Gray-haired poker TRs: Living the WSOP dream

In honor of post #1000 in this thread just having been made, I give you the $1,000 bill, which I wish was still printed as it would be much easier to bring to the WSOP than a thick stack of $100 bills.

I am enjoying your TR so far! I fly to Vegas tonight to play the Seniors event tomorrow. I've never had 4 days without being with friends or family, so I'm wondering if I will get lonely, despite being a bit of an introvert and having plenty of poker to play. We will see. Looking forward to continued reading of your TR!

Good luck in your Seniors event. I have not played in a Seniors tournament, but I have heard that they are very social/chatty/friendly. Hopefully that will lessen any feelings of loneliness.

Saturday, May 31: Off day for rppoker (Part 2 of 4)
The Absent-Minded Professor strikes again, tipping well has its perks

After I get all of my newly purchased food (all unhealthy) back to my room at the Signature, I realize I have left my phone in the rental car I left with valet. I’m such a dunderhead. In past WSOP’s I seem to recall leaving a credit card behind at a restaurant (retrieved), misplaced my daughter’s lucky rock (retrieved). Fortunately, I know where I left my cell phone. Plus, the valet/bellman I left the car with is someone I have been tipping well.

Mrs. rppoker likes to say I am like the Absent-Minded Professor. I can’t argue the point. My mind tends to always be very active on a multitude of subjects, which makes me forgetful at times.

It is interesting that I have unpacked my groceries and put them away in an orderly fashion, because I still have yet to unpack my suitcase. When I’ve needed something, I have foraged for it, but everything else is still in the suitcase. I just haven’t had the time or the inclination to unpack my clothes. And it’s not gonna happen now, because I need to get verified for the WSOP.

I go downstairs to the valet and before I can say anything to anyone about my phone, the guy who took my car comes up to me and tells me I left my phone in the car. He says he has kept the car close by since he knew I’d be coming down for it. He gets me my phone. This gets him a nice tip.

I am about to use my phone to scan the barcode for the hail-a-cab gizmo near the bell stand and order transportation so I can get to the Paris. But my phone is too hot from having sat in my car in the Vegas heat, and the phone writes something along the lines of “too hot, you have to wait.” So, I start blowing on the phone and it quickly returns to normal.

The reason I don’t drive to the Paris is because I don’t want the aggravation or expense of parking. Cabs are pretty much the same price as parking, I believe, and I just don’t want to deal with driving to the WSOP. The bellman who got my phone sees that I have ordered a cab, and he comes over to me and tells me I can take the cab of someone who just got out of it. He knows I just ordered hail-a-cab and he takes my phone and says, “Look, it’s still looking for a driver.” He hits cancel and guides me to the just vacated cab that is there. This earns him another tip.

I get in the cab, and the driver is complaining to me how hot it is today. He has a thick accent, which I put on Africa. I ask, “Where are you from?

He answers, “Liberia.”

I say: “Doesn’t it get really hot there?”

He says, “Yes.”

At this point he stops complaining about the heat.

He then asks me where I am from. I say Chicago.

He is horrified and says, “It’s too cold there. I would never go there.”

Saturday, May 31: Off day for rppoker (Part 3 of 4)
WSOP+ verification

I head to verification which the first couple of days of the WSOP was supposedly a disaster of long lines. I get there, and the number of people ahead of me is …. One. One player is all I had to wait for. I am stunned.

A cage opens up for me in 20 seconds and I proceed. The entire process took less than 15 minutes, and it would have been much less, but I slowed things down when …

1) I was told I had to put down a nickname on the app. “Why do I need a nickname?” I asked. The person helping me had no idea. I said, “Do I have to pick a nickname?” I was told I had to. I fumbled around and eventually picked a nickname.

2) Next the app told me I had to pick an avatar. This seemed stupid. I said, “Do I have to pick an avatar?” The WSOP person helping me said, “Just choose the no option.” We looked, and there was not a no option. I looked at the avatars and none of them seem fitting for a 63-year-old gray hair like me. I looked and looked and looked, and nothing made me happy. Finally, I found the most generic choice possible and selected it.

3) I had my WSOP cage person show me how to use the WSOP app to buy in to a tournament.

4) We registered me to play in a couple of tourneys.

5) I had questions about how to re-enter a tournament on the app after busting.

OK, I think I am as caught up with the times as I need to be at WSOP 2025.

Plus, I have now deposited the bulk of my WSOP bankroll with the WSOP app. I am happy that I no longer have to carry around so much money.

Tomorrow it all begins.

Saturday, May 31: Off day for rppoker (Part 4 of 4)
Food heaven: Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab

But before tomorrow’s poker begins, there is the matter of dinner tonight. On the agenda is Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab. There is a sister restaurant in Chicago, but it has probably been 20 years since I went there.

I cab it to the front of Caesar’s Palace, and then it is a long, long, loooooong walk to the restaurant. Signs are sparse, so I keep asking shop workers standing outside their store if I am still headed in the right direction. Eventually I get there, and I go up to a host stand where I check-in and then get told to go to the maître d in order to be seated. I go there, but there is a posse of 14 college kids in a group ahead of me, so there is some youthful chaos for a couple of minutes.

I get seated, and for the second night in a row I have a phenomenal waiter. He comes to the table immediately. He advises me that of the three sizes of stone crab (their specialty), they are out of the medium (the smallest of the three options). Select is the next size, and I order that as well as the Filet & Tail – filet mignon and a 10 oz. North Atlantic lobster tail. My waiter asks if I’m hungry, and given the question I answer, “Well, I guess I’ll have to be.”

A basket of breads is brought out.

Shortly thereafter, the stone crabs are served to me. They are outstanding. They are fresh and tasty. The dipping sauce that accompanies them is perfect – creamy and delicious but not overpowering. 10/10

The second I finish the last of the stone crabs, the plate and discard bowl are removed. A minute later my main course is served. The waiter describes the mixture of spices that is on the side, and he says, “A little bit goes a long way.”

The steak melts in my mouth. The spices are fantastic. I only put a tiny bit on each bite, and the waiter’s description was spot on. The lobster also melts in my mouth, and the drawn butter is served at the perfect temperature. When I stop eating, there is not a morsel of food left on the plate. 10/10 (I started eating before remembering to take the picture, so the presentation is lost in the photo)

The moment I finish, the waiter is at the ready. He scoops up the crumbs I have left on the table, and he asks if I’d like a dessert menu. I say yes. He brings the menu and asks if I have any birthdays or celebrations. He is looking for an excuse to comp my dessert. No birthdays or celebrations in my life at the moment, and I come clean.

He makes a couple of suggestions, but I ignore them to order the Boston Cream Pie. When he was alive, this was my dad’s favorite dessert. I liked it a lot as well, so that’s what I ordered. I smile thinking about my dad.

Throughout the meal, my waiter has been extremely attentive about refilling my water. The one time I have to ask for more water, he is mortified and apologizes profusely a couple of times. I tell him no need to apologize. Throughout the meal the waiter, when he is at my table and surrounding tables, is chatty and personable but not in an obtrusive manner.

The Boston Cream Pie arrives, and like everything else in this meal it is outstanding. The cake to custard ratio is just right. The custard and the chocolate topping are decadent. 9.0/10

The waiter brings the check, I provide my credit card, and when he brings it back, I tell him he is an outstanding waiter. Before this trip I have never said this to a waiter, and now I have had reason to say it two nights in a row.

2025 WSOP: June 1 (Event #10, $600 No-Limit Hold’Em Deep Stack) (Part 1 of 11)
Mastering technology, floundering in search of my table

I wake up at 8:30 am and the first thing I do is check my WSOP+ app to see if my seat has been posted. It has not. I shower, get ready, and as I am about to leave my hotel room I check once more. I have a seat assignment. I am with the technological times.

Headline: 63-year-old masters technology!

Then I notice that I am in Seat 1 at Horseshoe. Ugh, I hate seats 1 and 9.

New headline: 63-year-old laments seat location

I cab it to the Paris and get out. It is 93 degrees. I am hot, hot, hot. I walk inside the Paris casino and get blasted by the air conditioning. I am cold, cold, cold.

As I am walking toward the Horseshoe Ballroom, I pass two guys walking the other way, and one of them says, “I’m playing to win one of the $1,000,000 bounties.”

I guess it pays to have goals, but maybe that’s just a tad optimistic given the, you know, randomness factor. Later in the day, when the first $1,000,000 bounty got pulled by a 23-year-old, my tournament table roared with delight and comments when someone looked online and learned that the winner said, “If you’re a stripper at the strip club, you should be working tonight.” Much of the table delights in someone so young pulling a million-dollar bounty in a town that can provide all kinds of ways to spend recklessly. One older player (not me) very seriously lectures the rest of us on the need to be responsible with that kind of huge financial score.

Another pair of poker players pass me and I hear one say to the other a lengthy hand history before saying, “I jam. He calls. He has jacks. I let him have it.” As in he lets him have it for being stupid at some point in the hand and then luck boxing the win. I’m thinking the upset guy may not have the demeanor for this game.

I get to the Horseshoe Ballroom and they aren’t letting anyone in yet, so I grab a seat on the floor. I feel neither adrenalin nor nervousness. I feel calm.

The doors to the Horseshoe Ballroom open and I immediately realize that my table number is higher than the Horseshoe Ballroom tables go. I get excited. This must mean I am playing in the Event Center where the final tables get played. This excites me. I get to the Event Center and there is a map of table numbers, but it also does not go high enough for my table number. What’s going on here?

I take another look at the WSOP+ app, and I see the bad news. I am in the Normandy Room at the Horseshoe. This is a real downer. I did not care for the Normandy the one time I played in it in the past, and secondly I have a long walk to get there and not a lot of time before the cards are in the air. I double time it and make it to my seat with 30 seconds to spare.

2025 WSOP: June 1 (Event #10, $600 No-Limit Hold’Em Deep Stack) (Part 2 of 11)
I am active early … Mr. Nasty … a vibrating poker player … dealer tries to push pot to wrong player

Level 1 (30,000 chips to start)
100/100/100

On the second hand of the tournament, I am in the small blind and get dealt 7-8 off suit. It folds to me. I bump it to 200. I get called by the big blind. The flop is 2-3-K rainbow. I lead out and take it. First pot won of my 2025 WSOP.

Shortly thereafter, there is a commotion at the next table. Our dealer attempts to intervene. My guess is this is an experienced dealer trying to help out a newbie dealer. A player at my table wearing a GG hat aggressively scolds our table’s dealer, saying, “Worry about our table and let someone else handle the other table.” We’ll call this player Mr. Nasty.

Soon thereafter, I am dealt 5-5 from UTG. I think we were only five-handed at the time. I bet and get three callers. The flop is 2-4-8. Check, check, I open the betting and only Mr. Nasty calls from one of the blinds. It goes check, check on the turn. Check, check on the river. Mr. Nasty has 4-8 and flopped top two pair. He slow-played the hand hoping I’d put more post-flop chips in the middle on the turn or the river. I did not. I now have 29,500 chips. No real harm done.

My next hand of relevance, I am dealt 2-2 in the big blind. There are two limps, and I check. The flop is 2-8-K. I have flopped a set of deuces. The action is on me and I just check, hoping someone else will take the betting lead. Unfortunately, my opponents both check. The turn is a 3. I check, and one of my adversaries bets. I 3-bet and take down the hand. An argument can be made for just calling, but my approach was the only way to turn this into a big hand was to be aggressive and hope he had a K.

There is a hand where I have A-10 suited. I think there is a lot of limping, and I just called from either late position or the blinds. We go 5-way to the flop, which is 8-8-9 rainbow. Everyone checks. The turn is a 6, and again it checks all around. The river is a lovely 7, to give me an out-of-nowhere straight. Myself and one other player now do battle. When we turn cards over, he has K-10. We both have a straight and we chop the pot. That’s disappointing.

I am freezing. I put on my hoodie. Only took halfway through Level 1 to need the warmer clothing.

We are playing 6-handed, and we play a community hand where five of the six players call to see the flop. I have 5-5 and I’m set mining. The flop is Q-J-2, and I get out of the way.

I then see a hand where a guy at the table is involved. I think he was sitting next to me, but I can’t tell for sure from my notes. Earlier when he was in a big hand, I noticed his entire body vibrating. I have been watching to see if it means nerves or excitement, but I have now seen enough of his hands to decide that he does it all of the time. It’s not a tell. That’s disappointing. The guy can’t seem to be able to sit still. Constantly bouncing his leg, and that’s when he’s not in a hand. I really wanted it to be a tell, so that if I picked off his bluffs I’d be able to regale LVL with my ability to find a live read.

At this point I do feel I am getting a read on the table. It is a very passive table overall. A couple of players, however, are sticky after the flop, while the others simply seem to show weakness both before the flop and after the flop. I like this table.

We are still 6-handed. I am dealt K-J and open the betting from UTG. Two players call. The flop is A-7-4. I bet, and both players fold.

An inexperienced dealer is now at our table and tries to give a pot to the wrong person, but both players with the losing hands stop him, and the proper person is slid the pot.

End of Level 1: 31,500 chips.

2025 WSOP: June 1 (Event #10, $600 No-Limit Hold’Em Deep Stack) (Part 3 of 11)
I make an excellent fold … I completely and unnecessarily lose my mind

Level 2
100/200/200

In the next hand I am up against a guy wearing a pink shirt who is one of the passive pre flop, sticky post flop players I mentioned earlier. Pre flop Mr. Pink opens to 600. I have J-J, which can be tricky to play. I decide I’d rather be the guy making the other player have to make difficult decisions, so I raise to 1,800. Mr. Pink calls.

The flop is 6-6-4. Mr. Pink checks. I bet. He calls.

The turn is a 2. There is no flush to be concerned about. He checks. I bet 2,000. He raises to 4,000. I call.

The river is a blank (lower than a J), and Mr. Pink goes all-in. This is tough. I have a pair that is higher than any card on the board. But he has shown me nothing to believe he would show this kind of aggression light. Given that he was the original bettor preflop, I can’t rule out an over pair to my jacks. Him having a 6 in his hand seems unlikely given he was the initial pre flop raiser, but I suppose a suited A-6 is possible. The board would seem to block 6-6. Him having pocket 4s seems a little unlikely given how tight I perceive him to be pre flop, but we are only 7-handed so maybe. The board does not hit, much less smash, most of our pre flop ranges, but this aggression from him screams he has it. I make what I feel is a difficult fold. He shows 4-4 for the flopped full house. I have 25,700 chips.

I am dealt 8-8. I open to 600. The guy whose body vibrates calls. The flop is 2-K-J. I bet and my opponent folds.

I get dealt A-J off suit and open the betting. I get two calls. The flop is J-8-2 all diamonds. I have no diamonds. Still, I lead out and get two folds.

At this point I write in my notes, “I am by far the most active player at this table.” That said, I have run into some big hands after the flop and I have a slightly below starting stack.

Then comes a hand where I get extremely unlucky and extremely stupid. Not a good combination.

Someone limps, I have 2-4 suited in the small blind and call, and the BB calls. Harmless enough start. The flop comes 3-3-6. It goes check, check, check. There is a 2 on the turn that eliminates any flush draw. The 2 hits my hand, but really only nudges it, and it goes check, check, check. Still harmless. The river is a 2. I now have a full house. No one has shown any aggression in this hand, so I have to start building the pot. To my surprise, the big blind now raises.

And this is where I get stupid. Calling would not be unreasonable. I have a full house. It’s hard to do well in a tournament if I fold to the first sign of aggression when I have a boat. But I don’t take my time. All I am seeing is that I have a full house. My notes are hard to read but I believe the action is as follows: I check to induce. He raises. I check raise. He goes all-in. I call. He turns over 3-5 for flopped trips and a better rivered full house. I am out.

I instantly know I screwed this up. Not being results oriented, but because I did not take my time to think it through. Yes, it was extremely unlucky to go runner-runner with 2-4 suited and make an inferior full house. But on the river, when I faced the original bet, I should have at a minimum taken my time and I really think I should have just called. It’s not like I had the nuts. And let’s face it, the board has absolutely smashed both of our in-the-blinds ranges. The big blind absolutely could have had the 3 needed to better my hand. More to the point, what worse hand could the big blind have had on a 3-3-6-2-2 board that would raise me? Meanwhile, there are all kinds of big blind special hands that beat me such as any 3, 2-6, 6-6. I should have just called and either taken the win or avoided the catastrophic all-in dependent on what the big blind had. Plus, I absolutely did not ask what worse hands I had beat that could possibly go all-in. And the answer, I think, is none. Maybe 4-5 for the turned straight, but I don’t think that hand raises my check-raise. Despite having a full house, I really think the only hand I beat is an insane bluff. And this player had shown no hint of going rogue like this prior to this hand.

I am way too quick to commit on these types of hands. I have to slow down. I know this, and yet I just ignored this very fact.

I am dead and there is only one description of what I have just done. As Goose says in this clip from the movie Top Gun, “The defense department regrets to inform you that your sons are dead because they were stupid.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Kzf21c...

2025 WSOP: June 1 (Event #10, $600 No-Limit Hold’Em Deep Stack) (Part 4 of 11)
Re-entry … Boobies Make Me Smile … Leonard from Full Metal Jacket flops quads and doesn’t get paid

Level 2 and I just busted. Unnecessarily. Avoidably. Stupidly. Guess it’s a good thing that I have planned to re-enter when necessary throughout this year’s WSOP. Never expected it to be this early. Stupid, stupid, stupid. OK, time to get it together. The good news is I can get a full stack, and the blind levels are still incredibly cheap. I try to re-enter, but nothing happens on the WSOP+ app. I go to the WSOP desk in the room and ask about this. A guy in a suit tells me that sometimes the dealer does not mark players as out fast enough. He takes care of it for me, and in less than a minute I am registered to re-enter.

My new seat sends me to the Provence room one floor away. Too bad. I really was hoping to play in the Paris Ballroom. At least it will be a short walk. As I am taking this walk, I pass someone in the hallway who says something that amuses me even though I am trying to get over dark thoughts after busting. The funny line made by the passerby to his friend is, “The only reason to have kids is to have grandkids.”

I arrive to my new table just in time to be in the big blind. What quickly becomes apparent is that as much as I loved the low skill level of my last table, this new table is full of players who are much, much tougher. I guess that is my penance for losing more chips than was necessary in the boat versus boat hand.

At my new table there is a guy with a heavy Boston accent wearing a shirt with a smiley face that says, “Boobies make me smile.” Obviously, he is the most talkative guy at the table.

I arrive during the latter part of level 2. When the level ends, I have 29,300 chips.

Level 3
200/300/300

I am dealt K-J off suit in the cutoff. I bet 900 chips and take it down.

There is a player at my table who looks (but doesn’t act) like the Leonard character in the movie Full Metal Jacket. Leonard gets dealt A-A, flops quad aces and does not get one additional chip from the rest of the table. That must be heartbreaking.

There is a player at the table who is deeply, deeply focused on his cell phone. At one point he tells the table that he is watching his son play in an All-Star game. Boobies Make Me Smile says, “Your kid is playing in an all-star game, and you’re here?

The player to my immediate right who looks like Turtle from Entourage busts out when he runs into a brick wall that is two pair held by the table chip leader.

A player wearing a shirt that says “Playboy” spills his coffee on himself for the second time since I got to this table … and I haven’t been here very long.

Level 3 ends: 28,500 chips

Thanks for sharing rp. I enjoy the detail and humor you put into your TRs. I've been trying to follow along, but have been relatively busy. I'll be reading as you keep updating.

Good fold in the JJ hand. In the full house spot with 24, I think you are right to regret playing it so fast.

Sometimes the earliest entries on our tournament schedule serve as reminders of what NOT to do so we can avoid those mistakes for the rest of the trip.

I feel like everyone is allowed one punt per trip, like a mulligan. I may have had more than that in some years...

Funny thing about making quads with AA is that it may be worse than having a set. When the board says AA and you hold AA in your hand, how can you possibly get action? I made turned AAAA on day 1 of the Monster Stack in 2023 against a guy who had 2x on a A22Ax board. Suffice to say I did not get paid off. It's the weird situation where improving your hand can actually be worse for you. Not necessarily the case with more disguised quads like 5555, where boats will pay you off all day.

Well I certainly used up my punt quick. The good news is I didn't do so the rest of my trip.

2025 WSOP: June 1 (Event #10, $600 No-Limit Hold’Em Deep Stack) (Part 5 of 11)
I get scolded by security on break … I win a pot with 10 high

Level 4
200/400/400

I am completely card dead and will remain that way for quite a bit. All I can do is fold and observe. The table is completely silent for the most part, other than Boobies Make Me Smile who has a lot of patter.

Boobies is very busy. A lot of chatter. He has a Superman card protector and a mini Millenium Falcon toy from Star Wars that he spins around a lot. A new guy to the table has a hat with a four-leaf clover on it. Boobies says “That’s clearly not a luck of the Irish hat because you don’t look Irish. No offense intended.” The other guy is Asian. But my rule is if you feel the need to say “no offense intended” …

Level 4 ends: 27,500 chips

We go on break. I’m so card dead. I haven’t played a hand in forever at this table. I suspect that if I even look at a raising chip, the rest of the table will instafold. At my previous table I was extremely active. At this table I am not getting anything playable.

On break I take a seat on the ground, and a security guard says there is no sitting on the ground in this area. There’s a rule that says this? I can’t do anything right today. The security guard tells me if I go around the corner, there is a big hallway where people can sit on the ground.

I grab a new seat on the ground in a WSOP sanctioned hallway and take out a container of chicken salad to eat. I drink a bottled water. I tell myself I don’t deserve a Dr Pepper after the way I botched the full house versus full house hand that ended my first bullet. On break I hear a player, who obviously deals poker outside the WSOP, say of a big-name NBA player he’s dealt for, “He’s not good, but he’s not punting the amount of money a lot of players worth as much as him would.”

Level 5
300/500/500

I am in the small blind. I have 7-10 off suit. It folds to me. It doesn’t cost much to call, so that’s what I do. The big blind checks. The board ends up reading A-K-Q-K-3, no flush. Neither one of us puts another chip in the middle. The big blind immediately announces 9 high. I show 10 high and somehow win the pot.

I get dealt K-J suited and mean to min raise, but I grab the wrong chip, so I just call. It folds to Boobies in the big blind and he checks. The flop comes J-8-4. Boobies bets 700. I raise to 2,000 and he folds.

I get dealt A-Q off suit, and I raise to 1,500. I get two calls. I whiff the flop and fold to Leonard’s bet.

End of level 5: 25,400 chips

2025 WSOP: June 1 (Event #10, $600 No-Limit Hold’Em Deep Stack) (Part 6 of 11)
I have A-A and I get two callers… two ways to play 10-10 and they’re both wrong … A-K vs A-K and only I have the flush draw

Level 6
300/600/600

I don’t get dealt a single playable hand this level.

End of level 6: 23,900 chips

Level 7
400/800/800

I get dealt one mildly playable hand all level when I look down at 7-7. However, there is an early position bet and a 3-bet before I can act, and I just fold.

The blinds eat away a bit more at my stack. I am on the button, and it folds to me. I have K-4 off suit. I bet and take it.

Boobies goes all-in preflop with 7-9 suited, and crashes into the overwhelming table chip leader’s A-A. Boobies is out.

I get dealt A-A. At last. I fear if I make an opening bet everyone will fold given I have played so few hands lately. They can’t know for sure that I have been card dead. Still, I open to 1,800. To my utter surprise I get two callers. The flop is three harmless, uncoordinated cards. It checks to me. I bet and everyone folds. I have 27,900 chips.

When I am in the small blind, I am dealt 10d-10h. My Kryptonite hand. There is a bet and two calls before I have to act. This makes me think of the saying, “There are two ways to play tens, and they are both wrong.” I could try a squeeze play, but the initial bet was from UTG. I just call. I’m torn whether this was right or too passive. I think it was too passive. But I’m not positive given the original raise came from UTG. I’m really torn on the best way to have played this. And by torn I mean I have no idea what the right play is there with 10-10. Arrrrgh, what was the right play? On the one hand, if I squeeze there's a good chance I run into a bigger pair. On the other hand, if I squeeze there's also a good chance I earn a whole bunch of chips without even seeing a flop. On the other hand ... heck, I've run out of hands.

The flop comes 6-9-K all clubs. I don’t have a club. My two red 10s are shrinking in value in a big way, Everyone checks. The turn is a red J. The initial pre flop bettor puts out chips and I fold.

I tell myself that as played, I did not get out of line and did not lose very many chips. But then I think that this may be why I don't build monster stacks early in tournaments. I think more aggressive players that I've played against would have let 'er rip with a squeeze play pre flop. It's probably why they build big stacks early. It's also why they tend to get knocked out of tournaments way earlier than I usually do. Is this a case of me still being too in love with my tournament life because I play so little and because I love being at a WSOP poker table so much? Or am I just being prudent?

I tell myself that this inner debate has to be shelved until some later time. I need to focus on the tournament I am in, and not engage any more in an internal existential crisis/debate on my risk-reward tolerance.

And then there's the whole, should I have raised on the turn repping clubs that I didn't have as a way to ... stop it ... stop it ... stop it. I didn't even consider it, should I have ... stop it ... stop it ... stop it. This is not the time to go down that rabbit hole. Focus on the cards to come.

There was an opportunity here. Not sure if it was an opportunity to punt my stack or an opportunity to steal a bunch of chips. Stop it ... stop it ... stop it ...

I'm not giving proper attention to the next few hands that are dealt. I have to get my head back in the game.

End of Level 7: 22,500 chips

Level 8
500/1,000/1,000

I am dealt A-K suited (diamonds). A bidding war ensues with another player and all my chips are in the middle. My opponent has Ac-Ks. The flop has two diamonds. Can I get a little bit lucky and hit my flush? I cannot. We chop. Disappointed to just chop.

From middle position I have 3-3 and I open the betting to 2,500. It gets through. I have 25,300 chips.

Next, I have A-Q suited. I think my table image is that when I have it, I bet it, so I decide to under rep this hand. UTG bets, Playboy calls, and I just call. The flop comes A-Q-7 rainbow. Top two pair for me. It's good to be me. UTG bets. It's really good to be me. Since I just called preflop, I don’t think UTG will put me on top two pair, so I raise. UTG folds. Maybe I should have just called to encourage him to bet more chips on the turn and/or river. On the other hand, if I want to play a huge pot here, I need to be aggressive and hope he has something like A-K. I felt at the time that my lack of experience led to me being uncertain how to play this. I have 32,700 chips. Shortly thereafter we go on break.

While on break I tell myself that when we get back for level 9, I will have 27.25 big blinds. No need to panic.

I'm very much not a solver guy and obviously not a pro, but since you asked, I think I lean towards the squeeze shove here.

One of the most useful things to know in hold 'em is that there are 6 combos of each pocket pair and 16 combos of each high-card hand, so even if we assume UTG is opening an ultra tight range of JJ+ and AQ+ then there are 24 hands that crush us (JJ-QQ-KK-AA) and 32 that are taking the rough end of a flip (AQ, AK). But that's a very tight range. I don't know this player's tendencies, but even UTG some players will open all pocket pairs, many suited Ax, and hands like KJs, QJs, AJ, KQ, AT that we're doing very well against. TT is not AA, but we're probably doing reasonably well against a UTG opening range unless we know this is a huge nit. It's more likely than not that he doesn't have a bigger pair, and some of his flips have to fold (it's very hard to call off there with KJ, QJs, AJo).

On <20BB we probably just have to attack the dead money here, understanding that sometimes we are going to be flipping or dead. We win >50% of the flips and 18% of the time when we're dead. If you think about what hands people are flatting behind the open, it's probably skewed towards broadway combos and mediocre pocket pairs (JJ+ likely announce themselves with a three bet pre). That means some of the theoretical A, K, Q, J outs are probably being held by people who will fold to our shove. Also, some of the pairs we beat may actually call our shove sometimes (77-99 probably at least consider it for similar reasons that I just outlined). Sometimes we're in a 82% spot for a double up.

I understand the desire to keep things small and reduce volatility. Flatting with TT is probably still winning chips long-term, but puts you in a lot of rough post-flop spots. I would guess that it's just a sigh-shove here, but I don't claim to be the world's expert. If we drop down to 99 or 88, I think I start to prefer set mining.

I'd say 99-JJ are in a similar class of hand where they are too vulnerable to slow play and too strong to allow other people to draw at for the minimum.

I think you can definitely flat the flop with AQ there. You can get another value bet out of him with a worse ace and potentially another bluff out of him too if he puts you on a weak ace

You didn’t have your stack size on the 1010 hand but i do think it’s a 3 bet and if your stack was under 30bb, you can consider shoving. A raise and two calls plus the blinds and antes means you’ve got about 10bb at least in the middle and you’re taking that down a huge percentage of the time. You’re only really worried about the initial raiser.
If he calls with AK and AQ, you also don’t mind flipping there because there’s a giant overlay with all the dead money and winning the flip gives you a huge stack

ha - snap

I agree with everything DogFace and feel wrath just wrote. I feel that one of the biggest areas my game needs work on is a willingness to pull the trigger on hands like 10-10 in this potential squeeze situation. You know, hands that are worth exploiting but are not slam dunk winners. I still tend to be too emotionally attached to my tournament life since I really love being at the WSOP and competing. I think I got a little better at this in 2025 versus 2024 or 2019, but I still need to work on this part of my game. The fact that I struggle to take an aggressive path with less than the nuts is undoubtedly exploitable. I hope to get better at this in future WSOPs.

The difference between this year and my first two WSOPs is that now I see thin spots worth taking, but I still need to be more willing to actually take those spots. I certainly did more of this in my 2025 WSOP, but I need to do far more of it than I did this summer. I need to stop playing scared in these situations and be more willing to fearlessly go after these spots. My lack of experience in these situations is definitely something that works against me.

With the other guys, I think a shove on 10 10 is better. Mixing in some calls not bad though. However, I'm the fifth best player in this conversation.

2025 WSOP: June 1 (Event #10, $600 No-Limit Hold’Em Deep Stack) (Part 7 of 11)
Coin flip with A-Q, which oriole-lion later describes as “the parking lot because that’s where you go after busting with it.”

Level 9
600/1,200/1,200

UTG+1 (who I believe had just joined the table) bets 4,000. This seems too big. It folds to me in the big blind, and I have Q-J suited. I struggle with what to do. If I were first to act, I definitely bet. But I am not first to act. I am facing a bet. Plus, it’s a bet from very early position. Plus, the person making the bet is new to the table, so I have no idea how he plays. I can call, but committing 4,000 chips with this hand when I am starting to get a tiny bit short concerns me. Also, I will be out of position post flop if I call. Putting in a 3-bet seems too ambitious. I’m not sure what to do. When you’re not sure what to do, maybe it’s simply best to fold and live to fight another day. I fold. I’m not sure if I made the right decision or not.

End of level 9: 26,800 chips

Level 10
800/1,600/1,600

I am down to 16.75 big blinds. I need to manufacture some chips. From middle position I am dealt A-9 suited. I go all-in and take it.

The player to my immediate right bets 4,200. I have A-Q offsuit. I go all-in. I get called by the original bettor. He has J-J. A coin flip. I am historically not great at coin flips. If I win, I will be just a shade over average stack in the tournament according to the tournament monitor. I do not improve, and I lose the flip. To rub salt in the wound, villain rivers an unneeded straight.

Later in the early evening, oriole-lion texts me to ask how I am doing in the tournament. I tell him I am out. I describe the bust out hand with A-Q, and he texts back, “That sucks. Someone that I played (against) the last few days called AQ the parking lot because that’s where you go after busting with it.”

2025 WSOP: June 1 (Part 8 of 11)
I meet a Las Vegas legend in his own mind

After busting, I head over to the Event Center to see if I can find some pictures to take for my trip report. On my way there I pass an agitated guy who complains into his cell phone, “I am so goddamn tired of losing every goddamn flip.”

As I get to the WSOP Events Center I pass a couple of civilians who obviously popped their heads in to view the show. The husband says to his wife, “It’s not like a real poker room where it’s so noisy and everyone is talking.” After hearing this, I do take notice that the giant room is quiet as a library, other than the sound of chip riffling.

After I get my pictures for the trip report, I make my way to the Paris cab stand. I get there, and there is no line. The bellman in charge of the cab stand is deep in conversation with the cab driver at the front of the line. It seems clear that they know one another. The bellman sees me and asks where I am going. I tell him the Signature. He informs the driver of this, and I tip him a buck. The driver is clearly disappointed that he has waited in the long taxi line and is getting such a short fare. He asks the bellman if he can get back in the line once he drops me off since it will be such a small fare.

As we pull away, I ask him what the protocol is for him getting back in line. Somehow, he quickly veers off this subject, and he informs me he is a professional horse racing player. This doesn’t answer my original question, but I go along for the ride and engage in this subject. Next thing I know, he is showing me his horse racing forms and his charts. I ask him if he is any good at picking winning horses. He assures me he is, and he shows me a check for $81,000 from some gambling mecca. At first, he gives the impression that he just won this money, but further conversation results in him saying this is a photocopy of a winning check from two years ago.

Without any prompting, he then redirects the conversation and starts talking about his sports betting prowess and how he used to help a casino’s sportsbook set all of its betting lines, but then that stopped because he claims he was winning too much for himself and his clients.

Then he again changes lanes in this conversation, and he describes his roulette playing prowess, and how he is such an expert at covering the board with chips. I don’t know anything about roulette, so this time I change the direction of the conversation. I ask how he finds time to drive a cab given all of his betting activities. I forget his answer, but then I follow up with the key question: “Why do you drive a cab given all of your betting prowess?” He answers that he makes $12,000-$15,000 per month driving the cab, so why chase all the other stuff exclusively.

We get to my hotel. If my ride had not been such a short distance, who knows what other talents of his he’d have told me about.

To hear him tell it, he is the baseball equivalent of a five-tool player.

If you choose to believe him, I have just met a Las Vegas legend.

If this were a poker hand, I am pretty sure I would be check-raising.

2025 WSOP: June 1 (Part 9 of 11)
I meet up with LVL’s oriole-lion again, this time at the Encore

I head up to my room and work on my trip report for a few hours when oriole-lion texts me to ask for more details on how my tournament went. I fill him in, and then ask if he wants to meet up. He is just finishing dinner at the Aria. He plans to play more cash later this evening, but we agree to meet up before he plays. He asks where I want to meet. I say I am done playing for the night, so I’ll meet him wherever he plans to play later. He asks me to give him a few minutes to figure it out. He gets back to me and says he is on the wait list for the Encore. We make plans to meet in the Encore’s Lobby Bar.

I jump in a cab and barely beat him there. I order beef sliders to eat, and he orders a drink. We start out by running through my key hands, and he gives me his feedback. Then he shows me his cell phone in which he has written down all of the action on some of his key hands. I read one action at a time and talk through what range I put the villain on each step of the way and whether I agree or disagree with oriole-lion’s decisions. Even though he plays cash and I play tournaments, I really enjoy the way we talk through hands and provide feedback. This is what I have been missing from my poker journey.

The one thing that completely baffles me are the massive river bets that oriole-lion describes his opponents making. I understand about polarizing bet sizes, but the sizes seem way out of context to me. To me, what oriole-lion describes his opponents doing is the tournament equivalent of their betting 40,000 chips and then someone bets 400,000 all-in. The sizing seems bizarre to me. I have no idea how to interpret bet sizing that can best be described as “polarized on steroids,” but maybe that is because I have never played a hand in a cash game.

I also enjoy listening to oriole-lion describe some of the insanity that sometimes ensues at drinking heavy tables of tourists. I tell him these tables sounds like minefields where every player is wildly different and crazy unpredictable. I say putting opponents on ranges seems much more difficult in the cash streets he is running on compared to my tournaments where I think it is easier to put opponents on playing style and ranges.

Eventually oriole-lion either has to take his seat at the cash game tables at the Encore or he will lose his place. We walk over together and say our goodbyes since he leaves town tomorrow. I ask Oriole-lion if he thinks he will come out to the WSOP to play cash games next year. He has played at 10 different casinos in his short trip, and he says he likes the idea of doing so during the WSOP. Upon hearing this, I tell him I will let him know next year when I am thinking of playing WSOP 2026 and see if we can coordinate dates where our trips might overlap.

2025 WSOP: June 1, actually now June 2 (Part 10 of 11)
Crisis: Losing my credit card leads to a 3:30 a.m. mad dash across town

3:30 a.m. I have fallen asleep on the couch in my hotel room and only now wake up. How it occurs to me out of a dead sleep I have no earthly idea, but I realize I did not sign the credit card slip when I paid for my dinner and oriole-lion’s drink. This leads to a terrible possibility. I check my wallet and, sure enough, my credit card is missing. I’ve done it again. Second time in three WSOPs that I’ve left my credit behind at an eating establishment. I go online and see that the Encore’s Lobby Bar is still open and there is a phone number listed for it. I call, but no one answers.

Option 1: Go back to sleep and head to the Encore in the morning.

Option 2: Jump in a cab right now and make a mad dash to the Encore.

I choose Option 2 for a few reasons: 1) I’ll feel much better if I resolve this right now, 2) If I wait until late morning, traffic will be much worse than it will be now, 3) The Lobby Bar morning staff may have no idea what the night staff did with my credit card, and 4) The longer my credit card is floating around out there the more likely it disappears altogether/falls into the wrong hands and then I have the hassle of canceling it and being without a credit card the rest of my trip.

There is pretty much zero traffic on the mad dash in an off, off, off hours cab ride to the Encore. We arrive and I head over to the Lobby Bar. The waitress from earlier when I was there is off duty, but one of the other waitresses says she is pretty sure she knows where my credit card is. In fact, it is exactly where she thought she’d find it. In fact, I forgot to sign for the bill.

I show her my ID, she gives me my credit card, I sign for the bill along with a healthy tip for the waitress who probably thinks I stiffed her, and I tip the waitress who just gave me my credit card back.

Crisis averted.

I grab a new cab and head back to my hotel. I arrive, and it is 4:20 a.m. When I wake up, will I play in the Daily Deepstack I have on my agenda? I don’t know. I’ll wake up and see how I feel. The good news is that the shuffle up and deal will not happen until 1:00 p.m.

2025 WSOP: June 2 (Daily Deepstack 1:00 pm $250 NLHE) (Part 1 of 8)
Look at me Mr. Late Reg

After last night’s/this morning’s credit card fiasco, the plan was that I would still play in the early afternoon Daily Deepstack to work on my game. I disliked playing in a Daily Deepstack last year, but this is a chance to experiment on the cheap.

The issue of course is whether I actually wake up in time to get to the event in the Normandy Room of the Horseshoe. At 4:20 a.m. I optimistically set by cell phone alarm for 11:25 am. The alarm goes off, I reset it for 11:35 am. The alarm goes off, I reset it for 11:45 am. The alarm … the alarm … the alarm … either did not go off or I screwed up resetting it.

In any event, I wake up and it is 1:05 pm. The tournament started five minutes ago. My initial reaction is, no big deal. I’ll just skip it. After all, last year when I played in it I hated it because it was such a sauna. I jump in the shower, I shave, I get myself presentable, and then I have a thought. I can still play in the tournament. I can late reg. I’m going to be a late reg guy for the first time in my brief poker career. This will be a WSOP right of passage for me.

I jump in a cab and get to the Paris. It is 2:00 pm. I head in the direction of the Horseshoe Normandy room and I get to the escalator. In the time it takes for the escalator to get to the next floor I register for the tournament on WSOP+. This is easy. The app tells me I am #33 in the virtual line. I try to figure out where I should go, and someone tells me to just go to the late reg line and I will get in faster. So, I get in the late reg line.

Look at me, everyone, I’m a late reg guy! Sure enough, I get to the head of the line in minutes and my table draw is sent to my cell phone via the WSOP+ app. This is so much easier than the way we had to register for WSOP tourneys a year ago. I am a big fan of the WSOP+ app.

Late reg chips look so unimposing. Uhhhhh, is that all I get?

You're a journalist, correct? RITE of passage 😀