It's always nice to walk into the building to start your tournament at 11.03 am and find 560 players already in it, with another 250 at least already waiting in line to buy in. Today is going to be another monster, and for those who might bust out early on and then endure a ridiculously long wait just to get back in again, all I can say is, you have my deepest sympathies.
Having friends in high places is always a bonus, and I find my ticket is waiting for me already and I skip the line, going straight to my seat in the cash room, which means this table may break pretty early. This doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world, since my starting line up looks like the cast of a new Lord of the Rings reboot, and it's deathly quiet for the most part.
Level 1 and 578 players in this shindig so far. My 25k has popped up to a healthy 30k. This thing is most definitely a marathon and not a sprint, so I'm going to do my best not to step on any land mines early on, and let a few people fall on their swords instead. Approaching level 3, and the table has livened up a bit and is slightly chattier. I picked up AA and did the old rope-a dope 15k bet when 2 people had flatted 1500, but these guys are too shrewd to be having any of that nonsense, and I just win a mediocre pot instead. Ho hum. Nothing ventured... On around 32k at present; splashing around a little bit, but treading carefully in shark-infested waters.
First break, up to 47k after a very agreeable morning session. Off for a stroll.
Having friends in high places is always a bonus, and I find my ticket is waiting for me already and I skip the line, going straight to my seat in the cash room, which means this table may break pretty early. This doesn't sound like the worst thing in the world, since my starting line up looks like the cast of a new Lord of the Rings reboot, and it's deathly quiet for the most part.
Level 1 and 578 players in this shindig so far. My 25k has popped up to a healthy 30k. This thing is most definitely a marathon and not a sprint, so I'm going to do my best not to step on any land mines early on, and let a few people fall on their swords instead. Approaching level 3, and the table has livened up a bit and is slightly chattier. I picked up AA and did the old rope-a dope 15k bet when 2 people had flatted 1500, but these guys are too shrewd to be having any of that nonsense, and I just win a mediocre pot instead. Ho hum. Nothing ventured... On around 32k at present; splashing around a little bit, but treading carefully in shark-infested waters.
First break, up to 47k after a very agreeable morning session. Off for a stroll.
Back in the hunt, and in level 5 we find ourselves with 558/736 players. The entrants are creeping up rather slowly considering the high starting numbers, and I suspected this is because the Wynn basically has nowhere to seat them all at the moment. I turned out to be right, as my spies have just informed me that, at present, just under 1000 players have already bought in for today's flight alone. That number will obviously bloat considerably as we go on through the day, and as I said, it's (to me, certainly) a marathon and not a sprint. You just need to stay in your own bubble and pace yourself to make sure you keep things in balance. At the moment, the system is going according to plan, and as we commence level 6 at 400/800/800, I'm sitting fairly pretty on 53k. For now, I'll keep the chatter to a minimum, and just keep pushing onward, which seems to be working well for me at the moment.
Level 8, and I've dropped back to 40k after doing very little wrong. We've lost a few players, and one who has joined us is pretty loud and obnoxious. He is drinking, and basically makes one mistake every hand, gets up and goes to the bathroom when people are still to act, asks sleazy questions to the female dealers and players, bets crazy amounts into tiny pots... you get the idea. Also the first hand he sat down, with a 25k stack, he decided to announce a bet of 35k... which is a new one on me. To say he's extremely irritating is something of an understatement, but trying to target and bust guys like this is normally flawed logic. Let him have his little moments, and let nature take its course. I smiled to myself, when the female dealer just got up from the table, and said "good luck everyone" and then said to this guy "not you". You've gotta laugh.
As we approach level 9, the blinds are 600/1200/1200, and 549/934 remain Average chips is right on my stack...43k.
God I love these things.
Back from the break, and a player makes it 16k all-in to go out of his short stack with AQ. The big blind who has 1,500 invested says "well, I can't really fold, can I?" and calls for around 35% of his chips, tabling.... Q 6 suited. No horror stories, and the AQ wins (surprisingly), but I'm still befuddled by the actions and thought process of so many players. I guess it's what makes the game still enjoyable and profitable. I know we're all different, and we all play and do things for different reasons... I guess this just proves it and there's little more to say on the matter.
549/980 left and still players flooding in. Re-entries end at the conclusion of this level, but everyone with an alternate ticket will obviously still get in.
540/1,052 now, and annoying drinking sunglasses guy has decimated his huge stack in the course of about 3 badly played hands, and is now down to fumes. Weird, he seems to be a lot less talkative now than before. I'm on 38k and have been treading water as the bullets fly all around me, but at 1k/2k/2k and rising, though we're fine for the moment, hitting something or getting busy soon is becoming more of a priority. People are still busting out with shitty hands with which I wouldn't put a dime in the pot to begin with, and I'm guessing there'll be a fair bit of that in the next hour or two. It's certainly a great event, with huge rewards for going the distance (which of course is why I decided to play it), but at the mid/late level where we are now, it feels like a pretty fast structure. Sometimes here you have to trust to luck and grit your teeth.
Well, it's that time of the day once again. Level 11, and 1500/3k/3k. Our friend with the sunglasses and the bladder problem blew his brains out when, on a flop of Q J 4, he decided to bet out with 86 suited (no flush draw) and when the draw with 10 9 shoved all-in, he decided to call anyway for the rest, which wasn't an insignificant amount. The 8 that landed on the turn might have given him a flutter for a second, until he realised that it was no good to him, as it'd made the other guy the nut straight, and he was now drawing dead. So long, buddy. 441/1,154 remain.
Grenades are still going off all around me, as we approach level 12. I've swashed and buckled, and have got my chips into the middle a few times with no callers. Given some of the horrendous stuff I've seen on this table today with an all-in and a caller, that'll do me just fine to win uncontested. 342/1,154 remain now and of the starters, 144 will make it through to day 2. Here I am, once more at the business end of the affair, doing my thing, and hoping that a little glimmer of fortune will smile down on me during the next hour.
Well, it's been a table of really ugly outdraws as I mentioned, but by some quirk of fate, our hero has danced his stack up to a respectable 83k. I jammed with AK, got called by KQ (...) and luckily the story didn't involve any queens on the board during the formalities that then ensued. There were only 2 of the original starters including me on my table, which also then broke On my new one in the sportsbook area, I win a small early pot to bump me up to 90k just as we hit the 15 minute break at the end of this level. 270 players now remain. Home stretch.
Level 8, and I've dropped back to 40k after doing very little wrong. We've lost a few players, and one who has joined us is pretty loud and obnoxious. He is drinking, and basically makes one mistake every hand, gets up and goes to the bathroom when people are still to act, asks sleazy questions to the female dealers and players, bets crazy amounts into tiny pots... you get the idea. Also the first hand he sat down, with a 25k stack, he decided to announce a bet of 35k... which is a new one on me. To say he's extremely irritating is something of an understatement, but trying to target and bust guys like this is normally flawed logic. Let him have his little moments, and let nature take its course. I smiled to myself, when the female dealer just got up from the table, and said "good luck everyone" and then said to this guy "not you". You've gotta laugh.
As we approach level 9, the blinds are 600/1200/1200, and 549/934 remain Average chips is right on my stack...43k.
God I love these things.
Back from the break, and a player makes it 16k all-in to go out of his short stack with AQ. The big blind who has 1,500 invested says "well, I can't really fold, can I?" and calls for around 35% of his chips, tabling.... Q 6 suited. No horror stories, and the AQ wins (surprisingly), but I'm still befuddled by the actions and thought process of so many players. I guess it's what makes the game still enjoyable and profitable. I know we're all different, and we all play and do things for different reasons... I guess this just proves it and there's little more to say on the matter.
549/980 left and still players flooding in. Re-entries end at the conclusion of this level, but everyone with an alternate ticket will obviously still get in.
540/1,052 now, and annoying drinking sunglasses guy has decimated his huge stack in the course of about 3 badly played hands, and is now down to fumes. Weird, he seems to be a lot less talkative now than before. I'm on 38k and have been treading water as the bullets fly all around me, but at 1k/2k/2k and rising, though we're fine for the moment, hitting something or getting busy soon is becoming more of a priority. People are still busting out with shitty hands with which I wouldn't put a dime in the pot to begin with, and I'm guessing there'll be a fair bit of that in the next hour or two. It's certainly a great event, with huge rewards for going the distance (which of course is why I decided to play it), but at the mid/late level where we are now, it feels like a pretty fast structure. Sometimes here you have to trust to luck and grit your teeth.
Well, it's that time of the day once again. Level 11, and 1500/3k/3k. Our friend with the sunglasses and the bladder problem blew his brains out when, on a flop of Q J 4, he decided to bet out with 86 suited (no flush draw) and when the draw with 10 9 shoved all-in, he decided to call anyway for the rest, which wasn't an insignificant amount. The 8 that landed on the turn might have given him a flutter for a second, until he realised that it was no good to him, as it'd made the other guy the nut straight, and he was now drawing dead. So long, buddy. 441/1,154 remain.
Grenades are still going off all around me, as we approach level 12. I've swashed and buckled, and have got my chips into the middle a few times with no callers. Given some of the horrendous stuff I've seen on this table today with an all-in and a caller, that'll do me just fine to win uncontested. 342/1,154 remain now and of the starters, 144 will make it through to day 2. Here I am, once more at the business end of the affair, doing my thing, and hoping that a little glimmer of fortune will smile down on me during the next hour.
Well, it's been a table of really ugly outdraws as I mentioned, but by some quirk of fate, our hero has danced his stack up to a respectable 83k. I jammed with AK, got called by KQ (...) and luckily the story didn't involve any queens on the board during the formalities that then ensued. There were only 2 of the original starters including me on my table, which also then broke On my new one in the sportsbook area, I win a small early pot to bump me up to 90k just as we hit the 15 minute break at the end of this level. 270 players now remain. Home stretch.
Boom. From being on fumes for quite a few levels, I now find myself on 235k. The hand was quite funky, and the sort of thing I like to do in tournaments. Without drilling too much into the finer points, I flopped a pair, turned a pair and a flush draw, rivered the flush, and then I induced my opponent to move all-in on me by checking to him. It was a risk, but it paid dividends. One of his cards I saw as he mucked his hand was a Jack (no jack on board), so I'm not sure if he had JJ, a smaller flush, or just a bluff of some kind. Anyway, I'll take the win and advance as we move towards level 15, now with 198 players left.
Sigh. Standard tournament fun ensues when my AJ gets it in versus a short stack (the guy I doubled up through earlier) who has A7, and reraised me all-in preflop after I'd opened. He flops the 7 and I lose a 100k pot. Down to 170k. Average is 160k and 180 players remain. The same guy just shoved with K 10 for over 100k, was called by 10 10, and promptly rivered a king. You need a strong constitution to play these things regularly. You'll find you get kicked in the nuts like this by bad or desperate plays all the time. You just need to cope with it, or find another pastime if you can't.
And cope with it I do. We have reached the hand for hand stage now, with 146 players left. 144 go through to day 2 and make the money. I'm not going to say too much for a bit, as I need to concentrate!
Concentration time is over. Lots of unwashed meerkats craning their necks to see the relative stacks of players on the other tables. A relatively short hand for hand period ensues, and then... we're through to day 2, and into the money. No sense of entitlement, but I think for at least two of the three starting flights, I played pretty well and managed my stack wisely, so it feels like a small squeak of justice to get over the line and onto the next stage of the tournament. Poker is generally a pretty solitary activity, where one person is essentially alone with their common defeats and even rarer victories. I felt quite pleased for one poor Asian kid on my last table of the day who also squeaked through. He had nursed a stack of about 25-30k for a good 45 minutes, and clearly every decision for his tournament life was a painful and meaningful one, as he was sweating like Peter Andre doing a maths test for most of the time. He got asked the question on several occasions by either the better players exploiting the scenario, or ones who happened to have a raising hand, and he tanked and made what looked like a tough fold a good five or six times. A lot of the know-it-all poker brigade in recent years would decide that any two here is enough to just get it all-in if they ever find themselves in that spot, but I'm a believer that winning the event entails you still being in it for a while, so I try to pick my battles a bit more diligently. All too often at the table today I heard "well clearly that's never a fold" or "well I have to get it all-in there obviously". No mate, you don't. It's all situational. Still... what do I know?
It feels good to have made another day two. I've made the odd mis-step, everyone does. But fundamentally, I feel like I'm still there, and if I didn't feel like I had it in me to navigate the field, and close one of these things out, I wouldn't waste either my own, or the investors' time and money on the whole exercise to begin with. Poker at a basic level really isn't that hard, but good poker takes a fair bit extra, and high level poker (in my opinion) takes a number of elements that 95% of most fields don't, and will likely never possess. No amount of forums, circle-jerk strategy chats or GTO seminars will teach you instinct. That's because... well.. it's instinct. My opinions on where I stand in the food chain vary from day to day, but I must be doing something right, so long may it continue.
Restart at 1pm tomorrow, so, an early night, chill, decent (non-junk) food for once, and get back in good time to review the landscape tomorrow.
And cope with it I do. We have reached the hand for hand stage now, with 146 players left. 144 go through to day 2 and make the money. I'm not going to say too much for a bit, as I need to concentrate!
Concentration time is over. Lots of unwashed meerkats craning their necks to see the relative stacks of players on the other tables. A relatively short hand for hand period ensues, and then... we're through to day 2, and into the money. No sense of entitlement, but I think for at least two of the three starting flights, I played pretty well and managed my stack wisely, so it feels like a small squeak of justice to get over the line and onto the next stage of the tournament. Poker is generally a pretty solitary activity, where one person is essentially alone with their common defeats and even rarer victories. I felt quite pleased for one poor Asian kid on my last table of the day who also squeaked through. He had nursed a stack of about 25-30k for a good 45 minutes, and clearly every decision for his tournament life was a painful and meaningful one, as he was sweating like Peter Andre doing a maths test for most of the time. He got asked the question on several occasions by either the better players exploiting the scenario, or ones who happened to have a raising hand, and he tanked and made what looked like a tough fold a good five or six times. A lot of the know-it-all poker brigade in recent years would decide that any two here is enough to just get it all-in if they ever find themselves in that spot, but I'm a believer that winning the event entails you still being in it for a while, so I try to pick my battles a bit more diligently. All too often at the table today I heard "well clearly that's never a fold" or "well I have to get it all-in there obviously". No mate, you don't. It's all situational. Still... what do I know?
It feels good to have made another day two. I've made the odd mis-step, everyone does. But fundamentally, I feel like I'm still there, and if I didn't feel like I had it in me to navigate the field, and close one of these things out, I wouldn't waste either my own, or the investors' time and money on the whole exercise to begin with. Poker at a basic level really isn't that hard, but good poker takes a fair bit extra, and high level poker (in my opinion) takes a number of elements that 95% of most fields don't, and will likely never possess. No amount of forums, circle-jerk strategy chats or GTO seminars will teach you instinct. That's because... well.. it's instinct. My opinions on where I stand in the food chain vary from day to day, but I must be doing something right, so long may it continue.
Restart at 1pm tomorrow, so, an early night, chill, decent (non-junk) food for once, and get back in good time to review the landscape tomorrow.