I first played the main event in 2005 when I was a small stakes poker player with a $2k bankroll. One of my college roommates was messing around on my Pokerstars account and won a seat to the main event, but since it was in my name I had to play it. I busted near the end of day 1 with AQ vs AQ on an AQ7 flop when my opponent backdoored a runner-runner flush.
In 2007 I again busted the main event late day 1 with four of a kind vs a straight flush.
In 2008 I played terribly on day one and was lucky to survive with a few chips, then fought hard for 3 straight days until busting 20 from the money with AA.
In 2009 I made a terrible shove on day 2, 4betting all in over an aggressive player's 3bet with 88 for 40bb. The main event is simply too soft to make thin plays like this, particularly when my opponent had set this up by 3betting relentlessly early on and then settling down and waiting for hands.
In 2010 I never managed to get chips, hung around and survived until late on day 3 when I shoved 9bb with AJo and lost to AQs.
My 2011 experience was similar to 2010: played for a few days, got short, went all in, lost to a better hand.
2012 was similar to 2011: I was short stacked near the bubble, but busted 10 away from the money when my AQo lost to QTs.
In 2013 I lost JJ vs KK small blind vs big blind for about 50bb each late on day 2, which is a pretty standard cooler in those positions and stacksizes.
In the softest big buyin tournament of the year, I have played 8 times without cashing once.
This made me apathetic towards playing it afterwards. But this is a clear mistake. Suppose each year I was 1/6 to make the money -- roughly 10% cashed each year. It's still 23% that I miss the money 8 straight years. I know I've been unlucky and know I could have played a few hands better, but regardless it is a highly profitable tournament to play. While the rate of failure is high (losing $10,000 over 80% of the time), the return on investment remains high, and I probably expect to make upwards of $7,500 by playing any year.
I want to offer a freeroll to Steem Users
I made a freeroll on twitter to incentivize me to play next year. I offered $1k on twitter to a random person who favorites this tweet if I skip the main event next year.
You don't have to upvote or resteem this post, I'm not looking for rewards, just incentive.
Just leave a motivational message in the comments section and if I skip the main event next year I'll give $2,000 worth of bitcoin to someone who does. You can favorite the tweet on twitter too to increase the chance you get something if I am lazy next year.
My name is Ryan Daut and I'd love to have you as a follower. Click here to go to my page, then click in the upper right corner if you would like to see my blogs and articles regularly.
I am a professional gambler, and my interests include poker, fantasy sports, football, basketball, MMA, health and fitness, rock climbing, mathematics, astrophysics, cryptocurrency, and computer gaming.