Day 1: Lots of Driving

We are on our way! Nothing interesting to report. I drove to Dallas for a few days at Six Flags with the kids. I’ll post some pics tomorrow. 

Counting Down to Departure and Plans for Week 2

It's hard to believe it's only four days until I leave for Las Vegas! For those of you who have been waiting impatiently for another update (I'm looking at you Hunter), there hasn't really been much to report. I've mostly been getting things ready to leave on Tuesday and winding down my semester. But now, it's almost go time.

The Trip to Las Vegas

Several of you have asked about non-tournament trip details, so I thought I'd share some of that in anticipation of leaving. I'll be driving to Las Vegas with my wife and kids, so the plan is to make a fun trip for the kids out of the long drive. Here's the general breakdown:

• Tuesday, May 26: Drive to Arlington, Texas
• Wednesday, May 27: Six Flags over Texas
• Thursday, May 28: Drive to Oklahoma City
• We'll spend part of this day at Six Flags in Arlington or at Frontier City in Oklahoma City
• Friday, May 29: Frontier City and drive to Vega, Texas
• Saturday, May 30: Drive to the Grand Canyon
• Sunday, May 31: Grand Canyon and drive to Las Vegas
• I know an evening and a morning probably aren't enough to get the whole Grand Canyon experience, but my youngest isn't really old enough to do a lot of the things the Grand Canyon offers. We'll go back again.

So, we're breaking the drive up over six days, and the kids get three days in an amusement park and a trip to the Grand Canyon out of it. I'm hoping we arrive in Vegas early enough on May 31 for me to slip over a casino for a little bit to take advantage of the 10x tier credit offer Caesars has going on.

I'll post pictures from our trip as we go along.

Week 2

I'm still undecided on exactly what tournaments I'll play week two, though a few are set in stone.

• Sunday, June 7: TBD
• Option 1: WSOP Event 25 - $500 NLH Freezeout. 
• I love a good freezeout tournament, and this is by far the least expensive no-rebuy tournament I found at the WSOP.
• Option 2: Golden Nugget: $500 HORSE. 
• I love HORSE tournaments, and I have a good track record in them. This would also be a nice warm up for later in the week.
• Monday, June 8: WSOP Event 28 - $600 NLH/PLO Mix
• I cashed this event last year, so I'm going to run it back again this year.
• Tuesday, June 9: TBD
• I may take this day off. 
• There is a $250 daily HORSE tournament at the Horseshoe. If I do not play the $500 HORSE at Golden Nugget on Sunday, I may play this as a warm up event.
• I could also play the $1100 PLO at Aria or the $600 NLH Bounty at Venetian.
• Wednesday, June 10: Event 37 - $1500 HORSE
• This is one of the highlight events for me. I ran deep into Day 2 in this event last year, placing 41st.
• Thursday, June 11: TBD
• Option 1: Event 25: $1500 PLO. 
• If I decide to fire a WSOP bullet on this day, this is my event. I've had good success in PLO tournaments, and jumping into this Day 1B would be a good option for me.
• Option 2: Orleans $600 Razz. 
• Razz is one of my favorite games, but it's difficult to find opportunities to play it. Orleans has also decided to deep the stacks in all of their events, which should make this event a lot of play for the money. This would also be a nice warm up event for later in the week.
• Friday, June 12: Event 40 - $1500 Razz
• I wanted to play this event last year, but I had to leave town the day the event started. The only way I don't play this one is if I'm still in another event.
• Saturday, June 13: TBD
• Option 1: WSOP Event 34 - $500 Colossus
• A cheaper rebuy NLH event that usually brings out big crowds. Sounds like a lot of fun. I think the WSOP has changed how the Day 2s work for this event, the Monster Stack, and the Million Maker. I should probably figure those out.
• Option 2: WSOP Online: $400 PLOssus
• I definitely want to take advantage of the opportunity being in Nevada affords to play in the WSOP online tournaments. This looks like a good candidate, though there are some other good ones too.

Let me know which events you think I should play on Sunday, Thursday, and Saturday. 

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Ok, signing off for now. I'll post at least one more time before we leave on Tuesday.

Week One: Action for Sale

 

Several people have asked when I'm going to begin selling action, so I've put together a package for week one. I'm not a professional player, and I'm not going to set up some kind of staking account to handle this. Let's keep this friendly.

The Package:

• Event 14: $1500 Mixed PLO/8, Omaha/8, and Big O (one bullet)
• Event 15: $600 PLO Deep Stack (two bullets)
• Event 18: $1500 NLH Monster Stack (one bullet)
• Event 22: $1500 Big O (one bullet)
• Price: $60 = 1%
• Yes, that's a mark up of $3. No, I'm not trying to price gouge anyone. The round number is simply for ease of my accounting.

Terms:

• For everyone 1% a backer purchases, that backer will receive 1% of the prize pool remaining at the end of all four events.
• Any unused buy ins will go back into the prize pool. That means that if I don't play an event, or if I don't fire a second bullet in Event 15, you get your money back for that event.
• If I cash the event: (1) 100% of the original buy in will go back into the prize pool; (2) 75% of any winnings above the buy in will go into the prize pool.
• For example: if I buy into an event for $1500, I cash, and I receive $4500 then the prize pool would be as follows. First, the $1500 buy in goes in. Then 75% of the $3000 profit goes in, which is $2250. So the prize pool from that event would be $3750, and a backer receives $37.50 per percent they own.
• The 25% downward adjustment in the profit covers the IRS withholding rate on gambling winnings.
• EXCEPTION: In the event of a substantial prize, I may adjust the payouts to reflect actual tax liability. Basically, if I win $1 million dollars or something, the taxes will be more than 25%, so I'll have to adjust the payout percentages accordingly. This is the kind of problem we're hoping to have.
• I am not promising or guaranteeing that you'll get any money back at all. Buy at your own risk.
• I will sell up to 30% of my action. First come, first served.

I suspect there's something I'm forgetting here, so feel free to ask me questions about this. I won't be there until a few days later, but the first WSOP events begin in only seventeen days. It's time to start getting excited!

Vegas Summer Poker: Beyond the WSOP

 

Summer poker in Las Vegas extends wells past just the WSOP. It seems like every poker room has some kind of summer series going on, and I expect there will be some days I'll play those tournaments instead of a WSOP event. Doing so will let me play some events that look like they'll be more fun. It will also help my bankroll stretch a bit further.

I'm also curious to take a look at some of the WSOP Online events. There is no legal online poker in my home state, but I remember well the good old days of the early poker boom. I played on Party Poker, Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet, and most of the rest. Having easy access to online poker again is too good an opportunity to pass up completely.

For now, I'm looking at the following events on different days. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts on particular tournaments or poker rooms.

Other Tournaments

• June 2
• $250 HORSE @ Horseshoe
• $300 NLH @ Aria
• $300 NLH @ South Point
• June 3
• $600 PLO/8 @ Orleans
• $800 PLO @ Aria
• June 4
• $1100 Satellite to Event 23: $10k 7 Card Stud
• $600 Mixed Stud @ Orleans
• $500 PLO @ Golden Nugget
• June 5
• $500 Mixed Stud/8 and PLO/8 @ Golden Nugget
• $300 Mixed Big O and PLO/8 @ MGM Grand
• June 6
• $400 PLO @ Golden Nugget
• $200 PLO/8 @ South Point
• June 7
• $600 NLH @ WSOP Online
• $800 PLO Bounty @ Venetian
• $500 HORSE @ Golden Nugget
• June 8
• $300 NLH @ South Point
• $500 NLH @ MGM Grand
• June 9
• $250 HORSE @ Horseshoe
• $1100 PLO @ Aria
• $600 NLH Bounty @ Venetian
• June 10
• $600 NLH Bounty @ Venetian
• $400 PLO Bounty @ MGM Grand
• June 11
• $600 Razz @ Orleans
• $250 Big O @ MGM Grand
• June 12
• $1100 PLO5 @ Wynn
• $500 8-Game Mix @ Golden Nugget
• June 13
• $400 PLOSSUS @ WSOP Online
• $600 NLH Bounty @ Venetian
• $1100 PLO @ Aria
• June 14
• $1000 NLH @ WSOP Online
• $800 PLO5 @ Venetian
• $400 Mixed PLO5 & Big O @ Golden Nugget
• June 15
• $600 Mixed Stud/8 and Omaha/8 @ Orleans
• $1100 PLO Bounty @ Venetian
• June 16
• $250 HORSE @ Horseshoe
• $800 HORSE @ Aria
• June 17
• $600 NLH Bounty @ Venetian
• $1100 PLO5 @ Aria
• June 18
• $400 PLO/8 @ Orleans
• June 19
• $1100 PLO @ Venetian
• $500 Triple Stud @ Golden Nugget
• June 20
• $1100 Big O @ Wynn
• June 21
• OFF
• June 22
• $400 NLH @ WSOP Online
• $600 NLH Bounty @ Venetian
• $800 Mixed PLO/8 & Stud/8 @ Aria
• June 23
• $250 HORSE @ Horseshoe
• $400 Stud/8 @ Golden Nugget
• $800 PLO @ Aria
• June 24
• $600 Mixed Omaha @ Orleans
• $1100 PLO Bounty  @ Venetian
• June 25
• $600 Big O @ Orleans
• $1100 PLO Double Board Bomb Pot @ Venetian
• June 26
• $600 Big O Championship @ MGM Grand
• $1100 NLH @ Venetian
• June 27
• $1100 PLO Mystery Bounty @ Aria
• $600 NLH Bounty @ Venetian
• June 28
• $215 25 Seat Scramble (Main Event Satellite) @ WSOP Online
• $600 PLO/8 Championship @ MGM Grand
• $500 Big O @ Golden Nugget
• June 29
• $1600 PLO @ Wynn
• $240 HORSE @ Orleans
• June 30
• 215 25 Seat Scramble (Main Event Satellite) @ WSOP Online
• $250 HORSE @ Horseshoe
• $400 PLO @ Orleans

Obviously, I can't play all of these tournaments, just like I won't play all of the WSOP events I listed in my previous post. This is just a list of tournaments I'm looking at. I'm likely to play both Main Event satellites the last week. I'll also likely move over to playing more of these events if I don't have any early success at the WSOP and the bankroll starts to look a little thin.

Anyway, let me know what you think. I'll keep updating with more information as I start to nail down my schedule.

Getting Started: Three Weeks Out

Hey, everyone! This is BamaT8er. After attempting to keep everyone who was interested updated via text message last year, I've decided to use more of a blog format this year to keep from cluttering up everyone's phones. I'm still figuring out how blogger works, so bear with me. I'm not (and don't intend to become) a professional blogger.

This will be my second extended trip to the WSOP. This year, instead of going to Las Vegas on my own for a week or so, I'll be taking my whole family with me and staying for the whole month of June. If I can satellite my way in, I'll be heading back to Vegas for the Main Event in July after a short detour to visit some family. We're leaving in three weeks, but I won't actually arrive in Las Vegas until May 31.

Many folks have asked me what events I'll be playing. Mostly, I'll be focusing on smaller buy in events and some mixed games. Here's what I'm looking at for now. Obviously, I won't play them all. If I know you and you have any interest in buying some of my action, let me know which event and how much.

WSOP Events (tentative)

• June 1: Event 14 - $1500 mixed: PLO/8; Omaha/8; Big O
• June 2: Event 15 - $600 PLO Deep Stack
• June 3: Event 18 - $1500 NLH Monster Stack Flight A
• June 4: Event 18 - $1500 NLH Monster Stack Flight B
• June 5: Event 18 - $1500 NLH Monster Stack Flight C OR Event 22 - $1500 Big O Flight A
• June 6: Event 18 - $1500 NLH Monster Stack Flight D OR Event 22 - $1500 Big O Flight B
• June 7: Event 25 - $500 NLH Freezeout
• June 8: Event 28 - $600 NLH/PLO Mixed Deep Stack
• June 9: OFF
• June 10: Event 37 - $1500 HORSE
• June 11: Event 34 - $500 NLH Colossus Flight B OR Event 35 - $1500 PLO Flight B
• June 12: Event 40 - $1500 Razz
• June 13: Event 34 - $500 NLH Colossus Flight D
• June 14: Event 43 - $800 NLH Deep Stack 8-Handed
• June 15: OFF
• June 16: OFF
• June 17: Event 50 - $1500 NLH MM Flight A
• June 18: Event 53 - $1500 PLO5 OR Event 50 - $1500 NLH MM Flight A
• June 19: Event 50 - $1500 NLH MM Flight A
• June 20: Event 57 - $1000 PLO Flight A OR Event 50 - $1500 NLH MM Flight D
• June 21: Event 57 - $1000 PLO Flight B OR Event 59 - $500 NLH Salute to Warriors
• June 22: Event 57 - $1000 PLO Flight C
• June 23: Event 63 - $1000 NLH Mystery Millions Flight A
• June 24: Event 63 - $1000 NLH Mystery Millions Flight B
• June 25: Event 69 - $1500 7 Stud/8 OR Event 63 - $1000 NLH Mystery Millions Flight C
• June 26: Event 63 - $1000 NLH Mystery Millions Flight D
• June 27: Event 63 - $1000 NLH Mystery Millions Flight E
• June 28: Event 74 - $1500 8-Game Mixed

I'll update next time with more information on some of the non-WSOP and WSOP online tourneys I'm looking at. Until then....