Ah ****, I spazzed on the title. It should say (10/31-11/04). Off to a cracking start already...

Hey y'all. Long-time casual player here and former micro grinder extraordinaire. After years of following the "sport", I finally played my first WSOP event in 2018 and did a TR that year, followed by a sequel in 2019.

COVID delayed the third installment of the trilogy, but after a long wait we're back for round three. To give you a brief summary of the last two adventures, in 2018 I chopped a small event at the Nugget for my first recorded live cash. In 2019 I FT'd one of the Daily Deepstacks at the Rio for another modest score. Those were the highlights of my first two WSOP trips. The goal for this year is simple: to book my first cash in an official WSOP event. I've fired several small events in the past and have always come up short, due to a combination of runbad and playbad. I've even bricked several WSOPC events, if you want to count those. Hopefully I can break the duck this year.

I'd like to tell you I've been studying for the last 16 months, diligently preparing for this opportunity. I'd like to tell you that I'm in the best poker shape of my life. But I don't want to lie to you. Apart from a brief jaunt to Vegas last September, where I managed to FT a small event at the Venetian, I've barely played a hand in the last year. I've been trying to catch up in the last few days with some PokerGo and micro stakes 6 max, but at this point I'm half man, half rust. Hopefully the poker gods will reward my hubris with some epic sun runs. I can honestly say I've yet to run like Jamie Gold in any of my previous WSOP forays. One time for the kid?

Like any proper nit, I've booked Sunday-Thursday to avoid those pesky weekend hotel rates. I'll have four nights at the illustrious Gold Coast. Here's the tentative poker schedule:

10/31 - 7PM - $400 Rio Daily Deep Stack
11/01 - 11AM - $600 WSOP Event #61 Deep Stack Championship
11/02 - 11AM - $500 WSOP Event #63 Salute to Warriors
11/03 - 11AM - $1000 WSOP Event#65 Mini Main
11/04 - LEAVE

My first year at the WSOP, I was in awe of the spectacle and pageantry. Embarrassingly fangirlish tbh. It will definitely be nice to be back in the historic Rio for one last hurrah, but mainly I'm focused on trying to bink that first WSOP cash. I don't really party or go crazy with the hedonistic aspects of LV, so expect a pretty muted TR focused on poker, hand histories, results, and the analysis of that experience.

What else might be on tap?

- I'm a pretty big basketball fan, so will likely play some sports props.
- I may dip into the cash game waters if the tourneys are unkind, or if I'm simply bored. I try to hit the Bellagio and Aria at least once on every LV trip for a cash session.
- I take pride in being a cheapskate, so expect more discount buffet and Rio food reviews. I can already hear Gold Coast's Port O' Call buffet calling my name with its basement tier all-you-can-eat mediocrity.
- I'm slated to be in town for the first day of the WSOP ME, so expect some grainy terrible photographs of vaguely-famous poker players who peaked 20 years ago.

I'll also add this stipulation: If I bink any score $8k or higher, I'm extending my stay and snap-regging the ME. The first item on my bucket list is securing that first WSOP cash, but once I have that in the bag, the focus will shift to the next goal. I want to play the WSOP ME at least once in my life, if only to answer the age old question: How quickly can one man light $10k on fire?

Alternatively, if I hit a small cash in one of the WSOP prelims, I'll shift my focus to satellites and trying to win that precious seat.

In conclusion, it's gonna be a great summ...I mean...winter...I mean...late fall?



Vaxed, masked, not waxed, and ready to lose my ass.

Play a bunch of STT's, you're sure to cash in something. Bring your iron @ss for the Daily Deepstack. I don't think they hit the money till near midnight.

Is Gold Coast's buffet open?

I've chopped an STT before, but I'm talking bracelet events only!

We'll see about the buffet. I may starve if not.

Subbing. Good luck!

Good luck OP! I like your writing style and your sense of humor. Subbed

Good luck! Subbed.

Nice beginning write-up, I'm in. Best of luck.

as u probably found out by now, the Gold Coast buffet is gone as are pretty much all traditional buffets in casinos. victims of the COVID pandemic.

The only one I am aware of that is still open is at the Southpoint.

g/l

Good luck! Fixed your thread title for you.

Smooth flight in. Beautiful day in LV. After a two year absence, it was great to see the Guy Fieri highway and smell that familiar Rio mixture of perfume and disappointment.

Took me a cool hour to get my COVID proof squared away and register for some events, but I'm in the $400 nightly with a fighting stack.

Got KK early in the going. I 3 bet to a reasonable size. Initial raiser 4 bets and now we have a decision. I think there's enough QQ, AK, and random crap in there that we have to jam. I rip it, he calls, and we hold vs. AhKh to basically double up.

Up to 56k from the 25k starting stack at the first break. I've been playing tighter than Dave Grohl's drum kit and have an image cleaner than Mr. Rogers, so I can probably get away with murder now.

Realistically, this is a turbo luckament where all-in luck will be key. Let's see how it goes.

Sent from my SM-J337U using Tapatalk

Tragic. I was a bad reg at that buffet for sure. Very pedestrian food, but it was cheap and you could find enough edible stuff to fill a few plates.

Thank you sir!

Day One: Spooky Sunday

As I said, the weather was great when I landed. I just saw Dune last night (solid). The arid rolling plains of the Nevada desert brought the same Arrakis energy as I admired them on the flight in. Will it be a spicy first day?

I felt like I was in a good, clear state of mind heading into this adventure.

I walked over from the Gold Coast to the Rio, ready for some action.



After dealing with the minor hassle of COVID vaccine certification and a turtle-paced registration line, I claimed a seat in the 7pm $400 shortly into level 2. As mentioned above, I got a pretty favorable setup early on with KK vs. AKs to double up.

From there I mostly treaded water for the next several levels, never going much higher or lower than 50k (starting stack was 25k). Eventually the hand of the night came up at 2k-4k blinds. I was still about 50-55k deep.

I woke up with AdJd in EP. We were 7-8 handed at the table. I had just gotten a shove through and decided to open small instead. I know conventional wisdom would just be to shove at this stack size with this hand, but I also don't mind taking flops when I'm fairly low sometimes. I have a bit of Hellmuth in me I guess. I opened to 10k (2.5BB).

It folded around to BB, who gave me a pretty long and deliberate staredown before calling. Flop missed me completely: 2c5c8s. He checked. I checked behind. I don't think this is a great board for a c-bet. A second black 8 rolled off on the turn. Villain fired 6k and I snap called, thinking he'd be doing this with all sorts of missed overs and trash.

He refused to get the memo and, when the 8h rolled off on the river to put three eights on the board, he laid out a huge stack of chips to put me all in. It's kind of gross when someone puts you all in for your tournament life and all you have is unimproved high card AJ, but I actually liked this spot for me. He probably doesn't have AK or AQ based on pre-flop action, and would not bet the river like that with those hands. Pre-flop suggests he doesn't have a big pair. I don't think a small piece of the board (medium showdown value) plays the river like that either. Maybe he can be doing this with something like 77 or 66, but the overall vibe I was getting was "please fold, I'm trying to scare you."

So I called off for my tournament life with the AJ and all he had was a busted wheel draw, As4s. I doubled up from there and eventually cruised into the money places on an average stack. With $14k up top, I was hoping for some nice spins to secure the win and buy my ME seat, but the structure on this bad boy moves FAST in the late stages and unfortunately I was felted well before the final table for a modest score. There's not much to say about the ending, as I was basically just card dead with rapidly increasing blinds and never got great spots. My stack peaked around 145k in this event:



No big win for us tonight, but we book a little win on the first MTT of our trip, easing the financial burden and hopefully starting the beginning of a hot streak. The only downside of running deep is that it's 3 AM here and I'm still awake, even though I'm due back at the Rio tomorrow at 11 AM for the $600 Deep Stack. I guess that's a good problem to have though.

Speaking of problems, the Rio food situation is pretty dire. Everything is overpriced and most of it is unhealthy. That plagued me tonight throughout my deep run. I haven't been carrying much cash in my wallet during COVID, so all I had were a bunch of fofties that I'd gotten from the ATM. That meant I didn't have any singles or easy change to get the free waters from the waiters and tip them the standard $1. Instead I bit the bullet and bought a water from the snack area with my credit card. What does a $4 Rio water look like? The answer is below:



That was far and away the toughest beat of the night, and tomorrow I'll be sure to have some ones in my wallet so I don't have to clown myself like this again.

+1 to the food situation. Go across the street to Chick-fil-A.

Well done. Keep it up.

Sorry for lack of updates. I have a good excuse.

Played 17 levels of Event #61 today ($600 Deep Stack) and will be back tomorrow at 12 pm for the re-start with something close to an average stack. That's my first WSOP cash officially locked up, and the first day two adventure of my WSOP career.

I was located towards the stage in Brasilia today and my table never broke, so I got to stay comfortable as new faces arrived and departed throughout the day. Surprisingly, the two guys directly to my left also lasted until the money, so it was a very stable environment. The most famous visitor to our table was Garry Gates, who was card-dead and short for an hour or two before busting.

Too many key hands to name, but I'll try to give a basic rundown. We started with 30k chips. I hit some rough patches early, dropping down to about 20k. I rebuilt to 48k before my semi-bluff flop check raise with Ac6c backfired on a 8s7s5c board when I got shipped on by A8, was priced into a call, and bricked out. I dropped down to about 12k after that. Eventually I got it in with KdTd on a 9 high board with two diamonds. I spiked the river miracle vs. a dominating hand (set of fives?) and from there it was relatively smooth sailing.

An overly-ambitious player 4-bet jammed on my 3 bet pre-flop and his AT was crushed by my AA. I held there and won another big hand when a player with pocket 7s ran into my pocket 10s. I hit a few sets today and was also able to win quite a few hands without showdown. My stack got as high as ~250k, but is down below 200k as we move into the second day.

The last few levels were largely uneventful, as my table was what I would describe as politely competent. There were no maniacs among us and people played pretty tight, which meant most pots ending without much of a battle. Most of us had medium stacks, so there was no constant shoving dynamic with shorties or a super deep bully running us all over. We kind of just collectively treaded water for the last couple hours. If I have any regrets, it's that I probably should've been more aggro in this climate, but I felt like I played a solid game overall.

The structure on this is really great, but blinds are quite high and there's a good chance it will be a short day for me tomorrow. About 480 runners left from a ~3900 starting field. 588 places paid. The pay jumps are really flat, so from here it's really just about posturing to make a deep run.

All in all, a long day at the office, but a great start to the trip. I'm 2-for-2 on tourney cashes and already hit my goal of binking my first WSOP score on the first attempt of the trip. Everything from here is just the icing on the cake.

Here's hoping for an early double up today!

Congratulations on the cash, and good luck on day 2!

Great work. Excellent call with the AJ as well.

Good luck.

Fantastic! Congratulations

Gogogogogogogo!!!

Never give up, Never give in.

Gearing up for day two, which is about 90 minutes away.

Some quick thoughts on MTT play before I move on to other things. If I had to critique myself as a player, my biggest issue is probably being too passive and not fighting for all the thin spots. When you look at the chip leaderboard and see people with 800k+ already, it's likely that some are running hotter than the sun, but also likely that others are just really ruthless about applying pressure and fighting for every chip. You probably need a lot of that mentality to consistently put yourself in position to WIN tournaments, not just min-cash. Even though cashing for any amount is fun, the value in MTTs is always in the ultra deep slots.

On the other hand, I would humbly but honestly say that my general discipline, strategic framework, and emotional stability are above average. So many times last night I saw people blow up unnecessarily with some type of medium hand like AT, AJ, 88, or 77 in spots where they're never good. The ability to fold a good hand when you know you're up against a great hand is just something that a lot of us struggle with in these things. I usually do okay with it, but have donked off my fair share in the past. A lot of my value last night came not from outplaying anybody, but just folding my second best hands correctly and benefiting when other people got out of line vs. my premium holdings. I laid down AcQc and JJ pre-flop last night facing huge bets in marginal spots where I couldn't really believe that I was ahead. This isn't anything special or anything to brag about and it's possible I didn't even fold correctly, but as a general rule I do think people struggle to lay down those second best monsters when facing obvious strength. Then they lose and tell themselves they got unlucky/coolered/whatever.

Now onto some pics from last night.

Crappy pic of the Rio side entrance:



I don't think anyone is going to argue that the Rio is an incredible casino in 2021. It feels like it's 25+ years old, which it is. Objectively, it's not an ideal place to visit. The food is overpriced and not very good at all. They are stuck in 1997 quality with their concessions. However, anyone who's dabbled in the WSOP probably feels at least a little bit of nostalgia about the convention center and tournament spaces. I wasn't completely kidding when I said there's a distinct Rio smell. This is only my third year attending the WSOP, but strolling down those hallways already brings a bit of nostalgia. I'm glad I could get a result here before they move the series elsewhere, which is rumored to be happening soon if I'm not mistaken. This year could be the end of an era, and while a new venue is probably needed at this point, there's a lot of history in these rooms.

Brasilia in the early going:



When I stay at the Rio or Gold Coast, I become a reg at Ping Pang Pong:



Solid quality and value. Open until 3 AM. Modest crowds. I've always been able to get seated immediately during late night hours, which is a huge convenience when you're just looking for some quick sustenance. I've hit it up twice already this trip.

I said I'd probably do some sports betting this week. I've been busy with the poker stuff and haven't had much time to look at anything else, but I did hit the Rio book on a break. My favorite thing to bet is NBA player props, but they don't do those until the playoffs. I took a look at what they have and ended up putting down some money on Scottie Barnes for ROY. I'm not going to sit here and act like some expert handicapper, but I just like the price at 12-to-1 for a guy who is clearly one of the most exciting players in this rookie class. The betting favorites are Cade, Mobley, and Green, and those guys figure to be contenders too. It's overall a strong rookie class, but Barnes is probably right up there with anyone and offers the best value IMO. Might be worth a little punt if you want a long-term sweat.

GL Dogface!

Someone is going to win that donkment, might as well be you. You are going to face some decisions, make ones that you can stand behind tomorrow. Gl and Let's go!

Event #61 update:

We are OUT inside the top 250, but well away from the real money.

This event switches to 60 minute levels on the second day, which theoretically offers a lot of play, but the average stacks were very short relative to the blinds and the situation wasn't helped by a number of loose/sticky players at my table who tended to extend the duration of hands by seeing several tank-heavy streets.

With about 20 bigs to start the day, I was going to need some serious spins and unfortunately it never materialized. I probably misplayed TT early on when I opened from MP for 2.1BB with just 16BB total in my stack. BB called me, two overs came on the flop, I played it scared, and BB bullied me out of the pot on the river. In hindsight, at this stack depth this probably just has to be an open shove. You can get called by overs and plenty of worse pairs. Winning just the blinds is a better outcome than getting blown off your equity when a scary flop hits.

I found a double on a position shove with K7s a while later when I made a flush vs. a shorty's 33. I later got in a squeeze shove with AQ vs. an MP open and two flats. Everyone folded.

That brought me up to about 200k, which was the high water mark for the day. From there I basically had to fold everything and never held any premiums. I never saw AK or JJ+ today. I think the TT was my only pocket pair. As you might expect when you get to the deeper stages of an event, the play is more aggressive and the player population is full of trickier/better players. My table was very active, and it was rare to get any opportunity to open a pot. Without premiums or chips, there was little I could do to push back.

A few players busted early, and I wound up with Bart Lybaert and Damian Salas seated next to each other in the two spots to my immediate left, both with a lot of chips. Not exactly an easy table draw, though not very relevant with my stack being strictly shove-or-fold. Bart won a massive pot by rivering quads vs. top set. The rungood was not contagious and I mostly had to sit and watch other people play poker while waiting for any type of spot to get my chips in.

I managed to survive to the first break, but came back UTG on an absolute nub (7.5 BBs). I had nothing whatsoever to shove UTG, so folded to become the BB. An interesting opportunity came up here when I was dealt A6o and a VERY aggro player in MP3 shipped for his 20BB stack. At this point I had 2BB of my own dead money in the pot, along with 1 BB from the SB, and 5BB behind.

I'm curious to hear what people think about this spot. I'm so short that the dead money is hugely significant relative to my stack, I have an ace in my hand, and I know that the player in question has been opening light all day (literally playing like 35% of hands). However, he's typically been opening for a min raise, so shoving is unusual for him and he's risking a reasonable stack with several players behind. This is where some of my rust shows, because I don't know if we're really getting the right price to call with A6o vs. likely range or not. We're ahead of some KQ, KJ, QJ type of stuff and have outs against almost any pair. On the other hand, I think we're going to see a lot of bigger Ax in his hand when we call here.

I opted to fold, thinking it would be better to open shove for my dinky 5BB stack on a future hand than to call it off in that spot for a bigger pot. I'm not sure if it was the right mathematical decision.

I ended up getting a chance to open shove from MP with J8o a short time later. Honestly, this was better than most of the hands I had been seeing. Bart called me right away with AJ and held. End of the road.

I can't be disappointed. I think I played well in this event overall across the two days. I was always going to need a lot of luck to mount a serious FT push, and it simply wasn't my time. In a field this big, you are almost playing three separate tournaments. The first tournament is just getting down the money. Then a new tournament starts until you reach the FT. Then the FT is almost like it's own STT. I ran well in the first tournament, but got cold at a fatal time in the second tournament.

It's still fairly early in the day here, but after nearly two days straight of grinding poker, I have zero interest in late-regging the $500 Salute to Warriors and trying to spin a stack. I'm done playing poker for today unless an itch to play cash seizes me later tonight.

I had talked about trying to sat into the ME, but the reality is not as appealing as the hypothetical and I think I'd be a bit of a spot in that $10k field even though I'm not a total donk. It may have to wait for another year. With my profits from the $400 nightly and the $600 WSOP event, I now have enough surplus winnings to register for tomorrow's $1k Mini Main and still pocket a small profit on top of that. Considering that I was prepared to lose about $3k on this trip, freerolling the Mini Main and still walking away with some extra Lyft money seems like a relatively huge dub, so that's the current plan.

I already bought my ticket. I'll be there at 11AM for the Mini Main, which looks like a fast structure, certain to hit the money spots by the end of the day. If I cash, I can possibly extend my stay into the weekend. If I brick out, I can walk away from the tables with a net profit and a couple more cashes on my resume. It would've been a lot of fun to keep going in the $600, but I have to be grateful for an overwhelmingly positive start to the trip.