Yeah, I had a similar experience with an edge table.

when is info about the feature event being released?

It appears to be a secret.

when can we expect structure sheets and details for feature event ?

World Poker Tour announcement, looks like last year:

http://www.worldpokertour.com/event/...018/#eventTab1

Any idea of location yet?

The featured WPT500 structure sheet doesn't say anything about whether this tournament will be played down with the same format as recent years.. ie, BSF, and play down to 5% each flight and top 12% of each flight get paid. Is Matt Savage still involved? Is anyone at Aria willing to provide any information about this event? Hello? Bueller? Bueller?

In before Chainsaw comes ITT to whine about the WPT500 being the most unfair thing in poker.

This info was in the press release a month ago, location however has yet to be disclosed so assuming the dreaded casino floor

Players will begin with 15,000 in tournament chips, and those in the first seven starting flights will play 30-minute levels for the first eight levels, then change to 40-minute levels thereafter. In the two turbo flights on July 3, levels will be 20 minutes in length.
Registration and reentry is open until the start of Level 9 in the first seven flights. In the two turbo flights, registration and reentry is open until the start of Level 8.
WPT500 Las Vegas will use the “best stack forward” format. Players are allowed to play multiple Day 1 sessions in an attempt to qualify for Day 2 with a larger chip stack than previously earned, and those qualifying for Day 2 with multiple stacks will take their best stack forward and forfeit all other chip stacks.
Each starting flight will reach the money, paying 12.5 percent of the field, and each starting flight will play until five percent of the field is reached.

Year 1 of the WPT500 event attracted some 3600 entries (if memory serves). Year 2, they doubled the guarantee and got over 5000 entries. Last year, they cut the guarantee in half, but still got just under 4000 entries, smoking (pardon the pun) the guarantee by nearly 75%. This year the guarantee remains the same. Anyone else think this is odd?

I mean, its one thing to be conservative. But this event has always crushed the guarantee. And two years ago, it generated 30% more revenue than it did last year. Why not split the difference and make the guarantee 1.5MM? Seems like that would be both safe and prudent, business-wise. Just seems weird that they are leaving so much money on the table.

Happy to see some non-holdem events on the schedule. Im there when the Omaha/8 tourneys are on so will play for sure.

Still no confirmation as to where the tournament area will be this year?

In front of Javier's mexican restaurant.

I hate to be a hater, but is it just me or is this a pretty vanilla looking lineup? Other than the WPT500 event, which looks good and exciting, you could tell me this was Aria's regular weekly schedule and I'd believe you. No guarantees, nothing inventive. Seems like they did not really even try. Only semi-interesting thing on there is the twitter choice event imo.

It will be here....wherever this exactly is:

https://twitter.com/karenchan_poker/...32543861571584

Yes, same spot as last year in front of Javier's.
Will have more room and more tables.

You're not a hater. But Aria doesn't have the room to pull out all the stops on a major summer tournament series. There's so much competition at all price points in Vegas during the summer, a relative newcomer would really have to go out on limb to make a splash. Few venues are willing to do that, especially places like Aria that have a solid cash game scene and don't want to hurt that.

At least the tournament area from the Periscope stream looks a lot larger, definitely more space between the tables. They mention the heavy smoke but not a solution/did not see no smoking signs and they were practically screaming over the music.

Fair enough I suppose. Come to think of it, no MGM properties really seem to have a good series during the summer. The best summer poker properties are arguably

Rio
Planet Hollywood
Wynn
Venetian
Golden Nugget

No MGM properties in there. Must be an overall strategic decision by upper management.

Are there any guarantees on any of these events?

Probably, but these venues don't necessarily have much convertible gaming space available, so they would need to use convention space. That territory is so expensive on the strip that few properties, unless they have existing unused space, are willing to allocate the required square footage. And even those places which do have some space... it takes quite a bit of effort to set up a non-poker area for poker with electrical (if they use shuffle machines, for example), lighting, security, etc. And again, the return isn't likely there unless the property makes a big splash, which is risky.

How long is the walk from valet?

How late are these 4pm NL events lasting? Figure the weekend events last longer than the weekday ones..

North valet is probably closer and less hectic but walk from either is not bad because of property layout.

Played a few of these past few days
No guarantees - 11am tourney seems to get done by 11pm with about 8k/9k up top, the 7pm event last night had 10k up top and was not itm when I busted about 1.30am - someone mentioned to me they chopped around 6am
Played edge table last night and it was LOUD - dealer couldn't hear players verbal actions at times - that said for 240 entry it's a good filler for evening if nothing better to do