The end of Holdem and the start of 7 Card Stud hi lo

Holdem: 85 players were left and I was in shape to make the money with 60k coming in to day two, but I was in a very aggressive mood and I was going to go for it. I wanted to get a big stack and go for the win.

I picked up 10-10 vs. 9-9 and doubled up early, then stole a few pots and I surged to 160k. With 70 left, the money was six spots away. I could just wait for it. Well that just isn’t TONY G. I got creative and tried to build up as everyone else waited for cash time.

The sad part was when I picked up 6-7 on the button and raised Kathy Liebert’s blind (yet again), she reraised to 40k and I think ‘there is a good chance she will lay down an average hand here’. So I pushed all-in. That is what my gut told me to do. She quickly called with A-Q which is a little surprising since it’s not the best calling hand all-in. But she was right and in good shape, although not that good when I turned the 7, I was looking at a 300k stack and taking firm command of the table. But the river wild came and an Ace with it dashed all hopes. I hit the perfect bubble, one off the money and it was over 10k for 63rd place. But that is me, that is how I play, and I get chips so it’s all cool.

I bought in to the 7 Stud Hi Lo3k event and wow! Was this badly structured or what? The way the structure is, it’s the worst and I am sure they did this structure so that they could laugh at us and say ‘look we are frying all those player’s brains’. I am so sick of this and they are so, so stupid, they will kill these games for sure.

The levels start very small and the first two hours have no impact, what so ever, on the game. Many top players don’t even show up for the first two hours. This is a really bad situation and needs to be fixed right away but I bet they never will. At this rate they will kill the fun part. It’s now a complete grind with no impact on your stack for virtually the first four hours of all limit events.

I am boycotting the 5k HORSE, if I go out with my 7.5k that I hold now in the stud hi lo event. And I will never, ever play limit WSOP events if they don’t fix the structure. Now all the top players I have spoken to have said the same thing and I am hoping they all stop playing. I will surely play the Bellagio event instead of being made fun of in limit events. If you miss three hours, you still give up 15% of your stack so it’s not that fair. I’d rather find a fair event and play that.

Any how, that part aside, I am still in the 7 card hi lo stud and feeling good. There are 100 players left. I just need a good run and I can crack a final table.

The feeling for me for the WSOP is that many, many top layers are getting burnt out – the zip is not there. For me, for sure, the WSOP has no value for the players right now. And it also offers no fun for the players. So with these things at issue, it’s just a matter of time before it all shrinks. We just hope other tournaments and places will come up with fun events where everyone can have fun and not be made a fool of by the structures the establishments make.