The Summer Wind - A WSOP Trip Report …… and beyond!
Don’t ask me why I chose the title of an old Sinatra song to be the title for this year’s trip report, i have no idea, i
Nice stacks. Also, go Pack go!
Borgata Big Big Buy-In Series
Day Seven - Friday September 12th
Last day for real this time and I did make some notes while playing so let’s do a take the forum to work day ….
Woke up at 7am and immediately phoned down to put my name on the list. Not missing on the main game today.
The 1 is me. Started both lists to cover all the bases.
Went down to the poker room at 8am
By 8:30am the game is full (actually over-sold) and we start at 8:45am. $80 / $160 O.O.E. again. The game is 9-handed which is how they like to play it.
Buy-in for $8,000. Here’s how the day went round by round. Keep your own scorecard at home if you want to.
Omaha 1: Play one hand in the first round and lose it. AK35. 3-way, 3-bet pot. One of the villains makes a flush with no low.
Omaha 2: Speculate with a high hand 9TJQ in a 5-way 3-bet pot! Whiff the 5-5-6 flop.
Stud: Make a 7 low and get scooped by a better 7 low and a pair of deuces. [emoji30]
Omaha 1: Win first hand. Get half of a nice pot with AJ45 made full house.
Omaha 2: Lose a big pot. Was scooping on the turn but villain made a wheel on river.
Lose big pot with AK24. Flop 2-2-J. K on river, guy had KKxx [emoji30]
Low point - stuck 2 racks -$4,000
Seems we have a problem with the building permit today. [emoji30]
Added another 2 pumpkins ($1k chips are called pumpkins here due to their color) to my stack. Now in for $10k but not too worried as the game is very good.
There’s two spots that clearly cannot win. One is a funny older lady. I feel a little sorry for her but they tell me she’s got plenty of money.
She says she wants to go back to Medellín with me. Sure I say, I think I can fit you in my suitcase.
Stud: Finally scoop a pot. Make aces up against two villains with no call on 7th.
Omaha 1: Get half of a small pot with two pair.
Lose a big pot with top two and nut low when I get counter-fitted and flush comes on river.
Omaha 2: Scoop a nice pot with nut-nut. Didn’t capture the full pot in this picture but it was size able.
Stud: No playable hands
Omaha 1: Flop top two with AQT4 but have to fold on river when flush comes
3-bet with KKQQ and make KKKK no low. [emoji3]
Get 3/4 of a heads up pot with AKT3 making nut flush and 2nd nut low.
Omaha 2: Lose big pot with A235 flop nut low and nut flush draw but brick out.
Stud: Start 235 and fold after brick - brick
Good to see the room this busy.
Start A26 and fold after brick brick
Omaha 1: Lost huge pot with straight and flush draw. Pairs up on river.
Get 3/4 of a big pot with A247 nut low and a straight with the 47
Omaha 2: No playable hands
Stud: No playable hands
Two rounds with no playable hands costs $320. $120 for the blinds in Omaha and $200 for the ante’s and assume 1 bring-in for Stud.
Omaha 1: Lose a big pot with A288 no low came.
Win a medium sized pot with AAJ9 make a straight with the J9 no low.
Omaha 2: Scoop a big pot with nut-nut quad 4’s vs Kings full.
This was a nice one. Villain mucked his KK into the board. Flop was 4-K-3. Turn 4 giving me quads and River Ace giving me the wheel as well for icing on the cake. [emoji23]
Stud: Get half of a decent pot with a flush. Had low as well but lose that half to a better low.
Omaha 1: Lose a small one with nut flush draw. Fold when it paired up.
Get half of a small one with trip aces
Play AQ37ds in a 4-bet pot pre and whiff the flop.
Get quartered with nut low and trips
Omaha 2: Get the low half of a medium sized pot with AA2Q
Get the low half of another medium sized pot with A268
Scoop a nice pot with A4TT make full house no low paid off by smaller full house.
I sent my architect to sort the building permit out. He came back with a fancy new design approved.
My stack has grown so big the dealer asks me where do I want him to push me the pot?
I tell him as long as he’s giving me money he can put it wherever he wants, to which the lady replies bend over then [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23] She knocked that one out of the park.
Stud: Lost a pot to a low straight flush!!! My low and pair of aces no good. [emoji30]
Omaha 1: Lost a medium pot with A259 missed low and flush draw
Scoop a heads-up pot with A346 making the nut low and a straight.
5pm. Time for dinner.
Went to Angeline again and ordered the same as last night but this time without the garlic bread and with a glass of wine, because well we deserve it.
Return from dinner back to Omaha 1. Cong is now sitting at the table, as in Cong from Cong’s game at Bellagio. He’s a very very good mixed game player who usually plays higher so that’s not a good lineup change, but the two live spots are still there.
Omaha 1: Scoop a medium sized pot with AK25 making the nut flush, no low.
Omaha 2: Scooped a medium size pot with A2T9 making a flush, no low.
Stud: No playable hands
Omaha 1: Lose a medium sized pot with top set of Kings on flop. Flush comes on turn, board doesn’t pair on river.
Omaha 2: Scoop a medium sized pot with A3QJ making two pair with a live Ace for low.
Stud: No playable hands.
Omaha 1: Get half of a small pot with AKJ4 with a live 4 for low.
Lose a pot with A239 whiff flop but still c-bet then fold turn.
Omaha 2: get quartered with AAK2
We’ve been playing now for 12 hours and I’m starting to feel tired. The game isn’t as good as it was so time to call it a night.
In for $10,000. Out for $16,100. +$6,100 after 12 hours.
No judges scorecards needed. We scored a knockout!
What a great 3 cash games days I’ve had. Will tally up the final numbers when I get home. Early flight in the morning.
Great run, even better chip artistry!
Looks like extending your stay was a good call.
Also really enjoyed the running hand diary dialogue.
Seems like maybe you should make monthly trips to the Borg just for cash games! Nice run. Nothing better than saying nutnut as you turn over your cards.
Congrats on a successful trip. It had to be fun to get HU with someone of Kornuth's stature. That type of experience should benefit the confidence and skills. Winning heaps in the cash games can't hurt either.
Nice and profitable trip it seems 😀
Will you be heading to The Orleans next month for this series below, or are the buy-ins a bit too small for you?
Are you? There are some no limit tourneys there too.
Sure I say, I think I can fit you in my suitcase.
please have this engraved on your tombstone
Seems like maybe you should make monthly trips to the Borg just for cash games! Nice run. Nothing better than saying nutnut as you turn over your cards.
I think the game only goes normally though on Fridays at Borgata and Tuesdays at Parx. It’s not an everyday game, but I do have a return pencilled in for the Borgata Fall Poker Open in November.
Nice and profitable trip it seems 😀
Will you be heading to The Orleans next month for this series below, or are the buy-ins a bit too small for you?
I saw that but no I don’t think I’ll be going. October looks like being a stay at home month before a big finish to the year with Borgata again in November along with Hard Rock and then Wynn in December.
Congrats on a successful trip. It had to be fun to get HU with someone of Kornuth's stature. That type of experience should benefit the confidence and skills. Winning heaps in the cash games can't hurt either.
Yea first time I’ve played with him. It’s good to see these hold’em guys playing mix as well. They all want to win the $50k PPC and he said as much, so he sees it as practice for that. He was definitely weaker in the Stud rounds and I felt as though I had an edge over him there.
Borgata Big Big Buy-In Series
Post Game
Back home now in Medellín and have tallied up the final numbers.
Tournaments
Played: 2
Bullets Fired: 3
Total Buy-Ins: $6,100
Cashes: 1
Final Tables: 1
Total Prize Money: $8,320
Net: +$2,220
We ran good, at the right time, but in the wrong tournament! I’ll get it right in a big buy-in one of these days but can’t really complain with a 2nd place finish and being in profit overall.
I sold 30% of both tournaments on pokerstake. Most investors took pieces in both and therefore showed a profit. Thanks to everyone that took a piece.
Cash Games
Sessions: 4
Hours Played: 35
Net: +$17,600
Hourly: $503
Insane hourly! Don’t think I’ve ever run so good over 3 consecutive days. Things heard at the table:
I hope they gave you a room with a safe.
David’s not going home, he’s just bought an apartment in Brigantine.
Nice shot by poker.org of the Mix game we played on Wednesday.
Expenses
Flight: $824
Hotel: $1,047
I went for the premium option with Spirit mainly because I had short connection times in Fort Lauderdale so that was $200 more than it needed to be, but It was just as well as I had to run and only just made it on the way there.
Hotel rooms are not that cheap in AC this time of the year, especially Fridays and Saturdays. It was cheaper when I was there in January. Kellie did what she could with the rate for me and did put some extra comps on my card which I used to pay for dinner one night.
An expense saved was on the rake. Fantastic deal at $1 per player per half hour. Normally it would be $7 or $8.
So for the 35 hours I only paid $70 in time collection whereas it would normally have been $490 or $560. And they were still giving $1.50 per hour comps.
Got the bankroll home safely stuffed in various places. The kids want a Nintendo switch 2 whatever one of those is so will go shopping for that tomorrow.
On Deck
I can only play the hand I’ve been dealt. No job means more poker. My tentative schedule for the rest of the year looks like this:
Will be in Sméagol / Gollum mode at Thunder Valley at the end of the month. Never been there before so should be fun.
October will take it easy at home.
November and December could potentially be Borgata - Hard Rock - Wynn. Dates are out for Borgata and full schedules are out for the other two. They go back to back to back with no days in between. Not sure exactly how I’ll manage it yet but will figure something out.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
Borgata Big Big Buy-In Series
Post Game
Back home now in Medellín and have tallied up the final numbers.
Got the bankroll home safely stuffed in various places. The kids want a Nintendo switch 2 whatever one of those is so will go shopping for that tomorrow.
On Deck
I think with that much cash you need to hire a bodyguard.
Great trip - brilliant result. Well done
tidy work tony, and as always thank you for taking the time to type it all up and share with us.
Yes, thank you for sharing. Great write-up as always. Looking forward to a Thunder Valley TR if you have time.
I beginning to think your TR's are the best on here David. Can't wait to follow along some more
WSOP-C Thunder Valley
Pre-Game
You might have noticed that I added … and beyond to the thread title signifying more trips to come. I’m just going to keep adding to this thread rather than create a new one as maybe (hopefully) we have some thread run good going on.
First up is a brand new venue for me which I’m really excited about; Thunder Valley. It’s been a while since I went somewhere new so looking forward to this one. I don’t really know too much about the place or have any expectations so I guess I’ll find out as I go.
It’s a WSOP circuit stop and it has more than the one token non-NLH tournament boring schedule that most of the stops seem to go with so that qualified it for a visit. There’s also the added bonus of a Bahamas package if I do manage to win a ring.
My tournament schedule looks something like this. Most are two-day affairs so might not end up playing them all.
9/27 $400 NLH Opener
9/28 $600 Omaha 8
9/29 $600 HORSE
9/30 $600 Deuce to Seven
10/1 $600 PLO
10/3 $1,700 NLH Main
10/5 $600 Big O
So a couple of rare two card tournaments for me. Will hope to shake any rust off in the opener before firing the main. I don’t usually play the NLH mains but as I’m there and there are no other tournaments going on at the same time it would be rude not to.
I sold some action on pokerstake again and there’s still some small pieces left if anyone wants a sweat.
Have to give a shout out to Allen Kessler who hooked me up with the poker manager and a casino host there to get me some comped nights and reduced room rates.
The only negative is that California is still in the dark ages when it comes to sports betting so any sports bets will have to be made online in my offshore accounts.
I leave in the morning which was really poor planning as it’s the first day of my favorite sporting event of them all; the Ryder Cup.
It’s also the only sporting event that I absolutely cannot bet against my team. Too much history, too much emotion, too many memories for me.
Ole, ole, ole, ole, Europe, Europe
The huge field, $400 NLH tournament that the Circuit stops run is my all time favorite tournament.
For most of the first day, you can quickly and reliably classify almost everyone as either a huge nit, or varying degrees of a punter. You just have to hope your table draw lines up with enough of the looser punters at your table, accumulate and put their chips to better use than they could, and place you in the best possible position to bag.
There’s absolutely no need to take a stand, or play back at anyone that gives you resistance or aggression in the early stages. If there’s any question you might be making a 2nd place hand, just fold and move on to the next one.
And if it goes bad, just fire the next flight and start fresh!
Day 2 is entirely about surviving and playing well with a 15-30 BB stack. Sometimes you’ll have to take flips, and sometimes you’ll have to fold a lot. But there are absolutely terrible players with catastrophically wide preflop ranges. And you can also count on seeing someone get a hand cracked, lose all their composure, and prime to blast off.
Good luck, can’t wait to follow along!
Thanks TJ. I know you’ve played and done well in a few of these so that’s good advice. Guessing the make up of the field is similar at each stop.
I’ll only be able to play the last flight though but have budgeted two bullets if necessary.
Sorry for your loss. USA USA USA! They sure are starting early. 6:10 first tee time at my house, lol.
