The Venetian was on to something when they created their Deep Stack Extravaganza series of tournaments. Not so shockingly, the low-stakes masses flocked to these events where you could compete against sizable fields will skill-rewarding starting stacks for hundreds, as opposed to thousands, of dollars.

This year, several casinos with an obvious love for poker tried something similar … but not all have found the same results. In fact, the Venetian itself was apparently struggling to fill their tables earlier this WSOP. A sign that, damn, poker really is waning? Not exactly …

The Caesar’s Palace MegaStack tournament series was giving more chips per dollar-buy-in than the Venetian … and lo and behold they took all their players. So the Venetian has reportedly responded by adding 2,500 more chips to their own Deep Stacks … and lo and behold, the players returned.

Meanwhile, downtown, the two big tournament series (they apparently call a series of tourneys “festivals” in Europe … I like that!) are the Grand Series of Poker at the Golden Nugget, and the Binion’s Poker Classic. Upon a quick spot-check at Binion’s $110 Seniors event yesterday, they seem to be doing fine. They are in their second year of doing this, of course, whereas the Golden Nugget is in their first … and struggling (with or without Montel Williams). Apparently several of their megasatellites have had less than two tables worth of runners, and don’t make … and a far cry from true “sit n gos” … even the single-table satellites are taking upwards of three hours to fill.

I don’t have full numbers on any of these events … but that’s the basic gist on summertime mini-WSOP’s:

Caesar’s — kick-ass according to all reports
Venetian — maybe not as good as before, but still pretty sweet
Binion’s — Binion’s is Binion’s; there’s always good tournament action even if some players steer clear of the high likelihood of an opponent spitting on the floor
Golden Nugget — tiny fields=tiny payouts; better luck next year?

2+2 has a great thread running down the daily Las Vegas tourney schedule all summer long.

Even in Vegas, there’s poker going on elsewhere from the WSOP. The Rio itself has left its Westside poker room open — really, I bet it’s more than a mile away from the Amazon room — offering $1/$3 NL, plenty of low-stakes limit, and $2/$5 NL games with a waitlist more than a dozen long. In previous years the Rio shut that room down during the WSOP. But this year it’s open … and it’s boomin’.

There’re also two other tournament series going down in town that coincide super-intentionally with the World Series to offer a high-thrill tournament experience for buy-ins in the hundreds as opposed to the thousands. Basically you’ve got the Minor League World Series at the Venetian (Deep Stack Extravaganza II) and Little League World Series at the Golden Nugget (Grand Series of Poker). I actually wrote about these two poker festivals over at Thrillist this week … along with some info about a kick-ass new steakhouse at the Monte Carlo, a cool near-daily free happy hour that moves around town, and an apparatus you can attach to your penis for greater comfort at the poker table and beyond.

Check it out, and of course sign up if you want a Vegas-minded weekly email of this important-service ilk …

Troy in Las Vegas writes in with a question about bankroll management that I’m going to attempt to answer: (Stop laughing.)

Dan,

I have a quick question for you… in your opinion what is the best for me to do w/no bank roll…. just able to spend about 200-300 every other week…

a. small (50-60) buy in tournys

b. play one larger tourney (say the venitian) once every two weeks

c. invest my 200 in a ring game some where

or d. none of the above and save my cash til i get enough

if the answer is d…. what is “enough” to play? I have a VERY hard time not playing, but, have been on the roller coaster of up down small amounts til i get felted in cash games (can’t seem to stay away from getting my money in w/the best and not fairing well…. or… when i do well in one session i don’t do well in the next two and get felted)

Just wondering your opinion… thanks!

Troy, you pose an interesting question, because I suspect a lot of folks are in your position, where they have money to spend on poker, but they don’t have a real bankroll. We all hear that you should have $2-3k to play 1/2 — and it doesn’t take long playing to realize those numbers might not be a load of shit — but how many 1/2 players actually have a few thousand bucks in a non-interest bearing poker account?

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Low-stakes mixed games are popping up around town, and the Venetian will spread Chinese Poker for $5 a point — $150 should be plenty to play with — and the house rakes on a time charge.

The game isn’t running 24/7 of course, but if you ask to put your name on an interest list for the game, they’ll know what you are talking about, and considering that Chinese is played 4-handed, it shouldn’t take long to fill a table.

And maybe Tom … and their nice friend from Phoenix whose name I forget:

Somewhere along the way to posting six losing sessions out of eight and after receiving a severe tongue-lashing from Robert G (with echoes of Tulsa in my head) I abandoned my soccer-shootout tally and quest for five wins in a row. Hadn’t given it a thought since then, really, until today, upon seeing the results of my past four sessions:

DATE — VENUE — HRS — GAME — BUYIN(s) — CASHOUT — EXTRA — NET
15-Mar – venetian — 5.5 — 2/5 nlh — 600 (2) — 776 — 2 — 174
21-Mar – paris — .25 — 1/2 nlh — 200 (1) — 249 — 2 — 47
22-Mar – golden nugget — 3 — 1/2 nlh — 200 (1) — 1709 — 0 — 1509
24-Mar – venetian – 2.25 – 1/2 nlh — 200 (1) — 1262 — 2 — 1060

I swear I won’t be thinking about it next time I play.

A series of deep-stack tourneys just kicked off over at the Venetian yesterday — $300, $500, $1,000 buy-ins and the like — the 2008 Deep Stack Extravaganza I. It was apparently a pretty big deal … I heard two reports — one saying 600 people with 200 alternates. The other claiming 550 players, and yeah, um, lots of alternates it was crazy! I couldn’t make it, however, because I was engaged in an important face-to-face with the Axis of Evil and poker’s hottest new celebrity dictator, Kim Jong Il:

Apparently the North Korean leader was in town to denounce American political sanctions and play $1/$3 No Limit Hold’em at the Rio.

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For the last few years, the biggest game in Vegas has been at Bobby’s Room — a glass enclosed high-high stakes area at Bellagio, complete with fine oil paintings of its most regular players … Doyle Brunson, Jennifer Harman, Phil Ivey, Sammy Farha et al. But the action there has dwindled, and according to Doyle’s Blog (scroll down to the Jan. 7 entry) has moved, at least temporarily:

We moved the ‘Big Game’ down to the Venetian Cardroom this weekend. Not that we had a problem with the Bellagio, but just to have a change in scenery. The Venetian is a beautiful place and they treat us very well so they may get some of our business. I really liked it because I had a nice win there.

Since Dan moved to Vegas last week, he has successfully missed at least one of the biggest parties of the year.

Jay-Z held the grand opening of his new 40/40 Club at the Venetian in Vegas on December 30th. Jay-Z brought Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Robin Thicke, Ne-Yo, Cindy Margolis, Charles Barkley, LeBron James, Alex Rodriguez, and even Rev. Al Sharpton for the bash. And yes, Dan had an invitation to attend but didn’t open his e-mail until a day late.

Could this just be a fluke, a casualty of a semi-chaotic move from Dallas to Vegas?

Donkey Bomber Pokerati Tom — my words, not his — is at another final table today. That’s about all we know. I think it’s in a $2,500 Venetian/NPL Vegas Open event — I know it’s not at one of the preliminary Bellagio 5-Diamond tourneys where most of the pros are playing — but can’t be sure because, frankly, Tom tends to slack off from his frontline tournament reporting duties whenever he’s playing well (or vice versa). Too bad Goldfarb’s not making more final tables, because even if he can’t post directly from the table, he loves to send me the suckout-by-suckout recaps.

Tom Schneider starts today third in chips … I do know that much. And yeah, looking again, it’s gotta be event #3, because that’s one that counts toward Player of the Year. He really wants to win it, and thinks he can. Personally, I don’t think he stands a chance — though I suppose technically it’s possible and the Arizona Cardinals could win the next Super Bowl, as neither have been mathematically eliminated from contention.

In the meantime, keep up the good work, Tom (6)! We’re rooting for you against David Pham, Jonathan Little, Scott Clements, Bill Edler, JC Tran, David Fox, James Van Alstyne, Jared Hamby, and Danny Wong! Actually, I’m kinda rooting for Danny Wong, too … because he’s on my fantasy team. And Travis Rice, who is Dallas Poker’s highest ranked player in the CardPlayer standings at #11 — 5 spots, and 680 points behind Tom.

UPDATE (from Tom):

Belagio 2500 started yesterday 247 players

Hmm, OK, so I guess it was not one of the Venetian tourneys … it was a 5-Diamonder. Oops! But can we say sic.?

CORRECTION: Despite his own reports to the contrary, Schneider starts the day second in chips, not third. Click below to see who’s at the final table …

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Our favorite Donkey Bomber is back in Vegas … trying to score some bank at the Venetian’s NPL Vegas Open. He did OK in his first go — making another final table and finishing 3rd. It was a $2,500 NLH event, with 61 players. According to Tom via text:

6:40 pm: Down to 3 medium stak
7:59 pm: Out3rd qq vs a5 4 a lot of money

Kathy Liebert would go on to win this event, and the $55k first prize. Still, not a bad warm-up for the main event, which starts this coming Monday. It’s a $15,000 buy-in and should be a doozy.

Tom is making his desperate last-ditch effort to win CardPlayer’s Player of the Year, where he currently is ranked 6th. Though he has not been mathematically eliminated from contention, he basically needs to kick major ass while relying on Bill Edler, JC Tran, David Pham to seriously falter.

Ok, I’m officially in poker withdrawal. I haven’t been playing at all lately and have spent the last 6 months listening to the exploits of Tom as he conquered the WSOP and final tables at the WPT. To make matters worse, my good friend Karridy has been able to experience these events, traveling to both the WSOP and a WPT final table. And to top it all off, the rest of the Beyond the Table gang was just in Vegas last week-end for the 1st Annual Poker Bowl. Not just attending, but providing live broadcasting and PR duties for the event! In short, my non poker playing ass is really happy for them jealous as shit.

Yeah, Yeah - no one wants to hear my pity party - so I decided to get off my ass and book a trip to Vegas for what will be a much needed break from the kids for both myself and the always lovely Mrs. SitNGo! We land Thursday afternoon and stay thru Sunday and I should get plenty of quality poker in as we only have tickets to one show (”O”) and I overheard Mrs. SitNGo telling a friend on the phone that I would be playing poker the whole time and she was looking forward to spending all of my hard earned money having some alone time. Following the advice of Dan and Tom, and some independent research at All Vegas Poker, I booked us at the Venetian. I can’t wait for the trip, but I admit I have some nervous excitement to finally get back at a poker table. The room review at All Vegas makes the Venetian room sound great, but the competition sounds stiff. Some quotes from others who have gone there:

“These guys were very good. Where I come from (Oklahoma Indian Casino Poker rooms) you could limp in for 2 bucks and see a flop most of the time. At Venetian, you could not see a flop for less then 10 bucks.” - Is it a bad sign that the majority of my live cash game experience is at Oklahoma Indian Casino’s?

“Probably the toughest room I’ve ever played in.” - Great.

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LAS VEGAS–Funny how being in Las Vegas has put me so out of touch with all the poker news. I think there are some big tournaments going on, online poker execs in the courts, business deals shaking down, but I’ve got little to report other than poker being played. Still, it’s been kinda interesting to see who you run into at the tables around this town:

The first notable I ran into was OREL HERSHEISER, who apparently just moved here to Las Vegas and sat to my left in a 1/2 NLH game at RED ROCK — fresh after being denied selection into the baseball HALL OF FAME. I tried to play the not-knowing-who-he-is thing — “You lost a vote? Were you running for city council or congress or something?” — but he would end up busting me out when I tried to run a little STOP-N-GO. As I pushed all-in, he asked, “How much money do you have?”

“Um, I’m all-in. About $140 more,” I said, pointing to my stacks.

“No, I mean other money. Because we can make a little side-bet away from the table,” he said, upon showing me THE NUTS.

Red Rock seems to be the OFF-STRIP place to be. On my second post-WSOP outing there, I ran into GARY THOMPSON — World Series of Poker media master and tournament overlord. He was wearing comfortable jeans, loafers, and a button-down shirt while playing 2/5 NLH. With about $800 in front of him, he said he was “down a couple hundred.” But it wouldn’t take long for him to grow his stacks, and a few hours later, he had moved up to the 5/10 game and had what looked to be about $2k.

On that same day, I saw A GUY I BUSTED at the Rio. He was a good player who went with the whole BLACK HOODIE and SUNGLASSES kinda thing, while saying almost nothing and acting with stoic (but angry) CHRIS FERGUSON-like motions. He was playing 1/2 NLH and nursing about $200.

Over at THE VENETIAN in the 2/5 game, I found myself up against a WSOP Dealer — SHAI the ISRAELI GUY. He was sick when I pushed all-in and convinced him to fold his top-pair-top-kicker that would turn into TOP BOAT … only to see the guy who took down the pot from me win with KING-HIGH. A couple hours later I was playing a goofy hand with K-6 offsuit in late position, the flop came K-7-K … he checks, I bet, he raises big, I call. Turn is a 6, he pushes all-in, I call … at which point he shows his POCKET 7s. The table cheers for a FOURTH SEVEN, but it doesn’t come and I send him to the ATM.

One table over, KARINA JETT’S MOTHER was playing — beyond her typical quiet game, she was practically falling asleep at the table (at 3 AM) while nursing about $400. She may not remember this, but she won a $15 PROP BET from me once over a RULES DISPUTE. (My bad … I thought I knew stuff.)

Back at RED ROCK a couple days later, I ran into ABRAHAM, and he really deserves his own post, because he tilted the table unlike anything I had ever seen — and even managed to invoke mockery from a cute young girl who wasn’t playing. Basically imagine the worst personality and poker characteristics of ME, TIM ROGERS and EON MARSHALL all wrapped up into an obnoxious kid who graduated from high school in 2003 and is well aware that he looks like STU UNGAR. Then give him a lot of chips. (His behavior and play was so table-altering it had me interrupting TOM SCHNEIDER’S vacation in ST. THOMAS for some emergency coaching … who advised me well until I played back without paying attention to a guy to my left who had pocket kings.)

I really wanted to KILL THIS KID, or at least make him cry. And so did everyone else — especially the old (presumably) gay man who he busted by calling a $260 raise pre-flop with 2-3 suited only to flop two threes. But he can’t be all that bad, because without provoking from me, he at one point shouted, “THE HAMMER!” with glee. Hey kid, if you are reading this, what I told you at the table after you “bluffed” me with pocket-5s and then taunted (it took me a good five minutes to lay down Ace-high) still applies: “I look forward to seeing you get your education.” Punk-ass. Like seriously, you had at least two of us at the table contemplating how one might go about rolling you in the parking lot.

One of the cool things about Red Rock is that when you need to shake off a bad beat or just step away from a dipshit the table to refocus, you can go BOWL A GAME 24 hours a day — for $3 +$3.50 for shoes. That seems like positive EV.

The picture above is from a day I didn’t actually play poker … but I did walk through the poker room just for funsies after bowling, and whom should I run into but NOLAN DALLA, longtime Dallas poker expat and WSOP media guru, legendary sports handicapper, and Stu Ungar biographer. He was wearing CARGO SHORTS, a frumpled shirt, and seemed pleasantly drinky while playing 5/10 NLH with a couple old friends from POKERSTARS.

“I’m stuck $800 but having a great time!” he screamed upon embracing me with a BEAR HUG. “Isn’t this a great casino!?! Hey everybody, it’s Dan from Pokerati!”

Murmur?

“Oh, right …” Nolan said. “Didn’t mean to blow your cover.”

I also ran into STEVE HALL one night at Red Rock, too. He was playing PENNY VIDEO SLOTS. He had a big hit of some sort of crazy picture combinations that won him about $60.

And then to top it all off, I went to CAESAR’S PALACE with DON JONES (of Rounder Club fame), LEIGH & BRIAN from the Poker Atlas , DOCTOR STEVE, and former Absolute Poker marketing chick JEN TIDWELL to play in their 50-player-max $65 tourney. We all had 10 percent of each other, which proved irrelevant as our top player would bubble.

I was the first to bust out (of the tournament) and would take a seat playing some 2/5. Of all the poker tables in Las Vegas … what are the chances that DAN BALLENGER (aka HONG KONG SUE, father of SON OF SUE) would get seated at my table? It would take more than a full orbit before he realized he was sitting with a fellow BATFACE. He bought in for $500 and cashed out a couple hours later for a little less than that. HKS got most of those chips from me … calling a $100 bluff with second-pair-no-kicker (what was I THINKING!?!) … and then bluffing me out of a $400+ pot on the river, getting me to lay down aces. He mucked at the time, but told me as he left that he pushed all-in for his remaining $135 with an underpair. Wish I hadn’t asked, because it had me semi-tilting for a good 30 minutes or more. I know he was just trying to be nice, but still …

Then JASON from JACKIE’S (in Dallas) and “RICKY ZILEM” showed up. They were just walking through checking out the action. Fancy running into these guys here. Chris/Ricky, said, “I did what nobody does when they first land in Vegas and took a nap.”

Ah, indeed.

Small world. Good times.

LAS VEGAS–Seen in the Venetian parking lot (level 6) at about 4 am:

LAS VEGAS–The Pokerati dream of following a local boy all the way to the final table has come to an end. Clonie David Williams Tex Barch Chris Como The Big Randy Jerry Randack Josh Evans has been eliminated. After taking a rough hit by a cowboy who doubled through him, he was in a position where he needed a little luck … needed to win all races and maybe hit a river here or there to get back in the action. Still, he finished high enough that — according to his friends who drove into town overnight — he could start doing what he needed to make it to the final table.

That entailed pushing with A-6 … and getting called, unfortunately, by A-10.

Josh Evans Eliminated By Jason Welch

Josh Evans pushed all-in preflop with {A-Clubs}{6-Hearts} and was called by Jason Welch holding {A-Diamonds}{10-Diamonds}.

Board: {K-Diamonds}{J-Spades}{8-Spades}{J-Diamonds}{9-Diamonds}

Welch had the nut flush by the river and Josh Evans was eliminated.

Still, 76th place, for $106,382 … not bad for a guy who was playing $60 tourneys every Tuesday not that long ago. (By the way, Josh is running pretty dern good. He won $49,505 less than a month ago by finishing 2nd in a Venetian Deep Stacks tourney.)

Congratulations, Josh! And thanks for making our main event a little more exciting.

As for Pokerati, we’re off to find another bandwagon to jump on. Remaining Texans, of course, will take priority … as will players with healthy chip stacks.

LAS VEGAS - Last night I avoided the Rio (in fear of being accused of hooking) and joined some friends for the $200 NL Hold’em tournament at the Venetian. Arriving on time I was disappointed to learn I would be alternate 25ish. Deciding to wait until the end of level two, my name was quickly called and I soon found myself seated in the ten-seat (perfect, since I forgot my glasses in the midst of changing handbags).

The Lowdown…It was card dead with a big stack going all-in every hand so NO MOVES were allowed. I did managed to flop an ace against this guy who passed over a few chips but I was still stuck with an infamous alternate short stack. After a table move, things proved to be better when I made the decision to move in with the next decent hand, oops I looked down at aces and tripled up. Long, boring story short…I proudly took home 20th with money going to the top 18 places. I nursed my growling stomach with a warm slice of pizza and went home. Although a couple of women cashed…my friends were disappointed there was no sign of Brandi Hawbaker nor Vinnie Vinh.

BTW - The noon tournament with 700 players started a shouting match about a 40-person chop. They argued for an hour until they convinced the chip leaders to make a bad decision (first place was 100k) finally settling on a 30-way chop. Roughly 8k went to the field with the top five taking 11k-ish.

It was good times, fun poker but a late night in Vegas.

LAS VEGAS–I’m boondoggling in Sin City for the big fight tonight (FYI–smart money is on Mayweather going the distance, based on my poll of 3 cab drivers). I had basically all of Friday to kill, so I figured I’d play in the $550 at Venetian or the $1,080 at Bellagio. I’d heard the Venetian was getting much deeper fields than the Bellagio, and since the Bellagio tourney often involves some grizzled pros (like David Sklansky), I figured it was a better play for my money.

Upon arrival, I have to say once again, the Venetian poker room is spectacular. People are nice, dealers and staff are great, food is good, and there are about 47 million tables in a very comfortable room. I wandered over to tournament registration, where I was informed that the tournament usually has around 100 players. Okay, I thought, this may not be quite as big a prize pool as Bellagio, but it was probably a smarter bet. Plus, the structure is phenomenal: 10,000 in chips, 40 minute levels, 25-50, 50-100, 100-200, 100-200 with an ante, etc. I signed up.

Tournament time rolled around and I took my spot, Table 39, Seat 4. In seats 6 and 7 were two delightful, talkative ladies I did not recognize. Seat 3 was open. I settled in and counted my chips. As I looked around the room, I notice there appeared to be only 3 tournament tables going. So great, not much of a prize pool. As I lamented, Seat 3 sat down and I looked up to see Scotty Warbucks. Huh? What is he doing here? The prize pool is like $15,000??? He starts talking to seat 6, and it becomes apparent that she is Marsha Waggoner. Before long, their good buddy Kenna James stops by–Kenna is playing at the next table. If you are scoring at home, that’s almost $5 million in tournament winnings sitting in, what turned out to be, a 31-person tournament. What the hell is going on here?? Garcon, more gin tonics!

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Just back from Vegas where there were and still are some big tournaments going on at the moment. The Heads Up Championship, The Wynn Classic & The Venetian. To everyone’s surprise, I was not invited to The Heads Up tournament at Caesars, so I was left to decide between the other two.

The Venetian has 40 minute levels (not sure of the blinds) and a deep stack to start. The Wynn also provides heavy chips, however, the blinds move up so quickly there were at least three pros complaining that it was a crap shoot.

Nonetheless, I had a great time playing at The Wynn Classic. I played with Brandon Cantu, Rene Angelil, Burt Boutin and took advice on the side from David Levi, Steve Wong & Marcel Luske (who was there for a short business trip).

I was eliminated by (the amazing) James Van Alstyne one hand after his nut straight crippled my stack; however, shortly thereafter he was hit by some bad beats as well. I was happy to see David Levi and Brandon Cantu make the final table. David has been playing fewer tournaments and focusing more on his cash games, so this was a nice tournament return with a first place finish. Brandon added another line to his resume taking down ninth place. One more notable was David Plastik who made seventh place in Event 5, no surprise there as he is a solid tournament player.

Before heading back to The Great State of Texas, I made it over to the cash tables. I was growing a nice chip stack when I flopped a set against pocket aces…an “Ace on the River” gave my opponent a bigger set. With just two hours left before my flight I managed to win back most of my money and a little bit of pride.