The V deep Stack

bigeasy59 · #1 06-02-2007, 05:29 AM

Any info on these from today what kinda turnout prize pools etc...

rageotones · #2 06-02-2007, 05:16 PM

i'm also wondering if they're running sats to these events

xx44 · #3 06-02-2007, 07:19 PM

Anyone who played, please comment on the registration process

betgo · #4 06-02-2007, 07:30 PM

Discussed here in HSMTT

ackbleh · #5 06-02-2007, 07:55 PM

I played in the first event Friday. Information follows

1) Registration requires a venetian players card. There is a line to get a players card right next to the tournament registration line. I arrived at 11:45 am on Friday morning and was able to get my ventian card and get bought into the event just as they were beginning dealer instructions promptly at noon. Buyins are allowed until the conclusion of the first break at around 2:15pm.

2) The structure and levels are as posted. There was a one hour dinner break at 7:35pm. The structure allows for a lot of good play early. The rounds are only 40 mins, so around dinnertime the rounds caught up with the extra initial chips and we stopped seeing much postflop poker. Be aware that as the structure moves forward, antes become HUGE relative to the blinds. As an example, at the 6k/12k blind level, antes were 2k, so that at a 9handed table the antes were equal to the total of the blinds. Be prepared to push and pray at some point in this tournament. The extra time early allows you to build a stack that can handle a beat or two, but preflop aggression is rather important late.

3) The tournaments were well run, started on time, and run as stated. I played a good 10 hours of poker (not counting breaks) and encountered one slow dealer and one dealer with a pretty bad attitude, otherwise they were all pretty fast and competent. The floor was above average at breaking tables and moving players around.

4) They play til 2am or when 9 players are left, then resume at 4pm the following day... or so they say. I busted in 16th at 12:20 am or so, out of 319 entrants. When we got down to two tables, the floor mentioned something about maybe trying to play the whole thing out that night because a few players wanted to play the $1500 event today, but they got negative response. I left after I busted, so I don't know what the final decision was.

5) They paid 27 places. The structure was predictably top heavy, with first place getting 47k or something, over 3 times what third place was paid, and just $3000 or so for 9th place. 16th paid 1300-something.

6) They are pimping satellites pretty hard through annoucements, no solid information on frequency or numbers or options sorry, I wasn't really paying attention. I heard multiple sitngo options for sure, but who knows how often they get going.

7) we played 9-handed til we were at 6 tables, we then played 10-handed down to 27. Redraws at 27, 18 and 9, playing 9-handed or less.

10) They use normal cards

11) in theory you get a $10 food comp for your entry, at least in the $540, but the person that writes them is the same person who issues venetian cards and registers for some tournaments, so the wait to get it might be annoying, I didn't bother. You should also know that the entry will be $10 higher than you think -- the $540 is actually $550 due to an 'optional' $10 you pay for 3500 chips on top of the official 6500 starting stack. That $10 goes to the staff. They don't even ask you if you want to pay it.

12) The standard breaks are 15 mins, which is enough time to grab food at their food court if you want, you'll just want to take it back with you to your seat. I had the philly cheesesteak $10 for lunch and a toasted turkey sandwich ($9) for dinner. Neither was the kind of meal you go out of your way to recommend to someone else, but what food court meal is? It was as good as i've eaten in a food court...quite edible... and I was surprised by the high quality of the bread in both sandwiches. I saw someone eating the new york style pizza and asked, they said it was good, 'really good' when pushed, I just don't go for that type of crust so I didn't try it. There are some salads there but they didn't look robust enough for me to try the healty meal option.

13) beverage service was above average but not perfect in the tournament area. Fiji water for free, yay!

14) Pretty soft field.

Overall: I've played a lot of live tournaments and am often critical of what seem to be obvious shortcomings in the way tournaments are run. Especially considering this was the first day of their tournament series, the Venetian is doing an incredible job. If only they could own the WSOP, not harrahs.... Anyways, I know some people want the shot at winning a million and these tournaments aren't for them. I wish the buyins were a little bigger myself, but nonetheless I think these are the tournaments I'll be playing in June, not the WSOP. There are some 1k events, just have to plan right to play in them.

52s · #6 06-02-2007, 07:55 PM

319? Nice. Gonna prolly play Monday's $330.

potamophobia · #7 06-02-2007, 08:18 PM

Nice writeup ackbleh. I also plan on going to Vegas and playing in some of the $330s, so let me know how that goes 52s.

mbishop · #8 06-02-2007, 08:37 PM

Thanks for the write up.

I'm hoping to play a few of these next week. Anybody planning on playing the $330 HORSE on Tuesday? I'll be the guy who looks like he's never played any live game other than holdem.

Phntm · #9 06-02-2007, 09:23 PM

I'll be there for the HORSE, can't wait ought to be a blast. What do you figure the average age is for players/ over under on number of entrants??

pig4bill · #10 06-03-2007, 01:15 AM

378 players today. First prize nearing $60k.

The way they're handling satellites is beautiful. You get paid in lammers. They can be used for any Venetian tournament, even after the Deepstack series is over. So if you get some random low denomination ones you can save them until your next trip. They had all different price leverls, from $80 to $240, and someone said they had done a $1000ish one.