**** Culmination of a Lifelong Dream: TJ’s First Main Event! ****

My guy prairiebreeze checking in in the other thread:

On dinner, with 78k.

Got to share a table on dinner with Kenna James! …The pro poker player, not the porn star. Google image THAT name, and thank me later.

Dinner tonight was Subway out in the promenade. No line, had my food bought, paid for, and eaten about 20 minutes into the 75 minute dinner break. Now I’m at the lobby bar, charging my phone.

No really big spots after that double up. My buddy went broke, AQo < AKo, blind vs blind. He didn’t say a word to me, or anyone at the table, after I doubled through him, then busted… that’s how I know he was thoroughly enraged at himself.

Oh well. I’ll hook him up when he’s in the box back when I get home.

I got check/raised twice, when I was continuing as the preflop raiser. Both times I didn’t have much, and released. I guess my tight image isn’t getting much credit.

Then I flopped top set with JJ as the PFR in a 4way flop. I downbet the J-T-2r flop, and got one caller, but he folded when I sized up on the 6 turn. Maaaaybe could have gone for the turn check/raise in a perfectly executed stack-a-donk line, but that might be getting too cute. It’s fine.

This structure really is one of a kind. I can definitely see how “Main Event folds” are a thing. For most of the first two days, you can come back from a lot.

The guy I’ve built history with stacked a guy in the last level, and is one of the chip leaders at our table. I’ll need to treat him thoughtfully, and deliberately, if we tangle after dinner.

Still, feeling good, happy with my decisions.

Playing confidently.

A casual, 92.5 MILLION dollars in the prize pool, as registration closes

😮😮

I've had that much, in a gambling context, a few times. Mostly sports bets, like betting $6500 on a game and winning. Cashing the ticket, they gave me 2 $5k bundles.

Hope it becomes commonplace for you.

Underground dealers do pretty well for themselves where you come from.

Or maybe they actually have it.

Go Go TJ !

in it's own way....10 stacks of high society

A stack of high society in 1997 (when the Rounders script was written) was $10,000.

Adjusted for inflation that would be $20,028.97.

TheMoreYouKnow.gif

yeah, got confused for a moment

GIDDDDDDDDY UP

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Let’s

4th and final break of the night, before 1 more level, then bag.

I have 185k, average is just over 133k. It was a good level for me.

That huge hand. Folds to button, who’s the guy I said I was building history with. He minraises to 3k, as he’d been doing with a wide range (including showing down 94s), I defend my BB with A8o.

Flop comes A-K-2, two hearts. I check, he continues for 5k, and I call. Turn is an offsuit 3, I check again, now he bets 12k.

I remembered a similar hand from a couple hours ago, where I x/c flop, but folded to a bigger turn barrel.

I think I’ve deduced that HE thinks I don’t want to call off big portions of my stack with marginal holdings. And he’d be correct. But I think I’m ahead, so I call.

River is a J, I check, now he moves me in, for 38.5k.

I’m hating life. Sure his range is wide, but it absolutely includes 54, QT, or who knows how many junk two pairs. To say nothing of his monsters, that might include something like KK. No sizing tell from preflop, he was minraising everything, including his premiums.

I think some more. It’ll be a loooooong flight home if I busted out of my first main event ever, by triple check calling off my tournament life, with A8o.

But I think he knows that too.

Think of all my investors. They trusted me. I’m a steward for their money.

The clock gets called on me.

I think about 10 more seconds. I decide that I’m making a read. It’s based on history, and observation. He’s sooooo wide here, and he’s shown down bluffs before.

Somewhat angrily, I stick it in there. He says you have to be good, and turns up J8s, without a flush draw.

PHEWWWWWW.

I really want a cigarette after that hand. But I quit 8 months ago.

There were some other notable hands that level too, after that.

I open AhTh to 3k, then get 3bet small by a big stack, to 8k. From my cash game grinding days, I have a thing, about absolutely HATING ace-broadway hands vs a 3bet OOP. …But that price. I click call.

Flop is an above average K-8-4, all hearts. I check to him, practically giddy about the checkraise that’s coming.

He downbets just 5k. I put a little thought into the sizing, from preflop, and raise to 18k. Must have snapped the line too hard, because he folds.

I got another checkraise in on a blind defense, with 7s6s on an 8-5-5 one spade flop, that also wasn’t called.

Feeling great, playing with renewed vigor and confidence. But also still a lot of patience. Still a ways to go tonight, and no need to force anything.

The final table’r from 2023 to my left just got crippled, spewing with AKo on a 6-5-2-5 board on the turn. He got called by 44, which held.

Some carnage in these streets tonight.

The triple check call for heaps with top pair vulnerable kicker on a dynamic board in which you were right has to feel enormously satisfying.

Anyone can build a big stack when they have aces versus kings, or when they flop a set against two pair. That takes no skill.

But to make a soul read for your tournament life takes immense skill and enormous cajones. Balls of steel, my man. A truly defining decision if you end up going deep in the Main. I suspect you'll remember that hand for the rest of your life.

Well done!

This perfectly executed Day 2, brought to you by the lucky Day 1 shirt, has done its job yet again, and found another bag.

Bagged 238.5k. Average is 161k, so I’ll be in fantastic shape to start Day 3.

Played two big hands the last level. I open As8s from the hijack to 4.5k, big stack calls in the blind. Flop is 7-6-5 two hearts, now he leads out 6k. Curious.

I have the initiative, and while that texture doesn’t exactly smash my range, I have an open ender with two overs, which sounds like enough to semi bluff to me. I make it 15k, he thinks a moment and calls.

Turn is a third heart, but now it’s the ace. He wakes up AGAIN, and bets a large sizing, 32k.

I think on it a bit, and call.

River pairs the 6, he frowns a bit and checks. I immediately check back, and lose, to his Qh4h. I was drawing completely dead on the turn, guess I should have folded for that large sizing. Fortunate not to hit my straight on the end, there.

A little later, a very tight, older player opens to 4k from UTG, I 3bet with KK to 13k, he calls.

Flop 9-8-4, he immediately glances at his chips, then open rips for 55k. I think on it longer than I should, because I don’t really have a decision here, so I call.

He turns up 88, and my spirits sink,

…Until the K comes off right on the turn.

Nice to be able to dial up a 2-outer like that. Though I’d argue that we should include the preflop action, if we’re debating how much of a beat/cooler this is.

Still. An example of the necessary rungood it requires to make a deep run.

Then our table broke, and I got moved to a table in the Horseshoe for the last 40 minutes of the night. There was less money on my new table, as I arrived as the chip leader.

I resolved to play extra tight, without reads, and not look to mix it up, and fold to the bag. Stay fresh, and come back tomorrow.

Despite that plan, I did knock out a shortstack. I open to 4.5k first in from the button with AQo, shortstack shoves 28k, I call, and hold, vs A4o. Another example of necessary, standard rungood, that adds up over the days.

So yeah! What an exhilarating day. I’m SO proud to have a bag in Day 3 of the Main Event!

We’re less than 1000 players away from the bubble. It might pop tomorrow, instead of Day 4.

I’m going to struggle (and fail) to contain my enthusiasm, pop some melatonin, fire up the CPAP, and try to get some sleep.

Still a very long way to go.

But I’m feeling FANTASTIC, tonight.

I’m (barely) the chip leader at my new table tomorrow.

With position on the 3 stacks between 190k-230k.

I’ll take it.

If any of you internet sleuth whizzes feel inclined to do some background on my table draw, thanks! It’s much appreciated.

I’ll be at Bronze 616.

well done - great to make some good plays and get some help from the deck. both very much an essential part of running deep.

now if you can just 4x your stack a few more times, there'll be a serious sweat to be had!

**** yes. Well done!

Well played 😀

Here is what I could find on your day 3 table, just by looking quickly through Hendon Mob. I cannot properly see what is seat 1, seat 2 etc. though:

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* Caleb Ralston: From Bend, Oregon. $42k lifetime earnings, most of it came from a 4th place in the €775 PacWest Poker Classic (Lincoln City) in March. Maybe using those winnings to fulfill a lifetime dream of playing the Main? Only 5 recorded cashes in total, most from Lincoln City.

* Mark Dufner: From Crookston, Minnesota. $103k lifetime earnings. Won a $500 tourney at 'Roughrider Poker Tour' in August last year for $22k. Quite a lot of results last 3-4 years, but a lot of smaller buy-ins around $150-$500. Also cashed Mini Main a few days ago.

* Boshuang Gao: From West Lafayette, Indiana (although likely Chinese origin). $234k lifetime earnings. Seems like he is firing a lot of mid-stakes tourneys in the Chicago-area, but also have random Vegas scores both during the summer and other time periods. Likely a semi-travelling grinder.

* Roie Sheskin: Living in Poland, although name is of Hebrew origin. Three small cashes from Vegas last summer, and some small ones around Europe. Only $6771 lifetime earnings, and only 7 recorded scores. Based on that resumé, unlikely to be a serious grinder.

* Leonard Foley: From Lake Zurich, Illinois. $19k lifetime earnings. Got 56th in $1500 Millionaire Maker earlier this summer, which amounts for over 50% of his total earnings. 2 registered scores in 2013, then nothing until 2025. Huge 12-year gap between scores, but a picture he posted on Instagram recently states "I've only been playing this game for a living for 15 years".

* Liam Murray: From Brisbane, Australia. $385k lifetime earnings. Tons of recorded scores from Australia the last 5 years, mixed in with a few from Vegas (2022) and one recent cash in $1600 Ultimate Stack at Venetian (no big score). Seems like a grinder that mostly plays at home, but also two recent small scores from Jeju, South Korea (not a Triton even or anything like that 😀 )

* Derek Sudell: From Greenwich, Connecticut. $673k lifetime earnings, biggest one at table. Won a $2500 8-max tourney at Borgata Mini Series in November last year, for $78k. Also finished 5th for $109k in a $1500 6-max event at WSOP 2022. We also see some online results from New Jersey, so he's clearly grinding both live and online. Assume this will be the biggest threat at the table.

* James Bullimore: From Manchester, England. $89k lifetime earnings, most of it from a 3rd place in WSOP Europe at Rozvadov back in 2018. Only two recorded scores post-'Covid', last one was winning a $150 tourney at South Point in October 2023. Seems like he was playing more around 2014-2018 if his Hendon page is to be believed.
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Overall doesn't seem terrible for a day 3 table at the Main Event, no hugely recognized grinders although this Derek Sudell seems like a decent player. But also some guys clearly being in over their head and not used to such a big buy-in.

Great going! Keep it up!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah it seems like youll make the money in Level 15 not 16 so at 6k BB. Lets bag a goddamn milly on Tuesday.

tbh, that looks like a pretty damn good table for day 3 of a 10k