On May 28th, I begin the six hour drive from San Diego to Las Vegas, as I attend my second World Series of Poker (WSOP). Last summer, I spent 43 days in Las Vegas for the series, and gained a lot of perspective about how things operate. Here are a few tips and some insight that I would like to share with fellow PocketFivers who will be making the trip to Vegas this year.

Event Registration

I learned last year that trying to register the day of the event is setting yourself up for chaos and long lines. Instead, register for several events at once so that you don’t have to go back to the cage multiple times and register late at night on the eve of the event you're playing. WSOP registration is pretty much open 24 hours a day and long lines don’t exist at 2:00 in the morning. Also, keep in mind that the $1,000 events usually have a cap on them and will sell out, so I would register for those events as far in advance as possible. This is also true for Day 1D of the Main Event. Also note that Day 1D of the Main Event is usually the most talented field — something to keep in mind.

Something needs to be said about the pros and cons of registering right before the event begins or registering during the first couple levels of an event. What I noticed is that they don’t always have proper spacing for new entrants. This is especially true for the $1k events and the satellites. In general, late registrations tend to be more poker professionals so the more often you late register for a tournament, the greater the chance you are going to get a more difficult table draw, as they seem to pair a lot of the late registrants together.

Treating Poker Like a Business

Go into the series with the mindset that poker is a business. Have a dedicated place that you keep all tournament receipts and a dedicated place you keep receipts for other expenses (restaurants, accommodation, table massages, etc). Also, I like to use a notebook or a spreadsheet that you can update daily with buy-ins and wins/losses. Trust me, if you hit a few scores while in Vegas, doing taxes later will be a nightmare if you haven’t kept your receipts in order.

A part of treating poker like a business is ensuring that you don’t overdo it the night before a tournament by partying out with friends. Remember, the WSOP structures are slow, and the average tournament day begins at 12:00 noon and ends around 2:00am (Pacific Time). Make sure both your body and mind are prepared for this.

The “Infamous” Dinner Break

Dinner break at the Rio is crazy. If you actually wait until you are on dinner break to walk around and look for dinner options, you will spend most of your break time waiting to be seated. Instead, call a couple hours before the break and make a reservation or send a friend ahead to hold a table half an hour before the dinner break. Our policy among friends is that the first one out of the tournament that day is the dinner reservation chump.

Another option is to hop in a car or a taxi and just shoot down the street to the Palms or some of the restaurants in the surrounding area. The amount of people trying to eat and the lines you will encounter will be substantially less than at the Rio.

Places to Stay

To be honest, you should already have your lodging squared away. However, for those of you that are arriving at the last minute, here are some ideas:

The Rio – Obviously, this is the easiest as you are on-site. However, expect to pay a lot on the weekends and still expect a long walk of around 15 minutes to get from your hotel room to the tournament room.

The Gold Coast – Across the street from the Rio, this hotel is much cheaper, and conveniently located close to all the action.

The Strip – There are plenty of reasonable rate places on the strip like Harrah’s, Bally’s, and the low cost option Imperial Palace. You can take a free shuttle from Harrah’s to the Rio.

Here are more lodging options for those who have a car:

Hotels – The Orleans, South Point, and some of the station casino’s are still close to the Rio, but far enough away that you will get some good deals on rooms.

Apartments/Condos – The Las Vegas real estate market is in shambles, so there are tons of furnished apartments and condominiums out there. You just have to look around. There are also extended stay hotel/apartment options like Extended Stay Valley View (½ block from Rio) and Tuscany (4-6 blocks east of Rio).

General Tips

Valet Parking in front of the Rio during the WSOP is just a complete mess. A much better option is to park in the back by the Convention Center/Pavilion in the Self Parking zone, or to hand over the keys in the Poker Valet (located in the back as well). You will wait anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes to get your vehicle if you park in front.

The Las Vegas strip is super crowded during the summer and a taxi ride from just the Rio to the Venetian can take 40 minutes if the taxi driver takes Las Vegas Blvd. However, there is a side street behind most of the strip casinos (on the Venetian/Planet Hollywood side) called Koval that can be used to get to the casinos cheaper and faster. Tell your taxi driver to take Koval if at all possible. If you don’t tell him, most drivers will take you down Las Vegas Blvd… as that is the more expensive route/fare.

Cash games will be the softest at the Rio, the Venetian, and in my personal experience at the MGM Grand. Bigger games can be found at the Wynn and Belagio, but for most gamers the Rio and Venetian will have enough action and money on the table to make you happy.

For mid stakes tournaments, you only have two viable options: the Venetian DeepStacks and Caesar’s Deepstacks. However, last year Caesar’s withheld $10,000 from the prize pool for the winner of each event and this cut down substantially on the amount of deal making at final tables, which in turn made the average player angry. I am not sure if they are changing that this year or if their numbers will recover. Field sizes reflected that last year with Venetian getting way more players than Caesar’s.

I believe the Venetian will definitely hit a home run again this year, as they have actually added over 180 tables for this summer's Series. Most buy-ins for these events are either $340 or $560 and first place will easily be over $70,000. I personally endorse the Venetian tournaments and think between those and the WSOP, a mid/high stakes player doesn’t need anything else.

Well, that concludes Part 1. In Part 2, I will go into more of a strategy discussion for the WSOP, including changes that need to be made from online to live play. I hope this primer proves useful to those that have never been before and serves as a refresher to those that have.

Best of luck in Vegas!
JD

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*Editor's Note: jdpc27Jason Wheeler is a Poker Discussion forum moderator. His largest live tournament score came at the 2009 WSOP, where he placed 2nd in the $1,500 NLHE event for $418,100.

Recent Scores for jdpc27

$43,421.14

$100 buy-in, $125,000 Guarantee (Rebuy) on FullTiltPoker. 03/28/2010, 1 place for 43,421.14

$38,280.00

$1000 buy-in, $1K Monday on FullTiltPoker. 04/19/2010, 3 place for 38,280.00

$24,024.00

$1050 buy-in, Super Tuesday [$300,000 Guaranteed]on PokerStars. 03/30/2010, 5 place for 24,024.00

Current Sliding PLB Score: 6,330.82
(99.79th percentile)