Avid Fan at First WSOP…..Part 1….Overall Impressions

After following poker and the WSOP for many years, 2010 was my first trek to Las Vegas while the events were taking place and what an experience it was. I tentatively planned on playing two events and ended up playing only one. The hubby and I were having so much fun watching that was just not in the cards for the second event.

The day we arrived we went to the Rio to get registered for Event 42. Had been reading some of the comments on Twitter about the hassle of registration and just did not want to wait until that morning just in case…well, it took about 3 minutes or less. Was prepared with my Reward Card, Driver’s License, and SS card if needed. Piece of cake, gave them cash and was ready to go.

While walking down the hall we started spotting familiar faces from the poker world and we peaked into the Pavilion and Amazon rooms and were able to watch several events taking place and some final tables. It was very exciting….all we could have hoped for.

Arrived the next day right at noon for the start. Wish I had been early to do some looking around but went to my table and was seated with Shannon Elizabeth and Lee Childs…..I follow both on Twitter so that was fun. Layne Flack was at a nearby table and again spotted many familiar faces. Shannon was very pretty and nice and Lee quite personable/nice guy. After the first break, had a table change…….moved to table 25 and there was Nam Le….one of my very favorite players to watch…..gulp…..

While at this second table was surrounded by many well known players……Tom Dwan was a couple of tables away and Dean Hamrick…who ended up winning the event, was at the next one. I loved being able to spend hours observing the action…..my problem was getting no cards….at all. At the first table was able to build a little bit of a stack, it was not to be for the second……and I was eliminated right before the dinner break.

Some of the things that were the most surprising to me was the great level of play. I really had expected one giant shove fest from the beginning but that was not the way it was…..at least on my tables. The structure really drove the action. There were all kinds of players from LAG, TAG, and all in between but not just open shoving and careless play. Nam was quite measured in his play……he did cash……and one Northern European guy was quite aggressive and played a lot of hands but when called down either had the goods or was on a credible draw which he hit regularly.

Bottom line was the ones getting the cards were winning…..no cards for 2 or 3 hours is the kiss of death. I had figured how long I had before getting desperate and was patient but just never turned around in time. Others were low stacked like I was and were able to get the hand in time to stay alive……..not to be for me. It is just the way it is……no regrets.
Posted by pokerhag.com at 8:28 AM

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