Harrah's New Orleans - Tourist room that discourages tourists?
Just got back from a weekend of debauchery in New Orleans, whichis the stone cold nuts of American cities to visit. Part of the attraction is the Harrah’s casino poker room, which is pretty good, with 1/3 NL, 2/5 NL, and 4/8 limit games that are at least 50% populated by tourists.
Of course, I wanted to shoot off in the Harrah’s Saturday a.m. $130 tourney. It’s a crapshoot with 5k starting chips and 20 minute levels, but what the hell. Until I
find out …
1. Players can earn up to 1500 more free starting chips with live play the week prior. I understand they want to encourage regs to grind, but if you are a tourist arriving in town Friday night and want to play Saturday a.m., you have to be willing to start out short stacked. And …
2. First prize includes a $365 seat to a future WSOP circuit event at Harrahs in a few weeks, which can be sold (presumably at a steep discount), but is not redeemable for cash.
When I point out this discourages anyone but a local from playing, I’m told
Floor: “Well, it is only for the first place player, and you can sell it to another player…”
Me: “But does the cost of the seat come out of the overall prize pool?”
Floor: “Yes.”
Me: “So doesn’t that impact all the payouts, albeit first more than the others?”
Floor: “Uh … well, the tournament has plenty of players”
Granted, most people probably aren’t nitty enough to care about this, and in fairness, it was all disclosed in advance. But it seems stupid to have a room in a tourist destination, then run a tournament that is hostile to them.
