WSOP 2025

 Here's my 2025 World Series of Poker in a nutshell -

I had a GREAT time, and punted away a bunch of money ha ha.

My trip was in two parts - part 1 was the first weekend in June for the Mystery Millions 1K event.

It started off well enough - I arrived on a Friday late afternoon - driving in from Burbank.  I was pretty beat, but I couldn't resist hopping into the 8pm $200 Deep Stack.

I busted within an hour or so and then learned that the new WSOP+ app was amazing and DANGEROUS.

In the past at the WSOP when I would bust a tournament, there was always a pondering that took place in my brain - Is it worth it to go get in line and potentially wait for up to an hour or more for a chance to dig into my wallet and plunk down cash and try again for less big blinds?

Well now, with literally 3 clicks of a button I have my new seat card in my hand - with no physical cash involved - the whole world has changed!  

Thankfully, this time the second bullet was a charm - 

And then...

It was all good.  It was late, I was tired and the 1K Mystery Millions was tomorrow!

Yes the app tells you who all your opponents are at the table - you can even click on their stats if they have any results to speak of.  I enjoyed saying hi to players by name as they sat down.  They were a bit unsettled by this ha ha .

My first shot at this tournament was short and not very sweet.  Tough table and I busted pretty quick.  The second bullet wasn't much better (though I did fire it VERY fast - standing up from my old table, walking ten feet, and punching up a new seat card lol) -

In the end I was out about 6 hours into the day.  I was bummed, not so much at busting, but because my play was less than stellar.  Too passive and too timid.  That I whiffed every flop and had nary a playable hand certainly didn't help, but that's not the end all be all in NLHE.

The next day, it was time for the $600 Deep Stack Bracelet event, it went quite a bit better than the Mystery Millions - 

Aaand then of course I ran my KK into AA...

It does always seem to be that Big Hand = Big Trouble lol.

I grinded it back up for awhile, and then finally succumbed later in the day.  It wasn't pretty - the money went in and I was in great shape to double up to a 40+ big blind stack, and then...

Almost 8 hours of play, which felt much better than the day before - and my part 1 was over.

I drove back to LA early the next morning and went straight to my office and back to work!

******

Two weeks later - the wife and I drove back to Vegas.  She to visit her mom, me to stay a week at the Horseshoe and grind grind grind!

First up - the 1K "Battle of the Ages" event, where 50+ folks like me played at 10am, the under 50 crowd played at 4pm, and both groups combined the next day.

Table was soft and I chipped up immediately, and then...

I did grind it back up to over 25 big blinds over the next few hours, but late in the day I ran my JJ into KK and I was out, just as the under 50s were starting up.  I was about 60 players from the money, which kind of sucked, but at least I only fired one bullet this time.

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The next day was the $500 freeze-out, which featured a tough table and a lot of card-deadness.  I was out in less than 4 hours.

So plan B was the 1pm $250 Daily Deep Stack - which was a lot of fun until I busted 5 hours later - it was all sunshine and roses at first...

Until my AA was cracked by AK, AIPF.  Yeah, it was turning out to be that kind of summer.  I was crippled and then busted within an orbit.  

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Now it was Tuesday - and that meant the 1K Tag-Team Bracelet event with my old poker homie G-Bone!

Super excited to play this one!

Interestingly, G-Bone has walked away from the game, he hadn't played poker for over a year at this point.  He felt obligated I think to play this event because we had promised each other we would after we busted in 2023.

Of course my 2024 saw my wife with cancer and plans derailed, but now that she's doing better and it's 2025, Garner still graciously agreed to play.

His stepping away from the game came from him realizing that he didn't want to hang out with degenerate strangers in casinos all day long.  Since he moved to Vegas he doesn't have a home game or a Moose Lodge to play in - so I can't say I really blame him and I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing would happen to me if I left my poker scene in LA.

Sadly, there would be no deep run for this - what would be G's last hurrah in poker for the foreseeable future.   We both lost a few key pots here and there, G-Bone put the last chips in in a hand that was unfortunate but completely understandable. 

So after bidding a fond farewell, with plans for dinner later in the week - it was off to plan B again!  The Tuesday only $250 DDS HORSE!

I have to say, HORSE was a hell of a lot of fun - I felt very comfortable in all of the games and chipped up nicely early on.

Alas, as in all Fix Limit tournaments, in the end I was beholden to the cards and had to bow out after a few hours.  Still highly enjoyable!

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From Wednesday through Saturday it was all the Gladiators of Poker!  A $300 monster field bracelet event that saw me firing multiple bullets over multiple days.

I did take a day off on Thursday I believe, playing the Seniors DDS in the morning and busting rather quickly - I had a dinner date with the wife and family at Hell's Kitchen across the street.  Now that was fun!

Unlucky in cards - VERY lucky in love!

We also hung out with G-Bone and his better half on Friday night, delicious pizza at a fun restaurant and a tour of their lovely home made for a lovely evening.

Here's a handful of highlights and lowlights when I did manage to squeeze in the Gladiators tournament on Wednesday and Saturday.

I almost forgot to mention that I did cash, but of course a min-cash doesn't amount to much when you're firing multiple bullets...

My good friend is Wolfie from my home game - she's a tremendous poker player, a true semi-pro in the cash game streets and a rapidly developing tournament player as well.  She finished very deep in the Super Seniors event, the second to last woman standing with just over 30 players remaining - she took home almost 10K for her efforts.  Just outstanding!  It was very exciting seeing her ladder up.

On Friday I busted early in the Horseshoe Poker Room Daily in the morning, and then decided to give cash a little whirl.  Turns out that was a good decision...

I finished way up, cashing out for just under $1000 in less than 3 hours.  That was a very nice feeling to get some of that tournament money back!

And finally on Saturday, the last day, I had another deepish run in the Gladiators - 

It looked like I was poised to for sure cash again, and hopefully this time find a bag, but...

I know I gripe in the video - but now that it's weeks later - I can truthfully say that although variance and all that - I really am super grateful for the opportunity to play all that poker!  It was an absolutely amazing week, full of tremendous sights and sounds of the world best summer camp for grown-ups.

Next year the plan will be altered a bit.  Don't know if I am going to go a full week - but whether I do or not, I plan to tackle at least a couple of mix-game bracelet events.  I have actually been studying just recently, thanks to having a very nice Upswing Mix Game course at my disposal.  I plan to finish the entire course and of course playing mix games every Monday night at the moose as well - I'd really like to take a shot at this kind of poker at the WSOP and hopefully I'll be as comfortable (or nearly as comfortable) as I was in the DDS HORSE.

We shall see!