Finally ... on the last day!

I scored ... yes you read it correctly! I finally scored and took down a satellite for $1,120. That one started with a tough decision. On the first hand I found KK in late position. A lady in middle position made it 200 to go (25/25 blinds) and I raised to 400 (we got only a thousand in chips!). But then the BB raised all-in. The lady folded and I had to decide what to do. This was my last satellite for this years series - only the 11pm second chance to come. Should I risk to leave on the first hand? But hell, I got so much crap the whole week, KK lost yesterday and cost me a satellite but if I don't play this what else should I play?

I went all-in, he showed AJ and my kings held up. Doubled up plus some change ;-)

I was chipleader and never looked back. Didn't get much playable but was able to bully around with some medicore hands. Finally it was the lady (shortstacked) and me. She survived two all-in's with a lot of luck and I decided that I make a deal with her (I get the two $500 chips and she gets the $120 in cash) if she wins one more all-in. I would have been really dissapointed if I would have lost that staellite and went out with nothing. But no, no deal. I finally broke her with pocket sixes and took all the money. I exchanged the two chips later for full face value.

Later I played the 2nd chance but nothing great here. No cards, slow and rocky table. Recovered after being almost dead two times but finally went out on 27th of 130.

On my way out I watched Phil Helmuth playing chinese poker with some guys. Everybody had about 50 grand in front of them and they played it for $1,000 per hand (resulting in $5,000 to $10,000 thrown around on each round). Later Johnny Chan joined them. Wow, he is great! Helmuth and the other two players sorted their cards each together with a friend (chinese poker is weired!) while Johnny Chan made it on his own and always ended being the fastest in sorting and grouping his cards.
Phil Helmuth is a nice and charming guy that entertains a whole table ... as long as he is happy himself. Looks like chinese poker is pure fun for him. No whining, no bad beats for the poker brat.
On the next table they had the Magician and some other players that busted from the HORSE playing regular poker with stacks of $50,000 to $100,000 in front of them.
That was fun to watch.

This almost concludes my WSOP report for this year. Don't think I get more play tomorrow. Maybe one or two tournaments in Los Angeles next week. But beside this we will be on another two weeks of holiday with swing dancing and driving around and relaxing at the beach. So expect less posts in the next time.

Looks like I'm little in the red for the trip but that's fine. As said before: I had fun anyway (even more with that win) and it was great to be there. I'm not complaining about the fact that I didn't make it to event #17 or #18. It was good to get comfortable with the way this whole thing works. The WSOP is definitely different to all I've seen before.

The satellites are great cash cows and if you play them often enough you will overcome the bad beats and cold decks and make some good money. I will be back next year but if possible I plan to make it two weeks to get me more time to become comfortable with the action. Most probably the next WSOP will be in about 10 months as they plan to schedule it earlier due to ESPN's TV requirements. And maybe it will be held at the Caesars. Both the time and the place would be a great improvement.

I've heard a lot of complaints about Harrahs and how bad this whole thing is. I have to disagree. Sure I've seen horrible dealers, weired floor decisions and other stuff. But this is such a big thing that there is no way it will be run perfectly. There's always way for improvements - but all the floor people, dealers and helpers (including the reporting staff from cardplayer) are doing a great job. If you complain show me that you can make it better ... otherwise shut up! Sorry for the hard words but I really start to get sick from all those people and posts that know how this can be run better and how horrible this is. And I'm not talking about the real pro players and some serious concerns that will be adressed and improved with the players council (this is a whole different issue).