maximum rake for all cash games to $4. The main cash game is $1-$2 NLHE, with a $100-$300 min-max. There are high-hand bonuses for quads ($50-$500), straight flushes ($100-$500) and royals ($200-$500). The room offers a $6K weekly freeroll for 12 hours of live play. The top 20 finishers are each awarded $300.

WYNN: The Wynn Classic runs through March 14. The $1,600 championship event has three starting flights beginning March 11 and offers a $500K guarantee.

SOUTH POINT: Qualifying begins March 1 for one of the city’s biggest freerolls at this locals’ favorite on the south end of the Strip. The total prize pools will be $155K with first place taking home $35K and 60 places will be paid. Players need to play 100 hours by May 31 to get a seat at the freeroll. The three players each month who play the most hours will win $2K, $1K and $500, respectively. The freeroll will be June 6-7, with the final on June 11. Entrants who don’t make the final get $100.

Busy cash games always are available. The $2-$4 limit hold’em game has a half-kill and a $20 minimum buy-in. The $1-$2 NLHE has a $100-$300 min-max buy-in.

GOLDEN NUGGET: Dan Serban took home $7,200 for winning the Golden Saturday tournament on Jan. 23. Celia Aragon grabbed $6,400 for second and Joan Champagne earned $5,800 for third. There were 577 players, each paying $140 to enter. The prize pool was $60K.

PLANET HOLLYWOOD: The $600 main event at the PHamous Weekend in January drew 388 players. Wendy Freedman of Las Vegas earned $55K for first, William Reynolds of Las Vegas took home $34K for second and Maziar Keshavarzi of San Antonio, Texas, scored $25K for third. The prize pool was $250K.

VENETIAN: The $400 River Card tournament was part of the New Year’s Extravaganza. It drew 660 entrants for a $225K pool. California’s Edward Tsai took the $46K first-place prize, with Raymond Muzyka of Canada claiming $28K for second and Reza Pazuki of Las Vegas earning $21K for third.

EUREKA: The poker room in Mesquite held its semi-annual Eureka Open in January. The main event was a $200K freeroll that players earned their way into with tournament and live play during the series. The top three finishers were Bill Thomas of Mesquite ($5K), Johnny Ibarra of St. George, Utah, ($3,500) and Jed Kimber ($2K). Nearly 150 players entered.