Day 1C

The command has been given and the dealer does his job. We’ve been dealt the 1st hand of our WSOP Main Event. I look down at . Not too bad of a 1st hand. The button is on Seat 10 and it’s folded around to me. “Raise” 3xBB is standard so that’s what it is. Fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold. Whew. At least I can say that I won the 1st hand I ever played at the Main Event.

Next hand, I look down at . This is going well so far. Folded to me. 3x BB again. One call from Seat 1 on the button. Let’s see a flop. . Continuation bet of 75% of the pot. Seat 1 insta-folds. Damn, this may be easier than I thought. Seat 5 makes the comment of, “I guess we know who the table-bully is going to be.” No bully here. But if I keep getting cards, they might think so. That’s OK with me.

3rd hand, could I go 3 for 3? Nope. and back to reality it is. So time goes by and the hands come and go with nothing spectacular. Talking with the other players at the table, I find out that out of 10 players, only 1 player actually paid his own way into the tournament. All of the rest of us won a seat via online poker. Poor guy. I figure that I’m already $10k ahead of him.

Time for the 1st break. I follow most of the players and go outside to the King of all porta-potties. This thing is definitely the “Mac-Daddy” of all crappers. I’ve got enough time to smoke a couple of cigarettes and then it’s back to the game…..

OK, this has been a long day so far. My table is playing pretty tight. It’s time for the supper break and we haven’t lost a single player at my table. The kid in Seat 1 seems to have a thing for having a big “looking” stack. He seems to be trying to accumulate every $25 chip on the table. There’s a mountain of green down there. Funny thing is, my chip count is actually higher than his. It’s been pretty slow going. My end of the table has developed some common goals. Don’t get eliminated and win some of those damn green chips. We’re all tired of having to get change every other hand. Stupid goal but it helps pass the time. Dinner time and my stack has gone from $10k up to $14k…..

Here is the biggest drawback of not staying at the Rio when playing. You have nowhere to go during the dinner breaks. I’ll be damned if I’m going to risk not making it back from the Orleans so I guess I’ll have to hang out here. Maybe if I make it further along, I’ll make a move to either the Rio or the Gold Coast across the street. So I guess I’ll spend my dinner break hanging out in the hall and stepping outside to smoke. Yippee-skippy. Dinner break is about over (thank God) and it’s about time to be let back in the tournament area of the Amazon Room. The crowd is not quite as large as it was this morning.

We’ve been back at it for about an hour and everybody seems to have either gained confidence or gotten tired of playing so tight. 2 players were just eliminated in back to back hands. These are the 1st eliminations for my table. Here come the 2 players to fill the open seats. Seat 2 is an older guy with a stack of over $50k. I hear a few moans and groans from the table but I look at it as this table needs some chips if any of us are going to make a decent showing. Seat 3 looks familiar. Seat 5 speaks to him like he knows him. Ah, it’s John Gale. He won a bracelet already this year. Alrighty then. This is what I came for anyway, to play against the amateurs and pros.

The table dynamics changed immediately since John Gale’s arrival. He’s really putting the pressure on the table. Seat 5 wants to be chummy with him but Mr. Gale is having no part of it. At one point, Mr. Gale tells him, “Sir, you may think you know my game. But I assure you, you do not.” Red faced, Seat 5 has no response. Now, Seat 5 has apparently decided to change his tactics to match Mr. Gale. Good thing I have position on him.

I look down at in the cut-off. Seat 5 raises to 3xBB. I reraise to 7xBB. Folded around and Seat 5 calls. Flop comes . Seat 5 checks. Bad flop for me but I still may have the best hand. I bet out a ½ pot sized bet. Seat 5 raises me the pot. I just have the feeling that he’s full of crap so I shove. Now my heart is racing. Fold, fold, fold!!! He takes a peek at his cards and tosses them. Whew. Maybe that’ll slow him down a little bit.

About 1 round later, I’m in the BB and it’s rocket city. Somebody bet. C’mon bet. Fold, fold, fold, c’mon bet, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, raise from Seat 5 to 4xBB. Hmmmm. Maybe if I give him some rope, he’ll hang himself so I smooth call. Flop comes . OK. This hand should be mine but am I going to get any action? Seat 5 checks. I check quickly trying to look disgusted at the flop. Turn is the . OK. If he doesn’t bet here, I’m going to have to bet to protect from the possible draws. He bets the pot. Great. Now I do my best imitation of our previous hand and think a moment then shove. I get an insta-call. No way can he call this with diamonds or a straight draw. Nope, . He’s drawing dead. The river is a inconsequential . Goodbye ass. Let him leave the area just to be polite. OK. He’s gone. “Dang, Mr. Gale. Now nobody’s left that knows your game.” I get a good laugh from the table. Hell, I’m having fun now. My stack is up to $26k and I’m feeling good.

A few rounds later, Seat 1 busts out and it’s goodbye to the green-chip boy. His seat is filled by a young Brit who wants to chat it up with Mr. Gale. Why would anybody want to tell a professional poker player bad-beat stories? Mr. Gale lets him know pretty quickly that we’ve all got bad-beat stories so that conversation ends. 1st hand that Seat 1 gets involved in, he shows on a flop of and takes the pot from a player with . He says that he just felt that was going to flop. Bullshit. He won’t be here long. A few rounds later, he shoves on a flop of and is insta-called by Seat 10 with . I guess he didn’t feel that one. Goodbye.

Play has drug on into the night. It’s after midnight which makes it after 3 am in my home time zone. I’m getting tired but want to keep up my play. I’ve been drinking a few cups of coffee for stimulant and now with 24 minutes left, I can’t wait until the break. And I mean I can’t wait. It’s a location question. I’m about to go here or in the restroom. The location is my choice. So it’s out to the porta-potties I walk/run. WTF???? Closed for maintenance???? All 3 at the same time???? This is not good. OK. I can make it. Let’s walk/run back inside and down the hall on the other side of the Amazon Room. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Whew. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Back to my seat with 10 minutes left before break. I don’t need one now, lol.

Everybody seems pretty tired now. I’ve been involved in a few hands and my stack has grown to $36.4k. This isn’t great but not too bad. The night is about to finally come to an end. We’re bagging our chips and putting the little tags in. Got my seat assignment and have already scoped my table for tomorrow. It’s all the way in the back near the feature table. Being that far back, it’ll probably never be broken on Day 2b so my chances of getting lucky and being moved to the feature table are slim and none. 888.com will pay any player wearing their gear on the feature table so I was just hoping.

Time to take a cab back to the Orleans, get some breakfast (1st meal of the day), and totally crash. I have 2 days off because of Day 1d and 2a. I’ll do all of the same preparations I did for Day 1 again for Day 2b.