My cards were so bad that even I could not screw them up. I have never seen so many 52o, 42o, 92o, 72o, K3o hands in one day. Since I only played 10% of my hands, I was stereotyped as an old tight player.
I won many hands using three-bet squeeze plays and three-bets followed with continuation bets. I saw AA, QQ, JJ, and TT only once; I did get AK a couple of times. I never got caught when not playing to the stereotype.
Since COVID, I’ve only played WSOP Circuit tournaments when I have won buy-in money from playing World Tavern Online Poker’s monthly or quarterly tournaments. Those tournaments are free rolls based on earning points from daily games played at lunch—my WTP Blog Post.
I switched over to WTP in early 2023. I’ve won buy-in money to play in Hammond, Indiana, on the way home from a marathon in North Dakota in October 2023, went to Cherokee, North Carolina, in August 2024, and played in Baltimore yesterday.
I’ve always done well in Baltimore, cashing 50% of the time. WSOP stopped holding Circuit tournaments there before COVID. I thought they were prosperous for the casino. I remember cashing in one with over 2600 entries. I was happy to see they returned, which eliminated the need for a road trip. I can reach Baltimore in under 2 hours and return home at night. I was expecting more than 160 entries. That brought in $11,200. I’m not sure if that was profitable for the casino. I hope they come back again next season.
With breaks, I played from 10 am until 9 pm. The $400 buy-in was covered by WTP. Green fees for 11 hours of golf could be the same, and entry fees for day-long ultras and triathlons are reaching that number.
They paid 24. With 36 players remaining, I had enough chips to survive 70 hands without playing. When we redrew tables at 27, I had the second-lowest stack at the table, but could still survive 60 hands without playing. The name of the game is player elimination rather than chip accumulation. Of the hands I folded, there were many sucky hands.
My cataracts caused issues. I could see my hold cards without issue. The colors of the chips across the table blended together, and I needed to ask what the bet was. For the up cards, I struggled to see the suits on the face cards and the numbers on the other cards. I had to count the icons on the 7s, 8s, 9s, and 10s. I misread a nine as a ten once to my advantage,
Not wanting to get sick before MCM, I was the only player wearing an N95 mask. That too may have been an advantage,
Anyway, I won enough to cover a mortgage payment or 6 weeks of groceries.
I enjoyed the 11 hours of mental gymnastics and situational awareness.
Does this make me a professional poker player? Hardly. Like my running friends who win money at weekend races, I like the extra few dollars from my hobby. If I had to depend on winnings to eat, I’d be homeless and skinnier.
I wore my heart rate monitor over the 11 hours. My average heart rate for the first 8 hours of play was in the low 70s. There were a few spikes to 101, 108, 114, and 105 during those hours.
In the last 90 minutes of play, which included the money bubble, my average heart rate was 91 and peaked at 118 when I pushed my final all-in. Interesting.