There is a popular conception that the money to be made in the World Series of Poker is all in the tournaments. In reality, however, the side games are really where fortunes are won or lost and where some of the most interesting stories occur.
The Rio is host to the biggest and widest assortment of cash games throughout the World Series inside the Convention Center. Spreading a mix of hold'em, Omaha, and an occasional stud table, it spans over 40 dedicated cash tables, although not all are in action yet.
As a telling sign that limit hold'em is dying, there haven't been any limit hold'em tables at the Rio so far this year. Whereas in years past, a $4/8 game or higher would be spread, $2/5 and $5/10 no-limit hold'em by far dominate the landscape of the cash games, taking up well over half of the tables.
The Rio has created a new walled-off, high-limit area for privacy and action for the high-stakes players, and it has been running a few tables steadily. A few $10/25 no-limit hold'em games dominate the area, but the real action has been in the pot-limit Omaha games, which look like they may be the future of high-stakes cash play. The $2/5 and $5/10 PLO games at the series have been huge, with tons of action and thousands of dollars being exchanged on any given hand. Truly, the money and the action are making PLO the place for growth compared to previous years. High-stakes hold'em games like the $100/200 NL or higher spread regularly during the Bellagio Five Diamond tournament in months past are nowhere to be seen at the Rio as of yet, but it is still early in the series.
The $5/10 no-limit hold'em games have also been sources of interesting action. There was a case today where a gentleman bought in for over $40,000, to the amazement of the table. To give you an idea of this gross overbuy, the Bellagio caps its $5/10 game at $1,000, which is usually about the average stack. Interestingly, the Rio has no restriction on its $5/10 buy-in, and there have been a couple of cases of people either showing off or thinking they have some sort of edge by buying in for ludicrous amounts of money.
Another $5/10 game yesterday featured a player who pushed in dark multiple times, telling players that the thousand dollars he put in the pot were "like 15 cents" to him. After being angered that a player was allowed to short-buy for $200 to combat his dark shoving, he complained to the floor for ten minutes, picked up his chips, and told the players to take a stand with him and refuse to play in the game until they raised the minimum buy-in. Seeing the hesitation of the players to leave a good game, he told them that he had two limos waiting outside to take them wherever they wanted and just like that, an entire table broke and one short-stacker was left wondering what in the world had just happened. When I asked the gentleman what his name was, he mysteriously answered, "Bond. James Bond," before striding off down the long corridors of the Convention Center.
The regulars in the big bames like the $2000/4000 in Bobby's Room are nowhere to be seen yet at the Rio; perhaps the Big Game itself is back up at the Bellagio, although two of the game's regulars, Phil Ivey and David Benyamine, were playing $2000/4000 head up H.O.R.S.E. online at Full Tilt Poker last night. It is still early in the series, and where the big action ends up is still up in the air. One thing is for certain, though; action will be surreal at this year's World Series cash games, and we'll be there every step of the way to share it!
No comments
Add Your Comment