Good morning everyone. Excuse me whilst I plaster on a fake smile, and plough through this shit one more time...
Yesterday was yesterday (somewhat stating the obvious), and today is... not yesterday. I find myself in the considerably smaller Brahms ballroom today, which only houses about 28 tables, as opposed to the 7,000 or so which are in the main WPT area. Hopefully we can make the break, and mercifully be spared the spectacle of the dancing stormtroopers in here. Good old Johannes would be proud.
The opening table seems nice enough, everyone chatting and bullshitting., which always makes for better poker. Lets strap on the armour and see what the morning brings.
Not quite the dream opening I was looking for. A straight flush draw ends up vaporising into nothing and I lose a pot to a flopped set of 3's, dropping me from 40k down to 36k. Bah. Just starting level 2, and already 1,400 players in today.
The fun and weirdness of tournament poker. I drop down to 30k, losing around 25% of my stack by virtue of not doing too much wrong, I then get aggressive with an offsuit AK to try to win a pot preflop, making it 3100 over an 1100 initial raise. I get FOUR callers! Jesus. When the dust clears I have trip aces with a flush and a straight possible on the board, yet I manage to lock up the win, and am now back comfortably on 49k as we approach level 3.
Things are going in the right direction so far, and I hit 64k when I call a raise with 66, and flop top set with 2 hearts on board versus a nice chatty guy who can obviously play a bit. I check to him on the flop, as it feels like he has a big overpair, and he duly bets 4k. I pop it u to 11,000 and he doesn't look in love with it, but he calls. The turn brings a rather scary 10h. I don't put him on the flush draw or 10 10, and I decide it's time to put this to an end, and I jam. He looks pained, and doesn't snap call, which is good news. He finally releases it, but my guess would be QQ or KK without a heart in his hand. Up to 63k.
Back from the break and now up to 1,700 players. At 300/500/500, and I drop down to 53k after seeing a few flops with pairs and suited aces that fail to improve. The pace at the table is pretty sedate, and for the most part, everyone knows what they are doing. It's a good atmosphere with decent banter, which might sound like something unimportant. Trust me, if you're sitting at a table with a bunch of people for five, six, ten hours, it's extremely important. The nice young Asian kid on my left was, like most of us, a bit concerned about how cold it was in here. On the break, he bought not one, but two very nice WPT sweatshirts. We nearly fell of our seats when he told us they were $80 EACH! I guess poker merchandising really does pay.
Approaching level 6 and I've ducked and dove. Chips have gone up and down a bit, but for the most part I'm keeping it snug and not splashing it about too much. I'm on 59k, which is very healthy considering where we stand at present. I've heard tell they may be as many as 3,000 entrants today alone. Since we're already at over 1,700, it's very possible.
54k just as we approach the next break. We have had a couple of bustouts, and one seat has been filled by an unsmiling silent Andrew Ridgley clone, who appears to like putting in large preflop raises, and going all-in on the river. I have him pencilled in for later on.
Level 7 has been an uneventful one for me, and I've basically just paid blinds and antes, having been card dead for most of it. Dropped to 44k but still feeling fine as we march towards the next level with 2,400 players and climbing.
The dry spell continues into level 9. It's not much fun getting zero playable hands whilst everybody else is making moves and getting busy, but I guess you have to just grind it out. Sadly, my table in the small ballroom just broke, and I've been moved into the main aircraft hangar, onto a table where literally nobody is saying a single word. Everyone looks totally expressionless, except for a girl who has clearly had her eyebrows tattooed on, so instead she looks like she's in a state of constant surprise instead.
Well, we made it to the dinner break, but the drought continues. Poker isn't much fun when you keep looking down at 5 gappers. Hopefully 75 minutes away from all this will be a decent remedy.
It wasn't.
Returning from the break with 12k, at 1k/2k/2k I find A 10 and jam vs an open by a big stack who has raised 70% of the time (hence the big stack, I guess), I shove, and he calls, flipping over K8. My A9 surprisingly wins, and I double up. The following hand, the same guy again opens, and I fins AQ suited, so jam again, being happy with a fold or a call. The guy behind me now dwells, then goes all-in for 55k or so. Back to the original raiser, who doesn't take too long before calling also. So, 3 way.
Me AQ: suited
Villain 1: JJ
Villain 2: 88
I'm not unhappy with the spot. A triple up here will get me back into very healthy shape, and I'm most certainly live. That is, until the flop comes 9 8 8, giving the big stack on the table quads, and busting two of us. When it's your day, it's your day. And when it isn't. Well.
A good start and a good opening table today, which then when sour when card deadness set it, and the crucial flip didn't come good. Another 7-8 hours up in smoke.
Yesterday was yesterday (somewhat stating the obvious), and today is... not yesterday. I find myself in the considerably smaller Brahms ballroom today, which only houses about 28 tables, as opposed to the 7,000 or so which are in the main WPT area. Hopefully we can make the break, and mercifully be spared the spectacle of the dancing stormtroopers in here. Good old Johannes would be proud.
The opening table seems nice enough, everyone chatting and bullshitting., which always makes for better poker. Lets strap on the armour and see what the morning brings.
Not quite the dream opening I was looking for. A straight flush draw ends up vaporising into nothing and I lose a pot to a flopped set of 3's, dropping me from 40k down to 36k. Bah. Just starting level 2, and already 1,400 players in today.
The fun and weirdness of tournament poker. I drop down to 30k, losing around 25% of my stack by virtue of not doing too much wrong, I then get aggressive with an offsuit AK to try to win a pot preflop, making it 3100 over an 1100 initial raise. I get FOUR callers! Jesus. When the dust clears I have trip aces with a flush and a straight possible on the board, yet I manage to lock up the win, and am now back comfortably on 49k as we approach level 3.
Things are going in the right direction so far, and I hit 64k when I call a raise with 66, and flop top set with 2 hearts on board versus a nice chatty guy who can obviously play a bit. I check to him on the flop, as it feels like he has a big overpair, and he duly bets 4k. I pop it u to 11,000 and he doesn't look in love with it, but he calls. The turn brings a rather scary 10h. I don't put him on the flush draw or 10 10, and I decide it's time to put this to an end, and I jam. He looks pained, and doesn't snap call, which is good news. He finally releases it, but my guess would be QQ or KK without a heart in his hand. Up to 63k.
Back from the break and now up to 1,700 players. At 300/500/500, and I drop down to 53k after seeing a few flops with pairs and suited aces that fail to improve. The pace at the table is pretty sedate, and for the most part, everyone knows what they are doing. It's a good atmosphere with decent banter, which might sound like something unimportant. Trust me, if you're sitting at a table with a bunch of people for five, six, ten hours, it's extremely important. The nice young Asian kid on my left was, like most of us, a bit concerned about how cold it was in here. On the break, he bought not one, but two very nice WPT sweatshirts. We nearly fell of our seats when he told us they were $80 EACH! I guess poker merchandising really does pay.
Approaching level 6 and I've ducked and dove. Chips have gone up and down a bit, but for the most part I'm keeping it snug and not splashing it about too much. I'm on 59k, which is very healthy considering where we stand at present. I've heard tell they may be as many as 3,000 entrants today alone. Since we're already at over 1,700, it's very possible.
54k just as we approach the next break. We have had a couple of bustouts, and one seat has been filled by an unsmiling silent Andrew Ridgley clone, who appears to like putting in large preflop raises, and going all-in on the river. I have him pencilled in for later on.
Level 7 has been an uneventful one for me, and I've basically just paid blinds and antes, having been card dead for most of it. Dropped to 44k but still feeling fine as we march towards the next level with 2,400 players and climbing.
The dry spell continues into level 9. It's not much fun getting zero playable hands whilst everybody else is making moves and getting busy, but I guess you have to just grind it out. Sadly, my table in the small ballroom just broke, and I've been moved into the main aircraft hangar, onto a table where literally nobody is saying a single word. Everyone looks totally expressionless, except for a girl who has clearly had her eyebrows tattooed on, so instead she looks like she's in a state of constant surprise instead.
Well, we made it to the dinner break, but the drought continues. Poker isn't much fun when you keep looking down at 5 gappers. Hopefully 75 minutes away from all this will be a decent remedy.
It wasn't.
Returning from the break with 12k, at 1k/2k/2k I find A 10 and jam vs an open by a big stack who has raised 70% of the time (hence the big stack, I guess), I shove, and he calls, flipping over K8. My A9 surprisingly wins, and I double up. The following hand, the same guy again opens, and I fins AQ suited, so jam again, being happy with a fold or a call. The guy behind me now dwells, then goes all-in for 55k or so. Back to the original raiser, who doesn't take too long before calling also. So, 3 way.
Me AQ: suited
Villain 1: JJ
Villain 2: 88
I'm not unhappy with the spot. A triple up here will get me back into very healthy shape, and I'm most certainly live. That is, until the flop comes 9 8 8, giving the big stack on the table quads, and busting two of us. When it's your day, it's your day. And when it isn't. Well.
A good start and a good opening table today, which then when sour when card deadness set it, and the crucial flip didn't come good. Another 7-8 hours up in smoke.