Two Cards Are Not Enough - A WSOP Trip Report 6/3/24 - 6/13/24

Hold on, VAR is checking our last goal......... and it's offside, we're going to extra time.

Or in other words we're coming back to Vegas for a part two.

I made a huge oopsy before the original trip even started by telling my Mum that she could come and visit us in Medellin in June. Had I not done I would have just extended my original stay but as she was coming from England to visit me and her grandkids I had to go back, or else I might have been written out of the will. lol

So after being back home and doing things with my Mum and the kids for 3 weeks I was sitting in my regular PLO game in the Rio casino in Medellin after she had left checking updates of what was going on at the WSOP and thought why don't I go back for the end of the series?

I mean I'm not working for anyone at the moment so why am I playing in my regular game in Medellin when the series is still going on, with the best action in the world? There's still two weeks left. Go back now or leave it until next year?

A few clicks and we had a Copa Air flight booked via Panama and another reservation at the Flamingo.

I see a $3k 6-max PLO in your future.

Part Two - Day One - Saturday July 6th

Travel day. Medellin - Panama - Las Vegas

Not booking American again. This time with Copa and it’s much better.

Picked a bad day to travel. Missing 2 Euro matches and 2 Copa America matches. I manage to watch the Netherlands v Turkey game in the airport during a 4 hour layover in Panama.

Arrive in Vegas around 11pm and get checked into the Flamingo just after midnight.

They give me a room on the Linq promenade side and I can hear the loud music all the way up on the 20th floor. This won’t do.
I ring the front desk but they say they can’t change my room tonight but they’ll see what they can do tomorrow

I’m tired anyway. Will sort it out in the morning.

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😃

Looking forward to this.

Good luck!!!

Bonus WSOP poker. LVL run good.

let's go!

Part Two - Day Two - Sunday July 7th

I go down to the front desk around 11am to get a room change which they oblige.

It’s a little bit of a downgrade to a Go room which are 25 years old the clerk tells me but I don’t mind. It’s in the same part of the hotel as I was last time on the inside near the lobby elevators.

The room works just fine for me.

Pleased I got that sorted I head over to Paris to play the Eight game tournament.

I made a lot of 2nd best hands and never really got going. Busted around level 8

Disclaimer - Doing the TR a little differently this time writing it a few days after. Started off a little lax with note taking and hand histories but that will improve in the coming days I promise and I have some interesting ones to share.

Cash game action seems to have really dropped off at the WSOP so I walk over to Aria to check out the PLO.

I get seated in a 5-5 PLO with rock but it’s not a good game even though there’s a compulsory double straddle so it’s playing 5-5-10-20

I short stack it for $1,000 which I lose in a standard PLO spot. All in on flop with straight and flush draw against top set. I don’t get there.

I decide not to rebuy. The other games don’t look that great either. I think we might have to focus on tournaments this trip.

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Part Two - Day Three - Monday July 8th

Found the real flamingos

Only two tournament options today at the WSOP and they’re both NLH.

I like to gamble with the best of them but even I’m not crazy enough to play the $1k flip and go so I opt for the $600 Ultra Stack Flight B.

We were playing the ultra stack in the same room as the flip and gos though so I did watch a couple of them.

They’re pineapple format. 3 cards each and discard 1 after the flop. Best hand wins and is into the proper tournament tomorrow and in the money, the other 9 have torched $1,000 in about 3 minutes and are free to try again, which many of them do. No gamble no future [emoji23]

Meanwhile we’re trying to remember how to play with only two cards. It comes back to us like riding a bike and we gradually chip up in what seems like a soft field.

Long story short (and again sorry for the lack of hand histories) we maneuver our 60k starting stack up to 470k and into a bag at the end of the day.

We’re below average but still have some wriggle room with 19 bigs coming back to 10,000 - 25,000 tomorrow.

It was a late finish as it was a 2pm start and it’s after 2am when we bag. Tired I head straight to bed.

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Nice job on the bag!!

That's a nice looking bag.

Part Two - Day Four - Tuesday July 9th

We re-start the Ultra Stack at 1pm with the field split between Normandy and Provence which causes some logistical problems for the floor staff.

It seems a lot of short stacks made it as all I hear for the first hour is ‘payout on table x’ as they go bust trying to double.

I haven’t seen many playable hands or spots to get involved when I get dealt AK in the small blind. It’s folded round to me and I raise of course. The big blind is a good player whose name I forget but he won a bracelet this year. Anyway he 3 bets so I shove and he insta calls.
As soon as he calls I know I’m beat in a blind v blind cooler and it’s confirmed when he turns over KK in the big blind.
The case King comes on the flop and that was all she wrote. Slightly more than a min cash of $1,260

I hadn’t eaten before we started so opted for steak frites at Mon Ami Gabi after I busted.

The hostess asks me if ‘I’d like to eat right away inside?’
I ask ‘what about outside?’
She says ‘it’s 115 degrees outside’
I say ‘And?’

We get seated outside.

She is right though, it is 115. I hear it was 120 somewhere here yesterday and hottest on record.

We relax at the pool in the afternoon and opt to play the 7pm $1k 8 game landmark satellite to try and get in tomorrows $10k

First time I’ve played one of these landmark satellites. I like the format. As soon as you 10x your starting stack your chips are taken out of play and you have a seat.
Tonight that meant you had to turn the 15k starting stack into 150k
There were some good players in it and the first to accomplish that feat was Richard Ashby who had won his second Stud bracelet this year.
I foolishly tried to bluff him out of a Stud hand. It didn’t work. [emoji849]

But I was still doing okay with about 60k although the blinds were getting up there as it was a quick structure and a small starting stack when the following hand came up in the NLH round.

I’m on the button with 10-10 and shove after an open from middle position. Villian thinks for a long time and finally decides to make the call with AJs. We have similar stack sizes so with the blinds and the ante whoever wins this flip will have the required 150k in chips and a seat for the $10k tomorrow.
The flop is good Q-7-5
The turn isn’t. J [emoji30]
No two outer on the river and I’ll need to find a different tournament to play tomorrow.

Somewhat dejected I turn in for the night.

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I like your story about eating outside.

Part Two - Day Five - Wednesday July 10th

On deck today we have the $1k mystery bounty PLO flight B at 10am and semi final matches in the Euro and Copa America.

The bounties don’t kick in until tomorrow so need to make sure we get there first, and preferably with a big stack.

Seems like people have the same idea and have come to gamble. I join them early on in a 3-way all in with a full wrap vs set vs two pair.
I like my chances with the wrap as it’s going to be hard for the board to pair but the worst hand is rewarded as the two pair makes a backdoor flush to scoop a large pot and we head back to the registration line to fire another bullet.

Things go better with the 2nd bullet as we make a few hands and are also picking good spots and getting bluffs through. I’m big stack at the table along with one other guy so I try to avoid him and between us we’re picking off the rest of the table.

Meanwhile England get a penalty that never should have been and are through to the final. I didn’t have any opinion or action betting wise.

In contrast to the other game where we are all in on Colombia [emoji1075] We have to sweat as they are reduced to 10 men after Muñoz is sent off but they hang on and we’re cashing tickets. [emoji3][emoji123][emoji383]

Also had action on a sharp side in the NBA summer league but lost by half a point to drop $1,100 of our Colombia winnings.

Back in the PLO we’re sitting on a healthy 400k stack in the last level of the night when we play the following hand:
We open with QJT8 and get two callers.
The flop comes J-5-2 with two spades.
We bet about 60% pot and get 1 caller
The turn is an off-suit 8 giving us top two and a gutshot.
Now we bet full pot.
Villian thinks for a long time before calling for all his stack.
He hits the flush on the river and we finish the night with a 200k bag instead of 600k [emoji30]

Frustrating as with 600k we would have been in Boba Fett mode tomorrow. Now we’re looking more like bantha fodder [emoji23]

It was another post 2am finish. Loooong day from a 10am start.

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SWONGS!

that Flamingo room looks better than I'd have imagined and very liveable. Are there any/many reasonable food options inside Flamingo?

Just for clarification, that room is a so-called 'Go Room' - generally regarded as the most dated room type in Flamingo. That said, I agree it looks decent from the pictures that TonySoprano9 took.

There are also room types which are named 'Flamingo Room', which are more recently renovated and fresh. I stayed in one of those in November 2022, and was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the room.

Yes as bigwhale points out this room is a go room. the room from the first part of the trip was a flamingo room which have been renovated more recently.

For me there's really not much difference and I think both are good options in an excellent center strip location.

The first room they gave me this time was in the other tower and you have to walk through the casino and access through the habitat elevators. I didn't like that as it was pretty far and on top of that the room was miles from the elevators. Much better the main tower from the lobby elevators.

As for food options they do have a small food court with a diner/burger place, a chicken place, a pizza place and a pretzel place. It's okay and convenient.

They also have the steak house which I like and a Mexican place that I haven't tried as not big on Mexican food.

Part Two - Day Six - Thursday July 11th

In the PLO Mystery Bounty re-start and we do find a full double up fairly early in a battle of the blinds.
SB pots. I look down to see KKQ10ds and 3 bet. SB ships.
The AK vs KK hand from the ultra stack is running through my head. Can he really have Aces here? I don’t think he does but even if he does I’m pretty much pot committed at this point. I make the call and he just about has me covered. He turns over AKQ8 and we’re in good shape.
The runout is smooth and we double but we miss the bounty as he still has 15k left.

They give each player a bounty card which you have to give up to the player that knocks you out.
The player can then take the bounty card to the desk to claim the bounty. They don’t draw envelopes like in the Holdem bounty.
It’s more like computer generated and there’s big screens on the walls where everyone can watch what bounties are going.
One of the $100k bounties go early and there’s a mix of applause, boos, laughs and groans. And of course a shout of exaltation from the winner.
(Somehow I forgot to take a photo of this, sorry [emoji20])
Within the first two hours all the big bounties are gone and there’s a bit of a letdown in the room.
It’s irrelevant to us as we haven’t knocked anyone out nor are we looking likely to as not much is going our way and we are dwindling down.
We find ourselves all in again pre with AKQ10 and after some thought are called by Villian with QQxx
We don’t hit an A or K and we’re out in 177th for a cash of $2,290 which at least covers our 2 bullets.
Cashes are smaller in this due to the bounties. The min cash here was only worth $1,319

So not what we wanted but happy with our play we jump right into the $3k HORSE which started about 20 minutes ago.

We start off like a house on fire hitting cards, making hands, and importantly getting paid by some 2nd bests.

At the 2nd break we note our stack as 104k up from 40k starting.
Then comes the inevitable cooling off and we tread water for the next couple of sessions noting a stack of 97k on 4th break before heating up again for the last 2 hours and bagging an above average 160k

Funny incident of the day. I’m in the 1 seat and late reg has just closed. Along comes Phil Hellmuth to fill the vacant seat on my left but as he sits down the dealer points out to him that he has the wrong table. ‘First day Phil?’ Someone cheekily asks from across the table.
It actually turns out to be a bad beat as a couple of minutes later Jeremy Ausmus comes to fill the vacant seat and he doesn’t have the wrong table. Come back Phil!

We’re later joined by his main rival in the player of the year race Scott Seiver in the 4 seat who is busy making an online final table while he plays with us.
It’s good to watch them both first hand and I take the opportunity to learn what I can from them while trying not to tangle with them too much.

It’s actually a stacked field as apart from the afore mentioned monsters the likes of Phil Ivey, Scotty Nguyen, Barry Greenstein, Phil Laak, Daniel Weinman, Shaun Deeb and Dan Shak are also in the field along with many other big names.

Nice to bag 3 tournaments in a row but still a long way from the money in this one.

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Part Two - Day Seven - Friday July 12th

Day two of the $3k Horse and we restart in the Horseshoe events center at 1pm playing alongside the main event.

But only after we’ve had our favorite lunch option to keep us going all day:

Chicken Parm from Cafe American in the Paris. We box half up to go to eat later.

We start the day with 141 players, of which 54 will make the money so we have a ways to go.

The only really eventful hand that I noted in the first two levels was when I got scooped in a Stud 8 hand by the Korean Cho. He had 6-3-2 up and checked 5th having previously completed on 3rd and bet out on 4th. I had 6-7-3 up with A-2 down. I assumed he’d paired his 2 and bet which was a mistake as he check raised. I don’t improve my low and made a pair of Aces so had to pay him off. He showed down 6-5-4-3-2 to scoop, costing me about 50,000 chips.

Nevertheless I recovered and picked up small pots here and there to note 180,000 chips at the first break of day 2.

I take my day 2 media ID number of 66 to be a good omen. It’s the year England won the World Cup.

For the next two levels I’m pretty card dead until I look down to see a lovely rolled up 2-2-2 in Stud shortly before the 2nd break.
Villain completes with a 10 up and I just call.
He bets out on 4th again and I just call.
He still leads on 5th and now I raise which he calls.
He check calls 6th with a board of 10-9-9-6 with two hearts. I also have caught a 9 so I rule out him having trip nines and out him on two pair.
He checks 7th and although I haven’t improved I value bet hoping for a call from two pair.
Instead I get a check raise [emoji30]
I know I’m beat but can’t find a fold. His down cards are all hearts and we lose to the flush.

That leaves us on fumes at the break with only 39,000 going back to 10,000 - 20,000 with 63 players left and still 9 from the money.

My friend Robert is on the rail. He’s a traveling poker dealer from Salzburg (not working the WSOP) who even when he’s not traveling for work continues to globe trot and we meet in odd places.
He sees I’m a bit down so gives me a pep talk to stay positive and reminds me of one of those times when we met by chance in Atlantic City when I was playing a circuit tournament. He came to see me in the casino while I was playing and I ended up shipping it.
He tells me he brings me good luck.
I tell him we’ll go get a drink after I bust.
He says no, I’ll be in the tournament for a while yet and goes off to bring me a milkshake.

We resume after the break. 9 players is a lot to lose in a limit tournament so there’s no chance of me folding into the money, and we’re still playing Stud so I’m going to get ante’d away if I don’t play a hand.

The 2nd hand I have the highest up card with the Queen of clubs. I don’t have another underneath to match but I do have two more clubs. Not the ones I would have liked as they are the 5 and 3 but beggars can’t be choosers.

I complete and get one caller with a 9 up.
4th street doesn’t help either of us but I’m committed and bet out. He raises to put me all in. I’m behind to his pair of Nines.
I don’t remember the exact runout but I make two pair and he doesn’t improve so I get a much needed double up.

We move into the Hold’em round, now only 2 from the money.

Cho, my Korean friend from earlier raises the button. I’m in the big blind and find KK.
I 3 bet, he calls
I’m in the 1 seat so I’m the first to see the window card as the dealer turns over the flop.
It’s a King! The full flop is K-10-2
I bet out, he raises and I 3 bet all in.
He turns over his hand first as he thinks he has me. 2-2 for a flopped set.
Not so fast my friend. I have the real set [emoji3]
There’s some gasps and laughs and I fade the 1 outer to give us some breathing room back up to 160k

Soon after 2 players get eliminated on the same hand at other tables and we’re in the money. [emoji383] I give a little fist pump to Rob on the rail.
I honestly did not think I would make it a short while ago so anything more now is a bonus.

The table breaks and I move to a new table where I’m steadily chipping up when the following hand occurs in Stud:

I have split Queens with a 9 and complete.
Villain is a guy with an Eastern European accent that I can’t quite place. He’s been very active and aggressive and continues on the same vain here raising me with an Ace up. I call. Heads up.
10 for us on 4th x for him. He bets we call.
On 5th it’s a King for us and x for him. Bet call.
Now on 6th it gets interesting as he catches another Ace and we catch a 9. So he has open aces and we have split two pair queens up.
He bets him improved hand of course and now we need to make a decision. If we call this street we’re calling 7th as well. Big bets now are expensive if you lose them.
I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have another Ace in his down cards and think we’re good right now. Even if he does we can still improve to a full house or make a straight with a gutshot Jack. We’re committed. Call.
He checks 7th.
I should value bet here but I remember how that went with my rolled up 222 and chicken out. This guy can also be tricky and I wouldn’t put a check raise past him so we opt for caution and check behind.

Dinner break comes shortly after and I note I have 407k with 39 players remaining going back to 15,000 - 30,000.

Not hungry after the big lunch I grab Rob and we go for a cold one at beer park with a view of the Bellagio fountains.

Still at the same table after dinner I’m enjoying talking to an old guy called Tom on my left while at the same time making the Italian guy in the 8 seat who we’ll call Mario my bitch in the Stud round. I win 3 nice hands off him in the same Stud round and he’s crying like a baby. He busts soon after and our table breaks when we hit 32 players left.

I like my new table far less as it contains David ODB Baker and Jeremy Ausmus. It’s tough work but I hold my own. I’m happy there will be a redraw for the last three tables.

Good news - We reach 24 players and the re-draw.
Bad news - we draw the same table as ODB and Ausmus again.

As I said we’re playing alongside the main event and it’s getting pretty raucous. Our last 24 table is right on the rail with the main on the other side. The supporters are going crazy for their friends in the main and it’s hard for us to concentrate. We request our table is moved and the TB obliges.

The last interesting hand I noted happened towards the end of the last level of the night.
We’re playing Stud, and it seems most of my key hands have been in Stud today.
I have the highest up card with a Queen showing and complete with air against all very low cards for the rest of the table. I get one caller with a 6 up.
I don’t remember the exact cards but I got an open pair of twos somewhere along the way and villains board didn’t look like it helped him much.
I’m betting every street and he’s just calling.
On 7th that’s all I have, a pair of twos. Pretty sure villain has sixes so there’s only one way we can win this. We bet again and he goes into the tank.
We have about 240k (roughly a third of our stack) invested in this pot on a 5 barrel bluff and our heart is pounding.
After what seems like an age villain scoops up his board and mucks and we breathe a huge sigh of relief.

We can’t lose the last player we need to re-draw for the last 2 tables before the end of the night so we’re left with 17 players coming back tomorrow in the exact same tables and seats.

We bag 940k to be in 6th position overnight coming back to 40,000 - 80,000 limits.
The top 5 stacks are all over 1 million and led by Cho who has closer to 2 million.

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awesome job! excited to see how it concludes

Really enjoying the mixed game hand histories!

Nice job on the quintuple barrel bluff lol

epic

Amazing run so far with more potentially to come. Can't wait to read the next chapter.

I've had to force myself not to go to the results on wsop.com

MOAR!

Great TR with mixed games. Can't wait for next update