Vegas Poker Scene -- November, 2019

Here's my latest column for Ante Up. You can find it embedded in the entire West region report here.  Remember, I just write the Vegas part.  You can find it in your local poker room now.

Enjoy!

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Eric Baldwin of Las Vegas earned $81K for winning the MSPT main event at Venetian’s Deep Stack Extravaganza in September. 

Richard Schneiderman of the United Kingdom took second for $50K and Jason Gooch of Texas was third for $36K. The $1,100 event drew 377 players, creating a $367K prize pool, crushing the $250K guarantee.

The $1,600 main event of the next DSE has two starting flights, beginning Nov. 20, and a $400K guarantee. Players start with 30K chips and get 60-minute levels. Players can enter or re-enter as late as Level 13, which is 3:30 p.m. on Day 2.

The series runs through Dec. 1. The last big event is a $400 Monster Stack (Nov. 29) with a $100K guarantee. Players get 30K chips and 40-minute levels.

PLANET HOLLYWOOD: The WSOPC returns Nov. 15-26. The $1,700 main event, which has a $1M guarantee, begins Nov. 23 and has two starting flights. Players get 30K chips and 40-minute blinds until Level 16 (60 minutes).

HARRAH’S: The WSOPC returns Dec. 12-22. The $250 opener (Dec. 12) has three starting flights and a $50K guarantee. A three-starting-flight $600 event with a $100K guarantee starts Dec. 13. The $1,700 main event has two starting flights beginning Dec. 19 and a $500K guarantee.

THE ORLEANS: The off-Strip poker room revised its tournament schedule. The morning event runs daily at 11:05 a.m. It’s a $100 Super Stack. Players get 25K chips, 20-minute levels and a $5K guarantee.

The evening tournaments start at 7:05 and offer a variety of disciplines. Sundays feature a $125 HORSE tournament. Monday is a $100 Omaha/8-stud/8 mix. Pot-limit Omaha runs Tuesday for $100. The $100 eight-game mix is Wednesday. Thursday features an Omaha/8 tourney. All events have 20-minute levels 15K stacks.

The $130 Friday night event is one of the most popular regularly scheduled tournaments in town. Players get 15K chips, 30-minute levels and a $15K guarantee. A $150 bounty tournament runs Saturday evening. The bounty is $50 and the levels start at 20 minutes, increasing to 30 minutes at Level 7.

The cash games are always busy. Multiple tables of $2-$4 and $4-$8 limit always are going, the minimum buy-ins are $20 and $40, respectively. 

Orleans is the place for Omaha/8. Both $4-$8 with a $40 minimum and $8-$16 with a $80 minimum run around the clock.  And, of course, the $1-$3 NLHE game ($100-$500) is spread over multiple tables 24-7. 

High hands and bad-beat jackpots for hold’em and Omaha are offered. Tournament players are eligible for the Tournament Player of the Month jackpot.

BELLAGIO: The WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic runs Dec. 5-22. The $10,400 main event is Dec. 16. There are two $1,100 seniors events (Dec. 5 and 10).

HEARTLAND POKER TOUR: The HPT returns to Vegas, this time at the M Resort. The series runs Dec. 5-16. The $1,650 main event begins Dec. 12.

THE STRAT: That’s the name for the old Stratosphere. Also, the poker room moved to the retail level. High hands pay $300 for a royal, $150 for a straight flush and $75 for quads. There’s a $50 high hand paid every even hour. The room also offers a $100 High Hand Game Starter. The highest hand during the 11 a.m.-noon hour receives $100.   

EXCALIBUR: The NFL promo covers the Sunday morning game as well as the Monday and Thursday night games. High Hand of the Hour starts two hours before kickoff and runs to 3 p.m. on Sunday and 11 p.m. on Monday and Thursday. During the game, a random seat gets $50 for a field goal, $100 for touchdown and $200 for a safety.

GREEN VALLEY RANCH: The tournament schedule features a $45 tournament daily at 10 a.m. Players get 5K chips and 20-minute levels. There’s a $5 dealer add-on for 5K chips.

The $1-$2 hold’em game always runs with a $100-$300 min-max. A $2-$5 game ($200-$500) runs, too. Limit games are popular with $2-$4, $3-$6 and $4-$8 all offered.

Among the promos is Poker Payday. Players get $100 for playing 20 hours of live poker in a week. The Quad Floppers promo awards players $500 for flopping quads on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. On Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday (10 a.m.-10 p.m.), there’s a random drawing every half-hour awarding a player $50. There’s a progressive royal jackpot that starts at $250 and increases $100 each week. The Golden Goals promo hits during Vegas Golden Knights games. Every time the home team scores, two players are selected for a $50 prize and their tables get a $50 splash pot.

Have I Forgotten Tournament Strategy?

As I mentioned before, I played just one tournament in Vegas during my July visit.  That was the Wynn on Sunday. On Friday and Sunday (but, alas, not Saturday), they have $200 tournament at noon, 15K starting stack, 30-minute levels and it even has a $10K guarantee. Big blind ante, of course.  I had never played a tournament at Wynn before, but from my observations, it appeared that this Friday and Sunday tourney there was now getting a bigger crowd than Aria's similar tournament had.  Plus Wynn had the $10K guarantee and Aria had no guarantee.  So I figured I'd give it a shot.

It's a good tournament, good structure for the price.  I'll be more than happy to play it again if I get the chance.  That said, (spoiler warning) I didn't come close to cashing.  I'm not going to do a complete recap of my experience.  Basically I just want to discuss one thing that came up during my run, based on a play I made and a comment I received for that play.

My table was kind of crazy.  Not the play, just the cards.  In the first few levels there were an awful lot of bad beats and bust-outs.  I mean ten-minutes into the tournament two players got it all in on the turn.  The flop had been Queen-Jack-x, and the turn had been another Queen.  One guy had pocket Jacks and the other guy had Queen-Jack!  Boat over boat in the first level.  The guy who won that hand later lost most of his chips in another boat over boat situation, this time he was on the wrong end of it.  Another time a guy with 7-4 in the big blind took out a guy who had a boat with three 4's on the board.

The craziest hand was perhaps when a short stack shoved from the big blind.  There had been a limper, and the small blind completed.  The big blind explained after the hand that he figured he had enough chips to get the two limpers to fold.  But it turned out the first limper had pocket 10's and the small blind inexplicably completed with pocket Queens.  So they both called the shove.  The big blind was embarrassed to turn over Queen-3 off.  But he wasn't too embarrassed to take the triple up when he used that 3 to complete a wheel on the river.  He couldn't believe his good fortune and also couldn't believe the guy with Queens just limped in from the small blind.  He said, "I was just trying to steal it.  If he had raised, as he should have, I'd have folded of course."

Well, the hand I want to discuss was on level 5.  The blinds were 400/200/400.  I had approx 16K.  With Queen-10 of spades, I opened to $500.  There was a call then a guy shoved his last $1,800.  I called and the other guy called.  He had me covered, in fact this was the guy who had gotten a double up in the boat over boat situation from level 1.  He was a fairly aggressive player which is why I didn't re-raise.  Of course I was worried about a re-raise from him, but I thought if he only called my initial raise that was unlikely.

The flop was Queen high, one spade.  I bet 2K and the guy said, "Why?"  Huh?  "Why are you giving him protection?"  He folded, saying, "I hope you have a monster."  OK, so I guess what he was saying was that in a tournament situation, it was in both of our interests for the guy to bust out and we'd both have one less player to compete against.  That is basic tournament strategy, and certainly in the latter stages of a tournament in a multi-way pot, you often see the players in the side pot check it down so that either one of them can bust out the short stack.

I never said a word, but for a second I was wondering if I had made a major gaffe.  Had it been so long since I played a tournament that I forgot basic tournament strategy?  It bothered me.

Anyway, the short stack had King-8 off.  Not sure why he felt compelled to shove with that, he was not one of the blinds.  The turn card was a second spade, so when the King of spades hit the river, his pair of Kings was no good against my flush.

Of course I kept thinking about the guy's comment.  The more I thought about it, the more I thought he was wrong.  What he was referring to was a late-in-the-tournament strategy, when you are near the money (or in the money) and you really want to see those player bust.  Here we were still early, registration was still open so I'm not sure what one guy busting during registration gets us.  I mean he could have re-entered himself (I don't believe he did).  My thought was that at this point in the tournament, I'm really trying to accumulate chips more than I'm trying to bust people and the best way for me to do that was to bet top pair and either get him to call me with a weaker hand or get him to fold whatever equity he had.

Am I right or was he right?

Anyway, I made it to level 7 (600/300/600) with $21,600.  With Ace-9 of spades, I opened to $1,600.  A guy shoved his last $3,100 and it folded back to me.  Couldn't fold for that price so I called.  He had pocket 3's.  The flop had a 9 on it but was all hearts and he had the 3 of hearts.  I faded the hearts but he rivered a 3 and that one hurt.

I tried to steal it when it folded to me on the button with King-deuce by raising to $1,800 but the small blind shoved.  Had to fold.

I opened to $1,800 with pocket 9's and got a call.  The flop was King high and I tried to get away with a c-bet ($2500).  But the other guy raised big and I had to fold.

That got me to level 7 (800/400/800) with $9,600.  So I open/shoved with pocket 3's.  I got called by the small blind who had me covered with King-9. He said he "had to call" me but I'm not sure why.  Well, he hit his 9 and I was done.

They ended up with 110 players and an $18K prize pool.  Not bad at all.  First place was $6K and the min-cash was $490 (acceptable!), 11 players were paid.  Would have been nice to have lasted into the money but I didn't run well enough…or didn't play well enough. Maybe both.

Movie Review: 7 Days to Vegas

7 Days to Vegas is the very amusing new gambling film starring Vince Van Patten, known to all of you as the host of the World Poker Tour on television.  It's available in select theaters but can also be seen on V.O.D. (Amazon, iTunes, etc).  I watched it from the comfort of my home this past weekend and I have to say, the movie is a total delight. 

Vince is no stranger to acting, being the son of actor Dick Van Patten (of Eight is Enough fame) and having been a child star himself.  After he grew up, he became a professional tennis player and played (and beat) the great John McEnroe, among many others.  Since I have been a lifelong tennis fan, I do remember Vince from his tennis days.  Of course we all know him now for his poker commentary on the WPT.

Vince co-wrote the film and it is based on a true story.  I'm going to guess that the word "loosely" belongs in there before the word "based" but I have no direct knowledge of that.

Anyway, Vince plays Duke, who bears a remarkable resemblance to one Vince Van Patten.  Duke was a child actor, then a pro tennis player before he turned to hosting (and crushing) private poker games for his friends, including a lot of Hollywood types.  That's how he makes a living.  In fact he's so good at poker (and recruiting bad players with money to play in his game), he has to bury his winnings in the backyard.  The first part of the film lays all this out, and introduces us to all the colorful characters who populate his games.  Of course, they are all incurable degens, and that sets up the main story of the film.

These degens like to make prop bets, as degens do.  And we see a few of these ridiculous bets, which leads to the most ridiculous bet of all.  Duke manages to get swindled out of all his hard earned poker winnings and ends up broke and in debt.  He lucks into a $1MM inheritance and decides to risk it all to try to make a bigger killing.  So he bets the villain of the piece, an obnoxious big-time movie director named Sebastian, the $1MM against Sebastian's $5MM that he can walk to Las Vegas from Los Angeles in 7 days.

Yeah.  It's totally insane.  It sounds even more insane to me than some of you because I am so familiar with the trip from L.A. to Vegas, having done it dozens of times.  Of course I never walked it….because I'm not totally nuts. Also, because I have a bad back.  But mostly because of the not being totally nuts thing. Nevertheless, recognizing some of the landmarks and towns they travelled through (on foot) made it even a little bit more fun for me.

Well, they establish the ground rules and Duke starts to walk to Vegas—280 miles through the desert in seven days.  Apparently it is summer when he does this since they mention temperatures of 110-120 degrees.  Oh, and he has to wear a suit!  I do wish they had established what kind of footwear Duke was wearing.  Was he able to wear tennis shoes or did he have to wear the dress shoes that would be more appropriate for his suit?

All the degens from the poker game of course have action on whether Duke can make it.  So they all follow him in an RV, which Duke can use for regularly scheduled bathroom visits.  But Duke must sleep outside, not inside the RV.

Of course the journey takes all sorts of surprising—and very funny—twists and turns.  All the characters are funny and crazy, just the sort of folks you might encounter at a big poker game like this, or perhaps even in a more normal poker game in a casino.  Well, maybe not.  But if you follow the poker world (and of course you do if you read my blog), you know all about these kinds of degens and these type of crazy prop bets.  Hell I read about crazy prop bets (almost) like this one nearly every week.  Don't you?

The crazy, funny degens are what keep the movie so entertaining.  Vince and his co-writer have    created some great characters to keep the viewer fascinated.  Sebastian, the villain, is a wonderfully smarmy, vile creature.  Another character thinks he's a ventriloquist. Angry Jim is always, well, angry.  The role of Vince's bother is played by Vince's real-life brother, James.  For that matter, his real wife, actress Eileen Davidson, plays Duke's wife, though she has a relatively minor role.

Among the degens that show up during Duke's walk, all playing themselves, are Vince's poker pals Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak and of course Jennifer Tilly,  Great casting, as the two guys are two of the most notorious prop bettors around, and of course, how could you cast real poker players playing themselves in a movie and not ask Jennifer Tilly to join the fun, since she is an extremely talented actress as well as a bracelet-owning poker player.  I do wish the delightful Ms. Tilly had been given a little more to do because you can never get enough Jennifer Tilly.

I should warn you that although the first half of the movie introduces us to this big private poker game Duke runs, this is not a poker movie, per se.  There is not a single bit of poker strategy discussed, there are no hand histories depicted.  But you will definitely recognize bits and pieces of most of the players as poker playing types.  The setting of the underground poker game reminded me of the recent film, Molly's Game, but this movie has a much, much lighter touch than that.  It doesn't take itself anywhere near as seriously as Molly's Game did.

Which is great, because the movie is funny, entertaining, and mostly just plain fun.  I had a smile on my face pretty much the whole time I was watching.  I really think that anyone who likes this blog would enjoy it similarly.  It's just a really good time for 90 minutes.  I heartily recommend to all my blog readers.

One final note.  I said at the outset that this is a gambling movie.  Well it is, but as it turns out, there's really another genre that this movie belongs to even more.  However, if I told what that genre is, it would spoil it for you, so I won't tell you.  You can find out for yourself.  Enjoy!

Congrats to Vince Van Patten for a fun, fine movie.  So, Vince….do you think you could still beat McEnroe?  How about Antonio?