Tournaments can be BRUTAL - Golden Nugget Moose Event 2022

I played quite a bit of poker in the first week of January - trying to prepare myself for the upcoming Moose International Event at the Golden Nugget in Vegas.  I was booked for 4 nights and was very much looking forward to a long and fruitful tournament series with my fellow Burbankian Moose Lodge members as well as making new Moose friends from across the country.

December 31 

I took advantage of my office closing early to skedaddle down to Commerce for a $250 daily.

DNC (Did Not Cash) - but had a fun time splashing around and putting my chips to work until my AA got cracked by QQ AIPF (All-In Pre-Flop) with 40 big blinds.  Boo.

Chipped Up and then was SHOWN THE DOOR

*******

On Jan 2 I returned with a post-holiday glow, this time to take a crack at a $125 daily with a $100 add-on.

Early and deep, the CO opened 3x.  I 3-bet with AK from the SB.  BB of course called and so did the CO opener.  Flop was A♣️Q♣️9♦️ - it checked all the way through.   Turn was 5♠️, I led 1/3 pot.  The BB of all people click raised.  The CO folded.  I called.  River was the brick of bricks a 2♠️,  I check called a 1/2 pot bet.  BB Villain said "Watcha got?"

I laughed "I called you dude!"  He hesitated.  I simply showed and he mucked.  Where do they find these wizards?  So grateful that No-Limit Hold-Em tournaments are FAR from dead.

After the first break average stacks were quite a bit more shallow - my notes say I had 35 bigs when I squeezed nice and chunky from the button with a small suited Ace and 4 limpers.  Grumpy Sticky, as I called him, was in the Big Blind and defended for half of his chips.

Guess he didn't realize with a negative SPR in his stack I was shoving no matter what the board was.  The flop didn't hit me but I shoved anyways after he checked, and yes - he folded.

A bit later...

I then went on a heater, catching AK, AQ and JJ three hands in a row.  All the pots were small (but not insignificant).

Then I got moved and had a fantastic villain to my immediate right...

and...

Many of my recreational contemporaries bemoan sticky but bad players.  Not me.  I just love them to death, and the guy on my right at this table almost single handedly propelled me into the money and onto the final table with a nice average stack.

Yes, the good news was - when I got to the final table I had the most 5Ks so I got to buy up all the 1Ks.  The bad news was, average stacks - including mine, were very short.  I missed a nice ICM chop by busting in sixth place and had to settle for the actual payout of $485.  Pic is after toke.

*******

January 7 - I headed back to the loverly Commerce and plunked down $125 plus a $100 add-on and once again found myself putting my chips to work in the face of a relatively soft field of 130 runners.

I did not tweet at all - and didn't take notes.  But I ran pretty pure, and consequently played very well.  When the dust settled I sat 5th in chips out of 7 remaining players - and we agreed to a dynamite ICM chop which saw me collecting slightly better than 3rd place money - $2865!   Oh yeah.    My Moose trip was fully bankrolled!  (Plus I had already won my Moose Main Event seat and part of the hotel room expense by playing live at the Lodge!)

Love those Turquoise hockey pucks!

******

January 9

And so I was off to the glorious surroundings of downtown Las Vegas and the garden spot within known as the Golden Nugget.

Actually, the Nugget is still a nice hotel.  The room was clean and the decor was probably only ten years old or so.  Sweet!

I played a bit of cash shortly after my arrival and won about $200 in a couple of hours.  Very happy with this as the 1/2 game at the Nugget can be amazing but it is uncapped - and cash plays - meaning you have to put on your big boy pants when you sit down and you may drop a dime or two easily if you're not careful.  I was pleased to add another tournament buy-in to my poker bandolier.

Then I sat down for my first of what would be at least 6 tournaments during my stay.

Busted quickly after losing a flip AK < 77.

Entered the evening event and lasted quite a bit longer.   Had a great time with lots of very friendly people, and I got very excited because most of them were absolutely awful poker players.

This, it would turn out, would be my downfall during the week.  Kind of a reverse, or positive, tilt.   I would very quickly underestimate my opponents after an orbit or two, and then call too much and get far too tricky.

Not that I didn't play well a lot of the time - but I when I played bad, I played REALLY bad.

In this particular tournament I managed to suck quite a bit - until I righted the ship and started playing better and pouring on the aggression as the bubble approached.

Unfortunately the Poker gods, having rewarded me thus far with for my bad play - finally decided that they didn't like me playing well and saw fit to dispose of me with a 3-outer on the river to end the evening.

At this point grandpa was pretty tired, so rather than push it and donk off more money in the cash game I absconded to my bed.

********

January 10 

In the morning I arose early - as I always do these days - and joined my fellow Moose Mr. Adam at the fabulous Claim Jumper establishment right downstairs from my room for a hearty breakfast and a lovely conversation.   I got reacquainted with another Burbank Mooser - the delightful Mrs. Bunny and also enjoyed the company of my Moose friend Sean and his dad.    We regaled each other with bad beats of days past (that would be yesterday) and all of us were excited to enter the Moose Main Event later in the day.

All of my breakfast-mates had early entry at 10am, alas I had registered for this event very late in the year so I had a 4pm start-time.

Rather than distract myself with potentially blood pressure inducing cash game shenanigans at the Nugget (the uncapped game that could be GREAT or AWFUL) I decided to unplug and unwind a bit with a stroll around the "Fremont Experience" and the surrounding area.

I will say in all honesty, the neighborhood has certainly seen better days - but it's also been much worse as recent as the early 2000s.   I just needs a bit of a crackdown on the drug addled mental patients that circle the outskirts and it could be right back to being pretty cool.  It will always be funky, but it could be cool again, just with a bit more effort on the law enforcement component and especially on the prosecutorial end.

Overall, the area didn't make me too sad.  Until I stepped into Binion's.

The poker room vanished just before the pandemic, and likely is never coming back.  That's depressing for you, the place that INVENTED the modern No-Limit Tournament is without poker entirely.  Even worse, the original home of the World Series of Poker now looks like this year round.

This is where over the past decade and a half, ever since the WSOP left, Binion's has hosted large and lively mid-stakes tournament series.  The windowed wall in the back on the right is the original sight of Benny's Bullpen where ALL of the original WSOP match-ups, with Doyle, Puggy, Moss and Amarillo took place.

Incredible history - now an empty shell with nothing of current or historic interest in every direction.

So after that thoroughly gut-wrenching meander through the once famous halls of Binion's, I needed a pick-me-up and something to feel good about for the future.  So I entered the newest, biggest and baddest casino in all of downtown Vegas - Circa!

I will say - it's a technological marvel.  The sports bar is INSANE.  Brightest and biggest TVs I've ever seen in my life.

They checked my ID to get in, which I'm good with.  Knocks the chances of a weirdo walking up on you while you gamble down to about zero.

The decor was slick, and the amenities modern - but overall I have to say the place left me pretty cold. Row after row after row of digital slot machines, most of them empty.  Yes, these are "nickel" slots that typically cost $2.50 or more a "pull" to win anything meaningful.   Both brainless and confusing to me.

The pit games run by human beings took up a small fraction of the floorspace.   Blackjack tables were a $25 minimum bet, which if you're an idiot and paying $400 a night to stay at the Circa, I guess makes sense.  (I did find tables in a corner later that were priced lower at a more reasonable but still spendy $15 minimum bet)

One of a dozen or so craps tables was up and running.  A similar number of roulette tables sat empty.  Many more electronic roulette set-ups, as well as electronic horse racing and other absurd games of chance littered the floor.

But mostly it was slot machines.

Didn't get a chance to check out the pool because the entrance was blocked by a gruff security guard with his arms crossed.  Very inviting.

Overall, it was a dud.

My favorite casino that I meandered through was the off-Fremont Main Street Station.  Yes, it was older than dirt, but it still had character and a fun funky flavor that most of the other casinos were missing.  It had been closed for 18 months during the pandemic so it was nice to see it back up and running with real mechanical slots and $5 blackjack tables.

Not a stock shot at all.  It was actually quite a bit busier than this picture.

My favorite find that I stumbled across was in the pedestrian walkway on the way from the Fremont Casino over to Main Street Station - it was the "Golden Arm" Wall of Fame that pays tribute to legendary craps players with long lucky streaks or amazing skills (depending on what you believe).  

Also a picture totally not stolen off the internet.

********

So after taking in a pretty decent sirloin in the overpriced but pleasantly serviced steakhouse in the Nugget - I was ready to sit down and throw down in my 4pm starting flight of the Moose Main event!

You may recall my lovely selfie from the top of this post - of me in a big ass mask in front of the Moose sign.  Yes, we had to wear a mask indoors all the time, even when sitting at the table playing poker.

Yes, it sucked, but I was in Vegas by choice and so I was determined to not let it affect me.  Mostly I didn't think about it, but in hindsight it was for sure irksome and may have contributed to my over all crankiness when I was playing (and busting) in these tournaments.  I wasn't cranky with other people, at all, but I definitely got more and more frustrated as my expected cashes didn't come.

Anyways, the Main started out well for me.  I had an INCREDIBLY soft table, the softest table so far - by far.

There was a lovely lady on my immediate right with a twang in her voice and a pungent vodka smell on her breath.   She liked to play every hand, as slow as she possibly could.   Yes, she had to ask every time "Is it on me?"   Yes sweetheart.  Yes it is.

Didn't bother me at all.

I was in a good mood and so was the rest of the table.  This was the Moose Main - bitches!

Eventually I settled on a nickname for drinky on my right - I called her Vodka 7, because that was her favorite drink and it seems she was determined to polish of at least seven of them off before the dinner break.

I won a few hands, I lost a few, and was in decent shape after the first break.   

Then I looked at the structure.

Well, so far I had played in two side events and they had been EXCELLENT structures - only 10K in starting chips, but average stacks above 50 bigs after the first break and around 30 after the second break about 3 hours in.  Very good for a low buy-in price point, and the juice was a relatively reasonable 18%.

This Moose Main obviously had been designed by someone else, probably the Moose organization itself.  20K in chips to start, but a rapid and merciless DOUBLING of blinds after the first break to put average stacks at 20 big blinds one level after the first break.    In effect, a SUPER turbo.   But this didn't really bother me.   Moose players are slow and nitty - with 900 plus runners they need a kick in the pants or the tournament is liable to go on for a week or more.  I was fine with it.

Also, I didn't realize this until the next day when they posted payouts, but the juice was EASILY over 30%, which is entirely unacceptable in a standard tournament.   I did realize though, that this event was and is a major fundraiser for the Moose organization, so I'm actually ok with it.  It is, in the end, a good cause (with Mooseheart Charities undoubtedly benefitting.)   So that's not the part that bothers me either.

No, what really bugged me is what happened as the second break approached.  

Some genius at Moose international decided that we needed to go back to 2018 and reinstate the OLD FASHIONED ANTE.   

BECAUSE THE GAME UP TO THAT POINT HADN'T BEEN SLOW ENOUGH.

As you can imagine, this was a DISASTER for my table, where most players were slow to begin with and Vodka 7 was on drink number five or six at this point.   FML.

I'd say this, the old fashioned "Who didn't ante?" nonsense, more than anything else, tilted me right out of the tournament.

With this madness in place - and apparently everyone going along with it - the blinds then doubled and then doubled again.  At that point  I was overly eager to get my 20ish big blind stack in and either double/triple up or get the FUCK out of there.

I was looking at a triple up when I got my chips in with AQ in a three way pot versus 66 and 22.  Was looking great on an AQx flop, but a 6 hit the turn and that was that.

On paper this was a 4 day event, but I suspected they would be done in 3.

I was out in the middle of the pack of the 15 or so Burbank Moose members - so the $20 last longer was not going to pan out.

It was 830pm when I busted, and there were no other tournaments scheduled on that day.  So I railed a few of my fellow Moose buddies a little bit and then called it a night.

********

January 11

Day 2 of the Main resumed at 10am, so after another early breakfast with the Adam and Bunny breakfast crew (this time we were joined by nice folks from Ohio who Adam had befriended a few years ago at this tournament series) I went for another meandering walk before signing up for a noon (I think) side event.

Played well and spun it up - alas, I fell out of a tree in a big pot and missed all the branches (too many outs) and was out just after 2pm or so.

So it was on to a 4pm side event.  The nooner I think was $200 and this one was $125 or some such.  Low entry cost, relatively low juice and as soft a field as ever.

Unfortunately I met the same fate in this tournament.  Played well enough, but couldn't hit for shit when it counted.  Massive combo draw and missed all the outs twice.   At least the chips were prettier.

The good news, after all that busting out, is that by the end of the day - we still had a couple players from Burbank still in the mix of the Main.  The one with the biggest stack was none other than my breakfast buddy Adam!

Dragging a massive pot!  #LFG KING COBRA!

While I waited for the last side event, the 7pm $100 Last-Chance-ament, I had a blast railing Adam, aka King Cobra, legendary Burbank Mooser!   I got as much joy from watching him drag chips as I had from dragging chips myself over the past two days.  So awesome to see a friend make a deep run!

But then it was time for me to sit down and throw down myself in the super prestigious 7pm Moose Nugget nonsense accessory tournament lol.

I have to say, of all the fruitless efforts at cashing at the Nugget, this tournament was easily the most fun, mostly because I played exceptionally well.

Also there was more than a fair amount of run-good involved.

But, as I've already kind of given away the game here - a cash was not to be.  I took two truly horrific bad beats in a row in this one and was crippled and then quickly out.  No bubble in sight.  No fanfare with my exit, though I managed to be very civil as I left.

Off to bed and then there would be another day of tournaments ahead - if I could stand to endure it!

********

January 12

I woke up happy and excited because I knew my breakfast date with Mr. Adam would be a blast - as he had continued on the night before after I left and made the final table in the Moose Main!!!!  (Insert air horn sound here).  I had been correct in surmising that there was no way this was going for 4 days - it would end with the final table on day 3.

Indeed, Adam regaled Bunny and I with enjoyable tales of his triumph the day before.  I was excited for him as I knew the final table was being streamed live (with no hole cards) via this thing called the internet.

I would be able to watch on my phone while I played poker myself!  And indeed that's what I did.

With the Burbank last longer bet already locked up, Adam did us proud - finishing in 7th place out of over 900 runners for a not big enough cash of $2500 I believe.  (not big enough because the juice was super duper high, but again - it was for charity so it's all good).

Alas, I did not cash on the day that Adam did.  I lasted a bit longer in my event, but it was nothing to write home about - or tweet about apparently.  I really didn't take notes, but I do remember that it was easily my toughest table yet in these Moose events, so my plan of tightening up and reducing my frequency of bluffing really didn't work out, like at all.

I busted out and I was a whopping 0-7 in all the tournaments.   Boo.

I had the rest of the day, I could enter in the afternoon and evening tournaments.  But really, I'd had enough at that point.

I got in an uber and went to another casino and played cash.   I did very well, at the fabulously new Resorts World casino, playing in their smallest stakes 1/3 No Limit game.

After I dragged my 4th substantial pot in about as many hours, and I realized that I was up a good amount (nearly 3 full buy-ins at just under $1100) - I got on my phone and changed my flight to leave that day.  I ate the expense of the final night at the hotel, it was all good. It was very cheap and I was anxious to get back to the wife and kiddo.

Although the tournaments had been a bust - every other single thing, especially the great people I hung out with from Burbank, as well as a bunch of nice folks that I played with for the first time - was awesome.  I can now see why my Moose brethren are always so excited about this annual event, it truly is a great time that showcases the best things about poker - the friendship and the fellowship.

I feel very lucky that this year my work schedule finally opened up around the dates of the event - so I was able to go for the very first time.  I hope and pray that this timing works out again in 2023, I would really hate to miss it ever again!

**********

Coda:  January 15

The following weekend after I got back, I found time to get back up on the horse.  I always am anxious to do this when I've had a long string of non-cashes.   Thankfully, I broke the streak.

This time around I found myself at the venerable Hollywood Park Casino in Inglewood - across from the brand new football stadium.  

Alas I didn't tweet or record any hands - I was really focused on making the money!

Thankfully, it came to pass!  

It was amazing being back in my original home casino.  The relatively new room is pretty fabulous.  Still the same players though.  Saw a ton of familiar faces.  Did not see my favorite angry man Mo though, hope he is ok.   Corey, the fantastic TD, is apparently gone.  I'm sure he got scooped up by some better paying casino somewhere.

The juice is still not great - 17%, but it's still softer than Commerce.

I missed the LAPC entirely this year, but the WSOP just released it's schedule and I am SO looking forward to that!   I'm already mapping out a schedule, I will be posting it soon!  Stay tuned!

WSOP - Days 4, 5 & 6 - Colossus and Other Events

 Day 4 lay ahead as I sat and pondered my upcoming entry to the one and only Colossus event at the 2021 World Series of Poker!

Best place to ponder in the morning in the Rio!

I took my seat, hopelessly early - again, and the dealer checked my ID and took my receipt and slid me 40K.  A big improvement from the measly 5K we used to get for this event.

Of all the WSOP bracelet events, the Colossus has been the most good to me.  This was my fifth time (including the very first Colossus ever held a number of years ago) and I had cashed twice previously.  They weren't big cashes, but a cash is a cash in a massive event.

Speaking of a massive event - for the first time in this tournaments history, this was not going to have a five figure attendance.  I believe the final tally was just over 9,000 players, which sounds impressive until you realize that previously it was upwards of 15K.  22K when I first played it.

But it still felt big as cards finally flew.   Treaded water for an hour or so, then dusted off about 13K with a pretty credible 8K river bluff.  Villain beat me into the pot with a mere top pair and mediocre kicker.  Meh.  I know I give off a 'rec' vibe, but not enough of this vibe for good players to make an exploitive fold.  And sadly, most players these days in a $400 tournament are good or at least competent.

I chipped back up when this happened - 

That felt a bit better.

Tournament poker is always exciting - a big reason I love it so much.  But the reason it is exciting is that there are always ups and downs, and both are often strenuous. 

The grind continued...

And this was all before the 1st break!  I made it with well over 100 big blinds, and was feeling pretty great.  But I knew blinds were going to crank up and I needed to keep accumulating to keep my stack viable.

The next two hours were fairly uneventful but I had managed to chip up a little bit and was looking to maintain a nice above average stack (though now at just over 50 bigs)  through the 2nd break.  Then this hand happened right as the clock ran out.

I flat called a very active villain who opened UTG. I was on the Button with 10c8c.

My opponent c-bet a 7hQd9h flop for about half pot.  I flat called, open ended - and I binked the 6s turn.  I had a bit more than a pot sized bet behind and when the villain checked I simply jammed, knowing he would call with top pair, two pair or flush draw.

Indeed he snap called - with QhTd.   He was drawing dead to a chop and didn't hit.  He had me well covered so now I would be coming back from break with double the average stack and over a hundred big blinds!

I had observed this guy, and tangled with him a couple of times, over 4 hours.  He was pretty terrible, so I felt so lucky to get into a big hand with him and benefit from his way too loose and fishy play.  Plus he still had quite a few chips left over that hopefully I would be able to wrest away from him...

Unfortunately fate had other plans.  Our table broke when we returned from break and we were moved from the Amazon room into the darker less fun confines of the Brasilia room.

This is where I would be for the rest of the day and into the evening.   Our table would not be breaking either, so this was it.   And it wasn't the greatest.  I had a couple of seasoned regulars to my left.  The one maniac-ish player though was three seats to my right, so that was good.  He also had a massive stack, which got me a little excited... in a good wholesome poker sort of way.

It wasn't too long before we clashed, and clashed again...

Fortunately I was on the better side of these collisions, three times...  this was the third encounter.

I didn't tweet the hand, but I do have notes... basically it all got down to me firing three barrels on a board where every out I had completely missed on the river.  He folded bottom two pair, that he had flopped, face up.

I felt very relieved to be in the only hands I ever saw with him folding to big bets.  He had snapped off another player earlier with just Ace high.  I guess I was giving off a 'recreational' vibe after all.

And with that, it was dinner time.  A 75 minute break to chow down and rest up.  Once again, I went for the $12 hot dog.  Adequate and filling, but the price (along with a $7 drink) really bothered me, which is silly because myself and most other poker players think NOTHING of plunking down a grand or more for a high variance poker tournament, or pushing 1K of chips into the middle with a combo draw that only makes us a tiny favorite with two streets to come.   

Ah poker.  You are a silly beeatch.

Of course when I got back I promptly went stone card dead - but I wasn't going to let it get me down!  I had a couple of fun things happen... my first 25K chip showed up...

And then I had my favorite bluff of my entire WSOP.  It wasn't the biggest, but it was for some reason the most thrilling...

Sometimes, you HAVE to bluff.   You absolutely have to.  You can't check it back, you can't surrender - you MUST fight.   And here in this hand, after several hours of card deadness, I had to.  I know the Villain had turned a pair or some such.  I was going to put him to the test regardless.

It felt great to drag the small-ish but not insignificant pot.  And I immediately cheered up as I realized that I had over 250K, which was above average and just under 40 big blinds.  I had been feeling a bit down because not much had happened for awhile, but now the money was approaching!  We were suddenly less than 100 players from the money!

I had been here before.  The Colossus is strange this way, and one of only a handful of multi-day events in the WSOP that is designed for players to hit the money on day 1.  (The Crazy 888s is the only other one that springs to mind that is built this way).

But I wasn't going to go on Lock Down with the chips.  Yes, it was important to make the money, but it wouldn't be the end of the world if I 4 bet shoved with QQ against these capable players and ran into KK.  I would take my lumps if I had to.

Turns out, I had to.  

I took a massive hit for most of my chips when I found myself triple barreling again, jamming the river for a massive amount with air after all the draws got there but I only had a single pair.  I effectively turned my hand into a bluff, even though I had JJ to start the hand.  This time, a different villain, called off for his tournament life with top and bottom pair.  A7 had flopped an ace and rivered the seven. He didn't even take that long to think about it, despite being about 30 players or so from the money.

It didn't help that he had rivered his unlikely two pair, it always seems that it's tougher to let go when you improve, I know that myself from my own light calls on fifth street.  Sometimes it works out.  Usually it's a bad result.  This time it was good - for my opponent.

I was a bit bummed, but not despondent.  Not by a long shot.

Within a half hour I had won a few small pots and things looked a lot brighter, because we were entering hand-for-hand play.

I had been here before, and in the past both of my hand-for-hand experiences were brief.

Not this time.  It was almost 90 minutes, and many hands - agonizingly slow in between the hands - before the money bubble burst and I was guaranteed $640.

Shortly after this relief, I doubled up - winning a flip with my KQ vs 77.  Paint on the river!  Send it!

Yes, you read that right, after the money bubble broke we kept playing!  In all we played seventeen 40 minute levels!  Plus we had started the day late due to a dealer shortage when the Seniors day 2 began at 10am.   We had to push our start to noon.  Boo!

It was coming up on 2am when we finally got to bag and tag.

As I dragged my sorry ass upstairs and into bed, I was rather elated.  Although I had min-cashed twice in this thing before - it still felt great to be up a little bit.

The best news of all though was that my wife had arrived!   She was already asleep when I retired to the room.  Earlier she had come down to say hi to me when I was in the Amazon room.  I didn't realize until that moment that she had never actually been to the WSOP.   I'd just assumed she had - with me playing at the Rio for the past ten years.  Turns out, it was all new to her!  

Hi honey!  Thanks for railing me!

It was great to share it with her, and I was looking forward to just walking around the convention center with her when I wasn't playing.

These days I always wake up early anyways, but I felt pretty good even on only 5 hours of sleep.  The wife and I had breakfast at the pretty balling "Hash House A-Go-Go" downstairs at the Rio.  Thank god for my Diamond rewards card - as otherwise we would've been stuck in a line of about a hundred people!  We sat right down and had a very nice meal!

That day wifey was planning to do the tourist thing with her mom, who lives in Vegas.   I was hoping to just play cards and stay in the groove.  The wife was nice enough to oblige and give me a ride to the brand spankin' new Resorts World Casino, which had a NEW poker room that had just recently started spreading tournaments.

I have to say, it's a great relief that with so many poker rooms closing in Vegas (including 10 rooms because of the pandemic) there are still a couple of new ones opening.  The new Sahara also has a new poker room and it's also doing well.

I won't go into crazy detail about how my $160 Resorts World poker tournament went - I'll just say a couple of things.

First, their chips are gorgeous...

And second, I played for about 5 hours and didn't really get that close to the money.  Busted in 35th place out of 94.  I played exceptionally well, but my AA were cracked by KK all-in pre-flop.  About as standard as it gets.   

I went to the food court after, as I was starving, and found the cheapest menu item which was actually delicious - a massive $13 bowl of Pho.  Yummy!

Before I knew it, I had ubered back to the Rio and was strolling around with the wife.  At one point she was face timing a poker friend back in Burbank, taking her around the poker rooms and showing her the sights and picking out some merchandise for her.  Good times!

The next day was to be my last day playing poker, assuming I didn't make day 3.  After that was the weekend, my birthday weekend, and the wife would have me all to herself!   Truthfully, I was looking forward to it as well.

But I got to bed early, and I was planning to bust out of the gate with my 12 big blinds and spin it up!

Unfortunately it was not to be.  Less than an hour in I happily 3 bet jammed with AK and got snapped off by a stack not a whole lot bigger than mine.   Villain had 55, which held, and I was out.

It was a drag, but it was also about as painless as it possibly could've been.   Completely standard in a tournament, especially one with as many runners left as this one.  Thank goodness they were paying 15%!  I would've missed out if it was still just 10% of the field that got monies.

Alas, the wife had already left for the day to hang with her mom - and it was still early!  Daily deep stack here I come!

I'll cut to the chase - I did not cash.   And therefore I left the WSOP down several hundred dollars.  But much richer spiritually for the whole experience.  Truthfully, I felt great.  Six tournaments, three cashes - I could've easily have been 0 for 6 (probably about as easily as I could've been 6 for 6 including a deep run, but that's the glass half empty part of me yammering).

The last Deepstack tournament had highs and lows (including a miracle 2 outer spiking the river to help me triple up) but overall I'd say I played my best poker of the entire trip.  I was constantly active, constantly putting my chips to work.  Never limping first in, never taking the passive route.

I busted on a hand that I'm pretty proud of.  Proud for how I played and proud for how I carried myself when my bluff got looked up.

It took the villain about 3 actual minutes, an eternity at the poker table, to dig deep and find a call with top pair queen kicker.  But I knew there was a decent chance he would make the right decision, as he was likely the best player at the table.   

When he called my heart sank, but I stood and remained upbeat - because I truly felt ok about it.  I gently slid my chips over to him, wished everyone the best of luck and made my way back to the room. 

The wife showed up later and after a lovely evening, the next day a great full birthday weekend began!

First we splurged a bit at the Hash House, after a couple of days of more sensible breakfasts!

Then we hit the movies, first playing some slots at the fabulous Orleans...

Didn't hit at the slots but still had a blast...

...and then heading upstairs to their theater where you can take your mask off because it's dark and no one gives a shit. 

We saw James Bond in Die Another Day - which was good, but that ending tho!

And then finally we went to the amazing golf range / amusement entertainment center Vegas extravaganza known as Top Golf driving range.

I'm not much of a golfer, but it was a HELL of a lot of fun!

Fatty likes the Driver

All in all a great weekend - and then it kept going when we got back to Burbank.  We went out to dinner at the Castaways restaurant, the same location where we had been married almost 20 years ago!   

I am one lucky dude!

Until next time, thanks for reading this far!

In a week I go back to Vegas to play for the first time at the Golden Nugget in the annual Moose International Poker Tournament.  This event was of course canceled last year, so it will be great to be playing with a lot of my Moose bothers and sisters in an event that I've never been able to make before.

Can't wait!

WSOP 2021 - Days 2 & 3 Seniors and Omaha/8

 Even after I fell asleep late I still didn't wake up late - I woke up at the crack!  

I was super excited to get going and play in my very first World Series of Poker "Seniors" event.  A $1000 entry No-Limit Hold-Em event for folks aged 50 and older!  This was my first year of eligibility.  

Knowing this, and knowing this was also the final year for the WSOP at the Rio, were the two biggest reasons I decided that the Covid thing wasn't going to get in my way of saying yes to an opportunity to experience a once in a a lifetime occurrence.

I sat down right on time and we got underway - there would be two starting days, with a single re-entry available each day.  I had budgeted just two bullets and was planning on firing the second one if I got busted early or busted late.  If it was the latter, I would return on Day 1B.

We were using the classic Rio WSOP Primary chips.  Over the past few years I've become a bit obsessed with poker chips - so I took a moment to savor my stack, understanding that this same chip set (the one I cashed with in the Main Event in 2018) was destined for the chip shredder at the end of November.  Nevada gaming law mandates poker chip destruction if chips are no longer to be used.  They will have to be replaced entirely with Bally's/Paris branded chips, or possibly casino-less WSOP chips, in their new home.

I absolutely did NOT rescue some chips from the shredder.  I did not palm a couple of low denom chips and they did absolutely did not find their way into my suitcase.  You will not see them on the wall in my garage.

Last hurrah for these lovelies.

I was super happy to be at the table I was at.  It was not a table of doom.  No Heimiller or Ramer in sight.  These were all, as far as I could tell, at best, regular amateurs at their local casinos.  This was going to easy!

The very second hand we played, I flat called from the button with AQ and the BB defended after an old guy (yeah, they were all old guys) opened 3x from UTG.  Flop was A32 with two hearts, UTG continued with 6x, I called as did BB.  Turn was a ten of hearts, it checked through.  River was a Jack of spades - UTG led out pot sized,  BB called, I made an easy fold and they both turned over AJ.  Yep.

This kind of hand had me jazzed, it had been the easiest thing in the world to navigate that hand - both players involved were nitty, and bet/called big when they had a hand.  What could possibly go wrong?

If you are concerned at the healthy dollop of foreshadowing here, yes, you are on to something.

Two hours later I defended my button with 77.  The board ran out with me check calling flop and turn with a double belly buster that didn't hit on the river.  My opponents sizing was fairly big so the pot was bloated.   I had about a pot and a half sized bet behind, and when he checked the river I bet what I would've bet had I made my straight.  All of it.

My opponent snap called, as the river had given him a set.  I was out.

I knew that this might happen - his range was narrow and uncapped and included what he had.  But so much of what he had would be unable to continue after a river jam, I just got pretty unlucky that he binked one of two cards that would ensure that he never folded.

I was bummed but ok.  It wasn't until later that night that I really unpacked the hand and concluded at the time that I didn't need to take such a high variance line, and that I should've just given up the ghost on the river.

A few weeks later, long after I had departed the WSOP, I was watching a stream of the Main Event and Stephen Chidwick (high stakes pro and tournament crusher of souls) took a very similar line in a hand that played out exactly the same way.  He flopped the world with outs, and didn't get there on the river so he put his opponent to the test - and the opponent beat him into the pot because he also had rivered three of a kind.

The hand was eerily similar to my Seniors bust out hand - and it made me reassess myself again.  

This was it, this is what Negraneau, and my instructors at LearnWPT and other tournament specialists that I admire and listen to talk about.

Sometimes you have to take the spot, and apply pressure where you know it's going to work almost all of the time.

This isn't really an option for long term big cashing success in tournaments.  Sometimes it's the perfect storm, and the correct play means piling in chips with no show down value.  You are looking for a plausible story to tell, and a cautious opponent with a narrow range of hands that you can easily put him on.

I did all of that.  And in true hindsight now, with all I have worked on my game and after seeing what transpired with Mr. Chidwick - I'm at peace with the hand.

It was also good, that at the time on the day - I was also ok with what had happened.  Even though I had doubts at the time, I was still philosophical and was ready to put my "goldfish memory" of 10 seconds into action... (Thanks Ted Lasso!)

My second table was not the dream boat that my first one was.  This one, in the Amazon Room instead of Brasilia - was not nearly as soft and had more than a couple of capable players and one maniac who was literally playing every hand.

Thankfully I would get tangled up with Mr. Maniac early on and reap the benefits of somewhat of a cooler...

Two hours later, after getting card dead and grinded down a bit, this lovely hand happened.  Same villain.

We had started with 20K and now I was up over 30.

Then I had my most memorable bluff of the series.    Different but equally bad (not as loose, but just as clueless) Villain limped UTG and I raised over him 4x with 88.

Flop 2K9 rainbow.  Villain donk-led out for half pot.  I flat called.  Turn was another king, villain led out a tiny bit bigger.  I jammed, there was lots of money in the pot at this point, and I needed to chip up and I knew it was almost 100% that he didn't have a king.  He FOR SURE would've checked the turn if he'd hit trips.  The math alone makes it much less likely that he had a King in the hole, but his mini-donk just reeked of thin/weak value.   I was actually much more worried about him having AA, QQ, JJ, or TT.  

When he didn't snap call I knew I was likely going to get a fold.  But he was a pretty bad player, so I wasn't as relieved as I could have been.

He tanked for a good minute and a half, which seemed much longer, and finally let it go.  He asked me what I had so I showed him.   "I had you beat" he said.  "I know" I said in my head.  I imagine he had JJ or TT.  Don't know if he would let go of QQ .  I know he would've snapped with AA.

Right after we got back from break our table broke and we were back in the dim, far too dim in my view, Brasilia.

It was there that I found a true table of doom, with no less than half a dozen very experienced and very aggressive either serious amateurs or semi-pros or actual pros.

Plus, this was the night I was to have the most terrible card deadness that went beyond the standard card dead status (which is normal for tournaments) and into a horrible vortex of garbage suck cards that went on for hour after hour after hour.

I got increasingly titled and frustrated as the time passed - and by the time we hit the 75 minute dinner break, which was at 8pm, I was seriously at my wits end, experiencing the worst malaise I'd had in poker in a LONG time.  

Since coming back to live poker after the pandemic, both at home and at the Moose and even at Commerce and Reno and Vegas, I had been a goofy grinning fool.  Super happy to just be playing.

This night was the first night that I entered the realm of genuine misery.  It was not the first time in my poker career, I've been to the land of blahs more than a few times over the years - but I was surprised to be back in the dumps on the biggest stage in the world in an event that I had been looking forward to for literally ten years of my life.

Thankfully, food in my stomach did wonders to make me feel better and more optimistic coming back.  I had 17 big blinds.  Things would be fine.  I couldn't run like HOT GARBAGE forever!

Alas, after nearly 10 full hours of play, and 6 more to go I believe, I woke up with a suited 9T in the small blind and 3 bet jammed with 15 big blinds over a very active button's open.  He snapped with AA (of course he has aces why wouldn't he?) and I failed to crack them.

I was out.

And crazy enough, after about half an hour - walking back to my room, kicking off my shoes and turning on sports - I felt WAY better and started thinking about tomorrow...

My Seniors post-mortem...

*********

I awoke the next morning, after actually sleeping a good 8 hours +, and felt surprisingly good and optimistic, despite having dropped 2K the day prior.

Yesterday I had enjoyed breakfast at Denny's across the street from the Rio with Mr. Jeff G.  He had survived his Seniors event and would be playing day 2 tomorrow with a robust stack of 40+ big blinds I believe.  

Today Jeff was taking a break, as he had played quite a few more hours than I had.  So I was off to the delightful South Point off the strip for some 10am tournament action.

I grabbed a bite (bagel with egg and cheese) when I got there at the little deli tucked away by the sports book.  I sat down in plenty of time for the ultra-low buy-in (ultra-high juice) donk-a-ment.

Played for about 4 hours.  After dropping 2K the day before, I had zero qualms about putting my chips to work and applying pressure.  I emptied the clip more than once, and every time it worked.  I was ending up on rivers with very little showdown value, but my bluffs (even the ones that didn't make the most sense) were working because I was essentially in another Seniors event, this time it was the early bird $80 special, but no one wanted to bust all the same.

At the end of the 4th hour the average stack was around 15 big blinds, typical for these tournaments - I got it in pre with AK against A4, and lost.  I was crippled and in the next orbit I jammed with AK and got snapped by QQ which won the race.

So I went upstairs and watched 3/4 of Dune on the big screen until it was time to come back down and play in the next tournament - which was the magnificent game of Omaha Eight or Better!

I could've played cash, but this was a tournament trip -and I wanted to pace myself as I was really looking forward to breaking the monotony with some groovy Omaha fix limit action.

I haven't played a ton of casino Omaha/8 tournaments over the years, or any tournament that isn't NLHE for that matter.  Not because I don't like to play non Hold-Em games - but because they aren't spread that much and also I know that because I don't play them regularly I am at a disadvantage against more seasoned opponents who show up in the more serious events.

This however, was not a serious event.  It was a weekday $80 Silly-ment where the average age was well into the 70's and the skill gap between me and the rest of the field was not only narrow, I think actually for the first time ever I was better than the vast majority.

I always forget, I've played a ton of O8 cash at home, and in others homes.  Not necessarily the most ideal training grounds, but training all the same.  I have a very good sense for knowing what I need to win at showdown - which is really invaluable in a low buy-in event like this, as most old people are disinclined to fold if they still have chips behind.  And of course, in a fixed limit tournament, most of the time (at least in the first half of the tournament) they will indeed have chips left over even if they call down to the river.

So because I have this great comprehension of what is needed to hold up and win - I was able to put that to dramatic effect in the early but largely meaningless levels.

There was one opponent in particular who was two seats to my left.  He was chatty and fun when he was dragging pots, and sullen and mostly silent when he didn't.   Thankfully for me, his last few hours were mostly quiet - as his propensity to play every single hand finally caught up with him and I was one of the major beneficiaries.

Sorry I don't have any hand break-downs, but as the tweet says - my brain was a bit overloaded with so many cards to keep track of, and having to rely on my understanding of what I needed to play no-fold-em hold-em, er, Omaha/8!

As the tables broke and we were down to 27 players, a mouthy but nice enough fellow sat down to my immediate left.  I was a bit sad because he seemed to not only be chatty and friendly (like the last guy) but he stayed chatty and friendly even when he lost which wasn't nearly as often as the last guy.

Yes, he knew what he was doing and was likely the best player in the tournament.  But thankfully I hung in with him, and even got the better of him once or twice.  Still it wasn't great having him right next to me on the wrong side.

Thankfully, this was rectified when we hit 18 players and they redrew entirely for the final two tables.  This time he sat in the correct seat, immediately to my right.

It was only a few hands, but I managed to cripple the only other big stack at the table (not my mouthy neighbor).

And here's a side story - after listening to Mr. Mouthy chat for awhile, I think I had his accent pegged.

As friendly as I could, I let him know that "I think I know where you're from originally"

He laughed and said "I still live there, you'll never get it"

I paused and said "Newfoundland?"

His jaw dropped and his eyes widened...

Yes, I had nailed it.  I had spent just over 3 weeks there one summer, actually just around the corner filming harp seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and our boat captain was from Newfoundland.

He had a delightful Irish lilt, and then also said "soorry and aboot" in his sentences.   Easy game.  I should've bet money that I could nail the accent.

Anyways, he was impressed and we laughed.

Now's the part in the story where if I was a writer I would say that we got tangled up in a massive hand and one of us outplayed the other and there was much consternation and gnashing of teeth and so on...

Nah, never happened.  I was coasting along and made the money with a good healthy stack.  Guaranteed $180 and it was final table time.

Things were looking great, I still had a favorable seat at the final table redraw - but then I misread my hand.   One live misclick later and I went from good shape to "Oh shit"

Ugh.  I was mad at myself, but I was ok.  It wasn't the end of the world.  Sure it was disappointing, but it wasn't 2K.

I had looked down at my cards and flopped the world, and never looked back at them and got all my chips in on the turn knowing that I had aces and a nut flush draw and the nut low draw.  I turned up my cards and there were two kings and a low draw that had already been counterfeited. 

Fuck.

The other guy, on my right, had the AA nut low draw, and he didn't even need to hit.  I was all but drawing dead and then I was crippled.

It was kind of understandable - in a silly tournament where I was having way too much fun, I had conflated a previous hand with the one I was actually playing.

Oops.

Because I wasn't that tilted, I simply bore down and vowed to make the best decisions I could.  And I did, and before long I had actually crawled back up quite a bit.

So yeah, I was feeling a lot better.

There was just over 1K on top, but everyone had been talking chop for awhile and I wasn't going to discourage them.

There were either five or six players left when we finally all agreed to look at the ICM numbers, a process which South Point is happy to do (once) - and we all agreed.

This was a fantastic return on an $80 tournament, and it could have - really should have - ended much worse for our hero after his disastrous lapse of attention.

I walked out of the South Point fairly elated to lock up a nice win.   Jeff was playing a Daily Deep Stack I believe, and I was pondering late registering and joining him, but when I got back I was just a bit too drowsy - so I packed it in, and dreamt of tomorrow.

It would be the Colossus!  My fifth such event, and I had cashed in two of them.  Would tomorrow be another Hendon Mob WSOP badge on my name?  I sure hoped so!

Stay tuned to find out...