Vegas Poker Scene - February 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. 

= =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =

SOUTH POINT: There’s a $50K guarantee for $250 with two starting flights, Feb. 1 and Feb. 2, with Day 2 on Feb. 3. Players get 10K chips and play 30-minute levels. You can enter both starting flights and if you qualify for Day 2 in both flights, you’ll receive a bonus payout. If 10 players or fewer qualify twice, they’ll each get $1K. If 11 or more players qualify twice, they’ll split $10K.

Qualifying for the Spring freeroll begins Feb. 1 and runs through April 30. Players need 120 hours over the three months to qualify and are eligible for bonus payouts for additional hours played. More than $190K in prize money will be awarded.

VENETIAN: This month, the room offers a loyalty-rewards promotion. In addition to the standard $1 per hour in comps for live play, players will earn additional comps for a minimum of 25 hours of play during the period, starting at 50 cents for 25 hours, with an additional 50 cents for every increment of 25 hours up to 250 hours. For 250 hours of live play or more during the month, the extra reward is $3 per hour.

BOULDER STATION: Bill Levy is the new manager. He’s been with Stations for five years and at Boulder for more than three years, recently as a day-shift supervisor.

The most popular game here is the $4-$8 Omaha high with a half-kill. The minimum buy-in is $40 and the action is wild. Always running is a $2-$4 limit game with a $20 mini.mum buy-in. A $1-$2 NLHE game with a $50-$300 min-max runs during busier periods.

Levy is intent on offering exciting promotions. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays, the hold’em games award $500 for flopping quads. Wednesdays and Thursdays award $25 or $50 for Aces Cracked. Four Flush Fridays offer $100 for making a flush in each suit. Sundays offer $200 for the high hand of the
shift three times a day.

The Omaha promos are varied, too. On Mondays, the highest hand wins $500. Progressive payouts for Steel Wheels are offered on Wednesday. High hand of the shift is worth $200 on Thursdays. On Sunday, the highest hand is worth $500. There’s also an Omaha bad-beat jackpot and payouts for royals ($100-$300).

There also have been having drawings during Vegas Golden Knights games, giving away $100 to a random hold’em player and a random Omaha player after the Knights score.

RIO: The World Series of Poker Circuit visits Feb. 16-27. The $1,675 main event has a $1M guarantee, with the first of its two starting flights Feb. 24. The opening event is a six-starting-flight $365 event with a $250K guarantee beginning Feb. 16. It has unlimited re-entry. A $2,200 high roller wraps up things Feb. 26.

ARIA: The U.S. Poker Open runs Feb. 1-9. This is a series of high rollers. In addition to two $10K and three $25K NLHE events, there’s a $10K PLO event Feb. 2 and a $25K Mixed Game Championship on Feb. 5. The $50K main event is a three-day event beginning Feb. 9. The player who wins the most money during the series will be named the U.S. Poker Open Champion and will receive the U.S. Poker Open Cup.

WYNN: The Wynn Classic runs Feb. 19-March 11. New this time is a $3,150 two-day NLHE event that starts Feb. 28. The $1,600 championship event has the first of three starting flights on March 1. It has a $1M guarantee. Most of the other tournaments have buy-ins of $400 or $550 with guarantees of be.tween $25K and $250K. A $400 PLO event with a $25K guarantee runs Feb. 20.

ORLEANS: A new eight-game mix tournament runs Wednesday nights at 7:05. Players start with 15K chips and play 20-minute levels to start, going to 30 minutes beginning with Level 5. The games are NLHE, PLO, deuce-to-seven triple draw, Omaha/8, limit hold’em, stud, stud/8 and razz. The games change every six hands. This is the only regularly scheduled tournament of its type in Vegas.

BELLAGIO: Ryan Tosoc of Chicago won the WPT Five Diamond Classic in December, taking home nearly $2M. Alex Foxen of New York took second for $1.1M and Michael Del Vecchio from Las Vegas grabbed $762K for third. The $10,400 event drew 800-plus players and had a prize pool close to $8M.