Hey guys. I'm new to the forum as a poster, although I've lurked for a while as part of my studying of the game.
I decided to open an account and post as a way to document my journey to/in the WSOP ME this year.
I've never been to Vegas before, and have no HendonMob cashes. I rarely step into casinos. I'm a nobody from nowhere. So this is completely new ground for me. But I've been a student of the game for a while; I've crushed my home games (which are actually rather large leagues of 40ish people each). I was able to win one of them this year to earn a WSOP ME seat.
Feel free to follow this thread, as I'll be updating it hopefully a couple times a day during my 8 days out there. Obviously I don't expect to be in the main for much of that time, but I do expect to play poker almost every day.
Also, this year I created a spreadsheet of my poker-playing schedule and leagues. It has helped me keep track of my earnings. Feel free to follow along! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing
Any advice for a newbie to Vegas/WSOP will be welcome. I could use the moral support!

Welcome to the forum OP, and a huge GL.

My first piece of advice is go to the RIO well before the ME, and get the gawking over. Then play something small there (1/3 cash, one of the daily donkaments etc.) just to get the jitters of playing there over with before the main too.

As for the main itself, I haven't played it, but I've played 1.5K WSOP events and the standard of play is much lower than you'd expect. Sure, there are a lot of good players there, but there are a lot of guys checking something off their bucket list as well.

IDK what the standards are in your leagues games, but I found much smaller bets to work at the WSOP than at league play. My standard open started at 2.75BBs at the lowest levels and worked its way down from there. By the time the bubble burst I was down to 2.2BBs. Similarly, flop c-bets can be about 1/3 pot and still get respect, whereas in my league games, anything under half pot was effectively a check.

Thanks! The leagues I am in are probably 50 percent nitty retirees, 25 percent bad regs, with only about 6-7 decent players and 2-3 players who I'd consider to be potentially winning players if they tried to 2-5 grind. It's very limp-heavy early in the monthly tournaments we have.
I pretty much know what to expect with the ME in terms of play. In my previous career, I was a reporter, and I actually reported on a local person who made a deep ME run the year Gold won. Since then, I've followed the main very closely because I've almost always known at least one person in it and I've often had to write stories about it. I fully expect the first few levels of the main to be very cash-game like. Considering I have six children and not a ton of money, I am positive I won't have nearly as much experience - particularly in the cash game-style levels - than many of my table mates. But I do have confidence in my game.
We'll see how it goes. I'll keep you this post updated if for no other reason than therapy and documentation purposes!
-Rob

Good luck!!! Hope you cash and more! Would be spectacular if you had a run to the final table, rooting for you to crush it one time. Looking forward to the updates but focus on the tourny and getting enough rest. Don't be scared, trust your gut, it's just another tournament!

Thanks a lot. Yeah everyone dreams of a deep run, but I'm just looking forward to the experience. No real expectations.
FYI, I'm playing 1B. I figure that way I can play, have a day off (July 4 in Vegas!!), then hopefully play 2A followed by another day off, then hopefully play Day 3. I don't buy into the belief that 1C is the softest, and I like the freedom that pattern play/day off/play/day off provides.

UPDATE: Went to Jumers in the Quad Cities for a final cash game before my trip, and dropped my transmission pulling into the casino. Had to get a tow to a repair shop and hitch a ride home, but it was after hours, so it took 2 hours for the truck to get there. Making this even worse, I decided to go ahead and go in the casino to play while I waited for the truck, but the poker room had closed(?!?!?!?). So I played blackjack. Bought in for $400, cashed out 90 minutes later for ... $400 on the dot.
I guess it's a good thing that I went, because this was probably the last time I was going to take my car on a drive longer than 2-3 minutes away before I took it to O'Hare (2 hours away). If I'd have dropped the transmission on the expressway in downtown Chicago, I'd have probably missed my flight aside from the other ass pain that would've resulted in.
So, this sucks. But that just means my run-bad is out of the way!

Wow! Def hoping for better luck moving forward.

So the car repairs are approaching 2 grand, which for a former journalist/current teacher/father of six, is a virtual f***ton of money. So I offered pieces of myself at no markup to my facebook friends and members of the poker league, and have received tremendous support. I don't know if it's faith in my game (I've had tremendous success in the league), or just kindness from them because I'm in a rough spot, or just they are action junkies who want a sweat (perhaps it's a combination of the three), but man am I glad I decided to do it. I've gone from being a little bit stressed to now touched at the support I've received and determined to do well for them.
I know this wasn't exactly a necessary update, but I'm treating this thread like a running diary of my experience, so I figured I'd share it! I leave in two days...let's go.

Latest non-update update: I was able to sell off 20 percent of myself, so my cash flow problem is a bit solved. I am not usually one to let life issues distract from my play, but that's not saying much considering the live tournaments I typically play don't have prizepools any bigger than 2K-ish. Flight leaves tomorrow; meeting a friend and then it's on to Day 1B for the main!

Good luck man

Good luck in the Main

Bagged Day 1B with 92100. I have the Mystack app, and I update it during breaks. My name is Rob Laird if you want to follow me more closely. Lots of hands I might go over later tonight, but I'm taking in Vegas right now, so yeah. Best highlight was four-bet, triple-barrel bluffing Jeff Lisandro for my whole stack. He folded river. Wreckless, yes, dumb, probably, but it worked, and it was fun! Play tomorrow.

Some interesting hands.
*blinds 200-400 second level, I had 66 in BB and faced a button open from a SUPER agro Scandinavian. I flatted after SB flatted, and we went 3 way to a 10-9-3 rainbow flop. Checks to button, who bets 1100. SB folds, I call. Turn is a 6. I take betting lead and bet 1500 only to get raised to 4K. I flat and see a 6 river. I check, he bets 8300 with 11K behind. I raise to put him all in and he instafolds.
*Boring until right before dinner. I have 75K. Get aces UTG+1 but face a UTG raise. My studying tells me that UTG+1 when facing a UTG raise is pretty much the only time it is good to flat aces, and even then, not always. But I do flat and we end up going heads up to a 10-9-4 flop. He bets 1100, I raise to 3500, he says, "ugh, my stack is so short!!! All in." At this point, it feels a lot like a set with that speech, but it's only 19K more into a pot of almost 30, so I call to see TT.
*one orbit later, I have Ad4d UTG+1 and raise to 1100 (bad). Jeff Lisandro 3-bets to 2700 from button, which he'd done a lot of. I could just give up, but my UTG range has been ultra snug, and his button 3-bets have not been, so I feel I can represent strength, and with a blocker to aces, I four bet to 5100. He calls. On a king high flop, I bet 6100, and he calls. Turn completes badugi with no real straight draws, and I bet 11, to set up a river jam. He calls. Duece on river and I jam. He tank foldd, I muck after ****ting myself.
Last hand before dinner, neither the dealer nor players see that the clock hit zero before he collects antes, but after collected, we are advised we must play the hand. I get AK on button but face an UTG raise. I 3 bet, and the raiser looks me up for a minute. I inform him that I have a monster, that he should fold so we can go eat, and that I'll show. Instead he 4-bets. I instafold face up, and he looks amazed as he tables aces. Dealer, for unknown reasons, flips over the would-be flop. King high.
*last level, there is an early postion raise of 1200, and four people call so I feel good about speculating with 3s4s. We go 6 handed to a 33T flop. Checks to me, dealer burns a card and I throw my hand in the air wildly to bet 3500. One caller in middle position who flatted pre, and a Q hits turn, full rainbow. I bet 6100 on the turn, and he calls. Ace river, villain leads for 10. I snap call, he shows KJ. I puke, but recover to bag over 90.

138,500 on 2A dinner break. Wild table.

Go go go!!!!
Nice updates and sick bluff on Lisandro! I would have been ****ting myself on that all-in bluff river shove as well

Huge congrats on making day 2 with more than you started with. Hope it keeps going!

Glgl op!

GL OP. Keep the updates coming.

Had some run bad after I moved off my wild table. Bagged up 79K and play today. I'll start with 40 bigs and Jake Schindler on my right. I will keep you guys posted. Thanks for the positive vibes!

Rather than try to type hand analysis on my phone here, I'll just post two facebook live videos here that I did on Day 2. Not sure how to embed, so I'll just post the links.

Dinner break update: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...5&id=688310324

Day after update: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...5&id=688310324

In the second video I really biff the details of the hand when describing it. I had Ts9c in BB facing hijack raise. I have him covered by about 25k (75k effective) and defend my 1k BB against a 2300 bet. Flop is TcKsXs. I check call 2500. Turn is Qs, he bets 5100, I raise to 15,500 to set up a possible river jam, but he jams first and I told., feeling pretty foolish. Later I defend As8s and hit yahtzee with 588 flop (two diamonds). I check raise flop and get two callers, and the pot is like 40K at this point. However, my SPR is less than 2:1, so I hesitate to fire after a 3rd diamond hits turn, and especially when a 4th diamond comes on river. Checks down and I lose to 66 with a diamond.

Sorry to hear about run bad, but congrats on making it through. Two of my pro friends haven't managed that, both going out yesterday.

40 bigs is plenty. Don't push it. You still have plenty of time to be patient and pick your spots.

Busted midway through day. Schindler limped on the button to my BB when he only had 25bb left. Sb calls, I check with q2 and about 40bb. I flop a pair and a heart draw. Gets all in on turn, I bust. Sb had two pair. The limp is what led to this. So weird.

Weird indeed. Nice run, though. Congrats on getting this off your bucket list.

A funny thing happened the day after I busted the main ... http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=606586

Grats! Just about pays for the ME seat.