$1500 WSOP event - Gutted

Day 5

Today I played the $1500 WSOP NLHE Event. I registered for it yesterday and the plan the night before was to get a early night (well early for Vegas!), and be up in time to relax in the sun before the event.

I woke up at midday, and as the event started at midday all wasn't going to plan. After a shower and shave i wandered over to the Rio stopping at Starbucks on the way to get a sandwich and a vanilla frappuccino. I arrived nearly an hour late, but had only lost around 150 chips out of the 3000 i started with. With 1 hour levels and a very slow structure their is play, but i favoured a tight aggressive stance as their is a huge amount of poor players in this event.

3rd hand in and i look down to find AA in the BB. It folds to the small blind who raises to 200. I min raise to 400 and he calls. The flop comes down Q42. He bets out 600 and I ponder before calling. He bets the the Turn (K) to the tune of 800 and then I raise all in. He dwells up for 5 mins before mucking his card. He claims to have mucked AK. Unlikely as he was committed by the turn. The very next hand I look down to see JJ, i'm starting to feel like it's my day. It folds to the cut-off who raises (it had been a lively table with a double up or bust mentality) to 300. I raise to 800 and the BB folds. It goes back to him and he pushes for nearly 6k?! What does he put me on that he can do this? Anyway i'm pretty sure i'm ahead, but even if he has AK,AQ etc then it's a coin flip. I fold and flip over the jacks. The table at this point can't believe i folded jacks which I guess is typical of the $1500 WSOP events. In the first 4 hours or so there was no other major hands of note, my chips when up and down but always in the right direction. By dinner there were only 670 players left out of the 2,714 players that entered and i was on 17k in chips, which was a little above average.

After dinner I play two pots in quick succession.

Hand 1 - I raise from early position with AJ sooted. The BB calls and we see a flop. It comes 258 rainbow and he checks to me. I figure to call the raise pre-flop he must have big cards KQ KJ maybe as the call represented nearly 20% of his stack. I bet out at the flop and he pushes. As i have nothing and no draws I fold. Down to 14k in chips. Was this the right fold?

Hand 2 - Folds to the SB (i'm in the BB). SB raises to 2400 (Blinds were 600/300/75) and I min raise with AK to 5000. He ponders then calls so we see a flop. the flop come A72 all Spades, and I have none. He checks to me and I push. Now I have him on AK as well, AQ, or maybe AJ. He thinks for 5 mins and and eventually calls and flips over KK, with the king of spades. I dodge the spades and double up to 28kk!!

Sadly after that i go card dead. I steel where I can, but which a raise before me and no cards it was hard work. We got down to around 350 with me only 14k in chips and around an hour from the money. I look down in the cut off to see 88. Now if I raise to (500/1k blinds) 4k am i going to fold for a reraise. It would leave me crippled so i decide to push. I get called by KK in the BB and the rest is history. I felt gutted afterwards as I probably could have limped into the money, but wanted to go further so was happy at this stage to gamble a little more...

Next attempt is money, but to play then i'll have to sell 40% of me. I try and raise the funds today.

Off today to play Sat's and at the Bellagio against the rich tourists with cash to lose...

Same shoe... different foot..

Just finished my evening session at the Rio. I couldn't hit anything. Sat down with $500 and lost that with 30 mins. My 2 pair beaten by a flush. Then I had to laydown a set when the river made a flush. It was only $100 to call into a $450 pot, but I folded. The table couldn't believe it, but the kind gent (who was raking my chips in!) showed the nut flush and that it was a good laydown. Still, it didn't feel good. I put my last $$$ in with a flush draw that didn't come...

Poor session. Down $800. Definitely not playing not playing the $2000 tomorrow now. I'll wait and play the $1500 on Saturday. I'll play cash tomorrow and then do a little shopping maybe...

bed.

Perminant Ink

Day 3

Played the 12pm again at Caesars Place. Started with 7.5k in chips and went to 15k by the first break, 25k by the second break and busted just before the next break. I got the money in with 2 pair and was called by a flush draw. The draw hit and i was outta there... next time!!

After that I popped over the road to add another little bit of artwork to my body. A very small tat this time. I'll post a photo later, but in the meantime do you think this would suit me?

After that I went over to the Rio again. I debating whether to play the WSOP $2000 event tomorrow. I'm playing pretty well so I might give that a shot over the $1500 on the weekend.

While debating it I played alittle 2/5 again. First hand I was dealt AK os. A raiser on the button and I called in the big blind. The board came K79 with 2 diamonds. I bet, he raised, I push and after a few moment he calls with a J high flush draw. His draw hits again and i'm busted for $300 first hand. Sick. Rather than tilt I got straight up and headed back to the hotel for a little (where I am now!!). After finishing this post i'm heading back over to the Rio to play a little more cash. Hopefully they'll be a few people drinking and donking their stacks off...

So far today i'm still $850 up. If the math doesn't quite add up it's the odd hand of blackjack i play here and there!!

The Palace

Day 2.

I sadly didn't get the nights sleep i was looking for. In bed by 9ish I woke at 3.30am (11.30am UK time) and couldn't get back to sleep. Rather than wander out I decided to relax for a while in bed and turned on the TV. ESPN were showing Wimbledon live. Very surreal watching tennis in bed at 4 in the morning.

At around 8 I headed over to the Rio again and got some brekkie. Pancakes, strawberries and cream really ticked a lot of boxes. I headed off to the Amazon room which, as you'd imagine, was pretty dead. Despite that i sat down in a new 2/5 game and played for an hour really going nowhere. I didn't see much and what I did see was beaten. That said I left an hour or so later only stuck $200. I'd decided that on the recommendation on a few people to try the deep stack tourneys at Caesars Palace. The place itself is pretty amazing like most of the hotels in Vegas, but of course a little tacky in parts. The poker room however is different class. Superb tables, staff and tourney area. I registered early for the $220 midday game and then went for a wander.

At midday I sat down and was already starting to feel a little jaded. I would love to at this point give a few details of hands, but frankly I can't remember any. With 640 entries the room was packed, but after 12 hours i was still there and eventually cashed in 31st place. Took $441 for my troubles which did feel a little of a let down after playing for so long, but i was happy to get back to bed. $32,000 for winner made me feel even worse when I thought about it later!!

Still roughly $1400+.

Vegas.. We have take off...

Day 1.

Landed at 2pm (Vegas time), At the Gold Coast by 4pm and at the Rio playing poker by 5pm. This goes against every rule I have... never play tired, and boy was I tired. Even a 10 hour flight just kills me!!

I'd promised myself that control (in a poker sense... this is Vegas after all!!) would be the order of the day this year in Vegas, and playing within hours of landing didn't really fit with that. The Rio was busy as always during the series, but I landed a seat on a $2-$5 NLH table pretty much straight away and sat down with $500. The fact I was so wiped out might have actually worked in my favour, as rather that play the loose aggressive style i sometimes adopt when forcing the action I instead played pretty tight.

The first hand I played was from the cut off. One raiser in early position (the action had been pretty loose) and 2 callers. I called for $20 with 44 and the blinds folded. The flop came K42 rainbow. Sweet. Early position bet out $50 and the next player raised to $150. Really I should have just called, but I thought if I push it might be seen as a weaker play. I move all in and get called by KQ. One hand played and already i'm up to over $1250. I play for another hour or so and leave with roughly $1450. $950 profit from my first session really perked up.

After that little foray I wander back to my hotel room and try to get some shut eye. One too many diet cokes meant I couldn't sleep so i popped downstairs to get some food and play a little more poker. Sadly at the GC there was only limit tables going... God I hate playing limit, but for anything else i'd have to go out and that wasn't an option.

I sat down with $100 which had everyone covered at the table. I'm not going to run through every hand, but in the space of the hour I played I hit Quads (for a $100 house bonus), two Full houses, 3 flushes and several other winning hands. I don't think i lost a hand i entered. I left the table with $300.

I after that I slept, and god I needed it.

+$1150. A good first few hours.