Thursday June 30
Despite the carnage that had taken place last night, my mother was sleeping pretty soundly. I decided to give my wife a call. She is understanding, and has heard it all before. She plays online poker as well and I deposited $100 on PokerStars for her to play around with before I left. The main question I wanted to ask her was, should I play in the WSOP? With the way our luck had been these past few days, I needed an objective assessment.
“You know what, winning money on the computer is so hard! I’ve got to give you credit there. You do have some skills, just take it easy and forget about all the other casino games. You can and do win money when you stick to just poker. You didn’t fly all the way out to Las Vegas to NOT play right? Win for me!”
Her last statement reminded me of that great inspirational scene in Rocky II where after Adrian comes out of her coma after giving birth, she tells Rocky to win for her. If only it could be like that in real life…
Talking to my wife did make me feel a lot better, so I decided to drive over to the Rio and buy into the $1500 PLO8 event. I got all the way up to the cashier’s cage and wouldn’t you know it, I didn’t have my wallet with me! So, I drove back to the LVH to search around the room. No wallet. Panic started to set in, and I rushed back down to the car. Boy am I stupid. My wallet was right there on the passenger’s seat beside me! I guess the colour of the seats in the Yaris were the exact same colour as my wallet.
So, back I drive to the Rio to buy in, then back to the LVH to check on mom.
Once again we ate breakfast at the LVH buffet. Since our cash reserves were running low, I went into bankroll preservation / builder mode. We were scheduled to have the room here at the LVH for 1 more night, but I thought that maybe with all the play (and losses) the both of us had incurred, we might be able to score some airfare reimbursement if I checked out today (better daily average). So I went…hat in hand to the VIP lounge to ask if anything could be done.
“Well, combined you and your mother played for a total of 16 hours and I see a total loss of $13,000 over 2 days. I don’t think a rebate will be a problem. Let me call your host.”
I didn’t even know I had a host here at the LVH. Apparently her name is Nancy, and I had met her once before almost 10 years ago when I used to stay at the LVH all the time. She signed off on $700 worth of airfare without even asking to see the tickets. Apparently we still had over $100 in comp dollars at our disposal that couldn’t be cashed out. Well, at least we had a place to eat for a few meals for free.
We loaded up the car, dropped our bags off at the Flamingo and then headed over to the Rio. (Third time today for me.)
I picked up my mother’s ‘Platters, Coasters and Marvellettes” ticket for tonight. I told her that if I was still in the tournament, she would have to take a cab back to the Flamingo. If I busted out, I would meet her after the show and we would get dinner somewhere.
One good thing happened before the WSOP started. My mother finally found a “Russian Treasure” slot machine. That is probably her favourite machine of all time. I sat with her for 30 minutes or so, and in that time she managed to win a little over $900!
The WSOP was about to begin.
The calm before the storm.
The stage where winners are presented with their bracelets.
The format of this tournament was a little different. You were given $1500 in starting chips and 2 extra add on chips worth $1500 each that you could employ at any time before a hand started. Because of the volatility in this game, many people save their ‘bullets” in case a bad beat causes them to lose their initial starting stack. I decided to just play with the $1500 through the first 2 levels.
After I sat down, and the cards were in the air, I truly felt like I had made the right decision. The WSOP is just an amazing event, and I really enjoy playing in it.
Throughout the first 2 levels, it looked like my luck was finally turning around. I made 2 nut flushes, a nut straight and quad Jacks to build my stack up to $10150. Another highlight of the first 2 levels, was that poker celebrity Daniel Negreanu sat right behind me!
(File Photo)
I wasn’t able to get a picture with him though, since he busted out rather quickly.
I was in pretty good spirits, and actually held out hope that I could cash in this event.
At the end of the fourth level, my stack had been reduced to $1925. I had suffered a bad beat that took about ¾ of my stack.
My hand:
A 2 Q Q – Ace and Q of hearts, Q and 2 of spades.
My opponents’ hand:
A 2 5 7 – 2, 5 and 7 of diamonds, Ace of clubs
For whatever reason, the pot escalated with pre-flop raises until he was all in for 6000 or so. We flipped our hands over.
The Flop: K 9 2 – K and 2 of hearts, 9 of spades
The Turn:10 of spades.
Now, I am pretty confident going to river. Any heart, any spade, any J… actually why am I wasting my time telling you what cards improved my hand? I didn’t need to improve, since I was ahead of my opponent with a pair of queens versus his pair of 2s. The only cards that could have helped him were:
The ace of diamonds for a split pot (we’d each have 2 pair)
The 5 of clubs
The 7 of clubs
The River: 5 of clubs. He makes 2 pair and I lose most of my stack.
I received many sympathetic comments from some of the players, and my opponent even apologized for the bad beat. I asked a guy sitting beside me if I should’ve called that all in bet, and he said of course. I asked the European guy on the other side of me who was a sponsored “PokerStars Pro”. He just stared blankly at me, smiled and shook his head. I guess he didn’t speak any English.
Ultimately, it was my own fault. I could’ve folded pre-flop. You only have 1 way to win when all your chips go into the pot before the flop, and that’s to have the best hand by the river. The sooner you get all your chips into the pot before seeing the board cards, the more you are gambling.
Towards the end of level 5, I bust out of my second WSOP in a row. Surprisingly, I wasn’t as upset as I was last year. I had my money in while I was ahead in all the pots I eventually lost. Lady Luck can be a cruel hearted b*tch at times.
I don’t know how the rest of my poker career / hobby will develop going forward, but as of right now, this will be the last time I play in the World Series of Poker. I initially came for the experience, and by cashing the first 2 years I played, I really felt like I belonged here, playing with the pros.
I’m not a millionaire and it’s getting harder and harder to justify spending thousands of dollars on tournament buy-ins and being away from my family chasing the pipe dream of a World Series of Poker bracelet. So, by quitting now, I have a 50% "in the money" rate.
There’s a poignant scene in the movie Spiderman II that summed up how I felt right now. It’s at the end of the movie when Spiderman defeats Dr. Octopus and convinces him to shut down his fusion reactor. He tells him,
“In order to do what’s right, sometimes we have to give up on our dreams.”
Shortly before 7pm, I headed back to the Rio casino and miraculously found my mother. She had been plugging away at the slot machines using my Total Rewards card, and had accumulated a little over 2200 tier credits. She claimed she had lost some money, but not much.
She went in to watch the show, and I continued to play the slots in an effort to accumulate 3000 points and receive a diamond card. It’s a good thing I had some nice hits on the original “Goldfish” slot machine and the “Lord of the Rings” because that provided me with enough ammunition to reach “diamond in a day”. I stopped at 3001 points, and got my card.
My mother intially thought she wouldn't like the show, as there were only 50 people or so in the Crown Theatre that night, but overall she said it was very good. I don't know why the "Platters, Coasters and Marvellettes" is playing at the Rio though. It just doesn't seem to match the demographic the Rio is looking for.
We put the card to immediate use, bypassing the huge line for the Village Seafood Buffet, and being seated immediately. I even used the $10 off per person ACG coupon. This buffet has slipped a bit. I remember when they had whole lobsters on the buffet menu. The reserved seating for diamond card members, and the hot towels provided at the end of the meal were nice touches.
We head back to the Flamingo and enter the GO room for the first time. My mother really liked the décor of the room. It wasn’t as roomy as I thought it would be, and I couldn’t figure out how to turn on the TV in the mirror.
Mom went to sleep immediately, and I went down to the casino to try my luck again. I didn’t keep very good notes here, but by the time I was finished (3:30am) I had recovered about $2500 in previous losses through a combination of hit and run blackjack, craps and slots. I had enough of a cash cushion now, so I decided I would play the $560 event at the Golden Nugget tomorrow.
Day 6 to follow.
Despite the carnage that had taken place last night, my mother was sleeping pretty soundly. I decided to give my wife a call. She is understanding, and has heard it all before. She plays online poker as well and I deposited $100 on PokerStars for her to play around with before I left. The main question I wanted to ask her was, should I play in the WSOP? With the way our luck had been these past few days, I needed an objective assessment.
“You know what, winning money on the computer is so hard! I’ve got to give you credit there. You do have some skills, just take it easy and forget about all the other casino games. You can and do win money when you stick to just poker. You didn’t fly all the way out to Las Vegas to NOT play right? Win for me!”
Her last statement reminded me of that great inspirational scene in Rocky II where after Adrian comes out of her coma after giving birth, she tells Rocky to win for her. If only it could be like that in real life…
Talking to my wife did make me feel a lot better, so I decided to drive over to the Rio and buy into the $1500 PLO8 event. I got all the way up to the cashier’s cage and wouldn’t you know it, I didn’t have my wallet with me! So, I drove back to the LVH to search around the room. No wallet. Panic started to set in, and I rushed back down to the car. Boy am I stupid. My wallet was right there on the passenger’s seat beside me! I guess the colour of the seats in the Yaris were the exact same colour as my wallet.
So, back I drive to the Rio to buy in, then back to the LVH to check on mom.
Once again we ate breakfast at the LVH buffet. Since our cash reserves were running low, I went into bankroll preservation / builder mode. We were scheduled to have the room here at the LVH for 1 more night, but I thought that maybe with all the play (and losses) the both of us had incurred, we might be able to score some airfare reimbursement if I checked out today (better daily average). So I went…hat in hand to the VIP lounge to ask if anything could be done.
“Well, combined you and your mother played for a total of 16 hours and I see a total loss of $13,000 over 2 days. I don’t think a rebate will be a problem. Let me call your host.”
I didn’t even know I had a host here at the LVH. Apparently her name is Nancy, and I had met her once before almost 10 years ago when I used to stay at the LVH all the time. She signed off on $700 worth of airfare without even asking to see the tickets. Apparently we still had over $100 in comp dollars at our disposal that couldn’t be cashed out. Well, at least we had a place to eat for a few meals for free.
We loaded up the car, dropped our bags off at the Flamingo and then headed over to the Rio. (Third time today for me.)
I picked up my mother’s ‘Platters, Coasters and Marvellettes” ticket for tonight. I told her that if I was still in the tournament, she would have to take a cab back to the Flamingo. If I busted out, I would meet her after the show and we would get dinner somewhere.
One good thing happened before the WSOP started. My mother finally found a “Russian Treasure” slot machine. That is probably her favourite machine of all time. I sat with her for 30 minutes or so, and in that time she managed to win a little over $900!
The WSOP was about to begin.
The calm before the storm.
The stage where winners are presented with their bracelets.
The format of this tournament was a little different. You were given $1500 in starting chips and 2 extra add on chips worth $1500 each that you could employ at any time before a hand started. Because of the volatility in this game, many people save their ‘bullets” in case a bad beat causes them to lose their initial starting stack. I decided to just play with the $1500 through the first 2 levels.
After I sat down, and the cards were in the air, I truly felt like I had made the right decision. The WSOP is just an amazing event, and I really enjoy playing in it.
Throughout the first 2 levels, it looked like my luck was finally turning around. I made 2 nut flushes, a nut straight and quad Jacks to build my stack up to $10150. Another highlight of the first 2 levels, was that poker celebrity Daniel Negreanu sat right behind me!
(File Photo)
I wasn’t able to get a picture with him though, since he busted out rather quickly.
I was in pretty good spirits, and actually held out hope that I could cash in this event.
At the end of the fourth level, my stack had been reduced to $1925. I had suffered a bad beat that took about ¾ of my stack.
My hand:
A 2 Q Q – Ace and Q of hearts, Q and 2 of spades.
My opponents’ hand:
A 2 5 7 – 2, 5 and 7 of diamonds, Ace of clubs
For whatever reason, the pot escalated with pre-flop raises until he was all in for 6000 or so. We flipped our hands over.
The Flop: K 9 2 – K and 2 of hearts, 9 of spades
The Turn:10 of spades.
Now, I am pretty confident going to river. Any heart, any spade, any J… actually why am I wasting my time telling you what cards improved my hand? I didn’t need to improve, since I was ahead of my opponent with a pair of queens versus his pair of 2s. The only cards that could have helped him were:
The ace of diamonds for a split pot (we’d each have 2 pair)
The 5 of clubs
The 7 of clubs
The River: 5 of clubs. He makes 2 pair and I lose most of my stack.
I received many sympathetic comments from some of the players, and my opponent even apologized for the bad beat. I asked a guy sitting beside me if I should’ve called that all in bet, and he said of course. I asked the European guy on the other side of me who was a sponsored “PokerStars Pro”. He just stared blankly at me, smiled and shook his head. I guess he didn’t speak any English.
Ultimately, it was my own fault. I could’ve folded pre-flop. You only have 1 way to win when all your chips go into the pot before the flop, and that’s to have the best hand by the river. The sooner you get all your chips into the pot before seeing the board cards, the more you are gambling.
Towards the end of level 5, I bust out of my second WSOP in a row. Surprisingly, I wasn’t as upset as I was last year. I had my money in while I was ahead in all the pots I eventually lost. Lady Luck can be a cruel hearted b*tch at times.
I don’t know how the rest of my poker career / hobby will develop going forward, but as of right now, this will be the last time I play in the World Series of Poker. I initially came for the experience, and by cashing the first 2 years I played, I really felt like I belonged here, playing with the pros.
I’m not a millionaire and it’s getting harder and harder to justify spending thousands of dollars on tournament buy-ins and being away from my family chasing the pipe dream of a World Series of Poker bracelet. So, by quitting now, I have a 50% "in the money" rate.
There’s a poignant scene in the movie Spiderman II that summed up how I felt right now. It’s at the end of the movie when Spiderman defeats Dr. Octopus and convinces him to shut down his fusion reactor. He tells him,
“In order to do what’s right, sometimes we have to give up on our dreams.”
Shortly before 7pm, I headed back to the Rio casino and miraculously found my mother. She had been plugging away at the slot machines using my Total Rewards card, and had accumulated a little over 2200 tier credits. She claimed she had lost some money, but not much.
She went in to watch the show, and I continued to play the slots in an effort to accumulate 3000 points and receive a diamond card. It’s a good thing I had some nice hits on the original “Goldfish” slot machine and the “Lord of the Rings” because that provided me with enough ammunition to reach “diamond in a day”. I stopped at 3001 points, and got my card.
My mother intially thought she wouldn't like the show, as there were only 50 people or so in the Crown Theatre that night, but overall she said it was very good. I don't know why the "Platters, Coasters and Marvellettes" is playing at the Rio though. It just doesn't seem to match the demographic the Rio is looking for.
We put the card to immediate use, bypassing the huge line for the Village Seafood Buffet, and being seated immediately. I even used the $10 off per person ACG coupon. This buffet has slipped a bit. I remember when they had whole lobsters on the buffet menu. The reserved seating for diamond card members, and the hot towels provided at the end of the meal were nice touches.
We head back to the Flamingo and enter the GO room for the first time. My mother really liked the décor of the room. It wasn’t as roomy as I thought it would be, and I couldn’t figure out how to turn on the TV in the mirror.
Mom went to sleep immediately, and I went down to the casino to try my luck again. I didn’t keep very good notes here, but by the time I was finished (3:30am) I had recovered about $2500 in previous losses through a combination of hit and run blackjack, craps and slots. I had enough of a cash cushion now, so I decided I would play the $560 event at the Golden Nugget tomorrow.
Day 6 to follow.