Agreed. And you dont really have to play a tournament to see this. Just look at the structure in the schedule.

I completely disagree.

These are dailies - meant to be a "quick fix" and to be over before the evening rush. These are way way better than most daily/nightly tourneys and they are offered 2x/day nearly every day. Obv I wish the levels were :25 or :30 and I wish certain levels weren't skipped, but I understand why it has to be that way.

I've also been assured that the larger events, eventually to be held monthly or quarterly, will have a better structure.

I played the Plomaha tourney yesterday, got 50 runners.

While it was fun, I can't remember making a complete orbit in any of the levels.

Hard to see that as any kind of serious tourney.

Hi Donni

umm, you are rehashing everything that is wrong the the tournaments.

Huh?

I agree these aren't the ideal structure- they are no Venetian Deep Stack or Borgata $100k but they get the job done. To expect a deep stack MTT every day @ Hollywood is simply not realistic. I have accepted managements explanation with this.

Am I missing something else?

You're not missing anything.

I don't think anyone expects DSE type tourneys or anything of the sort. Doesn't fit the economy of the room.

But the point is you *should* get a reasonable amount of play/not silly jumps in levels, and not ridiculous rake. 20 min levels for $250 is laughable.

You've stated you're ok without it, and that's fine. It's a trade off.

Ill probably keep playing the PLO tourneys because I'm willing to accept these things since I experience in a live PLO tourney, something I won't get otherwise. But lets not pretend these are some kind of good structure or anything other than a bit of fun and a money generators for the house.

After another few weeks, I'm going to reach out to the man in charge w/ suggestions to improve the MTTs. As I've stated, I think they are pretty solid for a daily/nightly but certainly not any good for a serious higher buy-in series.

From what numerous dealers and floor people have said, the room director makes all of these decisions. I'd love some input from other people as to how to improve the current MTTs.


Off the top of my head:

-I'd like a longer break after level 8 (:10 after 4, :15 or :20 after 8 and then :10 after 12 - most of these don't go past level 16). Right now its just :10 every 4 levels.

-I'd also like to see 500/1000/100 added. 400/800 - 600/1200 is steep - and I generally miss 500/1k. In a perfect world we'd also get 250/500.

-I think they should stop the clock at the end of the level prior to break - and the break clock shouldn't start until every table has completed its hand. (This is an option in the software that we see on the screen) As it works now, the break clock auto starts, so if someone plays a hand for 1 or 2 minutes at the end of the level, they will lose 10-20% of their break. This isn't right and no major tourneys do it this way.

-Rewards program for MTT players. Don't even get me started about "if you run the #s and figure out how much Hollywood has already made" w/o offering a single comp. I can only hope that like the ring games that started off w/ no comps, HW will quickly install a legitimate comp program for those of us who play a lot of the daily/nightly MTTs. I do not like sitting in an MTT for 8 hours and getting zero credit for it. Am I right to think that since none of them are selling out (120) on a regular basis, a rewards program could only help?

-Correct dealer mistakes. In a recent tourney a dealer was dealing before collecting antes. At first I thought he just forgot, but after observing more than an entire 10-handed orbit, I realized this is the way he deals on purpose. I mentioned it to him after there was confusion about if someone paid an ante, politely stating "you might want to collect the blinds before dealing, to avoid any confusion" (instead of saying "hey man you're doing it completely wrong"). Anyway this guy snaps back at me "I guess I can if you want me to slow down the game." I let it go, but a few moments later he brought it back up by mumbling to no one in particular "I probably have more experience than anyone in this room, other than XxxxX". I replied "hey man I wasn't trying to be a dck, I just didn't want you to get in trouble, as I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be collecting the antes prior to dealing." He again snaps back something about it slowing down the game and I again let it go. After he got up, someone at the table mentioned how rude he was, and I couldn't help but mention that 1) I have more MTT experience than him 2) No poker tournament I've ever played in has dealt prior to collecting antes.

I think the most important tournament change they need to make is longer levels. all the other things are minor in comparison

I totally agree ... but that concept is un-enforceable at worst and difficult to enforce at best.

I'm a Saturday-night-donk and most players can't manage their cell phone (or two in some cases) as is.

Wish it were better but I don't take too much of an issue with the phone policy.

No, I 100% agree with the no cell phone use rule if in a hand and keeping the cell phone off of the table. It is distracting at best, and overall rude along with slowing the game down considerably in it's worst form. Last night I played a cash game. One old guy who looked about 70-75 could NOT GET OFF OF HIS PHONE THE ENTIRE NIGHT! Most of the time, we had to yell at him because it was his turn. It didn't help he had earbuds on either. And when he did actually act, he was almost always acting either before it was his turn or after being told 3 or 4 times. The dealers were annoyed too, but there was one who was just flat out sarcastic about it. One time the guy folded with two people left to act before him preflop and the dealer says, quite loudly, "Thanks for acting in turn sir!" The old guy, not sensing the other players to act before him or the sarcasm, nods his head and says "you're welcome." I use my cell phone at the table too, sure. Not when I have cards though and I keep it tucked on the seat, never raising it above the rail.

There was another guy who was so engrossed with his phone (I think he was using it to text a hooker or something, because there was no way he could have been dating that asian girl) that he wouldn't post blinds and acted so stupidly when he did get a hand (not putting in the proper raise, also needing to be told 2 or 3 times it was his turn) that he was just as annoying as the old guy. It didn't help either that this guy ran like jesus walking on water away from the romans all night.

So yes, the cell phone rule is great, and in fact maybe needs to be turned up a notch. You are there TO PLAY POKER. It is a poker room, not a cell phone parlor with a side of poker. Pay attention to the game when you have a hand. In fact, I'd love it if they could confiscate cell phones after a warning or two of using them.

stopped reading here. absent minded old people will find a way to be absent minded with or without a cell phone.

the problem isn't the phone, it's inattentive people.

No, it was the phone. He paid attention in the few instances he didn't have the phone in his hand. It is a poker room, like I said, not a phone parlor with a side of poker. If you're too busy with something on your phone, simply put, I don't want to play with you and you should be not in a poker room but instead taking care of whatever is so important on your phone. Simple as that. That's why I'm glad when dealers and other players cop attitudes to guys who are non-stop on their phone in there.

The vast majority of the people in the room are not poker professionals. They're most likely professionals in something else & recreational poker players.

People need to have the ability to multitask. The elimination of the cell phone rule would be good for all of us, because it would keep more recreational players in the game. Seriously, not being allowed to keep it on the rail or in the cupholder? That is a bit overboard. Most major casinos do not do it this way.

Does anyone have an e-mail address for who runs the poker room here?

I only played in one of these. Have the dealers improved or is it still wildly inconsistent? Also, I wonder if they could possibly cut down on the number of times the dealers switch tables. When a 20 minute level basically goes 1 orbit (big blind went up on my big blind on consecutive orbits...) because of bad dealing (ante collection and slow-rolling post-flop action, poor chip counting) and switching dealers every 10-15 minutes at times. In other words you could play a 20 minute level structure if you got more like 15-20 hands per level rather than <10 at times.
I also understand somewhat how a $10 tournament fee is sort of the minimum bang-for-the buck for the real estate they have to take up. But why does the $120 have to be +20 and the $210 has to be +30 in addition to the dealer add-on which is sort of a joke especially given what I said above about the constant dealer switching (seriously how about at most 2 dealers between breaks). $120+$15 and $210+20 seems reasonable and would make the game more sustainable long term. The current rakes are overly greedy in my opinion. Either that or increase the buyin and keep rakes the same. Make a 300+30 and 200+20 and 100+10 weekday (150+15 nightly).

Have the tournaments sold out? Even on the weekends?

Other than the first one last Monday, I have not seen any > 105.

Most I've played in have had 55-90.

Playing at a cash table Satuday morning, there were plenty of seats left when the tourney started.

Anyone know what larger tourneys / series are planned for the future or at least whether there's any possibility of such things to look forward to (and when)? Something like the quarterly Lawrenceburg $340 rebuys event would be amazing.

It's surprising to me that the tournaments are not selling out. At least on the weekends. Are they just not that popular anymore?

Are there many cash games going on week nights?

The weekends have gotten ~100.

Check the Bravo App - it will have real-time #s.

yes. 1/2 and 2/5 daily.

hollywood running 5-10 HORSE on wednesdays. targeting the clubs much?

Is this actually going to happen? It's ironic since (as has been well documented in this thread) I begged them forever to run the game. I'll stick with the Tank here though, since it's a higher limit and unraked to boot. Ironically I assume the Tank saw some of the talk and lack of a cbus game and decided to start the Weds night game.