I've only read your recent post, but I've felt very similarly about my life recently, about reaching a crisis point, so I can really relate. Sometimes a break and a new perspective is really needed, and I wish you luck.

My two cents: For me, the best decision I made in my poker career after playing for a living for 7 years was taking a part-time job that I like. (I was a bartender before poker and went back to that a couple years ago, 3 shifts a week.) I enjoy playing more now than I used to, and I feel I actually play better than when poker was my only job.

Hello, old friend! Love the quote. Keep going, keep on keeping on, I will.

If that's a rant, it's at least a most welcome one. Thanks for popping in the thread, spirit. The bolded sections particularly struck me.

For years now I've definitely wanted but haven't done much to seek out more opportunities in life to engage my creative side. In addition, after years of finding the game endlessly fascinating, over the last couple I have found poker pretty boring. Part of my boredom issue is playing against the same people in my small community ad nausem. I have to admit, I've been playing on autopilot for a very long time, especially in live snail-paced PLO, where I think I can still do it very profitably. However, I'm sure that this lazy approach is part of why my bottom line over the last year hasn't been as strong as I would like.

Fortunately, over the last couple of weeks I've been feeling more intellectually interested in poker again, thanks to starting to play NLHE again as well as online poker again. There's a tourney series going on here now and I plan on playing a bunch of them and am looking forward to it.

Re: creativity, for the last few weeks at least I've found an outlet to satisfy my creative urges and have been doing a lot of writing, as discussed a bit more below. I'm hoping to keep at it.

Re: the latter bolded part, that continues to be one of my greatest struggles in playing poker, that great play and hard work aren't rewarded as frequently as we would like and are sometimes even punished. I know it's a longterm game, but a live poker pro's career is greatly subject to variance. Take a look at tmckendry's recent post re: believing he has run below EV lifetime in tourneys, allin EV in online pots, shot takes, BBJs/promos, etc., all amounting to a $200k career swing.

That being said, while I have indeed run terribly over the last year, most obviously in allin pots (having had a huge impact on that: 1 outer for 12k sidepot and losing as favorite for 7k main pot and in not being able to RIT for same hand, and a 3 outer for a 9k pot), I definitely could have played better, too, and I'm trying to focus more of my attention on what I can control rather than bemoaning my bad luck.

And, as far as my own career (now over 7.5k hours of live cash tracked), overall I doubt I've run too poorly at all and have probably run somewhere around expected. Even with this year having been frustrating and low earning compared to other years, my hourly in my bread and butter games was still solid, and the "bad year" (again, not even much of a sample given it's less than 1k hours) was mostly an issue of struggling to get volume and playing a lot of less profitable but more fun games and not playing as well as I am capable of in just about anything.

Thanks for popping in, ohsnap. Similar to what you wrote, I've said in here before that I believe social utility is an issue with a lot of professions. That being said, while I can't speak to many other professions and this is a bit of a tangent anyways, I've come to believe that playing live poker for a living will inevitably and probably quite gradually eat away at the soul of most who play it for a living. It could take years, as it has with me, but I have heard many longtime grinders say the same. There's been an interesting discussion about this recently both in spirit's thread and in DGAF's 2k thread.

That doesn't mean I have a moral issue with playing poker for a living. I think it's as valid a profession and/or source of income as most others. In fact, I had similar struggles while working at the firm. But re: playing live poker for a living I believe that any live pro puts himself/herself at great risk of spiritual disenchantment after so many years.

Sorry to hear you've found yourself in the same boat, Pixie. The approach I'm trying to take to this is looking at it as a gift, an opportunity to learn and grow. I needed a kick in the ass and believe I've given it to myself, and I wrote my recent post in an effort to make the kick even stronger and take some public accountability for a crappy year and to demand more from myself in both poker and life. Good luck to both of us.

Very nice to hear from you, machi; upon rereading the thread the other day I was appreciative of all your posts. This is really good advice and I'm actually trying something like that now by having done a lot of writing over the last few weeks. Under the tutelage of the great bob_124, I set some writing volume goals for myself and have accomplished them three weeks in a row. I think it's best for my personal creative process that I don't say much about the projects that I've been working on, but when things are more crystallized perhaps I will share more about them here in the future.

I don't expect the writing to end up amounting to much additional income, but it's already been very rewarding just indulging my creative juices. Fortunately, despite a lousy year my bankroll and liferoll are still plenty robust and I'm not feeling much pressure to find another source of income, so I'm happy to pick up non-lucrative hobbies that help me feel productive and engaged. I think that's a big part of why I've been so obsessed with video games over the last year, but ultimately that's not the kind of fulfillment for which I'm striving.

Well, I'm sad to report that, for the first time in nine years, I won't be going to the WSOP at all this year. I had decided that if I did well in the local tournament series wrapping up this weekend, I might go. If not, I wouldn't. That may seem fickle or unreasonable but I had basically already decided I wasn't going for a bunch of other reasons and would only consider changing my mind if this tournament series went well. Like most things poker over the last twelve months, it didn't.

Here's a brief event-by-event breakdown of my series:

$150 NLHE, $23k prizepool

Finish ~58/218, lose three bullets, first bullet two or three levels in I get it in for top 3 stack with 88 on KQ8 rainbow, multiway single raised pot, against a player I've played a ton of cash with who can be rather spewy, I check raise flop from the big blind and he shoves allin, me above starting stack him around starting stack, I call, he has QJo. Yes, QJo, i.e. middle pair, no draw. Except, apparently he does have a draw. Does it come running 9x Tx for me to lose? Yes. I can't make these kinds of beats up.

What happened beyond that I'm having a hard time remembering, but I lost a lot 99 < TT calling a 12bb shove over my raise and then running 99 into AA close to the bubble to ultimately bust.

The play during this tournament was some of the worst I've ever seen, like 2002 partypoker bad (the 9bb stack minraises utg w/ A4o, for example). No regrets about firing three bullets.

$350 NLHE $200k prizepool

Cash for $573, finish ~66-68th out of 650.

I make it to day 2 with 12.5% of the field remaining on only bullet. The last level of Day 1, I raise/call an allin with KK and lose to AKo. If i win that hand, I enter Day 2 with a decently above average starting stack. Instead, I'm in the bottom 25% of the counts. I am ITM w/o much of a sweat after a couple shoves get through. About an orbit later, I shove 16bb over an MP open with AK and end up losing to QQ to bust.

I'm especially disappointed about this one b/c I think I had a great chance to do very well. Unfortunately I lost both of my pivotal big preflop confrontations of the tournament.

I think that I played some extremely good poker this tournament and successfully applied some lessons learned from mistakes made in the past in NLHE tourneys. Based on how confident I felt after this one I thought I had a solid shot of doing well in the remaining tourneys.

$200 PLO, $18k prizepool

I finish 17th or 18th out of 113 on a single bullet w/ 12 people cashing. My bustout hand, I'm probably 8th or 9th biggest stack out of 17 or 18 remaining. I'm dealt AAKJ no suits in the SB. My buddy who's done very well in PLO tourneys, a top 3 stack, 2.5x opens from the HJ. I repot it. He tanks for awhile then goes allin and says he thinks it's worth it try to take me out for half his stack. He has QJT9 with one suit, hearts. Flop comes an ace and two hearts. Heart on turn. River does not improve me to a boat and I'm out. My buddy goes on to win the tournament.

Also pretty salty about this one as I saw almost everyone making massive mistakes and think I had a pretty gigantic edge on the field. Easily my best chance to win a tourney of this series.

$550 NLHE, $250k gty

First bullet: I'm seated at an absolutely insane first table where 3.5x opens and 4-5 way flops are the norm. I don't land many good spots before I get moved to a new table. With about half the field left, I have 37k (from 40k starting stack) and open AKo to 2800 utg at 600-1200-200. Older guy who's a goofball minraises three to my left. The next guy, a competent middle aged player, shoves allin for 40k. I decide to call off and he has KK. I don't get there, ironically losing this matchup again although this time on the other side of it. Tbh, even though most players probably wouldn't give this one a second thought, I think calling off was a mistake here despite having AK and needing only 43% equity against his range for a call to be +chipEV. The table was such that I think plenty of better spots would have presented themselves. I doubt the player is ever shoving AQ, so I was likely flipping at best. I decide not to re-enter Day 1A.

Second bullet: Next day (today), my starting table is great but again I don't get dealt much to work with. I get moved to by far the worst table in the room with literally 6/10 at the table traveling pros when there are maybe 15 traveling pros in the tourney, period. I never get a good spot and end up busting at the same blind level as the previous day. I decide not to re-enter.

So two bullets go down with half the field remaining in very unexciting fashion during one of the two or three biggest local tourneys of the year.

---------------------------


I may end up playing the low gty O8 tournament tomorrow for fun, but even if I win it, my Vegas plans aren't going to change. Pretty disappointed about how this series turned out. I'm pretty sure I went 2/13 when allin or calling an allin, continuing the year's trend of running poorly in allin pots.

On the bright side, I've been doing well in live cash and in all forms of online play over the last few weeks. I finished 2/173 in the bovada nightly $30 PLO8 $4k gty tourney the other night for ~$800, which was particularly satisfying. That same nightly tournament, I think I had made it to the top 25% or better each of the previous four times playing it. The last time I put my zone hands into HEM during a free trial, I was winning 16.3 bb/100 over ~3k hands (obv small sample size), but it was only at the 25NL level as I continue to work on bringing my NLHE game back up to snuff. I'll probably move up to 50NL zone soon and also start playing $50 hu sngs instead of $25 hu sngs. As a reminder, I was probably the biggest winning $55s reg on Full Tilt the last two months before Black Friday, and I actually think this has always been my strongest form of online poker by far.

I may write more in the future as to why I made the WSOP decision that I did, but for present purposes I mostly wanted to make this post to write about the local tournament series while it was still fresh in my memory.

mad respect. So glad I found this. good luck op

...and that's a wrap on the tournament series. Basically bubbled the $150 FLO8 ($9-10k prizepool) finishing 11th out of 78 with 8 getting paid. Ran fine and even spiked one miracle scoop in the middle phases, but the tournament structure was pretty brutal towards the end and I couldn't run well when it most mattered. To make the tourney even more annoying, I managed to lose the only last longer bet ($50) I made as well.

Between live and online tournaments, I've been finishing in the top 25% of a ton of tournaments lately, but the only really good score has been the 2nd place finish in the PLO8 online tourney the other night. I think I've been playing really well in the late stages, just not running very good during them.

Thanks a lot, tyty; gl to you as well, checked out your PGC the other day.

You're playing these tiny tourneys for fun i assume?

Re: the O8 tournament, I played it mostly b/c everyone from my weekly O8 cash game would be playing it and I knew there wouldn't be a game (game is at another location). Also knew the field would be ultra soft and think even as a $150 tourney my hourly in the tourney should be high enough it makes it worth playing. Another part of why I played is that Sunday in my brain is "O8 day," it's the poker I most look forward to during any given week, and like most Sundays I found myself wanting to play some O8.

But, yes, I played the smaller ones of this series largely for fun as well. I go back and forth regarding my attitude on tourneys and have probably played less than a dozen over the last couple years even including this series, but playing some online over the last few weeks had piqued my interest again. I really thought I had a great chance of winning or at least FT'ing one of these things, but I failed to run good when it mattered the most.

I ended up having a decently big losing cash session on Saturday after I busted the "main event" tournament and was quite upset with myself afterwards. I was upset because 1) I didn't really feel like continuing to play for the day and it was a hard transition to a PLO cash mindset from an NL tourney mindset even with an hour in between, and 2) I made a big mistake that was easily avoidable where I stuck in $1k in a three way aipf with KKJ9ss where I knew I was likely a dog but thought I was getting the right price. I ran the #s the next day and I wasn't even getting the right price (it was a situation where there was a smaller 3 way main pot and a larger 2 way sidepot where the other guy in the sidepot's range was heavily but maybe not exclusively AA). I even knew at the time that, at best, it was a very slightly profitable/neutral EV spot. I've always been one to take on these kinds of spots but I think during rough times like these it would probably be better to pass on these kinds of spots. After losing that pot, I compounded the mistake by continuing to play in an increasingly mediocre game when I knew I didn't have the right mindset to be playing and ended up losing the second buyin, this time getting in 1/3 of my stack pre with premium aces and then getting outflopped with ~1 SPR. Sessions like this are exactly the kind I'm trying to avoid.

On a more positive note, I played more poker over the last few weeks than I have during any three weeks since the last WSOP and am pleased with that. I've been way more mentally engaged with the game and find my desire to play increasing compared to its recent historical low point. In addition, my meditation practice is as strong as it's ever been and I'm noticing the results in my daily life more and more. This is my real priority right now, personal development and developing a more peaceful and happier life, although of course gains in that area can only help my poker game. I have faith that things will turn around if I keep doing what I've been doing.

Going to be doing some rare poker streaming over the next couple hours or possibly more for some fun (not playing big at all): https://www.twitch.tv/karamazonk (fyi 3 min delay)

Please stop by and say hi in the chat!

UPDATE:

Things continue to go better for me than they had been for the previous few months (or, really, year). On the live felt, I'm +$6500 over my last 36 hours of play for a very welcome stretch of positive variance. I've basically done well in everything over the last 10 days, 5-10 NL, 5-5 PLO, mixed games, online tournaments, online zone, etc. In addition to the live winnings I also won a decent amount online per time invested thanks in no small part to another second place finish in bovada's nightly PLO8 tournament. It's become apparent to me that the variants of poker I'm most naturally skilled in are all big bet omaha games: PLO, PLO8, and Big O. I'm not really sure why that is, but the results have spoken for themselves over the years.

My hourly for the year for both PLO and NLHE is now pretty solid and accordingly I feel like don't have much of a right to complain about running bad (even though I have run bad ). My hourly for the year is still pretty poor in limit games but on the bright side I've been winning $35/hour over my last 110 hours of 10-20 WHK (15-30) FLO8, and that's having made plenty of mistakes with leaks I've since done some work plugging. I'm a decent loser right now in bigger stakes mixed games involving more games (recently badugi and badacey, games I had never played before), and can definitely point to a lot of mistakes there, too. I think I've gotten a lot better in all of these games over the last few weeks, but sadly it will probably be a few months until the bigger mixed game starts back up as the summer is always slow here.

Online, the last few days I've been in a groove two tabling 50NL zone. Zone is all about playing very strong fundamental poker and exploiting population tendencies. The truth is, in NLHE at least, my fundamentals have never been that great, but after doing some study and review I think they're now pretty solid for present purposes. I also think I've developed a very good idea of how people are playing and think I've been doing some unique things that have been pretty +EV (not going to elaborate on this, sorry). Once I feel comfortable I am a strong winner at the lower levels (so far winning over a decent but not huge sample), I'm hoping to move up to 200z. I also plan on moving from $25 to $50 hu sngs soon as I continue to remember how to play them (don't forget hu sngs were my original bread and butter). I'm playing pretty small online atm, yeah, but I'm still trying to grind up my original deposit and am snakebitten enough by my FTP experience of having $10k locked up for several years that I don't want to put more $ on in order to play bigger. Plus, it's nice to prove that I'm a solid winner at the smaller stakes before I move up.

Re: life, I've been feeling some negative energy over the last couple days whose origin it is difficult to place when on the surface things have been going great. A few weeks ago, despite poker having gone terribly for so long so consistently, I was in an extremely good place emotionally and spiritually and felt a kind of peace I hadn't felt in over a year. The combined effects of meditating every day, reading, listening to podcasts, doing loving kindness practices, playing way less video games, watching a lot of high quality tv/movies, putting volume into writing, etc. had resulted in a bit of a spiritual resuscitation. I've continued to do all of those things over the last couple of weeks, except for writing, and yet haven't felt nearly as good...all this while having my best 10 day stretch of poker in forever and putting way more volume into poker play and study over the last few weeks than I have at any point in the last couple of years. Having been so fixated on poker lately, even while following good life habits, has I think been a little problematic for my spirit. It's important to remind myself at this time that I care more about a peaceful and good life than poker success. Putting more work into poker and feeling more passion about it than I have in two years has been rewarding on multiple levels, but I can't lose sight of this larger goal while doing it.

I had a dream (nightmare?) last night that I made a last second decision to go the WSOP. When I came to this decision I had been driving to play poker locally then changed course to head to the airport. In the dream I had to pay 2x the normal amount for airfare b/c it was a last second decision, and then when I was on the plane I realized I had forgotten a bunch of essential things at home and started to get anxious about everything. I think part of the reason I've been feeling this negative energy lately is anxiety about the WSOP. I've been sick of explaining every time I'm asked (which is almost every session I play) that I don't plan on going. The truth is, some part of me definitely wants to go. The other part of me remembers the misery of my last few WSOPs and misery of the last year in general and doesn't want to jeopardize all of the progress I've been making over the last few weeks.

BRIEF UPDATE:

Things are still going pretty well. Now +$10k over the last 2.5 weeks combined live and online and feeling in a good place mindset-wise. Very pleased with my volume and amount of off-the-table work over the last couple of months as well.

I have a flight to the WSOP booked for later in the summer but am still unsure whether I'll actually go. I've never been less excited about the prospect of playing cash games there given: 1) the King's Room rake is now an absurd $12-14/half (seriously, wtf were they thinking? have yet to see 50-100 stud8 even get spread there) and 20-40 and 50-100 options elsewhere for the games I actually want to play (OE) are sparse, and 2) I hate playing in PLO games that include a rock or are too small. Thus, my mixed game and PLO options are largely either nonexistent or unappealing. While I've been doing pretty well in NL online and live over the last couple of months, I'm not too enthusiastic about playing it in Vegas atm.

As for tournaments, there are definitely a bunch that I want to play, but I think I could live without playing them. I'm pretty sad to be for sure missing the Eight Game Mix, NL 6 Max, and Stud Hi Lo, experiences playing each of which I've documented previously itt.

All in all, I'm not sure it's worth the transaction costs of over $100/day being out there, especially in this context of the last year having been pretty lousy and the last few WSOPs being pretty miserable results-wise. I've also been eyeing making a couple other poker trips in lieu of or in addition to the WSOP.

Now you're just teasing us

Glad to hear about the solid recent results, and GL this month, wherever you end up!

Thanks, bob. If we're out there at the same time, I'll let you know. As of today, I'd say I'm 40/60.

Won ~$500 last night playing 10-20 THORSE w/ some badugi thrown in during the last couple hours. I've now booked 16 winning live sessions out of my last 18 with the two losing sessions being pretty minimal and am doing very well in PLO, NL, and mixed games each. Viva la positive variance!

It's a very good feeling after the last twelve months to go into a session not expecting to run terribly, as I think my brain was increasingly wired to do during the downswing despite my efforts not to fall prey to that irrational and nonconstructive mentality. It also makes it easier to play good poker.

Great to hear about the latest upswing bro

If any of these happen to be in Europe come fall-winter (Unibet Open or EPT), let me know, it would be nice to meet up

Thanks, dub, you're one of my all-time favorites on here and an inspiration when it comes to crushing life and dating. You're part of what has inspired me into considering a meditation retreat. I hope our paths cross at some point on our journeys.



BRIEF UPDATE:

Jinxed myself w/ the last update post. Had a bad OE session last night where I kept making good second best hands (minus $600), left the poker room on full blown, then snap got pulled over on the way home but was let go w/ no citation after ten minutes of sobriety testing. The officer claimed he smelled alcohol on my breath and clothes despite my not having even stepped into a bar. This is a bar-heavy area where people are pulled over all the time on BS pretexts (in my case not making a full stop where no one ever stops and "shifting lanes too quickly"); the fishing expedition met w/ no fish in my case. Pretty funny as I drink less than probably 95% of adults.

UPDATE:

Went from leaning towards not going to the WSOP to leaning towards going. If I go, I'm likely just going to have a fixed schedule of tourneys that I plan on playing to reduce the "paradox of choice" uncertainty issues that have plagued me in the past. I may play some cash on the side, but plan on taking it pretty easy and playing mostly o8 at the Orleans and/or Rio and perhaps some 5-10 NL at Bellagio.

Have had a decent few days of poker since my last update. Won ~$1150 on Friday playing 5-10 NLHE and 5-5 PLO, played in a $550 local quarterly tourney the next day and bricked after losing 80% of my chips in a pretty situationally unlucky spot, and then went from being a minus $700 loser to a + $950 winner on Sunday in my weekly o8 game.

In anticipation of going to Vegas, I'll be selling action for a few events. One of those events is the $2500 OE -- here's a link for anyone interested: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1.../#post53929469

Officially going to Vegas. I'm feeling good about the decision and plan on doing some prep work between now and my departure. I don't know how much updating I'm going to do while I'm out there, maybe none. I'd like for my focus to be on poker and optimizing my play as much as possible. Not planning on socializing much at all.

The WSOP tourneys I'm eyeing are the $2500 OE, $1500 Monster Stack, and $1500 PLO8, with a bunch of smaller, non-WSOP tourneys mixed in as well. If I sell any action beyond what I've already sold, it is going to be on an event-by-event basis depending on how the trip goes.

I'm pleased with the timing of the trip as action seems to be slowing down a bit locally, something which traditionally happens this time of year.

I'm excited.

Have a good trip, man. Rooting for you.

gl man

Thanks, guys.

Good luck! thanks for the read

Thanks, Jodo!

WSOP Recap, pt. 1

...and I return from another losing WSOP. I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little disappointed, but the truth is, to my pleasant surprise, I don't regret having made the trip.

I ended up playing mostly tournaments with a little bit of cash, consistent with my initial plan. The first tourney was a $470 OE (omaha hi lo/stud hi lo) at Aria. The first couple of levels went very well and I was among the biggest stacks at the first break. After that, my stack fluctuated up and down until I went on a little heater just prior to the fourth break and had chipped up to a top 10 stack with ~50 out of 110 players remaining. The next level, however, was disastrous and I lost three medium-sized to large pots to bust. One hand was particularly annoying. I raise AKT2 suited UTG. It gets folded to the BB, one of the lesser skilled players at the table, who calls. Flop QJ8r- pretty good flop! He checks, I bet, he calls. Turn 8x. He leads, I call. River 5x. He checks, I check. He has AK87, which I think is a pretty bad BB defense but turned into gin for him. I end up busting 40/110.

The next day, there weren't any tournaments I wanted to play so I decided to head to Bellagio to play some 5-10 NL or possibly 20-40 WHK (30-60) O8. I arrive in the early afternoon after calling in a bit beforehand and am surprised to learn I have a seat waiting for me in either game. I end up choosing the O8. I learn pretty quickly that it's basically closer to a 30-60 b/c any scoop (no pot size threshold) triggers the kill. It's obvious pretty quickly that the game isn't very good as half the table seems to be playing quite solidly and there are only two obvious spots, one of whom is constantly gone from the table. I start stuck right away and never get unstuck, and it ends up being one of those sessions where anyone dealt my cards would have booked a loser. There were quite a few hands where I was dealt a strong starting hand in late position, everyone folded to me w/ a kill in the blinds, I raised and ended up getting maximum punished somehow. That being said, I definitely misplayed a couple of hands as well, w/ tiredness not helping my cause, and lost at least a couple hundo I should not have. I ended up leaving after 7 hours having lost $2k.

The next day, I played a $600 OE at Venetian. The field was amazingly soft, somehow even softer than the Aria, and it seemed like an especially strong opportunity for me to win a tournament. With the benefit of the experience of the last tournament, I played even better than I had during the Aria tournament and after closely observing everyone's play the whole day believed I had an edge over everyone I played with in the tournament. Unfortunately, it played out pretty similarly to the Aria one and I couldn't run well in the later phases of the tourney, this time busting ~50/160. To make matters worse, a very good friend of mine and someone who has been a mixed game mentor to me and who I had a large piece of, stone bubbled.

A bit frustrated, I told my friend later that night that I wasn't sure I was going to play the $2500 OE the next day. He told me I'd be crazy not to, pointing to the Venetian field (which he also thought was extremely soft) and the fact that a lot of the same people would be playing the next day. The more I thought about it, the more I found his point convincing. In fact, having played several hours that day with a mixed game bracelet winner from the last few years and someone else who had made a couple of WSOP mixed FTs in the last few years, and having observed both of them make not one but a lot of mistakes, and knowing I would have assumed these people were better players just looking at their results, I started to wonder if there truly is just a small number of people with a really big edge in mixed games. I might not be among the ranks of such elite players, but I was convinced I was at least playing each game better than these people with established mixed mtt track records. Hell, if they could FT WSOP mixed events, so could I.

I woke up the next day having slept a very smooth 10 hours and felt amazing. There was no longer any question I would be playing the $2500 OE. I arrived at the Rio and my starting table seemed like an absolute dream. Defying the odds in a tournament like this, I didn't recognize a single person at the table despite recognizing multiple people at each of the tables surrounding me. As hands played out, I could see that my best hopes for the table were being realized, as the table was indeed very soft with lots of clear mistakes being made. I was in a great spot to build a big stack. Unfortunately, about one level in, a floor came over and made us high card for someone to move to a new table, and I cringed as I was dealt the ace.

I headed to the new table and felt like I had just taken a brutal beat. The table had Mike Leah, Frank Kassela, Ylon Schwartz, and two other players who I recognized and looked like good players but I couldn't place their names. The first hour at this table was pretty uneventful and I entered the first break with ~13k from 12.5k starting stack.

The next level, I went on a pretty massive heater, scooping or chopping several large pots. One of the hands was a huge three way stud hand where I had a four flush and double gutter on sixth, and ended up making a straight on seventh when I caught the case 7 in the deck (Kassela had three of them and had been driving the action). I won another huge pot on the button in O8 with A245 making the double nuts. Suddenly, my stack was up to 33.5k and I had more chips than the person listed as the chipleader on wsop.com. Kassela soon busted and was replaced by Jon Turner. By this time, though, I had realized that the table was not as tough as it had appeared at first glance. Other than Mike Leah, who had also been on a bit of a heater, playing excellently, and had been climbing up with me, I didn't really find myself intimidated by anyone. I could hold my own. After a couple more hours, the floor broke the table and I was again disappointed by the looks of my new table, this time recognizing Felipe Ramos, Jack Schwartz, Max Pescatori, Mikhail Semin, and two younger guys who I recognized as pros but didn't know anything about. Though this table was indeed tough, and the play on average was better than at the previous table, I ran quite well and found myself in several good spots. During level 9 I won one particularly big pot that brought me up to 55k, again placing me among the biggest stacks. In O8 Jack Schwartz raised the HJ, I called the CO w/ A2hhT9, BTN (the one spot at the table) calls, blinds fold. Flop 9h5h9x, Jack checks, I bet, BTN raises, Jake reraises, I reraise, BTN calls, Jake calls. Not the kind of action you'd expect on this kind of flop in O8! Turn 8x. Jake checks, I bet, they both call. River 8h. Jake checks, I bet, BTN tank folds, then Jake tank folds showing a 9.

Our table breaks w/ 40 minutes left in the night and I'm moved to a new table where I recognize Nick Schulman and Shirley Rosario. I'm actually placed in a seat where a friend of mine had just busted, who had told me that his table was amazing (and quickly stereotyping the table other than Nick that does seem to be the case). I end up being pretty card dead at this table and lose a decent portion of my stack. Nevertheless, when level 10 is over I am thrilled to bag a very healthy stack (top 1/4 of the 152 players remaining) and to have enjoyed a day of undoubtedly positive variance that more than sustained me through a couple of bad table draws. It was a very smooth ride where I felt like I played great, had few tough spots, and just generally ran well where any blip of negative variance was quickly countered. In keeping with the last couple of tournaments, I had done a very good job paying attention to the action and developing a pretty good idea of how everyone played. If I can keep playing and running like this, I thought, I really like my chances.

Full of adrenaline, I woke up a couple hours earlier than I wanted and couldn't fall back asleep, having gotten only 5 hours of sleep. Nevertheless, I felt good and still firmly in the mindset of the previous day where I felt ultra-focused and ready to do what was necessary to survive and build in the tournament.

I arrived to my table and yet again wasn't thrilled about the table draw. Joe Hachem and Bart Hanson basically said right away what I was thinking: this table sucks. In addition to those two and me (one of the unknowns, of course), the table had someone who had just finished second in a PLO event a week earlier, one of the younger pros from my second table the day before (who went on to FT the $10k Razz a few days later), and by the end of the day Jeff Lisandro, Robert Mizrachi, Kate Hoang, and Brendan Taylor, who ultimately finished second in the event.

Level 11 I was pretty card dead. The only significant hand I played, the BTN opened in o8, and I defended the BB with AK94 w/ nut diamonds. Flop Ks5s2d. I c/c. Turn Qd. I bet, BTN calls. River Jx. I check, BTN checks and disappointedly mucks his hand after I table mine. Other than that hand, I was mostly dealt unplayable hands, especially in stud.

Level 12 went very much like Level 11, except this time I'm not sure I won any pots. In stud, I was dealt unplayable hand after unplayable hand, in stark contrast to the previous day. It was during this level that I played the one hand I think I made a mistake on this day of the tourney. I'm the bringin w/ (J8)3. It gets folded to Bart, who's last to act. He raises w/ (xx)6. Thinking he might be capable of stealing here given he has a low upcard, a fairly short stack, and no longer has any other hands to worry about other than my (xx)3 bringin, I decide I'm going to defend and try to steal if I appear to catch good and he catches bad. He's dealt (xx)6c7c, I'm dealt a non-ace low card (I think a 4?) and I just decide to fold. He's kind enough to show that he had (KK) in the hole, so I was actually in especially bad shape. While the mistake didn't cost me much in chips and the equity spot wasn't bad (was being offered 1000 to win 5400), I definitely regret losing 1k chips here.

I entered the first break of the day down to ~27-28k, a below average stack for the first time in the last several hours of play.

Level 13 continued the trend of being card dead and/or unlucky. In one particularly rough hand, it got folded to Bart in O8. He completes the SB and is a slightly shorter stack than me iirc. I check the BB with Q765cc. Flop comes QJ7cc. Bart checks, I bet, he calls. Turn 3x, he checks, I bet, he calls. Equity-wise I should be in a great spot with a strong two pair and decent low draw in a bvb situation. River Kx. Bart leads. After tanking for awhile, I decide he's never bluffing or betting a worse hand here and I fold, assuming he had made a straight or was b/f kings up.

Not long thereafter, I lose another devastating hand, again against another short stack. I have (25)3 in stud8 where, other than two dead fours, all the low cards are live. I am the bringin and choose to complete given I am short-stacked and am happy to see a fourth street but also happy to take down the pot right now. Both Bart and Kate Hoang (each to my direct right) have a Q showing, and Kate is very short. Kate raises, Bart folds, and I reraise to put Kate allin. I never catch another low card somehow, but I do end up making two pair on sixth street and am ahead until Kate spikes two pair on seventh.

After that hand, I'm critically short and can't survive, ultimately busting at the hands of Robert Mizrachi twenty short of ITM. I leave the tourney extremely disappointed, as I had run very poorly in a couple of different ways: 1) I was probably at the worst table to accumulate chips of any remaining in the tournament, and 2) I had as much negative variance in the card deadness and unfortunate runouts as I had positive variance the previous day. Three OE tourneys, three tourneys I was very happy with my play and had played some of the best mixed play of my life, three deep finishes w/o a cash.

WSOP Recap, pt. 2

I wasn't intending on doing a two part post when I started writing my last post, but I ran into some time pressure and had to stop writing after so long. After rereading my last post, I noticed a couple of slip-ups/oversights caused by my lack of time to edit the post: 1) Jack/Jake Schwartz=Jake Schwartz, and 2) Kate Hoang had split queens in the stud8 hand where I started with (25)3. It's also worth noting for that hand that I started with a two flush.

Anyways, back to it. After I busted the $2500 OE, I was pretty demoralized and exhausted. I decided to do something fun and headed to the Orleans for the first time ever for a $150 Ten Game Mix Tourney (HORSE, NL, PLO, 27 TD, 27 NL SD, Badugi). I decided from the get go that I was just going to focus on having some fun rather than playing A+ poker. The tourney was indeed pretty fun and I was happy to play my first ever hands of no limit deuce single draw. The only significant hand of that game I played, it got folded to me in the HJ and I raised with AT832. I haven't studied strategy for this game at all, but I'm pretty sure that is a standard open. The BB called then discarded one. I discarded my A and got a 9 to make a T9832 low. BB checks, I bet 1000 (~60% pot), and he goes allin for 3600. I tank for awhile then fold and he says a couple minutes later that it was a good fold and that he made an 8 low. About half an hour later, I lost most of my stack in a four way badugi hand where one guy stood pat the entire hand w/ a T8 hi badugi and somehow held against the multiple opponents. I started with an A2 hand in the best position, then caught a 7 the first draw for an A27 badugi, but failed to catch the 3,4,5,6,8,9, or T of the suit I needed over the next couple of draws.

The next day, I fired a couple of bullets into a $470 PLO8 at Aria and received nada in return, busting 37/115. The field was very soft, but I never had any good spots develop other than one where I was in great shape to win 3/4 of a pot then ended up getting quartered. Halfway through this tournament, I got a life-tilting phone call (not going into further detail) that made it difficult to pay attention to the action and play my best game. This was the moment of the trip where the quality of my play began to deteriorate after generally playing very well the previous few days. This was probably the tournament where I played the worst and I regret not having played better.

Right before I busted that tournament for the second time, I got a text from a friend from home who said I should try to come to the Rio immediately for an amazing 50-100 stud8 game that he happened to find himself in during break of a tournament. Despite still being a bit tilted by the tournament and by the phone call from a few hours earlier, I went ahead to the Rio and the game was as advertised. There was a guy who seemed to be on one or many drugs who was playing every single hand and basically folding never, as well as a couple other bad players. After about an hour, I was +$900 but a couple of the bad players had left or busted, with only the aforementioned guy remaining, and now the table was mostly okay or very good players. I planned on leaving soon. A three way pot then developed where I made a flush (no low) on sixth street against two non-scary boards and looked to be in great shape to scoop. On seventh, the aforementioned guy check-raised me, I called, and he announced "full house." Since he had already misannounced or misread his hand at least twice, I still thought there was a decent chance I was good, but, no, in sad disbelief I watched as he turned over AA444 for a rivered four outer and he scooped the $1500 pot. An hour later, now stuck ~$700, I again found myself playing this guy in a big pot. Starting with (AA)Q, I caught an A on fourth street, the gin card. I kept getting called down as his board showed (xx)2s4xJs4x. On seventh, I caught a 4, he again check-raised, and I hated life with my unimproved trip aces but decided this was an opponent I simply couldn't fold against. He showed me the bad news as he had made an unlikely flush on seventh street. I ended up losing $1600 for the session. Absolutely brutal. Truthfully, though, I didn't play well this session, especially after losing the first big pot, and I definitely could have lost a lot less than I did had I just played a bit more disciplined. It sucked losing two big pots to one of the biggest spots I've ever seen play the 50-100, but that's poker; the main takeaway from this session is that I should have left when the game was no longer great and I knew I wasn't in a good mental state. I lost $ this session I should not have lost.

The next day, I played an $1100 PLO Six Max Bounty at the Venetian where each bounty was worth $300. Ironically, despite PLO being my best game and the game I've played the most over the last few years, this was the first PLO I played during the trip. My table was pretty good and we had a ton of action, which resulted in five people busting from the table in under three hours. I had chipped up to 20k from 15k starting when the following hand happened: UTG decent player flats, next-to-act action player pots it to 1350, CO flats, I flat on BTN with JT98dd. SB shoves for 3600. BB folds, UTG folds, action player repots it allin for 15.9k. CO folds. It's now on me and I have an opportunity to win two bounties/$600 in what has to be around a neutral chipEV spot but I have to risk 80% of my stack for a shot at the two bounties. In a normal tournament, this would be a fold, but for the two bounties I think it's a mandatory call. I call and I'm up against the AKJ2 no suit of the SB and the TT87hh of the 15.8k stack, who said he was just trying to isolate the SB for the bounty. The case T comes on the flop, SB gets eliminated, and I don't hit any kind of miracle to win. From there, I'm able to hang around for a couple hours and run up my crumbs back up to 12k, near the 15k starting stack. Then, I defend my BB with T976ccc and end up getting it in on a 954cc flop against AK53 no fd. 5 comes right on the turn and I don't improve and am out of the tournament w/ half the field remaining. From 80% favorite to improve back to a near average stack to out of the tournament. Welcome to my luck in Vegas over the last three years.

After that, my spirit was pretty broken and I decided to take it easy over the next couple days before heading back home while my morale was low. I ended up skipping the $1500 PLO8, which someone I used to play a lot with locally who moved a few years ago ended up winning. Pretty sad as this was probably the tournament I was most looking forward to playing this year. I played a smattering of small tournaments and NL/PLO cash over the next few days and continued to whiff the tourneys, while breaking even in cash and never really finding a very good cash game. In the back of my mind, I think I was anxious about compounding the trip's losses and played a bit scared $ despite the fact my roll is still plenty fine. By this point, I was simply ready to go home.

So, that was my WSOP experience this year, and it makes three pretty brutal summers in a row (a longer streak if you include 2015, which started off amazing, as chronicled in here, then got brutal towards the end, culminating in busting the Main less than 100 players from ITM on Day 3). All that being said, while I lost a decent amount and had a lot of frustrating experiences with few silver linings, I got over my funk quickly and am feeling quite motivated to play the best poker that I can and continue improving my game. If I could do it all over again, I still think I would have played all of the tournaments that I played, but I would make different cash game decisions. I should have left the meh Bellagio O8 game to play 5-10 NL, I should have left the Rio stud8 game sooner or not played at all, and I wish I had played more Big O. I can't say I wish I had played PLO instead, b/c I don't enjoy playing w/ a rock and I don't generally like the rules regarding button straddles in Vegas games. I'd probably rather play NL than PLO, and I'd rather play Big O than either.

One nice aspect of the trip was that I didn't end up spending much relative to previous years. For the first time ever, I didn't get a rental car due to most casinos now charging for parking, and walking or uber'ing everywhere worked out nicely. I'm also happy to report that I did a pretty good job managing my frustration at the table and having a fun, positive vibe around other players.

So, my task now is to resume where I left off at home pre-WSOP, where things had been going really well the preceding few weeks. So far, so good, as I've booked a decent profit in my normal games since coming home and don't feel too shaken by the trip at all. It might sound crazy, and it's a bit unexpected, but I'm actually looking forward to going to Vegas again next year, though likely for a similar length 10 day type trip. Feel free not to believe me, but I genuinely believe I've ran in the bottom 5% of outcomes, if not worse, in the aggregate in Vegas over the last few years. Vegas continues to be my white whale, as I've done well in poker everywhere else.

You forgot the part where you met me! Lol I remembered your name You need to play more sattys or cash if you going to play all those tourneys imo... or just get some dang min cashes at least in the bigger ones. And you could spread your variance playing NL tournies too.