We're on dinner break in the $1,500 NLHE event that started this afternoon. That's "we" as in "me included." It's still a long, long way to go, even to get to the bottom-dollar money, but I was in and out of all the $1,500 NLHE events last year early. On the one hand, I'm jumping-out-of-my-skin excited. On the other, I'm telling myself that this is where I SHOULD be, and after all I learned from top tournament professionals that I should outperform most of the field in a massive event.
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.
