Week at WSOP Vegas Schedule (6/20-6/28) & Thoughts?

I played the Milly Maker last year. Good event that will offer a premium experience in terms of structure and field. In my two days at the tables I came up against Ryan Riess, Thomas Boivin, Kathy Liebert, David Stamm, Jonathan Tamayo, and several other notable players. It's a good chance to swim with sharks and test yourself in a demanding field that also has some weaker money in it. If I have an argument against playing the Milly this year, it's that the 1 re-entry per flight and 4 total flights massively favors deep-pocketed regs who have the bankroll to fire max bullets. To win that tournament, you might need to beat 8 Jeremy Beckers and 8 Eric Baldwins. I'd be more excited about the event if it had 2 starting flights and no re-entry so the multi-bullet killers were less represented in the field. However, it's still a very special tournament with the 60 minute levels, prestigious WSOP atmosphere, and opportunity for a life-changing sun run. It's a pretty solid choice as the centerpiece of a budget WSOP trip. If you feel like the $1500 price point is going to be prohibitive or cause you to play scared, skip it.

Nugget $600 main looks excellent and would be high on my list if I were in town for that weekend. Note that day 2 seems to conflict with the Milly Maker day 2, so bagging one means you probably shouldn't play the other. You could start out with the Milly. If you don't bag your first flight, you could size down and play the Nugget the next day, just like you have planned here on your schedule. Just realize that if you bag the Milly, you'll probably want to skip the Nugget.

I don't really love the two-day sub <$1k bracelet events (6/23). Thirty minute levels mean these play at a daily pace, but are just too huge to end in one day. They'll get to the money in the evening on day one and maybe <5% of the field will bag up chips to play a very fast paced day two. The upside of these events is that the big fields include a lot of soft money and, if you happen to catch the sun run of a lifetime, there will be crazy prizes up top. You have to decide for yourself whether you'd rather play a smaller field with a better chance of making the FT or swing for the fences in the huge lottery. It may not be practical, but I'm sure it would be fun.

I am not a fan of the 1 PM $250 WSOP daily deepstack for practical and quality of life reasons. I don't like playing on cramped 10-handed tables (also likely in the $500). More importantly, they gouge you on the rake ($50 last I checked). You will get better rake and a better structure playing the one day events at Resorts World on those days. It looks like their 12:05 event is $200 on 6/23 and $300 on 6/25. I would skip the WSOP deepstacks and play Resorts World instead for the same total price. FWIW, RW is a much nicer venue than where the deepstacks are held up the escalators in the Horsehoe/fake Paris.

I can't comment on MGM. Have never played a tournament there.

Gladiators...again...some of the same positives and negatives as the $500 event. 30 minute levels. Fast pace. Huge fields. High concentration of shot takers and recs. In this case though, I definitely say go for it. It will be a big, fun, goofy event. To get a fun WSOP experience at the $300 price point seems hard to pass up. When in Rome...

The Venetian $800 falling at the end of your trip is nice because it gives you flexibility to size down if the early tournaments don't go your way. If things have gone well, why not keep the parlay going and play it? There will be nice prizes up top and the field shouldn't be insanely huge. If things have gone poorly in your earlier events, maybe you look at something like the Resorts World daily again to save some money (it will be $400 on the 28th).

Ultimately, it's YOUR schedule and you should pick the events that YOU want to play instead of letting strangers choose for you. I'm happy to give feedback, but do what you think will be best for you. I only advise people so they know what they are signing up for.

Last thing I'll add is that nightlies are very real in Vegas, especially during the summer. We always want to run deep in our events, but when we bust early, sometimes the nightly event offers a second chance. I suggest looking into the options at WSOP, MGM, and Resorts. Once again, RW is a strong option if you want good value. Their nightly plays like a real tournament, and not a total turbo luckest. WSOP nightlies ($400 4pm, $200 8pm) are good if you want a quick sprint with solid prizes up top. They are turbos, so you'll need a lot of rungood. Haven't played MGM nightlies, but they have a lot of stuff scheduled this summer after dark. Could be worth looking into.

Where you staying?

staying at the venetian for first part of the trip and then horseshoe for second half, but location isnt that important for picking tournaments

Happy to help. I'm a nerd for this stuff.

Can't go wrong either way, but that's a sensible option that might improve peace of mind. I generally prefer volume spread across lower price points vs. shot taking a higher price point, though it's all a matter of opinion. Knowing that you have the Gladiators event on the backburner later in the week means you will be guaranteed a taste of the mega field WSOP experience either way, and might reduce my urgency to fire the Milly. The Milly is a great event though.

It's a matter of lower rake and smaller field (lower variance) vs. higher rake with bigger top prizes for people who sun run (lottery appeal).

There's not necessarily an objectively better choice, but I favor RW from an enjoyment standpoint and suspect it is the higher EV option.

South Point has a $300 BI 200K event.

Find attached the flyer with

dates.

If you think about it, you would see how incredibly unlikely that would be.

The prize pools at RW must be tiny compared to the Daily Deepstacks though. That's why you go to the WSOP and other summer events - the possibility of a big score.

They have three of them actually. Looks like the same event, held three times.

So true !!

I know for myself that if only I get lucky , going to cash. I would rather get lucky with 500/600 players compared to 100-150 players.

Re-entry and multi-flights definitely favor the regs and pros in the more expensive events. For the typical tourist (like OP) $1500 represents a big investment and might be the biggest buy-in they play all year. That means most of these players are one-bullet-and-done in a tournament like this. Meanwhile for a staked reg or pro, it is just another day in the office. If they bust, they can fire again the next day. When most recs are single bullet and most of the multi-bullets are fired by pro types, it means pros are going to represent an inflated % of the entries compared to a single flight freezeout. That is bad for the majority of players.

Many pros will bag their first bullet, but those who don't now have that many more chances to get to day 2.

That generalization doesn't apply to everyone and EV isn't necessarily any higher in events with bigger guarantees or first prizes.

Yeah, but you described it as having to knock the same guy out twice. The chances of that happening is almost zero.

EV is EV, you can get that any time of the year. Like I said before, most people attend the big summer events hoping for a big score. You only get those with a big prize pool. What ever the EV is, your chances of a big 5 figure or 6 figure score in those small series is zero.

After posting I realized OP is arriving on the 20th. So he won’t be able to play the one ending on Jun 19th!

Hopefully others who can make these dates can make use of this info. I strongly believe they will hit the GTD and some.

I should mention playing in big/small fields is fine by me. I played gladiators last year so got the experience of playing in almost ~6k flight lol (and basically stone bubbled too). and I live in LA so regularly play the tournaments that come through Commerce/Bike etc. So playing vs pros in millimake isnt necessarily at the top of my list. I think I will sell action for that and the venetian, and if I can sell like 25-50% to friends I will play it, but if not will probably skip and fire multiple bullets in the nugget tournament.

And yea I won't be able to play any of the southpoint gtds.

I didn't mean it in a literal sense that you will have this exact guy at your table 8 times, but with a max of 8 bullets (4x2), almost all of the tough regs who commit to the cause are going to bag up chips for day 2 in the Monster Stack and Milly Maker. Even when we account for the numerous shot takers and fun players in the field, that's going to lead to a relatively dense day 2. Something like 2 flights with no re-entry is better for the casual players since they won't need to fade as many bullets by the best players. The WSOP moving the Monster Stack and Milly Maker from 2 -> 3 -> 4 flights in the last two years is bad for the rec players. That's all I was trying to say.

My Monster Day 2 table last year had Joe Cada directly to my left and the previous year's winner a few more to his left. Ironically I outlasted them both. What knocked me out was my own stupidity.

The only "edge" someone like me has is that the pros are trying to win. I'm just trying to survive the next orbit.

Is anyone familiar with the structure that will be used in those South Point events?

For posterity, I flew last min to Vegas this last weekend, since friend had comped hotel room. WSOP was in full swing with mystery millions, I was leaving on Sunday, so just played the one day $250 daily deepstack WSOP event on saturday. huge tournament, almost 1k in runners, $200k prize pool. I cashed and got like 75/1000. The payout structure is reallyyyyy top heavy, which I didn't realize. Still, feels like very good value, very soft fields overall and abc play for the most part. I had like 50bb on the bubble and then lost 3 flips in a row to bust out.

Played at Golden nugget 1/2 uncapped Friday night, game was pretty dusty overall, but I pushed action, won $450ish.

On saturday after tournament bustout, played in wild planet hollywood 1/3 game, won 1.2kish

Sunday morning had breakfast and played quick 2 hours at bellagio 1/3, won $600ish.

very successful trip, overall like +2.4kish

When I was cashing out my tournament win at the cage (which was $550 or so lol), martin khrabel was at the cage next to me, watching videos of himself on his phone with the volume all the way up, with like 5 wsop employees counting out like 300k in bricks lmao

excited for my schedule at the end of June, and will also play higher stakes like I normally do while Im there (some 2/5, and deep stack 2/3)

Sounds like a great trip! Was the payout the standard 2x buy-in for min-cash, then super small increases from that on?

Run hot enough? Nice!

yea, min cash for almost 15% of the field, but was extremely top heavy, I don't think you would have hit $1k until top 25 (out of 1000 runners, on $250 buyin)