So the World Series of Poker Main Event started on Friday, July 28th. And the pre-lim event that Rahul was staking me in started on Tuesday, July 25th. So I needed to be there before that... and the Main Event ran all the way until August 10th I think, so while I didn't quite expect to make it to the Final Table, I was hoping to at least make it some distance, so this meant I needed to be ready to stay in Vegas for a little while.
Using the $2000 that Full Tilt gave me to spend on travel and lodging, I set up a series of hotel rooms over a period of two weeks, basically hopping around based on where I was getting the best deals, including stays MGM, Rio, Bally's, and Paris. And I invited my Vegas-inclined friends to come join me at any point in that time that they could, with hotel rooms on me.
Depicted below is the schedule of who was coming in and when:
So on Monday, July 24th, Emily and I flew from Rockford, IL to Las Vegas (long story as to why I flew out of there with her... partially because it was much cheaper). Unfortunately, due to a 6 hour delay in our flight, we arrived in the late evening instead of mid-afternoon as planned. I was slightly anxious to get there because I had been hoping to get in some time at the tables that day, just to get back into the swing of playing live poker. Well, we did manage to get over to the Rio around 9pm, where all of the WSOP action was taking place. And there were plenty of cash games going on. Emily got on a $4/$8 limit table, and I went to a $500 buy-in NL game, thinking this was the best way to prepare for a NL tournament the next day. Well I managed to drop about $300 in about two hours, so that was no good.
But no worries. I took Rahul's $1500, registered at the cage for Event 37, the $1500 NL tournament, and Emily and I headed back to the MGM for some sleep.
We started play at noon, and there were about 2800 entrants. The top 270 would get paid (WSOP events pay top ~10%), which probably meant needing to last until early in day 2 of this 3-day event to get any cash. First prize was $760,000.
As a $1500 event, we started with 1500 chips, and level 1 blinds at 25/25 with 1 hour levels. For the poker savvy people out there, you can see that this was quite a shallow event. This meant needing to make moves fairly soon.
As for the table conditions... the play didn't seem too remarkable in either direction, weak or tough. I did have Barry Greenstein two seats to my right. However, he was pretty quiet through most of it. I let him steal my blinds as much as he wanted, but that's about all I remember him even trying to do.
BG busted about 2 hours in, losing on a pre-flop shove with AJ against KK which held. Yes, that's how shallow this event was, that on level 2-3, we're having to push it with AJ and pray. A note on Greenstein -- he is such a class act. After busting out, he pulled out a copy of his book, autographed the first page, wrote out the hand that busted him, and gave it to his opponent. Coooool, I want one.
I don't really remember too many of my hands. I do remember one where I got unlucky and then lucky... I think I had AQo, flopped top pair, got it all-in on the turn when my opponent turned a straight, and I rivered a higher straight.
Humberto Brenes was at my table for exactly one hand... he moved in with 66 from UTG, and got called by the same guy who busted Barry Greenstein, again with KK, which again held. I could use some cards and spots like that, thanks.
From our starting stacks of 1500, I got as high as about 6000 by level 4 or 5. I gave Rahul a call at the 2nd break to check in and let him know that his investment was still alive and doing okay. Blinds were quickly catching up though, and I bled away a little bit too in the next couple levels. By level 6 we were at 150/300 + 25, and I was probably down to about 3000ish, so it's really time to move.
I'm in the big blind, and there's an all-in from middle position for about 4000. Then a call from late position. I haven't looked at my cards yet, but I'm just thinking, "Please let this be an easy decision. High pocket pair or crap, please." I look down at pocket 7s. Thanks, just about the hardest decision I could have.
I'm about to just muck it, when I'm thinking, these blinds aren't going to get any smaller. And this is a fairly easy shove with just one opponent and these blinds. Two is what makes it tough. Chances increase that I'm looking at an overpair, or at LEAST 3-4 overcards to have to dodge. But eventually, I decide that time is running out and I might not even get a better spot than this. I shove. They flip over 55 and AK. YES, just about the best scenario I could hope for. Just two overcards or a set to avoid.
Emily comes running over from the other side of the convention center from her cash game table as she saw me stand when I moved in. Unfortunately, I'm put out of my misery quickly as a K flops, and I get no help. I'm out in ~800th just before the dinner break.
After this, I drank free scotch while playing $4/$8 limit with Emily.
Next post will cover a few other tournaments that I played along the way before the Main Event.
