2018
You always remember your first time.
I've had better years at the WSOP where I achieved more and played in better events, but nothing will ever compare to that first trip 6 years ago. You arrive in the Rio and see the WSOP signage on the front doors, not sure where the action is, but knowing that you're tantalizingly close to the heartbeat of the entire poker world. After a few minutes of wandering aimlessly, a Rio employee guides you towards the correct hallway. You stroll down the over-air-conditioned corridors of the Guy Fieri highway, and suddenly you're in poker Mecca, surrounded by hundreds of tables and the riffling of countless chip crickets.
The spectacle was overwhelming. For me, it was love at first flight. I fired an evening flight of the $365 NLHE Giant. As previously stated, I did not cash, but it was a thrilling experience all the same. On this same trip I chopped a very small event at the Nugget and min-cashed a Rio daily deepstack. It wasn't a lucrative trip, but I didn't come up empty either. I could not wait to come back and try my luck again next summer.
2019
This year was all about hunting that mythical first cash in an official WSOP event. Though I managed to final table one of the small daily deepstack tournaments this summer, my numerous shots at the bracelet events yielded no success. The enduring sense memory is chilling behind the Rio on dinner breaks, admiring the skyline, wondering if the much-needed rungood was ever going to materialize (spoiler alert: it never did).
Still a fun summer despite the financial gore. I played my first $1k and had my Johnny Chan Rounders moment when I won a pot against Alex Foxen. I had my table sweated by Norm MacDonald (RIP) in a STT. I played a Colossus flight in the Rio bowling alley. I ran into Hellmuth in line for pizza at the Aria, made the questionable decision to bother him (he had headphones on and seemed avoidant), and wished him well in the WSOP. Couldn't help myself. Fanboy moment.
Even when you're getting your teeth kicked in at the tables, the WSOP can be a strange and magical place.
However, this year was ultimately about coming up short. Four shots at bracelet events. Zero cashes.
That left a bad taste in my mouth and made me eager to try again next year.
As it turns out, "next year" wouldn't quite be next year. The world had different plans.
2021
If I had known that "next year" was going to be 28 months away, I might have emptied my bank account in search of that mythical first WSOP score in 2019. Lo and behold, a certain global pandemic put a bad beat on society, sidelining our favorite poker series for over two years. The wait was brutal. The summer of 2020 came along. Reservations and plans were cancelled. The WSOP was online-only. You tried to survive on a diet of dodgy Jeff Platt Twitch streams, but sweating those digital final tables didn't quite satisfy the appetite like the real thing.
Another year ticks off the calendar. Summer of 2021 comes and goes. Still no WSOP, but there's a light the end of the tunnel. It's fall of 2021. COVID is waning. Nature is healing, and the degens are cautiously creeping back to the watering holes to dip their snouts in dirty pools of dopamine. Yes, it's finally here. The World Series of Poker is back, for one last hurrah at the Rio.
This will always be a memorable year for me, partially due to the bizarre circumstances, and partially because I finally broke my duck in the bracelet events.
After battling masked villains for hours, our hero cashed the $600 DeepStack Championship and bagged a medium stack.
While I ultimately fell (well) short of the final table, it was a great way to cap off the Rio era.
Alexa, play Boyz II Men - "It's so hard to say goodbye."
And with that, we said goodbye to the Rio forever. Goodbye to curious smells and crumbling amenities. Goodbye to the Gold Coast and late nights of post-score Ping Pang Pong. None of it was glamorous, but all of it is nostalgic. For all its shortcomings, the Rio was a great venue to hold a huge series. It was a poker oasis in the middle of the desert. After growing up on a diet of WSOP broadcasts from the storied confines of the Brasilia and Amazon, I'm grateful that I got to play the venue a few times before it was phased out. Who knows, maybe I accidentally breathed in a few of Jamie Gold's errant skin cells, forever merging us into a monstrous top-top wielding poker super god? There's magic in these walls.
2022
Are you an NFL fan? Who's your favorite punter?
This summer, it was me.
The WSOP had a new home on the strip (cool), and I got my ass totally kicked there (not cool).
If this entry seems short then that's only because, after hundreds of sessions with highly-paid therapists, I've managed to repress most of these memories.
2023
Year two in the new venue was slightly better than the first. I actually cashed something at the ParisShoe.
You know how rec players who have cashed the WSOP Main always manage to slip that fact into their table talk within the first half hour?
"Back in 2009 when I made my run in the Main Event..."
That's me, except with the Monster Stack. I can be talking about literally anything with anyone and I will swiftly redirect the conversation towards this topic.
"Who do you like for the NBA Finals this year? Is Minnesota for real?" "Well, that's a good question. It reminds me of back in 2023 when I cashed the Monster Stack at the World Series of Poker..." "What's your favorite movie?" "I like Goodfellas, but I also enjoy 2023, when I attended the World Series of Poker and cashed the Monster Stack." "What are your thoughts on the conflict in Palestine?" "If I can quote a wise man who once finished inside the money in the $1,500 Monster Stack tournament at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas..."
So, anyway, I cashed the Monster Stack. I'm gonna cling to that because it's all I got.
Apart from that, the poker gods were making this face at me all summer.
Come to think of it, that's the face they usually make at me.