Day 2
I surprise myself by sleeping in till 8am as opposed to my usual 6 or so when on vegas time. I head down to the fitness center for a quick 5 mile run on the treadmill; as much as I hate the dreadmill, I like it better than incinerating myself out in the desert. While in vegas, I do try to keep a consistent fitness routine since 1) the poker lifestyle + my typical vegas diet isn't exactly conducive to physical health and 2) it seems to improve my overall focus/attitude at the table. After jumping in the hot tub, showering, and messing around online, I head down for a quick lunch at Sao Paulo before jumping into another $175 STT to see if my doomswitch has been turned off.

STT #3 ($175)
It's a pretty easygoing table, with the affable gent in the 2 seat next to me talking about his recent deep run in the 1k, which has solidified my desire to jump into the 1500 on thursday. Nothing of note happens until the end of the 25/50 level when I limp J10o on the button behind a couple of limpers. We head 5-handed to an AJJ flop with 2 clubs. An EP limper bets 75 and I pop it up to 250. He smoothcalls and we go heads up to a blank turn. He then checks to me and I shove in my last 625 and he calls pretty quickly, showing KQ of clubs for the stone cold nut draw. Fortunately the river bricks and I get a nice early double-up! We soon enter push/fold poker mode and not much else notable happens for awhile. I get it in once as an underdog in a standard LP push with A7 against the BB's A-10, but we both hit an ace and the board pairs up with some high cards, so we chop it. A few other standard push spots and I manage to avoid any landmines, before we eventually find ourselves 3-handed and pretty even at the 150-300 level and decide to chop it up. We each took a lammer and $40 cash for our troubles, a nice rebound to the previous night's frustrations.

The first, but hopefully not the last (apologies for crappy phone camera).....

At that point, I wander around checking out the action. I find some events underway in the Amazon room....

And also the 10k 2-7 final table just getting started, featuring such names as Jeff Lisandro, Layne Flack, Jon Turner, and David 'Bakes' Baker....

I also stopped by a little later when it was 3-handed......

It's now getting close to the start of the 3pm deepstack, so I make my way back to the Pavilion Room. I'm the third two arrive on my table behind 2 kids younger than me who seem to know each other, both with backpacks. Off to the races we go!....

Rio 3pm Deepstack 6/25
Shockingly, the 2 young kids control most of the early action. I have one on either side of me which means that 1) I'm likely to be played back at a lot and 2) I'm likely to not see much of my blinds without a fight. I opt to be patient and try to maximize my value from good hands. Early on I find 10-10 on the button and re-pop one of the young gun's 150 open to 400. He folds pretty quickly and I'm on the board.

Not much happens for a little bit, then at 50/100, with a weak/tight player in the big blind and the active guy to my left away from the table, I see an EP raise to 250, followed by 3 calls from fairly active players. I have J10o on the cutoff; not an especially strong holding, but I sense a lot of weakness behind me and bump it up to 1200. Everyone folds except for one of the callers, who leads for about 2/3rds on the A-high flop and I have to fold. An unsuccessful attempt, but I still like my play and still have plenty of chips.

Later at 100/200, I raise it up to 700 with AKs over one of the active kids who limped. We take a K42 rainbow flop. He leads up for a little over half pot. He's been doing this a lot in pots raised by others, so I feel like his range is relatively wide and I flat. I suppose raising is an option here, but at this stage I don't want to get too crazy with a one pair hand and there aren't a ton of cards coming that I'm worried about, so I'm perfectly fine with letting him do the betting for me. The turn blanks and he leads again for a little over half pot. I flat again. On the river, he checks with a 'screw it' vibe and I lead for about half pot, hoping to get looked up by a worse King. He quickly folds and I'm up to 17k from the 15k starting stack. Shortly thereafter, I head to break with 16.6k.

At 200/400, I pick up KK in the small blind. It folds to the button, who raises to 800. I 3bet to 2200 and he calls. We take an A-A-6 flop and I lead for 3000, leaving about 10k back. He almost instantly click-raises me to 6000. Barf! I pause to think, knowing that his range from the button is relatively wide and something just seemed weak about the way he raised me. I felt like a lot of aces would have smooth-called in that spot anyway. I decide to just go with it and shove. The button looks disgusted and actually lays it down for just the extra 4kish. I guess my range was right! The near double-up puts me at around 25k, which gives me a little more wiggle-room.

A bit later in the same level, I'm dealt 88 utg and raise to 1000. I pick up 4 callers (so much for tight images!) and we take a Q72r flop. The flop checks around and the turn brings a 5. This time I lead for 2500. It folds to the BB (villain in the previous hand) who dumps in his last 5700. I make the relatively trivial call and he shows 10-5 offsuit for 3rd pair. Fortunately my doomswitch is off and the river bricks, eliminating him and pushing me up to 33k.

Unfortunately I think go super card dead and the blinds start to catch up with me. Everything is pretty straightforward for awhile and I stay afloat by finding good spots to push and resteal. At 800/1600, I double up with AQ>A9 and get back up to 33k, giving me a little extra breathing room, before going card dead yet again.

At 2k/4k, our table breaks and I move to the other end of the black section. I don't get to know my tablemates for very long as I get knocked out at the 3k/6k level, shoving my last 39k in from the cutoff with a couple of rags and getting looked up by 77, which holds. Not much I can do in that spot, as I'm looking at more than a 30% stack increase if everyone folds. Unfortunately that puts me out around 180th/1260 or so, with the top 144 getting paid. At nearly 10:30pm, that means 7 1/2 hours of labor for squadoosh! I'm surprisingly not too disappointed. I was pretty happy with my play overall and made few mistakes....I just went card dead at a critical time. Not too much you can do there.

STT #4 ($175)
I'm tired at this point, but decide to jump back into a 175. Nothing eventful happens for awhile, then the variance gods decide to tease me. I raise AJ to 150 from middle position at 25/50, the active player on the CO shoves around 1000 in, just barely covering me. It's a marginal spot, but I make the call and he shows KK (oops!). The ace comes in the door, however and I find the early doubleup. A little later, I pick up red aces utg at raise to 500 at 100/200 with 1800 or so back. To my delight, the BB shoves for slightly less and I make the snapcall. He shows AJ and I'm in great shape....until the board rolls out Q-10-6 and he spikes the K on the turn. My chop draw doesn't hit and I'm left with 125. I bust unceremoniously in 5th a couple hands later and take it as a sign that I've played enough for one day.

Looking forward to sweating the One Drop tomorrow, making another run at the deepstack and some more 175s. I've pretty much decided to go for it and take a shot at the 1500 event on Thursday, knowing I may not get too many chances at playing a bracelet event in the future. So here's hoping that the day goes well and that I can have a good frame of mind going into Thursday.

"It's just cards, man!"

These were the words spoken to me by the desk clerk when I checked into the Rio when asking if I was in town for the WSOP. It was meant as a means of encouragement before entering the shark-infested waters, but the words come back to me tonight prior to my first WSOP shot in event 49 ($1500 NLH) tomorrow at noon. While perhaps an overly simplistic point of view, it's worth remembering that any common schmuck like me can have their day at any given time, especially by keeping my head, playing a solid game, and of course, value-owning the maniacs.

I'll never understand the statistics and various nuances of the game as well as many of the young guns out there, but with good instincts, a good head on my shoulders, and hopefully being on the right side of variance, I'm perfectly capable of a deep run. Though my results have been less than encouraging this week, my level of play has been as good as it's ever been and I know that I'm due for a breakout at any time, so may as well be when it counts!

It helps that this isn't my first time on the big stage, as I did play in an HPT main event a couple years back. I had a tough table draw, including a prior HPT champion, but I felt very in control of the table and even owned the former champ pretty good in a couple of pots, before busting about 6 hours in after getting it all in with the best of it. If anything, I expect the field quality at the WSOP to be softer overall, even though it's totally hit-or-miss when it comes down to individual tables. Just give me a table with nobody I recognize and I'll be happy.....or at least put 'em on my right

Just look for your basic boring white guy wearing a dark blue North Face jacket and feel free to come say hi!

May the odds be ever in my favor! (if I can allow myself a moment of geekery)

And now some other images from today. I had a great time sweating during various parts of the One Drop event:

The 18 million dollar man pontificating about the One Drop program....

Ben Lamb's mommy was nice enough to pack him a lunch....

View from the seats in the early going, competitors include Layne Flack (Seat 2) and Erick Lindgren (partially obscured in seat 4)...

The master himself at work on the outer tables....

Even from the rail his gaze is terrifying!.......

The Great Dane has arrived!.......

Meanwhile, Mike the Mouth having mouthed his way deep into an Omaha event!...

Daniel Negreanu in the background table with his back to the rail...

From a pure fanboy standpoint, this was a ton of fun. I don't know that I've ever seen that many big names together in the same room! Hoping for more of the same tomorrow, just not at my table! (though admittedly, a small part of me thinks it would be pretty neat to mix it up with some of these guys)

Good TR enjoying it and the photos really help. GL GL!

"It's just cards, man"

As I wander down to the Brasilia room to take my seat for event 49 - $1500 NLH, these words spoken to me by the hotel clerk when I checked in are now ringing in my mind. While perhaps an overly simplistic view of the game, I find them comforting at this time as I'm reminded not to let anybody psych me out and just go with the flow. Game the 'eff on!

I take my seat and am pleased to see that I appear to be one of the youngest at the table when in many cases, the opposite is true. Everyone is very tentative in the early stages, with no one really getting out of line or assuming a 'table captain' role. I take some time to size everybody up and note ironically, that this is probably the softest table I've been on all week. Lots of open limping and almost non-existent 3-betting. At 4500 starting chips, it may seem that we're shallow, but with 25-25 starting blinds and one hour levels, there is ample room to maneuver in the early going.

Given the passive nature of the table, I start to become fairly active in position, taking down a couple and dropping a couple with no significant hands of note and find myself at 4400 after the first level. The first hand of note took place during level 2 at 25/50. There are 5 limpers to my big blind and I look down at AKo. I bump it up to 350 and only UTG+2 (middle-aged guy, seems fairly straightforward) makes the call. The flop comes out AQJccc ( I don't have a club) and we check it down. The turn comes an offsuit ten, completing my straight and I fire out 850. He click-raises me to 1700. I don't love the spot at all, thinking at best I'm looking at a chop, unless he's overplaying some 2-pair type of hand. Nonetheless I make the call. The river comes a queen, which pairs the board. Not the best card for me, as a lot of 2-pair hands have boated up, but may kill the action a bit if he did indeed flop a flush. I check and he checks it back, rolling over A-10 for the counterfeited 2-pair. It seemed like an odd play raising the turn on such a scary board...one of those 'I want to see where I'm at' probe bets I suppose.

During this level, an older gentleman joins the table in the 10 seat with an 'old guys rule' t-shirt and promptly begins raising nearly every hand and stabbing at all the checked pots post-flop. He was caught pretty early on triple-barreling with Q-high, which slowed him down a little, but he still remained the most active player at the table. Having position on him ( I was in the 3 seat) made it a bit easier to deal with, along with the fact that I was getting some good cards. Several times, I simply let him value-own himself post-flop with top pair and second pair type hands, which were almost always good. He also appear to respect my bets post-flop, which allowed me to defend my blind a bit wider and take down a lot of pots myself by taking stabs. By the first break at the end of level 2, I had worked my stack up to about 7800 and was feeling very confident with my game. I had made some adjustments to deal with a new, more aggressive player and it was paying off. I decided then that every time I found myself pitted against an intimidating young gun who was playing back at me, I would just pretend he looked like this guy, complete with the 'old guys rule' t-shirt.

I start to catch a nice wave of starting hands and take down some pots uncontested. People are respecting my bets - even Mr. Old Guys Rule still! - and I appear to have a pretty solid image. We finally have a clash midway through level 3 at 50/100. It folds to me in the cutoff and I raise to 400 behind a limper with pocket kings. The big blind calls, leaving himself about 1300 behind and the limper folds. A smooth-call would set off alarm bells for some players with his stack size, but I really didn't read him as being all that aware of stack:BB ratios and such, giving him a wider range than others might have in this spot. The flop comes QJ8ss ( I have the king of spades) and he promptly moves all in. I quickly call and he rolls over QJ having outflopped me. Another weird spot, but balance is restored to the force in somewhat ugly fashion as the dealer rolls out runner runner spades to give me the flush and my first knockout, sending me up over 10k. Nothing much of note happens for awhile. I go a bit card dead in Level 4 when the antes kick in and have to fold in a couple spots after getting played back at. I head to the second break with 9500.

I go on a tear after break, picking up great hands and getting good value. A gregarious older gentleman has now joined the table in the 7 seat, with lots of stories/jokes to tell. It was a pretty friendly table to begin with, but becomes even moreso now; we were totally 'that' table that kept laughing out loud and drawing glares from several neighboring tables. This dynamic played neatly into another part of my game that I was trying to work on for this trip; being social at the table. As a psychologist for a living, I'm naturally fascinated by social dynamics and think it really does impact how some people play against you when you're a friendly guy vs. a stiff who looks like he's in for a root canal. Sure enough, I developed a dynamic with the 7 seat where I would frequently raise his blinds, given my position, and he would either give them up or quickly give up on the flop, which prompted a great deal of humorous banter between us. I don't know if it really made a difference, but it's highly possible that the friendly dynamic made him more apt to give up rather than spite-calling me down, which in turn made my steals more effective.

A key hand takes place during level 6 at 25/100/200 and of course it happens with my new friend in seat 7. He bumps it up to 650 from early position. I look down at QQ on the button and 3-bet to 1650. He makes the call relatively quickly and seems quite comfortable doing so. The flop comes out Q85 rainbow and now I'm a bit comfortable myself. We check it down and then a second 5 comes on the turn. If I were any more comfortable I'd be dead! He fires out 3000 and I make the call. He checks on the river and I bet 6000. He tanks for a long time before laying it down, claiming he had Jacks and put me on a lower pair. Knowing his holdings, I start to second guess myself a bit, wondering if I could've gotten the call by firing more in the 4500-5000 range and wishing I had gotten more value out of it. Nonetheless, I've made a nice addition to my stack. I continue to pick up decent hands, which allows me to put pressure on some of the shorter stacks at the table and I head off to the dinner break with a healthy 26k stack, putting me at just over twice the average stack.

After a ridiculously good burger oozing with guacamole from the All-American Grille, I head up to the room to relax for a bit and prepare myself for the five post-dinner levels we were scheduled to play. Overall I couldn't be happier about how things have gone up to this point; I'm getting good hands and have a pretty easy table that I'm well in control of. My plan for the rest of the evening is to not be blinded by my chip wealth and start thinking too far ahead, but to continue my controlled attack; getting value out of my good hands and appropriately pressuring my opponents while being aware of my image.

I pick up a few small pots in the next level and then eliminate the player to my right in a standard AA>KK cooler. With these additions, my chip stack is now up to 38k. I drop a couple pots over the next little bit, and then our table breaks late in level 8 (200/400) with me sitting on 34k.

In sharp contrast to my fortuitous first table lineup, my new table and position is pretty much every poker player's worst nightmare; three aggro european guys to my immediate left, one of whom definitely covers me and two more who are right around the same amount. For better or worse, I'm card dead for a couple orbits and then my worst fears are confirmed early in level 9 when I open J10s for a raise in middle position and am summarily 3-bet and then cold 4-bet by the guys on my left. So that's how it's gonna be, huh?

I make a conscious decision at this point to tighten up, as I'm likely to get more value out of my stronger hands, while looking for a good opportunity to play back at them. Somewhere around this time, I see that we have less than 500 players remaining out of the 2250 or so that started with 243 getting paid. There's a tourney clock that's straight ahead of me, but a distance away, so I can see time remaining in the level, but not the players remaining. There's also a clock right behind me in close proximity where I can see everything. I make the decision to not look at that clock for the remainder of the evening, as I don't want the looming bubble to pressure me into playing a sub-optimal game.

I tread water for awhile, unfortunately not getting much to play with and another failed attempt or two. My stack drops to about 28k. Then I pick up A7o in the hijack and bump it up to 1400 (300/600 blinds). The small blind then reraises me to 3400. I pause here and go through some quick internal dialogue. What's his image? He's been probably the most active player on the table, opening about 80% of pots that are folded to him and 3-betting frequently as well. What's my image? A tight-guy who's positionally aware and quite possibly nitting up with the bubble getting closer. A perfect player to push around. There's nothing from a physical tell standpoint that's different about any of the previous hands he's raised or re-popped. My instincts are sending me a pretty clear message, but do I have the balls for this?......You bet I do! Up to 9200 it goes. This sizing will leave me with a pot-sized shove on the flop if he calls, still 30 BBs to play with if he re-pops it, and a telepathic middle finger if he calls and then bombs on the flop. A nice bump to my stack, but still room to maneuver in most scenarios if I'm wrong. For good measure, I picture him as the old guy from earlier, complete with the 'old guys rule' t-shirt. Fortunately it doesn't come to that point, as he folds rather quickly. I pat myself on the back for one of the more pimpin' poker moves I've made and shortly after that, we go on break to race off the green chips with me sitting at around 32k.

This leaves us with two more levels to play before the end of the night. With 40 big blinds, I can still work on trying to pick some good spots to steal, but don't have a ton of room for fancy play. Mostly I'm just waiting for good hands and taking opportunities as they come.

Another hand of note happens in level 10 at 400/800. I wake up to AKo and raise to 1800 when it folds to me. The same player that I 4-bet earlier will not be daunted and again 3-bets me to 4600. I don't even need the 'old guys rule' image this time and 4-bet to what I thought was 10k, but turned out to be 12k. It didn't matter as he again laid it down and glared at me as only an angry Swede can. This runs me up to 39k and life is good again. Toward the end of the level, the player in the 7 seat 'm in seat 1 now) raises to 1800 and I find AJs on the button. I've been watching this guy for awhile and he's been very active (when the euros let him) having raised my blinds and those around me close to 100%. I was waiting for a good opportunity to play back at him and now it had come. I 3-bet to 4600 and he calls. Meh. The flop comes K high with 2 hearts and he checks. Something doesn't smell right, but I decide to follow-through and bet 7500. He insta-shoves and I insta-fold. Meh. This mis-step knocks me down to about 27k going into the last level of the day; below average for the first time since level 1 I think, but still room to play.

With about 40 minutes left, a player in early position raises to 2200. I find AKo in the hijack. I have 24k at this point and no more room to mess around. For the first time in the entire tournament, I shove all-in preflop. The player to my immediate left pauses and goes into the tank, before shoving all-in himself. Interesting. Everybody else gets out of the way and he rolls over JJ. My dreams of 540k now come down to an all-in coin flip as the short stack. I haven't needed a 'one-time' yet, but now would be as good a time as any! The flop comes out 10-8-5 rainbow. Great start. The turn is another 5. I check to see if the dealer has any 'one time' buttons in his tray, but negative. The river bricks and I get up from the table, finally allowing myself a look at the 'players remaining'. It reads 288.

I slowly slink out of the Brasilia room at 1:30am, ready to punch the first hooker who propositions me. Fortunately it's a quiet walk of shame. I go to bed feeling pretty dejected about the whole week. I've played 3 MTTs (2 daily deepstacks and the bracelet event), lasting a cumulative 26+ hours and achieving exactly zero cashes. Of the six STTs I played (5 175s and a 125), I chopped one, got rivered out of 3 - 2 of which were AA<AK and AA<AJ - got coolered in one with KK<AA and the ran into a table of sharks where somehow everybody made it to 100/200 and I busted first after shoving 55 on a low paired board and running into a boat.

Of course there was second-guessing from the ending of the bracelet event; had I surrendered after missing the flop on the AJs hand, then I don't shove the AK in that spot.....but then do I end up getting it in with the JJ anyway? The list goes on and on.

Fortunately some clarity has returned in the aftermath. I acknowledged that I ran horrendously bad in the STTs, but actually got it in in great spots most of the time. I was very pleased with my play in the bracelet event as well. It's always disappointing to make dinner break with a huge stack and then fail to cash, but it wasn't a case of blowing up and punting my stack in an ill-advised spot. I just got moved to a tough table and had to make some adjustments - which I thought I did very well. Unfortunately I just didn't pick up very many 'big' hands that allowed me to accumulate a lot of chips and when I finally found myself in that situation, I simply lost the flip.

Of course input is welcome on all hands posted, but I thought my mistakes were minimal. The only ones I really questioned were firing the flop on the AJ hand (hindsight obv) and maybe missing some value by betting too much on the Queens full hand from earlier. But I thought I adjusted well based on the various table dynamics I found myself involved in and made good reads throughout. My approach was well-balanced and while it sucks having gone out close to the bubble, it was nice knowing that I had played for the bracelet and not the min-cash. Overall, it was a great confidence boost to my game knowing that I could successfully compete at this level.

Up next, it's back to the grind of life. With my wife and I planning on trying for some kids soon, this trip may not be in the cards (heh heh) next summer, but a long weekend trip at some point isn't out of the question. With not many options for poker out here and expenses to worry about, I probably won't be doing much in the way of playing for awhile, but will continue to lurk the various poker sites out there and will look forward to railing the main event from afar (unless someone wants to front me the buy-in ). Thanks to everyone who has followed along and offered support!

-Kevin

Nice Post. Hey man you lived the dream. You got to play in a WSOP event and you played well enough to cash. You lost a a flip It happens to us all. Money comes and goes but you gave it a shot. You have to decide if you had enough fun to try it again. Good Luck.

Sounds like you played pretty well and ran deep in many events/STTs. Gotta win flips though. Hold your head high. Thanks for sharing

Update: it looks as though I was in pretty elite company without realizing it. It turns out Barny Boatman was at my second table and is now 8/9 in chips headed to the final table think he played maybe 3 hands the whole time I was there). Just ahead of him in 7th is Robin Ylitalo - the aggressive player who I 4-bet a couple of times. Also, the friendly fellow who I spoke of on the first table that I had a bit of a dynamic with appears to be Michael Quick who just busted in 10th. I sure know how to pick my tables!