*** TJ's 2024 WSOP Trip! ...That Might Turn Into A Move?

Of course!

Waffle House is the quintessential diner. They’re open, serving breakfast 24/7/365.

That’s how I knew Covid was going to be an apocalyptically big deal, even Waffle Houses were closed briefly.

Hashbrowns any style works at ALL times of the day.

Can you get hashbrowns at that time of day?

I've been to a Mexican restaurant that was out of jalapenos, I've been to BBQ joints that were out of ribs or pulled pork, but I have never been unable to get hashbrowns at an Awful House!

Moby has a pretty intimidating glare that will surely psyche out your opponents. Good luck. Run good!

First break, right on schedule with 82k, from a 40k starting stack.

This table is much tougher than the average starting table of the $400 tournament (predictably so). It plays more like the average tougher, squeeze-y 2/5 table. Have to be very thoughtful about every time you open, or defend.

There’s two guys that don’t have their phones out, and are studiously and diligently observing the action, even when they’re not in hands. Don’t see that much in the mini-main. There’s another guy I’ve played with twice… both times I’ve made Day 2 of the $400 tournament. He’s aggro, and solid.

However, there’s two clear spots I’m looking to exploit. Unfortunately, one is to my direct left, and even MORE unfortunately, he smells. But with the way he plays, I don’t think he’ll be with us much longer.

A couple hands: I isolate Td9d to 800 over a limp from the cutoff, spot in the button calls, SB makes it 3k. Limper folds, the spot and I call. Comes J-9-8 rainbow, no diamonds, and SB continues for 3.5k. That’s a texture that hits the defender in position MUCH harder than the opener, so I call, and the spot calls. Turn is an offsuit 3, SB checks, I check, now the spot bets 10k. SB folds, and I call, telling myself I have a ton of equity vs 1 pair hands. River’s a T, I check, he checks back and loses with AJ.

Another time, I snuck in a 5 way flop with a small blind special Jh3h, and got a nice multi-way check raise in on a K-3-3 flop. My opponent folded to the committing barrel on the turn.

So I’m negligibly the chip leader at my table, which is always where I want to be. Only one player busted in the first three levels. It’s a much better and more forgiving tournament structure than the mini-main, with 40 minute levels (60 minutes on Day 2+).

Gonna keep focusing on my observations, and my processing to make the best decisions.

LFG!

And yet, slow and steady wins the race. Marathon, not a sprint. All the trite sayings.

You got this.

I find it interesting to read your thought process about players you want to hunt for opportunities to exploit.

Second break, still keeping a good pace. Still my table’s chip leader, on about 169k.

The terrible, stinky player is still with us, and he’s revealed himself to be a true mouthbreather, saying positively asinine table talk when he speaks. I’m very much looking to do the table a favor, and bust him.

Some hands: I 3bet an EP 1500 open to 5k with AA from SB, flop A-7-2r. I downbet 2.5k, which must have jiggled his r*tard switch, because he snap raised to 8k, but folded to my shove. It’s always nice when you make a tricky move, and it works.

Speaking of tricky moves, I defend an open with KQo from BB, heads up and the flop comes A-9-4, which check/checks. I wake up and lead the T turn, which he flats… then I catch the most beautimus offsuit Jack, that misses BOTH flush draws. We’re about 80k effective, in a pot about 7k.

I check the river to him, he bets 4k, and I shove for all of it. It puts him in a blender, and he thinks for a while, but eventually does find the fold.

I wonder if he would have called 20k or 30k instead… but I never feel like it’s a bad thing to be betting too much with the nuts. If he HAD called 20 or 30k on the river, I might have been even MORE tilted I didn’t shove. Some people can’t fold to the river check/raise, so in a tough field, I definitely want to give people chances to punt off stacks, especially when I have the nuts. Oh well.

And a pretty low drama, standard spot: I 3bet QQ from the blind, stay in the lead on the J-5-4 flop, shove the 4 turn, and stack QJ.

PokerNews came over and took down my name to update the chip counts at the 2nd break, so I’m practically internet-famous now.

Feeling good, running good, making good decisions. Let’s keep it going!

Worried you would be on that list? I am I would be 😉

only one person walking this earth can grant you permission to win this whole thing TJ,
the rest of us are simply here to grind the rail and remind you every decision you make along the way will be scrutinized by the beady black eyes of Moby

TJs thoughtful approach toward targeted chip accumulation is one of many attributes that elevate him way above the average player.
what may cause spirals into trouble and cause him bleed is not throttling back and thoughtlessly applying the same strategy when he gets tangled up in the barbwire of players who pay attention

the poker universe will let you know when he should become extinct, don't force the comet impact for comedic effect
it's perfectly fine if someone else snipes him

On the third break, which is the 60 minute dinner break. Holding steady at 142k, average is about 80k, coming back to 1k/2k.

Someone else did snipe him, so we’ve been relieved of his presence. He bluffed off about 70% of his stack with 22 on a K-Q-T-8-5 runout, then lost a flip with 33.

There are now no obviously soft spots remaining. There are a few tourney pros that I recognize, and it seems like between 2/3rds or 3/4ths of all hands are raised and 3bet preflop. If it was a 2/5 table, I would have picked up long ago.

Only played one notable, memorable hand. Folds to me on the button at 600/1200, I raise to 2500 with Ac6c, BB playing about 80k calls. Flop 2c-3c-4c, so I flop the stone nuts, with both straight flush blockers. He check calls my 2500 cbet, which I’d continue on this texture with a pretty wide range.

Turn pairs the deuce, so I no longer have the nuts. I decide it’s time to size up, and make it 8k once he checks again. He calls. River is a red ace, now he wakes up and leads out 12k.

I think for a moment, and decide that as wet as that board is, I think I would have heard from boats before now. So I shove over the lead, for value.

When he doesn’t snap call, I think I’m good. He tanks a while on it, and eventually folds.

There was also one CRAZY hand, where I wasn’t involved, but I’m still thinking about it. Both players appear to be tourney pros, and they appear to know each other. Let’s play the Jack Link’s Wild Card hand!

Folds to CO who opens 3k, SB makes it 10k, CO calls. Flop A-Q-T all diamonds, SB downbets 4.2k, CO calls. Turn is the 5d, SB bets 12k, CO calls. River is the 5th diamond, the 6d. SB shoves for 40something k, which is most of CO’s stack. He clearly doesn’t look happy about it, mumbles “This is such a stupid spot…” and calls. What do they have?

SB shows KK, without a diamond. CO has AA, no diamond. No 4bet preflop, triple calling off his tournament life with top set, to play the board.

WTF is even happening here?!?

I think about the thought processes they must be having to arrive at the dynamic and multi factorial decision trees they made in that hand. There are some clear suboptimal plays… but it just makes me wonder how I’m going to deploy effective counter strategies to beat them. Galaxy-brain ****.

Dinner tonight is a Philly cheesesteak from Cuddly’s Soul Food food truck. Veteran-owned, and the sign says “Let Cuddly feed you!” with pictures of fat, middle aged black people in chef outfits with BEAMING, joyous smiles 😀

Very tasty, if a bit messy, for $22.

Halfway to a bag on Day 1. Let’s finish strong.

Cuddly + WH sounds like a path to victory!

The cheesesteak DID intentionally have onions.

wipe your mind from ever witnessing this crime scene
it has nothing to do with whatever happens next for you

That Cuddly meal ain't messy. That's called tasty!

Enjoying the slow & steady progress of the tourney.

Made the 4th break, but it’s time to activate my pushbot when I get back. I have 54k, and the big blind, coming back to 2k/4k.

Pretty card dead the last 3 levels. I didn’t play many hands.

One blind defense went wrong, I call/call/folded Q9s on a Q-7-3-A-7 runout. He later told me he had an ace… now I wish I checkraised the flop, instead of how it played out.

Another time, I got moderately unlucky when I checkraised a field with Kc5c on a Tc-8c-8 flop, and got it in with a short stack’s Jc9c. He turned the Jack.

I did get lucky once, Ah4h > TT all in preflop to bust a shortstack.

Registration is now closed, and we’re about 75 players away from the bubble. So I could have max late reg’ed this whole day, and be in about the same spot with 40k.

But I wouldn’t have had all these hours of fun, though, if I did that!

Gonna play my stack the best I can.

Made the 5th and final break, in an improved, but still precarious situation. I have 140k, coming back to the button, and 4k/8k.

The last three levels were tense, and INtense. Somehow I managed that little mini-spin without a single all in/call.

Which isn’t to say I wasn’t all in for my tournament life on several occasions. I have a tight image, and I guess it’s worked to my advantage. I open ripped 12bb from button with KTo and it got through, two resteal shoves over a raise that weren’t contested, and 4bet shoved QQ from early position over a button 3bet. I also made a hero call, with bottom pair, in a spot where we both got to the river with wide ranges. Encouraging to be correct, but now I think raising river in position as a bluff might have been better, because I could get him to fold some of the stuff I’m losing to.

We’re 10 players away from the bubble, 35 or so away from bagging. There are crazy bubble table dynamics in play. Some people are being abusive, others are trying to ladder up.

Of course I want to bag… but after playing all day, I REALLY want to cash. A $3400 min cash isn’t nothing.

So on the abusive vs super tight spectrum, I’m closer to the latter right now, but if I see a clear spot, I won’t pass it up.

In the money

This is officially the highest buyin tournament I’ve ever cashed, now.

Let’s see if we can take this to a bag…

Congrats and GL TJ !

That KK vs AA all diamond board hand is just a terribly played hand on all accounts by both players. I agree with REDeYeS, just forget about it.

You may think they have galaxy brains.
But they ain’t the Silver Surfer.
They don’t have enough MTT Profit to buy a cheeseburger!

Moby told me to post: “Don’t let them make fun of you for only owning 3 shirts. As long as it keeps working, keep going with it!”

I am among the 53 players out of a field of 503 that bagged for Flight A. I bagged 260k, and average was about 380k when it ended.

Flight B will be bigger, maybe even double the entries of Flight A… so I don’t know what that’ll do to my stack, relative to whatever the average will be on the restart on Sunday.

We’ll be coming back to 6k/12k, so while my stack isn’t exactly COMFORTABLE, I’ll be able to pick my spot. And it’s 60 minute levels on Day 2+.

I got moved to a brand new table about 20 minutes before the bubble popped, and my new table had way fewer chips on it. There was one stack over 300k, one over 400k, then me and everyone else were between 10-20 big blinds. So it made for an interesting dynamic, navigating through the bubble, when any resteal would be for stacks.

After the bubble popped, it folded to me on the button, and I open shoved 140k with Q8o at two shortstacks in the blinds around 50k. The SB found a call with A9o, but I got there on him.

The other interesting, notable hand came about ten minutes before we bagged. CO who has 400k opens to 20k at 5/10, and I, playing about 160k, defend from BB with Ah8d. Maybe could have 3bet, or just shoved, but I didn’t want to go splat right at the end. And post flop edges are bigger than preflop, anyway. I’m confident in my ability to play postflop, and make decisions on the margins. It comes Qh 6c 2h, I check, now he bets 13k.

Brief tangent: I HATE the current meta that all the streamers and vloggers insist is all the rage in poker in 2025, the Bart Hanson-approved 1/3rd pot cbet. ESPECIALLY in cash games. It doesn’t get value, it doesn’t lower SPR as effectively as 1/2 pot, and when I see a person doing it, it screams to me “I’m hung like a field mouse.” Ace high is already marginal showdown value in suuuuper tight/passive late tourney situations, so I’m just not ready to fold yet, and I float.

I get just about the best possible turn card, the 8h… putting 3 hearts out with me also holding the Ah. I check again, now he goes 43k. It’s here I come up with the plan to call, and open shove any A, 8, or heart river.

River is the 9s, which I don’t love. I check, and as I’m deciding just what I’ll do if he bets, he checks back, and my hand is good.

Well, it’s been an exhilarating 13.5 hour grind of intense poker decision processing, I’m spent. Gonna sleep as late as I feel like it, then play PLO cash all day tomorrow!

It is a beautiful feeling to put those chips in the bag with all the hopes and dreams of a deep run still alive.

Good luck on day 2 and in the PLO cash until then.

Congrats TJ, but the work is just starting.

Congrats on the cash and the bag.

Hopefully you packed a run-good day 2 shirt?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

♥

Hate is a strong word. There are often good reasons for a 1⁄3 pot bet. One of them is that people generally play too passively (compared to solver), so they don't check-raise these small cbets enough. So the preflop raiser either takes it down on the flop with a small investment, or sees a turn card and stays in control. However, I do think that some folks overuse the 1⁄3 pot size and don't adapt to the board texture.

Anyway, this is prolly enough strat talk for now. Good luck today!