Salute to Warriors Day 2
If you read Part 1 of my Tale From the WSOP 2025, you will know that I made it to Las Vegas relatively unscathed by the journey. When I arrived, I had a good night’s sleep before my first event, the Salute to Warriors.
On Day 2 of the event, we came back very close to the money, meaning I had little choice but to fold into it. My cause was greatly helped by a charming Belgian who was even shorter than me. He persuaded the very friendly table (several of whom told me they were fans of my books or training videos) to allow him to take a minute to fold every hand. This slowed things down to the point that the bubble burst in the first orbit before I even had to pay blinds. I doubled very next hand but that was as good as it got.
I was short and stayed short, surviving mainly on shoves
For the rest of my time in the tournament, I was short and stayed short, surviving mainly on shoves. No really interesting hands, took a few light ones because people didn’t seem to want to call off (which the very good online player who was chipleader on my left even remarked on, saying he’d never seen anything like it before) which got me well through the bubble and a few (minuscule) pay jumps. As so often seems to happen, just when I thought I might be getting into it, I was home. I won a flip and then very next hand was in another to get to close to average with 200 left, but it wasn’t to be.
Seniors
After a short break and a run (in 43 degrees Celsius) I late regged the Seniors. Again, I made a fast start (I doubled in my first two hands) but then I was just card dead, spot dead, making the second best hand a lot so no real further progress.
The only semi interesting hand I had all day was my seniors bust out.
I open A6ss utg1 to 2400 at bb1200 playing 38k. Billy Papas to my immediate left call, another loose guy calls mp, and bb calls. They all cover me.
Flop Js8s5c
I decide to bet 3k after bb checks with the nut flush draw. Billy folds, mp raises to 13k and bb folds.
I have all the overpairs in my range and he can even be raising a worse draw (non nut flush draw or the straight draws) so I decide to shove. He asks for a count and after a tank calls AJo and holds.
Take 2
The next day I woke up to hundreds of notifications. At first I was afraid somebody had died, but then I remembered it was my 60th birthday. I met my friend June Jenkins for breakfast and she very kindly surprised me with a card, a present (a short in my characteristic style), and a goodie bag of snacks and lip balm (vital in this climate where everything dries up faster than the offer of a free drink from Mick McCloskey).
I lost the first flip you almost inevitably have to win when you max late register
My second bullet in the Seniors was there for a good time not a long time, which at least freed me up for more birthday celebrations. I met Katie Swift for a birthday ice cream in the MGM Grand, then my friend Danny Sprung for dinner before heading back for my final attempt at the Seniors. Again I lost the first flip you almost inevitably have to win when you max late register, to bring down the curtain on my seniors campaign.
I max late regged the daily Deepstack (again losing that vital first flip) and then my first landmark satellite of this WSOP. I got kings in against ace jack to reach the landmark, but couldn’t hold. They left me with one quarter of the target before I (you guessed it!) lost another flip.
Vibe check
While I was on a break I ran in to WSOP czar and all time legend KevMath. He asked me how I was finding the WSOP as an experience so far. I told him that for me the app is a game changer. At one stroke it removes most of the frustrating aspects of WSOP’s past: the lengthy registration and late registration lines, the hassle of bringing maintaining and handling cash reserves, difficulties finding or remembering your seat assignment. The removal of all these frustrations has had a considerable knock-on effect on the atmosphere, with players in much higher spirits than I’ve seen in the past. It’s also a very nice touch by the WSOP not to charge fees for credit cards. This has undoubtedly greatly helped numbers overall, not necessarily because more unique players are showing up but more so that if they bust, they are much more likely to reenter when all they have to do is click a button and instantly be given a new seat assignment.
the app is actually better than competitors such as PokerStars Live
This sort of technology has been standard in Europe for a long time and it’s always baffled me how long it took to reach the WSOP. Now that it has though, the app is actually better than competitors such as PokerStars Live. A wit once wrote that Ireland jumped straight from the 19th century into the 21st without bothering with the 20th century, and it seems the WSOP has made a similar leap in one bound.
