WSOP Las Vegas 2012 - Trip Report - Jhiym
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, I sure hope that goes for bad-beat and suck-out hands too...
Friday June 18th:
My scheduled departure for Vegas on the noon flight from BWI was delayed two hours due to broken down Southwest airplane somewhere else at BWI causing a ripple effect for all other non-stop flights as aircraft had to be shifted all day. Thus my 2:30 arrival turns into a 430 arrival.
I pick up my luggage and strap my small suitcase to my large suitcase and head towards the taxi line. I make my way through the long line and am about to get in the taxi when I look back to grab my suit cases and then notice the small suitcase is no longer attached to the large one. So the taxi line coordinator guy tells me to go back into the airport and the Southwest desk to see if they found it. Naturally the taxi line door a came out of is an exit only door so I have to make my way around part of the airport to find a door to enter and find the Southwest desk. They did have my other suitcase so it was back out a through the long taxi line again and onto the Flamingo.
Arrive at the Flamingo around 6:30 and check in. The guy at the desk asks me how I am doing and I tell him the problems I have had so far, so he upgrades me to a newly renovated suit overlooking the North Strip on the 7th floor. Finally something going right! Or atleast I thought until later that night when I discovered that the Imperial Palace's outside bar is located on my side of the Flamingo and you can hear the club music from outside well into the morning each night.
Flamingo
I take a shower to cool off and then grab a quick slice of pizza and a Pepsi from the food court area then head to the poker room to play in the nightly tournament. This is my first time playing at the Flamingo so another tick mark on my list of places I have played in tournaments. I play well and eventually we get down to three players, with all almost even stacks and I shove all-in with KQ preflop. I get one caller who shows KJ. And he catches a Jack on the flop and I am crippled and then out in 3rd on the bubble a few hands later. Off to bed.
The next morning I am awoken at 6am to the sound of jackhammers and heavy tractors working on cleaning up the recently demolished Oshea's parking lot rubble directly below my room. Which I get to experience enjoy every morning from here on out.
Saturday June 9th:
RIO - WSOP NL Hold'em
Breakfast Buffet at the Flamingo, then off to the RIO for WSOP Event #19, $1500 NLH. This year we are playing in the Brazilia room, which is across from the Pavilion area and down the hall from the Amazon room. Due to the size of the field, we are spread across all three rooms for this event. I won a few hands and am keeping a respectable stack till level 5 when I get AK of spades. Kenni Nguyen goes all-in and I call. He flips over AQ, and the dealer gives him a Queen on the Turn and I am out. Kenni was down to 800 chips and 8BB earlier in the tournament. He would go on to finish 3rd all the while wearing a jesters hat while he played. people came by to take his picture and he would say he wanted to take a picture of them too because they also looked silly.
I have dinner at the RIO. Was planning on having dinner at the Irish Pub, but it seems they only serve drinks now and no more food, so I goto the Buffet instead. I use my comps from the WSOP so dinner is free. Then I catch the free bus back to Harrah's.
Harrah's
I decide to play the nightly tournament at Harrah's, another place I have never played before until now. There are 64 players and this is a bounty tournament so everyone is trying to collect knock-out bounties so all sorts of hands are being played. I manage to knock one person out and collect a $20 bounty but eventually go out when my pocket 5's lose to pocket 9's. At least the odds worked out this time even if I was on the losing end. Off to bed.
Sunday June 10th:
Sam's Town
Feeling snake bitten I head off the strip and take a taxi to Sam'sTown on the edge of Vegas in Henderson figuring maybe my luck will change in a locals casino. I get there in time to late Reg for the 10am and find they only give you a $500 starting stack and the blinds are already at 100-200. But I win a few hands and manage to chip up a bit before losing in 5th out of 12 players.
They also have a noon event so I hang around for that and this time they give a larger starting stack and blind levels. About 4 tables of people are playing and I make it down to about 18th before being eliminated. We had a "little person" dealer who used this stick that looked like a cross between a short hockey stick and a boomer-rang to rake in everyone's chips.
Eastside Cannery
I walked from Sam's Town down to the Eastside Cannery to play slots and found they also had a poker room so I registered for their nightly tournament. I had a couple of hours before it started so I played some slots and I won over $500 on the Megabucks Emerald Sevens slot machine. Then I had some dinner and started the tournament. We had a guy that must have just turned 21 at our table and looked about 12 who was playing all kinds of crap hands. I am dealt a pair of Aces and go all-in, the young guys calls with K4 offsuit and he barely has me covered. if I win this hand and I am the huge chip leader. The dealer gives him a King on the flop and a 4 on the River so his two pair are good and I am gone. Off to bed.
Monday June 11th:
Golden Nugget - Grand Poker Series HORSE
I head downtown to old Vegas to play in the Grand Poker Series at the Golden Nugget. I have some time before it starts so I have breakfast at the Cafe/Diner at Binions then try to win a new car by playing nickel slots. No new car. :)
I enter the HORSE tournament for the Grand Poker Series and there are a few recognizable players there, Ylon Swartz and Karina Jet are playing one table behind me. I am playing well and get a couple of flushes in Stud that hold up and my chip stack goes from 10K up to about 60K at its highest point around Level 9. A guy at my table got a Royal Flush in Stud/8 but has to split the pot with the low. I make it to dinner and go back to the Binion's Diner for dinner. There were 176 players and 18 pay in this event and we are down to 45 or so left when we hit level 11. We start Stud High only and I get dealt AKK so I complete and get one guy behind me who calls with a Jack showing. we both get junk cards so I bet and he raises and I call. Junk all the way to 7th street where he's all-in. Then he turns over rolled up Jacks to beat my Kings, and on 7th street the dealer gives him a 4th Jack. I survive until razz comes around and I go out with a 9 low to someone who gets a 7 low and I finish in 42nd place. Off to bed.
Tuesday June 12th:
Mirage
Today I decide to just play a few dailies and do some walking around. I walk to the Mirage and enter the 11am event. There are 50 players paying the top 8 spots so my odds of cashing are better today. My table is friendly and everyone is winning their share of pots and laughing. I make friends with the guy next to me and I'm telling him about all the weird hands that I have been losing with all week. Sure enough we get down t0 the last two tables and I get Aces and go all-in and get one caller who shows KQ unsuited. I tell him not to worry that he'll most likely get two queens or a straight to beat me. Then the dealer flops 3 diamonds which match his Queen and then the 5th diamond on the river to give him a flush and most of my chips. A couple of orbits later I go all-in with a pair of 8's and one person calls who has 9's and I am out in 18th place.
After that I uphold my Vegas / Big cat tradition and visit Sigfried and Roy's Secret Garden to see the White Tigers and in keeping with the theme of not catching any breaks, all the white tigers are sound asleep in the back of the cages apart from one normal colored leopard that is pacing back and forth.
I then walk across the street and visit the Casino Royale and then go to Madame Tussauds wax museum for a while and then Walk through the Venetian and Palazzo.
Bill's Gamblin' Hall
I then head to Bills Gamblin' Hall where I late Reg for their 5pm tournament. Not really feeling focused now but it's only $25 to enter so I play for a while. Another structure like Sam's club where you only get about $500 starting chips and the blinds are already up and people are shoving all-in to survive. I guy gets moved to our table and tells us he just woke up with queens at the last table, and then says no really. I was sound asleep and someone nudged me and I look down and see I have queens. Well as disinterested as this story was the man kept talking about it for the next 20 minutes so I eventually just shove all-in and get busted to get away from him. Don't even remember what I had.
Bally's
So I walk to Bally's and get there in time for their evening tournament and dinner. They only have enough players to fill one table and a few people reenter after they get busted. I play well and four about 3 hours and we are down to 3 players. An old guy at the end keeps raising every single hand and me and the other guy are folding marginal hands to him but the blinds are taking a toll on the stack. So after a few hands again the old guy raises and I have a pair of 4's and go all-in, he calls with A6 off-suit and catches a 6 on the flop and I am out in 3rd on the bubble again. Off to bed.
Wednesday June 13th
RIO - WSOP HORSE
Decided to take one more shot in the WSOP so its off to the RIO, this time to play HORSE. It's rather chilly so I decide to buy a hoodie in the gift shop. They have a 3X on sale so I buy it and the lady cuts the price tags off so I can just wear it now. I head to the Brazilia room again and go to put on the hoodie, but it's way too tight. I think it was a 1X that was marked incorrectly on the tag so I take it off and of course it had all sorts of little fuzz pieces on the inside of the hoodie that are now all over the shirt I had on underneath so I have to now buy another shirt to wear so I don't look like I just rolled off of a cotton farm on a windy day.
I get to my table and have no big name players but they are all around me as Raymer is at the table to my right and Bill Chen and David Williams are at the next table. Bob Lauria is playing at the table to my right and Mike Sexton is over a bit more. Once I see Mike, naturally all my internal thoughts are now being spoken in his WPT voice so as I look at my hands I'm thinking, Well Viance looks like he wants to play this hand.
Well today I am catching bad cards for two levels, absolute crap except in Razz when I need it. Finally rolled up Kings in Stud! So I am betting away and one guy is calling with an Ace showing, I get no better cards but he gets a Queen, then a jack, then a 10. I'm starting to worry about broadway but figure I have 3 of the Kings and he was calling my original raise so maybe he already a had a hidden Ace and could catch a 3rd on 7th street or he has rolled up Aces. But it's limit and we came this far so I bet again and he calls and sure enough, he has a straight to beat my three kings.
I battle back a bit and then in the next round of stud I get KKQ again and decide to bet and get a single caller who has slightly more chips then me and is showing an 8 of hearts. I catch another K on 5th street to give me a set and am betting, and he raises and I reraise and eventually I am all-in and he is showing a pair of 8's. We flip'em over and I have him crushed as all he has are the 8s and three hearts to a flush. 6th and 7th street are both hearts to give him a flush and I am gone at level 5.
Bob and Raymer busted a little bit before I did, so I head out to the hallway and run into Greg and we start chatting about the tournament and the last time Kevin and I saw him at Delaware Park and what the new Maryland Live may do to those Delaware casinos if we ever get a poker room then we go to the Pavilion room and some other people come up and start wanting to talk to him and get their picture taken with him so I work as cameraman for a few minutes. Then I go back to the Brazilia room and notice Jen is playing and a break is about to happen so I ask her if I can get a picture with her at the break and she says yes, so I stand there like a school boy for about 5 minutes waiting for the break and then get the picture taken. :) Then I go and take a picture of Katie Baxter who is still playing and she was sitting next to Jonathan Duhamel. A brief chat with Katie and then I head back to the Flamingo to drop off my camera and undersized sweatshirt, then off to the Palms.
Palms
I wanted to play in the 7pm tournament at the Palms but when I get there I discover the poker room has moved and is now next to the sportsbook and they don't have a 7pm anymore, it's now at 2pm. So I play a cash game for about an hour and end up about $20 ahead. Then play some slots and walk to the Gold Coast to play some more slots and then head back to the Flamingo for bed.
After busting in the WSOP again and losing everywhere all week , I decide to move my return day up to Friday instead of Sunday and come home 2 days early.
Thursday June 14th:
Bellagio
Today I decide I am playing in the 2pm Daily at the Bellagio since I have never played there before either. So I have time to kill before the 2pm and decide to play slots. I find one of my favorite slots called Lancelot and put in a $100 bill and hit the 120 lines per play button thinking I am betting one dollar and 20 cents a pull. Three pulls of winning nothing and I hit the button again and it tells me I don't have enough money to bet and I then notice it's a quarter machine and not a penny machine and I just bet $30 a spin three times. So I am on slots tilt and am steaming a bit. I find some bumblebee honeycomb themed slot and play for a while for pennies but after 20 pulls I don't win a single penny so I cash out and the Bubblebee on the game speaks up and says "Wait don't go, I want to play some more!" to which I answered out loud, "Screw you, you bumble-bee bastard!!" Then I look to my left and see that some old lady heard me and was just staring at me and shaking her head. Then I walked off and had a laugh at how silly I must have looked doing that.
Onto the tournament. I really like the blind structure here but they let people re-enter for 6 levels so stupid people are busting and half come back in and the other half just bust out. I start well and am accumulating chips each orbit. We have a guy at our table who keeps playing all hands and betting when he thinks he can push people out of a hand and then shows crap after everyone folds. A few rounds in and I have a pair of 9's and do a 3 BB raise and he calls. the flop comes 4,5,10 and he stares at me for a while and says he's all-in, by now he has lost most of his chips and has been talking about re-entering when he busts several times before this hand so I figure he doesn't have a ten so I call his all-in. And I was right!! he didn't have a ten. he did have a pair of Kings though and won the hand. It was just a small dent so I play on and I play for most of the day and get down to the last two tables and bust but they only pay top 5.
I then leave Bellagio and decide to play my last tournament later that night at Mandalay Bay, So I decide to walk to the Excalibur from Bellagio and then take the tram from there. On the way I discover that you have to go up a level and walk along an elevated walkway with glass walls around the new city center so my fear of heights kicks in for about a quarter a mile or so till I get back to ground level just before the Monte Carlo.
Mandalay Bay
I get to the Mandalay Bay and register for the 8pm tournament which turns out to be an "Ante Only" tournament with no blinds. After registering I decide to go to the Buffet for dinner and while I am eating this woman with a humungous ass walks by wearing white tiger patterned tight stretch pants. Thank you lady, for now ruining the one thing I held sacred in Las Vegas, the Big Cats.
I play slots for a while then head to the poker room for the tournament. We have 10 players total and people can enter for the first level. We start with 5k in chips and everyone puts in a $25 ante with no blinds, then the antes go up at each 1/2 hour. 3rd hand in everyone antes and we see get our cards. You have to bet or fold preflop so the first guy bets $25 and 4 people call, then on guy raises 4k and everyone folds. Ok. A few hands later I get a pair of 9's and bet $125 which is half the pot. Same guy comes over the top all-in and I fold. He then flashes me a single Ace and mucks. The dealer then flips over both his cards to show he had A3 offsuit and the guy gets all mad for her showing his cards and they argue for about 5 minutes. I kind of figured his second card was crap if he didn't show it, but I guess he didn't want people to know.
A few hands later the same guys goes all-in and I look down to see I have aces and call and knock him out. He goes to re-enter but finds out someone else is already on the waiting list so they get to play and then registration closes and the guy leaves. I get Aces again and jacks and catch a couple of flushes and knock out half the table myself and we get down to 3 handed again and I have most of the chips. Then the cards dry up so I play patient for while until all three of us are pretty even. Now the blinds are up to 500 a player and its getting expensive. Still no cards are coming but nobody seems to want to call any bets. I am slightly shorter then both players so I look down and see I have 45 of spades and deiced to go all-in thinking if I get a caller they will have high cards and I'll atleast have live cards and some draws.
So after thinking for a minute or so the guy behind me, who has the chip lead now, calls my all-in. Then the guy behind him goes all-in. The guy behind me thinks a bit more and calls his all-in too.
So I show my 45 of clubs
chip-leader behind me shows AK
3rd guy shows KQ
So I am felling alright with my chances
Flop comes 9s4sQh so I see the four and get all excited then see the queen and realize I am still behind. The turn is the 5s now giving me two pair so I get all excited and am back in front. Then the river is the 2s and everyone goes wow and I have most of the chips!!!!!! and the third player wins the side pot. Finally something went right this trip. oh wait a second, the dealer looks again and then notices the guy has a Queen of spades and actually caught the flush so my two pair didn't win. And I am out in third on the bubble again.
And that ends my Las Vegas this trip. Off to bed and then up to catch the 945am flight back to Maryland Friday morning. No need to set the alarm for 7am as the jackhammers will have me up at 6am. As I am flying home. I look in my wallet to find a $60 slot ticket from Mandalay Bay that I didn't cash in before I left.
Wonderful!!!!!
I did get to play in a bunch of places I never played before, got another picture with Jen, and got to see Greg, Katie and Bob again. 0-12 in tournament cashes this time though so I am kind of glad to be home. :)