June 8, 2024: Flying home, parting thoughts (Part 2 of 10)
My intense disdain for late reg

I hate the concept of rebuys and late reg. Burning hate.

The ability and willingness on the part of late reg entrants to take high variance lines in a go big or go home approach makes it harder for my more disciplined approach. Late reg guys are not married to the money in terms of the buy-in. Neither am I. But I am married to the experience and it is difficult for me to go all gas no breaks aggressive or even bat-**** crazy like some of them do because I don’t want to go bust too frequently on bluffs, because I am not going to rebuy for smallish big blinds. From what I saw, the players taking high variance approaches and constantly putting people to post-flop and turn decisions that were difficult tended to build up big stacks. Of course, they would often bluff it off when people started making hands, but the approach tends to print chips until it doesn’t. The ability to late reg when it doesn’t work make it easier for them to push the envelope in the first place. Given how top-heavy tournament payouts are, it makes sense for them to go big or go home. And they don’t really go home. They just go to the late reg line for some other tournament. I can’t tell you how often my tables got pro heavy just as late reg was nearing its end. Then they take the high variance approach hoping for a coin flip, which, if they win, they now have as many chips as I have grinded all day for. Unfortunately, I tended to be card dead near the late reg conclusions so I never had kings against threes for big pots this time of the tourney when the late reg guys were pushing the envelope. As an amateur, it feels unfair. From a competition standpoint, I think a player should have to earn their 60,000-80,000 chips by battling for 12 levels as compared to a late reg who jumps in at level 12, essentially puts their money on red at the roulette table with 3-3, hoping to double up against A-K in a coin flip.

I get it that some are doing this for Player of the Year points. I get that others have the bankroll to take this approach and if they can spin it up fast then they have the poker chops to go on a run. And if they lose the coin flip, they just move on to the next tournament. I get that the WSOP is never going to eliminate the late reg process because of how much money it makes from it, but in terms of crowning champions it seems so flawed. I think that to win a championship you should have to run the race from the start. It’s why I believe in the freezeout method. I strongly suspect I am in the minority in the tournament ecosystem at least where the regular grinders thought process is. And I’m not saying this critically of the poker pros who take advantage of the late reg setup. It’s allowed and they are doing nothing wrong partaking in this approach. I just think it’s a lousy way to crown champions, which is what I think a prestigious series like the WSOP should be all about. For a “sport” that likes to emphasize that it is a game of mostly skill and some luck, I think late reg raises the “luck” factor to too high a percentage. I don’t know what this percentage is, but I think it is higher than it should be if we want to argue the skill side of the debate. I understand the WSOP probably loves late reg because it means more profits for them. But that’s not championship sporting event thinking. It’s a money grab pure and simple. I wish there were a lot more freezeout tournaments than there are.

I know there is no turning back on late reg. I know I am just howling at the moon here.

June 8, 2024: Flying home, parting thoughts (Part 3 of 10)
Player aggression is so different in 2024 versus 2019 … Criticism of WSOP’s late release of the schedule … Tanking, bad behavior and table talk … Assessment of dealers, floor personnel and registration … Comparing Paris/Horseshoe to Rio … Bathrooms … Final Tables rails

Player aggression: It was like night and day WSOP 2019 versus WSOP 2024. Let’s start with blind stealing. In 2024, it was very difficult to find unopened pots from late position to try to steal because unopened pots never happened. It was difficult to attempt to steal from the button with mediocre holdings because there was always so much aggression beforehand. Every time I was on the button there was always – ALWAYS – an earlier bet and in many, many cases there was also an additional raise. In 2019, there were so many opportunities to steal from the button on unopened pots. Not so in 2024. Post flop, it was more of the same. In 2024 there always seemed to be at least one and often two or more players who were consistently putting their opponents to tough decisions, battling for pots post flop and building up big chip stacks without having to show their cards very often at showdown. There was much less of this in 2019.

WSOP schedule release: I have a problem with how late the WSOP released its schedule this year. And even then, the structures did not come out until even later. This made it difficult to impossible to find the deep structures I prefer since I needed to get my lodging and flight reservations done in a timely manner.

Tanking: The tanking you see on TV simply has not taken place in either of the two WSOPs I have played in. People make relatively quick decisions, and the game moves at a good speed. Even really, really, really difficult decisions for heaps of chips take maybe 1-2 minutes, and this was very, very, very rare. I have not once encountered a serial tanker at the tables.

Bad behavior: The bad behavior you sometimes see on poker broadcasts has never taken place at any of the tables I have been at during any of the tournaments I have played in. Everyone has treated one another with respect. Only one time was the floor called at one of my tables in 2024, and that was when the dealer screwed up, was insisting on making a wrong decision, and the entire table was a united front in calling the floor over to rectify the matter.

Table talk: My friends always ask me if players sit around the table stone quiet all day long. Obviously some people are more talkative than others. Interesting conversations occur from time to time. Not nonstop chatter, but people are fairly friendly and communicative at the tables I have been at. If you have read this entire thread, you have read about plenty of stories. These stories and many player nicknames used come from conversations at the tables. The other kind of table talk, speech play in a hand, I have seen very little of.

Dealers: While I did get quite a large number of brand new dealers to the scene assigned to my tables, especially during the opening events, with only maybe two or three exceptions the dealers were competent and professional. No real complaints. With so many tables running at all times, there is no way around totally inexperienced dealers being a part of the scene. That said, it really was not a problem. And even the couple of dealers that did present some problems, in both instances there was a veteran player or two who calmly guided the newbie dealer on what to do when there was about to be a problem.

Floor personnel: My tables were virtually controversy free, but when neighboring tables would call for the floor, someone always showed up quickly, gathered the necessary information and made a low-key but decisive ruling to calm everything down. The one time I saw a player really acting out when the floor was present was resolved by a more firm response in which the player was told by the floor to “Knock it off.” There was plenty of security in the playing areas and rail areas and they were able to answer any questions I had in a knowing and friendly manner. They seemed like they were mostly there just to be seen and not heard. At least that’s what I noticed. I only saw one instance where a security person acted inappropriately with over-the-top, power-trip nonsense. This was when someone on the rail took some pictures of players in a high roller. A security guard freaked out and said taking videos was not allowed. The person said they were not shooting a video, only taking pictures, and they put their camera in their pocket. The security guard then escalated matters, saying if the person took any more videos there was going to be a big problem. The person on the rail said, “No problem, I’ve already put my camera away.” Power-trip security guard said, “I’ve got my eye on you. You better not cause any more problems.” The person on the rail said, “I don’t know what the problem is here. I’ve already put my phone away. I’ve said I won’t take any videos.” Power Trip security guard said angrily, “I’m watching you!” From what I saw, this nut job security guard was the exception and not the rule. I get that videos aren’t allowed. I’m not as certain on what the rules are regarding taking photos since I saw people taking photos constantly with nothing being said. Whatever the rules, this one security person took a situation that could have been handled quietly and chose instead to take it to DEFCON 3. Again, this seemed like the exception, not the rule.

Registration Paris versus Rio: It is about a million times better at the Paris registration than was the case at the Rio. I think there are a lot more people available to collect money at the 2024 WSOP than there were when I played in the 2019 WSOP. Online registration probably is also a big reason for the shorter lines, but there also seems to be a lot more staff working the cages in 2024 than was the case in 2019. I thought the Rio in 2019 was massively understaffed in the registration area. That was not an issue at the Paris. No matter what time of day I registered this year, the lines ranged from reasonable to nonexistent. I never once faced a terrible line.

Poker ballrooms Paris/Horseshoe versus Rio: While it sounds like hotel rooms are nicer at the Paris than at the Rio, I think the Rio ballrooms had the feel of a big-time event much more so than at the Paris/Horseshoe. I also prefer the gigantic free parking lot that the Rio had. Lastly, the Rio felt like all the ballrooms were in one central area, which gave it a bigger than life feel. There is so much distance between the Horseshoe WSOP poker rooms and the Paris WSOP poker room that it feels like two entirely separate events.

Famous poker pros at my tables: Ben Yu (twice), Erick Lindgren, Eric Baldwin, John Hennigan. Plus, lots and lots of poker pros who are not household names. There were a ton more pros at my tables in 2024 than was the case in 2019. I think the explosion of late reg had a lot to do with this.

Bathrooms: The World Series of Poker is one of the few places on the planet where the men’s room lines are massively longer than the women’s room lines. That said I have never had a problem with their being a problem time wise for the bathrooms during breaks. The men’s bathroom by the Paris ballroom is pretty massive. I only played in the Horseshoe once but there were enough nearby bathrooms that I didn’t have a problem.

Final Tables: I find most of the Final Tables that I checked out to be sadly devoid of excitement. Virtually no one is on the rail. It has all of the fan participation and crowd pomp and circumstance of someone getting heads up in a $5 online tournament who is sitting by themselves in their bedroom while wearing only their underwear. I don’t know how you rectify this, but it seems disappointing to me that some of these people are experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime WSOP thrill/accomplishment with no raucous crowd to add to the spectacle.

Top notch TR. I'm glad you posted and I could follow along.

Thank you.

June 8, 2024: Flying home, parting thoughts (Part 4 of 10)
Cooler and bad beats define your WSOP

Coolers and bad beats (both received or doled out) define your WSOP. At least that has been the case for me. These are the hands that see heaps of chips change hands. In 2019, I frequently (really frequently) suffered outlandish bad beats and one massive cooler. My negative variance was enormous. In 2024, my WSOP really came down to two bad beats and one epic cooler. The first bad beat was in my favor. For the first time I was on the right side of variance when my queens cracked kings fairly early on in the tournament, giving me a very healthy early-stage chip stack that I eventually rode to my min cash. In the second instance, my aces got cracked by kings in a hand that could have (should have) given me as many chips as the table chip leaders. Who knows what happens if my aces hold. Finally, there was the epic 400,000 chip hand in which two opponents flopped a straight (with Q-10) while I flopped trips (with J-J). I wasn’t favored, but all I needed on the turn or river was for the board to pair, and I would have been the tournament chip leader at the time. “Get there” and the mind can imagine how deep a run awaits. So many outs. How many times on televised tournaments have we seen people “get there” in these instances and then go on to deep runs? Turns out, I am not one of those people, and, alas, I missed as none of my numerous outs hit. Four hundred thousand chips. Say it out loud. It sounds so lovely. Easy to say, not so easy to possess. You can see those chips, you can practically reach out and touch those chips, you just can’t quite clutch those chips in your greedy hands. Just out of reach. If …

June 8, 2024: Flying home, parting thoughts (Part 5 of 10)
An honest assessment of my game … areas I need to improve

How do I assess my ability as a poker player? I think I am a much better player than I was in 2019. And yet I feel my opponents are better than me by more in 2024 than they were in 2019. How does that make sense? The game has improved that much. However much I have improved, the game has improved more.

Players are so much more aggressive. Opportunities to steal blinds from the button in an unopened pot do not exist. Someone has always raised before the button at the tables I played at in 2024. Maybe it’s just a small sample size, but the tables I was at in 2019 were so much more straight forward than the tables I was at in 2024. The number of players who are comfortable playing post flop seems much higher in 2024 than 2019. People fight for pots much harder in 2024 than 2019. Players put their opponents to tough decisions more in 2024 than I remember in 2019. At least that’s what I have seen at my tables. Again, small sample size.

I was way less intimidated by scare cards in 2024 than I was in 2019. I had a much better read on every player at my table in 2024 than in 2019. I dealt with bad beats and coolers way better in 2024 than in 2019. I think I was more unpredictable when it came to betting/bluffing without the nuts/huge hands. I played better post flop in 2024 than I did in 2019.

In 2019 I was mostly just able to focus on what type of players that were two to my left and two to my right were since these were the players who were near your blinds, or had blinds near me. In 2024 I was able to identify player styles and weaknesses for every player at the table. I am much better at identifying player patterns. I feel like I have a much better read of every player at the tables in 2024. I even picked up some tells in 2024, which was not the case in 2019.

In 2019 when I was in a hand, I would pick a spot on the table to stare at. I would never look at the other player. In 2024 I have no problem returning a stare at an opponent and trying to get a read on them. In 2019 I was afraid to engage in table talk. In 2024, while I am far from the most talkative player at the table, I am much more will to engage in conversation when I am not in a hand. I am now able to chit chat and still focus on what is happening in the hand going on at the table. I do not engage in conversation when I am in a hand.

Although I feel 2024 me is much better than 2019 me, 2024 me still has a lot of areas that need work.

Things for me to improve upon as a poker player are (in no particular order):

1) I forget at times to apply player hand ranges based upon position and flop makeup (this is what I have been studying on my poker training site, but at times I forget to do this).

2) I am making decisions too fast (and that includes when I have the nuts and raise too fast).

3) I probably play a little too tight when I am at 20-25 big blinds, although being card dead a lot at those levels may explain this.

4) I had a difficult time knowing what to do UTG with hands like K-10 suited or whatever the bottom of the GTO range dictates. In other words, hands that you bet into an unopened pot from middle position or on the button. But UTG there are so many players to act at my very aggressive tables that I mostly folded these hands. I need to study what to do with these hands from UTG knowing my initial bet will almost certainly be raised given the aggression at my tables.

5) I need to be more willing to raise rather than just limp middle pairs preflop when I am first into the pot, otherwise I am telegraphing my big versus medium hands.

6) Accurately totaling the amount of chips in a pot – the dealer has put them in a messy pile and bigger chips are buried under smaller chips -- which when inaccurately tallied led to some incorrect bet sizing on my part.

7) When betting from early to middle position with the bottom of acceptable opening range and then facing a three bet, I need to work on how to respond as I think I was consistently too quick to fold against a single raise.

8) Preflop and postflop aggression was so much more prevalent than my training site, prepared me for. I need to figure out how to combat this much betting heat. Of course, my 2024 WSOP sample size was obviously small, so I also have to figure out if this much betting heat was standard or just an aberration.

9) At 15-25 big blinds, I had no idea how to play TT. I need to work on this.

10) At 10-25 big blinds I need to not be quite so concerned about the size of my chip stack. Aware yes, panicky no. There is a lot more play at this stage than my 2024 WSOP actions would indicate. Shove/fold is not the only, or even the best, option. I needed to be more patient, which is normally a strength for me.

11) The best players I faced loved seeing flops and were great at betting their opponents off of hands without ever getting to showdown. They won lots of chips this way. Plus, when they had huge hands, they frequently got a ton of action. I am a long way from being able to comfortably and effectively play this style of poker.

12) When I go card dead for a lengthy period of time, I have to look for more spots than I did to manufacture chips. If I’ve gone a couple of levels without a playable hand, people will give me credit for having a hand when I finally open a pot with a bet. Not saying it will always work, but I need to make an effort to not be so card dependent. I did it some, but not enough.

13) I don’t think I changed gears often enough. There were some stretches where the table was giving a ton of respect to my raises, and I didn’t take advantage of this by getting more aggressive. I’m not saying I never did this, but I don’t think I did it often enough.

14) When I have a big hand pre flop (i.e. K-K) against a LAG player who likes to push people off of big hands post flop, when the flop or turn brings a scare card, I don’t call down light enough against a bet(s). My response was either to raise or fold. Raising in this instance is fine some of the time as a bluff to take down the hand, but I almost never took the path of simply calling my opponent’s bet here with the expectation that they are frequently betting very light. I need to be willing to let this kind of opponent do the betting for me and making uncomfortable calls more often.

Thanks to everyone in the thread who offered me advice, which was very helpful in making this list.

June 8, 2024: Flying home, parting thoughts (Part 6 of 10)
My (non-strategy) advice to people playing in their first WSOP

Non-strategy advice (in no particular order) to players about to play in their first World Series of Poker:

1) Fly in to Las Vegas the day before your first event, preferably as early in the day as possible. Doing so will give you time to do some grocery shopping so you can make lunches to take with you each day. Arriving a day early will give you time to get over to the Paris and Horseshoe and get the lay of the land. Learn where all of the different poker rooms are. Learn where the cages for registration are. Learn where the bathrooms are. Learn where nearby dinner break options are. Learn where the cab stand is. Learn where the Daily Deepstacks events take place since they are far away from both the main WSOP Horseshoe and Paris poker rooms.

2) Go to the Caesars Rewards desk (near the area just before you get to the Paris WSOP area) and get your Caesars Rewards card. If you can’t find the desk, ask a security guard for directions. You will not be able to register for a tournament at a cage without your rewards card. If you wind your way through a registration line and do not have a Caesars Reward card, you just wasted your time in line.

3) Every time you go on break, take a picture on your phone of your table number. Especially once you have had a table break and the table number on your original buy-in ticket no longer has your current table number on it. No worse feeling than getting back from break and realizing you forgot your table number. Also, when you go on break take a photo of your chip stack in case you come back and chips (not talking about color up chips) are missing (more than one veteran player recommended this to me).

4) Make sure to select a hotel that provides a refrigerator. This way you can buy groceries and save on meal costs by making lunch every day and having snacks/drinks that you can refrigerate. Bring a thermal lunch bag and mini ice packs (assuming your refrigerator has a small freezer section). This way you can bring drinks and keep them cold and not have to track down servers for drink requests.

5) Be aware of resort fees when selecting a hotel.

6) Bounty chips in bounty tournaments do not count as all-in chips. They only count as a call if you toss it into the middle.

7) Be aware of when late reg ends since you will get a whole bunch of players (probably skewing heavily toward professionals) looking to spin it up fast taking high variance lines at this time.

8) Be aware that a lot of dealers, especially at the beginning of the WSOP, are very inexperienced. Protect your cards with a card protector, a chip or your hands. If the dealer starts to push the pot in the wrong direction, speak up (respectfully).

9) If you are near the money bubble and are short on chips, calculate how many players will cash (15% of total entries). The TV monitors with blinds info will list the total number of entries, but they will not say what number 15% represents. There will not be an announcement that the money bubble is near or what the number of players who will cash are. You are expected to know this. The TV monitors will, however, list how many players remain in the tournament. It is only on the stone bubble that an announcement will be made that hand-for-hand play will begin until the bubble bursts. If you cash, the dealer is supposed to yell “payout” (or something like that) when you bust. Someone will come over and give you a card the size of a business card stating what place you finished in (you will be able to keep this card as a keepsake if you like). You will be sent to a line that at the very front has a couple people in front of computer monitors who will ask you for ID and to see the card with what place you finished. Next, you can make the decision to go to the payout room now or at some later time if you prefer. When you go to the payout room, you will get in a line. When it is your turn, you will again be asked for ID and to see the card with what place you finished. This is not where you get paid. I’m not really sure what the purpose of this second line was since it seemed like a duplication of the first line. After you finish providing your information, you will be sent to yet another line. This is the line where you get paid. You will have the option of receiving cash or a check. I don’t know if wire transfer to your bank is an option or not should you bink a huge payday.

10) You cannot stay at your poker table during breaks.

11) Turn the volume on your cell phone all the way to zero. This way you know you have missed a call from the vibration, but it doesn’t disturb the table. Deal with returning missed phone calls during breaks. Or simply turn off your phone completely when at the poker table.

12) Make sure you have enough singles for tipping. You can get singles easily enough from the non-WSOP cages in the Paris casino or the Horseshoe casino.

13) If you want to star gaze at famous poker pros, your best bet is to look for the higher buy-in events on the TV monitors throughout the poker room. The higher buy-in events tend to be more famous pro heavy. Plus, the higher the buy-in the smaller the field, meaning well-known pros will be more likely to be right by the rail. My experience was the higher buy-in events on Day 1 tended to be in the Paris. Day 2s and Final Tables will be in the Horseshoe in the room where the TV cameras are.

14) There is a hot dog cart by the Paris WSOP poker ballroom. It’s a $10 hot dog, but it is convenient if you are short on time.

15) The main men’s bathroom by the Paris WSOP poker ballroom is enormous. The men’s bathroom line moves very quickly as a result. For obvious reasons (gender skews very, very, very heavily male at the WSOP), the line for the women’s bathroom is short to nonexistent. I only played one bracelet event at the Horseshoe, so my bathroom knowledge there is not as complete, but the bathrooms are smaller than at the Paris. There are, however, more bathrooms at the Horseshoe as far as I can tell.

16) You can only register for Daily Deepstack events the day of the event. You can’t register a day or days ahead of time.

17) If you want to know about the various non-WSOP tournament options around Las Vegas at the same time as the WSOP go to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...gid=1277637776

If you read this ahead of the 2025 WSOP go to Kenny Hallaert’s page on X (formerly twitter) at https://x.com/SpaceyFCB?ref_src=twsr...Ctwgr%5Eauthor

18) If you want to see what is happening in WSOP tournaments (player chip stacks, updates, etc.) go to either WSOP.com (click on updates or chip counts) or Pokernews.com (https://www.pokernews.com/tours/wsop/2024-wsop/)

19) If you don’t want to bring your entire bankroll on the plane ride to Las Vegas, then open a bank account with branches in your hometown and Las Vegas. I believe national banks in Las Vegas include Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo.

20) Speaking of bankrolls, make sure your hotel room has a safe, although I can’t imagine a Las Vegas hotel room not having a safe. Still, better to check ahead of time.

21) Keep all of your receipts from tournaments you do not cash in, just in case you later have a good cash. This way you can lessen the tax bite by having the receipts of tourneys that you didn’t cash.

22) Figure out what restaurants are near your hotel that have very late-night hours, just in case you bag chips and are hungry deep into the night. If you want something near the Paris/Horseshoe I recommend the Earl of Sandwich in Planet Hollywood which is open 24 hours a day, or a tiny bit more of a walk is Nacho Daddy (open until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. depending on the day of the week) by the Miracle Mile Shoppes.

23) WSOP memorabilia: There is a room selling all kinds of WSOP gear by the Paris WSOP poker ballroom. It’s not cheap, but there is a good selection of items. You can use the Caesars Rewards points you accumulated from your tournament buy-ins to get savings on these purchases. If you want to know ahead of time how much you can save by using your Caesars Rewards points, they won’t be able to tell you at the cashier in the room selling WSOP stuff. They’ll tell you to go to the nearby Caesars Rewards desk to find out. I found that to be strange.

24) Be kind to yourself when you play a hand poorly. You aren’t going to play perfectly. No one does. When you misplay a hand, make sure you learn from it so you handle a similar spot better the next time. But don’t beat yourself up. If you do, you turn one mistake into lots of mistakes shortly thereafter if you go on mental tilt.

25) Don’t be results oriented in a small sample size.

26) Handle bad beats and coolers with grace. Don’t be “that guy (or gal)” who acts like an idiot because the cards were unfair. When you get lucky and suckout against an opponent, handle it with dignity (you know, the way you wish your opponent would handle it when the shoe is on the other foot).

27) Enjoy the journey. Yes, you want to grind hard. But if it is not fun, then what is the point?

Great list, just thought I might offer my 2cent as well.

2. You can sign up at pretty much any computer kiosk for a player’s card or print a new one.

17. https://www.thehendonmob.com/vegas/

22. Chinatown is a short cab ride away and there are plenty of late night options. You are also more likely to pay less for more.

For 13) when trying to catch pros I'd also add checking out the mixed games, particularly if they're higher buy-in. Those tend to attract smaller fields while skewing toward the top pros, so you're even more likely to get a good view!

Great list!

hmm, thanks. I didn't know about this

June 8, 2024 Flying home, parting thoughts (Part 7 of 10)
Why aren’t there more non-strategy books about poker? … What I perceive to be a flaw in the WSOP Player of the Year race formula … The ability of poker pros to make a profit

Poker books: I am surprised there are not more non-strategy books about poker. I’m talking about books that tell the colorful stories of the poker world. There are fascinating stories everywhere. I’m not talking about a book where the writer takes his shot at tournament glory and writes about it. That’s been done plenty. I am talking about a journalist who follows the circuit for a year, and tells the stories of the players. Not just the famous players. The grinders with a unique story are what I am talking about. Everywhere you turn there is a player with an amazing story. So many intriguing, colorful characters. I found a bunch of them just at my tables. Multiply that times the whole field, and a good writer should be able to find gold all over the tournament poker rooms.

WSOP Player of the Year race: I think the fact that this year the standings only count a player’s top 10 cashes is a positive step forward. This values quality over quantity. However, there is one aspect of the formula used for the standings that completely baffles me. How is it that how much money a player has spent in entry fees is not a factor? Or to get more to the point, I do not think a person should be able to win Player of the Year if they had an unprofitable WSOP. If you lost money overall, you are not Player of the Year in my book. How profitable a player was should not be the only data point since that would mean the winner of the Main Event or the winner of a mega high roller event would win every time. But I think ROI should be one component of the formula used to crown the WSOP Player of the Year. I honestly don’t know what the argument against this would be. Yes, the WSOP does not want to advertise that even some top pros who win a bracelet and have another deep run might actually be losing money, but Player of the Year should be about crowning the most-worthy player possible. Not factoring in profitability as a data point seems entirely driven by the WSOP marketing department (and certain pros not wanting to be embarrassed) at the expense of determining who really and truly is the most deserving Player of the Year. I have no expectation that what I am suggesting will ever happen. With a tip of the cap to The Wizard of Oz it seems to be a case of, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.” Which is another way of saying, the WSOP doesn’t want anyone (particularly more mainstream fans) to know how the sausage is made when it comes to the WSOP Player of the Year formula.

Making a profit: If they don’t make really, really deep runs, I don’t understand how a large segment of poker pros can make a profitable living. One pretty accomplished professional player that I played against (the player at my table who was wearing a hat so I wasn’t absolutely positive at the time of his identity, so I did not name him, but I am now pretty confident I know who he is) fired five bullets in the $1,000 Mystery Millions Bounty tournament (I heard him say so). Out of a field of 18,409 entries, he eventually finished in the top 288-350 players, earning him $4,500. I don’t know if he won any bounties. He finished in the top 2%, and, if he did not win any bounties, that means he lost $500 over five days of play. This doesn’t even take into account that these were five days when he also had to pay for his Las Vegas lodging, food, etc. And I’m not saying this particular poker pro is losing money at the 2024 WSOP. As of this posting he has had eight cashes (which is awesome and shows he is highly skilled), but most of the cashes are for only two to three times the buy-in. Assuming he is doing plenty of re-buying, and assuming there have been a bunch of tournaments he did not cash at all, I have my doubts that he has been overly tournament profitable so far at the 2024 WSOP. I’m not saying that no poker pros are making money. But it seems to me that a lot of them must struggle financially if they don’t make a really big score. When you add up all of their buy-ins plus their obvious expenses (flight, lodging, food, etc.) plus their not so obvious expenses (healthcare insurance, expenses from wherever they live – rent or mortgage -- when not on the poker circuit, taxes on years when they do make money) that is a pretty big number just to break even. The lack of sponsorship opportunities post-Black Friday really has to be a major gut punch to the professional poker ecosystem. I suppose I am not factoring in juicy cash games/online play in which proper game selection may save the day. Tournament poker may make some players famous, but it seems like a really tough way to turn a profit and pay the bills.

It's the WSOP, with huge fields...
On their daily grind, they either play smaller fields, and/or multi-table online, where they can combine buy-in and field-sizes as they may wish.

Very nice TR, thx 4 the effort.

June 8, 2024: Flying home, parting thoughts (Part 8 of 10)
Non-poker food goals met and missed, and some miscellaneous non-poker tallies

Earl of Sandwich meter: 2. I originally said any less than three trips here would mean the trip was a failure, but given the problem I was having with mild leg and heel pain, I just couldn’t make the walk enough to make quota.

Nacho Daddy meter: At least 2, but I am too tired to go back through all my notes to get an exact tally. It’s a great late-night venue for food. In 2019 I went more often than I did in 2024.

Chili cheese dog meter: 2, which seems just right.

Escargot meter: 2 (one more than planned quota, but I’m good with that).

Dr Pepper meter: 24 (please, please, please don’t tell Mrs. rppoker who will probably take me to the Emergency Room at our local hospital if she gets wind of this).

Beef Wellington meter: 1 (I wasn’t sure it was going to happen, but eventually it did)

Trips to the grocery store: 1

Emeril’s banana cream pie slices: 1

Other than coming up one short on Earl of Sandwich trips, I pretty much checked all of the boxes on food I wanted. If you came to this trip report for the food reviews of the tons of great Vegas restaurants, I’m afraid you came to the wrong place. I’m not a $400 dinner tab kind of guy. If you want to find me away from the poker tables at night, just go to the Earl of Sandwich or Nacho Daddy. If I’m still in a tourney at dinner time you’ll likely find me at Nathan’s eating a chili cheese dog. Other than my love of escargot and Beef Wellington, I’m not a fancy eater.

I wonder how much weight I have gained on this trip. I’m on an airplane, so no way to tell. I’ll do my weigh-in when I get home. (Editor’s note: Somehow, I only gained one pound on the trip. I don’t see how that is possible given all the sugar from the flowing river of Dr Peppers, all the bad eating, no exercise, sitting on my butt at the poker table for hours on end every day. And when I was done playing poker for the day/night, I sat on my butt working on trip report rough drafts. I never saw the inside of a gym. The only part of my body that got exercise was my fingers which were busy folding bad cards, tossing in chips and typing up a storm. Does writing more than 50,000 words constitute exercise? If we are being results-oriented, the answer would seemingly, albeit improbably, be yes. After 12 days of poker in Las Vegas at the WSOP, I have been on high alert to sniff out stories that don’t make sense. This doesn’t make sense. I think my scale is running a bluff on me.)

Las Vegas shows attended: 0 (I am quite proud of this).

Rio Flu or Vegas Cough: 0. Which was a relief. In 2019 I got what I termed the bubonic plague for a couple of days in the latter half of my WSOP. This year, no such health problems. My allergies did act up a little bit sometimes when I’d go in the Paris hallways on break, but nothing terrible.

WSOP memorabilia purchased: One hoodie and one zipper sweat top (I used my Caesars points from my tournament buy-ins to lessen the otherwise thumb-on-the-scale cost).