For some reason, I couldn’t sleep very well and got up before the wake-up call. As per usual, I had pre-ordered my breakfast and dinner.

Went downstairs and took my seat at the table. Luckily, there were no pros, and it looked like a relatively safe and friendly table. There were 3 people with 200,000+ chips and all the others were about the same as me at 66,400, or less.

We start with round 11 because there’s like 30 minutes of it left, but continue right into round 12 without a break.

I’m doing my usual thing and building up my stack slowly.  At exactly 1:14pm, a tight older lady goes all in for almost 31,000. I look down and see pocket Jacks. Earlier in the tournament, I would let this go without thinking, but now, I’m feeling like I need to build up my chips. But it’s super marginal because what could she be pushing with? The best I could hope for would be A-K. I think she’s too tight to push with middle pairs. After some thought, I finally call and get the bad news. She’s got pocket Queens.

So that was my second big mistake of the tournament. This one was much worse than the first. Everybody else at the table knew she had Queens or better. What a disaster. I don’t suck out and lose almost half of my chips. Now I’m in trouble.

Shortly after the mind fart, I wake up with A-K offsuit. The blinds are 1,200 – 2,400 and I raise to 9,000.  The second tightest player at the table goes all in on the button. I’m still on semi-tilt from the bad call and decide to fold.  The player thinks he’s doing me a favor by showing me his suited A-K.  I was now officially on tilt and feeling very confused. After the Jacks, I should have taken a walk but I was so low on chips, I kept playing. Now it’s even lower.

The lesson here is, you can’t be making these types of mistakes in a tournament like this.  You really can’t make any mistakes.  Getting sucked out is out of your control, but you can make the right decisions.  I didn’t and I paid the price.

Round 11 goes into round 12 and after 2 and a half hours, we finally have a break. I’m down to 26,000.

They make an announcement right before the end of the round that we will be playing hand-for-hand the next round.  They do this because when the tournament is at the point where they will start to pay the people being knocked out, they have to make sure that they get the order properly so that there is no dispute about who got knocked out first.  So, they make all the tables play only one hand and stop until all the tables have finished that hand.

This makes play go very slow. Normally, one hand would take anywhere from one minute to 5 minutes, but in this mode, it can take as long as the slowest table, which could be 10 or more minutes.

If the tables were all computerized and networked, they would not have this problem since the computers would know exactly when each player got knocked out of the tournament, down to the microsecond.  But we’ll leave that rant for another day.

During the break, I am thinking of my strategy.  Do I have enough chips to last me into the money?  The next round is 2,000 – 4,000 blinds with a 500 ante.  I have less than 7 times the big blind.  This is not good.  There are 10 more people that need to be knocked out before I make it into the money.  Can I last that long?  Or will I get blinded out?

As I’m in deep thought, I see Sylvester, the Irish guy from my very first table. He asks me how I’m doing and I tell him. He tells me that I don’t have enough chips and I need to go all-in but not to go all-in with any Ace.  His theory is that only an Ace with a better kicker will call so your chances are better with suited connectors.  He says that because there are 3 guys with 200,000+ chips, it’s likely that I will get called with any ace and any pair.

I thank him for his advice and start thinking more about my strategy.  If I go any lower with my chips, it will get progressively easier for somebody to call me.  At 7 times the big blind, I can still try to get people off their hand. If I fall to 4 or 5 times, somebody will call with almost anything.  I decide that I have to take Sylvester’s advice and go all-in.  I decide in my mind that I will do this on the very first hand back from the break, before anybody figures out what I’m doing.  I’m going to go all-in, no matter what hand I have.

The break ends and I return to my seat.  Round 13 starts.

I’m starting to get a little nervous about what I’m about to do. But I’ve already made up my mind.  While we wait for the start, everyone at the table is trying to convince everyone else not to do anything crazy.  The guy across from me tells me to just sit tight and we’ll be in the money in just 10 hands.  In fact, he and the dealer make a bet with one of the other guys $5 that it will be 10 hands or less.

The more they try to convince me to not do anything stupid, the more I think that I need to go all-in as per my plan.  If everybody thinks I won’t do something crazy, the more likely they’ll think I have a big hand.  I say, “You’re right. I’m only playing with aces. Nothing else.”

With that little seed planted in their minds, we start and the cards are dealt.  When it’s my turn, I look down and see 8 – 9 <heart> .  Suited connectors, just like Sylvester recommended.  Nice. I feel a little better about going all-in for my tournament life, with just 10 more people to go before cashing.

“I’m all-in,” I declare. I put my newly purchased holdem’ shades on and wait quietly. Everyone folds fairly quickly.  They all seem to think that I have a monster after our little talk.

“I finally got a big hand. Perfect time for it.”  Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything, but nobody seems to think anything is up.

The very next hand, I wake up with A – Q <club> .  I do a little Hollywood to sell that I can’t even believe that I got yet another big hand.  I go all-in again. Two times in a row.

This time, people are not folding right away. The tight lady that had the Queens earlier gives me the “I think you’re full of sh*t, but I can’t call” look, and folds.  It goes fairly quickly until it gets to the small blind. This guy is very tight so when he started to think, I thought I might be in trouble.  After thinking about it, he folds and I show my A – Q to try to quelch the restless natives from attacking me on the next hand.  However, the guy says he had pocket Jacks but didn’t want to get involved.

Wow.  Close call.  Now, I need a real hand before going all-in again. The big stacks will probably call next time.  But stealing the blinds gives me 8,100 each time so now, I’m up to 42,200 in just 2 hands.  I’m no longer the short stack at the table.

Now, I’m the big blind. People are playing so tight, it’s folded all the way around to the small blind who properly goes all-in. He knows that if he didn’t do that, I would.  I release my hand.

Next, I’m the small blind but I’m not able to do the same trick because one of the big stacks finally comes in for a raise.  Probably to punish me for the all-ins earlier.

After the first 2 hands, 2 players were knocked out but now, after the 3rd hand, nobody is knocked out.  Instead, the small stacks going all-in win and double up.

As play continues, I now wait for a real hand because I have a little more time to wait now. As I thought, after 10 hands, we still have 624 players and 3 more must be eliminated and play continues.  If I had not stolen those blinds, I would be in serious trouble right now.

Finally, after 15 hands, we start to hear people clapping, then cheering, then shouting. The noise gets louder and louder.  Then, the official announcement comes over the loud speaker. “Congratulations! You have made the money.” The bubble boy (the last one out before the money) is eliminated and everybody claps for this poor soul.

Well, I did it.  I cashed in my first WSOP tournament.  I felt like I had caught the winning touchdown in a big game.

The rest of the tournament is anti-climactic so I’ll just report that I went all-in with A – Q against pocket Kings and lost to an overkill set of Kings.

I was escorted by a WSOP runner to another room, where I filled out a bunch of papers and got paid.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience. It was fun but hard at times and certainly a learning experience. I saw moves that I have not seen in smaller tournaments. I saw how the pro players play.  And, I realized that even in the main event of the World Series of Poker, there are a lot of bad players playing.  For now, that includes me.  But next time, it will be different.

Well, I’m starting the day with only 32,300 in chips. The average is supposed to be around 51,000. That means I have a lot of work in front of me.

We started at noon again and I managed to get a table with no recognizable pro players. There were a few soft spots and an Asian guy across from me that was the most aggressive at the table.  I played solid today and increased my chips all the way to over 80,000.

I look around and Carlos Mortensen is playing on the table to my right with a bunch of chips. Behind me is Allen Cunningham at the next table. He doesn’t have a lot of chips. I know Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen are also still here somewhere.

One one hand, I was trying to trap the agressive player across from me with pocket Jacks. In hind sight, I was in the small blind and should have just re-raised after his usual raise and probably taken down the pot. Instead, I saw the flop with a King and check raised him for 12,000 and he called. On the turn, nothing changed and if I had the balls, I should have bet or even gone all-in and taken down the pot. Instead, I checked and he went all-in, and of course, I couldn’t call. I lost over 15,500 chips on that hand. I totally misplayed this hand badly. Sucks.

Round 7 ended with 68,400 chips for me. A good round even after losing all those chips.

Round 8 started with me having established a really good tight player image. That’s important if you want to steal. One one key hand, the guy on my right raised in early position and I woke up with pocket 9s. Normally, I would put him on a big hand and muck. But because of my image, I re-raised him and he asked, “Do you have Jacks?” This told me that he probably had pocket 10s. Eventually, he folded his hand but he kept asking about it.

The lesson here is the 2 most important things in poker are position and table image. You have to know what the other players think of your table image.

Round 8 ended with 83,100. A very good round for me.

In round 9, I was involved in some big hands.

One big hand was A-K <club> under the gun (first to act after the button). I had established myself enough to the players at the table to create the illusion that I had a huge hand by just limping in. Of course, A-K is big but normally, I would not limp with it. Basically, I was representing pocket rockets (Aces) or Kings.

Everybody folds to the button who raises. This guy was a loud guy from Miami. At first, I was going to re-pop him right there, but since he knew where I was limping from, he might actually have a big hand so I just called 16,000.

The flop brought nothing for me. Just a Q and rags on the board. I check, and Miami only bets 10,000.  If this guy was a pro, I would throw this hand away immediately. But I felt Miami was playing badly all night so I raised it to 30,000 and he showed me his pocket 10s and folded.  Nice.

Soon after, Miami busted out on tilt.

At 10:06pm, I have 84,700. Doing fairly well.

Next, the player on my right was getting short stacked and I knew he was getting ready to go all-in.  On the first try, he goes all-in for 10,000 and had A-4 offsuit and I had A-8 offsuit. I’m 54% against his 24% with a 21% chance of a tie. He flops a 4 and wins. I’m not very happy about that suck out.

The second time, he goes all-in again with about 10,000 with A-5 offsuit against my pocket 8s. It’s not like I’m targeting this guy for a knockout but I kept getting hands exactly when he went all-in.  This time, it’s 69% to 30% in my favor.  But he flops the Ace and he’s still alive. I just couldn’t knock this guy out.

After these failed attempts at knocking out my first player, I end the round with only 66,300.  Those attempted knockouts hurt me but that’s the point of a tournament. You have to get rid of players or they will come back like bugs.

Round 10 was relatively uneventful, as I accumulated chips the old fasioned way. I stole the blinds. I ended the round at 76,100.

This day, we are only doing 1 hour 20 minutes of round 11 and ending the session because day 2A (which was the combination of day 1A and day 1B) fell to 350 people so they stopped their round 11 in the middle yesterday.

This last round was bad for me. First, I get moved to a new table and poker pro and WPT Player of the Year, J.C. Tran is the table captain there. Not only that, there is only one soft spot on my right and everybody has chips, except for one guy who is the short stack.

Because of the short stack, it’s very difficult to try to steal. Not only that but Tran is raising every other hand. Boy, this is going to be hard. The table that you get by random chance can make or break your tournament.

On one hand, I get A-J and raise. One of the tightest player at the table makes it 30,000 to go. A crazy overbet. Of course, I fold and he shows his Aces. I guess he didn’t want to play the hand.

On one big hand that I wasn’t involved in, Tran raises and the guy on my right re-raise and Tran just calls. The flop is all low cards and they both end up all-in. Actually, Tran is all-in because he has less chips. They turn over their cards and Tran trapped with pocket Aces and the other guy has pocket Kings and the Aces hold up and Tran doubles up to nearly 200,000. He’s the last guy I want to have chips.

I steadily lose chips to the blinds and ante which are 1,200-2400 and 300 and end the round at only 66,400. Thank goodness they cut the round short because I don’t think I could have lasted much longer there.

Day 3 is on Thursday with both 2A and 2B combining to one. I really need to do well on day 3.

They were not letting people in yet when I got there and there was a flood of players and spectators, and media in the hall, getting ready to enter. When I got to the Rio on the first day, I checked out where my table was so I would know how to get there quickly.

When the doors opened, I think I was the first one at my table. A player I met at a live game at the MGM was supposed to be at a table nearby but his table was moved to the ESPN featured table with Chris Moneymaker. I guess I’ll see him on TV, and I’ll get to see if he bluffed me out of a big pot or if he had it.  

The only player I recognized was Rafe “Tiltboy” Furst, who unfortunately for me, was sitting to my immediate left.

After waiting a few minutes, the tournament director made the announcement, and we started playing.  We are starting with a whopping 20,000 in chips. Each round is 2 hours long. The blinds started at 50-100 with no antes.

One of my few big hands was when everybody limped in and I was on the button with 6-3 offsuit. Normally, I would muck but it was so early and nobody seemed to want to pop things up for a steal. The big blind was an older gentleman that was playing super conservative. So I limp also with my horrible hand.

The flop is A 6 3.  Nice. But with everybody in the pot, somebody could easily have A-6 or A-3. Everyone checked to me. I wanted to get rid of anybody with a wheel draw so I bet out fairly aggressively. Everyone folded except for an Irish guy in seat 5. He flat calls me. I didn’t like that but I was hoping he had ace rag.

The turn was a Q. No change for me. I didn’t put the Irish guy on A-Q so I figured nothing changed. He checked and I bet yet again. The Irish guy called again. I hope I’m not going to get knocked out this early.

The river was the magical 6 for me. I rivered a boat. The Irish guy checks yet again. I figured I’ll bet and he’ll fold quickly. I bet out 3,000. The Irish guy goes into the tank.

He finally wakes up and asks, “You have a boat?” Interesting question. Normally, I would not answer but I nodded my head to make him think I was lying. He says, “Well, I have a boat too. I call.” Whaaat? He has a boat too? Oh crap! Luckily, he flips over pocket 3s and shows 3’s full of 6s versus my 6’s full of 3s.

Wow.

I thought I was winning the whole time and instead, I had sucked out on the river. I think Rafe said he had a 6. If so, it was a one outer, about 2%.

Lucky baby!  Rather be lucky than good.

That put the Irish guy on tilt and Rafe was no longer the tiltboy of the table. The Irish guy pretty much just had 2 moves. Fold or all-in, after his bad beat.

I finish round 1 with 33,150.

After the supposed 20 minute break, which was more like 30 minutes, we continue round 2. I finish round 2 with 34,725.  So far so good. Just kept playing good hands and stole a blind or 2, here and there.

In round 3, I got A-K under the gun (first to act after the big blind). A truck driver named Buzz-dog came into the pot. He was playing super tight so I didn’t like this at all. Maybe he came in because I kept stealing his blinds and maybe he got tired of it. The big blind also comes in. Not good.

The flop is A-Q-7. The big blind comes out swinging with 2,000. I have to get rid of any draw so I pop it up to 6,000. Buzz-dog thinks for a while and goes all-in. Big blind goes all-in. I don’t have to think too long. I’m all out, after losing my 6,000 raise to the pot.

They flip over their hands and the big blind as A-7, and Buzz-dog has A-Q. What a crazy flop! I’m glad I only lost 6,000.

That hand put a hurt on me, but I still end this round with 39,725.

We go for dinner break at 7:05pm and when I get up to my room, the room service guy is knocking at the door. Perfect timing. I eat my dinner and relax for a bit before going back downstairs.

After resuming play, I end round 4 with 42,925.

In round 5, Rafe Furst is getting low on chips and is pushing way too hard to steal blinds. I noticed that so I limp from the small blind with no callers at all. I had K-2 <heart> and normally, I would raise there but I know he’s going all-in and I can’t call that. He wants to see the flop and checks.

The flop has king high and so I pair my king. I check knowing full well, Rafe is going to bet out. I’m hoping he goes all-in. But he just bets 2,000, and I check-raise him and he folds. So Rafe, if you are reading this, I didn’t make a great play on you. I had the king.

Not much after that, Rafe goes all-in and gets knocked out of the tournament.

Players are starting to drop like flies now. They are getting low on chips and are making big moves. The Irish guy goes all in with pocket 10s and gets called by pocket 7s. Not sure about calling there with pocket 7s but I can see why he did that because the Irish guy was doing it too much. The pocket 10s hold up and yet another guy goes away.

On one hand, I tried to steal the blinds with 10-6 offsuit but the big blind calls me with A-10.  The 10 flops but it’s all <club> .  The big blind came from another table and has aobut 80,000 in chips. He check calls me.  The turn brings a blank and I bet out 15,000 and he check calls me again. After the river, I give up and show my hand and lose a bunch of chips. Now, I’m below my original 20,000.

Now I know I have to double up before the night is over.  A guy raises and I look down at A-K. I really need to get some chips so I make a crazy overbet and go all-in for 18,000 or something like that. He thinks a bit and calls. Crap. I didn’t want that.

He shows pocket 10s, so it’s a race for my tournament life. I flop the ace and he doesn’t improve so I double up. Nice. I really needed that. Now, I’m back up to almost 40,000, where I was a while ago.

I end round 5 at 43,700.

Round 6 was rough for me.  First, we change tables. That was not good because I had established a good table image and now I don’t know anybody at the new table and they don’t know me.

There are 2 low chip stacks at the table, which made stealing nearly impossible. I had to wait for a hand which never came. I had one opportunity to try to steal but a guy had limped under the gun. Very dangerous. But being pretty desparate for chips, I raised and sure enough, he called. He checked the flop, I bet and he check-raised me. Of course. Oh well, I lose a bunch of chips there.

Nothing else really happened except I got blinded down to 32,300. Not good considering the average chip stack is 51,000.

It’s 4am. I’m spent. I’ve never felt so tired after a poker game before.

There’s going to be 2 day 2s this year. My day 2 will be on Wednesday.

Well, I’m all set and ready. Now, it’s waiting and preparation. I’m now going to reveal some of my secrets for getting ready for the WSOP main event.

First, start waking up early. The event starts at the crack of noon. For me, this means waking up 2 to 3 hours earlier than I’m used to. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been waking up earlier by 30 minutes each week. Today, I woke up at 11am with no problems.

Second, stay at the Rio. This will save you at least 30 minutes traveling to the Rio in the morning. That’s 30 extra minutes of sleep. Not only that, during the 20 minute breaks, you could run to your room if you have to use the bathroom and the line is 20 minutes long.

Third, pre-order room service. You can order “breakfast” the night before you go to sleep, and dinner as well. They deliver the food within 5 minutes of the specified time. Instead of trying to find a place to eat dinner, just go up to your room and eat during your 90 minutes dinner break.

Fourth, play some live games with other WSOP players and make friends. This might help during the tournament, plus you may find some valuable tells. Just make sure you’re not giving away more information than you are getting.

Well, since this is my first time, that’s about all I can think of for now. I’ll probably come up with more after the event.

According to ”Poker Pro” magazine, the WSOP is reducing the money for the top places and increasing the money for the lower places. Of course, since I’m going to win, that’s less money for me, but if it helps the poker community, I’m all for it. But seriously, I like this idea because last year, if you made the money, basically, you just got your money back. This year, you’ll more than double your money back. Considering you are risking $10,000, and playing poker for multiple days, I think this is fair.

Last night, I went to the MGM for some live poker. I’ve never seen so many bad players. In the LA casinos, you would never see players that bad at a $2 – $5 no limit table. But I guess that’s why the pros love playing in the tourist filled Vegas casinos. Actually, one of my biggest pots I won was against the best player at the table. He had a lower straight and went all-in. I figured we probably had the same hand and called. Including my money, that was about a $1,100 pot.

Normally, I would stay with the monster stack and make more money, but I had to stay on my WSOP schedule so I went to bed early at 3am.

It’s finally the day to go to Vegas for the World Series of Poker, 2007. It feels like it’s been months. Oh yeah. It has been months since I won an entry at the Hustler.

At the airport, a cute blond sits next to me while I wait for the plane. I guess I creeped her out so she walked away, then an Asian guy sits down and starts listening to weird music on his Nokia cell phone. I look over and it’s Men “The Master” Nguyen. Looks like the WSOP is getting closer by the minute.

After checking into the Ri0, I go downstairs to confirm my pre-registration for the Main Event.  Pre-registering was the smartest thing I’ve done so far. There was a line for registration, then to pay, and even to go to the bathroom.  Okay, maybe not the bathroom, since it was almost midnight.  They make you sign a “release and confidentiality” form. In fact, blogging about the registration might be breaking the rules. This thing is so long, I think I may need 2 attorneys to look at it.

Look at this place. It’s a mad house. And it’s midnight. Event #54 is still going on with Erik Seidel and Chad “Downtown” Brown going heads-up after “Sean” Sheikhan busts out to Brown. Seidel eventually wins his 8th bracelet.

But there’s actually a bigger crowd around a live game ($50 – $100 blinds) going on. I walk up to see what’s going on and see Ben Affleck and Matt Damon playing at the table.  The ladies were taking pictures and giggling. But the guys that walked up after me only saw Daniel Alaei (a top cash game player) and didn’t even notice the actors. That’s a real poker player for you. While this is going on, Johnny Chan walks up to the table for a quick look see. Man, this is like a poker players dream.

Enough watching. Time to play.

Decided to try my hand at $3 – $5 no limit right there. There was a board with 10 or more people on it, but with so many tables, it went quickly. Sat down and noticed that the players were tight. Called a $20 raise with 8 – 9 offsuit.  My kind of hand.  Flopped trip 8s, and had one guy betting into me.  There was a <club> flush draw possible, but I wanted to try slow playing it, and just flat called. Then turned the 9 <club> which gave a flush draw their flush, and giving me the boat at the same time. Sweet!  He went all-in, and I called. Hope the WSOP is this easy.  

Kept playing for a little while longer and finally decided to call it a night before it got too late.  My start date is Sunday so I have 2 more days to play.