The Vegas Grinder: WPT Prelims at Bellagio, WSOP Circuit at Caesars and More
Las Vegas is home to some of the best poker rooms in the world and all are competing for their share of the Sin City player pool. In this monthly column, PokerNews is bringing you updates on the biggest promotions and tournament series going on in Las Vegas.
April is full of exciting poker action in Las Vegas, particularly because of the prestigious tournaments taking place. Check out what’s going this month.
Bellagio
For this year’s annual World Poker Tour Championship preliminary events, Bellagio decided to make a drastic and somewhat controversial move by making all events leading up to the $25,000 Main Event $1,080 buy-in tournaments with rebuys. Prelims began on March 30 and are running every day at noon until April 15, which has been dedicated to Super Satellites into the Main Event, and then again on April 16 and 22. All preliminary events are no-limit hold’em with the exception of April 11 and 13, which are pot-limit Omaha events. The WPT Championship runs from April 18 through 24.
Caesars Palace
Las Vegas players have a shot at winning a World Series of Poker Circuit ring this month. The tournament series begins on April 14 and culminates with a $5,150 buy-in Main Event, which is a four-day tournament starting on April 27. The following list contains the series schedule:
Wednesday, April 14 - $230 No-limit hold’em (12 p.m.)
Thursday, April 15 - $340 No-limit hold’em (12 p.m.)
Friday, April 16 - $550 No-limit hold’em (12 p.m.)
Friday, April 16 - $230 Double Stack Turbo No-limit hold’em (4 p.m.)
Saturday, April 17 - $340 No-limit hold’em (12 p.m.)
Sunday, April 18 - $230 No-limit hold’em (12 p.m.)
Monday, April 19 - $340 No-limit hold’em (12 p.m.)
Monday, April 19 - $230 Double Stack Turbo No-limit hold’em (4 p.m.)
Tuesday, April 20 - $550 No-limit hold’em (12 p.m.)
Tuesday, April 20 - $340 Ladies No-limit hold’em (4 p.m.)
Wednesday, April 21 - $340 No-limit hold’em (12 p.m.)
Wednesday, April 21 - $340 Limit hold’em (4 p.m.)
Thursday, April 22 -$550 No-limit hold’em (12 p.m.)
Thursday, April 22 - $340 Pot-limit Omaha (4 p.m.)
Friday, April 23 - $230 No-limit hold’em (12 p.m.)
Saturday, April 24 - $1,080 No-limit hold’em Main Event Warm Up (12 p.m.)
Saturday, April 24 - $230 Double Stack Turbo No-limit hold’em (4 p.m.)
Sunday, April 25 - $550 No-limit hold’em (12 p.m.)
Monday, April 26 - $550 Mega Satellite (12 p.m. and 5 p.m.)
Monday, April 26- $340 Mega Satellite (3 p.m.)
Monday, April 26 - $550 Turbo Mega Satellite (9 p.m.)
Tuesday, April 27 - $5,150 WSOP Circuit Event Championship (12 p.m.)
Details on starting chip stacks and blind levels for each event can be found on the Caesars Palace Web site.
Venetian
The Venetian poker room’s staple tournament series, the Deep Stack Extravaganza, is back this April for its second installment of 2010. The popularity of this series lies in the large starting stacks and exceptionally well-structured events. The following list contains the tournament schedule:
Thursday, April 1 - $340 No-limit hold’em event
Friday, April 2 - $340 No-limit hold’em event
Saturday, April 3 - $550 No-limit hold’em event
Sunday, April 4 -$550 No-limit hold’em event
Monday, April 5 -$1,070 No-limit hold’em event
Tuesday, April 6 - $340 No-limit hold’em event
Wednesday, April 7 - $340 No-limit hold’em event
Thursday, April 8 - $340 No-limit hold’em event
Friday, April 9 - $340 No-limit hold’em event
Saturday, April 10 -$550 No-limit hold’em event
Sunday, April 11 -$550 No-limit hold’em event
Monday, April 12 - $1,070 No-limit hold’em event
Monday, April 12 - $340 H.O.R.S.E. event (4 p.m.)
Tuesday, April 13 - $340 No-limit hold’em event
Tuesday, April 13 - $330 with $100 Rebuys Jennifer Harman Charity Event (5 p.m.)
Wednesday, April 14 - $340 No-limit hold’em event
Thursday, April 15 - $340 No-limit hold’em event
Thursday, April 15 - $550 with $500 Rebuys Pot-limit Omaha event (4 p.m.)
Friday, April 16 - $340 No-limit hold’em event
Saturday, April 17 -$550 No-limit hold’em event
Sunday, April 18 -$550 No-limit hold’em event
Monday, April 19 - $340 No-limit hold’em event
Tuesday, April 20 - $550 No-limit hold’em event
Tuesday, April 20 - $2,500 H.O.R.S.E. event (4 p.m.)
Wednesday, April 21 -$550 No-limit hold’em event
Thursday, April 22 - $340 No-limit hold’em event
Thursday, April 22 - $1,070 Omaha eight-or-better event (4 p.m.)
Friday, April 23 - $275 super satellites
Saturday, April 24 -$2,500 No-limit hold’em Main Event (3 days)
All tournaments begin at noon unless otherwise noted. Here are the starting chip stacks and level lengths:
$340 No-limit hold’em events (40-minute levels) - 12,000 in chips
$550 (40-minute levels) and $1,070 (60-minute levels) No-limit hold’em events - 15,000 in chips
$2,500 No-limit hold’em Main Event (90-minute levels)- 20,000 in chips
*These starting stacks include the additional chips offered for an optional $10 staff bonus.
Wynn
The Wynn poker room is running an exciting promotion in April that includes $40,000 free. Beginning April 1, players can qualify each week for a $10,000 free-roll tournament that will run every Friday in April at noon (April 9, 16, 23, and 30). During the given week, players must log in a minimum of 12 hours to reserve a seat in the free roll but putting in extra hours will be rewarded by additional starting chips (12 to 16 hours = 4,000 in chips, 16 to 20 hours = 5,000 in chips, 20 hours plus = 7,000 in chips).
These are the payouts for each of the four free-roll tournaments:
1st - $4,000
2nd - $1,800
3rd - $1,200
4th - $900
5th - $600
6th - $500
7th - $400
8th - $300
9th - $200
10th - $100
Players can qualify for the free rolls by playing in any of the Wynn poker room’s live games. The regularly run games include $1/$3, $2/$5, and $5/$10 no-limit hold’em and $4/$8 limit hold’em. Hours are logged at the table with Wynn Red Cards, which can be obtained inside the poker room. Players are responsible for making sure they are logged in while playing.
For more information on these tournaments or promotion, contact the respective poker room.
Bellagio: 702-693-7290
Caesars: 702-785-6566
Venetian: 702-414-7657
Wynn: 702-770-3090
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