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Honest_Rob · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:38 pm Post subject: My WSOP Experience

I arrived in Vegas on June 18th late at night and caught a cab over to the Gold Coast Hotel which is right next to the Rio. It�s actually a pretty nice hotel with a full casino. It also has a 70 lane bowling alley. Highly recommended if you want a room for a World Series event for half the price of the Rio and don�t mind walking one block. I checked in and went up to my room with the intention of going right to sleep. I was anxious about the tournament the next day so it was little hard to get to sleep but I eventually did. I woke up in the morning and headed over to the Rio. I headed back to the convention area where the WSOP is held and the closer I got the more exciting it was. I turned a corner and Michael Binger walked by. I did a double take and said yep that�s him and kept walking. After passing booths for Everest Poker and massage therapy and Pizza Hut I arrived at the check in counter. I waited in line and received my player�s card and seating assignment. The tournament didn�t start for about 30 minutes so I decided to run up to the Full Tilt room and grab some free gear. I asked directions and made my way to the room which is just a room in the hotel. I was a little unsure if I was in the right place at first. I knocked and a nice guy opened the door and welcomed me in. He hooked me up with a whole bunch of gear and wished me good luck as I left.

I headed back down to the convention area and made it about ten minutes before noon when the tournament started. The crowd was thick. I made my way through it when all of the sudden Vanessa Rousso popped out right in front of me looking very cute in a baseball hat. My first instinct was to grab her arm and say hey I know you but I quickly decided not to go the stalker route and she passed by.

After a couple minutes they finally opened the doors and the crowd that had amassed made their way into the World Series of Poker. The room was huge with row after row of tables. It looked just like if does on ESPN. Immediately to my right was the Final table set up complete with the blue lit audience, black starry background and a camera on a crane. They were filming a final table for a previous event. I made my way to my table which was in the back right section of the room.

There was only one other player there, an older guy with white hair. Quickly another guy showed up who seemed very excited to be there. He told us he was from Mexico and had come in just for the WSOP. The tables around us filled up and we got only one other player. We were one minute from starting and only had four players. We joked that Hellmuth had bought all the remaining seats. Right before the first hand was dealt three guys showed up at the same time and shortly after two more showed up. The tournament started and the first hand was dealt with little fanfare. I half expected the place to erupt in applause when the first hand was dealt but it was surprisingly quiet. The rippling of chips was really all the noise you could hear.

It became immediately apparent to me that my table was playing very tight. After a couple of orbits I decided to start raising more hands in late position and attack the blinds/limpers. This idea didn�t work out too well for me because even though the table was still playing pretty tight I ran into a lot of big hands seemingly. I got called/raised a lot so after a few attempts I slowed down. Then I picked up JJ and the player in front me opened for 3xBB. I reraised it and it folded back around to him. He thought for a moment and then raised. I was thinking to myself, seriously!? I can�t win one pot. I thought for a good long time and kept looking back at him trying to see anything to help me with my decision. I eventually folded and my opponent flipped up AA. My luck kept running like that for a while. We finally reached the first break and I headed for the bathroom. The line was huge so I went to the next bathroom a ways down the hall.

On my way back I walked right by Kathy Liebert who was standing in the hall eating a snack. I did a double take and said yep that�s her. After a few minutes they let us back into the poker room and I immediately spotted Jean Robert Bellande in my section standing up talking to someone. I made my way back to my table and passed right by JC Tran who later cashed in this event. I got back to my table and play resumed.

I picked up JJ again and a tight passive raised it in early position and a TAG immediately after him reraised. I thought sure why not and threw my jacks away again. The original raiser reraised and the TAG shoved. The tight passive player called and flipped AA and the TAG showed AK. The turn was a J and I cursed myself for not being a donkey but the AA held up and the tight passive doubled. Shortly after the TAG opened the pot and I looked down to see AK. At this point I had to shove here because of my M. The blinds were getting higher and I was short. I shoved knowing I had some decent fold equity because TAG was pretty tight and had showed he could laydown hands. He thought for a while and folded flipping up JJ. I was happy to win my biggest pot so far. The rest of the pots I had won were just stealing the blinds. Anyway cut to a couple of hours later and I�ve stolen my way back to my starting chip stack. Not ideal but just above being short stacked at this point. I get TT in late position and open. I get three callers included the tight passive in the SB. The flop comes 2c 6s 7s. The tight passive leads out for a little under half the pot. I raise and it folds back around to him. He immediately shoves and I throw up. Can I just catch a little break here? At this point I�ve invest about 1/3 of my chips. Against a lot of players I would call here but this guy was so tight passive I knew the absolute minimum he had was 67s in the hole and much more likely he had 66 or 77. After what seemed like forever I finally folded. At this point I was short stacked and pretty much in shove/fold mode. Next orbit I picked up 99 in LP and shoved. I stole the blinds there and a couple more times. After a couple orbits facing action in front of me and not having any cards to play I was in a desperate situation and had to find a hand to shove before I hit the big blind again. Finally UTG I looked down ad Td 5d and just shoved. A new player at the table called me from MP and every one else folded. He flipped up AK. The flop came Ts 8d 2h. I was happy to see this. The turn was a Jh giving my opponent extra outs but I was still well ahead going to the river. The dealer dealt the river and I couldn�t see it because his hand was blocking it but by the reaction of the table I knew it was bad. The dealer pulled his hand back to reveal the Ace of hearts and the end of my WSOP as a player. All told I lasted 4 hours and finished 1300 out of 2,447 players.

I got up and walked out of the room. Getting knocked out of the WSOP really sucks. I walked out into the hall not sure what to do. I started walking back toward the Rio entrance and passed right by Dmitri Nobles (remember that luckbox?) It was dinner time so I headed over to the Rio buffet and had dinner. WSOP players get a coupon for $10 off. w00t!

The next day I checked out of my hotel and had a day to kill until my flight left so I headed over to the Gold Coast buffet and had lunch. BTW the Gold Coast buffet is exactly the same as the Rio�s and it�s half the price. After that I walked over to the Gold Coast Poker room to see two tables going. I asked what games were playing and the guy told me 2/4 and 4/8 hold �em. I didn�t want to play there so I walked out into the casino. I played a slot machine for five minutes before I couldn�t take it anymore. Seriously slot machines just suck. I eventually made my way back over to the Rio and looked around. I went back into the room I was playing in yesterday and saw that they were filming another final table so walked up the stairs expecting to be stopped by security or something but no one said anything. I stood behind a railing and saw Ted Forrest starring me in the face. The PL Omaha final table was down to 6 handed and Forrest was on the short stack. After a moment I noticed Layne Flack was also at the table. I stood and watched for a few minutes before noticing that there was no security at the entrance to the gallery so I walked down and sat in the audience. Allen Cunningham and Gavin Smith were in the audience as well in the section next to mine. I sat for a couple hours and watched the final table. Eventually one of the players got knocked out and then Ted Forrest went out as well. I had a couple hours until I needed to be at the airport so I decided to go grab some dinner and then come back and watch the final table until I had to leave.

I grabbed a quick sandwich and while I was sitting there eating it David Benyamine walked by. I finished the sandwich and headed back. Upon entering the poker room again I passed by Amnon Filippi. When I got back to the final table they were down to heads up and Layne had a huge chip lead. Dutch Boyd, Joe Sebok and Jeff Madsen had joined the audience which was much bigger now. It was only a few minutes and Layne got his opponent all in when he held Kings vs. his opponents 4�s. When they flipped the hands up everyone in the audience got up and rushed the table. The staff had to back everyone off so they could finish the hand. Layne�s hand held and he won. Everyone clapped and they interviewed him on camera and presented him with his bracelet and then I had to leave for the airport. On my way out I saw Jeffrey Lisandro talking to someone near one of the tables. I caught a cab and was on my way home.

XxBinh_LamxX · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:50 pm Post subject:

+1.. Thanks Rob.

Autosuggestion · Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:51 pm Post subject:

I like the part where Kath Liebert was eating a snack.

Important Boy · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:00 am Post subject:

Great trip report.

BBCOACH44 · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:05 am Post subject:

Thanks for sharing Rob........ Cool

g_420man · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:22 am Post subject:

Thanks for sharing.

KGBlovesOreos · Moderator Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 5318 Location: VA

Thanks for sharing bud. Better luck next time.

missjugsalot · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:26 am Post subject:

Autosuggestion · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:30 am Post subject:

XxBinh_LamxX · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:30 am Post subject:

Honest_Rob · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:33 am Post subject:

It was crackers or something like that. Have you got your fat jokes out of the way now?

Autosuggestion · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:36 am Post subject:

Lucky_Bub · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:44 am Post subject:

Thanks for sharing your trip report, Rob. It's too bad you were card dead for the tournament, but you had fun, so that's all that matters. Smile

FWIW, Liebert was obv eating tuna on wheat w/ a side salad.

bottlecapthief · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:46 am Post subject:

The Kathy Liebert part made me chuckle as well. Tough breaks though man, though it sounds like you made some good folds; Lesser players would have busted much earlier. (or doubled in the case of the turn J)

What kind of free stuff did you get?

missjugsalot · Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:56 am Post subject:

one more liebert joke , from 2plus2 NVG forum posted by "klunar":

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