Annie Duke’s Celebrity Apprentice friendmate Brande Roderick is apparently sticking with the poker thing in some capacity. A series of $100 tourneys at Binion’s over the next few months include a chance to qualify for a Tournament of Champions … and the winner of that gets to spend the Super Bowl with the business-savvy Playboy bunny:
This one isn’t for a special occasion or tournament or anything … just pretty standard 5th-floor parking at the Venetian on any given Wednesday:
This player is not nearly as creative as he thinks he is.
You know that glorious feeling of having a cocky opponent check-raise into your top set with a nut flush draw? “Meet the Monster” … distinctly poker music by Five Finger Death Punch. The band kicks off their new tour at Wasted Space in the Las Vegas Hard Rock tonight … like not even a 25-second walk from a relatively tame 1/2 No-Limit Hold’em game:
Definitely a good tune for either your tournament or cash game iPod. 
That’s been the buzz amongst dealers and floor staff at both Planet Hollywood and Harrah’s Hotel … and now the LVRJ is semi-confirming. Technically, Harrah’s is just seeking purchase of P-Ho’s $860 million debt, but financial analysts say this could likely be a way for them to acquire the whole property.
Planet Hollywood, of course, earned the distinction for being the Worst Poker Room in Las Vegas in 2007 (according to Pokerati.com), and last month saw its poker room management removed in handcuffs — arrested for allegedly skimming money via fake Bad Beat and High Hand jackpots.
Thanks, Shrink, for the tip!
ALT HED: WSOP-Ho?
Those following @Pokerati may recall an unusual situation I faced in a 1/2 game at the Golden Nugget last weekend — when this guy, “The Duke”, bought in for $100,000 … which he pulled from purple velvet Crown Royal baggies stuffed in a tattered violin case.
I had been trying to place him … was he related to the suit-wearing longhair we media types know as “the devil” (whom I had once sent into a tirade by stacking him at the Golden Nugget). No, no, not related (fingers crossed) … maybe he’s a performer in one a show around town? That would explain why he was playing in this game, but not why he would have $100k in cash (including some in out-of-circulation $500 and $1,000 bills). His business card says “Have Gun, Will Travel”, and lists his title as “Soldier of Fortune”.
Anyhow, it just hit me where I had seen him before, or at least why he looked so familiar. I was playing against not a real hitman, but quasi-legendary humorist Alibaster K. Abthernabther!
In the end, I’d get only about .009 percent of his stack, despite seeing AA, KK, KK, AK, and 77 twice (and flopping two sets) in our first three orbits … and then having him request a seat change and moving directly to my right. Turns out Mr. 50,000 Big Blinds was a ridiculously tight player … saw him (correctly) lay down a set of 4s to a $10 bet into a $25 pot, and chop the only all-in he faced with AKs vs. AKs.
I guess he liked to just sit there in front of money he knew he wasn’t going to lose?
The Antiscouse writes in seeking some info that I figure should share with all of you, too … because really, what more do Pokeratizens wanna know beyond the latest law, politics, tournament results where should I play and eat when coming to Las Vegas?
Headed your way for the weekend, was hoping at the last second to get your recommendations on 1) tournaments and 2) sushi places to take guest/client. As for tournaments, playing one Friday somewhere during the day, not sure where yet- thoughts? Used to play the Caesars noon $330, didn’t like it last time so thought I’d branch out.
A slightly embellished version of my response to The Antiscouse:
1) Tournaments (Friday day)
Venetian $150 nooner
7,500 starting chips and 30-minute levels. It’s actually a daily event that usually draws 75-or-so runners throughout the week, but on Fridays it has been running closer to 150 players with first-place payouts around $8k.
Since you don’t dig the Caesar’s $330, you might also wanna check out the Bellagio daily events, and if you’re willing to go up against a smaller field with fewer prize payouts, the Hard Rock is in the last few days of their inaugual MegaStacks series — where all the events have been turned into $340s.
2) Sushi
Nobu (at Hard Rock) is my personal favorite. Tasty. Sexy. Fun.
Simon (at Palms Place) is also one of my favorite restaurants in town … though it’s not pure sushi … it’s like Asian fusion with homegrown American steaks and stuff, and it’s away from the casino, which may be more appealing to me than you and your client.
Sushi Roku in Caesar’s Forum Shoppes is great food … but the price-to-portions ratio makes you feel like you’re at more of a French restaurant, and the long walk through a shopping mall to get there may be unappealing to smokers.
The sneaky, ooh, wouldn’t have thought of that place … Koi at Planet Hollywood.
UPDATE: 143 runners at Venetian today — Tagg finished 22nd (18 got paid). Hopefully better results TK for sushi.
Oops, I might have been a bit premature when I said the Hard Rock’s August deep-stack tourney was off to a decent start.
Despite 100ish players for the first event ($340), and 50ish for the first $550 … event #3 — last Sunday’s $550 — was canceled because they didn’t have enough players. And while results are coming in sporadically, The Poker Atlas reports a pretty small turnout for at least one mid-week event:
Event #6 Results
Wednesday, August 12th at 12:00 PM
$340 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Tournament1st – Kelly Kellner, Calgary, AB – $3,650
2nd – Krzysztof Bernat, Chicago, IL – $2,200
3rd – Sonja Jurkovich, Las Vegas, NV – $1,425
Tomorrow is their first “big” event — a $1k+70. Should be interesting to see what happens … if anything.
Everyone says the same thing about the Hard Rock Poker Lounge — beautiful room, but not much action … some like the loud music and smoke-and-leathery bar just a turn-and-a-river away, others don’t … But it does seem like things have been picking up. And with the new tower at Hard Rock opening earlier this month — I dunno, it just seems the right wheels are in motion to make it a Top 5ish player on the LV poker scene eventually, if not soon.
The void they’re currently trying to fill is the bargain-price deep-stack tournaments — of which there were almost none in August. Hence the “Mega Stack Poker Showdown in Las Vegas” … an 18-event series that started on Friday and plays through Aug 25 … with $340, $550, and $1,070 buy-ins … and starting stacks from 12,500 to 20,000.
The Poker Atlas has early results … from the looks of it Event #1 ($340) drew about 100 runners, and the first $550 event got 50ish. Not bad. Semi-respectable … and look, even Hollywood Dave got paid!
Event #1 Results
Friday, August 7th at 12:00 PM
$340 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Tournament1st – Robert Tannira, Nevada – $7750
2nd – Joshua Rose, Florida – $3650
3rd – Roberto Betbase, Argentina – $3200
4th – Mark McPherson – $3150
5th – Stephen Seffense – $3150
6th – Jeffery Ditanna – $3107
7th – Dave Stann – $1083
8th – Christopher Hughes – $947
9th – Steven Hiltz – $676
10th – Rosh Wave – $350
The “main event” (planned for four days) is somehow connected to the World Poker Showdown and Canadian Poker Tour (it’s their championship?) … a $2,650 buy-in with 50k starting chips.
They’re calling it Trash Talk Tuesdays, and indeed, have heard a teensy little buzz about it around town. Follow me on twitter for updates. My plan is to play tight and not get caught up in twittering.
As you can tell, this will be a big game for me — essentially $2/$5/$10 NLH that I hear grows even bigger as the night goes on. I’m a little nervous — am pretty sure it’s poor game selection to risk a third of your bankroll in a potentially wild, unfamiliar game playing at higher stakes than you’re used to. But sheesh, they’ve even got a bonus for playing the hammer! Go Dream Team money …
From Hard Rock Poker Lounge:
Trash Talk Tuesdays
Bad Sportsmanship Encouraged – ornery dealers, slow rollers & grown men crying…
Buy-in: $300-$3000
Mandatory “Hard Rock Straddle” on the button
Blinds: $2-$5
Seven Deuce BountyWarning: If you’re a whiny little baby who can’t take a joke about ginormously fat and disgusting your mother is, then this event is not for you. So stop reading this and MOVE ON!
More about this game from 2+2 here and Doc W (who took the picture from that game above) here.
UPDATE: You can see my results on twitter … but in a nutshell, this game plays WAAY bigger than 2/5 or even 5/10. Got my ass handed to me (twice) before dropping down to “Wacky 1-2″ … which is essentially the same game with 1/2 blinds and a forced $4 straddle.
Here’s a list of the 59 poker rooms that, as of right now, have signed on to officially embrace the 2009 TDA rules:
Aces & 8`s Poker
Amelia Belle Casino – Amelia, LA
APT Poker Room – Galaxy Starworld Hotel & Casino, Macau
Asian Poker Tour – asianpt.com
Avenue Card Club, Hove, UK
Aviation Club – Paris, FR
Bay 101 – San Jose, CA
Bay Mills Resort & Casino – Brimley, Michigan
Beau Rivage – Biloxi, MS
Big Slick Poker Tour – Prince George, BC
Binion`s Horseshoe – Las Vegas, NV
BLACK LIONS POKER CLUB, BUFFALO NY
Borgata – Atlantic City, NJ
Caesars Palace LV
Canterbury Park – Shakopee, MN
Card Player Cruises – At Sea in the World
Casino Del Mar, La Concha Resort – San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Casino Oostende, Belgium
Cherokee – Tulsa, OK
Club 52 at Melbourne Greyhound Park – Melbourne, FL
Colorado Central Station – Blackhawk, Co
Commerce – Commerce, CA
Crystal Crown Casino, Sunny Beach, Bulgaria
Daytona Beach Kennel Club & Poker Room
Derby Lane Poker Room- St. Petersburg, FL
Diamond Jo Casino – Dubuque, IA
Eureka Resort and Spa – Mesquite, NV
Federação de Poker do ES (FePES) Vitória-ES, Brasil
Firelake Grand Casino – Shawnee, OK
Fortune Rooms, Northern Ireland
Foxwoods Resort and Casino – Ledyard, CT
Golden Gates/Blackhawk, Co
Golden Nugget – Las Vegas, NV
Grand Sierra – Reno, NV
Grey Eagle Casino – Calgary AB Canada
Hollywood Casino – Lawrenceburg, IN
Hollywood Park Casino – Inglewood, CA
Horseshoe – Tunica, MS
Horseshoe Casino – Bossier City, LA
International Club – London,UK
LUCKY CHANCES CASINO – San Francisco Bay Area
Mandalay Bay – Las Vegas, NV
Mirage Resort Casino – Las Vegas, NV
Northern Stars Poker Tour – Manitoba, Canada
Ocean`s 11 Casino San Diego County, Oceanside, CA
Orchard Farms Poker Room – USA
Peppermill – Reno, NV
Red Rock Resort Casino and Spa – Las Vegas, NV
Ringo`s Little Vegas – Spokane Valley, WA
Rio – Las Vegas, NV
Spirit Mountain Casino – Grand Ronde, OR
Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino – Lemoore, CA
The Casino at Portmaso – St. Julian Portomaso PTM01, Malta
The Poker Room @ Seabrook Greyhound Park – Seabrook, NH
The Silks Poker Room @ Tampa Bay Downs – Tampa, FL
Tri State Casino – Cross Lanes, WV
Venetian – Las Vegas, NV
VFW Post 194 – Salisbury, MD
Wynn Casino – Las Vegas, NV
Lisa in San Francisco, who may or may not be aware of the millions of hands just dealt in the Amazon room this summer, writes in:
I can’t find this anywhere—do you by chance know what the average number of poker hands dealt in Las Vegas on any given day is?
So difficult to find!
Yeesh, I’m not even sure where to begin. 50 poker rooms in Vegas (not counting the Amazon or Brasilia) … 365 days in a year …
I’m gonna say definitely more than 10,000 and less than 500 billion. We should be able to narrow that window of possibility down a little bit, I’d think.
UPDATE: Lisa gives us more info to work with, some of which comes from Harrah’s, even though their main event numbers seem to be slightly off … and we may or may not gotta presume by Amazon they mean Rio, with Brasilia, Miranda, Buzio’s, etc. factored in:
I do know that the number of hands dealt in this year’s WSOP Amazon room (Main Event only) was approximately 722,000 hands. That’s to get from 6,494 players to 9.
I also found another stat from UNLV Research Center: 10.9M is the max no. of hands that can be dealt in Nevada in a single day = 457,500 x 24 (not all tables are open that long)
(assuming all tables are working at full tilt 24 hours)
That’s the word we’re hearing … Excalibur has apparently contacted their previously laid-off dealers and offered them their jobs back — with a return to live, non-electronic play on July 15. Not sure yet whether this a sign of a rebounding Vegas economy or players just not taking to the PokerTek PokerPro tables, despite their offering some of the lowest stakes in town and the ability to play Pot-Limit Omaha at the flip of a switch.
Thanks @Bundas1971 for the tip!
First off, some props to some Pokerati peeps scoring in the Venetian Deeps Stacks. Today, Team Pokerati player Jerry Randack made it to Day 2 in the $500+50 HORSE. We’re trying to follow him on twitter today, but, you know … some people don’t quite get how that works yet.
Also, big kudos to La Sengphet and Chui Kim from Dallas. La took part in a three-way chop in a $300+30 last week that paid her $24k. Chui followed that up the next day with a 4th place finish for $17k.
The Venetian tournaments are setting record numbers — with field sizes ranging from 500+ players to more than 800 in both $300 and $500 NLHs. Not sure yet on the HORSE event …
Meanwhile, the competing smaller buy-in skill-based tourneys across Las Vegas Blvd. at Caesar’s — the MegaStacks — are seeing very different results. According to one of our spies on the ground, answering the question of how it’s going over there:
Horrible. They canceled their $1k on Sunday because of lack of entrants. A player at Venetian said he went over their first, and they had 9 entries as of 11:30, one of whom was Jerry Yang. I saw Yang sit down in the Venetian tourney as a late entry at about 1:15.
NOTE: Bellagio has also affected the non-WSOP summer tourney landscape, re-upping their nightly tourney buy-in to $1,000.
Just talked to one of my dealer sources — a reliable one, with decades worth of experience, not the sort who just likes to bitch after blowing a night’s worth of tips playing video poker … and she tells me, “In the six years I have been dealing here [at the WSOP] this is by far the worst.” She says she knows the economy is bad, “but this year they stiff you all the time. More of them.”
The worst game for dealers is supposedly 7-card stud (no relation to previous post), where she is regularly making $2-$3 a down (a half-hour shift).
Her best down so far has been $57. “But that only happened once.”
The tables that provide the best, or at least most reliable tips: $2/$5 no-limit, and $5/$10 PLO. “But never the highest stakes [$25/$50] PLO. Those guys never tip.”
Pokerati preferred players cashing all over the place … Jen’s dark-horse pick for WSOP metal, Whit Blanton, took in some side-action at the Hard Rock Poker Lounge — one of the many places around town picking up the World Series overflow — and hit his second royal flush ever:
My analysis of the situation: Cool. Well-flopped Nice runner-runner.
@BJNemeth or perhaps ahead of his time? Thinking he might have a very different experience today.
Great crAAKKer post by @Grange95: http://t.co/KcaobMfP) I wish I could write like Michael. Maybe someday. #poker #onlinegaming
