It’s Saturday afternoon here in Las Vegas, and I am sitting in the bingo room at the Gold Coast by myself, relaxing with some mindless activity after an intense day of poker, punctuated by a medical emergency for my friend Wojo.

First, Wojo - the reports are in from his wife Tammy:

I an volunteering to drive Wojo and Tammy home in a rent car if he can’t fly, but I am hopeful that he will be hale and healthy enough to manage the return trip by air.

So thank you for your kind thoughts for Wojo.

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Re: poker.  My friend April asked me this morning how I rated my play this year in the tournament.  I told her that I was a happy A+ for about all but five minutes, and in those five minutes, I was an F-.

What I was afraid of happened:  I started worrying about my stack and played too, too, too loose on two hands against a stack that was about the same size as mine.  I gave away too many chips and really crippled my chance of making it into Day 3.

But … I really can’t complain.  This is a game that rewards patience and experience.  My tournament experience continues to grow and I am sure my patience will increase as my testosterone decreases.  By the time I get to the Super Seniors (age 60), I will be loaded for bear.

I leave you with these images of victory:

Now, dinner and Carrot Top!

Well, it’s over!

I had not been posting regularly because I was exhausted. Lots to report, but I will do that tomorrow.

Suffice to say, I was on fumes late in Day 2 when I got AK.  I went all-in and got called by an A7.  The A7 won when there were four hearts on the board and his ace of hearts filled the flush.

In a word, yuck.  But since I kind of did the same thing to another person in Day 1, I can’t complain.  I got the call I wanted, and it just didn’t work out.

I ended up finishing 149th, winning $3983.  That’s a pretty good return on my $1000 investment, and each of my backers will be getting $398.30 for their $100 contribution.  Tips are appreciated.

And I got written up on one of my hands in Poker News:

How cool is that?  Now off to bed!

P.S.  My great friend Wojciech is in the hospital with chest pains.  Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.  He is an amazing person and strong as an ox, but he and his wife Tammy need your love and support. 

Dinner break!

With two hours to go, I have 345,000.  There are 243 players left and the average chip stack is 444,000.

It’s kind of like Day 1 - just a series of ridiculously mediocre hands for a stretch of two hours.  J7, J4, 68, Q3.  You look down at those cards and can’t help but shake your head at how unplayable they are.

What I need to do is keep my eye on preserving what I have in order to get to Day 3.  The table has a lot of solid players at this point, so I can’t really make the moves I was making earlier in the tournament.

Instead, I have to start thinking about all-ins.  As my chips fade, so does my leverage.  I have about fifteen big blinds, and traditional poker strategy dictates that when you get to ten big blinds, your only move is a shove.

I HATE that - it makes the game so much more binary.  You live or die on that one bet.  But that’s the endgame of a freeze out tournament - all of the players except the winner will be there at some point.

So, I am eating a healthy salmon dinner with some Diet Coke for stimulation and will be ready for the last two hours of the day.

Wish me luck - I need it.

Just folded Q 10 again.  Trying to be gooooood.

381,000.  Trying really hard not to get bored and make the same kind of dumb play I did in 2019.  I am about 100,000 above the tournament average, which is a good place to be.

We’re down to 405 players with fifteen minutes to the break.  I am still folding hands that I would totally play in Houston.  I just folded 88 because we are ten-handed and 88 sucks ten-handed - you know there’s someone with a better pocket pair or a draw to a better pair on the flop. With the usual flop, you can’t play unless you catch a third card, so why bother?

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Since that note, we’ve shed another 27 players, now down to 378 from an original 5404 players.  At 377, the payout goes to $2567, and at 324, it goes to $2832.

If you’re interested, here’s the prize schedule.

Second break of the day - at 319,000.

Took a big pot by representing a flush against the guy to my right, who must have had a high pair.

It started with my KQ offsuit, which I limped in with. Two other players called the big blind.  The flop was J 10 3, giving me an open end straight draw.  We all checked.  The turn was a 6.  The guy next to me bet 12,000.   I said something like, “I guess I call,” hoping I would catch an ace or 9 for the straight.

It didn’t happen, but I noticed that there were three spades on the board. My call on the turn was just as consistent with a player drawing to a flush as it was with a player drawing to a straight.  So when the guy to my right bet 15,000, I raised it to 45,000, representing that o had hit my flush. He folded.

The is an example of winning a hand by playing the other guy’s hand. And it only works if the player is smart enough to recognize the story you’re trying to tell.  I’ve gotten burned before when I make that play and the other player calls my bluff.

“You didn’t see the possible flush on the board?” I will say, incredulously.

“Oh, I guess I didn’t,” the less skilled player will respond.

Or that player, to preserve his dignity, will say, “I knew you didn’t have it.”

Anyway, the stack is still healthy. 350,000.

486 players left.  Prize is now $2157.

Now moved to White 103.  

JJ adds another 22,000 to my stack after a preflop raise got called and my 25000 continuation bet gets the caller to fold after the flop.

This is not a friendly table.  A lot of shark eyes here, looking at me and my stack.  Seven of the players look like they play in underground poker games where they are served by Spider from Goodfellas.  

I don’t want to get shot.

And now that I’m in the money, the players are loosening up, big time!

Case in point:  I have 99.  I raise to 12000, and a guy calls me.  He had previously pushed me off a hand with a gross overbet, so I think he thought he owned me.

He didn’t.  The flop was 10 9 4.  I checked.  He bet 15000.  I groused about it, then raised him to 40000.  He goes all-in, and I snap-call with my 999.

And now I am 250,000.

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And now I am 264,000.  KJ catches a jack on the flop, and two preflop raisers give up their hands to my 25000 raise.