Gray-haired poker TRs: Living the WSOP dream
At the age of 62 (AARP members unite!), I have decided that I will write a trip report for my 2024 trek to the World Ser
MSPT, East Chicago, Indiana
Final thoughts
Hanging around, hanging around, kid’s got alligator blood … Between the WSOP and the MSPT I am consistently playing pretty deep into my events. A couple of times I have cashed, a couple of times I have barely missed, other times I’m not near the money but I still go pretty deep. I consistently last double-digit levels. I feel like I can play with the caliber of players I have faced at the WSOP and MSPT. I’m not a crusher, but it is surprising given my total inexperience how deep into tournaments I keep lasting. I keep waiting for way more experienced players to expose me for the newbie that I am, but so far it's just not happening.
0-for-2 but reason for optimism … Even though I came up just short in two MSPT events, I am encouraged that I came so close. As I’ve said repeatedly, the money does not matter that much to me. It would be nice to have a huge result but that’s not what revs my engine. I am all about the competition. I love competition. I am competing in poker, and I’m running well above expectation. That is thrilling to me. I’m not asking for a participation trophy for playing well but not elite. But I am putting myself in The Arena, and while I have some bumps and bruises from the experience, I am not leaving bloodied and battered. For now, that is more than enough to keep me motivated. In two MSPT events I came within shouting distance of the money, and I did it on one bullet both days. No trophies for that. No Hendon Mob entries for that. But I feel I can hold my head high at how I am doing. I’m surprisingly/frequently putting myself in position to make an in-the-money run (and possibly more) if I can just get a late rush of cards. So far that late rush of cards has proven to be elusive. But as long as I can keep putting myself in these positions, sooner or later the deck should turn in my favor. The key is to keep putting myself in these positions.
Caliber of play at MSPT … I was, for the most part, impressed by the quality of play at my tables. There were a lot of really difficult foes who played a high variance, aggressive style that can be difficult to handle. There were a fair number of sticky players who don’t back down. There were a lot of players that really battled for pots. Although the occasional player lit his or her chips on fire, this was the exception and not the rule. Add it all up and I think the MSPT was good practice for me with an eye on getting better on the road to WSOP 2026. I will definitely consider other MSPT events if the scheduling works for me.
MSPT dealers … Every dealer I had was excellent, experienced and personable. Really outstanding. Massively better than early level dealers at WSOP low buy-in events. In fairness, the MSPT needs a lot less dealers than the WSOP requires, but the caliber of the MSPT dealers was really impressive. None of the this-is-my-first-day-dealing that you get from wide-eyed, slightly terrified WSOP newbie dealers. I don’t say that critically. Everyone has to start “somewhere,” but it was nice that “somewhere” was not at this MSPT tournament.
The blinds … My one complaint about the MSPT is it skips certain standard blind increases, resulting in blinds on steroids as the money bubble approaches. In my first MSPT tournament, I got knocked out three spots short of the money when the blinds were 10,000/20,000/20,000. In my second MSPT tournament I got knocked out seven spots short of the money when the blinds were 6,000/12,000/12,000 (and while I did not stick around to see, I suspect the blinds went up more before the bubble burst). As a comparison point, I look up what the blinds were on the stone bubble of the Colossus I cashed in at the 2025 WSOP and it was 5,000/10,000/10,000.
If only the MSPT paid the top 15% of entrants … What it takes to cash is very different in the MSPT compared to the WSOP. In the WSOP the top 15% of entrants cash. In the MSPT, a smaller percentage of players make the money. In my first MSPT event, only the top 11.65% of players made the money. In my second MSPT event, only the top 10.77% of players made the money. Having to make the top 10-12% at the MSPT is significantly different than having to make the top 15% at the WSOP. Mathematically it may not seem that much different, but from a poker perspective I think the difference is pretty large when you factor in how much pressure the blinds are causing at this point in a tournament. Until I was typing this, I had forgotten that the MSPT pays a smaller percentage of players than does the WSOP. I go back and do some more math. In my first MSPT, I made the top 12.74%. In my second MSPT, I made the top 14.36%. If WSOP payouts had been used, I would have made the money in both MSPT tournaments. Yes, I know things could/would have played out differently if the MSPT bubble was at 15%, so who knows if I would have cashed. And again, I’m not asking for a participation trophy for making the top 15% in tournaments that pay out at 10-12%. But seen through the prism of how am I progressing as a player with a constant eye on my next WSOP, the fact that I made the top 15% in both MSPT events I played is at a minimum interesting and perhaps is even a bit encouraging.
Mini trip report alert
I am on a road trip in which poker plays a part but is not the center piece of the trip.
I asked artificial intelligence to provide a preview of the trip for the benefit of 2+2 readers. Here it is:
Mini trip report
Firekeepers Casino tournament, Battle Creek, Michigan ... Michigan-New Mexico football game
It’s 6:30 a.m.
If you ask me, this is not a time of day when rational human beings should be awake. I would rather be going to sleep at 6:30 a.m. than waking up at that time.
Yet, here I am stumbling out of bed at 6:30 a.m. on a Friday. I am going to drive to Michigan for Saturday night’s Michigan-New Mexico season opener under the lights in The Big House. Normally, I would leave around 10 a.m. for this drive that I have made close to 200 times in my lifetime. It’s about a five hour drive with no stops.
But I am changing things up now that I am playing in increasingly more poker tournaments. About three hours and fifteen minutes into this drive I will reach Battle Creek, Michigan where Firekeeper’s Casino resides. As it turns out, Firekeeper’s Casino has a NLHE tournament every Friday at 12 noon Michigan time.
Unfortunately, I lose an hour going from the Central Time Zone where I reside to the Eastern Time Zone (where the state of Michigan resides). I also have to factor in the fact that both the highway and the tollway leading out of Chicago are both under major, massive construction. I build in some time for that, although I hope if I leave as early as will be necessary maybe there won’t be that much traffic.
So, I stumble around and fumble around, and at 7:05 a.m. the car is packed (I am using Mrs. rppoker’s car because the fender from a previous mishap with my car is not scheduled to start being repaired for another two weeks) and I am on the road.
My plan gets off to a roaring success as there is hardly any traffic this early in the morning on the tollway. I practically fly out of Chicago.
I cross the Illinois/Indiana border and Mrs. rppoker’s car says (a woman’s voice that speaks as part of the navigation system) out loud, “Welcome to Indiana.” As I drive, I am nonetheless pretty sleepy. Mrs. rppoker’s car seems to sense this (was I swerving?) and there is a gentle ding and then I notice on the dash it reads, “Would you like to take a break?”
Would I like to take a break? I’d like to take a nap, but I’ve got a poker tournament to get to.
I get to the Indiana/Michigan border, and Mrs. rppoker’s car says, “Welcome to Michigan.”
I have to say, Mrs. rppoker’s car is damn polite.
I’m making good time and it looks like I will arrive at the casino with a good 30 minutes to spare. Then my age creeps into the equation. For 45 years I have made this trip without ever stopping. I have been a camel all my life going loooooong stretches without the need for water or bathroom breaks. During the last year, I have required more bathroom breaks. Nothing huge. I still go way less often than my friends need to. But now is one of those times where I’ve gotta go. I am about an hour away from the casino, and I realize waiting until I get there is not an option. I pull over at the next exit, take care of business and I am back on the road very quickly. Picture a competitively fast NASCAR pit stop.
I very quickly realize that a bee is a stowaway from when I opened the car door. I lower my window and the bee flies away. Running good.
I arrive at the casino at 11:35 a.m., which is perfect timing. By 11:45 a.m. I have received my player card for the casino, and I have registered for the tournament. It turns out the tourney starts at 12:15 p.m., not 12:00 noon, so I actually have a little time to kill. I walk around. The poker room has a dogs playing poker digital visual outside the poker room. Of course, I include dogs any time possible in this thread.
The casino floor is relatively modern, clean and has a nice mix of both young(ish) and old players playing the slot machines. This is not just old man/woman coffee players giving away their money to the slot machines.
There are some odd sights. I pass a young couple making out in a slightly off-the-beaten path area just off the casino floor. Strange place for that. I pass a bank of slot machines that are shrines to Whitney Houston. While I think her singing range was amazing, it seems weird to me that these slot machines would promote a singing legend who has been deceased for 13 years.
The final oddity is the sports book, which for the moment is solely a bar since they aren’t ready to take wagers yet. I would have thought the second the buildout was complete they would be pushing to take player bets immediately.
I’ve killed all the time I can. I am ready to play poker, although conditions are not optimal for me. I am tired from the 6:30 a.m. wake up time. My allergies are the worst they’ve been in a couple of years. My lower back is achy from the lengthy drive. And I’m about to play what I suspect might be a mega turbo event.
What could possibly go wrong?
I get to my table a few minutes early. My $50.00 entry fee gets me 10,000 chips. At the table, an additional $5.00 cash gets you 2,000 more add-on chips.
The poker room staff seems extremely friendly. A drink cart lady comes by to take any requests.
Level 1
100/200
The levels last 15 minutes. There isn’t a big blind ante in early levels, but eventually it will come into play. There is plenty of play for everyone’s chip stack right now, but I suspect the blinds will become an issue a lot earlier here than it does at the WSOP. I think this tournament will eventually be good practice for WSOP short stack situations. I expect this tournament to have a major turbo feel. What else can I target as practice for the WSOP? I think it depends on the style of play of the people at my table. The structure of this tournament is not great. The entry fee is low, which means the payouts will be nothing to get excited about. I am viewing this as a live training session. I will look for opportunities to try things that will hopefully lead to personal growth as I spend the bulk of the year trying to get better leading up to WSOP 2026.
The players at my table are 50% young, but there are a few players around my age.
I fold for a bit, before I get cards that I can play. I look down at A-J off suit. One player limps, I raise to 800 and get two callers. The flop is K-10-4 rainbow. All I have is a gut shot, but I was the pre flop aggressor so I continuation bet and everyone folds. I have 13,600 chips.
The next hand I play is 6-6 from early position. I limp. There is a raise. I call as do two other players. The flop is 2-8-2, which isn’t terrible for my hand, but I don’t really want to get overly aggressive with 6-6 in a four-way pot. I fold to a bet. I have 12,800 chips.
I get dealt J-10 suited UTG. I open for 400. I did not write down why I switched from 3x to 2x. I get two callers. I miss the flop, which is A-7-3 rainbow. I have absolutely nothing going other than the fact that the A hits more of my perceived range than it does for my opponents. I bet half pot and get one caller. The turn does nothing to help me, but I again bet half pot, and my opponent folds. I have either 14,000 or 15,000 chips (I can’t make out my writing).
End of level 1: 14,000 or 15,000 chips.
Level 2
200/400
In the small blind, I have J-7 suited. There is a limp, I complete the blinds, and the BB checks. The flop is J-7-2. I have top two pair. I bet half pot, and unfortunately I find no customers.
Otherwise, I just fold bad cards this level.
End of level 2: 13,800 chips.
Level 3
300/600
We have been seven-handed up until now, but all at once three players join the table, and we are 10-handed.
One thing that I notice is this table is very friendly, very talkative. Everyone seems to be having a good time.
I don’t get dealt a hand that is remotely playable this entire level.
End of level 3: 12,900 chips.
Level 4
400/800/800
The big blind ante comes into play starting with this level.
I notice that a player at the other end of the table tips every dealer a tiny bag of Skittles after every hand he wins.
A new player has joined the table fairly recently and he is an absolute Table Maniac. Over a handful of levels, I estimate that he plays 90% of the hands. The guy is involved in virtually every hand played. I almost immediately take note of his style. I identify this is a great learning/training opportunity. This type of player initially intimidated me when I first started playing tournaments, but I have been becoming more confident playing against this type of adversary. This guy, however, plays a higher percentage of hands than anyone I have ever faced at the WSOP. Plus, he is pretty sticky post flop. My game plan is to play good cards (certainly better cards than Table Maniac) and then fight fire with fire. Showing weakness against this guy is a poker death sentence. I tell myself that when facing a bully, you have to punch him in the nose to earn his respect. It is already apparent that most of the players at the table are backing down from Table Maniac’s relentless aggression. I vow to seek confrontation with Table Maniac. My image is very tight, so my aggression should be treated with respect.
Table Maniac limps. It folds to me in the big blind. I have J-7 suited. The flop is K-7-4. I have middle pair, OK kicker. I bet and Table Maniac folds. Interesting. This is the first time I have seen him fold to a single post flop bet.
The very next hand I am in the small blind and I have 10-10. Six players limp (SIX!!!). That’s a lot of dead money in the middle. I strongly suspect I am ahead of everyone at the moment, but I don’t want to see a flop against the whole world where any paint or an A is likely to hit someone. I go all-in. The very first limper protests saying, “I only put 800 chips out there.” The inference is he was playing nice, and I pulled out a bazooka. Everyone, including Table Maniac, folds. I have 18,000 chips.
End of level 4: 18,000 chips
Level 5
500/1,000/1,000
For the time being, my table is playing six-handed. Table Maniac continues to play every hand. He has built up a very big chip stack.
Table Maniac limps, and it folds to me in the big blind. I have 8s-7d. I check. I flop middle pair and there are two diamonds on the board. I bet half pot. Table Maniac calls. The turn is a third diamond so I also have a mediocre flush draw. I bet. Table Maniac calls. The turn is yet another diamond. Four diamonds on the board. I have the 7d. I have a flush, but not an imposing flush. I know if I show weakness, I will face a big bet from Table Maniac. I go all-in. Table Maniac folds. I have 26,100 chips.
The next hand I play, I have J-J. I open to 3,500. I don’t know why I bet 3.5x instead of my standard 3x. Maniac calls. The flop is A-7-4. The ace is more in my range as the pre flop aggressor than it is in Table Maniac’s perceived range since he only called, plus my aggression against Table Maniac has been working magnificently, so I bet 5,000. Table Maniac raises to 10,000. If Table Maniac had done this against anyone else at the table I would find it suspicious since the rest of the table has been folding a ton to his aggression. But he has been backing down a lot against me, so I find this particular piece of aggression to be believable. I fold. Table Maniac shows an A. For some reason a bunch of the players at this table have shown their cards a fair amount when they win a hand, which has allowed me to have pretty good reads on a lot of them. I have not shown my cards once when it is not required. I have 17,600 chips.
End of level 5: 15,100 chips
We go on break. At this point anyone who puts down a $10 bill on the table will get an additional 10,000 chips when they return from break. Of course, everyone ponies up a $10 bill.
In addition, when we return from break, late registration/rebuys will be over.
So far there have been 45 entrants, 25 remain.
During the break, a tenant from the building I recently sold calls me. She had been three months behind in rent. We had spoken and she said she would pay me what she owed as soon as she could, and would move out this weekend. On this call, she says she has the three months back rent. She asks if I will ask the new owner if she can stay now that she is current in rent. I tell her to leave the back rent check on her desk in her office, and I will have the building engineer pick it up. I tell her I will speak to the new owner and see if they are open to having her sign a lease renewal (her old lease just expired). I’m out as owner, but the calls continue to straggle in.
After I finish this phone call, I notice that the poker room has a free pop machine. Excited. No Dr Pepper. Disappointed.
I see a poker service dog. Poker service dogs always get included in this thread.
I go back to my table. The 10,000 in add-on chips is with my stack. Plus, there is an extra 500 chip since I obviously won the color up. I have 25,500 chips.
Level 6
500/1,500/1,500
I am dealt A-A. One player limps. Table Maniac folds which is equal parts surprising and disappointing. Table Maniac never folds to a limp. He has been playing every hand. Not an exaggeration. Every hand! Now he folds when I have A-A? I don’t see how this is possible. If he were dealt a bread crumb and a bottle cap he calls there. If he were only dealt one card by mistake, he calls there. He has recently shown 4-8 and 2-5 as successful bluffs that got opponents to fold. It is simply baffling that he folds. Sigh. I pop it to 5,500. Everyone, including the original limper, folds. I have 30,500 chips.
It is announced that five players will get paid. There are 26 players still in the field.
When I am in the big blind I look down at 8-8. Three players limp. I raise to 11,500, which is a bit too much, but it gets the job done as everyone folds. I have 34,500 chips. The average stack is 34,870.
The next hand I play, Table Maniac limps. I have A-K and I make it 6,000. Table Maniac calls. The flop is J-7-2. All I have is A high, but while Table Maniac has been mega aggressive against everyone else, he has been backing down against me most of the time, so I bet 7,000. Table Maniac tank folds. I have 44,000 chips.
End of level 6: 44,000 chips.
Level 7
1,000/2,000/2,000
Although I am at my high-water mark in chips, I still only have 22 BBs. It’s a very playable stack, but nobody at the table is massively deep.
There are 23 players remaining. Long way from the money (top 5).
I am in the big blind, and I get a walk.
The next hand I play, I am dealt A-A. My notes don’t contain perfect details, but here is my reconstruction of the hand. I believe there were a couple of limpers, I make a chunky bet and only Table Maniac calls with 10-7 unsuited. The flop is J-7-rag. Table Maniac has middle pair, which is way behind my overpair to the board. I bet big and Table Maniac calls. The turn is another 7. Table Maniac has trips and has run down my A-A. At this point I believe my remaining chip stacks dictates I either check or go all-in. Yes, the 7 is a scare card, but given the range of cards Table Maniac plays (two pieces of lint of better) I am ahead of waaaay more cards in his range than I am behind. Can Table Maniac have a 7? Sure. But the reality is he can have any two cards here. I go all-in. He snap calls. That’s not good. Up until this moment, I have been printing chips by being the only player at the table to play back at Table Maniac as aggressively as I have. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Of course, there is still a river card to come. I have two outs. I need an ace. A miracle cards hits on the river. Alas, it is not my miracle card. It’s not an A. It is Table Maniac’s miracle card. It is the final 7 in the deck. Table Maniac has turned 7-10 into quad 7s. On the turn, he cracked my aces. On the river, he pulverized my aces into dust. Should I have put him all-in on the river? If I had checked, I am certain he goes all-in and then I have the difficult decision to make. I decided to put him to the test instead. I think against this particular opponent it would have been criminal to check fold to a bet. Against this player I think I had to go for it all. If he has it, he has it. He improbably had it. I’ll let 2+2 to decide if it thinks I erred. In any event, we just played about a 93,000 chip hand in which a brutal run out decimated my stack. I have 3,000 chips remaining.
I have a bunch of hands before the blinds will reach me, but I do need to get it in before I am in the blinds. I fold a few hands. Then I mercifully see I have Q-Q. I put my pittance of chips in the middle, and we go four-way to the flop. My hand holds up, and I now have 12,000 chips (6 BBs).
When I am in the BB, I look down at 4-4. One player limps. Table Maniac limps. I go all-in. Only Table Maniac calls with 8-9 suited. It should be noted that the previous hand Table Maniac had the same 8-9 suited and cracked another player’s K-K by flopping two pair. This time the flop is clean, and my 4-4 is still in the lead. Table Maniac gets there when a 9 hits on the turn. The river brings me no joy, and I am out in 18th place. The player to my immediate rights says softly to me, “You can’t beat luck.”
…
Michigan versus New Mexico
The day after the poker tournament is the real reason for this trip. The season opener for the Michigan Wolverines versus New Mexico. I’ll let rpphotographer tell the story with his pictures.
Pregame: Parachuters
Pregame: Military flyover
Pregame: The team takes the field
The game
Final score: Michigan 34, New Mexico 17
The month of August is in the books. That means we are one month closer to WSOP 2026. It feels like that is a gazillion months away. I find myself feeling impatient.
Nice pics from the big house. You drive to every home game, 5 hours each way? That’s hard core.
AA hand fine as played I think. More likely he has Jx than 7x
Nice pics from the big house. You drive to every home game, 5 hours each way? That’s hard core.
AA hand fine as played I think. More likely he has Jx than 7x
I don't go to every home game. I usually go to four home games a year (if I weren't married I'd go to every home game, but as a married man I limit myself to four games and never back-to-back weekends). In big seasons I also go to the Big Ten title game and the national title game if Michigan is playing in them. Michigan home football games are absolutely my favorite thing to go to in life. Even more than going to the WSOP (and I love, love, love going to the WSOP).
The five hour drives aren't so bad. Sirius radio keeps me company (the college football station on the Friday drive there, and I listen to NFL games on the Sunday drive back home). I used to be able to do the five hour drive without stopping, but during the last couple of seasons I've had to allow for one bathroom stop and sometimes a second stop to stretch my legs.
The AA versus 7-10 hand was unfortunate, but these things happen. ... Poker.
A new first for me in poker
I was playing in an online NLHE Bounty Tournament tonight that started with something like 90 players. When it got down to five-handed at the final table I was the chip leader by a pretty wide margin, I had been knocking people out and collecting bounties left and right, and I was pushing around the rest of the players as I should have been as the large chip leader. I was not playing every hand, but I was playing more hands than the other remaining players, and they were backing down to my aggression.
Then came a hand where the smallest stack limped with Ks-8h, I raised with Ad-7d and he called. On the 8d-7c-2d flop I had middle pair and a flush draw. I put him all in and he called with top pair. I was behind, but I had 14 outs (which meant, by percentages, I was a razor-thin 51.62-to-48.38 favorite according to my trusty online poker odds calculator).
I got there on the river, and in the chat (where I had not once typed in anything) my opponent called me a "wanker."
For those keeping score at home, that makes one time I have ever been called a wanker.
As poker firsts go, this wasn't as noteworthy as my first WSOP cash. Hmmm, rpwanker. Nope, it doesn't do anything for me as nicknames go. I'll stick with rppoker.
A new first for me in pokerI was playing in an online NLHE Bounty Tournament tonight that started with something like 90 players. When it got down to five-handed at the final table I was the chip leader by a pretty wide margin, I had been knocking people out and collecting bounties left and right, and I was pushing around the rest of the players as I should have been as the lar
If this had occurred live instead of online it would have looked something like this ...
[B][U]I got there on the river, and in the chat (where I had not once typed in anything) my opponent called me a "wanker."
For those keeping score at home, that makes one time I have ever been called a wanker.
As poker firsts go, this wasn't as noteworthy as my first WSOP cash. Hmmm, rpwanker. Nope, it doesn't do anything for me as nicknames go. I'll stick with rppoker.
Funnily enough, this is how 'BigWhale' as a nickname came to be. I was playing at online tournament at PokerStars way back in the day, and I jammed 78s or something for 15 bb against against an opponents min-open. If memory serves me correct, he called with AQ but I won the hand.
He got very annoyed in chat and among other things called me a 'big whale'. I liked it, and eventually adopted it as my moniker. Not saying you should do the same though 😀
I am in the middle of my first sustained period of run bad since I started playing online again. The poker Gods are clearly angry with me.
During the last two weeks of online play, I have been dealt A-A in the big blind five times, which is the dream. Should be the dream. Hasn't been the dream. Has been a nightmare. Every single time I got my money in great only to see my aces get cracked. Every time. The next time I get dealt A-A in the big blind, am I supposed to fold? Kidding. Sort of. Yeah, I'm kidding. And of the last 13 times I have been dealt A-A in any position at the table, I have lost 10 times. And the three times I won, everyone folded to my pre flop open so I won the minimum.
Plus, I can't win a coin flip to save my life. Plus, I haven't been delivering bad beats to my opponents at all.
The worst came yesterday when I had a big chip stack in a large-sized online tourney and proceeded to get smashed by the deck pre flop. I got dealt A-A as the button, got it in great pre flop against a player who I had covered who had K-10 suited only to see a K on the flop and another K on the turn. Then I was dealt K-K, got it in great pre flop against a player I had covered who had K-Q, and the flop had two queens. Then I got dealt K-K again, got it in great by the turn against a player who had 8-8, and watched in horror as an 8 came on the river. Needless to say, I did not make the money.
There have been plenty more bad beat stories during this stretch, PLENTY, but you get the idea. I will spare you any more of my tales of woe.
I'm not describing this because of a love of telling bad beat stories. I'm not describing this because I am looking for a pat on the back and reassurances that variance will eventually turn in my favor. I know that run bad does not last forever (although it feels like forever).
I am describing this because I have instituted a rule for the time being for dealing with getting knocked out of tournaments on a bad beat.
The rule is, I stop playing. I think this is prudent for dealing with the frustration of my seemingly nonstop run bad. I think this is a way to avoid tilt. I think it is a way to avoid having one bad result (due to bad luck) lead to additional bad results (due to playing badly after a bad beat knockout hand). So I simply stop playing. I don't jump into a new tourney. I log out of the poker web site. I find something else to do. Sometimes I stop playing poker for an hour and then return to playing. Sometimes I stop playing for the rest of the night.
I don't think this will be a permanent rule. But it is the rule I am adhering to until the poker Gods decide to stop punishing me with soul crushing run bad.
During the last two weeks of online play, I have been dealt A-A in the big blind five times, which is the dream. Should be the dream. Hasn't been the dream. Has been a nightmare. Every single time I got my money in great only to see my aces get cracked. Every time. The next time I get dealt A-A in the big blind, am I supposed to fold? Kidding. Sort of. Yeah, I'm kidding.
Cough, hack, wheeze
The best laid plans ...
The plan was that I was going to play in the WSOP Circuit stop in Hammond, Indiana this coming Thursday in the $400 Double Stack No-Limit Hold'em tournament. My work schedule is wide open that day. The drive is very doable. The fact that it is called "Double Stack" (40,000 starting chips) means it is a deeper structure which fits my playing style. The stars seemed all aligned.
Until they weren't.
I've been sick for the past week (initially I thought it was just allergies). I don't feel physically bad, but I've had this persistent hacking cough that has been relentless caused by nasal congestion. It's been more annoying than anything else. My doctor sent me to the local hospital to get an outpatient chest X-ray this morning, and then I went to the doc's office.
Results were in. A mild bit of pneumonia probably preceded by a respiratory infection of some sort.
Sort now I'm on a double dose of antibiotics. Already I can feel improvement. The optimist in me said, maybe I'll be good to go by Thursday. After all, the doc said I'm not contagious (I asked). Surely a few days of antibiotics will make me feel much better. I wanted to believe. I needed to believe.
I floated a trial balloon along those lines in conversation with Mrs. rppoker. She immediately popped said trial balloon. I believe the totality of the discussion was, "Absolutely not!"
Of course she is right. Even I know she is right. I hate the fact that she is right. Doesn't mean I have to like that she is right. But I do need to listen to the fact that she is right.
I don't want to fold this hand. I know I have to. I go in the tank, but fold I must.
This can't last forever, can it?
My poker runbad is now going on three weeks in online play. I keep getting it in waaaaay ahead, and I keep losing.
I wasn't going to share any bad beat stories for obvious reasons, but I have no choice but to share tonight's tournament for the entertainment value. I had built a well above average chip stack and then I ran into quads three times. Not once. Not twice. Three times. And the last two times my opponent turned trips and rivered quads. I have reached the point where I laugh out loud when it happens (which I suspect is a healthy reaction).
I can only come to one conclusion ...
... Someone has turned on the poker doom switch on my online account.
Does anyone know how to turn this thing off?
Are quads contagious?
The very next online tournament (bounty freezeout) I played (THE VERY NEXT!!!!!) I had a decent chip stack in the middle stages of the tourney, and I got my opponent (who I had covered) all-in with me as an 80-20 favorite. Villain flopped quads.
What is it with me running into quads? It's like an epidemic. Maybe I need to get the Quads Vaccine.
I kept it together, didn't go on tilt, and I finished in 3rd place out of 77 entrants. Collected a whole bunch of bounties too. And, I'm proud to say, I did it without delivering any bad beats. Overall payout was 11x my entry fee.
My hope is I am getting all of my runbad out of my system online where the stakes are low and start getting some long overdue rungood in some of the live, higher entry fee WSOP circuit events and MSPT events I will probably play in the foreseeable future.
A tale from the online felt
A brief entry simply because I found this evening's poker to be interesting. And not interesting good. Interesting as in the poker theater of the bizarre.
I played in an online tournament tonight. A little over 100 players.
In the first half of the tournament there was a player at my table who was playing in every single hand. Not an exaggeration. Every ... single ... hand. Style was to keep raising really big and get people to fold. That worked for a while. Then some players started playing back at him and villain proceeded to get absolutely smashed/saved by the deck. Villain kept getting it in bad. Villain kept winning. With hands like 9-2 off. And when there was a coin flip, villain won every time. He was poker Rambo. Villain knocked me out in around 50th place when I had 99 versus his AQ off (yes, even a poker lunatic sometimes has a big hand). The flop was 7 high, which was great for me and made me a 3-to-1 favorite. Alas, a Q on the turn. Not a big deal. My tale of woe is not the purpose of this post. When someone is playing every hand and getting smashed by the deck they become a killing machine that simply cannot be beat. For a while.
Villain's sun run was so extreme and his chip stack so massive that after he knocked me out I decided to follow him the rest of the tournament. The way I saw it, he was either going to win the whole thing or not even make the money, which was the top 15.
Not surprisingly, villain crashed out of the tournament in spectacular fashion, donking off his chips over and over and over with absurd starting holdings. Went out in 25th place, well short of the money.
First time I've seen someone play this insanely. I've encountered insane before on the felt, but nothing like this. Can't say I learned anything that can help me in my preparations for WSOP 2026, but it was fascinating to watch the eventual train wreck.
A saying that always stuck with me as a grinder is, “The longer you play this game, the more certain it becomes that someday, you’ll run worse than you ever thought was mathematically possible.”
I feel fortunate that I came up in a time when it was possible to get statistically significant samples of hands in a short time. It gives you a new appreciation for The Long Run, when you’re setting session goals of 2k hands in a day, or 50k hands in a month.
I’d look at my big, long term graphs, and shudder at how routinely I’d go on a 10 buyin downswing. Or 20. Or worse. And how long it would take me to grind out of those holes.
When we’re getting in maaaaaybe 25 hands in a good hour in a live tournament. A day’s worth of results are statistically meaningless. But the emotions we attach to days, weeks, even months feel very meaningful.
Thanks for the comments, TJ.
My approach to run bad is as follows:
1) Variance happens. Deal with it. If I want to play something without variance I should return to my chess playing days (in middle school I was the school runner up three years and won the school championship once, should I make a comeback?)
2) I have a 10-second rule at a live table, which means I can react internally for 10 seconds to a bad beat and after that I shake it off and move on to the next hand.
3) Run bad is sort of a good thing. It means I am getting it in good, and the cards simply did not cooperate. The whole point is to get it in good as much as possible. Run bad means I keep getting it in good, which is a good thing and if I keep it up I should eventually get rewarded handsomely. I am more bothered if I get it in bad and lose. Run bad and playing bad are not the same thing.
4) Losing when you are ahead 80/20 is not some million-to-1 shot akin to a meteor landing on your house. Twenty percent is supposed to happen one time in five. If I can't deal with it, I am playing the wrong game.
5) I take my bad beats with good humor. I have an easy going personality, and I think that serves me well when variance strikes. I remember this past summer in Las Vegas when I was playing in a tournament at the Venetian, and a new player joined our table. NewGuy immediately started spewing that he was running horribly for the past month, can't cash to save his life, can't win 80/20 hands, can't win coin flips, blah, blah, blah, life is unfair, blah, blah, blah, poker is unfair. Wouldn't stop telling us his tales of woe. No one asked, he simply volunteered this all up. Then he regaled us (lucky us) with his most recent WSOP bad beat from earlier in the day. Every time he got in a pot at our tournament at the Venetian, NewGuy announced that a bad beat was surely coming his way. Even though it was clear to me that NewGuy was a Vegas regular who seemed to know most of the players at our reg heavy table, the thought running through my head was, this guy is dead money.
6) Online, if I get knocked out by a bad beat, I do not immediately jump into another tourney. I take a cooling off period (anywhere between an hour and the next day).
4) Losing when you are ahead 80/20 is not some million-to-1 shot akin to a meteor landing on your house. Twenty percent is supposed to happen one time in five. If I can't deal with it, I am playing the wrong game.
As Bart Hanson often say; people forget all the times they are running above EV. If you get in AA vs KK in a $1000 pot, you are around an 80/20 favorite. However, if your hand holds up you get the entire $1000 from the pot, and not just $800 based on your equity in the pot. So just by winning one AA vs KK spot, you are actually running above EV 😀
Edit: I have been sick for a week and brain is fogged, so there is probably an even more eloquent way to explain the above.
The only thing I'd add to your post, rppoker, is take time to review whether is was, in fact, a bad beat.
IOW, was my bet sizing appropriate? Did I let them get there? How might I have played the hand better? That sort of thing. Sklansky bucks and all that.
Sometimes, the answer really is, well, ****, that's poker.
The only thing I'd add to your post, rppoker, is take time to review whether is was, in fact, a bad beat.
IOW, was my bet sizing appropriate? Did I let them get there? How might I have played the hand better? That sort of thing. Sklansky bucks and all that.
Sometimes, the answer really is, well, ****, that's poker.
All good points.
Is there such a thing as too much aggression in my current poker evolution?
My mom was just in the hospital for two weeks followed by a one-week stay in a skilled nursing facility. She returned to her condo yesterday.
I told her I was going to stay with her at her condo for at least a couple days/nights to see how she is doing and to be there in case any problems cropped up. She said this was unnecessary. I said of course it was necessary. She said she didn't want to be a burden. I said she wasn't being a burden. She said she wanted me to be able to live my life. I said I would be living my life. She started to say something else, and I stopped her and said calmly, "Mom, I'm not asking permission to stay at your condo, I'm telling you I'm staying at your condo for at least the first two nights."
She finally accepted this comment. Good thing. That night she admitted she was uncertain what medications she was supposed to take since a number of them were new. She asked for my help. She said she was glad I was there.
Later, once she went to sleep and the really good college football games on TV were over (the most important being my Michigan Wolverines beating Nebraska), I decided to play in some online poker tournaments. In two separate tournaments I built really healthy stacks in the early and middle stages of the tournaments through a lot of aggression on my part. Unfortunately, I then went too far. I really overdid it on a couple of key hands (AQ suited that missed both the flop and turn in one tournament, and 88 where there were two over cards on the flop in the other tournament). Lost a ton of chips in both cases, leading to my demise not much afterward.
I don't have a problem that I was too aggressive. My game needs more aggression. That said, when I met resistance I doubled down and lost pots that were entirely too big for the cards I was holding. Not every pot needs to be huge. Not every opposition bet needs to be countered with a raise. While aggression is good, I feel like I was all gas and no breaks when I didn't have "it." Bluffing is fine/necessary/desired but I think I picked bad spots post flop in these key hands. I'm not suggesting I stop bluffing, but I think I overcooked the aggression in these two tournaments.
My sense was that I was not playing well, so I turned off my computer. I think doing so means I had a good night. I think the ability to recognize when I'm not playing well is an important tool to have in the toolbox.
That said, for my future growth I do think there needs to be more times where I overdo the aggression and get myself in trouble, study the trouble, determine if I went too far, maybe slow down a bit, and then over time push the envelope some more. It's the necessary tug of war between caution and aggression during the early stages of the poker grind. And I am definitely still in the early stages of my poker journey.
Pushing the envelope is a bit scary/intimidating/uncomfortable, but it is also interesting/exciting/evolving. To quote a well known cliche, you've got to break some eggs to make an omelette.
Meanwhile, I may have some live action to describe soon.
Thanks for the comments, TJ.My approach to run bad is as follows:1) Variance happens. Deal with it. If I want to play something without variance I should return to my chess playing days (in middle school I was the school runner up three years and won the school championship once, should I make a comeback?)2) I have a 10-second rule at a live table, which means I can react inter
These are all good ways to deal with runbad, rp. My personal go-to is #3. And trust me, it will turn!
WSOP Circuit, Hammond, Indiana, The Closer (Part 1)
The many steps prior to shuffle up and deal
My alarm clock goes off at 6:15 am. Good God, why am I getting up this early?
Poker, of course. The WSOP Circuit is in Hammond, Indiana, a drivable distance from where I live in the Chicagoland area. Originally, the game plan was for me to play in a couple of Circuit events in this series. That was before my mom got sick, was hospitalized for two weeks, followed by a week in a skilled nursing facility and the last couple of days back in her condo with my staying with her to make sure everything is OK.
It wasn’t looking like I’d make it to the Hammond Horseshoe. Then, at the last second Mrs. rppoker told me I should go and play in The Closer, the final event of this Circuit stop.
The game plan was I’d wake up and shower, shave, etc. wake up my mom and have her take her morning medicine. Momma rppoker then went back to sleep, I left, and Mrs. rppoker showed up a couple of hours later to spend the day with Momma rppoker.
I got in my rent-a-car since my car is in the shop and realized I don’t have a transponder to pay the tollway fees associated with the drive. When I first was planning out my trip to Hammond I was going to go to the car rental place a couple days before I’d leave and get the toll gizmo. When my poker trip looked unlikely, the tolls stopped mattering to me since I figured I wasn’t going.
Now that I’m going, I have no way to pay the tolls. No problem. I know there is a site to go online to pay the tolls after the fact. I’ll figure it out once I am back home.
The reason I leave at 7:00 a.m. for a tournament that starts at 11:00 a.m. is the roads leading out of Chicago are under massive construction. My options are leave really early and get there way too soon, or go later and get crushed by rush hour traffic that will combine with the construction zone for a brutal drive. I choose the low variance route and leave early.
Absolutely no traffic on the tollway. I drive the speed limit or faster the entire drive.
I get off the tollway about 10 miles from the Horseshoe Casino. Time has not treated this area well. Or maybe it never looked good in the first place. I don’t know. What I do know, what I do see with my eyes is a dreary, challenged piece of Americana. Lots of fireworks stores, lots of billboards trumpeting injury attorneys, two White Castles (which I approve of), a lot of very blue-collar businesses. The word downtrodden comes to mind.
I pass by one especially beaten down area of real estate. There is a large building that screams “abandoned.” On the side of the building is a spray-painted message: “For Sale” along with a phone number. They couldn’t even afford a sign. Nearby is another building on which the address is spray painted on the front of the property. This stretch of territory is badly in need of a sign shop.
I arrive at 8:45 a.m. It’s very early for a 11:00 a.m. tournament start.
I park, walk inside, confirm that my Caesars player card from the WSOP will suffice here (it will). I walk to the WSOP registration area, but no one is there yet.
I head back to the casino floor. From what I had read, I expected to be overwhelmed by the smell of cigarette smoke. Which will be bad for my allergies/asthma. To my surprise, the smell is not bad, although admittedly there are almost no customers on the casino floor this early, so we’ll have to wait and see about the smoke smell.
With time to kill and aware that my tournament only has 15-minute breaks and no meal breaks, I decide to look for a restaurant to order breakfast. All of the restaurants are closed. There is a bar area that has a server, so I ask her if there is any food available at the bar. She says she can microwave a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich. It doesn’t figure to be a Michelin star meal, but beggars can’t be choosers, so I say yes, I’d love the breakfast meal. It gets the job done.
When it’s time to pay, the server asks for my player’s card. She takes it and informs me there is $1 on it, do I want to use it?
Sure. I’m currently profitable $1. Winning.
While eating, I check my cell phone and see that I can get Internet service. I have a way to kill some time. More winning.
A guy smoking a cigarette comes up and stands near me at the bar. Time for me to leave.
Still time to kill, so I walk the property and locate three different bathrooms for use on poker breaks. I also see a free pop machine for clientele. No Dr Pepper. Casinos hate Dr Pepper. I have yet to see a free pop machine in a poker room or casino that has Dr Pepper.
I walk around and look at some of the poker artwork/photographs up on the walls.
I especially enjoyed the story about The Suitcase Man
I go back to the WSOP registration area and staff has arrived. The guy who registers me is very chatty. Wants to know where I’m from. I tell him the Chicagoland area. He says it’s too cold there and I’m a glutton for punishment. I can’t argue against his logic. Given that it’s the last day of the circuit series at the Hammond Horseshoe, I ask him, “Are you ready for this to be done?” He responds, “I was ready for it to be done before I even got here for the start.”
I poke my head into the tournament area and snap a couple pictures of the calm before the storm.
With registration completed, I look for somewhere to sit and chill. All of the benches on this floor are next to cigarette receptacles. That’s a no-fly zone for me. I find an out of the way area with a view of a boat harbor and plant myself on the ground.
I call my office and ask my assistant if there is anything the requires my attention. She says no, all is quiet. Good, I think, smooth sailing ahead.
Then my phone starts ringing. The first call is from my real estate attorney who needs to discuss the release of some funds in escrow from the recent sale of one of my office buildings. I resolve this quickly, and we hang up.
A minute later I get a call from my accountant about a number of tax returns he needs signed. We make arrangements for this to be dealt with the following day.
Apparently, I’m not quite there yet where I can play in a poker tournament without interruption. The good news is the fact that these phone calls take place 30-40 minutes before the start of my tourney. Hopefully everything is out of the way.
I notice a printed structure sheet for my tourney. With levels lasting only 20 minutes, this has the potential to be very much a turbo event.
I see that smoking is prohibited in the area the tournament will be played. Good.
I walk inside the playing area. Almost all of the tables are on the floor area of a venue where concerts take place. It appears Final Tables take place on the stage itself. There is no carpet. Almost nothing on the walls. It feels to me like we will be playing in what looks like an empty warehouse. Not a lot of charm, but, once the tournament begins, I expect I won’t be paying attention to anything other than my table and the players at the table.
I take my seat at my table. Music is playing. My dealer is dancing in her seat.
