Bracelet Hunting - A WSOP 2026 Trip Report

I did post the game list earlier but here it is again plus all other pertinent information.

Limit Games:

Best / Best (Limit Big O double board, ultimate high, ultimate low)
Badugi
Drawmaha 2-7
Stud 8
A-5 Triple Draw
Omaha High Double Board (High / High, 4 cards)
Drawmaha
2-7 Triple Draw
Razz
Badacey
Ari
Drawma-Dugi
7 Card Stud
Omaha 8
Badeucey

Big Bet Games (All played with a 80 chip, $1,600 cap)

No Limit 2-7 Single Draw
Big O
5 Card PLO Double Board (High /High)
PLO (4 cards)

So it's 19 games in total and takes about five and a half hours to cycle through them all with a full table.

We play the game with $20 chips
Button starts and game changes in the 1 seat (1 orbit of each game - same number of hands in the Stud games as players at the table)
The game is 8 handed and UTG sits out the draw games except NL 2-7 SD

We play San Diego rules. If you play 1 hand of a round you must complete the round. (No playing your free hands in the round and picking up before your big blind. Doesn't apply to the Stud games)

For the big bet games the 2 and 4 chip blinds are stripped. 1 chip is taken from the small and 2 chips from the big and these become the dead ante and the blinds become 1 and 2 chips.

In NL 2-7 SD the blinds are not stripped, they stay 2 and 4 chips and the button posts a dead 4 chip ante.

During the WSOP because it's so busy we don't use the WhatsApp group to start games. It's a 100% open game, anyone can play, come on down to Bellagio and have some fun! 3-4 tables running daily.

That sounds almost like my ideal mix. Have a trip during the WSOP and I’d 100% jump in at 20/40, most likely play at 40/80, but 80/160 is still a little high for me. Appreciate the details though!

Can you still straddle to control the cap?

Yes good one. Forgot about that.

On the big bet games you can straddle under the gun which gives you the option to change the cap if you wish. You can choose anything from $800 up to $2,400 and also put conditions on it if you wish.

So for example you can straddle and make the cap $2,400 and play normally.

Or maybe you can straddle and say $800 or fold which is exactly how it sounds. You either fold or put $800 in and there’s no more betting.

Day 19
Saturday June 13th

Slept in until 11am today after the late finish last night. I’d already decided to take the day off and not play any poker today. I messed about on the computer in the room for a bit before going down to the Horseshoe pool again.

A bit busier today being a Saturday but the deep end was open so plenty of room still to swim. It’s 12 feet deep at its deepest point.

I watch the Brazil game in the afternoon and my first bet of the World Cup is a loser as the game ends in a 1-1 tie.

I’d arranged to meet Feel Wrath after the game and we meet in the Horseshoe lobby and walk to Venetian to have dinner at Sugarcane. He’s a fellow Brit so enjoys the walk in the hot sun, as I do.

I go for the Branzino but it’s not as good as the one at Caramella.

All the while I’m keeping an eye on the live updates from the $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship as I’d bough a small (1.5%) piece of Benny Glaser. (It was all he had left when I looked)

In the end he finished 2nd for $190,000 so I’ll see a 19x return on my investment.

After dinner I go to see Chris Tucker at the Encore Theater.

He’s pretty funny although I actually found the warm up act funnier.

Strangely they put everyone’s phone in sealed pouches when you go in so you can’t access your phone during the show. First time I’ve experienced that. I was sat next to a nice couple from San Antonio and they were asking everyone if they knew how the game was going. Maybe it was better for them that they didn’t know the result until after the show!

On my way back to the Horseshoe I stopped in at Harrahs and watched the end of the Australia game.

On Deck Tomorrow: $2,500 Omaha 8 / Stud 8

After tomorrow’s tournament I don’t have another on my schedule until Wednesday so I might as well run deep and make it last 3 days. [emoji1696]

Nice work. Loving the blog. Fellow brit here and just started my own blog on here after reading yours!

Any meet ups to watch the footy on Thursday?

Hopefully he's busy on Thursday 😉

Nice that you got to meet up with feel wrath. Actually it's cool that there are so many meeting ups (as well as TRs) this series.

GL today!

I know they have the plaques in the mixed games to show what's currently on.

Are there seats where it's hard to see the plaque? How common is it for a (serious-ish; i.e., not drunken tourist) player to play their hand thinking it's something other than the current option?

This is true and stupidly I actually meant to type Wednesday for the England WC game!

Nice hit on the Benny G limit runner up.

Wouldn’t think that Chris Tucker in LV would be big enough for the pouches lol but I think a lot of comedy acts do it now and honestly I don’t mind it.

Lol @ the couple from San Antonio going to a comedy show while their team is playing in the most important game of the season and asking ppl if they know the score while they know everyone’s phones are in the pouches as well……..

This would be somewhat hard to believe if I didn’t already know spurs fans are about as dumb as they come.

Truly the worst finals performance in recent memory. Worse than the cavs getting swept by golden state.

Also, Wemby & Castle (1-10 from the field) are heauxs.

GL in the tournament today OP. I also enjoy the deep end of the pool especially when it is crowded!

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Yea Wednesday at 1 for England. I’m playing a tournament that starts at 2 so will probably watch the 1st half in Paris sportsbook. I’ll shoot you a PM

The plaques are situated in the middle of the table between the 4 and 5 seats so are pretty visible but it does happen every now and then (usually on the 1st hand after the game changes) that you play the wrong game.

Being a gentleman’s game most people will give the last bet back in that situation. Of course if you play the entire hand before you realize you’re still going to be out a lot of money.

I instinctively look at the game plaque before I put any money in.

I can understand that. It's hard to follow all of them and I'm not even there.

I bet Sweden to beat Tunisia in the World Cup. -114, starts in 30 minutes.

Just caught up with thread - great work and continued good luck.

Also got in on Sweden! Though slightly worse at -119

Day 20
Sunday June 14th

We start the day off with some pool time as usual. It’s really nice being able to swim in a deep end here rather than 3 feet of water at most other pools.

$2,500 O.E. Today and we start strong, increasing our stack to 52k at the first break from the initial 35k

Then we have 2 brutal hours including losing 3 back to back hands In O8 where I flop a set of Aces and each time our opponent makes a wheel on the river to scoop us. Down to only 8k at the 2nd break with a potential re-buy on the cards.

I really liked Sweden today in the World Cup hence my earlier post in case anyone wanted to tail. I got -114 online and fed another $500 into a kiosk here on break albeit at a bad price.

Sweden ran out comfortable 5-1 winners.

Back in the tournament I’m battling away. Back up to 27k on 3rd break and 48k on the final break of the evening and the end of late reg. We did make it through on one bullet.

The last two hours of the night however saw more bad beats which I won’t bore you with and we failed to find a bag.

On Deck Tomorrow: No tournament for me until Wednesday so two cash game days coming up.

No strong opinions on any of the World Cup games tomorrow. Lean Spain -2.5 and Over 2.5 goals in the Belgium / Egypt game.

End of Week 3 Wellness Check

Approaching the half way point of the trip and I’m still in good health and not sick of poker just yet. The tournaments have been a little frustrating so far so a couple of days without one is probably a good thing.

Day 21
Monday June 15th

Time to check-out of the Horseshoe, but we will return for another 11 days at the end of the trip.

Our next refuge will be New York New York for 4 nights but the room isn’t ready yet so I take my suitcase over to Bellagio and stash it in the corner of the high limit area and go to work.

I don’t have to wait long for a seat at the main table which is the only $80 Mix game running at 10am. There’s a couple of stragglers that have been there all night but they soon leave unfortunately. If you ever find yourself in an all-night game, the time to get up and leave is when fresh players start joining in the morning.

It’s also the perfect place to watch all the World Cup action with TV’s strategically positioned everywhere.

Although I didn’t have any really strong opinions on the days games I couldn’t help but get involved live. We do good on the Egypt / Belgium game but give all the winnings back later on the Iran / New Zealand game.

Lunch is table-side. Chicken Parm from Lago.

And it’s the first time that I’ve played daytime cash hours all trip which means Gelato is open and I can have some ice-cream for dessert.

After about 5 hours I was winning $2,200. If only we knew when our high point would be. I continued to play and +$2k turned into -$2k, mainly thanks to 5-card PLO double board.

Back into grind mode and we clawed our way back to nearly even before getting involved in a 4-way 2-7 triple draw hand.

There’s an early position open and I 3-bet with 2335x only to get 4-bet by a tight player on my left which everyone calls so we’re 4-ways to the first draw.

The draw is 2-2-1-2
The tight player with the 1 card draw bets and we all call. I didn’t improve but can’t fold for a small bet in a very bloated pot.
2nd draw is 1-2-1-2
It’s checked to the original 4-bettor (we checked blind) with the 1 card draw who bets and when it gets round to us we look and have caught a 4 and an 8 for 8 perfect 85432 or #5 as they call it.
Of course we raise and everyone calls.
3rd and final draw is 1-0-1-1
Can we dodge 3 bullets.
The 4-bettor is undoubtedly drawing to a 7 but I go for value and bet our #5
He is the only one who calls. I was a little worried about a raise but when he only calls I know we’re good and have extracted the maximum. He called with an 8-6.

Ship it! It takes a while to stack up all the chips. Double height formation today.

I play a couple more orbits before racking up with a +$1,500 win after a lengthy 14 hour session and wishing I’d called time after just 5 hours for more profit and 9 hours in saved time and effort. If only we knew!

I resist the temptation to get a taxi and walk with my suitcase to NYNY where I find the room is nice enough.

On Deck Tomorrow: Another cash game day.

Say the tight player 3 bet you there. What's the play?

Is that faux brick in the room?

Looking at it and what I know about Vegas, I am 99% sure it is just wallpaper.

the only real bricks found in vegas rooms are associated with straps of cash, bundles of illicit drugs, or that tight feeling in the shorts when the other two are escorted toward you

If he 3-bet me after the 2nd draw when I raised? Stay pat and call down.

If he raised me after the final draw?
Fold would be an option as he pretty much has zero bluffs in that spot, but not sure I could find it.

As phony as a $3 bill

NYNY is numerous notches above Luxor and Excalibur. I enjoy the rooms and think the casino floor has a great vibe. Love that property! You always have a special place in your heart for your first 🫶

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