Nitty By Nature 2: The Return of the Dog (6/9-6/14)
06-29-2019
, 01:18 AM
A quick hotel review...
During recent trips to LV, I'd opted to stay at the Four Queens, which has dirt cheap rates and no resort fees. I never feared for my life while staying there, but "you get what you pay for" certainly applies. It's not a very classy joint and the booming noise coming from The Fremont Street Experience at all hours of the night makes sleep a challenge without industrial strength ear plugs. Can't recommend.
I stayed at the Rio in the Masquerade Tower during my first WSOP trip this summer and it's a great option if you plan to play a lot at that venue simply because of the convenience. The ability to walk to and from events at your leisure is a big plus. However, I would say the Rio is normally overpriced relative to the quality unless you get a cut rate through Caesars Rewards. Also, the food options are mediocre and overpriced. The Indian buffet is probably the best value, but is nothing to write home about.
I had never stayed at the El Cortez prior to this most recent trip, but it's actually a bit of a hidden gem. The location is close to all the action on Fremont without the noise or foot traffic of the Four Queens/Binion's/Fremont/Nugget intersection. The casino itself is small, but has style and character. My reservation netted me a free prime rib dinner at the swanky Siegel's restaurant inside. I eventually realized that this offer was really just their clever way of hooking me into their player rewards program and harvesting all my personal info, but technically it was still "free". I paid about $155 for four nights at the hotel, which is great value for money. The only major drawback of staying there was the Lyft fees I racked up getting to the Strip/Rio. Still, I would stay again and would recommend as a viable cheap option in LV.
Including some downtown pics and a blurry photo of the "free" prime rib for your enjoyment. FWIW the prime rib had good flavor and was a huge upgrade over the European Sandwich and Rio burger, not that that's saying much.
Sent from my SM-J337U using Tapatalk
During recent trips to LV, I'd opted to stay at the Four Queens, which has dirt cheap rates and no resort fees. I never feared for my life while staying there, but "you get what you pay for" certainly applies. It's not a very classy joint and the booming noise coming from The Fremont Street Experience at all hours of the night makes sleep a challenge without industrial strength ear plugs. Can't recommend.
I stayed at the Rio in the Masquerade Tower during my first WSOP trip this summer and it's a great option if you plan to play a lot at that venue simply because of the convenience. The ability to walk to and from events at your leisure is a big plus. However, I would say the Rio is normally overpriced relative to the quality unless you get a cut rate through Caesars Rewards. Also, the food options are mediocre and overpriced. The Indian buffet is probably the best value, but is nothing to write home about.
I had never stayed at the El Cortez prior to this most recent trip, but it's actually a bit of a hidden gem. The location is close to all the action on Fremont without the noise or foot traffic of the Four Queens/Binion's/Fremont/Nugget intersection. The casino itself is small, but has style and character. My reservation netted me a free prime rib dinner at the swanky Siegel's restaurant inside. I eventually realized that this offer was really just their clever way of hooking me into their player rewards program and harvesting all my personal info, but technically it was still "free". I paid about $155 for four nights at the hotel, which is great value for money. The only major drawback of staying there was the Lyft fees I racked up getting to the Strip/Rio. Still, I would stay again and would recommend as a viable cheap option in LV.
Including some downtown pics and a blurry photo of the "free" prime rib for your enjoyment. FWIW the prime rib had good flavor and was a huge upgrade over the European Sandwich and Rio burger, not that that's saying much.
Sent from my SM-J337U using Tapatalk
06-29-2019
, 01:46 AM
I'm back home from leg two of the journey. Time to wrap this mother up and move on.
I think I got my free latte, but otherwise this second trip was a complete strikeout on the poker front. I was unable to locate a satchel in any of my WSOP events, much less finish in the money. No bracelets were won and immediately auctioned off this year. I did manage to keep my "at least one MTT cash per Vegas trip" streak alive with the massive $354 bink in the $200 on the first night, so I guess that's something.
I've already said a lot about my experiences in these massive field WSOP lotteries, but to summarize; it's a bit of a love/hate affair. The atmosphere at the WSOP is special. It's cool to play in a real bracelet event in all the famous poker rooms you've been watching on TV for years (Brasilia/Amazon/etc). I got to tangle with pros like Bakes, Foxen, and Andy Black at the tables, and that's a fun thing for a poker nerd like myself. On the other hand, as I already said, the fields in some of these things are so stupidly huge that you're essentially either going to min-cash or bust. These tournaments are extremely impractical from a financial standpoint despite how soft the fields are because essentially all of your EV is buried in the top 10-50 ranks and it could take a lifetime of grinding these to ever get there. Even if you are a beast, you need an epic dose of rungood.
If you want my opinion, from a pure profit standpoint, you are better off grinding tournaments with smaller fields. The nightly $400 turbo deep stack at the Rio is an interesting shout because the fields are competent enough to provide a challenge, yet soft enough to provide some value. The prizes up top can get pretty big ($15-20k for first) and the fields are small enough (150-300 runners) that you actually have a tangible chance of making the FT. If I had to play anything from these trips again, I'd play that. The only downside is the turbo structure, which turns the later levels into a shovefest lottery, but at least you won't be sitting there for 10 hours of poker only to bust 700 spots before a $650 min-cash like I did in the Colossus on Wednesday.
I played a lot of poker this June and I think my game improved significantly, so that's cool. Looking ahead to next year, I'll definitely be back to Vegas if my finances, health, and schedule permit. Maybe I will try my luck at the huge low buy-in donkaments again to hunt that elusive first WSOP score, maybe I will focus on smaller fields and more specialized events like the 6-max, maybe I'll mix in more cash games (I only played about 2 hours total over this entire TR), or maybe I'll get into the mixed game labs and chase something new to me like NL 2-7 or 8-game.
We shall see, but it was a fun vacation and thanks for the sweats/comments.
Signing off with a pic from my frequent dinner break loitering spot behind the Rio.
I've already said a lot about my experiences in these massive field WSOP lotteries, but to summarize; it's a bit of a love/hate affair. The atmosphere at the WSOP is special. It's cool to play in a real bracelet event in all the famous poker rooms you've been watching on TV for years (Brasilia/Amazon/etc). I got to tangle with pros like Bakes, Foxen, and Andy Black at the tables, and that's a fun thing for a poker nerd like myself. On the other hand, as I already said, the fields in some of these things are so stupidly huge that you're essentially either going to min-cash or bust. These tournaments are extremely impractical from a financial standpoint despite how soft the fields are because essentially all of your EV is buried in the top 10-50 ranks and it could take a lifetime of grinding these to ever get there. Even if you are a beast, you need an epic dose of rungood.
If you want my opinion, from a pure profit standpoint, you are better off grinding tournaments with smaller fields. The nightly $400 turbo deep stack at the Rio is an interesting shout because the fields are competent enough to provide a challenge, yet soft enough to provide some value. The prizes up top can get pretty big ($15-20k for first) and the fields are small enough (150-300 runners) that you actually have a tangible chance of making the FT. If I had to play anything from these trips again, I'd play that. The only downside is the turbo structure, which turns the later levels into a shovefest lottery, but at least you won't be sitting there for 10 hours of poker only to bust 700 spots before a $650 min-cash like I did in the Colossus on Wednesday.
I played a lot of poker this June and I think my game improved significantly, so that's cool. Looking ahead to next year, I'll definitely be back to Vegas if my finances, health, and schedule permit. Maybe I will try my luck at the huge low buy-in donkaments again to hunt that elusive first WSOP score, maybe I will focus on smaller fields and more specialized events like the 6-max, maybe I'll mix in more cash games (I only played about 2 hours total over this entire TR), or maybe I'll get into the mixed game labs and chase something new to me like NL 2-7 or 8-game.
We shall see, but it was a fun vacation and thanks for the sweats/comments.
Signing off with a pic from my frequent dinner break loitering spot behind the Rio.
06-29-2019
, 06:37 AM
In my head he should 100% have been forced to call all-in, and his cards were still retrievable from the muck. But having lived here a few years and being more used to this type of behavior, I didn't bother pursing the issue too hard.
Anyway, that's a derail from this excellent TR
