Lay in the weeds for now and play ABC.
Glad I did my research. My table broke after 5 hands. Now in Brasilia and down to 10k surrounded by big stacks.
One hour levels today instead of 40 mins. Cost of a round is expensive in relation to my chipstack, so I'm likely going to have to go for the double up very soon indeed.
Play is FAST. I'm down to 6k without seeing any hands at all.
The event numbers just finally got announced. 22,372 total players, 2241 get paid. Winner gets over 600k. All this is irrelevant right now for me, I just need a hand!
Don't really want to be going out with a whimper, but I really do need to shove...now.
He has AK. First card on flop is an ace. Then two rags.
Turn is a queen. Stand up and grab my bag.
River is a jack. Life.
Back in the hunt on 12500 again. The pace is still pretty fast so I'm certainly not in the clear yet.
Down to 9k, I decide I can't let myself get anted away...I find KJ off and make it 3900 with blinds at 800/1600/200. All fold to the big blind, a large, unhappy looking guy with a fairly big stack. He moves me in with an air that he has no respect for the raise, and though I'm not in love with it I decide that now is the moment to go with it.
He flips 65 offsuit over. A dogshit hand, but I still have to fade it.
We both miss everything but the turn brings 3 diamonds. We both have a diamond so I have him outkicked when....
The river gives us both a flush. Suddenly I'm on my tournament highspot of 19,000 :o)
Table breaks... Yet again!!!
Move to my new table and start arranging chips. It's level 13 and 800/1600/200. Under the gun limps...middle position guy makes it 4200. There's a nice amount in the middle. I look down and find what I'd call a good re raising hand. I obviously can't go into too much detail since people I'm playing with are reading this, but anyway I decide I've had enough and I ship the lot in, being more concerned about the limper than the raiser.
Limper asks for a count and folds.
Raiser dwells for 2 minutes then copies the limper.
Huzzah. From fumes back to a pretty respectable and high point of 27,500.
They stopped play in the event for about 15 minutes...they didn't tell us why, and they STILL haven't told us what's going on regarding the number of players left in. I appreciate what a logistical nightmare this is to run, however that bit of info is at least pretty important for the players to know. So on that level this counts as something of a fuck up.
I've hit 32k. They've just sent us on a 20 min break early, and promised to have accurate numbers upon our return.
Back from the break. Jack Effel is giving out a ton of waffle, but essentially the gist is that they've crunched all the numbers, and we're now FIVE places off the money. There are over 224 tables still active, and we're all playing hand for hand. Nothing more needs to be said right now. The poker people reading this understand only too well what's going on.
And on the first hand for hand we lost 9 players...so I'm in the money in my first WSOP event of the summer . Oddly I'm not overly excited, although it is of course always nice to get a WSOP cash. On a personal note however I am quietly pleased though. This cash finally pushes me over the edge, and I've now officially won over $1 million playing live poker tournaments. I guess I must have done something right a few times.
Feeling much better in my zone right now, and I've allowed myself to open up a little. So far it's working and I'm up to 40k.
20 mins remain in level 14 which is 1000/2000/300. I'm back to 34,000, and we get down to 1932 players pretty fast once the bubble burst.
Level 15 and its 1200/2400/400. Starting to bite again. I'm on 30k.
Argh. Card dead. 25k. Breathe. 1600 players left, which strangely feels like we're close to the conclusion of the tournament, since over 22,000 of us started. Weird huh? I'm bleeding dry slowly, but still staying disciplined enough not to waste a chip.
Just paid off. A bit of fortuitously timed raising and I'm back on 30k. 1500 players left.
Key hand alert you crazy kids.
I played a few pots and was on about 29-30k. I found JJ and there was a limp and a raise. I decided that this was the moment to get into it. I shove and the limper folds, the raiser calls and tables AQ. The board runs out all rags, I just have him covered,and suddenly I'm on 71,500. Personal best!
Short lived.
I raise with 77, and the short stacked big blind jams 20k. He's jammed earlier with Q3 off and I'm not in love but I decide to take a shot.
He shows aces. Marvellous. No help for me and I'm down to 50k at the next 20 min break. Screen shows 1275 players remaining.
Back from break and down to 36k. Had to put down AJs to a reraise that looked precisely like it was supposed to illicit either a call or a shove. Maybe an error to fold but it was going to be for all the chips and I wasn't feeling it so I went away. Onward we go.
Getting shorter again, so raise round the back with an ace. Asian woman in the big blind who has been fascinated with how the giraffe changes colours decides to see a flop. The pot is pretty big. Once I squeeze out the other card I find it's the 4d, giving me Ad4d. The flop is jack high, with 2 diamonds. I open ship. She almost beats me to the middle with...J9.
I river the flush. Aaaahhhhh....
Back to a healthier 74k. 1080 players left and 18 mins left on level 16.
Finally we're showing under 1000 players. Level up in 3 minutes and I'm on about 65,000. Blinds are about to be 2000/4000/500. Even at this stage I've seen some pretty shocking play. Trying to tiptoe through the minefield right now as we approach level 17.
Little to report except I've had a few hands that I've just binned because the situation didn't feel right, and AQ which I just mucked and would've tripled up through JJ and AK. Maybe I should play worse sometimes. 905 left.
My table just broke and I'm on a new one surrounded by big stacks and new faces. 840 remain.
Made the last break of the day with 41k. Pretty card dead apart from one middle pair I had to fold because of too much action. Had I been stubborn I'd have rivered a boat and tripled up. Meh.
810 remain and we come back on 2500/5000/500. Serious stuff. Lap of the gods and all that. Whatever happens, I'm happy with the way I've played and with my timing. If anything maybe I update on here too much, but I don't feel I've lost any focus, and it's kept me pretty sharp. Back in a bit. Off to soak up some night desert air.
Back from the break and the numbers have again been adjusted. According to the screens we are down to 760 players. I can't let these blinds go through me too often.
Whittled down to 31k. Six bigs, and the standard open is 10-11k.
I jammed twice and got it through. 51k.
Defended my big blind vs a button raise. He went away. Up again to 67k.
620 players left coming up on the last level of the day, and Kevin has just passed the 100k mark...110k to be precise. On we go!
507 players left and we're dealing the last hand of the day. I look down at K5 off, so I'm finishing day 2 with 111k. Pretty knackered, so I'll type or vid something later. We're back here in 11 hours!
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