On the cab ride to the Bellagio, Sirwatts and I discuss our Day One and our table draw for the day.

“Man I’m so pissed I lost a third of my stack in the last 20 minutes of the day.”

“Nah you’ll be fine Watts, just gaaaaaaaambol like me. Besides, I swapped 5% with you and I have mega swap run good. Do you have any idea what I’m up lifetime in swaps? Like $35,000 or something.”

“Maybe you just suck.”

“Oh for sure, but you’re gonna win either way. Pretty sure I’m fucked though, I just don’t have the dueness anymore.”

At the Bellagio, I find my way over to my seat and have a look around. I have one of the largest stacks on the table, but I do not have a soft draw. There are a number of good online players, including CrazyMarco and Jason Mercier, who is sitting on my direct left. On the first hand, I peek down at A-A in the SB and it folds around to me. I raise and Jason calls. The flop comes ragged and when I bet he quickly folds. I show the A-A and tell everyone “Well that’s enough excitement for me today. I’m out of here.”

“Too bad my King-Ten didn’t hit” says Jason “I have a flight to catch and woulda got it in with you.” Jesus, doesn’t anyone factor in the tournament before booking their flights?

Yet again, things are very quiet early. Just about every time I open a pot everyone folds or, if someone calls, they quickly fold on the flop. During the second break, I make a note on my paper which reads “2 levels in: 0 hands past the flop”.

When we come back from the break we’re on to the 600/1,200 with 200 ante level, meaning it’s very advantageous to play quite aggressive pre-flop with the massive antes. I open my raising conditions a bit, but most of the table also seems aware that the high antes means they should loosen up. About half an hour into the level, I finally get involved in a larger pot:

My stack: ~79,000, SB: ~30,000, blinds 600/1,200 with 200 ante. I hold A-To in the BB.

Pre-flop: Folds around to the SB, SB raises to 4,500, I shove, SB snap calls and tables K-K. I table my ATo and feel strangely confident.

Flop: A-6-3 rainbow

Turn: 9

River: 9

I tap the table and meekly apologize for the beat as the SB walks off. It appears my Summer of run good has not quite ended yet.

Not long after the hand, my table is broken and I’m moved to a table with online players Apestyles and Fatalerror, as well as a few recognizable live pros. I go on a small rush and find some hands to accumulate chips, then get involved in a larger pot with Harry Demetriou:

My stack: ~110K, Harry: ~65,000, blinds 600/1,200 with 200 ante. I hold As-Qh in the BB.

Pre-flop: Folds to Harry on the CO, Harry raises to 3,000, folds to me in the BB, I call.

Flop: 6s-6h-4c

I check, Harry checks.

Turn: Ah

I check, Harry bets 6,000, I raise to 17,000, intending to snap call if Harry shoves. Harry goes into the tank, looks me over, then folds.

Yet again, things remain quiet for quite some time. Even though I have a couple of aggressive players on my left, every time I open, they opt not to get involved and I barely see a flop while retaining the size of my stack. I get moved to a new table which doesn’t last long before I’m moved again, this time to a table with Sirwatts who is stacking the remains of a massive pot.

“What the fuck happened to you Watts?”

“I stacked the crazy Russian.”

“Which one?” (Have you played with a tight Russian? I haven’t.)

As the day draws to a close, Jack McClelland has Bob Stupak draw a card to see how many hands we’ll play to close out the day. He draws a five and with 130,000 in chips but basically zero interesting hands, it looks like I’m going to close out one of the easiest days of poker in memory. However, the first hand into our final five I get involved:

My stack: ~130K, SB: 23,300, blinds 1,000/2,000 with 300 ante. I hold A-Ko on the button.

Pre-flop: Folds to me, I raise to 5,500, SB shoves for 23,300, BB folds, I call. SB tables T-8o and the dealer instantly burns and turns.

Flop: T-7-4

Turn: 6

River: T

I count out the necessary amount and slide it over to the SB.

“I can’t believe I have to come back tomorrow” says the SB. Why even play a tournament when you can just wait until the end of the day and everyone will try and throw their tournament away?

I fold out the last few hands and end the day with 103,000. After we finish bagging our chips, Watts and I go over to the Rio to meet Tom, Grafyx, Celina and Tufat to have a dinner at Buzio’s and use up all the $10 vouchers we’ve accumulated throughout the series. I have 17 of them, so I order the three-pound lobster.

Going into tomorrow we’ll have 125 players left with 100 paying. For some strange reason, the Bellagio has 100 players being paid with 446 entrants, meaning nearly a quarter of the field makes the money. Meanwhile, the final table pay outs are extremely top heavy, and after the $19,000 difference between finishing 101 and 100, there’s not a pay jump as large as that until the jump between sixth and fifth. Sick variance.