2025 Las Vegas Summer Series - non-WSOP

Many kudos for posting in the thread and for answering as many questions as you can.

I’ll be in Vegas in a few weeks and am planning on playing the Mystery Bounty event. Will definitely say hi and thanks in person.

Yeah I'm not so sure it's 1:1 between people who'd prefer to have an extra 15 minutes for a dinner break and those who'd prefer we didn't. I seem to hear enough grumbling from players when that dinner-time 15 minute break comes that I'd bet it's at least 2:1 if not more. I hate being forced to choose between eating a meal at the table or not eating at all, as both options really suck. I do agree that for turbo events that aren't expected to last more than 10 hours, it's not a big deal, but plenty of events go 12+ hours, and for me at least, a meal is mandatory if I want to stay sharp.

https://www.goldennugget.com/contentasse...

Updated Structure Sheets!

Some mix-game changes:

30k starting stack on all 12 pm starts

25k starting stack on all 5 pm starts

10-minute breaks re-introduced to latter stages (when they tend to get skipped anyway)

We didn't get it right on the first try, but we're determined to get it right.

*We know event #11 still has wrong date. We got a good chuckle when we saw that one snuck through*

My comments were in reference to any one of the satellite events during summer. Not the WSOP. Of course WSOP events need longer breaks. Sometimes it takes 5-10 minutes just to get out of the ballrooms.

As for the dealers, they get their regular breaks to take care of that sort of business. Of course, if a dealer really needs to leave during the tourney break, that can be facilitated. But 10 minutes should be plenty of time if a handful of dealers need to use the restroom at these times. And, of course, if there is some delay in restart, it is what it is. But in my experience 10 minutes is plenty in the venues I play at (Venetian, Wynn). Players usually end up just standing around. That’s ok, but ending the day a half hour earlier or being that much closer to the money in day one is much more important to me than having a bunch of leisurely breaks throughout the day.

Did you change any of the NLH structures in anyway?

Yeah, I've walked 20 minutes to a restaurant only to find a line 30 long, which isn't bad considering a thousand players are on break. But there's no way to get food and get back without missing hands, even in 45 minutes. I've never had a legit meal during a tournament break. Closest I got was a gas station sandwich I got from a gift shop.

Can't eat a meal at the table. They force you away from the table during breaks.

No

By "at the table" I meant while playing.

I suggest packing some "filling" snacks in your poker bag to eat either on break or at the table. There are plenty of good options that will tide you over until the end of play. Dried fruit, protein bars, jerky, and one of my favorites, those packs of tuna salad with crackers.

There are a lot of different opinions about break lengths and whether there should be a dinner break (and for how long). Since there are lots of different opinions, I think it is good that there are different formats used by casinos and tournaments series so people can gravitate toward what they prefer, if it means that much to them. Personally, I am never looking to have a large meal because I prefer to bring healthier snacks in my bag. I don't concentrate well immediately after a larger meal. That being said, I do like a longer break at some point -- but 30mins would be fine for me.

Seating area by the TV tables is usually wide open as a place to sit during breaks.

After a long day of feasting on fish, the last thing I want is more fish.

From the Houses perspective a very valid business point that it would equate to 1 additional shift for say 15 - 30 dealers (the number of tables still in play) but based upon the Hourly wage (unless GN is significantly higher than most )
call it $10 per hour or $300 additional expense is hardly prohibitive and even in a modest 300 person player pool would amount to a .25 % from say $70 to $71 rake /fee differential for the GN to break even.

The other issue with eating a "meal" (not snacks ) at the table is it slows play since people pay a lot more attention to their food than on the action/play at the table.

Also for Senior and Super Senior events lets face it from a player perspective it might add 30 - 45 minutes to your day if you run deep but we old farts do have a tendency to lose our focus when we get tired and the "dinner break" is a perfect reset point for us ( ME) .
Personally I find the break helpful and as I stated I just hate sloppy finger food eaters at the table. Hey i will just bring my prepackaged Fruit and nut packets and an energy bar(s) so I'm hardly going to starve even if I make the final table but it is reasonable to consider for the future years.

i cant seem to find the s points thread or the excel sheet that shows all tourneys?

anyone have link to eitehr?

2025 S Point is not up yet ( Calculated by Our friend Mr. PLOG).

Here is the link to his page :

https://www.rainbowspuppiessunshine.com/...

I think he will post here when the 2025 calculations are ready .

.

PLOG ,

Your dedication and selfless service year after year to the poker community is very commendable & respectable.

The “S” point calculation has become a standard for the poker community.

Thank you very much .

+1 thank you Plog!

Which event to play? I'm going to be in LV from 6/12 - 6/19. Plan is to play the last flight of the Monster Stack on 6/13, hopefully day 2 on 6/14, with the Salute to Warriors as a backup plan, and then the Seniors on 6/15 or 6/16. On 6/13 I'm planning on a 1-day event. I'm 54, so I qualify for Seniors events, and there are two competing events that day:
$600/$75k guarantee at Orleans, 86 S-points
$1, 100/$200k guarantee at Aria, 73 S-points
There are also standard $1, 100 events at Venetian and Wynn

So...which to play? I tried to do some rough math using the structure and guarantees to get an idea of how late each event is likely to go, and it seems like the Orleans tournament might run well into the wee hours, while Aria, Venetian, and Wynn all seem likely to conclude sometime between 1:-00 and 2:00 AM. So I'm leaning toward either Aria or Venetian, as I don't want a deep run to leave me wrecked and bleary-eyed for the Monster Stack. I'm playing the Monster with winnings from my local home game group who has 33% of my action, so it wouldn't be cool to be too sleep-deprived because I had a big cash in the event they have no action on.

Anyone else looking at these senior events? Played events like this at either Aria or Orleans? Would appreciate any feedback.

I think your dates are off. I have 6/13 as Monster 1C and 6/14 as Monster 1D. Salute is 6/15. WSOP Seniors flights appear to be 6/16 and 6/17.

A good route may be to fire the Monster 1C on 6/13. If you don't bag, you can play whatever you want on the 14th and try the Salute on the 15th. Whether you bag the Salute or not, you'll be able to fire at least one flight of the Seniors.

I got pretty deep in a Aria $400 (top 15) in summer 2022. It moved very quickly after reg closed. It became push-fold bingo in the last few tables. I want to say there's very little chance you'd be playing much beyond midnight, but perhaps they beefed up the structure over the years with the rising entry fees.

Have cashed a Wynn single-day in summer, but I busted right after the bubble and can't say how late it would've run. IIRC, Wynn has subsequently axed dinner breaks from their tournaments. I could be wrong on that, but if I'm right then it will significantly affect the run time. I don't imagine a Wynn single day (likely ~400 runners) would run flagrantly late.

The issue you have with the WSOP Senior is in the UNLIKELY chance you run exceptional and make it deep. The final table is 6/21 but assuming you fly out 6/20 that is Friday so you could only play till the end of Day 3 6/19 Thursday. Of course you can potentially always change your flight.

Now I'm not sure why you don't consider playing the FLT B June 12 monster if you are in town (mayber you arrive the 12th) and follow up FLT C if it doesn't go well .... yes its $1500 a bullet but that's not all that much more than the $1,100 ARIA or Venetian.

oh and the last Monster has these flights Day 1 - Flight A (June 11), Flight B (June 12),
Flight C (June 13), and Flight D (June 14)

Personally when I schedule I assume I bust every 1st day which is what you might be doing but have a back up for multi start day events if I make the first day bullet count.

I think I may have fired 3 or 4 monster bullets last year. Oops.

First was the night I arrived when I walked over to Horseshoe to just “check it out” with no intention of playing - only to succumb almost immediately and buy in about 10 mins before a 90 min dinner break. Such a degen move.

Thank you!!!!!!

That's the plan. I'll be happy to have to change my flight and stay another day or two if I'm running deep in the Seniors, but if I either bust on, or don't even make, day 2, then I'll be ready to get out of Vegas on 6/19.

This was the event I won an entry to along with two friends, who are flying down on the 13th. If I were to play Flight C and make Day 2, then I'm not playing the same day as them on the 14th. On the other hand, if I bust Flight C then I'm buying in myself to Flight D, and if I end up cashing it'll be a bit awkward explaining to the rest of the group that they're not getting a cut of my winnings because I busted with the bullet I won. So I'll avoid all that by playing a 1-day event on the 13th instead. And just hope I can make Day 2 of the Monster with a single bullet like I did last year.

Oh yeah, I build out a whole decision tree of options in advance, including options in the event I bust out early enough to late-reg other events. For this trip, the only real debate I had was between the events on 6/13, the other options are pretty locked in.