My thoughts on the trip (finally!)
I can be (maybe too) honest about stuff, but there it is. In this spirit, off we go...
In a rather uncommon display of time (mis) management, I actually started typing this post way back whilst I was sitting on the tarmac at McCarran on board VS044, awaiting takeoff for my return to London. Leaving Las Vegas prior to the WSOP main event always feels very odd to me. I think I've only done it like, three times in the last 11 years or so, as I normally played in the WSOP main event. However, if nothing else, I'm certainly a man of my word. Work commitments, budgetary considerations, and the life experience not to turn a bad trip into a horrific one were all factors in the decision. Over the years, I've seen guys hanging on by their fingernails trying to do something...anything, that might get their numbers back in the plus column for a trip. Satellites, sports betting, table games, playing way too high in cash, inventing a convincing sob story to tell the backers... it all goes on behind the smoke and mirrors of poker, and will for years to come.
I can be (maybe too) honest about stuff, but there it is. In this spirit, off we go...
In a rather uncommon display of time (mis) management, I actually started typing this post way back whilst I was sitting on the tarmac at McCarran on board VS044, awaiting takeoff for my return to London. Leaving Las Vegas prior to the WSOP main event always feels very odd to me. I think I've only done it like, three times in the last 11 years or so, as I normally played in the WSOP main event. However, if nothing else, I'm certainly a man of my word. Work commitments, budgetary considerations, and the life experience not to turn a bad trip into a horrific one were all factors in the decision. Over the years, I've seen guys hanging on by their fingernails trying to do something...anything, that might get their numbers back in the plus column for a trip. Satellites, sports betting, table games, playing way too high in cash, inventing a convincing sob story to tell the backers... it all goes on behind the smoke and mirrors of poker, and will for years to come.
Whilst life-wise I'm admittedly something of a disaster over the last few years, I'm as always very honest, matter of fact and chilled about the poker aspects of it. Getting upset or crying when you don't win is just a waste of both time and energy. Sure, if you consistently play terribly and dump money in poker then it pretty quickly becomes apparent, people stop investing, you find yourself broke, and obviously it all needs to be addressed. However if you're generally doing the right things and getting it in good more often that you're getting it in bad, then you've a much better life expectancy in the game than most folk, and far more chance of pinging something meaningful when things finally decide to run more favourably for you. That's really the key thing. Maybe the only thing if you're ever going to be successful. Anyway, what do I bloody well know?
Of course some young hot shot with a big mouth or enormous breasts (or occasionally an enormous mouth and big breasts) will sometimes pop up on a TV poker table with a sponsorship patch and their 15 minutes of fame, but time's shown that most of these either fade away when the money dries up, or get dropped like a stone once the novelty factor becomes irritating enough to warrant finally saying goodbye. Don't get me wrong, good luck to them. I don't begrudge anyone taking what's dangled in their face, but time has shown us that most flavours of the month turn sour in the end, either with the public, or with the people controlling the budget. When they show no regard at all for the people around them who have paid a buy in with their own money is I guess where I take exception to some of these people acting like gibbering idiots. Good, solid players with results, track records, and some regard for the ethics of the game and not being a dick to others are always the easy ones to spot, even if these days they are still the exception rather than the rule. Most of these types of players are happy to fly under the radar anyway. We all know people from both extremes of the game I'm sure. Some people don't understand that you can take the game seriously and still have a good time at the table without pissing off half the room.
Of course some young hot shot with a big mouth or enormous breasts (or occasionally an enormous mouth and big breasts) will sometimes pop up on a TV poker table with a sponsorship patch and their 15 minutes of fame, but time's shown that most of these either fade away when the money dries up, or get dropped like a stone once the novelty factor becomes irritating enough to warrant finally saying goodbye. Don't get me wrong, good luck to them. I don't begrudge anyone taking what's dangled in their face, but time has shown us that most flavours of the month turn sour in the end, either with the public, or with the people controlling the budget. When they show no regard at all for the people around them who have paid a buy in with their own money is I guess where I take exception to some of these people acting like gibbering idiots. Good, solid players with results, track records, and some regard for the ethics of the game and not being a dick to others are always the easy ones to spot, even if these days they are still the exception rather than the rule. Most of these types of players are happy to fly under the radar anyway. We all know people from both extremes of the game I'm sure. Some people don't understand that you can take the game seriously and still have a good time at the table without pissing off half the room.
I've had a fair amount of feedback the last few weeks on the trip. Most of it as always positive or constructive. If some didn't agree with all decisions I made regarding certain hands or strategies, at the least they were savvy enough to generally understand why I did certain things when I did them. This is no bad thing. I get a good amount of messages from people who have invested, and also from people who simply read the site, and like to be more immersed in what's happening.
I've been a bit lax with doing this epilogue post after shipping out following the Wynn main. This piece started in the USA, and never actually got finished until now! Apologies for that. I had a number of loose ends to tie up during my final few days in town, and upon returning to the UK, I went straight back to work the following day. Odd that after almost two years back in the rat race, doing that still always feels totally alien to me. However, I got on with it and after some sporadic sleep patterns (weird that I always slept better when my body clock was all over the place due to poker), I'm now largely back in the swing of things and plotting my next moves. Just to be unconventional as always, I can honestly say that results or not, I came away from this trip feeling more positive about things than ever before. Figure that one out!
I'm lucky to have some very good and supportive friends, in amongst some of the horrific life-choices I've made in the last 10 years or so! This doesn't even involve money, just that in a world where my experiences means I firmly believe that most people just suck (don't even get me started on the poker people!) I've gotten lucky with a select few, and they are greatly encouraging to know, and fun to spend time around. On this trip I did manage the occasional bit of R & R away from the poker, and the ones here I caught up with were, as always great to see and good for the soul in the form of chats, laughs, shared experiences, and all around good times. A special mention must go to my Las Vegas pal Gary, who was kind enough to give me a place to stay in his home whilst I was here, and to his two amazing dogs, who were a massive source of comfort and good energy whenever I was lucky enough to grab some down time here away from the tables. He even managed to round up some pals for a little surprise party for me, for which I was grateful and genuinely touched. I have a pretty good radar for weeding out shitty people I encounter (OK if they have a pretty smile and a nice butt my radar goes all to shit but let's get past that), but I truly do value the good people I meet along the way, and Gary is one of them. I am very moved by the kindness shown, even if it was normally peppered with sarcasm. I wouldn't have it any other way, as you all know.
I've been a bit lax with doing this epilogue post after shipping out following the Wynn main. This piece started in the USA, and never actually got finished until now! Apologies for that. I had a number of loose ends to tie up during my final few days in town, and upon returning to the UK, I went straight back to work the following day. Odd that after almost two years back in the rat race, doing that still always feels totally alien to me. However, I got on with it and after some sporadic sleep patterns (weird that I always slept better when my body clock was all over the place due to poker), I'm now largely back in the swing of things and plotting my next moves. Just to be unconventional as always, I can honestly say that results or not, I came away from this trip feeling more positive about things than ever before. Figure that one out!
I'm lucky to have some very good and supportive friends, in amongst some of the horrific life-choices I've made in the last 10 years or so! This doesn't even involve money, just that in a world where my experiences means I firmly believe that most people just suck (don't even get me started on the poker people!) I've gotten lucky with a select few, and they are greatly encouraging to know, and fun to spend time around. On this trip I did manage the occasional bit of R & R away from the poker, and the ones here I caught up with were, as always great to see and good for the soul in the form of chats, laughs, shared experiences, and all around good times. A special mention must go to my Las Vegas pal Gary, who was kind enough to give me a place to stay in his home whilst I was here, and to his two amazing dogs, who were a massive source of comfort and good energy whenever I was lucky enough to grab some down time here away from the tables. He even managed to round up some pals for a little surprise party for me, for which I was grateful and genuinely touched. I have a pretty good radar for weeding out shitty people I encounter (OK if they have a pretty smile and a nice butt my radar goes all to shit but let's get past that), but I truly do value the good people I meet along the way, and Gary is one of them. I am very moved by the kindness shown, even if it was normally peppered with sarcasm. I wouldn't have it any other way, as you all know.
Had it been possible, I'd have quite happily stayed out in Las Vegas for another 4-5 weeks or so and just continued playing. The only reason this didn't happen is because I have a job, and telling your boss that you've just decided to take a two month extended vacation instead of a three week one pretty much guarantees you likely won't have the same job when you return home, sympathetic and understanding employers or not. The Venetian still had a ton of great events to come, and the less than stellar nature of our Summer junket not withstanding, I was generally very happy with how I was playing, and also proved to myself I was still very tuned in to what was going on around me. Of course all the poker people reading know that you can feel 100% on top of your game, and still hit the crossbar in tournaments 20, 50, even 100 times in a row. You either choose to embrace and accept this, or tie yourself up in knots wringing your hands and bleating about how unfair it all is on you. A couple of pals of mine hit very respectable five figure scores, one of them pretty much as soon as he landed in his first event! Not to take a thing away from these guys (they're both very capable players) but sometimes the planets do just have to line up for you and if you're ALSO playing well and have a prevailing wind, then suddenly you can be quids in, and the whole complexion of the trip is totally different. If it doesn't happen you regroup and just get ready for the next one, or you let it eat you alive. I'll leave you to work out which is the better approach.
I've talked before about how some people still seem to think poker is a lot tougher now, and how it's been almost "solved" by the smart kids with their VPIP's, slide rules, stack to pot ratios, and sample sizes. I still largely disagree with this (sure, I'm in the minority but what's new?), and if the Summer trip showed me anything, it's that I feel the standard in general in tournaments has actually gotten worse again. by which I mean to say that people are thinking much less, and just acting based on whatever they believe their (frequently flawed) maths tells them they should do. Someone the other day actually said to me "I only had 12 big blinds so obviously I had to get it in"' I still completely disagree with this strategy (although of course as we know, I can quite happily get in 22 bigs with something very sketchy indeed, but that's another story). At the end of the day, we're both out of the event, so who's to say that maybe I'm not wrong?
The standard in the slightly bigger buy-in events wasn't in any way tougher. Maybe with the poker economy, people are nowadays just as likely to flick it all in during a $1600 event as in a $400 one. I saw more than enough play to convince me very firmly that there's still great value in these things, even with increased juice, and the eagerness of casinos to have flatter payout structures, meaning more people will often at least get their money back, and thus come back another time to pay a hefty reg fee.
The standard in the slightly bigger buy-in events wasn't in any way tougher. Maybe with the poker economy, people are nowadays just as likely to flick it all in during a $1600 event as in a $400 one. I saw more than enough play to convince me very firmly that there's still great value in these things, even with increased juice, and the eagerness of casinos to have flatter payout structures, meaning more people will often at least get their money back, and thus come back another time to pay a hefty reg fee.
I've pretty much already made the promise to myself that I'm playing the main event next year whatever happens. There's simply too much value in that one tournament not to be in it if you're serious about poker. I haven't played it on either this trip or the one last summer, purely as with a very limited window of working holiday time (oxymoron alert), I couldn't in all conscience put all (or most) of my eggs in one basket and end up playing say just one to five events including the main. Irrespective of the results. it's just not a fair shake to either myself or to investors (unless of course you end up winning the damn thing). However, the value in the main is still as massive as always, and I won't lie, the part of the trip that stung the most this year was flying home just as some of my friends were flying out to Las Vegas to buy in and play it. Ho hum. Them's the breaks of choosing to work for the man. I had a cry and got back to reality. Though I have a lot less freedom to play poker nowadays, playing full time again is something that really does not appeal to me any more. It's not a great life, even when you win.
I've got an awful lot of options going onward. The job still pays the bills. The real life-stuff for me is (very slowly) becoming less stressful and cluttered, and for the first time in quite a while I'm starting to make some positive plans for the future in my personal (non poker) life. It's just possible there may be some kind of a life-shift coming in the next 12 months or so, though currently I'm not totally sure what that will be! I have several directions in which to go luckily, and to be completely honest, whilst this is a good and exciting thing, I'm not about to blunder haphazardly into a totally new and unknown life without making some plans or doing a decent bit of research. I do know that whichever way the road goes, some poker will certainly be a factor of it, so you'll of course be among the first to hear about any new developments. Now don't you all feel special? :)
I've got an awful lot of options going onward. The job still pays the bills. The real life-stuff for me is (very slowly) becoming less stressful and cluttered, and for the first time in quite a while I'm starting to make some positive plans for the future in my personal (non poker) life. It's just possible there may be some kind of a life-shift coming in the next 12 months or so, though currently I'm not totally sure what that will be! I have several directions in which to go luckily, and to be completely honest, whilst this is a good and exciting thing, I'm not about to blunder haphazardly into a totally new and unknown life without making some plans or doing a decent bit of research. I do know that whichever way the road goes, some poker will certainly be a factor of it, so you'll of course be among the first to hear about any new developments. Now don't you all feel special? :)
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