Quote:
Originally Posted by RoccoTerrier
Sorry, I meant to comment on the Heartland. I played in the Heartland last Spring and had a great time. I got a seat in the main event through one of the qualifiers and just missed the money in the main event when my AK got cracked by AQ.
The tournament was well-run by the Heartland staff. The tournament is not "put on" by the Majestic. The Heartland staff comes into the host casinos and runs the tournament. The tournament has a great structure. Long levels, lots of starting chips, slow escalation of the blinds. I will play in this again in the Spring.
My only complaint was that on day one of the main event, we played poker for something like 8 or 9 hours and there was no lunch or dinner break -- only short breaks after every few levels. The Majestic does have a sandwich bar next to the poker room, but it is even worse than anything they have at the Horseshoe. My point is that I was hungry. So, if you play the Heartland, bring some snacks in your pocket that you can eat during the short breaks.
Rocco, I know this post is old but I thought it was rather funny when I was reading it. I am a regular player at the Majestic and know all the the Staff very well. The Heartland does not come into casinos and run the tournaments for them, the casino hosting runs the event and does everything , Heartland is just there watching. If you want to complain about the blind structure or lack of breaks, yes that is because it has to be run the way that HEartland Poker Tour says. The staff all works ridiculously long hours, while the tour is there, having to deal with irrate poker players, poker players who think they know everything, and trying their best to make sure everything is accurate. I played Heartland several places, as well as playing every Heartland at Majestic, and they do run it better than any other casino. I remember when Amy, the tournament director was 9 months pregnant at Majestic, and she told me she had worked roughly about 60 hours a week when they were there. With all the people and chaos, everything is not always going to run totally smooth, but they do a fantastic job! I know I couldn't deal with all of it, and most poker players put in their shoes would lose their mind if they had to run all of that.
What's funnier is the Horseshoe's WSOP was not all that great run. The registration was ridiculous, they let players keep entering with full chip stacks for hours, when you may have been sitting at your table for 2 hours, there were people coming in that sometimes had more chips than people at the table had, the WSOP takes so much money out of the prize pool, and from what I hear, the supervisors there all get a cut for each player that registers in every tournament there. You never know what they are taking out of the prize pool.
There are still people out there that would much rather play at Majestic Star than Horseshoe Casino. The staff is so much friendlier and they are down to earth. Joe, Darrell, both of the Mike's and Amy are great people and they know me well, as well as all of their players. I feel at home there, I get comped easily, not like at Horseshoe where it is like pulling teeth to get comps, and I can go in on any night and not have to worry about waiting for 80 people on a list ahead of me to get into a game. And all of their games are 10 handed, not like the 9 handed tables at Horseshoe where if 2 people get up the game is short handed.
I can't wait for the next Hearland coming, and I just had to stick up for the staff at Majestic because people like to dump on them because it is "No Horseshoe." Unless your a high limit player at Horseshoe, you get treated like crap, but the Majestic treats all their players like they are a welcomed guest, and I have nothing but good things to say about them! And next time you want to say that the Heartland people ran a well tournament, you need to get your facts straight first and realize that the Majestic does run the tournament and the tournament director there does ALL of the work to run the Heartland, not the Heartland Poker Tour, and I know she does not have it easy when they are in town. Maybe you should take a trip there and tell them they THEY ran a good tournament...