My World Series of Poker Part I

I flew out to Vegas on the 10th of June with three of the lads. We went with US Airways. It’s an airline I recommend you stay away from. They had one TV on the airplane showing cartoons/absolute garbage and they were trying to charge you for the head phones. I’d be way too stubborn to pay the 10 dollars for them so I couldn’t even listen to the TV anyway. I did read for a quite a bit though. I’m reading Nadal’s book at the moment.

It wouldn’t even be close to Agassi’s book, but still interesting enough. We had also thought we would be able to watch the Ireland v Croatia game from Philadelphia to Vegas, there wasn’t even one T.V on that part of journey and of course no internet.

I’ve played six events since I’ve been here. Pretty happy with how I played in most of them. I played the 8-game event today which I busted pretty early out of, but deffo made a few mistakes.

I’ve never played triple draw in my life and didn’t go too well. I knew the rules pretty well but when you’re playing hands versus Daniel Negreanu and David Chui you would probably want a little experience, like playing a few previous hands instead of just knowing the rules pretty well.

I did pick up a few things during that table in a few of the games so it wasn’t exactly $2,500 down the drain. I’ve cashed in the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. and $1,000 no-limit hold‘em so I’m knocking on the door a little so far.

I’m regged for the $1,500 no-limit hold‘em tomorrow and if I bust I’ll probably play the 10k PLO the day after. I’ve skipped the 10k PLO every year when I should have probably played it. This year it will be tougher than previous years but I may as well give it a spin, I play PLO all year round.

I’ve had no nights out yet which is pretty good going. All the Irish were out one night but I was still in the H.O.R.S.E. tournament. You go out over here and you’re feeling it for three days after/you keep on going for the next few days. It’s not great for your poker. We’re going to have a big one after we all bust the 10k PLO/win it.

One night out in two weeks isn’t bad going for me. The Irish have a good record in the 10k PLO so hopefully it will be celebratory drinks rather than drowning our sorrows. Most of the Irish guys having been doing poorly so far so hopefully we can catch a few breaks.

So far I’ve played very little cash. Up something small from the few short sessions I played. I haven’t had too many early bust outs in the tournaments which makes it tough getting in the cash sessions. I want to start playing a bit more cash near the end and maybe only a couple more tourneys including the main event which presumably I’ll make the final table of again.

On the news front Phil Ivey hit four final tables in 10 days with a second and a third place finish. It’s just amazing how incredible he is at every form/game of poker. While I’m writing this it looks like he’s just about to make another final table. Phil Hellmuth also took his 12th WSOP bracelet in Razz and a lot of other well known pros have taken bracelets down, which is all good for the game.

Hopefully in my next blog and I talk about how I luck boxed my way to a bracelet in one of my upcoming events.