This Week in Vegas: Last Shot at the DeepStack Championship

Image credit: Venetian Poker Room.

This week in Vegas, tournament poker proves it is alive and well despite the ‘WSOP hangover’. The action includes the last week of The Venetian’s DeepStack Championship until Fall, offering good value right on the Strip. There are lower-end value points, and one tournament to swerve too.

Playing The Board

This week sees the regular daily and evening events in Las Vegas added to by the Venetian DeepStack Championship. In Monday’s DeepStack Championship Event #108, well-known poker player Justin Arnwine won the top prize of $25,047 in the $600-entry NLHE event with a $150,000 guarantee, taking home the DeepStack Championship bronze coin and the trophy. 

For mixed game lovers, The Orleans will give you the fix that the WSOP provided you, albeit at lower stakes. Costing $240, the Ring Event on Saturday is worth checking out.

Also, if you’re wondering why the Golden Nugget Las Vegas isn’t on the list, poker’s favorite Downtown Vegas haunt opened its relocated poker room in the Rush Tower earlier this month.

The new room is settling in, and I’d expect an updated schedule to appear in next week’s column.

Take a look at the events on offer this week and the start times for when you’ll want to be in the cardroom.

Taking on the DeepStack Championship

Topping my list of tipped tournaments this week is The Venetian’s DeepStack Championship. The best value events during this series cost between $400 and $600 to play and typically have a registration fee of 15.8%, as is reflected in the $600 buy-in event this week, which puts $505 into the prize pool. It still represents value due to the below-average standard of play and guaranteed footfall.

Late registration in the events typically extends until around 5 pm, so if you have to work most of the day first, the blinds are reasonable enough that you’re not sitting down to a shove-or-fold stack when you get to play. 

You can find the full schedule here. 

Around the Rooms

Now that the Wynn Classic summer season is in the rearview, Wynn Las Vegas has quietened down. Their most recent $160-entry nightly tournament had just 50 entries, with the winner Brando Rinas claiming $3,567 up top. 

The Bellagio may have branched out in the summer, hosting the latest Mixed Game Festival XIV with appearances from Huck Seed and Mori Eskandani, but it’s back to high-stakes cash games for now, with $10/$20 featuring buy-in levels of around $2,000-$10,000. Their nightly PLO Double Bomb Pot game is still going, though, and kicks off at 6 pm if that’s your jam. 

Also kicking off at around that time (6.10 pm to be precise) is the evening tournament at South Point. Fast becoming a cardroom that has the reputation of supporting locals, their $120 nightly got 70 entrants just last night and awarded a top prize of $1,916, not bad for a night’s work if you’re in their area and fancy taking on the regulars.  

One to Swerve

On the face of it, the MGM Grand’s ‘Grand Rebuy’ nightly that kicks off at 7.10pm is good value. For just $100, you can be in a Vegas tournament with 20,000 chips and with the potential to grab a decent four-figure score by the end of the night. But the registration rake is a sky-high 25%, with $25 from your $100 entry sliding into the cardroom’s till before you get your stack. 

The rebuy is less than ‘Grand’ too. The only option is a double rebuy costing $200 each time you bust or drop below 20,000 chips until the start of level 8. If that sounds far off, don’t worry. Every level is only 15 minutes long, so you’ve barely got time to process what you’ll do with your chips before they’re going all-in anyway!

You’re better off putting the same money into the Venetian’s $200 evening tournament an hour earlier, where the juice runs closer to 16%. Hey, for the cost of a double rebuy here, you could probably make it to Mexico.

Off the Felt

Need a refuel before or after a tournament day? I’d recommend Jaleo, which is in the Boulevard Tower on Las Vegas Boulevard South. The Spanish restaurant has been named one of Vegas’ 50 best destinations to eat and serves freshly prepared tapas from José Andrés’ team. You might need a reservation, but it’s worth it.

Las Vegas is now over the World Series of Poker, unless you’re one of the nine Main Event finalists, in which case, can you put me into the South Point nightly? But seriously, it’s no longer tourist season but instead back to being the home of Vegas regs, all of whom play a different game to those weekend warrior types. Finding the value is vital. I’ll be back next week to make sure you know what’s happening on the Strip and beyond. 

Play well in Vegas this week, and if you can’t run good, remember to walk fast.