Gray-haired poker TRs: Living the WSOP dream

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Final Thoughts: Part 8 of 17
Bad beats and coolers

Play enough tournament poker and you are going to suffer bad beats and coolers. No one likes to have it happen to them, but my attitude is just deal with it. (And yes, there will be times where you dole out the bad beat or cooler, but I suspect people don’t put as much emphasis on positive variance as they do on negative variance).

In my first WSOP in 2019 I dealt with more than my share of significant negative variance. It gutted me at the time. It just seemed so unfair.

Now that I have played in three World Series of Poker, I am now able to completely brush off kings running into aces, or making a great call only to have the deck deliver a cruel thunderbolt. I don’t even get upset by it. The only disappointment for me is I love to play, and now I’m out of the tournament. I don’t consider it unfair. I consider it poker. It happens. I have become completely immune to feeling sorry for myself when it occurs.

I don’t know if this is because I have experienced it some and learned to cope, or it may be because I am a person who, in life, does not get too high or too low.

What I do know is that if I want to play in these events, I can’t let pity consume me when negative variance hits. I can’t assume monsters are always under the bed just because they are sometimes under the bed. I can’t assume an utterly unfair card is always going to come when I get it in great.

The thing I realize is I want to get it all-in when I am 70-30 to win. That’s how you build a big stack. Sure, you lose 30% of the time, which kind of sucks. But you have to remember that 70% of the time the outcome is good. Get it all-in 70/30 often enough and the results will eventually be really positive. Emphasis on the word eventually. I’d rather go bust as a 70/30 favorite than as a 70/30 underdog. Sure, losing as the 70/30 favorite is unfortunate. But the whole idea is to try to get it in from ahead. That much I can control. And if I keep getting it in good, I need to embrace the fact that I am playing good poker, and not let variance break my spirit.

I am surprised by how emotionally fragile some people at my tables seem to be when they are in a downswing or are running bad. I mean, I get it. No one enjoys it. But it seems like a recipe for disaster. If you can’t brush off bad beats, coolers and periods of being card dead, I don’t see how you can survive in the WSOP tournament environment.

I can’t claim to be on equal footing with the poker elite on most (and by most I mean pretty much all) skillsets. But I think I can now take a bad beat or cooler as well as anyone. That is a super power that I now possess. I have improved massively in this regard from my past two WSOPs. It’s a good super power to have since it keeps the WSOP fun. It would be better if my super power was how to successfully defend from the big blind, but I will take my super powers where I can find them.

I’m convinced that the Horseshoe and Paris ballrooms don’t have anything in between the settings of 75 degrees and “meat locker”.

All that money and they can’t find a decent mechanical company to balance the air in that place…

Final Thoughts: Part 9 of 17
Volume

It is clear that for me to really get better, I need to play more volume. I can count on two hands the number of tournaments I have played in during the past 12 months. All the studying I do is well and good, but to really take the next step I need to play more volume.

I can’t do it. I won’t do it.

Here is the reason why. I have season tickets to Michigan football games with my best friend NextDoorLou, and I usually go to four or five games/weekends per season. I am now spending 12-13 days per summer at the WSOP. Mrs. rppoker is a really good sport about letting me do all of this. I don’t want to take advantage of her being so understanding. Plus, I have a business to run. Plus, my family looks to me for guidance/assistance with great frequency.

It is important for me to maintain proper life balance. It is the life balance that is similar to a poker player knowing just how high to play. A cash player who is reasonably good at 1/3 should not be playing 40/80. I have to make sure I don’t play too big when it comes to poker volume.

The result is that I will not develop the muscle memory to excel in difficult spots on the poker felt. But that is fine. I need to keep this a hobby. The fact that I have done this and actually cashed in back-to-back years will have to be successful enough. I’m not willing to put in the volume necessary to climb the poker ladder. I’d rather be a success in business and family life than put all of that at risk to try to move way up the poker ranks.

As soon as he raises the river, your hand becomes a pure call only. I would even consider folding, but it depends on the sizing. If he didn't make it too big and you could make the call without it making a massive dent in your stack, then I could see myself sigh-calling.

Sounds completely standard, as I assume you started the hand with under 20 big blinds. You just have to learn to flip better 😀

……….

Completely standard jam, not much to do there. UL, and move on to the next one!

……

'DogFace' have explained this better than me. I would probably fold and find a high-card later in the round instead, but a shove seems fine too. You are unlikely to be dominated very often, and winning this hand will make your stack much healthier.

……….

Well played, nice hand. When people go all-in like this for 15-16 bb, it's often a hand they are afraid to play postflop. On a few occasions it might be AK, but most of the time you are flipping or getting a nice spot where you are dominating him.

……..

Seems very close, yes. SnapShove have A4s+ as the range to push from this position, so theoretically it's fine. Personally I would fold, as I think we can easily afford one more round of paying the blinds without being in desperate mode. However, if the blinds go up very soon (like in a minute), that could be a good reason to jam instead. It's such a marginal spot that I would say it doesn't matter much what you do here. Both jamming and folding could be fine.

…….

SnapShove have KJo+ from this position, thus making your shove completely standard. KQo is way too good to consider folding here, especially since we are flipping against some of the strong hands that can call us (JJ, TT etc.). It's just bad luck to run into KK.

…….

As 'DogFace' have already said, this is a snap-call blind versus blind. Unless you are playing 100+ big blinds, I just don't see how we can get away from this one. There are so many hands (including the one that opponent had) that you are dominating which would want to shove here.

Final Thoughts: Part 10 of 17
How busy is 2025 Las Vegas

My sense is that times are tight for a lot of people. Which of course leads to the question, how much is this impacting Las Vegas?

Obviously, my sample size is small, but here is what I saw.

When talking to cab drivers, they seem to indicate that tourist traffic is down for them. How much isn’t clear.

When walking the streets, I can’t compare 2025 to 2024, because in 2024 my leg was giving me trouble so I did not venture out. But I can make the comparison to 2019, and what I saw in 2019 was significantly more foot traffic during the daytime than I saw in 2025. In 2019 the streets were packed with giant tourist groups clogging up the walkways outside. In 2025 during the day the foot traffic seemed really small. At nighttime in 2025 the streets seemed more bustling, and may have been on a par with 2019, although I think 2019 nightly traffic was still more than in 2025.

The restaurants I went to point toward down traffic. I went to the Eiffel Tower Restaurant, which is a high-end place and I saw at least 4-5 empty tables near me most of the time I was there. When I went to Joe’s Seafood, the place seemed to be jumping and at least where I was seated there wasn’t an empty table to be seen. Gordon Ramsey Steakhouse seemed to be doing a good business when I was there. At Mon Ami Gabi, TonySoprano9 and I walked in without a reservation and got seated right away along the more desirable patio where there were numerous open tables. At the highly regarded and reviewed Bacchanal Buffet, I. went during an off time (I think it was 3:30 or 4:00 p.m.) and I walked right in without a reservation. There were no lines for even the most desirable serving stations. Again, though, this was not a prime time. The one time I went to Beer Park at night there were plenty of tables available. The two times I went to Earl of Sandwich, the lines were considerably shorter than when I have gone there in past years.

I didn’t pay much attention to casino floors, but Caesars Palace table games seemed fairly full the one time I walked by. The Paris Casino was not typically jam packed, but I don’t recall it being especially crowded the year before. I would say there was decent but not overwhelming action. The couple of times I walked through Planet Hollywood I don’t recall the casino floor being flooded with people.

On my flight back home, more than half the seats were empty. However, I flew on a Wednesday afternoon, so maybe that is an off day.

This is all anecdotal. And it’s small details. Most of my time was spent at the poker tables. But from what I saw, Las Vegas was not hopping as much as usual. It’s not a ghost town, but it seemed “less” than in the past. I can’t really define it any better than that.

Great write up. The strip has slowed down significantly over the years. Local casinos have opened up everywhere and people can get their sport betting fix online

Peddling "premium" experiences at huge mark-up has the negative consequence of driving out the value-oriented customer.

In other words, it's an expensive place to exist. People are waking up to that.

I live in a big metro area where I can get better quality at lower prices. If Vegas weren't the center of the poker universe, I wouldn't visit often.

A man can only tolerate so many $11 pizza slices and $8 coffees.

Driving out the poors is a feature, not a bug, for Vegas.

Understood, but heads in beds is also a concept in the hospitality industry.

It is up to their bean counters to decide whether they'd make more money fleecing a small number of wealthy customers or a large number of not-so-wealthy customers.

As someone disinclined to pay huge premiums for basic everyday needs, I know which side I am personally biased towards.

Final Thoughts: Part 11 of 17
Fancy math

I went to Las Vegas with a max amount I was prepared to fire in tournament entry fees. For all but one event I budgeted to re-enter if knocked out before late reg ended.

I cashed in one event for $1,230. You’re thinking rppoker lost money on this trip. And using traditional math, you would be correct.

However, I think this fails to consider the entire picture. If you look at buy-ins I was prepared to spend, and then factor in the buy-ins I did not need to fire -- due to 1) lasting past the end of late reg on a single bullet, 2) buy-ins I did not have to fire because I made a Day 2, 3) buy-ins I did not fire because I was too tired from making it all the way through Day 1 and I chose to take a day off, and 4) my biggest buy-in that I did not fire at the end of my trip because I had made it into the money of another tournament, I was really tired now and I chose not to chase a turbo event – then a new math starts to take shape.

So, let’s start with my cash in the Colossus, which was $1,230. Next, let’s look at the buy-ins I was prepared to fire but did not, and that is $5,050. That adds up to $6,280 that I brought back home that I would not have if I had fired every possible bullet and failed to cash on all of them.

As I see it, I won $6,280. I brought home $6,280. The expectation going in was that I very well could head home with zero dollars.

You say that’s not how it works. Maybe a poker professional says that’s the incorrect way to view it. Certainly my accountant would be appalled and would say that’s not the way to look at it. But from a recreational player’s perspective, this was a vacation and you don’t expect to come home with money from a vacation. So, scoff all you want, but I brought home $6,280 above expectation and a second career WSOP cash now appears on my Hendon Mob page.

Call it new math. Or fancy math. Or rppoker math.

But that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Final Thoughts: Part 12 of 17
Trying to live up to leon

No, I’m not trying to match leon’s amazing-to-read high-stakes video machine gambling. My heart races uncontrollably, frighteningly at the mere thought.

What I am referring to is the fact that somewhere back in this thread post 2024 WSOP I believe, he suggested that I eat some better food and go to a show or two when I attend the WSOP.

Well, I didn’t go to a show. I hate shows. I believe leon said that makes me a bit weird, and he’s probably right. But a person likes what they like, and I don’t like shows. I suppose some might be tolerable to me, but I’ve never been to a play (ugh) or a show that was amazing to me. (As an aside, I am going to the performance of Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi in the Fall that I am excited beyond belief to experience, but that is music which I consider to be different than a show). So leon, my apologies for not living up to your expectations for me.

But I did try to take your advice and eat some good food. I went to Eiffel Tower Restaurant which I had heard very, very good things about, but I found it very disappointing. I went to Joe’s Seafood, which was outstanding. I went to a couple of favorites in Mon Ami Gabi and Gordon Ramsey Steak, which both were up to their usual high standards. I went to Bacchanal Buffet, which I was expecting to be memorable, but I only found it to be solid. On sheer volume it was worth doing. As for quality it was good but not the high-end wow factor I thought I would experience.

I realize these are not the high, high, high end restaurants that are out there, but I just don’t have an appreciation for that type of eatery. I am really good with a $150-$200 Las Vegas dinner. I’m not sure I’d find the additional value in a $400 Las Vegas dinner. Maybe I need to give it a try once at a future WSOP just to see.

But I’m trying, leon. I’m trying.

I saw 😉 It sounds like you felt the good meals were positive experiences.

Yes. Your advice was good.

I am curious, leon, if you were to pick one restaurant in Las Vegas in which money is no object, what restaurant would you recommend?

Joel Robuchon at MGM hands down. It's sublime and definitely a bucket list restaurant. The bread cart (more like a trolley) alone is worth it. My wife and I have stated many a time we'd pay to just have bread and butter there (it's unlimited).

Other really good places- e! at Cosmo (need to reserve 3 mo in advance)- 8 people per seating, 20+ courses, each one prepared in front of you with a story for each one. It's definitely a fun experience. Craftsteak (MGM?) is really good for "just" a steakhouse.

1. Why are you selling now?
2. Why do tenants get your cell and not the cell of a manager or even the actual engineer?

Amazing writeup as always. TY

Final Thoughts: Part 13 of 17
Where did all the famous pros go?

I saw plenty of famous poker pros in the hallways and when I’d wonder over to the Horseshoe Events Center where final tables and big buy-in tournaments were taking place.

But at my tables? Not a single famous poker player at any of my tables this year. This is a contrast to a year ago when I went up against a lot of well-known pros such as Ben Yu (twice), John Hennigan, Erick Lindgren, Eric Baldwin, and Arthur Morris. I think I faced additional name pros that year (that I did not recognize) as well based upon their table talk, but I’m not positive.

During my 2019 WSOP I went up against a couple of known players in Asher Conniff and Barry Shulman.

To recap, 2024 a whole bunch, 2019 a couple, and 2025 none. I don’t know which of these years should be considered the norm.

I am going to try to incorporate this into WSOP 2026. Thank you.

My answers will be lengthy because 1) as you should be able to tell by now, when I write I write long, and 2) your questions require me to describe my business philosophy, which takes some time to explain.

Let's start with why I am selling now. More than a year ago, one of my office buildings had an issue. A big issue. This particular multi-story building had both parking on the first floor and a parking garage underneath. The parking garage had an increasing number of areas that leaked. I had been dealing with the leaks by taking a bandaid approach, but it was becoming obvious that a more significant solution would eventually be necessary. The long-term solution was the entire garage ceiling/first floor parking area needed to be replaced since the interior membrane had gone bad.

This was going to be unpleasant for two reasons.

Reason 1: It was going to be really expensive. That was going to be on me.

Reason 2: It was going to be really time-consuming, which would be really unpleasant for the building's tenants. Where would they park during the lengthy construction? How distracting would the probably loud construction be? What unexpected issues would arise during the construction? I really didn't want to have to deal with all of this.

It was not necessary to do the parking lot construction immediately, but it probably needed to be done in the next two years. I decided to put the building up for sale. I did so with full transparency to potential buyers. Anyone who expressed interest was immediately informed of the parking structure issue. In addition, a quote from a general contractor for the cost of the project was provided to all potential buyers. Lastly, the cost of the construction was factored into the asking price.

A few days after I put the property up for sale, I had an epiphany about not only this property but also the other three local properties I owned/managed for myself and my family. The epiphany was this: While these four properties were not the only assets in our real estate portfolio, they took up an outsized portion of my time. The strip centers and shopping centers we own had outside management companies run the day to day operations and therefore took way less of my time (my job was to manage the property manager). Other investment types such as municipal bonds, CDs, dividend paying stocks, venture capital, etc. were passive and not terribly time consuming on a day-to-day basis, although it takes some time to keep track of distributions, dividends, etc. But the four local office buildings took a lot of my time. My epiphany was, I was 62 years old at the time, and did I really want to be managing the office buildings when I was 82 years old someday? The answer was no. As it happened, Mrs. rppoker had recently started talking about the thought that she'd like us to start spending portions of winters somewhere warm, which wasn't practical if I was still overseeing the four local office buildings. I decided to put all of the local office buildings up for sale. Fast forward to today, and three of the four buildings have ben sold. One more left to go, and it looks promising that this last one will sell in the very near future.

So that's why I am selling that portion of the portfolio. I have had way too much on my plate since my dad semi-retired (2015) and died (2019). It is time to experience better work/life balance.

As to why tenants get my cell phone, I guess the answer is I take an old-school, tenant-friendly approach.

When I have historically moved a new tenant into one of my office buildings, I would give them both my cell phone number and my business phone number. I would say the following: "If a light bulb is burned out, please call my office number and speak to my administrative assistant. If you are unhappy about something or it's an emergency, call me on my cell phone." I never really had anyone abuse the privilege of having my cell phone. Then about a year or so ago, my administrative assistant turned 70 and asked to change from being a full-time employee to working two days a week. I said yes to this request, and ever since I have told my tenants to use my cell phone as the main number since my office phone number is not manned full time.

Whenever people I know who own real estate hear about the fact that my tenants have my cell phone number, their response is always the same, "Please don't tell my tenants." I think it is a good to let my tenants have my cell phone. People like knowing they have a responsive building owner. I think it is a big reason why my buildings have very little vacancy.

In fact, other than a sign on the front of the building, I don't even advertise my vacancies. Word of mouth keeps my buildings full. The one office building I still have for sale is a great example of this. I would say half of my tenants are related to another tenant in the building. Pretty much the rest of the tenants moved in because they were friends or business acquaintances of an existing tenant in the building. On several occasions a tenant has informed me that they are not going to renew their lease because they are retiring or their business is not doing well, and 24 hours later an existing tenant will call me about the space because they want to expand into the bigger space. I will respond, "How did you even know about the space coming available. I haven't told a single person about it." The response is always the same, they heard it through the building grapevine. Keeping the tenants happy results in a very useful building grapevine.

I even give my cell phone number out to store managers of big box tenants in strip centers/shopping centers I have ownership in. I go to these properties twice a year for on-site inspections with the property manager. When I meet the various store managers, I always give them my business card and say to them that for any of their day-to-day needs they should call my property manager, but if they are ever unhappy about the response they are getting they can/should call me.

I give everyone my cell phone number because I think it is a bad idea to hide from the tenants. If they are unhappy I want to know. I don't see a call from an unhappy tenant to be a bad thing. I see it as an opportunity to make them happy, which is a good thing.

I think elite customer service is the key to any successful business. This makes me think of a conversation I would frequently have with my dad when he was still alive. A tenant would call and request a small task requiring my building engineer's assistance. Perhaps they bought a TV and wanted the building engineer to mount it for them. My approach has always been that anything that takes less than an hour, I don't charge the tenant for the work. Almost every request like this tends to take less than an hour. My dad used to say I should charge for this work. He'd say that if we call our real estate attorney and have a 20-minute phone conversation we get billed for the attorney's time. My response to my dad would be that the goodwill of not charging our tenants for minor requests was worth 100 times what we could charge for the work. My dad eventually came around to my thinking. I have had a lot of tenants tell me that when their lease is up they don't even consider looking around at other buildings because I always solve their problems or take care of their needs.

So while it might sound annoying and time consuming to answer my cell phone for the kind of tenant requests other landlords don't want to field, I think it is good business. I think answering my cell phone for the occasional tenant request is much better than having a lot of vacancies because the owner does not want to be bothered. That's why everyone has my cell phone number.

Final Thoughts: Part 14 of 17
WSOP+

Let’s get the one criticism out of the way first. The first couple of days sound like they were a disaster. It seems as though there wasn’t enough personnel to get people verified in a timely manner. The lines were long, and the players weren’t happy. It seems hard to believe that the WSOP could be so unprepared. And why people can’t get verified ahead of time online seems baffling to me, but I suppose they have their reasons.

Now on to the compliments. Once those first couple days were out of the way (which I thankfully missed because I arrived a day or so later when the lines weren’t bad), I think the WSOP+ app was a smashing success. I would argue that the 2025 WSOP Player of the Year should be the guy who came up with and implemented WSOP+. Just kidding, although kind of not kidding.

The app was that great. I loaded my money into my account once I was verified and then no more lines (except for the payout line, which did I mention that I went to because I cashed for the second year in a row, just want to be sure because, I CASHED FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW).

But this post is not meant to be about me, the recreational player who cashed for the second year in a row. It’s supposed to be about the WSOP+ app.

Want to sign up for a tournament? Forget the lines. Just tap a few buttons on the app on your cell phone right before the tournament starts, and you get your table assignment.

Want to know the names of the players at your table? Just check the app (except for some players who put in an online style nickname, which seems silly for the WSOP to allow) and then head over to Hendon Mob to see their history (which I don’t find especially useful since I think observing their play at the table tells you way more than you gain from seeing their career earnings).

Want to know exactly how many chips everyone has at your table coming out of a break? The dealers count everyone’s chips on break and enter the information on the app. Just hit a few buttons and you have the information.

Want to re-enter after busting out of a tournament? Just tap a few buttons on the app and you have your new table assignment in like 30 seconds. Let me repeat the point of that last sentence, which is the fact that the two-hour re-entry line is a thing of the past at the WSOP. This is an earth-moving improvement.

It is easy to complain about the WSOP, but when they get something right they deserve to receive flowers. The WSOP+ app is an example of the WSOP doing something wonderful for players, and that needs to be said. Needs to be said loudly. Needs to be sung from the mountaintops.

Final Thoughts: Part 15 of 17
Listen to your body

I don’t play cash, but I suspect that game selection has to do with searching for tables full of poor playing opponents that represent target rich environments.

I do play in WSOP NLHE tournaments, and for me game selection has more to do with me than who my opponents are. What I mean is, good game selection for me has to do whether I am putting myself in situations to play my “A” game.

I can’t control what players will be assigned to my table. What I can control is whether I choose to sit down at the table in the first place. And sometimes the decision not to play is the right call.

When I built my 2025 WSOP schedule, it contained a tournament option for every day I would be in Las Vegas. Just because I could play every day did not mean I should play every day.

When I bagged chips in flight 1B of the Colossus, I had played in 17 full levels. That was a long, taxing grind. It meant Day 2 was three days away. The meant I had two open days to decide what to play.

The next day there were tournaments at the Wynn and Aria that I could have entered. Could have. I was physically spent that day. If I had played I suspect I would have been lighting my entry fee on fire. There was no way I would have played well, so I chose to take the day off and recharge my batteries. It was the best decision I could have made. The following day I played in a Venetian tournament and I felt pretty close to normal but not entirely 100%. The following day was Day 2 of the Colossus, and by then I felt completely rejuvenated.

Toward the end of my trip, I had one day left before I headed home. There was a one-day WSOP turbo event that I had on my schedule. I chose not to play in that event, because I had hit the poker wall. I had run out of gas. I had cashed in one event during my trip, which gave me a sense of accomplishment and a sense of satisfaction. I did not feel like playing, so I didn’t. If I had not cashed in an event, then yes I would have chased the elusive cash and played in the turbo event. But I had my cash, so I chose not to play in a tournament I just didn’t feel like playing. A year earlier I played in one final tournament despite feeling like I had hit the poker wall, and I was miserable. This year I sensed I had hit the poker wall and chose not to play. I learned from my experience from the year before.

By sitting out the two days that I was not feeling like playing I think I had a far more enjoyable experience than I had the year before when I played every day without a break. Don’t get me wrong, my overall experience in WSOP 2024 was great. But I pushed myself too hard. In my WSOP 2025 I listened to my body and I think this was the far superior way to go.

Can the argument be made that by sitting out two different one-day tournaments I was bankrolled for I lessened my ability to get as many cashes as possible? Sure that argument can be made.

But I think a better argument is the fact that there is no shame in taking a day off when that is what your body is trying to tell you. When I first built my 2025 WSOP schedule I was full of excitement and anticipation. At that time it is easy to feel the adrenaline rush and plan to play every single day over just short of two weeks I would be in Las Vegas. At that time it is easy to pound my chest, let out a war cry and proclaim I will play every single day. When making plans ahead of time all I am thinking is I want to cram as much poker as is humanly possible during my pilgrimage to the WSOP. But when boots on the ground at the WSOP, there are days you feel exhausted. This year I heeded those feelings and skipped a couple of days.

In so doing, I think I played smarter not harder.

To quote the supercomputer Joshua in the 1983 movie WarGames, sometimes “the only winning move is not to play.”

Final Thoughts: Part 16 of 17
Dear WSOP, things that need to be fixed

OK WSOP, don’t get too big a head from my earlier compliments regarding WSOP+, because there are still things that can be better and need fixing.

I think the WSOP is completely missing the boat when it comes to food options. The hot dog cart and the Horseshoe poker kitchen are way too sparse. I’m not saying the Rio Poker Kitchen (or whatever it was called) was perfect back in the day, but my recollection of playing at the WSOP at the Rio in 2019 was that the food options were better.

Get Subway or Chick-fil-A to have a popup kitchen, and let them hawk sandwiches throughout the poker rooms like hot dog vendors at a baseball park.

I mean is it really necessary to have the merchandise room be so big near the Paris Ballroom? You buy something maybe the first time or two you attend the WSOP, but after that are players actually making big purchases. I would think a good – emphasis on good – poker kitchen would result in way more revenue than whatever they make selling WSOP shirts and hoodies. My first two years I bought a hoodie each time. This year, I bought nothing. I would spend way more money on decent food from here than I would on memorabilia.

And for goodness sake, why can’t food be delivered here. Set it up so that food from certain Paris and Horseshoe restaurants can deliver food. If the WSOP doesn’t what delivery guys running around the poker rooms, then set up a table to the side of the poker ballrooms, and drop the food off there and have a WSOP person who asks for ID when the player comes over for the food. If you do it this way, a player can bust out of the tournament and still get their food when it arrives. As long as I’m pitching this idea, let’s get the fantastic WSOP+ app involved here, and when the food is ready make it so the app tells the player that their food is ready.

Another big complaint. I hate the fact that when you cash and then bust out, you no longer get the little colorful card that used to show what place you finished in along with name of the event on it. When I got my first WSOP cash last year, I put the little card inside a small acrylic picture frame and put it on my desk at work. I look at it every workday and swell with pride. When I cashed for a second time in my career this year (have I mentioned that I cashed again this year?) I was excited that I’d get another little card to put next to the first one. When I finally busted out, the dealer yelled “payout” and a floor person came over, punched a couple of buttons into his laptop and said, “OK, we’re good.” I said, “Don’t I get a little card?” He said, “No.” They don’t do that anymore. And there was much sadness.

You do get a digital Place Card sent to you via the WSOP+ app, but it’s just not the same as the little card. I can’t put the digital Place Card in the frame I have with last year’s little card (well actually I did print it and put it in the frame, but it’s not the same). That said, it makes me sad that WSOP+ has eliminated the need for the old-school place card. When I was in the first of the two payout lines after busting out, I mentioned this to the person helping me and she enthusiastically said, “Hang on to your card from last year. Maybe it will be worth something as a historical memento someday.”

And finally, do something about temperature control. It just can’t be that difficult to monitor it, adjust it and keep the room at a comfortable temperature. For all we pay in rake, is it too much to ask that there be one person in each poker ballroom whose job it is to monitor the temperature and adjust the thermostat as needed. I personally find the cold in the poker rooms to be worse to deal with than the 100-degree heat outside. I would wear gloves to combat the cold if it weren’t for the fact that gloves would make it too difficult to handle the cards.

Once I returned home to Illinois, it took me 48 hours to thaw out.

Final Thoughts: Part 17 of 17
The end

The overwhelming feeling I have is how lucky I am to get to compete in the World Series of Poker. Getting to walk into The Arena of the highest-level series of the year in something I love is amazing. I just crave being at the tables. Even when I faced self-doubt about how I played certain difficult spots, even when I made mistakes, I savored the experience. I just relish the opportunity to challenge myself in an environment that is so over-the-top filled with tradition, history and legends.

Plus, I got on the WSOP 2025 board. You’ve got to look hard to find me, but I’ve got a tiny, tiny, tiny spot in WSOP 2025 history. Sure, it takes a high-powered microscope to find me, but there I am.

The journey has been and continues to be breathtaking. I hope it never gets old.

And with that I am out of poker thoughts regarding my 2025 WSOP. I have finally (FINALLY) run out of things to write.

Thanks to all who followed along.

I call that obvious bluff.

Many, many thanks for sharing, and it was great to meet you in person.

Thanks for sharing. As previously stated, nice to meet you and I'm glad you got to experience a fun day 2 run this time around.

As you think about next year, you might want to consider the Monster Stack as an event to target. The 60 minute levels and deep stacks offer a lot of playability. I think it would be a good fit for your style. It favors patience and observation. The tournament is a good mixture of all player types. There are some soft spots to exploit and some pros to provide a challenge. Spiritually, I consider it the true Mini Main Event, even if there is already another tournament with that title.