Let me know if you're also here and want to meet up I'll send you my info. Good luck!

I leave tomorrow sigh. Good luck eggs. Post hands here about Vegas. I hope you run better than I did in vegas. Just cashed an $800’at aria with a gross ending but yes nice to get a cash after running fairly poorly over 30 mtts. Best of luck!

Got my notebook digitized so I'll have plenty of well-documented HHs to post!

Safe travels!

Another thing- super small sample size here but I played 2 $550-100k at Wynn. I recommend playing Wynn tournaments any chance you can get. I found the play very soft at my first table for the 2 tournies I played. I didn’t run even to mid stages or deep bc I kinda ran meh but I felt for a $550 tourny, was one of the softest tournies I’ve played at that buy in level.

I would even skip better structure mtts to play at Wynn honestly. It was odd, I found the play in the $200-200k at gold nugget more difficult than a Wynn $550. Folks were open limping at the Wynn while at GN, nobody open limped for like 2-3 hours at my first table (a sign that the table isn’t super soft).

The real wsop structures are way shorter than the nominal structures

the 6max I just played we only got 61 hands in 2hrs, and the table was never full. I played 8max cash the day before and we got 35 hands/hr

I will be in Vegas from 6/18 through probably 7/7 unless I choose not to play in the WSOP Main event. I'm guessing I will play in it though. So if you don't hate me I'd love to meet up.

Also, I'm glad you got rid of your paper notebook. It made it obvious you were really good. Like GTO good.

Ironically the Wynn has been the hardest field I have played in repeatedly. Of my seven visits to Vegas in the last 7 years and I played at the Wynn usually more than once a visit (and have bought in more than once a few times) I only had one visit where I was plus. My losses at the Wynn total worse than anywhere else (except for the WSOP itself because I am 0 for 5 cashing in the Main Event... Otherwise I am plus a bit). If they didn't require that the waitresses be Super Models, I probably wouldn't play there at all.

The Aria I am also 1 for 7 in successful years but I won a tournament there so I am even overall. The problem with the Aria is if you don't register for the tournament over an hour early you are likely to be on the wait list which means you can miss the first 2 hours (4 levels @ 30 minute level). That happened to me once. Honestly I wouldn't do it again. Similarly if you exit early and want to rebuy the wait will likely be an hour plus. It used to be like that at the Wynn like 7 years ago but they have fixed it.

The Golden Nugget (GN) is down and dirty with a very easy field and I love their $300 tournament where they have 9 day 1's (3 each day at like 11am, 2pm and 5pm) where if you cash more than once you get $1,500 for that cash and then get to play in the final day with your biggest stack. Out of the 3,000+ entrants about 300 make it to day 2 and $1,500 the year I did it was worth about 25th place. Out of 5 visits that I have played at the GN I have been ahead twice. My overall total is slightly down. It is in the Fremont district (downtown) which is like 30 to 45 minutes by bus from the strip so there are visits where it just is too long for me to go.

The Orleans is also down and dirty with an easy field but the stakes are usually low. I have done OK there (Up one visit out of 4 tries and I would basically have played only once or twice typically a Senior event except one year when a Foxwood dealer was working there and I went to say hello).

The best field by far was at Planet Hollywood (though I never had a winning visit the 5 times I gave it a shot). I made it to Day 2 many times though just never went deep enough. Their poker room is now shut down so no more tournaments there.

Now I would say the best structure other than the WSOP is at the Venetian. Their mid stake deep stack tournaments ($600 to $1600) typically have 40 minute levels (well I just checked and the $600 tournies are 30 minutes but with 40,000 chips which is at least 10,000 more than the Aria and Wynn). Everywhere else is 30 minutes tops. The field can be tough. But every now and then you will be at a table with some very bad players. I am 2 for 6 in terms of visits and up up a significant amount because of my 3rd place finish once. I didn't play there for about 2 years because of a really horrible ruling and the TD refused to deal with it once the facts came out. But that TD is no longer there and even when he still was he promised to do it differently when I came back after skipping it for a full visit (so 2 years later).

Rick I'm leaving on the 17th! Bummer!

Are you ever coming back to the northeast? What's going on the Czech Republic?

Venetian is by far my favorite place to play. The structure to their 40min lev tournies and a bunch of chips are just so so much play. I feel most of us 2+2ers should be focusing on these type of events if we have the time bc just so many opportunities to find people make big mistakes. Obv Venetian higher buyins are going to be tougher per se but still a lot of dead money.

Wynn- I feel their mtts get some real crushers so table draw is huge. I’ve never cashed at the Wynn (maybe sample size of 10-20) but have always found the play to be lol at times. Like trust me if you get the right table and sun run- deep run is coming with big money up top bc their tournies draw well. I feel Wynn gets a lot of successful Wynn hotel residents also that are rich and can just punt with no cares in the world. A lot of their more reccy players are just lol bad. I find differentiating the solid to bad players also is super easy if you know what to look for (the way they dress, bet sizing, comfort at table, mannerisms, etc).


Orleans- I played a $400 there that was a 40k. Omg tough field. I recognized a few northeast regs there and some solid players with results. I would guess orleans is prolly soft normally but first day of wsop during staff event- wow orleans had a solid field.


For best places to play- I say a toss up between Venetian and Wynn. I feel both get some bad richer folks in bc both hotels are really nice. I like Venetian more bc I’ve had success there + I like the structures more than the Wynn. I also think Venetian gets some more bad euro type players that can be stupid laggy which can be fun to play against bc they spew. Wynn- I think if you avoid the higher buy ins- mtts should be super profitable. The structures are a little worse but I think the fact some folks there just play so bad makes it worth playing.

JK I don't disagree with your Wynn assessment. However I find their good players are really really good. They do have some questionable players but even then I have a hard time increasing my stack given the structure. One time I had more than double stack and AJ in the BB. Guy raised from UTG and I called. Flop is A22. Check/check. Turn is A. Check (I was going to just call anyway because I figured it would be a bluff or PP a lot and I was going to hesitate call) check (so he can't have 22 because I could have an A and he has to bet to get value from his quads because if I don't have an A I'm not calling much anyway). J on the river. I bet like 1/2 pot making it look like I could either have a J or be bluffing so if he has an A and raises I can go for it. He raises. I jam he calls and turns over 22. I think I have cashed there literally once and I was pretty lucky that day.

Eggs, sorry I will miss you. I will be back in NY end of October probably. My wife is working here in Prague and I work from "home" part time and play poker part time.

The thing about poker here in Prague is that there is only one casino (Luka Rebuy Stars) that has Tournies of any value on a regular basis. And even at Luka their large tournaments are sometimes only once a week (on Tuesdays). Their biggest tournies are 10,000 Crowns which is like $460. They have those once or twice a month. Then there is the 6,000 crown ($280) tournament, again once a month. And then 3,500 ($150) and 2,000 ($90) at least once a month. The thing is that the field in these tournaments is exceptional. There are 1,600,000 people living in Prague. All of the really good poker players play at Luka. There are two guys who are extraordinary and I love playing against them. There is an outstanding French player who is funny and speaks English. There is an amazing young (32) Czech player who also speaks English. There is a guy who plays sometimes in the bigger events who finished 3rd in a WSOP main event. Recently in a 6,000 Crown event a Czech player who has won $9,000,000+ lifetime and won a $2,900,000 tournament entered 5 or 6 times in the final 30 minutes of entry for like 20 blinds and then 16 blinds because he wanted to maximize his hourly rate and $280 did not mean a thing to him. He ended up at my table twice though I never played a hand against him. This was the tournament I won (49 entries total, 3,000,000 crowns guaranteed so there was a 10,000 overlay which might have been another reason he was entering at the last minute). In general there are two or three young Czech players who are GTO/Solver guys. At every single table. Those who aren't are still super aggro almost always. There is very little limping pre-flop though in the smaller tournaments it happens a bit.

The other weird thing is that all tournaments in Prague start at 6pm. The one I won ended at 5:17am. Cashing happens at 3am and only ~8% cash (10% of initial entries and 5% of rebuys). Ironically after 10:45 pm they shut the subway down (I get to ride for free because I am over 65) and I have to take an Uber to get home. Its a 20 minute ride and costs about $15 including a tip (except when I was getting Uber discounts so it cost like $12). To do Uber though I have to turn my phone on which if Verizon catches on costs me $10 for that day. I could get a sim card here but its probably cheaper just using WiFi with an iPhone. Though the subway comes back up at 5am so when I won it was a free ride home.

What I would say is that playing poker at Luka (or King's casino in Prague when they have Day 1's for major tournaments or when the European Poker Tour was here in December and they held a number of events in Prague including the 500 Euro Seniors tourney) is like going to graduate school for poker. Even though I have played only about 50 tournaments in about 6 months. I have improved radically because balanced 3-betting pre-flop is a must. And 4-betting against the rampant 3-bettors is a must as well. Similarly with calling or folding to 4 bet all-ins. The huge bluffs are often so balanced that understanding when I block draws has been crucial learning. Similarly when I bluff it has to be balanced and I've had to increase it as a result. I do get called more when I bluff large but I also win a bunch of pots I wouldn't have bluffed before. The beauty of it is that it costs like 1/3 of what tournaments in the US cost based on the quality of the fields.

The other thing is that I don't have a car and can't travel the one and a half hours to King's casino in Rozvadov where they have decent sized tournaments on a regular basis. I have heard it may be the best poker casino (for tournaments) in Eastern Europe. I can't go because I have to be in Prague during the week to support my wife. Similarly I can't go on just the weekend either because rarely do the multi day tournaments end on Sunday. Usually the final day is Monday. However, they do have one Day 1 of every major Rozvadov tournament in Prague. I accidentally played in it once thinking that Day 2 was also in Prague and failed to get to day 2 anyway. I intentionally played in it once and failed to get to day 2 because QQ which I 3-bet in the BB got 4 bet all in which I called in a 150,000 chip pot vs AKo which I lost and then KK which I 3-bet in the SB got 4 bet by all in which I called in a 190,000 chip pot vs AKo which I lost. And I got knocked out with AKo vs 77 in like a 90,000 chip pot because apparently here you win with AK only if you are Czech. Though in fairness I did post a hand where I had A6s which won a 60% all in value bluff on the turn vs K8o.

The funny thing is that even though I will be back in the US in late October I doubt I will play much in the Northeast. Because Foxwoods just has one weekend tournament for $500 on Sunday. So I have to travel 5 hours in basically a day to play whereas here in Prague it takes an hour roundtrip without having to drive. I'll check out Philly to see if there's more than one decent tourney on a weekend. But I don't think so. And the Borgota doesn't seem to have any of their series anymore. So if I play in the US it will be on a trip to Vegas to play in a Venetian Deep Stack series. I don't think I could stomach Florida.

Oh, one last thing. If the TV show (Interview With a Vampire) gets picked up for a 3rd season, my wife may very well get hired again next year in Prague... So I would be going for my PHD.