Love to see the heart to keep going, I know you'll get rewarded for it. Also enjoying the hand break downs, keep it up.

Thanks Derek. Lmk when we're grabbing dinner/drinks/whatever else!

Day 6: Monday June 5

Venetian $1600 Freezeout Day 1B

I got to the bank nice and early, got Cane's for lunch (first time I've had it, very good), then headed to the Venetian to play the $1600, which turned into a $1570 since I made it there before the end of the first level.

100/100/100, I'm dealt AhJd my first hand. I open the CO to 300, BTN and BB call. Flop AK5dd and I cbet 400! I think I've been checking too often in these spots and I need to just start putting money in with good hands. I'll still check when IP is a known good player but most of the time I need to start getting value. BTN calls, turn 7d. Without the Jd I think I'd check here and bet river if BTN checked back. With the Jd I decided it was strong enough to bet turn and potentially go for value on a diamond (or maybe J) river. I bet 1200 and BTN calls. River is an off suit J and I'm now more or less only losing to a flush. I bet 2300 and the BTN raises to 6k. Dumb spot, I'm not good very often but I don't need to be to justify a call. 3.7k to win 12.4k means I need to be good about 23% of the time here. I've seen too much random stuff to fold a hand this strong early in a live MTT, but maybe this line specifically is strong enough that I could get away with the fold. I call and lose to K6dd and am down to 32K after one hand.

Later I open JTcc to 300, BTN (same player from last hand) goes 1200. He's an older guy who I think is probably weighted towards very strong hands so I decide to call in hopes of winning a big one from one of those. Flop comes A74cc and he bets 2.1k. I call, turn is an offsuit A and he bets 4k. I think AA checks here somewhere and if I river a club I'm going to lead and get paid so I call. I could honestly be talked into folding pre or on turn here, hell maybe even on flop when he bets 75%. River is an offsuit 3 and he bets 1k into 15k -_-. I fold.

I limp/call A8hh bvb at 100/200 vs an iso to 800 against Ukrainian kid who won 12k in the pit last night. Nice. Flop 972r he bets 500 I call. Turn 9x goes xx, river is an off suit T. I don't think blocking straights matters much here. I think I probably want to unblock Ax. I'm going to have weaker hands here since he bet small on flop, such as KQ,KJ,QJ that didn't limp/raise pre or xr flop. In game I decide a lot of draws have gotten there and I too often make excuses not to bluff rivers. I know I'm going to have to make a good ace high or a pair fold so I size up to 2500 into 2800 and get snapped by KT.

This table eventually got pretty off the rails. A lot of guys who looked like regs but are raise/calling 86o utg1 vs utg2, or calling an open co vs hj with 84s then calling older guy's 3b. I think I opened 10 times and was 3b 8 of them. I think I 3b twice and was 4b both. These tables are a dream when you're making (or even just getting dealt) good hands and a nightmare when you aren't. I was not making hands.

I finally get dealt a premium with AQs UTG and open to 800 at 200/300. A tighter older guy at the table 3b's to 4200 from MP off a 12k stack. I am starting to worry it is gonna be that type of summer. The only hand I've seen him show down came when SB limp and he absolutely snap shoved 20bb with QQ in the BB (despite taking forever to squeeze his cards and look at everyone else at the table most hands). I'm just kind of at a loss in these spots at this point. When I call or shove they have AK or QQ+ and I feel dumb; when I fold I don't get to know and feel like a dumb nit. I've been raise/folding SO much and I was very ready to roll with this one and this guy has raised probably the only size he could that would make me want to fold, which I do. Maybe I should call and run it if I flop equity; maybe I should shove and be done with it. I have no idea.

Finally I'm dealt AKo and see a raise from the 86o guy and a call in between. I'm playing around 35bb now and squeeze, to which 86o shoves. I call and chop with AK.

Action folds to the BTN who opens to 1k at 200/400. I make it 3600 with AKo in the SB off 15k, he shoves, I call. There was absolutely no winning hands without showdown at this table. He did have a premium with JJ though, and being in the 1 seat I'm the first to see the J in the window. Get me outta there.

Wynn $1100

It's 2:20 and I decide to walk to the Wynn for the exercise then hop in the $1100 day 1B for their 1.5m (I think) guarantee. I have 30k at 200/400 when I get seated and it quickly becomes apparent that this table is going to be similar to the Venetian. I am promptly 3b the first hand I open and fold, before opening 99 from UTG2 to 1200 at 500bb. BB has been knocked down to 4k before doubling after 3b shoving 33 and beating 22, and he now shoves for 9.8k over my open. I simply do not have it in me to do any more folding, and I assume he's going to have some smaller pairs in his range here anyway. I call and am shown AA. Flop comes all diamonds and I have 2 red 9s, but he has 2 red aces. Turn brick river 9. Up to 40k.

MP opens to 1100, 2 calls, I squeeze TT on btn to 5300, it gets through. Next orbit same guy opens to 1200, same whale flats, and I have 99 in the CO. I decide to call to keep the whale in there, who had 120k when I sat but is spewing pretty hard. Flop comes Q95dd, x's to me and I bet 1900, only whale calls. Turn 8x I bet 4.7k he calls, river 5x he checks. There's 18k in the pot and I'm tempted to get very greedy here but I am a little worried that a huge bet might lead him to fold a Q. That being said, I still think I should've bet near full pot. I bet 12k, he calls quickly and claims AQ as he mucks.

I go 1400 at 300/600 with JJ UTG, HJ goes 4500 off 30k because every hand is 3b, I call, flop Q97 I xc 3.5k, turn T xx, river 5 and I go with the 1/3 bet. Not super sure about this, just thought I had a lot of sets and not much air in my range and possibly just betting it all for the small size makes more sense than throwing some of the weaker stuff into check. He folds quickly in any case.

And just like that I have 75k. It's really as simple as making hands and them being good at showdown. Unfortunately I stopped making hands but did well not to force anything. With 75k at 800bb it's easy to get frustrated if you dip to 50k but it's still clearly so many chips. I lost a lot of small pots like when button opens to 2500 at 600/1200 and I have KQss in BB. I have 60k, so 50bb, and am pretty torn between 3b and call. I have to imagine 3b is better than just call a 4b if he puts one in. Off 30bb I really only like 3b'ing value that I know I'm going to call off vs a shove. At 100bb I'd pure 3b this for value. At 50bb I'm not sure what to do. I called but I think I'd probably 3b if I could go back. Flop comes A52r and I xc a small bet, turn K goes xx, river 6 and he bets 6k into 11k. He's gonna have Ax so often here but again, people have been doing some wild things to start this summer. He was one of these guys looking to get in a ton of pots and I felt like his range pre was gonna be absurdly wide. Normally this bet check bet line is pretty strong but if he's betting his (absurdly wide) range on flop, he's gotta have some trash hands that check turn and bluff river right? I call and lose to A8.

So I'm down to 47k on dinner coming back to 1k/1500. I get a pretty damn good chicken cheesesteak from the Fashion Show Mall food court then head back to the Encore. I go through the blinds then action folds to HJ who opens to 3k. I have 42k and AQs on the button. Off of 28bb I'm either gonna call or 3b/call off with this hand. I think it's fine to go either way, especially if you expect some 4b bluffs which I certainly am after experiencing however many hours of poker today. I elect to 3b because I mentally can't handle losing another pot post . I make it 8k, he obviously shoves, I call and am up against TT. I'm on the left side of the table so I again get an early look at the T in the window. We count down the stacks and we have exactly the same amount so I head out the door to walk back to the Horseshoe.

Live Downswing

I am now 2 for 42 in cashing live tournaments post pandemic. Fortunately those 2 were both day 6 Main Event runs, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit frustrated to have gone 0/40 in these faster structure MTTs. I simply cannot seem to win the pot that puts me over the top to building a chip stack. There are so many examples from the last 2 years of me losing that big flip that would've put me in very good shape to cash. It's gotten to the point that I wonder if I should be playing some higher variance style, gambling more early to try to build a stack and avoid the chaos of these middling stages that are murdering me. But that feels like too big of an adjustment to make. It's not like I'm playing like a massive nit; in fact if I was, I'd probably have cashed something by now. I'm hopeful that this is simply a stretch of negative variance. I'm definitely making small mistakes now and then but I don't think it's anything big enough to make me feel like I've lost my touch or something. My last 4 bustouts were KK<99, 43<66 on A652 for 140k at 3kbb, AK<JJ and AQ<TT (with a call down that I think made sense to bust an event in the middle there). Anyway I'm rambling now; the point is, I think I need to keep my head up and keep going. Not sure there's anything major that needs changing here.

Daily Results

Time Working -- 10:00
Buy Ins: $2700
Cashes: $0

Overall Results

Time Working -- 43:15
Buy Ins: $12,199
Cashes: $0

Bonus hand I forgot about that summed the day up nicely:

CO (looks like a reg) opens to 2200 at 500/1000, BTN calls, I call J8s btn, flop AJ6r. I x, CO x, BTN 3k, I call, CO10.5k, I fold, BTN 22k, CO shoves 50k or so, BTN calls. CO has ATo.

BUTTON HAS 55. Idk if CO has played with BTN before but I was pretty flabbergasted watching that one unfold lol

Day 7: Tuesday June 6

WSOP Event #15, $1500 Six Max

I registered this tournament last night to ensure I'd be there on time this morning. Saw Negreanu finishing up his vlog, think my head was in the background at the end of it for proof that I really did reg last night

Get there at 10am and we're playing 4 handed. 25k starting stack, blinds start at 100/100/100. I lose a few small pots, make what I think was a good fold on a river, win a few small pots, but it's clear that even 250bb deep stacks are probably gonna potentially be in play when you're getting this many hands in a 4 handed game with an ante.

Near the end of the level I open to 300 with AJo, SB calls, BB squeezes to 1300. He's been in a lot of hands and has lost a big pot to the SB already (more on that later). He has about 7k to start the hand. I call as does the SB. Flop comes J88r and it checks to me. I bet 1.3k into 4k and SB calls. Turn 6x he x's I bet 3.8k he calls. River 3x he donks 1.1k into 14.2k.

In the big pot this player played against the BB earlier he donked exactly 1.1k into a 10k+ pot on the river as well. The BB raised and the donker then snap shoved. BB reluctantly folded. SB is a middle aged Asian guy who has the look of someone who is pretty ready to go, but he did make a fold against me at one point that made me feel like he actually folded a reasonable hand in a spot where I'm almost never bluffing. So I don't think he necessarily is blindly punting or anything.

So back to my hand, do we raise or call? A big part of me wants to call to avoid a potentially tough spot but that's not a great way of thinking about poker. If we have a hand that wants to raise for value, we should raise for value, and if we get shoved on we'll have to rely on our ability to play good poker to figure it out. Now should I raise this river? Part of me wanted to check back turn to have an easy river bet. Part of me wanted to bet bigger on turn to check back river. And part of me was fine with this sizing to set up 3 streets and try to get paid by worse Jx. With KJ or worse I think I need to check somewhere but AJ felt like the bottom of the 3 street range here.

When he bets 1.1k we can almost treat the bet like a check. Oftentimes I think this type of bet defines players' ranges even more than a check would, consisting of hands like weak Jx and pocket pairs that don't want to face a big bet. Good players will have some nutted hands here too but I think most players either get stuck in trap mode or lead too big on river when they're really strong.

So with all this in mind I raise to 8k. He doesn't do anything quickly, this time tanking a bit before going all in. It's kinda just been that type of series to start here. Whatever decision my opponent can make to make me the least comfortable seems to be the one he makes near every time. He certainly can have some 8x but I'm a bit worried he can have random bluffs here too that have decided they're going to will their way to winning this hand. I'm concerned someone with 99 can say "I have more 8x than him, I block 98s, let's make a J fold." I have no idea if that's how this guy thinks or not. There are some players where this is a very easy fold, some who are overbluffing making this an easy call, and some who will be pretty balanced which makes AJ a close spot. I didn't get the vibe one way or the other from this guy.

Of the bluffs I think he might show up with, I don't think any contain an ace. The theoretical bluff probably contains a J (I'm guessing here) but I'm not so sure players are going to be bluffing top pair, so I don't think having a J is bad for me in that regard. At the end of the day I'm getting better than 2:1 against someone who I think is capable so I flick it in. Lots of different decisions that could've been made in this hand but this was the line I came up with in game. He shows 86s and I'm out <40 minutes into the day.

Regroup

For whatever reason this one hit me kinda hard. I started yesterday off by losing a big pot with AJ after flopping top pair, and now I'd busted this tourney in similar fashion. It's one thing to lose a bunch of flips; it's another to not be able to fold a hand!

I think it's important for me to remember just how many ways variance can present itself in poker. It's obvious when you're losing all ins but it's less obvious when you're getting put in tough spots every time you have a good but not great hand. I watched some of the million dollar bounty final table yesterday and watched a player defend J6s then xc the AJ4 flop. The board ran out bricks, they checked it down, and J6 won at showdown. That has not happened to me this trip lol. More often what's happened is I turn a flush draw, call a big bet, then face 1/3 on the river unimproved. I then have to either a) call and lose and feel bad or b) fold and wonder if maybe I got bluffed. This is tough to handle a bunch of times in a row because it starts to feel like you must be doing something wrong.

I wandered around a bit after busting then went back to my room. I sat around for a bit then put on my running shoes and got out there for 3 miles. I ran past a group of people huddling in the shade with what I assume was most of their belongings. I've seen stuff like this before in Las Vegas but it's always kinda sad and wakes you up a bit to the context of what you're actually doing. What I'm going through is tough but it's nothing compared to the **** a lot of people are dealing with.

I got back inside, took a shower, then laid around for a bit. Around 2:00 I went to get some food then met up with a buddy to give him some cash and chat for a bit. I felt good so I got back into the Six Max, which allowed one re-entry, and sat with 25k at 500/1000 this time. I open AKss to 2.2k in HJ, BB defends, flop comes QQ3r I cb 1.5k he calls, turn 7 xx, river K he bets 5.3k. Yet another one of those spots where I can't imagine folding but it doesn't feel like I'm winning much. Sure, he should have some Kx, but does he actually? I bet quite small on flop so a lot of KJ KT K9 should probably continue, but I'm not sure how often the average rec continues with a call. I'm also not sure how often they bet those hands on river for that size. He's gone 5.3k into 8.9k. Had he gone closer to 3k I'd feel fine but this size blows. I call and am shown KQ.

HJ opens to 2.2k, CO and SB call, I shove my last 15k with TT, CO iso's 88 and I hold. This was a very sweet reminder that it's still possible for poker to be easy sometimes.

I open TT in CO to 2.7k at 600/1200, BTN makes it 7.8k, I shove 33k, he tanks quite a while then folds and implies he had AQ. Over 40k just like that.

We come back from break and American reg who looks younger than 21 limps CO off 15.5k at 1k/1.5k. I'd be pretty surprised if he didn't have a very strong hand doing this but maybe that's just me projecting. SB completes and I have KJdd in the BB with 33k. If a fish limped here I'd definitely shove but the alarm bells have gone off in my head so I check. Flop comes AQTr, checks to CO who bets 1.5k, I call. Turn 4d CO bets 3k and now has 9.5k back. I'm concerned that he'll talk himself into a river check back on a K, J, or diamond, and I'm pretty confident he must just have something strong now, so I shove. He snap folds. Pretty big mistake from me here! My assumption of what his range pre looks like was clearly wrong, making my preflop check and my turn shove pretty bad in retrospect. Looking at GTOWiz 10bb ranges it looks like CO limps AA and KK pure then has tons of slivers of random kinda junky hands like K6s,K5s,Q8s,A7o, etc. So idk. I definitely would've shoved pre if I'd thought he could have a weaker range like that, and I wouldn't have shoved turn if I knew he had any sort of b/f range.

My mistake gets further punished when he shoves his 6bb next hand, I iso A6o in SB and lose to his AK. The next hand after that CO opens, I shove my 32k with KQo on the btn, get snapped by 88, and lose another flip to bust.

WSOP Online Bracelet #4, $600

I max late regged this and won back to back flips to get to 140k from 40k starting at 3400bb. Played 3 hands of this online event and had more success than in any of the live ones . When we got to the bubble I had 150k at 10k/20k and was something like 135/181. Really absurd how the structures blow up. Yes, people probably stall more on WSOP than they do on other sites. But do you know why they're able to do this? Because WSOP gives you a 90 second timebank every 3 levels regardless of how much you've used previously. So if you'd like to waste 90 seconds every 45 minutes, on top of the 20 seconds or so you get every hand before your timebank activates, you can! It's insanely frustrating how little WSOP does to improve it's product and how **** it is, yet we still all play on it like a bunch of suckers.

I made it to the money, got a few shoves through, chipped up to over 10bb then immediately fell back below when the blinds went up, and eventually shoved 9.5bb with KTo in the LJ into AK to bust in the 130s. Would be kinda funny to fly to Las Vegas, struggle through every live event, then bink an online bracelet for 130k, but that will have to wait. In any case we cashed for $1877.90 and I can stop writing $0 in that cashes total.

Daily Results

Time Working -- 5:30
Buy Ins: $3600
Cashes: $1878

Overall Results

Time Working -- 48:45
Buy Ins: $15,799
Cashes: $1878

Day 8: Wednesday June 7

I was tempted to play the $2500 freezeout this day but decided against it. I'd played each of the first 7 days of the series, there was a party at 6pm for anyone who sattied into the Aria event, and it was my birthday. So I took the day off.

I got a crepe that was very good but as I was eating it I got a nosebleed, so I rushed back to my room to get it under control. Not to be deterred, I went downstairs, got a couple of beers, and headed towards the main stage in the poker room to cheer on Brian Yoon with 8 left in the 10k Stud. After sufficiently embarrassing him and polishing off the beers I walked to Horseshoe, got a 3rd beer, got a new players card, and bet 6 numbers in roulette, hitting 1 for $30 then immediately cashing out. I headed over to Aria for the party, where I actually didn't know anyone. I made some conversation with strangers until Mike Cannon showed up with his girlfriend. I hadn't caught up with him in a while and he and his gf were a lot of fun to talk to. When I told them it was my birthday she insist we keep drinking so we did! Eventually we headed back to Horseshoe and railed BYoon, then drank some more, then they went to bed and I headed back to BYoon's table where he was heads up with Dan Shak. This time another friend was there to carry on the embarrassing him duties before Brian finished Dan off for his FIFTH bracelet!



No poker for me this day so no changes to the totals.

Day 9: Thursday June 8

Aria $800 Mystery Bounty

This event was part of the package I won so it was a must play. I won some pots then lost a bunch before shoving 15k at 1kbb with KQo. I was called by 77 and A9o and was pretty dead when A9 flopped an ace and 77 flopped a flush draw.

I hung out with my buddy moose for a few hours, getting some drinks and playing some video poker. I then played online for a bit, busting 3 bullets in a $250 before finishing 7th of 201 in a $50 turbo. Nothing to write home about but winning some all ins feels good! There's something about winning pots, no matter how I'm doing it, that gives me hope or something. I've felt so hopeless this trip, like nothing I come up with at the poker table has any chance of success. Seeing chips go my way in anything felt good. Neither of these online events were bracelet events though so I won't be including them in the totals.

Daily Results

Time Playing -- 6:00
Buy Ins: $0 (not counting Aria $800 since I'd already sattied in)
Cashes: $0

Overall Results

Time Playing -- 54:45
Buy Ins: $15,799
Cashes: $1878

Day 10: Friday June 9

Aria $3500 Day 1A

This was also part of the package I'd won and I was informed that 1A was expected to be softer than 1B. What I found was probably the toughest table I've had this trip. 1 seat Mike Lavin, 2 seat Aaron Massey, I'm in the 3, PA reg who just went deep in Mystery Million Bounty thing in the 4, Harry Lodge in the 5, tough Chinese player in the 6, tight but solid qualifier in the 7, Australian pro in the 8 (was told later he was some ACR sicko), tight qualifier in the 9. Eventually the 2 and the 8 bust and are replaced by Stephen Song and Jerrad BBissick Pawar. It was just kind of a murderer's row all day. I chipped down to 15k from 40k before doubling with KK vs 99. I then knocked out the Aussie pro with AQo vs KTs and was up to near 60k but lost a pot very shortly after to drop back to 45k. Eventually I open QQ EP off 43k at 1500bb and Jerrad calls CO. Flop T75r I x he 3b's 3.5k I raise to 10.5k he calls. Turn T, I was planning on shoving most turns but felt like this wasn't a good one to do so on. In hindsight I don't think that's correct. I was treating this board too much like I had lots of 2 pairs and sets where a T would cut down on a lot of my value combos, but of course I don't have any of those 2 pairs when I open EP. I check, Jerrad bets like 20% with SPR of 1 and I go with the shove. I think I'm beat relatively often here but I'm not folding to a river shove and I think this gives me the best chance of getting value when I am ahead. Jerrad snaps 55 and leaves me with 1bb which I lose the next hand.

Daily Results

Time Playing -- 9:45
Buy Ins: $0
Cashes: $0

Overall Results

Time Playing -- 64:30
Buy Ins: $15,799
Cashes: $1878

Day 11: Saturday June 10

Wynn $1100 One Day

After moving out of the Horseshoe to my room at Aria I decided to take my time getting into any events. I was going to register near the end of late reg at either the Wynn or the WSOP Gladiator $300 madhouse event. In the end I picked the Wynn and got there for the end of level 8. I was dealt 3 hands and in the 2nd one I opened A3cc in CO to 2700 at 600/1200 with 25k starting. BB defends, flop comes K72r I bet small he calls. Turn A xx, river 4 he x's I bet small he calls and mucks! Again I can't state how good it feels to say "hey I'm gonna do this thing, and I hope he does that thing," and then he does and you win. It has NOT happened this trip anywhere near as often as I'm used to and I'm ready for it to start and for me to get my mojo back a bit.

After the break reg closes, over 500 entries and 1st is a shade over $100k. Crazy. HJ shoves 18k at 2kbb, I iso KTs, he has A4o, I turn a K and win the pot.

It folds to the SB and he checks my stack before limping. I have 48k at 3kbb and A2o in the BB. I decide I want some Ax in my check back range and elect to use the weakest as checks. In hindsight I think maybe I should raise this and check like A6o A7o A8o or something. But maybe having the wheel Ax is better to have some more playability. Looking at GTOWiz now it appears to shove them all outside of A5o lol whoops. However it checks A2s-A6s and I think I'd just shove those with their extra equity. So as long as I have around the right number of combos checking I'm alright with it all. It kinda aligns with my logic of wanting stuff that plays better post; clearly the suited wheels play better than the rest while not getting enough value to raise/call, so they sneak into that check back.

In any case, flop comes 764 and goes xx. I'll have a lot of 8x and 5x and 3x that can bluff here so I think A2 would be overdoing it. Turn is an A and he pots for 9k, I call. River is a K and he shoves for my 36k and I just have a no brainer call here I think. This is pretty much the exact scenario you'd check back an ace in order to be able to call down on. I call and he turns over a 7 so I assume I'm out, but then he reveals his other card is a Q?? Idk what's going on there but I'll take the double. Eventually we go to dinner and I have 121k at 3k/6k with less than 100 players left and 53 paying.

On dinner I realized I felt amazing and I was walking with a weight off my shoulders. It was funny that even though there was a good chance I wouldn't cash, I felt like I'd gained some confidence. Things went my way a few times for really the first time on the trip.

Back from dinner I defend my BB with 94hh. Flop comes QT8r and I'm ready to x/f but my opponent bets 7k into 35k and with a bdfd on top of the gutter I decide to peel one for that price. Turn is an offsuit J and he bets again. I think calling is best on a board where some guys will go nuts trying to rep AK since we can't have it so I call. River goes xx and I win.

As the bubble approaches an English player begins stalling. This was kind of a relief to me because I hate stalling but am aware it's almost certainly going on at other tables. So if this guy stalls, our table doesn't lose EV compared to other tables, and I don't have to do the stalling myself. The table becomes aware of his stalling and is agitated with him. Eventually we make it to the money and I have 185k with 10 minutes left at 12kbb, and I end up with the same stack at break coming back to 10k/15k.

A few hands after break I'm dealt AJo UTG so I shove for the 12bb. UTG2 joined the table recently and has played quickly since he got here. He takes 90 seconds at the max at which point the English player, who has just tripled up his short stack with A9 vs A8 and AK, calls clock. If I wasn't in the hand I would've bust out laughing but everyone else at the table did it for me as I tried to stay stoic. It was pretty good comedy to be fair, the other 7 players all losing it telling him he oughta be embarrassed. Eventually the tanking player folds before a player in MP isos. I see pretty good news in TT but the board runs out 5 low cards and I'm out in 41st place for $2869.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed; that pot would've gotten me a shade over 400k at 15kbb feeling like my time to shine had finally arrived. However this was a great day in the confidence I felt in finally getting the monkey off my back with a non Main Event cash. Even if I hadn't cashed, it felt like I got to see the ball go through the rim a few times which gave me a new outlook on the trip. I'll be ready to go tomorrow, possibly starting late again as I felt fresh today after taking my time getting going.

Daily Results

Time Playing-- 6:00
Buy Ins: $1100
Cashes: $2869

Overall Results

Time Playing -- 70:30
Buy Ins: $16,899
Cashes: $4747

One of the best threads ever. GLGL rest of series and beyond.

Thanks a lot man that's nice of you to say

Day 12: Sunday June 11

I consider playing some live events but decide to take it easy and play online. I cash a big field $100 tourney in 63rd place for $331 but am unable to make anything happen elsewhere. I lose 3k on the day, including 2 bullets of the $400 online bracelet event, which is all I'll include in the results.

Daily Results

Time Playing-- 5:10
Buy Ins: $800
Cashes: $0

Overall Results

Time Playing -- 75:40
Buy Ins: $17,699
Cashes: $4747

Day 13: Monday June 12

I start the day by writing out some thoughts. I've been struggling mentally with losing as much as I am. I think I'm uncomfortable firing this many bullets at these price points. A few one offs are fine but bricking 15k worth of tourneys in a week or so is not something I used to.

I've also been struggling with motivation. When the going gets tough, WHY am I putting myself through this torture? I didn't have an immediate answer to that question so I decided to sit down and write it out. What I realized is I'm often comparing myself to the most successful people, or even just taking the best traits of specific successful individuals then feeling bad that I haven't reached those milestones. This guy has a bracelet, that guy has a happy wife and kid, that guy has his own home, this guy is a good investor and has so many ways of making money outside of poker. I think about these things in passing and I think they give me a lot of anxiety since I never sit down and directly think about them.

So I decided to list out my goals, at least for this trip. What's the point? The biggest one I could come up with that I thought would motivate me for this last week in Vegas before returning home for a break was the goal of being well known and respected in poker. In smaller circles I think I've achieved this, but part of me wants recs to see me at the table and want to strike up a conversation with me. I've actively been fighting this desire for the past few years! I've felt that being professional means playing poker and not taking it too seriously while still putting your hours in and any sort of fame or attention that comes with that is secondary.

But when I sat down to write out my motivation I thought back to what drove me when I was younger. I loved the idea of making a name for myself. And I think it's harmless so long as I'm going about it the right way. Hopping in to a tough 10k solely because I'm hoping to bink it and be recognized is not a good idea. But firing the 3rd bullet of the day at the 3rd different casino because I want to get a win to boost my resume seems like a good way of motivating myself to put that 3rd bullet in. If the choice is be a stoic pro who can't get himself fired up for the next tournament versus being an attention seeker who's found a way to want to play poker, then I've gotta choose the latter. So that's what I did today.

WSOP Event #28, $1500 Freezeout

I late reg at 300/500 with 25k starting stack and am sat at a new table with 8 other 25k stacks. The big hand comes when I open KQdd to 1200 at 500bb from MP, next seat flats, BB calls, flop K84hh. I bet 1500 into 4400 when x to. I've decided I want to cbet OOP more often than I have been. A) Because I'm not worried about fish exploiting me if I'm over c-betting and B) I think solver does cbet some OOP when stacks are shallower. Coming from studying cash there are a ton of boards you cbet near 0% on when OOP but these are against defined ranges 100bb deep. My plan going forward live is to cbet more often but to still do it less than when I'm IP. So here I'd probably check KJ but KQ I put into bet. Next seat folds, BB calls, turn 9h completes the flush and we go check check. River 2c and villain bets 7.5k into 7.4k. This is the type of spot we've faced over and over again this series so we better get used to it. On one hand, people don't bluff rivers. On the other hand, I've seen guys bet river in this spot and show VERY random stuff. While tanking I thought to myself "wouldn't be shocked if he has 87o here." There are some gutters that missed and I bet small enough on flop that I sort of expected him to peel even stuff like AQ and AJ that might now bluff river (especially if he has the Ah). I also convinced myself that I'm somewhat high up in range after checking back turn. I call and lose to T7hh. Two things that make me think I should fold here. One, the way he counted out his bet and how he looked while I was thinking put up some flags in my head. Two, he bet pot. I think guys bet small and if he had bet half pot or smaller we have a very easy call and shrug when he has it. But this size we can probably just fold.

I fold down to 6.3k before getting AJ in at 800bb and beating KQ to double. I move tables and fold a bunch more before getting AQs in vs 77 for 11k each at 1kbb and losing that flip. 1/2 in flips, maybe the best I've ran in a bird since I got here.

Venetian $1100 Freezeout 1B

With my motivation in mind I walked to Venetian and got into this MTT with 40k at 1kbb. At 1200bb a player who I've now played with 3 times this trip opens UTG1 and I defend QTo in the BB. Flop comes T32dd and I xc a small bet. Turn 2x and I xc a bigger bet. River Ax and he shoves for a little less than pot, about 20k. The first time I played with this player I remember thinking he was in virtually every hand. He had AT in a hand I wrote in here a few days ago where he x/r'ed AJ6 3 ways then 4b shoved against a 3b, with villain calling with 55 for a massive pot at the Wynn lol. So I felt like the button clicking was something this guy was capable of. I tried to think of value hands. AA, AT, 54s(?), TT, 33, 22, A2s(?). He's pretty sick if he goes for value with worse than an ace, and I'm not really buying that he's betting Ax twice here, unless he has a hand like A5s or A4s, which would be a thin river shove but maybe correct? AA - 3 combos, AT - 6 combos, 54s - I'll give him 1 combo bc this would be very wide pre, TT - 1 combo but it might check flop anyway, 33 - 3 combos though I think you should consider folding this hand from this position pre, 22 - 1 combo prob fold pre like 33, A2s - 1 combo since idk if this bets flop. So like 16 combos? So I've gotta find 8 bluffs from him? I kinda felt like I could see KQ, KJ, and QJ all show up here too often. Blast away with overcards and go for it on the scary ace. Let's say he opens all KQ and KJ but only QJs. 12 KQ, 16 KJ, 3 QJs. Let's say he only goes for it half the time with these. Still at 15.5 combos. Idk, I talked myself into a call here but this is probably just spew. Is he really tripling as a bluff as often as I need him to? I call and lose to ATo.

Wynn $1600 1A

Frustrated but still trying to focus on that motivation I walk further up the strip to the Wynn. I sit down with 30k at 1200bb and immediately see that I've got a pretty great table. Old guy with cowboy hat, a lot of tattoos, and a lot of chips talking a bunch on my direct left. Some limping at this table, 5 ways pots not getting squeezed, where have these tables been all trip?? At one point guy on my right opens EP, guy on my left 3b's small, EP calls, KJ9cc guy on my left cb's 10k into 14k then shows 33 when it gets through. He then wins a massive pot where he opens QQ from UTG1, 3 players call, BB (same guy from last hand) squeezes, cowboy hat does NOT 4b which leads to them going 4 ways in a 20k pot to a J84cc flop. BB checks and cowboy sticks like 60k in there with 15k behind or something. Folds to button who tank folds what he claims was AJ, BB tank calls it off with TT and cowboy has infinite and goes right into a speech about how QQ never wins for him but finally the monkey's off his back. He's very happy.

The first 2 hands I open cowboy hat calls, flop comes low and I xf to his bet. Third hand I open KQo off 24k at 1200bb, cowboy hat calls (he's VPIPing like 75% at this point), BB calls, we get the 553 flop and are ready to xf again but cowboy hat checks back this time. Turn Q BB checks, I decide to check again bc I don't think cowboy can help himself but to my surprise he checks again. River T, BB checks, I bet for value, cowboy asks how much I've got left and before I can move my hand he plops 60k into the middle. BB folds.

Can you sense a theme of the day? I have top pair and have to decide if I'd like to lose most of my stack or all of it. This is probably the closest spot, not that I thought about it at all lol. But this ****er who bets every time you check, checking back TWICE, then RAISING river?? This is a man with trips+. But having seen the nonsense he'd done in the hour or so I was there combined with the table talk (everyone can't believe how many hands he's playing/winning lol), combined with my inability to believe top pair good kicker is no good yet again, led me to make arguably my 3rd bad river call of the day. He shows A5s and I'm out the door.

Morale was very low walking out of the Wynn. I called my gf and whined to her for a solid 20 minutes. She was very patient with me. I got an uber back to Aria and on the way read a tweet that made me laugh and cheered me up a bit. Something like "poker players go 0/15 in tournaments and start making plans for new career. Top 3 their next tournament and let everyone know that poker is a game of skill and hard work always prevails." I literally told Amy on the phone that I need to find something to fall back on because I think I just don't have it anymore . A response to the tweet said something like "the cycle never ends" and it's very true. When I'm in a good state of mind I see all of this clearly but when I'm down about things I really do feel like packing it in and finding something else to do with my life. I called Amy back, told her about the tweet, apologized for being whiny, and heard about how her week's been going, which was nice. I got some food, watched the end of the NBA Finals, took a long bath, and am now typing this out. The WSOP 3K 6 max is tomorrow. I think I'm gonna play it. If I bust I'm gonna have to go to the bank for a 3rd time. I've got to check out of Aria tomorrow and prices were high everywhere so I ended up staying at the Rio for my last 4 nights. Things are not looking all that bright. But I ain't stoppin.

Daily Results

Time Playing-- 5:40
Buy Ins: $4200
Cashes: $0

Overall Results

Time Playing -- 80:20
Buy Ins: $21,899
Cashes: $4747

Great updates, thanks a lot for keeping it real and best of luck for the rest of the series.

Thanks for the great WSOP recaps, wanted to go this year but family plans came up. Living vicariously off your posts.

As they say, life is about the Journey not the goal. Roooting for you as always.

Thanks guys. I've always been one to suggest that people on extended downswings are just guys who aren't good enough to cut it, but the ones who find a way to stay in action are at least tough and persistent so I admire that. It appears I'm really in that second group at this point so the only thing I can do now is persevere!

Day 14: Tuesday June 13

WSOP Event #32, $3000 Six Max

I arrive at 1pm for the start of level 3. 40k starting stack, 30 minute levels. I don't hate this structure tbh. Let's get this thing moving and play the important levels a bit earlier.

I sit down to probably my softest table of the entire summer which is a pleasant surprise. I'm in the 3 seat, 4 seat is a French (I think) reg, 5 seat is a fish who's limped, 4x'ed, and minraised in the first few hands. 6 seat is a very tight player who's grumbling about people raising him a lot. 1 seat is a middle aged Asian watching a show on his phone on full volume. 2 seat is a pretty clear fish who is VPIPing a lot. Really all I can ask for. I came into the day with a focus on playing tight. I think I've been trying to make too much happen and my best course of action is to play TAG and try to have it more than I don't. Keep things simple.

I go 1200 at 500bb from HJ with QTss, both blinds call. Flop K99ss I cb 1500 and SB calls. Turn Ax and with the SPR around 2 I decide to check back rather than run into a x/shove. I don't think villain will shove all that often but again, I'm trying to keep things simple here. Let's make our hand or just move on. I'm not gonna try to bet 3 streets to fold out a king and find myself getting heroed on river and feeling frustrated. I check to keep things simple, so naturally the river is the As and I face a 5k bet. I am something like 0/12 on bluffcatching rivers this trip. Board is K99ssAxAs so I have the nut flush on a 2 pair board. Reasons I want to call: What Ax does he have that calls flop? Axss is not an option with the river As. He can't even have AxQs or AxTs since I have those cards. AxJs? He's betting a 9 for value? Reasons I want to fold: Everyone has it always. Reason that led me to call: He bet the 5k as the river was coming out. He's in the 6 seat so he's the last to see it. I'm fairly confident he bet before seeing the river lol. I think reasonably often this is a draw. Sometimes it'll be a 9. Maybe I should just fold anyway but I decide to see if I can break the streak of unsuccessful river bluff catches. He announces "king" and I win the pot! 1/13!

I defend Jc8d 3 ways vs a button open and SB call. I should fold pre and keep things simple as I've discussed. Heads up a call is fine, 3 ways I think I want J9o+. Flop 877hh x's through. Turn 9h and fish in SB probes 2.5k, which he's done almost literally every time it's checked to him. I legit don't think he checked one time postflop, outside of checking in flow to the raiser. I call. I should fold. Sure he'll be bluffing a lot but he has me beat some and he has equity often when bluffing. There's also a player behind and sure enough he calls as well. River 7x (board now 877hh9h7x) and SB bets 6k. I should fold. I talk myself into this bet being nonsense since the board has drastically changed and he's betting anyway. A flush and a straight probably wouldn't want to keep betting (though this guy might who knows) so he's repping what, a 9? A 7? I decide I beat a lot of his hands and player behind misses a draw a lot. This is pretty bad thinking given it's just too likely one of these 2 has me beat. As it turns out they both have me beat, we both call and SB shakes his head and says "I just have a 9" lol. SB shows K9s, I muck, btn shows Q9o, SB tells btn he thought he could get him off a 9. Alrighty. I've gotta be better than this though. I could've folded 3 times this hand and missed all of them.

I open to 1800 at 800bb from CO with KdQc off 42k, SB American reg (they've moved the 5 seat fish) who actually seems quite solid makes it 6k (a bit small but probably fine), I call. I talked about what to do with KQo vs 3b at these stacks and someone here suggested calling is fine so that's what I did! Flop AT8dd, he bets 3.7k and I go with a call with the backdoor nut flush draw to go with the gutter. Turn 8x he checks, I bet 7.5k and win. I really like how I played this hand and how I thought through it. It's nice to feel confident in a bet when you're bluffing because you feel like your strat in a spot is solid. I'll have plenty of TT, 8x, and even AQ sorts of hands that want to call flop and bet this size on turn with the option of bluff shoving river. With the Kd in my hand I would've bluffed river diamonds and given up otherwise. Had I had a KQ no diamond hand I would've bluffed on the non-diamond rivers. Thought process was good this hand.

I defend A2cc vs a Christian Harder 3500 SB open at 500/1000. I call 2.4k on T55r with the bdfd. I think A high bvb has to defend here with multiple backdoors. Too many auto folds in my range and ace high is good a decent amount. Turn Q goes xx, river A I face a 7k bet and don't think I can do anything but call, especially given I chop with AJ and down. I call and lose to AK.

I open A7hh on btn at 1kbb. BB American reg is all in for 17k. Eek, I don't know these spots. I'd guess it's a call vs correct range. His range probably is correct, but I think the spot is marginal enough to pass on and preserve the 40k stack so I fold. Shrug.

HJ French reg opens, American reg calls, I shove KQo in BB for 18k at 1kbb. HJ folds, American reg tank calls ATs, I turn a K! Winning flips let's go!

American reg all in the next hand from HJ for 8bb, I iso A7s in SB and beat his K3s! Has the heat finally arrived??

I open A2o btn, SB folds, BB tight grumbly kid shoves 12k pretty quickly. No brainer fold here, this guy is essentially an NJ nit with how he plays and our hand is crushed by his range.

Next orbit, open A6o btn, he defends BB again. Flop T63dd and he donk shoves 14k into 7k. If this shove was for less I think we have a call but against this guy specifically I think this has to be a fold. He's just been so tight and valued his tournament so so much. At one point I open, he 3b's SB, BB 4b's, I fold, and he snap folds QQ face up saying he can't believe how everyone's raising him so often lol. He also folded 84s face up to a 3.5x from the SB. So I think we can rule out a decent amount of 6x and 3x pre. I talk myself into a call and lose to QT. It's frustrating how poorly I'm playing these spots. I folded the A7s, I folded the A2o, it felt like I was finally in my rhythm of folding and moving on, and then I flick this one in. Really inexcusable tbh.

I open KK to 2.7k at 1200bb, btn flats, Charder 10k in SB, I shove 40k and get it through. Chip down a bit, Rob Mizrachi 3k on btn at 1500bb, I shove 34k ATs SB, he tanks, claims he has a pair, then folds.

Charder opens 4k at 2kbb CO, I shove 35k in SB with TT, BB isos, charder claims 66 and folds, BB has 88! Flop A72 leaves him with an 8 and an 8 only to win. He points at where the turn is, looks at me and smiles and says "8!" Turn 4, he moves his hand, points to where the river is going to be placed, and says it again. He was fun and friendly so I gave him a fist bump on my way out of the tournament area.

Honestly winning 2 out of 3 all ins is by far the best I've ran in a single live tournament since I got here. I'm not playing great, I'm running even worse, and it's frustrating. But there's a sort of calm about me at this point. There isn't really anything I can do but keep trying. I'll go play 1C of the Wynn $1600 today, putting at least 2 bullets into it if necessary, maybe more especially given it's this and the WSOP 2k that are the last 2 big tourneys on my schedule before I head home.

I went to rail deoxy's 8 game FT later and hung out with his parents and Firaldo on the rail. Me and Niall drank a bit while watching Daniel go from 6/6 to 1/5 to out in 5th. A drunk Josh Arieh came in after us to rail Deeb, and it appears Negreanu eventually made his way over, both of them pretty drunk from the Knights game. Negreanu was apparently steaming quite a bit from being bluffed by BYoon in the 10k Razz so it's a shame we weren't still there to needle him, although maybe that's for the best as drunk Negreanu seems like the kinda guy I wouldn't exactly enjoy hanging out with .

It's nice having friends who FT a WSOP event every few days. Gives me a reason to drink and relax and have a good time. The plan now is to get some cash, get some food, then hit the Wynn for another shot at this $1600. Must play tight, must fold rivers, must persevere.

Daily Results

Time Playing-- 4:15
Buy Ins: $3000
Cashes: $0

Overall Results

Time Playing -- 84:35
Buy Ins: $24,899
Cashes: $4747

Great thread - nice play w/ the KQo :P

At risk of being one of those guys who offers advice without being asked - I think that maybe doing one of the upswing courses (would highly recommend the new Darren Elias course for live), could be pretty interesting for you.

A lot of having a massive winrate live is just mega exploiting the fish by overfolding in spots and overbluffing in other spots, just gotta be super zen throwing good hand after good hand into the muck sometimes. Gl at the tables

Yeah it's great to exploit live and it's funny you mentioned this now because I think I came to a realization while playing today. In my first few years playing I was a big nit. I was afraid of losing pots. I didn't want to VPIP unless I had a very good chance of winning the pot.

Recently I've worked more with theory (in cash) so I'm more focused on making sure I don't overfold, I don't overbluff, I value bet thin enough, etc. But I also have no fear. I'll always pull the trigger if I think it makes sense in the moment.

Today I realized that I'm playing my best when I'm blending these two ways of thinking. When I reign things in and look for excuses to fold, rather than excuses to put money in the pot, I'm by far playing my best. Today I defended As9h against a UTG open and flop came Q87hh. He bet 40% and I was thinking about whether to raise or call, at which point my mind kinda snapped into place. "We are early in a tournament. People do not like folding. Make things easier on yourself and find a reason to fold here." So I folded. I think many headaches would've been avoided on this trip thinking and playing more like that. The time to not fold the As9h is with 25 people left when people still want to open and c-bet, but they're looking for reasons to fold and give you credit when you fight back.

Day 15: Wednesday June 14

Needed money so went to the bank then got some food before heading to the Wynn. Got there at 2:15 and was eventually seated at...4PM!!! People were ready to fire this last flight of the $1600 2m.

Wynn $1600 1C

I sit with 30k at 300/600 and open 77 utg1 to 1400. Next seat calls as does the BB. Flop and turn check through on AQQ8 and I then elect to bluff the 8 river for 2.5k when BB checks to me. Both players have now had 2 opportunities to bet at this pot and they've each skipped both so I figured I'd take a shot. Next seat snap calls and wins with AK before making a comment to the girl on his left, "you didn't wanna squeeze this time huh?" While I'd fold 33 and 22 pre, I would still open 44,55,66 and play them this way, so I think I'm bluffing too often on this river. I don't hate going for it since you can definitely overbluff in the right spots live, but I don't think this was one of them. It wouldn't be that surprising for BB to have Ax and say **** it and call river. It was kinda surprising that utg2 checked twice with an ace, and very surprising he both didn't 3b pre and didn't bet flop or turn, but that's just more of a reason to not bluff too often in this spot.

Same guy opens UTG and I defend BB with AhTd and face a spot I've seen an absurd amount of time this series. I xc AJ4hhd, xc Qd turn, and face a shove for 1.3x pot on the 9x river. One of these days I'm gonna get a river check back and win the pot, but today was not that day. I did at least fold rather than spewing off my last 18k like I have been all trip.

I complete 9d5h in the SB at 400/800 (just limping like top 80% of the deck here) and BB checks. Flop comes J73ss and I am going to xf rather than trying to make something happen out of nothing. He checks back and the turn is an offsuit 6. Welp, time to start betting. I bet 1.2k into 2.4k and he calls, river is an off suit 7. Not the best bluff card in the world but I still want to make sure I fold out missed flush and straight draws that have me beat. I'd check if I had a spade in my hand but decide to go for it with this and the 85 I have here that has no spade. I bet 3.6k and get called by K3 and lose.

EP opens to 1600 and I have...AA (ffs I forgot you can get dealt this hand) in MP off 12.4k. I call and 2 players behind call as well. Flop KT7ss and opener cb's 3.3k, I call, others fold. He asks to see my stack then shoves for my 7.5k on Qx turn. I call and he shows AK, river is a J and we chop.

I defend BB, fold a lot, and eventually have 8.3k at 1kbb when I find AJo in the HJ and shove. CO, guy who's beat me in all the hands, calls and shows KK. My patience is rewarded on the AQ4 flop! The turn is a K and I am eliminated.

I fire bullet number 2 and only have to wait 15 minutes to get back in this time. 25bb with blinds at 600/1200 and I'm gonna play tight and wait for a double. The blinds go through me, I defend and xf flop, I open and win the blinds, and eventually I have 26k and open KQdd from UTG1 to 2700. 3 players call and flop comes K84dd. This hand has a ton of equity so betting is fine but with no need for protection I go with a check. It checks to the button who bets 8k and the BB calls. It's kind of a weird spot where I don't have much behind and if I'm possibly beat here I'm going with it anyway, but what's best against hands I'm beating right now? I think when I have the best hand now the turn will often check through, which I don't want. So I decide to shove and try to get value from A high flush draws, worse Kx, etc. I shove and the button calls, the BB shakes his head and folds, and I am up against 44 lol. Board bricks out and I'm out again.

I text some people and tell them we are on dinner break so I can get back in with 20bb or quit. I completely feel like I'm gonna lose if I play but I'm not tilted, if that makes sense at all. I'm kinda at a point of disbelief where I feel it in my bones that I'm gonna lose, but I'm still enjoying the challenge somehow? It's like I've gone numb. Poker is very hard because no one wants to hear your struggles. What frustrates me the most is five minutes of venting helps me so much to leave things behind and move on, but there is truly no one out there who wants to hear that five minute vent. So I resort to writing it down here, which helps some, but when I get it out verbally, especially with someone who can empathize with it, I feel so much better. However, everyone capable of empathizing is completely uninterested in listening! So when I'm in a stretch like this I'm always caught in between "talking this out will make me feel better" and "no one wants to listen to me talk this out." It's like I know there's medicine behind the counter, but the pharmacist is telling me I need to take a dump on my friend's living room floor in order to get it. I have to choose between feeling good and agitating people, or feeling bad alone.

When I got back to my hotel room I late regged a $250 WSOP tourney and finished in 11th for $850. Won't be included in results but a cash is a cash. I went downstairs and got some beers and played some video poker in the Rio. I sat there and thought about the first time I came to Vegas, where I didn't sleep the night before, flew in early in the morning, then went right to the Rio for some $400 circuit event in February 2018. I remember looking at the chips and seeing "Las Vegas, NV" printed on them and I literally couldn't believe I was here. That was a really cool feeling that I'll never forget and I'll always cherish. I cashed that event, then I cashed another circuit the next day, then lost a Wynn tourney on day 3, then won a Wynn tourney on day 4. My parents still have that trophy as a gift to them for supporting me in a strange profession.

So I sat in that exact section of the Rio where that first tournament was played, drinking a Corona playing video poker, thinking about how I felt 5 years ago. It was pretty cool honestly. The Rio gets a lot of hate but I've got some good memories here. It was fun to reminisce flying to Vegas with Stephen Song, then being told to give a key to our third roommate who I'd never met before. I eventually found the guy and we hit it off pretty well. His name was Adam Hendrix. He was in line to win GPI Player of the Year last year until Stephen snatched it from him at the last second.

Anyway that's enough reminiscing. I guess all of this was to point out I've had success and fun memories here in Las Vegas but most of them were on a much smaller scale. I'm playing bigger buy ins in an era where the average player is so much stronger than he ever has been. I'm still a big winner in these games but it's way more likely to hit a stretch like this than it was with a $400 ABI in February 2018. A smacking like this might be what I need to keep me humble and get me working hard again. The sick thing is I kinda wish I was staying here the whole summer so I could grind right on through all of this. I might try to do that next year. For now though it'll be the WSOP 2k tomorrow with 1 re-entry; if I brick that there's a Wynn 1 day $1100 again the next day, and I've got a flight home the day after that. Regardless of how those go, I'll be back for the Main, where I'll try to recreate the magic of the last 2 years.

Daily Results

Time Playing-- 6:25
Buy Ins: $3200
Cashes: $0

Overall Results

Time Playing -- 90:50
Buy Ins: $28,099
Cashes: $4747

Day 16: Thursday June 15

WSOP Event #37, $2000 NLHE

I left the Rio around noon, Uber driver had a hell of a time finding where to pick me up then we waited in traffic for a while as I made the mistake of being dropped off at Planet Hollywood. Got some Chipotle then was finally in the tournament at 1:15.

30k starting stack, 300/600 when I got there, and the tournament started as every other has this trip.

I open 55 UTG at 300/600 and the SB, an older friendly guy who has pointed out (with the entire table AND pokernews corroborating) that he's knocked out the player formerly in my seat due to the older guy mixing up chips. He like misclick 3b A3s (maybe misclick 4b?) then was priced in to call a shove against AK. Dealer put the K in the window with two 3s behind it to bust the guy.

Flop comes A52ss and I realize this is the first time I have flopped a set in 16 days. A feeling flows through me that I haven't felt in quite some time. "How do I get max value vs a fish?" I have not asked myself that question in a very long time!

I bet 1500 into 4k and he calls. The turn is the Ks and I decide to continue for 3.5k into 7k. I want to keep getting value from his Ax and charge any sort of pocket pair that has a spade. He quickly minraises to 7k which I call. The river is an off suit 7 and he bets 11k into 21k. Well it appears I have run into a disguised version of the old classic "flop top pair good kicker and pick how much you'll lose on river." This time I'm playing "flop a set and decide how much you'll lose on river." I decide that the 9900 I put in the pot already is going to be all I'll be losing this hand and fold. After two weeks of paying in this spot I have finally learned my lesson.

Button opens to 1400, I call KsQh in SB off about 19k, BB calls. I'm aware I can shove here, I do not want to do that at a soft table with some fish on my right. Flop K96hh checks through. Turn 4h and I go for 2.4k of value with top pair, 2nd kicker, 2nd nut flush draw. BB calls. River is an off suit 6 and I have to choose whether to value bet or check. I hate to say it but I have that feeling in my bones that my hand is no good. If I was playing my A game I'd probably bet/fold here but I simply don't have it in me any more to put a bet out there and get raised; it'll hurt too much lol. I check, he bets 4.9k which is half pot, and I think I have to call after checking a hand this strong when so many draws have missed. I'm working hard on not paying off rivers wide but I think this one is simply too strong to fold. I call and lose to J9hh.

UTG opens to 1300, UTG1 calls, I defend Ah9c off 9.6k. Sorry, not folding this pre live lol. Flop T97ss checks through. Turn As and I bet 2.7k. Only UTG calls. River Js and the flush has come in 3 outta 3 times here. I check with 5.6k back, UTG tank checks and doesn't have a flush! Instead I lose to T8dd.

Button opens next hand at 600bb and I am all in with AJo in the SB for 5.6k. He tanks then calls 97cc. Jh in the window (dealer holds it there nice and long), KcTc behind it. I despise people who stand up before they bust but I certainly slid my chair away from the table, put my phone in my pocket, and prepared for the inevitable. Turn Ts, river 2d. What's this? We've won the pot??

I fold an orbit or two before MP makes it 2k at 800bb. CO calls and I shove something like 7.2k in the SB with AQs. MP older guy with an accent iso's pretty quickly, I show my hand, he waits before turning over his red kings. No wait, it's KQhh! Five bricks! We've doubled again!

It folds to me in the CO and I have pocket aces! My god, I cannot possibly win another hand, it feels too good to be true. I open to 1800, btn flats, flop comes J95dd, I have the Ad. I check, he bets 1700, I call. Turn 9x, I check, he bets 4.5k, I call. River 2x, I check, he shoves 11.2k, I call. I'm really gonna be a bit upset if he bet a 9 on flop and turned trips, but clearly I have a hand that must call down as it not only beats all the obvious draws that have missed but also beats some Jx for value. He shows pretty quickly after I call and as I look at his JTdd trying to figure out how I lost, I realize I have not lost, I have doubled yet again against quite the thin value shove on river! The flush missed! The spin is happening! I have 40k!

Mike Jozoff opens to 2.2k utg at 1kbb, I 3b to 6.6k with KTss in HJ. I decided I'd 3b black and flat red, maybe need a better way to randomize in the future but that was the plan. Folds to the older Euro in BB who tanks for AGES then shoves. Mike folds, I fold, Euro throws AQss over in my direction. I initially thought he was talking trash but I think he was just very fired up and asking me if he did the right thing lolol. Nh man.

I open AKo UTG to 2.2k, guy who got me with the J9hh then got me with the T8dd then I got with the AA, shoves for 19k UTG1. Folds to the older guy in the SB who starts tanking and making a speech which is kinda making me sick in that I'd really prefer to not have to decide whether or not to make some big exploit fold here, but he eventually folds. I call and UTG1 has KTo?? He doesn't get there??? Older guy claims 99, which would have won, which means if UTG1 doesn't decide to punt I'm losing the pot, and possibly busting if SB 3b the 99.

Folds to my button and I open A3o at 1200bb. BB has 10.2k and has lost quite a few hands in a row and he shoves. I call and he has K8o and the board bricks out. I think I am now at the point where I've won more all ins in this tournament than the entire last 15 days combined.

I'm up to 70k when the most interesting hand I played of the day comes up. I open KcJh UTG2 to 3.5k at 1500bb, Jozoff flats SB with quite a bit more than me and a fish in the BB. Fish folds. Flop K94ss and I elect to check back. In game I acknowledged the fact that I don't know what solvers do 50bb deep, but I know what my basic strategy has always been in spots where I know I'm not betting range. I'm going to check my weakest top pairs to A) protect my checking range and B) ensure that I'm still getting value from my stronger hands and not "trapping" too often. I was taught this strat by a very very good poker player who has been in tune with solvers for a very long time and has seemed to have taught himself a solid easy to play strategy that is loosely based off of what solvers do but easier to employ than "remembering" every tree. I'll get back to this later.

Turn is an offsuit 8 (K94ss8x) and Mike bets 13k into 10k. It's at this point I'm kinda regretting not putting a small bet out there with the whole range. I've played enough cash to know when the overbet comes on turn in a spot like this, villain is either going to check or shove for a lot on river. That being said, I have a mandatory continue here for two reasons. A) Putting some top pair into check on flop is meant to protect you from getting blasted off a weak range, so checking this hand on flop to just fold to a big turn bet is pretty contradictory logic. B) I don't think he's going to close his eyes and bluff every bluff on river, especially given I'll still have some KK, 88, K8s, 98s. I'm capped in that I don't have some strong hands like 99, 44, K9s, AA, AK, KQ, but I do still have the strong hands I just listed. When I call here my range gets much more condensed since so much is going to fold to this big size so I don't think bluffing everything on river is the best play.

River is an off suit 4 and he shoves for my 54k into 36k. Reasons to call: We have arguably the best hand we check the flop with. All obvious draws missed and if he has 44 pre, he now only has 1 combo of it instead of the 3 he had on turn. I now beat his 98s that was ahead on turn and might(?) bluff river. Reasons to fold: I have better hands. My range is condensed after calling turn and it's possible this is now near the bottom of it (though I should have KT, K7s, K6s). Having a J in my hand seems bad. I want him to have JT and QJ. While I tanked I thought it was possible that K7s and K6s make for better calls than KJ since I'd be shocked if he was shoving KJ for value. KJ and K6 would be the same hand strength then in that case and K6 only blocks 1 combo of 76s (which he MIGHT fold pre?? Prob not though) whereas KJ blocks QJs and JTs which for sure don't fold pre. Idk if I would've called K6, probably not. I think I was going to be happy with the fact that I have KK, 88, and K8s. But maybe I need more than just those to call against a competent opponent. In any case, I fold and move on to the next hand with 54k.

However, Mike is walking around after the hand talking to friends at other tables and I hear something along the lines of "yeah the 8 is key to have as a blocker...makes it so that I really only lose to the one hand." This led me to believe he had K8s, so after the tournament I messaged him asking and he confirmed he did indeed have K8s. We talked about the hand a bit and he suggested maybe calling K5s over my KJo, which was basically what I'd been thinking about while I tanked. Truth be told I'm not opening THAT wide pre, and he wants that K5 to unblock the 76, but K7 and K6 I think still make for better calls. I ran it through GTOWiz at 60bb because I'm cheap and only bought the version that'll allow me to run postflop stuff with certain stacks. It checks 29% of range on flop with KJo being some of that. SB then checks 79% on turn but uses an overbet sizing over half the time it does choose to bet. KJo pure calls vs that, then SB shoves river for 200% pot with a big chunk of the hands it wants to bet (again, Mike's shove was more like 150%, but I was using 60bb here instead of 47bb or w/e it was). Against that size, KJo calls something like 56% of the time, so it's clearly the hand that is very close to being indifferent. Those sim results led me to believe I was at least in the ballpark of understanding the spot while I played it which made me feel good about navigating a tricky spot against a good player.

UTG opens to 4k off a 40k stack at 2kbb and I am rewarded for my disciplined fold with KK in the CO. I make it 10k off my 50k stack and he calls. Flop JT9r and I cb 7k into 25k. This is a pretty good board for UTG I'd have to imagine but I think my hand is still happy to bet. This is a middle aged guy too who I could see peeling some stuff like AJo pre that I'm very happy to bet against. He does indeed shove his 30k and I call and am shown J8ss. My man has peeled a 3b with a hand that should fold the first time around but here we are, trying to fade J's, 8's, and 7's. And we do! Turn is the 4s and river is the As and I ask the dealer if he covers me given he has backdoored a flush. He does not and I have 10.5k left.

I fold 4 hands before getting K6o UTG with 10.5k at 2kbb and the BB ante looming. I fold. I post the ante and BB and have 6.5k back when MP opens to 4.5k and btn calls. I have Ts3c in the BB. I call? 2.5k to win 14k and I get to see 5 cards if I flop ANY equity? Flop Q42dd and I xf, saving 4k. I am rewarded next hand with QQ! HJ opens and CO, who has been in every hand since sitting at the table 20 minutes ago and is playing sooooooooooo slowly tanks before 3b'ing. I really felt my soul leaving my body while I shuffled my 10k for 5 hands then 4k for 1 hand while this guy tanked 2 minutes preflop multiple hands. I throw my 4k in there, 2 players call the 3b, flop is low cards, another player is all in, the tanker who 3b has AA and I am out of the MTT.

This was a pretty annoying way to bust. However, this tourney made me realize something. I lost a lot of money and buy ins without cashing a prelim last year too, but I didn't feel anywhere near this down about it. Why? Because so many of my tournaments last year went like this one! I was in there! I was playing pots and sometimes I won some! Eventually the result was always the same; I busted without cashing. But I'd spin up some stacks, I'd make some plays, I'd feel good about getting value or saving chips by folding or making a good bluff. There's been so little of that for 16 straight days this year. It's been get to MTT, lose a bunch of hands, lose an all in, re-enter, bluff gets called, value hand is no good on river, lose an all in, wait for the next day, repeat repeat repeat. This tourney today was actually kinda fun! I felt like I was playing poker again. I had another soft table like I did yesterday at the Wynn and the day before in the 3k six max. I think I've ran awful in that category up until these past few days as well. For two weeks NOTHING has gone right. But today some things went right. I eventually busted in disappointing fashion but I felt some LIFE for a change!

Tomorrow I will play the Wynn $1100 noon daily, and I'll probably play the Wynn $1100 5pm turbo if I bust that. Then on Saturday I'll fly home. This has been a very disappointing trip but I think I've persevered well. I've gotten down about things at times but it's never stopped me from firing the next bullet. Those kings are gonna hold soon and I'll have 100k in a WSOP event with some room to maneuver deeper in a tournament. Unfortunately it looks like it's gonna have to wait for part two of this summer.

Daily Results

Time Playing-- 5:15
Buy Ins: $2000
Cashes: $0

Overall Results

Time Playing -- 96:05
Buy Ins: $30,099
Cashes: $4747

Sorry to see it was such an annoying trip. Crazy how what is essentially a small stretch of negative variance can feel so frustrating and dragged out when it's live poker. Big +1 to what the other guy said about giving you props for always keeping it real in here. Not many people talk about the frustrating times of poker. Sucks that you feel like you can't vent the frustrations to many people. It's true that people tend to not want to hear it, but it's a difficult profession and everyone probably would feel a bit better when going through rough times if they felt they could vent about aspects of it to more people. Obviously it's annoying if someone is doing it all the time, but no one is immune from going through rough swings and at the end of the day we are all human and there will be emotion involved.

Hope you run better on the back half of the series. It really is amazing how rough stretches can **** with your confidence no matter how soft the fields are or how long you've been a winning player. But like you said one decent bink and it'll flow right back the other way. Are you going back just for the main or are there other events you'll fire as well? Good luck!

Thanks man, you're right of course that it's a small stretch of tourneys, but when 20 bullets equate to 100 hours of time sitting at a poker table it can certainly be tough!

I think the plan is to come for another 2 weeks or so. Probably like first 2 weeks of July. I'll have to check schedule, flights, and hotel rates to get a final decision.

Was gonna say: "fyp" but it's just a reframe. I have very little experience with live poker (98:2 online to live ratio let's say) but from reading you and others, it seems that the highs of live poker are much higher and so are the lows. It has this epic feel to it that online doesn't really (besides a little bit with series, leaderboards, etc).

My approach to try to stay sane when dealing with online short term swings is to take out all the narrative from it and consider it just a collection of spots. Instead of thinking I FT bubbled this big bird with heaps up top with a nasty flip that could be close in EV I just tag the spot, solve it, study it, rinse, and repeat next day, just like I do with some anonymous spot at a $55 late night 5k GTD. Im not like that in other areas of my life (or at least try not to) but for poker I try to approach it as cold and logical as possible.

But I guess that if you play WSOP it's impossible not to feel that epicness and get carried away by the swings in both directions. Even more so, feeling all that is part of the deal and like someone mentioned above, part of the journey which in the end, is the reward. Maybe when you get in a ton of volume (like the Iveys, Dnegs, Helmuts, etc) live events are just a collection of spots and it's just another day at the office but for us mortals is bright lights, big prizepools and TV cameras.

Once again best of luck and looking forward to read about that second trip.

Day 17: Friday June 16

Wynn One Day $1100

Last shot at redeeming the front half of this trip. I get to the Wynn at 1:45 for the last half of level 4, 200/400 with a 25k starting stack. UTG1 makes it 800, btn c's, I call AdQs in SB. Pretty standard squeeze spot but for my sanity and the ability to potentially cooler fish on btn and fish in BB, I flat. BB calls. Flop Q65ddd and the only thing going through my mind is "you are not entitled to this pot" lol. I keep losing the hands where I feel like I have the board locked down (KQdd on K84dd, 55 on A52ss, lots of other top pair good kicker spots) and I think a big part of the reason I've felt so frustrated is there's a subconscious part of me saying "finally, time to win a hand again!" Then I either don't fold a river I should, or I do fold the river and am tilted I can't even get to showdown with a hand that wins the pot a very high % of the time.

UTG1 bets 1k into 3.6k and I again flat a spot I could definitely xr and probably should often. Once again, I'm sacrificing a little bit of EV to stay sane and keep pots small. I think this strategy is absolutely fine to employ, especially early in tournaments with soft fields. Turn 8d gives me the nut flush (I do lose to 97dd and 74dd though!) and I xc 1.8k. River 2xI x he bets 2.8k, I shove for his 7.5k total, he snap folds. Sometimes this is gonna happen too! It's possible he was value betting a worse flush that knew it was no good when it gets shoved on, but it's also possible not raising allowed him to bluff 3 times.

I open to 1800 at 800bb with 88 in LJ, CO fish calls btn reg calls, flop Q85r checks through. With a reg in the hand I elect to check here, I'd definitely bet if it was two fish and I certainly could bet here. Turn 7x I bet 4.8k into 7.4k, fish calls. I envision a 6 hitting the river and it appears before my eyes as I'm staring at the spot on the table it's going to be placed. If I'm playing A game I prob block here, but if I block and this guy raises I A) am tilted and B) am concerned fish view small bets as weakness and decide to "rep the straight" and bluff. Reason B is of course the one to actually care about and I know that I can call smallish bets and decide against bigger ones, so I check. He bets 7.5k into 17k. It's a small enough bet, I'm quite high in range, and I think he will occasionally have bluffs. It's also possible he's betting for value with worse, which turns out to be the case here when I call and beat 66.

UTG makes it 2.2k at 1kbb, I 3b to 6.6k from UTG2 with AKo, he calls. Flop KJ8hh I cb 5.2k into 15.7k, he shoves 19.1k (I might've gone a bit smaller if I realized he was that short, I thought he had over 30k back, not a big deal), I call, he shows AQhh and I pay him off after the 6h turn. I count my stack after losing the 54k pot and I have exactly 25,000, a starting stack.

I open K9o on button to 2.7k at 1200bb. Both blinds call, both are older guys who have been grumbling about lots of different things all day. The one seat didn't tip a waitress apparently which was "disgusting." Everyone's playing too slow. Etc. Flop comes JJ8r and I have no desire to try to make these two fold off my short stack so I check. My success rate in getting a c-bet through in a spot like this has been <10% lately so I think it's simply too ambitious to bet, even though it's nice to put pressure on ace high and have a hand with some backdoors. Turn is a T giving me an open ender and SB bets 2.7k into 9.3k, BB folds and I call. River 7x and he bets 7.2k into 14.7k. I have 11.4k going to river and have to choose between call and shove. I think saving the 4.2k when I'm beat is probably worth more than trying to get value from...a T? I think for a while then call and old guy says nice call. I wait. He shows an ace. I wait. He looks at me. "Show or muck." He like kinda shows his other card, it was either a 6 or a 7, then I show my hand. "Why would you make me show a losing hand?" I was tempted to say "cuz you're a miserable prick and rules are rules" but instead went with "I can muck my hand if you muck yours so I'd just like to see your hand if I have to show you mine. It's nothing personal." "Hmph." If this guy wasn't grumbling all day I wouldn't have made him show, he's clearly a fish clicking buttons. But if you're gonna be annoying to the point I have to put earbuds in, you're gonna show me your hand at showdown if you try to bluff me. I know people get fired up about this kind of thing but that's my take on it. I also always snap show when I'm caught bluffing so it's not like I'm freerolling people in this spot or something.

I defend 88 vs older guy #2's UTG1 open, the one whose set of 6s I beat with a set of 8s earlier, and after flopping one set in 2 weeks, I flop my 2nd set of 8s against this specific guy on the AQ8ddd flop. He cbets 2.5k into 6.8k and I xr to 8.5k. I want to turn this into a 2 street hand if the turn is a brick, potentially betting small or checking if I boat up on turn, and figuring it out if 4th diamond comes. He calls, turn is an offsuit 3, I shove 25k into 24k. He tank calls KdKc and the river is......a 7c! Up to 75k.

Jake Daniels is seated at our table after max late regging on the 2nd break and comes with 25k at 1000/1500 and proceeds to put on a show. First he 3b/calls off A5dd MP vs MP and flops a flush vs AQ. He then isos K2s over an MP 5.5k shove and beats QJs. He then plays a decent sized pot against the guy whose AQ he beat where he 3b's pre, snap shoves flop, and the guy tanks (he's been tanking in nonsense spots all day). The second it's on this guy vs the shove I look at my watch and decide to give him 3:00 before I call clock. Jake is talking to him a ton, starts telling him he thought he had less chips and wouldn't have shoved if he knew, etc. At exactly 2:00 another player calls clock which makes me wonder if he was looking as well and gave the guy a shorter leash. Floor comes over and guy waits til 0 to fold. A few hands later the two of them are at it again, I think this time it's bvb. Slow guy check/shoves Q54dd, Jake snap calls and turns over QJ. Slow guy looks at Jake's hand, looks at the board, looks back at Jake's hand, at which point Jake grabs his hand and flips it face up and tells the dealer to run it. It was honestly one of the funnier things I've seen at a table in a while. QJ holds vs T6dd and Jake knocks this guy out, who had enough chips that he colored up the 100s on last break, in like 15 minutes, all while playing extremely fast. Pretty entertaining.

Jake probably VPIPs near 70% while I'm at the table with him so when I open KTss to 6.5k at 3kbb off 70k in MP and he 3b's to 18.5k from the BB, I think I have to peel. It's not amazing but I think I'll just try to flop a pair or a draw and hang on for dear life. Flop comes K85hhd and with how he's playing this is gonna simply be a cooler if we're beat. He bets 8.5k into 41.5k and I call. Turn 7d and he checks. Part of me feels like I'm always good here. I think most hands that have me beat want to keep betting with this many draws available. I have 47k back with 59k in the pot so it's a pretty natural shove for a lot of hands. That being said, I think I want to let him blast off on river and I have the worst K I can have here (think I'd go ahead and fold K9s pre). I debate shoving this one and checking when I have a FD to go with my king but in the end I settle on check. River is an off suit 8 and he bets 36.5k. Him not putting me all in is sort of concerning. It's something I do vs fish to try to entice a call and I think it's something you'll certainly see from someone like him. However, it's a dangerous game to make a decision based solely on this incomplete information and I think sticking to the plan of not folding is best here. I call and lose to AhAd, which might be the best combo of AA for him to check on turn since he has a lot less to protect against given I can't have an A high flush draw. I am left with 10k.

I fold 2 hands and am happy to see A7o UTG so I don't have to decide whether or not to put 3bb in with T3o or whatever. I shove, it folds to BB, who tanks for 60 seconds. After 45 seconds I considered mucking my hand and ordering an Uber back to my hotel because I simply cannot take this anymore. Finally he calls with 64o, board runs Q5548 and it's time to get the **** outta there.

I got some dinner with friends (lost CCR for like the 5th time in 7 tries on the trip) then saw the Spiderman movie which was really good. I finally checked out their air bnb house and I played Wingspan for the first time, a game they've been talking about a bunch and the reason for screaming CAW CAW at BYoon's FT. I won pretty handily and I gotta be honest, winning at something has never felt so foreign. I ubered back to my hotel and I'll be checking out at 11am for a 4:30pm flight home. I think I'll redeem my 4 free drinks and play some video poker in those hours in between.

Daily Results

Time Playing-- 4:00
Buy Ins: $1100
Cashes: $0

Overall Results

Now that the first half of the summer is complete I'll do a more thorough recap of how things went. In short, they went bad. Last summer I bricked a lot but had stacks in everything and ran bad late in day 1s and early in day 2s. This summer I bricked early and I bricked often. I am extremely proud of the effort I put in. Whether I was playing well or not, I was getting absolutely destroyed by the deck, and I just kept coming back. In total I put in 100:05 (it wasn't intentional to drill that 100 hour mark!) in 17 days for an average of almost 6 hours per day at the tables, and that's assuming zero days off.

WSOP

Events Played: 7
Bullets Fired: 11
Buy Ins: $16,500
Cashes: $0

Venetian

Events Played: 2
Bullets Fired: 2
Buy Ins: $2670
Cashes: $0

Wynn

Events Played: 4
Bullets Fired: 6
Buy Ins: $8100
Cashes: $2869

Aria

Events Played: 2
Bullets Fired: 2
Buy Ins: $0*
Cashes: $0

*$4300 in total buy ins but both entries were won from a satellite.

Live Totals

Events Played: 15
Bullets Fired: 21
Buy Ins: $27,270
Cashes: $2869
Net: -24,201
ROI: -89%
ABI: $1299

Online Bracelet Event Totals

Events Played: 5
Bullets Fired: 8
Buy Ins: $3899
Cashes: $1877.90
Net: -$2021.10
ROI: -52%
ABI: $487

Time Playing -- 100:05
Buy Ins: $31,169
Cashes: $4747
Net: -$26,422

I feel I have gotten more comfortable throughout this trip with losing amounts of money that would have made me very uncomfortable in any other point in my career. I feel less guilt about losing a lot, especially being around people who brick a 10k or two and are able to let it not affect their moods. I'm happy with how I handled this trip. I think I did a decent job in coming up with some minor adjustments (start folding rivers!) halfway through without going crazy and feeling like I needed to overhaul my entire strategy or something. It's a strange thing to lose this often at a game like poker. Everything in me wants to figure out what to change in order to win but sometimes there isn't anything that should be changed. Other times you might be making big mistakes. It's hard to tell in poker. My past results would suggest big changes are not needed but I'd do almost anything for a deep run at this point so I tried to dig deep to find little things I could do better.

The first half of the summer has come to a close but I'm not giving up. See ya in a couple weeks!

To whatever degree you are comfortable sharing (totally fine if don't want to share anything about it), what approach do you take with live poker tournaments? Obviously the ABI is much larger than online but it's also generally very soft in these $600-$1500 buyins. Do you think there's a line for # of tournaments you're gonna play in a short period of time where it makes the most sense just to yolo it vs I assume selling each event down to whatever a comfortable ABI is for you? I'm thinking about firing more live mtt in the future to keep things fresh and always feel torn btwn just wanting to yolo and keep all of a potential big score vs not opening up the chance of bricking a small handful of tourneys that eat up a months worth of online $ev.

I think you need to do whatever you're comfortable with. Figure out what number you'd be comfortable losing then plan as if you were to bust every tourney you planned on playing.

I decided I was willing to fire up to 3k per bullet so when the 5k freezeout was on the schedule I sold enough to only be in for 3k of my own. I might move that number down in the future because I don't think I full anticipated bricking 20 out of 21 bullets like this. I knew it was possible but felt like it was unlikely enough that it was worth the risk. I'm starting to think runs like this are much more likely to happen than I'd like to admit! So maybe in the future I move my number down to $2500 or $2000. Or maybe I come back in July and bink something big and feel like I'm untouchable again

So I'd recommend coming up with either a total amount of money you're willing to lose, or an amount you're comfortable losing per bullet, independent of what events you're thinking of playing. Once you have that number, look at the schedule and plan accordingly.

Great write ups as always, it really is interesting to be able to read about your journey in such detail. I always open your posts hoping to see a deep run/bink and will continue to do so! Thanks for sharing, and good luck as always.

Thanks man! Hopefully that bink will come soon.