WSOP Review

Well I came back to vegas.. mainly to see the sights of the wsop but also spend time with some friends that are also in town. Went to the Rio last night to see how things were set up. I am actually very impressed this year.

In the past they put this stupid poker related titty and ass related bs show up front when you first walk in. Then you had to walk all the way back towards the Amazon room to play any cash. And if a big tourney was going on all the cash games were closed until some of the tables busted.

Well this year the tits and ass are gone! Right when you walk in the conference rooms doors are the cash and sattelite games. A room all to themselves.. All cash games 24/7! and for us old foks with bad wheels this makes it so nice.

Now the bad news.. They up'd the rake to 10% up to $5 per hand AND if the pot has any action other than one raise and no callers (stealing blinds) .. they will rake the pot. So in a hand I won, a guy raised to 15 one other caller.. I reraised to 50.. they both folded.. the pot was raked 40 bucks.. for 45 bucks in what they called "called money"

this may seem small, but compared to almost every other casino in vegas this is super high. Most rooms rake at most $4 bucks and if there is no flop, they wont rake the pot at all.. Over a session I would imagine that this can easily cost you $100 or so.. Every penny counts.

Unless you really want to be at the Rio, I would play somewhere else. There are so many good games in vegas with the wsop in town that I see no reason to play where its most expensive..

h

I guess 40 bucks, should be 4 bucks.

yeah sorry..lol.. 40 bucks would be rather large rake!

h

There are a lot more $5 rakes (plus an additional jackpot $1 drop) in more places than you think including I believe every Harrahs property and most of the MGM properties too. I'm sure Jim can give us better details...

I normally play at Aria, Bellagi or Venetian and I was not aware of the $5 rake. The big killer at the wsop is the lack of the "no flop, no drop" rule in almost every casino. There, if there is a called bet then they rake 10% up to $5..

that can certainly add up over an average session..

Tonight continued to be pretty card dead so I went and played a little PLO/8.. It is such a fun game.. why I play NL when there is PLO8 around is beyond me.. won small but it was so much FUN...

may come back to vegas in two weeks.. will keep all posted

h

I have never encountered the raking of the pot when won preflop, though it doesn't surprise me as the cost of poker continues to rise. The newer player screw I encountered last vegas trip was they weren't just raking dollars, but quarters. So whereas a $28 pot would normally be raked $2, they were now raking $2.75. This worked out to at least another .25 per hand in cost, i would gather.

I think its just Harrah's way of taking advantage of a large number of players who either want to play at the wsop for the experience or simply play after they bust out of a tourney. Most never bother to look at the rake.. I never did. I thought LA was bad but this is certainly at lest a few bucks more each hand.

Funny, when I played the 1/2 PLO8 game it was a time game. 6 bucks per half hour. Now that seems like a bargain!

h

Nonsense. You're looking in all the wrong places. LOL.

I'm Hawk with this one. Removing the t and a isn't an improvement IMO

My local casino rakes 10% to $5 plus a $1 bad beat jackpot drop. I think it's a Tropicana property now. I don't get there much; can you tell?

I was in a Harrah's property last weekend (Bally's Atlantic City) and was surprised to see they were only raking $4 (plus $1 jackpot). Well, I'm pretty sure it was $4 max anyway because that's what the placard said.