*** TJ's 2024 WSOP Trip! ...That Might Turn Into A Move?
“They all know me as a small-timer. But that’s about to change.”
It’s that time of year again!
This will be my 5th long trip to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. You can read about my trip last year, plus a couple bonus Harrah’s Cherokee trips, right here.
This will also be my longest trip yet, a massive 18 days! I’ll be in town June 14 - July 2. On the agenda: some WSOP bracelet events, lots of low stakes NLHE and PLO cash games, great food, and as much poker as I can possibly handle!
Tournaments I’m definitely playing:
6/15 $1,500 Monster Stack (Flight B)
6/19 $340 8-Game Mix, at the Golden Nugget
6/25 $600 Pokernews Deepstack Championship
6/28 $400 …Up to several bullets in the Colossus
Tournaments I’m possibly playing:
6/21 $1,500 Millionaire Maker (depending on how the Monster Stack, and my first week, goes)
6/18 $1,000 WSOP PLO event (If I bag, I’ll pass on the 8-game tournament)
6/26 $600 WSOP Deepstack Event (If I don’t bag in the Pokernews Deepstack Championship)
…And the Daily Deepstack Tournaments at the WSOP are always an option.
On my last two trips, I stayed at an Airbnb in the Arts District. This year, I’ll be staying at an Airbnb downtown. The factors that are most important to me are: walkable food options, on-site laundry facilities, and affordable cost. This year, a 1 bedroom studio condo downtown wins on all three, coming in at just under $84 a night, after all fees. I’ll be able to walk to Fremont Street, and the uncapped games at the Golden Nugget!
For cash games, I’ll be playing 1-3, 2-5, and 1-2-5 PLO in rooms around town. I’ve played in all the marquee, flagship Vegas card rooms, and that’s where I expect to spend most of my cash game hours. However, I’ve never been to Mandalay Bay, South Point, or the Orleans, so it’d be nice to pick up a chip for my collection.
In all likelihood, I’ll also do a bit of eating, while I’m in town. ‘Tis the season for Vegas trip reports, and we’ve got a lot of great ones going right now. If we want to cross the streams, combine our powers, and get a fantastic meal together, PM me! Here’s what I wrote last year, updated to be current for this year:
Side track, but since it seems you have done some solver work - how much of it do you feel that you get to utilize at the tables? And how much have you altered your play after studying solvers?
My general feeling from playing a lot of (live) poker the last 12 months is that solver input would be useful in some spots, but is probably not necessary to do well in today's games. But I could certainly be wrong.
I've found the solver-based coaching I have received, and working myself with them, to be indespensible. Most helpful has been getting my pre-flop ranges down, for which I used (and use) floptimal. I can't claim to have memorized a bunch of different charts for different stack depths, etc., but I have memorized something that pretty closely approximates RFI charts at 40bb, and I kind of adjust from there on the fly.
The biggest thing I try to keep in mind is that the solver assumes everyone else is a solver, and this is definitely obviously not the case in your average field unless you are Jason Koon. I doubt I will be doing much 3b jamming K4s as a bluff any time soon, for example - which is predicated on the solver relying on villains having a wider opening range than most people have.
What is really helpful I think is the ability to study some specific spots ahead of day 2's, etc. - for example TJ is coming in with 7 BB vs a field w avg 26 bb - we can plug in similar variables into GTO wizard, using an ICM model with 16% of the field left, and get the following RFI chart for a button with 9bb:
Spoiler
a couple of things stand out:
1) it really loves raising all but 0.1bb instead of going all in (19% frequency)
2) minraising is still a thing - mostly to disguise your AA and KK I think (6.4%)
3) we fold a lot more than the standard button range - 71% vs around 50% in chip EV
very interesting, great input brianr.
Great stuff, Brian!!
It seems like TJ isn't the only guy itt who Only Gives Out Winners!
a couple of things stand out:
1) it really loves raising all but 0.1bb instead of going all in (19% frequency)
2) minraising is still a thing - mostly to disguise your AA and KK I think (6.4%)
3) we fold a lot more than the standard button range - 71% vs around 50% in chip EV
Without changing this entire thread to a solver discussion; do you know why it wants to raise to 8.9 instead of going all-in?
I can obviously see the reason from a Final Table standpoint with huge ICM implications (useful to be able to fold if 2 people go crazy behind you or something), but if we are nowhere near a bubble or something I don't see the value in having 0.1 BB left.
Wouldn't it then be better, from a 9bb stack perspective, to raise to 4.5x or something (say we have QTo) and then fold if people go crazy behind you? That way we at least have a bit more chips to spin up, rather than having to put in 99% and (potentially) fold.
I think you are right the only reason could be if SB and BB both jam but I’d probably leave 1 bb behind to maximize fold equity.
I realized the ICM chart above was not representative of TJ's current situation, as the bubble has already passed so the 16% of the field left assumptions will mostly be not valid as they are based around not bubbling - the other thing to note is that GTO Wizard assumes online and not live, so no BB ante - hence the reserving of 0.1 BB because that allows for one more hand -
if we change that to 10% of the field left, on the button w 6 BB (the other option is 9, so 6 seems closer, here's what it says - at 9 BB it still wants to minraise TT+ and some other bluffs:
Spoiler
Thanks again, Brian, that’s very helpful!
Gonna drill into that chart, and know exactly where the margins are for my push/fold strategy heading into tomorrow.
Well, I finally exacted a measure of revenge against the PLO regs at Aria, finishing the session at +535.
However, the joke may have been on me, because I stayed waaaaaay too long. I played a 13.5 hour session, and went home bright and early with the sun all the way up.
When my normie friends back home found out I was taking an 18 day trip to Vegas JUST to play poker, they ask me, “doesn’t that seem like an awful long time to JUST play poker? Don’t you get burned out?”
And that’s the thing, I love poker and never get tired of it. It’s probably inadvisable to play to the point of mental exhaustion every day, though. I should work on that.
And now, it’s messed up my sleep schedule, sleeping in until this afternoon. I just got up, now I’m over at Carson Kitchen getting a meal before I head to the WSOP later.
No matter how the games are going today, I absolutely won’t pull another all nighter. I want to get another sleep in, to be as ready as I can be for as long a Day 2 as possible tomorrow!
Put it on em TJ - enjoying tagging along on the trip
I’ve had multiple people tell me (I think Balbomb was the first), that any time you’re downtown, you have to check out Carson Kitchen.
It’s only about 3 blocks from my Airbnb, so I checked it out, and I’m glad I did.
I got the short rib steak, which comes with a pepperoncini pesto. It was seared to a nice char on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside, and the pesto provided a nice complement to the flavor. I also had the baked Mac and cheese (super secret recipe) for a side, which was also great.
I hadn’t gotten dessert this whole trip, so I said why not, and got the brown butter bacon fudge brownie, which is served cold with ice cream and a bacon garnish.
It was only just meh, for $14.
Rest assured, though, I definitely still ate it all.
The meal was great, and was about $68 with dessert and no drinks.
Dont miss it, if you find yourself downtown.
yum! 2 questions
- how are you faring in that air bnb converted hotel room? It’s quite a long time to be in a smallish space, even if you’re out most of the time. Still ok with it or do you wish you’d found something different?
- where are you at right now re a permanent move out to Vejas?
The Airbnb has been fine. It’s all about trade offs.
I knew going in that getting a nicer place was an unnecessary luxury expense, for my purposes. I just wanted something that was safe, with convenient, walkable food options, and laundry, for the lowest cost per night I could get. I also save on an Uber anytime I want to play at the Golden Nugget, which I can walk to.
If I were staying with someone, I would have spent more and got a nicer place, or considered staying on the strip. But all I do in the room is shower and sleep, so my place has suited my needs perfectly.
As for the move, I think I’ve mostly made up my mind to stay put in North Carolina for now, for at least another year.
The trip absolutely hasn’t been a waste of time, though. I’ve done a lot of valuable networking, and laid eyes on all the future job sites. Presumably, all these jobs in Vegas will still be here for me, now, in a year, or whenever.
My mom is staying at my sister’s house and can’t go home, for an as yet undetermined and open ended timeframe… and she just got out of the hospital for chest pain. I know it stresses my sister a lot, thinking she has to be her primary caretaker, because she has enough space for her, and I don’t.
If I have to decide stay or go in less than 3 weeks, (and I do), I think it’d be irresponsible of me to think we’re all in a place where I could safely go, for now.
My primary concern now is, how can I leverage my legitimate outside opportunities into getting a raise to stay.
Carson Kitchen looks great.
I'm not sure why, but I was hoping you'd make the move. Good luck with everything!
I was too… and I may yet, someday.
Sounds like you have a lot of options and can take your time. That's a nice place to be.
Finally, a good cash game session on my trip, worthy of some chip porn. Only took Day 16/18, but I’m glad it finally happened.
+2082 today at some 1/2 PLO at the WSOP. AND I kept it under 4 hours!
Still very much in the red on this trip, but this is a big step forward in the right direction.
My first week here, I could do no right. My last week here, I can do no wrong. Funny how this game works sometimes.
I’m not particularly hungry, or tired, at 10:30 tonight. But I think I’ll go back to my place, and try to go to bed, anyway, because I want to make it a loooong Day 2 at the Colossus tomorrow!
And if it’s a short day, we’ll play as much PLO as we can possibly handle.
Nice chip pic - love to see it. Good luck tomorrow!
PLO feels great when your hands hold up or you boat up with all your top sets.
Hope that remains the same for you TJ 
Enjoying this report, good luck today!
Woke up, had a long, hot shower and a shave, then went back to Siegel’s 1941 in the El Cortez for breakfast. Since it’s one of my last days in town, I spared no expense.
Got the steak and eggs, mid rare of course, with cheese on the eggs and hashbrowns, to go with OJ and coffee.
With all those extras, it came to $47.
Next, I took a rather satisfying dump in a spotless and just cleaned, smartly renovated bathroom in the El Cortez.
What I’m saying is, I can’t think of anything else I can possibly do to make myself any more ready, or feel better for a long day today!
Gonna have to start fast to have a chance. It could end at any moment, up to and including the first hand I’m dealt.
Starting the day with 6.5 big blinds. Our goal for the first three levels is to amass a workable stack (>20 bb) by the first break.
Let’s get it!
