49.5k on second break.

Notable hand: My A2 > 32 on 7226Q board for good value. I was up to ~60k but gave some back last hand of break facing a river all in on an ATxAT board w QQ.

Folding to a river all in*

Blinded down to 25k and shoved AKhh into AQdd, AXdXd flop, turn blank river Q.

May update the thread with more detailed thoughts on the experience but feeling pretty drained and beat up. One of those root canal trips I guess. Thanks for coming along.

For a big breakfast at a decent price, do Hash House in the Linq promenade.

BTW, I almost always drive because I have the freedom to go wherever I want.

I was at the Horseshoe this week and eyeballed the mystery bounty field on Wednesday night. Looked to be dense with tough regs, so probably an especially difficult field to navigate in your first WSOP foray. I think you'll find many events to be softer in comparison.

Enjoyed the report. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for a very nice report. Solo trips are often a blast, a good way to really get away from your regular life, but they can also magnify the emotional effects of run bad. I could feel the gut punches you were taking, and not having someone to talk to about it probably made the sting even worse. But you ate well, game selected well, and got to spend a weekend in Vegas. So pretty great, all in all!

My one poker thought is that you may be overestimating the quality of your opponents in a $1k circuit event. The table as described *does* sound tougher than usual, but my guess is there weren’t nearly as many pros as you were thinking, and that you were closer in skill to the average than you imagined. In the AQ hand, I like flatting the 3 bet in position pre, but I’m probably going to shove turn. He’s got some AA and KK sure, but he’s fairly uncapped as described and 99, TT, JJ, and KQs could all play this spot the same way. I think at the aggressive table you describe, there’s even some AK. Of course, I’m no crusher myself and you may well have made a good fold there.

Thanks again for sharing your trip with us. I hope you’ll post more.

I agree BringBackMo, and knowing in the moment how nitty it was sort of compounded the overall feeling of being over my head. I’m always comfortable getting it in there and running into AA KK, but also in the back of my mind: it’s the first hour of the tournament you’ve been looking forward to for weeks, the largest buy-in you’ve played. Ultimately that won over in my head, which just isn’t great from a strategy standpoint. But the structure was very good and I did manage to build back up from there.

I did settle in and play a more respectable style as time went on, taking down some pots when I was supposed to and just being in the mix, in general. I’m glad I didn’t just fold my way to an even earlier exit. I sort of did that in the final 2 levels, but given my cards and the action around me I don’t think I had much opportunity to pick up any pots to stay afloat.

I appreciate the feedback and positive response from everyone.

Firing the 11:00 20k GTD at Orleans btw. When in Rome.

I think you have to make day 2 to even be eligible for a bounty, making it even tougher.

Correct ^

Nearly backed out when I realized that a few hours prior, but again, had this game plan and wanted to follow through.

The best Orleans tournament of the week is Friday nights. Best turnout and best structure.

Hope it’s going well!

Min cashed it. Utter short stack despair for most of the tournament. Had a good level before blinds got insane. Within about it 20 hands I won flips with A9 > AT and A8 > 99. Lost flips with A5 < KQ and AJ < 88.

Biggest hand was a triple up with QQ > JJ where JJ isolated and a bigger stack would have knocked us both out.

Found JJ first hand in the money and 3b from the BB into K9, K on turn. After 7.5 hours it didn’t feel great to go out that way but I’m going to take the W.

Can't argue with making a profit on your buy-in. Congrats.

Glad you got a little taste of positive run.

Nice cash.

Had Grimaldis for dinner, not sure why that place isn’t full on a Saturday night. No pics, but the Don pizza was excellent, as always (we have Grimaldis in AZ).

I decided to finish the trip where it started, at TI playing blackjack. Plenty of 3/2 tables, some double deck, $25 and $15 min. Booked a +$650 win. And with that I’m calling it a trip. Early flight tomorrow. Thanks, again, for those who followed along and for the positive vibes.

That is a pretty nice win to end the trip with. Thanks for the TR.

Enjoyed the trip report! Nice win at the end.

Enjoyed the TR-great job for your first one. Sucks about the bounty tournament, but glad you played in another one and cashed. With that result and your BJ winnings, you have enough positive momentum to book another trip in the near future!

Fun trip report. Ended on a high note. Congrats!

Congratulations on the cash. Thanks for the TR, safe travels.

Thanks for bringing us along!

nice trip report - you ate really well!

Nice TR!