Gray-haired poker TRs: Living the WSOP dream

2024 WSOP: May 31, Event 5B Mystery Millions Bounty NLHE (part 2 of 5)
“This table will not fold … Level 4 and a player vows “I’m only going all-in from now on” … Ninja slows plays aces and I make him pay … A controversial 800 chips

Level 3
200/400/400

Seat 9 shows up and is carrying what appears to be a big bag of food from Subway. So, we’ll call him Subway. He is wearing gold sunglasses.

We are now seven-handed and the monster hands keep happening. There have been numerous flushes. There is a two-pair versus a better two-pair clash. I am not involved in any of these.

In the big blind I have 5-6 and there are a couple of limpers ahead of me. I just call. I flop an open-ended straight draw and call a bet. I whiff the turn and fold to a very oversized bet.

I am dealt A-Q suited. There are two limpers, and I raise to 2,000. Only Sparkly calls. The flop is 3-4-5. I bet and Sparkly folds.

I again mark my notes that I want to get into hands with Sparkly with good hands because he is overcalling something fierce with very speculative hands. I also mark my notes that RoyWilliams seems to be bluffing a lot, and, when he gets in a hand, he will fire multiple bets when he doesn’t have it.

Outdoorsman is wearing airbuds. And every time someone raises with a single big chip while verbally announcing a smaller size (i.e. a 1,000 chip and saying 700), he has to take out the earbuds and ask what the amount was or ask whether it is a call or a raise.

A couple of the players at the table are very sticky when in a hand (Subway and Sparkly). After a four-way big hand in which RoyWilliams bluffed and got called, RoyWilliams says with frustration, “This table will not fold.”

End of level 3: 45,400 chips.

Level 4:

300/500/500

Roy Williams goes all-in with As-10c for 17,000 chips into an unopened pot. Subway calls with 2-2. RoyWilliams is behind the entire way until a fourth spade hits on the river giving him the nut flush. RoyWilliams says, “I’m only going all-in from now on.”

Subway keeps calling people incredibly light, and somehow he starts winning way more often than he loses. I tell myself not to try to bluff him since he almost never folds.

We are still only seven-handed

I get involved in a hand with 8-8. Ninja bets UTG. I call UTG+1. Outdoorsman raises big from UTG+2. Everyone folds, including me.

End of level 4: 42,900 chips.

We go on break. I eat the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I made this morning. I check and there are no e-mails or calls from work. Apparently, my tenants read my memo to them, telling them who to call from my staff with issues while I am out of town. I check the stock market and my stocks are all headed in the right direction today.

Level 5

300/600/600

I have A-Q in the small blind. There are three limpers ahead of me. I raise to 3,000. Everyone folds.

In early position I have A-J no hearts. I raise to 1,800 and get three calls. The flop is 2-8-9 two hearts. It goes check, just check, someone raises. I fold while everyone else in the hand calls. The flush ends up getting there. So many big hands at this table.

Ninja tries to bluff Subway on the river. Subway calls with middle pair and wins.

End of level 5: 40,000 chips

Level 6

400/800/800

I have 4-4 and I raise. Sparkly calls. It is worth noting that after the first-hand double up led to Sparkly playing way too many speculative hands and calling light too much, he has bled away a bunch of chips and now seems to be approaching his original stack. This has resulted in him becoming more conservative of late. So, when there are a bunch of high cards on the flop and turn, which missed me completely, I decide that a bluff should work against Sparkly. I bet, he calls. I am surprised. The river is a blank, and it goes check-check. Sparkly turns over 7-7 to win the pot. Apparently Sparkly is not done being sticky light, which in this instance worked out for him.

Not the end of the world. I still have plenty of chips. La la la. No need to rush. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. No need to go crazy. I am calm.

And then, in the blink of an eye, chips are flying, a dispute ensues, and I choose not to get ugly about it.

In my next hand, there is one raise and Ninja (with A-A) just calls. I have Q-J in the big blind and I just call. The flop has three blanks. It checks all around as Ninja decides to again slow play his A-A. The turn is a J. Ninja bets. I call having paired the high card on the board. The other player in the hand folds. The river is a Q. I have made two pair to run down Ninja’s very slow-played A-A. Ninja bets big and has only scraps left behind (800 chips). I say “all-in.” I think Ninja says call, and I show my hand. Ninja says he has not made the call yet. I say I thought you said call. Someone else at the table said that while Ninja said something, he did not say “call.” It’s possible I suppose that when I said all-in, Ninja maybe made a noise of frustration, sensing that his aces might have been cracked. But if you put me on the witness stand, I’m testifying I heard “call.” I’m not sure what I could have done differently. I thought he said call, so I showed my hand first since I figured I had made the final raise. Seeing he is beat, Ninja now says he folds. I make the decision not to call the floor over this. I’m not going to argue about it since 1) another player at the table claims Ninja did not say “call,” and 2) it’s only 800 chips in dispute. It’s possible he made a noise that was not “call,” although I do not believe this to be true. That said, Ninja has been a very nice guy at the table, and my read of him is he doesn’t seem like someone who would angle shoot. Maybe I am being too nice, but I let it go. If the roles were reversed, I would have given up the remaining 800 chips since I know there is no universe in which I’m folding to keep these last few chips. But if he truly didn’t say call, I guess he is within his rights to hang on to the 800 chips. He said something, but the one witness who has spoken up says it wasn’t “call.” No one else from that end of the table speaks up. I can’t imagine what else Ninja could possibly have said in that situation. I’m not going to stomp my feet, pound the table and demand a floor over 800 chips. Life is too short. Plus, I think I will play much better moving forward if I just let it go as opposed to getting myself all worked up over the 800 chips. Regardless, I now have 53,200 chips (should have been 54,000 chips, but I said I’m letting it go, so …😉.

There is a brand new player to my right. Literally, his first hand at the table. He has what looks like a man purse. Normally, this fact would get him named ManPurse, but he is a very nice guy, so I name him something else a little less demeaning a tiny bit later

What follows is, I think, a terrible decision on my part. If you want to be results-oriented it turned out to be a massive blunder on my part. But let’s not be results-oriented. Before the flop, I think what I did was awful. After the flop the results were awful on steroids.

RoyWilliams bets from UTG. What I have increasingly noticed about him is that once he makes an initial bet he follows up with steady, aggressive betting. NewGuy/ManPurse/NewNameLater raises. It is his first hand at the table so I have no idea what kind of player he is (I later realize he is a LAG player, but I did not know it during this hand).

I have J-J. I am unsure what to do. My thought process at the time was re-raise or fold. I end up folding. My rationale was the new guy looked very confident and strong. Plus, it’s his first hand here. I was worried he had Q-Q, K-K or A-A. Even A-K is only a coin flip. So I really didn’t want to raise. I don’t want to play for stacks with jacks. As for calling, the way RoyWilliams has been playing so aggressively once he makes an initial raise, I thought there was a very good chance if I just called, he might blow me off my hand with a re-re-raise. After all, his initial bet was from UTG. In hindsight, I think I should have called, but in real time I thought I was behind.

Then the flop came J-rag-rag. I would have flopped a set. Now I am absolutely sick to my stomach. I have no idea what the betting was after that, because I was so livid with myself. I did not go on tilt, but I was really beating myself up internally for a couple of levels after this hand. I’m not sure which player won with K-J for top pair, but obviously if I had played and flopped a set versus their top pair strong kicker, I would have won a ton of chips. The thought running through my head was, “I am bad at poker.”

I got over the 800-chip controversy immediately. It took me a while to get over having folded J-J given the results of the flop.

End of level 6: 51,000 chips.

2024 WSOP: May 31, Event 5B Mystery Millions Bounty NLHE (part 3 of 5)
I correctly make a difficult call … I run a big bluff

Level 7

500/1,000/1,000

NewGuy/ManPurse now gets a different name. He is very chatty. Very friendly. A genuinely nice guy. He takes out a pack of Trident gum and offers me a piece. I say thanks, but I don’t chew gum (when I do I chew too hard and give myself a headache). He then offers a piece to everyone at the table. Thus, I rename him TridentGum.

I am dealt 8-8. There is a bet. I call. Two more people call. My set mining does not happen, and I fold to a bet.

Next, comes a crucial hand against Subway who has continued to play way too many speculative hands in a very sticky manner.

I have 10-10. There are five people that see the flop. The runout of cards is 5-6-6 … 7 … 4. I can’t read my notes about the betting on the flop and turn, but on the river it is down to Subway and me. Subway bets the river. I have two pair (my 10-10 and the pair of 6s on the board). That said, there are four to a straight, not to mention full house possibilities. This is a consequential pot. To my way of thinking, this is not an easy call. But I choose to play the man and not the cards, and the man has been playing a lot of speculative holdings since he came to the table. The potential flaw in this line of thinking is this board smashes the range of someone who plays too many speculative hands. Ultimately, I don’t believe Subway, and I make the call.

Subway has 5-7, both of which paired up on the board, but the problem for him is that one of his pairs has been counterfeited. My two pair are better than his two pair. This is not a call I would have been able to make in 2019. I now have 70,000 chips.

A couple of hands later, Subway busts out of the tournament.

There is a new player two to my right. He is foreign (Russian?). Throughout the many levels to follow, he is intently watching college baseball on his cell phone. He says it is the March Madness of baseball. We’ll call him CollegeBaseballFan.

End of level 7: 70,000 chips.

Level 8

600/1200/1200

A couple of players and I get into a conversation about the inordinate amount of monotone boards that have flopped the last few levels.

CollegeBaseballFan is on the button, and as he does every time he has a chance when first to act, he bets into my big blind. I have a smallish pair. I decide I have had enough of him attacking my big blind, so I raise. He re-raises me big and I fold. Being results oriented, I regret at the time making my raise and fold. At this stage of the tournament, I write in my notes that I think CollegeBaseballFan is a straight forward player. When he’s shown down, he has had the goods. In time I will come to realize that he is a very aggressive player.

Meanwhile, I now realize that TridentGum is extremely LAG.

End of level 8: 58,800 chips

Level 9

1,000/1,500/1,500

In seat 2 is a relatively new player to our table. There is all kinds of nickname potential for him. He is wearing an Amarillo Social Club hoodie. I can name him AmarilloSlim. He has a Charlie the Tuna (mascot and spokes-tuna for the Starkist brand starting in 1961) card protector. CharlieTuna is a possibility. Ultimately, it does not matter because he does not last long.

Outdoorsman wins a monster three-way all-in when his K-K holds up against A-Q and 8-8 (somewhat short stack). I now have the table chip leader to my immediate left.

End of level 9: 51,500 chips.

Level 10

1,000/2,000/2,000

TridentGum busts.

A key moment in this tournament takes place. I am dealt Ac-Kc. Someone bets (I can’t read who in my notes), I 3-bet. Big stack Outdoorsman calls and the initial bettor folds. The flop completely misses me. The flop is 3c-4-5. I decide to run a bluff. I bet 25,000. This is a very big portion of my chips. My thinking was, I have two over cards, an inside straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. I have equity if it becomes necessary. Outdoorsman goes into the tank. He is conflicted. He folds. He asks me what I had. I say I will tell him if/when one of us busts.

Very next hand, I have 10-10 UTG. I bet, and everyone folds. I have 72,500 chips.

In the small blind I have 9-5 suited. Someone limps, I just call, big blind checks. I miss everything on the flop. It goes check-check-check. The turn offers no help. Check-check-check. The river offers no help, and I fold to a bet.

End of level 10: 70,500 chips.

I've made a lot of bad folds with JJ in my time on the felt. You learn from these situations. The hand is way too strong to ever fold against a single open, even from a tight player UTG. Flatting is fine. Raising is fine. Here I probably like a flat absent any real into on the UTG player. If a maniac 3-bets after you flat and UTG folds, that's great news. You play for it all with the maniac, probably way ahead of his range.

The instinct to avoid major confrontations and uncomfortable runouts with medium showdown value is natural, but also something that can cost us a lot of chips in the long run. A lot of times UTG has a smaller pair or an AK/AQ/AJ/KQ type of hand that misses the flop. Sometimes you will spike the set against an overpair, in which case you can get it all. Since we're in position here, we have the luxury of acting second on every street, which is important.

Overall it sounds like you played a lot of hands very well and had a good instinct to stab in spots where you could steal pots post-flop with marginal holdings.

One quick thing about this; if you want to 3-bet someone light it's much better to do that with a blocker hand rather than a small pair. If you had something like 44, that combination does not block any of the strong hands opponent could have. For a pure re-steal I would rather go with stuff like A7s, QTo, K4dd or whatever. Basically anything that has some blocking properties but that can at least flop something if called.

Fwiw, I used to make this mistake myself many times in the past, taking very junky hands for 3-bets when I got tired of someone raising. Granted, if your goal is only to take down the pot pre, and use range advantage on certain boards to continue betting post, then your cards doesn't really matter.

Sorry for only replying with strategy advice; I really enjoy this TR regardless if I don't always agree with the lines you take. But that's the beauty of poker, everyone plays differently and there are more than one strategy to succeed 😀

@dogface
There was a raise and reraise in front of him.

Oh my bad. In that case the fold makes a lot more sense. My apologies, rp.

BigWhale: Feel free to impart any strategy advice. I'm just learning and my ego can handle constructive criticism.

DogFace: Not a problem. No apologies necessary.

2024 WSOP: May 31, Event 5B Mystery Millions Bounty NLHE (part 4 of 5)
Ben Yu joins the table

Level 11

1,000/2,500/2,500

Four-time WSOP bracelet winner Ben Yu joins our table. His chip stack (eight 5,000 chips) that he brings with says he has late reged. I later read on WSOP.com that he finished in 15th place of the Event #4 $1,500 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better (8-Handed) today, so my guess is he hopped into this tourney right after his deep run ended.

There is a slight difference in experience and accomplishment. Ben Yu has career poker earnings in excess of $9,000,000. My career poker earnings are still a paltry four figures. To say I am David versus Goliath is an understatement. I am David without the slingshot against Goliath. The good news is, this does not bother me.

I draw upon a long-ago experience to deal with the prospect of playing against one of the best players in the world in Ben Yu.

In college, I played on the University of Michigan ultimate frisbee team (yes, there will eventually be a point to this story). It was a club sport, but we practiced 3-4 times a week and, as an example, during my senior year we travelled to Florida, Washington D.C., Ohio and Illinois for tournaments. We took it seriously, but we had fun doing it. There was a guy who practiced with us (he was getting his Master’s degree at Michigan) but did not play in tournaments with us because he played for Windy City, an elite team out of Chicago. Back then the top teams were not college teams, but instead were teams of players who had graduated and mostly had full-time jobs. Master’s Guy knew I was from the Chicagoland area, and he told me I should hook up with Windy City once I graduated and returned home.

Master’s Guy vouched for me and I went to my first practice with Windy City in the early Fall of 1984. At the time, Windy City had just recently won the World Championship in Lucerne, Switzerland. On this team, I was good enough to practice with them, but not good enough to make the tournament roster. During local tournaments when Windy City had two teams playing, I suited up for the B team. What I brought to the team/practices was speed, tenacity, a fearless ability to make near impossible diving/leaping catches, and elite defense. That was why I was allowed to practice with the team. My flaw was mediocre throwing skills, which was why I was not good enough to play in tournaments with the Windy City A team. From my first practice with Windy City, it was instantly apparent that the intensity level of these guys was unlike anything I had ever seen. Practices were wars played at a higher level than any tournament I ever played in for the University of Michigan ultimate frisbee team. The Windy City players were all gas, no brakes. They were ferocious, playing an all-out, attacking, risk-taking style that led to the following description in SKYD magazine: “Admirers called them ‘fearless,’ detractors ‘brainless.’ “ (https://skydmagazine.com/2014/03/windy-c...)

When I joined the team, what people were calling them was “World Champions.”

During one of my first practices with the champs, I was on defense when the other team threw a long pass to one of the stars of Windy City who was racing down the field wide open. I left my man, caught up to the Windy City star from behind and just as he started to go up in the air to catch the pass I dove over the top of him, high-pointed the frisbee with no regard to my well-being and knocked the disc away. It was a phenomenal play on my part, but there was just one problem. I didn’t know how to fly, meaning I had to fall back down to earth. When I landed it was in full belly-flop mode. This completely knocked the wind out of me, something I had never before experienced. It felt like I would never be able to breathe again. It felt like I was dying. If I had a million dollars in my pocket, I would have gladly given it up for just one more breath of air. Eventually I was able to breathe again. The star player said to me, “Nice defense. Play like that and you can keep practicing with us.” This was the greatest play I had ever made. To the star player, this type of play merely meant it was Tuesday. Just another day at the office for the World Champions.

I think something like seven members of the Windy City team would eventually be inducted into the Ultimate Hall of Fame in the player category. I practiced with Windy City for over a year. My throwing skills were improving and I’d like to think I was a couple of years away from maybe – MAYBE -- climbing my way to the fringe of the A team. I never got to find out. I was driving to work one day, when some lunatic was driving at what seemed to be Mach 10 speed behind me. He got too close to me, hit the breaks, but, leaving a 40-foot skid mark on the road, rear ended my car. Inside my car it sounded like a bomb had gone off. Loudest noise I’ve ever heard. I suffered a lower back injury that ended my ultimate frisbee playing days.

The point here, as it pertains to poker, is I went up against the best in the world and did not flinch. There were future Hall of Famers everywhere you looked during Windy City practices, and I never backed down. If you think aggressive pressure from Ben Yu will send me running off screaming for my mommy, well, all I can say is that would be nothing compared to the practice fields just off of Lake Michigan in Chicago back in the day when I practiced with Windy City. I wasn’t better than the Windy City superstars back then and I’m not better than Ben Yu today, but while I may lose the battle of skill I will not back down because I get paralyzed by fear.

In addition, it turns out that Ben Yu is an extremely likable guy. I thought it was him when he joined the table, but nobody else at the table seemed to be paying attention to him. A person came up to him and started talking to him in a way that made me think they were both high-end tournament poker pros.

Eventually my curiosity got the best of me. At the poker table he was seated directly across from me, and I said to him, “Excuse me, what is your name?” He said, “Ben.” I said, “Ben Yu?” He said, “Yes. Have we played against each other before.” I said, “No, but I’ve seen you at a final table before.” He asked me my name. I told him my first name. He asked me where I was from. I said Illinois. He said, “Very nice to meet you.”

Meanwhile, poker is being played.

Roy Williams bets 7,000. I have Q-Q and I bump it to 20,000. RoyWilliams folds A-J and isn’t happy and he says to the player next to him, “I haven’t raised in an hour, and he raises me?”

In a very short period of time Ben Yu has built up quite a nice chip stack. I didn’t even realize it was growing this much. It didn’t happen in one big clash. When I am later talking to RecentRetiree during a break, he says Ben built his stack through aggression/probably bluffing.

A monstrous pot occurs. I can’t tell from my notes who had what, but from memory I think Outdoorsman had A-Q, RoyWilliams had A-A and someone else had K-K. I may have the people and the hands mixed up, but I think this is right.

The runout is K-2-Q … J … 5. The A-A gets cracked. Outdoorsman is out of the tournament and Roy Williams is decimated but still has a very small amount of chips.

As he is getting ready to leave, Outdoorsman asks me what I had in the hand I promised to tell him about. I tell him I had A-K suited. I had missed the flop. I had made a move on him (although I still had the possibility of hitting on the turn or river). Outdoorsman laughs and says, “You SOB (or something like that). You got me. I thought you might be bluffing.”

I eventually notice that Ben’s stack has started to decline. He gets it all-in against a short-stacked RoyWilliams. Ben has A-8. Roy Williams has K-Q. The runout of cards is 3-10-8 … 4 … Q.

Roy runs Ben down on the river. Now Ben is down to 65,000 chips.

Sparkly, who has recently seen his chip stack increase, then makes a flush and decimates Ben, who has held back one chip. A chip and a chair for Ben.

I point to Ben’s one very lonely, very sad looking chip and say, “OK, let’s see you do your magic with that.”

Ben laughs and says, “It is going to be hard to do.”

Level 11 ends: 71,500 chips.

Level 12

1,500/3,000/3,000

Ben finally puts his single chip into the middle with 8-8. RoyWilliams goes all-in with A-J. Someone else (I don’t recall who) has A-Q. The runout of cards is 10-6-10-9-Q. The river card knocks out both Ben and RoyWilliams.

Because of the double knockout we are only five-handed, which is concerning because that will mean posting more frequent blinds. Fortunately, two players quickly join the table. Seemingly in the blink of an eye the blinds are becoming very punitive.

I am dealt 10-10. I have 56,000 chips, it’s not a hand that will be easy to play after the flop, so I go all in. Everyone folds. I realize going all-in here is overkill, but being totally honest I just don’t want to get outplayed when the flop has an over card (or over cards). This is me being inexperienced and not knowing how to play this situation.

Soon after that CollegeBaseballFan bets, I go all-in with A-J and CollegeBaseballFan folds.

End of Level 12: 70,000 chips.

Whale, you shouldn't ever apologize for giving good strat advice.

I stink at poker much less when I don't have to play postflop. I beat an actual poker author once when it got down to heads-up. Not to claim I'm a good pre-flop player, but much better than I am postflop. Nothing wrong with playing to your strengths. My "strength", such as it is, is pre-flop.

leon just posted his wild ride (VP and craps), I'm about to post the wildest ride of my WSOP tournament poker trip

leon just posted his incredible VP/craps insane ride on a roller coaster through a fiery inferno at warp speed as the tracks heave and threaten to collapse as it is not clear if glory or destruction awaits until the very end, my next post includes it's own pretty wild ride of a single hand in which four players (including me) put in heaps of chips with all-in after all-in after all-in where three of the players get to showdown (including me) in a hand for the tournament chip lead, and there are a whole bunch of outs and a big-time sweat until the last card is dealt.

Buckle up.

2024 WSOP: May 31, Event 5B Mystery Millions Bounty NLHE (part 5 of 5)
Kill Phil tactics used for a bit ... I go all-in with Q-Q on a K high flop … A 400,000 chip pot for the tournament chip lead, and I have a boat load of outs

Level 13

2,000/4,000/4,000

I am surrounded by huge stacks. The three short stacks are the three remaining players from the start of the tournament (me, RecentRetiree and Sparkly).

I need to make some hands.

I look down at A-Q and go all-in. Everyone folds.

CollegeBaseballFan raises, I have A-J suited and go all-in and CollegeBaseballFan folds. I have 88,000 chips.

I am going all-in lately and repeatedly in spots where I suspect a more experienced player would simply make a normal-sized bet. The hands I have recently gone all-in lately in these scenarios have been 10-10, A-Q and A-J suited. My reasoning is that these are very good hands, but not the high end of premium hands. Given where my chip stack is, my thinking is I am just happy to take down the blinds with these hands and keep chipping up. My thinking is that if I do a standard raise, get called and then see a flop that is bad for me, if my opponent raises I am going to be in very uncomfortable and confusing spots. And if I then fold, my chip stack really enters the danger zone. When I was dealt that first 10-10 hand, and I was contemplating how to play a hand that looks appealing preflop but not so much postflop, a book I had read long ago popped into my head. It was “Kill Phil” by Blair Rodman and Lee Nelson. My fuzzy memory of this book was that its premise was that when an amateur had a good hand but not the nuts preflop and wasn’t sure how to play it then they should simply go all-in. The idea was that pros like Phil Hellmuth (hence the book’s name Kill Phil) don’t like calling it off big and will probably fold most hands that they would make the call if facing a more traditional-sized bet. Since the better player is likely to outplay and defeat a lesser player by death through a 1,000 paper cuts, they don’t want the variance of playing a monster sized pot, winner take all. Given that I was getting uncomfortable with the number of big blinds I had left, I decided to play Kill Phil poker until I could boost my stack to a more comfortable number of big blinds. It was probably premature, but that was my thinking.

Sparkly gets knocked out of the tournament.

CollegeBaseballFan bets. By now, I have boosted my chip stack to the point where I don’t need to employ Kill Phil tactics. I have K-Q and I just call. Someone else calls. The flop is 2-2-4. I fold to a raise. I suspect I played this badly.

I have Q-Q and I raise. I get two callers. The flop is K-5-2. I put on my big boy pants and go all-in even though there is an over card. Both players fold. Phew. I can start breathing again.

I have been getting a surge of big hands. I wonder if the other players believe that or if they think I have massively switched gears.

We are still six-handed, which sucks because of the blinds. One of the players at the table starts complaining that the WSOP is doing a terrible job of breaking tables given how frequently, and for really long periods of time, there has been short-handed play both today and the prior couple of days.

Next up, we get a hand similar to the James Bond movie Casino Royale where everyone has a monster and I think four players go all-in. I am dealt J-J. At this point I believe I have a little over 110,000 chips. This is enough chips for me to deviate from Kill Phil tactics and start doing more standard raises. I bet 12,000. I get three calls. The flop is A-K-J. I have flopped a set on a very dynamic board. At this point my note taking goes completely kablooie as the action takes my breath away. Basically, three of us go all-in on either the flop (I believe so) or after the turn. The fourth player put in a bunch more chips but seems to have folded at some point since when cards eventually get turned over, I only see three sets of cards. I am in a daze, hanging on for dear life, as this hand has now burst our table into flames.

The most logical reconstruction of the hand seems to me that after the flop is that I and RecentRetiree, who is the shortest in chips, go all-in. I believe then another player, whose identity I don’t recall but is one of the two huge stacks calls. Then CollegeBaseballFan, the biggest stack at the table, jams for heaps. At this point I think PlayerWhoseNameIDoNotRecall folds since when cards are shown I only see three sets of cards, not four.

My reasoning for aggressively deciding to get it all-in was as follows:

1) Could someone have a set of aces or a set of kings? It’s possible but kind of unlikely that they just would have called my pre-flop bet rather than raise. Could they have A-K or A-J? There are lots of combinations of those hands that I beat. Could someone have Q-10 for a straight on the flop. It’s possible, but given my relatively tight table image would one of my opponents have called my preflop bet with only Q-10? It seems kind of loose at this stage of the tournament and therefore unlikely to me that one of my opponents has Q-10. But it’s possible since I have gotten very active lately because of a surge of excellent cards, and maybe they think I have shifted gears and am pushing less than premium cards. It's possible someone has the Q-10 straight, but I'm going with it's less likely that one of my opponents has Q-10. I am going with my belief that one of my opponents does not have the straight. It turns out that I am right. “One” of my opponents does not have Q-10. “Two” of my opponents (RecentRetiree and CollegeBaseballFan) have Q-10 for the straight.

2) Even if I am up against a straight (which I am), I figure I have a ton of outs. On the turn any A or K will give me a full house and any J will give me quads. I have outs. On the river, any A, K or Q will pair the board and will give me a full house. If a J hits, I’ll have quads. Heck if a 10 comes there is a straight on the board and we all chop. I have even more outs. Go big or go home is what I was thinking. This is my shot at a massive chip stack. If I back down and fold, I am back to being a short stack and I am probably not long for the tournament. If I go all-in and win I will have a mountain of chips. When I see where I am at against the straights, I realize that if I get a card to give me the winning full house or quads, I will have around 400,000 chips (at that moment according to WSOP.com, the chip leader had 365,000 chips).

Everyone has put heaps into the pot. There is a turn (I think) and river card (definitely) still to come. After an A-K-J flop ...

... the turn is a Q

If a 10 comes we chop three ways. If there is a J, Q, K or A then I get all of the chips. Eleven outs to win all the chips, plus two outs for a three-way chop. One card for the tournament chip lead. So many cards that will take me to the mountain top. Never have I wanted a card so badly. Come on, dealer, give me some paint. Give me an A on the river, which would take this hand from epic to titanic. The adrenaline rush is insane. I"m William Wallace in Braveheart. I 'm Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator. I'm so close I can feel it. This is the river card you wait your entire poker life to hit.

I’m still waiting. It’s a 6. I missed. I'm out. An ugly, boring, unhelpful 6.

I'm poker roadkill. Maybe I should have used my One Time. The letdown is staggering. I hoped this was my time. Hope, as they say, is not a plan.

I wish everyone good luck, and I leave the table. I have a flashback to something Ninja said earlier today about all of the massive hands that took place, declaring that this is “The Table of Death.” At the Table of Death, I am eliminated in The Hand of Death.

I walk out of the tournament area. I shake my head and I ... and I ... chuckle. I chuckle? What a strange reaction. I am not destroyed. I am amazed at how close I was to having the momentary tournament chip lead. Not the table chip lead. The tournament chip lead. How cool is that! This is exactly what I said I wanted. This is exactly what Teddy Roosevelt was talking about in his Man in the Arena speech that I started this entire thread talking about. I was this close to achieving something great, or being in position to do something great. Would I have preferred the out-of-body experience that would have occurred if I had rivered the winning hand? Yes, please! That is the feeling I came to the WSOP hoping to achieve.

But I put myself in position to possibly take the tournament chip lead. I am not getting my brains bashed in here at the WSOP. I have one cash. In another tournament I got my aces cracked to knock me out. Today I went 13 levels deep and had a shot at greatness and the tournament chip lead. I did not back down from the monsters under the bed in this epic hand. Plus, I am taking the heartache like a champ. In 2019 I was wrecked by the bad beats and coolers I endured. This year I am OK with the disappointment when it happens. I don’t enjoy it, but I treat it as glancing blows and not knockout punches. Poker can be cruel, and I am OK with that.

This is what I am thinking of as I walk through the Paris casino toward the cab stand to get a ride back to my hotel. I am proud of the fact that I fearlessly went for it. I dared greatly. I walk outside the Paris and take two steps, feeling the oppressive heat engulf me. My original plan was to play in a summer series tournament tomorrow at the Wynn. I call an audible. I make a U-turn and walk back into the Paris, walk back through the casino and march to the WSOP registration area. I register for flight 5C of the Mystery Millions.

I am going to slay this beast or die trying.

On the one hand, I think Wynn would've been an interesting experience and change of pace.

On the other hand, I can 100% relate to getting sucked into the WSOP vortex. Been there. Might be there again soon.

If you ever get the itch to come back to Vegas outside of summer, Wynn has some pretty great events at various times throughout the year.

It'll still be there later if you ever want to peek under that rock in the future.

Also, I believe Ben Yu is (or was) a 2+2er. Maybe he's reading this!

Agreed. Every time I'm there during WSOP time I include events from multiple venues in my itinerary and every year I end up spending pretty much all my time at the WSOP. I'm a shameless fanboy and there's no other experience quite like it for poker fans. It's adult summer camp!

Loving the recaps!!

Everyone was on 2+2 at one point.

No one is on 2+2 at this point.

JESUS H PAIR THE BOARD ONE TIME WILL YA?!?!!!

Been following along and have zero clue what any of the results are other than what you're posting, and the breadcrumbs you've left so far. Since we didn't see a huge stack breadcrumb I guessed you didn't win that hand as I was reading it but still...

PAIR THE F'ING BOARD

I know this is ridiculous thinking, but in real time I felt like if I accomplished anything, I only wanted it to be in the WSOP. I felt like a good result at the Wynn would, to me, pale in importance to an accomplishment at the WSOP.

Of course that is nonsense. If I had played in the Wynn series and cashed or better it would have been a great accomplishment. But in the moment, to me it felt like the WSOP was the major leagues and the more I played in it the more I felt like it was the only game in town for me.

Was this terrible game selection? Of course it was. But, as I said early in this thread, I wanted to go up against the best competition in the most important poker series in the world. I wasn't looking for something soft that I could get an easier result in, I wanted to be in the biggest Arena against the strongest competition. I was more focused on the experience than the financial outcome. Did I want a good financial outcome? Of course, but it wasn't as important to me as the experience. Given the choice between my WSOP min cash and a deeper run at the Wynn (say 25th place in a 1,000 person event), I would take the WSOP min cash. I know that sounds crazy, but being able to say I cashed at the WSOP means way more to me than a deeper run at the Wynn or a final table at a Resorts World tourney.

Again, no disrespect intended to the Wynn series. No disrespect meant toward Resorts World. I'm sure they are fine venues. I'm just telling what my mindset was in real time with boots on the ground. For an amateur/recreational player like me, the WSOP takes on a mythical, bigger than life persona. The more I played in it the more I felt like I didn't want to play anything else.

It's kind of like if you were to be invited to be a guest and play a round of golf at The Masters. I don't care how nice of a country club golf course you go to the following day, you are going to feel like you are slumming it.

The WSOP got its teeth into me and never let me go.

We've never met, but we are now friends.

I do think the WSOP tournies are softer than others at similar price points for this reason. the guys playing one or a few mtts over a week/weekend are going to the horseshoe to do it more often

All good. I didn't mention Wynn for the sake of softness or an easier path to a result, but merely as something different to experience. Yankees or Mets. Knicks or Nets. MOMA or The Met. That sort of thing. The other venues are not necessarily the minor leagues, but more like different pro games happening in different stadiums across the city. For example, Aria just had their big $3.5k main with Eric Baldwin, Rampage, and Shannon Shorr at the final table. You can jump around from venue to venue and find some really great events. If you're not vibing with a specific room, sometimes it can be nice to get into a different space.

WSOP is the Yankee Stadium of summer poker though for sure. Biggest spectacle, richest history, largest stage. It makes sense to prioritize it!

Eric Baldwin sat to my direct left in an upcoming tournament in this trip report.

maybe i missed it but what were the 2 hands besides the straight on the akj board?

There were two players who flopped the same straight with 10-Q. Another player seems to have put in a bunch of chips with a postflop call of two all-ins, but then the table's biggest stack jams it all-in and the caller then seems to have folded since his cards are nowhere to be seen once cards are turned over. My hand was J-J for a flopped set.

So it was my set of jacks needing to have the board pair for a full house versus two players with the same nut straight.

Event 5C Mystery Millions Bounty NLHE (part 1 of 6)
Already losing track of what day of the week it is … The world’s slowest dealer … Off to a poor start

Bullet number three in the Mystery Millions tournament. Will the third time be the charm?

I feel good about the way I am playing. I am not puffing my chest out and thinking that I am a force to be reckoned with, but I feel like I have been holding my own at the tables I have played at. I think that I am playing better than I did in 2019. It’s not that I think I played poorly in 2019. I actually think I played well and could have made some runs at making the money were it not for several horrendous river bad beats. That said, I believe that my thinking is much better during hands in 2024 than 2019.

I am solely focused on poker. I have already reached the point where I don’t know what day of the week it is without looking it up on my cell phone. If you were to ask me what day is it today, my answer would be, “It’s day 5C of the Mystery Millions.”

I get to my table and I notice there are only eight player chairs. I look at the surrounding tables, and they each have nine player chairs. I point this out to the Asian dealer, and he mumbles something indecipherable. I ask, ”Don’t we need one more chair?” He just smiles at me as if to say, it’s fine. OK, I tried.

I put on my hoodie before the first hand is even dealt, because by now I know it will be cold all day in this room.

As we are about to start, there are only four players seated at the table. It is announced that we should shuffle up and deal. That is what happens at every other table. It does not happen at our table. I try to be patient, but why isn’t the dealer dealing the cards? Finally, another player and I both say at the same time to the dealer, you can deal cards now. He hesitates, but then complies. What I quickly see is, this is The World’s Slowest Dealer. Everything is in slow motion. The incredibly slow way the dealer does everything makes me anxious. I want to say, “Can you please deal faster?!!!!!!!” I don’t say that.

In 2019 I had a tendency to play too aggressively during these types of very short-handed tables before others eventually showed up. Once the table filled up back then I typically had lost a small portion of my stack. Today the same thing happens, although maybe I am just being results oriented here as the level 1 hands I had kind of played themselves.

Level 1

100/200/200.

40,000 chips.

I am dealt A-K, and I bet and get called by a guy wearing a hoodie with the mascot of the University of Oregon on it, so we’ll call him OregonDuck. The flop is three uncoordinated rags. I bet and OregonDuck calls. There are two more cards that do not help either of us and we check it down. OregonDuck has me beat with his 9-9.

I defend my big blind a number of times and do not hit the flop and have to fold to a bet. I try to set-mine with 2-2 and do not improve. Steal attempts do not succeed.

When the level ends, I am surprised how much my stack has dwindled. With only four players at the table, play is very quick. I have posted a bunch of blinds and haven’t hit flops on any of them. The players not present whose chips are in play in the blinds have only lost a nominal portion of their stack. I have lost more than that. So, in summary, I have fared worse than players who have not bothered to show up on time.

End of level 1: 33,200 chips.