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Showing posts with label Hollywood Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hollywood Park. Show all posts

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Hollywood Park Casino Daily Tournaments

This one from Hollywood Park Casino is on a Saturday at 7pm. $3,000 Guarantee. $60 Entry Fee and one $60 rebuy/add-on. They need at least 81 players or entries, including rebuys, to meet the guarantee, as only $37 of the entry fee and/or rebuy/add-on goes the prize pool.
Their set-up sheet shows one on Sunday @ Noon for $150 entry and a $12,000 guarantee, with $30 going to fees and $30,000 in chips, no rebuy? We'll get to that one later.

Unlike many of the low limit Texas Hold'em cash games, this looks looks like it isn't on the fast side, with 20 minute blind changes, only due to the deep starting stack.

The $60 entry fee will get you $10,000 in chips and the rebuy/add-on will get you another $15,000 in chips, so it's pretty deep stacked at 250 Big Blinds (M), depending on if you added-on (rebuy) or didn't. If you didn't take the early re-buy, really an add-on if taken early, then you're very limited on your attack strategy. Some aggressive players like to hedge their ROI by trying not to add-on early. This puts your luck factor at about 90% and severely limits your playability. So if you are an action player you are most likely up against Tight Aggressive players who only play about 30% of their hands. The Minefield starts about a hour after the Tournament starts, so you have a little time to build your stack off the Tight Passive players. The tournament could run about 4 to 5 hours.

With an M of 250 to start, when you reach the Minefield at about Level 4, you'll be down to 83 Big Blinds, if your average win/loss rate is 50%, but with the ante kicking in, you have only about 37 hands left before you have to play a Kill Phil kind of game. The Minefield should end about Level 9, where you will need at least $42.000 in chips to continue to the Bubble phase.

The Minefield is fairly deep, which means that's where most of the action is going to be as players try to improve their stacks. At level 6 and 7, about 2 hours into the tournament, it should start getting exciting as short stacks are going All-In and medium stacks get cautious.

You have a little over 3 hours to Double Up your stack, which means you can change gears several times to maximise your play. At the Blind Off Level, level 9, you need about $264,000 in chips to make it past the bubble to where you're In-The-Money.

Being a tournament more geared to Luck, at about 53%, than Skill, at about 48%, Tight Passive players are still likely to get run over, but this one could go for 5 hours or more. Haven't seen the results, I don't think Hollywood Park Casino publishes them.


I NEVER BLUFF

Monday, November 14, 2016

Hollywood Park Casino

I finally got a chance to go to the new Hollywood Park Casino. It has been completely rebuilt and much more attractive with it's modern open design, just a few yards from the old casino and racetrack it was previously attached to. I miss the iconic neon Hollywood Park Casino sign though.
I've been told it's larger than the old casino, but it's hard to tell with the new modern layout.

The poker area is more open and much cleaner looking than before and was quite active in all the areas. They have several areas off the poker room, like one for the California Games and Asian Games and a High Roller area, as well as Black Jack. Any kind of poker game you want, and the new big thing, Big "O" (Omaha 5 card Hold'em) poker, which is an Omaha-8-or-better poker game.

The entry court splits the casino off with the poker areas on the left (west) and the Turf Club and Simulcast off-track wagering room off the right (east) where you can get to the multi-level parking garage. I prefer to pay for valet parking which is reasonable at $5 for regular or $10 for close by.

An elegant bar and lounge area off the poker room and the Century Bar and Grill, the Raise Lounge, are right at the entrance. They have a Peet's Coffee shop and the Deli, a "design your own sandwich shop". Didn't see a gift shop, though Peet's may end up selling some gifts.

I'm old fashioned guy and that's my liquor drink of choice, rarely will I order a cocktail of any kind. The classic Old Fashioned, with no fruit of any kind, muddled or floating. Irish whiskey, Bourbon, and an occasional Scotch, in that order, are what I look for. They are limited with only Bushmills and Jameson for my Irish taste, I usually end up with Bushmills, unless they have Red Breast, then I'll go for Bourbon. I've had all of the ones they offer here, but alas, no Jack Daniels Single Barrel. At least they have Macallan 12 Scotch, the only Scotch I enjoy, except for the occasional Laphroaig, but then again I'm a Gemini, go figure.

Stouts and Porters are my beer of choice, and I usually go for a beer before I'll have a whiskey. I didn't notice any there, and they don't appear beer to have anything on draft.

Still hoping they bring back Sit and Go Poker.

I NEVER BLUFF

Big "O" @ Hollywood Park Casino


Big "O" is a 5 card Omaha poker game that is gaining popularity with card players in the poker world. Depending on which Google search comes up, it could be a regular high only game or a high/low, Omaha-8-or-better game that's usually a limit game, but sometimes a pot limit game. They're spreading the Big "O" cash game at Hollywood Park Casino, 3/6 limit. I observed a few hands of the Big O cash games prior to the new casino completion, but didn't play any. It's a fairly popular 3/6 limit game and appeared to have lots of action each hand, but not a loose aggressive game. Sometimes they have a couple of tables running.

I finally took in the Big "O" tournament at Hollywood Park Casino, my first venture into 5 card Omaha. They had a 3/6 Limit cash game running, with a few names on the waiting list. Limit poker is a River game as opposed to No Limit poker which is usually a Flop or even a pre-flop game and Pot Limit poker which is usually a Turn or River game.

It's usually on a Saturday at 3pm. $2,500 Guarantee. $60 Entry Fee and one $60 rebuy/add-on. They need at least 63 players, including rebuys, to meet the guarantee, as only $40 of the entry fee and/or rebuy/add-on goes the prize pool. It's kind of on the fast side with 15 minute blind changes. The $60 entry fee will get you 10,000 in chips and the rebuy/add-on will get you another 15,000 in chips, so it's pretty deep stacked at 250 to 500 Big Blinds (M) depending on if you added-on (rebuy) or didn't. As a limit game, your "M" is discounted from the first hand you play and compounded with 4 blind changes per hour, so if you are an action player, it could cost you 30% of your chips, or more, in the first hour, if you didn't rebuy. Fortunately there are no ante levels, so the Minefield won't start for at least an hour, of course the Minefield Level will be different depending again if you added-on (rebuy) or didn't. The tournament could run about 4 to 5 hours.

With an M of 250 to start, you should reach the Minefield at about Level 8 and that Minefield should end before Level 10, where you will need at least 40.000 in chips to continue.
With an M of 500 to start, you should reach the Minefield at about Level 11 and that Minefield should end by Level 12, and you should be in the bubble level of the tournament.

I came in late, about level 6, about an hour and a half late, so my entry fee, still at $60 + the $60 rebuy, gave me an M of about 41 to start. From the first hand I found out that it's a Omaha 8 or better game, which was OK since my favorite game is Pot Limit Omaha and I occasionally play Omaha 8. With 5 cards to start instead of 4. I wanted to see how the players played and how the action progressed. I luckily didn't have to play any of the first 6 hands, so I got a flavor of the table, which showed it's an action game where 5 of the 8 players usually see the flop and 3 to 4 players go to the river. Not overly loose aggressive until at least the bubble. I made the final table, but it only takes losing a couple of hands to seriously deplete your stack as this is where it gets more aggressive as they attack the small stacks. We all agreed that the 7th and 8th players would at least get their entry plus add-on back, they took it off the top 2 players, so we played on. I ended up in 6th place, where they chopped, which was OK with me, since it was a win/win for me. If I saw the next hand, I would have to go all-in anyway and still been in 6th place or another couple of rungs up the ladder and a higher finish. It was a much more pleasant experience than I expected for my first time playing Big O.
I'll most likely play in more of these tournaments.

I NEVER BLUFF



Saturday, May 7, 2016

Hollywood Park Casino 1st Sunday 25k tournament.

Updated: 2/5/2017






 Still haven't found the time to play in one, but it looks like a good Tournament.

Most tournaments are geared to be top heavy in payouts which makes them less profitable if you only get "In-The-Money".

Players have been clamoring for a more "fair" payout structure. So fast games with a low "M" tend to be more of a gambler's tournament even if you get to the final table.

I've won a couple of tournaments in the past here but Hollywood Park Casino has leaned more to gamblers in the past. I still search for the elusive Sit and Go tournaments, which Hollywood Park Casino used to have, even though they were more on the fast side.

I didn't play in this one but it looks like they are improving on their tournament structure in some of them, we'll see as they start moving to the new casino and get more players from the new facilities surrounding them.

So what kind of tournament do we have?
Allen 'Chainsaw' Kessler "Approved"?
'Action' Dan Harrington Approved?
Arnold Snyder Approved?

Here is my assessment of the Tournament Value  for Hollywood Park Casino's  First Sundayof each month, Feb 2017. $25,000 Guarantee. 
$230 Entry Fee win no rebuy/add-on. They need at least 129 players or entries, including re-entries, to meet the guarantee, as only $194 of the entry fee goes the prize pool.
Hopefully there will be at least 144 players for Optimum Value.
Their regular Sunday Tournament is also @ Noon for $150 entry and a $12,000 guarantee, with $30 going to fees and $30,000 in chips, no rebuy? We'll get to that one later.
Unlike many of the low limit Texas Hold'em cash games, this looks looks like it isn't on the fast side, with 30 minute blind changes, but only  for the first 3 blind changes and fairly deep starting stack of 300 Big Blinds with a Utility "M" of about 200 Big Blinds, until it gets 30% faster at level 5.

The $
230 entry fee will get you $30,000 in chips and you can re-enter up to the 9th Level, or about 3 hours and 30 minutes into the tournament.  Don't wait until then to get into the tournament because you'll be down to less then 40 Big Blinds by then if you haven't increased your stack.

You reach the Minefield at about Level 4,  which is still not too bad at 150 Big Blinds, since you need a minimum of 60 Big Blinds at all times, to be competative. If your average win/loss rate is 50% and with the ante kicking in, you have only about 70 hands left before you have to play a Kill Phil kind of game. The Minefield has a long fuse, about 4.17 hours and should end about Level 15.5, where you will need at least $360.000 in chips to continue at the Bubble Phase and on to the In-the-Money Phase.

The
Minefield is fairly deep, which means that's where most of the action is going to be as players try to improve their stacks. At level 11 and 12, about 4 hours into the tournament, it should start getting exciting as short stacks are going All-In and medium stacks get cautious.

You have a almost
4 hours to Double Up your stack, which means you can change gears several times to maximise your play.

Being a tournament more geared to
Luck, at about 16%, than Skill, at over 90%, Tight Passive players are likely to get run over, and this one could go for close to 8 hours or more. Haven't seen the results, I don't think Hollywood Park Casino publishes them.

I NEVER BLUFF



Updated: 2/5/2017

Monday, May 2, 2016

The racetrack is gone, but there's always the straddle.

This week at Hollywood Park Casino.

Haven't played there in a long time, still needs a lot of improvement in the ambience, but hopefully when the new casino is finished it will be the prime destination for LA poker.

They have Pot Limit Omaha on the board, one of my favorite games, but no one signed up except for the Omaha 8 games, which aren't spelled out on the board, they just call it Omaha. The 50 Big Blind limit on the buy-in makes it too much gamble for me in a game that already has lots of action and half the table looking for the flop. I would most likely play it with 100 Big Blinds as the buy-in.

Looked at the 3/5 $30-$100 NTH, but I don't like starting with only 20 big blinds. Decided to start small with the 1/2 $40-$100 No Limit Texas Holdem game.  They had 3 tables already going and about 7 on the waitlist that wanted to play, which is what I look for if possible. A new table with no big stacks in the way, which opened up about 20 minutes later.

I was reluctant to play with only 50 big blinds, but since the table was loose and kind of passive, it was a good start. . Usually had at least 4 players see the flop. Only hand that really lucked out against me was a new player, about an hour into the game, that got the low end of a straight flush, on the river, against my AQ draw. Got a Queen on the flop, we were All-In when she hit the straight on the Turn and the Straight Flush on the river. If I had a pair of Queens or another Queen had hit the board, we would have hit the jackpot. She had less chips than me so it was an easy bet.

A new player entered the game a little later, looked to be one of the usual suspects that played there a lot, one of the good old boys. His favorite play was to straddle, which is not that big a play at a low stakes game like 1/2 NTH.

"The straddle is more a sign of a gambler", someone who wants action, but also wants to limit the field with a second forced bet. It's a bet, usually Under-the-Gun or first to bet after the Big Blind and limited usually to an extra Big Blind. It's also a "Blind Bet", he makes the straddle bet before the cards are dealt. Anyone who wants to bet now has to bet at least 2 Big Blinds, which forces out most of the weak limpers. I love gamblers. In this scenario, all you have to do is bet 4 times the Big Blind and they usually fold as they are out of position and playing blind.

"By straddling you change the effective stake of the game, and in turn change the effective stacks. If you have a solid 100bb strategy but not a great 50bb strategy, why create a bad situation for yourself? Overall, straddling is a losing play. You put in more money with a random hand, and when you do so from UTG you have awful position when you go postflop. You also halve the effective stacks and artificially increase the stakes to one that you likely are not bankrolled for. In specific situations a straddle can be good, especially when it’s socially viable…but barring that, you should usually avoid straddling in your games!" Red Chip Poker 

Wasn't a bad day, made about $20 an hour, could have been much better or a lot worse, as I was All-In a couple of times when I was down to about 25 Big Blinds and my cards held up.

FYI, there was also a Sunday Special $25,000 Guaranteed Tournament going on, usually billed as the First Sunday of each month. I'll post a blog on the Tournament Value in a later post this month.

I NEVER BLUFF



Saturday, May 23, 2015

Hollywood Park Poker & Ponies 10k guaranteed

Updated 2/11/2017
mrluckypoker Mr Lucky Poker

OK, now the Racetrack is gone, but the casino is still there and going thru some type of transformation. Haven't been there since the racetrack closed, so I'll have to update this if and when I go back.

The tournaments there were mostly based on LUCK, not really too much skill involved. In other words, this tournament was not “Kessler Approved.” Then again, none of the tournament anywhere were. Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler is a Team Pro for Ivey Poker. He is considered one of the most consistent live poker players with dozens of cashes and numerous final table finishes.

Kessler has become a voice for players, demanding more chips, more play, extra levels, and more. Providing further evidence that his opinions on tournament structures are valued, the fledgling Mid-States Poker Tour went as far as to Kessler out for input and now advertises that its structures are “Chainsaw Approved.”


They had a poker tournament there called Hollywood Park Poker & Ponies 10k guaranteed

This was a crap shoot.
But I actually won a couple of them and finished in the money a few times.

Patience vs Speed and Utility
Low Patience Factor makes it a fast tournament and Low Utility limits your skill.
In an aggressive game, the teaser 1st level may give you one or two hands to try to make a good play. After the 1st level you are down to 30 or less Big Blinds if you haven't doubled up. Starting the 3rd level you are down to one or two playable hands! The Minefield started at Level 5.
Good Luck, because that's what you need to make it far in this crap shoot.
mrluckypoker Mr Lucky Poker
The poker room at Hollywood Park Casino has made some great changes since the racetrack was torn down. Looking for greater games and tournaments yet to come.

I NEVER BLUFF