David Gross: Vegas Diary Part 2

By David Gross

26 June 2007

In confident mood there is no stopping me from this point on. Sure enough almost six hours in, I am back at the final table for the fourth time in four efforts playing this tournament

David Gross rounds off his 2007 Vegas Diary and offers a glimpse into the major lessons learnt along the way

It’s 9am on Tuesday 26th June and I am sitting in my office with a list of work action points as long as both my arms.

Whilst I was happy with my accomplishments in Vegas and was quite content to come home by the time I left, I have to admit that I am finding it hard to settle back into the rhythm of London life.

This is not being helped by the fact that I am caught in two minds about returning for the Main Event. On the one hand, the time, travel, disorientation and money involved are putting me off. But on the other hand, given the tournament form I am in, it seems ludicrous to neglect the chance to play in the best value tournament of the year and to win a life changing amount of money.

At the moment, the ‘cons’ are winning the battle and I’m staying put – but I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of the ‘pros’ winning the war. I’ll keep you posted on my final decision, but in the mean time, I hope you enjoy the concluding part of my Vegas diary for the trip just taken

All the best,

David aka thekid08

Day 10: Tuesday June 19th 2007

Having finished part one of my diary, I am in reflective mood. I head down to Okada at the Wynn for some sushi with my room-mate Tony. The rest of our crew has now left but it’s good to get the chance to catch up one on one. Whilst eating some incredible food, we ponder on the future and the life in general.

After dinner we wonder back to the room via various table games. We keep the stakes low and have some fun. He gets an early night whilst I catch up with my girlfriend over the phone and somehow end up awake til 4am.

Day 11: Wednesday June 20th 2007

After a short and interrupted sleep, I get up at 8am running late for my 8.30 tee off at the Wynn golf course. I arrive half-asleep to find Tony limbered up, fresh off the putting green and ready for the challenges ahead. True to form, it takes me at least 6 holes to wake up by which time Tony has already bagged 3 pars and put the match well out of sight.

By about the 14th, I find my feet and start playing some decent golf (at least by my standards) making a couple of pars late on. Overall, the round is well worth it and an excellent break from the rigours of tournament poker. The course is incredible and the caddy/buggy combination that come as part of the package make it all the more fun. We even manage to somehow find a rare cool breeze in the Vegas summer heat to follow us throughout our round.

After some excellent munch in the clubhouse, I head back to the room for a few hours rest. Feeling relaxed and mentally fresh, I wake up at 7, get myself ready and head down to the Bellagio for the nightly $1K tournament.

I grab a cab ride with Matts ‘quzzo’ Iremark, winner of several tournaments and awards in the last two years, a frequent adversary of mine on this trip and a thoroughly likeable guy.

With 89 runners this time around, the tournament all starts to plan. Seated at a table that includes the newly arrived John Duthie, I gradually work my way up from 5,000 to 9,500 chips without any big confrontations. Then with blinds at 100-200 and four limpers, I raise it up to 1,400 from the Small Blind with J-J. The under the gun limper immediately pushes all in for 8,500 total. Obviously this move is meant to indicate strength as if he is holding A-A, K-K or A-K at worst. However I had played a lot against the player in question (an affable Swedish guy called Isaac) and I have a pretty good read that he is weak and so I quickly call. Sure enough he turns over Ac-10c and I have him dominated, right up until the river that is, when a third club comes and the 18,000 chip pot is shipped over his way.

Down to 1,500 I resolve not to panic. Within two rounds, after a few well timed all-in bets I am back up to 3,000. Then having isolated a shorter stack and win a race I get up to 5,000. A couple more steals and a squeeze play later and I am all the way back up to 8,000 chips without ever having been called for all my chips.

In confident mood there is no stopping me from this point on. Sure enough almost six hours in, I am back at the final table for the fourth time in four efforts playing this tournament. I go in as one of the chip dogs with 30,000 chips (average 45,000) but I find a few good spots to make some strong moves in the early stages and soon enough I am nicely placed with over 80,000 chips.

The next couple of hours are very frustrating as I am card dead and surrounded by a multi-national ensemble of hyper-aggressive maniacs. However, by the time I get short-stacked, chips had been flying so fast that we are already down to 3.

Danish uber-raising-machine Daniel, seated one to my right raises it up to 9,000 (blinds 1,500-3000) and with 50,000 and A-A in the hole I decide this is the right time to trap. I flat call and the flop comes down 9-8-2. He checks (very rare), I weak bet, he makes some kind of speech play and then calls. Hmmm, this is all a bit suspicious. The turn blanks and he checks. I am concerned that I am behind but with just over 30,000 behind I feel committed. I raise, he pushes I call and I am unsurprised to see him flip over 8-8.

Disappointed to miss out on another victory, I am comforted by the $11,000 pay-day and another strong showing in my final tournament.

Tournaments: $10,025
Tournament shares: -$2,820
Blackjack: -$500
Roulette: -$200
Daily P/L: $6,555

OVERALL P/L FOR THE TRIP: $44,090

Day 12: Thursday June 21st 2007

After a short sleep and a rushed shopping mission, I am back at the Wynn packing my bags and settling my bill. After getting ‘comped’ to a free round of golf and a $200 food bill, I have just enough time to feel like a high roller before getting on a plane and jetting back to London.

Mercifully I manage to sleep for most of the journey back, but in between times I reject an array of films in favour of jotting down the poker lessons learnt on my trip. They are as follows:

1) To be a winner at tournament poker you must be in the right mindset. Once you have reached a certain level of play this is the most important element determining your success. Key factors for me include sufficient sleep, sufficient time to play the tournament without worrying about other commitments, lack of bankroll pressure and the right balance of recent play time (not too much not too little).

2) I am able to compete at the highest level. I should be intimidated by no one. I am highly critical of myself when I make small mistakes but over the course of the trip I played with many strong players and saw almost all of them make mistakes as well.

3) I should gain confidence from my strengths which include an ability to build chips early (I did it 7 times in the 10 tournaments I played) and also a very strong short-stack game.

4) I need to work on my medium stack game where I take too few risks and thus run the risk of standing still and becoming a short stack. I also need to work on my big stack game where I take too many risks and jeopardise my advantage in unnecessary ways.

5) At times, I have a tendency to play medium-strong hands in two minds. Unsure if I am in front or behind, I try to play the hand in such a way as to squeeze out some value if it’s the former whilst ensuring I don’t go broke if it’s the latter. The A-9 hand that hurt me so badly in the $3K WSOP event proved to me that this can be a very costly strategy. When playing no limit hold’em, especially at the later stages as the blinds increase, there are times when you must commit to a medium-strong hand. Sometimes, when your opponent is slow-playing or you have been cold-decked, this may end up costing you all of your chips, but more often it will allow you to build your stack whilst showing the kind of fearlessness and clarity of thought that opponents fear.