Main Event at Gold Strike Day 1 Recap

As you know, I won a satellite seat to play the main event of their Fall Poker series. Flight 1A started yesterday and there I was, little ol' me, in the same tournament as WSOP champions, RunGood pros, circuit grinders and some all around good freaking players. Surreal. Pinch me!

We started with 77 players and ended with 15 through level 12. I was one of the 15. :)

Instead of getting super wordy and all TLDR (too long, didn't read lol), I'm just going to hit some highlights for ya...

Players I spotted in the field:

Jonathan Taylor, who won this event last year when it was called the Winter Poker Classic. He was just in Vegas railing his friend, Ryan Riess, to his WSOP Main Event victory. This guy is a true beast and I really hope he does not make it through to Sunday (sorry, Jonathan!), although I would love to watch him play..in a different tournament, of course. ;)

Chris Moneymaker. This guy does not need a link. If you don't know who he is, I don't know why you're reading a poker blog. lol

Kyle Cartwright, a local player and RunGood pro. I was actually wearing a RunGood shirt under my pullover. (It's super cold at Gold Strike.) And I love their tagline, by the way.."We are the Grinder, the Underdog, the Longshot, the Comeback, the Dark Horse, the Write-Off, the Unknown, the Upset. –RunGoodGear.com” 

Kyle got moved to my 2nd table. Not gonna lie, it made me nervous, but I tried not to show it and won a couple of pots against him. I introduced myself at dinner break and he said, "You 3 bet me, we can't be friends." LOL! I told him about that being my 1st main event and he gave me the greatest compliment when he said, "I can't tell. You're 3 betting often and your sizing is good." I almost passed out, y'all. I got a compliment from a known pro! He is a super nice guy, I really enjoyed meeting him and playing against him.

Michael Sanders, another RunGood pro and great player. He was at my 3rd table and will be at my table on Sunday. He is also a super nice guy and it was great meeting and chatting with him at the table. He bagged 83,100 for Sunday.

Austin Buchanan, a circuit grinder who I don't really know much about other than he has been making a lot of final tables lately. He bagged 139,600 for Sunday.

So that's a few of the ones I recognized, lots of money won between those fellas! Then there's me. To be honest, I really don't feel like I played my best. In some spots, I played like total crap! I'm super disappointed with some of the mistakes I made. For instance, I made the absolute worst call of my life for 40% of my stack in one of the later levels with the ass-end of a straight. I have never done that before and I did it the biggest tournament I've ever played in...UGH. I did get a little back from that guy a few hands later when I check-shoved over his river bet with a busted draw and he folded. Risky, yes, but I had to do it as I knew he was scared of my check raises from a previous hand. I'm glad I found the nerve to make that play.

Made another dumb play with 55 and had to bet/fold the turn...just burning chips, y'all. So yea, I'm not too happy with myself. But I've got to shake it off and get ready to rumble again tomorrow as I bagged 54,600. I'm 9th of 15 in my flight. There will be 4 flights total with the survivors combining tomorrow at 2pm for Day 2. We won't know until late tonight/tomorrow the total prize pool and how many spots will be paid. Last year's winner took home $56k.

My first main event, my first day 2. Let's go!!!