Well, fate had other things in mind a couple months back when I won a little satellite among friends in my garage - turns out I was Main Event bound WAY ahead of schedule.
On Sunday afternoon, July 1st 2018, I checked into the fabulous Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, and by fabulous I really mean that the Rio is kind of a dump these days - and made my way down to check out the scene. As with many years before, there were plenty of things to see.
I checked out my table for Tuesday (right on the rail in the Amazon!), I checked out the mother ship and I checked in at the cage and registered for the 4pm Daily Deepstack. This tournament I had played before, it had a big blind ante which was fantastic.
Speaking of silly, you may have noticed that the tournament ticket above says it's in the "El Burro" area. And what, pray tell, is "El Burro"? You might ask. Clearly it's meant to mean if you are playing in this tournament - you are The Donkey, right?
I sat down and quickly ran up a stack - I was easily the best player at the table. The only other two capables were to my immediate right. Sweetness.
The hours passed fast, and the good news was, though we had to contend with the chaos and commotion of the Casino, we were close to the potty so I could actually go in between hands. Yes, we were that close.
Then the 1st of many brutal beats that would continue through this Sunday night and all through tomorrow Monday unfolded. I 3 bet chunky with AA and got 2 callers. One guy for a third of his chips. I knew I was jamming no matter what the flop was bringing, but thankfully it brought an Ace. I jammed and the first guy folded and the 1/3 of his stack dude tanked and then found a call.
The board had 2 hearts, he had 2 hearts, one of them the case ace. The turn was a bright red heart and just like that I was a shell of what I had been. Blech.
Eventually we moved to the Pavillion - it was a thrill to play in the big room with a ton of other grinders.
After about 20 minutes I busted in a very nasty fashion that I will not share. And then I was off to bed.
Monday was day 1 of the Main, but not for me. I was off to Binion's to rest and reflect and play a little pokers with some nitty home gamers.
I toured Binion's before I found the poker room (they've moved it, yet again, this time to a very low traffic area.). The tour was really nice, found some really cool old photos on the wall.
The history of the WSOP is really something else - I won't go on at length here, but that the World Series of Poker turns 48 this year, and so do I, was not lost on me. The Main Event really was the very first tournament, and it still is the greatest on the planet.
Unfortunately after my inspiring walk-around, I sat down to a single table with 5 other players. 5. Total. Meh.
I wish I could say it was a lot of fun anyways, but it wasn't. Again, I was suffering the same syndrome I had the night before - taking a hundred dollar tournament seriously was very difficult with a 10K Main Event looming in my future.
Worst of all - everyone at the table was at least 10 years older than I, and VERY slow and VERY much full of themselves.
I was first to bust - again, with a crazy disgusting bad beat (this time runner, runner) that I won't bother to recount.
I got back to the Rio and had a great time soaking in the scene, and then this thing walked by me...
Because poker players are 5 years old. Perfect idea for an area where no one under 21 is even allowed.
Yeah, I was ready for bed - though it was tough to sleep with visions of glory and a deep run in the Main drifting through my head.
I awoke early, despite not having fallen asleep until 1am, and then had to bide my time for a bit before descending to breakfast and the lovely overpriced and over portioned Hash House a No-Go.
With my belly aching from all the carbs and a food coma setting in, I rambled off my thoughts about the upcoming day...
And then it was time to Shuffle Up and Deal! John Hesp (google him if you don't know his story) kicked things off for Day 1B.
I will confess, I was shaking like a leaf when the cards were in the air. I was in the FREAKING AMAZON ROOM PLAYING IN THE MAIN EVENT!!!!
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| Biggest starting stack in poker! (Almost) |
But then I dragged a pot, and another one, and the nerves crazily melted away. This was poker, I knew how to do this.
My table seemed reasonable, but there was one dude 2 seats to my right who had his mouth stuck on the rapid-fire-talk setting and didn't show signs of shutting up any time soon. He was nice enough but really, I knew it was going to be a long day if he kept up this level of chatter.
He also liked to play most hands - like literally 60-70% of them which is pretty insane.
I decided early on that I didn't care that he seemed to know what he was doing - I didn't care who he was, I wasn't going to shy away from raising his big blind with decent cards and I wasn't going to be afraid to fire afterwards even if I missed the flop.
Turned out, I found out later, this was Valentin Vornicu, the record holder for WSOP Circuit Rings with 12 titles to his name. His nickname is 'Master Blaster' and he lived up to it, with his aggression and non-stop chatter.
He took a hit to his stack a couple of hours in, and his chatter actually did abate just a bit. But then he grinded back up.
I was hovering around my starting stack for much of the first half of the day - I didn't mind. I knew I was still crazy deep and was truly only thinking about making it to the next break and not worried at all about how long we actually had to go.
And then - a manna from heaven.
Valentin had been active, and so had I. I had 3 bet him a couple of times, once with AK and once with one of my 'rag' 3-bet hands 10 8 suited (I do balance my 3 bet range in case you were wondering) - so he wasn't surprised when I did it a third time as the third break approached. He calmly cut out raising chips and slid them out for a cold 4 bet. Like all of these guys, it was a small size relatively.
I double checked my hand. Yep, they were still aces.
I pondered carving out a 'standard' five bet, an undersized re-re-re-raise 5 bet, but then figured I might as well jam as it would look a bit less like aces; like maybe AK or QQ or KK or some such.
I pulled the trigger, he took a breath and pushed his chips forward.
I have to say, I was surprised that he was so distraught at seeing my AA against his KK. Even though we had both started the hand with 100 big blinds each, and he had me covered, this seemed fairly standard.
My bullets held and I stoically (on the outside) dragged the chips.
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| Yay. |
Valentin took it, well, not like a pro. He belly ached a bit, as any amateur typically would (myself included on a bad day). He was out less than an hour later.
And then before I knew it, it was dinner break! Yay! Only four hours of poker left after we got back at 7pm.
When I got back we had a new player sit down to my immediate right - the one and only Main Event Champion Mr. Jamie Gold.
I have to say, he was everything I expected. He played more hands than Valentin, and he talked just as much - but in the Jame Gold style that we all know and well, some of us love. Me, not so much.
Actually it was kind of sad. His girlfriend or wife or whatever stood on the rail the entire time, which always makes me wonder - that literally is like watching paint dry. I wouldn't want to be with someone who was capable of watching ten hours of poker without commentary or hole cards. Something's not wired right in that person.
Anyways, I will say, Jamie was a very nice guy. He was kind to everyone, and never needled or was nasty in anyway. I honestly enjoyed playing with him. I dragged a couple of pots from him, in hands that he misplayed. I was able to bluff him off what turned out to be bottom 2 pair. I just shrugged and said 'Yeah, that was a bad run out for you' as I took the pot. He nodded in agreement "Yeah, that's just the worst river ever".
And then he busted out. Someone not in the hand was calling for the ESPN cameras when Jamie was all-in, Jamie politely asked him not to do that "I really don't want them over here if you don't mind..." As I said, really a very very nice man.
And then he was gone.
Yes, he did a scummy thing by not paying his backer in 2006. But really, I have a tough time being duplicitous with people. I felt kind of bad for him, he was super super kind to people, why hold on to anger in my heart, especially if I wasn't going to express it to him face to face?
Well others at the table had no problem tearing into him - AFTER he had left.
I just shook my head. Just a bunch of chicken-shits who didn't have the balls to tell Jamie what they thought of him to his face. That's not me, that is NEVER me.
Looking back on my day 1, sitting here and writing it out, I had remembered very little of hands and hour to hour play. I remember quite vividly my mid-day double up gift of AA vs. KK. But now looking at my twitter feed, the double up gave me about 100K...
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| Taken right after my AA held against KK. |
Turns out, according to my twitter, I played a lot of other hands on Day 1, including a big pot against a mouthy Brazilian that I busted when his back door draw failed to materialize. The picture before this one, of the bigger stack, was taken right after that hand.
And this was taken when the day finally came to an end. Time for sure slowed down as the bag and tag approached.
I was heading into day 2AB with 185,000 in chips! Hey, I earned a lot of those chips! They didn't just fall into my lap! Plenty of value betting and bluffing as well. A job well done, a tremendous day!
But my day 2 wasn't the next day - that was Day 1C, traditionally the biggest day of the Main in terms of entries. And it sure was. This Main Event was to be the second largest in history, with only Jamie Gold's Main Event in 2006 having more players.
I hadn't fallen asleep until will after 2am, so I was able to stagger down just in time for the opening festivities for day 1C.
This guy kicked it off...
Yes, that is the man - Chris Moneymaker. In my opinion it's absurd that he's not in the Poker Hall of Fame. Yes, I get that he's not some great pro - but no Chris Moneymaker, no poker boom - or at least not nearly as big of a boom. Thems just the facts. He belongs in the hall, period.
And then I was off to play poker - but I had zero interest in playing No Limit Hold-Em, after 10 hours my brain needed a break. So I opted for the next best thing, or maybe a better thing - the Stud/8 - Omaha/8 noon tournament at the Orleans!
I laughed, I cried, I kissed $80 goodbye, but I had a good time (for the most part) and killed five hours without getting anywhere near the money. I did get to experience some kick ass dealers....
And a whole lot of fun playing something else besides Hold-Em. Plus it was $80 so who cares. I was happy to get sucked out on, as long as I had some run good left over for day 2!
On my way out I treated myself to my favorite dish in Vegas - Linguini with Clams at the Orleans Oyster bar! Now that's my jam!
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| Sooooo good! |
Best of all Orleans also has one of these, a relic from the past that makes it super easy for kids to get their smokes!
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| Convenient Cancer! |
Anyways, went to bed, fell to sleep surprisingly early, midnight I think, and then was up and ready for battle!
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| Cali recommended protein for the day - it worked! |
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| What's in the locked bags? Oh yeah - chippies! |
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| Dealer's don't forget to pick up your cards. |
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| Waiting for the tables to open. |
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| Big as I remember it! |
Day 2 would start (and end) in the Pavillion. My table draw was OK. I didn't recognize anyone but the Hendon Mob web page told me a guy two seats to my left had over 3 million in tournament winnings. He was the only legit pro at the table. Good news was, I was second in chips at my table and he wasn't the chip leader.
The other guys (and it would be only and all guys for my entire Main Event journey) were light weights comparatively, semi-pros who had a fair amount of winnings but not necessarily great results in tournaments.
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| Every table in the Pavillion filled with Main Event players. #spectacular #chills |
I treaded water through most of the first half of the day - I had a river bluff called by the 3 million guy with Ace high, that didn't feel so good. I was a bit more timid about blasting with air after that, for awhile anyways.
After taking a hit on my busted bluff, I slowly grinded back to where I was. Then before the second break I got tangled up in a hand in position against the oldest guy at the table. I emptied the clip... and it worked. A triple barrel bluff with zero draws or equity, and it got through. He showed top pair. Blood pumping, confidence restored.
Then another hand, different villain. Again I had to win chips with nothing. He check raised my c-bet on a very dry board. Fishy, so I called. He checked the turn. I checked back. He checked the river and I bombed it with King high. He folded.
All day it was like this - I couldn't seem to hit a flop to save my life. Good starting hands were also in very short supply. Then we had a weirdly timed dinner break - at 330! Logistics are hard, I get it. Must've been because of ESPN's broadcast.
At any rate, after finding and devouring a lovely tray of sushi in the poker kitchen, I got back to our table only to have it break. I was okay with this as the new table across the room seemed to be all amateurs except for one 22 year old who seemed completely insane as he was playing literally every hand. He was also on my immediate left.
Thankfully, he turned out to be one of those crazy assholes who actually doesn't know what he's doing. He was gone in under 90 minutes from the time I arrived.
And then I got AA. And the guy with a good amount of chips who had replaced the crazy guy woke up with KK and it was deja'vu all over again.
The chips went in and my aces held, holy shit!
I was now up to 270K, not quite a double up as I had him well covered. But what a gift!
Again, my twitter feed reminds me that yes - I was lucky, but I also did a fair amount of leg work to accumulate on my own. With my newfound ammunition I managed to grind up my stack even higher, finishing the day with a top 1% stack in the field - 344,800!
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| Big sack! |
And once again another incredible day was in the books! I know I sound like a broken record - but I didn't sleep much!
The next day was day 2C, which didn't involve me. I still made it downstairs in time for the kickoff, and enjoyed myself for a bit watching this guy...
Yes, that's the poker brat. The first shot is from his day 1C, the second shot is from day 2C in the late afternoon. I sat right behind him in line with the tv cameras, and my wife (who has a 20 year career in television, frequently working with big celebrities) was super excited to see me on the broadcast. She's so adorable sometimes.
Anyways, before I made my WSOP TV debut I had gone to the Orleans, not to play cards, alas no mix games were scheduled, but to take in a flick. The amazing Ant Man & Wasp was everything I'd hoped it would be, simply awesome!
And before I knew it, the day was at a close. I got to sleep at a reasonable time and then in the AM I was ready for day 3!
Day 3 we were back in the Amazon - and this table was different then the previous 2 days. No names I recognized, no crazy results on Hendon, but I could tell right away that at least half of them were serious tournament players. One guy in particular who had finished fourth in the Monster Stack this year was simply awesome to watch as he worked.
I wouldn't say I was the sucker at the table, but my considerable poker ego put me squarely in the middle of the bunch. Realistically that means I was probably 7th or 8th at the entire table of 9. Now that doesn't mean I was light years worse, but I was on the wrong end of the skill gap.
It didn't mean that if I caught cards I wouldn't be able to chip up - unfortunately my day 3 was just like my days 1 and 2 in terms of run good, with the notable exception that there were no AA vs, KK gifts from above this time around.
So instead of being able to tread water, or grind up, this was the day that I fell back considerably in chips. I didn't have any giant pots that I lost, I simply lost a lot of little ones. I also won a few small ones too - so my plan of playing small ball worked well enough as it did prevent me from going broke.
It was also tough on me not just because I lost half my stack or so - it was also difficult playing with a bunch of robots. On the one hand I understand and respect the folks who supplement their income or actually make most of their income in this game. It's a very tough thing to do, especially in tournament poker and I give anyone who does it a lot of credit and respect and a wide berth of understanding to do what they have to do to reach a high level of success. I get it, you're not at the table to make friends, you're not playing this game to have a social experience - the money is the top priority. This is fine and completely understandable.
On the other hand, it's tough for someone like me who plays this game as a hobby because he loves it - to put up with half a dozen stone faced robots for 10 straight hours. I certainly don't go through life behaving this way, and I wouldn't want to have to do it in my place of work. No joy, no self-awareness, nothing but numbers clicking away methodically in my head. Wow, what a sad sad way to experience the game, and what a frankly unappealing way to make a living. No thanks.
So I was bummed a bit as the dinner break came and went, this time at a very reasonable 7pm.
But I perked up as the days end drew near, I still had 40 big blinds and making the money was in sight.
I won't say that I shut things down, but after getting spanked enough times during the day when I was forced to get creative, let's just say that I didn't go looking for trouble. After almost 3 full days of poker, 30 hours total, I wasn't about to bust before I got a bit of cheddar.
It was uncertain what was going to happen first - were we going to get into the money or end the day?
Turned out, because we were so close, the plan was to keep playing even after the fifth and final level of the day if we hadn't made the money. And that's exactly what came to pass.
20 minutes after we should've bagged and tagged, we kept playing and entered hand for hand play.
After a couple of close calls, this finally happened...
And so we were into the cash. I was disappointed not to have spun up my chips - but I was also elated to know that I was going to get some money after 3 days of work and my boys back home were also going to get back some of their investment.
Sleep came quickly this time around, and I was up before the sun to give my ramblings before battle commenced.
Turned out all that introspection was fairly pointless - I busted on the very first hand of day 4.
Actually, it was the 2nd hand, the first hand that I played.
I had to fold my big blind on the first hand with rags. The second hand I looked down at AQ on my small blind and stuck it in.
My opponent, Jake Schindler (world class high stakes pro and tournament beast) woke up with AK, which held and that was that.
Of course it wasn't quite that simple - here's the official write up of the hand from WSOP.com
Now I know if you are a poker player, you can very easily read this to be what we know as a 'punt' for all my chips. In other words, the argument could be made that I lit thousands of dollars of equity on fire choosing to ship AQ as a five bet with zero fold equity.
Yes, and no.
I honestly don't hate my play here as much I would've if I was in a vacuum against two random opponents.
Both the 3 better and the 4 better here are both capable of pulling these bets with a range much wider than a recreational player. If someone like me always has JJ+ or AK here, someone like Jake can also certainly have 88+ AQ+ as well as suited broadway cards. I'm not exactly at the top of his range, but I'm not necessarily completely crushed by his range either.
In any case, I had to make the walk of shame for a lovely 15K payout.
I was sad yes, but I knew the sting would fade in time. And indeed it had as I drove out of town - checking out a day early and making a bee line for my wife and daughter who I missed very much.
And so that was it - my Main Event experience had been not quite everything I had hoped for, but certainly far better than it could've been. I was so grateful to make it to the end of not one but three days - and to cash was just a fantastic dream come true, truly.
I'm at a bit of a loss now as for what to shoot for in the WSOP next year. In a very real way, every other tournament seems kind of sad and small in comparison to the almighty Main. When I walked in that door for the first time on Tuesday July 3rd for day 1, the atmosphere was unlike anything else I've ever experienced before. It truly was electric in that room.
I am so so grateful that I got to experience just that - walking in there and then realizing that I was going to get to take part in what everyone was so excited about! It was the poker thrill of a lifetime.
That I got to keep playing day after day, and actually finish in the top 15% and get paid for my efforts, it's just hitting me right now as I write this what a truly remarkable and special thing that is.
Wow!
I have been truly blessed in this game ever since I started playing it seriously over a decade ago - this Main Event experience was a culmination of that, all my hard work and effort and enthusiasm rewarded. I am humbled and utterly thankful beyond words that I went on this adventure.
I am excited at the prospect of adventures to come, but I know if I never get the chance to do this or go this far again, I'm okay with it.
This was truly an event for the ages.
