Nitty By Nature 7: No Filler (6/6-6/16 TR)

Oof. Hope it turns bruh

Our long national nightmare is (almost) over.

Spoiler

Show

We bag solid in the Salute with about 30 eliminations to go until the $$.

Full report to come at a later time, probably after I bust.

Good luck!

Congratulations on the bag. Get some rest, come back solid!

I am once again up way too early for no particular reason, so here is the recap of...

DAY TEN - 6/15

I had decided going into the day that, for better or worse, the Salute to Warriors would be my last poker of the trip. If I busted early, there would be no rushing over to Resorts World for the 7PM nightly or trudging up the escalator to flip coins in the 8PM WSOP $200. I have drawn the proverbial line in the sand. I'm down to my last card, needing to connect on the river.

I didn't have much time between waking up and making the 10 AM start. I cobbled together a piecemeal breakfast using snacks that I had already bought. Then it was off to the ParisShoe for the tournament. My seat was in the Paris black section. I'm no stranger to that area, but this would actually be my first time playing in Paris this summer. All my other WSOP starts have been in the Horseshoe.

I've had some good day 1s in this room. Is it too much to request one more?

While I would've loved to have bagged my Monster Stack flight, the consolation is that I'm now able to play this event from level one, hand one. I think that's strategically important because so many of the strong NLHE players in this price bracket are likely to be busy with the Monster re-start today, meaning slightly easier table draws. Sure enough, my starting table was generally tight-passive, more interested in surviving than winning. I tend to do pretty well in this type of climate when there are no psychos putting me to constant tough decisions. Getting this beatable table draw was the first rungood of the day.

The bigger and more important rungood of the day was simply getting smashed by the deck. I requested it at the end of my day nine recap, and the card gods did not disappoint. They shipped a steady supply of big starting hands and favorable runouts my way all morning and into the afternoon. I ran a somewhat audacious bluff with 7c6c early in the tournament, three-betting a late position open, c-betting a painty flop, and then bombing the river for full pot when it brought the 4-liner to give any Ax a straight. I got called by a set of tens, but was able to show my hand. This piece of advertising likely helped me get paid once the premiums came in.

And boy, did they ever come in. I must have had AA 3 or 4 times in a span of a few hours. I hit sets with 33 and JJ. I made a straight with 97. I flopped a boat with 64o. If I opened with KQ, there would be a K or Q on the board. If I had QQ, the flop would come 10 high. It was that type of dream session.

I'm sitting on maybe 120k from 50k starting when a female player is moved to the "lucky seat" that has already claimed a couple victims. I don't pay her much mind immediately, as I am just trying to focus on my decisions. I do notice that she has a Coin Poker logo on her sleeve. After a while it occurs to me that this player is none other than Olga Iermolcheva, a Ukrainian with some notoriety in the game. To give you a sense of how good I'm running, I open AJs from EP. Olga calls from the SB. The flop is Jxx with no real danger. I bet. She calls. The turn brings another J. I bet. She calls. The river is a pure brick rag. It's possible she's trapping with a set, but we're probably good here and this is a natural polar spot to go huge and try to make our hand look like a bluffy AK or AQ so we can invite hero calls from TT type stuff. I put her all in on the river. She calls with KJ, an unfortunate cooler.

That gives you a general sense of how the session went. As some say in the trading world, "line go up". Eventually my 50k became 150k and then 300k. I ran better than I've ever run on a day one at the WSOP. It's actually not close. For a moment it looked like I might be in the catbird seat to play big stack bully after reg closed and the blinds started to creep up, but this actually didn't materialize. These tournaments move pretty quickly. Even if you're having a great day, other players inevitably will be too. An active big stack joins our table a couple seats behind me. He is loose and aggressive, wielding his chips well and winning some big hands, including a lucky JJ > KK spot. He is borderline reckless and willing to gamble. I don't want to play big spots with him. Other stacks of around 120-200k gradually fill in some of the holes that open on our table, and before long I am merely upper middle class rather than chip rich.

Dinner break brings another trip to pay respects to the Earl. Two sandwiches disappear at record speed. Then it's back to the tables.

My goal at this point is just to play cautiously, protect the stack, and pick spots carefully. The other element to consider is that the Salute is a 10-handed tournament on day 1. Even if you have designs to get ambitious, you are somewhat handcuffed by the dynamics of the table. Our table was an active one as we creeped closer to the bagging point (end of level 17). There was quite a lot of aggression and many big shoves. I got a tense 4-bet through against an aggressive young player to secure a key pot. For the most part, I was content so sit on the sidelines and keep my chips close to vest.

The plan mostly worked. I bagged a slightly below average stack, but one that is almost stone median in the 625 person field.

Players were sent home, while dealers remained behind to finalize an extensive bagging process. Mine is out there somewhere.

Is this the summer saver I was looking for? I'm reminded of those infamous football lowlights when a player drops the ball before actually crossing the end zone. Google Kaelin Clay if you want a good example. 625 players bagged the Salute, but only 591 spots will be paid. We have not made it to paydirt quite yet.

The first priority for day 2 will be trying to cross that line. Then I can start to entertain delusions about an epic spin up and the $188k at the end of the rainbow.

I ended the night with a healthy chocolate shake from In-N-Out. My flight was scheduled to leave late tonight, but I decided it would be worthwhile to push it to early tomorrow. I extended my hotel stay by a night. So I'm actually here until the 17th. The plan is to give the Salute my best effort on day 2 and then unwind for the remainder of my time here. I've been so busy playing tournaments on this trip that I haven't made much time for pure leisure. Hopefully I'll have something to celebrate.

Anxiously awaiting an update and sending some well deserved HEAT and rungood! Go deep!!

Happy for you that the premiums finally started coming your way. Wishing you rungood for the cash and then a whole lot more.

Run the way you did at the beginning of Day 1!

Have the Cat rail you for 1%, might be worth it!!!

Day 3!!

Fantastic Day 1!

I did not bag this event, so I give you and brianr permission, and my blessing, to meet at the final table.

ITM with 15 BB and a blind jump imminent.

Push-fold mode begins.

Out a few spots shy of the first pay jump. Shoved 77 on a short stack and lost the flip to AQ on a river queen. At peace with all my decisions.

Glad to have cashed. Bummed to have missed the $50 steak dinner bump.

Well done! (Not the steak 😉 )

Congrats on the cash!

I'm glad you managed to at least find a cash, after all those nasty runs. We are reminded once more how absolutely brutal tournament poker usually is.

Sounds like a super fun day 1. Well done on the cash

I'll do a quick rundown of today's Salute session. There isn't much to discuss, really. I believe I only VPIP'd three hands.

1.) First orbit, it folds to me in MP with AJo. I lay it down. Normally I would play this. With ICM considerations, I think it's a fold. Although AJo is a strong hand, we simply cannot take any heat with it in this situation. The pay jumps are flat enough that we need to prioritize getting into the money before we start really playing poker. For all intents and purposes, I am in full "lock it up" mode until the bubble is reached, though I obviously keep that information to myself.

2.) Second orbit. I have 220k. It folds to me on the BTN with QsJs. SB has about 105k. BB has piles. Maybe 350k. I just folded AJo in MP, but this is a very different situation. I think my hand is far too good and playable to fold here with just two random hands behind me, one of which is a shorty. I think we have a clear bet-fold candidate. At 12k BB level, I opt to go a little bigger than min to tax any curiosity from BB. I open to 30k expecting to usually win the blinds and antes uncontested. Welp, not this time. SB, who gives off strong "I just want to cash my first WSOP event" vibes, surprisingly shoves his small stack over the top. BB shoves over that. I don't think I was calling SB's shove for 75k more and I'm certainly not calling now with BB's covering stack in there. It's 77 for BB against AA for SB. SB holds and doubles. Good spot for him.

3.) It folds to me in the SB with a pure junk hand like 94o or 93o. Even though BB has doubled and covers me now, I still think he's going to skew passive before the bubble bursts, so we can probably print here opening ATC and giving up if we face any resistance without an unlikely miracle flop. I have enough chips to lose a hand or two and still comfortably fold into the money. I once again open to 30k. He folds a weak suited queen face up. That one felt good. Nine high like a boss. Soon we are on the stone bubble, which actually ends before hand-for-hand ever really even begins. The eliminations came fast today. I think it took about 30 minutes to find the 34 knockouts that we needed. Everyone seems relieved and in a good mood.

4.) Blinds are at 20k now. I've been very patient, but haven't been able to find a good spot to shove. One adjustment I've made in my game since my early years is folding down shorter than 10BB. I used to become very aggressive and shove very wide around 10BB. Now I'm more inclined to fold down as low as 4-5BB in search of a clearly favorable spot. Exactly such a spot arises when I find 77 UTG with roughly 8BB behind. Obviously it's a jam here. We don't love it if we get called, but we're very live against high cards. We pick up a call from a Brazilian in MP with AQo. Runout is bone dry until the Q spikes the river. The hand plays itself on both sides. I was not too upset about it. I had a nice run in the tournament, but it wasn't my time to make a genuine run. As Nick Schulman might say, "Good game, sir."

I then make my first trip to the following locale, which can be a bittersweet place. It is a land of many salty bad beat stories. "I got it in with KK against 55 and he spiked the 5."

The $1k that I eventually get from the cage does not represent a significant financial boon relative to the buy-ins I've blasted off since being here. Make no mistake, I'm still buried fairly deep in the red. However, in the context of perpetual suffering, these Benjamins do feel a whole lot like found money. I'm grateful to not be a TOTAL loser. I had my back against the wall with exactly one event left to play, and managed to salvage something positive. Salute to Warriors indeed.

Thank you all for the sweat and words of encouragement.

On my way out I decide to plunk down a very small bet on the Pacers moneyline for tonight's game, $25 to win $105. I'm betting with my heart more so than my head here, though I do think the odds seem good. This plucky Indy team reminds me a lot of my Golden State Warriors back when they were still young and hungry. I have no strong emotional interest in these Finals, but I guess I am rooting for the Pacers. I'm certainly hoping they can find a win tonight. I have a nice little sweat in my pocket if I want to plop down in a sports book somewhere and watch the game later this evening.

On another small NBA note, I was already eyeing the Orlando Magic ECF winners as a sneaky bet for next season. Now that they've added Desmond Bane, I am that much more intrigued. If the price is good, I may put down a decent chunk on Orlando to win the East later in the summer when NBA regular season futures open. I'm a big believer in Paolo Banchero's talent, and am also considering him to win MVP as a dark horse bet if the odds are favorable. I like to take small punts on big longshots that seem undervalued.

After leaving the Horseshoe, I had a quick lunch at Giordano's. Spaghetti and meatballs with a side Caesar. Somehow I've been in Vegas for 10 days without a Giordano's stop. It's usually one of my most common meal spots in LV. That's less because of the quality and more because of the price and convenience. I am certain that you can find better Italian in many other places around town. Giordano's pasta is bang average. I give today's lunch a generous 7/10, but that's fine. I just needed quick calories.

I'm back in my hotel room unwinding, charting a course for my last 24 hours here in town. There's a $3k NLHE 6-max running at the WSOP at 2PM. The Monster Stack min-cash just to happens to be $3k. Don't let anyone ever tell you these folks at the WSOP don't know what they're doing. They know exactly what they're doing.

Tempting as that $3k might be for some, I'm likely shutting down poker for the duration of the trip. You are unlikely to see me in the Resorts World $200 tonight. I may try to hunt down a decent dinner eventually or even crack open a beer or two. Though I don't not drink, I don't drink much. I haven't had a sip in a month or two. With my poker "work" done, I can relax a little.

I may also light $100 of my new money on fire messing around with blackjack. The pit holds no real appeal for me, but when in a corporate facsimile of Rome, we must do as the fake corporate Romans do.

Let's see how we did on the final trophy count.

Just to be clear, I did not expect to bink a 5 (or 6) figure score. I did not expect to make a WSOP final table. These are lofty aspirations that I merely put out there in the ether, almost to remind myself that yes these things can actually happen to people.

My results were on the underwhelming side, but the late rally in the Salute spares total embarrassment on the poker front. The bronze trophies have all been achieved.

I demolished the Earl's trophy for my lone silver of the trip. I would've bet the over on 5 coffees for a gold food trophy, but I unexpectedly fell short at 3 (WSOP, Resorts World, Orleans). I did not make it to 5 because my lone Venetian session did not involve a coffee and I did not make it out to the Wynn to play anything this summer.

In theory I could unlock a platinum trophy with Wynn or Bacchanal buffet tonight. Even if my wallet is up to the task, I don't thin my stomach is. Moreover, I don't think the overall bad results of this trip justify that level of celebratory splurge.

All in all, I aimed for the stars on this trip, and maybe landed in the tree branches. That's better than being KOd flat on your back.

maybe a really nice dinner tonight for your last hurrah?

So you're saying three Earl sandwiches?

Joking. I like your thinking, but I'm actually still pretty stuck for this trip, so it would feel a little off to run up a big tab somewhere.

Will likely keep it cheapish, but we'll see.

Not very. I barely hit platinum last year. Even with a small 10x TC grind in Reno in March, I may be an underdog to do so again in 2025.

I did pick up some TCs from blasting WSOP buy ins though. 😃

Quick evening update:

As tip-off approached, I began the walk over to the Cosmo, which was my chosen spot to watch the game. I took a seat at the sports bar on the ground floor, where I dribbled away $10 on the video poker machine while nursing a Modelo and watching the basketball. The Pacers got off to a rough start. I wasn't feeling optimistic. When I win a sports bet, my immediate thought is, 'I should've bet more.' Tonight I can take comfort in the opposite side of that. 'I'm glad I only bet $25.'

I went upstairs thinking I might try one of the fast-casual options for dinner. The Momofuku spinoff near Hattie B's looked like a good choice. I went with the chicken teriyaki bowl. By Vegas standards, this is a relatively healthy meal. I'd describe it as a little more subtle than the typical fast casual dish, not quite lacking flavor, but not overdoing the sauce. I'd give it a soft 8/10. It's vastly better than the Aoki Brothers teriyaki spot in RW. It still felt slightly lacking.

From there I strolled over to the Bellagio. I like this place. In fact, I decided tonight that it's my single favorite property in Vegas. These days I think you're supposed to prefer the Wynn, Cosmo, Aria, or Venetian. Something about the Bellagio just speaks to me though. It captures the essence of what I want Vegas to be. Nostalgia may be part of that. The Bellagio was THE property when I was first getting into poker and when I made my first Vegas trip as an adult (2004). It's where I played my first ever hand of poker in Vegas (a $3/6 LHE game). As a young whippersnapper stepping into that poker room, I felt like I had arrived to the major leagues. In hindsight I realize how far from the truth that was, but still, the place holds a certain mystique for me. I find an excuse to go there on every Vegas trip.

My next stop was Caesar's Palace. I mentioned maybe taking a crack at blackjack. If I'm going to light some money on fire in the pit, I'd better do it at CET property, seeing as they are my main rewards program. As I was walking up to the entrance, I realized that Absinthe tickets were actively being sold for both shows tonight. I've heard that Absinthe is the best show in town. At roughly $150, it's not a cheap ticket. I contemplated buying one. Then I reached a compromise: I'll splash around with $50 in blackjack. If I win money, I'll buy a ticket to the 10 PM show. If I lose money, I'll kill the idea.

I strolled through Caesar's in search of the blackjack tables. I've been on the property many times before, but I've never played anything besides poker there. I finally found what seemed to be the lowest limit in the house, $15 minimum. I took a few minutes to observe some hands, just to get a sense for how the basics work. I am a whale in this game. If I've ever played blackjack in a casino, it must have been at least 20 years ago. I decided to take the plunge and buy in for $100. Maybe this whale can swim.

I got some early beginner's luck to spin it up to around $140. Then the pain began. The dealer was red hot, wrecking most everyone at the table. I lost 3 or 4 hands in a row at $15 per hand. A new dealer came in. I was dealt an 11 with 6 and 5. This seems like a good spot to double down, no? I double down. I am dealt a lowly 2. I lose, confused as to why I only got one card. My thinking is, 'I have 13. I want to hit again.' I'm such a blackjack fish that I didn't realize that if you double down, you only get one card. I'm now down to $31 from my $100 buy in, looking and feeling like a foolish newbie. I instantly rage quit the table and promise myself, 'Never again.'

It's funny how I can routinely dump hundreds in poker tournaments and not feel much of anything emotionally, but losing this $69 had me steaming. I think that's because I am comfortable with poker. When I lose, I understand why it happened and what (if anything) I might have done to prevent it. However, blackjack was just a flood of information. I didn't know what was going on and probably made several bad decisions on my bets. The dual sensation of feeling lost while quickly losing money is what fueled the mega tilt.

I took it as a lesson learned. Stay out of the pit, dummy. You are the biggest mark in the joint.

I may venture out for one last night cap somewhere, but the trip is in the 11th hour either way. I'll post some final thoughts when I get back home tomorrow.

The way they have WSOP reg set up, there's not much reason to be Diamond any more.

Next time you're in town with time and some $ to kill, go to Absinthe. It's great.

Definitely not for everyone. Super adult. If you're ok with that, it's exceptional though.

Also, on your goals: it's good to have high goals to shoot for.

Thank you for the detailed TR.