I accomplished this year what I hoped to accomplish last year. I played well.
The Senior Tournament set a record as the largest single-start poker tournament in history, meaning that "Day 1" was not broken across multiple days. There were a record 4,128 entrants, and we all started at the same time. The first day (yesterday, Friday) was scheduled for eleven one-hour levels plus several 20-minute breaks and a 90-minute dinner break. We started at 10:15 (the 10:00 start was delayed, because of the crush of entries and some opening ceremonies). Add it all up, and it means that Day 1 lasted until midnight.
I almost lasted that long. I finished about #600, or about 170 spots out of the money. Meaning that I "beat" > 3,500 starters. That's a real deep run, and is actually better than the class of poker player that I think I am. It was thrilling and intense, and I was exhausted by the time I got swept out at about 10:30 PM.
Everybody started with 3000 tournament chips. That means there were more than 12 Million chips in the tournament. When it ends, one person will have all of them and be the winner. The estimated first-place payout is over $400k. I milked my chips for so long. I don't think I ever got above 12,000 chips, but I kept winning just often enough to stay in the pack.
My best story happened early. At my table was Dick Harwood, a Hollywood director (Hee Haw, The Jeffersons) who finished SECOND in the tournament last year, winning >$340k. I thought, Oh great, I have a pro at my table, I am screwed.
About the 6th hand into the tournament, I got pocket 10's. I bet them, Harwood raised me, and I thought, what the hell, it's early, 10's is a good starting hand, so I called him. The flop came up 10-6-4. I had trip 10's, the best hand possible given the cards on the board. I slow-played it, checking to Harwood. He read my check as weakness (which was the goal), and he bet heavily. I spent a fair time trying to see how my 10-10-10 was not the best hand out there, and I couldn't see how it wasn't, so I called him. The next card came up, it was lower than a 10 and presented no straight possibilities that I could see. The cards were a rainbow, so no flush possibilities were there either. I checked again, Harwood bet again, and I went all-in.
That put him in a tough spot, as he had a lot of money in the pot already. I figured he had trips on one of the other cards. He could not also have trip 10's, as three of the 10's were accounted for (I had two and one was on the board). The question was whether he would figure out that I had the 10's and fold. He didn't and went all-in. He turned over his cards, he had trip 6's. I turned mine over, and you could hear the table suck in its collective breath when they saw my trip 10's. I don't think anyone saw it coming. One more card to see, it was meaningless, and I won. He had a few more chips than I did and so he had a couple left over, but he was mortally wounded. He was gone a few hands later.
Wow. My best poker experience ever, and probably nothing will ever top it.
Mission accomplished for 2012. The WSOP is a tremendous scene, and the Senior Tournament is a special tournament--calm, no fights, no hoodies, there's never been a penalty assessed since it began in 1995. Lots of jokes about seniors. I suspect that next year they will have to split it into two Day 1's, although I think they are so proud of pulling this thing off logistically that maybe they will keep it unified. Anyway, a great experience.
Thanks for tuning in.
Dave
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Trying Again in 2012
I don't know how many of last year's subscribers are still subscribing this year, but I bet a lot of you never unsubscribed. So this will arrive as a shocking email.
We had so much fun last year that we're going again this year. Sue and I leave for Las Vegas later today and will get there tonight. We're staying at the Bellagio. Wednesday is "Strip Day" for us. We will start at one end of the Strip and work our way along, popping into casinos and restaurants, always a fun day. Thursday is practice day for me. I'll go to the Rio, enter a small non-official tournament, and just get used to the place, the dealers, the cards, the pace of play, etc. Kinda like spring training. Then Friday is the Senior Tournament that I am in. It should last three days. We have Sunday airplane reservations, and Sue has said she'll gladly revise mine if I make it to Sunday.
As with last year, our friends Roger and Becky from Texas are meeting us here. They get in Thursday. Roger will also play in a practice tournament on Thursday and the real one on Friday.
Looking forward to it. It's supposed to be 100+, "but it's a dry heat."
We had so much fun last year that we're going again this year. Sue and I leave for Las Vegas later today and will get there tonight. We're staying at the Bellagio. Wednesday is "Strip Day" for us. We will start at one end of the Strip and work our way along, popping into casinos and restaurants, always a fun day. Thursday is practice day for me. I'll go to the Rio, enter a small non-official tournament, and just get used to the place, the dealers, the cards, the pace of play, etc. Kinda like spring training. Then Friday is the Senior Tournament that I am in. It should last three days. We have Sunday airplane reservations, and Sue has said she'll gladly revise mine if I make it to Sunday.
As with last year, our friends Roger and Becky from Texas are meeting us here. They get in Thursday. Roger will also play in a practice tournament on Thursday and the real one on Friday.
Looking forward to it. It's supposed to be 100+, "but it's a dry heat."
Monday, June 20, 2011
Bucket List Item #1--Over
I came back with Sue yesterday. I cut my trip short by a day, because I did not get to Day 3 (or even Day 2) of the Senior tournament. Our friend Roger got knocked out on Day 1 also. But yet a third player from our Texas neighborhood group, Larry, was still in the tournament when we left. When we got home last night, Sue looked it up, and Larry finished 64th (out of 3752 entrants), winning $6010. (The tournament winner won $557,443). Larry finished 74th a couple of years ago. Since we started playing in Texas in 2004, Larry's become a poker junkie. He goes all the time to the casinos just over the border in Oklahoma (there are none in Texas), and he's obviously become quite good at it.
It was a great adventure!! The best day of the week was Wednesday, when Sue and I "did the Strip." I'm starting to talk up Item #2, which would be to attend the Masters. We both love golf, so she's expressed some interest. We'll see. I only have one other item at the moment, which is to jump out of an airplane. Sue's said she won't forbid it, but she won't pay for it either.
It was a great adventure!! The best day of the week was Wednesday, when Sue and I "did the Strip." I'm starting to talk up Item #2, which would be to attend the Masters. We both love golf, so she's expressed some interest. We'll see. I only have one other item at the moment, which is to jump out of an airplane. Sue's said she won't forbid it, but she won't pay for it either.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Seniors Tournament
There I was, cruising along, getting decent hands, winning some pots. Then BAM, I made a rookie mistake and was flushed out of the Seniors NLHE Championship faster than you can say, well, flush.
Actually I think I made two mistakes, but the second, more costly one, was not seeing a flush (someone else's) forming on the board. I had AK, and K came on the board, so I had a pair of kings with an ace kicker. Not bad. I bet hard into it, and only one geezer called me. A meaningless card came up, but I checked, because I was wondering why the old goat had called at all. Maybe he had trips, which you can't see (someone can be holding a small pair and get a set when the third card hits the table). He checked back, so I convinced myself he didn't have trips, or else he would have bet them to get the pot up. I was right, he didn't have trips. I wasn't worrying about him having kings, because I had the ace kicker. So, both of us having checked, the last card was dealt, another meaningless card. I put him on a smaller pair or the kings. I bet hard. He not only called me, he went all in.
Huh?! That's when I should have stopped and asked again, why is he doing that? But I didn't go through my mental checklist (always check the board for a pair, a possible straight, or a possible flush). I was in love with my KKA. I was mentally counting my chips. You already know the story. He had two pocket hearts. Two hearts had come on the flop. I gave him a free final card by checking the turn card. The final card was another heart. Three hearts on the board, and I literally did not see them. I went all in, was stunned when the dealer did not push my K forward, and instead watched in hrror as he pushed forward 3 "meaningless" cards--all hearts. He had me covered slightly, and I was gone. Had only eaten half my Snickers.
Well, I'd like to say I'll never make that mistake again, but I probably will. This has been a great experience. Sue got here on Tuesday (after a 7-hour delay), but we "did the Strip" on Wednesday and Thursday and had a great time. Hit several of our favorite places, including the incomparable Petrossian piano bar at the Bellagio. We came back and watched the final table of the first event I had been in. Watching live poker is like watching paint dry. Veerrrry sloooooow. Saw one of the finalists make a rookie mistake--she mucked her cards when she was the big blind (she didn't mean to, but she did) and they wouldn't give them back to her. She lost her blind. We left after 6 hands took about 20 minutes. The constant-action poker you see on ESPN is highly edited, believe me.
Celebrities:
It's a wild scene here, and I think there are more players than they expected. They announced that the Senior tournament yesterday was the largest Senior event ever, and the largest event of any kind where they didn't have to split "Day 1" across several days.
Actually I think I made two mistakes, but the second, more costly one, was not seeing a flush (someone else's) forming on the board. I had AK, and K came on the board, so I had a pair of kings with an ace kicker. Not bad. I bet hard into it, and only one geezer called me. A meaningless card came up, but I checked, because I was wondering why the old goat had called at all. Maybe he had trips, which you can't see (someone can be holding a small pair and get a set when the third card hits the table). He checked back, so I convinced myself he didn't have trips, or else he would have bet them to get the pot up. I was right, he didn't have trips. I wasn't worrying about him having kings, because I had the ace kicker. So, both of us having checked, the last card was dealt, another meaningless card. I put him on a smaller pair or the kings. I bet hard. He not only called me, he went all in.
Huh?! That's when I should have stopped and asked again, why is he doing that? But I didn't go through my mental checklist (always check the board for a pair, a possible straight, or a possible flush). I was in love with my KKA. I was mentally counting my chips. You already know the story. He had two pocket hearts. Two hearts had come on the flop. I gave him a free final card by checking the turn card. The final card was another heart. Three hearts on the board, and I literally did not see them. I went all in, was stunned when the dealer did not push my K forward, and instead watched in hrror as he pushed forward 3 "meaningless" cards--all hearts. He had me covered slightly, and I was gone. Had only eaten half my Snickers.
Well, I'd like to say I'll never make that mistake again, but I probably will. This has been a great experience. Sue got here on Tuesday (after a 7-hour delay), but we "did the Strip" on Wednesday and Thursday and had a great time. Hit several of our favorite places, including the incomparable Petrossian piano bar at the Bellagio. We came back and watched the final table of the first event I had been in. Watching live poker is like watching paint dry. Veerrrry sloooooow. Saw one of the finalists make a rookie mistake--she mucked her cards when she was the big blind (she didn't mean to, but she did) and they wouldn't give them back to her. She lost her blind. We left after 6 hands took about 20 minutes. The constant-action poker you see on ESPN is highly edited, believe me.
Celebrities:
- Daniel Negreanu, 2004 Player of theYear, was with us watching the final table too. His friend won it all, we read the next day. The kid's about 24, and he won $493,000. The woman who lost her blind finished 7th, about $66,000. The kid winner had finished 5-4-3-2 in other tournaments over the past couple of years. You see that kind of thing a lot, and it is the best answer I know to people who say this is all luck. Clearly there's some skill mixed in somewhere. I'm still looking for mine.
- Doyle Brunson, The King. Saw him scooting by (literally on a scooter) in the concession area shortly before the beginning of the Senior tournament yesterday. He's 78 or so, always has a big cowboy hat on. He literally wrote the book on Texas NLHE, considered the bible of the game.
- Celine Dionne's husband. I didn't see him, but Sue and our friends Becky and Roger from Texas did. He played for awhile at Roger's table. Apparently he's in his late 60's, a kept man, and plays poker while Celine is exercising her vocal cords.
It's a wild scene here, and I think there are more players than they expected. They announced that the Senior tournament yesterday was the largest Senior event ever, and the largest event of any kind where they didn't have to split "Day 1" across several days.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Knocked Out
Well, I lasted into the 5th level today. I only won a few pots, all of them when people folded to bets that I made. The only showdown I was in, I lost, and it knocked me out. The blinds were at 200-100, I was running low on chips and felt I had to go all in on the "next good hand" that I got. I got KQ and went all-in with my 600 remaining chips. Unfortunately, two others in that hand had aces, and the both went all in also. One had AJ and the other AQ. An ace came up on the flop, then no other cards of consequence. The AQ knocked out both me and the AJ to win a huge pot.
It was a great experience. The players were of such a high caliber--very high skill level, no displays of anger, no "splashing" chips into the pot by tossing them, everybody helping the dealer keep the game moving along, players making change for others when somebody needed chips of a different denomination. There were 3175 in the tournament, which is still going on and will end on Tuesday with the final table. I figure I outlasted about 1000.
I saw 8 knockouts (besides my own), and 4 of the 8 were won by the player who had the lesser hand to begin with. For example, I saw AA knocked out by 555 and QQ knocked out by JJJ. That's the beauty and excitement of no-limit hold'em--fortunes can change in a second, with huge swings in momentum, and even though you play the probabilities the best you can, luck plays an element. The fact is, a hand with a 60/40 advantage does lose 40% of the time. That's what probability means.
Coming up: Sue will get here on Tuesday, and we always have fun in Vegas. Our friends from Texas arrive on Thursday night, and on Friday, Roger and I will play in the Senior No-Limit Hold'Em championship. It will be the same format as the tournament I was in, and it should have about the same number of players. Roger is an accountant and figures the probabilities in his head, something I cannot do. He used to beat me more often than not in our old neighborhood games. It will be interesting to see how well he does in the big dance on Friday.
So far, the experience in this "bucket list" item has more than lived up to my hopes. Thanks Sue!!!
It was a great experience. The players were of such a high caliber--very high skill level, no displays of anger, no "splashing" chips into the pot by tossing them, everybody helping the dealer keep the game moving along, players making change for others when somebody needed chips of a different denomination. There were 3175 in the tournament, which is still going on and will end on Tuesday with the final table. I figure I outlasted about 1000.
I saw 8 knockouts (besides my own), and 4 of the 8 were won by the player who had the lesser hand to begin with. For example, I saw AA knocked out by 555 and QQ knocked out by JJJ. That's the beauty and excitement of no-limit hold'em--fortunes can change in a second, with huge swings in momentum, and even though you play the probabilities the best you can, luck plays an element. The fact is, a hand with a 60/40 advantage does lose 40% of the time. That's what probability means.
Coming up: Sue will get here on Tuesday, and we always have fun in Vegas. Our friends from Texas arrive on Thursday night, and on Friday, Roger and I will play in the Senior No-Limit Hold'Em championship. It will be the same format as the tournament I was in, and it should have about the same number of players. Roger is an accountant and figures the probabilities in his head, something I cannot do. He used to beat me more often than not in our old neighborhood games. It will be interesting to see how well he does in the big dance on Friday.
So far, the experience in this "bucket list" item has more than lived up to my hopes. Thanks Sue!!!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Reconaissance Day
Today (Saturday) has been reconaissance day. I hope I am spelling that right. I registered for my own tournament tomorrow, then checked out the setup. There are two huge rooms, cavernous like airplane hangars. One's called the Pavillion, the other Amazon.
I got my seat assignment: White section, Table 81, Seat 3. I took a picture, but I can't seem to get it from my PC into this blog. According to pictures on the WSOP picture blog (which I cannot reproduce here), Phil Kessel of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics are in today's event. I didn't see them.
You're probably familiar with poker tournament format, but if not, here's the skinny:
About 10% of the starters will finish "in the money." The payout schedule is heavily weighted toward the top. If you finish 300th, you get back about what you paid to enter. With 3000 players, the total prize pool would be about $2,700,000. The winner would get about 12% of that (>$300,000), with payouts tapering down to the last player in the money.
My goal is to last through Day 1. By that time, about half the players will have been eliminated.
I got my seat assignment: White section, Table 81, Seat 3. I took a picture, but I can't seem to get it from my PC into this blog. According to pictures on the WSOP picture blog (which I cannot reproduce here), Phil Kessel of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics are in today's event. I didn't see them.
You're probably familiar with poker tournament format, but if not, here's the skinny:
- Each player starts with 3000 chips. They have no dollar value, they are just chips. But you had to pay to get them.
- If there are 3000 players (say) in the tournament, that means there are 9,000,000 chips in the tournament. The tournament ends when one player has all of them.
- How does one player get all the chips? By winning them from other players. It's a no-limit format, which means that at any time, a player can go "all-in," meaning s/he is wagering all of their stack on the outcome of the hand. If they lose the hand, and the other player had more chips to begin with, they are out.
- Every hour, required minimum bets, called "blinds," are increased. That prevents players from just folding all the time. There are two blinds each hand. They start slow (25-25), but by Level 5 they will be 50-100, and by Level 10 they will be 400-800 plus an ante of 100 from everyone (not just the two players posting the blinds). So sooner or later you have to make some kind of plays, or you will get "blinded out" as the blinds orbit around and around the table.
About 10% of the starters will finish "in the money." The payout schedule is heavily weighted toward the top. If you finish 300th, you get back about what you paid to enter. With 3000 players, the total prize pool would be about $2,700,000. The winner would get about 12% of that (>$300,000), with payouts tapering down to the last player in the money.
My goal is to last through Day 1. By that time, about half the players will have been eliminated.
Monday, June 6, 2011
My Schedule
Hi Everyone!
My WSOP Adventure is a bucket list item, a gift from my lovely wife Sue for my 65th birthday. I'm hoping to be able to post something on this blog every day...we'll see.
My adventure will start this Friday with the trip to Las Vegas. I am playing in two events, both No Limit Texas Hold-em tournaments. One is for the over-50 crowd, the other is an open event.
Here's my itinerary:
Gotta go. Trying to remember if a flush beats a straight or vice-versa!
Feel free to leave comments by clicking the green "comments" line below the picture of The Rio..
My WSOP Adventure is a bucket list item, a gift from my lovely wife Sue for my 65th birthday. I'm hoping to be able to post something on this blog every day...we'll see.
My adventure will start this Friday with the trip to Las Vegas. I am playing in two events, both No Limit Texas Hold-em tournaments. One is for the over-50 crowd, the other is an open event.
Here's my itinerary:
- Friday June 10 Leave for Las Vegas. Staying at The Rio, which is WSOP headquarters.
- Sunday June 12 First tournament, an open NLHE event expected to attract about 3000 players. It is scheduled for 3 days, but you really have to be good and/or very lucky to make it to Day 3. I hope to last through Day 1.
- Tuesday June 14 Sue arrives for some fun together.
- Friday June 17 Second tournament, the NLHE event for seniors. This is also scheduled for 3 days and also expected to attract 3000+ players.
- Monday June 20 Return to Rochester.
Gotta go. Trying to remember if a flush beats a straight or vice-versa!
Feel free to leave comments by clicking the green "comments" line below the picture of The Rio..
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