On Wednesday night, June 1st 2016, I left work a bit early to catch an almost empty flight to the city of Lost Wages and the 47th annual World Series of Poker!
 |
| Where my homies at? |
 |
| Twice as gorgeous in real life as this fairly gorgeous shot. |
Understand, normally I walk straight to my car, get in and drive off. Not this time.
I waited about 5 minutes, then dared to ask the man at the counter what was going on. A curt "Sir, you can wait in line" was what I got, so I exited stage left, middle finger extended and bee-lined for the National counter which had no lines and a big sign that read 'Cars Available'. A super friendly agent went out of his way to help me, matched Budget's rate and sent me on my way in under 10 minutes.
Screw you Budget.
Settled in to the fabulous Orleans Casino and Hotel, and by fabulous I mean old and smokey but the rooms are at least clean and smoke free. And then I hit the 10pm tournament at Treasure Island.
Just kidding.
I texted Jason and we met for dinner at the Rio, and who was there with him? Long time Pepper Street players know Barbara very well - she had to leave our little game for greener pastures in Florida, but that job has now ended and she was driving back to L.A. and staying at the Rio, a complete and crazy coincidence!
She was too tired to eat with us, but it was really great seeing her and catching up a little bit. Look forward to having you back in the game Babs!
After a lovely steak and convo, I went back to Orleans, and straight up to bed, despite my excitement at the prospect of the next day. It did take me awhile, but I did drift off to sleep and slept like a rock.
Sat upright in bed at 630am, watched some TV, showered up and headed off to El Rio.
First thing I did was head down the long hallway for a light breakfast at Hash House A Go-Go.
 |
| Stupidly big pancake. |
And so I had almost an hour to kill - which was rather enjoyable. The waiting can be the hardest part, but before a tournament it's also somewhat delightful. The possibilities and outcomes are endless! The imagination can run wild!
 |
| The battle field awaits. |
 |
| Good job Uber! |
Jason picked up his slip in less than 10 minutes the night before. Logistically this year, it was night and day compared to last. No long lines anywhere, despite a dearth of players. No hangups in registering unlike last time when they couldn't find my seating card. Plenty of restrooms. And, spoiler alert, payout was super quick an easy. Bravo WSOP, bravo Jack Effel and the gang, you really kicked ass this year with an amazing event.
After meandering for almost 45 minutes, they made the announcement, time to sit down!
 |
| Literally table number 10 out of over 400. It pays to register early! |
 |
| Too bad he wasn't at my table! |
Because I was literally at table 10 out of over 400, I found myself right next to the stage in the Brasilia room. Where pictures of the bracelet winners are hung, and where the TD Jack Effel gets us pumped up to throw down!
This year one of the greats kicked off Colossus II in style, the legendary low ball player (7 WSOP bracelets) Billy Baxter told us to shuffle up and deal! I was impressed, the stoic and joyless poker players at my table didn't bother to look up from their electronic devices.
What's wrong with you jerks? Great, I'm tilted and we haven't even started! How can you be so jaded as to not at least crack a smile or even clap when effing Billy Baxter is introduced? Whateves.
 |
| Effel. |
 |
| Baxter and his grandson. |
And so it was on! I would love to regale you with an epic tale of my deep Colossus run, but instead I think I will thrill you with this epic picture montage.
 |
| Starting stack. |
 |
| 20 minutes later. |
Okay, so I ran bad. Okay, so I played bad. I got tangled up in a pot where I knew I was beat on the river, but I had turned two pair so I had to be a donkey and pay him off. I suck sometimes.
Let me take a sidebar here... Watch this. It's almost 3 minutes, but it's worth it.
IMG_8520 from Chris Manzoni on Vimeo.
I did manage to hang on to the break. Built my stack back up to it's original size and a bit more, but I never got past 8K. I made my exit towards the end of level five. Disappointed, but okay.
My memory is a bit foggy on what I did before entering the 5pm Daily Deepstack. I'm pretty sure I had tacos. Jason had busted almost as quick as I did, and then hit a single table satellite which he promptly bubbled. Then he registered for Flight B in the Colossus which kicked off at 4pm.
Dang dude, that's a lot of poker! Yes kettle, meet pot.
I just now remember, that I did make it back to my room for a nap. I never really fell fully asleep but it was good to drift in an out of consciousness in a cool dark room for an hour or so while the tv blared.
Made my way back and got into it in the 5pm Daily Deep Stack. The Rio has 4 of these a day. A 2pm, which is typically the largest field and the biggest payout. A 5pm, a 7pm and new for this year a 9pm turbo at a higher price point.
All of the Deep Stacks are actually turbos, so I can't imagine the structure in the 9pm. But they are a great value for the price. The 5pm was a mere $185.
 |
| Starting stack. |
I have turned into a bit of a chip fetishist over the years, and I have to say, I loved these sexy Bud Jones babies. So new, so slippery, so clacky.
My memory is a bit foggy, but I have to say, I played very very well. My table was infinitely softer than any of the four I had played at in the morning - and so I went to work. When I had an opening hand in position I could open it, and whether I hit the flop or not I would have a very good chance of dragging the pot. This, as you know if you've played at a table full of good players, is not always the case.
Stack went way up when I coolered JJ with QQ.
Side note: in all the tournaments on this trip I am folding QQ, KK or AA pre-flop exactly NEVER. 1010, JJ, AK I'm also never folding if I am at 30 bigs or less. That was a pre-trip plan I was happy to set in stone. The rare exception would of course be if a 90 year old rock hadn't played in hours and then abruptly stuck it in, I might (MIGHT) find a fold.
Stack went a bit down when I got it in with top two and the wonky gut shot got there.
Those were the two biggest hands I remember, and that's all the detail I'm afraid. Nothing earth shattering and no bad decisions on my part or my opponents.
Then before I new it the hour was late and I was at 25 bigs and card dead as all get out. At this point my table had broken at least three times and now my opponents were almost all capable. Ergo, post flop play was a dicey proposition with very little room to maneuver.
So I fired up my Snap Shove app. and let it fly for the rest of the night. I didn't rely on the app too much, but I loved having it for the UTG and UTG+1 & +2 situations. It's nice to see that what I am doing is 100% mathematically correct, cuts down on the sting if I run into a better hand.
Another video sidebar, this time about Snap Shove -
My ripping vexed my opponents, especially as the bubble approached. One moron showed me AK before he folded. Thank you sir, I look forward to a long and abusive relationship with you while we play together.
Seriously, if you know your inflection points you have a HUGE edge at the Rio at World Series time.
Still, my stack managed to slowly shrink as the bubble approached. It had been nearly 9 hours and I didn't want to walk away with nothing. I ignored the app in early position and my chips gradually faded away.
Hand for hand took forever, and I think I had maybe 8 bigs when the bubble burst. Almost ashamed to say I folded QQ pre-flop on one hand. Yes, I'm a big fat liar and a wimp. Oh well.
But the bubble had burst and I was getting $275! Oh happy day.
Now I let my freak flag fly and resumed jamming and often jamming light in the right spot.
I managed to climb the ladder just a bit, so when my AK got cracked by AJ and I busted, I got $400.
 |
| Out of 350 runners. |
I went to bed at 2:30 in the morning, exhausted but happy. I knew there would be no Colossus for me in the morning.
Jason too was done, but he was done done. He had hit another satty after busting in Colossus and again failed to cash. Jason knows as well as I, this is standard in tournaments. Just like life, in poker you can do everything right and still get the shaft. He had more than his fair share of cold decks and was ready for home. He left the next day after breakfast at the fabulous Orleans buffet. Okay maybe not fabulous, but at least it was only 12 bucks.
So all by my lonesome I sat down for the $75 nooner at Orleans. I have played tournaments here for a decade and not cashed once. And happy to say, I preserved my record once again.
 |
| I do so love those grimy chips though! |
The good news was, I had played exceptionally well and been very aggressive, as you can see by the big stack above. I hovered at around 40+ bigs all tournament. I raised people off of hands, I got it in with the nuts more than once. Unfortunately the last time my nut flush lost to a paired board for a full house on the river and just like that, my big healthy stack vanished into the mountain of chips held by the chipleader. Good times.
I had finished 8th out of just over 60 players. They paid six, and I could hear them offer a safety to seventh place as I walked away. Lovely.
Ah well.
Off to the Mirage for the 7pm Stupid-ment!
Again, I built my stack up thorough aggression, but not at first. My first table was not soft by any means. The usually reliable Mirage, the place I call "The Timewarp" (meaning it has players who play like most did ten years ago) was surprisingly surly and capable.
BUT, I got moved - and my second table was much more to my liking. I transitioned from ABC to shark in the blink of an eye and beat that table like the red-headed step-child it was.
Then our table broke and I was back in the land of the capables. The bad news was, I busted on a monster draw that didn't get there against a drunk maniac who was desperately trying to unload his big ass pile of chips.
The good news was, unbeknownst to me when I entered (maybe I should pay more attention) this was a bounty tournament and I knocked two people out and collected half of my buy in back. I'll take it!
 |
| 1st of two bounties. |
Then it was off to the 10pm tournament at T.I.
Just kidding.
Back to bed before 1030pm. Something is seriously wrong with me.
As I dozed off I pondered firing another bullet in the Colossus. Despite my one good cash, I wasn't really in the mood to light another 565 on fire too soon.
But, when I awoke I reflected on the previous day and actually felt really really good about my play. In the end, I convinced myself to pull the trigger for the 10am flight.
 |
| One more time... we gonna celebrate... one more tiiiimmmme.... |
 |
| Pavillion Room this time! |
As you can see from the last pic, my stack actually went up at first this time. I was pretty stoked so I snapped a pic. This time my table was a lot more talkative, and soft for that matter. Still, having learned my lesson from the first bullet, this time I played tighter. A LOT tighter.
I did get involved a couple of times with AK and once with JJ, I won all of those pots by playing them fast and hard. Glad I didn't run into a sticky icky (my code for a LAG that knows what he's doing, not weed okay?)
Made it past the first break. Then my table broke and then broke again just after the second break, only this time we had to move to the Brasilia.
 |
| I made day 2! Not. Just bagging up for the hallway march to the Brasilia room. |
And in Brasilia I found myself one table over from where I had started Thursday morning.
 |
| Blue de' ja' vu'. |
So yeah, it was a table of beasts. Thank goodness I had snap shove, because the instant that I hit 25 bigs I was ready to rip - this time without fear. 2/3 of the table was way too good to tangle with post-flop, especially with no room to maneuver.
I was fairly certain I recognized one of the pros opposite the table of me, but couldn't quite narrow him down. This lovely lady though, I found her right away. When I say lovely I mean she was pretty and also very nice.
 |
| Jamie Kerstetter - half a million dollars in tournament winnings in under 5 years. |
But she wasn't lovely to play against - I stayed away because I saw her make a sick ace high call to snap off a maniacs bluff and drag a huge pot. Afterwards she bludgeoned the table rather well I must say - rather like me at the Mirage at times, I would like to think. But in poker it's all a matter of where you are at in the long game. If you play every day, you can get very very good. If you play twice a month on average like I do, you can still love the game and get better - but your feet have to stay on the ground if you want to have fun.
Anyone who says there isn't a large skill gap in poker, has never gone deep in a big event. It is ridiculously evident whenever you start to approach the money in a tournament that costs more than 500 bucks to enter. It was a joy to watch her work.
And yes, her aggression, and the aggression of the other three capable dudes, cranked up as the bubble approached. And dang! It was approaching quick and it wasn't even 5pm!
I have never, ever been in a large event that was as easy and quick to cash in as this one. I talked about it in the video above - but let me just say again. DON'T CHANGE THIS STRUCTURE. It's perfect, and awesome, and paying 15% is the best thing ever for recreational poker players.
Hand for hand lasted a half hour, but only because there were over 60 tables left and the tournament staff had to be very precise in who busted out when. All-in and calls were stopped before the cards were turned up, and teams of floor members went from table to table to see them play out. This took quite awhile but we only got in two hands and...
well....
IMG_8508 from Chris Manzoni on Vimeo.
I was elated to get my first WSOP bracelet cash. As of this moment I'm still waiting for that beautiful logo to pop up on my Hendon Mob page (google it) - but it is, believe it or not as corny as it sounds, a dream of mine that has come true. I am so, so grateful.
Then I could relax, but I still played tight, I managed to have over 20 bigs when the big moment arrived, but I wanted to ladder up because I knew the bust outs would now be an avalanche.
They paid 731 out of 4855. At that time, the largest single entry in a multi-flight tournament in history.
 |
| Dang! Right? |
I think I made 2 or 3 jumps before I busted with 88 that ran into AA. I received an $880 payout.
This trip kicked butt in so many ways. I am truly humbled by this great game, I know I am a toddler in a school full of 5th graders, but I still find great joy in hanging with them and occasionally kicking their legs out from underneath them. I am also grateful that I am at a place in my life where I can take a chance on frivolity, and yet learn so much in competition about myself and how to interact with others.
I am grateful to poker for teaching me patience as well as pain. For without pain there can be no grace and serenity, no peaceful surrender to the void of despair which allows us to emerge unscathed on the other side. Yes, bad beats suck, but in the end I welcome them because they teach me how to cope and how to overcome.
Thanks for reading all this gobbledygook. I haven't forgotten about our next tournament. The evite should go out next week.
I can't wait to get back to the WSOP next year, but in the mean time, I very much look forward to playing a lot more with y'all!
Until then, peace and we out!
