#wsop2017

#ThatsMyBoy #WSOP2017 CONGRATSOnYourCircuitRing

Well, that was anticlimactic. There were more than 200 dealers at the dealer meeting for my shift today, but only about 85 tables to seat right off the bat, so the opportunity was available to EO right out of the meeting. When the number chosen corresponded with a dealer whose last name was Wu, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that I'd have to wait at least half an hour to get a down. So I chose to EO, and thus ended my time dealing at this year's World Series of Poker. I enjoyed myself and I intend to return in future years, but I'm ready to start the vacation portion of this trip to Vegas.

Well, that was anticlimactic. There were more than 200 dealers at the dealer meeting for my shift today, but only about 85 tables to seat right off the bat, so the opportunity was available to EO right out of the meeting. When the number chosen corresponded with a dealer whose last name was Wu, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that I'd have to wait at least half an hour to get a down. So I chose to EO, and thus ended my time dealing at this year's World Series of Poker. I enjoyed myself and I intend to return in future years, but I'm ready to start the vacation portion of this trip to Vegas.

I wasn't fully feeling it today. I had one down that I'd rather forget, and made an unusual mistake, though again one I could fix on my own. That said, there were some bright spots, as well. At the end of one down, one of the players told me that I was, "good, very fast." At another table, a player I dealt to a couple of days ago during his Day 1 flight remembered me and, as I was sitting down at the table, said something to the effect of, "Cool! You dealt to me the other day. Great dealer." Granted, he could have just been happy with some of the hands I dealt him that day, but that wasn't the vibe he was giving. I told him I was just trying to be efficient and keep the mistakes to a minimum and he said he was sure I just didn't know any other way. That felt good to hear, especially today. I mentioned in my recap a couple of days ago that I felt like I was in a groove. It seems that at least one of the players from that day would agree. Today I bounced aground again, but all my downs were dealt in the Main Event. I dealt to players in three different rooms and just missed dealing to the Poker Brat. I had a front row seat from the table where I was dealing to "The Phil Hellmuth Show" for 30 minutes. It was interesting. I also just learned that his middle name is Jerome, so there's that. And don't worry, I had no issues dealing the cards at my own table during that down. All told, I dealt 11 downs today in a hair over 8 hours. One more shift to go...

Today's shift was much shorter than those of the previous two days. That wasn't difficult to accomplish. I slept only intermittently this morning and was still pretty exhausted when I started this shift. I made mistakes on the first two hands of my first down but, though I felt like I was dealing through a fog for most of the day, I had no other real issues for the remainder of my shift. I ended the shift after 7¼ hours and 10 downs, bouncing through breaks and breaking tables, but staying wholly within the 2pm Deep Stack tournament. Not the most efficient shift in terms of downs for how long I was at work, but I was happy to make double digits again and, upon breaking my second table in that tournament, chose "go" when the option was offered.

14½ hours (almost as many overtime hours as regular) and 26 downs (26!) later... This was my biggest day, by far. Combined with yesterday's totals, I've worked 25¾ hours and tallied 45 downs over the past two days. This is what I came here for. I crushed my previous high for downs by four. I worked all of Main Event Day 1 Flight C, from setup to bagging. I had three breaks today, but none for the final 4½+ hours of my shift, as what I expected to be a 4-ball turned into an 8-ball that was officially an 11-ball. Best of all, I was in a groove. I still have plenty of things to improve, but I made no more than 3 small errors today. I'll take that as a win, considering my workload of the past two days. My ratio of errors to downs much lower at this point, as it should be. I'll have to start tracking them as errors per shift. I'm not sad that I start later tomorrow (1pm). I definitely need some rest. Three more shifts to go...

Another fulfilling shift. 19 tournament downs today. The first 6 downs were in the 2pm Deep Stack tournament. The remaining 13 were my first Main Event downs. Funny thing is that I headed over to deal in the Main Event shortly after the players started their dinner break, so all but 10 minutes of my first three downs in the Main Event was spent watching the players' chips. My final three downs in that tournament were bagging downs, so, though I received credit for 19, I only really dealt 13. Again, no complaints there :) I felt pretty comfortable dealing in the Main Event. I was fairly efficient, other than one flipped card and a hand where, though I knew a straight was possible and told myself what two cards to look for, I nearly pushed the pot to a hand with two pairs when the other player had made the straight. Tomorrow, based on my start time of 10am, there's a chance I'll start Flight C of the Main Event. If that comes to pass, there is perhaps a 50% chance I may make it into some of ESPNs B-roll footage. If I start in the room that holds the feature table, that percentage could rise. I'll post on here for any who are interested where I'll be going to start my shift tomorrow. As it is, today I dealt in the feature table room (though not at THE Feature Table), but it was all after ESPN stopped filming for the day. Only 4 shifts left for me in this Series. I'm going to get some sleep for a few hours.