2024 WSOP buildup: Early February 2024 (yet another day later) (Part 3 of 3)
Hello Final Table, Q-5 is repeatedly the nuts, the blinds are insane, turning down a chop, battling ZZ Top for heaps of chips with everything on the line

… The Final Table.

Where is the confetti? OK, calm down. Still a lot of work to be done. Rise to the occasion I admonish myself. Blinds go up to 15,000/30,000. The blinds are absolutely insane compared to everyone’s chip stack. I get dealt K-K in the small blind, I raise and I get no action. I have 260,000 chips. I get dealt A-K, I min raise, and I get no action. I have 310,000 chips. The average is 248,000.

We are now seven-handed.

I am dealt A-Q in the small blind, I min raise and get no action. I have 305,000 chips.

The blinds now increase to 20,000/40,000. Have I mentioned that the blinds are insane?

We get to six-handed. I have 245,000 chips. I go card dead for a while, and the blinds are eating away at me. I realize I have to get it in very soon because the blinds will pretty much decimate me the next time I have to post them, which is two hands away. I look down at Qh-5h, which will have to be good enough, and I go all-in. It folds to the big stack in the big blind. He thinks about it. Thinks about it some more. He’s really tanking. I hope he can’t see me thinking “please, please, please fold.” He factors in how short I am, and he calls. He turns over 10-7 offsuit.

I’m … ahead? Somehow, I’m ahead!

The flop comes Q-10-2 with one heart. My flopped top pair is better than his middle pair, and I’m still ahead. The turn and river are two more hearts and now my top pair (good enough to win the hand on its own) has improved to a flush. Talk about overkill akin to using a hammer to kill an ant. I’m still alive. Apparently, Q-5 suited is the nuts. I have 190,000 chips.

I now go on something of a rush. The rest of the way my notes go somewhat kablooie as we are short-handed, I struggle to frequently post my blinds (the biggest chips are only 5,000 so it takes a bunch of chips the rest of the way), I am constantly stacking chips, decisions have to be made, and I am trying to take notes for this trip report. I experience mental overload, and my note taking suffers. I need an assistant. I go all-in a couple of times and take the blinds. I get in a big blind special where I don’t have to put any more chips in the pot to see a flop. I have J-9. The flop is Q-6-5 rainbow, I raise with nothing more than imagination and I take it.

We get down to five-handed.

We get down to four-handed.

The blinds move to 30,000/60,000. I am up to 500,000 chips. Have I mentioned that the blinds are insane?

I lose a couple of hands when I am in the blinds, I can’t keep up with my notes, I am fumbling to count enough chips for the blinds (a couple of times when I am stacking chips the dealer mercifully posted my blind for me), I am a multitasking mess, and I am now down to 370,000 chips.

I am dealt A-5 suited, I go all in and it gets through.

The blinds go up to 40,000/80,000. Have I mentioned that the blinds are insane? I believe there were 1,970,000 chips in play total. That means all of the chips in play for the entire tournament only amount to just a bit over 24 big blinds at this level. That’s crazy. I go very card dead for a bit, and I am down to 150,000 chips. Once again, the blinds are about to obliterate me, so I go all-in with Q-5. The big stack calls me with J-9.

I’m … ahead? Somehow, I’m ahead!

My hand holds up, and I continue. I don’t realize it at the time, but, as I type this up, it hits me that Q-5 has delivered twice for me down the stretch. Q-5 really is the nuts!!!!

I am dealt A-4. I go all-in. It gets through. I have 400,000 chips.

We are now three-handed.

The dealer asks if we want to hear what an ICM chop would be. The big stack says he has been told not to chop (not sure by whom). Throughout the final table, he has said no to any talk of an ICM chop when raised by other players. I am glad, because I also would have said no, since I want the experience of playing at a final table. I think if you chop every time you make a final table in a casino, you will be unprepared if you ever make a final table at a big event like the WSOP (however unlikely that is). Plus, I believe that chopping angers the Poker Gods (not kidding, I really do believe this). When the big stack again says no to a chop, the ever-helpful dealer (Mr. long COVID from earlier) says that an alternate option is to guarantee the big stack first place money, and then the other two players can chop the rest. The big stack says, “That hardly seems fair.” The middle stack is ZZ Top, and he starts to ask a question, but, before he can finish, I say, “Let’s just play for it.” Conversation over. Cards get dealt.

The very first hand, I am dealt 7-7. I go all-in. ZZ Top calls with A-J offsuit. It’s a coin flip, and, hey, I have won one coin flip earlier this tournament. Maybe I’m about to go on a coin flip heater after running bad at them in the early stages of my poker playing days. If I win this flip, I think I may be chip leader (or at least very close). A poker cliche runs through my head as I wait for the dealer to turn over cards – “You have to win flips to win tournaments.”

The flop comes with … an ace in the window. I’m in big trouble, a world of hurt. I don’t hit a miracle two-outer, and I am out in third place.

And there was much sadness (not that much, though, as I am pretty thrilled with the overall outcome).

After 6-7 hours of play, I have won $2,283 for third place in a tournament that had approximately 200 players. A casino staffer guides me to the payout window where I sign some paperwork, and then I get paid. It’s a bit of a whirlwind, and I didn’t actually read what I signed. Hopefully I didn’t just sign away my house. I put the cash I’m given into my wallet, which now bulges at the seams. In the business world, this score would be no big deal to me. Business as usual. In the poker world, it’s an immensely proud, towering achievement for me. My beloved Michigan Wolverines just won the football national championship with me at the game, and now this poker result. Maybe this really is the year of rppoker. I’m starting to think I am on a life heater. With third-place cash in my possession, I walk by the final table and see that ZZ Top just won the tournament. I fist bump him and offer congratulations.

If only I had won that last coin flip …

Congratulations!

Great run, that must have been quite the rush

Nice write-up, and congratulations on the high placement.

Congrats on your deep run. Will you share pics of the parade down Main Street in the next installment?

I believe the bar for the parade down Main Street is to cash in a WSOP event. While the Talking Stick Casino deep run was very satisfying, it doesn't qualify for a parade.

And as for pictures, I would actually have to learn how to post a picture on 2+2 to do that. I tried and failed early on in this thread to post a picture. I have no patience for technological confusion on my part. If someone can give me simple step-by-step guidelines that a gray-haired gent like me won't be overwhelmed by, then I might be able to include cell phone taken photos from my 2024 WSOP. In other words, what I am saying to 2+2 is ...

... help me.

Nice score! Can confirm that chops and talks of chops anger the poker gods. The last two times I suggested a chop in Vegas (with fairly even stacks and the average being under 10 bigs), it was quickly nixed and then I was knocked out within an orbit...followed by the rest of the players snap-chopping the most recent time. So I've learned to keep my mouth shut at the end!

First thing you need to do is transfer your photos to whichever device you are posting from so you can access them.

Then when you are typing a reply, just click the photo button (the landscape-looking box in the row of icons above the text entry box).

Then select the photo you want from the storage in your device.

If you are posting from a cell phone, you could also use an app like Tapatalk to streamline the process.

This is a test to see if I can post a picture. It is my chip stack halfway through the tournament I just posted about in which I cam in third place.

Let's see if I can join the 21st century technology wise.

Those messy stacks are giving me extreme anxiety

Success. This was a huge technological breakthrough for me.

What it means to 2+2 is I will now include photos on my trip report once the 2024 WSOP takes place.

Here are my 2019 chips with my lucky rock (which wasn't lucky).

The messy stack was due to me trying to trip report take notes and stack chips at the same time after a massive hand I described (big blind special where my J-5 flopped two pair and turned a full house in which two other players called me every step of the way).

Thank you, DogFace. Talking me through anything technological successfully puts you in Coach of the Year contention.

eh. I am a proponent of chops. when it gets near the end it is a lucky shove fest where even the correct play can get upset by a 2-outer. take the guaranteed money that is likely better than you'd get if you unfortunately busted next.

2024 WSOP buildup: Later that night
How to stay happily married

Between the third-place poker tourney cash and the money I will get paid for the sports writing editing gig I did just before my vacation, I have earned a nice little pile of unanticipated money.

Most poker players might say this financial windfall almost will pay for all of my buy-ins at the upcoming WSOP. That is a compelling argument. I decide to go in a different direction.

I tell Mrs. rppoker to take the money and buy a piece of jewelry with it. Happy wife, happy life.

One of my two daughters, who is back in Chicago, texts me to congratulate me and ask about our longstanding poker partnership. In the past whenever I have won money in my monthly low-stakes poker home game, I have always split the winnings evenly between my wife and two daughters. I tell my daughter that I told her mom she could spend all of the money on a piece of jewelry. My daughter is (altruistically) happy with this decision. Her sister who is with us on our vacation also concurs when she hears the plan. One big happy family.

A true patriot

Always nice when you can share a score. Remember my first decent cash win, got Mom a necklace from Tiffany.

One of the less expensive items they had, but for someone who was small-town, blue-collar all her life, she really enjoyed that. And thus, I got enjoyment out of her reaction.

Very nice.

2024 WSOP buildup: Even later that night
Variance (both good and bad) is a beast

As I was getting ready to call it a night, a thought went through my head. Although I went 0-for-6 in the 2019 World Series of Poker (where I got obliterated by mathematically improbable negative variance), outside of that I have played in six other casino-based NLHE tournaments in my entire lifetime and final tabled four of them. That seems crazy ridiculous. No matter how well I may or may not have played, that just has to be astonishingly good positive variance.

My first casino-based tournament final table took place in Arizona (I don’t remember which casino) a long time ago when I first started playing poker in which I came in fifth place for a little over $1,800. I already wrote about that experience toward the beginning of this trip report.

My second casino-based final table took place in a Las Vegas casino a long time ago when I went to Las Vegas with my dad and my brother. I remember very little about this tournament. Don’t recall the casino, although I am certain it was on the strip and was a slightly above average property. The buy-in was smallish. The competition was bad. As in tourists only with very little clue of how to play bad. I was on the short side of chips when we hit the final table. The table was playing timid, and I built my stack pretty big with aggression that went unchecked for some time. I got it in good three-handed for what would have been a huge chip lead, but the runout was terrible for me and I came in third. Given how horrendous the competition was, this final table probably shouldn’t count.

My third casino-based NLHE tournament was the same Las Vegas trip as above, a night later. It was one of the more upscale casino hotels on the strip. Before the tournament begins the seat to my immediate left is filled by a round, jolly fellow who has clearly been drinking heavily. At first, I label him as harmless. On the first hand it folds to me in mid/late position and I raise with 5-5. Happy Drunk to my left goes all-in. Seriously. All-in to a single raise on the first hand of the tournament. Of course, I fold. He shows me 2-7 unsuited. On the next hand, somebody’s grandma makes a normal pre-flop bet, and Happy Drunk to my left just calls. The flop is 6h-Jh- Qd. Granny just checks and Happy Drunk goes all-in. Granny calls. Happy drunk has 6s-9c for bottom pair, mediocre kicker. Granny has a flush draw with Ah-9h. I am playing in a tournament in an insane asylum. Granny does not get help on the turn or river and she is out, and Happy Drunk has doubled up. At this point I no longer view Happy Drunk as harmless. Instead, I view him as the character Flounder from the movie Animal House when Dean Wormer turns to him and says, “Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” On the third hand of the tournament, I am dealt As-Ks. Everyone folds to me and I make a normal raise. Flounder (the poker player formerly known as Happy Drunk) wastes no time and … say it with me … goes all-in. I have no choice but to call. Flounder turns over Ah-3s. I have him dominated. The flop comes 3c-3h-3d. Quads for Flounder. The turn and river do not matter, and I am out. I can take a hint. The Poker Gods are telling me I am not welcome. I get up, I wish Flounder good luck with my chips that he is stacking, and I start to leave when someone at the table says to me, “You can rebuy.” I respond, “No thanks, I’m good.” As I am walking away, I hear someone at the table say, “That’s disciplined.” In reality it is not me being disciplined. It is me choosing to not play rock paper scissors on every hand for stacks. I’m not sure what game I just played, but it sure wasn’t poker.

The fourth casino tournament I played in and final tabled was during a trip when I attended a college basketball national title game with my friend IlliniArt (I don’t remember where or what year this took place as we have gone to maybe a half-dozen such hoops championship games). When the final table was reached of this NLHE tournament, seven of the nine players wanted to do a chop. One player said no. I would have said no as well, but the other player put the kibosh on it before I had a chance to say anything. As it turned out, the player who turned down the chop got knocked out in ninth place. The same seven players once again wanted to chop, but I said I wanted to play. The player next to me said with astonishment, “But you’re the shortest stack at the table.” Play continued. I’m sure they figured I’d get eliminated quickly and they could then chop it up. Instead, I won a couple of hands and I was now fourth or fifth in chips. Faced with the fact that I wasn’t getting knocked out any time soon, the mob once again said they wanted to chop. I said if they reached a reasonable consensus on the chop quickly, I would go along with it. But I said that if arguing broke out, then the chop was off the table. Of course, it took the mob about 30 seconds to start squabbling about what was fair, and I said, “Let’s play.” Play started again, but the mob continued its negotiations with each other, which was seriously slowing down play and eliminating all enjoyment of the moment. Eventually they found consensus, and brought the chop to me. And by brought the chop to me, I mean I had seven people glaring at me. The chop was fair and I didn’t really feel like getting into a fight with a mob so I said fine. I vowed to myself afterward to never chop again.

The fifth and sixth casino tournaments were the two I just played at Talking Stick, including the final table I just wrote about. As for why I had no interest in a chop discussion when three-handed at the final table, my attitude is that I eat what I kill. I deserve nothing more and nothing less. Plus, I wanted as much final table playing experience as possible. That’s just me. I’m not saying others are wrong to think differently.

Although my final table runs in casino tournaments are amazing/shocking/utterly improbable to me, I realize I am an extremely inexperienced NLHE tournament poker player, and I have no illusions that any grandiose interpretations of my skills can be made from such a miniscule sample size. I know these results do not mean I am good. The totality of my live tournament play was the 12 days I played at the 2019 WSOP and the six other non-WSOP casino tournaments I have just described. For me to have final tabled 4-of-the-6 non-WSOP casino-based tournaments I have played in seems highly improbable. So yes, I am not-so-humble bragging, but I am also pointing out the sheer unlikeliness, the mathematical absurdity of the accomplishment. I don’t know what to make of it (possibly nothing, very probably it shows the competition at the WSOP is much tougher than the non-WSOP tourneys), but I thought 2+2 might find it interesting.

haha yeah that's awful

Depends why you're playing,what kind of money is at stake l,how strong the player are etc..

I rarely play tournaments and unless it's like changing money have no reason to chop. If someone suggests ICM id laugh in their face. I'm fine with the variance ,if other people aren't well insurance costs money.

Most people are extremely risk averse and you can really take advantage either through a deal that's super favorable to you or by robbing them if chips.

And I totally agree that if you always just want to chop you never learn how to navigate the end of tournaments where the real money is made.

As for the trip report itself-
Congrats on third.
That dealer is really out of line suggesting something as absurd as guaranteed first place money for the chip leader just bc he wants to stop dealing.

I don't have strong feelings either way. In a deeper tournament I like to play it out, but I lose interest quickly in a fast structure, where the final table is basically bingo. If locking up a few extra hundred is an option, I'll happily take it. I'd never try and badger someone into a chop, but I've noticed more people who are vehemently never-choppers lately. It only annoys me when I'm up against a group of regs who clearly don't want to chop with the unknown guy, but then immediately do it once I'm out after previously nixing any chop discussion. Dorks. And definitely agree that a dealer trying to influence chop discussions is way out of line.

I really like the way Aria handles chops - at least the last time I was there. Everyone gets a 'yes' and 'no' card and votes anonymously whether to take the deal or not. If it's not unanimous then play continues. I wish more places would do it that way.

Agree with all this.

What really drives me nuts lately, is the “let’s pay the bubble boy” discussion.
Getting nickel and dimed in these micro stake tournaments bc people are scared to bust, is about as bad as it gets.

Same system at Venetian. Everyone gets a red card and a black card. Anonymous voting.

Personally, I've never turned down a chop when offered because every time I've either felt like the structure was so shallow that we were playing bingo at that point and/or that I was getting a good deal. I generally like the idea of playing it out if you think you have an edge over the field though.

Reality is that a lot of players get very uncomfortable playing 4-6 handed, which you can use to your benefit at FTs and near FT bubbles if you feel confident in your short-handed game. Either way, it's a good problem to have.

I've never played that many tourneys, but I can remember a couple of interesting chop situations - the first was back when WSOP was still at Binions downtown. It was a 5k single table and we got down to heads up. I had 2/3 of the chips and opponent asked for a chop and I said no way. Then I misread my hand as K-x cc - board ran out 3 clubs we got it in and I said flush only to roll over Kc xs. So I said chop now And obviously she said no and I lost after a couple more hands. Never wore sunglasses at the table since.

The other time was a WPT deep stack - we'd been playing 12 hours at the final table and in those days their blind structure stopped at a level where we were heads up and we both had over 300 bb. We agreed to chop most of the remaining money but do a flip for 10k each and the trophy. I won with 2c-3c, hit 2 pair. Should have become a favorite hand I suppose but I've resisted the omen.

Here's why it is difficult for me to get my arms around the concept of a chop ...

... You would never see two professional golfers, tied atop the leaderboard, walking down the 17th fairway in the final round of the Masters negotiating a chop of first- and second-place money. You wouldn't see two players in the Wimbledon finals when one player is up 6-3, 3-1 arguing about ICM considerations. You wouldn’t see two heavyweight boxers in a close title fight negotiating a chop of prize money between the 11th and 12th rounds to lessen the variance of the judges’ unknown scorecards.

So what is it about poker that lends itself to chops? It just seems so foreign to me. Again, it's an accepted part of poker so I am not criticizing those who believe in chops. I just don't grasp the thinking personally.