Mini WSOP Run, Day1
I’d been in town since Friday, June 26th now Monday; I was facing a series of ups and downs that put a slight damper on the trip. I wish I could follow the adage, “Don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff” but just like poker; it’s all in the application, not the knowledge! My go-to cigar stop had changed staff again and was out of the stuff they normally keep in the safe, the corporate apartment had yanked out the TV, radio and internet so an extended stay at the Rio was now necessary, a meeting or two fell through and in no short order I had busted from WSOP Event #51 on Saturday and the Binions $160 on Sunday…it all just added up to a melancholy start to an 11-day trip.
Just as the little things tripped up my journey, it was the little things that got me back into the Vegas swing. I grabbed my favorite Philly cheese-steak at Pop’s; partook of several Patron Platinum Margaritas at Taqueria Canonita in Venitian; at the 4 Queens Cigar Lounge while enjoying a Ramblin’ Reck I played “dradle” with a great group from Houston and wound up taking their money; I had a fabulous meal at Tao consisting of amazing sashimi and a surf & turf roll; I bought another Tim Cotterill frog for my growing collection and purchased a Michael Godard timepiece for my non-watch wearing wrist; and to top it all off I thoroughly enjoyed bottle service at Voodoo which I can’t detail for several reasons :twisted: …suffice to say it’s a GREAT way to party :D
Event #54 kicked off just after noon on Monday, June 29th with 2818 runners jamming every inch of tournament space available. 297 players will get paid; some getting the minimum of $2769 and one taking down the mother of golden nuggets, $673k! We started with T4500, blinds at 25/50 (90bbs) for the next hour. I started out on table Blue 47 in the Amazon Room, seat #2. I’d remain there for most of the day, moving sometime near 1am.
I go into the first break, after 2 hours of play, with 8k in chips. I don’t recall any big hands, just chipping up quietly when I can. When and if action was folded around, it very rarely made it to me, forcing fold after fold. When it finally did make it to me, I took full advantage of my position! I’m making friends with the players on my left, our end of the table is a friendly place to play. The other end, specifically seats 8, 9 and 10 are going to be tough. It didn’t take too long to figure out the table and since we were one of the last tables to break, it was going to be a rough climb. Seat 9 was the girlfriend of Ivan Demidov (Liya Gerasimova) and seat 10 was an aggressive young pro I recognized but couldn’t place.
During the next 2 hours, there were 2 hands worth noting. I open-raised from mid-position with pocket kings. A late position player flat-calls and the big blind re-raises. I flat-call the re-raise as does the other player. On a totally blank board, the big blind checks, and I check behind. The third player bets with the big blind flat-calling. I now check-raise which is met with the late-position player pushing. This gets the blind to fold and I insta-call. A lot of what went through my head isn’t listed but it played out based on observations at the table. I knew given the chance he’d be aggressive with position and since he didn’t re-raise pre-flop given the action, I knew I was golden. He rolled over J8s for jack-high. He turned a flush draw but bricked on the river and I scooped a nice pot, busting him in the process. The other pot I caught kings again and flopped a set against a short-stack. I check raised his flop bet thinking he was surely pot-committed considering what he’d left behind. But I found myself in utter disbelief as he folded, leaving 1500 chips behind at 100/200??? I ended the level at 24k, well above twice the average stack. It’s amazing how fast people are busting out!!!
During the next two levels I caught aces twice. Once, I scooped up the blinds but since antes have now kicked in, it’s a little extra padding to the tiny pot. On the second time, I got 3 callers and I was out of position. I led out with a pot sized bet and took down the pot. I climbed up to 30k in chips before we were to be sent off on a 90 minute dinner break but I somehow figured out a way to give back 6k in chips before we all rushed out of the room to stuff our collective faces. Through 6 hours of play I’ve chipped up to 24k and am still above average, I feel pretty good. I was staying at the Rio so I headed up to the room, ate the Capriotti’s sandwich I’d purchased earlier with my “generous” $10 comp, took a long shower, kicked back for a bit then headed down to the Amazon room about 10 minutes before the re-start of action.
We come back to level 7, 200/400/50 and the crowd is satiated and settled in for another 4 hours of play. Hands of note these levels include aces against my “corner mate” Russell. At this point, he and I are the only players from the original table still around. It’s also the first time we’ve played a hand heads-up. I open-raise from the button and Russell calls from the big blind. He leads out on a jack-high flop. I know it’s heads-up and I should be less worried about the flush and straightening board, but I raise anyway and re reluctantly releases his hand, flashing AJo. After a bit I let him know I had aces, who knows when it might pay dividends ;) At some point I catch pocket jacks and take down a pot. I don’t have any details so it must not have been too memorable. I go into the final break of the evening sitting on just over 40k in chips. We’re heading into 400/800/100 and will finish the night off with 500/1000/100.
For the second time all day, it’s folded to my small-blind and I raise it up AQo. Russell calls from the big-blind and comments about, “slowing down.” The flop is all small blanks, prompting me to fire out a continuation bet which is respected as Russell lays down AKo, flashing the cards before they hit the muck. The other hand, I raised a limper from late position with pocket queens; the big blind came along as the three of us saw a flop of KJJ. It’s checked to me and I fire out a 3/4 pot bet. The big-blind thinks for a few seconds but finally mucks. The limper takes a little longer before also mucking; as well as flashing AKo to the entire table showing how good a fold he can make….no need to risk busting before day 2 :D I did not show my cards, just raked in the pot and moved on to treading water.
I never really did get any traction despite ending the day with an above average stack of 38,700 chips. Numerous times I mentioned feeling like I was the star of “Open Water 3.” My raising tendon was cut and I was just treading water waiting for the sharks to come swooping in and tear me apart. A combination of heavy action ahead of me and dry runs of cards led to mostly maintaining my early made gains. I have 32 big-blinds and an “M” of 14, I not in too bad shape heading into day2. Certainly not nearly as pathetic as the guy bagging up 8k chips! I was moved with about 30 minutes left in the night but we did re-draw for day2 anyway so that really didn’t matter. I bagged up, completed my paperwork and left the room by 1:30am. I scored a Knob Creek and Coke before heading up to my room. I paired the drink up with a nice cigar and within an hour I was downing 2 sleeping pills. The alarm was set for noon and I was ready to catch some good sleep, preparing for a deep run into day2 and hopefully a decent score in only my third WSOP event in as many years.
Gotta be pretty easy to win in Vegas right now, you haven't been at a table with people who seem to know basic poker.
What is stray Bullets real name ?
My name is Mark Gearhart.
@greenhippo
I found 2-3 aggresive players at my table every time on this trip.
I have been hoping you would start posting.
Your reports are always an excellent read and make me feel I'm sitting right there beside you with a good cigar and a bourbon on the rocks.
Kept them coming.
Excellent report, I appreciate the detail. Can't wait for day 2.
Update on Day 2?
Sorry about the delay and I hope you enjoyed the ride, I know I did!
OK, so where were we? Oh yeah, I’d made it to day two of event #54
I’d almost forgot about Minton and AlaskaGal were sweating me near the end of day 1 and after bagging up, Minton walked me out of the Amazon Room. As we passed one of the side rooms, I spotted Mike Sexton and promptly walked up and introduced myself, thanking him for his work in the poker world. He was very nice and genuinely seemed interested in how I did during the event, wishing me luck on day 2 as we parted ways
Oh, and remind me about my encounter with the infamous Duke of Fremont at Bill’s 
After we found our new tables, un-bagged our chips and scoped out the chip-stack scene, cards were back in the air at 2pm. I was sitting on an average stack and with blinds at 600/1200/100 I wasn’t about to “cruise” into the money by not playing any hands…at least that was the plan! 375 players had returned out of the 2818 starting field. I figured the bubble would bust in about an hour or so, but by no means was I about to sit on my hands, otherwise why even show up and un-bag the chips? Why not just show up around 3pm and enjoy the bubble bursting and save yourself from a $3k swing?
As usual I made friends with the players on my left, made note of sizeable stacks (one being the brother of Men the Master, one of his MANY horses I’m sure) and in general, checked out the other players, listening to conversations, discerning their goals and making my plans accordingly. It’s just too bad the cards didn’t cooperate. As was the day before, I had two large stacks on my right, and if the action folded to either one of them, you were facing a certain raise. By no choice I literally wasn’t able to play a hand until 45 minutes into the level
.
From early position I raised the standard of 2.5x with AKo and after some obvious consternation, the player on my immediate left pushed his remaining stack into the middle. Action folded back on me and it was decision time. I had him covered but after losing blinds/antes for 3 orbits, my raise and the potential call, I’d be left gasping for chips with the bubble rapidly approaching. But I didn’t come this far to fold into the money. Considering the time it took him to push, I knew I wasn’t up against Aces or Kings, so we were in an obvious race and I had an obvious call which I obviously made
. He had Queens, I didn’t win the race and my now puny stack went directly into lockdown mode 
.
I didn’t like the turn of events but the decision was a no-brainer, both the call and the lockdown, at least in my poker-addled mind. If I recall correctly I had about 10k or so left at this point and with players dropping faster than flies looking for life after 21 days, we’d soon be hand-for-hand and I’d mostly likely have my first World Series of Poker cash in 3 attempts over 3 years.
Sure enough, a short time into the next level we went hand-for-hand and it was excruciatingly SLOW! Between hands players were wandering around the tables, taking note of short stacks and in general, waiting out the action for that sad lonely soul that would create an eruption in the room as he or she departed, feeling the lowest of lows, wondering where they went wrong and how things could’ve been different if only they’d won that coin-flip yesterday.
While waiting out the bubble I caught a glimpse of my table mate from yesterday, Russell looking dejected as he ambled away from his table. His look confirmed that he’d busted just prior to the money, I know how he feels…been there, done that!
Both players on my left, including my stack-crippling nemesis were constantly reassuring me, “just sit tight, you’ll make it…there are plenty of other shorter stacks out there.” It really didn’t matter because all I saw were 8-gappers and other trash that couldn’t be played with little to no folding equity whatsoever and every pot being raised before my action was even considered.
Before we knew it, the announcement was made, the bubble had burst and we’d all made the money. In a weird sort of moment, the entire room erupted with players giddily cheering, shaking hands and congratulating each other…all over posting a $1200 net and least for now; some would go onto the final table for much more but the current cheers didn’t have anything to do with reaching day 3. It was surreal to say the least. So I’d cashed in my 1st WSOP event, but I felt like I needed a shower to wash off the crime of limping into the money. I really didn’t have a choice and probably would’ve felt worse had I busted before cashing but I didn’t play for the experience, I’d done that before and that’s not why I was here this time!
After the celebration settled down it was right back to action and as you might expect the number of players dropping now was ramped up to an extreme level. All those sitting on “limp to money” stacks were getting their tiny stacks into the middle with alarming rates, me included. In a rare occurrence, action was folded to me as I spied a lone Ace and promptly got my chips in the middle, only to find my early chip crippler insta-calling me, eventually tabling AK. I got no help and I stood, alone by my chair waiting for an escort to pick up a slip noting bust position, date, event, etc. Once in hand, it was off to the cage to pick up my $2769 prize money. I talked with several very happy players in line, many relaying the same story of folding every hand until they made the money, AK, Aces, Kings….didn’t matter, they weren’t risking their chances of making a $1200 profit, AMAZING!
After answering a few questions, and signing a document or two, I tipped out $50 and pocketed the remaining cash. I wandered out of the Rio in a daze in bad need of a drink and cigar, both of which could be accomplished by hightailing it over to Fuentes Shop in Caesars. A short cab ride and I’d arrived at my destination. I kicked back with a perfect Patron Margarita and as lit the end of my last Monte Cristo #2 and inhaled that wonderful aroma. The sights and sounds of last 2 days (15 hours) of poker all came rushing back and I could only smile as I let the cards and memories wash away as the smoke trail wafted into the air….
You didn't mention it, but I'm assuming you had AK in the hand where you doubled up the guy before the bubble?
@MelloAceCV
Good catch, I'm wasted today after playing in a home game last nite...edited and fixed