Last year this lead to a massively skewed distribution of:

a:1297 (thursday)
b:1158 (friday - july 4th)
c:1928 (saturday)
d:2461 (sunday)

of the 4389 that started on days c-d, 2379 survived the  5,  2 hour, levels to play on day 2b, that works out to about 55% of the field, way outsurviving a-b which were around 51%.  Days 1d and 2b were stretched to the limit needing 273 and 264 tables respectively, i don't know the actual capacity but i believe they had to use the buzios tables and/or the main poker room last year

This year they have changed things and players will start with 50% more chips, obviously this means more people will survive day 1, what adjustments have been made you ask? For dubious reasons the staff shortened day 1a to only 4 levels and 73% of the field survived yesterdays day 1a.   Day 1b MUST play only 4 levels, day 1c and 1d should play only 4 levels to match but will likely be forced to play more to fit the day 2b field in.  And if c-d play 5 levels i still expect problems.  They have to figure this out by the end of day 1c and make them play the 5th level

At this point there are only 3 outcomes:
1) the field shrinks so badly that only 5500 or so total play and major size issues don't materialize
2) day 1d sells out and people are turned away from the main event
3) day 2b requires multiple start times

I expect 3 to be the case and they did at least build in an off day after day 2b that can handle this, but its so easily avoidable! How could anyone make a decision to remove a level on day 1a? any day shortening could easily be done on 2a when all the facts are in, in a worst case scenario they would have something like 1000 people on 2a and 2500 on 2b, so they play till about 500 are left on 2a and thus 1200-1500 would be left on 2b and you go from there, now they are looking at 1500 and 3000+ for 2a 2b

The future solution is  tough (but many options exist)  because they really need 4 starting days but if you don't live in vegas (or reside there during the series) its insane to pick 1a as you are stuck with 3 off days in a row and  5 of 6 days not playing if you make it to day 3.  If I was in charge I would set day 1d as the 4th of july no matter how the calendar rolls so that at least there is some muting on the most popular day, it would be bad if they went back to a random draw because we all know the names can pull strings and get the day they want.  they could also just allow around 1650 (around 150 tables) to choose and then force people to pick another day after that.  Another option is to set it so days a-b are on the weekend which is obviously more popular

Many of the problems they run into are caused by giving negative incentive to people who sign up early for any event at any  point in time.  That is an easily fixed  policy but since the players association gets all the perks of the current policy it probably won't change


I've always picked the last day 1 to play and did again this year even though i expected 2b to be a mess hopefully i'll be wrong, and more importantly hopefully i'll still be around to care.

• 12:35 Table has: James mackey, dave plastik and van russo at table, stupid medium buyin fields plus table won't break did win 3k right away though #
• 12:45 Lost first stack KK to set of 444 on 974 2 spade flop, might have folded without addon bailout #
• 14:04 4k on break, getting outplayed and not liking my chances #
• 14:07 Last hand a guy calls 1600 pre with about 1100 behind, flop jxx raiser allin guy flashes a j and folds, he also has both addon chips still #
• 15:13 Won qq vs ak allin pre,then chopped a big pot aq vs aq vs kk on qqx flop 13k #
• 15:26 Really stupid to have the addon end after 3 levels if it inserts another br #
• 16:38 Brandon cantu now on my left with a shiny gold bracelet, table is death now 11k #
• 17:25 100/200/25 raiser to 700 call 3rd guy makes it 2700 cantu calls allin for 2500 with QhJh can't decide if that's smart or not ..he lost to AA #
• 18:40 Out called down a guy who had lost like 50k the hand before AA vs KK with TT on #
• 18:41 Q and bunch of low cards board, when I called he looked sad then I did #
• 19:28 Already 2330 for tomorrows 1500 buyin soon #

• 12:07 Calling today a sellout, but last night buzios tables were setup, today gone? #
• 13:16 Out, made a horrible call with 2 pair vs a rivered set for most, very sad when I am back to my room before housekeeping #

• 12:56 table draw looks great according to pokernews no names I recognize and only one stack bigger than mine #
• 14:10 kudos to floor staff we started at 2 on the dot, only guy that covers me isn't here #
• 15:07 in the money, no headphones is torture about avg with 47k #
• 15:36 lost chunk in blinds couldn't pull the trigger on kamikazee 4th pair raise 30k #
• 16:13 43k break 160ish left #
• 17:08 3 bet shoved TT guy to my left folds jacks he says 47k falling behind avg #
• 17:38 somehow my entire table is well below avg 40k with 120 left #
• 18:14 called shove of same stack size with ak JJ folds behind and I push with ak, then TT get called behind and raised on A flop down to 25k 10bbs #
• 18:33 33k diinner, getting away with murder on the button is keeping me alive #
• 20:08 27200 at the unscheduled break for the stanley cup? 9 bbs 88 left #
• 20:15 tournament is stopped but cash games continue....this is lame since we (or they) are going to have to go till 3am #
• 21:07 doubled up.....to 40k q4 vs a3 hit 4 on river, 6 people left from my original table we've been allin like 25 times combined, still 10bbs #
• 21:20 guy opens 10k I shove from sb for 33300 more with aq he calls with kq 377KK 74th place #

• 12:21 consensus at the table is that breaks are every 3 hours...., also bb just folded out of turn, demidovs gf 2 to my left she is good I think #
• 12:49 almost full double to 8500 sadly table breaks #
• 13:46 lost half stack kj vs jt on kqx rainbow, got all in pre ak vs aq but choped, aq shove might have saved me from a 3rd player though #
• 14:49 Busted new player aa vs ak 11k on the break, 3 people at new table were impressed when chris ferguson walked by... I love the 1500 events #
• 16:27 jesus joins table...won with AA again then tried a zonkers bluff on jesus that I would like back, down to 4k #
• 17:43 won 77 vs aq all in pre.....bled back down and hit 11 outer on river vs slow played kk gods want me to miss my flight home, 11k now #
• 18:49 8850 dinner #
• 21:40 picking up some hands up to 25k #
• 22:17 29k last break didn't we used to play more levels? #
• 23:20 button blind vs super nice older guy kj vs qq for 18k pot board 8879T ......33k #
• 00:50 Busted short stack ak vs 33 ...somehow got a walk on the last hand 42500 244 left 216 pay #

• 12:23 table is very serious, no one I recognize though, girl to my left says she got 28th or so in the last 1500 nl #
• 12:26 open ako get raised and reraised, I fold? A7o jams and loses to qq, devilfish takes last seat #
• 13:08 flopped top set vs nut flush got it in on blank turn no luck on the river #
• 00:03 saw pellham 123, solidly mediocre, but very amused that the dow "plunges" to 12000 and gold goes up 890%! In one day, nice fact checking #

Girl: Oh....well i was really trying to get myself some room here (laughs)

Guy: Oh I know exactly what you were trying to do  (dead serious no hint of laughter or friendliness)

Girl: Huh....well as long as your good then? ..... I guess....

Guy: .........


somehow despite this impressive display of rudeness she kept trying to chat with the guy for the entire time i was there, apparently thats how bad of an option it is to try and get me to talk.


 

• 23:58 checked out venetian and caesars but didn't play, saw "the hangover", very highly recommended even if the director once busted me from a 10k #

"Ladies and gentlemen, he'll probably be appearing here until Tuesday.

JC Tran was mistakenly told earlier that yesterday's chip leader finished on 130,000 chips. At the time, he was still located in the Brasilla room and sitting on less than 50,000. He looked around his table and said something along the lines of, "How am I going to reach that here, they need to break my table."

It wasn't too long after that Tran was moved to the Amazon room. And now, as we near the end of play, he has a stack not far off of 120,000! He's made a damned good effort of making the fictional target.

The last hand witnessed which he was involved in saw him call an early position raise of 2,200 while sitting on the button. The flop came and Tran called a 2,200 bet. Both players checked the turn and river before Tran took the pot with ."

JC is one of the best players, playing in the softest field on earth and now he's able to win pots by floating with total air AND checking it down and playing the board?