Most 1/3 in Vegas plays like 1/2 since the buy-ins are the same ($300 max).

There are 2 exceptions: Wynn has a $500 max I beleive and I think the golden nugget down town is higher.

I wouldn't jump to 2/5 for a vacation unless you can allocate a big enough gambling budget, since sitting down to play while on "poker vacation" (as opposed to driving to the casino for a single evening session) would be better with more then a limit of 2-3 bullets before getting up. I think playing lower with a bigger BR would be more relaxing and fun.

I don't know what the Wynn's current policies are, but the last time I was there, the $1/$3 game was uncapped. The $2/$5 game was uncapped too (and a lot livelier).

I believe the Golden Nugget is the only uncapped 1/2 game in town, and I've heard that it can get very deep sometimes. I'm intrigued by the uncapped GN game, but probably won't hit it since I generally avoid downtown LV.

That's a good way to think about it. I'll probably set aside part of my budget to take a shot at 2/5, but make sure that I have enough in reserve to play plenty of 1/2 should that shot not work out.

Oops, I stand corrected. I thought GN was the only uncapped 1/2-1/3 game.

How was the quality of play at the Wynn 1/3? I've never played in their room.

The $1/$3 game seemed like mostly fairly skilled players. But this was several years ago, and I didn't spend all that much time there, so YMMV.

One thing I do remember is that the room was very comfortable. Good seats, gentle lighting, and everything seemed rather plush.

I never heard of those uncapped games. sounds like rich hunting grounds for a shortstacker! what's the minimum?

So last night was my bi-weekly game. We ended up eight handed for most of the night, with the RSVPs to get us there all coming in early, which was great as there are some weeks where we struggle to get six. The night started off ingloriously when I stacked off with a straight against a flush. On my second bullet, I noted that if I blew through it, I'd be done for the night.

Then I went shifted into a realm that I'm calling the Night Pocket Kings Could Not Lose. Three different times, I hit boats and/or had top set hold with Kings in Omaha, including one where I stacked the player who'd stacked me earlier when I turned Kings full and he turned three's full when the case king hit the board. I also had another hand where I got max value from a flopped sixes full against two other people in Omaha.

After a frustrating final two tables finish in a charity tournament on Saturday, it was good to show up and have ISD Rungoot blasting from other my shoulder.

My stack toward the end of the night:


Final cash out ended up being +766BB.

One of the more amusing parts of the night was PokERstyle and I had it all in in Omaha three different times only to chop the pot. There were a couple of comments from him about tilting because he couldn't do anything but chop against my monster stack instead of doubling up.

Definitely looking forward to HPI next week and wondering if I should skip the tournament instead of donating my money to it given how I'm currently running in tournaments.

From my limited stay recently in Vegas Aria seemed like a more "serious biz" cardroom, Venetian could vary from nits to aggros to fish tank (definitely better from the evening to early morning) and the small rooms we played in like PH, Mirage and MGM were friendlier and almost always soft, though less likely to have more then 1 table running before the evening, and with higher rake due to JP drop.

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Stopped in for a few hours of live 1-2 NLH at Hollywood Lawrenceburg Indiana. Fairly dead room these days but they had a Tournament my pal wanted to play and it was a handy stop on our way back to Lexington Ky. They had one full 1-2 and they started a must move table soon after I signed up. Eventually I was moved to the main down about 20 bb. After another two hours or so my pal busted and I left the table down about 30bb! Just another minor loss / break even session of many.

The main thing of interest was the makeup of the table. Everyone knew everyones name and so did the dealers. Several who left said "see y'all tommorrow! Big pots were not common, but when someone like me opened (5xbb) there were significantly more callers. I also noticed that the guys on my end really were extra friendly and talkative. I soon understood that I was an outsider/potential fish in a big tank of Regs. Like the scene from Rounders, not being cheated but not really level either. I then went total nit and escaped mostly intact. I had never really experienced such a total Reg table before, but since Horseshoe Cinn nearly shut them down I suppose this is all they have left except for the occasional stray dog like myself who wanders in from time to time.

I haven't been to Lawrenceburg in a couple of years, but it seemed like they were having poker room trouble even before the Horseshoe opened. When the Argosy first switched over to Hollywood, they had a huge poker room downstairs that I think was WPT-affiliated. Last time I was there, they had relocated the poker room to a much smaller open area on the main floor and had a single table of 1/2 going. Admittedly it was a weekday afternoon, but I'd heard that there wasn't a lot of action even on the weekends.

Last month I was visiting my folks in SW Ohio, and there's simply no need to make the 45-60 minute drive to Lawrenceburg anymore if you're in the Cincinnati area. From my parents' house, Miami Valley Gaming (racino with 1600 slots) is about ten minutes away, and the Shoe (full casino with slots, poker and table games) is 25 minutes away. I'm not surprised that Hollywood is feeling a lot of pain.

I started at Belterra and later switched to Hollywood when they re opened. 41 tables plus a ball room with tables. They had two WPT events there, but they were not that well attended ME. They got dropped and the rumors of a cutback started up. There was just too much underused space for the Casino suits to swallow I think. So they ended up on the main floor with 19 tables. Still was a decent room for a while. Then Ohio quickly authorized casinos and the decline to the semi ghost town of today began. Most players think the Horseshoe Cinn is just so much better. So do I, but the Hollywood is a bit easier to get to for us and quite frankly I have a bit of sentimental attachment to it. That REALLY makes me a total rec player , don't it??

Trying to schedule a game for this Saturday, but with the wife going to be at 39 weeks on game day who knows if I'm going to get to play. This will not even come close to the HPI festivities going on in Orlando, but I can dream...If the baby comes Thursday-Sunday that would be a great affirmation of the staying home decision.

Funny story from the week. My wife and I are updating the wills, beneficiaries and creating guardianship papers with our lawyer this week with the little one coming. As we were talking with the lawyer he mention the situation of what happens if my wife and I die to our stuff. After hashing out the details he went into the extremely morbid situation of what would happen if me, my wife, and the new baby all died. We were going through the items and one of them was my poker chips. I have no family members that would use them so if all 3 of us die I'm leaving them to my home game group. The problem I had was there is no way I could honestly pick one person. Out of the blue my wife goes "Maybe they should flip for it." LOL? And so with that I'm thinking that I might be the first person to demand a flip in a will. I'm hoping that's a flip that never has to happen, but if it does it would be epic.

Literally LMFAO at your wife, jz. Be sure to call me if the little one shows up this weekend, and I'll pass the word along. I don't think any of us will be on 2+2 that much.

After coming back from Vegas people at work were asking me about poker and asking if I could arrange something at work.

Step 1 - had a presentation on poker during the weekly "Happy Hour". Talked about the history of the game, general poker basics, the poker boom and moneymer effect (including videos from his win) and topped it off with some videos from High Stakes Poker together with my commentary.

I guess it had enough of an impact because step 2 is arranging a friendly donkament after hours in the conference room.
I volunteered to deal and manage the tournament (I won't play), racked up a full table of 10 in 2 days and actually had to turn some down.
Poker at work - WIN!
So here's the deal:
I'm bringing my cash game set so it's a 1-5-25-100 chip setup.
Ran blidnvalet to see what it would give for a 2 hour structure (after hours so it can't run longer) and I got this

Freezeout Tournament

Starting Stack: 200
Players: 10
Duration: 2 hours

Shoud end around the 50-100 level

Figure I can do a 5 min break after level 5 to color up and give them a chance to see some back 100 chips in play (just for effect)

Starting stacks are

10 X $1
8 X $5
6 X $25

It will be a total turbo donkament for sure given some players never played poker before ever and probably lots of questions on procedure and reading the board/hands in between so I expect it to be about a blind per orbit first hour (that's why I plan to be a dedicated dealer).

And I even got HR to pitch in for a 1st place prize (tickets to the movies + popcorn).

If this goes well hopefully this can become a regular event (I figure monthly event).

Does this qualify as "Home" poker?

FYI - if anyone needs a powerpoint on poker with lots of fluff for the non poker crowd, I can pass on mine.

Did jz come up with an idea for a flip that he cannot win?

Very cool that this is getting some interest.

12 minute blinds are very quick, especially for new players. They may find it chaotic. You might only get three or four hands per level. I'd accept larger jumps and consider 20 minute levels.

Charity tourneys are typically loaded with new/inexperienced players, and the ones I've attended (and helped run) have gone smoothly with 15 minute rounds. It would speed things along if lanyi acts as a dedicated dealer since he's not playing.

I think a faster game is better for this type of crowd. It gives them an opportunity to play and learn the ropes without being tied to the table for several hours. Some casual tourney players get bored if the game is too long.

I was not advocating a longer tournament, but somewhat longer levels with larger jumps.

You have to find the right balance. New players won't really understand what the increases mean, and you don't want to spring a trap on them with huge jumps. But I think increases that occur too fast would be confusing.

Came in second again in my quarterly poker finals. :/

Lost the JJ<AQ flip, and then got sucked out on the A8<85 AIPF (caught him stealing my blind) when with the flop.

That sounds great. Well done!

OK, so I ran blindvalet with 15 min levels and got this:

Freezeout Tournament

Starting Stack: 200
Players: 10
Duration: 2 hours

I think I'll drop level 5 to 10/20 so I can do the color up at the mid point. Afterwards it's pretty similar and blinds jump fast but that's ok, I expect people will be more anxious to get it done after the first hour.

I'll report back how it went.

Looks good to me. I hope it goes well.

Got to play poker last night for the last time in a while because almost an hour after the game ended the baby decided it was time! 12 hours later our baby boy arrived. Mom and I have slept a combined hour in the last 40 hours. Everyone besides that is doing excellent. Heck he hasn't cried once through the birth, shots, or anything. Guess it was a good thing I didn't go to HPI....

I present our future poker player born at 3:47pm today:

Brayden Edward
9 lb. 2 Oz. (linebacker material?)
21 in.

Okay, but how was the game?