Masquerade
06-06-2005, 03:55 AM
Warning: This is much briefer and less interesting than my earlier post!
Having slept on the idea I woke up Sunday knowing that OF COURSE I wanted to play in the $1500 Limit event. I'm in Vegas, it's the WSOP, I am WAAAAAAY up. I get down there early to register at 10 but it's very quiet even though we do eventually have over 1000 entries.
My tourney report here is going to be brief as I get AA, KK and JJ cracked in quick succession and because it's limit I can't get away from any of them. That's not my beef - that's poker. My gripe is: How you can take a limit event seriously with 1500 starting chips? After the first level we're playing $50/$100 so anyone who's suffered just a minor reverse has about 10 big bets! It's just a joke. The $500 NL tourney on Stars has 2500 chips but a $1500 WSOP gold bracelet event has 1500? You might as well hold a slots tourney for it. This really needs to be addressed. If having more chips would take too long then cap the entries or raise the fees but 1500 chips is just too much of a crapshoot.
Ok rant over. Having busted out I decided to play some 10/20 limit in the cash game area of the hall. This was generally pretty well run with a screen showing queues and games with an interest list. Perhaps the day of the Limit WSOP event wasnt the the optimal game choice but I'm really arrogant about my Limit abilities so I didnt care.
The table was generally solid although an Asian woman was playing any ace-rag, and usually catching, and a young guy was just playing anything pre-flop but post-flop well and often catching. I play tight anyway but I also suffered from a card drought of Biblical proportions and had to fold 40 hands in a row apart from JJ which I laid down correctly on the flop when an ace came.
Only two hands of interest: Youngish player calls under the gun, I call with 99, maybe couple of other limpers. Flop 872 he bets, I raise, everyone else folds, he re-raises, I muck 99. Why? Because his re-raise was on auto-pilot from playing online too much. He re-raises because he has a set or an overpair, either of which beat me. But he hasnt noticed it's heads up and he can just call, get me to put him on overcards and screw me on the river. I did ask him later what he had and he said he had a set so I think that was a pretty good laydown. Second interesting hand: good Asian player in Seat 1 suddenyly gaybets the turn when it's 3-handed after the flop was checked round. I only have middle pair but because of the board, and the fact he's a good player, the ONLY scenario that makes any sense is if his bet is a semi-bluff having picked up a flush draw. I call him down on river as well and was pleased to see he had bottom pair and a flush draw. He was right to bet of course, I would have done exactly the same.
The table was just too solid to be profitable although I did book a modest $300 win after several hours. I was tempted to play 20/40 particularly as there was a seat free next to an attractive blonde woman aged about 30 incongruously dressed in a very smart cream trouser suit. However a hyperactive probable 2+2-er with a birthmark soon relocated to her right. Good job man!
Several players seemed to be regulars but too much playing tourists in Vegas has ruined their game and they were not a threat. But no-one was making much money at that table.
Some more famous player spotting: I was slightly surprised to find an immaculately besuited Devilfish standing behind my chair shortly after he busted out of the $1500 NL final and he gave me the trademark wink although he doesn't know me from Adam. But as I came 41st in the event I guess I'm the second best NL player in England now after him. /images/graemlins/smile.gif The Hendon Mob? I think that's about as far as they got. Hendon. Certainly a disappointing showing overall from the English contingent.
Evelyn Ng is walking around a lot wearing a top that exposes most of her extremely tall frame. Barry Greenstein's eyes look as if he's been up all night playing poker for the last 20 years - which he probably has. Doyle himself turned up to play and was much slimmer than I expected although was walking with obvious difficulty. James Woods is really up for it. He's virtually living in the hall, playing in the events, cash games, small nightly tourneys. He gets my vote as coolest celeb turned poker player.
Some random thoughts:
Cardplayer have a stand selling subscriptions and they understand their target market well because it is staffed by stunning young women.
All entries to WSOP events get you a $10 voucher off at the Carnival buffet in the Rio and it's definitely worth using. Coupons have to redeemed at a separate desk which has the unintended effect of bumping you past all the queues as well.
Once you've played in one WSOP event you can easily register for any other just by paying at the cashier in the tournament hall and showing your player's card. Having criticised the organisation in some areas in an earlier post let me say this is a great idea.
Having slept on the idea I woke up Sunday knowing that OF COURSE I wanted to play in the $1500 Limit event. I'm in Vegas, it's the WSOP, I am WAAAAAAY up. I get down there early to register at 10 but it's very quiet even though we do eventually have over 1000 entries.
My tourney report here is going to be brief as I get AA, KK and JJ cracked in quick succession and because it's limit I can't get away from any of them. That's not my beef - that's poker. My gripe is: How you can take a limit event seriously with 1500 starting chips? After the first level we're playing $50/$100 so anyone who's suffered just a minor reverse has about 10 big bets! It's just a joke. The $500 NL tourney on Stars has 2500 chips but a $1500 WSOP gold bracelet event has 1500? You might as well hold a slots tourney for it. This really needs to be addressed. If having more chips would take too long then cap the entries or raise the fees but 1500 chips is just too much of a crapshoot.
Ok rant over. Having busted out I decided to play some 10/20 limit in the cash game area of the hall. This was generally pretty well run with a screen showing queues and games with an interest list. Perhaps the day of the Limit WSOP event wasnt the the optimal game choice but I'm really arrogant about my Limit abilities so I didnt care.
The table was generally solid although an Asian woman was playing any ace-rag, and usually catching, and a young guy was just playing anything pre-flop but post-flop well and often catching. I play tight anyway but I also suffered from a card drought of Biblical proportions and had to fold 40 hands in a row apart from JJ which I laid down correctly on the flop when an ace came.
Only two hands of interest: Youngish player calls under the gun, I call with 99, maybe couple of other limpers. Flop 872 he bets, I raise, everyone else folds, he re-raises, I muck 99. Why? Because his re-raise was on auto-pilot from playing online too much. He re-raises because he has a set or an overpair, either of which beat me. But he hasnt noticed it's heads up and he can just call, get me to put him on overcards and screw me on the river. I did ask him later what he had and he said he had a set so I think that was a pretty good laydown. Second interesting hand: good Asian player in Seat 1 suddenyly gaybets the turn when it's 3-handed after the flop was checked round. I only have middle pair but because of the board, and the fact he's a good player, the ONLY scenario that makes any sense is if his bet is a semi-bluff having picked up a flush draw. I call him down on river as well and was pleased to see he had bottom pair and a flush draw. He was right to bet of course, I would have done exactly the same.
The table was just too solid to be profitable although I did book a modest $300 win after several hours. I was tempted to play 20/40 particularly as there was a seat free next to an attractive blonde woman aged about 30 incongruously dressed in a very smart cream trouser suit. However a hyperactive probable 2+2-er with a birthmark soon relocated to her right. Good job man!
Several players seemed to be regulars but too much playing tourists in Vegas has ruined their game and they were not a threat. But no-one was making much money at that table.
Some more famous player spotting: I was slightly surprised to find an immaculately besuited Devilfish standing behind my chair shortly after he busted out of the $1500 NL final and he gave me the trademark wink although he doesn't know me from Adam. But as I came 41st in the event I guess I'm the second best NL player in England now after him. /images/graemlins/smile.gif The Hendon Mob? I think that's about as far as they got. Hendon. Certainly a disappointing showing overall from the English contingent.
Evelyn Ng is walking around a lot wearing a top that exposes most of her extremely tall frame. Barry Greenstein's eyes look as if he's been up all night playing poker for the last 20 years - which he probably has. Doyle himself turned up to play and was much slimmer than I expected although was walking with obvious difficulty. James Woods is really up for it. He's virtually living in the hall, playing in the events, cash games, small nightly tourneys. He gets my vote as coolest celeb turned poker player.
Some random thoughts:
Cardplayer have a stand selling subscriptions and they understand their target market well because it is staffed by stunning young women.
All entries to WSOP events get you a $10 voucher off at the Carnival buffet in the Rio and it's definitely worth using. Coupons have to redeemed at a separate desk which has the unintended effect of bumping you past all the queues as well.
Once you've played in one WSOP event you can easily register for any other just by paying at the cashier in the tournament hall and showing your player's card. Having criticised the organisation in some areas in an earlier post let me say this is a great idea.