There's always next year... (sob)

Yep.  Almost as soon as it began, my 2012 WSOP run is over.  Or maybe it should be called a walk... or a slow crawl...or stand still.  Unfortunately the cards just never came.  If I looked down at a 10-3 or J-2 once I looked down  at it a thousand times this event.  And when I tried to make a move here or there with a marginal hand, it never panned out.  Wah, wah, wah... I know.  But all things considered, I stretched out a horrible run of cards as long as I could and made it further than I should have.

I played in the WSOP and all I got was this lousy t-shirt:

Other than the gentleman to my immediate left, Alex, who coincidentally I played with many times at a private club in LA - a real tough, solid player, most of the players at my first table were...just good. Not bad by any means but not intimidating. So all in all I felt good. My first sign of bad things to come was the fact that I won the very first hand - always a bad omen in poker.  After that I didn't have a playable hand for a long time.  I did some speculating with small suited connectors and single and double gappers, but nothing ever hit on the flop.  Not even close.  And my bluffs and continuation bets were always met with resistance.  Finally, as my stack dwindled,  I woke up in the small blind with a pair of Kings and went all-in.  I got called by my old friend Alex in the big blind..  He had Ace- Jack and my Kings held up.  After that it was another long slog of 10-2's and 9-3's.  I turned a set of 7's in one hand and pulled in a decent pot - but that was really it.  By the time the dinner break came at 7pm, I was still holding around 4,500 in chips when the average stack was a bit over 10,000.  Nearly do or die time.  They broke my table and moved me to a new room and new table which I was elated about - anything to change my cards and mojo. 

As players are knocked out, they "break" tables and consolidate the field. Here I am being moved to a new room and table of new players:

I came back from dinner, to my new table, new faces and hopefully new cards.  The blinds now 150-300 with a 25 ante and knew it I was in all-in mode.  If I picked up even a semi-decent hand I would have to make a move. After a few minutes of more rags, I finally looked down and saw 8-8.  Easily the best hand I had seen in a while.  The player to my right raised to 650 and I shoved it all in.  He "snap called" (instantly calling) always a bad sign, and turned over pocket Kings... live by the Kings, die by the Kings.  The board didn't show me anything and that was it - end of my run.

The clock when I was booted from the tourney.  Level 7, 15 minutes in, 1,037 players left...

 It's a tough game, especially against a field of 2,770 players - several hundred more than last years enormous turnout.  And it sure is much more fun when the cards fall your way, but it is always exciting.  I'm disappointed that I didn't have a better run - definitely should've kept a blog last year! Anyway, thanks for tuning in and throwing me all your support.  We'll get 'em next year!