The Summer Wind - A WSOP Trip Report …… and beyond!

Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open
Day Five - Saturday November 22nd

Mixed PLO was the tournament today and playing PLO I got it in with AQJT on a T-T-8 flop. The pre-flop raiser was a non-believer and called off with KKxx and was unjustly rewarded when the King came on the turn. I took it as a sign that it wasn’t going to be my day and opted not to re-buy.

After lunch in the food court I late-reg’d the morning NLH flight.

I had the 20k starting stack up to 70k before losing 3 flips in a row. AK < 88, AQ < JJ, 99 < AK
The first two I doubled up short stacks which left me short then I busted with the 99.

I think that’s all the NLH practice I can handle. Hopefully saving my run good for the Bahamas.

So off I went in search of a cash game and got seated straight away in a $2-$2-$5 rock PLO game, of which there were 5 running.

$8 per player per half hour plus $3 out of every hand for the jackpot is pretty steep. Now I know how they can give away $1,000 for the high hand in the room every 20 minutes.

There were actually 2 high hands at our table during the course of the session. Quad 6’s and quad T’s. Both were made against me but In small pots. The 6’s held and the guy got the $1k jackpot but the 10’s were beaten by a straight flush on another table.

Only two real big pots of note that we won. The first was a double board bomb pot.

Top board: T-8-8
Bottom board: 7-5-4 with two spades
We have AJ87 with nut spades for trips on top and nut flush and gutshot straight draw on bottom.
We open for $100 into the $140 pot.
Villain raises pot to $440
We call
Turns: J on top and 2 spades on bottom.
We set villain in for his last $300 which he calls.
Rivers: A on top, blank on bottom.
Villain had T875 for full on top and two pair on bottom.
We scoop with a bigger boat on top and flush on bottom

The other hand of note I open $20 with T976ss. Villain makes it $80 after there had been another caller.
Flop: T-7-5 with two hearts. (We only have 1 heart)
I lead for $150. The caller folds and villain goes all-in for about $200 total.
I let him decide and he chooses twice.
It runs out blanks on top and I get another 7 on bottom and scoop with two pair on top and a boat on bottom. Villain had AAxx with the flush draw.

I decide to rack up around 11pm. In for $1,000 out for $2,000 after 6 hours and head on over to the sportsbook to see which games are still playing.

I watch the first half of Washington and UCLA and like the 2nd half line of Washington -3.5

They don’t do 2nd half lines here, just live lines but it’s the same thing. They were winning 20-0 at HT.

Not having eaten since lunch I had a little late supper in the Hard Rock Cafe

The Huskies looked to have the 2nd half well in hand so I headed back to the hotel to watch the end of the game.

On deck tomorrow: A fun one. $600 Mixed Triple Draw, but not starting until 2pm again. I guess at least I can watch the first hour of the early NFL games before it starts. Detroit -11 is my only play so far.

Sounds like a day that started pretty shitty but improved from there. Nice one

Really excited to play the 2-7 Triple and TORSE on Tuesday and Wednesday. I've been putting in the work (playing approx 100 hands ever) so I feel prepared to take down both. See you at the final table.

Let’s meet up on break first so I know who to watch out for at the final table [emoji6]

Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open
Day Six - Sunday November 23rd

Day two of the lottery, erm NLH opener, is in full swing in the ballroom. (I’m only sore because I didn’t bag) so we’re playing the mix triple draw instead which is 2-7, A-5 and Badugi.

My first bullet (along with my early game NFL plays) is a bust.

The second bullet fares better and we have 50k at the end of late reg. They actually gave us 30k starting chips today which is a good idea as these games do play quite big.
In the 3rd session I yo-yo between 50k and 80k, never able to win 2 or 3 pots in a row and sit on 60k on break at the end of level 12.

I make the re-draw for the last two tables with about 100k then lose a couple of hands to be down to 40k with 10 players remaining playing 8 spots.

Playing Bagugi there’s 1 person shorter than me who goes all-in pre, getting a call from the chip leader before it gets round to me. I look down to see a pat 10 and decide to go with it. I cap it leaving just one bet behind which I put in after the first draw.
First draw went 1-2-pat
Second draw: 1-1-pat
Final draw: 1-1-pat
Can I hold?

Unfortunately not. The shorter stack misses, but the chip leader made a T-7-3-A on the last draw to out-pip my T-7-5-2

Stone bubble. Aaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhh [emoji22]

Every cloud has a silver lining though. The 2nd half of SNF is just starting and I manage to recoup the earlier NFL losses and almost all of the 2 triple draw bullets getting on the Rams and the Under live. (Seemed pretty obvious how it would play out with the Rams having a big lead and Baker Mayfield injured)

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around the Hard Rock.

Gingerbread house. And in case you want to make one at home, here are the ingredients:

On deck tomorrow: Mixed Big Bet Dealers Choice, again with a late start at 1pm.

At least it's healthy.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open
Seven - Monday November 24th

I headed down to the casino to play a little cash before the tournament. The $2-$2-$5 PLO wasn’t a good game so moved to a new $5-$5-$10 5-card PLO table that was just opening which was a lot better.

I didn’t really get any hands until I saw AAKQJ UTG and limped. By the time it got back to me there had been a raise to $50 and a re-raise to $200. I potted it for $700 and still got 3 callers!

Flop: Q-5-4r
I only have $300 left and stick it in. 2 callers, 1 of which is also all-in. The person with money left only wants to go once. We turn the cards over. I’m ahead against KKxxx and 678xx
Turn: 3
GG I don’t wait to see what the river was and don’t re-buy. -$1,000 after 2 hours.

Today’s tournament is Big Bet Mix Dealers Choice. The games you can choose from are:

NLH
PLO
PLO 8
Big O
NL 2-7 Single Draw
NL 5 Card Draw
Pot Limit 2-7 Triple Draw

The tournament started in much the same way as the cash game. I lost most of my chips with an 8-6 in Pot Limit 2-7 when villain made a 7 on the last draw and got the remaining chips in with the nut straight made on the flop in PLO and with backup flush draw only for villain to make a bigger straight.

I guess this is a two bullet trip.

On bullet 2 I increase the 30k starting stack to 50k at the end of late reg and 65k at dinner break at the end of level 12 which isn’t really all that great as it’s only about half the average but we’re still alive.

The buffet has re-opened, certainly for the first time since I’ve been coming here, and probably for the first time since Covid.

With not that much time to eat i just got the one plateful.

Everything was pretty tasty actually, and I left some room to sample some desserts.

There was no prime rib but I thought it was better than the Borgata buffet. It’s $40 per person or $25 if you have status on their tier program which I don’t.

I don’t get any tier points at all for all the sports action I give them, which is just wrong. I’d nipped to the sports book to put a bet on MNF before hitting the buffet which was why I was rushing a little bit.

Back to the tournament and we were quickly down to the two table re-draw, and not long after that, on the bubble at 8 players, split over two tables of 4 with 7 getting paid.

With no-one really short (I’d picked up a few chips here and there and now had over 100k) I knew it would be a long bubble but this was a looooooong bubble.

The shortest stack on the other table was all-in and won 3 times. On our table Donny Rubinstein was the short stack and he also was all-in and won 3 times, including once against me.

Now I was the short stack. Could I win my all-in or would it be the stone bubble two nights in a row?

I’m all-in in Big O with AKKJ5 vs AJ962. We’ve been playing hand for hand now for almost 2 hours and 4 full levels. This would hurt.

The runout is clean. We double !!!

All this time while we’ve been playing the bubble I’ve had one eye on MNF. It wasn’t without a sweat and Brock Purdy didn’t help matters by throwing 3 INT’s (and it could have been more) but the 49ers come away with the win and more importantly the cover so at least we’ve got a ticket to cash.

The bubble meanwhile continues.

Jon Turner is eventually the unlucky bubble boy and we combine to a final table of 7 and in the money.

Phil Hui is the big chip leader so they’ll be no talk of any deal.

We’re down to 5 now and Phil has increased his lead and is opening nearly every pot.

I choose to take a stand in PLO.

With the blinds at 10k/20k/20k Phil opens for 60k and I go all in for 205k which he quickly calls.

We have AKQ4 vs his T976.

52% vs 48%. A PLO version of a flip. If we can win it we’ll be 2nd in chips with only slightly less than Phil.

We flop a pair of queens and are still ahead but it’s a much better flop for Phil than for us, and when the 7 comes on the turn to give him the straight we’re drawing dead.

No complaints. Played good. Gave it our all.

On deck tomorrow: $600 2-7 Triple Draw

Multiple streams of income. A pocket full of winning tickets. As it should be.

Nice run again David

Great job, nice run!!

Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open
Day Eight - Tuesday November 25th

No pre-tournament cash game today. I went in at 12pm ahead of the 1pm start and ate at the buffet again. Pretty much the same food for lunch but $8 cheaper.

Tough table draw in the tournament with David Shmuel, Yuval Bronshtein and Jerry Wong.

My 30k starting stack is down to only 18k at the first break before bouncing back in style to 70k at the end of late reg.

Good to be only in for one bullet today. I meet up with 2+2’er crinklecore at the break.

The next session is a yo-yo. I go up to 100k, then down to only 30k before settling on a below average 60k at the dinner break with 15 players remaining.

There was no up-swing after dinner as all I drew were pairs and paint and I hit the rail before the two table re-draw.

I had one sports bet today in the Champions League which was Barcelona +0.5 which lost.

Phil Hui did win last night. I congratulated him on break and also asked him what he thought of my play on that hand. He said it was fine with 10 bigs.

I didn’t look for an evening cash game as tomorrow’s tournament starts at 11am

On deck tomorrow: Last day. $600 TORSE

Good luck today

Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open
Day Nine - Wednesday November 26th

Last day today and appropriately for what has been an MP40 trip rather than a sniper rifle trip, we managed to fire 4 bullets across two tournaments.

In TORSE the first bullet was a slow bleed, eventually being finished off by crinklecore when his Aces held in Stud against my flush draw.

I max late-reg’d the 2nd bullet and it pretty much went in one big Stud 8 pot. I have Aces up and a low on 6th against a 2345 draw. Hard for him to hit an Ace but he does hit a 6 on 7th to scoop the big pot. GG

I then jumped into the $400 5-card PLO Bounty that was going on across the hall. First bullet missed a big draw, but I got an early double on the 2nd bullet and was sitting pretty on 140k at the end of late reg.

Unfortunately that was my high point and I pretty much didn’t win a hand after that.

We get down to two tables and are on the bubble with 15 players left and paying 14 spots. The short stack on our table gets it in with just Aces in his hand against a flopped set and hits a miracle Ace on the river to double. Now I’m the short stack.

I get it in with the nut straight on the turn needing to fade a diamond on the river (I have two in my hand) but can’t fade the 7 outer and I’m the stone bubble again. At least I recouped $400 in the shape of 4 bounties.

So that will do it for this trip.

By The Numbers

Tournaments

Played: 10
Bullets Fired: 18
Total Buy-Ins: $9,800
Cashes: 3
Total Prize Money: $12,775
Net: $2,975

Cash Games

Hours Played: 9
Net: -$600

Sports: +$3,000

Expenses

Flights: $125
Hotel: $1,076

Final Thoughts

Another trip in the black but feels like it should have been more.

Saved some on the expenses by using miles for the flights, and after all those nights at Staybridge Suites I finally had enough points for …… 1 free night. LOL

I went 100% poker on this trip with no time off which was probably a mistake. I don’t think I was playing as good these last couple of days as I was at the start of the trip. Need to always have a day, or at least a night off and do something else.

Not a fan of the cash games here and looking ahead will probably skip the January series here because of that, and the fact that accommodation is really expensive here in January.

On Deck

Bahamas and Wynn

The Bahamas will be more vacation than poker as I’m taking the kids and don’t plan on playing any poker other than the two tournaments. (Mystery Bounty and Eight Game)

I’m now fully sold out for the $10k Eight Game, having sold 66% and retained 34% for myself. Most of what I sold went to readers of these reports and people that I have met through writing them, so I just wanted to say how humbled I am that people enjoy reading these trip reports, and that they believe in my ability enough to invest with me.

Seth Davies posted a great video on his twitter recently about why pros sell action with is worth a look if you haven’t seen it.

There is still availability for my Wynn events through Pokerstake.

Until next time. Happy Thanksgiving.

As always, thanks for sharing.

Enjoy the holiday. Good luck in the Bahamas.

Thanks for sharing. Great reads as always. Happy Thanksgiving.

You must be going nuts in the sports book today. There are more college basketball games going than the first week of the NCAA's.

Thanks again Tony for the great TR. Safe travels, looking forward to the next adventures.

Sure, I don’t mind answering.

Not sure if you’d call this a tournament strategy or not, but this is how I see and approach tournaments.

I look at tournaments as having three clearly defined stages. There’s the early stage during the re-buy and late reg period. There’s the middle stage which is between the end of late reg and approaching the bubble. And there’s the late stage which is around the bubble, in the money and final table. This is how I approach them.

In the early stage I’m playing very aggressively and trying to accumulate chips. Lots of 3 and 4 bets. I’m identifying any weak players at my table and actively looking to play pots with them.

In the middle stage I tone it down a notch as your chips are more valuable now, while still trying to remain aggressive and exploit any weaker players at my table, just a little less so than the early stage.

The late stage is all about ICM. I got an absolute masterclass in this aspect first hand by observing Adam Friedman in the Big O tournament that I won against him at the Wynn. He always wanted to know, and was very aware of exactly how many chips everyone had (including himself) and adjusted his play accordingly. I think this is the area where my game has improved the most this year.

Why have I been successful? Do I have an edge over my opponents?

I think a lot of it is experience. I started playing when I was 19 and I’m going to be 48 in January. That’s almost 30 years experience. And right from the start I was playing dealers choice cash games with lots of crazy variants which gives you a good card sense. In that aspect I think that does give me an edge as mixed game tournaments are still fairly new and I’m going to have an advantage on anyone that’s only just now, or in the last few years transitioned over from hold’em.

I'm going to add one more thing that these TRs suggest, which is temperament. The vast majority of players get frustrated too easily, tilt, and then play too loosely. I get the strong impression that Tony does not suffer from this.

Trust me, you don't want to be near Tony when he loses a 80/20.

Spoiler

Show

Ty and nice insight

WSOP Paradise & Wynn WPT
Pre-Game

I embark upon my last trip of the year in the morning and it’s a long two-stop trip which I hope will put the icing on the cake to what’s been a pretty good year.

This year’s trophy haul. (There’s room on my desk for more)

First up is a bit of fun in the sun in the Bahamas where we’ll be free-rolling in the NLH Mystery Bounty and then playing our first ever $10k buy-in tournament in the Eight Game.

And in case anyone hasn’t seen, poker.org are giving away a $30k Bahamas package in a free to enter pick 3 fantasy contest. All you have to do is pick 3 players who you think will win the most money in Event #1 the NLH Mystery Bounty.

https://www.poker.org/fantasy/pick3/2025...

I am in the list of players to pick from, but I suggest there’s many more sensible choices for a NLH tournament.

Then it’s straight onto the Wynn the week before Christmas where we’ll find the biggest mixed game tournament fields and prize pools of the year outside of the WSOP.

I still have some action available for the Wynn tournaments if anyone wants a sweat.

https://www.pokerstake.com/staking/selle...

Let’s make it a VERY good year and a VERY merry Christmas!

GL. Here's hoping there's a bracelet to add to that desk soon.

Thanks for the heads up on the PokerOrg freeroll.

I'll be in Vegas for the last vapors of the Wynn series, but it looks like I'll miss you.

Fun fact about the Wynn trophies: They make several versions in different sizes for their premium events. Something to aspire to!

thanks for the heads up - have entered a team. the Bahamas is a very long way to fly to from Sydney to be the worst player in a 25k but hey...I'll channel Jerry Yang and probably win it