Bad Beat's WSOP Diary: Part One

Not being one to go for new-fangled things I couldn't embrace the concept of an additional airport at Stansted, let alone a whole new airline, in Maxjet, who fly direct to Vegas, so it was Virgin Premium Economy for me. Nine hundred quid return didn't seem too bad. I booked it straight off the Virgin website, although you need to choose your dates carefully. The day before was a monkey dearer.

I always spend a lot of time worrying on trans-Atlantic flights. I'm not too bothered about the prospect of imminent death, I can barely afford to live much longer anyway, I'm more concerned about whether they'll let me in the country as an unemployed person with no easily visible income and precious few ties to the UK. I settle on calling myself a consultant to some internet companies and sail through.

In the past I've been a retired internet millionaire, a sports analyst and once, foolishly, I proudly announced bookmaker. I may as well have said international drug smuggler. Other occupations to be avoided are journalist and professional poker player. Terrence Chan had an experience I can empathise with that he talks about here:


http://terrencechan.livejournal.com/169321.html


On arrival at Bellagio, (I book via the poker office and get the players rate. It's $139 weekdays and $229 Fri & Sat. This is quite a big saving and although you're supposed to put a few hours in they never check.), I dump my bags in my fourth floor room. (the fourth is the lowest floor you can get. The poker office have given me this as a "perk". Good customers get this so they spend less time in the pesky elevator and more time playing.)

I'm soon off to the Rio to register for Sunday's $1500 PLH competition. The stories are flying about of nightmare queues for Saturday's $1500 NLH. Apparently there were hundreds waiting even at 3am. I just can't believe how moronic Harrahs are here. This event has been the second most popular after the Main Event for each of the last three years and, unlike the Main Event, is one in which a lot of people will want to register over a short period of time. If they couldn't predict it would be busy they do not know their business. It is just incompetence.

In the end it takes me five minutes to register for the $1500 PLH which, with 800 players, is just not that popular.

I love the pot limit tournaments in the series. With the poker world changing PLH is virtually only played to any degree in London now and I believe we have an enormous edge over the Americans in this game.

I don't quite prove this point by struggling away for twelve hours and coming 78th out of eight hundred. Only 72 players get paid. I note that Gavin Smith, who played brilliantly in one of the PLH events on my table last year is in the final.

On Monday and Tuesday I decide to graft away in the cash games. If you want to play NLH you have a few places to choose from and things start at $2/$5 working up to $200/$400. I decide to start slowly and go for the $5/$10 at Bellagio. There is a maximum buy-in of $1000 in this game and daily swings of two to three thousand are not uncommon. The game is operated on a time charge of $6 per half hour which is collected each time a new dealer starts. I hope the UK casinos note that this is the way Vegas does it and that these games are not raked. They are also very popular and Bellagio has at least two and up to five tables 24-hrs a day.

Most of the players buy-in for the maximum and the games operate on a must-move system where the newer games send players to the existing "main" game. Here, the stacks are deep and the big pots can be won and lost. Aggressive, sometimes suicidal, play is common and the games are very beatable.

Unfortunately I havn't beaten them yet. Maybe today...... 

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Neil Channing will be playing in the following tournaments at the WSOP with his Poker Verdict cap on (literally and metaphorically).

$1,500 6-handed NLHE – Thurs 7th June
$5,000 PLHE – Fri 8th June
$1,500 NLHE Shootout – Tues 12th June
$2,000 PLHE – Fri 22nd June
$10,000 MAIN EVENT

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