The Summer Wind - A WSOP Trip Report …… and beyond!

I like it! When I first heard about lowball games I was excited because I'm always making lowball hands in regular poker. Plus, I learned how to play in California, so I've got plenty of LHE experience.

I once got on a plane in Osaka, Japan at 4pm on Wednesday. I arrived in Phoenix at 4pm on Wednesday after traveling for 16+ hours, including changing planes/customs in eL lAy. It felt weird.

Youtube players have a pause button. 😀

I had in mind you'd just explain the rules orally instead of the written cheat sheets, but the written versions might be even better. Not sure -- I could go either way. The Big O hand seems slightly spewy to me, but I've played very little so you should take my feedback with less than a grain of salt.

I think this video was much better than the last. For the Big O hand, I feel like when you see that flop against someone like Eli, you're pot-committed. You definitely have less than 50% equity but he doesn't always have to have A2 there. Agree you're the favorite to be scoopee vs scooper. If it's spew, it's only during pre-flop.

Trying to get my mixed thinking cap on since I'm playing these games now.

WSOP Europe
Day One - Tuesday March 31st

It’s bitterly cold here in Prague. Only 5 degrees Celsius as I walk from my hotel to the Hilton where the tournament is.

It doesn’t take long to get registered. You have to have a Kings card and they link it to the WSOP app.

The tournament room:

The tournament is mixed PLO which is PLO, PLO8 and Big O

I struggle to get anything going and after 4 hours go to dinner on 31k from a 40k starting stack.

No players buffet so I order a steak from the restaurant here.

Average at best and not much change from €50 euros.

After dinner we flop top set in PLO on a 9-8-6 board and go with it. Villain had 7-T for the straight and we don’t improve.

I fire again and get it in playing Big O with A346J on a 2-5-J flop. Villain called with A4JQK so I’m in good shape ……… until it runs out Q-K.

GG. Not the start we were looking for.

On deck tomorrow: NLH Mystery Bounty Day 1C

I really don’t like Big O, but that running top two pair is a pretty nasty beat. You had EVERYTHING working!

Gg.

WSOP Europe
Day Two - Wednesday April 1st

€1,100 No Limit Hold’em Mystery Bounty today. As you all know the two-card game is not my favorite but we did okay in the last mystery bounty that we played so let’s see what happens.

I choose not to play the opening 2 hours and jump in at the first break.

So we start on level 5 which is 300/600/600 with a 40k stack so still almost 70 bigs which is fine.

We don’t make any headway and have 35k at the next break.

The pre-dinner session treats us better and we chip up to 180k when we hit the 1 hour break after which registration will be closed.

943 entries in this flight C so with flight D just starting as well should pass 2,000 total entries to create a really nice prize pool and some big bounties if we can make it to day two.

Rigatoni à la arrabiata in the hotel for dinner. Again pretty average.

Tiramisu for dessert.

Extremely card dead after dinner and all my opens are getting 3-bet.

Down to only 110k on the next break with 18 to go until the money.

With it being a bounty the day one min-cash is less than the buy-in at €1,040 so we won’t be ante’ing away worrying about that.

We find a spot to double up. We 3-bet all-in the table chip leader’s open with KK and he calls off light with KQ. About a good a no-sweat double as you can get.

We’re in the money now but playing down to 10% tonight which is 95 players.

We open the hi-jack with A-Qs. The button jams and it folds back to us. Having been playing with this guy for a few hours now I’ve seen him 3-bet light several times so it’s not really much of a decision. We call.

Sure enough he’s pretty weak with 5-5 but still a slight favorite.

The flop is about as good as we can get without hitting an Ace or a queen.

Any ace, any queen, any ten, any diamond.

Turn: King

Now any Jack will do as well.

River: Brick.

FFS really?

We covered him but dust off the remaining crumbs a few hands later.

So frustrating. If we win that pot we’re in good shape to go bounty hunting tomorrow.

As it is we’re left with the humiliating min-cash that is less than the buy-in.

Gotta love donkaments.

Yep, that’s a donkament beat all right.

If I’m gonna lose the flip, just put the 5 in the window, rip the bandaid off. Dealers are always so dramatic.

for those like me who may be curious
no seat is closer to the ass end of the plane than this one

better yet, tell me before the flop

Min cash at the WSOP?

I blame it on all that time spent hanging around Allen Kessler.

Joking, of course. Min cashes are frustrating, but it's better than zilch and hopefully it's the prelude to bigger scores.

Width 17 inches? Isn't the median American male 19" wide? Do they seat them boy, girl, boy, girl?

WSOP Europe
Day Three - Thursday April 2nd

The sun is out today but it’s still cold. More two card shenanigans on the agenda in the shape of the €565 Colossus. It has two starting flights, both of which are today. A normal one starting at 12pm and then a turbo one in the evening.

We go in after the first break around 2:30pm and enter in level 6 (400/800/800) with the 50k starting stack.

Had a good friendly table with a lot of talk so it was enjoyable and it helped that I was steadily accumulating chips.

We had it up to 150k on the last level of late reg when Texas Mike comes to the table.

(I forgot to mention that he came to my table yesterday as well and fired two no-look all-in bullets of which I didn’t get any)

So I know exactly what is going to happen. And sure enough first hand he’s all-in for 50k without looking. A Brazilian kid next to him also goes all-in for around the same stack. It’s folded round to me in the SB and I look down to see AK. I’m all-in as well with my 150k.

The only person that covers me on the table is the guy in the big blind and now he goes into the tank. He eventually declares himself all-in as well. He has 88. Not sure why he wants to gamble for most of his stack here (what does he think I have?) but what do I know?

So it’s 7-4 for Mike, A-9 for the Brazilian kid, A-K for our hero and 8-8 for the big stack villain.

Not really bothered about the main pot. Let Mike win it, but I need to win the flip against 8-8.

I have a great video of the hand which will probably be on a future vlog but long story short It runs out 4-6-2-4-J so Mike quadruples up and the 8-8’s take all my remaining chips.

We got Texas Mike’d [emoji30]

I mean if Mike isn’t involved I might still lose some chips to the 8-8 guy but no way all my stack.

So pretty tilted I re-buy and punt it Texas Mike style. Needless to say it didn’t work for me.

I go outside to cool off and take a little walk. I contemplate calling it a day but there’s just so much value in this thing I decide to go and play the turbo night flight.

I could have max late reg’d flight A again after the dinner break but that would just be all-in or fold so I though it better to try the night flight where you can still play some poker.

The first bullet of flight B is a miss. We fire one more. Last chance saloon. The Texas Mike’s of the world might be able to fire unlimited bullets but we certainly cannot and it’s not good that we’re now in this thing for 4 bullets.

We’re grinding our stack up. We get to 150k which is what we had before we got Texas Mike’d in flight A. At least I have another chance to see if I can kick-on now with a similar size stack.

We get it in blind vs blind. I raise, he 3-bets, we 4-bet shove and he calls with 4-4 against our A-K. He’s got a similar size stack but we just cover.

Now would be a very opportune moment to win a flip please.

Phew!

Okay now we’re cooking. Abby Merk comes to the table. First time playing with her and she’s actually really nice. But it’s not her we tangle with, it’s another newcomer in the form of an aggro Eastern European kid.

Don’t know who he was and I’ve never played with him before but I just knew he was going to be a problem. I just about manage to look up his stats on the WSOP app and notice an impressive cash when he opens the cutoff to my big blind.

We’re playing 5,000/10,000/10,000

He opens for 20k
We defend the BB with K-9
Flop: 9-8-2 with two diamonds
We lead out for 15k. He just calls.
Turn: 3 (off-suit)
We continue for 55k which is about half pot.
He calls.
River: Q (off-suit)

The flush doesn’t come but that’s a pretty bad river for us. Now JT, AQ, KQ and QJ all got there.

We check.

He goes all-in. I ask for a count. It’s 181,000

While I’m working out how many chips I’ll have left if I call and lose (it would be 120,000) he calls the clock on me.

The floor comes over and I argue that I have not had sufficient time to make a decision to which the dealer backs me up.

The floor gives me some time while I think some more and then does eventually tell me I have 30 seconds left to act on my hand and he will count down the last 5 seconds.

I really only beat a bluff but I do think he is bluffing. I go with my gut

I call.

He shows ……..

A-J clubs for Ace high.

We’re good. I allow myself a Yes! and a little fist pump.

You don’t get these spots in fixed limit poker so I’m proud of myself for that one.

We’re now rocking around 800k

I go back to the app to see who the kid was but he’s already been eliminated so don’t really know who it was.

Our table breaks and we go to a new table for the bubble which only lasts 3 hands. TJ Reid is at the table. I’ve chatted with him on twitter but never actually met him so I introduce myself and he knows who I am.

He’s also short and I call his all-in with A-Q. He has K-6 suited and turns a flush draw but the river is safe.

That table then breaks and I go to a new table and get A-T and open before I’ve even got my chips out of the rack. That’s probably a bit of a tell when I’m opening before even having sat down and sure enough everyone folds.

The very next hand I get A-J suited and open again. This time the BB defends.
Flop: 7-J-7
We continue and the BB calls.
Turn: K
Check - check
River: J
The BB now leads out.
I call hoping to see a J for a chop but instead he had air. Oh well more chips for us.

The very next hand I open again. That’s 3 in a row so it’s starting to get less believable now and sure enough someone shoves on us with A-8 suited. Unfortunately for them we snap call with A-A. I get a little scare when they flop a flush draw but the turn and river are safe.

We fold our big blind the last hand of the night to bag a very healthy stack.

Looks like we’re 5th in the overnight chip counts with 258 out of 2,662 players remaining. Two notable names occupy the top two spots though.

All to play for tomorrow

Go go go! Tony (ie David) is clearly the best poker player on LVL right? I mean it's not even close!

Nice!

A few questions:

1) How long had you been thinking when he called the clock on you?

2) Did the fact that he called the clock on you what appears to have been ridiculously fast make you more inclined to believe that he was bluffing, or was that not part of your thought process?

3) If he had given you all the time you wanted to think it through, do you think you would have been more likely to fold to his bluff?

4) Calling the clock on you when he did seems like a dick move. Seems like kind of an angle shoot. Am I being naive and too soft and this is just part of the game, or do you think it was out of line?

I guess Raymer and Galfond don't come to LVL much, right?

Yeah I think the quick clock call is a weakness tell.

Might use it next time as a reverse tell tbh

1. Only about 30 seconds after I received the count.

2. I’ve seen it used both ways so can’t read too much into it but here it did make me lean more towards him bluffing.

3. No not really. Wouldn’t have made a difference.

4. Yes I think he deliberately called the clock early to try and rattle me.

Go get that bracelet!

Originally quoted this to say we're going to need a HU battle between Tony and Hero Value to get the correct answer, but then I realized you said LVL, not 2p2, so yes, you're correct.

WSOP Europe
Day Four - Friday April 3rd

This was our table for the Colossus re-start. A distinctly French flavor, but apart from Fabio who I played with a little last night I don’t know any of them.

We start on level 21: 15,000 / 25,000 / 25,000

Playing 40 minute levels today.

Good news. We have shot-clocks and time banks today. You get 20 seconds pre and 30 seconds post before you need to use a time bank which are worth 30 seconds each.

1st orbit. No playable hands or RFI spots. Lose 65k in the blinds.

2nd orbit: Open K-T from cutoff. BB defends.
Flop: A-7-5
Check - check
Turn: J
He checks. We bet 40k he folds.

Seat 1 the Czech and seat 5 the Italian are the most loose and aggressive so far.

Seat 6 is a lady who has doubled up. Seat 7 tripled up. The French going well so far.

The Italian guy knocks out seat 3

I open 66 on the button to 50k and Fabio the Italian 3-bets from the BB to 250k.
I think for a while and let it go.

Level 22: 15,000 / 30,000 / 30,000

Fabio is on a roll. He eliminates Frederic with AK vs AQ. He now has over 2 million.

The very next hand he eliminates the 1 seat.

Bjorn eliminates one of the new players. They’re dropping like flies on our table but I haven’t had chance to get involved yet.

I open the button with J-T and BB shoves all-in for 600k lol.

That’s about how it’s going so far.

Level 23: 20,000 / 40,000 / 40,000

Julian Pineda a top Colombian pro who also lives in Medellin comes to the table and takes the 1 seat next to me. We exchange greetings then set about taking each others chips.

He opens to 80k on the button.
I 3-bet to 250k in the SB with K-Tcc
He calls.
Flop: Q-J-7
We bet 250k. He folds.

We finally win a pot!

Fabio eliminates Julian shortly after and his monster stack grows.

Meanwhile I open 7-7, get 3-bet and let it go.

I open K-J get two callers. Ace on flop and let it go.

1st break: 900,000

Rough session. Let’s hope we can get something going after the break.

109 players remaining.
Average stack 1,200,000

Level 24: 25,000 / 50,000 / 50,000

Win one.

Call a raise from the UTG in the SB with 7-7. BB also calls.
Flop : A-J-7
UTG continues for 125k
We make it 300k with 400k left behind.
BB folds. UTG (who covers me) calls.
Turn: 5
We go all-in for 400k
UTG folds.
Not sure what he can call my flop raise with and then fold turn considering the size of the bet compared to the pot?

Back up to 1,400,000

Our table breaks. Not too unhappy about it. Let’s see what a new table brings.

Play a blind vs blind pot with K-Jhh
Flop: A-T-7 with two hearts.
Flush doesn’t come. I stab at it on the end for 200k but get looked up by an Ace. Lose about 500k so back down to 900k

84 players remaining. Average 1,600,000

Meanwhile UFC fighter Mackenzie Dern is still in and literally knocking people out on the next table. She’s quite attractive in a muscular sort of way, but her hooter’s seen better days. (Sorry forgot to take a pic)

Level 25: 30,000 / 60,000 / 60,000

We’re down to only 15 bigs now and completely card dead.

I shove my BB with A-9 to a button open and get a fold.

Mackenzie Dern now eliminated

Level 26: 40,000 / 80,000 / 80,000

Still card dead and down to only 700k

65 players remaining
Average 2,000,000

It’s folded around to me in the small blind and I call with T-8. BB who has a big stack min clicks it and we call.
Flop: T-5-2 all hearts.
We don’t have a heart but have to go with it. All-in for 500 and change.
BB calls and turns over A-5 also with no heart.

When he called I thought we’d have to fade the flush but we’re actually in good shape. Just need to fade an Ace or another 5 for a double up:

Comes not one but two Aces lol, just to rub it in. That about sums up our day. What a torturous game we play.

A hugely disappointing day. Was looking for a lot more but it just wasn’t my day. Didn’t feel like I did anything wrong. All I can do is keep putting myself in these spots.

I go to have something to eat and try to put myself in the right frame of mind to play my last tournament of the trip, the €575 Plossus.

It’s basically the PLO version of the Colossus with the same two starting flights, but it’s a bounty. Not a mystery bounty, a normal bounty. €300 goes to the prize pool and you get €200 for every player you eliminate.

Of course that makes an already volatile game absolutely crazy. Lots of 4 and 5 way all-ins trying to build stacks and win bounties.

I won’t bore you with the hands I lost but we missed with two bullets in flight A by which time everyone had a big stack making it very hard to win any bounties with a starting stack.

So we fired a 3rd bullet at the start of flight B the Turbo flight. Cue another multi way all-in where we had the nuts on the turn but couldn’t hold on the river.

Now an interesting strategy decision. Where to fire the 4th bullet? (Yes I know keep the powder dry might be the best option but it’s our last tournament here and we’re going to go down swinging)

By this time Flight A was playing again after dinner and still had an hour remaining of late reg. It was also getting close to the money.

As I don’t run too well in the all-in bingo I thought with one double I could make the money in Flight A so that’s where we went.

This was right after late reg closed in flight A. Paying 104 spots so you could max late reg just 28 places away from a cash.

We didn’t max late although I probably should have done. I fired about an hour before to try and build a stack.

I did get a couple of doubles and had it up to 300k before missing a couple of flush draws to bag about half average 170k

Not great, but coming back to 3,000 / 6,000 /6,000 tomorrow we still have a little room to maneuver.

Maybe we can spin it up.

In my world, finishing 60th out of 2,662 players mean you went really deep. And yet a €565 buy-in only got you €2,650, which is nothing too sneeze at but it's probably not enough to offset all the bullets that miss the target.

Let me stop for a second and say congrats on a pretty decent cash (which should never ever be taken for granted), but it also shows how there is running deep and then there is running really, really, really, REALLY deep. I guess you have to make final tables or final two tables to stay ahead of the insatiable beast that is collective buy-ins and expenses.

I love tournaments in the limited capacity I play, but man it must be tough to run profitably when playing a full series or a full calendar. Anyone who is actually profitable deserves complete and utter respect.

It's impossible to know, but I wish there was a way to know what percentage of "pros" actually turn a profit over the long haul when factoring in total buy-ins (not available on Hendon Mob) and taking it a step further I'd love to know what percentage of "pros" are profitable when factoring in total buy-ins PLUS expenses. I suspect the actual percentage would be shockingly low. Especially considering how few big-time sponsorship opportunities exist these days.

Money in poker is very opaque, but for people making a real living from the game, I'm guessing that live mega field NLHE/PLO represent a small fraction of their overall poker play. I can't speak for David, but he seems to play a lot more mixed cash and mixed tournaments than huge NLHE lotteries. Mega field NLHE/PLO are fun shots to take every once in a while, not reliable money makers. For more reliable money there's online cash, online tournaments, live cash, mixed tournaments (smaller fields), and/or high buy-ins (smaller fields). That's where you see the likes of Rast, Haxton, Pads, Glaser, Jungle, and Yuri. They aren't relying on the Milly Maker to pay the bills.

It's common to see big name players at the final table in huge fields and that's a testament to the skill aspect of poker, but generally speaking you can be the best player in the world and you're not going to finish top 0.1% in a field very often. We've seen people like Ike and Rast run deep in the WSOP Main in recent years, but that's probably only a small fraction of their overall poker engagement. When Resorts World was still a thing, I often saw Rast in the private room playing what I assume were very high stakes cash games. I would guess that some of the most successful people in poker are doing most of their damage outside the spotlight.