Well done. I probably would have gone for it with the A6, but who knows? I might have done exactly what you did, and A6 could have been crushed.

Excellent runs. Keep it up.

Congratulations on the cash!

Don't know if it's the right play, but I probably shove on the A6 hand.

You were there and had a feel for how the game was playing. Must not have felt right.

Great TRs so far and wishing you the best of luck in the Mini Main!

Congrats. And good luck in the mini main.

Enjoying the updates, keep them coming.

Very much enjoying your writing style.

Good luck in the mini main.

Thanks guys. Always nice to know people are reading.

When you read a nit's trip report, you get excitement like last night. After busting the $600 deep stack, I went back to my hotel room and spent most of the night bunkered in here. I did leave briefly for a dinner break, grabbing some Chick-Fil-A from across the street per Beachman42's recommendation. Much more satisfying than the Rio food options, and cheaper. The line of cars looks intimidating, but there was no line inside. For the price of one terribad Rio cardboard sandwich, you can get several items of pretty high quality. Worth the trek if you have the time.

I could've ventured over to the strip last night and gotten a seat at the cash tables, but like I said, I was a little burned out after two long nights of grinding. I had been up until 3 AM the previous two nights and hadn't slept very well either time, so my main priority was just to get a good night of rest ahead of Wednesday. I got a solid ~9 hours, so should be energized for the last day(s) of the trip.

It's less than an hour from the Mini Main and there's no telling what kind of day to expect. This event starts super deep, but is basically a turbo (30 minute levels). With that being the case, I'm probably going to need to flip good and run well in all-in situations because it's going to hit a point where everyone is short, as the nightly and $600 both did. It's going to be really hard to bust in the first few levels, but around the dinner break the chips should start flying. If I get that far, hopefully I can find some hands and luck at the inflection points. That's kind of what killed me in my last two events.

gj, may you elevate into a sun run.

how long do the Rio deepstacks take to finish, generally? you said the 7pm one ran you until 3am still short of the FT; is that typical?

Yea, if you put together an ultra deep run in any of those, I would plan to be playing until at least 1-2 AM. The 7 PM and 10 PM are turbos, so the structure will catch up to the 1 PM and 4 PM eventually, but all of them run pretty late for the big money places. I made the FT of the 4 PM in 2019 and I must have been playing until at least 2 AM.

Busted the Mini Main in level 10.

Ran okay in the first few levels and then got pummeled a bit in the next cluster. I probably misplayed a couple spots, but also was just running into stuff without ever hitting much myself. Table was not overly difficult, but I didn't play my A game and was dealt very little after a couple decent wins in the early levels when pots are small. Ended up getting it in pretty live for 7 BBs with K7o vs. 9d8d, but couldn't hold.

Although you start deep in this event, 30 minute levels and rapidly increasing blinds are going to cut down a lot of people quickly after the first few breaks. To a certain extent, you need to run good. I lost about 20% of my stack picking the wrong spot to 3-bet semi-bluff pre-flop, and got ripped on by a nit. Bad decision, even though my image was GREAT. Little mistakes like that can kill you in these tournaments, because sometimes one more orbit is all you need to find the good spot. Tonight the good spot never came, and that's fine. It's been a good trip and I've run very well up to this point in certain ways, without ever quite being smashed by the deck. Rungood comes in other forms, like passive tables or getting bluffs through when you try something cute, both of which happened for me on day 1 of the $600.

It's my third year attending the WSOP and I have a bunch of rambling thoughts about the cumulative experience. My first year out here, I was playing very small stuff ($365 was the biggest buy-in) and was just thrilled to be competing in some live MTTs. I was in awe of the whole experience. The next year I fired some much bigger stuff, including my first $1k. Along the way I cashed in several Daily Deep Stacks and hit some small four figure scores. I still hadn't gotten an official WSOP cash. This year I got that monkey off my back. I'm more of a veteran now. More jaded about everything.

Where do we go from here? The Daily Deep Stacks are fun for novice players and intermediates, but at a certain point I feel like you "graduate" from those. The stakes and level of play cease to be compelling, although the prizes at the end of the rainbow can be significant. At the same time, what I'm realizing is that the bracelet events sort of live in two different worlds. This probably isn't a novel observation, but the WSOP is almost like two separate series running concurrently. On any given day you'll have a <$1,500 buy-in event to pull the casuals, tourists, and recs; and then typically a $5k+ event running alongside it with a much smaller, pro-dense field. A lot of the pros only exist in the latter ecosystem, and in many ways that's the real WSOP.

When you play the baby events, you are "playing in the WSOP", but not in a full sense. There are so many rec players and casuals (myself included) that the level of play is not "professional" or intimidating in general. You are playing poker, but not really playing poker. I think you guys will understand what I mean. When I played the $1k in 2019, I had Alex Foxen and James Romero at my table concurrently. When you are seated with people like that, they really play a lot of hands and put people in the electric chair with a lot of tough decisions. It's a totally different game from nitty 10-handed poker where everyone is just waiting to cooler someone. At risk of sounding condescending, it's more exciting and feels more like real poker than day one of the giant lottery events (Giant, Colossus, $600, etc). Those almost feel like a poker fantasy camp, and not the real thing. When I got to day two of the $600, it finally felt like a proper competition in terms of everyone being appropriately skilled and aggro. Generally the day one tables at these things are not dynamic.

I don't know what my next step is. Obviously I'm not trying to go pro. I'm strictly a rec player. At the same time, the massive lottery events are now kind of a been-there, done-that type of thing for me and the fields are so huge that a FT is almost a pure pipe dream. Always looking to play higher is a slippery slope that can get you in a lot of trouble, so that's not necessarily the right answer either. I talked in 2019 about maybe trying to play one of the $1.5k events, and that may be a happy middle ground in terms of reasonable difficulty, realistic field sizes, and good entertainment value/structure for my money. The $1500 MonsterStack and $1500 6-max appeal to me, and may be the centerpiece of my summer 2022 adventure. I don't necessarily want to close the door on the very small events, but the trade-off of easier tables is the insurmountable field sizes.

All in all, it's been a great trip on the MTT front. I played pretty well overall, especially considering that I hadn't played live in over 12 months. I haven't put in the study or work to be entitled to achieve more than I did out here this time, and binking that little money finish in the $600 always meant the trip was a success relative to my goals.

I may play some more poker tonight (more on that shortly), but that's the end of my tournament forays for this trip. Three MTTs played. Two cashes. I'll still escape with a small profit despite bricking the $1k today.

The plus side of bricking the Mini Main is that I now have plenty of time to explore town, which I haven't done at all on this trip. The current plan is to head over to Aria or Bellagio to play some cash and watch some basketball games.

As I was leaving the Rio, I put down a small parlay money line bet on the Kings and Warriors to win tonight. This is probably a sucker bet from a probability standpoint because I need both teams to win just to double my money, but it will give me a fun little sweat. The Pelicans are in freefall with all their star players hurt, and the Warriors should be fresh coming off three days rest, facing an inferior Hornets team at home in SF. Betting on the Kangs to win anything is asking for trouble, but the Pelis are so dysfunctional that they make Sac look like a model franchise in comparison.

ship it

Did indeed bink the basketball bet. California came through for me.

Went over to Bellagio as I said I would. Put in my name for a 1-3 seat around 7:10 PM. Watched some hoops in the sports book. Came back around 9:00 PM and was still 27th place on the 1-3 list. WTF? I had heard that wait times have gotten really bad, but yikes. Similar story at Aria. 30+ deep waiting for spots. I seem to recall on my first WSOP visit in 2018 that I could basically walk into any room and get a seat within minutes. Not sure what has changed. That was right around day 1 of the ME, which should've been peak poker season, just like today.

Luckily there's always Plan C, or the MGM Grand, as some people call it. Bravo showed them with lots of tables and only 3 people waiting, so I headed that way. Made a pit stop at the NYNY Shake Shack and ordered a chocolate shake. Turns out they weren't serving shakes tonight. No shakes at Shake Shack. Isn't that false advertising? Someone call Kelly Minkin and get her on the case.

Gobbled down a couple Shake burgers and made my way to the MGM, which was relatively empty compared to the bustling Bellagio. I was seated immediately, and proceeded to "play" possibly the most boring hour of live poker in my history, folding for several orbits before leaving with a negligible loss. Table seemed easy enough. Just had nothing to play. I swear I run the worst in cash. I can hardly ever remember having a fun cash session. I get very little and seem to miss every board.

My flight leaves mid-afternoon tomorrow. The first flight of the Main Event kicks off at 11 AM. Sweating live poker is possibly the most boring thing a person can do on this planet, but I may head over to the Rio to watch Jack Effel kick off the big show and ogle some TV pros for crappy paparazzi photos. Seeing as the WSOP is rumored to be heading to a new venue moving forward, this might be my last time ever setting foot in the Rio! I'm done playing poker on this trip, but I'll snap some pictures and waft in those delicious fumes one last time.

Glad you had a good trip and well done on the cashes. Thanks for the insights. I'm a cash player, but heading to Cherokee in November for a few WSOP events just for fun -- we'll see what happens. Looking forward to your pics. Safe travels!

I'm not some type of MTT pro, but at this point I have a lot of experience in these big, rec-heavy NLHE events.

The general playbook I'd recommend is a tight, ABC approach. Play a fairly tight range and capitalize on the inability of other players to lay down the second best hand vs. obvious strength. As I said, you'll see people 4-bet or 5-bet with AJ, AT, 88 type hands against players who are never going to be light in those spots. They may play well for hours, but they will spaz eventually. You want to be there to capitalize. Discipline and patience are a big part of surviving.

Be aggressive in small pots where you sense weakness. Throw some speculative jabs, but be very careful running huge bluffs that could cripple you. You have to be confident it will get through.

If you get short, be ready to jam pretty wide in good table positions. Most pure recs (myself included?) don't have a strong understanding of these situations and will fold too wide. If you get called, you'll often still be very live.

If you get some crushers at your table, it's likely that the waters will become a lot murkier and you'll have to play wider in terms of calling off and pushing back.

I don't think I'm phenomenal at building a huge stack, but I'm pretty good at hanging around and giving myself a chance to catch a rush. Guarded aggression and caution is the general blueprint.

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I'm here in the Rio killing time. They kicked off the ME a little over an hour ago. The only pro I spotted was Adrian Mateos (Amazon orange, table 496, seat 2).

Enjoy some grainy photos as promised.

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Captain Jack will let chips fly tonight.

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Pavilion black on an empty morning. If you've played a lot of the daily deep stacks, there's a good chance you've had some late nights and fun times here.

My biggest score to date happened here, under the watchful eyes of Stuey Ungar.

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Thanks for the tips!

Back home. Did one last lap through the Rio before I left. I'm not a long-time WSOP player, but if this is indeed the last year for the venue then I'll remember it fondly despite its flaws. I do think the convention area is a pretty excellent space to hold this type of event.



I picked up a souvenir before I departed. Gives me kind of an 80s Duran Duran vibe.



A few random thoughts before I sign off on this TR.

- For a long time there was the poker stereotype of the internet kid with a hoodie and sunglasses, but after four days at the tables rubbing elbows with the WSOP player population, it feels like this is really the playground for middle-aged men with disposable income, perhaps seeking a respite from family and work responsibilities. Is poker losing the young audience? With Black Friday being 10+ years old now, are enough young people finding the game? I think it's a lot harder for the U25 set to engage with this event now. Online poker is largely kaput in the USA. There are few convenient avenues to satellite in. Add it all up and it's hard for young players to find a route to the WSOP. They seemed scarce this week. If we fast forward to 2040, will every event be a seniors event?

- Despite the shortage of youths, there were still plenty of punters in the megas today. When I checked the clock for the 1 PM $1100 satellite, there were already 260 runners on the board. I think another mega had already started in the morning, and 1-2 the previous night. If you want to win a seat to the ME, showing up 1-2 days prior and taking some shots at these is a viable option. I'm not going to lie, even with a plane flight a couple hours away, I was tempted to just jump in myself and start playing. I think the reason why I ultimately steered off the ME satellite path on this trip is because I know my game is not at peak level right now, so even if I happened to qualify, I'm not confident that I could perform well in such a big spot. If I'm going to play a $10k, I want to feel like I can bring my A game. When you eyeball the ME field though, it has the vibe I mentioned above: lots of middle-aged/elderly rec-looking dudes. It doesn't look like a scary field at all and may not play much differently from a lot of the smaller events due to its unique shot-taker and rec appeal. It's ironic that the "world championship" is considered the softest 10k in the world.

- When I reflect back on my experience these last few days, I think I played pretty well for the most part. Areas of improvement would be navigating the thin spots, such as dry boards when you hold stuff like AK/AQ, or overcard boards when you have something like 99 or TT. I made the nice call with the AJ in the $400 nightly for a hard-earned double, but also probably missed value at various points on the trip by making the wrong decision in some of these spots. I'm probably too quick to give my opponents credit for the hand they're repping sometimes. Everyone knows what to do when you hold AA and your opponent 4-bet jams, but the thin spots are where the rust really comes into play. I want to prepare more before I head out to LV again, but (for reasons related to above comments) it's somewhat hard for an American player to improve in 2021 without convenient access to a casino or the major online sites. In that sense we're at a big disadvantage compared to most of the international field.

I think that's all I've got. I had fun on the trip, achieved my personal goal, and escaped with a small gambling profit. If you had offered that deal to me before I left, I would've snapped your hand off to accept it, so I'm pleased.

Health and schedule willing, I'm sure I'll be back (soon!) in summer 2022 for more fun. Mixed games? A 1.5k? A shot at the ME? We'll see what kind of excitement awaits.

Until then, thanks for reading.

Super report, thanks

I dont think poker is losing the young audience. I think poker is losing the young USA audience. Most of the younger players are Euros these days and they're not allowed into the US until next Monday.

Cheers for TR though, and glad you had a successful trip!

Well.done. Interesting points on your send off. Thanks for the TR!

Yea, that makes sense.

On a slightly related note, I felt like there were more Asian players in attendance than in recent years. My sense is that more players from Japan and Korea are participating. Could be wrong, but that was the feeling. That set did indeed look younger than the middle-aged American tourist crowd, so it may be more of a domestic problem due to low general access to poker in the USA.

Congrats on your first WSOP cash. Intimidation factor (if present before) should be gone now.

If "people" are doing this, then obviously you are going to be up against people that are light sometimes.