Vegas Poker Scene - March 2018 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 by now. 

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WYNN: Stephen Buell of Las Vegas topped a field of 743 players to take home $65K in the Wynn Signature Weekend event Jan. 28.  Las Vegas’ Wendy Freedman claimed $53K for second and England’s Barry Isaacson earned $32K for third. 

The buy-in was $600 and the prize pool was $389K, easily surpassing the $250K guarantee. All tournaments in this brief series used the big-blind ante format, where the big blind posts an ante each hand, a format that is rapidly gaining popularity.

VENETIAN: The March Extravaganza runs March 12-18, offering $400K-plus in guarantees. The main event is a $600 SuperStack event with three starting flights beginning March 15. Players start with 20K chips and 40-minute levels. The guarantee is $200K. A one-day $400 PLO event with a $12K guarantee is March 15. Players start with 12K and play 30-minute levels.

The Venetian’s second Deep Stack Extravaganza of the year will run March 26-April 15. The event with the biggest guarantee, $250K, is $250 with five starting flights beginning April 10. Players start with 15K chips and play 30-minute levels on Day 1, 40-minute levels on Day 2. The final 10 percent of each flight will be in the money, with the final 5 percent advancing to Day 2.

The first of two starting flights for a $1,100 DoubleStack tournament with a $200K guarantee is March 28. Players start with 30K chips and play 40-minute levels. A $600 DoubleStack event has three starting flights beginning April 5. Again, players start with a 30K stack and play 40-minute levels. The guarantee is $200K.

Two of the tournaments are using the big-blind ante format. The first one is March 27, a one-day, $400 SuperStack with a $35K guarantee. Players start with 18K chips and play 30-minute levels. The same tournament runs April 4.

A $250 Omaha/8 tournament with a $7K guarantee runs April 1. A $250 PLO tourney with a $7K guarantee runs April 6. A $400 seniors event with a $25K guarantee runs April 5.

More than $1.2M in prize money is guaranteed over the course of the series.

On the cash-game side, the room has a high-hand and splash-pot promo running March 1-May 13. Between noon and midnight, $400 will be awarded every half-hour to the highest hand of that period. Between 12:15 p.m. and 11:45 p.m., a table will be selected randomly every half-hour for a $100 splash pot.

WESTGATE: Vegas’ newest poker room will host the Heartland Poker Tour (March 29-April 9). The $1,650 main event offers the first of its three starting flights on April 5. Players get 30K chips and play 40-minute levels. The final table on Day 3 will be live-streamed on Twitch on April 9.

A $350 Monster Stack event with three starting flights kicks off things March 29. Players get 15K chips and play 30-minute levels. A $1,100 two-day event starts April 1 as players start with 20K chips and play 40-minute levels. There are also a few $200 events and plenty of satellites.  

PLANET HOLLYWOOD: The World Series of Poker Circuit returns March 22-April 2. The $1,675 main event offers a $500K guarantee and starts March 30. A $365 event with a $150K guarantee starts March 23. 
A $250 seniors event runs March 29. A $365 PLO event is March 26. A $2,200 high roller is April 1.

STRATOSPHERE: The room at the north end of the Strip has revised its tournament schedule. The regular tournament is $75 for a 10K stack and 20-minute levels. This runs every weeknight except Wednesday at 7, and Friday through Sunday at 11 a.m. The 7 p.m. tournaments on Friday and Saturday feature a $1K guarantee.

Wednesdays at 7 p.m., the room offers at $100 bounty event, same details but there’s a $25 bounty. For all tournaments, players can get an extra 1K chips for registering at least 15 minutes before start time.
Frequently, the room will replace one of the afternoon tournaments on the weekend with a $125 Stratstack tournament, which starts players with 20K chips and features 30-minute levels. All tournaments serve free pizza to the players at the first break.

TREASURE ISLAND: The new regular tournament is a $50 rebuy tournament and is offered three times a day, at 12:30, 6 and 10 p.m. The starting stack is 5K. For the first four 15-minute levels, rebuys for 5K are available for $20, whenever a player is at or below 5K. There’s an optional $20 add-on at the end of Level 4 for 15K.  

On the first and third Thursdays of the month, the 6 and 10 p.m. tournaments are replaced by the new Magnum T.I. event.  It starts at 7 p.m. and has a $125 buy-in. Players start with 30K chips and play 20-minute levels.

There is an optional $15 add-on for $15K chips after the 10th level, when registration closes. The poker room is adding $500 to the prize pool.

Players can earn a free entry into the Magnum T.I. tournament by finishing in the top three of the weekly leaderboard, which tracks the players with the most cashes in the regular tournaments. Also, players can get a free entry by playing 20 hours of live poker in the room during a week.

The room is continuing its Get Paid To Play program. Players will be paid $40 for 10 hours of live play in a week, up to $599 for 60 hours of live play.

The main cash game is $1-$3 NLHE with a $100-$500 min-max buy-in.