Day 1

Day 1

Plan is 12 days in New Orleans for the Wsop circuit event (including the main event) and 8 days in Washington DC visiting Adam and playing in the new MGM poker room. Poker outside of Vegas is really great. I just love Vegas though. Joe is gonna meet up with me in NO in a few days and go up to DC w/ me.

8am flight. Running late, cost of bottle iced coffee, bag of nuts and a bag of gummy bears $16 at the airport. A little angry for spending so much (because I ran late...need to do a better job of being early, but I always tell myself that).

Board and even though I checked in 23hrs before, still one of the last to board. Hopeful for an end seat, but doubt it. Somehow get one sitting next to a couple from Reno. Maybe a sign of running good this trip. Rarely talk to my plane mates but got in a nice conversation with the guy next to me. He's a truck driver and I say I'm a director of a singles ministry at a church in Vegas. It makes me happy to say that and mean it. Get to talk a little about faith. Also talk a little about poker. I wonder if I can beat Jesus in a heads up match of poker. 

Flight is 3.5 hrs. Thinking about Nicole and her struggles with depression and anxiety. Almost brings tears in my eyes. Even if I know I did a good job parenting up to this point, there's still the guilt that I could've done better, and aspire to do better. She'll be in good hands with her mom the next 3 weeks.

Debating spending $8 for full wifi on plane. I can sleep (after getting 3 hrs of sleep), read (Swipe Right), or spend $8 and waste 3 hrs on social media and games on my phone. I'd rate importance in the order I listed. It's a no brainer, I go with the latter.

I do my daily devotional first.

Verse of the day:

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭20:24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

 

Love that verse and feels very personal.

Continue on with my YouVersion bible app plan of Swipe Right. Plan on reading entire book on this trip. After 3 chapters, love it already and excited to read the rest of it. Glad our singles ministry is doing this study.

Turn on Spotify to listen to some music. Lately it's been Kpop. Weirdly, I feel a sense of Korean pride listening to it, maybe that's why I've enjoyed it (also secretly hoping my Korean gets better listening to Korean pop songs over and over again. I know all about Gangnam if I should ever get in a conversation in Korean). Fight-ting!

Well crap, I forgot SW air gives out free bags of peanuts. There's $6 wasted on a bag of nuts earlier. 😡

Poker: normally I never set monetary goals in poker because there's no point. It's a negative freeroll. You can get frustrated if you don't meet that goal. Also the only thing that matters in poker is playing your best at all times (or trying to). Well, for some reason $20k popped up in my mind and something achievable. Sure it's more unlikely than likely, but it's definitely possible. I'd say given that I lose 1 in 3 cash sessions, I have about a 1 in 5 to 6 chance of having a losing trip as well, depending on how much variance is in the games (expecting lots). Also given that I'm planning on playing the Wsop circuit main event, I could win anywhere from $1 to $200k. Let's hope I could buy a bunch of steaks and not hamburgers after this trip. 

Uber is great.

First thought of the Big Easy, very humid. 

Poker: Join a new 2/5 Nl game, very first hand old guy in mp open raises to $150. They were right about the south. As customary when I sit down, I say a quick prayer, and it's always the same...that I stay disciplined and play the best I can.

Kevin (my trip roommate) and I go to Mother's restaurant and I get the jambalaya. Surprisingly I don't feel it's as good as most of the jambalaya's I've had in Vegas. I feel tired and plan on taking an hr nap. I wake up 3 hrs later.

The office for the next few days

Ran into Two Hats from Vegas...tells me the games aren't as good as in years' past, but then, that's true pretty much everywhere now.

Poker: Folds to me on the button, look down at Q7dd, open raise to $15, but accidently throw in $55, Sb calls, I cbet $65 on 664xcc and he folds. Oops. Mistakes like that are a rarity for me. The great thing is that the table now thinks I'm fishy (bad)

Poker: Game breaks but one guy is willing to play heads up, we kick it up to 5/10 to combat the rake (from $3/hand to $6/30min). My edge is prob not that large because he was prob the 2nd best player on our table, but my HU game is stronger than most, especially live players. We play for half an hr then the floor comes and tells us to join the main 5/10 game. Just one notable hand, Opr $30 btn w TTcx, he 3b to $110, I call to Q66ccx he cbet $135, I call, turn 3c he cbet $300, I can fold here but calling is slightly more optimal with the Tc, riv Jx he cbets $500, I fold. 

Poker: The 5/10 game is comprised of 3 guys younger (and all good), 4 old guys (and bad to avg), about $2500 avg stacks w one kid having $10k. I elect to top off to $3k to start.

Poker: I raise $40 w A7hh utg, 2 calls, kid I played HU goes $225, kid w $10k on btn calls, I fold, another guy calls to Q96ddd flop, HU kid cbet $450, btn raises to $1500, fold, kid calls, turn 3x, chk, btn puts kid all in for $3500, kid snap calls, riv 2d, btn shows 99, HU kid shows AAdx and wins the $11k pot. I like how both guys played the hand. 

Two Hats (sitting 2 to my right) tells me he found a $100 chip on the ground today. Some guys have all the luck. (Two Hats in the middle, very tall guy we thought was in the NBA on his left, and some guy getting the $2/min massage on his right)

Discussion about the existence of God ensues on the other side of the table. It's a friendly and deep discussion among 3 good players, and not surprisingly there are some thoughtful arguments for both sides. Good poker players tend to be sound problem solvers, and really passionate behind their beliefs. Being on the other side of the table, I can't join. 

Poker: Button straddle to $20, Sb kid raises to $80, next kid 3bets to $300, old guy calls, I have JJ behind and make a somewhat tight fold for a couple of reasons (I had about $2700, sb's range is normally strong and since I don't close action, the threat of a 4bet is there where I'd have to fold and lose my initial $300 call), fish on btn calls to 235ssx flop, 3better bets $600, mp calls, btn shoves $3k, folds back to mp, he has about $3k and tanks a long time then calls. Btn shows A7ss, mp shows 44...it's great to see guys getting in that much money with avg holdings. Turn is a spade and btn wins with A7ss. The guy that lost rants on about how he had the best hand on the flop and other guy got lucky, but the reality is that they were about 50/50 to win mathematically, so they were basically tied on the flop when all the money went in. The pot was about $8k. Poker can be an emotional game for some, most.

The 5/10 game breaks and I take a $1k loss in it. Basically was card dead and never won a hand postflop. Sometimes you take good losses, and I think this session falls under that.

Recap: Play a little more 2/5 before calling it quits for the day. It's 5am here and I'm hungry. I fall into the trap of eating at the wrong times, but I'll make an excuse that it was the time difference (2hrs). I locate a Fuddruckers in the casino and it's open. Feels like Vegas. Eat a burger, think about my sessions and analyze my play...feel satisfied with poker today and don't feel I really made any mistakes. Results don't really matter for pros, but for the sake of interest and my $20k goal (haha), I finish -$750 on the first day. I'll take a quick stroll across the street, hoping it's not raining, to the Hilton and sleep well this morning.