If you are here, it's because you invested $5.00 to purchase 0.5% of my winnings (if any) in the 2019 World Series of Poker Seniors Tournament, being conducted at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 13, and I have given you this blog address to follow my adventures this week.
You are in an exclusive club of 25 people who have seen enough potential in me to forego the things you could have spent the five dollars on instead, like:
- A bag of Rattlesnake Snap Bean seeds.
- A vintage issue of the National Lampoon.
- A concert quality wooden kazoo.
- A tube of bespoke Italian toothpaste.
- The highly underrated McCormick & Schmick's Happy Hour cheeseburger.
- The highly underrated Death by Injection CD Down at the Courthouse (featuring the song "Witness Stand")
This will be the fourth year I have entered the Seniors Tournament. It's $1000 to enter, and for that considerable sum, you get 20,000 chips to play with (here's the structure sheet). Without going into a lot of poker detail - that's for later in this blog - 20,000 chips are a lot of ammunition, and played conservatively, can keep you in the tournament for a really long time.
Of course, this being no-limit poker, you can find yourself on the wrong side of an all-in bet and be bounced out of the tournament quickly regardless of how many chips you have. It's happened to me before.
The first year I played in this tournament, I played too many hands and found myself with sub-optimal chips after about seven hours, and was forced to push all my chips into the middle of the table with AJ offsuit against a guy with a lot more chips and an AQ. When I did not pair my jack, I was out.
The second year I played in the Seniors Tournament, I finished 758th and made $1587. For those of you who bought a share of me for $5, you made $8, a nice return on investment.
Last year, I went out pretty early when my JJ lost to a disguised set (three of a kind) of 2s. I was kind of shell-shocked as I left the poker room, and realized that I had, like the first year, played too many hands too aggressively. I won't make that mistake again this year.
I am arriving at the Rio on Wednesday afternoon with my friend Bert. We're sharing a room with our friend Glenn, who weirdly does not play poker, but wanted to tag along to see us play and see some shows.
On Wednesday night, me and my poker buddies are dining at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Snow Crab at Caesar's Palace. In 2017, the seafood tower we shared powered my deep run (here are my friends Gary, Manni, and Bert at Bardot Brasserie, sharing a ridiculous amount of seafood):
After that, I'll try to get a good night sleep before the tournament begins at 10:00 a.m., Las Vegas time. My plan is to work out on Thursday morning (hello, Art!), then put on my black suit, black tie, and starched white shirt and have a healthy breakfast, kind of like last year.
We're planning on sushi on Thursday night (but only if I'm out of the tournament), and Carrot Top on Friday night (but only if I'm out of the tournament). I would gladly pass on both to chase the tournament win, however.Of course, this being no-limit poker, you can find yourself on the wrong side of an all-in bet and be bounced out of the tournament quickly regardless of how many chips you have. It's happened to me before.
The first year I played in this tournament, I played too many hands and found myself with sub-optimal chips after about seven hours, and was forced to push all my chips into the middle of the table with AJ offsuit against a guy with a lot more chips and an AQ. When I did not pair my jack, I was out.
The second year I played in the Seniors Tournament, I finished 758th and made $1587. For those of you who bought a share of me for $5, you made $8, a nice return on investment.
Last year, I went out pretty early when my JJ lost to a disguised set (three of a kind) of 2s. I was kind of shell-shocked as I left the poker room, and realized that I had, like the first year, played too many hands too aggressively. I won't make that mistake again this year.
I am arriving at the Rio on Wednesday afternoon with my friend Bert. We're sharing a room with our friend Glenn, who weirdly does not play poker, but wanted to tag along to see us play and see some shows.
On Wednesday night, me and my poker buddies are dining at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Snow Crab at Caesar's Palace. In 2017, the seafood tower we shared powered my deep run (here are my friends Gary, Manni, and Bert at Bardot Brasserie, sharing a ridiculous amount of seafood):
After that, I'll try to get a good night sleep before the tournament begins at 10:00 a.m., Las Vegas time. My plan is to work out on Thursday morning (hello, Art!), then put on my black suit, black tie, and starched white shirt and have a healthy breakfast, kind of like last year.I will regularly update this page as the tournament goes on. Writing my impressions will, in theory, keep me from getting bored and throwing away chips on poor hands. It will also be a good tool to keep some tabs on the players over time - that can be the difference between a call or fold that ends my tournament or puts me in the cash.
Thanks again for your support! Vegas awaits . . .
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