Best low-stakes Vegas tournaments?

MattP

I'm heading to Vegas in a couple weeks. I'm normally a 1/2 or 1/3 cash game player, but I'll there with a good friend who isn't the biggest poker player and really prefers tournaments. So in addition to playing some cash tables, we're likely to enter a couple low-stakes (under $150) tournaments while in town.

Any recommendations on ones with good structures? I prefer a deeper stack tournament that isn't turbo-paced. Also, bonus points if the tourney is in a poker room that's enjoyable to play in. Thanks!

CactusCards

Check Poker Atlas to see what's available the days you're there within your budget.

Bellagio and Mirage have some tournaments with good structures for about $125 most days

TheGameKat

Wynn for the win IMO, although Aria has the rep for weaker players.

Michael E

Plenty of cheap $60 type daily at Harrahs, Flamingo, and the Mirage!
Essentially, every few hours starting at 9AM.

1AMPOKER_

Play the daily tournaments at Bally's, MGM, Caesar, and Flamingo for weak players to run through.
Play at the Orleans for bigger pools and better players.

jeffnc

I wish Arnold Snyder's Poker Tournament Formula site was still active. It calculated the speed of all tournaments.

Last I played (which has been a couple years), Venetian was in general offering the slowest tournaments.

MattP

Yeah, I'm reading Snyder's book now and was disappointed to see the speed rankings of tourneys was no longer live.

His approach on those is helpful, at least, if I can preview the structures of the MTT's and weigh starting stacks, blinds, and level timing... Most of that I can find on PokerAtlas...

jeffnc

Yes, you can calculate it all manually. Or, a project for someone with some extra time - make a few side bucks by starting up a poker tournament rating site of your own!

TheGameKat

There's one here that I used to use that convinced me not to play the fast dailies:
http://www.tourneytracks.com/ter/

Mnpoker

Kat that is an interesting tool but a little hard to figure that last 1-10 scale. Would you say that 5 is pretty average there for a $100 20 minute level non Vegas tournament with a 140 average entry?

TheGameKat

If you default to 5 it'll work out fine. It's a sort of a fudge factor to include things like weak fields and even stuff like whether you like the room. At some level this playing poker thing is supposed to be fun.

Eon137

MattP wrote: »

Yeah, I'm reading Snyder's book now and was disappointed to see the speed rankings of tourneys was no longer live.

His approach on those is helpful, at least, if I can preview the structures of the MTT's and weigh starting stacks, blinds, and level timing... Most of that I can find on PokerAtlas...

If you have modest Excel skills and are willing to put in the time, it's not too hard to create a spreadsheet to do analysis on tournament structures. I have done this for several local tourneys using Synder's PTF approach. I have found it somewhat useful for preparation just to recognize where inflection points will come and how fast the blinds rise up. If you are entering a tourney with a structure that is markedly different from those you are used to, this can help you plan how to adjust.

MattP

FWIW, I took a stab at this... for those curious.

I don't think I matched Snyder's formula quite right (PF scores seem too high), but the math is at least consistent, so it's helpful to see how five of the Strip MTT's compare... (unfortunately, a lot of the poker rooms don't share their structures online, but these five did). Caesars and Aria seem to be the best bet for MTTs that aren't too much of a turbo roll of the dice...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fOgumFCuWDZ14XOW1MD1YSC_E30m-qK72KGaSVQJNpg/edit?usp=sharing

If anyone is interested in helping add to this or expanding it, let me know and I'd be happy to share access. Otherwise, this can remain my own dorky waste of time...

TheGameKat

Anyone like to take a guess at how much of the $150 Caesar's buy-in goes to the prize pool?

ChipFlux

99?

TheGameKat

110

jeffnc

good god

TheGameKat

I apologize to the property if that has changed, but that was the case when I stopped playing their tournaments last year. You can simply do much better than that in other rooms.