Poker Trips 2024 / 2025
This trip report follows on from my WSOP trip report here
WSOPC - Horseshoe
Day One - Tuesday March 18th
Travel day. Usual route. Medellin - Panama - Las Vegas with Copa.
There’s no line at the Copa check-in and a bit of flirting with the girl at the counter results in emergency exit row seats for both flights at no extra cost.
The change I made put us on the later flight from Medellin to Panama with only a 1 hour layover which is if course better, providing there’s no big delay on the 1st flight in which case we’re screwed.
Passed the time waiting for the flight watching Negreanu’s win in the $15k Dealers Choice at the recent PGT Mixed Series.
Talk about running good. He should have been black and blue with how hard the deck hit him.
My 6-year old could have won that final table with the cards he got.
Thankfully the flight was on time, but it landed at gate 111 and the Vegas flight was departing from gate 203 so I had to double time it from one terminal to the other and just reached the gate as they were calling my boarding group.
Uneventful flight. No Reacher left to read so we’re on John Grisham’s The Exchange this time.
Never gets old as Leon might say.
Horseshoe check-in was a **** show. 20+ people in line, only 2 girls working and they both disappeared at one point to leave no-one manning the front desk.
We had tried to check-in online but it didn’t work. Nor did their self service kiosks.
We eventually get checked in. This will be our room for just 10 hours now lol.
View from the extremely dirty windows.
Sleep time. Cash game grind tomorrow.
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WSOPC - Horseshoe
Day Two - Wednesday March 19th
Checked out of the Horseshoe and the plan was to drop our bag off at MGM then head to Encore.
Took the monorail one stop to MGM and when we got there found a long line at the bell desk so thought let’s see if I can get an early check-in instead?
It was only 10:30 and the lady said she wasn’t supposed to check anyone in until at least 11am.
I explained I’d be out all day playing poker and the last time I got back to check in at midnight they were sold out and had given my room away.
She said she’d take a look if anything was available now.
I said I appreciate it and would look after her if anything was available.
Lo and behold she found something and we slid $40 her way. $20 seems not enough these days with inflation?
So that’s how we got checked in at 10:30 with no early check-in fee.
The room is fine. Low floor but it will do.
Part 2 of the plan as we were going to Encore anyway was to go to the Peppermill which is close by for an early lunch. All my visits to Vegas and I’d never been, so decided to put that right today.
Went for the salmon which came with a garlic butter and was cooked perfectly. I enjoyed it.
Beautiful day out today but really cold.
So, happy with the days accomplishments so far and with our stomach full we settled down to what we hoped would be a profitable cash game session in the $40 / $80 O.E.
We started well scooping a couple of O8 pots with boats and were up $1,000 after 1 hour.
We should have left then and made better use of the next 10 hours.
As it was we played an 11 hour session and ended up +$400
The game got short then a crazy guy sat down and started 3 and 4 betting with trash. I couldn’t catch him and he cost us money inflating pots.
We waved the white flag just after midnight and called it a night with our measly profit.
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I suspect that I am too late to buy any of your action on this trip? If so, I am absolutely in for a taste of your WSOP action! Good luck!
WSOPC Horseshoe
Day Three - Thursday March 20th
Whoever made the schedules for the mixed tournaments at this stop needs their head examining.
Why are $400 and $600 tournaments two day affairs? Absolutely no need.
Why start so late at 3pm?
And even with a 3pm start we still get a dinner break?
But it is what it is and we’ll make the best of it.
So with no tournament until 3pm we have two choices. Play cash first or ……….
Pool time [emoji3]
A little warmer today and the sun trying to break through the clouds.
The 2nd pool is quieter and more to our liking. The lazy river is still closed.
We head down to the Horseshoe around 2:30pm. It’s really not a bad walk. Roughly 20 minutes through the labyrinth-like MGM, up the strip, into Paris and through to the Horseshoe.
The tournament room is the Normandy upstairs.
I’d forgotten how bad some of the dealers are here. At least at the WSOP proper you get some good dealers mixed in. Today I did not have one good dealer.
It’s slow and hard going. We’re down to 12k from 20k starting at the first break.
After the break we continue in the wrong direction, eventually to the felt. Could not get anything going. Nothing worked.
Bullet 2 seems to know what it’s doing though and we end late reg on 50k.
Sorry didn’t make any HH notes today and lying in bed writing this I’m drawing a blank as to exactly how I got there.
We continue building steadily in the 3rd act to sit on a below average 80k at the dinner break with 20 left, only 2 spots from the money.
One hand I do remember from somewhere in there.
We open with KKQTss to 3k
Villain raises to 9k
We call
Flop 9-7-4 with two clubs. (We have K-T clubs)
We check
Villain bets 12k
I think he probably has Aces here but without clubs how can he call a raise? What’s he beating?
We raise to 40k
Villain tanks and eventually lets it go
It’s a mini dinner break of only 30 minutes so we high tail it to Dave’s Hot Chicken.
We just barely have enough time to eat-in and get back on time for the restart.
It’s seems only fair that as our last PLO tournament was the longest bubble we ever played then this one should be the shortest. So short in fact that there wasn’t one!
Not long after we resumed, two people were eliminated on different tables on the same hand and we were in the money.
A short while later, down to 14 now and we play the following hand at 2k-4k / 4k with 90k effective stacks
Villain opens UTG+1 for 12k (he’s been opening often and wide)
We have KKQ6ds and make it 40k
Villain thinks for a long time and finally makes the call.
Flop is 9-5-3 with two spades.
Villain goes all in.
Im sure he has spades. Probably Ax of spades and maybe another 2 high cards.
I think we’re ahead and can’t find a fold.
He turns over 4568 with spades.
That’s bad news. We are ahead but he’s smashed the flop and is a good favorite.
We dodge the flush but he makes trip fives.
14th place is good for a min-cash of $835 and somewhat dejected we walk back down the strip to MGM.
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I suspect that I am too late to buy any of your action on this trip? If so, I am absolutely in for a taste of your WSOP action! Good luck!
Want to keep it all on pokerstake for this trip. The only bullet 1 action left is 10% of the $1,125 PLO.
You can sill get bullet 2 action (refunded if not fired) for all the remaining events.
Will be selling on here for the WSOP as a package. Will post ahead of time.
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14th place is good for a min-cash of $835 and somewhat dejected we walk back down the strip to MGM.
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as my kids say....congratulamiserations!
WSOPC Horseshoe
Day Four - Friday March 21st
Pool time as usual to kick us off.
The lazy river is open today.
Followed by a healthy early lunch from the food court.
Then I headed to Encore to meet up with Leon for a while before the tournament.
He’s shooting craps with D.
I watch for a bit while the table is ice cold.
Eventually a semi-decent roll happens and they get up to $500 on some numbers before it 7’s out. Maybe the table is warming up?
Leon graciously lets me take 10% of his action for the next few shooters.
Sandwiched between 2 small losing rolls we get another semi-decent roll and manage to take some profit.
Still no-where close to getting flags on numbers, or even yellow chips but at least getting some return. When it came time for me to go and play the tournament my 10% share was worth:
It was great to spend some time with Leon and D and watch how they play. Cautiously while the table was cold to minimize losses but aggressively pressing when the dice started to warm up.
We take a leisurely stroll to the Horseshoe to play todays mixed game offering: $600 TORSE of which Leon has 10% of my action so I’m hoping I can return the favor and make some profit for him as well.
When we arrive they’re 4 handed on the final table of yesterday’s PLO. The guy that knocked me out (black shirt in the middle with his back to is) has all the chips and goes on to win it.
We start with 25k today. We had a good first session increasing to 38k at the first break before regressing to 26k at the 2nd break.
Is this any good in Stud? Asking for a friend [emoji23]
We slow play the rolled up fours keeping 2 other people in and are rewarded making quads on 7th to win a nice pot.
52k at end of level 12. As I said yesterday, quirky structures here. 12 levels of late reg today which makes nonsense to me. Max late reg would be only 3 big bets. But what a turnout we got. 165 total entries.
In the 4th session we become short and find ourselves all-in on 4th street in Stud.
We’re in good shape however with trip tens against just a pair of kings.
Unfortunately things went pear shaped. Villain caught Ace-Ace to give him Aces up, but we’re still ahead going into 7th.
I ask him to go (look) first hoping we don’t have to look at our 7th but to my horror he finds the case Ace to make Aces full [emoji44]
That leaves us to look at our 7th needing a miracle.
A one-outer. One time. Come on. Pretty please?
Any tens in this deck?
As I’ve said before I’m not a squeezer. Non of this 4 across bo11ocks.
We pick it up and slam it down fast.
BOOM !!! Oh baby!
90k at the end of level 16. Still short as the average is 150k but still in it. Going back to 10k / 20k limits with 29 played left needing to lose just 4 players to be in the money.
On the bubble now. We don’t get a quick one like last night. It’s long and drawn out, pain and suffering, the short stacks are all surviving.
We’re one of those short stacks. Despite starting 3-4-A-7 in Razz we catch A-7 to be all-in going into 7th needing some help.
Villain has a Queen. Again I ask him to go first to look at his 7th street card. He catches a 5 to improve to a ten low.
Our turn. We again slam it over quick and again it’s a ten. Wait, what’s the countdown? Villain has 10-7-5 …….. we have 10-7-4 [emoji3] Kid’s got alligator blood.
Still on the bubble we play a big one in Stud. We slow play buried Aces against a King open.
We check-raise 5th after we catch open 3’s to villain’s open Jacks.
We bet after being checked to on 6th and with a king and a jack on our board we block villains outs. He folds kings up.
The bubble finally bursts on another table and that’s it for the night. End of level 18 and we bag 148k in the money.
24 players will return for day 2 with the average stack at 171k coming back to 15k / 30k limits.
We have 5 big bets, average stack is just less than 6 big bets so it’s a little crap-shooty but it does go to 45 minute levels tomorrow so if we can win a hand or two early we’ll have more time to play.
Dreaming of the ring. Re-start tomorrow at 1pm
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End of day chips counts and table draw for tomorrow
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El Diesel's buddy, Herbs & Rye, is 11th in chips.
WSOPC Horseshoe
Day Five - Saturday March 22nd
Just looking back at yesterday’s write up it seems all my big hands were in the Stud games. Nothing of note in 2-7 or Omaha.
And while we did get some favorable 7th streets we got our share of bad ones as well which is what kept us below average.
This one I remember but forgot to post. A couple of hands after I made the quad fours, villain in the 6 seat completes with an Ace showing.
His completion rate when he has the highest up card has been almost 100% so o know he’s full of ****.
Especially when I have A-Q | Q so i raise to isolate knowing he’ll come along.
Long story short I bet all the way with him calling. He makes open 8’s and makes trips on 7th to beat my queens up and take all the profit we made in the quad 4’s hand. His starting cards were J-6 | A WTF ?
But anyway onto today.
They draw for the game and we start on Razz.
We have a good round winning 3 out of the 6 hands, 2 of them from Paul Zappulla, who although I’ve never played with him before it feels like I know as I was watching the $10k Omaha 8 final table from last year’s World Series at home just last week. Paul came 4th (Scott Seiver won) so I’m familiar with his game a little. Poker Go subscription paying for itself already.
Our stack is growing nicely.
We reach 18 players quickly and re-draw for 3 tables. They draw for the game again and again it’s Razz. This is turning into a Razz tournament!
Finally we get out of Razz and we win a stud hand starting with split aces against Svetlana Gromenkova who seems like a solid player (backed up by $750k in Henson mob cashes when I look) We don’t improve so slow down and it goes check - check on 6th and 7th and we’re good.
We get zero playable hands in triple draw.
Then lose a big O8 hand with a Q on a QQx board when we can’t fill up and villain makes a flush.
12 players left. 2 table re-draw. We have 280k, average is 360k
We snow with 7722 in triple draw. It doesn’t work. Villain makes an 8
We lose another big 2-7 pot drawing to the wheel both taking one on the last draw. Svetlana makes a 9, we get a king.
Down to 100k playing 25k - 50k limits
We’re almost all-in betting 50k on the turn here with only 2k behind. No call from Paul.
Turns out he’s a nice guy and we’re bantering back and forth as we’ve been clashing a lot. I seem to have his number so far today. 4-1 in our favor up till now.
We have 230k on break at the end of level 21 (avg. 412k) going back to 30k / 60k limits
After the break we ante away through the Stud rounds until we clash in a big hand on the last hand of Stud 8 against Paul. Who else?
We’re all in on 6th with just a pair of 8’s but it’s ahead. Paul bricks 7th and we now how some nice like green 25k chips
We take the momentum into the Triple Draw round.
We make 87632 vs Paul’s 87643 and then on the very next hand make the exact same hand again 87632 this time against Svetlana who is short to eliminate here and set the final table.
We start the final table like this playing 40k - 80k limits. (Update from poker.org)
They draw for the game and we start on Triple Draw. There will be blood. Unfortunately it’s ours as we brick a 2457 draw to lose half our stack.
We’re all-in shortly after in Razz against a guy from Texas (Robert) in the 2 seat after we make a great read.
All the up-cards were low. The 7 up-cards were AA22346
We had the bring in with the 6 up.
Our hand was 3-4 | 6
It folds round to one of the deuces who raises.
We call. (We think he’s just bullying playing the big stack)
4th street he catches a 5. We catch a 9
He bets, we call. (Better street for him it seems but can’t fold here as it’s still a cheap street)
5th street we both catch an 8
He bets.
He’s not slowing down. He’s repping a made 8. We have a made 9.
We have the bet to call and half a bet more left.
Decision time.
There wasn’t a 5 in the up-cars and we dont have one.
We ask him if he’s paired his 5.
I have a feeling he has but if we’re wrong we’re out of the tournament.
I tell him I think he’s paired his 5 and raise all-in for my last half bet.
He calls of course and lo and behold he had paired the 5.
The other low cards gone reduce his outs but we still have to hold.
He runs out K-8 so our 9 is good. We actually catch a 7 to improve to an 8 but didn’t need it.
On the very next hand we get ourselves into another situation, this time against the French guy (Stephane)in seat 7.
On 5th street we have A-3 | 4-7-Q
He has ?-? | 2-4-5
And he bets.
Whereas we sensed weakness in the previous hand, this time our spidey-sense is tingling and we send that the villain is strong.
We lay it down.
He shows 3-7 for a made 7.
We give ourselves a pat on the back for another good read.
We lose a couple of bets in Stud with split Jacks against what looks like split Aces. We lay it down on 5th. Villain does not show.
We’re all in again shortly after on 6th street in Stud 8 with a pair of Jacks and a low draw against Stephane who has only a pair of Eights.
He goes dirt on 7th and makes Aces up. We need help.
We hit a sieve to make the low and chop. Would have been nice to scoop there though. It was like an 800k pot
So we reach the break at the end of level 24 with 440k and only one person has been eliminated and it’s Paul who was the chip leader starting the final table. That’s limit poker for you when the limits are this high.
After the break we’re not getting any hands and are getting ante’d and blinded away. Mark Liedtke gets eliminated in 6th place.
We’re really short now and make our stand in Stud with a pair of Kings.
We’re called in two spots because we’re so short. We don’t improve the Kings. Both the villains do improve their lessor pairs to trips on 7th and we hit the rail.
5th place good for $4,313. 80% is mine as I’d sold 20% of my action.
Wow. A real roller coaster of a tournament. We’re physically and mentally exhausted.
There is still time to jump into the PLO but it wouldn’t be a good idea. We’re totally drained.
All I want is some food and then bed.
Was going to try Jack Binnions steakhouse in the Horseshoe but as they didn’t have my favorite side of potato gratin I passed and went to Bugsy & Meyers in The Flamingo as I know they do have it.
And dessert at the ice cream place outside of Planet Hollywood walking back to MGM
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Well played, sir! Although it's always a bit frustrating being that close to a win. Are you playing anything at the Horseshoe today?
Great run!
Sounds like the final table was a real battle, with lots of stacks around the same depth, and some high level decision making.
I really enjoy mixed games, but don’t have near the experience or instincts to go for snows. I’m also not used to how to incorporate math changes in stud games for up cards.
GREAT read on the guy who paired his 5 in Razz! That’s the sort of thing I’d never consider… I’d just be like his board is scary, I might not be good, time to fold.
