And now...the end is near..and so I face...the final curtain...
Sorry. I was just singing to myself.
Today is the last hurrah, at least on the staked part of the trip. It's the final Wynn $550 event. No guarantee and only one start day but I'd still expect some good numbers player-wise. Kicking off soon. Updates to follow.
Midway into level 2 and not a lot to report with around 110 players at present. A few friendly faces, and a few who seem fairly adamant that they're absolutely not going to have too much fun today. I'm currently making it 325 almost every hand to loosen them up a little bit.
Well they've certainly loosened up. In fact most raises by me are being called in 3 or 4 spots. This is OK, it's kind of what I want. We just need part two of the plan to fall into place now.
Guess what? We just got our aces smashed by a gutshot. Then some fancy footwork got it all back again in 3 hands.
Starting stack again at the break after a turbulent 3 levels. A few people joining in with the good natured hi-jinks, and at least one determined to send the message that he has absolutely no sense of humour whatsoever specifically where I'm concerned. I guess it takes all sorts which is why we love the variety of the game. I try to rise above it and stay positive and upbeat.
"Gee buddy, you seem to get aces a lot!"
I think my problem is, I just don't know how to play them properly. I just shoved allin on a preflop 5-bet, and the guy with KK duly obliged with a call. He flopped a king immediately, and turned a boat just to show me I'm out of my class in a 28k pot. I'm reduced to dust and on the second bullet on a new table. I'm not a believer in luck per se, but the number of times I've lost with aces on this trip should pretty much guarantee me at least 2 WSOP bracelets later this summer if folklore is anything to go by.
Actually, that's not strictly true. I've had them three times already today so far, and the first time I won about 800 with them, and lost two huge pots, so I guess it's 1 in 3 discounting the actual chip win/loss amounts of course.
Poker's most certainly changed that's for sure. On my new table a guy's just called a pretty chunky preflop raise with Jc 4c. He flopped bottom pair (4's) and called down the guy with top set all the way, who bet the absolute living crap out of it on every street, only to see his opponent river a backdoor flush. It's good to see at the table when you're not the casualty, but reinforces my belief of the wonderful value to be had in even some of the bigger buy-in tournaments.
I most certainly don't subscribe to all this "he played that hand all wrong/he wasn't getting the odds/how could he call/he's a donkey/he should have bet 3.2x the bb" bullshit that the kids love to toss around to their friends at the table, normally within direct earshot of the guy who just made the play in the hand in question as if he isn't even there. It's rude,crass and classless, and shows a fundamental lack of understanding of almost everything about real poker, and behaving like a real human being. I'm clearly in the minority though, so I'll button my lip (I obviously don't say any of this at the table despite encountering it every single day) and let them just get on with it. Ultimately educating people in poker really isn't something I encourage, unless it's maybe teaching them how to wash or tip their servers properly.
Level 5 and I'm on 15k. Flopped a boat and got zero action. Marvellous.
Been up and down and up and down again, but just going into level 7 I'm on 19k. 156 players total and 90 left. Average says around 26k.
Despite being a bit low on the average, and doing the second bullet, and having a bad trip, and not cashing once, and getting my aces smashed a ridiculous amount of times, and witnessing some real poker unpleasantness, I'm feeling good. Yes. You heard me. Good.
I'm playing my natural game and doing my thing. getting people talking, inducing some bad decisions in others at the table, generally promoting a good vibe, and very much playing by feel totally, which to me is what poker really should be, and is why I feel I've been successful at times in events like this. Awareness of what's going on is key, and reading the actual situation over what someone is trying to sell you at the time often means the difference between a big stack and being out. I'm writing this on the break in case you wondered, and my updates are sometimes sparse because I'm soaking up what's going on at the table to utilise later. Still going in this and of course I don't want to bust, but I'm very happy with where my mind and my game are right now. We'll just have to see what ideas fate has.
It's ye olde laugh riot.
Fate just had the idea for me to get KK and run it into 888 on a Jack high flop, 30k pot leaves me on 5k.
Found AK and jammed to a small raise, got called...by AK, and we chop. People love to call with AK in these things which I always find somewhat baffling, but to be fair I was low chips so can't blame him for giving me a spin.
I've battled away like a trooper, only to fold a flopped low straight when the upward extensions came and 2 people went to war ahead of me, and had a small victory when my 88 induced a river bluff from 44, can't get over 6k after the KK disaster. Hanging in there.
Sorry if people were hanging on my every word waiting for glorious news of a comeback. I played the button aggressively and got back to 8k, then lost a lump when I reraised with QQ preflop and the first card out was an ace, chopping me back to 4k. At 300/600 I decided to make a stand with 7h5h, and he decided that he wasn't folding his AK. ironically I flopped a gutshot draw and felt optimistic about winning something, and the board blanked and ace high won the pot. That's the end of that.
Disappointed with the results on the trip of course, but also philosophical about things and not overly upset with my play in any of the events. I'll write more on it later as I have more to write but for now that's that on the Wynn Classic. Once again I'd like to thank the people who've been very supportive of both the website and of this particular trip, for the messages and encouragement. Sorry it seemed to be against me this time, but hopefully I'm saving up the goods for June and the WSOP.
Sorry. I was just singing to myself.
Today is the last hurrah, at least on the staked part of the trip. It's the final Wynn $550 event. No guarantee and only one start day but I'd still expect some good numbers player-wise. Kicking off soon. Updates to follow.
Midway into level 2 and not a lot to report with around 110 players at present. A few friendly faces, and a few who seem fairly adamant that they're absolutely not going to have too much fun today. I'm currently making it 325 almost every hand to loosen them up a little bit.
Well they've certainly loosened up. In fact most raises by me are being called in 3 or 4 spots. This is OK, it's kind of what I want. We just need part two of the plan to fall into place now.
Guess what? We just got our aces smashed by a gutshot. Then some fancy footwork got it all back again in 3 hands.
Starting stack again at the break after a turbulent 3 levels. A few people joining in with the good natured hi-jinks, and at least one determined to send the message that he has absolutely no sense of humour whatsoever specifically where I'm concerned. I guess it takes all sorts which is why we love the variety of the game. I try to rise above it and stay positive and upbeat.
"Gee buddy, you seem to get aces a lot!"
I think my problem is, I just don't know how to play them properly. I just shoved allin on a preflop 5-bet, and the guy with KK duly obliged with a call. He flopped a king immediately, and turned a boat just to show me I'm out of my class in a 28k pot. I'm reduced to dust and on the second bullet on a new table. I'm not a believer in luck per se, but the number of times I've lost with aces on this trip should pretty much guarantee me at least 2 WSOP bracelets later this summer if folklore is anything to go by.
Actually, that's not strictly true. I've had them three times already today so far, and the first time I won about 800 with them, and lost two huge pots, so I guess it's 1 in 3 discounting the actual chip win/loss amounts of course.
Poker's most certainly changed that's for sure. On my new table a guy's just called a pretty chunky preflop raise with Jc 4c. He flopped bottom pair (4's) and called down the guy with top set all the way, who bet the absolute living crap out of it on every street, only to see his opponent river a backdoor flush. It's good to see at the table when you're not the casualty, but reinforces my belief of the wonderful value to be had in even some of the bigger buy-in tournaments.
I most certainly don't subscribe to all this "he played that hand all wrong/he wasn't getting the odds/how could he call/he's a donkey/he should have bet 3.2x the bb" bullshit that the kids love to toss around to their friends at the table, normally within direct earshot of the guy who just made the play in the hand in question as if he isn't even there. It's rude,crass and classless, and shows a fundamental lack of understanding of almost everything about real poker, and behaving like a real human being. I'm clearly in the minority though, so I'll button my lip (I obviously don't say any of this at the table despite encountering it every single day) and let them just get on with it. Ultimately educating people in poker really isn't something I encourage, unless it's maybe teaching them how to wash or tip their servers properly.
Level 5 and I'm on 15k. Flopped a boat and got zero action. Marvellous.
Been up and down and up and down again, but just going into level 7 I'm on 19k. 156 players total and 90 left. Average says around 26k.
Despite being a bit low on the average, and doing the second bullet, and having a bad trip, and not cashing once, and getting my aces smashed a ridiculous amount of times, and witnessing some real poker unpleasantness, I'm feeling good. Yes. You heard me. Good.
I'm playing my natural game and doing my thing. getting people talking, inducing some bad decisions in others at the table, generally promoting a good vibe, and very much playing by feel totally, which to me is what poker really should be, and is why I feel I've been successful at times in events like this. Awareness of what's going on is key, and reading the actual situation over what someone is trying to sell you at the time often means the difference between a big stack and being out. I'm writing this on the break in case you wondered, and my updates are sometimes sparse because I'm soaking up what's going on at the table to utilise later. Still going in this and of course I don't want to bust, but I'm very happy with where my mind and my game are right now. We'll just have to see what ideas fate has.
It's ye olde laugh riot.
Fate just had the idea for me to get KK and run it into 888 on a Jack high flop, 30k pot leaves me on 5k.
Found AK and jammed to a small raise, got called...by AK, and we chop. People love to call with AK in these things which I always find somewhat baffling, but to be fair I was low chips so can't blame him for giving me a spin.
I've battled away like a trooper, only to fold a flopped low straight when the upward extensions came and 2 people went to war ahead of me, and had a small victory when my 88 induced a river bluff from 44, can't get over 6k after the KK disaster. Hanging in there.
Sorry if people were hanging on my every word waiting for glorious news of a comeback. I played the button aggressively and got back to 8k, then lost a lump when I reraised with QQ preflop and the first card out was an ace, chopping me back to 4k. At 300/600 I decided to make a stand with 7h5h, and he decided that he wasn't folding his AK. ironically I flopped a gutshot draw and felt optimistic about winning something, and the board blanked and ace high won the pot. That's the end of that.
Disappointed with the results on the trip of course, but also philosophical about things and not overly upset with my play in any of the events. I'll write more on it later as I have more to write but for now that's that on the Wynn Classic. Once again I'd like to thank the people who've been very supportive of both the website and of this particular trip, for the messages and encouragement. Sorry it seemed to be against me this time, but hopefully I'm saving up the goods for June and the WSOP.
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