I didn't know I was going to write this report....so I didn't take any pictures leading up to this. I decided I owed this kind of a story to 2+2, considering I love reading the trip reports. Pictures will be included in later days!

Saturday, July 5, 2014

Here I was.....on the plane to Vegas. Again. Two prior trips to Vegas this summer:

1. Came at the beginning of the WSOP, played a $1k, played a couple Rio daily deepstacks, played a Venetian event, played an Aria nightly.....I think I made the second break in one event. Made a decent amt of $$ in a 1-2 game at Planet Hollywood. This, despite my low level of skill in cash games, and personally, a high level of boredom. Overall though, this trip was a big swing, and a big miss.

2. I told myself and a friend (we call him "Vegas Dave", he'll enter this trip report later) that if the Kings won the Stanley Cup, I'd come back to Vegas for the WSOP Monster Stack event. I had a decent online futures ticket on the Kings (8-1 at the very beginning of the 2nd round) Well, as all 14 of you hockey fans know....the Kings did win the Stanley Cup, which means it was back to Vegas for the Monster Stack tournament. I sold off 33% of my action to try to make the trip an effective freeroll. This was my Main Event, this was the tournament I looked forward to for so long. And in this tournament, I got all the chips in with 55 on a Q-5-3 flop vs AQ and KK for about a 36k pot on Day 1. A King on the river left me stunned, but not shocked....that's poker, it happens, this is not a trip report full of bad beat stories and "oh, poor me, please feel sorry for me" anecdotes.

While in line for my final tournament of the trip, and most likely, the summer, I realized I didn't have enough cash on me to play the $235 Rio Deepstack. So, I left line to head towards the ATM, came back to line, and bought in. Didn't get seated for 2 hours or so, that doesn't tilt me at all, 1,619 players for this tournament combined with a massive Monster Stack Day 2 field....no problem. Long story short....ran well, played well (at least I'd like to think so), and finished 2nd for about $30k.

That brings us back to my flight to Vegas. I planned to play a rush of satellites over the weekend to try to get into the Main Event, and if I missed, play the WPT500 at Aria. Upon landing, I had a text from a family friend that said he'd put up $5k for a simple 50-50 split. I wanted to raise $3k on my own before I bought in.

Well.....as I was playing my first satellite, the $5k offer turned into $7k, I raised some money from some friends.....and all of a sudden....I was in the Main for $1,800.....for 48% of the profits. A dream deal for me. I registered for the greatest poker tournament in the world, and would play Day 1B on Sunday.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

My tournament registration receipt said I had a seat in the Pavilion room. No problem, I loved the idea of working my way up to the Amazon room.

Turns out, I didn't need to work that hard. My table had been re-assigned to the Amazon room. Ray Romano opened up ceremonies, and after his "Shuffle Up & Deal" announcement, we were underway.

My table was near Romano's and Kevin Pollak's, so I overheard a nice dose of comedy throughout the day.

Honestly, I expected my table draw to be much easier. I was in seat 2. The rest was as follows, and I played with these people for most of the day.

Seat 1: Amateur from Chicago, won his poker league so he gets to play the Main for 50%, the other 50% goes to the league.

Seat 3: Jennifer Miller, solid player, took hit to stack early in day on cooler, but battled to survive the day.

Seat 4: Young, solid player.....had really bad allergies, eliminated late in the day. He just could never get anything going.

Seat 5: A player that was originally from Iran, I believe. Very aggressive both pre- and post-flop.

Seat 6: I honestly don't remember. My sincere apologies to this player, haha

Seat 7: Older gentleman. Pretty tight pre-flop. Nice guy

Seat 8: John, 40-50 yrs old, Very good player who also hit a lot of hands. Built a nice chip stack.

Seat 9: Young Wizard

Level 1: 50-100

I hovered around 30k for the first level, and ended that level with 28,775.

Level 2: 100-200
Seat 1 (We'll call him Chicago) raises to 500, I make it 1350 with KK in the HJ. Folds around to Chicago, who calls. Flop: Q-10-10. He bet 2k, I just called. Turn: Q. He bet 4k, I just called again. River was a blank, it went check-check and he showed 88.

Only other interesting hand from this level: I raise to 450 UTG +1 with AA, seat 5 makes it 1450 in mid-position, the Wizard makes it 3600 from the big blind.....I raise to 7200. Seat 5 folds, Wizard folds QQ face up.

I ended this level with 48,400 in chips.

Level 3: 150-300

Can't remember any hands. But I also remember I didn't win any hands.

Ended this level with 33,800

Level 4: 150-300 with a 25 ante

I had played pretty tight in the no-ante stages of the tournament, and I opened it up a little more in this level. No big pots to speak of, just chipped up a little bit.

Ended this level with 39,500

Level 5: 200-400 with a 50 ante

Chipped up to around 45k or so, tried to steal the last pot of the night in a SB vs BB situation, and that did not work.

Ended Day 1 with 41,250 in chips.

Happy to move onto Day 2. The story of Day 2 comes tomorrow. Thanks for reading!!

Love to a see a TR that gets written after the trip. Besides the 4-5 guys who do live TRs very well, I much refer to read them like this after the fact. Keep going, I like it

Can't wait to see what happens! Nice score on Deep Stack!

Nice story, looking forward to day 2

Subbed... Nice TR

Subbed. People that may know OP, No Spoliers please!

Good report. Looking forward to the rest

You sold $8200 for 52% to friends? That's pretty brutal.

If I read it correctly, he sold 50% to friends for $5000 or whatever it was. But won enough lammers at satellites to make his $5000 only cost $1800.

Ahh that makes sense

Ya would you mind being little clearer on the action you sold? You said that ur offer from friends went from 5k-7k while you were playing and ended up selling 52% for $8200. So could you just list how much action you sold, how much you won from satties and how much you paid in cash? Sorry if this is annoying. Ty in advance.!

At first I couldn't see how else to read it other than the "family friend" raised his offer from $5000 to $7000 for 50%, but that would seem to mean that the OP raised another $1200 from "some friends" for only an additional 2%. Which seems awfully generous (and I'd think a satellite win would be mentioned).

Yes, I'm very sorry on the confusing post!!

My family friend, we'll just refer to him as my backer, ended up offering me a 70% stake for 40% of the profits (guess that was important for me to mention!! Haha)......

I then sold off an additional 12% to OTHER friends. (At even markup, so to speak, $100 = 1%)

So, if I cash.....I get to keep 48% of the profits. (40% goes to backer, 12% to other friends)

And I put up $1,800 of my own money.

Hopefully this clarifies things! Day 2 report comes later today

Wow...70% stake for 40% profit just sounds peculiar, but i'm unfamiliar with markups. How unusual is this?

I'm not sure to be honest, I'm pretty unfamiliar with markups as well!

Tuesday, July 8, 2014 (Day 2)

A couple things before I get into the story of Day 2:

1. I love playing Day 1B of the Main. It gets you a day off after your first day, and a day off after day 2. I think it's perfect.

2. Can't underestimate the importance of scouting your table draws. It helped me immensely in certain spots. WSOP.com has them posted a couple hours after each day of play.

We started play in the Pavilion Room, which was fine with me. I liked the idea of working my way back into the Amazon room (as I mentioned on Day 1). Here was my table draw for Day 2:

Seat 1 - Rod Fani, 51,250 - LA player

Seat 2 - Sam Soverel, 57,225 - Saw one YouTube video of him in a hand vs Negreanu, and some Pokernews writeups....very strong, aggressive player

Seat 3 - Haixia Zhang, 40,000 - 2014 Ladies' Bracelet Winner. And, let me say, one of the best players I've played with throughout the whole summer. Just could never put her on a hand. She took a big blow early, but still ended up leaving the table with 70k or so.

Seat 4 - Mark Wilds, 55,750 - Experienced tourney player from Biloxi

Seat 5 - Krystal Seiling, 31,000 - Cash game player with some decent tourney results. She ran really well AND played really well. I think she ran her stack up to 120k or so.

Seat 6 - That's me! With 41,250 to start

Seat 7 - Anita Halfpenny, 8,050. She busted very early. Very nice lady

Seat 8 - Blair Rodman, 37,575. Of course, some of you probably recognize that name. Had a good run in the WPT early years and co-wrote "Kill Phil" A real good guy

Seat 9 - Sean Hegarty, 14,350. And a different Sean Hegarty than the one I studied, haha.

Right before the day starts, the WSOP plays this super-dramatic music. Plenty of people roll their eyes, I love it!! Gets me fired up.

My table was right behind a table with Phil Galfond and......Kevin Pollak. Again, I think I enjoyed my time more than the average player, just by being close to Pollak. He is consistently entertaining. Those 2 + a Norwegian supermodel seemed to attract the camera a decent amount of the time.

Level 6: 250-500 with a 50 ante

My main goal during this level was to play super-tight, which would allow me to open it up in Level 7 to more respect. Only one hand of note for me this level.....

(And I didn't play super-tight, haha) I raised to 1100 with A2h UTG +1. Soverel called on the button. Wilds called in the big blind. Flop: 4-3-2 with one heart. Wilds checked to me, I bet 1500, Soverel made it 4200, Wilds folded....I make it 9500. Soverel insta-folds!

As an aside, I've played a decent amount of poker tournaments in my life. Nothing comes close to the heart-pounding action of the main. Every hand, even if you have the stone-cold nuts, provides you with such an incredible rush. That statement was probably corny and too dramatic, but it is simply unreal.

Btw, Soverel and Rodman got all the chips in on a J-3-4 flop. Soverel had 34, Rodman had AJ......Ace on the river and Soverel busted. He took it really well though, while Rodman jumped up to about 80-90k.

I ended this level with 56,500 in chips.

Level 7: 300-600 with a 75 ante

I dipped down in chips a little bit, was able to recover some when I busted a shortstack with AQ vs A9 (about 12k total in there preflop), didn't even have to sweat it with a Q-8-4 flop.

Ended this level with 49,500

Level 8: 400-800 with a 100 ante

A player who had replaced Soverel in Seat 2 made it 2k in mid-position. I raised to 4600 on the button with AK, he called. Flop: A-4-4. He checked....I checked. The turn was a 2. He bet 4500, I smooth-called. The river was a Jack. He checked....I bet 7200, he called and mucked when I showed AK.

A few hands later I raised to 1800 with AKd UTG +1, the same player in Seat 2 made it 5100 from the button with about 18k behind. Folded back to me, I shoved, he called with QQ.

Flop: 9-6-6 (no diamonds)

Turn: 3

River.......5, and I was back down to 50k or so.

Same guy makes it 1800 about 20 minutes later from mid-position.....Wilds makes it 5100 from the hijack, I make it 11,200 on the button with QQ. The small blind shoved for almost 40k. Folds around to me. I tank. He was a complete amateur but loved to play a TON of hands. (He came to our table after Anita Halfpenny was eliminated early) I really thought he didn't want a call....just based on the way he was acting. I called.

He shows AKcl. And we race again.

Flop: 8h-3s-2cl....he gets up and says "nice hand"

Turn: 7d....he taps the table

River: 6!!!

Ended this level with 96,100

Level 9: 500-1000 with a 100 ante

Our table broke, and I was moved to a table in the Brasilia room. (Again, working up to Amazon!!!)

The only player I recognized was Rep Porter, but this table was still stacked with solid, young players. And one older gentleman with about 250k in chips.

First major hand I played here will draw some criticism I'm sure, that's fine!! (Sorry I don't remember the sizing of the bets)

I raised preflop to 2200 in the cutoff with K2h. Porter called on the button. The SB called as well. The flop came Ah-Qcl-9cl. Checked to me, I bet 3100, Porter called, the SB folded. The turn was a blank. I checked, Porter checked. The river was another blank. I checked, Porter bet 6k or so, then I went into the tank. J-10 or a missed flush draw represented a decent amount of his range.....PLUS, isn't he checking a 9 or Queen behind because of its showdown value, is he even checking a weak Ace here?? I called with King-high. Porter showed Ace-10. Nice value bet, sir. I suck at the poker.

So I'm fairly upset about that call and then think to myself, "I have 75 BBs in the greatest poker tournament in the world".....Next hand: AA!! Power of positivity, as Mr. Hellmuth says. I win a decent-sized pot to get back over 100k.

Towards the end of the level, I raised with 10-10 UTG to 2200. Button calls....SB calls....10 in window!....and another 10 behind that! Flop: 10-7-10. SB checks, I check, button bets 3500, SB folds, I call. Turn 5, check, check. River: 7, I bet 6100, he calls and mucks.

It's always fun to flop quads. Especially in the Main.

End this level with 120,000 in chips

Level 10: 600-1200 with a 200 ante

Chipped up to about 150k before this hand.....

I raised with AdJs to 2600 in mid-position, the big-stack on the button calls. Flop: Jd-4cl-2d. I check (he was very aggressive post-flop, always betting)....he bets 3100, I make it 8k, he calls. Turn: 7d. I bet 11.2k.....he tanks....I think he's about to fold, then he makes it 27k. I call. River: 3cl. I check, he bets 27k. So I'm looking at 27k into about 105k that's out there. I call. He says "good call" and mucks.

I won another decent pot with QQ (helps to turn a full house)

And with all that run-good, I ended Day 2 with 254,600 in chips! Day 3 story will come tomorrow. Thanks again for reading!

Sorry again for the confusion about my staking numbers, please read my earlier post for clarification.

good read so far

Pretty unusual, great deal for him. Essentially it is 1.75 to 1.

Enjoying the report.

Excellent read...keep it up. Good Luck!

Fun read, keep it coming to Day 7!

this is great

Thanks for clearing up the staking deal, since he is a friend and it doesn't really seem to be a business only type deal I don't think it is really for any of us to talk about how fair of a deal it was. It sounds like it was basically a buddy that said "hey man since your paying to go down there and everything I'll give you 7k for 40%". I don't see a problem with it.

Great read so far.

Will post Day 3 report late tonight. Thanks for the support!!

damn man what a tease, saw that OP had posted ITT and thought I was getting an update. #edgeofyourseat lol

Tap tap tap!

Thursday, July 10 (Day 3)

I spent my off day doing.....nothing, really. I don't play cash games, and didn't want to play poker of any kind, or gamble at all really. I went with my buddy Vegas Dave to go see Absinthe. My review: HILARIOUS. ENTERTAINING. GO SEE IT. (Yes, the all-caps approach was absolutely necessary) In my mind, 3 shows run Vegas. In no specific order: Absinthe, the MJ Cirque du Soleil show, and Celine. Yes, I'm serious about Celine.

Ok, back to the World Series of Poker Main Event, which is why we're all here. Now, after a sick rush to end Day 2 with 254,600 in chips, I found myself in 78th place with 1,864 players left. It still didn't seem real, but I knew it'd feel real on Day 3 when the whole field combined.

It was a spot in the Brasilia room for me again, which would break into Amazon (the ultimate goal throughout the Main was to get back to the Amazon room!!)

And it was a spot at what Vegas Dave & I soon called the "Table of Death" I was under the impression that the Main drew more than its fair share of amateur players.....and your table draws were usually at least decent. This did not look decent.

Seat 1 - Jonathan Crute, 203,100, from Belfast, Ireland. An online super-wizard who has consistently been in the top .02% of MTT players since 2010.

Seat 2 - Empty at first.....filled by a guy who looks like Matt Bomer from USA's White Collar. One of the best players I'd seen throughout the tournament. Had about 230k in chips and ran it up to 350k or so

Seat 3 - Rasmus Larsen, 129,300, from Denmark. Almost $600k in live tourney earnings, finished 6th in an EPT High-Roller this season. Very nice guy

Seat 4 - Alessio Isaia, 107,300, from Italy. When I looked him up, I saw something about him being friends with Dario, and immediately thought, "This guy will be insane".....he wasn't, actually.

Seat 5 - Kyle Johnson, 117,300. Described as "nosebleed stakes" online cash game player. Good dude. Good player. Got a little annoyed with a situation that I will explain soon.

Seat 6 - Terik Brown, 147,900. Had some decent WSOP cashes. Most memorable part with Terik happened as he was walking back to the table after the break....:

Dealer: "What's up, Maurice?"

Terik: "Maurice is the other black guy"

Dealer: "Oh"

Seat 7 - Randall Brueckner, 65,700. Couldn't find much information on him

Seat 8 - That would be me, 254,600

Seat 9 - Khoa Nguyen, 46,200. Really nice guy, really fun guy to play with. Chipped up to about 80k or so but busted soon after.

Hit the awesome WSOP dramatic music, and here we go!!

I said "good luck, guys" to absolutely no response. Alrightyyyyyyy then. (It turns out, the table was full of really nice guys, maybe nobody heard me!)

Level 11: 800-1600 with a 200 ante

Right when Matt Bomer moved to the table (not really him but we'll go with it), I picked up AKd in the cutoff and raised to 3400. Bomer made it 11.5k from the BB.

I wanted to play fairly tight against a pretty tough table, and not get too involved.....just waiting for the table to break.

So naturally, I re-raised to 27k. Bomer called and we saw a Q-Q-9 flop. He checked, I checked. Turn was a J. He bet 35k or so, and I folded.

Ended the level with 205,000 in chips

Level 12: 1000-2000 with a 300 ante

I had 4-bet previously with QQ from the small blind on Tarek's 3-bet.....he says he laid down AK.

Towards the beginning of level 12, I raised to 4500 UTG with AK, Larsen called, Tarek 3-bet to about 13k if memory serves me correctly with 55k or so behind. .....I made it 35,000. Larsen folded, Tarek tanked for probably a minute and a half, then just called.

Flop: 6-6-4......Tarek shoved for about 33k. I (believe I) had to call. He showed QQ

Turn: 9

River: 7

Down to about 153k that hand, down to about 125k a hand or 2 after that. Not great!!

Good time to pick up a hand.....

I believe Larsen raised preflop to 4500, Johnson made it 12k on the button, I made it 27k from the BB with AA. Larsen folded, Johnson called with about 70-80k behind.

Flop: 9-8-2. I led out with 28k......Johnson tanked for about 10 seconds before this.....

Johnson: "Do you want me to call?"

Me: "I never know how to answer those kinds of questions"

Johnson: "I know, it's so awkward, right?"

We both (awkwardly) laugh, and Johnson tanks for about 10 more seconds.....so we're about 30-40 seconds out from when I first bet, and all of a sudden....

"CLOCK"

Huh?!? Where'd that come from??

It came from the quiet Randall Brueckner in seat 7.

Johnson: "Are you serious?!?"

Brueckner: "Dude you're not calling let's go"

Floorman comes over.....Johnson folds in the final 10 seconds of the count.

Floorman leaves.

Johnson: "That was a dick move"

Brueckner: "I knew you were folding"

Johnson: "Dude are you serious?! Like who do you think you are? Go f--- yourself"

Brueckner: "FLOOR!!!"

Johnson just received a one-hand penalty, which was probably the right call in that place. I couldn't believe he had the clock called on him so quickly.

At the end of this level, I was at around 205k in chips and ABSOLUTELY THRILLED. Plus, I knew the table was going to break soon.

Level 13: 1200-2400 with a 400 ante

But before it did break....in fact, on the last hand before it did.....Tarek made a great value bet on the river after making the nut straight (a well-disguised nut straight, as I was slowplaying top pair on the flop and turn)

So I was down to 170k before moving to......THE AMAZON ROOM!!! We're back and here to stay, folks!!

I felt much more comfortable at this table, but didn't get to play there for too often. .

I ended the level with 190k going into dinner break.

Level 14: 1500-3000 with a 500 ante

Moved to a different table, alongside one of the chip leaders.....a big Cowboys fan wearing.....a Miles Austin jersey?!!? The ESPN cameras were around us, and I did hear one of the field producers say "hey get some broll of the kid in Seat 2"......and I thought to myself "I'm the kid in Seat 2!!" but tried to play it cool.

Side-note: I wanted to slowly progress in wardrobe.....Day 1, I was wearing an old-school Mavs t-shirt (I'm from Dallas)....Day 2: a Mavs polo....Day 3: sport coat/button-down

Mr. Chip Leader was a VERY nice guy, VERY happy that he was in the Main, VERY happy that he had a lot of chips. He kept counting his stack and then letting us all know what his stack was. It was kind of bizarre to have that happen every 2-3 hands or so. But again, very nice guy!

Well......I don't have very good notes from this section, except Mr. Chip Leader putting a shortstack allin on a J-7-5-2 board. Mr. CL had AJ. Shortstack had KK. River: Ace (duh)....Shortstack: "AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!".....

****I saw some devastating river cards for guys allin for their tournament life, made for great entertainment value, but also made you feel for them!"

Ended this level with 170,000

Level 15: 2000-4000 with a 500 ante

The field was decreasing rapidly, so we only played an hour or so.

And after a starting point of 254,600, a low point of 125,000.....I was so happy to bag 206,500 in chips and come back for Day 4 of the Main.

Day 4 was.......well, it was entertaining. To say the very least.

That report comes tomorrow. Thank you all so much for reading!