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

Always keep them coming back for moar [emoji6]

I’m flying home tonight so unless I write the next update at the airport it might be a little delayed, but don’t worry no chance of a blasted.

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Okay. Got good WiFi in the airport and through security with still 2 hours to my flight.
HORSE day 3 coming up

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Part Two - Day Eight - Saturday July 13th

Let’s pick up where we left off yesterday.

We’d just bagged day 2 of the $3k horse with a decent stack and only 16 players between us and the bracelet.

It was another late finish and it’s almost 2am again when we get back to the room.

I suddenly feel hungry having not eaten since lunch and remember I still have half a chicken parm left that I’ve been lugging around all day.
Tastes just as good cold. [emoji492]

I check the end of day report and chip counts on WSOP.com while I eat.

Dangerous players still left in that I know are Jeremy Ausmus, John Racener and David ODB Baker.
I check the ones I don’t know and find more bracelets and six and seven figure career earnings. Well, no-one said this was going to be easy!

Still feeling pretty buzzed after what was a true rollercoaster day I find it difficult to sleep.
I find myself thinking of Irish player Mike Magee who said he didn’t get one wink of sleep before day 3 of the main in 1998 in an excellent documentary that I watched years ago and I’m somehow remembering now called The Million Dollar Deal that follows some British and Irish players for the 1998 main event. (I think you can still find it on YouTube and it’s well worth a watch if you haven’t seen it)
Anyway I think the fatigue played a part in him bubbling that year and I don’t want the same to happen to me so I try and let my mind go blank and just close my eyes.

I think I drifted off somewhere around 4am and I’m up and awake at 9am so 5 hours is better than nothing.

I head to the pool for what is an important ritual for me. I need the time in the fresh air and a bit of sun and exercise no matter how hot it is.

This morning as it happens it’s a little overcast and quite pleasant.
I find my usual space on the floor and listen to my own music in between dips in the pool and trying to swim around all the obstacles.

I don’t eat before we re-start at 1pm. I felt a little heavy after lunch yesterday and think I’d rather play on an empty stomach today until the dinner break. (If we make it that far)

So same tables and seats as last night until we lose 1 more player. We’re in the Holdem round at our table and I just paid the blinds last night so I’m hoping we lose a player and re-draw before they come round again.
We don’t. Jeremy Ausmus is trying to bully the table and raising every hand. I don’t have anything to play back with and I pay both blinds, after which we do then lose someone on another table so don’t get to play my button.
Never mind. 16 left.

The two table re-draw is kind to us as we get away from Jeremy and also dodge John Racener. We will have to contend with ODB though.

The first interesting hand I play at the new table is in the Holdem round against Zhang.
He raises UTG and it’s folded around to me in the BB where I’m happy to see KK and decide to just call to disguise the strength of our hand.
The flop is K-T-3
I check, he bets, I call.
Turn is a Q bringing three diamonds on board. One of my kings is a diamond.
The original plan was to go for a check raise on the turn but I don’t want to give him the opportunity to take a free card to maybe hit a straight or if he’s afraid of the flush.
I bet, he calls.
River is the 4 of diamonds giving us the king high flush, but we’d still lose to the ace high if he had ace of diamonds.
I’m almost certain he has an Ace, probably AQ so I think it’s prudent to check here.
I check and he checks behind. Maybe I missed a bet.
Our king high flush is good but he shakes his head and shows AJ for a turned straight. Lucky river for us.

Next interesting hand is in Omaha 8. I don’t remember and didn’t note against who.

I raise with AQ22 and get two callers.
Flop 6-8-10
I c-bet getting one fold and one call.
Turn 8
Check, check
River 6
I sense weakness and lead out. After some thought our opponent lays it down.

I then play a pot against ODB still in O8

I defend his open with 2345 in the BB

Flop A-2-7
Check, check
Turn 7
I bet he calls
River 3
I bet he calls
I show my wheel and he mucks

My notes then read that I had a really bad Stud round but recouped on the last hand making a 45678 straight against a board with a King up card and I don’t remember what else.

During this time the other table had lost 2 players and the TD comes over to high card someone to balance the tables.
I’m hoping it’s not me as I like this table.
It wasn’t, and even better it was ODB.
That puts all the monsters on the other table and leaves me as chip leader at my table with the short stacks.

Going to post this day in multiple parts as it’s quite lengthy and don’t want to lose the internet at the airport and have to start again

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Part Two - Day Eight - Saturday July 13th continued

Where was I?

Oh yes on the table with all the short stacks.
Unfortunately I keep doubling them up [emoji30]

I guess that’s the danger as a big stack against short stacks. You want to bully them and put pressure on, but it’s a fine line as you want to try to avoid doubling them up.

We hit the first break of the day with 14 players remaining and I note my chip stack as 1,655,000

I had already doubled Travis Trail up and Paul Campbell twice but I finally got Paul when I made two pair in Stud and he missed a straight draw.

We hit the unofficial final table of 9 shortly after and it seems I’ll start it as chip leader.

I don’t find any playable hands or spots early on and after about an hour of play and a lot of sparring no-one has been eliminated and amazingly we all have roughly the same chips with about 1.7 million each.

Now I’m trying not to think about the money or pay jumps but with everyone having roughly the same chips it does make it quite precarious as one mistake could send any one of us to the rail in 9th and a payout of only $14k

I’m still completely card dead and the first interesting hand I note is in Holdem against Jeremy.

He opens and it’s folded to me in the BB
I defend with 56s
Flop 4-7-Q
I check, he bets, I call.
Turn J
I check, he bets. He doesn’t necessarily have to have anything here. Maybe Ax I consider a raise but elect just to call.
River 9
We whiff. Now what do we do? Just give it up?
We bet

This seems to perplex him and I admit it may look like a strange line but the longer he thinks, and he is taking quite a while over the decision, the more we start to think it might get through.

He folds. [emoji123]

This is the situation on the dinner break with 7 left going back to 150,000 - 300,000 limits.
Travis had some hands early but really played great to take control of the table.

I grab Rob and we go for a Shwarma at the Mediterranean place.

Back from dinner and we’re still not seeing any hands or steal opportunities.
I do play some Stud 8 hands but catch nothing but bricks and now I’m short.

Meanwhile Gary Bolden has wrestled control of the table from Travis, knocking out 2 other players and is the big chip leader as we are down to the final 4

So with Gary and Travis the big stacks it looks like it’s between me and John Racener for 3rd and 4th place.
I tangle with him in one of the aforementioned Stud 8 hands as reported by PokerNews.

This now leaves me on fumes with only 1,200,000 at break going back to 250,000 - 500,000 limits.

After the break we’re playing Omaha 8 and I find a hand to make my stand with AAQ4.
I get a double through Gary as A4 is good for the low and a pair of Aces good for the high and I scoop.

A couple of hands later I have AAK4 and we play a big 3 way pot as reported by PokerNews

This was a huge hand with almost 6 million chips in the middle. (40% of the chips in play) I was behind but I could still have scooped it with any Ten, Jack, Queen or Three but it wasn’t to be.

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Great run! A final table at the WSOP is the stuff of dreams.

A WSOP final table is a HUGE accomplishment!

Great run, congrats.

Sick run and congratulations!

Is that your biggest ever score?

Congratulations! Thanks for taking us along. Your TRs are always great.

Awesome stuff

Congrats and thanks for the TR

nice job! have a great return flight

Nice FT! Awesome TR. Thanks for sharing.

GG! Is that a Victoria Pilzen (Czech Republic) soccer shirt?

Great result. Great trip report. Congratulations.

Deportivo Independiente Medellin

Sensational stuff. Thanks so much for sharing and congrats.

Yes it’s my biggest score to date. Previous best was $16k

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Correct [emoji736][emoji3]

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Back home now. Still have the last few days of the trip to cover. Will get to it later today.

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Great job, congrats!

Part Two - Day Nine - Sunday July 14th

The morning after. No regrets. Played hard but it wasn’t to be. If you’d have told me I would make a WSOP final table before the trip started I would have taken it, so can’t be too disappointed, but of course when you get that far you want to go all the way. Hopefully the experience will stand me in good stead next year.
Gary Bolden ended up winning it after a see-saw heads up battle with John Racener that went into a 4th day. Happy for him as it’s his first bracelet. He’s a talker and I like one of the lines he used when getting up cards in the stud rounds. “Something for the both of us” he would say, usually before betting out. [emoji23]

Anyway that’s in the past. Onto today.

I wake up late around 11:30am No poker planned for today, I think I’ve earned the day off but I do have to hurry downstairs to bet the euro final before it starts at 12pm

I almost fired $5k but the -155 price was bad as I knew I could have gotten -145 at Circa but didn’t have time. I watch the first half in the book at the Flamingo before walking to the Tuscany to bet the Copa Final at halftime.

It was -135 at Flamingo / Caesars so the walk saves me $110.

England put up a fight but Spain were just too strong. The sportsbook manager is waiting for me at the Flamingo when I go to collect my winnings. “An Englishman betting on Spain?” He laughs when I show my ID to collect.
“You have to bet with your head and not your heart” I reply as I pocket the cash.

I then meet Rob and we head over to Rollin Smoke for something to eat.

Seems there is still good value in Vegas if you know where to look. $38 for their Pit Special of 5 meats and 3 sides. It’s delicious and plenty for the two of us.

Bellies full we meet up with some other friends of his and went to watch the Copa final at Caesars Sportsbook.

The book was full and split pretty evenly between Colombia and Argentina fans.
Colombia are on top in the first half but can’t score. Argentina improve after Messi goes off but Colombia hang on to force extra time and my bet is a winner.

After, we walk to the Mirage to see the exploding volcano one last time before the place closes for good.

We finished the night at stage door drinking $1 beers. Robert’s other friends are dealers who were dealing the Series.
On the first day of the Horse tournament I had 3 dealers who i’m sure had never dealt horse before in their lives and now I know why.
Turns out hold’em down are worth $15 whereas downs dealing other games are worth $20 so you get dealers that say they can deal all the other games when in reality they haven’t got a clue just so they can make more money. [emoji30]

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Great run and a great read, well played sir!

Stage Door one of my must-visits when in town. I'm a dive bar aficionado.

Sick run.
How big the pot when you bluffed Ausmus with the 56?

Yep give me a dive bar over a fancy cocktail lounge any day of the week.

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