The Athy gypsy curse

Before heading back for day 2 of my first WSOP side event this year, I swapped a few texts with Jason. Jason jokingly wished me the same luck as he had last year (when he ran probably the worst of any Irish over here). Well, the joke hypothesis is one possibility. Another that has crossed my mind since is it was some sort of Athy gyspy curse, as it's difficult to describe how badly I've been running since I got here. Forget winning races: I can't even win the 80/20s most of the time, and no matter how tight I sit waiting for a good spot to ship, the first time I do I run into something, usually aces, or sixes, or king eight, it doesn't really matter since right now I'd put money on anyone else's K2o against my kings.

OK, I know how boring it is to hear a poker player whining about how bad he's running, so I'll try to leave it at that for now. Things at least took a slight turn for the better yesterday. After busting out in Caesar's (first ship called, lost race, yada yada), I played my first live stt this year in the Rio. I got headsup against a good Italian (they exist!) and lost a 60/40 (AT, my current bogey hand, against his K7) for nearly all the chips. We'd done a saver so at least I got some dirty ol' money from it. After that, I bought in late to the nightly turbo. I did very well in this last year but have been wondering about whether it's worth playing, given the reg is effectively 30% and there are far more pros playing it this year. On the other hand, there's still definite value: it's difficult to describe just how bad the tourists and recreational players are. One example: tight old guy opens for 1500 utg, two calls, I find aces in the BB and make it 4500 playing 30k (table chipleader), old guy shoves, and the second caller decides K8s might be good here and reshoves for 20k (I promised no more whining so I won't mention that he of course flopped 2 pair). Anyway, I ended up making the final table with a decent stack, but was first out for not much moolah but at least it was a confidence boost and stopped the rot as far as Vegas roll hemorrhage goes.

That meant a late night so I decided to take today off apart from maybe some more stts later on, as I'm playing my second side, a $1500 NLH, tomorrow.

The WSOP is a commercialised affair on every level. As you walk through the corridors of the Rio, you are assaulted on all sides by ads for stuff and you run the gauntlet of hucksters and hawkers of all types. Half way up the main corridor to the Amazon room, a young lady on heels so high they encroach on the high heels/stilts border and sporting a skirt so small it's almost a belt approaches thousands of men every day with the opening line "Can I show you something?" She looks like an accident waiting to happen, balancing on her heels/stilts on a shiny marble floor. So, in fairness, do most of the players currently buzzing round the corridors. This early in the Series, the overwhelming atmosphere is one of optimism and smiles. We all think this is going to be our year, but of course for the vast majority of us, it won't. Wind the clock forward a few weeks and we'll be the ones scowling around like a lost tribe looking like people's whose lives have gone badly wrong, getting sympathetic looks from passersby.

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