Once again, I made a Day 2 of a Limit Holdem Event in 2017. I'm 3-for-3 in doing that. Sadly, I'm 0-for-2 so far in cashing, including a painful stone bubble at the $1500 event.

This day saw me having to deal with a stressful situation in my personal life which came up in the early afternoon. I went to unregister from the event, which originally had me sitting at Table 111. However, official WSOP rules do not allow you to re-register later, which is what I wanted. After pleading my case to the floorman in charge, he made an exception, and they agreed to "suspend" my registration until I returned later. This meant my chips would not blind off.

I came back at about 4:30 -- 90 minutes into the event. I had been moved to Table 108, which seemed like it was better, from what I could see. However, as the day progressed, the originals at Table 108 were gone fairly quickly. They were replaced by various good players -- Justin Bonomo, John Hoppmann (Hopscott), Cathleen "CC" Tran... and the table got progressively worse as the day went along. There were a few amateurs and semi-amateurs at the table, so that helped.

I hit a ton of hands early, rocketing me up to over 35k quickly, for what appeared to be a small chiplead (this was before the first 3 levels were over).

However, I struggled from that point forward with inconsistency, never eclipsing 43500.

Despite the inconsistency, I actually played a more conservative style than I typically do at these events, which I did as a result of the makeup of the table and my seat location. I did run a stone bluff with complete air (successfully) when I felt that I was in a spot where it would work.

I had a problem with rivers. I wasn't hitting many, but I was getting rivered like crazy, including several 2-5 outers. Bonomo seemed to repeatedly make 1-card flushes against big hands of mine -- including a set and 2 pair.

At one point I looked like I was headed for bustoville, holding just 11600 on the final level of the night, playing 1200/2400. However, I spiked trips on the turn in my near-all-in hand with Cathleen Tran (who had just rivered me with a 5-outer about 20 minutes earlier), and then I was able to drag a decent sized 3-way pot with 99 unassisted, bringing me up to my event-high 43500 stack.

The second-to-last hand of the night was almost a disaster. It was a family pot seeing the flop, with all 5 players at the table still in. I had 2d3d in the BB -- a hand I hate, but had to play given the other 4 players already being in. Flop came 962 with 2 clubs. Cathleen bet out in the SB (she wasn't the preflop raiser), and I considered taking one off to see if I could spike my 2 or 3. I decided to fold. Two players called. The turn of 3s made me want to tear my hair out. However, a jack of clubs hit the river, and TWO players -- Cathleen and an amateur -- had clubs. So had I called that flop (and then raised the turn), I was probably losing 8400. I finished with 31,500.

Despite my massive struggles against Bonomo on this day, who played with me at all 3 limit holdem events this year, he busted near the end of the night. He lost most of his chips to Hoppmann. He was very polite to me this year, which contrasts with 2 years ago when he made an unsolicited obnoxious comment to me shortly after joining my table.

I am well below the average of 52.6k, and 39 of the remaining 73 spots will receive a minimum of $4482.

We are coming back to play 1500/3000, so I'll need to win some hands.

My table has only 5 people tomorrow:

Frank Kassela Rossville, TN, US 96,200 Brasilia / 707 / 1
David Goldberg Delray Beach, FL, US 26,600 Brasilia / 707 / 2
Todd Witteles LAS VEGAS, NV, US 31,500 Brasilia / 707 / 4
Jason Papastavrou NEW YORK, NY, US 36,100 Brasilia / 707 / 5
Max Silver LONDON, GB 69,800 Brasilia / 707 / 6

This is a pretty good draw. Max Silver is a well known British player, but I'm not sure how well he plays limit holdem. Frank Kassela is a solid older guy who once was WSOP Player of the year.

I don't know the other two, neither of whom have a lot of chips.

Fortunately, I do not have any Bellagio, Commerce, or online limit holdem all stars at my table (at least I don't think I do).

Still, I'll need to hit hands.