Invite to a Poker Tournament

Well I guess my play this past March Break was enough for Treasure Island to invite me to a poker tournament.

It's running July 27-29th. As far as I can tell, there is no entry fee, but you have to have a minimum two night stay. The prize pool is $35,000. $25,000 first prize, $5000 second prize, $1000 for 3rd and 4th then 5th through 10th get $500. All prizes are cash.

It appears that how they're getting you is that they are jacking up the room rates over that weekend.

I am terrible at poker. I've never played in any kind of gambling tournament whatsoever. I've got very little feel for the game, and I'm probably an open book to anybody with experience.

My question is should I go? Are they any fun for a completely inexperienced person like me? The only reason for me to go is if I'll have fun.

--helpmespock

I played a similar thing with tr.

We had very small ampunts of chips which made it mostly a craps shoot. That's good for you.

95% chance nobody will read you.

The value might not be wortha trip but i bet it's fun.

Every time you play a hand, go all in. The more people to to go after you, the betteryour hand needs to be.

If you are first to go, you need 99+ or Aq+

On the button any ace. Any pair. Kq. Suited face cards lower than kq.

That's not perfect but it's fine.

Edit. Im assuming everyone has folded to you.

Quote: helpmespock

Well I guess my play this past March Break was enough for Treasure Island to invite me to a poker tournament.

It's running July 27-29th. As far as I can tell, there is no entry fee, but you have to have a minimum two night stay. The prize pool is $35,000. $25,000 first prize, $5000 second prize, $1000 for 3rd and 4th then 5th through 10th get $500. All prizes are cash.

It appears that how they're getting you is that they are jacking up the room rates over that weekend.

I am terrible at poker. I've never played in any kind of gambling tournament whatsoever. I've got very little feel for the game, and I'm probably an open book to anybody with experience.

My question is should I go? Are they any fun for a completely inexperienced person like me? The only reason for me to go is if I'll have fun.

--helpmespock

So they are only paying final table. How many people is this open to? So they are laying out 70k. Can anyone pay to enter or is it invite only? With it being 3 days my guess is there may be 500-1000 people. If there are 1000 people then this is only worth $100. Also with your limited poker skills this would be worth it if you were already in town but no way worth it to pay for flights and then pay for rooms. Maybe if the room was included as well just for the cheap trip.

Quote: GWAE

So they are only paying final table. How many people is this open to? So they are laying out 70k. Can anyone pay to enter or is it invite only? With it being 3 days my guess is there may be 500-1000 people. If there are 1000 people then this is only worth $100. Also with your limited poker skills this would be worth it if you were already in town but no way worth it to pay for flights and then pay for rooms. Maybe if the room was included as well just for the cheap trip.

I disagree. Rig gave you really good advice, easy to remember ,and he's one of the best poker players here. Flights are extremely cheap right now, though perhaps you have to cross into the States to take advantage of it. (If I'm remembering right what you said before)

Rooms can be comped out if you give them some play . I'm surprised there's not a tournament rate. But I bet you can get some of it wiped off.

I think you would have a lot of fun. Just don't bet garbage - go by Rig's guidance, and be patient. Your position relative to the button is super-important in a tournament (something I'm learning slowly).

There's a guy, Bart Hanson (pro), who has a pretty good poker training site. You can preview it for free, maybe subscribe for a month before you go. He's a member here, so I don't feel bad about mentioning him. David Tuchman, one of my favorite poker people, is also on the site.

http://www.crushlivepoker.com/podcasts

Quote: GWAE

So they are only paying final table. How many people is this open to? So they are laying out 70k. Can anyone pay to enter or is it invite only? With it being 3 days my guess is there may be 500-1000 people. If there are 1000 people then this is only worth $100. Also with your limited poker skills this would be worth it if you were already in town but no way worth it to pay for flights and then pay for rooms. Maybe if the room was included as well just for the cheap trip.

My guess is it's not really a 3 day tournament so much as 2 brief shove fests leading to the final table on day 3.

Fwiw TI has a 1 table poker room. Unlikely destination for poker enthusiasts.

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the advice.

Here are few more details after looking over your responses and me looking over the fine print at the bottom of the e-mail. The total pot is $35,000 not 70k. It looks like it is only over two days. Saturday has 2 sessions 10AM or 2PM. Then the finals 10AM on Sunday. It appears to be open to TI Players Club members who were invited and the offer is not transferrable. It's being held in the "Tournament Arena" whatever that means.

There is an interesting phrase in the fine print:

Casino play must exceed the level needed to cover complimentaries in this offer in order to qualify for any additional complimentaries during this trip.

Which I presume means I have to gamble outside of the tournament to get comped for anything while I'm there. Or does it mean I have to gamble enough to cover the tournament costs and then more to get anything else comped? If that's the case -- yikes!

So it sounds to me like it will be lots of Players Club members playing with few chips and having to go all in on any hand I'm playing. I suspect I'm not even going to last an hour.

Babs -- I did check flights and strangely enough this time Toronto -- Air Canada or WestJet -- is better than SouthWest out of Buffalo. It's about $550 per person out of Toronto from either airline for a decent Friday flight returning on Monday. The lousy Canadian dollar and slightly higher prices from SouthWest put it at $635 Canadian after conversion for similar flights from Buffalo.

--helpmespock

Quote: helpmespock

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the advice.

Here are few more details after looking over your responses and me looking over the fine print at the bottom of the e-mail. The total pot is $35,000 not 70k. It looks like it is only over two days. Saturday has 2 sessions 10AM or 2PM. Then the finals 10AM on Sunday. It appears to be open to TI Players Club members who were invited and the offer is not transferrable. It's being held in the "Tournament Arena" whatever that means.

There is an interesting phrase in the fine print:

Casino play must exceed the level needed to cover complimentaries in this offer in order to qualify for any additional complimentaries during this trip.

Which I presume means I have to gamble outside of the tournament to get comped for anything while I'm there. Or does it mean I have to gamble enough to cover the tournament costs and then more to get anything else comped? If that's the case -- yikes!

So it sounds to me like it will be lots of Players Club members playing with few chips and having to go all in on any hand I'm playing. I suspect I'm not even going to last an hour.

Babs -- I did check flights and strangely enough this time Toronto -- Air Canada or WestJet -- is better than SouthWest out of Buffalo. It's about $550 per person out of Toronto from either airline for a decent Friday flight returning on Monday. The lousy Canadian dollar and slightly higher prices from SouthWest put it at $635 Canadian after conversion for similar flights from Buffalo.

--helpmespock

Yikes. You're getting ripped on the airfare. SW just had a sale with most legs less than 100. Think it ended today.

You're always expected to play outside the tournament. At least, if you want to stay on their invite list. The poker sessions are scheduled short so you're not sitting there not gambling with real money. So yeah, you'd need some bankroll to go.

Have you tried flying Frontier out of BUF?! It's a discount airline that connects thru DEN

Quote: Rigondeaux

My guess is it's not really a 3 day tournament so much as 2 brief shove fests leading to the final table on day 3.

Fwiw TI has a 1 table poker room. Unlikely destination for poker enthusiasts.

They have 1 table? There are only 2 sessions each day. This sounds like a hyper turbo sng during the 4 sessions. I am guessing it will be winner of each table going to final table. Maybe trying to get 9 sngs for 81 entries. If so 35k outlay for 81 people is pretty decent. Would be similar to a $700 buy in.

I still wouldn't make a special trip.

One bad thing, after OP wrote the small print. They expect more play to cover the cost of the tournament. I take that to mean if you ask the host for comps they are not going to comp anything until you cover the cost of the tournament. I just wonder what they are considering the cost. If they consider it worth 500 then that is a lot of makeup to overcome to get comps.

Quote: GWAE

They have 1 table? There are only 2 sessions each day. This sounds like a hyper turbo sng during the 4 sessions. I am guessing it will be winner of each table going to final table. Maybe trying to get 9 sngs for 81 entries. If so 35k outlay for 81 people is pretty decent. Would be similar to a $700 buy in.

I still wouldn't make a special trip.

One bad thing, after OP wrote the small print. They expect more play to cover the cost of the tournament. I take that to mean if you ask the host for comps they are not going to comp anything until you cover the cost of the tournament. I just wonder what they are considering the cost. If they consider it worth 500 then that is a lot of makeup to overcome to get comps.

Been to a few of these things. Most at places without a large poker room.

They set up a poker room in a conference area, rent the tables and dealers for the day/tournament. Think WSOP has a side business in doing this for other casinos, because the tables usually have their logo, along with (sometimes) a different casino (usually Rio) on the felt.

I get what Rig is saying, though. TI card holders not likely to include a large percentage of pros or regulars if they don't have a poker room. People will have earned their invites on other games, not grinding at TI. Good for you.

TI has a SEVEN table poker room. Which has absolutely nothing to do with a tournament like this, who plays in it, and how many.

Since every date with the digits 528 is officially declared National Fun With Ridiculous Examples Day: The Rio has a nine table poker room, but y'all may have heard they do some other tournaments, which are not connected to that. And when Caesars Entertainment's national Total Rewards system used to put on their "free" promo tournaments (usually offering a choice among poker/blackjack/slot tournys) several times every summer with a few comped nights attached at one of their Las Vegas hotels to a few thousands of their closest friends, sometimes the two day comped poker event was at the Paris. Which has and had a zero table poker room.

I've learned to expect (I've played probably about ten or twelve similar things) plenty of people who have no clue about anything except beverage ordering, and a few who do, at any such event, no matter where it is held. And yes, the structure dictated that optimal play was a not quite totally blind monkey on crack shovefest, along the lines of what Mr. R described above.

Quote: beachbumbabs

Been to a few of these things. Most at places without a large poker room.

They set up a poker room in a conference area, rent the tables and dealers for the day/tournament. Think WSOP has a side business in doing this for other casinos, because the tables usually have their logo, along with (sometimes) a different casino (usually Rio) on the felt.

I get what Rig is saying, though. TI card holders not likely to include a large percentage of pros or regulars if they don't have a poker room. People will have earned their invites on other games, not grinding at TI. Good for you.

I am not disagreeing with you that he should play. I would definitely go if I had the invite. I am just saying he should in no way fly there with expensive flights and pay for a room just for a free poker tournament.

Quote: GWAE

I am not disagreeing with you that he should play. I would definitely go if I had the invite. I am just saying he should in no way fly there with expensive flights and pay for a room just for a free poker tournament.

Yeah, I changed my mind about it when I saw the airfares he quoted. Robbery.

Thanks for all the advice folks.

I'm probably not going to go given the fairly pricey air fare and the timing is a bit inconvenient for me.

If a super cheap flight were available -- say around $300 round trip -- then I would consider it just to experience a poker tournament for the first time. I'll keep my eye out for a better flight, but I'm not holding my breath.

I did look into Frontier as well, and they were slightly cheaper, but they were all connecting flights and I was saving less than $100.

--helpmespock