TR: First WSOP! 6/29 - 7/3
Where to go with a week-long holiday off work and $200 worth of Spirit Airlines credit? After doing a quick flight search back in May, it seemed like Las Vegas appeared to be the best option! Despite having been there 3 times in the past, I have always dreamed of doing a solo poker trip, and now it finally appeared to be in the cards. I was originally planning on coming on Sunday the 30th, but knowing the WSOP is town, I was able to add an extra day to enter Flight C of the Colossus on Sunday! Playing in the WSOP had always been a bit of a dream, and it's hard to imagine it is going to become a reality in just one day from now. I will be staying at the Flamingo as it had the best price to quality ratio closest to the Horseshoe/Paris. Could have saved ~$200 on hotel for the four days staying at Excalibur instead, but opted for a more central location to make everything more walkable.
About me: 32, recently divorced after a bit of a hectic (and emotionally draining) two-year long period of living month to month back and forth between Chicago and Paris, France. I have been grinding microstakes off-and-on periodically since I was 17, taking several year breaks in between. I haven't really been able to put in enough study or focus to break out of the micros, but that's ok - it's mostly just for fun. After a five year hiatus, I finally started playing again this year, mostly dabbling in micro PLO and NLHE tournaments on Ignition and ACR. I played NLHE cash in the past, but have gotten a bit bored considering how crazy nitty the games are compared to how they were previously (even on Ignition). PLO has been much more interesting so far, but I don't think I'd be entirely comfortable playing it live yet (we'll see).
The game plan for this trip:
- Arrive today, check in, get the lay of the land for the WSOP area, and register for the tournament.
- I've only played in a live poker tournament once (almost 15 years ago...), so it would be nice to have a warm up before the big event. Despite the atrocious rake ($25 out of a $100 total buyin), I was thinking the 8pm $100 Mandalay Bay tournament Saturday night might be a nice way to get back into the swing of things. I have played short sessions of cash in my previous trips but only for about 1-2 hours each time.
- Wake up early Sunday and play the tournament! I imagine I'll be out within 4-8 hours of play the first day, but who knows, could be the full 3 days with a sun run.
- At some point, I'd like to check out the Mirage before it goes out, as well as parts of the north strip where I've never been before like Wynn/Resorts World, possibly Circus Circus. Plan to do some strip walking with beer(s) in hand!
- Hit up some of the food scene - would like to have breakfast at Peppermill and eat at some of the other good cheaper hotel joints around town. If I haven't lost a ton of money, would like to do a nicer dinner somewhere my last night.
- Any other spare time in between will spent playing as much 1-2 and 1-3 cash games as possible, and potentially PLO or another tournament depending on the state of my bankroll.
- On Wednesday, my flight doesn't leave until 3:30pm, so I will have a short period before I leave for the airport to check out the start of Main Event!
After a few terrible sessions recently practicing cash/tourneys online, I reconsidered whether it would be worth posting the TR and getting excited for this trip, but as a wise man once said:
More to come...
Good luck. Run well. Have fun.
Looks great!
Have a fun trip, and enjoy yourself.
Flamingo is a solid choice. Just stayed there.
Wynn and Resorts are great poker venues. Worth checking out if you have the time. Wynn $10k will be going strong this weekend.
Thanks all! Really enjoyed reading your TRs these past few weeks, they encouraged me to post thus.
Obligatory shoe pic:
GL patman. Run well, looking forward to news.
You've come to the right place (Las Vega$, NOT 2+2).
Aside from the whining about commuting between Chicago and Paris (France or Kentucky?), a solid post ..
The weather will be hot, over 110 degrees every day. Drink a lot of water. Plan on doing your tourist-walking at night. Uber is your friend if you venture downtown to check out Fremont Street, which is essential Las Vegas.
If you want a good, classy breakfast, try Bouchon at the Venetian. It's not Valois, but its worth the effort.
There is no sex in the champagne room.
Otherwise, good luck, forget Paris.
Here's my dad advice, even though I'm not a dad:
Take your time at the Colossal. You have to wade your way through tens of thousands of players in order to cash. Don't do what the weirdos in the early stages are doing, like raising 5 bb to open. Play your own game. It's very tempting to play as badly as they do. Speaking of which, for your warm-up tournament, consider an Aria tournament, or something similar. I've never played the Mandalay Bay tournament, but it sounds like the type to have a lot of flaky recs and rookies in it. Although it will cost more money, you might also consider something like late regging a Daily Deepstack. It's more likely to have "normal" players in it. Early play might have it's share of flakes.
Hopefully you don't run too deep, because they go well into the a.m. hours.
We made it! The flight there was fairly uneventful aside from a tire replacement needed for the plane, which delayed boarding. Somehow the ground crew was able to finish that much faster than anticipated and we still made it to LAS on time.
After a quick Lyft ride, arrived at the Flamingo with 15 minutes to wait before check in. Managed to dust off a quick $20 on bubble craps in the meantime. The room was about on par with my expectations:
After dropping everything off, time to check out the WSOP! It was very quick getting there from the hotel. The layout of everything seemed pretty straightforward, and I decided to wait in line to register with cash. Only took about 15 minutes - as other TRs have mentioned, overheard a few bustout stories from other people along the way. One gentleman in a motor scooter bemoaned to me that he went out KK < AA, with the winner having aces his second time in a row. Hard to believe I'll be in this crowd tomorrow:
After that, I decided to work my way over to Mandalay Bay. I considered potentially doing one of the WSOP deep stack tournaments instead, but the timing didn't quite work out. Was starting to get a bit hungry so stopped at Istanbul Mediterranean Restaurant on the way over to grab a kebab. Was messy, but decent:
When finished eating, I also popped into CVS to grab a big can of a Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing to accompany me on the long walk down. I arrived at MB at about 6:30, which gave me about an hour and a half to play 1/2 cash before the tournament started. I bought in for $200 and they were able to seat me immediately. I enjoyed playing here a few years ago, as it was a loose and not super tough game. Pretty much everyone at the table appeared to be fairly recreational (including myself). On my direct left, I had an old man (no coffee) in his late 70s-80s who sometimes had trouble following the flow of the game. On my right, there was a reasonably tight player who won quite a few pots before showdown. There were two aggressive black guys playing many pots, one of whom lost a fair bit of his stack trying to bluff 62o on a high board, then busted AK < TT the following hand after reraising all in pre.
My lack of live experience definitely showed here, as it was a bit hard for me to adjust to the frequent 4-6 player limping and otherwise multiway pots (7-8 handed). I tried to play my game as best I could, but folded a lot of garbage and didn't really connect with any flops. The only hand I won was a button open to $10 with TT - old guy calls in the small blind and folds to a turn bet on a QJxx board.
Other notable hands include:
- Second aggro guy raises to $14 pre, bets flop and eventually goes all in on J987 board on turn, and the other player is worried he flopped the nuts with QT. However, he notes the likely chop and calls - to end up splitting with T2o.
- Second aggro guy again opens pre and gets tangled up all in with OMNC on the river with a x678x board. The whole table is astonished when the old guy flips up 59o... only to split with another 59!
- A $12 preflop open goes 4 ways and old guy gets unusually aggressive by leading out $30 and reraising all in on a Q83 board. Unfortunately, his QJ busts against 33.
After the last one, the table pretty much breaks as it's about time to start the tournament. Ended up going down -$110 on the uninspired session, but hopefully I can learn a bit from this and come back stronger next time. Unfortunately, I lost the draft I started writing for the tournament section so that update will have to come later...
You may see some goofy stuff in the Colossus, especially in the early levels, but it's unlikely to be as goofy as a 1/3 game. I've played it a few times and usually it's 10-handed and on the tight side. You'll start very deep in chips, so don't feel like you have to win the tournament in the first level.
Have some time to pass before the event so will continue on last night's recap. The tournament played a little bit better than the cash did, but I still was not able to gain much traction, hovering around or below starting stack (20k) for a majority of the tournament. However, it ended up being exactly the type of warm up I was looking for. At the break there were 67 entries, 7 paid, for a 1st prize of about $2k. My first table was pretty talkative and friendly, which was a nice change of pace from the almost silent cash game.
I did have a major blunder (sadly on par for me) before the tournament even started though. Upon leaving cash, I found the table I was going to be at and confirmed with a lady and man sitting down that I was in the right spot. Made the mistake of setting my water and tournament ticket down in the cup holder of my place before making a quick bathroom break. When I came back, the tournament had started and the table was just about full - someone was sitting in my seat! No water or ticket to be found. I panicked and asked around and no one knew what happened to it. Eventually, I got the guy in my seat's attention (wearing headphones and watching a poker stream), and he said it was pitched in the trash... thankfully it was on top and I was able to quickly pull the ticket out. This annoyed the dealer as his mistake put the table order all out of whack, but it wasn't a big deal as they were able to make room in another seat for me.
Here are some examples of spots I ran into in the early game:
- 200/400: Raise 1k with black 55 in HJ after a limp ahead of me. Go to flop four ways 628hhh and have to check fold.
- 300/600: Raise 1.5k with 33 UTG+1, folds all the way to button who shoves, but loses to BB call after I get out of the way. AK < AA
- 300/600: Raise 2k with AThh from LJ after two limps, get two calls and have to fold after river brings 4 spades despite an ace high board.
There were two other interesting situations not involving me after that:
- Seat taker raises from CO and calls all in for about half of stack with 64s < AQ (relevant later)
- A XXJKK board with four hearts gets to the river checked down in a single raised pot, player two to my right folds the nut flush face up to a modest river bet. Several players are dumbfounded by the decision.
At the 500/1000 level, I open raise to 2.5k with AJo and get shoved on by seat taker for 6.8k total. It's about half my stack, but make the call quickly after the 64s hand. He's a bit stronger than I thought with QQ, but thankfully an ace on the turn sends him out and puts me at about starting.
After a few orbits of trash and bb antes, we've made it to the first break, and I'm on life support with about 5 big blinds, finding no shove spots. Shortly after, we finally get one and send in A4o from the BB after a limp and SB complete. The SB says, "I'll play", and offers a fist bump as the dealer organizes all the chips. He turns up KQo and unfortunately the first flop card is a K(TT). The turn all but seals my fate with a Q. The nice player (and table leader) on my left calls for a jack, which spikes on the river! The guy on my right laments celebrating too early but takes the beat in stride. With the extra limps, we're back to about starting! A few other players late reg and fill open seats.
One of them is the guy who doubled me up's friend, who gets involved in this hand on his first one: UTG shoves, then UTG+1 reshoves, then UTG+2 goes over the top of that! In order, we have AKcc vs ATss vs red QQ. The flop has two spades for the sweat, but queens hold and he triples up.
Shortly after, I turn over KK in the cutoff - finally! I minraise to 4k, and the short stacked woman in the BB thinks for a bit but sadly folds. The very next hand, after UTG+1 raises 3x to 6k, I wake up with AKs and shove for ~15bb. He studies me over and tanks for about two minutes, then decides to let it go.
In the final big hand of the table, the three table deep stacks get tangled up pre in a huge pot. 99 (guy on my left) manages to flop a set vs 77 and TT (triple up guy) out. We break shortly after that and we all move to a new table. Not a whole lot to say after that, I get down to 6bb after some blinds and pretty much have to shove A6o from the button. BB thinks for a minute, then calls - I know I'm dominated. A9o puts me out with a 9 on the flop, and I'm not terribly disappointed as I'm exhausted from a day of travel and 5 hours of sleep the night before. Ended up lasting for about 3.5 hours.
Decided to grab a daiquiri for the walk back, cause why not? It ended up being a $20 mistake that I will not make again, as the alcohol content seemed minimal (and was quite sugary as expected). Looking forward to being well rested for tomorrow!
After three levels of the Colossus, we've made it to the first break. Sitting all right with ~59k! (40k starting) Table is a mix of people my age and middle aged, and the play is fairly standard with a few limps mixed in to start. As advised, I play fairly conservatively.
100/200
My first winning hand of the day starts when the CO to my right limps, I look down at QJs and raise to 600, which he calls. My c-bet of 600 is called on a ATx flop, turn c/c, and he leads a Q river for 1200. I decide to make the call, to which he responds "nice call" and turns over 89.
The first knockout happens when a 500 preflop raise goes three ways to KKQ. After some big betting and Q3 on turn and river, a woman and her AJ is busted after just 28 minutes of play by an Israeli guy's disguised KK (flatted from BB). The guy picks up quite a bit more chips after and becomes the de facto table captain.
200/300
I get a fairly nice score after the guy to my right open limps from the CO. I raise to 1200 after picking up AKcc, and he calls. The flop is a nice A83cc - I lead for 1500 and he check raises to 4k. It's a suspicious raise but there is no folding here, so make a quick call. The turn is a beautiful club! He shoves for a little over 10k, which is a snap call. He has A3o for the two pair on the flop, and I knock him out and avoid the boat on the river!
200/400
Not much to report here, but 3 bets start popping up now preflop. I pick up ~5k more in a single raised pot after my KQo in the BB hits a king on the turn of a low board flop, bets on flop and turn.
Excellent start to the TR.
Keep it up.
Onto break two... haven't chipped up at all this round. We have a new player on our right from Switzerland who is generating a ton of action, open raising 50% of the time and otherwise being aggressive. A Portuguese grinder looking guy enters the fray two to my left, and doubles up after getting it in pre AK > 89s.
300/500
Aggro guy check raises me on a c-bet where I have nothing and fold. I return the favor by raising him 1200->5k with a set of sevens on a AdTd7 flop.
300/600
A guy who checkraised me on another flop previously limps from MP, and I have AJs on the button, and he calls a raise to 1200. Flop is ATx and I lead for 1k and get called. A king hits the turned and get checkraised after leading 2k. Feel like I'm never good here and fold.
Then the hand of the day comes up: aggro guy opens to 1200 and I have QQ in the CO, which I 3 bet to 4500. He calls, responding "ok, guess we'll play a big pot", and we go to a J93 flop. I lead out to 2k, which he checkraises to 8k. Not sure what he has but figure I'm ahead for now and decide to call. The turn comes a 9, and he leads out big for 9k. Getting a little wary now but he has a wider range and think I can call. The river is an ace, and if he shoves I think I'm going to be sick. Thankfully he checks and I check behind, and I win a nice one against JTo. He busts in the next level.
400/800
Only hand of note here is a weird one where everyone folds and the sb completes to me. I raise to 2k with AQh, and he calls. Flop is 844, and he leads out for 2k, and I decide to float. The 9 turn is checked, and the river is an 8, which he leads big for 6k. His stack is somewhat short, and I'm not quite sure what to do here. Does he have a 9? Despite my better judgment, I call and lose to K4o, which makes sense but did not expect.
The next 3 levels are going to be pivotal, as the blinds start to creep up. Still going to be patient and see what I can do.
Stay focused, and keep playing good!
Nice start. Keep it going
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Now we're ****ing cooking with gas! Up to 165k after a dynamite orbit of hands within the last 20 minutes of break:
500/1000
Not a lot of opportunities here. After I while I get 33 in early/mid position and raise to 2k, which gets 3 bet to 7k and then a jam from a KTs shortstack who gets eliminated by the 3-bettor with 88. After that, an older Asian guy joins the table (as a new entry) and open jams for 40k over a few limps. A solid player from Canada thinks about it, and makes the call with 77. The other guy turns over 79s - WTF!! He is unable to hit his 9 and is out as fast as he entered. Guess this is the craziness everyone mentions about the Colossus.
Then from EP, I open TT for 2k, get one call, and am 3 bet to 9k by the Canadian guy. Theoretically, this should probably be a call, but I am not entirely comfortable playing this out of position and am wary of JJ-AA. Even calling would just be 1/4 of my stack. I opt to fold and pick a better spot.
600/1200
Folded rags all level, getting a bit frustrated but being patient. Stack dips down to about starting after folding many blinds.
800/1600
Apologies for the lack of details on this one - the next hand prevented me from taking many notes it. About halfway into the level, I pick up AKo UTG and raise to 3500. Canada guy 3 bets me to 9k, and I finally have a hand to take him with. The flop comes A66, and I check call a small bet. The turn is a blank and check again in an attempt to not be somewhat transparent with my holding. He keeps the pressure up with a 10-12k size bet I think, and I call again. The river is another blank, and I jam. He is thoroughly confused, asking, "What do you have??" I respond that I don't know and stay mum. He asks if I know what he has, which I really don't at this point. He tanks for a while and eventually makes what is surely the correct fold. Then this happens...
A raise to 3200 gets called by my 33 and the Canada guy to go multiway to a J35 rainbow pot - jackpot! I check, a bet of 2500 is called, and I then raise to 7500. Middle person folds, and Canada calls - "it's you and me again" he says with a smile. Turn is a T, and I check to try and not scare him off as I know he'll bet big on me given previous table action. As expected, he bets 15k, and I call. River is a nice unassuming deuce, and I jam for my final 50k to try and twist the knife and put him in a potentially hard spot. Now he is REALLY curious after the last hand, and starts talking aloud to try and figure out what I've got. I'm not quite sure what he has, but it's pretty clear he has something, but that I'm also good here. "Do you have jack ten? Could it possibly be 46? Is this air??". The rest of the table is intently interested/curious as well. After a few minutes of tanking, he finally makes the call with KJ and I win a big one. He graciously congratulates me on a well played hand and says he didn't even consider a set. A number of other people from the table give me props as well, which felt really good. I don't know if it was entirely perfect, but it certainly got the job done.
After that, my heater slowed a bit when I get JJ from the CO and raise to 3500, which is called by the semi short SB. He leads for 7500 on a 773 board, which I call, and then shoves for 23k on a 3 turn. I call that and lose a bit against K7, which hurts.
However, JJ gave most of it back when a short stacked grinder looking girl who has been pretty tight raises to 3500, which I 3 bet to 9k. She calls and then check shoves for about 18k after I ask for a count and bet 6k on a 732 board. Easy call and a bit of a cooler as she unfortunately has TT and doesn't improve.
Hoping to keep up the momentum!
Gogogogo!
What table/seat are you at? I’m across the room playing PLO today, I’ll come say hi!
And just like that, all it takes is one mistake to have everything come crashing down...
The first two levels are very uneventful as I am again card dead. On the third level before dinner break, 1500/3000, the CO raises to 7500, SB calls, and I have AKs in the BB. I 3 bet to 25k and then after a fold the SB unexpectedly ships for ~100k total. I am not thrilled in this spot as it is at best a flip, but feel like I'm committed (false) and make the call and am shown KK. Still have some outs but the king on the flop pretty much seals it. I feel pretty dumb from not being able to get away from what should have been a fold. To rub it in (not in a malicious way or anything), the winning player says afterwards, "when that situation happens, it's always aces or kings".
I was only just over average, and still have just around starting stack so it's not over or the end of the world, but wish I could have that one back. Going to regroup over the dinner break and hopefully double up again soon.
Unless my math is off, you only need about 36% to call off in that spot. If we assume a very tight range of AA/KK/AK/QQ then the price is still probably about right, especially as we block some combos of AA and KK. Maybe I'm biased because I got stacked in the same type of spot recently, but it's tough to lay down AK for about 33BB, especially when a big chunk of your stack is already out there. In other words, it's a setup more than a misplay. If it's a mistake, it's a borderline error and not some horrific punt. IMO.
Unless my math is off, you only need about 36% to call off in that spot. If we assume a very tight range of AA/KK/AK/QQ then the price is still probably about right, especially as we block some combos of AA and KK. Maybe I'm biased because I got stacked in the same type of spot recently, but it's tough to lay down AK for about 33BB, especially when a big chunk of your stack is already out there. In other words, it's a setup more than a misplay. If it's a mistake, it's a borderline error and not
After thinking about it more over dinner, I calmed down and considered it more on these lines. Didn't realize that it was only a 65/35 spot or take blockers into account. Easy to take a results oriented approach in the heat of the moment.
If SB cold 3bets, then you 4b/ship AK anyways, same result.
If you both flat, and get a K high flop, same result.
Point is, sometimes it’s just a setup in tournament poker, no point going crazy thinking about what could have been done differently.
Great to say hi, good luck and spin it up to a bag!
Thanks for stopping by TJ! Was incredibly nice of you to come wish me luck. Enjoyed meeting you, albeit briefly. If you had come just a few minutes later, you would have witnessed my bust out.
Managed to survive a little longer than expected after the break:
First, the BB + ante brought my stack down to like 4bb, and faced with a raise I felt like I had to just stick in the rest with A3o. Was dominated against A9s but managed to spike on a 234 flop. River brings the 5 to chop, which is fine given I was behind pre.
Then, I shoved A7o in the CO, and the Portuguese guy calls in the SB, also somewhat short stacked. Before we're about to flip up, I catch a glimpse of a 7, which means... we're up against another A7! I have the spade and the flop brings two, but end up chopping yet again.
A few hands later, I look down to see QQ! Hopefully this is a good hand for a double up. Portugal shoves in after, and he has... pocket kings! Yuck, that takes me out. Even if I had ended up folding the AK, this cooler would have surely crippled me anyway. We exchange fist bumps on the way out and I wish the KK guy luck with his big stack.
All in all, I'm feeling better about everything and had a good time with the tournament. There were 8000+ entries today, and the high blinds and late entries turned my table into a shove fest after dinner. Would have been pretty tough to wade through to even a min cash, especially with ~2700 still left by the time I exited. Was happy to make it through dinner break at least. Maybe I'll try again next year?
After almost 9 hours of poker, I'm a little fried today and ready to take it easy. Looking to grab a nice cocktail somewhere and then take a beer up and explore the Strip further north. Thanks for all the comments so far everyone! Hoping for a good day of cash games tomorrow.
