2009 WSOP Event #4 Trip Report (very long)
Jason Pawloski
preregistered and booked everything well in advance, which turned out to
be a great move. I got the flight at a steal - $120 round trip from Reno,
and I got a killer pre-reg rate at Bally's, something like $70/night
averaged. And Event #4 ended up selling out (they actually went over
capacity).
When I booked my flight, I wasn't sure if I would be playing Saturday or
Sunday. I asked on the prereg form to play Sunday but I never did get any
confirmation on that. But just to be on the safe side, I left on one of
the earliest flights out of Reno, and ended up getting into McCarran
around 9:00 AM. The plan was to drop off my luggage at Bally's, get my
seating assignment, and ... who knows?
I showed up at the Rio around 10:00 or so and made a very long walk into
the back area where the WSOP was being played. It's an awesome walk, with
"WELCOME TO THE 2009 WSOP" all over the place. I probably had the biggest,
most ridiculous smile on my face. I got to the preregistration line and
there were probably 15 people ahead of me. Now I'm no fan of Harrah's by
any means, but they had every booth being manned and they were extremely
efficient. Everyone I heard was friendly. I got my seat assignment in less
than 15 minutes, along with a hearty "Good luck" from the boothling, and
set out to get oriented. I found where I was going to play, the bathrooms,
the food, etc. almost immediately.
It was almost 10:45 AM at this point and, believe it or not, I still had
not had a drink. So I headed out to the closest bar in the Rio to get a
few drinks and play some video poker. The 7/5 Jacks or Better was fairly
kind to me, the music was pretty decent (classic rock), and the service
was prompt. By the time I burned through $40 I had quite a few drinks in
me.
The rest of the day was pretty much spent binge drinking at various spots,
and in the PM I went to a party south of the airport.
When I checked into Bally's, they offered me an upgrade (to the south
tower) I believe, which I declined. I'm glad I did - my room was facing
south and had a beautiful view of the south half of the strip. I snapped a
few pictures and I'll post them later. I got to bed nice and early at
11:15 or so. The biggest drawback to Bally's is you can hear SOMETHING go
off pretty frequently - I'm pretty sure it was the fountain at the
Bellagio. I don't think I heard it after midnight, and I went soundly to
sleep.
I woke up on Game Day and had a good breakfast at McDonalds. It was only
9:30 and I had time to kill, so I went over to Bill's Gambling Hall,
across the street from Bally's, to turn in my "2-for-1 Vodka Redbull"
coupon. I nursed those suckers slowly but I ended up at the Rio at 11:00
AM, and they wouldn't let us go to our seats yet. So I went back out to
the Rio bar where I spent an hour or so the day before to get another beer
or two before the tournament.
Well, I'm sitting at the bar and the bartender asks me, and the two guys
next to me if we're here for the tournament. We all are and we're talking
about it casually. This guy walks up and starts talking to us about the
WSOP. The other two aren't really interested so he's just talking to me.
He says he's been attending the tournament every year since the 1970s.
"Any bracelets?" I ask.
"Yeah I have 3," he said smoothly and casually, just like someone would
say "I think the bus is going to be 5 minutes late."
"So where are they?" I joked.
"Would you bring your bracelets?"
Turns out this guy is Tommy Vinas, one of the best pot-limit hold 'em cash
players in the world, in his words (he actually made that comment somehow
without a touch of arrogance in his voice). I had heard of him but I
didn't know who he was exactly. We talked for a little while. I guess he
runs a few poker rooms in Houston and he starts asking me if this is my
first WSOP and how exciting this must be for me and blah blah blah.
Then some other guy barges up and interrupts the conversation to shake
Tommy's hand. Turns out it was Michael Lang, although I didn't know who he
was. He is apparently a bracelet winner as well.
So they're talking about dropping names about and one of them brought up
Dan Harrington in an off-handed way. Dan Harrington is a personal fav of
mine, so when there was a lull in the conversation, I chime in "Dan
Harrington's really good, right?"
"Oh Dan Harrington..." one of them said.
"Dan-fucking-Harrington," the other remarked.
"I was playing in a WPT circuit in Atlantic City, and so-and-so [forget
the name now] dumps off all of his chips to Harrington. So I move all in
with something like J5 and of course Harrington calls. Fucking so-and-so."
"The problem with Dan Harrington is ... he won't go ATcha." And they both
go on like this about how they were better players than Harrington. It was
so great, I was loving every minute of it.
They both had some other good stories too. But by this time it was getting
close to the start of the tournament, so I excused myself.
I went and found my seat. I was immediately against the rail and there
would be a lot of passer-by traffic. I loved it. The ESPN guys were
setting up the feature table for the 40K Pot Limit Hold 'em final table
later that day. They had people cleaning the poker table and installing
cameras and testing stuff out. The atmosphere was awesome.
I get to my seat and everyone else was already there except #10 (I was
#9). The tournament director (Jeff Pollock?) reminded us about the rules,
how we better not put any chips in our pocket, etc. etc. and finally ...
"SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL."
In the beginning, everyone played pretty predictably and I knew exactly
what I was facing with each player in a short amount of time.
Unfortunately, the guy to my right was a pretty tough player, and probably
the best at the table. There were a couple of other really tight players
to his right.
I got a little too aggressive in the beginning, considering the blinds
were so small. I made a couple of moves that were a little specious when I
was in late position, trying to steal blinds. I realized my mistakes soon
and settled in. I hovered around 2500-3300 for a good long time in the
beginning. The starting chip stack was 3000.
Eventually, #10 took his seat, and he was the first to go, although he
didn't bust until hour 2. He got involved in a hand with the player at
seat #1, who was... maybe not the greatest player in the world. The board
showed QJxx and #10, who was critically short with about 800 chips, pushed
all in, which was probably about pot-size. The guy in #1 was hemming and
hawing, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, sighing, and finally said
"call" turning over a monster... AK. The player in seat #10 showed a set
of queens.
Everyone knows what's about to happen, the river is a 10... everyone at
the table emits the mandatory "Ohhhhhhh..." The player in seat #10, who
was visibly upset, handled it pretty well.
"I expect to see a lot of that," the guy next to me said. I agreed.
A few hands later, seat #1 is involved in a hand with someone else. That
someone else bets out and seat #1 says "Call" and throws his chips
DIRECTLY INTO THE POT. "Holy shit," I'm thinking to myself. Meanwhile,
everyone is just staring at this guy like he just announced he was a
registered sex offender or something. Seat #1 is looking at everyone like
he needed a new pair of underwear. The dealer reconciled the pot and
confirmed he put the right amount in. About 6 people at the table told him
to never, ever do that again, including the dealer. I'm chuckling to
myself and thinking, "This guy's gonna be out of here in no time."
He didn't last long, and shortly after the first break he was out.
When I went on break, I wasn't doing particurly well and had about 2,500
in chips or so. I was mostly card dead and there were a couple of smaller
pots that didn't go my way. I got back from break early and the guy to my
right was there also, and he pointed out this guy to me at the table next
to us. It was, Justin Phillips, of royal flush fame:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XunAlp2azhA
And yes, he was wearing his characteristic wife beater.
He seemed like a really nice guy, and even as play continued, he would
step onto the rail and take pictures with people. He was always smiling
and he just seemed happy to be there. Someone yelled at him if he was
going to the ME this year and he said he was planning on it.
As for other celebrities, I saw TJ Cloutier walking out during the break.
Freddie Deeb was about 100 feet away from me, playing in a PLO event. And
of course, Greg Raymer was manning the final table on the $40K PLHE event.
In hour 3, thins definitely took a turn for the worse for me. I got down
as low as 1,800 and was hovering around 2,000 for most of the hour. An
interesting hand occurred between Hawaiian Shirt Dude (new seat #10 to my
immediate left) and Mega Stack, who replaced Seat #1. Megastack easily had
about 10,000 in chips, far and away the most at the table.
It fold sto Hawaiian Shirt in the SB who raises Megastack's BB. Megastack
insta-calls.
The flop comes QJ5. Hawaiian Shirt bets and the Megastack raises about
2x-3x. Hawaiian Shirt thinks about it and calls.
The turn is a 6. Hawaiian Shirt again bets and the Megastack again raises.
Hawaiian Shirt calls.
The river is a 3. Hawaiian Shirt checks, Megastack makes a modest bet
which is instantly called by Hawaiian Shirt. HS shows QT for top pair.
Megastack shows J3. I couldn't believe that hand, with all the raising and
calling going on.
About halfway through hour 4, I start getting a sick run of cards. I got
AA once and KK, and also AJ. They all held up for me and I was looking at
about $4K in chips. My AA and KK didn't get any action, but I was feeling
pretty good considering where I was just a short time ago.
I'm on the button and it folds to me, and I look down and I see QQ. I
raise the usual 3x or 4x or so and the SB calls. "What, you don't have
aces again, do you?" he asked.
"Yes, I do."
The BB, Megastack, folds, which is probably the only time I saw him do
that. Flop comes Jxx. I bet out and he instantly goes all in. That board
made me nervous for some reason, but I called and he says, "Wait, do you
really have aces?" I turn of QQ and he groans - he's crushed; he
overplayed (badly) JT. My hand holds up and before you know it I have
about 9,000 in chips.
After a couple of orbits, the end of the 4th hour was approaching and
people were already in the break-time mindset. I was in the SB and the
Hawaiian Shirt's seat hadn't been replaced yet, so Megastack - who's still
doing well - is in the BB. It folds to me, and I look down and I see AA.
I put my cards down and sat back. This was a very exciting possibility for
me. From Megastack's play, as I've outlined here and as I observed
otherwise, he was going to call with any two cards. He is capable of
overplaying any hand that remotely hits the board. I stood to get a lot of
chips with this hand.
The blinds were $100/$200, and I threw out a 4x raise fully expecting a
call. BB looks at his cards and insta-calls.
Flop comes KQ3. I throw out a $500 chip. He immediately reraises an insane
amount of, like $5,000. From his range, I knew he could be holding AK, AQ,
AJ, AT, A9, A8, A7, A6, A5, A4, A3, A2, KQ, KJ, KT, K9, K8, K7, K6, K5,
K4, K3, K2, QT, Q9, Q8, Q7, Q6, Q5, Q4, Q3, Q2, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88,
77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22, plus there was probably about a 50% chance he was
bluffing. I reraise all-in and he insta-calls and shows....
KQ.
Crap.
Turn was a 5. River was a 6.
I didn't improve and I hit the rail. I was out like that, *snap*.
Thus is the closing of my first World Series of Poker Event. In spite of
my losing, I had so much fun that there's no way I'm going to miss it next
year. In fact I'm definitely going to do 2 events next year; probably the
cheap NLHE again (either $1K or $1.5K or whatever they have) and maybe a
non-hold 'em event. I do like PLO or PLO8 and those start at $2.5K I
believe, and I'd love to attend.
--
Voted RGP's Stupidest Poster on 3/22/09
"BART [Bay Area Rapid Transit] is rather new." - Jerry Sturdivant chiming
in on how little he knows about a train system that's been operational
since 1972
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Alim Nassor
Tough beat Jason, but it sounds like you got more than 1k worth of fun
and experience. I'm going to make it there someday to play in a WSOP
event. My wife tells me to just do it. Maybe next year.
pltr...@spamlessxhost.org
wrote:
>Tough beat Jason, but it sounds like you got more than 1k worth of fun
>and experience. I'm going to make it there someday to play in a WSOP
>event. My wife tells me to just do it. Maybe next year.
Any chance you're *ever* going to learn to trim the post you're replying to?
-- Larry
Raider Fan
> I went to WSOP Event #4, the "stimulus" $1K event two weeks ago. I had
> preregistered and booked everything well in advance, which turned out to
> be a great move. I got the flight at a steal - $120 round trip from Reno,
> and I got a killer pre-reg rate at Bally's, something like $70/night
> averaged. And Event #4 ended up selling out (they actually went over
> capacity).
Thanks for taking the time to share this with us. Nice report!
"This has got to be some sports-related crap, that's all Raiderfan gives a
fuck about." -- Paul Popinjay 2/27/09
_____________________________________________________________________�
: the next generation of web-newsreaders : http://www.recgroups.com
Will in New Haven
> I went to WSOP Event #4, the "stimulus" $1K event two weeks ago. I had
> preregistered and booked everything well in advance, which turned out to
> be a great move. I got the flight at a steal - $120 round trip from Reno,
> and I got a killer pre-reg rate at Bally's, something like $70/night
> averaged. And Event #4 ended up selling out (they actually went over
> capacity).
Very good report.
--
Will in New Haven
Irish Mike
"Jason Pawloski" <a67...@webnntp.invalid> wrote in message
news:durjg6x...@recgroups.com...
Excellent trip report bucko - thoroughly enjoyed it.
Irish Mike
NFLed
expected, people overplaying second pair with bad kicker or top pair
with ok kicker, the maniac happens to have a great hand the one time
you go against him, etc.
![Mark B [Diputsur]'s profile photo](http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/ALV-UjW1ukZesLHTvLryryGaLhoUTsW-4I5_N8bKNVoFKGU5T0OxggP6=s40-c)
Mark B [Diputsur]
"Jason Pawloski" <a67...@webnntp.invalid> wrote in message
news:durjg6x...@recgroups.com...
Good report =)
> The blinds were $100/$200, and I threw out a 4x raise fully expecting a
> call. BB looks at his cards and insta-calls.
>
> Flop comes KQ3. I throw out a $500 chip.
GAY bet! You made it T800 preflop but only led for T500 on the flop?
> He immediately reraises an insane
> amount of, like $5,000. From his raise, I knew he could be holding KQ,
> but 3 3's 2 A's and 3 of whatever hits on the turn was good enough 4 me!
FYP
You'll get em next time =)
Mark
PS: Where's my 1% ?
You got it up to 9K! 9,000 * 1% = $517.27 or something, no?
^^ using popinjay/risky math!
bo dark
>
> read more »
Enjoyed the report Jason.
nefletch
"Jason Pawloski" <a67...@webnntp.invalid> wrote in message
news:durjg6x...@recgroups.com...
nice trip report, good luck next year
Abbey Johnsson
(trimmed a unnecessarily copied long trip report) - enjoyable read btw
>
>
>
> Enjoyed the report Jason.
so.....bo dark, alim, and irish mike. dont you guys understand the idea
behind trimming posts? i'm serious, maybe you guys dont understand the
concept or have never noticed many people do trim their posts?
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Martin D
Bumping into Micheal Lang in a bar, imagine that..
bo dark
Abbey,i'm not to proud, at least in this instance.I saw you ask
earlier in the thread and posted before going to the second page to
read.If you will enlighten me, i'd appreciate it. I know it can be an
aggravation following the thread to see a blank reply.
Alim Nassor
> On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:56:41 -0700 (PDT), Alim Nassor <alimnas...@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Tough beat Jason, but it sounds like you got more than 1k worth of fun
> >and experience. I'm going to make it there someday to play in a WSOP
> >event. My wife tells me to just do it. Maybe next year.
>
> Any chance you're *ever* going to learn to trim the post you're replying to?
>
> -- Larry
99% of the time I do trim, I guess I forgot this time. Sorry you have
to be such a prick about it.
Alim Nassor
Yeah Abbey I do , I almost always trim before I reply, this time I
forgot. Sorry you have to be a prick about it though.
lvdlrs
down aces especially when it could very well be the best hand.
Gary (how'd I do with the trim?) Philips
A Man Beaten by Jacks
<dipu...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>"Jason Pawloski" <a67...@webnntp.invalid> wrote in message
>news:durjg6x...@recgroups.com...
>
>Good report =)
>
>> The blinds were $100/$200, and I threw out a 4x raise fully expecting a
>> call. BB looks at his cards and insta-calls.
>>
>> Flop comes KQ3. I throw out a $500 chip.
>
>GAY bet! You made it T800 preflop but only led for T500 on the flop?
You think *that's* bad?
Have any of you tards noticed he was playing 7/5 JoB? Now THAT is
gayer than thirteen Clay Aikens blowing a dozen Republican Senators.
Pepe Papon
wrote:
>Nice report. Too bad it couldn't have been longer. It is tough to lay
>down aces especially when it could very well be the best hand.
I, too, enjoyed the report, but I have to respond with the mantra:
Never go broke with a pair!!!!
TeddysDad
<<Snip>>
It was, Justin Phillips, of royal flush fame:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XunAlp2azhA
>
> And yes, he was wearing his characteristic wife beater.
4-22-09, I played the Omaha8 tourny at the Wildhorse Casino, Pendleton
OR.
Justin was there, playing it. Wearing his "uniform", white wife
beater, same headphones. I was out half way through, don't know how
he did.....
Beldin the Sorcerer
"Pepe Papon" <hitme...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:ebpg35dq7o0japv1v...@4ax.com...
Pepe Papon
Next question.
Beldin the Sorcerer
"Pepe Papon" <hitme...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
Did you mean that, or did you mean that "except sometimes"
Pepe Papon
<beld...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>"Pepe Papon" <hitme...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
>news:9p7j359ev96bskhcu...@4ax.com...
>> On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:48:40 GMT, "Beldin the Sorcerer"
>> <beld...@verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>"Pepe Papon" <hitme...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
>>>news:ebpg35dq7o0japv1v...@4ax.com...
>>>> On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:30:13 -0700, "lvdlrs" <a5b...@webnntp.invalid>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Nice report. Too bad it couldn't have been longer. It is tough to lay
>>>>>down aces especially when it could very well be the best hand.
>>>>
>>>> I, too, enjoyed the report, but I have to respond with the mantra:
>>>> Never go broke with a pair!!!!
>>>So you're mucking AA if raised all in preflop?
>>
>> Next question.
>Why? It follows logically from your statement : Never go broke with a pair.
>Did you mean that, or did you mean that "except sometimes"
If you're really that obtuse, there's no point in discussion. And if
you want to argue the point, don't talk to me; talk to Dan Harrington.
Beldin the Sorcerer
"Pepe Papon" <hitme...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
You didn't.
Will in New Haven
wrote:
> "Pepe Papon" <hitmeis...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
>
> news:86tl35tghvrmd8oi6...@4ax.com...
>
> > On Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:01:00 GMT, "Beldin the Sorcerer"
>
> >>"Pepe Papon" <hitmeis...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
> >>news:9p7j359ev96bskhcu...@4ax.com...
> >>> On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:48:40 GMT, "Beldin the Sorcerer"
>
> >>>>"Pepe Papon" <hitmeis...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
> >>>>news:ebpg35dq7o0japv1v...@4ax.com...
> >>>>> On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:30:13 -0700, "lvdlrs" <a5bf...@webnntp.invalid>
> >>>>> wrote:
>
> >>>>>>Nice report. Too bad it couldn't have been longer. It is tough to
> >>>>>>lay
> >>>>>>down aces especially when it could very well be the best hand.
>
> >>>>> I, too, enjoyed the report, but I have to respond with the mantra:
> >>>>> Never go broke with a pair!!!!
> >>>>So you're mucking AA if raised all in preflop?
>
> >>> Next question.
> >>Why? It follows logically from your statement : Never go broke with a
> >>pair.
> >>Did you mean that, or did you mean that "except sometimes"
>
> > If you're really that obtuse, there's no point in discussion. And if
> > you want to argue the point, don't talk to me; talk to Dan Harrington.
>
> Harrington made that in the context of post flop play.
> You didn't.
In this discussion, the one where Pepe made the comment, the big
action took place on the flop. That's the context. Of course, I don't
think that saying applies in _this_ situation against _this_ opponent
with Aces. But tournament players love to make big laydowns and I'm
not much for tournaments.
--
Will in New Haven
Pepe Papon
<beld...@verizon.net> wrote:
Of course I did, you idiot.
Beldin the Sorcerer
"Pepe Papon" <hitme...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
Will in New Haven
wrote:
> "Pepe Papon" <hitmeis...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
>
> news:4v5r35hivoj52fc7c...@4ax.com...
>
>
>
> > On Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:55:41 GMT, "Beldin the Sorcerer"
>
> >>"Pepe Papon" <hitmeis...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
> >>news:86tl35tghvrmd8oi6...@4ax.com...
> >>> On Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:01:00 GMT, "Beldin the Sorcerer"
>
> >>>>"Pepe Papon" <hitmeis...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
> >>>>news:9p7j359ev96bskhcu...@4ax.com...
> >>>>> On Wed, 17 Jun 2009 04:48:40 GMT, "Beldin the Sorcerer"
>
> >>>>>>"Pepe Papon" <hitmeis...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
> >>>>>>news:ebpg35dq7o0japv1v...@4ax.com...
> >>>>>>> On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:30:13 -0700, "lvdlrs"
> >>>>>>> wrote:
>
> >>>>>>>>Nice report. Too bad it couldn't have been longer. It is tough to
> >>>>>>>>lay
> >>>>>>>>down aces especially when it could very well be the best hand.
>
> >>>>>>> I, too, enjoyed the report, but I have to respond with the mantra:
> >>>>>>> Never go broke with a pair!!!!
> >>>>>>So you're mucking AA if raised all in preflop?
>
> >>>>> Next question.
> >>>>Why? It follows logically from your statement : Never go broke with a
> >>>>pair.
> >>>>Did you mean that, or did you mean that "except sometimes"
>
> >>> If you're really that obtuse, there's no point in discussion. And if
> >>> you want to argue the point, don't talk to me; talk to Dan Harrington.
> >>Harrington made that in the context of post flop play.
> >>You didn't.
>
> > Of course I did, you idiot.
>
> No, you didn't.
The context of the thread certainly established that we were talking
about post-flop play. Not that I agree with him on the specific
situation.
In fact, I think it was smug and fatuous and laden with hindsight to
say that about this hand. But the context was there.
Beldin the Sorcerer
"Will in New Haven" <bill....@taylorandfrancis.com> wrote in message
news:5598df2b-9022-46ba...@l32g2000vba.googlegroups.com...
***
The thread's context may be there.
Pepe's wasn't.
Pepe Papon
<beld...@verizon.net> wrote:
>The context of the thread certainly established that we were talking
>about post-flop play. Not that I agree with him on the specific
>situation.
>In fact, I think it was smug and fatuous and laden with hindsight to
>say that about this hand. But the context was there.
>
>***
>The thread's context may be there.
>Pepe's wasn't.
That is a really, really stupid comment, even for you.
Beldin the Sorcerer
"Pepe Papon" <hitme...@mindspring.com.invalid> wrote in message
You didn't make any comment at all about "in this situation" or ANY
qualifier. You just made the idiot statement.
And of course, there are times when it's ok to shove post flop with one pair
charrison100
> I went to WSOP Event #4, the "stimulus" $1K event two weeks ago.
Thanks for the great report.
Chris
"NO! I want this shit to STOP! Right NOW! Nobody takes me serious
anymore." - Paul
Popinjay, 01/16/2009
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