Originally Posted by
Ian
I've never played a WSOP tournament, but for the last few years I've been playing cash games almost daily in Vegas throughout the series. As for your questions, it depends what you're looking for (bankroll, what games you want to play, why you're playing, etc.). I highly recommend you make the trip, the WSOP is like a poker convention/party all over Las Vegas. Even the locals casinos get great poker action during the series, but I recommend that you look at places other than the Rio to play. The Venetian, Binions, Orleans, Golden Nugget, Aria, Bellagio, and Caesar's Palace all run tournament series concurrent with a portion of the WSOP. With the exception of the Caesar's tournaments all of them are widely recognized as being run in a superior manner than the World Series.
For cash games, the Rio will have the highest rake in town. If you play in the year-round room they'll also take a jackpot drop which they will use to fund promotions for locals after the series is over, so that's essentially an extra buck in rake every hand. If you play in one of the ballrooms get ready for incompetent temp-dealers trying to hand-shuffle, a combination of incompetent and shady temp-floorpeople, lackluster game security, and (if you play on graveyard shift) air conditioning 45-55 degrees colder than the outside temperature when you walked in. Some people justify playing cash games at the Rio because the games are soft, but if you try out some different casinos you'll find that during the WSOP the games are soft everywhere.
Again, I recommend you make the trip. WSOP season is like Christmas for poker players.