Making its first appearance at the World Series in 1976 in a tournament won by “Doc” Green, stud hi-lo has been a fixture at the WSOP ever since (with the small exception of 1985 and 1986 when it wasn’t played). Amongst the big names who have won bracelets in this event are Doyle Brunson (1976), Chip Reese (1979), Johnny Moss (1981), Mike Sexton (1989), Men “The Master” Nguyen (1995), “Miami” John Cernuto (1996), Phil Ivey (2002), and John Juanda (2003).

As I walked around the room I observed the last name on the list, John Juanda, make a particularly astute play. Heads-up against one other player and showing strong low potential, Juanda checked to his opponent on fourth street, enticing him to stay in. His opponent fell for the trap and stayed all the way to the showdown where Juanda showed him a pot-scooping wheel.

This two-day event will finish up tomorrow night.

Two cab rides to the Bellagio and back gave me a large enough bankroll that I can now enter at least a couple tournaments during my stay. After attending the World Series once as a fan (back in the Binion’s era) and once as a full-time writer (last year), this year I’m going to actually do some playing. I wonder if my having not played at all in the last six months is going to be any sort of handicap. I am hoping to be more fresh than rusty.

As important as the Bellagio jaunt was (no cab rides, no bankroll, no playing), I had to pull myself away from the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha with ReBuys events to do it, which wasn’t easy considering how talented the players at the final table were: Devilfish Ulliot, Humberto Brenes, John Juanda. Minh Ly. Any of these names ring a bell? 

I sat down at the newly designed final table area (last year’s high-school football stadium look has definitely been elevated at least to the big-time collegiate level) just in time to catch Devilfish run into the Shark. While in the natural world Brenes would win every time, at the poker table it’s a different story. Especially at pot-limit Omaha. While Brenes is pretty good at this game, Ulliot is excellent. Case in point: everyone folded to him on the button and he merely limped in with [Qd Qc 7h 6h]. I really like this play. Brenes was the short stack at the table, and I believe Devilfish knew Brenes would be looking to get his money in with just about any hand. (The alternative theory is that Devilfish didn’t want to overplay his queens and was content to see a flop with position on his opponents.) Brenes raised all in with AK85, which with three cards of the same suit really isn’t much of an Omaha hand. Devilfish called pretty quickly, which gives credence to theory number one. Devilfish won by making a queen-high flush, and I can’t say that I was upset. I can only take so much of the Shark shtick.

The other hand (and bust out) of note in the early afternoon occurred after Erik Cajelais opened with a raise and John Juanda reraised with the last of his chips. Erik was pretty much priced in to calling the $215,000 raise, and he had a decent enough hand to do it with [Kc Qc 10h 10s]. Juanda, of course, had aces (as well as a pair of eights). You can’t do any better than pushing all your money into the pot with a pair of aces (one of which was suited) but the flop gave Erik a wrap, and the queen of diamonds on the river made his straight. Juanda was gone in seventh place. 

It was at that point that I had a decision to make: more final table action or self-preservation in the form of bankroll accumulation. As you well know, I chose the latter, and I’m glad I did. As fun as it’s been to watch other people play cards for bracelets all these years, well, it’s not as fun as doing it yourself.

And this event is MASSIVE. Total entries were 2,998, largest live poker tournament in history (except for the last 2 Main Events). The prize pool is over $4 million. They pay 270, so bottom dollar gets over $3,000. First prize? Over 700,000 smackers. (A smacker is like a dollar but worth a little more - a/k/a I don't feel like getting my notes while I'm on break but the total was above $700,000.)

Of course, with almost 3,000 people in the event, who is sitting to my right by John Juanda. At least he was on my right. After giving away some chips in an ill-defined attempt to outplay him, I was able to stay out of his way.

I have no idea how many players are left in the tournament or the average chip stack, but I have 18,200, which feels like a bunch. On the other hand, we'll finish the the 200-400/50 ante level within 20 minutes after we return at 9 PM and I'll have just 30 big blinds then. But I was down below 5,000 not very long ago, and had to suck out with A-7 against T-T when I was down to 3,200 in the 100-200/25 ante level to keep from getting eliminated.

There's a lot more to mention, including some nice stuff about Harrah's and the playing cards. In short, it's been a fiasco and it was Harrah's fault, but the cause of the fiasco was an attempt to do good, and they are working hard and fast to correct it. I'll give them appropriate kudos, but I'm going to rest a little. We go until 2 AM and I want to be able to go the distance.

More later.

Oh, P.S. - Norman Chad came by my table to tell me how much he liked SUICIDE KING, which he had just recently read. If trash-talking with Juanda didn't get me table cred, that sure did.