This table after two orbits is already feeling like crash bang wallop. Calling stations abound and people are woefully overplaying one pair. I have decided this is a very good thing!

Level 2 and now at a full table of mutants. My 20K starting stack is looking like 19K, but I'm playing plenty of pots. Thee's certainly the potential to run this up to something meaningful early on here, and that's the plan.

One guy is wearing some kind of poker branded apparel which seems to have become popular with people who have more money than sense. He's pat of the company that produce it, so good luck to him. I tell him I play so bad I can barely afford to buy regular t-shirts, much less poker branded ones. He gives a wry smile. He just made a filthy gutshot against some old rock who couldn't put down his aces on the scariest board imaginable. That's not good, I feel like he's probably the guy I want to avoid going to war with too early on.

Up to 22K afte playing 222 very cute and letting the guy spack off a few chips. no real danger on this table. The poker apparel guy likes to see lots of flops and can play a bit, but everyone else largely are playing their cards face up at the moment. I think chipping slowly is better than trying to smash the lot in early doors, however based on my recent predictions maybe that's what will end up happening...

Nearing the end of level 3 and cruising on 26K. 151 entrants and rising.

Level 4 and I'm seeing a few flops, just got called down by a raggy ace. It was almost worth the price of admission for the information, but it bumped me back to 19K again. I then lost a small pot with 10 10 and dropped to 15K. Still liking the table.

OK, I was.

I just raised with Ac5c, Long short, I got two callers, made the nut flush on the turn, bet it strong, and 6c6h just called me down all the way. I'm feeling good until the 8c falls on the river, now making the board 10c 9c 4h 7c 8c...and rivering him a straight flush. I'd like a bucket please.

I can return tomorrow and stab again, but I'm here, and it's not late so I re-enter for my first second bullet of the trip (if that makes sense). Grit my teeth and get back to it.

New table and a few familiar faces here. Tougher line up but I get off to an OK start, and run my new 20K up to 29k fairly quickly. Let's try to avoid a blow up this time...

A couple of players on the table are yakking to one another incessantly. Of course I've no problem with this, chatting is part of the game and particularly mine. However it does somewhat neutralize my normal dynamic, so for now I'm in my shell a bit, letting others run the table. This is probably no bad thing sometimes.

I dodged a MAJOR bullet when a DSE regular on the table who is normally spectacularly un-flamboyant in her play just repopped a 900 bet to 2900. I folded 33, she had 10 10, and the other woman in the pot had AcKc. The flop came out 3c 10c Qh, and I would have likely smashed the next bullet after they got in all the marbles, and the 10 10 would have tripled up when no further clubs materialized, busting me in the process. Almost at the second break, and I'm back to 22K with 135/200 players remaining.

The guy on my left speaks zero English, and plays very few hands. However the ones he does play it looks like he wants to get every chip in front of him in the middle. He just made it almost 6k preflop at 50/200/400.

​Break time. Ten minutes of sunshine.

A few of my buddies have done rather well of late, one winning a Venetian DSE for $90K, another just finished 13th in a WSOP event for $17K. Yours truly should certainly win this one then according to the law of averages I'd guess.

Nice start table, Chatty bunch, good atmosphere, one guy drinking Bloody Marys, pretty girl on my left, everyone generally playing fun poker. Sorry, the early updates have been a little sparse as I have been working my schtick on the table and playing quite a few pot.

​First break, and I'm on around 8500 from a 7500 starting stack.

Level 4 and I'm still on around the start stack. I've played quite a few hands and gone around 1K up and down. One guy has left, his AA getting shredded by 444. Little to update right now but I'm tuned in and feeling good. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm probably going to win this event.

​Took a dent when I reraised a young kid who seems overly aggro, and he four-bet me. I had AQ and decided to get out. Down to 6500.1542 entrants so far today, and still chugging.

Second break and I'm on 7400 again.  No heroics this early. No one's doing anything particularly silly so for now I'm trying to back into something decent and get paid.

It's always mildly amusing to me the massive variety of people you encounter in poker, and in particular at the WSOP. Of course, everybody's different, but you have me with occasionally coloured hair, a giraffe, and a constant line of bullshit patter to entertain and confuse, and I am by NO means the strangest person you'll encounter in this building. People of all colours, shapes, sizes and questionable haircuts abound. Guys walking around indoors with huge mirrored sunglasses (always hilarious). Guys are wearing poker T-Shirts, designed to make you play better, drinking and eating food to give them an edge in a pot, buying books, training videos, dissecting hands on the break. All looking for that magical elixir that will allow them to outplay everyone else, and maybe one day lift a bracelet. To me it's an elaborate marketing confidence trick. Most of the information you need to survive and improve as a player is right there in front of you, yet people still somehow think that wearing a Run It Up shirt or special "poker optical" sunglasses will make them a better player somehow. I think it just makes certain individuals richer, but that's just me. 

Back from break, and I just had some standard WSOP pain with two red Kings. I repopped on the button and got two callers. I bet the flop and they both called. The board on the turn is an ugly 4s 6 s 7c 8s, and these guys now want to go to war for 4K each. Sigh fold. The quiet but aggressive Asian kid in the 5 seat wins the pot.

Level 6 just arrived. Pretty Kami on my left just ran 10 10 into an English kid's JJ all-in preflop, she didn't improve and is sadly now on life support. The play on this table has been pretty straightforward. I'm now down to 5K for no reason in particular. Not quite panic stations yet, but nobody at the table is really giving much away, and getting easy chips isn't a regular occurance here so far.

We lost Kami, who is replaced by a considerably bigger bearded guy who says little and texts a lot.

I just hit 9K thanks to flopping a set of fives versus a shortish AA, and shortly after I get up to 11K with a few well times bluffs preflop. 1668 players now in and climbing. I'm comfortable in chips, though there are certainly three or four bigger stacks on the table.

I've tightened up a bit now. There's still scope for the odd stab at a pot, but these middle levels are often where it's easy to dump a ton of chips and suddenly be in trouble. For now I'm taking it slow.

Back from dinner break (and a charming bit of Thai street food with my buddy Alex), and we're straight back into it. I had 10K before dinner, we return at 75/250/500, and I quickly increase to 13K. We lose a few players quickly to ugly outdraws, but nothing I'm part of.

​Almost 1800 players, and we're pushing onward on a slightly more aggressive table than before.

Annnnnd...

Our hero just got a nice dose of maximum WSOP violation and pain. 

I raise in mid position with 5h4h, the Brazilian guy on my left flat calls the 1250 bet, everyone else folds and we see a flop.

5d 5c 10c.

I lead out strong on this, because of course I want the action. I have around 12K, so I bet a super strong 4600. He thinks, and then finally calls.

The turn is the 2d. A blank as far as i'm concerned, but I don't like clubs or diamonds, so I make the visual commitment and bet 5500, leaving myself with about 3K. He dwells, and again calls.

Now of course there is no folding. I ship the remainder before the river comes out, which ends up being the 3d.

He calls and turns over Ad Jd for a runner-runner flush. I'd like to be sick but I wish everyone good luck and leave.

That's about as ugly as these things can get I think. I've unregged from the WSOP $1K, and will play 1B of the Venetian $600 tomorrow instead.  Off home to reflect on what I just did wrong in the exit hand. Ahh. Nothing whatsoever. Well, that was easy! Another character building exercise from Caesars Entertainment.

First hurdle of the day overcame. It took a good 25 minutes to find a parking spot. Wynn resorts said they have no plans to charge for parking like some of the other casinos anytime soon. I think potentially they may be telling um... a lie. We shall see.

Sigh. My amazing run turns to matchsticks again when I play a hand about as well as I possibly can and get shafted for my trouble.
I raise with 99 and a Scottish kid who just joined the table calls. Flop 9 10 J, not bad at all. He bets out and I raise him, he calls.
Turn is another Jack. Bingo. I have 9's full. Now to get paid.
I bet small, he raises, now I make a massive overshove. There's a bit of good natured dialogue, and I get him to sigh call all-in.

He flips over AJ, shakes his head in defeat, and promptly rivers an Ace to make Jacks full. Ugh, that just chopped me back to 32K.

Sigh. Suck it up and just keep going.

450 entrants today and counting, and we're at level 5 which is 50/150/300. Still a good table and I'm feeling great. Let's run it up.

Level 6 and I've lost every hand I've played since my nines full horror. Luckily I haven't played too many. 36K and the average is around 21K so no stress. We're at 50/200/400. A few guys on the table seriously over value their hands preflop so hopefully I can take advantage as time goes on.

Got back up to around 41K at the next break following the earlier ugly wobble. Plenty of chips on the table to be had, I just have to choose my battles and not get unlucky.

Level up to 75/300/600. The screen shows 360 players remaining in today's flight from 604 players who started. This will be combined with yesterday's (day 1A) numbers to probably make around 1000 players overall.

One of the guys I knew would dust off most of his stack just did so as predicted, sadly to one of the better players at the table. He tried bluffing off his stack with KQ (nothing) on the river, and got snap called by 99 which was good. This guy will be out soon. He's in position behind me so I'm not giving him a chance to reshove on any of my light opens. 

Pretty girl at the table just decided to shove 10K or so under the gun with 77, and found herself getting called by the Frenchman on my right with KK. An immediate 7 in the window chops him down and builds her up, which based on previous play seen here is good news on both counts.

​Colour up break. Am back to 35K after finding a guy who won't fold preflop. He'll fit right in here.

32K at the pre-dinner break level. 100/400/800, and 279 players remain. A lot of these guys are about to enter lemming mode and I'd like to avoid the crossfire if at all possible. Trouble is, my table has about five lemmings sitting on it.

Of course one of them just got 6500 in with AQ vs my 99 and spiked a Queen. Down to 29K. 

​It's been a pretty gruelling level with a fair share of pain, and the occasional steal. I'm off for some soup for 45 minutes. 234 players remain, and I'm on 26K. We return on 100/500/1000, so all to play for.

Back from break and some nice early fireworks for the table. The guy on my right is just shocking. Makes a scabby raise with A6, gets shipped on by AQ for like 20K more, and still calls anyway. Spikes a six, but the opponent gets "lucky" and rivers a Queen to take it down. The very next hand, the same guy again raises and is shipped on yet again, this time by AK versus his scabby A3. This time he pings a 3 and busts the AK who leaves shaking his head. It's like folding isn't in the vocabulary. It's pretty awful but also pretty dangerous.

I've missed about four flops and drifted down to 15K. The very same guy again makes one of his scabby raises, and I ship As9s, knowing I'm likely well ahead of the spanners he's raising with. This proves to be true, however the guy on my left also moves in and shows AQ. Shit

Luckily, on this table, behind is the new ahead, so I flop two nines, to bounce up to 32K. Stupid game.

Stupid indeed. About 15 mins into the return I raise to 3,400 with QQ and get three callers. Two aces flop and I have to fold to action. The winner of the pot shows A9 offsuit.

A while goes by and I now am down to 24K. I look down in the big blind at Jc9c. Not a hand I'd normally go mad with but I have 1k invested. The kid who got lucky early on with the AJ boat raises to around 3K, and the guy on my right who likes seeing flops also calls. I call.

Flop is 8c 5c 5h. Two overs and a flush draw. I don't mind this as there's good potential to represent a lot of hands. I think the check raise looks a lot stronger if there's enough money in the pot. I check, and the kid bets approx 3500, the other guy dwells and calls...back to me. I jam.

I don't like to get all maths. There are plenty of drones out there who love running all the numbers. My reasoning is as follows: The pot has around 18.500 in it, and I have about 23K behind. The jam here screams one of two things, either strength (I have a 5), a draw (I have clubs or 76) and well, that's about it. I think it's a tough call for an overpair, especially for your tournament. I also give neither of them a 5, so I think this is my moment to get back into the tournament with a decent stack, either by illiciting a fold, or by hitting my hand. I've rarely shoved all day here, and I'd hope the more astute players will notice this. 

The kid has a think and asks for a count, then calls virtually all-in. The other guy throws away whatever rubbish he was calling with initially.

I table Jc9c. Two overs and a flush draw. A backdoor straight draw if we're also getting picky.

He shows 10 10. So a Jack also wins for me. Brick on the turn and brick on the river. 8.5 hours down the Swanee. Good luck everyone.

This is one of the few times I can say "OK I had the worst hand when the money went in". Of course I had plenty of win potential which basically didn't materialise. I think my realisation that a lot of the players on the table today simply can't fold if they have a pair for any amount of money probably merits consideration as to if I needed to bother playing the hand at all, or should have simply mucked it preflop. I won't beat myself up too much, but possibly knowing the history of hands on the table and the fact I had a pretty good read on most players (for sure the two in the pot on my exit) means if you know someone can't fold it's probably not sensible to adopt a strategy where them folding is part of your desired outcome. I was aware if I win the hand, I could be on a very healthy 64K or so and ready to boss the table for the final levels of the day. These situations in tournaments I'm happy to take on if I'm the aggressor. Maybe some will disagree.

Thanks to a number of people for emails and texts of support during the trip so far. Luckily most of you fully get how gruelling this stuff is for long hours often for little or no reward, so the nice words are appreciated. Just so you know.

My next WSOP event is in two days. I will sleep on it as to whether to play a one day event tomorrow or stay fresh for the WSOP $1500 NLH instead.

19K after shipping the flop to a reraise when I flopped a pair and a flush draw. Not my preferred M.O but there was enough in the middle to justify trying to kill it quick. He grumbled and then folded.

​130 players left at level 6, and I'm around 21K a little over average chips. A LONG way still to go.

I drop down to 16K after losing a pot to an unsmiling unspeaking misery who refuses to react or say a thing to anyone. I know of course that people are fully entitled to act how they want, but I'm truly puzzled how people who seem to love an online environment where you can play in sensory deprivation, would ever actually want to bother playing live. Aside from making the experience miserable for the rest of us, it must be as dull as dishwater for them to sit there trying to look stoic and menacing for hours on end. Also, truth be told, this slightly stupid approach only works against either anyone without a brain, or maybe the absolute weakest of players.

​I left the updates for a bit as the table was pretty chatty and active. I'm on 25K on level 8. Blinds are 200/600/1200 and 72 players  remain. I got lucky earlier with AdKd vs AK offsuit when I made a diamond flush and busted him. Still chugging.

20K now as 66 players remain. I'll need a slice of luck in this but at least I'm still there. People starting to shove and reshove with lots of highly spurious hands. The Spaniard on my right, though I'm sure is a wonderful guy, is an idiot. Everything must be babbled loudly in non English, he runs across the room almost knocking over a cocktail waitress lest he misses one precious hand. Now he's sitting next to me guzzling a burger and drinking beer whilst handling chips. I want to throw up. Some people really have no concept of the fact that maybe their lack of manners and boorish behaviour might impact on the other human beings who have to share space with them. They're either too dumb, or maybe just don't care about anyone but themselves. A sadly common trait amongst a huge percentage of people who play poker.

Now he's blowing his nose on the napkins and leaving them all over the side table. I don't tilt (really, I just don't), but if I ever did it'd be against people like this, who are the individuals in poker I intensely dislike. They simply have no awareness of how offensive and inconsiderate they are.

Irony is a wonderful thing. 

He has spazzed off most of his stack, then shoved multiple times to build it back up again. Won a few but mostly donked off with dogshit hands. I go down to 15K as we hit 56 players and 300/1000/2000 antes. He again raises so I shove with 99 happy to be heads up.

He tables KQ and hits a Queen. No $3,500 seat for me. At least he makes a loud ungainly grunting celebration through the fog of beer, burger crumbs and snot as he outdraws me. Classy. Good luck everyone.

Fun night. Wynn $600 tomorrow.

I find the bubble circus highly amusing. Players squawk and cluck. they run around and look at tables with all-in hands. They basically ignore the rules to stay in their seats, and are mostly clinging on to the idea of a WSOP cash, without actually bothering to focus on the actual tournament any more. I know I'm different in my viewpoint. I just find it quite funny the way some of these guys act at the sniff of a few dollars.

Ding. We're in the money, after about 30 minutes of hand for hand play. I now reckon we'll lost a good 50 players in the next ten minutes or so. 1008 remain, we're 500/1500/3000 and I have 44K.

Due to some kind of admin snafu at the Rio, although we are already in the money, we still seem to be playing hand for hand, and the first hand has taken at this point about 10 minutes. The old geezer next to me is moaning incessantly. 'Why aren't we playing?/This is bullshit/Why is this taking so long?/I want to play/etc/etc". I calmly said instead of getting worked up that they aren't organising the 120 remaining tables around him, maybe he should just embrace it instead, he might feel a bit better. 

Nope. He prefers to keep moaning instead. I dig out my earphones, and put on Spotify.

Nicked a small one. Back up to 54K. 

Old geezer next to me just got pushed off a pot when facing a 30K bet from some young spud with a backwards baseball cap. He gets shown a bluff, his head goes and he's out less than three hands later. Aforementioned kid then gives another old boy 65K by getting 88 in preflop versus the Senior's KK. Head scratching stuff. I'm on 40K or so which is well below average, but the way this table is playing there's potential for that to be 400K in 30 minutes time.

I just shoved blind on blind with A3. Got it through. He's got a ton of chips and could call me light. With 40K I guess I'm OK with that too.

Just over 800 players remain.

All sorts of scabby plays going on all around me. I've seen nothing and am now down to 20K. Time to ship and hope. 680 players left.

And... our hero finishes in 656th place for a whopping payout of $2,873. All I could do was get it in good.

I jam with A5, and get called by a big stack who has plenty of chips and 7s6s, which is worth a call to take a shot at me. Off we go.

Flop As 10s 8s. sigh. That's basically that then, unless he fancies gutshotting a straight flush just for good measure.

Last few hours were flat, and I lost the shot I needed to take. That aside, no complaints. On to the next one tomorrow back at the Rio...the $1500 NLH. 

A table of largely unknowns, and level one passes uneventfully. The young kid in the one seat is pretty laggy, and has already been caught once bluffing a girl with Queen high. She called him with third pair and was right.

Level two has kicked off. Currently almost 6000 players are in this from combined day 1A and 1B flights. Am at around 14,200 after a little set mining that didn't bear fruit.

We reach the first break and I'm still hovering at about 14,500. We return at 25/75/150 and now have a full table, half of which are speaking and having fun. The other half appear to be mute.

A bit of drama as the nice guy on my left (an L.A cop), can't get away from KK preflop against the unsmiling unspeaking Asian girl, who very clearly (to me at least) has AA. They get all the marbles in and he busts. Shame, he was fun to have at the table.

I've danced around a little, and have dribbled down to 13k, but am now back over starting stack and sitting on 15,800. No real danger at the table, except me if I decided to spazz out, which after all these years I'd hope is now at least moderately unlikely.

Approaching level 4 now, and nothing of note to say regarding hands or stacks. I can make some stuff up if you'd like some drama, but for now let's just focus on waiting for someone to pop me up to 40k by level 5 please.
​​

Level 10-last level of day 1B. I've stolen a couple and got paid once with KJ on a KJ3 flop, and my stack is hovering at around 55K, with blinds at 100/500/1000. They have started to announce payouts already, after combining the two day totals of players, but as per usual, I'm not even bothering to look at that stuff yet. At this stage people are almost spending the money already, which I never get. It really doesn't matter right now with the field still huge, so why give yourself extra stuff to think about?

One of the young English kids just shipped 24K preflop with KJ offsuit preflop. He gets called almost all-in by A7 suited, and looks like going home, but rivers a King, to now be on 50K+ when he was virtually out the door. Not judging, people can do whatever they like. It's just not my style, rightly or wrongly.


​

20k starting chips, 30 minute levels, $200k gtd. Started bang on time as per usual. Too early to report much, no one appears to be saying much other than me. Quelle surprise...
This is a one dayer, with a semi fast structure. I can fire an extra shell if needed. but we'll see the lie of the land. Hopefully we can keep yesterday's momentum going.

18k at the end of level one. seen a few flops and dodged around a bit. Early days.

We now have a full table. Good player from the PH event a few days back sits directly on my left. He likes to float and 3-bet a lot. On right is an older guy from Hawaii who isn't a bad player and who has a good attitude. We're already messing around. Also joined by Dan, a UK player I know pretty well, and who is a regular in these events. 

Not too much going on. Drifted down a little by flopping yet another big combo draw that missed everything. Now on 15k or so at 100/200. For me staying at this table (not busting) is a big plus. A few good players for sure, but also some horrific ones. Sure if the right spot comes up I'm going to certainly take a punt today, but for now I won't be splashing around too much. Plenty of time for all that. 400 players so far, and they are dropping fast.

I lose with JJ vs a flush, and 66 on a 345 flop, down to 11k. Not ideal but still in the hunt.

A couple of guys are ridiculously overplaying hands. You can call it aggression, personally, I call it playing like a bull in a china shop, but to each their own. In one hand on an A 2 4 flop, AQ and A5 get around 20k each in the middle. it runs out a straight and they chop...the aggressive guy with apparently not much good humour who had the AQ looks disgusted, and the other player (who called allin on the flop was trying to justify his play, and then said "well, I didn't really like my hand". I said "Well don't worry, I didn't really like HIS hand (the other player) either once he turned it over". Dan laughed and the AQ looked decidedly unimpressed. Ho hum. He'll get over it.

​I decide it's time to ramp it up a bit, and flop an up and down straight draw, and I push it when the opponent bets. He calls flipping over one pair, which turns out to be a pair of aces. Oops. I get there immediately and am back up to 23k. Lovely. Just in time for the first break as we end level 4.

Back from the break, and I win a small pot with KK. The board runs out 3 8 9 10 J which isn't ideal, but the main thing is the good guys won the money.  Over 500 players now and we are on the 25/150/300 level and cruising along. Still plenty of overplaying going on. For now I've screwed back down a little and am just waiting for one of the Kamikaze pilots to crash into the felt when they see Q9 on a 9 high flop or something.

​Level 6 and I'm improving steadily, up to 33k.

Nearing end of level 7. A bluff went wrong, and I also got outkicked in a 2 pair showdown, back to 22k again. The decent player on my left got chopped to pieces, when he bluff-shoved into trips. He lost a huge proportion o his stack and now I feel he's basically shoving against any open, so I'm taking it gently.

Now reaching the end of level 8, and I've gone totally card dead....not seeing anything playable and mostly folding as preflop raises however big are just not getting through. I had a flurry of good hands early on, but now the reverse is the case. Just need to screw down a bit and wait it out. A couple of the maniac one pair overplayers have donated most of their stacks to the stronger ones at the table. Squaeaked along to the next break, losing the final hand when I found 88 in the big blind and had to fold on a KJQ flop. Ugh.

There have been some ugly hands on the table. Thankfully I'm avoiding 90% of them, but a few of the shall we say, less sophisticated players, are treating one pair with a crap kicker like a set. This makes outplaying people tough, as you can only outplay good players, and good players are astute enough to see if you are short stacked and turn the pressure right back on you, so you need to pick your battles.

Dan doubled up, he was in a good spot with AQ when one of the table numpties put another 10k or so in with A4 and got crucified. I'm around the 10k mark, and with blinds now at 200/600/1200 it's becoming a struggle. Ironically I look on the table behind us, and two guys must have about 200k each! this dwarfs anything on our table, but of course, it's not how you start but how you finish.

Dear. God. Jesus.

I raise to 2900 out of a stack of 11,500 or so with AQ. Awful player makes it 6k, and a good player behind shoves for about 14k total. I give the original reraiser a spin all day long, as he could easily flip over A10 and I take my chances, but effectively, I have nothing, and one of them has to have a hand. I fold, going down to below 10k again, they both get the money in. 

Good player: AK
Muppet: AA

Marvellous. I can dodge bullets. However I still have sod all chips.

My initial gameplan coming out here was to be considerably more aggro at the table and try to amass a bigger stack earlier. I am by no means a tight player, as those who know me can cheerfully testify, however, in amongst my many faults, stupidity isn't one of them. I also don't simply spanner off my or the investor's money because I'm having a bad day. Of course if I get it in bad, so be it, but from a situational viewpoint, I'm normally shoving or raising as opposed to meekly calling. Some will understand why this is a far superior approach to playing poker, even if the hands that flip over sometimes look slightly odd.

It just ended abruptly. fine it was a 6/4 shot, maybe a questionable call from the opponent, but if I'm  honest he probably did nothing wrong by giving me a spin. He raised in late position with A5, and I shove with KJ offsuit. I don't imagine I'm winning, but I give him a fold option and I don't feel there's too much in it. Also, the blinds are about to go up...yet again.

He thinks it over and calls. It's approx 1/3 of his stack and he flops an ace. pretty much game over. At least he was one of the better players and also a nice guy.  Home we go.

I could say it was a frustrating day, but I really don't get frustrated. It was just a bit of a damp squib where I needed to get well above start stack to make progress and it didn't happen. 0/5 on the trip. A small sample size so far but I'm not about to throw in the towel any time soon.

Any excuse to post a snap of Yul Bryner as possibly the greatest gunslinger of all time in Michael Crighton's 1973 original "Westworld". A tenuous link to today's event being a shootout of course, but sod it, it's my website. Starting off at 11am today.

I'm looking forward to this very much. For those unfamiliar with the format, basically in a shootout tournament, you need to "win" your individual table in order to advance. No new players are brought in, so the field slowly reduces as you lose players on your table, you can target individual players as there is nowhere to run, the table is not going to break, and basically (in my opinion) the "feel" element of poker comes a lot more into play, as players know they are not going to advance simply by waiting for good cards. You have to get in there and play poker or you eventually get blinded to death. In the past I have had a very good record in this format. I'm a tad disappointed that so far I've played three events on the trip and haven't won one yet, so maybe this is the turning point (cough).

Tiptoeing along gently as we kick off on my first table. 7500 starting stack and 40 minute levels. The first of these is just shuffling around and already we are on level 2 and still on starting chips, Currently we're 7 handed.

A nice eclectic mix of players are seated (just for anyone who wishes to get their knickers in a twist about racial profiling). We have a pretty girl, an old geezer, a sports fan complete with all the regalia. a silent German dressed totally in black with black shades, a hyper aggressive Asian kid, a Brazilian, and of course...yours truly. Sounds like a recipe for fun and games.

Brazilian guy just lost a sizeable chunk of his stack with QQ vs Germany's flopped set of 8's. I think the dynamic in these things is very different to normal multi table events. It was hard to get away from on an 8 high flop, but not impossible by any means.

Level 3 and the antes kick in already. Still early enough that the pressure isn't being applied yet, we have another player joined us, who has been waffling on his phone to his mum for most of the first ten minutes. At least he cares about her.

Well, it had to happen. My hand reading skills were put to the test when I look down and find KK (third time on this trip, but who's counting?) and repop it preflop, getting two callers. After a little action, the board runs out a fairly ugly J47AA and the Cardinals fan now wants to bet the river. It screams either value bet or attempt to buy it. I opt for the latter and call, and he shakes his noggin and turns over 55. Woo-hoo!

Finally above starting stack in a tournament here. Blind squirrel/acorns/etc. Now up to 10k as we approach the first break.

​Back from break and we now have a full table as a young hot-shot with shaggy hair joins us. He seems to be pretty aggressive and has already been all in once in ten minutes. He'll be alright.

Pace of the table has picked up a bit now. Shaggy and the guy who is constantly on the phone seem to know each other, and have upped the preflop raising between them. We have approx 1030 entrants now, and the blinds are 25/100/200.

I just snapped off a river bluff from smiling Asian kid, and am up to 12k as a result.

My reading skills appear to be nicely tuned in today. I just picked off yet another bluff, this time from the telephone guy. As a bonus, I also got to display one of my favourite party tricks at a poker table. I bet the flop with Kh4h with a king on board. We both checked the turn, and I check to him on the river. He bets 1500, and I instantly open my right hand and drop 1500 in chips onto the felt, his exact bet amount, almost before he completes his action. He looked slightly wobbly and then flipped over a busted draw. The girl at the table actually laughed out loud when I then asked him "don't you think it's kind of weird that I knew how much you were going to bet before you did?" Fun, fun, fun.

I'm up to just over 14k, and am comfortably chip leader on the table. No need to start swinging the big stick just yet. We're still 9 handed, and as we go to level 5 and 50/150/300, a few of the shorter guys are feeling the pinch and will be gambling pretty soon.

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Telephone guy is gone. He and Shaggy got the lot in, with...A7 vs A2. I have a feeling if things go to plan it`ll be me and Shaggy heads-up for the win.

Smiling Asian also just exited the game, giving all his chips to Shaggy, which isn`t an ideal result.

Very shortly following this, I break a long standing rule not to bust the pretty girl at the table, when I find KK (yes!) against her QQ and we get the lot in. We actually both make a set, small consolation though it isn`t. We`re now 5 handed as we near level 6.

At the risk of blowing my own trumpet (bad idea, I'm pretty sure I'm tone deaf), I'm certainly in the zone. I just raised with J10, and the German on my left flatted. We're heads up the flop comes J25. I check and he bets out. I show him the Jack and fold. He obligingly shows me KK and looks incredulous that he didn't make more money on the hand. I'm on around 19k, and am still top dog chip-wise, though Shaggy is gaining.

Cardinals guy and Herman ze German just got it in together. Cardinals had 88, vs Herman's (sorry, I don't know your name!) AQ which couldn't catch, chopping him right down to fumes. It's a good thing. Cardinals guy is the weakest of the remaining players, and I'd rather he had the chips.

Herman busts immediately after, unfortunately giving the chips to Shaggy, who gambles with 55.

​We're now 4 handed and Shaggy and I are about even in chips while the other two are short. I hate it when I'm right.

​We're basically swapping chips around. I don' want to step on a land-mine 4 handed, and am trying to back into something or wait until 3 handed to jack things up a bit and start rowing for home.

Cardinals has hit a run of cards and found a bit of aggression, and has run his stack up courtesy of the other two players. I don't consider this a bad thing. He then promptly makes a pretty bad call versus an all in with Q9 versus J9 on a J94 flop, and gives a big chunk of it away. This isn't good news for me as the others are both pretty useful. Out for a 15 minute break as we hit the end of the level. Everyone is roughly even in chips now,

Hallelujah... the dream scenario just opened up. I look down and find Aces (weeee...) upon return from the break, and I find Cardinals raising with AQ. He seems stubborn and doesn't like to fold, so I make it super expensive and raise his 1500 bet to 4600. He decides not to call but to shove all-in  instead! Off we go, and although he hits a Queen, nothing goes awfully wrong, and I bust him to get my chips up to a very healthy 32k or so three-handed. Now to try and win the thing.
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I just busted Shaggy to get heads-up with the Brazilian guy. He wasn't impressed, even though his Q 10 couldn't beat my 88 and I got him to get all his money in from behind before snap-calling. He looked almost angry when he bricked out and exclaimed something along the lines of "how the fuck do you win with that?", before storming off. Funny the way people react to stuff. It's just poker, honestly.

The guy from Brazil is a good player. We're roughly even in chips, and are both raising and reraising preflop a lot.  We ebb and flow, likely for around 90 minutes or so, swapping chips. I take the lead, he does, back and forth etc. We have had a break and have hit the 100/500/1000 level, so each pot is now pretty big. I lose a decent chunk when I flop top two, and he rivers a straight, meaning he now has a roughly 2-1 chip lead on me. This isn't ideal, but with our stacks I'm basically two all-in winning hands from winning the table.

We are both playing a lot of speculative hands. Now we are heads up you kind of have to. The nuts and bolts dynamic of a full ring game won't work now, so you have to grab situations and get in there and gamble a bit.

A situation just came up. 

I raise the button with 2d3d. I am perfectly happy playing hands like this, I can normally evaluate the situation fairly well post-flop, and folding in the small blind heads up with this isn't really an option.

I make it quite pricey. Neither of us are folding often preflop, so if I connect, it needs to be a pot worth winning. I raise to around 3300, leaving around 21k behind. He calls.

flop 2h 3s 6c. Perfect.

He checks to me, and I weigh it up, and bet around 7500. Effectively committing myself, and making it expensive for him to continue if he has two big cards or even an overpair. He dwells for a minute, and reraises me. Argh.

At this point, if I'm behind I probably still have outs. Past form shows he can do this with one pair, and there's now too much money in the pot. If I fold I'm likely cannon fodder, as he's good enough to keep the pressure up. I ship it, and hold my breath.

He calls, turning over 5c4d for a flopped straight. Balls.

I have four outs twice for the win, none of which materialise, and I'm out bubbling my shootout table after being chip leader the whole way.

Little to say but just congratulate him and wish him luck in the rest of the tournament. He played well and it was probably always going to come down to something like this. It was kind of one of those hands, and I'm OK with my play, even if I walked into the nuts. Venetian $600 one day Superstack tomorrow.

The freeze frame of the video update makes me look like I'm visually impaired. I'm not doing another one!

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