Drum Machine
A silver Dodge Journey drops me off at the Bally's lobby. I merge into the herd of backpacks, hoodies, baseball caps and headphones ambling into the ballroom at the back of the casino. There are 1,701 of us here for Day 2 of the Millionaire Maker, down from the 7,975 entries across two flights.
I start with a middling forty big blinds, and fold trash hands as a couple big stacks open and three-bet every pot. We'll get to into the money within a couple hours, and they're trying to pick up some scared blinds.
One of the big stacks opens in early position and I flat in the hijack with king-jack of diamonds. The flop is a black ace and two diamonds — a five and a four. My opponent leads with a half pot bet and I call with my flush draw. The turn is the king of hearts, giving me more outs to his possible top pair. He makes another large bet and I make the call.
More than half my stack is in the pot, my tournament life flashes before my eyes as the river comes.
The eight of diamonds. I hit my flush.
My opponent checks, and I take my time to act. But there's only one move for me to make — I push my remaining chips to the middle. I don't have the nuts, but I'm confident I have the best hand.
He stares me down as I try to moderate my breathing. I want the call, but after a minute he grumbles, "you told a good story" and flicks his cards into the muck.
A few orbits later we're hand-for-hand. The tournament director makes the announcement — we're down to 1,195 and in the money, each of us guaranteed a $2,400 cash.
Short stacks wake up, ranges expanded as they try to double up. We lose three hundred players in the first hour.
Our table breaks and I move to a new one across the room. I open in early position with another king-jack of diamonds and get two callers. We check around the king high flop and the big blind open jams his short stack on the turn. I make the call, and concede to his king-queen. The river is no help, and I'm down to eight big blinds.
I jam the next hand with pocket sixes and get called by the button holding ace-ten. An ace on the flop is enough to put me way behind. I pick up a straight draw on the turn, but the river blanks.
I'm out in 808th place, and take my spot in the payout line behind Chris Moorman as I debate my next move.
There's another tournament running at Paris — the $1k turbo bounty. It's a crapshoot of a tournament with twenty minute levels and a small starting stack. It started four hours ago, but there are a few minutes of late registration left.
It's not ideal to register a tournament this late, starting with only six big blinds. And it's even worse in a bounty tournament. You're paid $300 for every person you knock out, an incentive to play aggressively against the short stacks.
I glance at the seconds digit on my watch. It's a randomization tactic I use at the tables when I know the right decision involves mixed frequencies. If the last digit is a one through five, I'll go get some dinner.
It's a nine.
I smile as I join the other degenerates in the late registration line, all of us following the pied piper's call of a WSOP bracelet.
My luck curdles before I'm dealt my first hand. I sit down at my table to see that I have to pay the big blind and ante. Two hands later I'm already down to four big blinds.
The lojack limps, and the cutoff raises. On the button, I look down at ace-jack of hearts and move my paltry stack to the middle. Both players call, battling for a side pot.
The flop is king, three, two, with two hearts. I like my chances.
The turn is the jack of diamonds, giving me second pair. Not bad.
I turn my hand over once the blank river comes, but the cutoff has king-nine for a better pair. My seat didn't even get warm.
I pack up my suitcase, catch up on The Boys before heading to bed. I'll be on a morning flight back to Indianapolis tomorrow, excited to see my wife and kids for the first time in two weeks.
I'm disappointed the first leg of my trip didn't have as much poker as I'd planned. But I'm happy with the results so far — four live WSOP events ending in two cashes.
A brief rest, and I’ll be back with a stacked schedule that includes the Main Event.