Do any of these Vegas room characteristics appeal to you?

-Nits that hold on to their short stacks for dear life
-High rake and promo drops
-Old grungy poker rooms with empty chairs lingering with geriatric musk
-Waking up early in the morning to grind a freeroll tournament
-Chopping blinds!
-Sweating that continuation bet in a $10 pot (yikes)

Well if you're anything like me, I salivate at the idea of being given the opportunity to take all that sweet ass promotional dollars (and don't forget buffet vouchers).

I've decided I'm going to take a break from the mundane snorefest that is the daily noon - 3pm grind of playing Aria PLO. It has been a lifelong dream of mine ever since I saw TeddyKGB overbet 5x pot on the flop vs Mike McDurrrrmott straight, to overbet a board against a nit holding AA to get him to fold at 1/2 NL. I just turned 32 and if I don't take this shot now, I may never find the opportunity to play in these games again.

Armed with the experience of having done the full 60 hours at Treasure Island before they closed down and with 2 full min cashes of the Southpoint 100 hour (now 120) freeroll grind under my belt, I'm ready to take a $50k roll and dive right in to hell that is Vegas Promo room grinding. I will leave either completely busto or up like $3000.


Lets see what contenders we have for the month of November.
You can see all the details on Bravo for payouts

1.) Flamingo 15 hour weekly + 80 hour monthly promo
Their weekly tournament is $12 prizepool tournament that runs friday mornings and awards $400 to the top 20 players, and $200 to the next 20. Roughly gets about 80 runners so we can expect $150 in equity for ourselves. Their monthly 80 hour promo will probably have roughly the same amount of players so we can estimate our equity to be about $450.
Comitting 80 hours of play at flamingo in November should expect to net us about $1050 in equity for an additional $13/hr.

2.) Harrah's weekly 13 hours
$10k prizepool and about 60 entrants. $165 in equity. Adds about $12.5/hr in value

3.) Bally's 10 hours freeroll played with increasing starting chips per extra 5 hours + buffet vouchers.
Usually gets about 80 runners and including buffet value ($15/voucher) I'd say $250 in equity. Its probably less as this is if you only do the minimum 10 hours and will be at a disadvantage during the freeroll. Adds expected $25/hr in value.

4.) Southpoint 120 hour holiday 200,000 freeroll.
There's gonna be about 400 entrants in this thing. $500 in equity but SP awards bonus hours through out the day. Expect to put in about 80 real hours total for an expected added value of about $6.25/hr.
I'm pot committed to doing southpoint as I've already got 25 hours there in the past 2 months. Will put my best effort to do all the other rooms and give interesting room reports and HHs where I bluff jam river with air and raise 63s UTG.

Will see if my roommate will contribute to the thread sometimes as he enjoys? the pain of promo grinding as well. Anyone else who plays these things feel free to contribute.

When the Flamingo has a monthly in conjunction with the weeklies they get way more than 80 players at each weekly. It's closer to 120.

Sounds interesting, get that grind in. Subbed.

In for the nitfest, good luck, don’t slit your wrists.

Looking forward to the reports!

With a 50 grand bankroll, you can afford a few thousand for some psychiatric help.

Get it before it's too late!

Why does everyone on this site insist on crushing the nits? I say, "Let the nits live!" We're not harming anyone, and some of us are even nice people. And some of us even have a slight edge over the folks who are so hellbent on crushing us.

Signed,
A Promo Nit

Are the games that bad? Did the flamingo one during wsop and games were amazing.

Just curious if non wsop is that big of a difference?

Don't listen to the OP. He gives the nit life a bad name. The games are mostly terrific. If you're stuck in a horrible game, then you change tables. If the entire room is horrible, you just walk next door to the next promo poker room. It doesn't involve a lot of effort to find a super game. Afternoons, evenings, and late night are all wonderful. Late night involves a bit of variance.

If you're getting in your hours on a Tuesday morning, then you're doing it wrong. It's going to be a lot more challenging to find great games on a Tuesday morning.

Hi,

I've been doing this grind since mid sept.

Best advice I can give is to attempt to find times to play when the least amount of other grinder nits are around. That generally means playing later in the evenings and days just after the weekly freeroll. I've noticed most the regs tend to wait til the last minute to get their hours in.

Also I would surrender the southpoint hours you have already. Admittedly I haven't played there in years but I imagine the games must be worse on average than the strip casinos.

If you want to do flamingo(20 hrs)/harrahs(13 hrs)/ballys(5 hrs) that is already 38 hours per week not including the freeroll time and commute.

roughly 2.5-3 hrs per freeroll, and you'll play 11 over the month, so 27-33 hrs (call it 30) divided by 4 = 7.5 weekly freeroll hours.


Honestly it's been hell waking up that early for the thurs/fri freerolls but I guess it's been worth it so far. The biggest downside is the games right after the freerolls tend to be not great but I feel obligated to play since I'm already on the strip.

Good luck to ya. I know personally I've been able to tolerate the grind but I've also been running hot. Not sure how I'll feel if I actually run bad this month.

Small adjustment to your flamingo numbers. Since they changed the hours to 15 weekly its been averaging 100 entrants/week over the past 5 weeks. The monthly got 76 entrants.

I was doing the Harrahs, Ballys free roll grind for quite sometime but now back to grinding 1/3 at non promo rooms. Nobody has mentioned the 20 hours at PH or the Rio free roll. I know a couple guys doing both and they have been pretty successful.

Great overall but that buffet is worth $10 max

I think OP forgot to include the added cost of the additional promo drop. Bally's had raised their promo drop, maybe the other casinos did too.

I dont know about anybody else, but I cant control myself at buffets. So that would actually be a negative for me. You will pack on the lbs real fast eating at buffets, unless you just eat from the salad bar then leave. And I challenge ANYONE to do that repeatedly.

Why do you want to join God's Waiting Room early ?

Most promotional freerolls are the La Brea tarpits of Las Vegas.

Seriously, concentrate on finding soft cash games, with recs > nits, ignore freerolls promotions and simply collect hourly comps while playing in better games which have minimal prom drops.

I'm a promo reg at these properties since July, though I buy in full and I keep topped up, and I'm more of a tagfish than a nit. Good luck. Like we really need more regs

Subbed, cool thread. Do you mind to weigh in on your opinion of playing PLO at Aria in general? Or maybe you only dedicate the time bracket above to playing there? I played in that game for a while, but it seemed pretty reg-filled every time. I love PLO so it`s been hard to stay away, so I`ve been wanting to go back and check it out...

If I go back to trying to qualify for any of these I think the best plan would be to play during the daytime when I normally don’t play. This way it doesn’t interfere with my normal late night 1/3 grind at the non promo rooms. Should be in interesting thread.

11/1/18...Aria
New month, new season of PLO. Walk into aria at 10 am after seeing some PLO action on Bravo. Get there and game is already broken and a new list is starting. Wait about 30 minutes. I have somewhere I have to be at 2 pm and I'm hungry so I hop on the Aria tram, travel to Bellagio and start walking around the strip. I drop by Ballys and Flamingo to see what they're up to promo wise this month and its the same old stuff as last month. Eat some spaghetti and meatballs at flamingo food court. So much better than that Pan Asian express that I use to eat there. I think Panda express is kind of garbage but Pan Asian express would be where Panda express dumps its leftover garbage.

I head back to Aria to pick up my car and probably go home but there's a seat open at 2/5 PLO. Well I got an hour and a half to burn at this point so I sit. Run my stack up a little bit and run into this hand.

AATQ

3 Bet a raise and a call to 220 and it goes 3 way (effective starting stacks ~800).

Flop. KJ3
We stick it in and run it twice against initial raiser's KKxx and lose both runouts. Aw well. Looks like we're breaking even for the day. Dealer is about to rotate and I need to go so I grab a rack to leave.

One more hand...(famous last words)

Look down at Q744 and complete a raise to 40.

Long story short, I take a bet (150), Pot (650), Jam (1150) line on

752AT

runout and get hero called on river by A769 no flush draw

I decide not to rack up my $1 that I have behind (blue chips don't play) and give it to the valet instead. Flamingo sounds nice right now.

11/2/18 Journey begins @ flamingo
Its a friday and the game at flamingo is actually pretty good. SEMA is in town and it brings good action. I whine about nits but ultimately I nit it up this session. One must be a nit to defeat a nit. 2 noteworthy hands

H1. SEMA player blind raises to $5 in the SB, dealer tells him its fine if the action doesn't change. I'm UTG with A7 and decide I'd rather change the action than open myself up to getting limp reraised by the guys behind me when SB puts in his blind raise. I raise to $8 and it goes 4 way including a high action player in the BB.

Flop:
7T3
SEMA has not looked at his hand yet and blind bets $10, BB calls and I call and we see a turn.

Turn:
7T38
SEMA still has not looked and he checks, BB bets $25, I call, and SEMA finally looks at his hand, laughs and then calls.

River:
7T38 6
Checks to me, I bet 65. Now at this point, I'd been playing tight to the point where when I played my first two hands, the SEMA guy and BB needled me saying I just woke up and welcomed me to the game. So clearly I have something good here right? SEMA announces he has to go home anyways and jams 160. I call and he shows up 68. Ok.


H2.
2 limpers and I make it 15 with KQ. Goes 4 way with SB flatting who is a very straightforward tightish player who has about 600 effective stacks with me.

Flop
K88
SB leads out for 30 and folds to me. I put him mostly on Kx, two diamonds, even AK, and almost never an 8x in his flat or lead range. He will 3 bet AA and KK in his spot 100% so thats not a thing. I flat.

Turn
K883

He checks, I check being a little concerned about flatted AK.

River

K8838

He thinks for a bit and bets 35. I want to get him off a chop. I probably don't have 8x too often but I could definitely have KK or AA. Meh. I announce a raise to 400. Dealer asks me to repeat. I say 400. Dealer asks me to repeat. I stick out 400 chips. SB folds AQ face up. Bad read by me.

11/3/18 flamingo part 2
I always wake up really early in the morning. I've turned into a morning person over the past 4 years. I must be turning into one of the OMCs slowly. I sometimes go to bed at 9 pm. Nothing really is running at flamingo so I head over to Aria at 7:30 and plan on hit and running before I go to flamingo. Play a little 2/5 NL and seat opens up at 2/5 PLO. Unfortunately, the game is really good today. Run my stack up a bit and then this hand happens.

Limped pot 5 way. I hold KJJ8 (suits irrelevant)
Action player pots 55 on
J62

Reg calls, I make it 255, player makes it 900, folds to me, I make it POT, and we stick it in about 3.5k effective.

Runout:
J62 53
Player tables 6649 for the straight. We're about 93% on flop. Damn.

Reload and double up later vs same player in a 3 bet pot with bottom pair and inside wrap and we get there. Feels good to break even. Player busts and it's time to head to Flamingo where the real grind starts.

H1.
We raise AT in MP to 10 and a very strong player in the SB calls BTN and we go heads up. He is out of town, comes off to me as clearly a 2/5 or 5/10+ player. I asked him what he's doing here and he says he is in town and staying at flamingo and kind of screwing around in the games before the fight starts. Says he was trying to play on WSOP.com and internet connection kept going out. All his sizings during this session clearly indicate he plays online and is very aware of the online metagame (though its not necessarily good live like cbetting 1/4th pot). Time to battle.

Flop KT4
I check, he bets 12, I call

Turn KT4 5

I check, he overbets 55 I call.

River KT4 5 6

I check, he jams 180. I call here. He wins the battle with KT.

He asks me if I had QQ. I would never call with QQ or JJ. AT actually ends up being one of the best bluff catchers in this spot. We block TT, there's only 2 combos of KTs left, he won't have T4 or K4, or KK. We unblock QJ and we unblock hearts. QQ is a much worse hand than AT here especially if we hold the Q because it blocks too much bluff combos. I think his 3 street value range is TT, 44, KT and he definitely seems the type to be able to shovel in his combo hearts. He will check river with Kx. Of course I fold vs anyone else.

H2.
I raise a few limpers to 12 with AA on the BTN and SB who is new and just sat down 3 bets me to 35. He only has about 180 and he feels like he could be doing it light so I decide to just flat here. I fully expect a cbet near 100% of the time from the 3 bettors at these games so I figure i'll just raise or flat flops and find a turn or river to get it in.

Flop JT3 rainbow, He bets 25, I raise to 55, he calls.
Turn A
he checks, I bet 55, he gets it in and I lose to KQo

11/4/18 Daylight savings
Oh ****, its daylight savings. I don't find this out til I arrive at aria at 7:30. No wonder I woke up earlier than usual. I find a 5 handed 2/5 PLO running and sit down. Table breaks immediately before I even get dealt a hand. Another reg at the table offers to pay for everyone's time. Table declines. Floor walks over and offers a pass. 2 reluctantly agree but quit the game after 10 min of getting run over. I play the reg HU for 1.5 hours. He gets me stuck for ~1k but I climb back to even by the time a 3rd player sits down.

H1 Heads up. Reg raises to 30 and I make it 90 with AKQ8.

Flop JT3
I check going for a check pot, reg checks back.
Turn JT3Q
I check, reg checks back
River JT3Q5

Reg says "if you have a royal you're good"
I say "lemme check" and I look down at my cards and then bet 125. Reg snap calls. Royal flush is good. Lol

But off to flamingo where the real grind starts.

Sorry, no noteworthy interesting hands happen. I finish my first 15 hours at flamingo and then head to ballies to do 4.5 hours. Lock up that sweet ass Buffet voucher. Do well at flamingo and get crushed at ballies (I usually get crushed at ballies and harrahs) Games were decent for the 3rd day in a row at both locations but today I felt like grinding a bunch of tables on WSOP.com so I ended up tablet grinding for about 8 hours at flamingo and ballies. Being antisocial on a tablet is pretty bad for the game. But everytime I've done it, a lot of people around me ask if I'm playing for real money on WSOP.com. Despite all the ads and banners in the caesar's rooms, people apparently aren't too aware online poker is still a thing. So maybe I'm doing a good cause spreading the awareness.

Also its the only way I can actually attempt to hit diamond tier this year as I'm way behind.

Actually 1 noteworthy hand maybe at ballys. Here we go.

I get A7 in the BB and it limps around and I check 6 ways.

Flop AK4
I check and BTN bets 10 and only I call
Turn AK4 3
I check, BTN bets 20 and I call
River AK4 3 4

Well this guy limped BTN. I eliminate AK AA KK (maybe a big mistake hahahaha).
I don't see any heart combos this particular guy would fire multiway. and Quad 4s is unlikely so his top range should be A4 I guess. and 1 combo of K4.

I feel like we're chopping here near 100% of the time since his range seems so capped, so like a lagtard, we're gonna try to get him off the chop. I bomb 75 into the river.

He jams about 180ish. I fold. Oopsie. I regret nothing.


Promo Progress
Flamingo +459, 15 hours
Ballys -331, +1 buffet, 4.5 hours

I really don't know how I'm gonna fit southpoint in this month. I can't just forfeit the 24 hours I have there already. Plus free hotdogs for 1 hour of morning play. I'm on the fence but how does anyone turn down free wieners

Nah, I kid. You all are fine. Well maybe not sleeping mike. He slows the game down too much when he naps every hand. I'd rather you be whale tourists that's all.

BTW I didn't realize there were so many promo regs coming out of the woodwork in this thread. You all better out yourselves or else...


The games aren't actually all that bad. They're just bad at a higher frequency than other rooms because there are so much promo regs that grind the same rooms day in and out. I would rank flamingo as one of the better games, then ballys, then harrahs. Southpoint is usually pretty consistently awful though.

The banana nutella crepes will be my most likely cause of death.

You can't know true happiness without knowing pain and suffering.

Decent concentration of regs. Heard wynn 1/2/5 plo is pretty good and less reggy though I've only played there once. You need a bunch of regs though to get PLO games running as consistently as Aria though. You can go broke so fast in that game.

How workable is a schedule where you play through the night, hit the freerolls, then go to bed afterwards and sleep during the day? Do you run into too many nit grinders if you do that?

I must be turning into one of the OMCs slowly

Not too sure it is a slow progression .....you showed increased OMC tendencies already over course of your original post.

he went from ykrb to omc

Gotcha, thanks. Yep, played PLO at Wynn too, and I agree with that. As far as Aria that sounds exactly how I remember it. I check Bravo every once in a while there and it seems like the same amount of PLO tables as before also. I`d say hopefully more people get into playing PLO, but I guess if it hasn`t happened by now then it`s not going to get way better in a short amount of time. Hope the promo grind goes well for ya.