Forgot your question on the satellites... They are single tables and we will run them daily throughout. The Super Satellite will be on Friday the 13th at 2pm and as requested through the series (expect anywhere from 30 to 50 runners there) and one on Friday the 20th for the main event at 7pm.

Higgy

Higgy,
Can you give us a rundown of the turnouts each day for your Deepstack series? I'm wondering how many will show up for the $350 Main Event. I played last Saturday and I heard that you'll be giving seats to the winners each day, but only if there's at least 20 entries...so how many are guaranteed to be in the Main?

I don't think you're gonna get 2 full tables, so I may have to skip it...though for any of you out there thinking of going, it was a good tournament. Good structure, well run, comfortable seats, food and drink close by.

All of the players agreed that an hour dinner break was too long, so we shortened it to half an hour, I've never seen that happen before (TD agreeing to change schedule at player request), but it really speaks to what makes the Santa Ana poker room great. Staff and players are friendly, you don't get attitude like in other rooms, its the kind of room that makes recreational players/tourist feel comfortable.

What are the rules for the bet or fold Tourny? Don't see how it is anything but all in pre every time (or close to it)

There's no checking allowed. You can just call, though. Basically, when it's your turn, you either bet or fold unless you are facing a bet, then you can fold, call or raise. All-in or Fold events are fairly popular also, but I figured this would be a little easier of a transition from a regular tournament for our first time doing something like this. It's pretty similar to my normal tournament strategy anyways. If I'm in, I'm most likely going to be betting, lol.

The first three events were 3 tables, I believe. HORSE was 2 tables and the Turbo was only 1 (they've never done well here). We're estimating 3 tables for Saturday, but you never know. I didn't want to advertise in other markets this time, because we weren't sure of what to expect from our local player base and I didn't want to turn people away. Now that we know where we're at, I can hit some other markets and get some out of town money in here next time.

I'm glad you liked the structure, my goal is to offer the best in the region. Hopefully it will catch on. As far as the dinner break thing; we will always listen to player feedback and accomodate whenever we can. Unlike some other rooms, we want the players' business and we will go as far as we can to show our appreciation and address their concerns in a timely manner.

Thanks,

Higgy

Everything was great about the tournament I played in (other than running my pocket KK into pocket AA when I was short and 2 away from the money). Throughout the day I think everyone agreed on only the following 2 suggestions for the next time you have a series like this:
1) As already mentioned, make the dinner break only half an hour, nobody seemed interested in a full hour.
2) After the T50 ante, skip right to T100 and remove the green chips. The 75 ante was particularly weird and it slowed down play because it took dealers a little extra time to collect antes. You can stay at 50 ante into the next level or go right up to 100 and then stay at 100 an extra level, then jump to 200. At that point in the tournament (when antes go to 75) its no longer really very deepstacked, so you don't want to lose those few extra hands that were lost picking up antes. Maybe this sounds nitpicky but it really did take a little extra time.

Personally, I'm a fan of long, drawn out structures but a think a lot of regs might be into the idea of shortening the first 3-4 levels to 20 minutes to shave some time off the tournament.

Thanks again

The ante thing is definitely something we can fix and I agree on the dinner break. There seems to be be 1 camp that wants a tournament to only be 3 hours and others that want to really settle in and play. We'll continue to tweak as much as we can to try to find a happy medium. Appreciate the feedback more than you know!

Higgy

howw many entries in the main event Higgy?

24. Not what we would have liked, but the one in April will be advertised in other markets and should have much larger fields.

Higgy

My wife is lobbying to move to Albuquerque, though I'm resisting. (Yes, I know it's a dry heat, but so is my oven!)

Do any of the Albuquerque-area poker spread PLO and/or Omaha/8 on a regular basis? What limits?

What is typical rake at the Albuquerque-area poker rooms?

Thanks in advance.

Sandia has 4/8 O8. I don't think anyone has a regular PLO game...Buffalo Thunder west of Santa Fe might occasionally, but I don't know for sure.

Thanks.

I read through the thread and saw $3 max rake at most/all poker rooms. Wow, that's just freaking amazing.

My regular casino (Harrah's Joliet outside Chicago) is 10% of the first $60, plus a buck for the Bad Beat Jackpot on any hand over $20. (I.e., $6 + $1 on most pots.)

Yeah $3 max +$1 BBJ is the ABQ standard. When I used to play 12-20+LHE at Sandia there was no BBJ but that was years ago so I don't know if this is still true.

Hello New Mexicans,

I'm planning a bachelor weekend for a group of fellow grown-ups (we're all pushing 40). We've got guys who want something outdoorsy, and some who demand a roof over their heads. I've identified the Santa Fe/Taos area as a place where we can get both. The current plan: arrive Friday AM, raft the Chama River, camp Friday night, raft Saturday, and spend Saturday night at the Buffalo Thunder. Guys who don't want to raft/camp can just do the whole thing at Buffalo Thunder.

Questions:

- Is Buffalo Thunder a good place to stay, or do you think we'd be better off in downtown Santa Fe? On Saturday night we'll want to do a nice dinner, I'm sure. Buffalo Thunder seemed like a good choice because there are golfers in the group and of course I'll take any opportunity to play cards. I guess I'm asking if it offers a lot amenity-wise. Can you go on any good hikes directly from Buffalo Thunder?

- Everybody will be flying into ABQ. Seems like there are a number of options to get to Buffalo Thunder, but I'm guessing renting a car is simplest if cost is not a big issue. Thoughts on this?

Any other ideas/thoughts/opinions are welcome.

Thanks!

LFS

What nights does that 4/8 O* at Sandia run?

They spread it daily. we also offer $3-6 O8 on Sundays at the Star.

LFS,

Sounds like your plan is a pretty good one. Buffalo Thunder is a nice, new hotel/resort/casino. The poker room is the only one in the Santa Fe area, so if you're planning on staying close to hiking, rafting, & mountains in the northern half of the state, and want to play poker, there is no other choice. They have a night club on the property, but the crowd is just locals and i wouldn't expect any wild, Vegas type of nights. They also have a few restaurants in the resort, but I didn't try them on my stay there last summer. There are many great restaurants within 30 minutes drive to SF or Espanola. Taos is another 30 minutes further.


Buffalo Thunder is an easy hour and 20 minute drive from Albuquerque airport. Car rentals are average prices here, and gas is cheaper than most states. Public & hotel transport is either slow or non-existent.

Enjoy our beautiful state!

Anyone else feel like Sandia should have more tournaments throughout the week? With perhaps a monthly, or bi-monthly 100-110 buy in?

With perhaps a 500-750 house add on.

Sandia doesn't like to run tournaments. That's why they have such a bad structure and run so few of them. It takes away from their cash games.

There's plenty of good tournaments at the other casinos around town. Santa Ana runs a $100 BI every Friday night that averages 30 runners. It's only 15 minutes up the road...

I posted in another thread and received a little feedback, but later thought that more eyes would see my question here. I'm staying at Buffalo Thunder from April 18 (Wednesday) to April 21 (Saturday) and am interested in the 1/3 NL game. Any info at all on this game would be appreciated. Rake, likelihood of running on those days, quality of players, etc. Thanks!

I'm an overall loser in that game, but most 2+2er's would say its pretty easy if they played it, like any 1/3 game. Lots of regs. The game is definitely tougher when the bigger game breaks and some of those players come over and start tossing chips around. If you are properly rolled for it, its probably easy money. So, if you don't mind dropping a buyin or two on a bad beat and working your way back up, its a good game. Rake is pretty standard with a drop for the BBJ, which recently switched to a mini-bad beat only.
The 1/3 game should be running all of those nights, though its extremely possible that on any one of those nights it will not be running (most likely thursday). But you will rarely see more than one 1/3 table running at the same time, but if you do it will be either Fri or Sat, but not both in the same weekend as a general rule. Last Saturday I was shocked to see 5 tables running at the same time, all different games (2/6 spreadlimit, 4/8 O8, 4/8 LHE w/halfkill, 1/3NL and 20/40 O8).

On Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays you are likely to see some variation of the "bigger game" which can be 20/40 dealers choice or 5/5 PLO/O8 or the new popular variation 20/40 O8. All of these games are redchip with stacks of bills underneath and pot sizes of 2K are not uncommon...I wouldn't plan on sitting in that game with less than 1K in my pocket. It often starts in the early afternoon but can break up in under 4 hours sometimes. Pretty much the same group of regs.

The big problem with NM poker is that its rare to find a table with drunks spewing chips. BT is the only room I know of in NM that lets you drink at the table, but even so, its rare to see anyone getting stupid. There's usually a few people at any given table ready to put some money in, but you also rarely see people just getting wild with money in a stupid way that is easy to exploit. But that's just my opinion and I'm terrible.

The bt 1/3 is like every other poker game in nm.
1. Don't get fps
2. Play +ev hands and value bet like mad.
3. Don't cbet into more than two people. If your cbet gets called, watch out.
4. Once they figure out how aggro you are, they will get all trappy and check-raisy.
5. You can't get blood out of a turnip. If you find yourself at a table full of nits, go check out the 2/6 spread limit game.

May I have permission to use this expression? I love it!

Higgy

Hey all you NM and Southern Colorado 2+2'ers.

Just a bump and reminder that the spring deepstacks are coming up starting this weekend, April 14th at the Santa Ana Star. Tourneys are every day starting at 2pm. $250 BI's with a $550 BI main event on Saturday, April 21st.

*Disclaimer: I'm not an employee of the casino. Just a regular player there who'd like to see as many runners as possible in all the events. I'll be playing the Omaha H/L on Tuesday and the HORSE on Thursday plus at least 1 other...

Good luck,

Damelo

I'll try to make at least one of them. Anybody know if there will be satellites the morning of the tourneys? Like, can you play a sat at 11am in time for the 2pm start?