I dont think ive heard so many people moan so much about a poker event in my life...............and to be honest theyve got a point. The WSOPE is a big deal, its also expensive and as a poker player you want to get a run for your money! On the face of it the £1000 buy in NLHE event #1 looked a good thing: 3,000 chips, 1 hour clock and the blinds starting at 25 25. The truth was this was just another expensive turbo, and as was pointed out to me a couple of times, itsa long way to travel for a expensive turbo. So why was it a turbo? Well after 4 hours play if you still had your starting stack you had 15 big blinds, if you had doubled your stack you had 30 BB..........so no real room to play. This was reflected in the players gone by level 4, 300 runners(600 runners in total, this was day 1b) and we had lost 120 of them!!!!! A 3 day event and after four hours youve lost close to 50% of the days runners! Basically if you made a play that includes a pre flop raise and a couple of bets post flop you where as good as pot committed.....................so to my play! Well i got off to a good start, that being i was drawn on a table of very passive fish! If you limp, the table limp, if you raise the table limp, if you ran into a 3 bet (think it happened once) the table limp!! With the structure as it was this was a good thing, small pot poker was the call of the day! Early on i get KK on the button, couple of limpers i make it 300 to go.............and obviousy get a couple of limpers. Ace high board i check, get bet and call, i then call his turn bet and check on the river, my KK was good. A round later i get AdJd, couple of limpers, i raise, they limp. Flop J high i bet they call, turn blank i bet they call, river blank, i bet they fold. So a good start. But that was it. It got no better. I picked up plenty of nice starting hands, mid pairs and suited connectors but nothing hit, and on a table where every hand was going to show down i was just driping off chips. During level two the one empty seat we had at the table was filled by Antonio Esfandiari. Let me tell you that one of my major faults in life is that i judge people very quickly, i mean i looked at someone and quickly make up my mind about them. For example, the Australian fast bowler with blonde hair........cant remember his name, but i dont need to know his name, because its very obvious just by taking one look at him hes a knob! No need to talk to him, just one glance and i know i dont like him!!!! Well the same is true of Antonio, with his curled lip and big chin and he knack for speaking with a wicked tongue, well again without knowing the person i can tell hes another knob, i dont like him!!!!! Thankfully im very aware of this major fault in me, and thus im always looking to prove myself wrong. Thankfully it didnt take long with Antonio, the mans a gent. He didnt stay around too long as he made the mistake of finding a hand AQ, hitting the Q and having no room to fold when he was re-raised by a obviously stronger hand. But in the short time he spent with us it was clear that the fella is funny, warm and intelligent and well im more than happy to say its me whos the knob..............though he does have a curled lip and a big chin, of this there is no doubt! So back to the poker, i made it to level four, blinds 100/200. Its here i make my first and really only mistake. UTG+2 i have Kc10c and i make it 600 to go, and theres the mistake. A table where no one folds, and im raising from early position 3x the the blind with a very marginal hand............just no need whats so ever, 15% of my stack from there with that hand on this table was uncalled for! Needless to say i get 4 callers, miss the flop completely, fold to the flop action and watch the slow played AA take down a big pot. Few hands later i call a raise with 88 and miss, and then call another bet with 7c8c in a multi way pot and miss. Im down to 2,500 chips and its already fold or push poker for me. I think i find a good spot when once again on the button i find a playable hand, this time 99. With four callers infront of me its a straight forward all in move. UTG asks for the count then calls, all others fold and he turns over JJ. No hard luck stories, no badbeats just simply not enough chips and not enough time!!! Naturally im disapointed to have gone out so early, but at the same time im very happy with how i played, how i changed my game to suit the structure and the players at my table, and once again im happy that i have truely rediscovered my patience. Hopefully this will stand me in good stead for the main event next week, which with the far more chips and the much better structure will offer me a much better plateform to play my game.