WSOPoker Day 25, Event #40, $1500 Mixed HE
And a WTF?!? by Harrah's I was super excited for this event. I got there at 4:45 to register and the lines were long. I didn't get to take my seat in the hot, scary ass (wind) pavilion until 5:10. I first saw Shannon Elizabeth at my table, and we had a good laugh about how we're dead money blah blah blah. Then as I was sitting down I noticed James Van Alstyne to my immediate right. "Hi James!" We caught up a little. Then I noticed Eric Froelich to his immediate right. Nice table draw. NOT. I counted my chips, 2975, as I had just missed my big blind and was currently being dealt into my small blind. That was the most chips I would ever see. We saw a free flop, I held the Q7, it came Queen high, I bet, got popped, and I folded. Next hand I saw a flop with the A4, and I lost that hand too. Next hand James opened to 75, I made it 250 in the cutoff with AJ, and he called after some thought. The flop came AKx all rainbow. He checked, I bet 350, he made it 1k, and I insta-called. I made a mistake here by not being aware of his stack. This c/r left him with 850. I should have either moved him in or mucked it IMHO, probably mucking. Anyways, the turn was a T, and James checked. Weird. I'll take the freebie to the nuts. River a 9, and he put the rest of his chips in. I can't beat anything at this point except Ax or a bluff, and decided to throw the hand away. Always feels good playing a hand bad pre-flop, on the flop, and on the turn. At least did something right on one street! LOL. I then managed to never get my stack back above 2k and was busto 15 minutes before the first break.
From there I met Kenna, Lupo, Lara, Angie, and Joy at "Money Plays" to play some more shuffleboard and other shenanigans. Towards the end of the night my friend Thomas wandered in by himself. He has been a dealer at the Wynn for as long as I can remember, and has been working the WSOP full time this summer to raise some additional money for his wife and child. Thomas has always been a fantastic dealer, and is THE best dealer that I have had this year at the series. He's dealt to me two downs and the table was always impressed.
So last night he says to me, "I just got fired." The reason: He couldn't work overtime. His shift had just ended and the D/C asked him to stay on longer and work overtime. He said he can't becuase he works at the Wynn in 90 minutes and wants to get some food. They then say, "You're fired." He said that they have been needing a ton of dealers to work doubles because many dealers have been calling in for whatever reason. He was upset because he himself could have called in and not been fired, but since he wouldn't work overtime he got fired. This was about an hour before he had to be at the Wynn to deal all night.
I'm not sure what to say about that. I specifically asked him what the rest of the story is, because that just sounds too out there to be all the truth. I asked him if there was any history between him and the D/C, etc, etc... He said that the only thing was that he called in one time himself.
Today is cash games day, tomorrow is the $2k LHE, and wed is the $2k O8. Wheeee!
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 23, 24, Event 37 $2k PLHE & 38 $1500 NLHE
Spinning the tires in the mud I never had a chance in the tournaments and there really isn't anything I could have done with either of them.
The $2k PLHE started off with me being very active and actually getting some very good hands, but this got players to call me down with marginal holdings and then caught on me every one of em. I was busto by the first break. I then went to play some cash at the Bellagio and ended up winning $1100 playing 10-20 NL. From there Jason, Jen, Lara, and myself went to this mediterranean joint to have dinner and smoke some hookah, and that degenerated to shuffleboard and pool at the bar, then everybody left and I found myself drinking a beer with Maria Ho, Nick Shulman, Joe Cassidy, Jen Harmon, and several other people at the Bellagio sports book bar. Maria and I headed to the Rio to buy in for the 1500 event, and I needed to spend some time to sober up, so we did that by playing 50-100 Stud 8/Omaha 8. Maria and I lost $1100 each.
I made it in time to get the cards in the air for the $1500 event, and pretty much the same thing happened. At one point somebody asked me, "Why do you bluff so much?!?" I then explained to them that "It's not my fault I never get any good hands. I have to be creative to win my chips!" I had the greatest image ever, but they broke the game before I could actually make a hand. From there I busted two short stacks in the 100-200 level, lost a pot, and pushed over a bettor with QJ on a JTx flop, got called by the bettor with KQ, and gg me.
I then left there to play some cash at the Wynn. I played 5-10 NL, flopped quads twice, had action on the flop and turn both times, and still ended up losing $275 without ever playing a big pot. I then left to meet Kenna for some shuffleboard, met some buddies in from LA, then headed to Capo's for some grub. We were joined by Lara, Dutch, and Lupo for dinner. Had great times, headed home, and then me and my LA buddies went out on the lake for a while. Woke up today, bout to eat, and playing the $1500 Mixed Hold'em event at 5pm.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 22 - Event #34 $3k LHE, My end of day 2.
falojopeijnaefoankmdoaifjaopfmeaokfnaofmnasodkfmaoe What a day.
I learned something in the first twenty seconds I was awake today. When you set your alarm clock, make sure that you set it for the correct half of the day. For example, if you set your alarm for 2:30 for a tournament that starts at 4pm, make sure that you set the alarm for 230pm, not am. I realized this at 4:09 pm as my already short stack was probably being blinded off. AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!
On the way in I decided that this was a good thing. I was missing all the hands that were supposed to bust me. I arrived in my chair at 4:38pm, good for the fastest time ever completing the following tasks:
1) Wake up, realize you're an idiot.
2) Put on clothes, unsure if they're clean or not.
3) Uninate.
4) Find all things that belong in pockets.
5) Get in car, drive 20 miles to strip, make it through traffic due to accident, traffic due to too many people on the freeway, and traffic due to too many people on the streets.
6) Run across Rio parking lot and break massive sweat.
7) Run down unnecessairly long hallways to WSOP room.
8) Sit in seat and make fun of self.
I folded several hands, and then played my BB, winning it on the turn. My 10,700 had dwindled to 8300 upon arrival, and now I was back to 11k. OK.
Then, Crazy Mike and I flipped some coins. I won both. Devo = +$100 net.
Then, I doubled with AA vs. Richard Brodie's KK. 26k.
Then, I busted a guy when I flopped a set. 35k.
Then, I won some small pots. 40k.
Then, Crazy Mike and I flipped some more coins. I won both. Devo = +$300.
Then, I flopped the nuts with A 3 on a 2 4 6 flop in a battle of the blinds against Brodie once again. We capped the flop and he called me down. 55k.
I went into the first break with 52,500, good for 5th in chips, 63 players remaining.
Last week I went into the 1500-3000 level in the 5k LHE event fourth in chips, 60 remaining. I took 40th that day.
Today I took 42nd.
How in the hell do the wheels on the bus fall off that badly twice in ten days?
Nothing I could have done either.
The two hands that irked me the most were these:
Folded to me in the SB, I raise Brodie's BB, he calls. I have 8 5 . Flop 9 5 2 . Bet, call. Turn 8 . Bet, call. River 7 . Check, check. I table my cards. "Oh, you have two pair? Wow. Nice hand. . . . . Oh.... I'm not trying to slowroll you, but I have a straight." He tables 5 6 . I know he wasn't trying to slowroll me obviously... he would've bet the river. But I still wanted to puke.
Very next hand I get AA on the button, I'm visibly upset from the previous hand, everybody folds, I raise, and the blinds fold.
Poker's so stupid.
Those were the last chips I was awarded in event 34. :Sigh:. Ship the $200 last longer to Crazy Mike, and I profit $200 in prop-betting for the tourney (I won another $100 in flips shortly before I busted).
In other news, I may be looking for a backer for the rest of the series. If you're interested, please let me know.
Tomorrow is the $2k PLHE at noon. I [heart] pot-limit.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 19, 20, & 21 - Event #34, $3k LHE - End of Day One
nother Day Two... ... have made I.
Other than that, meh. 10,700 in chips, 16k is the average, coming back tomorrow at the 8-16 level, and pretty much, I'm gonna have to get some hands. Unfortunately I will be unable to play the kind of LHE that I like to play, but such is the structure of limit tournaments that Harrah's has devised.
Lemme go on a rant about that for a moment. In all the limit events the blinds are starting at 25-50, and then 50-75 for level two. NL events go 25-50 then 50-100. If you know anything about poker, this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Furthermore, playing 50-100 with a 6k or 10k stack really doesn't matter at all. Why not start at 50-100 and add in the key levels that they take out down the road like 500-1000, 1200-2400, 2500-5000, 5k-10k, etc, etc. These structures are really retarded because we have a ton of play that doesn't matter at all in limit in the beginning and then zero play when the play actually matters.
OK. Rant over.
Fun things today: I found myself sitting with "CrazyMike", AKA MrGatorade on 2+2. Guy's hilarious, but annoyed plenty of people. Course, I'm nuts too, and thought it was great.
We made plenty of prop best throughout the night.
Coinflips for $100:
Round 1: Devo
2: Mike
3: Devo
4: Devo
5: Mike
6: Mike
7: Mike
8: Devo
9: Mike
10: Mike
11: Mike
Mike = +$300
Over/Under on runners after day one: I set line at 100, he took under, Devo wins $100.
Mike = +$200
Devo proposes that he can ride a wheelchair in a full wheelie across the entire pavilion without coming out of wheelie position once without practice. I had to wear a helmet. Devo wins $100.
Mike =+$100
Outstanding bet: Devo/Mike $200 last-longer. I've got him edged in chips going into tomorrow, so...... it still doesn't matter. It's an effing crapshoot anyways.
In other news, I've taken up wakeboarding. I went out on the lake Tuesday and got up on a wakeboard for my 4th and 5th times of my life... and took the worst wipeout of my wakeboarding career. With the board perpendicular to the boat (oops) I was still holding onto the rope as I caught my front edge on the water. For those of you playing at home, my feet completely stopped while the rest of my body continued at 30 mph as I landed flat on the water. Ouch.
I'm getting old. My body still hurts after 24 hours.
Anyways, here's to running good tomorrow.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 17 & 18, events 27 & 28 NLHE
I suck at no-limit. Well, yesterday I wasn't in the mood to write about my pathetic sojurn through the massive field of the WSOP 1500 NLHE events. I got donkey effed twice and could never recover. I lost the rest of my chips in the 150-300/25 level when I tried to squeeze the loosest guy on the table who opened for 875 and was called in two spots. I shoved all-in for 4850 total and was called in two spots... 77, and then A9s over-shove-all-in. I had J4. I can't believe that didn't hold up! What a bad beat! LOL...
Then today I found myself playing in the 3k NLHE event at a super juicy table. One guy was trying very hard to give his chips away and ended up building a huge stack. I ended level 2 with 6500, up 500 from our starting stack. Then on the second hand back I played a 7k pot with a guy holding top pair and a gutshot and me holding the nut straight. He turned trips and river double paired the board. Arg. I drifted all the way down to 1900 in the 100-200 level when I doubled up with AT on a Txx flop. I then picked up a couple of small pots. Then, holding JJ in the BB, blinds 100-200/25, it was limped three ways to me and I raised it an additional 1k. The guy giving his chips away called me. Flop J9x two clubs, I bet 1300, he shoves, I insta call, he has KQ no clubs. Up to 12k. Then, last hand before the break, I flop bottom set and bust another guy. Now we're cruisin. Into the second break with 16k.
I bluffed a guy off a huge pot early on to bring my stack to 19,975, and I was feeling very good. The guy giving his chips away busted, and was replaced with a super large stack who had me covered. The first hand he was dealt he opened to 750 on the 150-300/25 level. Folded to me in the SB and I look down at AQo. I really don't think he's that strong at this point so I decide to take the pot down right there. I re-raise to 2500. He thinks for a long while and finally makes the call. I still don't think he's that strong, but - it looks like I need to hit a hand now. I have him on AK, maybe AQ, and any pair. Course - he could have anything, cause I have no history on this guy, but he just really didn't look too happy to be calling.
Flop Q 7 5 . Nice. I lead for 3500. He thinks for a bit, counts out 3500, and then says, "All-in."
Excuse me? I've got 13,400 left in my stack. This is normally a marginal fold due to the stack I was up against, but I was just really feeling that I needed to be calling there. So much of NLHE is feel and instinct, and at that point my instinct was telling me to call.
I need an instinct transplant. He had QQ. So, I got my huge stack into the middle as a 97.4% underdog. Nice.
So, oops, I donked off my huge stack, and I totally could have played that hand in so many different ways, but my instincts are usually right and they have taken me to where I am today. Can't be right every time, eh?
Monday and Tuesday I'm off (lake), and then I'm back Wednesday for the $3k LHE event.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 13, 14, 15, and 16 - Event #25 $2000 NLHE
Ahh, Vacation I returned to Las Vegas this morning from a three day, two night vacation to play the $2k NLHE event, and within two hours I was promptly returned to my vacation. LOL. I won the first hand of the day, opening to 125, getting called by the big blind, and taking down the pot on the flop.
Devo's stack: 4150.
High point of the day. I would lose 40% of said stack with KK vs. an opponent who I'm confident held JT. The action went like this:
He open-limped in mid position, I raised to 200, both blinds folded and he called. Flop J9x, he checked, I bet 275, he called. Turn T - I could tell he hit that card. He bet 700 into me. Hmm, 1725 in the pot, 700 to call, I have 12 outs (2 K, 4 Q, 3 9, 3 x's), I will definately get another bet out of him with half of those outs, plus perhaps I'm not spot on with my read. I called. River T, I could tell he liked that card, he bet 1500, and after much attempted speeching I finally folded.
Devo's stack: 2400.
I bled down to 2000 into the 50-100 level, called a raise in position with Q T for 300, got called by the one player behind, and both blinds called. Flop K 8 9 , check around. Turn a blank, check around. River 7 , check, check, I decide to buy this pot for sale and bet 700, get called by the player behind me who held JxJ . Boy - I sure didn't put him on that hand. Oops.
Now Devo's ancy. A player opens for 300, his standard "I don't have a very good hand" opening raise, I decide to stick my last 1k in the middle with 22 (I know... but I felt like I might have had at least a little fold equity), he calls with 55, flop TT2, turn T, and gg Devo.
Tomorrow is one of those monster fields $1500 NLHE events. I hope to not go bust after 13 hours without cashing like I did in the last one of these.
So vacation. Greatest thing ever. I spontaneously drove down to Laughlin with Lara and we spent 40 hours simply relaxing. I stuck one $20 bill into a machine while I was waiting outside the restroom. We went to the movies twice, got hour long massages, hung out at the pool, ate out several times, and simply relaxed. It was so refreshing and I believe is going to help me tons down the stretch here in the Series. It was the first time in my life that I have ever come back from a vacation not feeling like I need to go on vacation to recover from my previous vacation.
Hasta manana.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 12, Event 18, $5k LHE Championship, My end of day 2.
Puuuuuuuuuuke. Ugh. I'm so disappointed right now.
I was more excited about this event than anything, and after the second level of day two everything was right on schedule. I had 60k in chips, was 4th in standing out of 61 remaining players, did a video interview, and then the wheels fell off and the Car Ramrod skid to a grinding halt.
First, I held Q J , opened for a raise, got 3 bet by the SB, the BB called, and I called. Flop T 8 7 . SB bet, BB called, I raised, SB called, BB 3 bet, I called, SB called. Turn x , check, bet, raise, fold, call. River 7 , BB bet, and I threw my cards in the muck. He showed TT. Sick. But - excellent laydown i made.
Then, Ian Johns opened for a raise, I 3 bet K J , the BB called, and Ian called. Flop QT6 one heart. BB check, Ian bets, I call, BB calls. Brick turn, check bet call call, brick river check bet fold fold Ian shows a set.
Then, my big blind, dead small, folds to Ian on the button he raises, I 3 ball 99, he 4 bets, and I check-call him down on the J4628 board. He shows JJ.
Then, I was card dead for many minutes. My stack dwindled from the 60k all the way to 25,500.
A player opens, I 3 bet KK, he calls. Flop 888, I bet, he calls. Turn A (sweet.) I bet, he raises, I fold. He shows an ace.
Down to 12.5k.
Missed a 15 outer, down to 500, lost it all with A4o UTG. So disappointing.
So, I'm taking tomorrow off and going to the lake. I just looked at the schedule and nothing really intrigues me until Friday. I may play a Bellagio event or something. Otherwise, back on the horse Friday for the 2k NLHE.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 11, Event 18 $5k LHE World Championship - End of Day 1
Right about where I wanted to be... I have been more excited to play this event than any other at this year's world series as it is a very tough field and prestegious event, and limit hold'em is my best game. I expected the field to be under 200 and to be very stacked.
Instead, I found my first table to be the best I could have ever hoped for. I didn't recognize anybody besides EF Hutton, and he self-admitedly said he was not a limit player. The seat to my left was open for the first 90 minutes which was fantastic cause I got the button twice every orbit and could play back at my opponents trying to steal the dead blinds hard and force them to release their hands. I hit 15k from the 10k starting chips in those first 90 minutes with the first level of 50-100 and second of 100-200. I was simply running over the table and making some hands at the same time. I was in complete control, getting free cards that I shouldn't have gotten (and thus making hands that I shouldn't have made... that was fun. They all saw that I kept sucking out but couldn't realize that it was because of the play of the hand that I got there in the first place), and I was getting paid off in spots that I should have never been paid off in. In one hand I held the A K , opened for like my fourth straight hand, bet the garbage flop with two diamonds, got called in two spots, bet the K turn and got called in one spot, and then made my flush on the river and got paid off by AJ high.
Shortly before the first break Tony G sat in the seat to my left in front of the previously un-claimed stack. I wasn't too happy about this obviously. I have never played with him but know the reputation he has for being loose and aggressive. I thought this may cramp my style. Fortunately for me Tony never played back at me unless he had a hand and it was pretty easy for me to avoid getting into bad spots. In one hand I opened with the K Q , he 3 balled it, and we saw the flop heads up. It came T9x with one heart and I check called. The turn paired the nine and it went check-check. The river brought a K, I bet, he raised, and I successfully folded to his AK.
We went to dinner with me holding 12500 after a couple of frustrating levels 3 and 4. When we came back the players started to bust, and the table started getting sicker and sicker. The 10 seat was replaced by Minh Ly. He busted and was replaced by Eli Elezra. The 9 seat busted and was replaced by somebody that was good - forgot the name right now. The 8 seat busted and was replaced by Joe Sebok. The 9 seat busted and was replaced by David Plastik. The 5 seat busted and was replaced by an excellent player named Pat. I was in the 6 seat. I busted Joe with a sweet little five outer on the river, and he was replaced by Howard Lederer.
Meanwhile though, I continued to run over the table. I was still only really getting played back at with real hands. I did have to slow down a little bit to maintain some of my credibility though, because the excellent players surrounding me wouldn't let me keep up with my shenenagians for too long. I'm looking forward for my table to break though, because a fresh reputation helps my LHE tournament game a bunch - plus it'll be nice to not have some of the world's best to my left! We were scheduled to be broken next, but I'm curious how'll they'll arrange all that tomorrow.
So I end day 1 with 33,100 in chips, average is 22,500, and there are 115ish players remaining of the 257 original runners. Blinds will be 400-800, so I am feeling good with 21 big bets to dance around with. The money is at 27 and we play to the final table today.
My good friend Rick Fuller is the chip leader heading into Saturday's $1500 NLHE massive field event. The story of the table is the Phil Hellmuth is second in chips playing for his eleventh and record setting bracelet.
ESPN wants to cover the event.
Bluff told them to go screw themselves.
Before the series started, ESPN picked their events, and Bluff picked a bunch of others to be broadcast live on the internet. The problem? The tables are sequestered in a cave behind a black partition. This sucks big time for the players as they lose out on the experience of a WSOP final table. The best part of my final table was the support of my friends and the celebrations of pots won. It's so much fun. With this cave, you don't get any of that.
Furthermore, the players receive zero compensation for this while Bluff charges $50 for a subscription for the webcasts throughout the series.
Now, with ESPN wanting to televise the table, the players are losing out on the tens of thousands of dollars of potential endorsement monies plus the future notariety and endorsements that comes with TV tables.
If I was on that final table, I would try to rally the rest of the players to refuse to play in the cave.
If all else failed, I would refuse to show my holecards to the camera. It's complete bunk that the players are taken advantage of like this.
Thanks to all of you who supported me at my final table. It made it truly a memorable experience for me and has been the highlight of my poker career thus far. Thank you also to those of you who have sent me text messages and e-mails of congragulations. I appreciate it so much!
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Days 8, 9, 10 - $2500 HORSE Event #16
Boring blog Not too much to report here.
After a few days to process my cash, I don't think there was a damn thing I coulda done to win that bracelet. I coulda saved a bet here and there, but at the end it all just wouldn't have mattered. My bad play on day two was compensated by some run good, and even if I had played perfectly on day two, I still think I finish where I did.
The key hand came on the 40k-80k level heads up. There were just over 2mil in chips in play, meaning that there were only 25 big bets in play - kinda sick when playing for that kind of money and that kind of prize.
I raised the button with the A A Q 9 and was called by my opponent on the BB. We were pretty close to chips at this point and I had all the momentum, recently closing the gap from 2-1 down to even. The flop came K T 3 . He bet, I raised, he called. The turn came the A , and I was pretty sure I liked that card. He checked, I bet, he raised, and I decided to 3-bet - possibly a mistake, but my thinking was that even if I did not have the best hand, I had to have 19 outs to make the winner and probable scooper, and if not I would get a much better read on his hand. QJ was the only hand that beat me and I don't like missing bets. Anyways, he 4 bet me and I quickly called. The river brought a brick low card, he bet, I said, "This is sick," and finally called knowing that I was beat.
I know the call was bad. There was prob a 2% chance that I was good there, but I had to call for life-tilt value. If I mucked there and he showed me a bluff, I probably would have jumped off the stratosphere. He had the KQJ5, and even had the K high draw crushing 9 of my outs... bad beat. I still fought hard from there but couldn't ever recover from that hand that had half the chips in play in the pot.
He caught a hella good run of cards from four handed on and there wasn't anything I could do to overcome it. Because of that, I'm actually quite content in my second place finish, knowing that there isn't anything I could have done to take first. Oh well... two WSOP career cashes, two seconds. Not too bad..
Today I played the $2500 HORSE event, and I was super excited for this. I got an excellent table draw, made it to the first break with a few more chips than starting, and then my vehicle fell off a cliff, and I played $2500 "Devo Can't Win." Nothing I could do.
Tomorrow is the $5k Limit Hold'em World Championship, the event I am most excited for this year.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 7, Event 9 $1500 Omaha 8 Final... and a Wynn Floorperson sucks
I promise this is complete truth OK... so long story short, I took second in the omaha 8 event final table, and there wasn't a damn thing I could've done to improve that result. Sucks for me. Even if you factor in all the bad play from previous days and give me all the chips I should've had, I still take second. I ran really bad in the final four, and especially bad heads up. I won't bore you with details, but that is how it was.
Unfortunately, the point of this blog has nothing to do with my result or the good times had afterwards. The point is how poorly Katherine Martin, a "poker room shift manager" of the Wynn treated us after our celebration spilled outside of Tryst. I cashed for a little over $140k and we went to celebrate at Tryst. After much partying, several of us ended up playing 1-3 NL in the Wynn poker room.
Yes, we were drunk.
Yes, we were loud.
Yes, we were having a good time.
Yes, she asked us to "tone it down."
Yes, she said to us after we asked who was complaining, "There are many people playing for much higher stakes than you guys, and you all need to settle down."
No having fun at the Wynn poker room.
I had over $10k on the table. Apparently not high enough stakes for her.
Honestly... I pulled her aside and calmly asked her to speak with me for a moment. She said no. WTF?!? I finally got my way and had her in private conversation. I expalined to her that I am in fact a high roller. I explained that we were all at the table having a great time. We were playing Indian (put your cards on your forehead) NL Hold'em. The two tables that were near us had no complaints and actually thought we were all hilarious. After about four minutes of reasonable conversation with her not listening to a word I said, I finally lost it and yelled to the room, "Does anybody have a problem with how loud or how much fun we are having?" Several people laughed and nobody objected. There weren't even annoyed looks given in my direction. Anyways, that apparently was enough for her, and she called security and had them escort me out. I gave the ol' "I am a blogger and plenty of people will read about what happened tonight speech" and all that lead her to do was ask me for a card. I'm a professional gambler for Pete's sake... we don't have cards. I think I should look into that. She threatened me with "reporting to pokerpages how I behaved tonight" and I laughed in her face when I countered with the thousands of y'all who will read about how she treated us tonight.
The worst part about all this is that I conisder the Wynn my home turf. I play the cash games there more than any other joint in Vegas. The floorpeople and dealers know me very well and they know my reputation. Yes, I can be loud. Duh. Yes, I can be a drunken idiot. But tonight for one time I actually acted in a reasonable manner when told not to be a drunken idiot and she did not listen to any reason whatsoever.
Instead, when I got booted, the game broke immediately and ten people left the joint very frustrated.
Yes, I was the fish in the game.
So, up until this point I have supported the Wynn poker room at 100%, but now I doubt that I will ever play there again. It is complete bunk to threaten a 1-3 NL game with being kicked out because they are being loud and they are not the highest rollers in the joint, even though a few of the highest rollers in the joint are sitting at the table.
Food for thought. Go Venetian.
So, perhaps someday y'all will get a full report of what the hell happened in the past three days, but I am way too exhausted to write about it now. I took second, good for a little over $140k, haha to everybody that didn't back me, and especially to the guys that were going to but bailed at the last moment. I mean that in complete needling context, cause I understand the risk involved with backing people and how hard it is to make a cash ot that size. But I handed my sole backer $97k tonight. :-).
There wasn't a single thing I could've done to place higher than second. I feel very fortunate to have placed where I did considering that I came into days 2 and 3 shorter than I would have liked to be but was blessed with the run of cards that I needed to end up where I ended up. Plus, the bracelets are super ugly this year. They look like a cheesy bracelet/watch made by Corum POS with a World Series of Poker face instead of a time telling face.
Yeah, I still would've worn it proudly.
But I think the 1987 Binions gold stamped gaudy bracelets look way better and capture the WSOP vibe way better than this year's bracelets. Yes, the 2006 bracelets are way better too.
Speaking of things that Harrah's has screwed up, check this out. In day two as we were on the bubble, the TD made an announcement that we were in the money, everybody cheered, and hand for hand was over. There were two very short stacks at my table that were thrilled to make the money and one in particular started going nuts trying to get a bunch of chips. He did, quadrupling his stack from 2500 to 10k in four hands, when the TD made an announcement that said, 'Just kidding... we're still one out from the money.' Could you imagine if the guy busted when he thought he was in the money?!? Obv he would've played way differently. Thank God he didn't bust, otherwise that would've been another huge PR mess for Harrah's.
Anyways, I'm taking tomorrow off, and I'm back to the tournament scene Saturday for the $1500 NLHE event that should be a ginormous field.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 6, $1500 Omaha 8, end of day 2.
Final Table Time Baby! Don't have too much time to write, but after a roller coaster ride for most of the day, I come into today's 8 handed final table sixth in chips but a few hands to manuver with. One guy has lots of chips, Jordan Morgan has some chips, third through seven have normal chips, and last guy has no chips. We're playing for a bunch of money and a bracelet!
It was quite an emotional day, and I'm pretty disappointed with my play actually today. If I had played well I would have been somewhere around the 300-400k range instead of the 186k I have now. It's very frustrating for me when I know that I have not played my best and my stack has suffered because of it. It's also funny how in these things you can play perfectly and go nowhere, but then make several big mistakes and be down to the final 8.
Too tired to write more, but be sure to sweat and ship all the run-good juju I need!
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 5, Event 9 $1500 Omaha 8, End of day one
Meh... Well, the good news is that I made it to day two, earning $2000 in saved entry fees for tomorrows event.
Today was the Omaha event and there really isn't anything interesting to write about. All the hands were pretty standard, I made a couple of dumb mistakes, and I finished the day with slightly below average chips, 180 left, and the money at 63. So, meh. Gonna really suck if I make it to a day two only to bubble-ish again. Unless I fnal table though I get Thursday off and I will be able to recover from a possible extremely disappointing week but definately long week.
Updates online, and you'll get the full report here tomorrow.
Speaking of online updates, pokerpages has been doing an excellent job of capturing the feel and the atmosphere here at the Series and have been publishing very entertaining reports. Check it out.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 4, Event #6, $1500 LHE
I got Madsened Another frustrating day. I arrived twenty minutes late because I had to have a smoothie on the way in. Within the first thirty minutes I had managed to lose 1800 of my 3k starting stack at the 25-50 level in limit . That isn't too hard for me though if you've ever played a limit event... I play LOTS of hands, but I also managed to run into two sets in that period.
Then, I finally started making hands and the jedi mind tricks started working when I had jack crap and my stack vaulted to 5425 by the first break. Coming back I climbed to 7625 just before level four and was reported as being fourth in chips. I was fired up, ready to finally bring everything together. I lost two pots with medium pairs on bad flops, won one small pot, and then didn't win a hand for the last 45 minutes of level 4. I went into the break with 5225 - still fine, still able to play my game.
Level 5 I dropped quickly losing a bunch of small to medium pots simply running into unfortunate situations. I lost two big pots to Rafe Furst, one which I opened with 67o, got six way action, flopped 754, went four bets with Rafe in position, called his turn bet and folded to his river bet on overcards. Then I opened with AQ, got 3 bet by Rafe, check raised the Q high flop, bet the x turn, got raised, I called, river went check-check and he won with AA. Down to 3k.
Then I went on the tear chipping back up and got all the way back to 6500. Twice I 3 bet an over aggressive player with 99 and TT and twice flopped AJx, and both times he had Ax. Arrgh. Then Jeff Madsen got moved to my table, and that was the end of the road for me.
He made flushes in close to 5k pots that we were heads up in, once on the river, once on the turn, and I was crippled to 1300. He was sneaky on the one he made on the turn and just called my bet when I was holding top pair. I might have been able to get away from the hand if he popped it there, but I rivered two pair and simply could not lay down when he popped my river bet. NH. I couldn't ever recover and was sent packing just in time for dinner.
Tomorrow is the $1500 Omaha 8 or better event at 5pm. ONE TIME... that's all I'm asking.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 3, Event #4, $1500 PLHE
Trying to figure this one out... I started out simply cruising in this event. I had built my stack up to 7500 shortly before the first break and then played a huge pot with a open ender and an over-card when I put my opponent who was short had top pair. I went into the first break with 4925, still plenty excellent.
Coming into level three I was flying. I busted a guy's aces on the flop with 89 on an 884 flop, busted a guy with 99 on a 653 flop with 66, and busted a short stack with AJ vs. AK pre-flop with a lucky jack on the river. I was chip leader on my table and probably pretty up there for the whole event when I played this monster hand. I either played this hand just fine in accordances with my playing to win mentality or really butchered a nice stack.
A predictable player opened for the pot in the 100-200 level for 700. I asked how much he had left and he said about 5k. I called in position with the K Q , and the BB called as well, 2300 in the pot. The flop came T 9 3 . The BB checked, and the initial raiser potted it. I spent some time thinking about what the best play was and looking to pick up a read on the opponent. I really didn't feel like he wanted any more action. I had him on hands in this order: JJ, AA w/o the A , KK, QQ, Tx, or any set. It really looked like he wanted to take the hand down right there. Furthermore, I was pretty confident that the BB was done with the hand unless he happened to flop a flush, but my reads were that he wasn't too interested in the hand any longer.
So, I didn't think that the initial raiser was going to fold although there was that small chance, I just had to decide if I should put him all-in or not. I did some quick mental calculations and figured that I was about 50-50 vs. his range, plus some fold equity, plus the added value of 2300 in the pot, I decided that it was a good play to put him-all in.
I actually just crunched the numbers with tthat range of hands including AA with the A and the A Tx and it came back at 47-53, my hand being the slight dog.
So, I took the gamble and raised it to 6k enough to put him all-in. Then, much to my shock, the BB went-all in for 6725!!! What the?!? I hated that cause the only hand that really makes sense there is the nuts! Then, the initial raiser quickly went all-in as well. Holy crap! From trying to pick off an average stack I found myself playing a 22k pot with two average stacks all in, and all I had was king high! I was just hoping that the BB didn't have the nuts, and I was releived when he rolled over the J J . Sweet. I have 16 outs to beat that hand. Then I saw the last hand I wanted to see in the initial raiser's hand, the A T . So, instead of having the neighborhood of 12 outs like I thought I had seven outs but was drawing to a 21k pot! Unfortunately it went brick-brick and the Jacks somehow held up to win the huge pot.
Shortly thereafter I re-raised all-in to 2300 over an opponent that I felt was weak with KQ, and he finally made the call with A9, no help and gg Devo.
AYA... One time I'll run good.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
WSOPoker Day 2, Event #3, $1500 NLHE
ARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHH.
I did a live blog today with another media site and I will cut and paste what happened throughout the day. Here ya go...
Devonshire-90-90 BY: BRYAN DEVONSHIRE FROM THE: Event 3 - No-Limit Hold'em
PUBLISHED: Saturday Jun 02, 2007 04:13 PM
Here I am two hours in to the second biggest no limit hold'em event of all time. This place is an absolute zoo.
You have to listen to me now because Cantu and Tran are out.
I have like no chips. Well I do have chips, about $2,500. I've been pretty card dead so far. Something I've noticed on my table is that players are folding to a lot of my raises. I don't think anyone knows who I am, but I've been the only one at the table that the media is taking pictures of.
They've been muttering - "Who are you?"
It's kind of funny. They've been giving me too much respect. Players so far have been easy to read. I just need to start making some hands and hopefully get some chips.
This event is going to be NUTS! It's going to be a long road ahead. I hear they have over 3000 players.
That's about it. Just hanging out.
-Devo
PUBLISHED: Saturday Jun 02, 2007 06:31 PM
It's been an entertaining couple of levels. The first hand back I lost half my chips and was left with $1,300. Then I pushed all-in on the button behind two limpers at the $100/$200 level. I got called in three different spots. I had 109. The flop was K 9 x. I get a guy to bet at a dry side pot with an ace high flush draw, which gets one guy with A 9 to fold. And the board goes brick, brick, and I take down the big ol'pot.
From there I just started running the table over. Ended level three with about $13,000. Most of the stacks on my table got really short, so I couldn't run it over anymore. Now, I kind of had to gamble with people. Lost a few of those with a couple of coin-flip situations.
Here I am with $8,000. BUT love my table.
Looking forward to about 14 hours more of madness. PUBLISHED: Saturday Jun 02, 2007 08:27 PM I spent most of the past few levels playing my typical Devo style of poker. Pretty much taking people off their hands on the turn with nothing when I sense weakness, and losing every pot I play when I flop top pair.
I got called down twice, once by an 85 year old grandmother that flopped top two. I have however, been able to pick on this one internet player a few chairs down to boost my stack a few times.
So I've been able to stay pretty stable at $12,300 going into the dinner break. Although, it's not much of a dinner break for me since all I'm eating is a can of Milwaukee's Best Light. The liquid diet in the Amazon room.
-Devo
PUBLISHED: Saturday Jun 02, 2007 11:54 PM
I came back from the dinner break with about $12,000 and change and quickly lost $4,000 of it. Standard 8 8 vs. A Q and I lost the race.
I chipped that back up to about $10,000 and won an all-in with A 10 vs. A 9 to double me up to about $20,000.
I lost about half of that back when my 9 9 failed against A K in a blind vs. blind confrontation.
Then the rollercoaster continued when I doubled back up to $20,000 with K K vs. Q Q.
The very next hand I look down at K K again! I make it $2,100 after a limper and somehow got called in three spots, which I hated. The flop brings K Q X with two hearts. Check, Check and I make it $6,000 to go. Everybody mucks and I'm up to about $30,000.
Stole some blinds and hung around for abit. Then I picked off a small river bluff with 5 5. I peaked out at about $43,000.
I made a mistake on another hand trying to resteal preflop with A J against "NutsRealBig" with a monster stack. So, I ended the level with $34,300.
The mistake I made on this hand was my pre-flop bet amount. I felt that he was weak with his pre-flop raise and that I actually had the best hand but didn't want to screw around post flop OOP vs. a big stack and just wanted to take it down there. I should have made it 7500-8k instead of the 6k that I re-raised his 2200 opener to. I gave him the right pot odds to see a flop in position and left myself in a crappy situation if I missed the flop. If I hade made it that bigger amount I could accurately deduce that I was beat pre-flop if he called my re-raise. Furthermore, I could have realized all this in the heat of the moment that he did not in fact have to have me beat pre-flop to call my re-raise and could have fired 8k at the flop, but I just hated putting a quarter or my stack into the pot with a continuation bet against a very talented player that is capable of holding anything there.
I'm in good shape with about 410 players remaining, top 270 make the money.
-Devo
PUBLISHED: Sunday Jun 03, 2007 01:16 AM
Boy that sucked.
I came back from break with $31,000 and quickly built it up to $36,000. I lost $12,000 when I put a shortstack all-in with pocket Tens. He had Kings and I was down to $24,000.
I bled off chips most of the $600/$1,200 level. Then I got moved to a new table with $19,600. I'm in the small blind when a guy open shoves UTG +1 and has me covered. I look down at J J and make the call, he shows Q Q and my day is done.
It's pretty frustrating to play all day long for 13 hours and bust 30 spots before the money. But I was playing for first anyway and I'm not about to limp into the money.
-Devo
So tomorrow is event #4, $1500 PLHE. I'm playing great but am simply not getting the cards necessary to close the deal on one of these things. I made one pretty big mistake though today that I'm annoyed by, but I did learn much from that hand.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
2007 WSOPoker Day 1
What a fiasco The signifigance of the tournament area not being open last night didn't hit me until today. Harrah's attempted to sign up everybody for the noon $5k mixed limit event, the 5pm $500 Employee event, the 9pm 1k super satellite, a second chance event, and everybody for tomorrow's $1500 NLHE madhouse of an event through fourteen windows. Several of these windows were dedicated to cash game transactions as well.
Last night when I went down to register for some events they directed me to the main cage where five cashiers were standing around doing nothing and one cashier was handling all the early signups. The line was three hours long.
Don't forget that the first time you register for a WSOP event each year they make a photocopy of your ID and players card in addition to making you sign the TV release. These aren't your normal 30-45 second tournament registrations. The average one took 3-5 minutes.
When I arrived today at 6pm I saw a line that stretched for about a hundred yards. Apparently earlier in the day the line was triple that size.
Lara snuck me into the Diamond and 7 Star registration line. It took me twenty minutes to move five feet forward in this single file line. By the time I had gotten to the front I was joined by Sebok, Cantu, Fuller, and Zach, the token Mexican exchange student that nobody remembers. We got to the front and Lara said, "I have a bunch of pro players here that need to get to a radio interview. Please register them."
Total time elapsed in the "special" line: 90 minutes. 6:45pm-8:15pm.
During this wait I was informed of the other fun that Harrah's had come up with this year in some other make them more money exclusive deal. They signed a deal with Bicycle to provide "official" WSOP playing cards. Jeffrey Pollack, the comissioner of the Series, even had his signature on the backs of the cards. They must be official, right? You can see pictures at the bottom of the day one write-up here.
The cards were removed from play before the dinner break and replaced by standard, classic, kem cards. Can you imagine the poor kid that had to run to the gambler's supply store and say, "I need all of your kem cards, now! And Harrah's demands that you give them to me at below wholesale price."
Other fun things of note: This year on the buy-in cards, the vig is blatantly printed. It used to be just a plan "$1500" buy-in. Now it's: "Buy in: $1365. Entry fee: $135."
To give you a comparison, the WSOP Circuit event was $1500+80. The Bellagio events are $1500+90. So, for 50% more juice you get to wait in line forever and play with crappy cards! Sweet!
On a good note, the chips are new and all top-hat and cane, very excellent.
But, it is the Series. I just can't forget the days when we were treated well back at the horseshoe under Jack Binion.
Back in the days when everybody in the tournament knew what the hell they were doing. Back in the days when 20% of the field was dead money, not 50% like now. So I cannot complain too much, and I will still keep coming back even though it kills me. Kinda like the Bellagio. I hate the place, but they do have the best games in town.
I wandered through the employee event that was taking place this evening. It was very nice to see many of my good friends and to needle Chris (the guy who beat me heads up last year). He already had a gazallion chips when I saw him around 9:30. I hope he wins it back to back. That would be sick.
It also brought back many memories when just eleven months ago I set foot in that same room with a little over $10k cash in my pocket wide eyed and in wonderment. Up until that point I had been a no-name cash game grinder and felt like I was finally stepping barefoot onto a big league infield. The lights burned warm on my eyes as I gazed up at the sheer size of the room, and then I squinted as I looked across a sea of felt, the sounds of chip crickets and conversation invading my ears. I had little idea that in less than 24 hours I would be learning how to handle the media and having my picture taken as the dominating chip leader of the first event of the 2006 World Series of Poker. Little did I know that in 48 hours I would be walking out of that same room with some of my closest friends in the world in tow and two pounds of $100 bills in a brown paper lunch bag cradled in my left arm.
It's incredible how much my life has changed from that moment. The money was not life changing, only $67k which I only got 20% of, but the moment was life changing as opportunities and connections took me in places that I never thought I could go.
And here I am again, blogging ten hours before my first event of the 2007 World Series of Poker, wondering where this adventure will take me in life. Will I finally make the jump from a B list player to an A list player? Will I win my first bracelet? Will I have a stellar tournament and win more than one bracelet? Will I bust out of every event and never cash? Will I barely break even, wondering how I missed my shot?
I don't know. But I am sure looking forward to the ride.
I sure have a good feeling.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
2007 WSOPoker, Day 0
Electricity is in the air! Well today I made my way down to the Rio to the convention area where they hold the World Series of Poker for the first time since early August last year. So many memories flowed over me like magic water and my excitement for this year's Series finally matured. They weren't even open yet, which was quite disappointing since I was planning on pre-registering for a few events, but everything was set and ready to go.
After much negotiations I have finally settled on my schedule this year. I am playing 20 events all $2500 or less and most likely the main event. If I do well I am sure that I will be playing some other events, and in the meantime I will be playing some of the Venetian and Bellagio events as well. Tomorrow I am playing the first Venetian event, $500+40 NLHE, and then Saturday I am playing the WSOP event #3, $1500 NLHE.
Meanwhile, since I returned from the river, I have been running around pretty good taking care of things and hanging with people that have been coming into town. Tuesday when I got back I immediately went in for the radio show with holdemradio.com and hit it out of the park. It was my first time ever doing anything like that, and I felt like and all the feedback I have received indicates that I did very well. It was a ton of fun and they gave me an open invitation to return. Then on Wednesday I headed in to meet some good friends that were in from out of town. I hung out with Dutch Boyd, Justin West, Andrew Chapman, and his roommate Joel. The night consisted of a $125 tourney at the Mirage, dinner at Capo's, mud wrestling at Gilley's, and 1-3 NL at the Wynn. Good times were had by all.
Thursday I continued on my new online qwest. About two weeks ago I came across a little more than $500 in affiliate money that I had on Full Tilt. I was like, sweet! Something to do while bored. I played a ton of hands at .50/$1 NL, got bored, and played 15-30. Long story short, I have a little over $3100 on there now. I now have a new goal for laziness at home and that is to run that account up to $10k and freeroll the main event. If I can't get to 10k I'll play a bunch of the satellites and go from there. Should be fun!
So, this is what the entire tournament season comes down to... the World Series. I'm pumped, I am very confident, I have a great feeling, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the next seven weeks have in store for me.
Peace and good luck,
Devo
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