Here is a quick report on my visit to Ameristar yesterday. Called to reserve a room and gave them my Players Card # and surprisingly they offered me a comp room. Have been there 3 or 4 times in the past but don't think I've played anything but poker. Also play at Ameristar in KC and St. Louis so possibly that helped.

Looked and bravo and all 3 games running had lists (30/60 limit, 1/2 and 2/5 100 max bet). Called on the way to get my name on all 3 lists. Arrived around 5 and 2/5 had a seat open so jumped in. Bought in for $500. There was a very drunk guy (John) who apparently plays there everyday and buys in for $300 then leaves when he busts. He was gambling heavy and hit some hands against other players so he had run his stack up to around $700. Isolated him a few times with re raises and won a few good pots against him. Another player stacked him when they flopped a straight and he had top pair.

Most of the players were nitty tight. I must have raised 6 or 7 preflop limpers to $35 at least 20 times with any playable hand and got no resistance. Most of the regs played fit or fold poker. Found the $100 betting limit really helped with value betting. Would value bet any pair if I thought I was likely good as the chances of a big re raise bluff weren't really there at these betting limits as opposed to a deeper stacked nl game.

Cashed out $1400 after 6 hours so it was worth the trip. On to Cripple Creek tonight and will post after.

I'm in NW Westminster. I make it to BH in 55 minutes taking Rt 72 west, to Rt 93 south, to US 6, to 119.

This is why I like to take the bus. I get the fare back after 4 hours of play. I also have a room comped because my wife is a degenerate slots player. So after a few hours of poker I sidle up to the bar video poker machine and drink. Yeah there's lots of drink involved. When it's time to excuse myself and godabed, I sleep it off in cozy comfort in my complimentary room. Next morning I have a complimentary breakfast thanks to Mrs Blazing 7s. And lots of coffee. Then I am finally fit to make the bus trip back to the world and drive from the bus depot to home.

So, do you drive up degen it up and drive down?

At some point do you wonder if the wife has lost enough that you could have just taken a chauffeured limo to and from the house, instead of her playing and getting a "free" room?

You're missing the point. She's going anyway and so I sleep, eat and drink for free. Otherwise, I stay at home and argue with you on the internet.

That's full of win, then.

Did you get up this weekend? If so, how were the roads?

I was at Ameristar last Thursday night (into Friday morning). A few notes and highlights from my perspective. I was stopping there after 3 days of hard skiing with friends who like to play slots and BJ. Physically exhausted.

The roof pool and the outside jacuzzi are awesome. One of the nicest jacuzzis I have been to.

The buffet was "OK", but I was very impressed with the Pho (Vietnamese soup) that they make there. Everything else was kind of par for the course.

As for the gaming, I cannot believe that we found slots that actually did not just suck money. Played a penny slot and cashed out for $60.

I finally made it to the poker tables about 11:30p Thursday, and played for about 3 hours (me = 40s guy with orange shirt and black/white scarf). The 1-2 table I played at was super friendly, and super loose. One dude got slow rolled when he got his aces cracked, and did not say a word about it. I wish I could have played longer, but was falling asleep at the table. I was able to get doubled up by a super loose player and cashed out for $150 profit, even with me making 2 medium sized mistakes.

Great time playing some 30/60
at ameristar earlier. Considering going back after the Penguins win.
Anyone know how late the game runs?
Thanks

Often overnight, but it depends on the line up. Bravo says 2 tables + 7 on the list at 8:50 PM. Check again before you commit. Good luck!

This $360 buyin $100k guaranteed MSPT is stupid big. Surpassed the guarantee and still one more flight tomorrow! Colorado tournament poker players surprise me every year.

Was this planned or came up last minute? Caught me off guard. Would love to play but have commitments this weekend.

$360 is an odd buy-in...it's not really $300+60 is it? I just spent 15 minutes looking for details and couldn't find a single mention of the MSPT's rakes, so I'm starting to suspect they really are charging 20% vig.

I would expect some goes to the dealers. So it's like 300 + 45 + 15 or something similar.

the gates reply will be something along the lines of 'wsop-c charges 300 + 65 so we're better'...

Yeah the Hillbilly Series of Poker is way better than the World Series of Poker any day.

MSPT has been testing the waters with prelim events, and yes it was last minute. Wish you could have made it!

300 prize pool + 10 dealers + 50 mspt/gates.

Why do you say that? Better Vig/Structure?

Hey Wizard, you know this stuff better than I do. Is it even possible to win in that structure? 20% vig seems amazingly high. At what point do you say "don't even bother", if not here?

I REALLY hope that the Ameristar will be getting the HPT and hopefully developing/attracting more MTT's.

The Gates is just incompetence through and through. There was a ~70 player alternate list yesterday with 3-4 cash games running.

How they didn't learn anything after the collosal ****up that ws the HPT, I'll have no idea.

I waited for over two hours on the wait list. I saw the blinds go up to 150/300/25 and there were still 20+ peopld in front of me.... I ended up getting a refund and played cash at the Astar. It is disgusting how they had 4 cash gamr tables going in such a big event...

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How many tables do they have total?

This is totally from a cash game guy POV, but why is it disgusting that they kept the cash games going? If I go to my local casino and they have zero tables of cash, I'm pretty mad. Sure the tournament is a once-in-a-while thing, but as a cash player I'd also say "I'm what keeps the place open". It is a bummer that you had to wait so long, but shutting down cash for the special event seems wrong, too.

Fwiw - Gates (and the majority of casinos) probably profits way more from those cash games than they would opening up a tournament table. Makes total financial sense to them.

I am just complaining from the POV of wanting to play in the tournament when those tables would have helped a lot... I don't give two ****s about the well being of the casino lol

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I'm not defending anybody. But it is important that people understand that big chunk of rake in these "out of town" series goes to mspt and hpt directly. How much, I have no idea. Would love to know. So as much as it irritares the **** out of me that not all the tables are used for tournaments. I understand the business side of it. 100% of rake from cash games > ?50?% of rake from tournament

Completely understand frustration if you drive up at a reasonable hour, register in good faith, and then find you're waitlisted forever. Let's hope the cash game gave you some rungood.