WSOP my event number 3

Let’s get to the point. Americans are fat! They are so fat that I am finding it difficult to eat myself. It is completely off putting. I am not really going anywhere with this, just wanted to state a fact before I embellish the truth a little.

Today’s event was the $2000 shootout. This is a funny game where the winner from each table gets paid and goes onto the next round. Basically you just have to keep winning your table and you become mega rich. This is the best chance to make that cash at the WSOP. Six players were on my table and at worst I figured I would have a 1/6 chance of making the cash and playing off for the big money. Problem was Kathy Liebert and Noah Boeken were both on my table (two of the best players in the world). Noah is a good friend of mine who works for PokerNews. Notwithstanding this, I was in a good position making it down to the last 3 with a healthy chip stack.

Noah was out and I was left with Kathy and some crazy Norwegian bloke that I am certain would have bodies buried under his house. This guy was hyper aggressive and super weird. After each hand would write notes in a notepad and talk to himself. Lord knows what he was writing. This guy would be difficult to share a beer with but it takes all types. After observing him play badly for about 3 hours I found AJ suited and made a decent raise and he called. The flop came J,K,5 and he checked to me and I bet. He called and the turn card came a blank. Now this guy was seen to call with nothing many times so I was not overly concerned. We both checked the turn and another blank hit. River came another blank he bet $800 at me and I had a very easy call decision. He had KQ and I could not believe it. Nevertheless, I still had lots of chips. Next hand I found 99 and raised again. He raised me all-in and I quickly called with his most likely hand being AK. To my surprise he showed QQ and beat me again. So for those keeping count I will make it easy. I am down 6.5 k. Of course all of this would be forgotten if I cash in the main event which starts on the 28th. Still lots of events to play before then and I am now desperate for a result.

On a brighter note Tony G destroyed his table in less than 40 minutes and set a new WSOP record for this event. Tony is a great friend of mine and I am happy to see him doing well. Last year he had a very bad WSOP and he is cashing in nearly ever event this year. Another one of our team also won his heat so we had a good result with 50% of our team getting through. I am not unhappy about today because I made no mistakes and that’s all you can really do.

A side note – Vegas is hot, damn hot! We have had 6 consecutive days with the mercury above 115 degrees. Not sure what the conversion is but I am assuming 45 Celsius would not be far off. I had to grab a cab to a place way off the strip yesterday to post some documents. Problem was I could not get a cab back. Walking 9 kilometres with temperatures in the mid 40s is not fun. I even seriously considered taking my jeans off at one stage, but was worried about the potential for a criminal record. Plus I didn’t want to intimidate the locals as they looked particularly hostile around the neighbourhood I was in. Also, there were a couple of movie stars in action today. Jennifer Tilley and the Spiderman guy were on neighbouring tables. I was chatting to Tilley before the event started and was slightly surprised when someone asked for her autograph and a photo. I had no idea who she was. I guess that’s fair as I would suspect that she would not be aware of the fact that I am the best poker player in my apartment block.

Tomorrow is a rest day for me, I will most likely hit the tables again on Tuesday.

Until then keep safe and remember gambling is a sin.