USA - Binions

Another tourney, another bustout!
Today I went to Binions, 'the home of poker', to play the HORSE event in the Binions Poker Classic. The tournament had 120 starters & I finished in 72nd place, but that's simply the facts.
The structure of the event was appalling. Although the starting stack was 20,000, starting with levels of 100/200 & increasing every 30 minutes meant that you really needed to build quickly or face elimination. This was compounded in a way by the format of playing one game per level, with the holdem getting many more hands than any of the other games. The brink of elimination started for me in level 6 (just 3 hours into the event) when I was all-in on the turn in holdem against one opponent. Of course by this time we were already playing 800/1600 & my top pair held to double up. I picked up some hands & ran well & amazingly by the end of the level I was back to my original 20,000 starting stack! Talk about a wild ride! Anyway I managed to slowly dwindle down to be 14000 at the dinner break (after 9 levels) & returned to be playing Stud8 at the 3000/6000 level! Of course I was the bring-in & rather than completing the bet, I simply brought it in for the minimum, meaning that my (45)3 was facing 4 opponents for 4th street. After 4th it was heads-up & I was all-in on 5th, with my 34549 being up against my opponents T7656. I picked up a 9 on 6th to take the lead, but his river T killed my hand & send me out of the tournament.
I have since made sure to check the structures before playing in events. I *may* be back for the $500 HORSE Championship later in the month (which has a similar structure but 40 minute levels, with games changing every 20 minutes), but doubt I will play any other events at Binions.
I'm still going to be downtown in the coming days, but across the street, playing at the Golden Nugget, which seems to have a similar structure, but with 40 minute levels I hope it won't be quite as brutal.
In other news, it looks like I have at least one guest lined up for the Donkcast ... Chuck 'Danzasmack' Danielsson who is an instructor at Deuces Cracked will be on sometime in the not-too-distant future. Caught up with him at the Rio the other night & mentioned the podcast & he's keen to be on, so I'll test my abilities an an interviewer!
Next on the agenda: Stud hi-lo at the Golden Nugget