Dave Ferrara

Posts by DFerrara:

  • Grinding the “Off Day” Tourneys

    Where to find quality Vegas action on Mondays and Tuesdays
    20 Feb 2012

    Mondays and Tuesdays are arguably the worst days of the week for poker, which is why I often take those days off. The tourists have donated their Vegas dollars to the grinders over the weekend, and even the L.A. crowd has headed back to their movie studios and plastic surgeons. This meant that for the [...]

  • Working the Weekend Circuit

    Breaking down a trio of daily tournaments in Las Vegas
    08 Feb 2012

    In the midst of a so-far unprofitable weeklong stretch of daily tournaments around Las Vegas, I decided to try my luck+skill next at the Orleans (a grizzled locals favorite), the Golden Nugget (for a tourist-packed short-stack event), and the Venetian for a little Deep Stacks Extravaganza with hoodie-and-headphones set. Each tournament has its own appeal, [...]

  • Playing the Small Nightly at the Strat

    Day 2 on the Las Vegas daily poker-tournament circuit
    28 Jan 2012

    4,500-chip, four-color starting stack at Stratosphere. The Stratosphere’s quaint 10-table poker room sits in the back of the casino, past a row of slot machines, craps tables, another row of slot machines, down the ramp past Roxy’s Diner, near the escalators to the Top of the World restaurant — just before the Double Down Pit [...]

  • Onward Local Tournament Grinder

    A week of daily events across Las Vegas
    26 Jan 2012

    Nearly every casino with a poker room offers a daily tournament. The buy-ins range from $45 to more than $500, depending on the day of the week. I want to explore the level of competition, how much play I can get for my money and whether the payouts are worth the grind. I’m going to [...]

  • Las Vegas Poker Rooms Fueling Live Rakeback Trend

    Grinding hours to pad your roll
    24 Jan 2012

    A middle-aged local approached the Treasure Island poker room supervisor early Sunday evening, inquiring about how many hours he had played. “I want to make my $50,” he said. At the start of the year, the room announced its latest promotion on signs around the casino, flyers outside the room’s entrance, and business cards on [...]

  • Bouncing ’round the Rooms

    Las Vegas poker action and buzz
    12 Jan 2012

    This is Pokerati’s new Las Vegas poker room column, and I’m the hired hack on the beat. As a journalist who recently emigrated from the other side of the Mississippi River to divide his time writing and grinding in Las Vegas, the poker capital of the world, I hear a lot of buzz around town. [...]