Never written one of these before, so please forgive poor structure and whatnot.

I arrived about 20 minutes late to a table where I recognized noone. I got to know the kid to my right, who was basically the only really good player at the table. He recently moved to Vegas, shacks with Shannon Shorr, and was playing very good aggressive poker early (and also getting hands - he told me had had AA once and KK twice... in the first level). Big hand with him later. There was a solid, but very tight player in the 7 seat as well (I was in the 9), rest of the table was very weak / bad.

Level 1 (50/100):
Basically no hands this level. Not much to talk about. I flopped 2 pair twice, but no action, basically hit nothing else. I lost a few small pots folding after failed c-bets. I had AK twice and JJ once (only pp all level)... AKx flopped with my JJ, so buh bye. About 19k after the first level.

Level 2 (100/200):
I raised A8s to 500 from hijack, cutoff reraised to 1500... although it was a mistake, I decided to see a flop. Flop KsQsTc, I check called a 2k bet... no need to shove in here this early. Turn rag, check/check... river A. Check, check... he showed ATs... interesting, but meh.

Raised 68d utg, late pos. called. Flop Ax2d3d, I lead for 750, he calls. Turn 4x, oh hi disguised gutshot. I check, he bets 900 on turn, I call, river 8x, check check he shows A9s... meh.

I'm down to about 11k... pick up KK FINALLY!!!! (went all of day 1 last year without AA/KK/or QQ) I raise to 500, same AT guy reraises me to 1500... I'm going all the way with this stack and this player for sure, so I repop to 4600 or so, he says TT no good eh?... and folds.

I picked up JJ in the sb near the end of the level. Tight player in mid pos raises to 600, good player in 7 seat calls, the good player to my right calls from button, I just call from small blind (we're just playing for set value out of position here) and bb calls. Flop 468rainbow. Hmm... checked to orignal raiser who bets 1100, button calls. I muck. Not 100% sure about this fold but I just didn't feel good about the hand. The big blind then called as well. 3 on turn, checked around, 6 on river, bb leads out for 5k! Orig. raiser instantly folds, button thinks forever, and folds... I believe he had 99 or TT as I talked to him after the hand and gathered that. The small blind said he had a straight, not sure if it was 57 or 25, or if he was full of it, but it was a weird hand all around. I'm glad I laid it down on the flop either way. Didn't want to invest too much out of position with somewhat scary board and a hand virtually impossible to improve this early. I ended the level around 14 - 15k.

Level 3 (200/400):
I get J7o early on in the bb and it folds to the good player described at the start in the sb. He limps, I check. Flop A88 rainbow, he leads for 600... I can't resist floating here. Turn 4c (2nd club), he checks... I considered waiting 'til the river here, but decided to try to take it now. I bet 1200, he check/raised to 3600! Now I'm not worried about an 8 at all... pretty sure he has air, but do I want to risk this much this early with nothing here? Yes!... because from conversations with him, I'm sure he knows I'm not prepared to risk too much without a hand right now, so I repopped it 5k more. :) I also threw out my last 5k chip to do this, which would hopefully have a small psychological effect on him. Anyway, he thought a few seconds, told me he was sure I floated, but nice bet, and folded... WHEW! I showed (only bluff I showed all day), and he said he had 56o but just couldn't pull the trigger (I had 6k behind my 5k raise). Back to 20k starting stack!

Can't remember how, but I dropped back to about 14k in the next 20 minutes, then our table broke. New table... I recognize noone again. I'm in the 6 seat, there's a 70kish stack in the 5 seat, and most players around 25 - 35k. First impression is table's really weak. I fold a few hands then pick up KQo in mid pos. EP opens for unusually low 900 (especially since most raises throughout the day were 3.5 - 4.5xish). Normally I'm just mucking KQo here, but I just felt he wasn't too strong and I'd folded every hand since I moved to the table... I repopped to 2400. The big blind (the AT reraiser), who actually moved with me from the other table, cold called the 2400! But he thought it was 1900 and appeared genuinely frustrated with himself when the dealer informed him... utg raiser also called, but didn't consider reraising at all. Flop was 26T, 2 spades, both checked to me, I fired 4200, both insta-mucked... WHEW! Back to 20k again.

About one orbit later, still around 20k, I pick up 66 in the cutoff. The big stack in the 5 seat raises (and he's raising a lot) to 1250. I flat with 66. Flop A69, 2 clubs.. oh yeah! First set in wsop ME history for me! He leads for 1800... I pop it to 4800, he insta-calls. Turn 2h, he checks, I bet 6600, he immediately asks how much I have left. 7400 or so... Pleeeeeeeeease put me all in sir! Not 5 seconds later, he puts me in :) A5o, drawing DEAD!

So we're up to 40k 15 minutes before dinner! Here comes the 1 hand I have a lot of regrets about from day 1. About 4 or 5 hands later, I pick up QQ. We make it 1050 in EP, and the small blind, who's been all over the place, reraises to 2600... huh??? I flat in position for pot control. Flop J85, he leads for 4k. I just call, probably a mistake. 4 on the turn, he leads 10k. I tank it. Really regret not folding here, but I call, knowing I'm calling his last 13k on any river. 8 on river, he shoves, I call... 44 zomg lol. I have so many regrets about this hand. Still can't believe it was 44 that he reraised from sb though. Anyhoo... lots of mistakes. So I go to dinner with 7400, sigh.

Level 4 (200/400/50 ante):
I drop down to 3800 really quickly with a few failed steals and bets to pick up small pots cheap. Nothing worked. Then I pick up KK on the button... hallelujah! Ep opens for 1850 (lol at 4.6x), one caller, I shove, EP isolates the minimum with 66... the caller (the 44 reraiser from earlier) disgusted, folds A9o. Flop A9x, whew! x turn, K river... heh, didn't matter. Up to 10k.

2 or 3 hands later, hi there AA! (another first in wsop ME history for me) Utg opens for 1600 or so, same 44/A9o guy calls again, I shove. No need to make it obvious and raise to 5k. Anyway, utg raiser insta-calls me with AQs, other guy folds. No sweat on the board. Weeeee up to 20k again!

Next 45 minutes, insanely bad. Virtually no steal raises work, all c-bets called or raised. One resteal from small blind against button who raised every button folded to him... big blind re-reraises lol. Buh bye 68o. I fall all the way to 2800 chips... never being all in. I pick up J7s and make it 1450 from mid pos with 1350 behind. Everyone insta-folds. Back to 3900. I fold a few hands and get 79o in the bb. The button, the oldest gentleman to EVER play in the main event, at a startling 94 years old, limps on the button. He'd just been moved to the table about 30 minutes before, only played a few pots, and had never raised preflop. Sb limps, flop comes AQ8, 2 diamonds, I have zilch, but lead for 750 when the sb checks. They both fold. Button tells me he had 99. Weee, hello free chips! That was last hand before break. I go to break with 4950.

Level 5 (300/600/75 ante):
Although I'm extremely short, I'm very used to these situations. First hand back, I have JdTd in the sb. It folds to me (I was going with it if the button raised for sure), and I raise most of my stack. BB shows 93o and folds, but says he would've called with just about anything. I fold the button, and with 6k, raise most of my stack with A2s on the cutoff. Everyone insta-folds... back to about 7600 :) Next hand, AJs, folds to me, I put in standard raise to 1700, everyone insta-folds again. 9300ish :) Semi-healthy again! 2 hands later, I pick up AKs, same 1700. Next guy, who reraised me once at the 200/400/50 level, reraises to about 5000. I shove it in, he calls with AQo! T high flop, K on turn, I dodge the J on the river, and I'm up to 20k again! Oh baby! It's the 2nd time I've come back from the dead, and I've never been all in without a dominating hand the whole time!

Next hand, utg, I pick up Td7d... can't resist raising it utg lol. I get 3 callers though! Utoh, I'm done unless I nail it. Q74, 2 spades flop, sb checks, and I've got to take one shot :) especially since each player has to worry about the others, and I have position on the last player. Anyway, I bet 3200, they all fold very quickly, tyty... up to about 27k!

For the rest of the level, all the pots I played were very small, mostly blind steals. Only two other hands of note:
1) The only hand all day where I actually hit a flop on a steal! I raised J8o in the cutoff and the bb called. Flop 887, he checks, I put out my standard c-bet of 2100. He calls. Turn, 4. Now, this player has been very tricky at times, and I haven't played with him that long so I decide to be a little careful and check behind. I wished later I hadn't though. 3 on river, and he did lead out for 3800. I almost just called, but felt with my image at this time that I definitely had value in raising here. I popped it to 9k, leaving about 12k behind, pretty sure that IF he came back all in, I was folding. He thought for several minutes, had the calling chips ready at one point and the raising chips ready, but finally folded. Maybe hollywooding T9? Maybe laid a 7 down? Really not sure. Anyway, up to about 30k now.
2) Same caller from previous hand raised in EP to 2100, the player I'd played with at both tables flatted, and I repopped to 6800 from the button with 84s. I hadn't repopped a single time at this table, and the original raiser I know needed a big hand to continue here. I wasn't really worried about the caller either as he called several raises, then folded to reraises throughout the day. He also ALWAYS reraised when he had any fairly strong hand. Both insta-folded... I ended the level around 34k.

Level 6 (400/800/100 ante):
Our table broke at the very start of this level, which I was happy about, mainly due to the fact that several players were openly talking (and pretty angrily) about the frequency of my raises. Both of these people stood up and slammed down bluffs on the table triumphantly against me... in back to back hands near the end of the last level. Pretty funny, sad, and frustrating all at the same time.

Oh, also, no disrespect to the 94 year old gentleman at the table, but having him there really slowed down the action. Someone else pretty much always had to put in his ante for him, and virtually every time the action was on him, he had to ask several times how much it was to him, whether there was a raise or no action at all. This all caused us to get in several less hands per level than we should've. But I must say it was pretty awesome to witness him playing. He hovered between 20 and 30k at our table, and although I'm not sure what his stack is now, he did survive the day (no pun intended). Playing from 12 noon - 3:45am, wow. It's grueling for all of us, I can't imagine what it must be like to him! Anyway, what a feat, I hope he manages to make the money, but virtually never raising preflop (he did only once at our table, he raised the min), I don't seem him having much of a shot. Incredible accomplishment nonetheless.

So at my new table, I finally recognize someone... SCTrojans! akl;jshg;kjahs Not who I wanted to see 2 seats to my left with a ~100k stack! two8off was also at the table in the 10 seat, I was in the 3. I knew Frankie Flowers in the 1 seat as well, but he was extremely short. I laid back for about one round to get a feel for the table - not stealing for the first round or so at least. I reraised Frankie's 2400 once to 7k with KQo from the button. He had about 12k to start the hand and I felt his range was very wide. He told me he folded an Ace. Very next hand, I picked up KK, and he limped in. I popped it to 3200 or so and he considered pushing but folded KQ, heh, oh well.

I raised 28o from the hijack to 2100 a round later, and got called by the cutoff. (Just felt like raising the 7 seat's bb) I bet 3800 at a KK4 flop and thankfully got a fold. Finally back up to about 40k now!

I picked up AQo in the small blind a little later, and the button shoved for about 9k. I insta-called. Aside from feeling I was well ahead of his range, I also had another motive... his B.O. was horrible!!! I stood up from the table after I folded just about every hand because I couldn't take it. Wein also got me a package of hot chocolate mix to smell when I needed to breathe. LOL! Anyway, he had 22... and with Annette and Below screaming for an A/Q from the rail, obv I couldn't miss! Rags all the way, 'til, BINK, Q on river! I managed to win a race!!!! ZOMG! Only race all day.

Up to about 50k now, and I used the last 45 minutes of the day to make several resteals now that I had more chips to work with and people were also a bit more inclined to lay down hands since making day 2 is an extra incentive to survive for some people (for some strange reason). I reraised mid position's 2300 to 7400 with JTo from sb, reraised late position with A8o, and also reraised late position with AQo from button... obv in this last one I felt like I had the best hand.

I also raised 66 once near the end from EP, got called by the cutoff. Flop 457, I fired 2900, he raised to 8000. I called. Turn 2, check/check. River T, check/check. I said "one pair," he nodded, so any pair was definitely good. Up to about 60k!

I ended the day, basically at my very highest point with 63k! I believe the average is around 55k, so I don't have a big stack, but I'm in great shape in relation to the blinds. 500/1000/100 ante at next level. Considering how low I was at several points and managed to come back without even having to win a race, I'm just loving my situation! I've scouted out my table for wednesday, and I don't know or recognize any of the players who will be there... Table 175, seat 1.

Sorry about the length, hopefully a few people made it through / found it interesting.

good read.. good luck on day 2

Thanks for the shoutout :D I cant believe you had 28 offsuit that hand... wtf. Anyway gl tomorrow and I still don't believe you had 23 suited.

Thanks, for this cool piece of action; entertaining, and something to learn from (being a novice at poker right now); i wish you the best of luck, just dont go too crazy and make day three, ok ?

Have a good one :-) cheers, beat_beat

Thanks for the write up.

weeeeeeeeeeeeee gooooooooooo pjjjjjjjjjjjjjj sweet read

I'll live vicariously thru you, kick some ass. oh and wow you're laggy!

(I am surprized people at your table don't start to pick up on this a bit...??)

--tc

Very good read. Interesting stuff. Please post another one after Day 2.

Wow, do you take notes at the table, or do all the best players have insanely good memories?

Great read, thanks

Wild day. GL!

Awesome PJ!!!!! Makes me sick that i had to leave early but ohhhh well ;/ Do your thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

good read but damn you type like a 15 year old girl

gl sir

Wow I thought this was a great read. Seeing so much LAG success makes me want to switch over.