How my event went

 My day started pretty hectic: We had to check out from the Luxor and go to the MGM, where we would stay the rest of our visit. Packing for that, I came to realize that I had forgotten my contact lenses for my right eye (luckily my "good" eye). Searching for some place in Vegas where they sell contacts, we got stuck in traffic pretty bad. Finally we arrived at the Fashion Show Mall where they were supposed to have 'em, but American legislation stated that I had to go through a medical examination first. Didn't have time for that, so back to the Rio and playing with one eye was basically what I was destined to do.

So, we went to the Rio. It started off pretty strange: I had received a card from the registration desk which said that I would start in "poker room", "table 1, seat 1". Thinking that this was a mistake, I went to ask for more information, but as it turned out, I really had to be where the card specified. Some Americans suggested that I could sell this card on ebay, getting a good price for it. Lol.

My plan was to start off tight preflop and aggressive postflop, pretty standard. I didn't get dealt a lot of hands, but those I played I mostly took down the pot or at least I splitted, sometimes with good hands, sometimes with bluffs. Blinds were rising fast compared to the blinds, as expected, and so I had to become more aggressive in late position to take down some pots preflop. One time I got caught: I raised with Ad6d from the hijack and CO pushed all in for half my stack. I knew he had me beat, but I was getting such a good price that I had to call. He shows AJ and I double him up. After 2,5 hours I got moved to another table where my first hand was KK and immediately doubled up against an UTG raiser with 77 who made a pretty loose call with 77 after I reraised all in preflop. Everyone said that it was a nice way to start off on this table. Couldn't agree more. Overall, the majority of the players didn't seem to be all that skilled, so I should have an edge. One guy even went all-in blind UTG with 10BB. Clearly he was not getting enough hands to play ;)

After the 2nd break we got moved again, this time we got to sit in the same room where the featured table was. From time to time we heard some applause in the background, I think it was the HORSE event (final table) playing but I'm not sure. The blinds had skimmed off my stack and I was down to 2800 chips when 100/200 with -25 antes kicked in. Entering push or fold mode, I shoved with QdQs UTG and got a call from a tight player who showed AA. Given my and his table image I immediately suspected a big hand when he called, but luckily a beautiful Qc came on the flop to save me from busting. I doubled up and the AA-guy lost the rest of his stack 5 minutes later when the chipleader raises As4s, he pushes with AK and the board goes A2424. Poker can be a cruel bitch, having the best hand 2 times preflop and busting is clearly frustrating. He took it with grace, so hats off to him.

After that, I doubled up with AK vs AJ where I flopped the nut straight with TJQ. Turn brought another Q so it gave me a little stress because he had 4 outs now, but luckily my hand held up. Unfortunately I couldn't steal a lot of blinds because there was a German shortstack to the right of me who kept pushing. Love thy neighbour ;). Another big addition to my stack, with 200/400 blinds and -50 antes, came when I raised AK UTG and SB shortstack pushes for about 2 times more with 44. I spike an A on the turn and for the first time in a couple of hours my stack is more than 20BB.

I didn't enjoy it very long though, as you can read in the blogpost under this one. I agree it was probably a break-even call (needed ~30% equity to call and Pokerstoving gives me 29~31%, depending on chipleaders range) so I might as well just have folded, but my reasoning was:

- Chipleader/BB is laggy (see A4 hand) and is bullying a lot.

- If I fold, I only have 8BB left and I have to double up again soon anyway

- If BB has unpaired overcards, there's a decent chance the shortie has some cards that the BB needs to spike.

- If I win this hand, I have 17k chips and I'm in very good shape to survive this aggressive blind structure for the remaining of the day. I read in a 2+2 post that this tournament actually gets better in blind structure starting from day 2, so my aim was to reach day 2 with a good stack or bust out in the process.

Ah well, better luck next year. Overall, I was happy with the way I played and I think I did pretty well, so I wasn't really disapointed for busting. To make my day a profitable one nonetheless, I went to the MGM cash tables (2/5) later that evening. First 90 minutes were pretty boring because I literally received 4 playable hands that didn't hit. After that, things went fast when I doubled up (unfortunately with only 75BB) with a set of 9's vs a flushdraw and TPTK on a 3flush board, both against the same player. People here at the table are jovial but usually bad (at best breakeven players online imo), and I think if I win some more the coming days I'm gonna use a little bit more aggressive BRM and take a shot at the 5/10 tables. Net profit: +355$ after 3 hours of playing.

Some pics: