Non-WSOP Fun for Players

Filed in archive Tournament News on May 30, 2007

Not everyone will be packing into the Rio over the next two months to play poker in Las Vegas as Tim Lavalli reports for Pokernews.com. In fact several casinos are stepping up their promotions during the big dance to rival the juggernaut of poker tournaments and try to snag a few of the lower rollers and busted poker degenerates away from the Rio for their in house tourneys.

Not all poker players see the value in going up against "name brand" pros and see a better chance in taking down a tourney of smaller size. Personally I'll be in town for event #42 as my blogging brethren have backed this small-timer to take his shot at the big time under the uber-sized temporary poker room for the World Series of Poker. But, I'll also be checking out one of these "smaller" tourneys should my wrap straight and flush draw not come in.

Here's a quick snip of Mr. Lavelli's article concerning the "other" Vegas tourneys going on:

The Bellagio Cup III, which set to take place from June 11 to July 15, will offer 27 No-Limit Hold'em tournaments ranging from $1,500 to a $10,000 Main Event (A World Poker Tour event, we might add). Six Super Satellites for the $10K event will be run and the Main Cup Event itself begins on Day Two of the WSOP Main Event, which means any player who does not survive Day One at the WSOP can hop right over to Bellagio for the Cup III Main Event.

The Venetian is running its Deep Stack Extravaganza II from June 1 to July 1. The first Deep Stack series this spring was a big success. The buy-ins for this mix of tournaments run from $330 buyin for a 6,000 starting chip structure to several $540 and $1,060 events with 10,000 starting chips. The Venetian tournament schedule also includes a HORSE event, a limit Hold'em tournament as well as an Omaha8 and a Pot Limit Omaha offering. The blind structures in these events really do afford a lot of play to the deep starting chip stacks.

Caesar's Palace is also adjusting its tournament schedule for the WSOP players. At Caesar's, beginning June 3rd, they will run three tournaments a day right through the end of the WSOP. At noon everyday at $200 NLHE with 4500 chips and 40 minutes rounds. At 7 PM Monday through Thursday, a $330 NLHE event, again 4500 chips and 40' rounds; on Friday, Saturday and Sunday the buy-in goes up to $540 and if there are 100 players or more in these tournaments the winner will receive in addition to the cash prize, a seat in the inaugural Caesar's Palace Classic this October with a guaranteed first place prize of One Million Dollars. This will be the first US tournament outside of the WPT or the WSOP that will guarantee a $1M first place prize. Finally, at 11 PM each night at Caesar's, there will be a $120 NLHE tournament with 2500 chips and 30 minute rounds.