The breaks aren't great... I forget exactly what they are but I think they're 15 minutes every two hours and a one hour meal break.Â Man, sounds like a 9-5 job LOL.Â The problem is that the Rio has one bathroom for like a million people all going the bathroom in the same 15 minutes.Â I highly suggest that you take up smoking.Â That way, you can run out for a quick smoke every hour or so, and take a leak at the same time.Â Two birds, one stone.

Or if you'd rather not take up smoking (and there are many reasons why this may not be the best option for you) I'd suggest that you pay attention to the clock, and leave for break roughly 2 or 3 minutes before the break actually happens.Â You'll miss one hand.Â Maybe two.Â But it will be worth it... otherwise, you might end up spending your entire break in a line for the washroom, and you should be using those 15 minutes to relax.

The food around the tournament is outrageously priced, if that means anything to you.Â But if you're paying $1500+ to enter the tournament, who cares if you're paying $8 for a hot dog?Â ;)

The dinner hour is a tough one too.Â The tournament area is actually located quite far away from the casino.Â It's more or less in the "convention" part of the Rio if you know what I mean.Â It's an indoor walk to the casino (and the restaurants) but it's quite a walk.

IIRC, each time I lasted long enough to see a dinner break, I had to leave dinner early (or bring it with me) in order to make it back to the tournament in time.

These problems were last year though.Â I would FULLY expect that the Rio has learned a lot from their first kick at the can in hosting a tournament series of this magnitude.Â I would expect that their washroom and food availablility situations will have drastically improved by the time the series rolls around this year.

As for weird little WSOP rulings that I hadn't encountered before...

Don't swear at the table.Â Most players/dealers don't care, but if you come across one who does, you will be given a time penalty by the TD.

And, if you aren't in your seat when the dealer deals the first card of a new hand to the first player, your hand is dead.Â Even if you're in your seat to receive both of your hole cards, your hand is dead if you're not there when the dealer STARTS the deal.

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head... let me know if you have more specific questions.Â I think I'll probably end up playing a couple of tournaments in July as I may have a week or two off from work during that time.Â I'd rather play the first three at the end of June again, but I'll take what I can get.