I just had to adjust the title punctuation for this post to one in the morning (1a.m), as I read it back and it appeared initially as "I am rambling", which is possibly a bit more accurate than I needed a post title to be. However, it's the wee small hours and here I am wide awake and thinking, and writing.
The last few days have been pretty sedate, and given me some time to take stock and recharge my batteries a bit. The recharging was a very good thing, since the long days playing in the Colossus event had drained me pretty badly, and that's coming from someone who's very used to an erratic sleep pattern and 10 hours sat in a chair, which is actually a bit harder than it sounds. The taking stock bit is maybe not so good, since I'm a bit of a thinker, and if I'm not kept pretty busy my thoughts when I'm here all alone can often turn to the down side of life, and I pretty easily can get sad about any number of things, currently about six off the top of my head. There always seem to be an array of daily problems for me either here or in the UK ready to spoil my day. I've kind of accepted that as the way life is, and I just plough through them or decide that they simply aren't worth letting get to me, as this trip is supposed to be important, and in several ways a fresh start for me. One day at a time and all that and try to be upbeat more than not. Ho hum.
The last few days have been pretty sedate, and given me some time to take stock and recharge my batteries a bit. The recharging was a very good thing, since the long days playing in the Colossus event had drained me pretty badly, and that's coming from someone who's very used to an erratic sleep pattern and 10 hours sat in a chair, which is actually a bit harder than it sounds. The taking stock bit is maybe not so good, since I'm a bit of a thinker, and if I'm not kept pretty busy my thoughts when I'm here all alone can often turn to the down side of life, and I pretty easily can get sad about any number of things, currently about six off the top of my head. There always seem to be an array of daily problems for me either here or in the UK ready to spoil my day. I've kind of accepted that as the way life is, and I just plough through them or decide that they simply aren't worth letting get to me, as this trip is supposed to be important, and in several ways a fresh start for me. One day at a time and all that and try to be upbeat more than not. Ho hum.
The key sometimes I guess is to stay busy, so that what I try to do. Luckily in the last few days, various pals from the UK have arrived in Las Vegas for their assorted WSOP campaigns, so I don't feel quite as alone as I have done the last two weeks. I picked one up yesterday from the airport, went to have a beer, chew the fat, and shoot some pool, and today another good friend flew into town, and once he's figured out the joys of jet-lag, I'm sure we'll have plenty to discuss and will have some down time to hang out in between tournaments. Don't get me wrong, alone time is certainly beneficial here, but likewise, good company and better friends is something I struggle a lot without sometimes...if I weren't so damn fussy about who I choose to socialise with then chatting might be a bit easier. In the case of the latter friend I'll also have some dollars on hand for him as he bought a share of my WSOP action, so it's always nice to show an investor that they're off to a good start on the trip by throwing money at them.
Tomorrow the campaign continues for me with the WSOP $1500 Shootout event. I've taken things pretty gently so far as regards playing my tournaments by comparison to how it normally is for me here. I just feel that I've got around another 5 weeks in the United States, and there are plenty of chances ahead to put the budget into action. My WSOP events timetable is pretty much cut and dried, although I could still swap one or two about if I needed to, but everything else meaning the smaller events is just a matter of seeing what offers good value in terms of player numbers and prize pool guarantees, and also if I'm feeling fresh and ready from not being over at the Rio, which in itself is a pretty depressing and gruelling experience. Onto that now...
Tomorrow the campaign continues for me with the WSOP $1500 Shootout event. I've taken things pretty gently so far as regards playing my tournaments by comparison to how it normally is for me here. I just feel that I've got around another 5 weeks in the United States, and there are plenty of chances ahead to put the budget into action. My WSOP events timetable is pretty much cut and dried, although I could still swap one or two about if I needed to, but everything else meaning the smaller events is just a matter of seeing what offers good value in terms of player numbers and prize pool guarantees, and also if I'm feeling fresh and ready from not being over at the Rio, which in itself is a pretty depressing and gruelling experience. Onto that now...
Cashing in the WSOP is always nice. More money, another notch up the greasy pole and a profit on the trip and all that, but in general when compared to say the Bellagio, Wynn or Venetian, aside from the prestige of it being the World Series, the Rio convention centre is a pretty soulless and awful place to spend much time unless you have to. On tournament breaks the corridors quickly fill with the future of poker. Most of the future doesn't wash, change its clothing too often, or care about much other than discussing a parade of uninteresting tournament hand histories. That might sound overly harsh and judgemental, but when I'm playing there on the scheduled 20 min event breaks, I will literally leave the room two minutes early just to get out to the benches away from the building, and snatch a recharge before the masses surge out into the corridors, jam up the lines hundreds deep for the bathrooms, or clog the outside staircases with both stories and cigarette smoke. I've busted out of the $10,000 main event in the past, and still found someone in a corridor trying to buttonhole me just to tell me how unlucky they were in a pot in the $235 daily deepstack. I'll smile and nod, and say things at the appropriate moments, but in general the truth is that nobody really cares. The majority of poker stories are spectacularly uninteresting, and are often far more about the loser baring their soul than about the listener offering any opinion. The joys of poker eh :o)
People tend to have mixed feeling about Ceaesars (formerly Harrahs) as a corporation. They own the WSOP and all rights to it, and though organisationally it's admittedly a huge job, nobody can deny it's also an enormous cash-cow for them every year in terms alone of the rake they earn from cash and tournaments from registration fees.
Poker players generally tend to bitch and moan about stuff far more than normal people would. They have the freedom to play when they want, often own a few expensive toys as the fruits of their labours, have disposable income when winning, and get to travel the world doing something that is far more enjoyable than digging up holes in the road. Yet most will still find a reason to drip about things. The reasons for their unhappiness could include but are not limited to such examples as:
"We don't get enough starting chips".
"We have too many starting chips".
"It's too cold in here".
"It's too hot in here".
"The prize distribution is too shallow".
"The prize distribution is too top heavy"
"Break times are too short".
"Break times are too long".
Get the picture?
People tend to have mixed feeling about Ceaesars (formerly Harrahs) as a corporation. They own the WSOP and all rights to it, and though organisationally it's admittedly a huge job, nobody can deny it's also an enormous cash-cow for them every year in terms alone of the rake they earn from cash and tournaments from registration fees.
Poker players generally tend to bitch and moan about stuff far more than normal people would. They have the freedom to play when they want, often own a few expensive toys as the fruits of their labours, have disposable income when winning, and get to travel the world doing something that is far more enjoyable than digging up holes in the road. Yet most will still find a reason to drip about things. The reasons for their unhappiness could include but are not limited to such examples as:
"We don't get enough starting chips".
"We have too many starting chips".
"It's too cold in here".
"It's too hot in here".
"The prize distribution is too shallow".
"The prize distribution is too top heavy"
"Break times are too short".
"Break times are too long".
Get the picture?
Of course, whether you choose to play or not is totally your choice. There are a few higher profile notables in the poker world, who will take to social media regularly to voice their angst about everything they consider worth vocalising, who are stalwarts of the game, and supposedly are the voice of the masses, speaking up about wrong-doing on the part of the organisers to fight corporate tyranny, or trying to improve the way things are run in general by highlighting ongoing issues that crop up. My general experience has been that a lot of these champions of poker are anything but this in actuality, and tend to often be more self serving and promoting than you might initially think at first glance. Of course I'm a cynic, but it's my website so I'll be cynical if I like. Poker has always been a game of smoke and mirrors. Most people who play aren't quite what they seem at first glance, either personally or financially, and they often either have a personal agenda with something in it for themselves, or in the case of the "voices of poker" are sometimes just so stuck in the mode of being a professional complainer that even if the organisers gave them a million starting chips, half their buy in back if they made it through the first level, free food, free massages, a lap dance at the dinner break, a girl at bedtime if they were lonely, and a limo back to hotel then they'd still find a reason to whine about something. "Why is she blonde? I like brunettes!"
All this being said, Caesars as a company has shown itself over time to treat both the players and its own staff in a less than wonderful fashion. The WSOP is their ball, and they can play with it how they like, or pick it up and act like a child if the mood so takes them. This often can result in abrupt rule changes, long lines, delays, questionable decisions, and policies that are not going to make people happy. Players like to complain, it's almost in the blood I think, but sometimes these complaints are certainly justified, and Casears frequently shows itself to be pretty indifferent to what might be a good way to go, purely based on the reasoning that they as a company can do whatever they want.
I cashed in the Colossus for $6300. Not a fortune but I'm happy to have made a score. It took me three days and four visits to the payout room at the Rio to actually get my money. I know the Colossus was a huge event to run, the clue is after all in the name. However when I first went to collect my winning I was met with a line of players literally 300 deep all with the same idea. We were told we had to expect to wait around 2 hours to be seen and paid. I thought "screw this, I'll come back at 3am when it'll be nice and quiet". Back I went at 3am. There were now about 200 people in line all with the same bright idea. Onto plan C, let's give it a day or two, and come back once the hullabaloo of the Colossus has died down and its far quieter. I gave it a day and a half and again rolled up at 2am. Another line 200 deep. What the actual fuck? Today I went over to the Rio and in the afternoon was lucky enough to be in a line of about ten people, so thought this was running good. 45 minutes later I was still stood in the line looking quizzical.
Once I got into the payout room part of the reason for the delay became apparent...
I cashed in the Colossus for $6300. Not a fortune but I'm happy to have made a score. It took me three days and four visits to the payout room at the Rio to actually get my money. I know the Colossus was a huge event to run, the clue is after all in the name. However when I first went to collect my winning I was met with a line of players literally 300 deep all with the same idea. We were told we had to expect to wait around 2 hours to be seen and paid. I thought "screw this, I'll come back at 3am when it'll be nice and quiet". Back I went at 3am. There were now about 200 people in line all with the same bright idea. Onto plan C, let's give it a day or two, and come back once the hullabaloo of the Colossus has died down and its far quieter. I gave it a day and a half and again rolled up at 2am. Another line 200 deep. What the actual fuck? Today I went over to the Rio and in the afternoon was lucky enough to be in a line of about ten people, so thought this was running good. 45 minutes later I was still stood in the line looking quizzical.
Once I got into the payout room part of the reason for the delay became apparent...
They have very thoughtfully installed seven computer terminals inside the payout room to enable staff to man them and process the payment details fast and efficiently. Somewhat unthoughfully however, they decided to have only one terminal operational when I was there. This happily changed a little later, and we were blessed with 2/7. Whoopee.
This is absolutely beyond unacceptable. It also displays a pretty cut and dried corporate attitude of "we've already got your buy in money, so we'll do whatever the fuck we like and you can just put up with it or go without". Hardly making winning a good experience. We were joking in the line that it's probably far less traumatic to simply bust out of the event without cashing, thus avoiding the stress of trying to actually get paid out. I joked with the girls at the payout processing terminal and the cashiers window. It isn't their fault, they're just spokes on a wheel, so being a dick to them about delays would be neither nice nor productive. They all smiled knowingly, and pretty much expected to be greeted with a complaint or veiled insult the second each new disgruntled person sat down with them. They were nice enough when I was being paid out to let me buy into my three remaining WSOP side events there and then, thus avoiding more queueing and stress for me in the upcoming weeks, so at least that's something else taken care of. Thank you Delia ;o)
There's lots and lots more to say on Caesars and the Rio, but I'm just scratching the surface. We didn't even have final player numbers up on the screens until half way through day two of the event, with people having absolutely no idea if we were into the money, near the money or still 700 off the money. Once it was up on screen, I had 2 showing completely different player totals for the same event, and a third that just crashed completely, thus making it a whole new fun game in itself to know what on earth was happening. Considering the amount of money they make off the WSOP, I'd have thought that by now they'd have stopped using what appears to be Windows XP to run and organise a multi-million dollar poker event and upgrade to something that is man enough for the job. There's a ton already online about how most people expected the first prize in the Colossus to be well in excess of $1.2 million, yet Caesars decided to make it $600k, with a very flat payout, whilst quietly pocketing over double first place in reg fees for themselves. I don't have such a massive problem with the winners payout per se, but I do take issue with them basically doing whatever they want repeatedly, treating poker players like cattle, and making a shedload of money out of it at the same time, whilst showing total indifference and arrogance when confronted with their shortcomings.
Most poker players really aren't too bright. And they seriously love a bitch and a moan about everything under the sun (aren't you all terribly glad my updates contain none of that?). However it will surely reach a point where people say enough is enough and start to vote with their feet. Sadly the WSOP still has a massive degree of prestige every year, even though personally I think winning a bracelet would be nice, but is also seriously devalued over the last few years with so many events now running. Caesars do some stuff right that's for sure, and they should be applauded for the few steps they take to make this massive circus run better than it has in past years, however they still manage to make fundamental mistakes repeatedly, and were they not making a shit ton of money from every single entry it might be a bit more forgiveable. They do, and quite frankly, it isn't.
This is absolutely beyond unacceptable. It also displays a pretty cut and dried corporate attitude of "we've already got your buy in money, so we'll do whatever the fuck we like and you can just put up with it or go without". Hardly making winning a good experience. We were joking in the line that it's probably far less traumatic to simply bust out of the event without cashing, thus avoiding the stress of trying to actually get paid out. I joked with the girls at the payout processing terminal and the cashiers window. It isn't their fault, they're just spokes on a wheel, so being a dick to them about delays would be neither nice nor productive. They all smiled knowingly, and pretty much expected to be greeted with a complaint or veiled insult the second each new disgruntled person sat down with them. They were nice enough when I was being paid out to let me buy into my three remaining WSOP side events there and then, thus avoiding more queueing and stress for me in the upcoming weeks, so at least that's something else taken care of. Thank you Delia ;o)
There's lots and lots more to say on Caesars and the Rio, but I'm just scratching the surface. We didn't even have final player numbers up on the screens until half way through day two of the event, with people having absolutely no idea if we were into the money, near the money or still 700 off the money. Once it was up on screen, I had 2 showing completely different player totals for the same event, and a third that just crashed completely, thus making it a whole new fun game in itself to know what on earth was happening. Considering the amount of money they make off the WSOP, I'd have thought that by now they'd have stopped using what appears to be Windows XP to run and organise a multi-million dollar poker event and upgrade to something that is man enough for the job. There's a ton already online about how most people expected the first prize in the Colossus to be well in excess of $1.2 million, yet Caesars decided to make it $600k, with a very flat payout, whilst quietly pocketing over double first place in reg fees for themselves. I don't have such a massive problem with the winners payout per se, but I do take issue with them basically doing whatever they want repeatedly, treating poker players like cattle, and making a shedload of money out of it at the same time, whilst showing total indifference and arrogance when confronted with their shortcomings.
Most poker players really aren't too bright. And they seriously love a bitch and a moan about everything under the sun (aren't you all terribly glad my updates contain none of that?). However it will surely reach a point where people say enough is enough and start to vote with their feet. Sadly the WSOP still has a massive degree of prestige every year, even though personally I think winning a bracelet would be nice, but is also seriously devalued over the last few years with so many events now running. Caesars do some stuff right that's for sure, and they should be applauded for the few steps they take to make this massive circus run better than it has in past years, however they still manage to make fundamental mistakes repeatedly, and were they not making a shit ton of money from every single entry it might be a bit more forgiveable. They do, and quite frankly, it isn't.
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