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TR Rio $75K Video Poker Tournament May 28-30, 2018

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TR Rio $75K Video Poker Tournament May 28-30, 2018

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Old Apr 27, 2018, 1:19 pm
  #1  
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TR Rio $75K Video Poker Tournament May 28-30, 2018

Got an offer for 3 free nights and entry into the Total Rewards $75K Video Poker Tournament so signed up.

I mostly only play VP in casinos but have never done one of these tournaments. As it is all free, I'm not too concerned about winning (and that is all in free play anyway) so am treating this as a fun trip but any suggestions to game play would be appreciated. Really have no idea what to expect
Thank you
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Old Apr 27, 2018, 1:36 pm
  #2  
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Don't expect much time taken up by the tournament.
Lots of people get the offer to sign up, so everyone gets doled out a short time slot.
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Old Apr 27, 2018, 3:53 pm
  #3  
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I usually don't pay much attention to the average Caesars tournament offer because the total size of the prize pool divided by the # of participants doesn't make it terribly interesting. But they can be fun and if you were going to go anyway and didn't have better offers for that time period, or just wanted to go, nothing wrong with that

But assuming Caesars runs them like other VP tournaments I've played in, you basically get unlimited play on a machine for a set time period (i.e. no credits are deducted to play a hand, and your score is just however many points you rack up). So the approach to strategy for such a tournament is going to be different than if you were playing for cash.

Given the short time period each person plays, the results will be heavily dominated by luck and who can hit higher payouts with the limited # of hands. You should pretty much just try to play as many hands as quickly as possible to maximize your point total. If you normally use the touch screen, practice playing with buttons. It's arguably not worth correcting "hold" errors unless they're egregious mistakes.

If your tournament format is different then the above comments may not apply
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Old Apr 27, 2018, 4:04 pm
  #4  
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Originally Posted by Zorak
I usually don't pay much attention to the average Caesars tournament offer because the total size of the prize pool divided by the # of participants doesn't make it terribly interesting. But they can be fun and if you were going to go anyway and didn't have better offers for that time period, or just wanted to go, nothing wrong with that

But assuming Caesars runs them like other VP tournaments I've played in, you basically get unlimited play on a machine for a set time period (i.e. no credits are deducted to play a hand, and your score is just however many points you rack up). So the approach to strategy for such a tournament is going to be different than if you were playing for cash.

Given the short time period each person plays, the results will be heavily dominated by luck and who can hit higher payouts with the limited # of hands. You should pretty much just try to play as many hands as quickly as possible to maximize your point total. If you normally use the touch screen, practice playing with buttons. It's arguably not worth correcting "hold" errors unless they're egregious mistakes.

If your tournament format is different then the above comments may not apply
Thank you, since it only costs me the airplane ticket (from San Diego) and I get free entry plus 3 free nights at the Rio, it is mostly a mini vacation. Will be interesting and something new if nothing else. Plus will get to make use of my free monthly show tickets
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Old Apr 27, 2018, 4:07 pm
  #5  
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Good luck, and let us know how it goes!
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Old Apr 28, 2018, 11:50 am
  #6  
 
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I've never been in any VP/slot tournaments. I watched a bit of a slot tournament and it was just people mashing buttons though I imagine VP tournament would be a bit different. How long do they take?
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Old Apr 29, 2018, 7:45 pm
  #7  
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In LAS most slot/VP tournaments are multi round, generally each round is 10 minutes. Sometimes if it is 4 rounds they count only the highest 3 scores. Tournament machines are different from regular slots; when a session starts, you hit the PLAY button as fast as you can, when the round ends they record your score--though for VP, you must decide what cards to keep/discard.
When I was only Diamond I played in a ST at RIO--the registration process was not well managed = long lines and long waits.
In Atlantic City (most people are day trippers) so STs are generally ONE round of 2-5 minutes.
Since this is a FREE event...you have little to lose (except for play time).
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Old Jun 5, 2018, 10:30 am
  #8  
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Ok, so back from my trip. 3 days free at the Rio, checked in around noon and my room was already ready. Sessions were 10 minutes each on two different days and the first session of the day was at 10 AM and I saw them running well into the afternoon when I walked by the tournament area. (When I checked in I was offered a 1:30 PM or 2 PM slot, took 1:30).

The play was on a tournament Video Poker machine (Double Double Bonus Poker).

I used the screen the first day and the buttons the second day. Score was marginally better the first day but close enough to a wash that (for me) it doesn't seem to matter.

They were expecting 700 people and ended up with less than 600. Everyone won something from the $12K free play down to $15 free play. The best hand I got was a full house the first day, and flush the second but still ended up with $30 free play.

I'd definitely go again should the opportunity arise. It was a fun trip with plenty of time to go see the sites and the shows. Went by myself so got one free ticket to Penn/Teller and one to Wow
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