wsop trip review (long)

[Socrates 0]

So I just got back from Vegas. I got into town on Thursday and headed straight to the Rio. Unfortunately, they didn't do a good job of directing people to the event from the main lobby with signs and so forth, so after wandering around for about 10 minutes I ran into Eric Seidel and he pointed me into the right direction. Damn that guy is tall (I'm using his name for a purpose, not to name drop, but to get the point across that for anyone who likes to see and talk to pros, it was that easy, they were everywhere and always accessible).Arrived at the pavilion area at noon and went to will call to pick up my registration. I was really happy I pre-registered. While there were 2 people in line at will-call, there was a 3 hour wait at new player registration. Most of Friday's field spent more time in line trying to register than they did actually playing in the tournament. The place was crazy and huge. There was a sea of tables and action everywhere.Just a couple of notes before getting in to Friday's tourney. The satellites were run very well and they had a great structure for what they were. They did however have a serious amount of juice running on those tables. They were charging the players $130 to run a table for a little over an hour. The cash games were soft, soft, soft. If you weren't making 30-50 bb per hour at the 1/2 NL game then there is a serious problem with your game. I didn't discover them until Sunday which cost me a lot ( I was playing satellite after satellite for lammers up until finding these). The players at these games were the same 21 year olds that played on Friday, damn they were horrible, more on that later.The biggest problem with the cash games was an inconsitency in the rules. Each dealer would allow or dissallow different things. Example: when I bought in a game, they told me it was $120 max, two dealers later someone would sit and they would let them buy in for 200. had to call the floor a few times and they basically blew you off. I am pretty pissed off with Harrah's and their focus on money more than the poker itself. They didn't have all of the dealers on the same plage and they did stupid crap like not giving you change for $100's at the cage and then sending you to the WSOP store where you had to buy something to make chage for tips you would give to the waitstaff. They have gone completely corporate.I watched some of the employee event and that was a good thing for them. I'm really glad they do that for the employees. I did hear that they would have had to let DN play in that if he had wanted to, but apparently he chose against it. Good for DN - let the employees shoot it out, no pros, no tourist, just them. I think its a great idea. They had over 600 people.Okay, so Friday rolls around its on. There are people everywhere and walking into Event #2 was amazing. For most, you could tell this was their first time at any event and that they probably put up all if not most of their bankroll to play in this $1500. The pros were everywhere and I just kept hoping that my table would be clear of anyone of significance and it was.When I first sat down at my table I took a quick look at everyone to make first impressions. Two kids at the end were standing up pointing at every pro and yelling to theirs friends "there's so and so and look over there it's so and so." I knew these guys were in way over their head and that proved to be true. Some others at the table expressed how they at least thought they would get sat with a pro for $1500 and they were being serious. Why they would want this I don't know. I got to stay at this table for the first 2.5 levels and they skill was right up there with the weakest home game I've ever played in. No regard for posiiton and if they bet, they had it. You could easily tell how big their hand was by the way they bet, same as with the cash games.I'm a relatively tight player. I really like Harrington's style and it suits me as well. I was able to accumulate chips at a steady pace while avoiding any of the preflop rasie calls with Q3off an so forth. Either the kids at my table had never read a poker book in their life or they were completely overwhelmed. As the time came, we started to break tables and I was sitting at about 4K in chips. I'm still amazed at the pros and how they build so fast. Fischman and a couple of others were up around 10-12K at this same time and still building. I'd really like to watch them at the beginning of a tournament. DN got knocked out early and some of the others as well. After moving to my new table I found that there were a couple of players that were around 8-10K in chips, but just seemed to be sitting back and waiting to flop a huge hand and get all of their money in in hopes of doubling up.Unfortunately, I found myself in the one position I didn't want to get in before the break. A big hand against a big bet for all my chips. My read: tight, waiting to get all his chips in, had about 10K. He limped in UTG and it folded around to me in the 8 seat where I found AQ suited. Raised the pot 3X, everyone folded but UTG, he called. This raise was about 30% of my stack so I really wanted him to go away. When he called figured him for a big Ace since he didn't re-rasie I ruled out JJ-AA. He had already mentioned twice verbally that he had folded a pocket pair while he had position so I really didn't put him there with no position. Anyway, flop comes down Q59 rainbow and he checks, I bet out top pair and he quickly moves all in. While I know I'm beat and at best a split, I have to call off the rest of my chips due to odds. Sure enough, he had called with 55 UTG and I was out around 1000 or so. So ends my Event #2. Overall I played really well and didn't make any dumb mistakes.Oh yeah, on a side note. TheWynn is really nice and I liked the poker room. It is much better than the new Bellagio room. The Bellagio has managed to cram as many tables in there as possible. While sitting for a few hours my chair was bumped hard about 4-5 times and hour by passerbys. The Wynn has nice chairs, great service and ample room.If anyone has specific questions, feel free to ask or PM me. I'm still really tired and some of this may not make sense, but I wanted to get it out there to share with you all.

[econ_tim 0]

Thanks for the report.

[Whatever 1]

I love these 1st hand accounts. Thanks!I would add that you never 'have' to shove in the rest of your chips if you truly know you're beat.

[ajs510 122]

Great report So-Crates! Are you playing any other events or was it a one-shot deal for you?People need to keep posting these first-hand accounts, it's not quite being there, but it's a taste!

[Socrates 0]

I love these 1st hand accounts. Thanks!I would add that you never 'have' to shove in the rest of your chips if you truly know you're beat.

LOL - Yeah, I knew I could fold there and try to make it to the dinner break, but with 1000 ppl left and 1500 chips with the blinds going to 200-400 shortly I figured to make my stand there and hope that the big stack was bluffing with AK or a smaller pair...just not the 55.At this time I plan on heading back out to Vegas for a couple of other events. I had to come back and catch up on school work before I could stay any longer.

[KappaKid83 0]

Well at least you bested DN, Congratultions.JEFF

[1profiler 0]

Nice read...... had my blood running wishing I could be there.

[pennohawk 0]

I had a very similar experience. I also was extremely glad that I pre-registered, there were 2 line-ups that the walk-up players had to go through, one for player registration and another one to actually buy-in for the event. One of the Harrah's staff told me that the 2 lineups combined was about 5 hours.When I got to my table I did not recognize anyone either which was to my relief, after about 8 hands it was clear 3-4 of us were there to play and the rest were there to be spectators. I built my stack quite nicely, finishing the first 4 levels with more chips each time, I think I was at about 6200 when we started the 5th level. Blinds are now 100-200 with a 25 ante, and the antes made the pots worthwhile to start stealing with a little more frequency, there was about 1 flop per orbit. I was in late position with 44 and I decide to make it 800 to go, expecting to take down the 550 pot with no contest, BB comes over the top and I lay it down. After that I didn't play another hand and didn't have another opportunity to steal until almost the end of the 5th level, which was very expensive since it was costing 550 a round. I am down to just over 4k in chips and I was in the SB with QQ, a guy in mid position makes it 600, standard stealing bet, I come over the top allin ... he calls with 88, brutal call, he is a coinflip at best and only has me outchipped by about 1.5k, he is risking his tourney on a very mediocre hand ... I think we all know how this plays out though, spikes an 8 on the flop I get to go home. I thought I played very well though and it was a great experience, I was very surprised how weak the field was.I was sitting 2 tables over from DN, from what I heard he ran into a set early and was down to a few hundred chips and just had to pick a hand and gamble. He near the aisle which was infortunate becuase he had a huge crowd around him the whole time, probably very distracting.1 last tale to tell, I got into town Thursday night and was playing some 2/5 NL at the Bellagio (cash games were soooo soft), and for those of you who haven't been there, there is a glassed in room in the corner called Bobby's room (named after Bobby Baldwin) where they play the high limit games. Well Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan and 3 rich guys who were in for rough night were sitting in there. Chan went home early, but Phil was there as long as we were (about 4-5am) and I talked to a dealer later, he netted 1.2 million, and busted all 3 of those rich guys. It was an awesome site, Ivey had a mountain (unstacked, just a huge pyramid the shape if his arms as he raked in pots) of 1k & 5k chips in front of him. INCREDIBLE.That's my WSOP tale ... more cash games next time, that is easy money!

[gobears 0]

Great reports! Sounds like an awesome experience.