Since last we spoke Pt. 9 WSOP 2018 was interesting 4/5ish? FINAL TABLE!!
It's the night before the official Final Table of the 2018 10k PLO, and fuck me, I can't sleep. If we Wayne's World back a few years to 2016, it's worth noting that I slept exactly zero minutes between bagging Day 3 of that year's 10k PLO Event before returning to the Thunderdome at noon the next day. I stayed up all night sitting in a bathtub watching 25k PLO Final Table footage, attempting to sharpen my decision-making.
Also worth noting are the parallels of the stacks and seating assignments ( we were 6 handed here, but I left out the 1,5,6 seats )
2016:
Seat 2: Brandon Shack-Harris - 5,425,000
Seat 3: Tommy Le - 1,300,000
Seat 4: Loren Klein - 3,530,000
2018:
Seat 2: Brandon Shack-Harris - 7,730,000
Seat 3: Jerry Wong - 2,160,000
Seat 4: Loren Klein - 4,240,000
Same exact seats, I'm first in chips and Loren 3rd overall in both. We even have a wacky Asian sandwiched between us! I rolled around in bed for a little over an hour, as a formality, prior to resigning myself to the understanding that there is a prophecy that must be fulfilled - I won the last time on no sleep, therefor getting no sleep is good luck! This is clearly a tested formula that needs to remain unbroken! Pain is beauty! It's clear Loren has to be my biggest threat, so I'll just stay up again, but this time I'll watch the 2016 Event and see if I can pick up any specific tells on him.
I put the final touches on my preparation by downing a few cups of coffee and anxiety shitting my brains out, before sleep-driving down to the Rio to get paid.
I was alarmed to find out that I wouldn't be winning my third bracelet at the Thunderdome this round. Rather, we were being funneled onto the stage of the Pavilion Room, where I thus far have a one of one sample size of playing like garbage. The table change was the first non-uniform occurrence between 2016 and '18. I look to the rail and *Chance is nowhere to be seen, uh-oh!
Fortunately, the very first hand I played went extremely well. I raised with a KK combo, and Rep Porter defended his big blind. On a board of JJ5JA I got paid off in a pot that accounted for 65% of Porter's stack. Leading up to this day I had actually told Rep about the "Whatcha gaaaaahhhtt" thing mentioned in part 2/5, and he didn't waste an opportunity to use it here, but fortunately I was so delirious it wound up being white noise.
The pot vaulted me to 2x that of second place chips, and candidly speaking I was picturing the Twitch chat going off, and thinking it was going to be fun to read. I was quickly snapped back into reality the next hand after being bet into on the flop, then tanking for two minutes because my already leaky brain was on fumes, and I couldn't figure out how much the bet was for, but I didn't want to say anything. Oh, boy...
I'm visualizing the commentary "Man, Brandon is really in the tank here; is he thinking about raising!???" Nope, just can't wrap my head around what the bet amount is. Oh my God, I am so fucked.
The following hour fluctuated between "I do NOT want to read Twitch chat" and "There's no fucking way I'm watching this stream at all." Everything was abysmal. I was calling flops without turn plans and check-folding when I should be shoving. Everything was sludgy and thoughtless. I sunk into the bottom of the pack in an hours time, and managed to tread water as every shortstack doubled an infinite amount until Scotty Bohlman eventually lost the lottery, with Ryan Hughes, and Jerry Wong following shortly after.
I finished third, and it was entirely uneventful. I overachieved relative to my play. There's little more disappointing than playing your worst poker when it matters the most, and if I ever need a point of reference to not humor idiotic superstitions, this is the one.
Klein would win his 4th bracelet, dispatching Rep 30 minutes after I busted, making us 6 for 6 when it comes to one of us being guaranteed a bracelet if we're sat at the same table at all. How is that even possible?
<3 Brandon
*Wix isn't letting me hyperlink. For Chance reference please visit https://www.brandonshackharris.com/single-post/since-last-we-spoke-pt-5-5-2016-10k-plo-2-2
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