First hurdle of the day overcame. It took a good 25 minutes to find a parking spot. Wynn resorts said they have no plans to charge for parking like some of the other casinos anytime soon. I think potentially they may be telling um... a lie. We shall see.
Sigh. My amazing run turns to matchsticks again when I play a hand about as well as I possibly can and get shafted for my trouble.
I raise with 99 and a Scottish kid who just joined the table calls. Flop 9 10 J, not bad at all. He bets out and I raise him, he calls.
Turn is another Jack. Bingo. I have 9's full. Now to get paid.
I bet small, he raises, now I make a massive overshove. There's a bit of good natured dialogue, and I get him to sigh call all-in.
He flips over AJ, shakes his head in defeat, and promptly rivers an Ace to make Jacks full. Ugh, that just chopped me back to 32K.
Sigh. Suck it up and just keep going.
450 entrants today and counting, and we're at level 5 which is 50/150/300. Still a good table and I'm feeling great. Let's run it up.
Level 6 and I've lost every hand I've played since my nines full horror. Luckily I haven't played too many. 36K and the average is around 21K so no stress. We're at 50/200/400. A few guys on the table seriously over value their hands preflop so hopefully I can take advantage as time goes on.
Got back up to around 41K at the next break following the earlier ugly wobble. Plenty of chips on the table to be had, I just have to choose my battles and not get unlucky.
Level up to 75/300/600. The screen shows 360 players remaining in today's flight from 604 players who started. This will be combined with yesterday's (day 1A) numbers to probably make around 1000 players overall.
One of the guys I knew would dust off most of his stack just did so as predicted, sadly to one of the better players at the table. He tried bluffing off his stack with KQ (nothing) on the river, and got snap called by 99 which was good. This guy will be out soon. He's in position behind me so I'm not giving him a chance to reshove on any of my light opens.
Pretty girl at the table just decided to shove 10K or so under the gun with 77, and found herself getting called by the Frenchman on my right with KK. An immediate 7 in the window chops him down and builds her up, which based on previous play seen here is good news on both counts.
Colour up break. Am back to 35K after finding a guy who won't fold preflop. He'll fit right in here.
Level up to 75/300/600. The screen shows 360 players remaining in today's flight from 604 players who started. This will be combined with yesterday's (day 1A) numbers to probably make around 1000 players overall.
One of the guys I knew would dust off most of his stack just did so as predicted, sadly to one of the better players at the table. He tried bluffing off his stack with KQ (nothing) on the river, and got snap called by 99 which was good. This guy will be out soon. He's in position behind me so I'm not giving him a chance to reshove on any of my light opens.
Pretty girl at the table just decided to shove 10K or so under the gun with 77, and found herself getting called by the Frenchman on my right with KK. An immediate 7 in the window chops him down and builds her up, which based on previous play seen here is good news on both counts.
Colour up break. Am back to 35K after finding a guy who won't fold preflop. He'll fit right in here.
32K at the pre-dinner break level. 100/400/800, and 279 players remain. A lot of these guys are about to enter lemming mode and I'd like to avoid the crossfire if at all possible. Trouble is, my table has about five lemmings sitting on it.
Of course one of them just got 6500 in with AQ vs my 99 and spiked a Queen. Down to 29K.
It's been a pretty gruelling level with a fair share of pain, and the occasional steal. I'm off for some soup for 45 minutes. 234 players remain, and I'm on 26K. We return on 100/500/1000, so all to play for.
Back from break and some nice early fireworks for the table. The guy on my right is just shocking. Makes a scabby raise with A6, gets shipped on by AQ for like 20K more, and still calls anyway. Spikes a six, but the opponent gets "lucky" and rivers a Queen to take it down. The very next hand, the same guy again raises and is shipped on yet again, this time by AK versus his scabby A3. This time he pings a 3 and busts the AK who leaves shaking his head. It's like folding isn't in the vocabulary. It's pretty awful but also pretty dangerous.
I've missed about four flops and drifted down to 15K. The very same guy again makes one of his scabby raises, and I ship As9s, knowing I'm likely well ahead of the spanners he's raising with. This proves to be true, however the guy on my left also moves in and shows AQ. Shit
Luckily, on this table, behind is the new ahead, so I flop two nines, to bounce up to 32K. Stupid game.
Stupid indeed. About 15 mins into the return I raise to 3,400 with QQ and get three callers. Two aces flop and I have to fold to action. The winner of the pot shows A9 offsuit.
A while goes by and I now am down to 24K. I look down in the big blind at Jc9c. Not a hand I'd normally go mad with but I have 1k invested. The kid who got lucky early on with the AJ boat raises to around 3K, and the guy on my right who likes seeing flops also calls. I call.
Flop is 8c 5c 5h. Two overs and a flush draw. I don't mind this as there's good potential to represent a lot of hands. I think the check raise looks a lot stronger if there's enough money in the pot. I check, and the kid bets approx 3500, the other guy dwells and calls...back to me. I jam.
I don't like to get all maths. There are plenty of drones out there who love running all the numbers. My reasoning is as follows: The pot has around 18.500 in it, and I have about 23K behind. The jam here screams one of two things, either strength (I have a 5), a draw (I have clubs or 76) and well, that's about it. I think it's a tough call for an overpair, especially for your tournament. I also give neither of them a 5, so I think this is my moment to get back into the tournament with a decent stack, either by illiciting a fold, or by hitting my hand. I've rarely shoved all day here, and I'd hope the more astute players will notice this.
The kid has a think and asks for a count, then calls virtually all-in. The other guy throws away whatever rubbish he was calling with initially.
I table Jc9c. Two overs and a flush draw. A backdoor straight draw if we're also getting picky.
He shows 10 10. So a Jack also wins for me. Brick on the turn and brick on the river. 8.5 hours down the Swanee. Good luck everyone.
This is one of the few times I can say "OK I had the worst hand when the money went in". Of course I had plenty of win potential which basically didn't materialise. I think my realisation that a lot of the players on the table today simply can't fold if they have a pair for any amount of money probably merits consideration as to if I needed to bother playing the hand at all, or should have simply mucked it preflop. I won't beat myself up too much, but possibly knowing the history of hands on the table and the fact I had a pretty good read on most players (for sure the two in the pot on my exit) means if you know someone can't fold it's probably not sensible to adopt a strategy where them folding is part of your desired outcome. I was aware if I win the hand, I could be on a very healthy 64K or so and ready to boss the table for the final levels of the day. These situations in tournaments I'm happy to take on if I'm the aggressor. Maybe some will disagree.
Thanks to a number of people for emails and texts of support during the trip so far. Luckily most of you fully get how gruelling this stuff is for long hours often for little or no reward, so the nice words are appreciated. Just so you know.
My next WSOP event is in two days. I will sleep on it as to whether to play a one day event tomorrow or stay fresh for the WSOP $1500 NLH instead.
Of course one of them just got 6500 in with AQ vs my 99 and spiked a Queen. Down to 29K.
It's been a pretty gruelling level with a fair share of pain, and the occasional steal. I'm off for some soup for 45 minutes. 234 players remain, and I'm on 26K. We return on 100/500/1000, so all to play for.
Back from break and some nice early fireworks for the table. The guy on my right is just shocking. Makes a scabby raise with A6, gets shipped on by AQ for like 20K more, and still calls anyway. Spikes a six, but the opponent gets "lucky" and rivers a Queen to take it down. The very next hand, the same guy again raises and is shipped on yet again, this time by AK versus his scabby A3. This time he pings a 3 and busts the AK who leaves shaking his head. It's like folding isn't in the vocabulary. It's pretty awful but also pretty dangerous.
I've missed about four flops and drifted down to 15K. The very same guy again makes one of his scabby raises, and I ship As9s, knowing I'm likely well ahead of the spanners he's raising with. This proves to be true, however the guy on my left also moves in and shows AQ. Shit
Luckily, on this table, behind is the new ahead, so I flop two nines, to bounce up to 32K. Stupid game.
Stupid indeed. About 15 mins into the return I raise to 3,400 with QQ and get three callers. Two aces flop and I have to fold to action. The winner of the pot shows A9 offsuit.
A while goes by and I now am down to 24K. I look down in the big blind at Jc9c. Not a hand I'd normally go mad with but I have 1k invested. The kid who got lucky early on with the AJ boat raises to around 3K, and the guy on my right who likes seeing flops also calls. I call.
Flop is 8c 5c 5h. Two overs and a flush draw. I don't mind this as there's good potential to represent a lot of hands. I think the check raise looks a lot stronger if there's enough money in the pot. I check, and the kid bets approx 3500, the other guy dwells and calls...back to me. I jam.
I don't like to get all maths. There are plenty of drones out there who love running all the numbers. My reasoning is as follows: The pot has around 18.500 in it, and I have about 23K behind. The jam here screams one of two things, either strength (I have a 5), a draw (I have clubs or 76) and well, that's about it. I think it's a tough call for an overpair, especially for your tournament. I also give neither of them a 5, so I think this is my moment to get back into the tournament with a decent stack, either by illiciting a fold, or by hitting my hand. I've rarely shoved all day here, and I'd hope the more astute players will notice this.
The kid has a think and asks for a count, then calls virtually all-in. The other guy throws away whatever rubbish he was calling with initially.
I table Jc9c. Two overs and a flush draw. A backdoor straight draw if we're also getting picky.
He shows 10 10. So a Jack also wins for me. Brick on the turn and brick on the river. 8.5 hours down the Swanee. Good luck everyone.
This is one of the few times I can say "OK I had the worst hand when the money went in". Of course I had plenty of win potential which basically didn't materialise. I think my realisation that a lot of the players on the table today simply can't fold if they have a pair for any amount of money probably merits consideration as to if I needed to bother playing the hand at all, or should have simply mucked it preflop. I won't beat myself up too much, but possibly knowing the history of hands on the table and the fact I had a pretty good read on most players (for sure the two in the pot on my exit) means if you know someone can't fold it's probably not sensible to adopt a strategy where them folding is part of your desired outcome. I was aware if I win the hand, I could be on a very healthy 64K or so and ready to boss the table for the final levels of the day. These situations in tournaments I'm happy to take on if I'm the aggressor. Maybe some will disagree.
Thanks to a number of people for emails and texts of support during the trip so far. Luckily most of you fully get how gruelling this stuff is for long hours often for little or no reward, so the nice words are appreciated. Just so you know.
My next WSOP event is in two days. I will sleep on it as to whether to play a one day event tomorrow or stay fresh for the WSOP $1500 NLH instead.
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