|
||
|
||
|
Server Time: 12/2/2008 12:57:27 AM PACIFIC |
 Luxor, Las Vegas (Tourney I), FeliciaLee, 26. Oct 2003 11:38 | ||
| View ( Message | Thread ) | Return to Thread List | |
| (Originally posted 9/24/03) I have never had very good results playing cash games at the Luxor in Las Vegas. I really am not sure why. There is a good mix of newbies, rocks, loose retirees, young guns and fish, but for whatever reason, my results have been less than stellar. About two months ago when I was in Vegas getting ready to go house hunting, I swung by the Luxor for their noon tourney. In the pre-WPT days, the Luxor had a 29 max player hold'em freezeout. As poker has exploded, they are now allowing many more players. The setup is turbo style. It is LHE for the first hour. The blinds move from 10/15 to 15/25, 25/50 and 50/100 within the first hour. Since we are given such limited starting chips (250 for $25 and an additional dealer's add-on of 50 chips for $3), fast play is absolutely necessary. After the first hour, play turns to NLHE. I arrived rather early, and thank God for that, because they were sold out in record time. Most of the competition was young and male. Lots of them were sporting caps and dark glasses, but looked clearly nervous and I guessed for most of them it was their first live tourney. I was lucky enough to receive several premium starting hands early. I even had two Group I hands. I rammed and jammed the pot and got off to an good lead. Most of the players were very loose/passive. My pocket aces had 4 callers, two of whom called the river bet. One woman folded her big blind every round, although the dealer tried to stop her. She also had the misfortune of playing at the same table as her husband, and they gave away valuable information as the hands progressed. Our table was the first to break and my second table wasn't nearly as juicy, but I still made a few well-placed steals and stayed ahead of the doubling stakes. Within an hour I was at the final table. We squeezed in 11 players. They announced that the final seven would be paid (ouch), making the hourly rate not so hot. I think in the old days the Luxor only paid the top 3 or 4, so I was pretty shocked when they announced that it would be seven. With a short stack, I survived several all-in's. The blinds became 800/1600 in no time at all (they were still doubling every 15 minutes). The cost per round was so high compared to the total number of chips on the table that I knew the game was becoming a crapshoot. Fortunately, players had no idea that if they just stayed out of the fray for a round or two, they could get into the money. Instead, several players would go all-in during any given hand, leaving one player deep and knocking others out. I passed every hand except premium hands or steals while in late position and the first in. I never, ever limp or raise a small amount in these turbo style tourneys, it is all-in or pass. Before long, we were down to 7. Several players found themselves shocked at having been the chip leader in one hand, and just a couple hands later, being out of the money. It certainly happens when the blinds are so high compared to the total number of chips. My last all-in was when we were down to five. I had managed to hang on by a chip and a chair while others busted out. I shoved my last precious chips into the middle with a decent shorthanded hand, to be called by a better hand left to act, and IGHN. My prize money was only double my buy-in (ouch), but it was still fun, and sharpened my fast playing skills. Next to come...Luxor Freezouts Revisited! | ||
| Return to Thread List | ||
| Luxor Revisited!, FeliciaLee, 29. Oct 2003 15:28 | ||
| View ( Message | Thread ) | Return to Thread List | |
| (Originally posted 9/25/03) A month passed during the time I was looking for a home, and settling the details of the contract in Arizona. My husband, Glenn, returned to Arizona from the east coast. Our house was sold and closed there, and we were free to start our new life in the southwest. While we were waiting for the new house to close in Arizona, we stayed at my Mom's house in Vegas for 10 days during the middle of September, 2003. I told Glenn about how juicy the tourneys were at Luxor. We decided to play in as many as we could while we were there. We played in five tourneys. I cashed in 2 of the five, and Glenn cashed in 2. My total cashings at the Luxor were 3:6 (one second place chop, one fifth place, one third place). I have never had such success in multi-table tourneys (every tourney had at least 40, and all had alternates). The 50% cash rate is not due to any brilliance on my part, but rather the inexperience of most participants. The players aren't bad, they just don't know how to play poker. Literally. They do not understand how poker is played. In all, I think the Luxor tourneys are great for players who are not looking for a high hourly rate, but looking for more consistency in cashing tourneys (see Sklansky's Tournaments for Advanced Players). If your turbo game is good, and you are not afraid to take chances that would be suicide in a slow structured tourney, you will do well. One of the things that could stand improvement at Luxor is getting rid of some of the stud tables and getting some hold'em tables. We were using stud tables for the tourneys, as well as the few precious hold'em tables, and we were very cramped playing 10 handed hold'em at a stud table. Another thing that I have always disliked about certain tourneys is when the members of staff fail to tell the participants that the dealers add-on is exactly that. If participants are led to believe that the additional $3 goes into the prize pool, that is subterfuge we can do without. I love the dealers add-on's. I always take them, and I feel that they are quite welcome by both the players and the staff. My Mom, who just quit dealing last year due to a broken elbow, agrees that the dealers add-on's are terrific. It takes quite a bit of pressure off players who cash, and adds something for the dealers from each player, whether they win or lose. Like I said, though, I feel that it should be a MUST to tell the players that the dealers add-on is for dealers tips, and is not added to the prize pool. When things are good, the staff is friendly and cooperative, I always add a tip onto the add-on when I cash. I also will encourage my fellow winners to give a little extra for the dealers if they felt they were treated well. It is rare to be treated well in Vegas if one is a poker player (sorry, it's true). So if the staff of a poker room goes out of the way to treat the players well, I definitely encourage bonus tipping. Another thing that could be done to improve the Luxor is to increase the lighting. It can be dark and intimidating for new players. One rule in most tourney poker rooms is that railbirds must literally be at the rail. They cannot stand or sit behind players. This goes for anyone, husband and wife, friends, etc. I completely understand this rule, but have found that many poker rooms do not have a nice way of enforcing the rule. So many times I heard dealers yell, "Sir! Sir!!! Hey you! You canNOT stand there. You can't be there, you must be at the rail!" Maybe I was a CSR for too long, because I can find a million other ways to tell railbirds where to stand, without coming off so rudely. Unfortunately, most poker rooms that spread tourneys do not employ any tact whatsoever in asking a player to move to the rail. In one tinfoil-biting moment at the Luxor, the following happened: I was at the final table. A man just got busted out at 8th, on the bubble. Ouch. He moved over to watch the table play out. The male dealer told him to go to the rail. Then the dealer said, "Sir, Sir, come here." The railbird came back to the table. The dealer continued, "Sir, we have a couple of live games for you to participate in if you're interested." When the man declined, the dealer said, "Okay, now get back to the rail." I know this dealer, and he did not intend to be rude at all. It just came across all wrong. I flinched. Ouch! This does not help the booming tournament poker world. I played a little shorthanded 4/8 hold'em after I busted out of one tourney. I am a much better shorthanded player than full ring player. I ended about even, but the competition was not as soft as most games I've encountered at the lower limits. Two of the people keeping the game alive were cardroom employees. These two are pretty nice. I have seen them both go above and beyond for the players. Kudos! For those of you who are interested, the Luxor spreads 2/4 and 1-4-8-8 hold'em as well as 1-5 Stud. I have never seen them spread anything else, although they have signs stating they will. Overall, I have good feelings for the Luxor poker room. I feel that things can be improved, and they have definitely improved over the last year. I like the newer staff members better than the former ones. I feel that they are making good, striding efforts in the right direction to recruit new, young poker players into their room, and provide lots of low limit action. They are growing with the exploding poker world, and that is always a good thing! Felicia :) My Poker Journal: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeliciaLee | ||
| Return to Thread List | ||
| Re: Luxor Revisited!, Mark Barnett II, 31. Oct 2003 10:30 | ||
| View ( Message | Thread ) | Return to Thread List | |
| LOVE the Luxor poker room, play there almost every trip *although alot has to do with the Cafe where my wife and i really enjoy the food/prices* just a random question, i was under the impression stud tables were the big MOFO's of all the tables *love the mega tables* at one time was gonna build my own but decided against Rule #1 of Poker Circumstances alter cases Rule #2 NEVER forget rule #1 | ||
| Return to Thread List | ||
| Re: Luxor Revisited!, FeliciaLee, 31. Oct 2003 11:28 | ||
| View ( Message | Thread ) | Return to Thread List | |
| Stud has taken a huge dive since the WPT started airing. Even "stud" rooms, like the Tropicana and Taj in Atlantic City are taking out stud tables and replacing them with more hold'em tables. Felicia :) My Poker Journal: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeliciaLee | ||
| Return to Thread List | ||
| POKER FORUM HOME | POKER FORUM | LINK TO US | ARCHIVE | ONLINE POKER | Copyright 2002, United Poker Forum |
|
Getting Started |
UPF Tournaments |
Poker News, Views, Rules |
Poker Strategy & Psychology |
Money and Bankroll Poker Bonuses & Promotions | World Series of Poker (WSOP) | Play Online Poker | Poker Odds & Statistics | Tournament Poker | Poker Books, Videos & Learning Tools Looking for a Poker Game | Poker Bad Beats | Not Quite Poker | Quizzes and Polls | Forum Suggestions & Bugs |
|
|
|
|
Interesting Links: Online Poker | Free Poker Games | United Poker Network |
|