Well, I started the day in good spirits. Had a bath. Ran a brush through my hair, another through my teeth, and set off for the Encore to start afresh in my campaign to win something meaningful on this trip.
I decided long ago in poker that a good tournament strategy in general is to make sure you win the first hand that you play once you've sat down. My table in general looks pretty affable, and when I look down at Ad Kd first hand, and there's a raise, I decide to play it fast and repop it preflop. I get a caller and once the dust has cleared on a 45878 board, I lost 20% of my 25k starting stack versus a stubborn and correct QQ who wasn't going anywhere. So much for starting off on the right foot.
Undeterred, I grit my teeth and shrug it off as a minor hiccup. I steal a few small pot during level 1, and get a chunk of it back, starting level 2 on about 22,500, with 380 players in today's flight already.
Level 2, and my perky upbeat and selectively aggressive attitude seems to be working out so far. I get a fortuitous shot in the arm, when a nice elderly Chinese woman joins the table on my right. The blinds are 100/100/200, and with about 1600 in the pot we both take a flop, which comes KQ8 rainbow. She is first to act, and bets out for 16,000 throwing out three 5k chips in the process. My instant gut feeling (though I've said in the past of course that this can also be an angle) is that this is a total misclick on her part, so I respond by shipping my whole stack to the middle. She smiles to herself, and folds. I'd flopped a set, which did make my bet slightly easier in the circumstances, but these Christmas presents don't come up very often, so you have to capitalise on them when you can. She busts shortly afterwards, when her JJ runs into another player's AA, and I'm cruising nicely at the moment on over 40k. Which is nice.
I decided long ago in poker that a good tournament strategy in general is to make sure you win the first hand that you play once you've sat down. My table in general looks pretty affable, and when I look down at Ad Kd first hand, and there's a raise, I decide to play it fast and repop it preflop. I get a caller and once the dust has cleared on a 45878 board, I lost 20% of my 25k starting stack versus a stubborn and correct QQ who wasn't going anywhere. So much for starting off on the right foot.
Undeterred, I grit my teeth and shrug it off as a minor hiccup. I steal a few small pot during level 1, and get a chunk of it back, starting level 2 on about 22,500, with 380 players in today's flight already.
Level 2, and my perky upbeat and selectively aggressive attitude seems to be working out so far. I get a fortuitous shot in the arm, when a nice elderly Chinese woman joins the table on my right. The blinds are 100/100/200, and with about 1600 in the pot we both take a flop, which comes KQ8 rainbow. She is first to act, and bets out for 16,000 throwing out three 5k chips in the process. My instant gut feeling (though I've said in the past of course that this can also be an angle) is that this is a total misclick on her part, so I respond by shipping my whole stack to the middle. She smiles to herself, and folds. I'd flopped a set, which did make my bet slightly easier in the circumstances, but these Christmas presents don't come up very often, so you have to capitalise on them when you can. She busts shortly afterwards, when her JJ runs into another player's AA, and I'm cruising nicely at the moment on over 40k. Which is nice.
As we approach level 4, we have 396/444 in the field at present. I'm still going nicely on 46k, which is 18k above average. Finally, a decent start in one of these things...
First break ends, and I start level 5 on 45k. I feel like I just had something of a bad beat, as I got moved tables in the big blind, so am now facing a new crop of mutants on a fresh table in the main poker room. This sucks a bit, as I was really liking the vibe on my original table. Still, we deal with what we're given, so on I soldier, starting afresh. There are now 477/510 with a monster alternate list still to get through, so this place is an absolute zoo as you might guess. At 300/600/600 and average chips at 27k, I'm still in good shape however.
Up to 686 players now, with more flowing in. This thing is going to be immense. Getting to day 2 with decent chips on minimal bullets would certainly be the goal. At the moment I'm cruising on 63k.
Approaching level 8 now, and the player count is almost on 800. Nothing unremarkable has really happened on my table. I've been working my magic and got most of the table engaged in chat. I've answered questions about the giraffe and the multitude of colours through which it cycles for about what feels like the two millionth time now... I can't complain. It serves as a useful beard for all the other shenanigans I pull at the table, and it's not about to stop anytime soon. We lost one guy, who was nice, but played far too many hands. His chips were up and down for an hour, but eventually he ran out of steam. By and large though, I'm liking my newer table almost as much as the original one.
Approaching the next break, and I've done very little good or bad, and am still on 60k, 11k above the average. Things will start to bite shortly, but as it stands, I'm still cruising nicely.
Another table break, this time to one that appears to consist entirely of unsmiling robots who say nothing at all. Sigh. I guess it was always going to happen at some point. On we plod and we'll just make the best of it. Final number for today looks like a whopping 867 players, of which 12.5% go through, and of which 387 currently still remain.
It's pretty fast and furious as we get into the later levels. We've now lost almost 100 players pretty quickly, and my stack for the first tome in ages is now below the average. I have 60k, and the average is 75k, at 1k/2k/2k. 288 remain, and I find myself yet again on a new table. A few of these guys know me, and at least it seems chatty and good natured. On we go.
Yet another table break... my fifth in this event if I recall. Well, at least I am getting plenty of exercise. We have just hit level 11, and 1500/3k/3k, so 7500 per round is going to see people dropping pretty fast now. Timing and controlled aggression. A hand or two wouldn't hurt now either.
Back up to 65k again, due to some bobbing and weaving, and the odd decent starting hand also, which doesn't hurt. It's like the Wild West here at the moment, with people shoving and dropping out with all sorts. I give a bit back in 2 hands when I let A10 and 66 go to huge reraises preflop, but I'm still motoring for now with 252 players left. This new table doesn't seem big on chat, and when a player goes all in, and the dealer announces the amount when no one has actually asked (a big pet peeve of mine), I need it clarified that he shouldn't be doing it. It's scary that even in events like the WPT, staff still make these basic mistakes, and also (and possibly even worse) don't realise why it's such a big no no to do it, when they might possibly cost someone their whole tournament by their actions.
One guy at the table has big Ali G sunglasses, baseball hat, headphones, a gaudy jacket, and one of the largest, ugliest watches I've ever seen. The full poker kit. We've just hit 2k/4k/4k, and I'm one of the shorter stacks on my table with 45k. So, time to start swinging. 216 players remain.
And swing I do... anyone who says what a fun life a poker player lives clearly hasn't played poker seriously or for a living in any real capacity. Almost 7 hours of ducking and diving, playing well and taking chances... only to look down and find KK and a player in early position raising. There's one caller and my 38k stack is just enough to make anyone taking liberties regret their decision. Sadly, the original raiser has AA, so he doesn't seem in the mood to fold, and busts me in around 190th place, with, i thin 108 going through to day two. It burns a bit to have played well and gone so deep, but that's the life, and them's the breaks. I did nothing wrong today, I just found the perfect hand at the imperfect time. Never mind. I'll take one more shot tomorrow morning for flight 1G.
First break ends, and I start level 5 on 45k. I feel like I just had something of a bad beat, as I got moved tables in the big blind, so am now facing a new crop of mutants on a fresh table in the main poker room. This sucks a bit, as I was really liking the vibe on my original table. Still, we deal with what we're given, so on I soldier, starting afresh. There are now 477/510 with a monster alternate list still to get through, so this place is an absolute zoo as you might guess. At 300/600/600 and average chips at 27k, I'm still in good shape however.
Up to 686 players now, with more flowing in. This thing is going to be immense. Getting to day 2 with decent chips on minimal bullets would certainly be the goal. At the moment I'm cruising on 63k.
Approaching level 8 now, and the player count is almost on 800. Nothing unremarkable has really happened on my table. I've been working my magic and got most of the table engaged in chat. I've answered questions about the giraffe and the multitude of colours through which it cycles for about what feels like the two millionth time now... I can't complain. It serves as a useful beard for all the other shenanigans I pull at the table, and it's not about to stop anytime soon. We lost one guy, who was nice, but played far too many hands. His chips were up and down for an hour, but eventually he ran out of steam. By and large though, I'm liking my newer table almost as much as the original one.
Approaching the next break, and I've done very little good or bad, and am still on 60k, 11k above the average. Things will start to bite shortly, but as it stands, I'm still cruising nicely.
Another table break, this time to one that appears to consist entirely of unsmiling robots who say nothing at all. Sigh. I guess it was always going to happen at some point. On we plod and we'll just make the best of it. Final number for today looks like a whopping 867 players, of which 12.5% go through, and of which 387 currently still remain.
It's pretty fast and furious as we get into the later levels. We've now lost almost 100 players pretty quickly, and my stack for the first tome in ages is now below the average. I have 60k, and the average is 75k, at 1k/2k/2k. 288 remain, and I find myself yet again on a new table. A few of these guys know me, and at least it seems chatty and good natured. On we go.
Yet another table break... my fifth in this event if I recall. Well, at least I am getting plenty of exercise. We have just hit level 11, and 1500/3k/3k, so 7500 per round is going to see people dropping pretty fast now. Timing and controlled aggression. A hand or two wouldn't hurt now either.
Back up to 65k again, due to some bobbing and weaving, and the odd decent starting hand also, which doesn't hurt. It's like the Wild West here at the moment, with people shoving and dropping out with all sorts. I give a bit back in 2 hands when I let A10 and 66 go to huge reraises preflop, but I'm still motoring for now with 252 players left. This new table doesn't seem big on chat, and when a player goes all in, and the dealer announces the amount when no one has actually asked (a big pet peeve of mine), I need it clarified that he shouldn't be doing it. It's scary that even in events like the WPT, staff still make these basic mistakes, and also (and possibly even worse) don't realise why it's such a big no no to do it, when they might possibly cost someone their whole tournament by their actions.
One guy at the table has big Ali G sunglasses, baseball hat, headphones, a gaudy jacket, and one of the largest, ugliest watches I've ever seen. The full poker kit. We've just hit 2k/4k/4k, and I'm one of the shorter stacks on my table with 45k. So, time to start swinging. 216 players remain.
And swing I do... anyone who says what a fun life a poker player lives clearly hasn't played poker seriously or for a living in any real capacity. Almost 7 hours of ducking and diving, playing well and taking chances... only to look down and find KK and a player in early position raising. There's one caller and my 38k stack is just enough to make anyone taking liberties regret their decision. Sadly, the original raiser has AA, so he doesn't seem in the mood to fold, and busts me in around 190th place, with, i thin 108 going through to day two. It burns a bit to have played well and gone so deep, but that's the life, and them's the breaks. I did nothing wrong today, I just found the perfect hand at the imperfect time. Never mind. I'll take one more shot tomorrow morning for flight 1G.