Since we have a day off in between Day 1a and Day 2 of WPT Foxwoods while Day 1b is going on, I'll actually get a blog post in right after the events happened for once!

The WPT "World Poker Finals" is under way at Foxwoods, and what a piece of crap this place is. I swear it gets worse every time I come here.

Their customer service motto must be "Well we're the only poker room in New England, so you better like it!" Hopefully the newly reopened Mohegan Sun poker room will force them to change their ways, and soon.

The redeeming factor is that the only thing as bad as the service and attitude of the staff running the tournament is the quality of the players in the tournaments.

Allen "The Chainsaw" Kessler says that Foxwoods has the worst players of any major casino in the United States, and I'd be hard-pressed to argue with him.

The first day of the tournament is run "Bellagio style," meaning that we only play five 90-minute levels with no dinner break. That way we start at noon and are finished before 9 p.m. You can never please everyone, but most people seem to like this new schedule ... myself included.

Chainsaw: Says Foxwoods has worst players in U.S.

We started with $30k stacks and blinds at $50/$100. The escalation structure is somewhat fast and some of the antes are somewhat large, but nothing as ridiculous as Niagara's structure (still lol @ $500/$1,000 with a $200 ante).

My starting table was just about average for the tournament I think. I had two good players on my right: online sicko and EPT stud "Adam F$&#ing Junglen" (who has one of the best nicknames ever, of course), and Bradley Berman, son of WPT founder/owner Lyle Berman.

At the other end of the table we had Joe Sebok and Daniel O'Brien, who took third in the $2k NL WSOP event where Blair Hinkle won his bracelet. Dan is a very loose and creative player who tends to spew a decent amount, but definitely understands the game and can be a tricky opponent to face.

I started out the first level very slowly, even smooth-calling raises with A-K and check-folding brick flops over and over. This is very uncharacteristic of me, since I tend to be quite a whore for the nut no pair and am willing to go the grave with A-K on a regular basis.

However, I was out of position and 300 big blinds deep, so I managed to keep myself in line ...

Much of our attention was diverted during the first level as a result of Will "The Thrill" Failla's *interesting* attire. If you're not familiar with Will, he's a tournament grinder from New York, and a hell of a guy who I go way back with. One of my favorite pastimes is breaking his balls.

The Thrill: It takes a special kind of man to shave his legs and wear a pimp hat with a running outfit to a major tournament.

Even if I weren't out to do it, which I was, he was really asking for it today. He was wearing a windbreaker jacket with ... well ... a pimp hat, for lack of a better term. If you think that's bad, you should have seen it when he stood up ... exposing his running shorts and sneakers.

If you think that's terrible ... well you're right ... but it gets worse. His legs were as smooth as a baby's ass. It takes a special kind of man to shave his legs and wear a pimp hat with a running outfit to a major tournament.

Fortunately, Sebok seemed to share my desire for breaking Will's balls, saying "You look like the bastard stepchild of Tony Soprano in running shorts." We spent about half of the first couple levels needling and razzing him whenever we weren't involved in a pot.

Eventually we had to go back to playing poker though. An inexperienced and pretty tight player who I assume satellited in did his best to protect his big pair, but my J♥ T♥ didn't care since we were 300 big blinds deep.

He overbet pre-flop and on the flop, but I repaid the favor by forcing him to call huge bets on the turn and river after I made my flush.

I won a pot of over $20k there, and it padded my stack nicely. I finished the first level with over $45k chips going to $100/$200. Things slowed down from there, and the second level didn't go so smoothly.

Sebok: "You look like the bastard stepchild of Tony Soprano in running shorts."

I missed a couple of opportunities because I was playing cautiously, and bricked a straight flush draw. I folded A-T in a multiway raised pot, only to watch the flop come A-T-6 with significant action.

I trapped a guy with A♦ A♥ and got him all-in on a 6♥ 5♠ 2♣ flop ... only to watch him reveal the other two aces!!!

My stack pretty much stayed in the $40-45k range for the next couple of levels, until we got to Level 4 ($200/$400 with a $50 ante). I made a sick hero call on the river for $3k with deuces ... and my opponent showed trips.

I reraised with air against a player who had been stealing a lot of blinds and he four-bet me. I got stuck in reverse for about half of the level.

Fortunately, there was another inexperienced player who decided he didn't believe me and was going to start looking me up. I managed to pull two decent-sized pots off him with K♦ 9♦ on a nine-high board and two fives on a flop of 4♣ 7♦ 8♠, which he looked up with ace-high.

Chips back in my stack; slippery slope averted.

I went into the fifth and last level of the day ($300/$600 with a $75 ante) with about $46k chips - coincidentally, what I had ended the first level with! Fortunately, I went on a late rush and picked up some chips before the end of the night.

A new player had come to the table with a relatively large stack and just based on first impressions seemed like the kind of guy who was going to try to bully and didn't give up on pots easily. To make a long story short, I decided to go with this read for a decent chunk of my stack.

After I raised pre-flop with the 5♥ 6♥ from late position, he seemed to consider folding for a while and then gave a strange shrug as he called from the button. The flop came T♠ 6♣ 4♥, and I checked to him. He bet about two-thirds of the pot, and I called.

SHIPPPPPPPPP.

The turn was the T♣, which is a great card for me. I knew he was weak pre-flop, and this card made it even less likely that he had a J-To/T-9o type of hand. I check-called another two-thirds pot bet.

The river was the 9♣, which definitely wasn't a good card by any means. Hands like 8-9 and 7-8 that he could have been semi-bluffing just got there, and random hands like J-9 that he could have been outright bluffing just got there as well.

But I didn't set up this elaborate trap with my third pair for nothing, and I do tend to be a bit stubborn. I checked and he once again exercised his option to bet ... once again two-thirds of the pot and $5,500 total. I instantly called, and he showed the A♣ 7♦. SHIPPPPPPPPP.

I finished the day with $77,475 going to $400/$800 with a $100 ante. Ninety-nine of 162 players are remaining from my flight, making the average stack just under $50k.

I'm not sure how many players registered for Day 1b, but they've posted the payout structure. Fifty places will be paid, and first place will be $1,120,310.

Time to get back to my rough schedule of rest and relaxation before Day 2 ...

--Matt Stout

"All In At 420"

More blogs from Matt Stout:

• WSOP Redux and Kenna James, Prop Bet Fish
• Bellagio $5k: Saving the Rungoodsauce
• WPT Niagara Falls: NAPC
• WPT Legends of Poker Part 1