Wynn Summer Classic $30K NLHE (T12,000)

First off,I have to say, the chairs in the Wynn poker room are quite comfortable, so I was looking forward to a nice, long tournament there after the plane ride the night before (the Boeing 737-900ER looked like it was going to be comfortable….)

And, indeed, the game got off to a great start. By the end of the second level, I’d more than doubled up. There was another Portland-area player on the table (named Art), who was passing the time after eking his way through Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event, and together we were passing the table chip lead back and forth. I like to think that I was doing it by skill. Art, on the other hand misread his KxTx against a player with a suited AxKx, and only survived by hitting a two-outer on the river to make the trips that didn’t complete a flush; then he played KxTx again and flopped KxKxKx against AxAx, who thought maybe the Ax on the turn gave him the better hand (it didn’t); then Art’s QxTx hit ten on the river to beat my KxQx on a queen-high flop (I wasn’t all-in). Still, I got to the first break just a few thousand down from my peak, at T25K.

I was playing fairly tight, making laydowns that I came to regret at least three times. I lad down KxJx twice to raises from early position, with the flop on the first one running out KxKxJx and two kings on the second, which would still have been the winning hand even if it wasn’t a full house.

I didn’t lay down 6x6x from BB after a short stack in UTG shoved for the fifth or sixth time. I called him for about a third of my stack after everyone else folded, he had 5x5x and my better pair held.

AxAx in the SB with an all-in ahead of me and I shoved, with BB shoving afterward. Queens and jacks, the aces hold, and I had T55K going into break 2. The tournament seated 295 entries after all of the alternates got in, there were 130 left, with 100 to go before the money.

The big laydown that probably cost me a cash in the tournament was calling a raise with AxKx. A third player shoved, the original raiser re-shoved, and I folded to let them duke it out since they both had about 2/3 of the chips I had and a loss would have left me critically short. The had was JxJx v QxQx, and a king hit the river. I would have been over T100K and close to ITM chip level if I’d pulled the trigger. Bad fold.

I stalled out about that point, without a lot in my hand I could consider playing. Then a table change, and shortly after I get there, I have KxKx in BB. I bet, get two calls, and the flop is king-high, I bet and gain some much-needed chips that I promptly lose with AxKx on the next hand after two jacks show up on the turn and a player shoves over my c-bet.

By the dinner break, I was down to T41,500, coming back to about 20BB.

Across from me at the table is an older gent (73, he’s telling one of the other players) who’s been telling poker stories. Then he mentions something about having played in the Big One for One Drop. Both times. With such a limited field, there aren’t many people he could be, and I surreptitiously type into my iPad. And there he is, not just a guy who played the Big One, but a guy who was involved in one of the highlight hands from the first game. John Morgan, guy who can buy into two million-dollar tournaments (without having cashed in the first), playing a game at the Wynn where the total prize pool is less than 10% of the Big One buyin. And, of course, when I raise from a short stack, and shove over his re-raise with A♣8♣ he has KxKx, which knocks me out about 20 spots from the money.

Seven and a half hours. 51st of 295 entries. 

Addendum: the wifi at The Quad is just as dodgy as the HoJo, which is really annoying since Harrah’s owns both the hotel and WSOP.com.