Gray-haired poker TRs: Living the WSOP dream

Old timers like to put peanuts in their DP

I'm old school. I drink my Dr Pepper on the rocks, with no pickle/licorice/peanuts chaser.

Anyone remember when DP had their marketing campaign to try to convince people that hot DP with a slice of lemon was good stuff?

I'm guilty of the peanuts in a DP when I was a kid, but I didn't fall for that warmed up foolishness.

You’re also supposed to drink one at 10:00 2:00 and 4:00 … every single day.

For optimal health and performance.

You get me!

You appear to be bringing two of almost exactly the same pairs of shoes

Glglgl

The Eddie Nunns and the Merrells accomplish more or less the same thing. The Eddie Nunns will be my go to shoes. I doubt I will wear the Merrells, but I packed them for just in case (i.e. something spills on the Eddie Nunns) since I had room to spare in my suitcase.

Strawberry Julius with vodka at the Wynn is awesome!

Vodka Watermelon juice is good at Bellagio.

I have added the strawberry Julius to my to do list when I play at the Wynn. I can kinda, sorta tolerate vodka, but my guess is I'll get it without alcohol.

I'm looking forward to it as I see it mentioned a lot on LVL TR reports where the OP is playing at the Wynn.

I am really enjoying how my fellow LVL members are tweaking my trip agenda with their suggestions. It's making a trip I was already fired up about look even that much better.

And then there is the occasional suggestion that must be ignored (but I like the humor).

Non-poker Vegas Plans

It’s really very simple. I am here to play tournament poker. Every … single … day. If I consistently run deep then I won’t have time for much of anything else. If I implode with regularity then I suppose I will have time on my hands, but even then I’m not a touristy kind of guy, and I’m not a high, high, high end Michelin star chaser when it comes to food. Here is my short list of possible considerations depending on how the poker goes.

Food:

-- One of my favorite meals is Beef Wellington. There are a couple of options, but I’m thinking of going to Gordon Ramsey Steak because of it being in the Paris (geographically desirable to WSOP). Eiffel Tower restaurant could also get the job done.

-- Escargot at Mon Ami Gabi because it is fantastic there, and also because of it being in the Paris.

-- Nacho Daddy is my late night go to because I really like the food, it’s open very late, and it is close to the Signature where I am staying.

-- Earl of Sandwich. If I don’t go at least three times the trip is a failure. The 1762 The Original (roasted beef, cheddar and horseradish sauce) is sandwich perfection.

-- Possible if time permits: Yardbird for the fried chicken, Water Grill for the seafood, Esthers Kitchen for the pasta, Hot N Juicy Crawfish for the po boys. If I eat at a bunch of these places, it means that I stepped on way too many poker landmines and consistently got knocked out before dinner break.

-- Dessert: The banana cream pie at Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House, Duck Donuts for a breakfast donut (this could become a morning staple except for the fact that I don’t like waking up any sooner than is absolutely necessary) near the Paris, Milk Bar at the Cosmopolitan, Sugar Factory. I’m not sure I will get to many of these, but if I only get to one I think it will be Emeril’s since I’ve heard really good things about the banana cream pie, which is a favorite of mine.

-- Buffet: I have my doubts that I will make it to a buffet, but if I do I’m leaning toward Bacchanal or Wynn.

Shows:

This simply will not happen. I will not go to shows. Not even if it is comped. Not even if they pay me to attend. If my trip report includes me at a show, it means one of two things have happened: 1) I have been kidnapped and forced at gunpoint to go, or 2) My trip report has been hacked. There are no other possible explanations.

Touristry stuff:

-- I really enjoy walking up and down the strip and taking it all in. Especially at night.

-- Maybe if time permits I could see going to the Aria to see its fine art collection.

-- Otherwise, the only sights I want to see are my flopped sets, flush draws that get there, and bluffs that get through.

Good luck rppoker!! Hope the rungood begins with the flight tomorrow!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I used to be until I developed what might be called an allergy to caffeine. If I have too much it triggers horrible migraines, accompanied by vomiting and worse.

2024 WSOP: May 28, 2024
1:00 a.m. calamity, somehow I survive

Just one more night of sleep and I will be off to Las Vegas.

At 1:00 a.m. I am ready to go to bed. I realize I have not packed my journals full of poker training site notes. I get them and a couple of miscellaneous items, all of which I carry along with my cell phone. The house is now bathed in darkness as I head upstairs. I walk in the dark so as not to wake Mrs. rppoker. I have been taking this walk in darkness for years, so I can navigate my way through memory. Normally I have my cell phone provide a little light, but my hands are too full for this.

I walk through my bedroom and into the master bathroom. I close the bathroom door, and I head toward my walk-in closet where my intention is to turn on a light that will not disturb Mrs. rppoker.

Before I get to the closet, however, I bang into/trip over something unexpected. Damn, I forgot that my suitcase is sitting there. I feel myself falling and it is immediately clear to me that I am about to take a tumble. I crash into a chair. I am very aware that I will avoid hitting my head, but my left arm/hand takes the brunt of the fall. The crashing sound is loud.

As I sit on the ground, I take inventory of the damage. My left elbow and left lower back are mildly achy but nothing terrible. The finger next to my left pinky is pretty sore. Have I broken it? I am able to bend it, so my guess is that it is not broken.

I am hyper focused to make sure I did not hit my head. The reason is that seven years ago my dad fell down a staircase very late at night and hit his head. He suffered a brain bleed and while he lived for a couple of years he was nonetheless diminished from the hit to the head.

My head feels fine.

Somehow Mrs. rppoker has slept through all of the noise.

My entire WSOP trip almost just went up in flames. I have just gotten unbelievably lucky. Whatever negative variance I experienced in my 2019 WSOP, I have just experienced unbelievably positive variance in terms of what the result from this fall could have been.

I get myself into bed, but I am monumentally mad at myself. How could I have been so extraordinarily stupid to have a) carried too much stuff so that I was unable to use my cell phone for light, and b) forgotten about the suitcase.

I tell myself to calm down. I tell myself to treat this as I would a bad beat at the poker table where I still have a bunch of chips left and I need to avoid going on tilt. I need to avoid punting away my night’s sleep.

I put my CPAP mask on (a new addition to my night time routine when a sleep study a month ago determined I have mild sleep apnea). After a few minutes, my CPAP mask is making a sound I have never heard before. What is going on? I take the mask off, fiddle with a couple of things, turn the CPAP machine off and then back on, and everything now works fine.

The next morning, I wake up and do a body check. My left elbow and lower left back are mildly sore. My finger, which was the most sore after the fall, does not hurt at all.

I have dodged a major bullet.

I dodge a second bullet, when I am about to leave for the airport when I notice a piece of my CPAP mask is lying on the bedroom floor. It must have fallen off when I was packing it up this morning.

So I have now dodged two major bullets. This leads me to an obvious and undeniable realization: I can dodge bullets, baby.

If you have a doubt on playing Orleans, South Point, MGM or Golden Nugget, please don't. All the places will pretty much have a similar crowd. Most of the locations will cover the Guarantee. All I would say is, if you have picked an event to play make sure you are there before the start of the event. The alternate list can get brutal.

Load the Bravo Account at WSOP on your first visit, this way you only end up paying $3 for each event you want to register. This will save you a lot of time. I find it useful when I bust the morning tournament, but I am way past the starting time for daily deep stack. I would rather sit and play than wait in the line. You can print your tournament ticket at the kiosks. Just remember it prints three copies, a receipt, a players copy and a dealers copy, so, wait till you pick all three 😀

Thanks for the knowledge.

2024 WSOP: May 28, 2024
The wait is over, Las Vegas/WSOP here I come, travel rungood

The time for more poker studying is over. I know what I know, and that will have to be enough during my stay at the WSOP.

The long wait, which seemed to take forever over the past months, is finally over.

I am at the airport, waiting for my flight to Las Vegas. Upon being dropped off at the airport, it takes me a total of eight minutes to check my bag (shortcut baggage since I checked in electronically yesterday) and get through security. In my entire life I have never gotten through security this fast at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.

Now I head for a nicety. My credit card gives me two United Club passes a year. I don’t fly a ton, and I have not used these passes, which expire next month. I find the United Club, check in and join all of the other road warriors. I get the free breakfast.

And more importantly, I see that the drink machine has …

Next, I try to post my 2+2 LVL accounting of last night’s near disaster, but my laptop shows that I do not have Internet access. But I figure out how to get the free wi-fi that United Club provides. I figure it out all by myself. I don’t even need to ask for help. I am tech savvy!

As for how I am feeling, I am sooooooo over-the-top excited. In fact, the song “I’m So Excited” by the Pointer Sisters keeps running over and over and over through my head in an endless loop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I57hkclh...

I’m so excited not because I have won a tournament. I’m so excited simply because I am taking the bold, audacious step of entering The Arena. It’s like the scene from the movie Bull Durham conveying the thrill that a minor league baseball player is “going to The Show.”

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/fb42ea70-24...

That is what I am doing. I am going to The Show. Doesn’t matter what the results may end up being. In my mind I am achieving the greatness of daring to dream big simply by going to The Show.

I am even more excited than in 2019 when I was about to leave for my first WSOP. Back then I was excited but I also felt uncertainty since I had never played in the WSOP and did not know what to expect or how I would navigate what I was about to experience. In 2024 I feel no uncertainty. I simply feel sheer excitement. Sheer joy. Sheer anticipation. I am so lucky to be able to go on this poker journey.

It’s happening. It’s happening!! IT’S HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!

As I step onto the plane, I feel the excitement of the football announcer in the following clip when his voice cracks with emotion and he says, “What a time to be alive!”

https://x.com/ESPNCFB/status/11873937165...

I don’t know what results await me. What I do know is that I am headed back into The Arena. I am headed for The Show. My plane has taken off, I am high in the air and I look out the passenger window. The view is absolutely breathtaking. What do I see? I see myself living out the best version of my poker self.

Trip Report Housekeeping

As I have previously written, I do not intend to write in real time. Well, I will take notes at the tables in real time and do rough drafts in real time each night if possible, but I won’t finalize anything and I won’t post my experiences until my WSOP is over. Reason: the writing will be much better this way, and I will be able to make posts with daily regularity.

So, good luck to everyone on 2+2 who will be competing at the WSOP. Good luck especially to LVL trip report writers. Let’s commit to one/some/all of us running deep and having epic results to write about. Yeah, let’s do that.

If time permits during the next 12 days, maybe I will a) leave the occasional breadcrumb to tease what is happening to me, and b) use my newfound picture posting skills (thank you DogFace) to post random Las Vegas strip photos that don’t tie in to my trip reports. If rppoker is my alter ego, then I think my alter ego’s alter ego will go by rpphotographer. Did my Vegas crew just get bigger?

But I’ll be going mostly radio silent now for the next 12 days and nights that I will be competing in the WSOP arena. I hope I find great stories/outcomes to share with you when I start posting my experiences. Whether my results are good or bad, heroic or embarrassing, I will not blasted. Will I emerge triumphantly pushing a wheel barrel full of money down the Las Vegas Strip with a bracelet on my wrist? Or will I leave Las Vegas bloodied, battered, bruised and barely breathing from repeated poker beatdowns?

I’m about to find out.

You’ll find out in 12 days when I start posting about my 2024 WSOP.

I’ll see you when I emerge on the other side.

Let’s goooooooo!!!

The Real Pepper Upper!

It's contagious! I bit it hard during a trail run yesterday and have multiple nasty looking bruises today, including on my folding hand. Obviously the solution will be never to fold, so we'll see how that plays out. Driving down tomorrow!

Glad you're not hurt! Keep up the bullet dodging!