Has anyone ever played in the WSOP? Any game, any event.
If so, please share your experiences here. I think it would be interesting to hear.
If so, please share your experiences here. I think it would be interesting to hear.
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Have you played in the WSOP? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter shorticus
- Start date
ekricket
Royal Flush
Yes, senior event several years and some smaller PLO and such entries. Never the main event.
my take - no amount of skill is going to get you past 8000+ entrants. I prefer the daily tournaments anymore, easier to cash in those and you don’t play for three days with a bunch of old coffers just to min cash.
It’s more of a pain n the ass anyway, breaking for the restroom at the same time as 8000 other people is not fun. Food sucks, company sucks (everybody is either the best player ever and been playing since before their grandfather was born or has never played before), play sucks cause everyone thinks they are going to be on tv, but it’s a spectacle.
my take - no amount of skill is going to get you past 8000+ entrants. I prefer the daily tournaments anymore, easier to cash in those and you don’t play for three days with a bunch of old coffers just to min cash.
It’s more of a pain n the ass anyway, breaking for the restroom at the same time as 8000 other people is not fun. Food sucks, company sucks (everybody is either the best player ever and been playing since before their grandfather was born or has never played before), play sucks cause everyone thinks they are going to be on tv, but it’s a spectacle.
Jake14mw
Flush
Hoping some more people have stories, should be interesting.
ninedeuce
Two Pair
tl;dr the story of how I got to play in the WSOP is more interesting than the my play at the WSOP itself.
Back in 2008, I played a lot of $30 6-max NLHE SNGs (PStars and Full Tilt). I thought I was pretty good (~15% ROI over a two year span), but quality of play back then (including my own, as you'll see below haha) was much worse. My strategy was not much more than "stay out of trouble until the bubble" lol. Played MTTs occasionally but didn't have the patience to concentrate that long.
Not sure when PStars introduced the Steps WSOP prize packages, but it seemed right up my alley. As I remember it was either win or take top two in a string of escalating SNG satellites and if you outright win the final SNG you get a $12,500 WSOP prize package.
I probably spent about $200 on $5 entry Steps, with a few going somewhat deep, when I finally caught some breaks and made it to the final $12,500 Step 9 player satellite.
I was pretty ignorant about online poker players back then, but looking back (I still have the HH natch), my competition at the table was formidable. Here were some of the players at my table:
stevie444
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Chidwick
busto_soon
http://www.pokergurublog.com/content/bustosoon-wins-most-wsop-satellites
ch0ppy
https://www.pokerlistings.com/elite-online-grinder-matt-ch0ppy-kay-still-evolving-crushing-62287
adamyor125
http://officialpokerrankings.com/pa...lts/6CAFC3A0044048B4AF24B5AACE7DE1D8.html?t=2
taktloss47
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Ruthenberg
blanconegro
https://www.pocketfives.com/profiles/blanconegro/
If I'd have known just how good they were, I probably would've played worse haha. As it was, I still had a healthy respect for these guys, and played VERY tight for the majority of the satellite as I watched these guys knock each other out. My strategy worked to perfection, in the sense that 140 hands in, I was HU with adamyor125.
But the pitfall of the "fold to the money" approach is that you end up with a pathetic stack and this time was no exception. Villain had a 22k to 5k chip advantage, with blinds at 200/400 + 50 antes.
A few hands later, open shoved with AQo and villain called with A7o, I held and got some breathing room. A couple of hands after, make a loose call pre with Q5o, check call on a Q64 flop and donk shove the 4 turn (villain folded). Now we're even at ~13k each.
Took the lead a few hands later by playing TT pretty badly pre lol (I checked in BB). Flop 992, I check call villain's flop bet. Turn 6, villain pots it and I check shove, villain folds. Now I've got an 18k to 9k lead.
We played another thirty hands or so and the more skilled and aggressive villain predictably chipped away at my lead until I was ahead just 14k to 12k with 400/800 blinds and 75 antes. I limped with Ad8d in the SB, villain raised to 2400, I shoved, villain snapped with TT. A glorious A came out on the flop, villain didn't improve and he left spewing string of obscenities and insults in the chat to the effect of what a donkey I was. He wasn't necessarily wrong, but could've showed some more class lol.
Have to be honest here, this was one of the happiest, most adrenaline-filled moments of my life. Immediately after, I called my best poker buddy (who'd been following my progress), and he was whooping and hollering and I heard his wife scream in the background, "What happened?! Did Jeff just get engaged?!" And we both died laughing. And then she wanted to know why what she said was funny. And then we just broke up even more.
Being that $12,500 was by far my biggest score and that I didn't fancy myself an MTT powerhouse much less a live MTT powerhouse, I decided to spend $4.5k on lesser WSOP events, pocketing around $7k or so with rest for airfare/hotel. I entered a $1.5k 6-max NLHE event and a $3k full ring NLHE event.
The $1.5k 6-max event ended in like a few orbits. I got 55 UTG, villain raised on the button, I called. Flop Q52. I checked, villain bet, I check raised, villain shoved, I called. He had QQ. GG me.
The $3k event lasted a bit longer, but a few hours in I was getting short and raised with AKo UTG. Table bully raised in LP, I 4b shoved, he called with ATo, A on the flop and a T on the turn. GG me.
Back in 2008, I played a lot of $30 6-max NLHE SNGs (PStars and Full Tilt). I thought I was pretty good (~15% ROI over a two year span), but quality of play back then (including my own, as you'll see below haha) was much worse. My strategy was not much more than "stay out of trouble until the bubble" lol. Played MTTs occasionally but didn't have the patience to concentrate that long.
Not sure when PStars introduced the Steps WSOP prize packages, but it seemed right up my alley. As I remember it was either win or take top two in a string of escalating SNG satellites and if you outright win the final SNG you get a $12,500 WSOP prize package.
I probably spent about $200 on $5 entry Steps, with a few going somewhat deep, when I finally caught some breaks and made it to the final $12,500 Step 9 player satellite.
I was pretty ignorant about online poker players back then, but looking back (I still have the HH natch), my competition at the table was formidable. Here were some of the players at my table:
stevie444
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Chidwick
busto_soon
http://www.pokergurublog.com/content/bustosoon-wins-most-wsop-satellites
ch0ppy
https://www.pokerlistings.com/elite-online-grinder-matt-ch0ppy-kay-still-evolving-crushing-62287
adamyor125
http://officialpokerrankings.com/pa...lts/6CAFC3A0044048B4AF24B5AACE7DE1D8.html?t=2
taktloss47
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Ruthenberg
blanconegro
https://www.pocketfives.com/profiles/blanconegro/
If I'd have known just how good they were, I probably would've played worse haha. As it was, I still had a healthy respect for these guys, and played VERY tight for the majority of the satellite as I watched these guys knock each other out. My strategy worked to perfection, in the sense that 140 hands in, I was HU with adamyor125.
But the pitfall of the "fold to the money" approach is that you end up with a pathetic stack and this time was no exception. Villain had a 22k to 5k chip advantage, with blinds at 200/400 + 50 antes.
A few hands later, open shoved with AQo and villain called with A7o, I held and got some breathing room. A couple of hands after, make a loose call pre with Q5o, check call on a Q64 flop and donk shove the 4 turn (villain folded). Now we're even at ~13k each.
Took the lead a few hands later by playing TT pretty badly pre lol (I checked in BB). Flop 992, I check call villain's flop bet. Turn 6, villain pots it and I check shove, villain folds. Now I've got an 18k to 9k lead.
We played another thirty hands or so and the more skilled and aggressive villain predictably chipped away at my lead until I was ahead just 14k to 12k with 400/800 blinds and 75 antes. I limped with Ad8d in the SB, villain raised to 2400, I shoved, villain snapped with TT. A glorious A came out on the flop, villain didn't improve and he left spewing string of obscenities and insults in the chat to the effect of what a donkey I was. He wasn't necessarily wrong, but could've showed some more class lol.
Have to be honest here, this was one of the happiest, most adrenaline-filled moments of my life. Immediately after, I called my best poker buddy (who'd been following my progress), and he was whooping and hollering and I heard his wife scream in the background, "What happened?! Did Jeff just get engaged?!" And we both died laughing. And then she wanted to know why what she said was funny. And then we just broke up even more.
Being that $12,500 was by far my biggest score and that I didn't fancy myself an MTT powerhouse much less a live MTT powerhouse, I decided to spend $4.5k on lesser WSOP events, pocketing around $7k or so with rest for airfare/hotel. I entered a $1.5k 6-max NLHE event and a $3k full ring NLHE event.
The $1.5k 6-max event ended in like a few orbits. I got 55 UTG, villain raised on the button, I called. Flop Q52. I checked, villain bet, I check raised, villain shoved, I called. He had QQ. GG me.
The $3k event lasted a bit longer, but a few hours in I was getting short and raised with AKo UTG. Table bully raised in LP, I 4b shoved, he called with ATo, A on the flop and a T on the turn. GG me.
Millionaire maker years ago. It did not make me a millionaire.
Structure sucked at the time and I busted after about 3 hours.
Cashed in an Aria tournament later that day to break even ok the trip, so it worked out okay.
Playing with thousands of people is a wild experience so if you are on the fence I say do it.
My wife has given me oral approval to play the main in 2022 which im kinda stoked about
Structure sucked at the time and I busted after about 3 hours.
Cashed in an Aria tournament later that day to break even ok the trip, so it worked out okay.
Playing with thousands of people is a wild experience so if you are on the fence I say do it.
My wife has given me oral approval to play the main in 2022 which im kinda stoked about
Played numerous years going all the way back to when it was still at Binion's downtown. A few small cashes, nothing ever to write home about. Never main event and never will. Agree with what @ekricket said. Best year was in 2019 when I got to meet @ekricket, @travelgirl and @Perthmike for the first time.
2005 - I qualified through a small site (JetSetPoker) via a $50 tournament with the winner getting a seat to the Main Event and $1000 for hotel and airfare. I think the field size was around 180 players or so and I ended up taking it down. One of the attractions to the site was that they never filled their guaranteed tournaments so it was pretty common to have that extra value. For instance their weekly $55 Sunday 10k Trny normally had 125-150 players.
I still remember seeing all the big names (TJ Cloutier, Doyle, Jesus, Hellmuth, etc) and being in awe. I think the field size was around 5000-6000 that year. Most of my experience up to that point had been from limit holdem, but I read a few NLHE books and played a few more live tournaments to prepare but I was not able to pull off the Moneymaker and lasted about 10 hrs and busted on the first day. Nothing all that memorable from that day, just being in awe of the field size and how many players/tables there were in one room. JetSet people took us out a few nights so that part was cool too.
2006 - I studied and played a lot more NLHE from 2005-2006 and again qualified through the same site but this time it was a tournament series. First place in points won a seat and then 2nd through 19th qualified for a 2 table tournament for the 2nd seat. I finished 3rd or 4th in the standings so the day of the 2 table tournament I logged in and....it has been running for about 50 minutes! I had messed up the start time,
! Well the poker gods felt bad and rewarded me with some rungood when we got to the final table. I ended up getting HU vs a pretty good player and just remember making a hero call for the win and letting out a loud “YESSSSS!!!” This time the prize was Main Event entry and $2000 for hotel and airfare.
Again, the Main Event experience was awesome. I didn't play with any big name poker pros in the ME but I did encounter some celebrities. My first table, I played with Sully Erna (Godsmack) for a majority of Day 1, I remember him being terrible but running good. At the table behind me was Laura Prepon (Donna - That 70s Show) and a few tables away was Toby Maguire.
The field size was around 8500 players. I never had a big stack but I think I hovered around avg stack for the first couple of days and then just slowly dwindled. I only remember a few hands, on day one I hit a set of 7's for a big pot vs a French pro and pissed him off.
The other one was on day 2 and I bluffed a large portion of my stack on the turn and got someone to lay down top two...he took forever to fold and kept talking to me but I wasn't saying a word although I felt like I was giving off every tell in the book! He finally folded and I almost showed him but I'm pretty sure he would have jacked me...I just told him I had a set, nice laydown...haha. I ended up finishing 497th for 26k, so all though it wasn't 8 million or whatever first was, it was still a good day, or week I should say. The day I busted was my birthday, so I did some celebrating with friends that were out there with me.
I also played a $1500 event that year and Jesus Ferguson was at my table for a couple of hours. I played one hand with him HU and I almost wet myself. We were at opposite ends of the table, so we were facing each other and he raised preflop and I call with 9's. Flop was Q high and he threw out a bet and it felt like he was reading my soul so I took about 5 seconds and folded. I also sat next to Jen Harman in this same tournament but I don't recall any hands with her.
That's it, I think JetSetPoker went under later that year and I stayed mostly on the bigger sites. I didn't play as much after that as I got my first real IT job, married, bought a house and had kids all within 2 years of that.
I still remember seeing all the big names (TJ Cloutier, Doyle, Jesus, Hellmuth, etc) and being in awe. I think the field size was around 5000-6000 that year. Most of my experience up to that point had been from limit holdem, but I read a few NLHE books and played a few more live tournaments to prepare but I was not able to pull off the Moneymaker and lasted about 10 hrs and busted on the first day. Nothing all that memorable from that day, just being in awe of the field size and how many players/tables there were in one room. JetSet people took us out a few nights so that part was cool too.
2006 - I studied and played a lot more NLHE from 2005-2006 and again qualified through the same site but this time it was a tournament series. First place in points won a seat and then 2nd through 19th qualified for a 2 table tournament for the 2nd seat. I finished 3rd or 4th in the standings so the day of the 2 table tournament I logged in and....it has been running for about 50 minutes! I had messed up the start time,
! Well the poker gods felt bad and rewarded me with some rungood when we got to the final table. I ended up getting HU vs a pretty good player and just remember making a hero call for the win and letting out a loud “YESSSSS!!!” This time the prize was Main Event entry and $2000 for hotel and airfare.Again, the Main Event experience was awesome. I didn't play with any big name poker pros in the ME but I did encounter some celebrities. My first table, I played with Sully Erna (Godsmack) for a majority of Day 1, I remember him being terrible but running good. At the table behind me was Laura Prepon (Donna - That 70s Show) and a few tables away was Toby Maguire.
The field size was around 8500 players. I never had a big stack but I think I hovered around avg stack for the first couple of days and then just slowly dwindled. I only remember a few hands, on day one I hit a set of 7's for a big pot vs a French pro and pissed him off.
The other one was on day 2 and I bluffed a large portion of my stack on the turn and got someone to lay down top two...he took forever to fold and kept talking to me but I wasn't saying a word although I felt like I was giving off every tell in the book! He finally folded and I almost showed him but I'm pretty sure he would have jacked me...I just told him I had a set, nice laydown...haha. I ended up finishing 497th for 26k, so all though it wasn't 8 million or whatever first was, it was still a good day, or week I should say. The day I busted was my birthday, so I did some celebrating with friends that were out there with me.I also played a $1500 event that year and Jesus Ferguson was at my table for a couple of hours. I played one hand with him HU and I almost wet myself. We were at opposite ends of the table, so we were facing each other and he raised preflop and I call with 9's. Flop was Q high and he threw out a bet and it felt like he was reading my soul so I took about 5 seconds and folded. I also sat next to Jen Harman in this same tournament but I don't recall any hands with her.
That's it, I think JetSetPoker went under later that year and I stayed mostly on the bigger sites. I didn't play as much after that as I got my first real IT job, married, bought a house and had kids all within 2 years of that.
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No, but I want to... post-pandemic. 2022 maybe.
Haven’t, but it’s on the bucket list! The wife and I have it in our plans to do a longer trip to the area - the rim to rim hike of the Grand Canyon is high on the wish list, ending the trip with som time in Vegas during the WSOP. Wanted to do it this year, but the wife got pregnant, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as we would have ended up having to cancel everything anyways. Maybe 2022??
bsdunbar1
4 of a Kind
1867 Entries
11+ Hours
F'n Blast
Negreanu busting out in 155th 2 tables away.
11+ Hours
F'n Blast
Negreanu busting out in 155th 2 tables away.
Saving this in case my nephew ever wants to understand the difference between men and women.
Managed to finally get to Vegas and play the big 50 in 2019.
Overall an amazing experience, though it was absolutely mental with about 6500 entries per flight. I even got a pic with the legendary poker player John Hesp lol
Played with some awesome chips
Had what felt like half of pcf railing me on the live update thread. Made day 2, had an annoying river chop a 750k pot that I was miles ahead in when we both it all in. Dwindled down from there and cashed in 581st for about $1100.
Would love to go back soon
Overall an amazing experience, though it was absolutely mental with about 6500 entries per flight. I even got a pic with the legendary poker player John Hesp lol
Played with some awesome chips
Had what felt like half of pcf railing me on the live update thread. Made day 2, had an annoying river chop a 750k pot that I was miles ahead in when we both it all in. Dwindled down from there and cashed in 581st for about $1100.
Would love to go back soon
moose
4 of a Kind
Have to admit, my eyes sorta bulged out there and I didn't read the rest.
buzzmonkey
Flush
Closest I've played so far is a $400 WSOPC event at Foxwoods last year.
Seeking Alpha Social Club
4 of a Kind
No, because I suck, but we send a player to the Main Event every year. Even though I haven't played...the experience of simply being there is AMAZING!! I have the honor of being the only person in our crew to (1) be on ESPN and (2) make PokerStars News. As it turns out...they LOOOOVVVVEEE drunk fools having fun.
Watch for this drunk dumb ass fist bumping fool at about the 18 second mark in the 2015 WSOP Intro. My buddy Mike was all in. As it turns out, when you yell...YOU GOT THIS MOTHER F'R...at the top of your lungs, ESPN camera men get interested.
And then in 2016, you will notice the same drunk ass fool in the PokerStars article (a couple of times) below.
https://www.pokerstars.com/en/blog/...egreanu-plays-a-sh-162398.shtml?no_redirect=1
This article literally references me or my peeps 2 or 3 times. It was AWESOME!!!
So, while I have never played...I ALWAYS enjoy being there. 
Watch for this drunk dumb ass fist bumping fool at about the 18 second mark in the 2015 WSOP Intro. My buddy Mike was all in. As it turns out, when you yell...YOU GOT THIS MOTHER F'R...at the top of your lungs, ESPN camera men get interested.
And then in 2016, you will notice the same drunk ass fool in the PokerStars article (a couple of times) below.
https://www.pokerstars.com/en/blog/...egreanu-plays-a-sh-162398.shtml?no_redirect=1
This article literally references me or my peeps 2 or 3 times. It was AWESOME!!!
So, while I have never played...I ALWAYS enjoy being there.
Forty4
Full House
Went out there a few years ago to play in it. Was supposed to go this year as well, actually last year too but never materialized as the crew had newborns. Should be going in 2021 if the pandemic ends. Only played one daily but so many tournaments going on we bounced around to all different ones. Can’t wait to go again.
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