Great stories!

I love hearing stories from the heart by passionate fans, even if I don’t like their teams!

We have an INSUFFERABLE Michigan man in the college football threads over in Sporting Events, and I know it’s unfair to detest a whole fan base over one bad apple.

It was pretty funny watching him process big losses and go through the 7 stages of grief, and ready to run Harbaugh out of town,

Until last year, of course.

I try to limit my dark, unhinged moments of Michigan fanaticism to my conversations with my University of Michigan friends. No one wants to listen to a sports fan who resides in Crazy Town when they feel their team has been wronged unless the listener actually roots for that team as well. It's the sports fan version of telling bad beat stories. It's kind of like listening to someone going in great length about their fantasy football team's painful, dramatic loss as a result of a Monday Night Football garbage time touchdown, or a non-golfer having to listen to a golfer explain shot by shot how their latest round went.

I promise to get back to poker starting with tomorrow's posts.

2024 WSOP buildup: January 18, 2024 (and many, many days after)
The life of a test lab monkey, impatience with the WSOP

Maybe today’s the day. Maybe today’s the day. Maybe today’s the day.

Every day I check the WSOP and 2+2 web sites to see if the 2024 schedule of events has been released for the WSOP. Every day. Every day. Every day. No joy.

I want -- I need – the full schedule so I can make decisions. I need to find tournaments I want to play in at my desired bank roll price points and type of events (no limit hold’em only) that run one on top of another so I can jam as much poker as possible into a dozen or so days, plus I must avoid being in Vegas during Mrs. rppoker’s birthday and our anniversary which both fall during the series and can’t be missed if I want to stay happily married. She is fine with me spending a couple of weeks at the WSOP, but her birthday and our anniversary are no fly zones. Reservations need to be made for airline, hotel, rental car. There are decisions that need to be made, and I am not a patient man!

So far, all that has been announced are the dates of the Main Event, which I will not be playing, as well as the first day and last day of the entire series. This is not enough information. Every day I check the WSOP and 2+2 websites in vain. I am like a test lab monkey that keeps hitting buttons in hopes that one of them will open up a slot where a tasty banana awaits. Or, to put it in terms that keyboard warriors can understand … F4 … F4 … F4 … F4. Repeat the last action over and over and over. With no payoff, no banana, no schedule.

The definition of insanity is … (you know the rest).

And yet, I will check tomorrow … and the day after … and the day after … and the day after. Convinced each and every day that surely this must be the day. Surely my persistence will finally be rewarded. Surely (insert “Please don’t call me Shirley” Airplane movie reference) there must be someone I can give a $20 handshake to for the information I desire.

This kind of reminds me of a Super Bowl that I covered many years ago. There was a press conference scheduled sometime prior to the day of the big game. It was the Commissioner’s annual state of the union speech/press conference/Q&A. I went to the listed ballroom only to learn that the press conference had been moved to the complete other end of the building. I was going to have to pick up the pace to make it in time. As I was walking briskly, I noticed a renowned New York sports columnist known for a big ego walking in the same direction, clearly headed where I was headed. I had never met Mr. Big Ego Sports Columnist before, but he was steaming and needed someone to vent to, and I was the closest person so …

Mr. Big Ego Sports Columnist: “What kind of Mickey Mouse organization is this?”

Me: “Yeah, this isn’t the highlight of my day.”

Mr. Big Ego Sports Columnist: “Someone is going to get a piece of my mind over this.”

Me: “I’m pretty sure the NFL doesn’t care that they have inconvenienced some sports writers.”

Mr. Big Ego Sports Columnist: “Oh, they’ll care that they have inconvenienced me.”

Apparently, I have been looking at this the wrong way. All I have to do is find the Mr. Big Ego Columnist of poker and unleash his fury of on the WSOP to get some action on the schedule release.

Reality check. The NFL did not care that it had inconvenienced Mr. Big Ego Sports Columnist no matter how much he blustered. And the WSOP does not care that I am growing impatient waiting for the schedule to be released. I can stomp my feet all I want, but no one (least of all me) has the juice to make the WSOP bend to our will. So, I wait. Just like everyone else.

I will start to make my reservations not one second sooner than whenever the WSOP finally trots out its schedule like Moses coming down from the mountaintop with the ten commandments in his arms.

Waiting … waiting … waiting … I have to accept it ... Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Can I call the clock on the WSOP?

2024 WSOP Buildup, January 22, 2024
Putting myself waaaaaaaay, WAAAAAAAAY, outside my comfort zone

While I am in a hurry for the WSOP schedule to drop, maybe I shouldn’t be in such a rush for my 2024 WSOP to begin. Does that not make sense? Let me explain.

I have been studying hard on my poker training site. I’m putting in a bunch of steady, consistent hours. But my standard is that of a guy with a non-poker career as well as family obligations. By this standard, I am studying my ass off almost every night. By the standard of the poker professionals who I’ll encounter at the WSOP, I doubt I am putting in the same grind as they are. In fact, I’m sure I’m not. Plus, they are also playing live to put their studying to work, whereas I am only doing so in an academic sense.

Furthermore, I am late to the game in the GTO study grind. My opponents will have a mastery of GTO concepts that I won’t.

On my poker training site, I have been working my way through a 180-video masterclass. It is a beast of poker content. I’ve been working at it for almost three months. I have finished the preflop section and am almost done with the post-flop videos. I still have the turn and river videos to work my way through. A single video that might be 8-10 minutes long can take a couple of hours to get through in order to truly dig deep into all of the charts and solver printouts in a meaningful way.

So, let’s say I get through everything before I head out to the WSOP. I would also hope to review all of my notes (I am on notebook #2) and charts from the masterclass before I head out to Las Vegas.

Then what? How do I incorporate what I have learned? There is no way in hell that I will have mastered GTO poker. If I try to play a GTO strategy, I am certain I will make tons of mistakes. Am I better off playing an ABC style of poker, trying to incorporate an awareness of the GTO strategy others may be using? Or do I go for it, and play my best (flawed) version of GTO poker and let the chips fall where they may?

At a minimum, I think I may try to play a pure GTO strategy in one tournament just to see what happens. My guess is I will be lighting my chips on fire, but if I am putting this much work in, I figure I owe it to myself to try to incorporate everything I have learned. After that I can decide if I want to keep trying to play a GTO strategy (which will be uncomfortable) or if I want to play my 2019 WSOP style which will be comfortable but out of date.

I already feel like I am more advanced than I was in 2019, but it may be a case of a little bit of knowledge is dangerous … to myself.

I am pretty sure I won’t play pure 2019 strategy. That just seems so cowardly. Why put in the work, if I’m not going to see it through? I hope I am courageous enough to try to play modern poker. A lack of mastery doesn’t mean I can’t learn from mistakes, evolve and grow as a player. I suspect that may lead to me not lasting as deep into the night as I frequently did on Day 1s in 2019, but the only way to learn from mistakes is to make mistakes.

I feel way more outside my comfort zone than I did at this same stage in 2019, but I think what I am doing is the right approach. In 2019 I thought I played really well and made very few mistakes at the WSOP. In 2024 if I want to get better and learn to play present day poker, I have to be willing to make mistakes. I have to give myself permission to make mistakes. I have to encourage myself to make mistakes.

If my 2024 WSOP ends and I again feel I have made few mistakes … then I will have made the biggest mistake of all. I am sensing a goal formulating. I need to boldly dare to end up with egg on my face. It may be embarrassing, but I think that beats cautious, Game Theory Unwinnable (GTU) poker.

I think the early Vegas over/under on the number of times I will get berated by pros for dumb mistakes is 2.5.

Will all of my studying make a difference. No way to tell. I study as an act of faith. A quote from Thomas Edison lifts my spirits: “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

2024 WSOP Buildup, January 25 – February 1, 2024
The poker grind hits a roadblock, why is the room spinning?

Just when I am feeling good about my poker training website grind, I hit a fork in the road/roadblock. A friend of mine from my old sports writing days reaches out to me. He is in charge of a massive project, and the manpower just isn’t there to get it done. He wants to know if I can lend a helping hand. He’s my friend, and the work sounds interesting, so I say sure. Poker will have to take a temporary backseat.

What this entails is I work my regular job running my company by day, and edit sports content by night. I’m a night owl so I start most nights somewhere around 9:00 p.m. and go nonstop until 2:00 a.m. I am Batman! Businessman by day, save the world from dastardly dangling participles and terrifying typos by night. The deadline for the project is a little over a week away.

About four days in, my body reminds me that I am 61 years old. Tap, tap, tap on my shoulder as if to say, hey pal, you’re not 35 years old anymore. I wake up in the morning to the sound of the alarm on my cell phone, which is at the other end of the room to ensure that I don’t fall right back asleep. I hate mornings and have a tendency to shut off the alarm if its next to the bed and be sound asleep in seconds. As I am stumbling half asleep toward my phone, whoa, feeling light-headed. As in, if I don’t get right back to bed, I am going to faint. So, I get back in bed, reset the alarm for 30 minutes later and set the phone right next to bed this time. I am not Batman. Sigh.

Thirty minutes later the alarm goes off, and … still light-headed. Back to sleep for an hour. I wake up and get up thinking I will take a shower and, yikes, the room is spinning. I get back in bed and call my doctor. He tells me to eat something, drink a bunch of water and call him back in a couple of hours.

I manage to get downstairs without passing out, and I eat some crackers and drink a bunch of water. Then I head back to bed. Mrs. rppoker gets home shortly thereafter and informs me that crackers are not what the doctor meant for me to eat. She brings me some grapes and string cheese and then makes me some scrambled eggs.

I call the doctor as ordered and he tells me to come in to his office. Mrs. rppoker drives me. The doctor checks me out, determines that I am not dying and sends me home. I do not go in to work but by dinnertime I am feeling much better so I go into sports editing mode around 8 p.m. and stop at midnight. No more 2 a.m. finishes for a couple of days. The next day I am right as rain, go back to work by day and I sports edit by night.

I finish up the sports editing project (my body has not rebelled a second time, yay me!) just in time for my scheduled vacation to begin in Scottsdale, Arizona. Enough with the cold of Chicago. Bring on the Arizona heat. And while I will not be grinding on my poker training website while on vacation, I think there might be some live poker on the horizon for me to sharpen my skills for the WSOP.

2024 WSOP buildup: Early February 2024
I think I might have come up with a preliminary poker game plan

The next posts I am about to make take place in a casino that is not in Las Vegas, but I think it is relevant to a LVL trip report if you view it through the lens of the poker tournament training site work I have been doing to prepare for the 2024 WSOP and the fact that it dawns upon me that perhaps the pure GTO approach I have been studying does not seem completely on point to me at all times. I’m not going to be playing WSOP high rollers where a high percentage of players are making GTO/solver approved plays with a high frequency. The $500-$1,000 buy-in tourneys I will fire at the WSOP seem unlikely to put me at a Day 1 table with all GTO wizards.

It is entirely possible I won’t see widespread GTO poker on Day 1s of WSOP tournaments, although I suspect that it will be more on point if (and it’s a big if) I make a Day 2 or Day 3 when the competition will increasingly get much stronger.

Thus, it strikes me that the Arizona casino tournaments I’ll play in might be a far cry from GTO approved play. If it’s not GTO play then I need to know how to play against that style. If it is GTO then I have to take a different approach. Hmmm, it’s a conundrum. It’s a mystery. Yes, that’s it, it’s a mystery. And to solve a mystery you can’t go in with a preconceived notion of how to proceed. What I’ll need to do is observe and adapt.

This is an opportunity to apply observe and adapt. That will be my game plan in the Arizona casino tournaments. Observe and adapt. Take my time and see how everyone at my table is playing. Are they playing GTO poker? If yes, play one way. If no, play another style. If some are and some aren’t, then I need to dance between the raindrops and use a variety of approaches depending on the opponent. Poker is complicated.

Obviously, the play here in Arizona may not be the same as what I will face at the WSOP, but I think at both venues, observe and adapt is the best game plan I can have.

That will be my mantra. Observe and adapt. Observe and adapt. Observe and adapt.

A quote from Will Rogers comes to mind: “There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.”

2024 WSOP buildup: Early February 2024
Talking Stick Resort Casino NLHE tourney and the most incredibly loose table imaginable, a WSOP Seniors champion, did I play A-A in the big blind right with six limpers in front of me?

I’m driving to the Talking Stick Resort casino in Scottsdale, Arizona to play in a Texas hold ‘em tournament. My WSOP prep work is leaving the realm of training videos and is taking a field trip to the real world felt. I am faced with a catch-22. I have finished the pre-flop portion of the tournament poker Masterclass I have been studying. I am 90% done with the post-flop section. Which means I have completed 0% of the turn and river sections. Do I try to use the GTO style that the masterclass is teaching?

On the one hand, doing so seems akin to filling out half of your tax return and sending it in to the IRS, which seems certain to get you in trouble. … On the other hand, playing a non-GTO style means I will be utilizing a strategy that is out of date. … On the other hand, even if I play hands perfectly pre-flop and post-flop, once I get to the turn what am I supposed to do, ask for a time bank and send an e-mail to my poker tournament training site asking what I should do? … On the other hand … wait … I don’t have that many hands.

Clearly, any decision I make here will be only half right. Hey, 50%, it’s a poker coin flip! Seriously though, I decide I will give a GTO approach a shot if my opponents’ style of play calls for it. Observe and adapt. For starters, it’s not like I am going to play perfect (or anywhere close to perfect) GTO poker pre-flop and post-flop. This is an opportunity to try out the strategy live for the first time, and attempt to learn from the experience. As for what to do on the turn and river, I will just go with my instincts and write down what happens for further analysis once I finish the turn and river sections of the poker masterclass.

It's like a scene from the movie Moneyball, “This is a process. It’s a process. It’s a process.”

Step one in The Process (not the Philadelphia 76ers version): Gotta crack some eggs to make an omelet. To quote John Wooden, “The journey is more important than the final destination.”

So, once observe and adapt is in place, the plan may be … try to implement what I have learned so far on my training site … make mistakes … learn from them.

I feel really, really, really confident about the “make mistakes” part of the plan. So, I got that going for me, which is nice (Caddyshack reference for those playing along). As Albert Einstein once said, “A person who has never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

I arrive at the Talking Stick poker room, which stands alone separate from the casino/hotel. It is a large tent sitting atop four walls. Apparently the new, high-end poker room is completed and will be open to the public in two days. Missed it by that much (Get Smart reference for those of you playing along). In any event, I am an hour early and it takes about 20 minutes to get a Player’s Card made for me as a first-timer to this location. I then go to the cage, pay my $125 entry fee for the 11:15 a.m. NLHE tournament and am issued my seat location. Table 50, seat 1. I don’t love seat 1 since it can be difficult to see what Seat 9 does. There are much worse tragedies in the world. As I am walking around the poker room, I notice a free pop machine. Some poker players have a craps or roulette leak, I have a pop life leak. I don’t drink alcohol. I don’t do drugs. But I would drink way too much pop if I didn’t take into consideration how bad it is for you (something Mrs. rppoker constantly hammers into my head). I try to limit myself to 3-4 Dr Peppers a week. Mostly I stick to quota. If it weren’t bad for me, I would drink 3-4 a day. I glare at the free pop machine and tell the temptress to leave me alone.

With some time to kill, I go get something to eat since the tourney will play through lunch. I order an overpriced sandwich at the Big Fig Bistro in the casino. It is edible. Once done, I head back to the poker room. On the way out of the casino area, I almost get run over by an old-timer on a scooter. Gambling as a contact sport?

I get to the poker room where I make my way through the smokers’ convention just outside the exterior of the front doors. The smokers are blissfully unaware of the signs by the front door that say thank you for not smoking within 15 feet of the entrance. I take my seat at Table 50 and once all the players arrive at our table, I realize that I am either the youngest or second youngest player at the table. Even at age 61, I really am “Another kid Another dream” at this table. I look over at the neighboring tables and it is much of the same. This almost feels like heaven’s waiting room. This entire tournament is gray-haired poker.

On the first hand I fold J-2 offsuit pre-flop (obviously). The flop comes J-J-2. So that’s how it’s going to be. Early on I lose small amounts of chips when my A-Q offsuit whiffs the flop, when my 8-8 is up against six other players who see a flop of A-K-J rainbow, and when my A-3 suited completely misses. We are still in Level 1 (blinds 100/100) when I am dealt 10-10. There are two limpers ahead of me, so I raise to 500 and I’m called by three players. The flop comes J-3-2 rainbow. It checks all around. The turn is a 6. When it checks to me, I figure if someone had a jack I would have heard from them by now so I raise to 700 and get one call. The river is a Q. There is no flush possibility and only the unlikely 4-5 for a straight. Still, there are two overcards to my 10-10 so I let it go check-check. My opponent has 7-7, and I drag the pot.

At this point I hear the dealer call the player on my left “Champion.” The player on the other side of this guy says something about him having won a WSOP bracelet. I ask the player to my left about this, and he tells me that he is a prior winner of a WSOP seniors championship. I later ask him what year he won it and he tells me, but I will keep his winning year and identity anonymous as a courtesy (I won’t use names of non-professionals).

Shortly thereafter, WSOPChampion and I tangle in a hand. He is UTG and I am the big blind and there are multiple limpers. I have 2-3 offsuit, and I just check. The flop is 5-5-2 rainbow. It checks all around. The turn is a 3, which gives my 2-3 three pairs, but unfortunately one of my low pairs is counterfeited. Nonetheless, no one seems terribly interested in the pot, so I bet, WSOPChampion raises and I call. The turn is a 5. Both my 2 and my 3 give me a full house. I check and WSOPChampion bets 2,200. I have a full house, but it’s not a particularly strong full house. Actually, it is two separate full houses, but both of them are highly vulnerable. I take a little bit of time, and I decide I do not think he is bluffing, and essentially my full house is nothing more than a bluff catcher. I fold, and it turns out he had 6-6 for a better full house than mine.

As the blinds change from 100/100 to 100/200 it has become very clear the people at this table do not like to fold. Repeatedly, five or six players often see the flop. And it’s not just pre-flop. Some of the players are willing to call raises all the way to showdown with nothing more than third-, fourth- or even fifth-best pair. In addition, several players have been caught bluffing off large amounts of their stack with nothing but air. And its not just at these low blinds that massive pre-flop limping takes place. In addition, pre-flop raises are called very wide by multiple players both at these low blinds as well as later when the blinds get higher. I swear that some of these players must think that folding pre-flop will result in an eternity spent in hell. In one hand early in Level 2, two players were battling. After the river gets turned over, the first player to act makes a massive overbet to go all-in. Keep in mind, the blinds are only 100/200. The other player who I’ll call Red (red hair mixed with some gray) snap calls. Red says, “I know you have a busted flush draw,” which it turns out is exactly what the other player had. Red turns over A-high for the win. WSOPChampion sees this thin but successful call and jokingly asks for a table change.

I have never seen so many five- and six-way flops at a tournament table. This table plays nothing like anything I encountered at the 2019 WSOP. I make the decision that GTO poker will not work at this table. The combination of No Fold ‘em Hold’em and the fact that the blinds are going up every 20 minutes makes me feel that I shouldn’t be wasting chips on overly optimistic holdings.

I decide that I should tighten up my range and wait for hands. I revert to 2019 poker.

During Level 3 (100/300 blinds) I am dealt A-A in the big blind. Six people limp before the action gets to me. I can’t just raise to 900, as I am certain all six players will call and I really don’t want to play A-A seven way. I raise to 1,800, which I believe my online poker training masterclass calls for me to do, although I think it would tell me to raise even larger with six limpers in the hand. I figure my large bet will thin the herd, and hopefully only one or two players will call. Everyone folds. What? Now everyone finds their fold button for the first time? Did I raise too much? I don’t think so. I think I am supposed to raise at least as much as I did with six other players already in the pot. I am going to have to study this some more later on to see if what I did was right or wrong. Regardless, I am disappointed. The way this table has been playing, I thought for sure I would stack off someone.

Later on, same level, I have 9h-Jh in late position and I call. At a less call heavy table maybe this would be a raise on my part. Three of us see the flop of Qc-10s-7c. There are no hearts to help my hand, but I have an open-ended straight draw so I bet pot since this table does not fold to small bets. Both opponents call. I miss the turn (check-check-check) and river (BB raises, other person in hand calls and I fold), and it turns out the BB rivered trip 7s.

At this point I have about 9,000 chips if memory serves me right when I am dealt K-Q offsuit. An early position player goes all-in for 5,000 chips. This seems like a massive overbet. A middle position player calls. A call from me would be for 55% of my chips. Against a less loose table I would be very concerned that one of the other two players in the hand would have my hand dominated. Against this table it might be a coin flip. Ultimately I fold, figuring I have 30 BBs, it’s too soon to gamble, and I can wait for a better spot. The other players turn over 4-4 and 6-6. That’s all? Of course, the flop comes A-J-10. I would have flopped the nuts. Sigh.

Level 3 ends, and I have 8,200 chips out of my original 10,000 chip stack.

Now at 300/600 in Level 4, I am dealt Q-Q. There are three limpers ahead of me, and I raise to 2,000. I get one call from a former Navy Master Chief who has a Fu Manchu mustache. The flop is 4-7-10 rainbow. I bet 2,800 and Fu Manchu folds.

At just around this time, the table discussion focuses on the military service that a bunch of these guys have in their history. There are two Navy guys, one guy from the Air Force, and one Marine. One of the Navy guys says out loud that “being in the Air Force is almost like being in the military.” The Air Force guy takes the joke in stride. With at least four people at the table having served (and I suspect that some of the other guys did as well but chose not to engage in table talk), I’m not sure if I should salute them or check raise them.

Just a few hands later I am dealt Q-Q again. I am in early position and raise to 1,800. I get five callers. Does no one ever fold? The flop comes K-7-2. I check, the next player to act bets enough to put me all-in. Everyone else folds and the action is on me. If the structure of this tournament wasn’t so fast and were deeper structured with a lot more chips, I would probably have called a bet and then seen if villain slows down or not. But we are not deep. Plus, villain has made this large bet knowing that four other players and I are still to act. Normally, I would say someone betting large into five other players has to have at least a strong king and maybe more. I have a decision. Yes, this table has been very bluffy, but do I really want to call a massive overbet for all of my chips with second pair when he made his bet with so many players left to act? It pains me to do so, but I fold.

Early on in the next level (400/800), I am in the big blind with 2c-8c. There are five limpers and I just call. The flop comes two clubs. I am down to 6,500 chips and I decide with the flush draw equity I have in the hand, now is the time to go all-in. Everyone folds and that brought me to 9,600 chips (editor’s note: I am not used to taking notes at the table but did so for the purpose of this TR, so some of my chip amounts throughout this tournament may not be perfect).

A bit later it's still 400/800 and I have 8,600 chips. I am aware this is only 11 BBs. I am also aware that my table image is that I am much tighter than everyone else, so I am looking to get aggressive if spots become available. I am dealt 2-2 (I didn’t write down what position, but I think it was early-to-middle position). I go all-in. It folds to the big blind who has a lot of chips, and he takes some time. He is pondering a call. After 45 seconds or so (a long time at this table when everyone acts very quickly) he folds and shows an A of spades. My table image got a fold, which is saying something at this table. That said, I suspect that going all-in with 2-2 here may have been overly ambitious. If it was from early position, then it was too aggressive. If it was from middle position, I’m not sure (I think it’s close). But it worked, so onward we go.

Blinds increase to 600/1,200 and our table is six- and seven-handed for quite a while, which sucks for me because the blinds are really starting to nip at my heels. I am dealt A-J and I bet 3,000. I get one call (just one call, Hallelujah!). The flop is A-7-4 and I go all-in. My opponent folds. I am up to 13,800 chips, my high-water mark at this point. WSOPChampion to my left who was not in the hand tells me he folded A-Q preflop. Phew, I should be out of the tournament. My tight image has saved me.

At the same blinds, I later get dealt 4-4. I think it was early-to-middle position, I’m not positive. I have 12,000 chips (10 bbs). I certainly can’t set mine. This level is almost up, meaning the blinds are about to go up again. I go all-in. Everyone folds.

At this point, the chip leader at our table is wearing a Phoenix Suns shirt, so we’ll call him Durant after the Suns’ prolific scorer. He joined our table around Level 5 or 6. He has repeatedly won hands with A-9 at showdown as well as several other medium caliber hands. When he has 9-7 suited in the big blind the flop comes 7-7-x. It’s good to be Durant, who nonetheless is a strong player. Guys are still bluffing away their chips at a frequent rate, and Durant has benefited immensely.

I go card dead for a bit. Eventually we are at Level 8, blinds are 1,000/2,000 and I only have 11,500 chips. I am looking for an excuse to get it all in. Early position limps (I forget if it was Red or Durant, I think it was Red so we’ll go with that). I look down at 8-8. That’s plenty good enough. I go all-in. Red calls and shows K-J offsuit. A coin flip. WSOPChampion seems like he must know early position villain and says on the flop he needs to see paint. He sees paint. The flop comes K-J-x. WSOPChampion says to the dealer, “I said he (Red) needed paint. You didn’t need to crush him (me) that bad.” I don’t hit the two-outer on the turn and river, and I’m out. And there was much sadness.

Just like in my 2019 WSOP, I clearly still do not know how to win a flip. It’s too bad, because if I had won this flip, I would have had around 26,000 chips, which would have given me some room to maneuver and not just play a shove/fold strategy.

Not that it means anything, but for housekeeping purposes the big board shows I went out with 38 players remaining out of the original 111 players. When Mrs. rppoker hears that I outlasted 65% of the field, she thinks it is a great accomplishment. I tell her it isn’t. She doesn’t want to hear it. She says I hardly play any live tournament poker, and she thinks it is awesome that I “came in 39th place.” I tried, I really did, to convince her that 39th place is the same as last place when only 10 places (I think) get paid. She isn’t buying it. She is, dare I say it, proud of me. If I min cash at a WSOP event this summer, I expect she will try to organize a parade down Main Street of our hometown (after all, her cousin is a councilperson of our town’s governing body).

I can SO relate to the frustration of waiting for the WSOP schedule to drop.

This is an important realization. You are likely to be up against all kind of random player types, so I advocate observing and adjusting instead of always playing the "right" way, which may not suit the situation. I've played many events in the $400-1000 price range at the WSOP. In my experience, your day 1 table will mostly be pure rec players with the occasional tough reg or name pro mixed in. The times I've lived to see day two, the tables have been noticeably tougher. It's a phenomenon that mirrors what I've experienced at other venues. As one would expect, tournaments tend to get tougher the deeper you get.

While any one tournament is mostly about luck, they are still tests of skill. The true dead money (it's a real concept) will inevitably blow themselves up no matter how hot they've run, while the crafty players will be most likely to weave through the minefield and stay alive. Therefore you may need to stay alert and keep your hand on the gear shift so you can adjust to the field. The water can get dicey. However, you're unlikely to be up against 8-9 sharks at your table right from the start.

I think the ideal mindset going into these things is a middle ground between awe and arrogance. You don't want to intimidate and level yourself by assuming everyone around you is an awesome player who will put you in the blender 24/7, but you also don't want to get too cocky and assume they are all easy pickings. It will be a mixture, which will gradually skew tougher over time.

I have a small critique. It relates to how you talk about GTO play.

Don’t get me wrong… studying off the tables, and poker related podcasts or videos are FANTASTIC ways to improve your game. Just putting ANY study and work on your game puts you light years ahead of the vast majority of the opponents you’ll be playing.

You talk about the way you played in 2019 as being outdated, compared to the GTO wizardry that’s available for study now. As if since you studied enough, when you find an unfamiliar situation, you could recall the correct play, and make the right decision. As if the most important determinant to poker success is being on the cutting edge of whatever the current GTO meta game is right now.

To me, this indicates a problem with your approach. GTO is a concept… a useful one to be sure, but also somewhat like a Platonic ideal. It’s something we strive for, but it isn’t real in a meaningful, actionable way.

The correct, game theory optimal play for any given situation is an OUTPUT. It implies that there’s perfect knowledge of our opponents’ ranges and tendencies in every situation as an INPUT. This is fundamentally unknowable, in a game of imperfect information. The part that takes place between your ears is the PROCESSING, which studying GTO plays aims to improve.

Your “observe and adapt” approach is MUCH more effective at improving your results. We strive to observe everything, but while you spend your time folding, be present and actively observe.

A guy wins with a flop bet and shows the aces. Did he 5x that pre, when he usually 3x’s? A guy drags a big pot with a rivered nut flush. Did he fire flop AND turn with just a draw and the betting lead? Or did he call down, in position, instead of raising with a draw. That indicates he might be passive, so we should NOT try to bluff, increase our value bets, and can safely fold one pair hands, even overpairs, if he raises us on the turn or river.

Being focused and thinking about stuff like that is MUCH more useful when you find yourself in a big hand against that guy…. Rather than a throwaway line in the 62nd video on GTO play you watched this month.

And also, fantastic writing, as always!

TJ, thank you for the insightful critique. As you can and will see in my posts, I have gone from thinking I need to try to play GTO poker to mostly abandoning that idea and changing over to the observe and adapt approach. Even as inexperienced as I am, one skill that I have is that I can maintain focus for very long periods of time and I do pay attention to every hand I am not in.

So have I wasted my time studying GTO poker on my training site? I don't think so. I think my understanding of the game has improved by watching all of the videos and by studying charts. I think it has helped me identify spots to pursue that maybe I wouldn't have thought to do in the past. But as a rule, I won't be attempting to play GTO poker.

At this point I think my approach at the WSOP will be:

-- Observe and adapt. Pay attention EVERY hand that I am not in.

-- Be aware of my table image and use this to change gears at times.

-- Identify how the table is playing and try to play the opposite (i.e. if the table is too loose, tighten up; if the table is too tight, loosen up).

-- Realize that not everyone at the table is playing the same way and I should dance between the raindrops depending who I am in a hand against.

-- Be more willing than I was in 2019 to play hands that could flop great (i.e. suited connectors) on the cheap in early levels to possibly win a monster pot against a pre-flop premium hand, but stop playing these speculative hands as I get shorter stacked.

-- Recognize when I am deep enough to just raise, and recognize when I get short enough to be in shove territory. Pay attention to where the blinds are in relation to my stack at all time.

Add it all up and while this is not 100% 2019 poker on my part, it is a lot closer to my 2019 style than the 2024 GTO style I have been studying. Call it 2019 poker with some modifications. I feel way more comfortable heading into the upcoming WSOP with this game plan than I was feeling when I thought I should be attempting a pure GTO approach.

Dogface, thank you for the sharing of your experience. You wrote, "I think the ideal mindset going into these things is a middle ground between awe and arrogance. You don't want to intimidate and level yourself by assuming everyone around you is an awesome player who will put you in the blender 24/7, but you also don't want to get too cocky and assume they are all easy pickings. It will be a mixture, which will gradually skew tougher over time."

I think this is a perfect description of what I should strive for and keep reminding myself at the table.

Part of the reason I have included (and will continue to post) my 2024 WSOP buildup is to show the evolution of my thinking regarding how I played in 2019, how I thought my 2024 studying would impact how I plan to play in the upcoming WSOP, and how I eventually came to realize that GTO is not something I can all of a sudden implement perfectly on every decision or even most decisions.

I think TJ was spot on when he wrote above, "GTO is a concept… a useful one to be sure, but also somewhat like a Platonic ideal. It’s something we strive for, but it isn’t real in a meaningful, actionable way."

This insight has really crystalized my thinking and makes me feel more confident about taking the offramp to "observe and adapt."

I'm not flushing GTO completely, but I now view it as more philosophical and less etched in stone. I'm not rejecting GTO. I am viewing it as one of many tools in my toolbox, but it's not the whole toolbox.

2024 WSOP buildup: Early February 2024
Postgame analysis of my first Talking Stick Resort Casino tournament

So, what does it mean, what did I learn from today’s tournament?

For starters, GTO quickly went out the window. A large number of these players played nothing like what my training site prepared me for.

In addition, I had a very difficult time dealing with so many limpers every hand and the fact that players simply would not fold during almost every hand. It was almost impossible to steal blinds or bluff. The big stacks tended to be players who were willing to take middle pairs to showdown against guys who were bluffing way too much. Unfortunately, I never got in a hand against the guys who were spewing chips with bluffs that weren’t believable when I had the goods.

The hand that haunts me is my A-A in the big blind in which six people limped before the action came around to me (blinds 100/300). I am pretty sure that with that many players limping, I was right to bet big to 1,800 because of all the limpers, especially at a table where it was obvious that people hate to fold. In a million years I did not think that everyone would fold. I thought for sure one of the overly loose players would call and then try to bluff their way out of trouble post-flop. Based upon the way people had been playing I thought I definitely had a chance to take someone’s stack. Should I have bet less? I think that is results oriented. I think it was the right size, but I am curious if people agree or disagree with my bet sizing.

As for the players at the table, I thought WSOPChampion and Durant were the best players. Red also seemed good. Everyone else seemed to me to be playing way too many hands, overcall with modest made hands (middle and bottom pairs), and make too many bluffs that were not believable.

WSOPChampion in particular struck me as a really strong player. WSOPChampion seemed to play aggressive at the right times, but he was also willing to fold a bunch pre-flop when he wasn’t getting cards. One thing that he did that I found peculiar was whenever he would be the post-flop raiser and get called by one or two players, he frequently would then check in the dark before the turn card was shown. Every time this happened, his opponents checked the turn and everyone checked the river, at which point WSOPChampion usually won with a modest holding. I wish someone would have raised on the turn to see what WSOPChampion would have done. The other thing I noticed was when WSOPChampion bet after the river card was shown, he would then engage in speech play directed at the person trying to make a decision. When he did this at length one hand against Durant, who he clearly knew from playing in the past, his foe eventually asked him to stop talking, saying it was against the poker room rules. I didn’t know this was a rule, but apparently it was because once the hand was over the dealer apologized to Durant for not saying something. Once Durant asked him to stop talking, WSOPChampion did stop. After the hand, both were friendly toward one another. No harm, no foul. At one point while I was still in the tournament, WSOPChampion got somewhat short in chips. He went all-in with 8,100 chips, got called and won the hand (a coin flip I believe). Then in short order he won multiple huge pots and was extremely healthy when I got knocked out. As for Durant, he was willing to call down to showdown with modest holdings and was right every time it seemed.

Overall, I did not enjoy a couple of things about this tournament. I have never played in a tournament in which the table was so incredibly loose. People just … would … not … fold. You really couldn’t steal blinds. Hands were going to showdown at an incredibly high rate. So, you either had to make hands, or you had to call down with medium holdings against some of the guys who were bluffing away huge amounts of chips with nothing and hope they did not actually have a real hand. Plus, the fact that you only start with 10,000 chips and the blinds go up so fast (every 20 minutes) is nothing like what I experienced in the much deeper and slower structures of the 2019 WSOP that I previously experienced. And yet despite me describing all of the things I did not enjoy today, when all was said and done, I thoroughly enjoyed playing poker for a few hours. I don’t know precisely what it is, but I thoroughly enjoy almost everything about NLHE tournaments. I have zero interest in playing in cash games. There is something about the fact that in tournaments, disaster or glory is potentially imminent on every hand, around every corner, on any two cards I may be dealt that resonates with me, speaks to me, exhilarates me. Honestly, while playing in tournaments is extremely high variance, it makes me feel alive. The fact that you are always one hand away from potential tournament death is intoxicating rather than frightening to me. I know I am not as good as many/most of the stronger players I go up against. I know for a fact that I am way less experienced than everyone I face. I don’t care. I just love getting to do battle on the poker felt. If that makes me negative EV, I am just fine with that. As I frequently do in life, I think about my favorite John Wooden quote (“The journey is more important than the final destination”), I just love the poker journey. I’m not going to worry about the final destination (making money). Would I like to make money? Of course. But my annual poker tournament bankroll is money I can afford to lose. I intend to focus on the journey for as long as it is fun. Right now, it remains immensely fun. The final destination just does not matter to me at this moment. Yes, I’d like to cash. Yes, I’d love to final table. But it isn’t necessary for me to enjoy playing poker, although it would certainly add to the experience.

I did not get to try to play many GTO approved hands today that I would not have played in 2019 for the simple reason that I felt that the best way to play against the massively loose table was to tighten up my range. With such a small starting stack, I did not think it was prudent to join the constant limp fest and lose chips with massively overoptimistic cards. Whether that was right or wrong, I don’t have the expertise to say for sure. I think it was the correct approach.

In the end, I got it all in pre-flop on a coin flip with a very tiny advantage and got annihilated on the flop, pretty much the same way that things went during my 2019 WSOP experience (when I think I lost every coin flip I faced, a great many of them not included in the trip report because they were against smaller stacks who were all-in). I really do need to find a way to learn how to win flips. Just imagine how much fun I will have if/when variance finally starts to swing in my favor. I await that turn of events with joyous anticipation.

good reads. sounds exactly like what i'd expect from a 125 dollar tournament.

2024 WSOP buildup: Early February 2024, 15 minutes later
Talking Stick Resort Casino: Taking a gander at a leon-style video poker player in action

After getting knocked out of the NLHE tournament, I call Mrs. rppoker and ask her to pick me up since we only have one rent-a-car on our vacation. She has just finished working out at a local health club and says she will be able to come get me in about 30 minutes.

So, I leave the poker room and head over to the rest of the casino to amuse myself. I walk around for a while and then I think of leon’s Ongoing VP TR, parts 1 and 2 in Two Plus Two’s Las Vegas Lifestyle forum. I see the high limit area and walk inside. I identify a machine that, while not the same game as in the leon thread, seems to have similar variance along with the same potential for big hits. I find a player in for $100 a pop at this video poker machine and start to watch. Immediately he wins a $1,500 hand, prompting bells to go off. He has to wait for an attendant to come over and do whatever it is he does, so that the $1,500 gets added to the $3,400 he has in the machine. Now he is up to $4,900.

Time to start up again. He pushed a button. Lose. He pushed the button again. Lose. Again. Lose. In barely a minute or more, he has given back the $1,500 he just won. The $4,900 is down to $3,400. Three minutes later he has lost another $1,100 and is down to $2,300. He cuts his bet size in half to $50 a pop.

A minute later the bells are ringing again at his machine, which says he has won a $5,800 major jackpot. Man is this swingy. Just watching makes me sort of nervous. I walk away. Too rich for my blood – but it sure is fascinating to see someone else’s money at play on a high-wire act without a net.

2024 WSOP buildup: Early February 2024 (1 day later)
NHLE tournament does not go as planned, I get walked out of the high limit area by a floor manager, lighting money on fire

The Scottsdale weather forecast is for overcast gloom and possible rain, so Mrs. rppoker suggests that I enter this morning’s NLHE tournament at the Talking Stick Casino poker room. I am a good husband, so I do not argue with my wife. More WSOP prep work for me.

I get to the soon to be obsolete poker room (the new room inside the casino has its Grand Opening tomorrow) and head to the cashier. I tell her that I want to sign up for the 11:15 a.m. hold ‘em tournament. She instantly has a look on her face that portends bad news. She says she is sorry but there is no tournament today because they are getting ready for tomorrow’s Grand Opening. Well, this is certainly a mini life bad beat.

I don’t want to bother my wife and ask her to turn around to get me, so I set about finding ways to entertain myself. I walk around the casino and observe all that is going on. It seems to me that the people at the craps table are enjoying themselves the most. There is an energy to the game that is not apparent elsewhere. The blackjack tables seem to have players that are rather sedate. The people at the low limit slot machines seem to be robotically hitting the play button over and over and over again, almost hypnotized by what is happening in front of them.

I head over to the high limit area to watch the swingy video poker game I watched yesterday. I want to see some excitement. There is a guy playing $25 a pop so I watch his machine for a while. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what constitutes a winning hand. There are some kind of buddha figures that seem to tie in to winners, but I can’t get a handle on how it works.

After a while I see that a floor manager has sidled up to me. He very politely says to me that they do not like people standing over the shoulders of players and watching them. He says that it can make players uncomfortable. He says they wonder if they are being targeted.

So, I am … intimidating?

I tell the floor manager that I understand, and that I will stop watching. I ask if these particular people are uncomfortable with me watching, or is watching people play anywhere in the casino that is frowned upon. He says that it is not encouraged anywhere and that the casino prefers that people be actively gaming.

I reply, “No problem. I’ll stop observing people. But before I go, can you explain to me how the game they are playing works? I can’t figure out what constitutes a winner.”

He says he can sort of explain it, but he is going to have one of his staff members explain it, because they know the game better. He motions for a woman to come over, and, when she does, he asks her to explain the game to me. She then proceeds to go into a very lengthy explanation with all kinds of twists and turns, after which I have even less of an idea of how the game works than I did before she started talking.

When she completes her complicated oration, I say, “Thank you, you’ve been very helpful.”

At this point the floor manager and I start walking out of the high limit area into the beating heart of the casino. I explain that I was at the casino for the morning poker tournament only to find out that it was canceled. He then explains to me that the tournament was canceled because they are getting set up for the opening of the new poker room tomorrow. He enthusiastically tells me about all of the bells and whistles associated with the new, much improved poker room.

I am well aware that what the floor manager is doing is walking me out of the high limit area. He does so extremely politely and professionally. He is good at his job, handling the minor situation with finesse rather than with blunt force.

We part ways as friends, not as combatants.

It is time for lunch, so I get a table at Ocean Trail, just off the casino floor. I order the crawfish etouffee. The waitress asks me how hot I want it. She shows me a chart that goes 1-10. I ask for 3, which is medium. When the meal is brought to the table, I dig in. It definitely has a kick. I can’t imagine what 10 is like. If 3 on the menu is medium, I figure 10 must be death. The meal is very solid.

Once I am done eating, I still don’t want to call Mrs. rppoker, since I know she had gone shopping, and I want to give her plenty of time before I ask her to come pick me up in our rent-a-car. I then did something I never do. I decided to play a slot machine. I do not like playing games that are 100% chance and 0% skill. But I have time to kill, so I choose an NFL slot machine and load the $125 into it that I would have spent on the poker tournament entry fee. I know I am lighting this money on fire, but I need something to do, and I promised the floor manager that I would not hover over people playing games in the casino. I slowly but surely see my money get cut in half, but then I hit the “free games” jackpot. This turns out to be 15 free games/spins that are heavily weighted for winners. After the 15 free games are complete, I am only down $15. I know I should cash out, but this is all about killing time. I keep playing and it is a slow, steady death march down to zero. Finally, I do not have enough money loaded to make another bet. The options are to put more in the game or cash out. I have killed enough time.

I cash out. It’s not even a chip and a chair. The cash out voucher is for $0.18.

I do not bother taking it to the cashier.

After the free games bonus you gotta go find a different machine

That was a funny read

If you dont want to cash out the voucher of 18 cents, why not leave them in the machine for others?

Very well written TR, i really enjoy it.

This is a great thread, but will you pleeeeeaaaaase stop saying "raise" when you mean "bet"?

I was going to comment the same. You don't "raise" if you are the first one to bet after the flop, you just bet. Somewhat common mistake though, I saw it earlier this week in Vegas as well - people saying 'raise' when they are just making a simple continuation bet.

I did not realize I was using the wrong terminology. My inexperience shows through. Thanks for pointing this out.

I have good news and bad news regarding this.

The bad news: I have already written all of my daily reports for what has happened between now and the start of the WSOP. I don't want to change them for fear that I don't catch all of the wrong terms (bet versus raise) causing inconsistency in the post, so I am going to leave them as is. There is only one more tournament remaining in my pre-WSOP writings, which I will post today. So, sorry for the fingernails on the chalkboard feelings I will cause with today's postings (which I think you will find enjoyable nonetheless since some really fun stuff takes place).

The good news: I will try to remember to say bet not raise when I start writing up my as yet to happen 2024 WSOP.

I'm still learning, so I appreciate you (and anyone else) making me aware of when I get something wrong.

2024 WSOP buildup: Early February 2024 (yet another day later) (Part 1 of 3)
Poker wedding crashing, my table is losing its mind with all-ins in Level 1, the amazing MenuMan ignores his way to a monster

Let’s try this again. After yesterday’s tournament cancellation, I am back for another try at the Talking Stick Casino 11:15 a.m. NLHE tournament on Grand Opening day for its new poker room.

On the drive over, I contemplate my strategy. Will my table today be as limp-heavy loose as it was a couple of days ago, or will it be more conventional? I’ll play it by ear and then decide if applying a GTO strategy is worth attempting or not. And by GTO strategy I mean my unpracticed, unmastered, untested version of GTO as I … sort of … know it. Wait a minute, I remind myself, observe and adapt. Beyond that, I have my doubts that this will be especially useful to my WSOP preparation. Given the Usain Bolt fast increase in blinds, you can’t be as patient here as is the case at the WSOP. I certainly won’t be all gas, no breaks today, but the need to accumulate chips fairly quickly cannot be ignored if I want to stay ahead of the blinds six-to-eight levels in and beyond. Good cards would be nice. Making hands after the flop would be nicer. Winning a freakin’ flip would be a delightful, once-in-forever change of pace. Admittedly, my sample size of losing coin flips is really, really small, but I have lost them whenever they have occurred in my tiny poker history.

Although this tourney may do little to nothing for my preparation for the much deeper structured WSOP, I am perfectly fine playing for the love of the game today.

As for the unveiling of the new poker room, I kind of feeling like a wedding crasher. I am an out of towner intruding of someone else’s big day. This is not my casino. It feels like today is for the regulars at Talking Stick. But I am here and I want to play poker, so sorry for photobombing your Grand Opening selfie but I want to play some cards.

The new poker room is huge on LED screens with mostly sports on, but it also has the status of my tournament throughout the day which is very easy to see. The tables seem nice enough, although there are sections in front of the dealer that are lower than the rest of the table top, which gives the dealers a difficult time moving cards and chips from their right to the middle of the table. There is more room between the tables than in the old poker room. The player chairs have wheels which makes moving your chair easier. OK, that’s enough of the Yelp/Trip Advisor review. None of this matters all that much to me. Just give me some good cards, and I’ll be happy.

The tournament is almost ready to go, and I notice that the guy next to me bears a resemblance to Kansas Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. Apparently, he bought the first entry to this first tournament in the new poker room (two days ago) so a honcho from the casino brings a photographer with and takes a picture with CoachReid. I ask CoachReid if he plays here often, and he says, “I’m here every day. I’m a piece of furniture here.”

A piece of furniture that does not last long. CoachReid and his 10,000 starting stack busts out on the third hand of Level 1. Another player at my table busts out on the sixth hand. Although people are limping way less early on than was the case in the tourney two days ago, they are frequently playing for stacks with the blinds at 100/100. At times, it’s CrazyTown.

With the blinds at 100/200, I am dealt Q-Q. I raise to 600 from UTG+1 and get multiple callers. The flop is K-7-4 rainbow. I continuation bet and get two callers. There is a 9 on the turn, and it goes check-check-check. The river is yet another K. I am pretty much done with betting this hand and I check, hoping to get to showdown for free. A player I’ll call Rock Star (he has long wavy hair, is wearing sun glasses indoors, has a 5:00 shadow on his face even though it isn’t even 12 noon, and has the overall look of an aging rock star) goes all-in. Do I believe him? The all-in aggression at this table is through the roof. I am either massively behind or way ahead. It seems like way too many chips to go with a guess. I decide to wait for a better spot. I fold. I’m down to 8,400 chips. Given how reckless people are playing, I think patience will be rewarded.

When Level 2 (100/200) ends, my table has already seen six players get knocked out of the tournament. Guys are losing their minds and overplaying hands.

Level 3 (100/300) hits and I am dealt Ah-Qh. Four players limp into the pot, and I raise it to 1,800. I get two callers. The flop comes A-2-2 rainbow. I can bet half pot, but if someone re-raises me, I am going to have to call so I go all-in. Plus, given how wide people are calling all-in bets, I decide to beat them at their own game with my all-in bet. Rock Star, who in the first couple levels has been calling too widely and been rewarded, has a ton of chips in his stack and unsurprisingly calls, and he shows A-7. The turn and river do me no harm, and I now have 15,800 chips.

Now things start to calm down a bit. Briefly. People are suddenly limping way less often than my tourney two days ago and for the most part they are not overcalling pre-flop raises at this point. Until they do. I am dealt 8c-9c from UTG+1. I am pretty sure a GTO strategy says I should raise, so I do so curious to see what will happen. I get five calls. Not what I was looking for. So much for things calming down a bit. The flop comes Kh-7s-3d rainbow. I check, the next guy to act goes all-in with a somewhat short stack and gets four calls. Four! Seriously. I fold. The turn and river bring two more hearts. The winner of the hand with the nut flush is a player wearing a Kansas City Chiefs hat (we’ll call him Kelce with a tip of the cap to the KC superstar tight end).

With the blinds now 200/400 an interesting hand takes place that I am not a part of. The guy in the small blind has been intensely studying a casino food menu for the last three hands and has not been especially focused on poker during this time frame. We’ll call him MenuGuy. Rock Star limps and everyone folds to MenuGuy whose face remains buried in the menu. Finally, the dealer gives a verbal nudge to MenuGuy, and he just calls. The big blind checks. The flop is K-7-8 rainbow. The dealer eventually asks the still distracted MenuGuy what he wants to do. MenuGuy checks. The big blind checks. Rock Star raises. The dealer again has to ask MenuGuy what he wants to do, and he calls. The big blind folds. The turn is a 9. MenuGuy is still studying the menu, but he eventually raises and gets called. The river is a blank. MenuGuy is still analyzing the menu and eventually the dealer asks him what he wants to do. MenuGuy raises, and Rock Star calls. MenuGuy turns over 6-10 for the turned straight and he drags the big pot.

Shortly thereafter, I am in the big blind with 3d-5h. Four people limp, the small blind calls and I just check willing to look at three free cards. The flop is 6c-2c-4c. I have flopped the straight, but with five other people in the hand, I am worried that someone already has a flush. The small blind checks, and I check as well. I do not want to bloat the pot with a straight that very likely is beat by a flush. The way I see it, if I bet I am either going to win a modest pot or if I’m not careful I will lose a big pot. It checks all around. Now I am somewhat interested in taking down this pot if a single bet will get it done. That interest turns into total and unequivocal disinterest when the Jc brings a fourth club on the board. No way I am good now. When someone bets, I fold and run for the hills.

We go on break and I have 13,600 chips, which is solid but hardly spectacular. I take this break in the action to think about the newly unveiled poker room. Naturally the staff is excited about it. And it certainly has brought a big crowd to the room as a whole and the tournament as well. That said, while I acknowledge that everything is very nice, through four levels of play all I have noticed are my table, my cards, my chip stack, my position, and my opponents. The large LED screens that are everywhere could have been showing porno flicks, and I would not have noticed. As for the style of play so far, my table does not limp anywhere near as much as my table two days ago, but it still has far too much limping. With so many people playing in so many hands, it feels like you have to navigate a minefield every hand you enter. The other difference, is that my table today sees almost half of its hands go to showdown with someone being all-in. Against these players so far today, you have to be prepared to play for stacks a lot.

I go completely card dead during Level 5 (300/600) and do not play a hand.

Patience, however, is soon rewarded …

2024 WSOP buildup: Early February 2024 (yet another day later) (Part 2 of 3)
The mother of all big blind specials, they say I am bullying the table, I finally win a flip

At 400-800, an epic hand unfolds. And by epic, I mean the Poker Gods absolutely love me. I am in the big blind with Js-5h. Almost everyone limps to me and I check. We go to the flop five-handed. The flop is Jc-5c-2s. The player to my right is wearing a Shark Tank hat (we’ll call him MarkCuban) and he raises to 1,600. Having flopped two pair, I raise to 4,800. I get a call from Kelce and then it is to MarkCuban and he goes all-in. I have him covered and I call. Now I hope that Kelce comes along, and he does. The turn is the 5d, and I now have a very, very, very unlikely full house. I don’t have a ton of chips left, and I go all-in. Kelce calls. MarkCuban has a flush draw, and Kelce has top pair top kicker. They are both drawing dead. I now have a whopping 34,100 chips.

Before long a new player is seated to my right, and he has a mountain of chips. So much for me being the big stack.

At 600/1,200 the action folds to me on the button, and I raise to 4,000 with 7s-10s. The bluff gets through, and I steal the blinds. This was the first chance I got to steal the blinds in this tournament or the last tournament. I guess poker players in Arizona don’t like to fold, which is why my bet size was bigger than I would have normally made. Later on, at this same level, I am in a seven-way hand with Kc-Jc. I miss the flop entirely and fold to a bet.

At 1,000/2,000 I am dealt Ah-Qs, and I raise to 6,000. A new guy at the table goes all-in. Rock Star calls. I fold. New Guy has A-A. Rock Star has 10-10. My notes are hard to read, but I think New Guy won the hand with the nut flush. I still have 31,000 chips.

I get moved to a new table just as I was about to have to post the big blind at my old table (yay me). At my new table I am not in the big blind. For the moment we are seven-handed at my new table and there are two enormous stacks at the table that dwarf my chip stack. Near the end of 1,000/2,000 I am dealt As-10s in the big blind. It folds to the small blind who calls. I put an additional 4,000 chips in the pot and SB folds. I have 30,400 chips. The break soon ensues and I have 28,500 chips.

While on break I look up at the tournament board and see that there are 197 entries, and 63 players remain. The top 20 get paid. The current average chip stack is 31,270, so I am only slightly below average.

At 1,500/3,000, I am UTG and I min raise to 6,000 with Ac-Jc. The big blind calls. The flop is K-10-3 rainbow. All I have is a gutshot, but I am getting somewhat low on chips, and I make a move. I haven’t gotten out of line at this table, so I go all-in. The big blind folds. I have 31,500 chips. A bit later, same level, a new player who has a beard like the guys from ZZ Top limps. I look down at A-Q offsuit and I jam all-in. ZZ Top folds. I have 34,500 chips. Now we get a new dealer who is wearing a mask. He keeps coughing (not liking this). He announces to the table that he has long COVID (I’m doomed).

I get dealt A-Q offsuit again from UTG+2. I go all-in. Everyone folds to ZZ Top who takes his time, thinks about it, puts his hand in a certain place on the table … and folds. As I will eventually learn from playing against him, he goes through the same methodical process every time he has a decision to make. Later in this level, I am in the big blind and look down at 8c-4h. It folds to the small blind who calls. I obviously just check. The flop is 8-5-3 rainbow. I raise to 6,000 and take it.

A modest stack has 26,000 chips, and she goes all-in. I have J-J. I have her covered but if I call and lose, this will take a significant bite out of my chip stack. I feel J-J is ahead of her range, but I am not jumping up and down with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. I call and hope she does not have me dominated. She has 9-9. My advantage holds, and now I have 77,000 chips. I look up at the tournament board. There are 35 players left. The average chip stack is 56,000. I am above average.

I think we are now 2,000/4,000, but I’m not positive from my notes. The reason I think we are at 2,000/4,000 is I raise to 12,000 with A-J UTG. No one calls, and I am up to 80,000 chips.

At 3,000/6,000 my chip stack has dipped somewhat (although my notes don’t say how much) when I am dealt A-J again. I raise to 15,000 and a recent addition to the table, who I played against at length two days ago, calls. The flop is J-8-5 (two diamonds) I have top pair, top kicker and I raise and get a call. The turn is a Q (not a diamond). Even though a Q is not a great card for me to see, I don’t slow down. I bet again and get called. The river card is a third diamond. I don’t have a ton of chips left but I go all-in. My thought process is if I just check, he will probably go all-in and I have no choice but to call given how few chips I’d have left. Plus, he has played this hand very passively. In addition, when I was at his table two days ago, I was very much aware of the fact that he consistently got to the river and overcalled with medium made hands and even bottom pairs. He was one of the doesn’t-like-to-fold players. While I don’t think he will fold to my all-in bet, the third diamond is scary and I have not slowed down at any point in the hand. He does in fact fold. The player next to me says, “Nice job representing the flush.” My neighbor does not believe I had a flush (ding, ding, ding). Fortunately, he was not in the hand. So yes, I was bluffing as to rivering the flush, but I truly believed that against this very specific opponent, there was a high likelihood that I was bluffing with the best hand. I now have 93,000 chips.

At 4,000/8,000 I am dealt 10-10 on the button. It folds to me, I raise and I get two folds. I now have 106,000 chips. The chip average is 82,000.

If you have been paying attention, you will have noticed that the blinds are already becoming a problem for a lot of the players, and it will only get worse the rest of the way. Staying ahead of the blinds is a constant difficulty. And even the big stacks tend not to be especially deep throughout the rest of the way.

Later on, with us still at 4,000/8,000, I am on the button and am dealt A-4 suited. It folds to me, I raise and the blinds fold. I have 106,000 chips. Same level I have A-K, I raise to 24,000 and everyone folds. A neighboring player good-naturedly says I am bullying the table. Another player concurs. I have 117,000 chips. The next hand I play, I have J-3 suited and it folds to me in the small blind. I call. The big blind checks. I completely whiff the flop, but I raise it and take it.

We are still 4,000/8,000 when I have J-J and call an all-in from a player who has Ah-10h. The runout is in my favor, and now I have 163,000 chips. The average is 85,000. The guy next to me once again jokingly says, “You are a bully.”

At this point there are 21 players left, and only 20 get paid. We go hand-for-hand on three tables of seven players each. The blinds go up to 6,000/12,000. I am almost double the average stack, and yet I only have a little under 14 big blinds. The blinds are crazy, and they’ll only get worse as we go.

When I am in the big blind hand-for-hand, I get a walk with 2-3 offsuit (it’s good to be me). Then I get dealt A-K, I raise to 36,000 and get no calls. I have 181,000 chips. I get dealt A-K again (still hand-for-hand), I bet 36,000 and everyone folds. I have 199,000 chips.

The blinds go up to 8,000/16,000 (still hand-for-hand). I am in the small blind, and everyone folds to me. I have 5-8 suited and I call. The big blind checks and we see a flop, which comes A-2-2. Even though I have been raising with good hands, no one has been calling so I decide to get out of line, and I bet 16,000. The big blind shoves all-in. I obviously fold. I have 155,000 chips. I say to the big blind, “You caught me.” He responds, “You were just doing your job on the money bubble.” In hindsight, I think my post-flop bet told a questionable story. If I had A-x, I would have bet pre-flop rather than check. And how many 2s can I have? Maybe suited A-2, K-2 or Q-2. Plus, if I had a 2, wouldn’t I have checked after the flop? So, while the story might have seemed a bit far-fetched, I suppose the aggression with any two cards on the money bubble was good. Given my chip stack on the absolute money bubble, I think I should raise in that situation with any two cards. But it makes me wonder, did my opponent raise my raise because he didn’t believe my story, or did he just have the goods? No way to know.

It takes a while, but eventually, someone goes bust on another table, and we are down to 20 players. We are in the money. Strangely, I don’t feel any sense of excitement. There is still work to be done. I have 140,000 chips. Average is 98,500. The next pay bump is 10th place, so I expect people will start to push.

Soon thereafter, the blinds go up to 10,000/20,000. Another player goes all-in for 45,000 chips. I call with 4-4. My opponent has A-10. He flops a 10 and it holds. As is my history, I have lost yet another coin flip. It feels egregiously unfair. Poor, poor me. I could never be a full-time pro and deal with negative variance that is far, far worse than what I have experienced. Snap out of it, I scold myself. Deal with it. Respond to it. OK, I’m over it. I am down to 95,000 chips. I then get moved to another table because we are now down to 18 players. Even though I am in dire straits in terms of number of big blinds I have left, I am only slightly below chip average. The next hand I play, it folds to me in the small blind and I go all-win with 10-J suited and do not get called. I have 95,000 chips and 14 players remain.

When I am in the big blind, I get a walk which is a gift from the Poker Gods. I have 110,000 chips. I get dealt A-5, I go all-in and no one calls. Next, I am all-in with 6-6 versus K-Q suited, and I win a flip. I finally win a flip! I FINALLY WIN A FLIP!!!!!! Between my 2019 WSOP results as well as my tourney two days ago, and just moments ago, coin flips have not been my friend until this very moment. Finally, I have learned how to win a coin flip. Wait, what did I do differently this time? I’m stumped. Oh well, happy dance. OK, time to calm down. Still more work to be done. I now have 260,000 chips. The average is 179,000 chips, and I have reached …