If that doesn't happen right off the bat, then I'll settle for making the first break.
Kick-off for event 1 of our little campaign is in just under 3 hours. Watch this space. And the space underneath this space. And so on.
Kick-off for event 1 of our little campaign is in just under 3 hours. Watch this space. And the space underneath this space. And so on.
Off we plod. Won a couple, lost a couple. Few familiar faces on the table. No early heroics.
We started with 4500 chips. After playing about 5 pots I'm down to 3475. Clearly I'm going to have to go all in shortly.
We've reached the giddy heights of level 2. We've rocketed up to 5250, which probably means I'm chip leader in the whole room.
No longer chip leader, just got rivered and back to 4k. Ho hum.about 1900 entrants so far.
A smattering of news, some good, some bad.
The bad news kicks off with me now having 2k, under half my starting stack. Firstly I got my two pair rivered by the wheel, then I got a superb drawing hand that went sour. I'm not a big fan of draws early in tournaments, but on this occasion I had 2 overs to the flop, with a flush draw,turned a double gutshot as well, and bricked everything on the end. The old guy with bottom set wasn't going away. I probably don't blame him.
The good news is were at the first 20 min break. I'm outside, it's nice and sunny with a gentle breeze.
The other bit of good news is the start table is pretty good. A few move makers, 3 or 4 guys who played in the seniors event, and me. Reasonable mix. We've lost one player so far.
Next bit of good news is the structure is excellent, which a lot of people really don't get. I'd rather not be on 2k, but I'm also not climbing the walls looking for a spot to shove.
A few faces have come and gone. I won the first small pot returning from the break, now just exercising some of that good old fashioned discipline and patience I'm supposed to possess.
There's a few people here on the table who can clearly play poker and understand situations. One guy just check called all the way with aces, and won a small pot, but was probably correct in doing so given the vibe of the hand. Another guy just got 4k in with top pair top kicker like he'd flopped quads. Let's sit and see if someone want to pay me.
2/3 of my original stack is in the dust. As I've said in the past, defensive poker is pretty horrible to have to play. I'd rather be aggressive, even with a short but still potentially dangerous stack. Generally in this spot my choice would be avoid at all costs getting whittled down to nothing, but more sensibly to wait for a good spot, play it like the clappers and hope to either get it through uncalled, or get a double up by virtue of having the best hand to begin with. There are 2 weak players here who would call pretty light if they'd put anything at all in the pot to begin with. I can type right now because sitting and waiting for a playable hand gives you the luxury of a bit of spare time.
We started with 4500 chips. After playing about 5 pots I'm down to 3475. Clearly I'm going to have to go all in shortly.
We've reached the giddy heights of level 2. We've rocketed up to 5250, which probably means I'm chip leader in the whole room.
No longer chip leader, just got rivered and back to 4k. Ho hum.about 1900 entrants so far.
A smattering of news, some good, some bad.
The bad news kicks off with me now having 2k, under half my starting stack. Firstly I got my two pair rivered by the wheel, then I got a superb drawing hand that went sour. I'm not a big fan of draws early in tournaments, but on this occasion I had 2 overs to the flop, with a flush draw,turned a double gutshot as well, and bricked everything on the end. The old guy with bottom set wasn't going away. I probably don't blame him.
The good news is were at the first 20 min break. I'm outside, it's nice and sunny with a gentle breeze.
The other bit of good news is the start table is pretty good. A few move makers, 3 or 4 guys who played in the seniors event, and me. Reasonable mix. We've lost one player so far.
Next bit of good news is the structure is excellent, which a lot of people really don't get. I'd rather not be on 2k, but I'm also not climbing the walls looking for a spot to shove.
A few faces have come and gone. I won the first small pot returning from the break, now just exercising some of that good old fashioned discipline and patience I'm supposed to possess.
There's a few people here on the table who can clearly play poker and understand situations. One guy just check called all the way with aces, and won a small pot, but was probably correct in doing so given the vibe of the hand. Another guy just got 4k in with top pair top kicker like he'd flopped quads. Let's sit and see if someone want to pay me.
2/3 of my original stack is in the dust. As I've said in the past, defensive poker is pretty horrible to have to play. I'd rather be aggressive, even with a short but still potentially dangerous stack. Generally in this spot my choice would be avoid at all costs getting whittled down to nothing, but more sensibly to wait for a good spot, play it like the clappers and hope to either get it through uncalled, or get a double up by virtue of having the best hand to begin with. There are 2 weak players here who would call pretty light if they'd put anything at all in the pot to begin with. I can type right now because sitting and waiting for a playable hand gives you the luxury of a bit of spare time.
This was the kind of chip stack at this stage that I really didn't want to see.
Luckily for me the next hand I played pocket 3's like they were aces, and got a full double up from AK when I flopped a three and no horror stories. Still short but I can always stand on tiptoes.
Luckily for me the next hand I played pocket 3's like they were aces, and got a full double up from AK when I flopped a three and no horror stories. Still short but I can always stand on tiptoes.
The before and after shots.
Clearly I need to drink more flavoured water also, the observant reader will note.
My paltry 1050 is now over 6000 due to some fancy footwork and solid poker starting hands. I won't congratulate myself too much just yet. We're at around 2000 entries today and most of them haven't come to fold. Crash helmet on and keep going.
Break time. End of level 4.
Who says my stakers don't get a bit of adrenaline for their buck? I'm now on 9k thanks to some Jedi mind tricks and a soul read that was bloody uncomfortable to put it mildly. I slow played KK, and let a guy fire at it on every street. Sadly the board ran out an alarming 3,57,8,9. Now he decided he wants to pull the trigger for 1700 on the river after betting small the whole way. Sigh call. He rolls over 10 3. Good for the blood pressure this knowing your players lark.
Last hand before the break I've tried a small steal with K7 suited in position. A pretty inactive player calls, and leads out on a K63 rainbow flop. Fold. He shows me KJ. Nice when you're right. Off for a few minutes of sun worshipping outside.
Just coming to the end of level 5 and little to report. I've dropped back to 7500 or so, which is still fine (or fantastic depending on where I was 2 hours ago). Lost a few on the table, and about 4 or 5 of the players are the internet-esque min-bet merchants that populate poker these days, a bit like an infection of sorts. When the stacks are plenty deep I literally love playing these guys all day long. A lot of them massively overvalue hands like one pair, and though the fact they apply constant pressure is good for their game as a whole, I find them pretty easy to play against in later stages, as long as you can get to the later stages of course. Right now I'm still plodding. Next level is 100/200/25 then a 90 min dinner break, so let's see how it unfolds.
Argh. Just walked into KK, now back down to 4k. Immediately ran it back up to 6k again.
Sitting on 5500 which isn't great but is OK for this level of blinds. The aggression has hotted up a bit on this table. A lot of people happy to ship with AK or a pair, regardless of stack sizes. All good. Dinner break in 20 minutes, and from 2041 starters we're already down to 860. In theory well over halfway to our first bracelet then. That's how I've decided to view it.
Well folks, we've made our first dinner break of the WSOP. Just over 5000 chips. Back in 90 minutes or so.
Back from the break, and 2 orbits of the table resulted in not much happening and me bleeding some chips. The final player count after the break is now 2086, of which 790 still remain. Am still thinking to proceed with caution.
In general the table chat has been good natured and lively today. I haven't posted for a bit as my iPad battery power isn't great but also there's been nothing of note to say. Dwindling down a bit and not catching any playable hands. I almost jammed a moment ago on a serial raiser when I had Ks8s. He min raised, then got repopped by the guy in between us, so I went away. Serial raiser AA. Guy making a stand 44. Flop A49 2 spades. Timing is everything then. I dodged a bullet when the flush didn't materialise anyway and the set of 4's busted.
Wait for a hand instead, and play it strong.
Poker can be wonderfully fickle at times. I have 4200 left at 200/400/50 and find JJ. The same serial raiser as before makes it 900 and this time I do jam on him. He sigh calls and turns over Ac 10c, flops a flush draw, and rivers a club to end my first tournament of the trip.
First event I finish 660th from 2086. Happy with the way I played today, but obviously would rather a better outcome and no flush on the river. Shrug it off and stay positive, onto tomorrow's $1k event.
Hope the updates were popular. Drop me a line and let me know. Same time tomorrow. Off to bed.
Clearly I need to drink more flavoured water also, the observant reader will note.
My paltry 1050 is now over 6000 due to some fancy footwork and solid poker starting hands. I won't congratulate myself too much just yet. We're at around 2000 entries today and most of them haven't come to fold. Crash helmet on and keep going.
Break time. End of level 4.
Who says my stakers don't get a bit of adrenaline for their buck? I'm now on 9k thanks to some Jedi mind tricks and a soul read that was bloody uncomfortable to put it mildly. I slow played KK, and let a guy fire at it on every street. Sadly the board ran out an alarming 3,57,8,9. Now he decided he wants to pull the trigger for 1700 on the river after betting small the whole way. Sigh call. He rolls over 10 3. Good for the blood pressure this knowing your players lark.
Last hand before the break I've tried a small steal with K7 suited in position. A pretty inactive player calls, and leads out on a K63 rainbow flop. Fold. He shows me KJ. Nice when you're right. Off for a few minutes of sun worshipping outside.
Just coming to the end of level 5 and little to report. I've dropped back to 7500 or so, which is still fine (or fantastic depending on where I was 2 hours ago). Lost a few on the table, and about 4 or 5 of the players are the internet-esque min-bet merchants that populate poker these days, a bit like an infection of sorts. When the stacks are plenty deep I literally love playing these guys all day long. A lot of them massively overvalue hands like one pair, and though the fact they apply constant pressure is good for their game as a whole, I find them pretty easy to play against in later stages, as long as you can get to the later stages of course. Right now I'm still plodding. Next level is 100/200/25 then a 90 min dinner break, so let's see how it unfolds.
Argh. Just walked into KK, now back down to 4k. Immediately ran it back up to 6k again.
Sitting on 5500 which isn't great but is OK for this level of blinds. The aggression has hotted up a bit on this table. A lot of people happy to ship with AK or a pair, regardless of stack sizes. All good. Dinner break in 20 minutes, and from 2041 starters we're already down to 860. In theory well over halfway to our first bracelet then. That's how I've decided to view it.
Well folks, we've made our first dinner break of the WSOP. Just over 5000 chips. Back in 90 minutes or so.
Back from the break, and 2 orbits of the table resulted in not much happening and me bleeding some chips. The final player count after the break is now 2086, of which 790 still remain. Am still thinking to proceed with caution.
In general the table chat has been good natured and lively today. I haven't posted for a bit as my iPad battery power isn't great but also there's been nothing of note to say. Dwindling down a bit and not catching any playable hands. I almost jammed a moment ago on a serial raiser when I had Ks8s. He min raised, then got repopped by the guy in between us, so I went away. Serial raiser AA. Guy making a stand 44. Flop A49 2 spades. Timing is everything then. I dodged a bullet when the flush didn't materialise anyway and the set of 4's busted.
Wait for a hand instead, and play it strong.
Poker can be wonderfully fickle at times. I have 4200 left at 200/400/50 and find JJ. The same serial raiser as before makes it 900 and this time I do jam on him. He sigh calls and turns over Ac 10c, flops a flush draw, and rivers a club to end my first tournament of the trip.
First event I finish 660th from 2086. Happy with the way I played today, but obviously would rather a better outcome and no flush on the river. Shrug it off and stay positive, onto tomorrow's $1k event.
Hope the updates were popular. Drop me a line and let me know. Same time tomorrow. Off to bed.
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