Bracelet Hunting - A WSOP 2026 Trip Report
Time for a new thread!
Credit to rppoker (who made the suggestion in my previous thread) for the title of this years’ tri
Spoiler alert…not sure how he feels about that
yeah, I was about to say - are we sure we should be revealing his tournie results? Feels like it's something for the thread author to be telling us about?
Ugh sorry, my bad. I thought it was ok with a deep run, but I can’t edit or delete now.
I think those are even better to keep as a surprise for the author. Unless it is the main event and most are following along, my lean would be to not do that in the future and at worst case use a spoiler tag
Agree with the Pope, it takes the air out of his next update.
Don’t worry about the spoiler. It’s cool and flattering that people are excited to see me do well.
Maybe I will do a live updates day one day to change it up a bit if people would be interested in that?
In the meantime while I’m just doing the daily write-ups at the end of the day, agree probably no spoilers is best to allow me to tell the story of the day without the outcome being known for those that don’t want to know it in advance.
Of course if people do want to know in real time then there are ways to find out with the WSOP app and pokernews updates.
Also while I’m on the subject, I do have a telegram channel where I do give live updates from tournaments to people that have bought a piece of me. If anyone does have a piece of me this summer and isn’t in the channel but wants to be, please send me a message and I’ll send you the link.
Thanks. I've never personally felt that rule/penalty made sense. If there is demonstrably a time when taking a risk/making a "bad" decision (ie exposing cards) can be used skillfully and properly, then the player shouldn't be penalized for recognizing and capitalizing on that moment. If the action influences opponents to make a different decision than they otherwise would have
I think that mostly came about when Jamie Gold did a bunch of it, and lots of time was wasted and lots of arguments ensued.
Day 17
Thursday June 11th
I surprisingly got a good nights sleep. I thought I would have been tossing and turning given how I finished last night but no, got a solid 7 hours in. Maybe I’m becoming numb to it all? If so, is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Didn’t go to the pool today. Wanted to do some Stud 8 work. Had some close spots yesterday and felt maybe I was a little too aggressive but when I looked at them on studflopdraw it seems like I played them correctly. Maybe I’m just being results orientated as I swear I didn’t even drag half a Stud 8 pot yesterday.
$1,500 HORSE
Day 2
Level 16: 6,000 - 12,000 limits
171 / 780 players remaining
117 places paid
We start the day 164th out of the 171 returning players with a paltry 16,000 in chips or 1.3 big bets.
The draw for the game results in us starting with O8 (good) but the draw for the button sees us UTG+1 (not so good)
I’m all-in on my big blind, defending with A499 and get a chop.
Onto Razz.
We have a 9 up with 2-7 buried. There’s another 2 and a 7 among the up cards which is good card removal for us so I decide to go with it. We do end up making a 9 which is good for a full double.
A couple of hands later we play a very interesting hand. This is definitely hand of the day.
We open 9-6 | A and get 3-bet by a 2. We call.
On 4th we catch a Jack and villain gets a 3
So it’s 9-6 | A-J vs ?-? | 2-3
Villain bets and we call. We don’t like it but can’t fold here on a small bet street in a 3-bet pot.
5th street villain pairs his 3 and we also get a 3.
We bet and villain calls.
6th street villain catches a Queen and we get a 6 which pairs us.
So it’s 9-6 | A-J-3-6 vs ?-? | 2-3-3-Q
We have the best hand at the moment with a made Jack. The best our opponent can have is a Queen but I know he has a super strong draw so I elect to check. Villain wants high variance and bets it. (It’s probably close to a coin flip)
I have the best hand, the best you can have is a queen I say
You paired your 6he correctly replies.
There’s no world in which we’re folding so I raise all-in for half a bet more which he calls.
Will luck be on our side?
No squeezing. We pick up our 7th card and slam it down quick.
It’s a 7. We improve to a 9-7.
I paired villain responds.
As it turns out we didn’t need to improve. A Jack was good as villain missed his premium draw.
I don’t even look to see his exact cards as I’m too busy raking in the chips from another full double up.
Level 17: 8,000 - 16,000 limits
We have 80,000
Average is 145,000
134 players remaining
117 places paid
Hand for hand on the bubble now.
Cha-****ing-Ching!
In the money![/b]
I give myself a mental pat on the back for this one. I could have easily punted off the 16k last night rather than bag it and come back today. Never give up.
We make the first break of the day with an almost average 164,000 in chips
My highlight in level 18 was winning a nice Stud pot starting with split Aces and getting two callers who didn’t believe my Aces as there was another dead Ace among the up-cards.
I make Aces up which are good and get 1 caller on 7th.
Level 19: 12,000 - 24,000 limits
We have 240,000
Average is 246,000
79 players remaining
Lose 2 big Stud 8 pots bricking low and flush draws. I swear I haven’t won a Stud 8 pot all tournament. Down to 120k
Win an O8 pot. I bet the flop and turn on a T-7-4-3 board with two pair and no low against the pre-flop raiser and get the fold.
Won a Razz pot. I had an 8 made and was calling down a scary board. We go check - check on 7th. We improve to a 7 which was necessary as villain had a better 8.
On break at the end of level 13. We have 230,000
Completely card dead on level 20. Win the blinds uncontested from the button in O8 is my only pick-up.
Level 21: 20,000 - 40,000 limits
We have 180,000
Average is 433,000
45 players remaining
Lost a big Stud pot. Had a pair of sixes and a flush draw and didn’t improve. Lose to two pair. Very short now.
I finally win a Stud 8 pot to double
Then playing Hold’em I open the button with 7-7 and get 3-bet from the BB which I call.
Flop: 2-3-6
Our remaining chips go in and then we get shown the bad news. Villain has Q-Q
There’s no 7 or running straight and we’re finally done. I feel numb. It felt like I was taking every punch they could throw at me but I wouldn’t go down. But running into Q-Q there was just one too many on the chin.
I’m drained but proud of the way I fought.
Rppoker texts me as he’s just busted the Colossus and we meet for a coffee.
I had today pencilled in as my day to fire the Colossus and after a coffee and a little break I feel recovered enough to indeed do that and fire a max late reg bullet.
I tell Rppoker not to go to dinner just yet. I won’t be hanging about, I’ll either double or bust quickly and if it’s the latter I’ll go to dinner with him. I’ll have 50k with blinds at 2k/4k/4k so it’s fold or shove mode.
As it turned out it was rather a slow death. I dont get anything playable for two orbits then play A-J in a 3-way all-in pot of which I win the side pot to basically get my money back. Another orbit and I’m down to 25k and have to put it in with 8-7 suited from the big blind. Up against A-9 it could be worse but we don’t get any help from the board and head to dinner with Rppoker.
We went to Gordon Ramsay at Paris and both had the Beef Wellington which was really good.
On Deck Tomorrow: $1,500 Razz
Nice cash, never give up!
Good Job Bracelet Hunter. Win it or keep getting closer to it as you play your events!
Finally, a tournament I have a piece of! Vamos!
Whatever works for you, make sure you are using the time during breaks to give updates, as we all know you are hoping and playing for a deep run. So, we don't want you to be distracted with these updates!
Forgot to mention about the dealers yesterday. If you make it to a day two you get the re-start crew who are all excellent dealers.
All my ratings were 5 and 4 stars yesterday compared with all 1 and 2 stars on day one. Huge difference.
I didn't bother rating the dealers as I was just playing 1 event and didn't have anything to compare them to, but I had far better dealers in the PLO $250 daily deepstack than I did in the WSOP $1500 LHE event.
The ones in the PLO for the most part knew what the pot size was, the LHE had issues making change and were SO SLOW getting a new hand started. Playing mainly cash, a shuffle machine is such a blessing. At Bellagio, a shuffle machine was broken on a table and the floor actually decreased the time charge at the table because of it.
I didn't bother rating the dealers as I was just playing 1 event and didn't have anything to compare them to, but I had far better dealers in the PLO $250 daily deepstack than I did in the WSOP $1500 LHE event.The ones in the PLO for the most part knew what the pot size was, the LHE had issues making change and were SO SLOW getting a new hand started. Playing mainly cash, a sh
Wild! LHE is literally the easiest poker game to deal.
Not when they don't know that the betting is structured and think that whatever chips are put out is the bet size. So a lot more change is needed in limit tournaments than in NL.
And also, it is so much quicker so they are 'working' more of the time instead of just sitting there watching two guys stare at each other for 45 seconds before gingerly tapping one pinky on the felt ever so slightly.
At least two dealers were confused by the terms “two bets,” “three bets,” etc.
At least PokerNews has figured it out for their reporting. Somehow the WSOP app still refers to the LHE events as “PLH” though, which is hilarious since pot limit hold em has not been a WSOP event ever, to my knowledge, at least not in recent memory.
At least two dealers were confused by the terms “two bets,” “three bets,” etc.
At least PokerNews has figured it out for their reporting. Somehow the WSOP app still refers to the LHE events as “PLH” though, which is hilarious since pot limit hold em has not been a WSOP event ever, to my knowledge, at least not in recent memory.
back in the 80s and 90s PLH was the standard big bet holdem cash game at WSOP and they had at least one PLH tourney each year. I recall getting knocked out of one of them by Helmuth, my AK to his 99 all in preflop.
I suppose “recent memory” is a relative measure 😀
I have no idea on the inner workings of hotel rates and offers. Given the choice I’d rather stay at Vdara over Aria but yes it was more expensive for me and I was surprised to get some good rates at Aria for a change. That is at least for my 2nd stay at Aria. For the first stay my friend Jimmy is hooking me up.I was also surprised not to have any good rates at MGM Grand this tr
Hope you didn’t short the USA too hard tonight!!!
[emoji1659][emoji1659]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Hope you didn’t short the USA too hard tonight!!!
[emoji1659][emoji1659]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I did not thankfully. Not had a World Cup bet yet on any of the games but I do have a Brazil ticket for tomorrow. -150 looks too cheap to me against Morocco who I think are over-rated.
Day 18
Friday June 12th
Went for the Horseshoe pool today. It’s a lot less busy than Paris and the music seemed at a lower volume today which was nice.
$1,500 Razz today and I met up with Dogface who was also playing it before we started.
Interesting table for me today with James Woods who was in a talkative mood and enjoying himself as this is his favorite game.
I did pretty good in the Razz rounds during the HORSE tournament but today I couldn’t get anything going. When we got to 1k - 2k limits I bricked some good starting hands and with the extra betting round in Razz it doesn’t take long for your chips to evaporate and I was eliminated before the 2nd break.
Martin Kabrhel was at the final table of the $100k high roller putting on his show but Yuri Dzivelevski won it to earn me some fantasy points.
Busting the Razz early allowed me to fire the landmark satellite in Horseshoe event center for the $10k Big O tomorrow.
But 15k in chips doesn’t last long in that either if you don’t win a hand. I got it in with top set of Queens on the flop against the nut flush draw which arrived on the river and that was that.
So tournaments no good today I thought I’d better check in at the office as I hadn’t been there in a couple of days.
I had to wait about an hour to get a seat but did eventually get seated around midnight and for once didn’t start off getting stuck.
I won a cool Razz hand with both mine and villains board showing K-Q-J-7. He led out on 7th and we raised with 5-3-2 in the hole. He called and we were good.
We also had a good round of Drawma-dugi before we were moved from the 3rd game to the 2nd game.
I racked up at 4am as I was tired and booked a +$2,300 win after 4 hours. I played later tonight as I have no tournament tomorrow.
Your cash chip porn is epic!
