So late last May I decided to go out to Las Vegas and take my shot. I had around 5k. Well as you can tell from the title I lost it all in about a month. It was towards the end of June and I was stuck out in Las Vegas with no money and no where to stay. No one I knew was out there at the time either. So I took out a cash advance from one of those internet sites for $1000. It was my last shot. If I lost that I would go back home to wisconsin. I started grinding away at the 1-2 tables only to take a couple horrible beats. Down to my last hundred dollars or so I buy in at the flamingo 1-2 game for all of it. Some drunk European guy is seated directly to my right with about $1500 in front of him, and he is spewing chips. I build up to about $400 pretty easily in an hour or so when I pick up pockets 8's on the button. A random under the gun raises and drunk european guy re raises. I flat on the button. Guy under the gun calls. Flop comes 10 8 4 rainbow. Under the gun checks Euro bets I raise guy under the gun goes all in for $200, Euro goes all in and I call. Euro has JJ. Under the gun has 44 for bottom set and I have 88 for middle set. Turn Blank. River Blank. My roll back up to $1200 after that hand and I leave the table not long after.

After that I walk over to the roulette wheel and take a hundred bucks and put $20 each on 4 7 17 0 00. I smack a 17 for $700. So I do it again. This time putting $50 on each of the numbers and a 0 comes up for $1750. I do it again this time putting $100 on each of the numbers and SMACK 17 comes up for $3500. I do it one more time and miss. So I leave the flamingo with about a 6k roll. Over the course of the next week I am absolutely the luckiest guy in Las Vegas. I can't miss on the roulette table, and am betting $50-100 on numbers 4 7 17 0 00. Even smacking a $200 4 for $7000 once. I run my roll up to about $50,000 in a week.

I decide to play some $1000 satelites for the main event. I think I played 3 and I missed on all of them. By this time day 1 of the main event had already began and were through 1a and 1b. I played another satelite on day 1c and missed. Thats when I decided I would just buy in to the main event. I figured there must be a reason for me to have all of this money at this time. So I took a shot.

I played day 1d and was stuck at a tough table with Glen Chorny on my right, and a few other really great players who I didn't know. I grinded the whole day picking up nothing and was down to about 10k with the blinds at about 100-200 when I got pocket 4's in middle position and raised up to 600. I got one caller which I believe was the small blind. The flop came A 4 10 when I bet out again got raised and went all in and he called with a10. Turn Blank River Blank. I double up and have over 20k now. I ended up day 1 with about 50k after flopping a full house with pocket tens, and getting paid off.

Day 2 would be one of the most amazing days of my life as I couldn't miss anything and have never seen a run of cards like it before in my life. On one hand I had kq of hearts. Flop came q83 with two hearts and we got it all in. The guy had a set of 8's but I spiked a flush on the river for about a 100k pot. Another hand was just sick where I picked up pocket kings. A guy raised I reraised and he called. Flop comes q 10 3. I bet he calls. Turn 7. I bet, he raises, I reraise, he goes all in. I think think think and finally call leaving myself only about 60k behind. He turns over qq for a set of queens. Oh Fuck! "I need a king" I say. River KING! Around a 350k pot! I end day 2b as the chip leader with 530k chips, and the chip leader of the largest day 2 restart in poker history.

Needless to say I don't sleep well that night. Would have loved some xanax. Day 3 was pretty much a stalemate for me as I wanted to cash real bad and didn't want to do anything stupid. I ended the day with about 480k which was above average. That night I slept terrible again, and woke up feeling like absolute shit. Day 4 would be a day that nothing could go right and would lead to many hours of lost sleep over what could have been and how I played hands poorly. The very first hand of the day I pick up AQ off. Some euro raises from under the gun to 14k. I think the blinds were 2.5-5k. I flat from the hijack and everyone else folds. At this point I feel the euro has a huge hand for some reason like ak or kk. The flop comes Q82. He bets 25k and I just called (I should have raised). Turn k. He bets 65k I think for a bit and call. River 6. He bets out 130k!! Oh fuck I think I am beat. I think for about 2 min before laying down AQ. He flips over QJ! to what would lead me into a spiral of tilting off the rest of my chips over the next 3 hours including getting my aces cracked all in preflop vs. JJ with a J on the river to Marco Marcon (some donk from brazil but the name sticks with me very well and will forver). Anyways I went out in 273 place.

Over the next few months I went back and finished school, as I only had one class left to take. At the same time I was doing a lot of drugs and not sleeping as I couldn't understand what happen to me on that final day of the WSOP. After months of restless nights I finally relise it just wasn't meant to be, and I am content with that. Anyways here I am back in Las Vegas, and headed over to the Venetian to play some 2-5, content once again with my life.

And btw, I did not go broke again for everyone who thinks I did. Thanks

ummmmmmm 1st!?

I am good at roulette...

GA.

Drugs are bad. mmmkay

 

Originally Posted by DoubleS00ted

You are a degen.

This

 

Originally Posted by DoubleS00ted

You are a degen.

Helluva story. Good luck man!!!

 

Originally Posted by Gags30

[ ] you will have money at the end of the summer

I thought bout going to Vegas with more than this ^^^^^He gives me hope!!! But I wouldn't run that hot at roulette

entertaining read, gl to you

pretty sick story

 

Originally Posted by cronk123

Don't give any eruo's any credit, shoulda raised on the flop when hitting top pair (queens) or at least called teh f.uckin eruo down on the river

This. I can't believe you folded to a European dude in that situation. Nit.

How and why do you wear this story like a badge of honor? Its nothing more than a testament to poor self-control, lack of discipline, and other equally undesirable qualities that will get you nowhere fast in any endeavor.

This idea that degeneracy goes hand in hand with success in poker is ludicrous, all it represents is an inefficiency, a leak in someones overall poker/life game that does nothing but hamper sucess and growth.

Do many succesful players have these tendencies?... sure.. but that is in no way a basis to establish a causal relationship between the two.

I think 8ROM tags it well when he says there is a fine line, implying that the degen side is to the detriment of the player, not a complement to his poker prowess.

 

Originally Posted by pbiebs7

Thats when I decided I would just buy in to the main event. I figured there must be a reason for me to have all of this money at this time. So I took a shot.

This is the best line in the story. What a disappointment this guy must be to his family. In having such little regard for money - and not in the "I'm rich so I can throw it around" kind of way, but the "I'm a degenerate loser who needs professional help if only I could afford it" kind of way - you'd have to expect this guy to be dead/living on the streets in, what, years? months? weeks? presently?

If the OP is reading this or if anyone else just thinks I'm being flat out rude, I gotta say that I'm sorry and I don't wish suffering on anyone who hasn't brought it on themselves. But Mr. "4 7 17 0 00" pissed away money he could have used to put a down payment down on a house or any number of other things that could have put him on the path to an adult life. When you turn down those opportunities when others have to struggle for them I just can't have any respect for that. Rant's over.

just curious... what was the point of this story? by that I mean, what lessons did you learn through these experiences? because forgive me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't seem like you learned anything, at least anything of use.

perhaps you should reexamine how you really went broke in the first place, and then learn from it so that you don't end up that way again