Gray-haired poker TRs: Living the WSOP dream

BTW, I love the schedule and am extremely jealous because this is a great week+ to be in town. I have likely work obligations or else this might have been my preferred window. The Colossus is one of the very best values on the WSOP schedule each year and there are some fun aspirational tournaments in this time frame at the WSOP and elsewhere.

The argument for firing the 1PM $250 WSOP daily on 5/31 is that these events play 10-handed, so will provide good like-for-like preparation for the $600 Deepstack and Colossus, which are both also likely to play 10-handed. 10-handed poker isn't a radical departure from 9-handed, but the ranges tighten up a little bit. I'm not generally a fan of the WSOP dailies, but playing the $250 on 5/31 would be a good warm-up for the rest of your schedule. The player pool and table dynamics will be similar, though the Colossus is a deeper and slower event where you'll have a lot more wiggle room to be patient and pick spots carefully. Colossus will have far more endboss types sprinkled throughout the player pool than the $250, but the median player will be similar.

If the week goes well and you want to roll your winnings into higher buy-ins, the Wynn $1.6k PKO (6/7-6/9) and Venetian $1.1k MSPT (6/8-6/11) are events that will provide a good experience with the opportunity to battle some tough players for big payouts. The Venetian nightly bounties are also fun if you can squeeze one in somewhere. They run a 6:10 PM $200 throughout the year and will be scaling it up to $400-600 for the summer. If you choose to go that route, be ready for a long night and make sure you don't have anything important planned for the next day. If the structure matches the $200, it can be a deceptively long/slow tournament.

Opportunities to go to Vegas and grind tournaments are rare enough that I'm loathe to take rest days when I'm in town, but it's really a matter of knowing yourself and what works best for you. I've punted a couple events in the past due to fatigue, so I understand that side of it as well. It's good to be fresh. There are so many events running in summer that you also have the option to sleep in, skip the AM events, and fire something at night. The satellites that run at the WSOP (3/7/10 pm) and the 4/8 pm daily deepstacks are very turbo-y and can scratch the itch for engagement on any particular day without requiring the 12 hour days of a slow bracelet event.

I was stoked to see the first rppoker WSOP cash at the last WSOP and I'm hoping for the first rppoker WSOP bag this year.

Hi DogFace, a lot of interesting thoughts from you to discuss.

Yes, I view the early-in-my-trip Daily Deepstack possibilities as a way to cheaply prepare for regular WSOP events. In particular, I want to look for spots to widen my range and see how it goes. If it works well, I've learned something. If it blows up in my face, well, it didn't cost me much to play.

I don't love playing 10-handed, but that is a fact of life in lower buy-in WSOP events. That said, last year at the WSOP I had early tables frequently be only six- and seven-handed and everyone at the table was wondering why new players weren't being added. Whatever, you play against whomever they put at the table.

You say the Colossus is a deep and slow structure, which is definitely my preference. I tend to really enjoy that kind of structure.

Even though I only played WSOP events last year, the fact that there are so many off site options every day is very useful if needed. It's kind of like going to a giant buffet to eat. If you can't find what you want, that means you simply aren't looking hard enough.

As for days off on my schedule, I am simply pointing out days in which I will have the option to sit out and recharge my batteries. In reality, I think there is a good chance I decide to play something on those days. We'll just have to see. I really did not feel fatigue at all until the very, very end of my 2024 WSOP when I played in a Daily Deepstack that felt like a sauna because of the heat in the jam-packed room, and I was almost relieved to get knocked out after grinding for so many days in a row when I frequently lasted double-digit levels. I felt mentally sharp every tournament until that Daily Deepstack at the end of my trip, when I hit the poker wall.

As for you hoping for an rppoker WSOP bag (that makes two of us), I actually did bag chips in my first WSOP in 2019 during the Big 50. I bagged a very solid amount of chips, but that was not yet in the money. On Day 2, I probably could have folded my way into the money. Wasn't meant to be. I got knocked out short of the money when UTG opened (with AA), there was a call from something like UTG+2 (with either TT or JJ). I believe I was on the BTN with QQ and I squeezed/jammed all-in. AA obviously called, while the other guy folded. The flop came with a Q in the window (yay me!) but an A out the door (boo). My three queens lost to three aces and I was out. All of that said, I know you are rooting for me to bag chips while in the money. Much appreciated to have a virtual rail rooting for me.

I appreciate all of your insight into my schedule.

I have a question for the LVL community who are WSOP veterans.

One thing I will be curious to observe this year at the WSOP is what happens right before the expiration of late registration in my tournaments. In my 2024 WSOP, my tables consistently became loaded with highly accomplished professionals just before the end of late registration (John Hennigan, Arthur Morris, Ben Yu on two separate occasions, and I'm pretty sure a number of other battle-tested pros who I did not recognize but based upon table talk I got the impression that they were big-time players).

Over and over and over again this happened. I actually enjoyed the increased competition (even though it is obviously -EV), but I'll be curious if that was an aberration or if it is the norm. It's kind of tough to grind for 11 or 12 levels and then you look up and there are new-to-the-table killers everywhere with late-reg starting stacks and pedal to the metal aggression. In a short time frame, the level of players at my tables increased exponentially. It can be a great opportunity if you get dealt a premium hand since these late-to-the-tourney players are often getting their chips in light with a double-up-quick-or-go-home mentality (one blustery late-reg player who claimed to be a poker pro joined the table and before cards were dealt he announced he was looking for any pair to go all in with, then went all-in on his first hand with 33 and busted). In other cases, some of these pros kept aggressively betting/bluffing postflop successfully (smallish bets, not all-in) and built up quality stacks. So your premiums get paid by these mega-aggressive adversaries, but it also means there are added minefields everywhere.

So my question for the LVL community is this. Last year at WSOP 2024, did your tables become loaded with pros right before the end of late reg? What I described in the previous paragraphs, is this the norm or was it an unusual situation that is too small a sample size to be considered typical?

I can think of a few notable times when I have experienced that, but it hasn't been a reliable enough phenomenon to get my attention.

If we think about the concept of late reg, it's going to be most commonly utilized by deep-pocketed regs and pros who either busted a previous bullet or are freshly arriving after busting another event. A tourist in town for a few days to play a few specific events is less likely to fire additional bullets and/or show up several hours late for a tournament, though this can also happen.

One way or another, the difficulty sliders in tournaments will tend to steadily creep up as a function of time, which can lead to some stacked tables.

That being said, I'm guessing some of what you saw last year in terms of re-entry and crazy gambling was a function of the Mystery Millions event and the unique dynamics of that tournament.

Yep. Most of the players who max late reg are going to be pros. Don’t bust anyone at your table just before the end of late reg if you don’t want your table to get tougher. [emoji23]

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That is equal parts funny and accurate.

Yup, it seems like the vast majority of Boski's youtubes are max late reg.

If you decide to do this, be aware that the tournament could go into the early morning and mess up the next day due to lack of sleep. One thing you might could do if you find yourself deep in the event is to start shoving a lot. You'll get to either go to bed or build a big stack for the FT.

If you are up past midnight in one day tournament that starts at 1PM then it's a great problem to have because you are about to make some $$$.

I see that WSOP+ is now live. I checked my phone and I already had the app downloaded. Wow, I am at the front of the line technology wise for a change.

Sounds like this should speed up the registration for tournaments process. Eventually. I see on the app that people are having initial problems. Not surprising given it just dropped. I think I will wait until I am in Las Vegas to do the one-time check in while in person. That way they get the bugs out before I try to use the app. Plus, I can have someone explain to me whatever I need explained to me.

But I will use the app. No Old Man Coffee for me on this.

I think the high number of max late reg pros was a function of the Mystery Millions more than anything, where they were trying to spin $1k into a quick shot at $1 million.

You will still see pros/regs in the max late reg line for the Colossus, but I would wager the number of true high-level pros just playing max aggression to try to build a stack will be lower.

The above excerpt is from post #508 on page 21 of this thread. It is from the last tournament I played at WSOP 2024. It was a Daily Deepstack where I hit the poker wall after 12 days in Vegas, the result of grinding nonstop coupled with a sauna like room temperature that got the better of me, broke me, dispatched me.

Why did my mind go back to this experience almost a year later as WSOP 2025 draws near for me? I was feeling philosophical tonight in need of some motivation in the buildup to poker mecca that I am so looking forward to. I was reading through quotes that ranged from inspirational to strategical that I will probably be incorporating into some upcoming posts prior to me heading to Las Vegas.

I came across a quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt that I initially passed over, but then I felt something tugging at me so I stopped to ponder the quote some more which was, "Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off."

The reason I initially blew past this quote was because my first response was that poker is about competition and not cooperation. It is not a team sport. But then my memory went back to this encounter with PinkyRing. We were two recreational players taking our shots at the WSOP, and that day had not gone well for either of us. As I wrote at the time, I had hit the poker wall. All I wanted to do was retreat to my hotel room and nurse my poker wounds.

In hindsight, that was a mistake. A missed opportunity. What I should have done was ask PinkyRing if he wanted to grab a beer or get something to eat. I doubt we would have solved the poker conundrum that had us baffled in that moment, but you never know if we might have come to some epiphany. Even if that was not likely, I might have made a poker friend. Although we had battled at the table, we had more in common than just having been poker foes for a handful of hours on the felt. We were on a very similar journey, facing similar challenges, trying to push similar boulders up rocky, difficult, unforgiving mountain terrains. As FDR said, we were competitors "to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off."

I just didn't see it in the moment. Tonight, 11 months too late, the light bulb went on for me.

Adding the battle wisdom of Sun Tzu to my WSOP toolbox

With less than three weeks until the WSOP begins for me, I am done trying to learn new tactics. The studying I have done and improvements I have been made have been deposited into the bank. Starting to study something new and stopping in midstream/midstudy will result in me trying to implement an incomplete concept, which will only get me in trouble.

No one is ever done studying on the impossible endpoint that is perfection, but I will go to battle with what I now (think I) know. The time for more study will be once my WSOP ends, I take inventory of what worked and what didn’t, and then and only then will I re-engage the study grind.

Still, all I can think about in my free time is the WSOP. What can I do to further prepare? Then a thought hits me …

… Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu is a famous warrior/military strategist from ancient times who is responsible for the book “The Art of War.” After all, a poker tournament is battle, is war. Just with your brain as your weapon of destruction.

I search a bookshelf at home and grab my copy of “The Art of War” that I have previously read on multiple occasions. One more time, I re-read the warfare wisdom as I page through the book, writing down passages I find useful. Once finished, I also do a Google search for useful Sun Tzu quotes I may have failed to write down.

So many of them can be applied to poker. Below are Sun Tzu quotes that I think can be applied to poker, quotes I intend to re-read every morning I play in a WSOP tourney before I head over to the ParisShoe:

"He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight."

"In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

"There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare."

"Who wishes to fight must first count the cost."

"The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy so that he cannot fathom our real intent."

"One mark of a great soldier is that he fights on his own terms or fights not at all."

"Great results can be achieved with small forces."

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized."

"To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself."

"Bravery without forethought causes a man to fight blindly and desperately like a mad bull. Such an opponent must not be encountered with brute force, but may be lured into an ambush and slain."

"Never venture, never win!"

"Be where your enemy is not."

"If you fight with all your might, there is a chance of life; whereas death is certain if you cling to your corner."

"Ponder and deliberate before you make a move."

"The worst calamities that befall an army arise from hesitation."

"Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then, he will be amenable to your will."

"Convince your enemy that he will gain very little by attacking you; this will diminish his enthusiasm."

"So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and strike at what is weak."

"Thus, the expert in battle moves the enemy and is not moved by him."

"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”

“All warfare is based on deception.”

“Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.”

“If (the enemy) is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.”

“The General, unable to control his irritation, will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third of his men are slain, while the town remains untaken.”

“It is the rule in war, if our forces are ten to the enemy’s one, to surround him; if five to one, to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army into two. If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.”

“Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive. Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength.”

“What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.”

“In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack – the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.”

“The clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on him.”

“Rouse him, and learn the principal of his activity or inactivity. Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots. Carefully compare the opposing army with your own, so that you may know where strength is superabundant and where it is deficient.”

“Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.”

“In war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.”

“He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and therefore succeed in winning may be called a heaven-born captain.”

“We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country – its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps.”

“Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.”

“He will conquer who has learned the artifice of deviation. Such is the art of maneuvering.”

“A soldier’s spirit is keenest in the morning; by noonday it has begun to flag; and in the evening, his mind is bent only on returning to camp. A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return. This is the art of studying moods.”

“There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general; (1) Recklessness, which leads to destruction; (2) cowardice, which leads to capture; (3) a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults; (4) a delicacy of honor which is sensitive to shame; (5) over-solicitude for his men, which exposes him to worry and trouble.”

My favorite Sun Tzu quote, as it applies to poker, is one you mentioned:

“All war is deception.”

These ones seem very relevant. I have tried to interpret them for poker purposes.

Sun Tzu: "Great results can be achieved with small forces."

DogFace interpretation: Don't punt off your stack or give up just because you are short. I have been re-watching the 2024 Main Event over the last few weeks. Many of the very deep runners had extended spells of being very short on chips (10BB or lower). Personally, many of my best tournament runs have come after being very short. Chip and a chair is a real strategic concept. Those runs don't come if you punt it off.

rppoker: Your interpretation makes sense, but I was actually thinking about something else. I was thinking about post flop where I have missed and am first to act. Not every time but opponent dependent I think that rather than just check and give control of the hand to villain I should try to 1/3 pot bet (small forces) in the hope of taking it down often enough to be +EV. In the tournament poker streams I have been watching, this 1/3rd postflop probe bet seems to work a lot. I know TJ just stated he hates the 1/3rd pot postflop raise, but I think this is a concept worth trying some of the time. Even if it doesn't work, it could get action in a later hand were I flop the world and bet small post flop.

......

Sun Tsu: “A soldier’s spirit is keenest in the morning; by noonday it has begun to flag; and in the evening, his mind is bent only on returning to camp. A clever general, therefore, avoids an army when its spirit is keen, but attacks it when it is sluggish and inclined to return. This is the art of studying moods.”

DogFace interpretation: After the bubble popped in the Deepstack Championship in 2021, there was a palpable sense of relief at our table. The players (myself included) played with less urgency and tried to coast into day two, avoiding marginal spots. Complacency and fatigue reigned. In hindsight, it certainly felt like there was opportunity to press the attack. I believe Negreanu has advocated for considering some post-dinner break fireworks if you sense that your table is losing steam.

We can also interpret this as targeting players when their morale is low, provided we expect them to surrender instead of fighting to the death like a cornered animal. A player on a string of bad beats or demoralizing hands can go either way. Some may capitulate while others may become determined to make a last stand.

rppoker: I am too lazy to look up the exact specifics in this thread, but I recall this coming up in the 2019 Big 50 at the end of a Day 1. It was announced that there were five hands left before the end of the night. When this announcement was made, I could sense that the table response was that it was very ready to call it a night. I was first to put in chips (fairly light) on three of these last five hands, and I believe I won all three, which was a nice increase to my chip stack heading to Day 2.

Interesting timing.

There is an interview with KevMath on poker.org in which the following question and answer take place:

Q: "What's the most unpopular change you've seen across the WSOP in the last few years?"

A: "People wish more events were freezeouts; that would be one example, because the number of freezeouts has slightly decreased over the years.

"Another issue is the length of late registration, especially in higher buy-in events. People have eight levels of late registration in most events. Some players feel that people max late reg and just sit and get a min cash. Does that strategy work sometimes? Sure, it does.

"It would be better if they reduced late registration by 25%, instead of eight levels going to six, and had registration end at the start of play."

The timing is interesting only as far as it relates to me.

If you have followed this thread, you know I complained in my writing at WSOP 2024 about all of the re-entries and late reg that took place. In the build up to WSOP 2025 I have stated that I intend to liberally embrace re-entry whenever I get knocked if it is prior to the end of re-entry.

I'm not changing my tune. I will re-enter whenever possible this year (hopefully I won't need to, but let's be real). I just found it interesting that I decide to embrace re-entry, and then I read the KevMath interview saying that people wish there were more freezeouts. I still agree with this sentiment, but I'm not going to fight City Hall this year. Re-entry is still a thing, and I will utilize it when necessary.

For the entire KevMath interview, go to

https://www.poker.org/latest-news/i-have-a-relatively-long-fuse-kevmath-on-being-the-go-to-brain-for-the-wsop-aluRo6F9VOvf/

poker

'I have a relatively long fuse' – KevMath on being the go-to brain for the WSOP

David Apostolico's 2005 book, "Tournament Poker and the Art of War", spent 160 pages applying the classic text to poker. By coincidence I reread it last month, and I would have saved a lot of time just reading this thread instead. Fun idea but too abstract to help my poker skills.

Subbing to read on a long plane ride!

I hope you enjoy it. Safe travels.

Extremely relatable. It is hard not to look at the calendar and count down the days. The wait can feel interminable, but we're almost there.

Early levels mean small pots, meaning the chips you win or lose are likely to be of little long-term significance. I think this dictates playing on the sheepish side with medium showdown value while speculating with hands that can potentially cooler someone (pocket pairs, nut flush draws, good suited connectors). You want to be the guy hitting sets against players who don't know they shouldn't pile in 200 BBs with top pair. You don't want to be the guy bloating pots just because.

Big hands can happen at any point and there will be days when we 2x or 3x our stack in the first hour, but generally I don't advocate trying to mash the gas pedal in the early levels. IMO the most profitable periods for aggression come much later in the tournament. I tend to play more on the pot control side in the early going.

I think it's fair to say they're leaving meat on the bone with the media license. I expect some eventual changes with GG taking over the brand.

I loved the ESPN shows, but ESPN itself has diminished in stature since the 00s with changes in viewing habits. Even if you get the shows back on ESPN, I don't think we're going to see the reach that they had in the Moneymaker and Raymer era. There may be better options. If a big entity isn't willing to pay significant $$$ for the WSOP brand then I think you might be on the right track with an outlet like YouTube or Twitch. No paywall. Run some ads. Maybe sell archived content through premium subscription options.

One other "pro" who vlogs daily (or close to it) from the WSOP is Lexy Gavin-Mather. The vlogs aren't heavy on strategy, or even strategic analysis of key hands; more like footage of when she (and sometimes her husband) are all in or dragging a pot, as well as footage of them traveling to the venue, encountering other "poker celebs," bemoaning their bust-outs, etc. She's not nearly the player that Daniel is, but at least she looks better.

I'm by no means an expert, but I tend to think of position at the table rather than whether the table is 10-handed, 9-handed, 7-handed, etc. I have opening ranges from the button, cut-off, hijack, etc. that are the same regardless of how many people are at the table. UTG changes, but with only six players dealt into a hand, then UTG is the same as the lojack, and +1 is the same as the hijack.

An aside regarding playing big pots early...the second hand I was dealt in the 2019 WSOP Senior event, I'm the second limper on the button with 76ss. SB completes, and there's a dead BB, so three to a flop of 772cdd. MP bets 300 into 400, I call, SB folds. Turn is a beautiful 6d, filling me up, and completing a potential flush. MP doesn't slow down, betting 800. Hoping he has the flush, I raise to 2200. He 3bets to 5200, and I call, not wanting to scare him off. River is the 5d, and he leads for 5500. I have a little over 14K remaining, and while I no longer have the nuts (85dd, 53dd have straight flushes), I shove. He snap-calls, and as I'm fast-rolling my boat, he fast-rolls 76hh. We chop up the pot for a +100 each, both saying something like "I thought you had a flush." Ugh.

In the event I cashed at least year's WSOP, Lexy Gavin-Mather was maybe 30 or so people ahead of me in the first of the three lines you have to go through to get paid. She seemed to be very happy at the time.

I loved it when final tables were streamed on Twitch. I originally stopped playing poker online when Black Friday hit. So that was a pretty long stretch of no poker for me. Then, I think the year was 2018, I stumbled onto the fact that WSOP final tables were being streamed. I'm pretty sure it was Twitch, but I'm not 100% certain. The important thing is it was available for free. David Tuchman was the host. He and I conversed off the air via some e-mails when I sent him a compliment of his coverage, and we then got into the fact that both of had covered the NFL in the past as media members. But that is a tangent. Back to the point ...

What matters is I was watching this content of WSOP final tables every night. I loved it. I got the itch to start playing again. After the WSOP ended I signed up with a poker training site, studied for a year and then went to the 2019 WSOP. I realize I am just one example, but I think when the WSOP final tables are streamed for free, the game/series organically grows. Fresh blood enters the ecosystem. Instead of it being all pros, you get new recreational players showing up. Then they tell their friends ... and so on ... and so on. For obvious reasons, professionals should want people like 2019 rppoker showing up at the WSOP to make their tables juicier. The WSOP should want people like 2019 rppoker showing up at the WSOP to grow the player pool

The WSOP behind a paywall is simply not going to be a way to get the attention of people like me circa 2018. Non-players probably aren't aware of PokerGo, and if they are aware probably aren't invested enough in the game to pay for the stream. Final tables behind a paywall is really short-sighted in my opinion.