Tournament Poker Comes to Bellagio

The excitement level at Bellagio has picked up a notch or two. Poker tournaments are being played there for the first time. The first tournament, no-limit hold'em, was a raving success. Single-table satellites for the $3,000 seats were run every day. I played in two of these satellites, but was unsuccessful in winning one. In the first one, I lasted about two hours, and was eliminated in fourth place. Early in that satellite, I was in the big blind with pocket queens. The blinds were $25-$50. Someone in late position raised it to $150. Everyone folded to me, so I reraised to $600. He called. The flop was beautiful: Q-3-2 with two hearts. I made a small bet of $375, but my opponent folded.

After picking up a few more pots, I became the chip leader when we were down to six players. However, several losses began to deteriorate my stack. My A-10 suited failed to win against A-J. Then, my A-Q lost to A-K. Finally, with a short stack, I went all in with A-8. Someone else went all in as well, with A-K, but her stack was half the size of mine. However, a third player made what I consider a bad call. He called two all-in players with pocket eights. One or both of us could have had him beat already. And one of us at least could have had overcards. Anyway, an 8 came on the flop and he eliminated us both, so I finished fourth.

Single-table satellites and multitable supersatellites are now being run for the next tournament, a $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold'em event. As this issue hits the stands, we shall be in the middle of this tournament. It runs for five days, May 27-31. Players will start with $20,000 in chips, so this will allow for plenty of play before they ever get to a short-stack stage. The $3,000 buy-in tournaments start players with $6,000 in chips.

I played in one of the supersatellites recently. The buy-in for them is $335 with no rebuys. A player's goal in this event is to win a $10,000 seat. Players start with $600 in chips, and the blinds start at just $5-$15. The rounds are 30 minutes long. This type of structure allows for skill to be more predominant than luck, whereas luck plays a larger role in most other types of supersatellites. Early in this satellite, I found pocket kings in the big blind. A player in middle position raised. Everyone else folded, so I shoved in my stack. He thought about it for about a minute, then showed pocket jacks and threw his hand in the muck. He made a good laydown. Most players would have called with that hand. I proceeded to win a few more pots here and there, but really had no major encounters. I never had a large stack, but was always one of the bigger stacks at the table. After about two hours, we got down to the final table. I raised three hands in a row and no one called, so I picked up those valuable blinds. Three more players were eventually eliminated, so we were down to six players. I was in the big blind and the player under the gun raised. Everyone folded to me. I looked down and found pocket aces. I made my usual move, which is to shove in my stack. He immediately called and showed his pocket sixes. I gleefully turned over my pocket aces. I also happened to have the Au. Two diamonds appeared on the flop, and another arrived on the turn. I thought I had it locked up at this point. Even if the 6u arrived on the river, I would still win with a flush. Well, the worst happened – the other 6 hit on the river, so I was knocked out. That really hurts to be beaten by a one-outer.

As I mentioned earlier, the excitement has really increased at Bellagio. There will be eight more tournaments this year and numerous satellites. Bellagio is fortunate to have the king of poker tournament directors, Jack McClelland, running these tournaments. He knows what players want, and he does his best to accommodate them. The entire poker room staff at Bellagio is superb, from the floor personnel to the dealers. While some poker tournament venues must bring in inexperienced dealers from the outside to work their tournaments, at Bellagio you can count on professional, proficient poker dealers dealing these tournaments. For a wonderful poker tournament experience, you should visit Bellagio. However, even if you are there just for the live games, you will notice the additional electricity in the air because of the satellites being played. Players are often asking who is left at the final table, who has the chip lead, who busted whom, and so on. It is a fun atmosphere. Good luck at your next tournament.