WSOP 2023

 I had an amazing almost full week playing tournament poker every day in the Horseshoe/Paris at the 54th annual World Series of Poker.  

Apart from making money, everything else about my trip was positive. I met up with multiple friends for breakfast, saw even more friends at the tables, and just had a fantastic time living the life of a grinder.

Results?  Three big tournaments, zero cashes. Three much smaller events, one cash out of those.

First up, on the day of my arrival, Tuesday, June 20, I had planned to do the 9:30 AM seniors daily deep stack, but because there was a $500 bracelet freezeout event, the Seniors DDS would not be running. So what to do? Jump into the actual bracelet event of course!

I had a great first couple of hours, chipping up nicely and falling back into the groove. The pictures I took of my stack show that my peak was about four hours in, just before the second break.

I was table chip leader at the third break I believe, and so I was designated the color up dude, which is always nice.

As is always the case in these large field events, and by now I’ve got a fair amount of experience playing in them – albeit usually only once or twice a year, the bad players go by the wayside and they are replaced with much better players. Typically younger, often European.

This event was no exception and when we came back after the color up, we were more than halfway through the day, and the deck definitely took a turn for the worse with me. Add to that much tougher competition, plus my own frustration at seeing chips go in the other direction, and I am afraid I grew a bit impatient. 

So with only a dozen big blinds remaining, I was looking to get my chips in and get doubled up. I was not in the mood to be cautious or make it to the dinner break with a nub of a stack.

And so that was that. Lasted just under eight hours, and I was thoroughly burnt toast. I retired to the comfort of the lovely room, much better than the old Rio, and was excited about the big tournament on Wednesday.

*******

Yes that big tournament was indeed the WSOP seniors championship, a $1000 no limit hold ‘em showcase for the best and brightest poker players aged 50 years and up.

I had a good buddy from my garage also in the tournament, Mr. Ken, we wished each other luck and we got underway.

The freeze out gave us 30K to start, this seniors event was only giving us 20. But the good news was, it was indeed a better structure, with full hour long levels instead of 30 minutes, and they did not skip any levels whatsoever.

It was a very long day, and I did manage to write down a few hands.

As you can see in the third hand, I got moved to a new table. This was probably over five hours into the tournament. At first I was very excited because the table seemed even weaker than the first one. But soon, as always, tougher players arrived bringing racks of chips with them.

I took a couple of small hits, but was still over 40 big blinds, when our table broke yet again and we marched over to the horseshoe. I did not like the new setting, the Paris had been much cooler and this was downright balmy. Plus the table was at least twice as experienced as my previous one.

Then this happened…

I was certainly not out of it, and it was certainly not a devastating blow, but it was pretty exasperating. If that hand had held I would be over 40 bbs about 45 minutes away from the dinner break.

So I hunkered down, I was determined to not just “get it in” - I would be smart and put my chips to work even on a smaller than I would like stack. Unfortunately the poker gods had other plans…

These were not flips, these were all hands that I played post flop and in position, and I think I navigated them well. I just could not hit for shit with the over cards, and of course the over cards did come when I had a pair of sevens.

The bustout hand was a doozy, I three-bet shoved from the small blind over two limpers with AKs, and got called by the first limper who had AQ, though it was off suit.  Still, he did have a Q of clubs, and we all know how this story ended...

I was a bit deflated, but absolutely not defeated. I meandered a bit and checked out a final table going on in the event center. It was too late to eat, but not too late to hang out and ponder. At the end of the day, and this was the end of the day, I was very grateful and had a pretty good perspective. 

******

It was Thursday, a new day and a new challenge! I met up for breakfast with my Tag Team event partner Mr. G-Bone, and we had a great meal and a great time catching up. We were both pumped for the $1000 tournament that would only cost each of us 500 apiece.

Our strategy was simple, when one was feeling good and playing good, one could stay in. As soon as one of us took a hit or felt stagnant, we would text the other to come in. G-Bone was up first.

He played for over a good hour, there was a pro duo that we had never heard of directly to our left. Two ACR pros, one of which was in the “Punters Pad” with Ryan DiPaulo. You can Google that if you have no idea what I’m talking about, but it’s really not that interesting. It would’ve been interesting if Ryan himself had playing at our table, but alas he was not.

When I came in, G-Bone had chipped down just a little bit, and I was ready to go to work.

Unfortunately this would be the absolute low-light of the trip. Once again I decided to have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent, and ended up bluffing off over half of our chips. 

I felt absolutely terrible, with a knot in my stomach as I texted G-bone to hurry back. He came back in, and unfortunately was unable to spin it up, losing a flip and then we were out. Boo!

Honestly, I still feel terrible about it to this day. But my main man G-Bone could not have been kinder or more understanding. There’s no doubt about it, I fucked up, by not reading my opponent correctly as a recreational fish who would happily stack off with top pair and a 10 kicker, but that’s what she did.  And I blame no one but myself.

 

I’d had enough of real tournaments, even though I could still late register for day 1B of the seniors, I preferred to head across town for something less serious. I said a heartfelt goodbye to G bone, who was in remarkably good spirits despite my lighting 500 of his dollars on fire. He was done with tournaments for the day and so was probably going to play cash at the horseshoe.

On my way out the door I spotted another good friend at the tables in the seniors, a Moose in the wild!

Who is that masked man? A great guy and a tremendous poker player!

And so I was off to the fabulous, and I mean that sincerely, Southpoint resort Hotel and Casino. On the schedule, a super sexy mix game event, half Omaha 8 and half stud Hi/Lo!

I had a fantastic time, registered a bit late which was perfect as the levels were meaningful right away. At first I spun it up, and then eventually I couldn’t get there in a couple of crucial hands with all the outs in the world. Good news was, it was only 100 bucks. Good times! 

After busting that, I had a couple of fabulous $1.50 hotdogs, The absolute best value in Vegas for deliciousness. Excellent all beef with a lovely snap and fresh toppings made right in front of you. Southpoint is the last of a dying breed, a casino with actual amenities and value. Love the Southpoint! If I ever move to Vegas, this will be my home casino for sure.

And so I headed back, and watched more final tables and hung out. Got in touch with another good friend, Mr Eric L., who used to live in LA but now lives up north in the Bay Area. We arranged to meet for breakfast.

*******

And it was Friday. The day before I had eaten smart, getting lots of protein with an omelette. This time I threw caution to the wind and had the café Americano‘s amazing French toast bombs. Yes they are as decadent as they sound, absolutely fantastic.

After that, we both headed off to play poker. Once again, it was less serious stuff for me. I didn’t have the patience to wait around to see if the 1 PM daily deep stack was going, I headed off immediately for the golden nugget to play in the $400 seniors event. Eric was sticking close with plans to play in the DDS. 

Alas, my nugget seniors event played out a lot like the big one did a couple days prior. I had to fight for every pot and bluff a lot, which often was successful. And I did spin up a stack for a time. But in the end my patience wore out and the cards never actually came. 

Lots of old folks lined up to take it down!

Another fellow moose, directly on my left! Very good poker player that I’ve known for a few years now.

My fellow Mooser busted out a good while before I did, a bit of a relief because she is a formidable player. And once again I held on as long as I could, but really this time through the variance was absolutely not on my side at all whatsoever.

And this time I really did try and try to hold on, but in the end I could not play cockroach well enough. I succumbed and headed back to the ranch. One good thing, I had a lot more energy this night, so I could hang around and watch the stars come out… spotted Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, and this guy…

A bit later, I found myself in the WSOP café, and saw Mr. Hellmuth in front of me in line. He had his earphones on and was doing his best to not be bothered, and I of course obliged. He did however flirt a little bit with a nice old lady at the counter, she was quite a bit older than both of us, and he was also dancing to his music doing the white boy dance as he smiled and chatted. Very cool and very funny. That’s the good Phil. 

I got to see the bad Phil the very next night in the same event, it was the 10K HORSE and he was very flustered and took off like a rocket when he took a semi bad beat.  Relax Phil. You are going to win your 17th bracelet this summer, so you don’t need to worry!

And so I was off to bed. Eric had reported that the DDS did indeed go, so I was hopeful that it would again on my last day.

*******

Indeed, the 1 PM DDS did go. It was tough for me to be patient for the tournament to start, as I had been up since 8am.

Once it started though, this tournament was much more like it, soft soft players, plenty of chips and a structure that was not ridiculously slow. I quickly spun up a stack, and felt very comfortable over several different tables during the day.

Earlier in the day I had tracked down another good friend, he was playing in the $500 salute to Warriors bracelet event. A tournament in which I definitely would’ve played, had it not been a multi day affair. I did have to fly back home tomorrow after all… 

Hey let’s Go Pepper St., Joe!

For the first time this week, I actually made the dinner break. That was the good news, the bad news was, it was too late for me to eat as I am now intermittently fasting these days. On the other hand, it was only a 30 minute break, so I could just chill in the room a little bit.

And I got back, and we kept going. Before I knew it the money was approaching. As usual in a large field event, the better players had shown up. I got put at a table where there were two maniacs who pretty much knew what they were doing. Never fun.

As weird as it sounds, I wasn’t especially looking to min-cash, even after an entire week of goose eggs. I knew the bubble mattered to a lot of people, but not to me. I had accepted being card dead all week, so I was eagerly looking for spots and I thought I found a great one. Alas, my opponent, maniac number two on my right, woke up with the goods.  However, for the first time all week, the poker gods smiled this time. 

Yeah, that carried me right into the money. Unfortunately the card deadness continued unabated, and this DDS structure not being nearly as slow or deep as the bigger events, I was short once again and had to get it in. Of course my AJ lost to A7, why wouldn’t it?  It seemed a fitting end for a week full of ridiculous run outs. But deep down, I was pretty happy to finally score, even though it was the bare minimum and I missed a pay jump by one spot lol. OK it was a $40 pay jump, but still… in for $250, out for $402!

And that was that. The 2023 WSOP was in the books.

I really tried hard to not make this post seem like a list of bad beat grievances, but on the other hand it’s kind of comforting that that is basically truly what it was. I know my game is not as sharp as it has been in the past, this is true. And I also know that more people now than ever know how to play NLHE very well. The game is tough, even against players who once would be considered soft. Recreationals have access to solvers and the Internet, and more often than not are putting in time with them.

So I won’t bemoan my bad luck or lament the learning curve that I don’t have time to fight against. What I will do is say with absolute honesty, is that I had a fantastic time of highs and lows this year at the World Series of poker.

Finished the night and the trip watching the start of the final table of the seniors event. Especially cool to see legendary degenerate Dan Heimiller facing off against the even more legendary seven bracelet winner Billy Baxter.  Neither would win the bracelet, but Billy would bust in second place.

And so now I am back home, and having a great time watching day one a of the main event stream live on my big TV. Grateful that I have a real job and don’t have to depend on the fickle poker gods for my income. Also grateful that I get to play the game truly for love of competition and excitement.

Looking forward to a cash home game this Friday night and the return of a moose tournament on Saturday. Also believe it or not, looking forward to next year‘s summer camp for poker players!

I am pondering shifting focus to mix games again, I will have to wait and see how I continue to fare in tournaments locally. It’s been a bit discouraging lately, although I did have a nice cash two days before I came out to Vegas. Not sure what the future will bring, but I know it will be centered on poker!