*** OFFICIAL *** 2012 Main Event discussion thread

[Dan Druff]

This will double as the Druff (and hopefully Drexel) Main Event rail thread. I am playing tomorrow (Day 1B).

The following people have already walked out of the Rio with their heads down:

Lee Markholt
Greg Mueller
Haralabos Voulgaris
Lika Gerasimova
Kathy Liebert
Ted Lawson
Chris Klodnicki
Soi Nguyen
Joe Hachem
Bill Gazes
Jim Bechtel
Igor Kurganov
Raymond Rahme
Mark Newhouse
Fabrizio Baldassari
Luca Pagano
Matt Glantz
Randal Flowers

There was a guy (David Randall) who shockingly had 143k by 6pm, but he has slipped to 138k since then. The 143k was surprising because that could easily be the end-of-Day-1 lead.

Filipo Candio is looking to make another run, as he has 81k already.

Soi Nguyen, who was also at the 2010 Main Event final table, is already out.

Candio, Nguyen, and Jason Senti were all at the Day 6 table where I busted in 88th place that year. Senti came to the table with fewer chips than I had, but then ran super hot. Nguyen was pretty wild, so it doesn't surprise me that he is already out of Day 1.

Greg Mueller and Matt Glantz are both very good tournament players, but they had nice 2012 WSOPs already, so I guess this was just variance catching up with them.

I used to like Kathy Liebert until publicity from Quadjacks actually made her arrogant.

I wonder if Mark Newhouse still lives at Commerce. (Yes, he actually lived there for quite some time.) Mark was definitely a case of a genuinely nice guy getting led astray by bad influences around him.

[BUBBLES]

Phil H is also gone.

[RichardBrodiesCombover.]

Gl to you and Zod, Druff.

[BCR]

Good luck.

I think they took some of the luster off the Main Event with that One Drop event. It feels anticlimactic after a head shot of $18 million. Hopefully one of you make a run to make it interesting.

[DropKick]

Good luck to Druff, Drexel and any other PFA'rs playing.

[DropKick]

Good luck.

I think they took some of the luster off the Main Event with that One Drop event. It feels anticlimactic after a head shot of $18 million.

Yeah I thought this too, perhaps if they hold it again it should be the last tournament played, it's definately stolen some of the mains thunder.

[rickastley]

Back to Main Event update. Won a number of pots, some big, some small, up to 51675. #pfa61

[Fergie72]

Good luck.

I think they took some of the luster off the Main Event with that One Drop event. It feels anticlimactic after a head shot of $18 million.

Yeah I thought this too, perhaps if they hold it again it should be the last tournament played, it's definately stolen some of the mains thunder.

[Dan Druff]

On the dinner break. The first two hours sucked (including the fights I had with the Rio floormen/supervisors at the beginning).

The next 90 minutes after break kicked ass, as I won several decent sized pots. No huge pots, but a number of good Day 1 pots that basically added together to more than double me up.

The final 30 minutes of that level and the last two hours were okay. I won some, lost some, and finished at 53300. I finally made a draw on the final hand before break. Semi-bluffed an AxTx board on turn with QJ (after it had checked around on the flop), got one caller, and K hit the river. I also was fortunate twice to make chops on the river after missing draws.

I hit a set of deuces both times I saw the flop with deuces. One time I flopped it, the next time I turned it. I had deuces a third time but folded them to a raise and re-reraise pre before the action got to me.

I took one semi-bad-beat late where a five-outer hit the turn, but it wasn't a very big pot.

Table is kinda weird. I initially thought it was really good because I recognized no one, and there were several guys over 50 present.

It turns out it's just okay. There are no outright bad players, but a few semi-donks. There is a LOT of cold-calling at this table, but very little re-raising pre-flop. I think that's because of the deep structure.

[Crowe Diddly]

On the dinner break. The first two hours sucked (including the fights I had with the Rio floormen/supervisors at the beginning).

The next 90 minutes after break kicked ass, as I won several decent sized pots. No huge pots, but a number of good Day 1 pots that basically added together to more than double me up.

The final 30 minutes of that level and the last two hours were okay. I won some, lost some, and finished at 53300. I finally made a draw on the final hand before break. Semi-bluffed an AxTx board on turn with QJ (after it had checked around on the flop), got one caller, and K hit the river. I also was fortunate twice to make chops on the river after missing draws.

I hit a set of deuces both times I saw the flop with deuces. One time I flopped it, the next time I turned it. I had deuces a third time but folded them to a raise and re-reraise pre before the action got to me.

I took one semi-bad-beat late where a five-outer hit the turn, but it wasn't a very big pot.

Table is kinda weird. I initially thought it was really good because I recognized no one, and there were several guys over 50 present.

It turns out it's just okay. There are no outright bad players, but a few semi-donks. There is a LOT of cold-calling at this table, but very little re-raising pre-flop. I think that's because of the deep structure.

Outright!

[BCR]

Really solid start Druff. Hopefully you can get hot at the right time in this one. At least you're making it interesting.

[Dan Druff]

Really solid start Druff. Hopefully you can get hot at the right time in this one. At least you're making it interesting.

Thanks.

I didn't win any monster pots here, but just a succession of small/medium/medium-big ones that chipped me up.

Fortunately, I didn't lose any big pots, either. The one hand that could have been harmful -- TT overpair against JJ overpair of a semi-shortstack, I smelled something funny and let it go on the turn. He told me at the end of the day (I believe honestly) that he had JJ that hand.

Had a few monster flops where I could have won huge pots if my opponent hit, too, but at best I got bet/call, bet/call, bet/fold on the flop-turn-river of those hands.

My luckboxing of the day came from a hand where I had AsKs against a guy with just 13k left. He re-raised my open, I shoved, and he tabled two red aces. Flop came with two spades, and I made the flush on the turn, leaving him drawing to a single out (an ace that would give him a boat). He didn't get it, and I won 14k on the hand instead of lost 13k.

The table mostly had older guys there. Not like really old, but a lot of dudes in the 45-60 range.

I did have the good fortune of seemingly always winning a pot right after losing chips, so once I shook off the bad first level and started rising, I never really fell back very much. The 105400 I finished with was my high for the day, as I bluffed the last pot and won a few thousand.

Will be checking the WSOP site for Tuesday's Day 2 table draw, and will be hoping to get a good draw.

Today's table draw was fairly good, as there were no known players, and nobody was super-tough to play against. We didn't have any awful players at the table, but we did have a few semidonks. I'd say this table draw was better than average, but mainly because of the lack of top players.

[Dan Druff]

Nice guys at the table, too.

Got along with everyone really well, which made playing a lot more pleasant, especially after my frustration with Harrah's fail at the beginning.

[chinamaniac]

Nice guys at the table, too.

Got along with everyone really well, which made playing a lot more pleasant, especially after my frustration with Harrah's fail at the beginning.

How did they fail?

[Dan Druff]

Nice guys at the table, too.

Got along with everyone really well, which made playing a lot more pleasant, especially after my frustration with Harrah's fail at the beginning.

How did they fail?

They are absolutely terrible at handling starting table changes.

They have improved things at the WSOP over the years, but one thing that remains constant is the complete incompetence that occurs when they have to change starting tables.

Basically, they announce it up until the event starting time, and then once the event starts, you're on your own. So if you even walk in there a minute late, you are left wandering around trying to find your table, and nobody knows what the fuck to tell you if you ask them.

So today I woke up to a power failure, which cost me extra time and I showed up about 5-10 minutes late. I was supposed to be in the Amazon Blue section, table 456.

So I go into Amazon, and I can't find the blue section. I walk all around and it just doesn't exist. I then enter one of the other sections to ask about it, and there's no floorman. I then enter another section and look for a floorman, and again can't find one. I wander around again trying to find a floorman, and finally see one. I ask him about where I should go, and here's his answer:

"You need to find the blue section and look for table 456."



So once again I explain that there is no blue section, and no table 456. He tells me to go to the Brasilia room, and gives me the wrong directions there (fortunately I knew where it was).

So I go to Brasilia, and I find that I have just missed my blinds and lost 150 chips. Not a huge deal from a 30k stack, but it's the principle of the matter. I would have been there in time not to miss my blinds if I hadn't wasted 10 good minutes or so in the Amazon room, where there was absolutely no announcement, sign, or direction as to what to do.

I asked for my 150 chips back, and the guy told me, "We don't add chips to the touranment", which is complete bullshit, because they do it all the time (for example, when someone no-shows, and they eventually take his stack out of play).

He told me, "It's 12:15 now. We made the announcement at 12 and had someone there for the first few minutes."

I told him that they need to leave someone there for at least a half an hour when they pull crap like this, and not just stick it to the people who are a few minutes late. He didn't agree. I asked for his supervisor, and he obnoxiously said, "I am the supervisor." I asked again for HIS supervisor, and he walked away without saying a word.

About 10 minutes later, his boss did show up. The boss was even worse. He was rushing me when I was playing a hand, saying he would leave "in one minute" if I didn't finish the hand and talk to him. Keep in mind that this wasn't a long hand at all, and he was just being a dickhead. So I finished the hand and explained everything to him.

I started out telling him that I showed up "around 12:05", and he interrupted, "12:10. You showed up at 12:10. We looked it up on the surveillance video."



What was the point of doing that? Whether I showed up at 12:05 or 12:10 was irrelevant to my point.

He told me that they made announcements about the room change "every 30 seconds up until 12:00", but stopped after 12. So I replied, "So you're saying that people who are even one minute late are left to fend for themselves and wander around aimlessly until they figure out where to go?"

He replied, "We did everything we could to inform people."

I said, "No, you didn't. You could have put up signs that people would see when entering the Amazon Room. You could have put people at the door, asking those walking in if they are there for the Blue sectoin."

He said, "We had someone standing there doing that."

I replied, "No, you didn't. I would have seen him. Where was he?"

"He was in the blue section," he told me matter-of-factly.

"But there is no blue section in Amazon," I protested. "That's the whole problem. It got moved here!"

"There is a blue section, it just has no tables and isn't labeled Blue anymore."



At this point I realized I was talking to an idiot, and wasn't going to get anywhere. I jumped back to the table to play a hand, and said, "You can leave, obviously you're just going to give me a bunch of excuses."

What's so annoying about this is that it's REALLY SIMPLE to efficiently redirect people (both early and late), but these retards just can't get it right.

And of course, anyone who dares criticize WSOP operations gets blocked on Twitter by Jack Effel.

[Dan Druff]

1387 out of 2114 survived Day 1B.

That's 65.6%.

Of those 1387, I am 54th in chips, which I'm obviously happy with.

http://www.wsop.com/pdfs/reports/121...D1B(chips).pdf

42 people finished with more chips than me from Day 1A. 657 survived that day out of 1066.

http://www.wsop.com/pdfs/reports/121...D1A(chips).pdf

This means I am 96th out of 2044 remaining (prior to Day 1C), and 96th out of the first 3180 that entered.

Here is my table assignment:

http://www.wsop.com/pdfs/reports/121...OD1B(seat).pdf (scroll down to table 44)

Nikolai Yakovenko Moscow, RU 12,450 Brasilia / 44 / 1
Gregory Weber SACRAMENTO, CA, US 29,850 Brasilia / 44 / 2
Todd Witteles LAS VEGAS, NV, US 105,400 Brasilia / 44 / 3
Robert Kraft Van Nuys, CA, US 26,350 Brasilia / 44 / 4
David Sklansky LAS VEGAS, NV, US 24,450 Brasilia / 44 / 5
Yi Chou Richmond, BC, CA 70,200 Brasilia / 44 / 6
Justin Wald KIRKLAND, WA, US 13,225 Brasilia / 44 / 8
Mikhail Ustinov Moscow, , RU 16,700 Brasilia / 44 / 9

Should I bring a vibrator and use it as my card protector?

I have played with Sklansky very briefly in the WSOP, but he was super shortstacked and busted quickly.

I don't recognize anyone else at the table besides Sklansky. Do you guys know the rest of these people?

I do like the fact that, aside from Yi Chou, who has 70k, everyone is shortstacked. Nobody has starting chips besides me and Yi Chou.

Seat 7 is open, so that will probably get filled pretty quickly.

[Deal]

I do like the fact that, aside from Yi Chou, who has 70k, everyone is shortstacked. Nobody has starting chips besides me and Yi Chou.

Can you explain your logic as to why this is a better favourable table dynamics than one that has more chips at it? I love your position at the table however I would like it even more if there were move people with more chips at the table. People with short stacks are typically not playing many hands and not looking to bust/double. They are playing tight. People with lots of chips are more likely to play hands oop and also put chips into pots only to fold to pressure. You want to have chips at the table in order to eventually put them in your stack.

Interested in your opposing viewpoint.

GL day 2

[Dan Druff]

I do like the fact that, aside from Yi Chou, who has 70k, everyone is shortstacked. Nobody has starting chips besides me and Yi Chou.

Can you explain your logic as to why this is a better favourable table dynamics than one that has more chips at it? I love your position at the table however I would like it even more if there were move people with more chips at the table. People with short stacks are typically not playing many hands and not looking to bust/double. They are playing tight. People with lots of chips are more likely to play hands oop and also put chips into pots only to fold to pressure. You want to have chips at the table in order to eventually put them in your stack.

Interested in your opposing viewpoint.

GL day 2

I answered this, but then realized that my opponents will be googling me and will find useful information from my post.

If you want the answer, PM me and I will send it to you privately.

[jsearles22]

1387 out of 2114 survived Day 1B.

That's 65.6%.

Of those 1387, I am 54th in chips, which I'm obviously happy with.

http://www.wsop.com/pdfs/reports/121...D1B(chips).pdf

42 people finished with more chips than me from Day 1A. 657 survived that day out of 1066.

http://www.wsop.com/pdfs/reports/121...D1A(chips).pdf

This means I am 96th out of 2044 remaining (prior to Day 1C), and 96th out of the first 3180 that entered.

Here is my table assignment:

http://www.wsop.com/pdfs/reports/121...OD1B(seat).pdf (scroll down to table 44)

Nikolai Yakovenko Moscow, RU 12,450 Brasilia / 44 / 1
Gregory Weber SACRAMENTO, CA, US 29,850 Brasilia / 44 / 2
Todd Witteles LAS VEGAS, NV, US 105,400 Brasilia / 44 / 3
Robert Kraft Van Nuys, CA, US 26,350 Brasilia / 44 / 4
David Sklansky LAS VEGAS, NV, US 24,450 Brasilia / 44 / 5
Yi Chou Richmond, BC, CA 70,200 Brasilia / 44 / 6
Justin Wald KIRKLAND, WA, US 13,225 Brasilia / 44 / 8
Mikhail Ustinov Moscow, , RU 16,700 Brasilia / 44 / 9

Should I bring a vibrator and use it as my card protector?

I have played with Sklansky very briefly in the WSOP, but he was super shortstacked and busted quickly.

I don't recognize anyone else at the table besides Sklansky. Do you guys know the rest of these people?

I do like the fact that, aside from Yi Chou, who has 70k, everyone is shortstacked. Nobody has starting chips besides me and Yi Chou.

Seat 7 is open, so that will probably get filled pretty quickly.

I think that one guy owns the Patriots?

GL day 2 Druff. Shouldn't you be asleep right now

[Steve-O]

Good job getting above 100k, I got to work a mention into my writeup, I'll link it to our previous interview