Gray-haired poker TRs: Living the WSOP dream

WSOP Colossus, Day 2 (June 8, 2025) (Part 10 of 10)
What to do after busting Day 2 … Earl of Sandwich … chaos along the strip … meetup with LVL’s DogFace … LVL’s GoIrish and I make contact

Back in my hotel room, I work on today’s events for my trip report draft. As I continue to work on it, the NBA Finals game begins, and I put it on my room’s TV. The game isn’t especially competitive, so it is more background noise to me as opposed to intent viewing.

At 8:00 p.m. I get hungry and am thinking about where to go to eat when LVL’s DogFace texts me to tell me that he has busted his tournament at the Orleans. He says he is going to play in a WSOP satellite at 10:00 p.m. We arrange to meet at 9:30 pm at Nosh, which is just before the escalator that takes you to the Normandy Ballroom of the Horseshoe, which is where I believe his satellite will be. I still have some time, so I go back to deciding where to go to eat. I settle on another trip to Earl of Sandwich at Planet Hollywood. The leg that caused me so much trouble in WSOP 2024 has not been bothering me at all this trip, so I do something ambitious. I decide to walk to the restaurant. I am tired of being cold all the time in poker rooms, so I embrace the Las Vegas heat. Plus, I enjoy the chaos of all that goes on along the strip. There are all the usual street performers. I see a man practically dragging a woman who has clearly overindulged in something. She looks incapable of walking, her eyes are glossed over, and she has absolutely no idea where she is. I think to myself, “My man, get that woman in a cab. You dragging her along the strip to who knows where is not going to end well.” I give the duo a wide berth, because projectile vomiting seems likely to be a part of her very near future.

I get to the Earl of Sandwich. The line moves extremely slowly not because it is long but because the group of five people ahead of me take forever to decide what to order, but I am good on time. I order the same sandwich I got the first time here on this trip, and unlike my last Earl of Sandwich visit, the Dr. Pepper machine is working today. I finish eating and head over to the ParisShoe. I go to the Horseshoe Ballroom and take a look at the table I got knocked out of the Colossus tournament earlier today, and several of my former tablemates are still in action.

I head over to Nosh. I am a bit early so I watch a couple of cash game tables from the rail of the Horseshoe’s Hall of Fame Poker Room. DogFace texts me, “On the way down now. Tall guy in black Mirage hat.”

I text back, “I am here. Tall guy, reddish/burgundy shirt.”

I see DogFace on the escalator coming down. We greet one another and then engage in 30 minutes of pure poker talk. We talk hand histories from my Colossus Day 2 today and his Orleans tourney today. I know talking hand histories is a cliché of every discussion that goes on in the hallways of the WSOP, but I love the conversation. You have to understand, I don’t have any friends back home who play serious poker. If I were to describe a preflop bluff gone awry against an aggressive table maniac, they would look at me blankly and then say, “The other guy might have had aces, why would you ever bluff there?”

DogFace and I finish with the hand histories and move on to discussions of the kind of players who seem to build big chip stacks in the early stages of tourneys, bluffing strategies, tournament strategies, our mutual preference for tournaments and disinterest in cash games, using a tight table image to eventually allow for fairly liberal post flop aggression when missing the flop, etc., etc., etc. I’m not claiming that we solved poker during this conversation, but I love the fact that we speak the same language, and are interested in all things tournament poker. I mention that last year, my tables had a ton of famous poker pros, whereas this year I have not played against a single player that I recognize. We discuss Day 2 versus Day 1 tournament play. I ask DogFace for the story behind his 2+2 name, and he says that he first set up his 2+2 account so long ago that he doesn’t even remember why he chose the name. We discuss how much smaller 2+2 is now versus the old days (well I ask and DogFace answers since I wasn’t on 2+2 during its glory days). Eventually DogFace says he has to get going for the start of his satellite. I head up the escalator with him. I tell him I played in the Normandy a couple of times this trip, and they seem to have solved the lack of air conditioning that plagued the room a year ago at the WSOP. Dogface says he has multiple layers of clothing options just in case.

We head our separate ways. DogFace heads toward poker decisions to be made in his satellite. I head over to the Normandy Ballroom for one last check on the Colossus. I see that the guy who knocked me out of the tournament is still at our table, and he has a very big stack. There are 170 players remaining. I think the blinds were something like 125,000/250,000/250,000. The amount of chips in play must be staggering.

I get back to my hotel room, and LVL’s GoIrish responds to a text I sent him earlier. He says his plane has just landed. We make plans to meet at a designated location tomorrow morning 30 minutes before our respective WSOP tournaments begin. I will be playing in the $800 NLH 8-handed deepstack. I believe GoIrish will be playing in the $1,500 Limit tournament.

I am really enjoying the fact that I am able to meet up with some LVL people on this trip. Having a bit of a community has been extremely enjoyable.

Random thought: During WSOP 2024 I played almost exclusively in the Paris Ballroom. I think I played in only one tournament in the Horseshoe. During WSOP 2025 I have played exclusively in the Horseshoe. I have not played a single hand in the Paris.

I get back to my hotel room, and I still haven’t unpacked my suitcase. I continue to just pull out what I need. Anyone who bet that I would eventually unpack it is now close to drawing dead.

We talked about this some in person. I speculate that it's a combination of:

- surviving on small and medium scores until they hit the mega bink
- selling action
- playing while backed or staked
- playing cash and/or online on the side
- finding side income through other avenues such as coaching

Some regs may have jobs or investments on the side. Some are simply losing money. A phenomenon I notice in the high roller scene is that there's a durable group of enduring regs (such as Koon, Haxton, and Chidwick), yet other players who float in and out of the ecosystem. Guys may grind the circuit for a year or two and then drop out of the picture. We can speculate that some of those "others" probably went bust or had to drop down in stakes.

When it comes to NLHE, the WSOP is unique for its huge fields. That leads to huge prizes at the top...and long odds to realize your true EV. It's the time of the year when NLHE players are crossing their fingers for that one life-altering bink. Sometimes it comes and sometimes it doesn't. Generally I'd say it's not a practical series to play if you are trying to make reliable profit as a NLHE player (mixed games may be a slightly different situation, but fundamentally similar). It's a lottery series where a small handful of people will walk away with life-altering sums while most lose money.

Smaller tournaments don't offer the same jackpot potential, but in something like a 200-300 person field, the good players will get down to the big money spots with a lot more regularity than they will in a 4,000 player field. If they can survive for long enough then maybe they can bink a big one eventually ala Daniel Sepiol.

Yes, large scale MTTs are a slightly +EV way to play the lottery

RP, you are part of the problem in your own way. The wsop changed payout % from top 10 to top 15% so that more recreational could get the thrill of the bubble, a cash, a Hendon mob flag etc as part of their wsop experience

But that extra 5% of payouts has made a really long flat runway of min cashes. It used to be that a min cash was 2x the entry fee but now it’s like 150% ish.

I’d much rather go back to the first system and make cashing harder but more lucrative. But guessing a lot of other recreationals prefer it as it is….right up until they have a deep run but don’t get much for it!

WSOP bumped min cashes back up to 2x last year.

The payouts are still very flat, but the "play 15 hours to win 1.6x your buy-in" stuff is gone at least.

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 1 of 15)
Brief meetup with GoIrish … I’m talking limit hold’em? … I quickly return to the world of no limit hold’em

I wake up earlier than usual because I am going to meet LVL’s GoIrish before my tournament starts ($800 NLH 8-handed). He has to drop off his suitcase at the bell stand first because he got in late last night. By the time he arrived at his hotel, all the rooms of his type had been given out, so they upgraded him to something better for the night. But today he has to go back to the type of room he reserved.

Because I am a huge college football fan, I immediately ask about his GoIrish handle on 2+2. I have assumed he is a big Notre Dame sports fan. He says that as a little kid he was a Notre Dame fan because he would watch their games on TV with his dad.

However, he says he is from the Mississippi Delta, so he is really more of an Ole Miss fan. I did not see that one coming. I know all about Notre Dame because for decades my Michigan Wolverines played Notre Dame every season until it was mostly discontinued in 2014, with only occasional matchups ever since. Ole Miss? I don’t know that much about Ole Miss sports.

GoIrish lives in Tennessee now and tells me he works for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which does amazing work. I know this because both of my children raised money for St. Jude when they were growing up.

We talk about the WSOP Limit Hold’em tournament he is playing in today. Well, mostly I ask questions and he provides answers, since I have never played limit hold’em before. You could say my knowledge of Limit Hold’em is limited. Can I get a drum roll rimshot, please???

But back to more serious matters. GoIrish has no seat assignment yet for his tournament. I say that sounds wrong since I already have my assignment for my tournament on WSOP+. We walk over to the Paris verification area, and inquire. It turns out GoIrish’s tournament has a much later starting time than my tournament. That explains why he has not been given a seat assignment yet. Problem, that actually never existed, solved.

We talk a little about cash games, another type of poker I have never played. GoIrish explains the concept of “money whipping” to me when I say I find it odd how big raises can be in cash games.

And no, I don’t know any more about cash games than I do about limit hold’em. I’m just parroting some cash game hands with monster raise sizing that oriole-lion told me about when we met up earlier this trip. I do what I can to speak GoIrish’s poker language.

I have a thought that I do not share. When I was in high school and college, I used to have a recurring nightmare that I showed up to take a final exam and no one is there because the test was the day before. The thought I now have is that the poker version of this nightmare for me would be that I buy-in to a tournament, get to my table, sit down, get dealt cards and suddenly realize that I have mistakenly bought in to a Limit Hold’em event.

Before we know it, I have to go because my tournament is about to start. We say we’ll try to find time to meet up for longer if our schedules permit, but for now I get to go back to speaking the understandable (to me) language of No Limit Hold’em.

It’s time for me to put my Colossus success behind me, and start from scratch in the WSOP’s $800 NLH 8-handed tournament that is just about to begin.

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 2 of 15)
I quickly get Q-Q but the turn card is scary … I open with J-10 (good for me) and I catch a decent chunk of the flop … putting my opponents to the tough decisions on scary flops … flopping trips and trying to build a huge pot

Level 1 (40,000 chips)
100/100/100

We start off five handed. In one of the very early hands, I am dealt Q-Q. A foreign guy (not sure from where) opens to 300. I raise to 900, and Foreign Guy calls. The flop is J-7-2. I check. Foreign Guy bets, and I check-raise. Foreign Guy calls. The turn is another J. Scary card. We both check. The river is a 9. We both check, and I win the hand. I slowed down when the second J hit. On the river I would have called a bet of his, and I suppose it can be argued I should have gone for thin value, but I saw no reason to blast off my chips when it was certainly possible he could have me beat with a J. If I had bet and he raised me, I would have felt sick to my stomach. My sensitive tummy tells me to go more bland than spicy. I suspect a more seasoned poker player would have ordered up a more exotic bet. I’m just happy to take the pot as is.

The next hand I play, I have J-10 off suit. I bet (yay me) and get two calls. The flop is 9-10-Q rainbow. I have second pair and an open-ended straight draw. I bet and get two calls. I don’t make my straight on the turn or river, so I am happy to get to showdown cheap and see that I narrowly beat a guy with a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey on who has 10-7. Interesting. He called a pre-flop bet with 10-7 off suit, and he called a post-flop raise with middle pair bad kicker and only a back door straight draw. I make a mental note to pay close attention to how this player performs in the future. Maybe this is someone to target. It is just one hand, however. Can’t read too much into it. Yet. I have 45,000 chips.

I am dealt A-K and open to 300, and a player wearing a green shirt calls from the big blind. The flop is K-7-10 all clubs. I don’t have a club, but I do have top pair nut kicker. Surprisingly, Mr. Green leads out for 700. I think to myself, put other people to tough decisions. I’m not prepared to buy him having a flush just yet, so I raise to 2,100 and he folds. I have 46,300 chips.

The next hand I play I limp 9-10 and we will play a tiny pot three-way. The flop is 8-10-J. I have second pair mediocre kicker as well as an open-ended straight draw. Put other people to tough decisions. I bet and win the hand.

The next hand I play I have 10-Q suited. I’m not sure from my notes if I raised or limped, but a guy with perfectly groomed hair and beard as well as Maple Leafs both come along and see a flop. The flop is 10-10-2. Jackpot for me! We all check. After a harmless turn card, I check. C’mon man, go for it. Just a scared, harmless gray-haired man that you can bluff and take it against. Do it … do it … DO IT! … Maple Leafs bets. Perfectly Groomed folds. I check raise. Maple Leafs folds. It can be argued that I should have just called the turn bet, but this is a hand I want to win big, really big, if possible. With the blinds so low, the only way to turn this into a huge hand is to start raising and hope he has something big enough to play an enormous hand. This was not a hand I wanted to win a few more of his chips. This was a hand I wanted to win a ton of his chips. The only way to swell the pot to massive proportions was to start raising aggressively. What I didn’t know yet, but would eventually figure out, is that Maple Leafs hates to fold. Once he gets in a hand, he keeps calling. With what I know after the fact, I am really, really surprised he didn’t call my check raise.

End of Level 1: 48,000 chips.

Well done on your deep run, it must have been a fun experience! 😀

However, the new payout model that WSOP are using is utter crap (to put it nicely). No-one needs the mincash to be double the buy-in, and it just makes all other payouts terrible unless you actually reach the final table.

Seems like I’m in the minority but I actually like the 2x min-cash and paying 15% of the field at the WSOP. It gives more money back to more players which is good for the eco-system.

Although I think the Wynn has it spot on with a 2x min-cash and paying 12.5% of the field I think the 15% at the WSOP is better for the more recreational players.

Also excellent write ups as usual rppoker. You describe the emotional ups and downs and internal thought processes of playing these tournaments perfectly.

Agree with you on how nice it is to connect with 2p2ers. I've had the good fortune to meet a few of our gang.

Universally met good folks, lots of fun to get to know a little bit and hang out.

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 3 of 15)
Georgia arrives late and busts in four hands … one-round penalty eventually gets enforced

Level 2
100/200/200

A guy wearing a Georgia Bulldogs hat and carrying a Georgia Bulldogs mug joins the table to my immediate left. We are now six-handed. On his fourth hand at the table, Georgia busts when his A-Q loses to Perfectly Groomed’s 8-9 on an A-9-8 flop which led to some betting. When the harmless 2 hits on the turn, Georgia makes a massive all-in bet, and Perfectly Groomed is perfectly happy to snap call. Perfectly Groomed now has 105,000 chips. Georgia is gone. Hi and goodbye. This is just the first example of this table’s penchant for making massive all-in bets.

Georgia’s seat next to me gets filled by a guy with a graying beard.

End of Level 2: 46,100 chips

Level 3
200/300/300

I don’t remember what, but Perfectly Groomed says something that makes it very clear that he is very new to poker. The other thing I have noticed is that once he starts betting, he very frequently continues doing so on all three streets. I would like to get a big hand in a pot with Perfectly Groomed.

Meanwhile, I hear a floor staff member behind me telling someone the story of a player who was given a one-round penalty for throwing his cards in the dealer’s face when he busted from a tournament prior to today. The one round penalty was enforced today when he tried to play in his first tournament since then.

An interesting hand then occurs that I was not involved in. I don’t know the preflop action, but the flop is 2-4-6 all clubs. Foreign Guy has 3-5 for the straight and he makes a massive all-in bet of 21,000 chips. Maples Leafs has an A high flush draw and calls. Maple Leafs’ flush draw gets there on the turn, and Foreign Guy is out of the tournament.

We are back to five-handed. Isn’t this supposed to be an 8-handed tournament? We haven’t come close to that.

If you are wondering why I am writing about things other than my hands, it’s because I haven’t had a single playable hand for two levels.

End of Level 3: 45,200 chips

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 4 of 15)
I get active … I get out of line and bluff off a small amount of chips … outrage at a neighboring table … I may be pressing the action too impatiently after going card dead for a while

Level 4
200/400/400

I am dealt 8-9 off suit. It’s not a premium hand, but I haven’t played anything in quite some time. I limp hoping to see a cheap flop. Two other players also like the idea of a cheap flop. The flop comes 9-Q-K. I have bottom pair, but after folding so much I decide to take a stab at it, and I bet. Graying Beard calls. We both check on a harmless turn card. The river also seems harmless, but Graying Beard makes a huge pot-sized bet. I only have third pair mediocre kicker and I fold.

I am dealt K-6 suited. It folds to me, so I bet 1,200. The big blind calls. The flop is J-8-4. I don’t have any of it, but after folding so much I believe I can credibly tell the story of being strong. I bet and win the pot.

The next hand I have A-10 off suit. I bet and meet no resistance.

I then get out of line and bluff off some chips. I have A-9 suited. I open and get three calls. The flop is 6-5-2. Since I am the only one who has shown any strength thus far in the hand, I bet and Maple Leafs calls (in hindsight I failed to consider the fact that this flop hits my opponents’ ranges much more than mine, although it turns out to not really matter when it gets to showdown). The turn is a K, and it goes check check. The river is a 10. Check check. The reason I didn’t double and even triple barrel bluff is I am starting to realize that Maple Leafs does not like to fold. He constantly calls and calls and calls. I didn’t want to keep betting into someone who has started to display that he won’t get bluffed off hands. It turns out we both only have A high, but his J outkicks my 9.

UTG bets 1,000. I am in the big blind, and I call with 10-Q suited. The flop is 8-8-9. I have no flush draw and only a gut shot. My opponent bets and I fold.

A young Asian girl with a green hat joins the table.

Meanwhile, at a neighboring table, a guy busts when he is caught bluffing. Apparently, he was called very light by someone. The busted player is outraged at how light he got called. “How can you make that call?” he demands. He lectures the caller, “What are you doing making that call?” I am thinking to myself, “What he is doing is stacking all of your chips. Now please, don’t go away angry. Just go away.” I say nothing of course.

I mark down in my notes that Maple Leafs, who is two to me left, is very sticky and very difficult to blow of a hand. I really want to get in a hand with him when I have “it.”

When I am UTG, I make a loose bet with A-8 suited. Graying Beard calls. The flop is 5-8-9. I have middle pair so a take a stab at it and bet. Put people to tough decisions is my thought. I get called. The turn is a 7, and the board is four to a straight. It goes check check. The turn is a Q. I check. Graying Beard goes all-in, and I fold.

As the level ends, and we go on break, Graying Beard (who has been losing a bunch of pots to other players) says to me “You’re the only one I can beat.” It is meant good naturedly. I take no offense.

I am thinking to myself that I am not getting premium cards for the last three levels, and this last level I have started pressing the action too much with hands that don’t always justify the aggression. Yes, it is good to put opponents to tough decisions, but maybe I have overdone it lately. I tell myself there is still plenty of time to be patient.

End of Level 4: 37,600 chips.

During the break, I quickly eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then I take a bathroom break. The line was a bit long, so I am tight on time, but I still manage to squeeze in a call to the car service I use to request that they pick me up from the airport in Chicago when I return home in a couple of days. I also consider the fact that my table is still only six-handed. There is nothing wrong with opening wider in theory, but my bluffs are not getting thru. It’s a bit of a conundrum. Am I stepping up my aggression in a good way, and I shouldn’t be results oriented? Or have I gone too far? My lack of experience makes it difficult for me to piece together the puzzle. I’m at a fork in the road, and I’m not sure which way to go.

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 5 of 15)
A neighboring player confides he is having a rough start to the WSOP … untruth in advertising: why is this tournament called an 8-max? … finally my table is 8-handed … what to do with A-Qo when there is an early position bet and an early position raise before I act?

Level 5
300/500/500

Graying Beard and I are talking. He tells me that he is having a rough summer. He says he started out well by cashing in the Mystery Millions, but ever since he has been running bad. He has found it hard to win pots, and when he gets all-in from ahead, he keeps getting screwed by the deck.

With 4-4 from the small blind, I see a four-way flop, which is 7-7-K. Set mining has not worked, and I fold to Mr. Green’s bet.

I am on the button with 10-Q off suit, and my bet gets through. Hey, I actually won a hand. It feels like it’s been a while. I have 35,600 chips. Still a lot of playability.

We continue to be 6-handed. I feel like the WSOP calling this tournament 8-handed is false advertising.

A young Asian girl wearing a mask is now seated next to the young Asian girl wearing a hat that has been at the table. We are 7-handed for the first time all day. Quickly a guy wearing a Hooters hat who is from Liverpool is seated to my right. We are eight-handed for the first time all day. Finally.

In the last hand of the level, I am faced with a painful decision. Perfectly Groomed opens from UTG to 1,300. From UTG+2, Hooters pops it to 4,000. I look down at A-Q off suit. This is the best hand I have seen in forever. My gut tells me I am beat. Badly. I struggle with the decision. I want to play power poker and put them to a difficult decision. Instead, I make what I believe to be a disciplined lay down. I hope it goes to showdown so I can see what they had. Unless I made a bad fold, in which case I kind of don’t want to know. Next, Graying Beard calls. Perfectly Groomed now pops it to 12,000. Hooters goes all-in. I am starting to feel much better about my fold. Graying Beard folds. Perfectly Groomed has Q-Q. Hooters has A-K. Had I gotten involved, I would have had virtually no path to victory. I feel vindicated. I think that a year ago I might have gotten involved in this hand. Hooters does not improve and is out of the tournament almost as fast as he began. Hi and goodbye.

End of Level 5: 34,200 chips

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 6 of 15)
Getting tricky with K-K … Finally I have “it” against a player who does not like to fold … I get blasted off A-Q

Level 6
300/600/600

The good news: I am dealt K-K in the small blind.

The bad news: It folds to me. Seriously? Now the rest of the table slows down?

I see only one way I can earn chips. I just call. Once before I did this in small versus big blind action, and Graying Beard raised. Sure enough, he raises to 2,500. I reraise it to 7,500. Now, a case can be made that I should just call. But I think when he raises and I pop it, he may remember what happened the last time and think I am just making a move to combat his raise of my limp. An I know what you know what I know scenario. Graying Beard calls. He only has 11,000 chips left. The flop is three low cards. I just check hoping to induce. He also checks. The turn is a 9. At this point I put him all-in. He'll probably fold, but maybe he doesn’t believe me since I checked the flop. He folds. I am back to slightly above starting stack with 41,100 chips.

Graying Beard busts the very next hand.

End of Level 6: 41,100 chips.

Level 7
400/800/800

I am dealt A-K on the button. I bet and both blinds call including Maple Leafs. The flop is A-J-2. Now remember, Maple Leafs does not like to fold. He is a calling station. I have been wanting to get in a hand with him when I have “it.” That time is now. I bet and of course Maple Leafs calls (the other preflop caller folds). The turn is a blank. I bet, and of course Maple Leafs calls. He is sticky, sticky, sticky, and now he is getting stuck. The river is another blank. I bet one more time, and Maple Leafs finally gets the memo and folds. I have 54,600 chips.

I get dealt A-Q and open for 2,100. Asian Girl Wearing Hat (not to be confused with Asian Girl Wearing Mask) calls. The flop is J-8-2. I have none of it, but I was the preflop aggressor, so I make a continuation bet. Asian Girl Wearing Hat goes all-in big. I fold.

A new player joins the table to my immediate left. He is wearing an Innocence Project shirt, but before I can give him a name, he puts a purple sweater on over the shirt. So, he’ll be Mr. Purple.

End of Level 7: 50,000 chips.

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 7 of 15)
Both Asian women at the table are playing crazy … On break I meet up with TonySoprano9

Level 8
500/1,000/1,000

I do not get dealt a single playable hand this level. That allows me the time to really pay attention to the players at my table. Maple Leafs continues to show that once he is in a hand, he does not seem to ever fold to a first bet (and usually also calls a turn bet). He’s not bluffable as far as I can tell. The other thing I notice about him is that when he gets unlucky in a hand, he really shows his emotions afterward. No rants, just quiet frustration oozing from his facial expressions.

But the real story is the two young Asian women. They are playing hyper aggressive poker that at times is just plain crazy. Asian Girl Wearing Mask calls multiple streets of betting and check raises after the river card with … wait for it … Q high. She had Q-2 that in no way connected with the board. I tell myself that they may earn some chips with this unpredictable style, but eventually they are going to implode.

End of Level 8: 45,400 chips

We go on break. As planned, I meet up with LVL’s TonySoprano9 halfway between the Paris where he is playing and the Horseshoe where I am playing. Halfway is in front of Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Sports Kitchen. He texts me what color sweatsuit he is wearing. I text back that I am wearing a magenta shirt. He later tells me his first response was, “What’s magenta?” But he figured it out. He has 58,000 chips in the same tournament I am playing in.

It's only a short break but we talk about our respective table dynamics, his flight to the United States, and a little bit about the sports betting he does. I tell him the story from back in my sportwriting days how I had to make picks against the point spread for every NFL game, and one year I finished an insanely good 50 games above .500, and how some readers would call in for my picks in a panic if my publication did not get to them on time. The reality is that I did not put any real time into the picks since it was just about the most minor part of my job on football Sundays, but somehow I was just scorching hot that season. We cut our talk short since we have to get back to our tables, but we say we’ll keep each other apprised of how we’re doing and figure something out about dinner.

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 8 of 15)
A table of opponents who will not fold … I take a stand with an as yet unmade hand because I am not F-ing around … The one and only time all WSOP that I show one of my cards … Asian Girl Wearing Hat will not die

Level 9
600/1,200/1,200

Only one playable hand this level. Perfectly Groomed opens from middle position. I have K-Q off suit in the big blind and just call. I considered raising, but I didn’t want to overplay K-Q just because I was not seeing good cards. Maybe I should have raised. I’m not sure. The flop is 2-5-7. I check. Perfectly Groomed bets. I fold.

End of Level 9: 39,200 chips

Level 10
800/1,600/1,600

Now we’ve reached the point where half of my table … will … not … fold. To win a hand, you pretty much need to be willing to bet at an absolute minimum two streets of value. I don’t know what they are thinking. They seem hellbent on setting their chips on fire. It would help if I could get dealt some decent hands to combat their insanity.

UTG, I finally get dealt As-Kh. I open with a bet of 4,000. I get two calls. The flop is 8s-5s-4s. I have the nut flush draw and the nut over cards. But I still do not have a made hand. And I’m tired of my bets/bluffs getting no respect. I’m not going to bet the standard one-third bet on the flop. Heck, I’m not even going to use an old school half size pot bet. I may not have a made hand, but I have the nut spade. Plus, any A or K could very likely put me in the lead. I have a ton of equity.

The big blind to my immediate right checks. This is it. If I have to, I’ll get it all-in. This was where I was going to take my stand. This was where I would let them know I wouldn’t be pushed around post flop. This was where I finally get them to back down. And by “them” I meant everybody. The player to my right in the hand, the rest of the table, the poker Gods themselves. This is where I took my Lt. Dan (Forrest Gump movie reference) stand against everyone and everything. It was time for a showdown …

I make a pot-sized bet. I have announced that I am not F-ing around. The next player to act instafolds. Now the big blind to my right has the action on him. He tanked. Then tanked some more. If he shoves, I’m calling. And finally, after tanking even longer, he showed one card – the Ace of Clubs -- and mucked his hand, saying, “I had the wrong black Ace.” Then I did something I didn’t do the entirety of my WSOP, I showed a card. I showed the Ace of Spades and said, “I believe this is the card you were looking for.”

I have 48,400 chips.

OK, I tell myself, it worked but now I probably need to dial it down a notch or two. That said, I think my aggressive stand was necessary. The table has been playing loose/crazy/reckless. The way I see it the only choices are to really tighten up and wait for hands (which is problematic since I am not getting hit by the deck) or pick spots to punch back. On the just completed hand I punched back with an unmade hand that nonetheless had tons of equity. I think a show of strength was necessary. Otherwise they just run me over.

Asian Girl Wearing Hat loses almost all of her chips when she overplays A-Q versus a new player to my immediate right who has A-A. On the very next hand she is aware that she will have to post the big blind for all her chips after this hand, and she goes all-in blind. She has K-J and gets a call from Mr. Green who has 4-4. Asian Girl Wearing Hat makes a straight and stays in the tournament, although she still does not have very many chips.

Asian Girl Wearing Mask goes all-in with 2-2 versus Perfectly Groomed’s A-K, and she’s crushed when the flop is A-K-4. She does not find her two-outer, and she is eliminated.

Asian Girl Wearing Hat goes all-in. Someone calls, but I did not write down what they had. Once again, Asian Girl Wearing Hat makes another unlikely straight to stay alive.

With the exception of the As-Kh hand, I’m still card dead.

End of Level 10: 40,600 chips.

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 9 of 15)
Going for it with the hated 10-10 … I go on a rush … I don’t care if she’s beautiful, I take a bunch of chips from Super Hot Oilers Fan

Level 11
1,000/2,000/2,000

Just a shade over 20 big blinds. Still don’t have to panic.

I am dealt 10-10. I open the betting by putting 6,000 chips into the middle. Maple Leafs min raises to 12,000, which looks strong. Ugh. The hand I struggle with most is 10-10. The way I see it is while 20 big blinds is not reason to panic, at some point I need to manufacture chips. I have been treading water around original starting stack most of the day. I decide to go for it. I go all-in. As expected, the super sticky Maple Leafs calls. He has A-Q. I flop a 10. By the turn, Maple Leafs is drawing dead. The river is a Q (good thing I flopped a set). The dealer sees the Q and starts to mistakenly move the pot toward Maple Leafs. The table erupts and tells the dealer to stop what he is doing. The pot makes its way to me. I have 86,200 chips.

I am dealt A-K. I bet 5,000 and get two calls. The flop is A-Q-2. Everyone checks. I am certain this will get me action on the turn. The turn is another 2. I bet 8,000 and both players fold. Now my fold-resistant opponents get timid? I have 97,000 chips.

The next hand Maple Leafs overplays his A-8 versus Perfectly Groomed’s Q-Q on a 10-8-2 boards, and Maple Leafs is left with scraps. Soon thereafter, Maple Leafs is out.

When Mr. Green busts, the only players remaining from the early stages of our table are myself and Perfectly Groomed.

We are 6-handed for a while.

Asian Girl Wearing Hat has rebuilt her chip stack a bit, but she busts when she overplays A-6 against Perfectly Groomed’s 10-10. There is a 10 on the flop, and Asian Girl Wearing Hat is out.

A new player joins the table. It is an extremely attractive woman wearing an Edmonton Oilers jersey. I am dealt Q-10 suited and I open to 5,000. Super Hot Oilers Fan calls. I don’t care if she’s beautiful. I just want her chips. The flop is A-K-J. I have flopped the nuts. It goes check check. Tricky tricky. The turn is a 9. I bet 3,000 and Super Hot Oilers Fan calls. The river is a blank. This time I bet big. I put in a pot-sized bet. I choose this polarizing sizing to give the illusion that I am trying to buy the pot. She folds.

Next hand I have A-Q. I bet and everyone folds.

Mr. Purple with only a flush draw after the flop busts both Super Hot Oilers Fan and another new player when his flush gets there on the turn.

End of Level 11: 102,200 chips.

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 10 of 15)
K-J keeps costing me chips … it’s an all-in frenzy during the level just before the end of late reg … I slow play a set of kings

Level 12
1,000/2,500/2,500

I have K-J and I open to 6,000 and get two calls. On a flop of 4-4-6, I bet and both of the other players go all-in. I can take a hint, and I fold. Perfectly Groomed flopped a full house and wins the hand.

I am again dealt K-J. I bet. A new player to the table goes all-in with his 40,000 chips. I fold.

I think I may have played another hand where I opened, got shoved on and folded. It’s not in my notes but I am pretty there was another hand like this.

I am bleeding chips to the massive over-betting all-in frenzy that has exploded out of nowhere. Then it dawns on me that this is near the end for late reg, so these new players are looking to get it all-in and spin it up. I tell myself to tighten up a little bit, and be prepared to have to go with it when that happens.

I get dealt A-J and open to 5,000. Someone else calls 5,000. Mr. Purple goes all-in. Mr. Purple has been at the table for a while. He is not in spin-it-all-up-by-putting-everything-on-red-at-the-roulette-table mode. I have to give this all-in more respect. A-J seems just barely too thin to call. If I had A-Q I go with it. It’s close but I fold. Mr. Purple shows he had 10-10.

Next hand I play, I have K-K. I bet 6,000. A brand new late reg guy calls. The flop is K-6-7. I just know that if I check this, New Guy will blast off his chips. I check. New Guy goes all-in. I call. New Guy turns over, are you ready for this, 7-10. I have 88,500 chips.

We are 6-handed.

We are 5-handed.

Players are cycling through our table at warp speed. Hi and goodbye.

End of Level 12: 82,500 chips.

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 11 of 15)
I spend another break talking to TonySoprano9

We go on a 30-minute break.

TonySoprano9 and I text and he tells me he is browsing the WSOP merchandise room. He has 115,000 chips. I head over and meet him. I tell him how aggro blastoffy my table has been. He says he had one solid table, then there was a table change and his new table had four big blind walks in short order so he opened up his game some. I hear this and I say, “I haven’t seen four big blind walks in my entire series.”

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 12 of 15)
“This is not poker. It’s bingo.” … I have 10-10 again, I bet 9,000, Mr. Purple puts me all-in, I do not believe him and …

Level 13
1,500/3,000/3,000

In the first five hands, every time someone goes all-in. I write down in my notes, “This is not poker. It’s bingo.”

I don’t get dealt anything, and I have to pay the blinds a couple of times.

I am dealt 10-10 in the small blind. Once again I have the hand that twists me in knots trying to figure out what to do with it. Astonishingly, it folds to me. I bet 9,000. Mr. Purple, who may now be table chip leader, puts me all-in. I’m not a believer, but I take my time. His raise is way too big. If he has aces, he raises smaller so I don’t fold. The size of the bet is designed to make me go away. Of late, he has seen people jam on me frequently and I have been backing down. I am convinced he is doing this with the expectation that I will back down one more time. While it is possible that we may be flipping, I am convinced that he does not raise so massive if he truly has the goods. I think he is weak not strong.

I call.

He turns over A-2 off suit. I thought he was weak, but I didn’t think he’d be this weak. This hand is for around 135,000 chips at a time when chip average is approximately 98,000, and I am well ahead. Until I’m not.

The dealer shows us the flop, and it has an A. I don’t hit my two-outer, and I’m out of the tournament. As I get up to leave, Mr. Purple says to me, “That was unlucky.” I wish him luck the rest of the tournament. Re-entry just ended maybe 10 minutes ago as soon as we started Level 13, so I can’t even buy my way back in the tournament. That’s a bummer seeing as how tomorrow is my last day to play.

And just like that, my day is done. Before the flop I had dreams of maybe cashing for a second time in WSOP 2025. Then came the flop, and all I have are shattered dreams. Cue the music …

I am actually not upset about the last hand. Even though I made a correct call, I’m still only a 70-30 favorite. Thirty percent happens. If anything, I am quite pleased with myself. To call with 10-10 was not easy for me, but I thought it through and I correctly deduced exactly what my opponent was doing. I hate 10-10. It is my least favorite hand. It gives me nothing but trouble on the decision tree. To call correctly with it is progress. I considered the table dynamic, and I did not succumb to monsters under the bed. I made a difficult but correct call. And I got punished for it. Cards do not always cooperate. Welcome to tournament poker.

That said, I am down to one more day of poker play. I really would have liked to see what I could have done with 135,000 chips if my hand had held. When you play as little volume as I do, it really is unfortunate when negative variance hits. To be fair, I did get lucky a couple of times on Day 2 of the Colossus. These things have a tendency to even out over time.

Would I have cashed a second time at this year’s WSOP if my hand had held up? That is really impossible to say. I went out in 1,789th place out of 4,481 entries. There was still a looooooong way to go until the money. And the blinds were getting so high that I probably would have needed to get some hands to make it. But I sure would have liked the opportunity to see if I could have taken those 135,000 chips and turned them into another cash.

For comparison’s sake, at the end of Level 13 in the Colossus flight 1B that I made it into the money I had 136,000 chips. If my 10-10 held up just now against A-2 in Level 13, I would have been in an almost identical spot with 135,000 chips. If. The tournament poker player’s lament …

… what might have been.

got to win those 70:30s!

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 13 of 15)
Dinner with TonySoprano9 at Mon Ami Gabi … I try unsuccessfully to meet up with GoIrish

I don’t wallow in a pity party. It’s part of poker. The cards can be cruel. Deal with it. Get over it. I text TonySoprano9 and tell him that I’m out. He texts me back: “Haven’t won a hand since we started again.”

At the last break, he had told me he was playing in Paris Black, so I walk over there and I locate where he is playing. The NHL Stanley Cup game is playing on a big screen on the wall. I figure I’ll rail my new acquaintance and watch hockey. This works for me.

He doesn’t realize I am nearby. He texts me, “Just lost big flip AQ vs JJ. Short now.”

I text back, “I’m on your rail if you look up. Sorry about the flip.”

He busts shortly thereafter when his flopped two pair get run down by a flush.

We decide to go to Mon Ami Gabi to eat. We request a table outside. We are WSOP bundled up for the cold, so when we get to our table in the Las Vegas heat we both have to start removing layers of clothing and put them in our respective backpacks. It’s nice to sweat after being in the WSOP icebox so much.

The company and conversation are great. It’s mostly poker. A little bit about sports betting. A little about our families. We talk about my need to defend my big blind more. Although he doesn’t beat me over the head about it, it is obvious TonySoprano9 feels I need to be more willing to call from the big blind. The problem I have with this is I have so little volume of live play throughout the year that I have a difficult time wanting to put myself in difficult positions from the big blind. We enjoy our dinners. We split the check. TonySoprano9 goes online and finds a cash mixed game at the Paris Ballroom that he thinks is perfect for him. I walk with him there, and I say, “Go win everyone’s money.”

Next, I try to reach GoIrish to see if he wants to meet up. He says he has been knocked out of his limit tournament. He says he is at his hotel room and wants to shower. Then there is radio silence for quite a while. It turns out that GoIrish sat on his bed and unintentionally crashed. Out cold asleep. Given how late he got in last night and then played in a poker tournament today, it is perfectly understandable that his body rebelled and said enough.

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 14 of 15)
Ren Lin is a good sport … The Martin Kabrhel show … Mustapha Kanit joins the party

While I am waiting to hear from GoIrish, I walk over to the section of the Paris Ballroom where a 50K high roller 8-handed NLH tournament is taking place. I get there just in time to see a bald player bet Ren Lin off a pot on the turn. The bald player says, “Do you play all the time?” Lin indicates he does. Bald guy says, “Well, let me know when you play.” It is a needle. A gentle one. Lin takes it in stride, laughs and rubs the bald guy’s head. The entire table laughs. Watching for a bit, it becomes apparent that Lin keeps the table loose, light and fun. The other players all seem to like him.

Shortly after the bald guy needles Lin, a player from a table over shouts, “Ren, Ren, is there a seat at your table. I want to play at your table. I’ll pay 100K.” It is a similar needle as the bald guy’s comment, but it feels more aggressive. Kind of mean spirited. Out of line given he isn’t even at the same table. I go over to the other guy’s table and he is trash talking the other players, trying to get under the skin of the other players. He doesn’t shut up. It is annoying. No one is laughing. I am pretty sure I know who this irritant is, but just to be sure I ask a guy on the rail who seems to know some of the players if he knows who this person is. The Guy on the Rail says, “The guy who won’t stop talking? (Martin) Kabrhel. He’s an a$$hole.”

Mustapha Kanit is moved to the table in the seat to Kabrhel’s immediate left.

After a bit, Kanit goes to another table to talk to a player there. Based upon the fact that they both start looking at Kabrhel, Kanit presumably is telling the other player that he has been moved next to Kabrhel. The other player calls out to Kabrhel, “Martin, be quiet for once.”

At the same time I am bearing witness to Kabrhel’s non-stop agitation of others, I have been reading the book “The Football Vault,” which is a collection of NFL magazine articles from past pages of Sports Illustrated. It just so happens that I have just read a long feature of former Bears all-time great linebacker Dick Butkus originally written September 21, 1970. There is a passage about the fearsome Butkus’ physical ferocity that makes me think of the unimposing Kabrhel’s relentless verbal agitation.

The passage reads, “Tight end Charlie Sanders of Detroit has equally vivid memories. In the first Lion-Bear game last year Sanders caught a pass and Butkus gave him the old, rib-cracking Bear hug. Then Sanders caught a second pass and Butkus poked his fingers through Charlie’s face mask into his eyes. In the course of the afternoon’s work the Lions charged Butkus with provoking three fights and Detroit General Manager called him ‘an annihilating son of a bitch.’ Sanders, laughing, took it more coolly. ‘Dick’s just a maladjusted kid,’ he said.”

Back to the WSOP, Kabrhel’s barrage of words are nothing short of a verbal assault. What Butkus once did with his physicality, Kabrhel does with his vocal cords.

Ren Lin busts out of the tournament, but before he does so he seemed to be keeping everyone at his table laughing and happy. Kabrhel does not seem to be having the same effect on his table.

Shortly thereafter, it is time to bag chips. Ren Lin did not make it. Mr. Agitation did.

WSOP $800 NLH 8-handed (June 9, 2025) (part 15 of 15)
I’m faced with a poker decision not covered in my poker training site videos

I head back to my hotel room, and I ask myself a question.

Do I, or don’t I?

Do I play in tomorrow’s WSOP turbo bounty event?

I don’t like turbos. I don’t like bounty events.

But, tomorrow is my last full day in Las Vegas. My last chance to play a WSOP event.

As I am about to go to bed, I still have not decided. I figure I’ll set my alarm, wake up in the morning and see how I feel about it.