Well, folks, it’s time to fly back to reality for this live blogger. I had a blast keeping you abreast of all the action. Many of our Red Chippers are still in Vegas having fun on and off the tables, and remember, our booth will be up for the whole series.
This weekend there will be book signings with Jonathan Little and Dr. Tricia Cardner (who will be releasing her new book). And you’ve got a good chance of catching either James “SplitSuit” Sweeney or Doug Hull, who will be manning the booth from time to time.
I still have hundreds of photos to sift through, but I’ll leave you with some more shots I took at the WSOP. You really have to join us next year!
The bust-outs were fast and furious, and many players subsequently landed on the long list for cash games.
James “SplitSuit” Sweeney takes a photo of Mike Sexton as he signed his new book Life is a Gamble.
Seniors came out in force for their WSOP event.
In the middle of the seniors event.
The unmistakable expression of a man who has been bluffed.
A sea of seniors.
We all had quite a time at Live at the Bike yesterday. If you missed the livestream, you missed a lot of action, a lot of creativity, and hysterical commentary.
To watch the whole episode, you’ll have to either subscribe to Live at the Bike or wait for our upcoming Red Chip Poker PRO video in which our coaches will further analyze the play.
In the meantime, here are just a couple teaser screenshots of some of the big hands that went down (spoiler alert):
Our group had a blast watching the video in our bus back to Vegas, and we were all super-impressed with (and doubled over laughing at) Red Chipper “GameKat” who provided the perfect deadpan foil to LATB host Abe Limon’s maniac comedy.
In the bus, coach and co-found Christian Soto held court, helping Red Chippers analyze their hands (often with not-so-subtle constructive criticism), and by the end of the trip many eyes were opened.
Even as we got off the bus at 4AM, it was hard to break up the strategy conversation. The Red Chip Poker community is now more tight-knit than ever, and we’re all really looking forward to a great year of poker ahead before we all meet again in Vegas for our 2017 meetup.
I’ll be hanging at the Rio for a few more hours snapping photos and hanging by the Red Chip Poker booth with James “SplitSuit” Sweeney. If you’re at the Rio, please drop by and say hi.
It’s back to “real life” for me as I head back to the east coast, but I’ll make one last update to this blog before wrapping it up for the year. But let me say, if I were you, I’d start planning on being here for our meetup in 2017. It’s a year away, but I for one am already looking forward to it!
Your intrepid chronicler of Red Chip Poker’s Vegas week survived Live at the Bike! I had a blast getting hit over the head with the deck, and after Christian Soto challenged me to have some poker heart, I hope I rose to the occasion.
I’ll be able to download and share more behind-the-scenes photos and information once we land back in Vegas, which will be a while from now, so hold tight!
What an epic adventure!
Here we are happily boarding the poker bus.
Everything was going great until…
Variance struck the transmission and we were out in the middle of the desert for an hour waiting for our replacement vehicle. It was a great moment for the Red Chip community to bond tightly, especially since the replacement vehicle was just a bit smaller than the one which broke down.
This is how much we love poker, folks.
During the close-quarters trip, we talked poker and life, and were schooled by coaches Doug Hull and Christian Soto.
When we finally arrived at the Bicycle Casino, there was barely enough time to get chips and sit down before the livestream started.
Host Abe Limon addresses the troops.
A rare glimpse at the LATB control room.
Sitting down to play.
Getting the game started.
And as of the time this blog is being updated, we are still live, so if you catch this in time, tune in now!
If you miss the livestream, you can always sign up for Live at the Bike to get the full episode, or get a Red Chip PRO membership and watch our own strategy commentary on the play of our coaches and Red Chippers.
I’m here at the Rio as Red Chippers arrive to board the party bus that will take us to Los Angeles for our takeover of Live at the Bike. We hope you tune in live tonight at 7PM PT / 10PM ET to sweat our coaches and members playing $2/$3 with hysterical coverage by the inimitable Abe Limon.
In the meantime, enjoy some more shots I took while wandering around the WSOP:
Coach James “SplitSuit” Sweeney in his native habitat.
This is just one of four massive ballrooms full of hundreds of poker players.
Of course, poker celebrities were out in force.
This shot contains but a fraction of the massive player field.
The excitement in the room was palpable, even among all the poker faces.
Red Chipper and poker blogger ChipXTractor builds a stack at $1/$3 NL. But what’s up with that hat? LOL.
I’m happy to report our second annual Red Chip Meetup went incredibly well. Dozens of us gathered to meet at the Le Village Buffet, and everyone seemed to be having a blast. Books were signed, acquaintances were made, faces were put to anonymous forum usernames. And yes, we even talked a bit of poker.
Coach Doug Hull addresses the crowd at the 2nd annual Red Chip Poker meetup.
Coach James “SplitSuit” Sweeney with a signed copy of Ed Miller’s Poker’s 1%.
A few of our favorite Red Chip regs!
Red Chippers meet up, many for the first time.
After the buffet, a group of 30 headed to the Caesar’s Palace poker room for some $1/$3 NLHE. The action was fast and furious, and at times it seemed everyone was trying to get in hands with the coaches. The coaches rotated from table to table to give everyone a chance to play a few hands with Red Chip’s founders.
SplitSuit was giving awesome complimentary analysis and live poker coaching to anyone who asked. It was a cash game clinic.
Coach, author and co-founder Ed Miller won a few pots and was the first to rotate out, and players joked he was doing a “hit and run”.
Red Chipper Fausto amassed a healthy stack, and had a lot of fun doing it.
After a couple hours of rake-free play courtesy of Red Chip, Doug Hull led a group of players in a $4/$8 mixed game, while two tables of Red Chippers continued to have fun at the $1/$2 NL tables.
And yes, I played in this game, and was involved in a big hand with coach James “SplitSuit” Sweeney, who graciously agreed to analyze the hand with me for the next Strategy in Action #7.
I’ll be back tomorrow with updates from our party bus ride to LA to play at Live at the Bike! Bookmark the livestream page and tune in tomorrow at 7pm PT to sweat the action.
And one last note — I’ve taken way too many photos on this trip to share them all in this live blog, so look for a full photo album after I get back.
Today is the day — dozens of Red Chippers will descend on Caesar’s to meet face-to-face. Yesterday many of us were already over at the Rio playing cash and hanging by the Red Chip Poker booth:
The Red Chip Poker booth at the WSOP 2016.
I’ll be back with an update after the meetup.
P.S.: Yes, I finally got to play some poker last night… but you’re going to have to wait until Strategy in Action #7 to find out how it went! I just published Episode 6: Perseverance and Process… check it out now.
We are in the heart of the WSOP now, and the feeling is surreal. To see room after room of thousands of poker players, to stand a few feet away from poker legends, and to rail the “main stage” of the WSOP in person is truly surreal and spectacular.
And we’ve got all week to soak it in!
Meanwhile, at the Red Chip Poker booth, we’re saying hi to lots of Red Chippers, who are also mixing it up in the cash games, which are quite cordial. Even the losers are going home with great stories to tell their poker buddies.
I was wondering if the hype would be real. The hype is real. This is the most incredible poker spectacle anyone is likely to witness, and I think all our Red Chippers are going to have a blast out here.
There’s also something very down-to-earth about it all. No basketball or baseball fan is likely to be able to sit a few feet away from their sports heroes and watch them play close-up for hours. And yet here at the WSOP, anyone is able to step right up behind Phil Helmuth and rail his every move.
The Poker Brat in his native habitat.
That’s the beauty of poker. It’s everyone’s game. From the kitchen table to the final table, anyone can sit behind their heroes and watch them play. And if they have the money, they can even sit down next to them.
Our co-founders and coaches Doug Hull and James “SplitSuit” Sweeney at the Red Chip Poker booth. Mike Sexton is photobombing from a poster.
Color ran out on the inkjet and I look like a smurf, but it’s a nice icebreaker to explain that I’m not.
We have our press credentials. The ballroom is full of poker tables but empty of people, and I’m one of three people in the press room right now. But even this is pretty exciting. It’s every poker player’s dream to be in Vegas for the WSOP.
It’s somewhat surreal to see ten tables running in a room with hundreds. I can only imagine what it’s like when there are thousands of players in here. I hope the air conditioning holds up.
Jack Effel, WSOP tournament director, just walked into the room telling his colleague road stories about working and traveling non-stop. We’re busy here at Red Chip Poker for WSOP time, but I can only imagine what the showrunner is up to. A cell phone call interrupts his conversation and he walks out on the phone before I can introduce myself.
I’m going to ferret out the Red Chip booth next, snap some photos, and then meet up with my Red Chip colleagues before… well, catching up on some more work. But then I promise I will be letting myself loose here in Vegas, playing some poker, checking out the WSOP tournament action, and meeting up with other Red Chippers.
Remember, you can also follow us on Instagram where we’ll be posting photos.
We’re in Vegas! Got in too late last night to update or play any poker, but I did walk by the $1/$2 tables at the Flamingo and I cannot wait to get downstairs later today, I’ve never seen a more recreational crowd in my life.
The Flamingo will be Strategy in Action HQ for the next few days.
I have to admit it feels a little strange to be up and awake in Vegas at 8AM, and having that be the beginning of the day instead of the end of the night. I’m sure we will do something to fix that before the trip is over.
I’m about to head out the door and decide which of the three ride-sharing services I’ll take to the Rio to pick up my WSOP credentials. You would not believe how aggressively Uber, Lyft and Curb are competing for business down here. Considering all the tourism, I’d bet a lot of more rural folks get their first ride-sharing experience here in Vegas.
But we’re not here to ride-share, we’re here to play poker and hang with the Red Chip community. We’re here for the poker! Next stop, Rio…
Welcome to the Live Blog
Welcome to Red Chip Poker’s live blog for the WSOP 2016. This is Zac Shaw, Red Chip’s ‘Customer Success Manager’ and producer of content such as the Strategy in Action series. I’ll be live blogging my week at the WSOP in Vegas starting Tuesday, when I’ll go pick up my press credentials at the RIO and deliver a first report from the floor. Then I’ll be visiting the Red Chip booth, meeting up with some Red Chip coaches and hopefully ending the day with a couple of $1/$2 sessions.
Then on Wednesday, I’ll be at the 2nd annual Red Chip Poker meetup at Caesar’s Palace, where dozens of Red Chippers including myself are expected to talk strategy over a buffet and then battle each other across the felt.
On Thursday, a few dozen Red Chippers will be hopping in a party bus and headed to LA to play on Live at the Bike, which is perhaps poker’s most famous (and infamous) low-stakes live game live stream. I will personally be playing in this game as well as covering it live on this blog, so expect a front-row seat and behind-the-scenes access.
On Friday I’ll be recovering and (depending on how the bankroll is looking) playing a little more cash before heading back to reality. I invite you to check back to this page frequently and witness the strategy in action!
