The end

Well, it's over.

After the last break, I was moved to Silver 617, Seat 1, in the feature room.

I was playing pretty well, and with about 90 minutes to go for the day, I get dealt JJ.  The guy in Seat 8 raises to 4000, and I call.

For the first time all night, my pair hits. The flop was AQJ rainbow. The guy in Seat 8 bets 4500 and I raise to 20,000.  He calls with what I later discover is AQ, or two pair.  The next card is a blank and then he hits an A on the river giving me a JJJAA full house and him an AAAQQ full house.  I suppose I could have given him credit for the AQ, but I guess I didn't.  He took all of my chips except for 1000, which I lost in the next hand.

The table was sympathetic, but I was the new guy and the other guy wasn't, so I left quietly and went to my room and started writing this down.

I'm not sure how far I would have gotten if I lived to Day 3.  With 300,000 chips, maybe pretty far.  But I think I did pretty well for my first Main Event.

Conclusions:

• The Main Event isn't for the faint of heart. I don't remember the last time I felt this drained.  The prospect of playing another ten hours on Saturday and another ten hours on Sunday before making the cash seems like climbing a Himalayan mountain in your bare feet. And it wasn't the poker play that was tough, it was being disciplined all the time that wears you out. I folded and folded and folded and folded and folded. You don't see that on TV, but that's the reality of this game. You fold and fold and fold and every once in a long while, you play a hand.

Is this fun? It depends on how you define "fun." At this level, it isn't a friendly home game where you make goofy bets and goofier calls because there's not that much at risk. This was fun in the same way that doing high-level MMA is fun - there's the mental game, and then there's getting punched in the face or choked out.

In the end, I'm glad I played, I'm proud of how well I played, and I'm sorry I couldn't bring the bacon home to my backers.  But I'm going to have to think long about whether I want to do this again.

• As always, it's wonderful to have such great friends. Anar, April, Samm, Suzie, Mike, Jolyne and Mark were great company here in Vegas, and the support I got from afar from all of you meant a lot. I am blessed.

• I am heading home tomorrow and will probably play some cards next Tuesday, as I often do, with my friends, my nephew and my son, and that's a pretty good consolation prize (plus winning $1000 in bingo ain't bupkis).

So, until next year, when Scott Plays the 2023 Seniors Tournament (for sure), I'm signing off and going to play some pai gow and get a little drunk.

Ciao!

 

Fourth break

I started Level 9 in kind of a funk. But I got a fast start…

KK, one behind the button.  Seat 6 raises to 3500, Seat 7 calls as do I.  Flop is a bunch of undercards.  Seats 6 and 7 check, and I bet 10,000.  Seat 6 folds, Seat 7 calls.  The next card doesn’t change anything, so I bet 15,000.  Seat 7 folds.

Two hands later, I have 55.  Seat 5 raises to 2400, and two of us call.  The flop is A79. I take the aggressive play and bet 7000.  They both fold.

At last my dry spell seems to be over!

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And AA makes its appearance for the first time today. Without going into great detail (I am wearing down and not feeling particularly literate right now), I get some action and my stack grows to 128,000. This is where I need to be with three hours left in the day. My target stack is between 150,000 and 200,000.  Getting there…

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The new Seat 9 is kind of hyperactive. He’s got a kind of twitchy energy that extends to his card play. Some of you may be too young to get this reference, but think Michael Keeton’s character in the great Eighties comedy Night Shift.

“Looooove brokers!”

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They are beginning to break tables up in our part of the tournament room. Basically, as people get knocked out of the tournament, their seats need to be filled, so they will take a table and send its people to the other tables.  We are five tables (or 50 people) away from being sent elsewhere. With 2:45 left, it is pretty inevitable that I will be the new guy at another table soon.

And as much as I enjoyed Table 666, I have hated playing at Table 555. With all of the movement, it has been uniformly unfriendly. I suppose I was part of that, being in my bubble, but even so, there is just not that same camaraderie as we had the first day.

I can’t get away from this table fast enough.

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Up and down. I told my friend Mitch that I was going to play my favorite hand one time this tournament, good old Q 10.

I’d folded it three times so far this tournament, but it came suited in clubs so I called a 3500 bet to see what would happen.

The flop was A 7 4 with two clubs. On a semi-bluff, I bet 6000. Seat 4, one of the newish guys who looks a little like Grizzly Adams, called and then Seat 5 raised to 20,000. It was tough to make that call, so I didn’t.  But Grizzly did.  The next card was the ace of clubs, which would have given me the second nut flush.  But it was also a paired board which was really dangerous.

Grizzly bet 25,000 and Seat 5 went all in. Grizzly called and Seat 5 had A7 for the boat.  Grizzly lost a ton of chips and I ducked a bullet.

________________________________

If I make it out of here today, I’m going to have to change my flight home and get a new hotel room. Lisa’s given me permission to check out a more luxe location - maybe the Nobu. I got to get out of Day 2 first, though.

________________________________

AJ in the big blind against Twitchy in Seat 9. He raised to 4000, and I called. Flop was a bunch of low cards, so I bet 10,000. He called. Another low card hit on the turn, so I bet 20,000. Man, I never saw someone skittering furiously while sitting down. He kept looking at me and piling his chips like he was going to go all in, but I was the Sphinx.Disgusted, he laid it down.

137,500.

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One more hand with Twitchy.  He raises to 8000 from the button. I have KJd and call, even though I have been told that KJ is fool’s gold.

Well, not this time.  The flop is KJ7.  I check to Twitchy, who check back.  The next card is a Q.  Scared of A 10, I check again, and he does too. The river card is another K, giving me the nuts.  I bet 12,000, but he ain’t buying. I suspect he was just firing at me because of the last hand we had and everything that followed was a slow fold.

154,500 going into the last break.

Dinner break

The last level was pretty rough.  About midway through it, I realized that I had not had a premium hand or a monster flop ALL DAY. I had AQ twice and QQ once, and none of them were playable on their merits (the QQ was counterfeited when an ace hit the board).  

As noted earlier, I was able to bluff my AQ into a fold on a big pot, but otherwise nada. I know this is how it sometimes goes, but when you go for two hours without taking down a pot, you kind of begin to look like the kind of guy who’s afraid of playing anything, and in the cutthroat world of high level tournament poker, that makes you prey to the sharks.

I’m at 90,500 going into Level 9. It’s more than I started with, but as players fall, it’s becoming proportionately smaller. This means that the big stacks might call me when they would fold to a larger stack because they have enough chips to gamble.

This means I am looking for a hand to make them do just that. But I am so, so, so card dead right now, I have to resist the temptation to shove with a marginal hand. I have to keep listening to my inner voice.

Fortunately, I had a nice dinner (chicken sandwich and salad) and I feel a little more energized. So in a few minutes, I’ll be back in the mine looking for that one gem.

Wish me luck!

Quick update

In the last hand of the seventh level, we lost one of the super-pros.  Frank Rusnak’s AA was cracked by Seat 5’s set of nines. He just couldn’t let them go, and that was the end of him.

Meanwhile, Gethy in Seat 9 is on life support with 26,000 chips. My prospects keep improving!

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And now Gethy’s gone. His 10 10 all-in loses to AK when Seat 7 spikes an A on the river.

He seemed like a nice guy. There are now only four of the original nine at Table 555, and one of them is the late registrant who is crushing this table.

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Well, I had my first major setback.  Details later, but I am now back down to 107,000. 

I did not listen to my inner voice.

Second break

Since the last break …

Big hand - I have AQ.  Three players - me, Seat 1 and Seat 6.  Flop is Axx, two diamonds.  Seat 6 bets 2600, I call, and Seat 1 calls.  Turn is another blank.  Seat 6 bets 4000, I call, Seat 1 bets 24,000. Seat 6 folds.  I call. River is a diamond. I bet 20,000. The pro tries to engage, but I have the sunglasses and headphones and 1000 yard stare. He folds. 144,900.

88 in the small blind.  Everyone folds around to me, including the button.  I raise to 2400.  Big blind calls. Flop is J67.  I bet 6000.  Big blind (the 4 bracelet guy) calls. Turn is 7, so I bet 12,000.  He instafolds. I’ve now taken pots from the two super-pros.

Who says this game is hard?

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A note about my playing style today.  I’m still wearing the black suit, white shirt, with Texas cuff links.  But today, I’m also wearing sunglasses and headphones with the noise cancelling function turned on.

The Sphinx

This has turned out to be a boon. I am in my own bubble, barely any noise, giving away nothing. And the guys at the table understand that I am being antisocial for strategic reasons. They’ve pretty much stopped trying to talk to me at all.

In my bubble, the time feels like it’s flying by. The other thing that is happening is that I am listening to my own advice.  Don’t fall in love with this hand, I tell myself.  Don’t overbet this ace.  

When I was at dinner with Anar the other night, I asked him if he had ever thought one thing, but physically did something completely different. Because that happened to me all the time. I would be thinking No, no, no, don’t call that bet - you’re beat but my hands would involuntarily reach for chips to either call or, worse, raise.  

Almost inevitably, my inner voice would be right and I would be filled with regrets and recriminations. Being in the bubble has mitigated that, not completely, but pretty well.

The only time today I’ve ignored my inner voice was when I had A8c on the button with one raiser - Seat 4. My inner voice was telling me Call or fold, but I raised to 8000. When Seat 4 re-raised me all-in for 60,000 chips, my IV said Told you, and I heard it loud and clear.

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We’ve lost two players. Seat 2, as expected with his small starting stack, and Seat 6, who was playing too many hands. The new Seat 2 has about 70,000 and plays like an aggressive pro. The new Seat 6 has about my stack, but seems to be pretty tight.

The problem with new players at the table is that they have no history with me, so I have to play tight with them until I can reestablish my table image for their benefit. This turns out to be a good thing, because I should be playing tight anyway, especially now that I have built up a nice stack.

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End of the seventh level, and I’m at 133,500. Taking my time.

First break

First action - I’m in BB with 56o.  Everyone folds to the small blind who just calls.  I reraise to 2500.  He calls.  Flop is J 2 8.  He checks, I raise to 6000.  He calls.  An 8 hits the turn. He checks.  I bet 12000. He folds. 89,400.

I’m wearing sunglasses and headphones today.  I haven’t said a word to anyone.  I am a sphinx.

Folded A2s.  Board had an A on the flop and two spades by the turn.  I was kind of glad to see a Jd fall on the river because the pro next to me bet 20k on the river.  I couldn’t have called that.  The mystery guy in Seat 3 ended up folding two pair to that bet as well.  Some tight play here.

10 10.  Called 1800 bet from the guy to my right. Mystery man in Seat 3 asks to see my chips and reraises to 6200.  I fold.  

Averaging about 20 minutes per orbit.  So far, the pros have been as aggressive as you would expect, but the chip leader at our table to my right has been pretty passive.  The guy in Seat 6 is playing a lot of hands.  Seat 4 made a pretty good pushback on Seat 1 after the turn.  The others are still mysteries to me so far.

AQo, one behind the button.  Seat 6 raises to 2400. I reraise to 6500.  He calls.  Flop is Qxx, two diamonds.  He checks, I bet 10000 to avoid the flush draw.  He quickly folds.  93,100.

Another AQo.  Seat 6 again raises 2400.  This time I just call. The flop is a bunch of baby cards with two clubs.  He bets another 2400, I call.  The turn is a king.  He check and I check.  River is a J of clubs. He bets 6000. I reraise to 24000, representing the flush.  He tries to engage with me but I literally can’t hear him with the headphones.  He folds. 104,600, and still haven’t shown a hand yet.  

With fifteen minutes left in Level 1, I’ve bet into 4 hands - won three of them and folded one preflop. Tight, tight, tight.

Small blind - 10 6c.  Everyone folds around to the button, who just calls.  I do the same, and the big blind checks.  The flop has two clubs.  I check, big blind checks, button bets 2300.  I call.  Big blind raises to 7000.  Here’s the math problem:  The pot has the original bets (2400), our two flop bets (2600), and the big blind’s flop bet of 7000. Button folds. Total is 13000 - it will cost me 4400 to see another card.  Do the pot odds dictate a call out of position?

I fold. At 102,600 at the first break.

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My friend Jolyne is playing today too and is doing well at the break.  We went over the math problem above and she agreed with the fold.  “You’re out of position, you don’t know if your flush would be the best, and you’re playing 10 6.”

Her logic is sound.  Now, back to work.

Day 2

It's about an hour before I head down to start Day 2. I am much less anxious today than I was on Monday because it's not a mystery anymore.  Here's what I mean:

In 1994, I ran two marathons - Houston and New York.  I ran Houston first and I was terrified about the race.  In training for the race, I had run a 30K as part of the Marathon Warm-Up Series, but I never actually cracked the full 26.2 miles.  I had been told that the "wall" that marathon runners hit was literally your body running out of fuel and turning on itself.  

There was also the fact that the first guy that ran the race - a Greek named Pheidippides - had run from Marathon to Athens to announce the Grecian victory at the Battle of Marathon (26.2 miles), said, "Joy, we win!" and literally dropped dead.  I ran the race, all the time waiting for that mortal moment.  

It never came - although I was really sore (never run in Asics Gel-Lyte Ultras when you weigh over 200 pounds), I finished the race.

Ten months later, I got to run the New York Marathon with my dad and my brother. It was not scary at all. In fact, it was a great time, running with my dad for four and a half hours and seeing the sights.  If I had brought the same fear from the first race to New York, I would have not enjoyed it nearly as much.

It's the same today. Yeah, I'm sitting next to guys who pass the Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hour rule. And yeah, the blinds are going to be coming faster and furiouser today.  But I am determined that today is going to be about soaking up the event itself and playing my own best game.  If I lose, that's poker.  But after Monday, I feel so much more confident that I can hang with these guys.

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And I am really quite relaxed from the two days off. Yesterday, I had lunch at Gordon Ramsay Burger at Planet Hollywood, and they accidentally brought me both fries and onion rings. First, the big Bingo win, and now free food!  I can't lose!

I watched my friends Anar, April and Mike play yesterday.  They all bagged, maybe not for what they wanted to bag, but they are all playing Day 2, which is better than the alternative.

I had a nice hanger steak at Alexxa's in the Paris Casino and a tuna poke appetizer.  I won some more money at the tables.  And I went to bed at a reasonable hour!

Okay, it's now almost 10:00 a.m.  Cards fly in an hour, so I need to get ready to go.

Next dispatch will be at the first break (approximately 3:00 CST).  Wish me luck!