Chicago in the rearview mirror

I finally got a chance to spend a little time with my daughter, Mary on this trip.  It was worth the drive from Hammond to the other side of Chicago to see her.  Monday was one of the first times I got off early.   Barry, my roomie this trip and travelling companion and I drove through Chicago, up Lake Shore Drive and after killing some time at the Old Orchard Mall, met Mary for dinner at McCormick & Schmick's Seafood.  This was the last chance to get together with her before we start back to Tampa on Tuesday morning.

 

We worked very hard on this trip.  I think we averaged over 11 hours a day through Sunday night without a day off since the event began on October 11th.  Working that many hours is somewhat by choice.  The DC (Dealer Coordinator) maintains an EO (Early Out) list. Putting your name on the EO list doesn't mean you will go home right away, but as the tournaments melt down and fewer dealers are needed, the DC usually looks at the EO list to see who to cut first.  Some dealers come in and sign up for EO every day, others, who don't mind working (and you only make money if you work) very rarely sign the EO list.  Obviously, if I didn't get a kick out of dealing, I wouldn't be here, so I rarely sign up for EO.  I figure that as long as I am here, I may as well be working.

 

Interesting development in Event 11, which started on Sunday. Two ladies, Wendy Freedman and Amanda Musumeci made the final table.  This is rare on the WSOP Circuit because the fields are made up chiefly of men.  Poker is a lot more popular with men than women. At the 2012 WSOP women made up only 3.77% of the entrants.  The Event 11 final table took 5 hours and resulted in Amanda and Wendy squaring off heads up, with Amanda "The Real Mander" getting the best of it and winning the ring.  This was one of the few WSOP sanctioned events where women finished 1-2.

 

Amanda keeps a blog of her exploits as a poker professional at therealmander.blogspot.com .  She also advertises on her blog for backers i.e. people to pay her tournament entry fees in return for a percentage of any of her winnings.  I wonder how that is working out?  She has been a money maker in 2011 and 2012 on the circuit.

Chicago Poker 2012 WSOP Circuit

I'm back on the circuit at the WSOP Circuit Event in Hammond, IN, just outside of Chicago. It's one of the best events on the WSOP Circuit for both the players and the dealers. Overheard at the table, from a writer for "Ante Up" magazine, "This tournament is the best value anywhere. You can't beat the structure. It's the best."  It's good for the dealers because there is a lot of work and they negotiated a good rate on the hotel.

They are keeping us very busy. Turbo tournaments have been added to fill in as the main tournaments wind down. The Turbos are good for us because they melt down quicker, take less manpower and generate revenue for us.  This is exactly opposite of adding the Deepstack tournaments at the WSOP in Vegas. The Deepstacks take a long time to melt down and dilute the pay rate for the dealers.  

Rumor has it we are getting new cards today. Hooray!  We have been using playing cards from 2008. Not only have they warped over time (the Ace of spades is bowed in each deck) they get dirty and sticky with use making them difficult to spread, shuffle and pitch.  

I do wish we had a little time off here. Sure, it wouldn't be "efficient" but it would give me time to visit with my friends and relatives here in Chicago. I hate not having a day somewhere in this to visit my daughter. 

Big One for One Drop

The Big One for One Drop is the big thing at the 2012 WSOP.  It is a small tournament - just 48 players, but with a big buy-in: One Million Dollars!  From the entries they are taking $111,000 as a donation to the One Drop charity which provides safe drinking water to people around the world without access to it.

In the photo, there is a block of $18 million dollars in hundred dollar bills, the First Place Prize.  Second is no slouch at ten million.

Jack Effel is the WSOP Tournament Director and handled the Master of Cerimonies Duties such as introducing the players.  He seemed to try to do a Bruce Buffer imitation with the introductions but that being the case, he probably should have just hired Bruce Buffer (the voice of professional Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts) who spends a lot of time in Vegas and was here a few days ago playing some Poker.  I said' "Hello" to Bruce and he talked to me like we were old friends when I ran into him.  I am now a huge Bruce Buffer fan.

The field for this event was limited to 48 players and was filled by an eclectic mix of professional poker players and wealthy businessmen that like to play poker.  The day before the tournament started, the WSOP held a Satellite tournament with a buy-in of $25,000 with the winner getting the 48th seat in the event.  The Dane, Gus Hansen won the seat but busted out of the tournament out of the money.  I was rooting for Gus.  I liked the idea that he won the Satellite and was therefore entering the tournament without backers putting up the million dollar entry fee.  Gus is a classic case of one who has won millions on the World Poker Tour and the WSOP only to lose it all in high stakes cash games.

You can read more about this fantastic tournament with the largest payout in the history of Poker by reading Nolan Dalla's excellent account at the WSOP web site here.

Arrived at WSOP 2012

Southwest Airlines took me swiftly and peanut free, undelayed to the McCarran Las Vegas Airport.  After stopping by Sara's place to pick up a key and drop the suitcase, we went out to dinner at our favorite $20 all-you-can-eat Yama Sushi restaurant and rather than going home, we decided to stop somewhere to play a little Poker.  Had another one of those sessions where if they didn't have it already, they sucked whatever they needed out of the deck to get it.  Lost to straights, flushes, even got it all in with AK versus A-10 and saw a 10 in the window. Back to back sets - the first one lost to a straight, the second won the minimum when noone flopped any draws.  Aaargh!  Hopefully, this will turn around soon or this will be a really long 7 weeks.

Orientation was Friday.  Welcome.  HR policy talks on responible gaming, checking I. D., dress code, discrimination and sexual harassment.  They spent very little or no time on some of the things that people would be interested to hear, like that we get employee discounts in the gift shops and restaurants at all the Caesars properties, where we go to pick up our paychecks, or the fact that while we are banned from playing in any bracelet events, we are allowed to play in the daily "Deep Stack" non-bracelet events and in the live action area when we are not on the clock.

The big news to most at orientation was the addition of Chip Tic, a process WSOP will use in all Bracelet events this year.  For the first time, they will have the dealers track players' chips and update them at each break.  The results will be available to all interested parties using the WSOP.com web site.  People will not only be able to track a player's progress in the tournament, but also be able to see which table they are sitting at, even as tables break and players are reassigned.  I will update you on how that project progresses.

After orientation, we had lunch at the T-Bird, went shopping in search of an inexpensive HDMI/Micro cable that would allow Barry to hook his tablet up to the big screen and show movies he downloaded.  No luck.  Cheapest we could find was $24.95 and those cables are available on EBay for about $5.  Instead, we went to see Men in Black III.  Great escapest, funny, action comedy.  Poker can wait until tomorrow.

New Final Table Arena for Bracelet Events. Note the unique "D" shaped table giving more room to the 4,5, and 6 seats

Oops, busted!!

Getting to be a pattern:  No seats available on 1-3, so sit in at 1-2 while waiting and make money.

I won two big hands right away and was $150 up when they called for my 1-3 seat, so I happily took my profit and left.  Then I sat down at the new table and promptly got busted when a guy with 7-8 raised pre-flop and I got it all in with Top Pair Top Kicker (TPTK) on a flop of 7-8-Q.  I also ran into a Flush on the Turn that I didn't believe and gave away a total of about $450.  Not a good day.  I still need to stop and think whenever I want to put in a lot of money on a one pair hand.  Yes, I have to protect my hand, but I need to figure out how much protection costs and how often to pay off someone who is betting like they just drew out on me.

Aces again, Queens again

Back at the Hard Rock for another day of grinding it out.  Again there were a bunch of $1-$2 tables with seats open but the two $1-$3 tables had a list.  I was third on the list and went and bought $80 in red ($5) chips and $20 in white ($1) and another hundred in green ($25) just in case - and also to be used when I moved over to the $1-$3.  As you may know, the $1-$2 game at the Hard Rock has a minimum buy-in of $40 and a maximum buy-in of $100 while the $1-$3 tables go from $100 to $300.   I like to start with $100 at the $1-$2 and at least $200 at the $1-$3.

I have changed my strategy a little bit.  I no longer make continuation bets on the flop when facing three or more callers if I completely miss.  Well, most of the time anyways.  If the flop is Q-Q-3 and it is checked to me, I may take a stab at it. But, if I don't win it right there, I am probably done with it.

One of the first hands at $1-$2 was pocket queens.  They held up followed by some raises that got called by several and I had to give them up when I missed.  One hand I raised with some loosely connected cards, missed the flop and one of the out-of-position callers led out into me.  So I folded.  No sense in paying him off.  Then I did the same and picked up a double gutter i.e. two different cards could make me a straight.  It went like this: Raise with J-10.  Flop K-9-7.  Either an 8 or a Q makes me a straight.  A bet after the flop took it down.  Later, after limping from the button, the Small Blind makes it $8 to go and two of us call.  I flop a gut shot draw.  The Small Blind checks, amazingly because if you raise from the Small or Big Blind you are supposed to have a very strong hand like AA, KK or QQ which would dictate a continuation bet on the flop.  After the Turn, the Small Blind makes a weak lead at the pot and gets a call from across the table.  I figured that if I can catch a five on the River, I may be able to take somebody's whole stack and that is exactly what happened.  I caught the five, made my straight, the Small Blind lead out for about $20 and I raised enough to put him all in, about another $60.  He called with unimproved Pocket Aces.

About an hour later, I still had not been called to play $1-$3 but I could see that I was next on the list.  I got Pocket Aces in the Big Blind.  There were four callers, so $10 in the pot.  I raised $10 "on top." Two players called.  The flop had two suits, so I had to protect my hand.  I bet $25 and got one caller. A brick fell on the Turn.  No possible help to anyone. I looked at his stack which was short, about $30 left, so I bet it.  He called.  I showed him my Aces and after the River, he mucked his hand.  Next hand they called me.  I left the table with $325 plus the other hundred still in my pocket.

I also had some luck at the $1-$3 table.  QQ on one of my first hands busted a short stack right next to me and I was up $100.  Later, after scolding myself for calling $30 on the River when I only held the idiot end of a Jack high straight, I raised with AK of spades.  Flopped a flush draw and led out for $15.  One caller.  Missed.  Led out again for $15.  Called again.  Hit the flush on the River and gave it the Hollywood frown and a quick check.  My opponent led out for $30.  I thought about it, then raised to $90 and got a call.  She was floored when I turned over the nuts.  She tossed a set of jacks into the muck.  Several hands later I called a small raise with 5-7 of spades and also rivered a flush.  That was also good for a nice pot when I got called.  Lastly, I got Aces again and made a good raise.  The caller was the same guy I had busted with the queens.  He was short stacked again and called a big bet on the Turn.  I showed him the AA and seeing the last card he says, "Straight!" However, his straight was 6-7-8-10-J which is missing a nine.  I cashed out for the day at $717, up $517 for the afternoon.