World
Series of Poker T+19,20
Wednesday
was the 1.5K pot limit holdem, this was
one of the four events I would be playing,
and the one where I was the most hopeful.
Five hands later I was less hopeful as
I had no chips left. I'd like to say it
was a horrible bad beat, but it was actually
just a horrible mistake; I had AA, was
first to go and raised the pot, that was
only T75 as there was just one blind of
T25 (I like to put the 'T' because I know
how much it annoys one of our readers).
I got FOUR callers! The flop was pretty
good, K93 two suited and I bet T300 (we
started with T1500). I got one caller,
and one who reraised all in, if I called
I would be down to T50. I figured he had
one of three hands: 99 33 or AK (or very
unlikely a flush draw). For me to win
he had to have AK so of course I decided
that's what he had, and of course he had
99. Soon after I put my last chips in
with AJ and IGHN. No excuse for that,
I shouldn't have jeopardized my tournament
when I was pretty sure I was beat.
The
only good news is that I won $300 in a
10-20 holdem game, and another $700 in
a no limit satellite, so I am staying
fairly steady so far. My satellite record
has been pretty good, I've played 16 and
placed (chopped up 1-2 or 1-2-3) 9 times,
today I played one but only got my money
back.
Here's
a few random thoughts I keep forgetting
to mention: Someone had told me that the
Orleans tournaments were taking out 3%
for the dealers and had a high vig, and
I reported that in one of my posts (and
asked if anyone knew the facts). But now
I realize that wasn't true, plus I had
forgotten that they give a $10 bounty
when anyone is knocked out, so the night
I came second they had 140 players so
gave away $1390 on top of the prize pool.
It turns out the person telling me it
was high was English and was comparing
the vig to those in England where they
pay very little, consequently he isn't
playing any tourneys while he is in America.
Gabe
Kaplan did the announcing at one of the
WSOP final tables, he was great, very
funny dry sense of humor and he knew poker
too so gave good commentary, I hope he
comes back for more.
Tips
have been poor some days, fair to good
on others, and it doesn't seem related
to the price of the event, so I have no
idea if it's the 6% or other factors.
Today was the 5K 7 Stud, 104 last year,
92 this year, the drop (20%) about on
a par with the drop in other cheaper events,
I was expecting a bigger drop in the bigger
events. But then I wasn't expecting such
a huge field for the 1.5K events.
I'm
having a great time here, I read some
of the negative stuff in the newsgroup
and I just don't agree with most of it.
For example the floor staff are excellent
at keeping the 'players remaining' count
(on the clock screen) up to date, but
there was a comment in an rgp post that
two people got knocked out but the count
didn't get updated right away. I think
the comment may just have been a set up
for a joke that followed, but I've been
at many other tournaments where the count
is way off for ages before they get it
updated, so I think it's unfair to make
negative comments when the tourney staff
are doing such a great job. Literally
the only thing I don't like is the smoking
(right outside the door upstairs, in the
ring games downstairs, and in the casino
in general). As I'm not playing any of
the high priced events I'm not affected
by the 6% issue but that is about the
only real complaint that I can understand.
On the plus side, the tournaments have
been run superbly by Matt and the rest
of the staff, always on time and no abuse
(except for Matt abusing me). As for the
hotel, everybody, and I mean everybody
(the check-in desk, the hotel operators,
the comp issuer girls, the floormen (especially
Steve), the security guys, housekeeping,
the waitresses, etc.) has been extremely
friendly and helpful, if they are not
being treated well it certainly doesn't
show in the way they treat us. Even my
room has grown on me, it's clean and comfortable,
the window opens, the shower pressure
is great, the TV has HBO, and cable so
the picture is clear, housekeeping does
a good job. The lunch sandwiches are repetitive
but pretty good for free, the dinner buffet
has very little choices but the food tastes
pretty good (and if you don't like it
you can always get a $10 coffee shop or
Chinese comp).
Tonight
a few of us went to the Neonopolis movie
theater (right downtown in the FSE) to
see Spiderman, the theater is great with
the now common comfy reclining seats,
plenty of height between rows, and a very
big screen for a multiplex. Spiderman
was pretty good but as a superhero I think
he needs a new agent, the web thing and
the flying thing don't really put him
in the same league as Superman.
My
next (and last) event is the 1.5K limit
holdem next week (just before the 10K
event), I am going to get my wrist measured
today for the bracelet. Until then I'll
be playing satellites and maybe even a
super sat.
Paul
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