**** TJ's 2026 WSOP Trip! ...And Continued Sundry Poker Adventures ****
Hello again, friends!
I’ll start this thread by channeling my inner karaoke DJ, and invoking the timeless lyrics from the
a long trip that must have felt REALLY long given the mtt woes. That is the life we have chosen though....mtts really are a fickle beast.
hopefully your cash wins cover a lot of the tourney buy ins & hopefully also you've enjoyed your long trip to Vegas
great to see you a few times & thanks for the long & generous trip report
I wrapped up the 5/10 rock session a modest winner, then headed to dinner at Lemongrass.
They have a ribeye (mid rare of course) over mixed vegetables, with tamarind sauce and coconut sticky rice I’ve had before, and really like.
The tamarind sauce is a bit loud, so the perfectly seasoned meat doesn’t need it. A nice tangy wake-up for the veggies, though 👍
Plus a glass of cab, it was $62.
I’m over at the airport now, comically early for my flight.
And so, the sun sets on another Vegas trip.
I have a pretty brutal overnight travel itinerary, with a layover in Orlando, before landing in RDU right in the morning rush.
Lots to get through, then work is gonna hit me like a ton of bricks, so I’ll update and close out as I can.
Whole row to myself, on the LONG leg of the overnight flight!
Landing in Orlando at 5:30, Raleigh at 9:20.
The forumserver version of this site is missing some posts in my thread, likely related to whatever gremlins are shutting the site down.
I’m gonna try bumping it here, to see if that brings any back.
The forumserver version of this site is missing some posts in my thread, likely related to whatever gremlins are shutting the site down.
I'm gonna try bumping it here, to see if that brings any back.
In the mod thread, Max wrote that those posts are lost forever.
I found Tony's missing update post on the new site and copied it here. Happy to do the same for yours if they are there.
Let's see if this does the trick:
The shot last night went well, +870. Every time I had a big hand, I’d bet it really strongly, but everyone would fold. Makes me think I’m not bluffing enough.It was a pretty good game all night long, but I probably stayed too late. I picked up around midnight, despite knowing I had to check out by 10 the following morning.Took the trash out, packed up, checked ou
I got seated in another 5/10 rock game this afternoon, and it also went okay, +420.I was up more, then played a big pot preflop with AKQJ double suited. Got it in against KKQJ, so I guess he’s a favorite, but I’m fine with 4 cards working. Unfortunately I lost that one, to put me about back toward even.Racked up, then I said, ya know what? I have DUTIFULLY stayed
Blazed it.Your last hand: yeah he's a favourite, but it's only 53/37/10 tie assuming that his KKQJ was badugi. It's 58/35/7 if he has the other two suits. We've all gotten it in way worse than that.Craps has been bad everywhere (and I would know)... they must have Danny Ocean'd the dice to come up 7 whenever they want. Those movies have been on constantly since I got back.Safe
As always, a Hall of Fame trip report. Thanks for your commitment to posting live. Enjoyed it immensely.
a long trip that must have felt REALLY long given the mtt woes. That is the life we have chosen though....mtts really are a fickle beast.
hopefully your cash wins cover a lot of the tourney buy ins & hopefully also you've enjoyed your long trip to Vegas
great to see you a few times & thanks for the long & generous trip report
I wrapped up the 5/10 rock session a modest winner, then headed to dinner at Lemongrass.They have a ribeye (mid rare of course) over mixed vegetables, with tamarind sauce and coconut sticky rice I’ve had before, and really like.The tamarind sauce is a bit loud, so the perfectly seasoned meat doesn’t need it. A nice tangy wake-up for the veggies, though 👍 Plus a gl
Whole row to myself, on the LONG leg of the overnight flight! Landing in Orlando at 5:30, Raleigh at 9:20.
Safe travels TJ. Thanks for all you do for this forum. GG.
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Busted, about 100 players from the money, an hour away from bagging. It was a stupid, stupid spot that’s gonna haunt me for a while.I’d worked back up to almost an average stack, then I have J5s in the big blind. MP just lost almost all his chips, and open shoves his last 4bb. Button calls. I think my BB calling range has to be almost any 2, so I make the call as well.I dar
I think the call is fine, when he bets huge then you say goodbye to it
TJ - great report and thanks as always for making it an entertaining one. Looking forward to next summer already!
Enjoyed the ride, as always.
Felt like we had a chance to catch up this year, even though it was actually just randomly running into you in the hallways twice. 😃
Hope to catch you back out there again next summer.
When that alarm clock went off at 3:10 am, my first thought was, “Oh. I actually DON’T get to sleep til I feel like it, roll out of bed, eat some great food, and play poker all day, EVERY day, after all.”
So this cold shower of work hit me like a ton of bricks.
So let’s recap this latest Vegas trip!
Cash games
66 hours played, +2.2k.
Pleased with my cash results. It’s not an insignificant sample, I made mostly good decisions, and I won. That’s enormously reaffirming for me.
…Because, the aftermath of tournaments,
Tournaments
90 hours played (including breaks), -11.3k.
One barely-better than mincash, on 19 bullets.
Yeesh.
The biggest single line item was three empty $1500 bullets in the Monster Stack. I was only gonna fire two, but then I busted the 2nd bullet 10 minutes in, and had no other plans for the day.
Thought I played mostly okay. Definitely didn’t run exceptionally well (obviously), which is what it takes to win the big money. Can think of at least 4 huge 70/30’s that didn’t go my way, deep and late. Anecdotally, I think I probably won more than 50% of my flips, so maybe it’s a wash. It’s tournaments, tough… these things happen.
I’m happy with the breakdown of the tourney/cash split (90 hours vs 66). That’s roughly how I wanted to allocate my time, and give myself the best chance to do something notable. While keeping myself in the style I’ve grown accustomed to, of course. And, obviously, pleased with the volume. That’s a LOT of poker in 19 days.
Looking back, the only thing I’d have done differently was move up from 1/2 PLO to 5/10 PLO much earlier, when I did play cash.
I was apprehensive at first, because of how I remember feeling when I played that high last year. But once I got on the felt, I was very comfortable with the stacks and the money and the swings involved. The games were great action.
Next: expenses.
Thanks for sharing! It was great rubbing elbows and actually getting to sit at the same table together. MTTs have lots of landmines to navigate. Look forward to following your future poker adventures!
Good on you for posting honestly the less than ideal results. It’s absolutely a (unpleasant) part of the mtt life and it does you a lot of credit that you’re open & transparent about them
Keep doing what you do and putting yourself into positions to run good and the deep run will happen
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Flight
$479
I’m a little annoyed, because I was tracking the Raleigh/Las Vegas Delta direct flight on Google flights for WEEKS, but I wasn’t sure I was even making this trip until I posted a big April this year. Of course, by the time I was ready to pull the trigger, the direct flight sold out.
So I had to go with Frontier, which had a connection each way. Less comfy, but slightly cheaper. The flight experience was fine, but I absolutely would have paid $50, or $100, or whatever more to get it direct.
AirBnb
19 nights, for $2,396 ($126/night)
Again, accommodations are all about tradeoffs, and finding which are your priorities.
I wanted walkable food options, laundry facilities, and no resort fees. Maybe if I degen’ed harder in the pits, I could have gotten better offers at a resort, but, again, laundry. I also like the vibe of the Airbnb, it’s a lot quieter.
My only complaint is that there was MASSIVE construction right outside my building, and the road I was on was completely closed for the back half of my trip. Getting in and out proved to be annoying, but it got better once I learned my way around better.
The location, and walkable amenities, though, was perfect. I’d absolutely stay there again.
Uber
40 trips, for $1,045 ($26.13 average) plus another $210 in cash tips
I tipped every Uber driver a $5 bill, except for two times I tipped $10 to make a stop along the way.
Food and drink
$2,198 ($115/day)
Again, if I were more motivated to get my food spend down, I could have worked harder. And maybe drank less. I paid full freight to drink a lot, as I got a glass of wine, or an IPA or two at practically every sit down meal that wasn’t breakfast. …Which is where I insist on coffee AND orange juice.
Whatever. It’s my one big vacation I look forward to all year. I’m fine with it.
The most memorable meal, hands down, was the dinner at Battista’s with all the LVL regs, on dinner break at the Colossus, right before I found my first, (and only), bag of the trip.
Best tasting meal: the rigatoni with guanciale from Esther’s Kitchen narrowly edges the duck breast from Main Street Provisions. Two FANTASTIC restaurants in the Arts District I could walk to.
Hopefully this info can be useful for all of you, who are stuck at home, planning your next Vegas trip!
TJ, I think you did things right. I wouldn't do Frontier, but that's me.
The Uber bill seems high, but I like the food options for where you were for that long.
The uber question comes down to thinking I’m coming out ahead of renting a car.
If you’re driving to casinos in Las Vegas, you usually have to pay to park… far, far away from where you’re playing.
The bigger question is, would it have been cheaper to stay and eat on the strip somewhere, and take less Ubers.
Yeah it’s a steep Uber bill, but I still think I’m coming out ahead.
Yes. I still think you did things right. The Uber bill is high, but anyone is likely to spend some of that anyway depending on where you want to play. And good food being within walking distance is a huge plus in my mind.
Fwiw you can get the MGM credit card that has no annual fee and get mgm pearl which gets you free parking. I know that option isn’t for everyone, but it is what I do.
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[QUOTE=TJ Eckleburg12;59344298]
I think the key quote from you is, "Whatever. It’s my one big vacation I look forward to all year. I’m fine with it."
You aren't a professional. Yet. As long as that continues to be the case I think you have found a great balance between enjoying yourself and creating great life memories, and yet taking it seriously enough to give yourself and your evolving game a real shot at quality results.
Similarly, I played in a few events over the years. My poker friends would ask me how much it costs to buy in, then would react with shock.
I'd answer, "hey, I'm going to spend 2-3K on vacation *somewhere *. This year, ir happened ro be WSOP."
Oh, and I forgot to mention one other very notable accomplishment this trip that I’m quite proud of:
Cigarettes bummed:
ZERO.
I quit smoking almost two years ago. They say once you’ve been quit, the smell of cigarettes will become repulsive to you.
…It still smells like freedom to me.
I’ve got a nose like a bloodhound for cigarettes. I can tell the direction and intensity of any smoker in about a 75 yard radius, it seems.
And being on a casino floor is like a sensory overload, in that regard. The smells, the non stop sounds, and the lights.
So it’s a testament to my willpower that I considered my long term goals, whenever I felt like taking the edge off.
