I was lucky enough to represent the group in the WSOP again this year. I again chose the Senior event. It's a 3-day event that is only open to those 50 and over. (unfortunately - I qualify) Here's a recap:
Here's a link to the blind structure for this tournament for those of you that are interested.
Sorry to say I won't be bringing back any money to our group. But I did have a great time and played pretty well.
Each player starts with 5000 in chips. The blind levels increase every hour and start at 25-50. There were 4192 entries. Not quite a record breaking year, but still a good turn-out.
One memorable hand from the first hour. I have pocket tens in early position. I limp and the big blind raises to 300. Everyone else folds, but I call. The flop comes 10 King Five rainbow. I check. He bets 600, I raise to 1200 and he shoves. I think for about 30 seconds trying to figure out if he had pocket kings, then call. He had pocket aces and I doubled up. I picked up a few other pots along the way and was up to 12000 by the first break (breaks come every 2 levels).
During the 3rd level, I flop a set of 3's on a board of K T 3. He shoves all-in, and I call. He turns over A-T. Another ten comes on the turn to give me a boat and he had trips. Then another king comes and he has a better boat (tens over kings). I lose about 3000 on that hand. I little later I call and all-in with my pocket kings. He has A-7 and hits an ace on the flop - there goes another 1500 chips. I'm down to about 8,000 by the second break.
Things come back around during the next two levels. Despite being moved twice - I get some big hands (aces and kings) and I'm able to make about 7,000 chips on them. I go to the dinner break with 21,000 chips.
After dinner, the late entry period is over and they announce there are 1460 players remaining. By the end of level 7, that's down to 1320. But I'm back down to 8,000 chips thanks to a big-blind special where he hit a straight to beat out my two-pair. 30 minutes later, things are getting critical, so when I see a suited A-Q, call the the other short-stack's all-in. He turns over jacks and I don't improve. That ends my tournament. 7 and 1/2 hours of plays and a lot of fun.
Still pretty card dead during the second hour and my stack was 1725 at the first break. The blinds were 50-100.
Rallied a little after the break. Flopping a boat (jacks full of aces) helped. I was up to 5000 chips when the blinds increased to 75-150.
Managed to stay pretty even during the 4th level. My stack was 4200 at the second break.
Won a few small pots in the next hour, but the 100-200 blinds were starting to take their tool. I was down to 3550 at the end of the 5th level.
The 6th level was 100-200 with a 25 ante. I managed to remain about even and went to the dinner break with 3800 chips.
After dinner, they closed the entry period (That's right, over 8 hours of late entry). And the board showed 1600 players left when we started the 7th level 150-300 with 25 ante. I lost a pretty good pot about 15 minutes in, leaving me with around 1300 in chips. Then they split our table and I had to go to a new table. Second hand I got pocket queens. Went all-in and they held up so now I had over 3000 again. 20 minutes later I'm around 2300 in chip and I get Ace-Queen. Not the best of hands, but I need to shove. I get one caller who's nearly as short stacked as I am. I'm relieved when he turns over A-J. Unfortunately, he flops a jack on the river and my night is over.
I wouldn't do anything different and I envy the player who gets to represent us next year.