WSOP 2023 Bracelet Trip Report - $600 PLO and $1500 6-handed

This post will cover my first 2 days in Vegas for the 2023 WSOP playing $600 Pot Limit Omaha Deepstack and $1500 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’Em.

I’ve been playing poker since the moneymaker boom and I’ve always wanted to play the WSOP but between the cost when I was younger, then the time when I was older, I’ve never managed to make it out. The few times I had it scheduled it was always jynxed with life getting in the way.

This year I have the time and money so I scheduled on week to do a few bracelet events and then another week to do the main event, with cash games after I’m busto. I’ve always enjoyed reading about other people’s experience, and I was curious about some of the logistics so I thought I’d do a trip report. This is the first half of the bracelet week. I will write later about the 2.5k freezeout, any cash game experiences, and then in a month I will play the main event and write about that.

I decided to go for this first week to play $600 PLO, $1500 6-handed, $2500 freezeout, and small chance $1500 Badugi. I’m primarily a NLHE player but I enjoy mixed games quite a bit. I like the weekday tournaments since I’d rather have a higher chance of reaching a final table in the smaller fields, which are still very big, but not as massive as something like Millionaire Maker.

I flew in Monday morning so that I’d be guarenteed to be setup for $1500 6-handed on Tuesday, and figured I’d play $600 PLO if it made sense. I went straight from the airport to Paris which is the venue. I arrive at Paris but I’m a bit lost. I see Dylan Weisman checking into the hotel who I recognize from PLO high roller tournaments so I figure he knows where the PLO tournament is, and he does.

This experience was the beginning of my biggest realization that I watch way too much poker because I recognize a million people at the WSOP. It was almost an eerie feeling. I see a surprising amount of faces from my local region, then a good mix of new poker celebs like Rampage , Brad Owens, Steven Song, and OGs like Shaun Deeb and Maria Ho. I unfortunately haven’t seen any super OGs like Hellmuth or Negraeau, but either way it’s been fun brushing shoulders with all these people you see on PokerNews.

At Paris I started to get in a long line to register, but then I read online I need a Caesar’s card first so fortunately I ran to get that. It was a few minutes to get that, then about a 25 minute wait to register for the tournament. Then there was a third line to actually get a seat. This third line looked very long but it moved pretty quick, I’d say I waited about 10 minutes. So overall, from the airport it took me about an hour to get seated in the tournament which wasn’t too bad.

No major logistics issues, it was all smooth sailing so I think the advice to arrive 24 hours before the tournament is probably a little overkill unless you’re ultra-cautious. I flew in a day early to be ready for 6-handed but turns out zero problem getting in this PLO tournament straight from the airport. I was playing at the table with my carry-on bag and laptop case but that was fine.

$600 Pot Limit Omaha

This wasn’t my first live tournament but still, it’s the WORLD SERIES OF POKER. I was excited. PLO is not my strong suit, I’ve played it more than the average poker player but less than a PLO reg, but I enjoy playing different variants so wanted to get at least one tournament that wasn’t NLHE.

I fold for a few orbits then pick up KT66 with the King suited in the BB, folds to the SB who raises. Flop comes down QJ7r, SB continues for pot I call with my open-ender. Turn is a offsuit 2, SB checks. This isn’t a super deep tournament and I was a bit late so I already put a third of my chips into this pot, I put half of what I have left into the middle and he folds!

My first hand won in the WSOP, and it was a bluff that got through! Granted, a semi-bluff and I may have even had the best hand with 66 but - still counts!

Later on I call in the SB and we go 5 ways to the flop, I have Q9xx and flop comes down KJT rainbow, I flopped second nut straight, and it checks through. Checks through to the flop, turn puts a spade draw out there, reg looking guy pots it, I call. River bricks out, I check, he tanks for a while, looking like deciding whether to bluff or not, if he bets I call it off and feel bad if he has the AQ but he checks back and mucks. Lets go!

There’s a new guy to my right and he seems very reggy. He’s also very chatty with the guy next to him, they’re speaking Brazilian Portuguese which I happen to understand bits and pieces of. He raises me in the SB when I have ATxx, flop is AT8, he bets, I raise, he folds. Not sure if that’s a standard raise or just-call, but I figure i probably have the best hand but I hate most turn cards.

I notice a PokerNew journalist is studiously writing down the hands he’s in. He plays a big pot, then I check the PokerNews updates and it’s the hand I just watched. Turns out my blind vs blind opponent is Yuri Dzivielevski, who has tons of SCOOP titles, 5M in live tournament earnings, 2 bracelets, high roller reg, and has won the WSOP PLOssus. Not a soft opponent to draw !

On the other hand, another guy at the table called a triple barrel with Q high and not much going on because “the pot was so big by the end”. I feel I got the authentic WSOP experience having one of the best players in the world and one of the worst players at the world at my table. Yuri is eventually busted by his Brazilian pal.

I did notice Yuri limping in EP, I don’t know PLO tournament strategy and I was surprised that’s a thing. Given his results I’m more inclined to think it’s a reasonable thing to do than not, I’m guessing pot control due to the pot-nature of the game.

I was also surprised all these guys go from playing $25ks to $600 tournaments. I know they have bracelet bets, sell their action in the bigger ones, the small tournaments are faster/softer and still plenty of money up top, so I suppose it makes sense. But it still must be a little jarring to go back and forth from nosebleeds to smallball donkaments.

A few hands later I get AKJJ with a King suit and raise from EP and BTN pots me. If I call it’s about 50% of my chips, this is a 30 minute level tournament so we’re not super deep. I’m really not sure what supposed to do here, so I fold worried he has AA and has me crushed. I feel 3-bets are very AA heavy so I’d rather have a smaller rundown or something but does feel nitty to fold a a super premium. In the PokerNews updates I see Shaun Deeb 3-betting KT99 , I don’t know how standard that is or if he’s just trying to run it up or bust because it’s only $600 and there’s bigger events on the schedule. If any PLO experts want to weigh in on any of these hands, go ahead.

I feel good about the fold because a few hands later I get AKK9 with a King suit. Bad player raises and I just call in the blinds. Flop is AK9 , I check he bets I call. Turn gives me the nut flush draw, I check he puts me all-in, I call, he’s drawing dead with just an Ace and I double! I have about double starting stack now which is about average.

At this point no idea how many of the player entries are even left since they haven’t updated it.

Despite my decent stack, the blinds are still quite high and going up fast so before I know it I’m on the shorter side again. I may be playing a bit too tight, not sure, though I also took a few flops with some rundowns and completely bricked.

Now I’m short stacked and get AT32 with suited Ace in the BB and call a HJ raise. Flop comes down AJ5, I have top pair, a gutshot, and backdoor spades. I check, he pots it which puts me all in. I really feel bad because if he has AJ I’m drawing to just a gutshot, if he has AK I’m in bad shape, he could still have AA and I’m in big trouble. So I tank and actually consider a fold. But I just feel I’m too short stack to fold so I call it off. He has 7743, just a pair of sevens and his own gutshot that I block! Hooray! Turn….SEVEN. NOOO. SO CLOSE TO THE MONEY I GET 5 OUTED, NOOOO. River 6…sigh…good game…wait…that was the 7 of spades and the 6 of spades! I made a flush! Still in it!

Not too much later I get AAxx and raise, get 3-bet, so I jam it in. He also has AA, we end up chopping with our one pair, Aces. I’m still pretty short, I get J943 double suited in the BB, SB min-raises, I defend. Flop JJ4, I check, he pots me all-in, I call , he has AA, I hold and double! Overall I probably have been playing too tight and nursing a short stack but at least I’m getting the chips in ahead when I do get it in.

Even though it’s been a while it always feels that way in tournaments so I have no idea how close to the bubble we are, but now the tournament pauses while they do a count so we know when to go hand-to-hand. We wait quite a bit while they do the count. When they come back it’s a big announcement, we’re already in the money!

I cashed my first bracelet event ever, hell yeah!

Not long after we do dinner break and I’m feeling great since already off to a great start to my WSOP. I run to the hotel to checkin and frantically scramble back, I had plenty of time but didn’t want to risk blinding out my first in-the-money WSOP stack.

After dinner break, I get AKQ4 with suited Ace, raise from BTN and BB calls. Flop is A92ss not my suit. He checks, I bet about half pot, he re-pots me all-in. I’m dead to a set but once again, just started the hand with about 20 BB and feel I might be getting run over so I tank and then call. He has the spade draw, pair of nines, and some backdoor straights. He says to me “that’s all you’re calling with?” when he sees my hand, but he bricks out and I double. Tournament starting stack was 30k and I have now have about 170k which is about 40BB, not bad. I also now have one of those 25k green chips.

A bit later, I’m on the button with A543 suited Ace, I raise and BB is short stack and jams with JJTT. He wins so I lose some chips and blinds keep going up.

A little bit later I get AQJJ with a suited Ace, I raise from UTG, UTG+1 has a big stack and re-pots into many other big stacks. Once again, no idea if I’m supposed to continue with this hand. I make a nitty fold.

There is a new guy at the table who’s been limping almost every hand. He limps HJ and I raise CO with AT97, Ace suited to diamonds. We go heads up to K82dd. He checks, I pot, I have like 2 small chips left which get all in on the turn. He has KTxx, turn is a T giving him two pair and me an open-ender, I still have the Ace, diamond, or straight as outs but river is complete brick and I’m busto for $1200.

There were three lines to start the tournament and now three lines to end it. First I get in line to get my official finishing ticket. I get a little ticket that says my name and place and I’m told I can cash out within the month but I just walk over to do it. This line took quite a bit, I was tired from having played all day so this line tilted me more than the ones to enter. Then at the end of this line, they get my info, ask for a tip, I give them $20, then send me to another line to actually get the money. Finally I get the money and go home and get to sleep.

1500 6-Handed

Next day I wake up, tournament starts at 10AM but I personally am in the “first few tourney levels are overrated” so I register around noon. However, I go to the same cage in Paris, and then get told I have to go to Horseshoe which is a 5 minute walk to the other side of the casino and was confusing to find.

The good news is that the lines were even shorter for this one so once I found the place to register it was very quick to get seated.

My table looks reggy (to the extent you can judge books by its cover) and I thought it was a bad table draw as everyone seemed solid. First hand I get 99 in CO, SB 3-bets me, flop KQ4, he bets I fold. Not as good a start.

But a few hands later I get AA in the BB, one soft spot at the tabe limped early, BTN raised, I squeeze big, they both come along and fold flop so I get some chips. I end up giving those chips back not long after, I get 98ss on the BTN, starts to look like a family pot after an early raise gets 2 flatters plus me, then the small blind squeezes and everyone folds, but huge amount of dead money so I take a flop. Flop is A92 not my suit, opponent small bets which I call, turn is an A, he small bets again and I fold.

This next hand was kind of stupid of me, I raise red 77 from LJ and HJ calls. Flop Q86ccc. I lead flop small he calls. Turn offsuit 5. I lead again with my open ended closer to half pot and he calls. River is a J, I give up, he checks back KQ with no club. I probably wasted chips here against his range and getting too aggro on a monotone board but picking up the open-ender on turn felt like I had to keep going.

I get blinded down a bit more and from my 25k starting I have like 8k which is pretty bad.

I get a table move. New table seems a little better. Lots of dudes are getting massages which is fine, but the guy next to me is wearing gym shorts and has the masseuse rubbing his upper thighs bare which seemed too much to me. The masseuse seemed weirdly into it as well. I don’t have a problem with massages at the table, I never get them myself because I just don’t want it to be a distraction, but I think it should stick to neck, shoulders, and back. The full body rubs are too much. But my annoyance is short-lived as I get AQ in the BB, BTN raises then calls my jam, he has KJs. He flops the flush draw but misses everything and I double.

I recognize Fara Galfond and Brad Owen at the tables next to me which is funny. Brad is chatting up a really pretty girl who happens to be seated next to him and seems more interested in her than the game he’s in.

Somehow I never get anything going in this tournament, mostly card dead, and I’m perpetually short-stacked but fortunately the few hands I do get I double up. I double up with JJ vs KJ not long after the first double up. But I get blinded down yet again. I have about 15BB in the BB and get A9o, SB 3xes, I jam, he has JJ. Flop has two nines though so I suck out! Saves me $1500 need to rebuy.

Not long after I raise Q9o in the SB, flop JT9ccc. I bet he calls. Turn brick. I check, he bets half pot, I call. River 8c, I check, he says “that’s a bad card to bluff” little does he know it’s a super tough spot for me if he jams but he mucks to my straight. Now I have some chips and can play this thing.

I get moved tables yet again. This one was a bunch of guys with European accents. Seemingly every hand was one Euro triple barreling with nothing and another Euro hero calling with very little. Ironically the serious players seemed to have more crazy action then the drunk guys at some of my other tables.

I’m only at this table a tiny bit before I’m moved from Horseshoe to Paris. We had to bag up and follow a guy holding up a big sign like we were 5th graders on a city field trip. My new table has a drunken troll and a guy who’s talking strategy and coaching others quite frequently. The troll did a good job toeing that fine line between being funny and being obnoxious, and even though he needled me a bit it was still more fun then the serious tables.

The other guy who I will call coach was explaining ranges and confidently saying exactly what hands people could and couldn’t have. The funny thing is he ended up in a massive pot where he put 80% of his stack in on an A8442 board then folded river to the all-in showing AQ saying the other guy had to have AK and can’t be bluffing. The other guy bashfully shows AJ. So the guy who had the most coaching to share to the table ended up making arguably the worst play of the night which the troll did plenty of needling for.

The troll was also drinking a lot and saying he was bored and didn’t want to play, but he wasn’t playing that badly, seems like the opposite of the coach in that he was trying to pretend to be worse than he was. That is a funny dynamic of poker where some people want you to think they’re the best player and some people want you to think they’re the worst player.

I’m short stack as usual with 25BB but get AKs clubs, troll 3-bets me , I jam he snaps with ATdd. Flop is KQ7dd. Big sweat hand and even if he hadn’t 3bet me we would be all-in on this flop. But I double up to about 100k chips which is 4x starting for the dinner break.

Dinner break I’m excited because there’s about 420 left and 380 cash so I have excellent shot at going 2/2 ITM at my first 2 bracelet events. I’m elated. However, my luck would soon turn after I got back from dinner. I go mostly card-dead for a bit, then I get A3o in the BTN. I have about 80k chips with a 4k BB so I have 20BB, but both the coach in the SB and the troll in the BB have about 40k for 10BB so I open jam. Unfortunately coach wakes up with 99 and troll even considers calling with A6s which is pretty bad for me that an Ace is dead and the 99 holds.

Now I only have about 10BB. Another orbit and I get K6s in the SB with coach in the BB. I jam, he tanks so for a moment, I think I’m good since any A-high or pair should be snap-calling, until he very seriously announces “all-in”. Everyone laughs because nobody else was even in the hand, he had mistakenly thought the antes were someone’s chips. He has A4s and board bricks out and he wins with Ace high and he says GG.

I bust around 400 with 380 pay, not the stone cold bubble but a little annoying. Like many poker players I feel I run worse than average, have limited run-good, so I feel like I “wasted” the bunch of all-ins I did win in this tournament and now I my run-good meter is low going into the freezeout. Obviously this is totally irrational but just how I feel. Also, the min cash was 2.4k which wouldn’t be a huge swing in the big scheme of my poker year but 2.4k is still 2.4k, but oh well.

I go home and go to sleep, wake up and write this post. Onwards and upwards to the 2.5k freezeout!