OldKingCole's guide to WSOP-ing in Vegas.

The 35th annual World Series of Poker is being held right now at the Horseshoe Casino, Fremont Street in dingy downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.

It all started on 23rd April with the $2,000 NL Hold’em event that saw Londoner James Vogl pick up a coveted gold bracelet and an even more coveted $400,000. And the world’s biggest festival of poker will all end on the 27th May when the final table of the main event, the $10,000 NL Hold’em championship will create a few more dollar millionaires.

In 2002, 633 players vied for the biggest prize in poker. Last year this increased to 869. But such is the recent growth in the game, fuelled by the accessibility of online card rooms and blanket coverage on TV, that organisers are expecting a record 1700 entrants this year pushing the first prize up to an amazing $5,000,000.

If you’ve been (a) lucky/good enough to qualify for the WSOP online, (b) are going to Vegas anyway or (c) are thinking about going sometime to play a little poker, then I hope that you find what follows useful during your Vegas adventure…

Old King Cole hits Vegas “small time”.

You can basically divide Vegas into two parts: The Strip and Downtown. The Strip is where you’ll find the glitzy glamour of the world’s largest hotels (including The Bellagio, Mirage and Venetian) and floor shows. And then there’s Downtown, the old Las Vegas to the north of the strip where you’ll find the older hotels and casinos that range from cheap through very cheap to downright dingy.

The Downtown fulcrum is Fremont Street, home of the Horseshoe Casino where the WSOP began in 1970. It’s also the site of the Fremont Street experience, a giant canopy erected over the length of the street. Every night at dusk they put on a free light and sound spectacular derived by over two million multi-coloured lights and 540,000 watts of concert quality sound that cost $70,000,000. Don’t miss it.

As both I, and my travelling companion RedSimon (the Nottingham man who’s often a modern day Robbing Hood at Victor Chandler Poker), have a preference for the seedy, we decided to base ourselves downtown, a mere two blocks from the Horseshoe.

The Orleans Hotel/Casino

Back in October 2002, RedSimon and I played in the inaugural World Poker Tour event in Aruba, a Caribbean island off the coast of Venezuela. There we met Lonnie, a full-time poker dealer from the Orleans Hotel can Casino in the south west corner of the city. Despite being one of the larger card rooms in Vegas (it’s recently hosted tournaments with over 1,000 players) it also runs a range of smaller tournaments (typically 100 players or less) with buy-ins ranging from $27 to $125 and offering still more modest rebuys from $10 upwards.

The tournaments are variously limit Holdem, no-limit Holdem and Omaha hi/lo, and with starting chips normally 300 and level-up after 20 minutes, budget for a rebuy or two. Nevertheless, these tournaments are good value and Simon and I had a few final tables to reduce our outlays. We also played in cash games here, which have modest blinds and we found a fair mixture of players, good and bad.

The Horseshoe Casino

The buy-ins for the WSOP events ranged from $1,000 to $10,000. But for those looking for a more modest outlay, there are three basic types of satellite enabling you to get a seat on the cheap:

One, the standard 10 player Single table satellite. Costs $165 to buy-in and the winner takes the entire $1,500 which is paid in chips redeemable for entry into WSOP events.

Two, the basic main satellite event. Again a 10 player single table, the buy-in is $50 with the first two players receiving a $225 non-transferable entry into a super satellite (held late every night).

Three, the super satellite, which is a multi-table tournament. Typically held at 11pm every night all the cash goes to the winning players in the form of seats at the $10,000 NL Hold’em event.

You’ll find stiff competition in both the standard and super satellites, as world class professionals look to reduce their buy-in costs (to enter all the WSOP events would cost a minimum of $75,000, a lot even for the best players).

RedSimon and I concentrated on the satellites, and out of the ten I player I won four. I also played in three super-satellites and made the last three tables in each. Close, but no cigar as only those at the final table get a seat.

The last of these satellites, played on the eve of the championship, was the most exciting game of my poker life. On the very first hand I eliminated T J Cloutier, the most successful tournament player of all-time. His AQ suited did not improve against my pocket Queens and the great man’s all-in was his downfall.

Five minutes later a nervous young man from Tennessee took this ‘endangered’ seat. Yes, it was, no less than Chris Moneymaker playing in his first ever card-room tournament and trying to supplement the $10,000 entry he had already won with yet another which he could sell. He lasted around ten minutes, when he lost in a multi-way pot to David Shield, an Irish professional, and myself. Little did we know it, but this was to be the one and only time during the WSOP when Moneymaker would be knocked out. Five nights later he was world champion and $2.5m richer.

If this were not enough for one day, 30 minutes I was moved to the table where Jac Arama, the new British Open champion at that time, was reigning supreme with a 5,000+ stack. In another 30 minutes he was gone when I had taken them all in four hands. This is the kind of memory that LV can provide.

I didn’t get to play a WSOP event, but RedSimon did. He played in the $3,000 no limit Hold’em event. He did last for four hours but was well down in a quality entry, underlined by the top three placings: Phil Hellmuth; Daniel Negreanu and Erik Seidel. Simon sure knows how to pick ‘em!

Simon and I were in the Horseshoe in the early hours of Saturday morning, May 24th 2003, to see Chris Moneymaker finally defeat Sammy Farha and become world champion.

The Mirage

One of the smartest card-rooms in LV, apart from spreading a wide range of cash games at many limits, offers tournaments from Sunday to Thursday. The buy-ins are variously $130, $230 and $300 with rebuys of $100, $200 and $200 respectively. The start time is 7pm, except for Sunday 5pm.

Simon and I fitted in one of these and it was most enjoyable, if not profitable.

The Bellagio

Now the host of some of the biggest tournaments in the world under the direction of Jack McLelland, this is a must to visit if you can afford the tournament buy-ins. There are no-limit Holdem tournaments: Wednesday 1pm $500+$60 and Friday 5pm $1,000+$60.

When Simon and I went, the Friday one was $500 and there were single table satellites in the afternoon for $100, providing two seats. I won a seat, we both played and among others at our tables were: the Boatman brothers, Ram Vaswani, Marty Wilson and John Bonetti.

But again, we didn’t win anything. Simon blames me for his failure. He reached the last two tables and at the break I told him it paid all players left in. I was wrong. I overheard something Jack McLelland said and misinterpreted it. Simon played accordingly and is still moaning at me as I write.

Gambler’s Book Shop

The largest selection of gambling books, video tapes and software in the world can be found here. Simon and I loaded up at 630 South 11th Street – open Mon to Sat 9am to 5pm and well worth a visit.

Staying, eating and playing in LV

Typing “Las Vegas” and “hotels” or “casinos” or “restaurants” into any search engine with provide you with hundreds of sites to show you what is available. Eating is never a problem, no matter what time of day or night as there’s always somewhere open.

The range is as wide as anyone could wish in terms of cuisine and price, everything you could want from fast food to the finest dining. If you play in cash poker games, make sure you ask for a comps card on which you will be credited for time spent playing and the points can be exchanged for meals and drinks. If you intend to play a lot of slots, you should get a slot card too. Drinks served at the tables are free, but the waitress will expect a tip of $1 or so.

Transport

Although not the cheapest form of transport, cabs are available round the clock. The buses (called the Metro) run 24/7 also and a 24-hour limitless rover ticket costs $5 and will get you from anywhere to anywhere. You may have to change, of course, for trips like Downtown to the Orleans. We did get the feeling that using the buses in the middle of the night could be a little ‘scary’.

Finally

In most cardrooms you can find free copies of CardPlayer magazine, which will give a completely up to date listing of what poker tournaments are scheduled for the coming fortnight. If you want to keep track at home of what is happening at the Horse Shoe then http://cardplayer.com will lead you to the results and commentaries on the play.

A particularly useful link is: http://cheapovegas.com which actually covers everything including ‘horrendoexpensovegas’. Apart from hotels, casinos, entertainment, restaurants etc you will also find useful maps of Downtown, the Strip and the wider Las Vegas, which you can print out and tuck in with your travel documents.

Have a good time in LV. Simon and OldKingCole wish you Good Luck at the tables.