Gray-haired poker TRs: Living the WSOP dream
At the age of 62 (AARP members unite!), I have decided that I will write a trip report for my 2024 trek to the World Ser
I love how you attribute names to the players at your tables and how you describe their traits and personalities. They always sound far more interesting and fun than the lineups I get.
I love how you attribute names to the players at your tables and how you describe their traits and personalities. They always sound far more interesting and fun than the lineups I get.
An added benefit to creating names/traits/personalities is it makes it much easier to apply and remember playing styles and ranges of each opponent. Much easier than if I simply viewed everyone as a generic opponent. At least that's the case for me.
WSOP 2026: (June 10) $500 Colossus NLHE, Day 1A (Part 4 of 12)
PBS puts out a bet, but the dealer rules it only a call, leading to a bluffing opportunity for me on the turn ... A-J two hands in a row yield the same outcome both times ... In a four-way hand I flop top two pairs and get no action
Level 4
300/500/500
PBS makes a mistake that costs him and benefits me. He means to make it 1,000. But he tosses a chip and then says “Raise.” The dealer (much more knowledgeable than any other dealer we had all day) rules that the chip hit the felt before the word “Raise” was uttered, so it is only a call. I have 2-7 in the big blind and would have folded to a bet. Instead, I get to see three free cards. The flop is Q-3-8. I check, and to my surprise PBS checks back. The flop is another 8. I sense an opportunity. Given that PBS meant to raise pre flop, I should have way more 8s than him. Despite the fact that I am only playing two napkins, I bet the scare card on the turn, and PBS folds. I have 58,200 chips.
UTG+1 I am dealt A-J. I open the betting and everyone folds. Next hand I get dealt A-J again. I again open the betting and everyone folds.
Not long after that I get dealt 10-10. I open the betting, and the big blind calls. The flop is 9-9-9. The big blind checks, I bet, and he folds.
I am in the big blind with 10-K. Sicily opens the betting from UTG, two players call, and I call. The flop is 10-K-7. I have top two pair and just check figuring someone (most likely Sicily) will start the betting on my behalf. They all check. That’s disappointing. The turn is a 4. I figure I have to put some chips in the middle. I figure someone will call. I figure wrong. I bet. They all fold. That’s really disappointing.
I open the betting with A-8, and everyone folds.
I played a lot of hands in a short period of time and got almost no action. I suppose that was not a terrible thing since, as premiums go, these holdings were on the bottom end of premium range and in some cases slightly beneath premium range.
Bouncy Legs busts. Mr. Rules opens the betting, and Bouncy Legs goes all-in (his legs are not bouncing, so my sense is he is light), and Mr. Rules calls with K-K. Bouncy legs has A-5 suited and does not improve. I am very sad that Bouncy Legs is out. This player had the most blatant live tell I have ever encountered.
End of level 4: 66,100 chips.
WSOP 2026: (June 10) $500 Colossus NLHE, Day 1A (Part 5 of 12)
A brutally bad dealer ... Beard is in massage heaven, can’t focus on the hand he is in and then makes a runner-runner nut straight ... The pace of play at the table slows ... On break with mrbaseball and TJ
Level 5
300/600/600
A new guy joins the table. He has an immaculate beard, so he will be “Beard.” It won’t take long to realize that he plays in almost every hand that is not yet opened when it gets to him.
More dealer woes. Sicily is in a pot with Where is Seat 8?, and when facing a turn bet Sicily folds. The dealer does not get the memo and turns over a river card. This dealer also keeps trying to push pots to the losing players. Oftentimes, the dealer stops paying attention to what is happening in a hand and has to be told what to do to get his head back in the game. He was making mistakes on literally every hand. When the dealer leaves, the table consensus is that the dealer was either drunk or stoned. As one player puts it, “That wasn’t incompetence. He was f**cked up.”
Mr. Rules opens for 1,200, two players call, and I look down at A-Q. I squeeze and make it 7,000. Everyone folds.
End of level 5: 67,200 chips.
Level 6
400/800/800
Beard is getting a massage. He is in heaven. At one point in a hand, his head is tilted away from the poker action while the masseuse gives him a scalp massage. He can’t see what is happening on the felt, and he keeps having to be told it is his turn to act in this particular hand. I question whether he has any idea of where he is at in the hand. Doesn’t matter. He hits runner-runner on the turn and river to make the nut straight.
Seat 5 to my immediate right is finally filled for the first time all day. We’ll call him M&M’s because he has a bag of the candy sticking out of his pocket when he sits down at the table.
Remember the dealer who was in her second day dealing the other day and was at my table for the second day running? Well, she takes the dealer seat at my table yet again. She seems happy to see a familiar face.
The pace of play has slowed down at the table. People are taking longer to make decisions. I’m not talking serial tanking, but we are not seeing a large number of hands lately.
In the big blind, I am dealt Ad-2d. There is a min bet and two calls ahead of me. It’s not a great hand, but it is a hand that has a chance to make the nuts, so I call. I whiff the flop and fold to a bet.
End of level 6: 64,400 chips
We go on break. I head down the hallway toward the Horseshoe casino floor with mrbaseball and we do the walk and talk. We then run into TJ, who is doing quite well on bullet #2, and we all chat.
WSOP 2026: (June 10) $500 Colossus NLHE, Day 1A (Part 6 of 12)
Did I play A-Q too passively? ... Jumbo Coffee turns out to be the 37th place finisher in the prior year’s Main Event and the recipient if a bunch of screen time on Inside The Mind Of A Pro
Level 7
500/1,000/1,000
Sicily busts when he gets it all in post flop with a flush draw that does not get there versus the A-A of Where is Seat 8?
UTG opens the betting. Two players call. The action is on me. I have A-Q off suit. I could squeeze, but I don’t. I think doing so against an UTG open could get me in the kind of trouble A-Q gets into against an UTG A-K. The flop is 7-3-2. Everyone checks. The turn is a 4. UTG bets and I fold. It turns out at showdown that UTG had A-10. Damn. A squeeze would have worked. But I still think squeezing with A-Q versus an UTG open is likely to win me a small pot or lose me a very big pot. At the time I wrote in my notes: “Too passive pre flop?” I am open to LVL analysis on this.
Other than this A-Q hand, I have been pretty card dead for a while.
End of level 7: 56,000 chips.
Level 8
600/1,200/1,200
The avalanche of unplayable cards continues. I don’t play a hand the entire level. Nothing even close to playable.
We find out that Jumbo Coffee finished 37th in last year’s WSOP Main Event and got busted by eventual Final Table performer Leo Margets. I thought Jumbo Coffee looked familiar, and the reason is he got a lot of air time in recent episodes of Inside the Mind of a Pro that have been chronicling Margets deep run. A new player who recently joined the table seated to my left is extremely intrigued by Jumbo Coffee’s deep Main Event run and peppers him with a lot of questions about the experience.
Editor’s note: Jumbo Coffee is Paul Gibbons and his 2025 Main Event bust out hand can be found at
The table continues its recent trend of methodical decisions being made, which has slowed down the pace of hands.
End of level 8: 53,000 chips.
I am aware that there is a dealer rating system in the app this year, so I assume people are taking advantage of it.
Any such egregious errors that someone had to call the floor?
An acquaintance is out there dealing. He's very experienced. Was telling me last year he rolled up to work, floor told him to take over at table X.
"What? It's the middle of the down."
"Yep. You take over right now,, and send the dealer to me."
I am aware that there is a dealer rating system in the app this year, so I assume people are taking advantage of it.Any such egregious errors that someone had to call the floor?An acquaintance is out there dealing. He's very experienced. Was telling me last year he rolled up to work, floor told him to take over at table X."What? It's the middle of the down.""Yep. You take ov
My experience was the following:
1) No one ever called the floor to report incompetence. The table simply policed itself and policed the dealer as needed. Ninety-nine percent of the time this worked fine.
2) I can't say for certain, but I did not get the sense that people were going on the app to rate a dealer. Not once did anyone at any of my tables say they were rating a dealer.
WSOP 2026: (June 10) $500 Colossus NLHE, Day 1A (Part 7 of 12)
Jumbo Coffee is the author of a poker book ... Jumbo Coffee busts a fan of his, and then quotes a famous movie line ... Heather Alcorn joins the table
Level 9
1,000/1,500/1,500
Jumbo Coffee says he has written a poker book. I ask if it has been published. He says it is in his backpack. I don’t know if this means a published book is in his backpack or the manuscript is in his backpack. The mystery is solved when he pulls out the published book titled “Polymath Poker.” He has a website about it at
Beard busts. Good, he was a tough player. Plus he was two to my right and he was opening a tsunami of hands, making it difficult for me to find spots during my bout of card deadness.
PBS also busts.
Jumbo Coffee wins a monster pot against the guy who was fascinated by Jumbo Coffee’s deep 2025 Main Event run. It is full house versus full house carnage with Jumbo Coffee having the bigger boat, leading Jumbo Coffee to state the line from the movie Jaws: “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
Heather Alcorn is seated to my immediate right.
Another level concludes without me playing a single hand. I never even had a hand that was close to playable.
End of level 9: 41,900 chips
We go on a 20-minute break. I hang with TJ and mrbaseball. TJ hears my plight of card deadness and suggests I look for spots to three-bet light from late position seeing as how any time I do this after going so long without playing a hand, it will look like I have a monster.
My experience was the following: 1) No one ever called the floor to report incompetence. The table simply policed itself and policed the dealer as needed. Ninety-nine percent of the time this worked fine. 2) I can't say for certain, but I did not get the sense that people were going on the app to rate a dealer. Not once did anyone at any of my tables say they were rating a
I did it about a dozen times over my approx 20 hours playing Seniors. Estimate 7 for 1 star & 5 for 5 star. Nothing in between.
And twice we had problem dealers at the table (attitude as much as skillset) and many players went on to give a low rating
WSOP 2026: (June 10) $500 Colossus NLHE, Day 1A (Part 8 of 12)
I bet my range, not my hand ... A nice chat with Heather Alcorn ... A bet, three calls and when it gets to me I look down at A-A
Level 10
1,000/2,000/2,000
I return to the table and see I have won yet another chip race off.
The table chip leader is UTG and opens. I have A-J, and while the temptation is to raise after going so long without playing a hand, I don’t want to overcook a premium but not ultra-premium Ace. I just call. The flop is 3-7-8. UTG checks. I figure that since I only called pre flop, this flop hits my range a whole lot better than his range. Plus, it is not completely out of the realm of possibility that I am in fact ahead. Clearly my image is tight, so if I bet it will look scary. I bet. Villain folds. I have 51,000 chips.
At this time, I have a brief chat with Heather Alcorn. I tell her she dealt at my tables numerous times in a past WSOP. I tell her she was the best dealer I ever had at the WSOP. She seems to appreciate to compliment. I mention I think this took place the year she was named WSOP Dealer of the Year. She says that was 2019, the last year she dealt. I say that was my first WSOP. She then tells me a little about how she now plays poker, is a poker ambassador, and conducts training sessions. She seems like a genuinely nice person. That ends the niceties, and we go back trying to take away each other’s chips.
Now comes a big hand for me. I am dealt A-A. Finally, card deadness is over. My concern is that, given I have gone numerous levels being completely idle, I won’t get any action. This is me worrying for nothing. I get plenty of action. Someone bets 4,000 and three people call before it is my turn to act. Clearly, I am going to raise. And with so many callers to the original bet, I am pretty sure that a solver would say I should bet huge to avoid the nightmare of multiple people calling. But if I bet huge, everyone is going to fold. I decide against going huge and bet what I hope will be just big enough. Ideally, I want one caller. I bet 15,000. The only person who stays in the hand is Cousin Rob. He was one of the callers to the opening bet. Cousin Rob proceeds to lose his mind and go all-in with A-J. I mean, was he not paying attention to how inactive I had been for quite a while? I don’t see how he could possibly think his A-J was good. In any event, my Aces hold up. Cousin Rob heads for the exits, and once he was gone, someone at the table postulates that the frustration of not getting cards finally got the best of him and he snapped.
During the same level, I am UTG and get dealt 10-10. I bet and everyone folds.
End of level 10: 110,500 chips.
We find out that Jumbo Coffee finished 37th in last year’s WSOP Main Event and got busted by eventual Final Table performer Leo Margets. I thought Jumbo Coffee looked familiar, and the reason is he got a lot of air time in recent episodes of Inside the Mind of a Pro that have been chronicling Margets deep run. A new player who recently joined the table seated to my left is extr
Interesting. He got a lot of screen time as he was often on the same table as Leo Margets and they seemed semi-friendly. Or at least he tried to be friendly with her 😀 Did you mention watching the show, or did you leave that to your enthusiastic table mate?
Interesting. He got a lot of screen time as he was often on the same table as Leo Margets and they seemed semi-friendly. Or at least he tried to be friendly with her 😀 Did you mention watching the show, or did you leave that to your enthusiastic table mate?
Yeah he came across a little creepy I thought.
He’s a very successful marketer I think
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WSOP 2026: (June 10) $500 Colossus NLHE, Day 1A (Part 9 of 12)
Heather Alcorn says of a timidly played hand, “I played it like a girl.” ... Next hand, she wins a hand aggressively and is told, “You didn’t play that one like a girl.” ... I try to steal the blinds, the small blind goes all-in with A-A and I get out of the way
Level 11
1,000/2,500/2,500
Alcorn opens. I have A-J suited. It’s a good hand, but it’s also a hand that can be dominated. I just call. One other player calls. The flop is K-2-3. Alcorn bets. I fold.
I have A-K. Before I act there is a bet and a call. Because there are two people already in the hand, I size up and bet 4x the original bet. Everyone folds.
Alcorn plays a hand timidly. She was tempted to play it aggressively, but it seems that she chickened out. I think it was against Jumbo Coffee who has a huge chip stack and has become increasingly aggressive. After the hand, Alcorn says, “I played it like a girl.”
The very next hand she plays very aggressively and takes it down. Someone at the table says, “You didn’t play that one like a girl.”
It folds to me on the BTN. I have K-9. That is more than enough to try to steal the blinds. I open the betting. The small blind goes all in. I fold. The small blind shows A-A. I can dodge bullets, baby!
Alcorn opens the betting when Jumbo Coffee is in the big blind. Jumbo Coffee playfully tells her, “Don’t bully me.” I suspect she is trying to bait him into a call or raise when she says, “You don’t want to get bullied by a girl.” It’s all good-natured.
End of level 11: 97,000 chips
Level 12
1,500/3,000/3,000
Mr. Rules, who had a massive chip stack earlier in the day, busts. The only remaining players from the original table are Jumbo Coffee and me.
Alcorn opens the betting. I have J-J. I 3-bet and everyone folds.
End of level 12: 95,500 chips
WSOP 2026: (June 10) $500 Colossus NLHE, Day 1A (Part 10 of 12)
Dinner at Battista’s with TJ, mrbaseball, Feel Wrath and Prairiebreeze ... We eat fast and then TJ and I rush back to the Colossus
We go on dinner break. I meet TJ, mrbaseball, Feel Wrath and Prairiebreeze at a previously agreed upon spot. We are going to dinner at Battista’s Hole in the Wall. This is a TJ tradition. It is where he goes to dinner if he makes dinner break in a WSOP tournament. If he doesn’t make dinner break he doesn’t dine at Battista’s.
TJ and I are the only ones still alive in a tournament, and fortunately no one else has a rule against dining there if they don’t make dinner break. We make the short trek to the restaurant. They ask if we have a reservation. We do not. They say it will be a 20-minute wait. Dinner break is 75 minutes, so T.J. and I figure we can make it work. The wait is much shorter than they said.
We get seated, order quickly and then enjoy the camaraderie of a LVL meetup. Given the difficulty of WSOP schedules being so fluid, meetups tend to be much smaller. Tonight we made it work for five of us to dine together. I think this is a highlight of this WSOP for everyone. It certainly is for me. The conversation and stories flow naturally. We are a tiny crew that I never met before this WSOP, and yet I feel I know everyone through our shared space in 2+2’s Las Vegas Lifestyle section.
My first two WSOPs I knew no one. Last year, I was able to do a handful of 1-on-1 meetups/meals/drinks. This year has already been way more LVL meetup friendly. The key is to have each other’s phone numbers and text in the moments when you are available on tournament breaks or when people have busted out. I eat my dinner way too fast but that was because of all the talking as well as the looming countdown clock on my and TJ’s still pending Colossus Day 1 tourney. I wish this dinner could have lasted much, much longer.
I absolutely love the sense of community that this meetup created.
A picture of the meetup was taken. It has already appeared in mrbaseball’s trip report, but here it is again. A band of brothers.
I believe TJ and I left earlier than the others, since we had to get back for the late Day 1 Colossus. I made it to my table with about 90 seconds to spare. Great clock management.
WSOP 2026: (June 10) $500 Colossus NLHE, Day 1A (Part 11 of 12)
My table gets an influx of late reg players ... NBA Finals game on the big screen has a dramatic last second finish and the Horseshoe Ballroom explodes with reaction
When I get back to my table I see that I have won my fourth consecutive chip race off. That’s all well and good, but I’d rather get lucky when much bigger chip amounts are in play (foreshadowing ... sinister music ... dun, dun, dun!!!!)
Level 13
2,000/4,000/4,000
Late reg has just ended. Our table has three new players with 50,000 chip starting stacks. These guys are going to look to go big or go home.
One of the late reg guys opens 8,000. I have Kh-Qh in one of the blinds, and I call. There are two hearts on the flop, giving me a flush draw. I go all-in. Late reg guy folds. I have 104,000 chips.
Game 4 of the NY Knicks versus San Antonio Spurs NBA Finals game is down to the final seconds. The Knicks are down one with the ball. They miss a shot but score on a tip-in with 1.2 seconds remaining. The game is on a big screen in the poker ballroom, and the room erupts when the tip-in is made.
WSOP 2026: (June 10) $500 Colossus NLHE, Day 1A (Part 12 of 12)
I have A-Q suited versus K-Q off suit ... I have 10-10 versus 4-4
OK, back to what is important. Enough with the NBA, back to the WSOP. Moments later I open the betting with A-Q suited. A different late reg guy goes all-in. I call. He has K-Q off suit. I am way ahead. There is a King on the flop. I am way behind. I lose the hand. Jumbo Coffee tells me I made a good call of the all-in bet. I have 70,000 chips. The evil Poker God of Variance makes an appearance in the trip report.
The very next hand, I have 10-10 and I open the betting by going all-in. Another late reg guy who has chipped up insta calls which is ominous. I am surprised to see him turn over 4-4. I mean, maybe if you are first to act you might jam with 4-4, but calling it off with 4-4 seems beyond strange to me. In any event, I am once again way ahead. The flop is 2-3-4. The table collectively gasps. Villain has me slightly covered. I don’t improve and I am out. Jumbo Coffee compassionately tells me I played well. The rest of the table seems sympathetic to my plight, although I am sure they will move on in about 15 seconds after I leave. I wish them all well, pack up my stuff and head out.
Apparently, the evil Poker God of Variance decided once was not enough.
Back-to-back bad beats. Damn. Poker can be cruel. I mean, it took longer to cross the street because of the really slow traffic light when leaving Horseshoe and walking to Battista’s for dinner than it took to suffer these consecutive bad beats. When I got it in good these two hands, I thought this might be my time. It wasn’t my time. If these two dominating hands had held up, I would have had more than 200,000 chips. “Would have” being the key words. What I actually have is ... let’s add it up ... carry the zero ... Yep, I have zero chips.
I text TJ that I am out and give him an extremely brief recap of the two final hands. He texts back, “Unlucky. Sigh, that’s tournaments.”
Oh well. There are still three more Day 1s in the Colossus. I shake off the double bad beats quickly. I’m thinking tomorrow will be my time. I’m sure the evil Poker God of Variance will have moved on to some other unsuspecting victim by then.
Back-to-back bad beats. Damn. Poker can be cruel. I mean, it took longer to cross the street because of the really slow traffic light when leaving Horseshoe and walking to Battista’s for dinner than it took to suffer these consecutive bad beats. When I got it in good these two hands, I thought this might be my time. It wasn’t my time. If these two dominating hands h
The TT-jam seems a bit large (didn't you have 18 Big Blinds?), but the result would obviously have been the same regardless. Unlucky, and it always feels very brutal when you go from having a (semi-)healthy stack to being out in a few hands :(
So much have to go right to make a deep run in tournaments, especially gigantic fields like this one. As I am sure you know all too well by now.
It’s so funny hot it happens (funny weird. Not funny ha ha). One bad beat and then an immediate all in always always seem to lead to another bad beat IME
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It’s so funny hot it happens (funny weird. Not funny ha ha). One bad beat and then an immediate all in always always seem to lead to another bad beat IME
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Funny like a clown?
WSOP 2026: (June 11) $500 Colossus NLHE, Day 1B (Part 1 of 14)
I embrace late reg (well, baby late reg) ... A bloody nose to start the day ... Playing for stacks against Blunt Force Trauma who is trying to win the tournament in level 3 ... The Butterfly Effect of my bloody nose
I set my alarm the night before to wake me up at a time that will get me to my tournament a little bit late. I was more tired than usual when I went to sleep last night, so I figured it was worth missing level 1 and level 2 to get a good night’s sleep.
In the morning, my alarm goes off and I’m still tired so I set it for 20 minutes later. When it goes off, I am ready to start my day.
I’m taking a shower when out of nowhere my nose starts to bleed. Weird. This sets me back 10 minutes, but I get it under control and move on with my day. My only theory as to the cause of the bloody nose is maybe it is the aftermath of the two bloody bad beats suffered last night in my tournament.
I eventually jump in a cab, and the cab driver asks me if I am here for the WSOP. I say yes, and this leads to a ton of WSOP questions from him.
I get to the area outside the Horseshow Ballroom, and I register on my phone for today’s Colossus. I get to my table and I am in Seat 1, which I take to be my punishment for registering late. Actually, everyone who will be at the table just registered, because when I arrive there is just one other player at the table. He is in Seat 8 and he welcomes me by my first name. Obviously, he saw my name at our table on the WSOP Live app. This earns him the nickname Welcome Wagon. We have to wait a small amount of time for there to be enough players at the table for us to be able to begin play.
The starting lineup
Seat 1: Me
Seat 2: A young player wearing a Rolls Royce hat. He is “Rolls Royce.”
Seat 3: A player with 68 WSOP cashes to his name. He is wearing a man purse, so he will be “Man Purse.”
Seat 4: A jovial man from Paris, France who plays an active game early on. He is “Paris.”
Seat 5: A young man wearing a Los Angeles Dodgers hat, so he is “Dodgers.”
Seat 6: A woman with fiery red hair who has 12 career WSOP cashes. She will be “Fiery.”
Seat 7: A man who plays every hand (literally every hand), and he does so with non-stop aggression. He is “Blunt Force Trauma.”
Seat 8: The already mentioned “Welcome Wagon.”
Seat 9: A weathered looking man with 21 career WSOP cashes who plays way too many hands who is wearing a hat that says “Thumper Fab.” He will be “Thumper.”
Level 3
200/400/400
We have to wait out the end of level 2 before our table has enough players to start play. We all receive 50,000 starting chips.
We quickly get to six players and the players at the table come out firing. Every hand has a bet and a raise. Blunt Force Trauma is in every single hand, and he does not like folding. Paris shows a willingness to give Blunt Force Trauma action. For example, on a heavily bet pot at every step of the hand, Paris bets after the river and Blunt Force Trauma calls. Both players have fifth pair, but the better kicker belongs to Paris.
For the most part, however, Blunt Force Trauma is running over the table. I write down in my notes, “He’ll either build a huge stack, or he’ll implode.”
The first playable hand I get dealt is 8-8. Blunt Force Trauma opens the betting, someone calls, and the action is on me. On the one hand, my 8-8 is ahead of the range of a player who is involved in every hand. Do I raise? I consider it. But I don’t really want to play for stacks with 8-8, so I just call. There is an 8 on the flop. I now want to play for stacks. Lots of chips end up in the middle. The board pairs, and I now have a full house. I now really, really, really want to play for stacks. All the chips go in the middle after the turn card, and Blunt Force Trauma is drawing to a one-outer that does not arrive (He had bottom pair on the flip and trips on the turn. I write down in my notes, “No need to slow play big hands against this player.” I have 98,800 chips.
The very next hand, Blunt Force Trauma limps, someone else calls, and I have A-A. I raise and Blunt Force Trauma goes all-in, the other player folds and I gleefully call. Blunt Force Trauma has K-10. My hand holds, and Blunt Force Trauma has gone from table chip leader to out of the tournament. I have 104,400 chips.
Blunt Force Trauma leaves before I can get his address. I wanted to send him a thank you note.
Once Blunt Force Trauma is out of earshot, Paris says to me, “Easy game.”
I ponder briefly The Butterfly Effect, which is a chaos theory concept describing how tiny, seemingly insignificant initial changes in a complex system can produce significantly different and massive future outcomes. My application of this concept has to do with my bloody nose earlier this morning. If I don’t get the bloody nose, I register 10 minutes earlier than I actually did, and I don’t end up at this table, and Blunt Force Trauma does not hand me all of his chips while holding a machine gun that is jammed.
End of level 3: 103,400 chips
Have a friend who's a fiery redhead. She was out playing WSOP (Seniors and ladies, for sure, not sure about Colossus). I'll have to check with her.
Have a friend who's a fiery redhead. She was out playing WSOP (Seniors and ladies, for sure, not sure about Colossus). I'll have to check with her.
More details about Fiery in my next post, which should make it pretty easy to determine if this is your friend or not.
WSOP 2026: (June 11) $500 Colossus NLHE, Day 1B (Part 2 of 14)
I squeeze too small but it works out just fine ... Thumper takes the role of overly active and doesn’t like to fold ... A very brief chat with LVL’s Big Whale ...
Level 4
300/500/500
Fiery is wearing sunglasses and reading glasses at the same time. This seems odd to me. It certainly looks odd. But this is how she consistently wears them.
Welcome Wagon opens the betting. I look down at 9-9. How do you play 9-9 to an opening bet? This is a hand that can get me in trouble (foreshadowing, but not today). I just call. The flop is A-J-10. Welcome Wagon checks. It’s not my flop, but I figure I will stab at it once and then give up if I face any resistance. I bet. Welcome Wagon calls. OK, I’m done with the hand. The turn is a 5. This time Welcome Wagon opens the betting, and I fold.
With Blunt Force Trauma no longer at the table, Thumper has gotten extremely active, and he also doesn’t like to fold.
I have A-K in the big blind. Fiery opens for 1,000. Welcome Wagon calls. Thumper calls. I raise it to 3,500, which is probably a bit too small, but the result is that everyone calls which works out nicely when the flop is A-K-7. I make a smallish bet, and everyone folds. Maybe I should have just checked to encourage someone to bet on the turn. Still, four way, maybe I don’t want to give someone a chance to hit a miracle card. I have 108,100 chips.
In discussion, it comes out that Fiery is former military, having spent 28 years in both the Army and Navy before going on to Medical School to become a doctor.
Big Whale stops by my table and gets my attention when I am not in a hand. We’ve never met before, but I had given him my table and seat number by text. He sees my chip stack and inquires how it came about, so I give him the short version of the story. A new hand is about to be dealt and I think I was going to be in the small blind, so I apologized but said I had to get back for the hand, which he obviously understood. Nice to put a face with a LVL personality. Unfortunately, it was not enough time. In the hand itself, Thumper opens the betting. I defend the small blind with K-9. The flop is A-Q-7. I check, Thumper bets, and I fold.
End of level 4: 106,600 chips.
WSOP 2026: (June 11) $500 Colossus NLHE, Day 1B (Part 3 of 14)
“That’s called a stick of dynamite.” ... I would love to get dealt a premium and take on the in-every-hand Thumper who I envision as a potential ATM machine for me ... Bluffing doesn’t work at this table
Level 5
300/600/600
Dodgers is in a hand with Fiery that has been aggressively bet by both players, and the river card has just hit. Dodgers bets a puny 1,000. Just one chip. Fiery just calls. Dodgers wins the hand with the nuts and says, “That’s called a stick of dynamite. I was hoping it would get you to spazz.”
I get a bit card dead and the fact that Thumper is playing almost every hand to my immediate right is problematic. It makes it so there are never spots to steal as first in an unopened pot since Thumper is in EVERY hand. If I get some cards, I will be able to make Thumper my personal ATM machine, but I need cards since he doesn’t like to fold. My value hands will get paid off by him if I can ever get a value hand.
I write in my notes that Paris is willing to mix it up with non nutted hands against Thumper and that has worked well for Paris so far. Then Paris wins a huge pot and busts Fiery when the flop is 10-7-3. A betting war breaks out. It ends with a Paris 5-bet and a Fiery call. Paris has A-10. Fiery has 8-10.
A new player joins the table to my immediate left, and he has a military coin as his card protector, so he will be “Military Coin.”
I make a note that in a hand that massively aggressive Thumper opened, Man Purse only called with a monster. I make note that Man Purse seems to slow play his big hands to get later value.
A new player from Cuba joins the table, so obviously he will be “Cuba.”
Dodgers seems like a friendly, happy-go-lucky sort. Nonetheless, he loves to talk American politics, world-wide politics, and his favorite subject which is conspiracy theories. He doesn’t do it in an attacking way, but ... groan. Welcome Wagon is a very receptive audience to all of Dodgers political and conspiracy theory thoughts. Every now and then Dodgers will catch himself and say he shouldn’t be talking about these subjects at the poker table, but some time will pass, he can’t help himself, and he brings these subjects up yet again.
At the same time Dodgers is going down one of his rabbit holes, Military Coin decides I am the person who must hear his many bad beat stories. He tells me about losing K-K to 10-9 when the flop is 10-9-rag. Then he tells me another bad beat story. Apparently, both happened earlier today in some other tournament. He sighs and says, “Rough day.” I’m thinking, bad beat stories ... groan.
I write down a couple of notes about the table as a whole. First, I write, “This table is very, very sticky.” A separate written note is, “Bluffing doesn’t work at this table. Wait for a hand. Pots are consistently big.”
Military Coin keeps grumbling under his breath about his recent poker misfortunes. He also plays a completely mentally unhealthy game in which he has a hand that doesn’t connect with the board like having 10-9 on an A-K-2 flop. Then, on the next hand when the flop is 10-9-3 he gets upset that this flop came one hand too late for him. It is irrational. I write down, “This game of his can only lead to madness.”
Thumper is still playing every hand. As in 90% plus.
End of level 5: 103,700 chips
