**** TJ's Summer 2025 Quest for Poker Glory ****
It’s that time of year again!
This will be my 6th long trip to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker, and the 3rd trip I’m documenting here. If you’re new to a TJ trip report, I’d highly encourage you to read last year’s thread here. It featured my 18 days in Las Vegas, when I was strongly considering moving there. There’s also a review of the brand new Caesar’s Virginia, plus a few Harrah’s Cherokee solo poker trips… including a final table run in the WSOP-C Mini-Main back in February!
My trip two years ago can be found here. They’re both long reads, but I’m really proud of the writing. I reread through those threads often, when I want to relive my trips. They accurately encapsulate my thought processes, as a snapshot of my growth along my poker journey.
The next installment starts now.
This trip will be more of the same: lots of tournament poker, lots of cash PLO, and occasionally remembering to eat some great food. I’ll be in town for 19 days, June 12 - July 1. This is my tentative schedule, which will necessarily be very fluid, subject to the vicissitudes of multi-day events:
6/12 Arrive in the morning, cash PLO at Venetian
6/13 $1,500 Monster Stack Flight C
6/14 $400 Orleans NLH Mega Stack
6/15 Monster Stack Day 2, or $500 Salute To Warriors
6/16 Day 3, Day 2, or $400 Golden Nugget PLO
6/17 $800 Aria HORSE
6/18 $1,500 Millionaire Maker Flight A
6/19 Cash game day
6/20 $800 Aria NLH
6/21 $1,100 Wynn NLH
6/22 Millionaire Maker Day 2, or $800 MGM Grand Finale NLH
6/23 Day 3, Day 2, or cash game day
6/24 $400 Golden Nugget Grand Stack NLH
6/25 $300 Gladiators Flight A
6/26 $600 Golden Nugget HORSE Championship
6/27 $300 Gladiators Flight C, or cash game day
6/28 $300 Gladiators Flight D, or cash game day
6/29 Gladiators Day 2, or $300 Resorts World Daily NLH
6/30 Gladiators Day 3, or $600 Golden Nugget TORSE Championship
7/1 Cash game day, fly out at 10 p.m.
It’s an ambitious, audacious schedule. Just that right there is $10k in buyins, or more, depending on re-entries, even before I play a single hand of cash games. And who knows how that could go?
I hope it goes well, because all this is the lead-up to,
My first EVER,
Spoiler
World Series of Poker Main Event.
I’m using all 100% of my accrued paid time off at work. I can think of no higher purpose for it. Hope I don’t get sick in the next few months!
So after flying home just to work 3 straight days to get credit for an abridged work week, then I’m flying BACK to Vegas the following Sunday, and playing in the Main Event!
As this will be the biggest tournament I’ve ever played, I’m selling action for my Main Event. Here are my terms:
- I’m selling at 1.1 markup. This is reflective of the expenses I’ll incur to sleep and eat in Vegas for another 10 days, my extensively documented past tournament results, and my reputation in this community. I’ve escrowed for football pools, fantasy leagues, and done many transfers with forum members without issue. So 1% = $110, 5% = $550, 10% = $1,100, etc.
- I can accept, and pay out, in Venmo, PayPal, CashApp, or Zelle. I don’t do crypto.
- I was initially going to cap it at 25%, but due to stronger than expected interest from live poker friends, I’ll consider selling up to 33%. No more than that, though. I need to have enough of myself to make it worth my while if I make a deep run! I have 20.5% sold already.
- No anonymous investors. In the interest of transparency, I’ll be posting the aliases of exactly who has exactly how much of me, before the tournament.
- I’ll be buying directly into Day 2D. If I bust, at least I’ll be able to tell people I made Day 2!
When I play in live tournaments, I always try to be there right from the start. In one sense, tournament poker is all about accumulating chips from the deadest of the dead money, and they bust the quickest.
But the Main Event is truly a marathon, of the slowest, deepest structure that exists in tournament poker. Two hour levels. People always ask, “Which Day 1 of the Main Event should I buy into?” The answer is not that any particular day is softer than any other day. The toughness depends entirely on your table draw, which spans a wide range of possible skill levels. The answer is, you should play the day that works best with your schedule. This is what works for me, to still have a job to come home to, and get another week off to chase my poker dream.
I’ll start with 60k chips at the 400/800 level, which is 75 big blinds. I’m plenty comfortable at that stack depth. AND I’ll be playing one less day, to keep my focus the sharpest, over the longest of poker weeks. I think I remember reading that Daniel Weinman bought into Day 2 directly also, the year he won it, so there’s a history of that being a successful approach.
If I bust the Main Event before the money, I’ll still be stuck in Las Vegas until the following Tuesday. As a thank you to my investors for believing in me, I’m considering giving back a freeroll of a percentage of my cash game action for the rest of my time in town (which will hopefully be positive. It’s on me if it’s not). I’m determined to return a profit for my investors. Ideally a BIG profit, for all of us!
[emoji857][emoji857][emoji846][emoji846][emoji846]
Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk
In. Let’s go !!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It’s been awesome, cheering on all the other great trip reports in this forum that are happening now. I’m gonna send out some pm’s to see if we can arrange a meet up dinner, to put a face with the screen names. Meeting other trip reporters has always been the most rewarding part of doing these threads for me.
And so it begins! As usual, I’m staring down a sprint-to-the-finish long stretch of work, before I can skip out of town. I’ve got to get through five 12’s in the next 6 days. I’m starting my thread now, to keep up my motivation to grind through the day job, and soon trade that for the much more enjoyable POKER grind!
Wheels up next Thursday morning. Let’s gooooooooo!
Not IF but WHEN you go deep in the main, since you're Murican, aren't their tax implications to consider on payouts to backers?
GL! I might play the Orleans on Sunday too, haven’t decided yet as my schedule highly depends on jet lag [emoji846]
Not IF but WHEN you go deep in the main, since you're Murican, aren't their tax implications to consider on payouts to backers?
Yeah, I think I have to give 1099's to backers.
Will talk to an accountant about that WHEN (not if) it becomes one of those GOOD problems to have.
In and interested in buying a piece - how do we get in contact? Maybe will just DM you ;-)
Always in for a TJ TR! Travel safely, run well, play well!
Re: using all accrued time off. How about just winning the main, and not have that worry any longer?
Always in for a TJ TR! Travel safely, run well, play well!
Re: using all accrued time off. How about just winning the main, and not have that worry any longer?
As you might expect, I’ve devoted a great deal of thought to this.
Even if I won 10 or 12 million dollars in the Main Event, with everything that comes with it, I probably wouldn’t quit my job.
What I do is very rewarding, and after spending all my 20’s and most of my 30’s in jobs I hated, I really feel like I’ve finally found my calling in healthcare. I like where I’m at now specifically in dialysis, even more than I liked working in hospitals in an inpatient setting. The trade-offs are better.
Maybe one day I’ll get bored of dialysis, and want to do something different. That’s what’s so great about nursing: it’s recession-proof, AND automation-proof. I can work as much or as little as I want.
I’ve been unemployed for long stretches before, and it’s not good for me. I stay up too late, I sleep too late, and I generally feel rudderless. I can truthfully say that my work gives me a degree of balance, and structure in my life that I really need.
So even if I won the Main Event, I’d travel more, and have nicer things… but I don’t think I’d quit my job.
Spoiler
Feel free to remind me I said all of this by about Day 4 or Day 5 of work next week
Love the variety in your schedule. A veritable feast of poker, with the Main Event as the cherry on top. Count me in for this TR.
I'll think about investing, but either way I will be on your virtual rail.
I’m floored by all the support from people interested in buying my action. I definitely didn’t think I’d sell out in a matter of hours.
I only have 1% left to sell, who wants it?
Nice reading choice - we listened to Hail Mary followed by The Martian, which we just finished. My wife is currently rewatching The Martian.
Good luck!
You might want to look into Landmark mega satellites in your free time. I knew nothing about them until I got here. THEY PAY IN CHIPS! So no screwing around with trying to sell lammers or worrying about if you win an entry or not. There are a few that do pay in a direct entry, so check before signing up. No tax paperwork unless you win 5k.
Hi TJ,
GLGL, and if the 1% is still available I would love to buy it!
Thank you for your support!
Unfortunately I’m not going to accept backing from new accounts with no posting history.
Still 1% available, maybe more if people don’t get back to me.
And with that, I am SOLD OUT for the Main Event.
Here’s a breakdown of my investors:
Poker buddy Matt: 10%
Poker buddy G: 5%
leon: 5%
brianr: 3%
Poker buddy K: 3%
Poker buddy John: 2.5%
Poker buddy David: 2.5%
MuckPls: 2%
Total sold: 33%
I’m gonna give it my best to make ALL of us lots of money!
