WSOP 2011

I posted this awhile back on my home game blog. I thought I would also post it here, along with some discussion of poker strategy. You can spot the new text from the old because the new stuff is italicized.

Yes, that dork in the sunglasses is me. No, I didn't actually wear them when I was playing, but I did have Allen take a shot of me looking "cool" for posterity. The official photographer came around and snapped one similar to the shot below.

Yes, as you probably all know and recognize - this is my actual poker face. Tres' dork.

In any case, a grand time was had by all - including my home game regulars Dog and Jason H., as well as Noah P. (can't seem to find a picture of him) who didn't play in a WSOP event, and yet somehow still managed to enjoy themselves.

My day of playing in WSOP Event #43, a $1500 NLHE event, went pretty quickly - but there were long stretches of folding, punctuated by occasional moments of terror.

The first such moment went like this - I was in the 2 seat, across the table in the 8 seat was a young "pro" from New Zealand. Probably 15 years younger than me, in artsy reading specs, tousled hair and a Full Tilt hoody. An odd wardrobe choice, considering the events of black Friday and Full Tilt's refusal to pay players back. The entire room probably had less than a dozen of these patches, and the room had over 3000 people in it. Somebody did eventually call him on it, and he just shrugged and claimed because he didn't live in the US it meant that it was all good. Whatever.

Anyway, the hand; With blinds only at 75/150 or thereabouts and me sitting on just a bit under my starting stack of 4500, I raised 3x UTG with Aces, it was the first hand I'd played in awhile. With hour long levels, this was by far the deepest and best structured tournament I'd ever played in. It was folded to Specs on the button, he flat called, the blinds released.

The flop came Qx10, I c-bet half the pot, Specs floated. The turn I can't remember, but it was a low blank. I checked the turn, intending to call. If I had the best hand on the flop, I figured it still was. Specs fired a 2/3 pot bet, it was a big bet. A hand committing bet for me - or I could fold. Without thinking enough, I shoved.

He tanked, forever and ever - counting out his chips to see how much he would have left.

I was nervous, I tried not to show it but I'm sure it bled through. I still thought I might have the best hand, but I could see that he would have enough left over that he wasn't committed to the hand.

In hindsight, I really like my line against him, because he did eventually lay it down. And, he showed! Q 10. Yikes.

He gave me credit for fast playing a set or some larger hand, which, I'm not sure. He said "Good hand" and tapped the table - a sure sign of respect, or really - he just didn't know me and wasn't ready to go for it this early.

Although, as I said in hindsight, I'm happy with my approach to the hand - at the time I felt not so great. The good news was, even though he was an aggressive pro, he wasn't comfortable going to the mat with top 2 against a "rock" like me who had barely played a hand. Still, I didn't think long enough about my move - though I really know deep down, it was a give up or shove moment. If I had called I had zero plan for the river. If a scare card had come, another broadway card or even an ace (which would have likely completed his draw if he had one) - I would have been up shit creek, with too many chips committed to get away from my rockets. Looking back, the better decision probably would have been to release, knowing he wasn't fooling around this early with such a large bet on the turn. He was protecting against my draw getting there, he wasn't bluffing - though his line was a classic 2 part float that I've used many a time.

That was by far the most memorable hand of my WSOP experience. The hand I went out on too was a biggy, and kind of sick in a bullshit home-game kinda way.

I had been in fold/shove mode for about a level and a half. I made it past the dinner break, and now the end of the day (10 levels) was approaching, and also, as it would turn out, was the money.

I pulled the trigger twice I believe, and didn't get looked up, but collected large enough pots with the blinds and antes, to give me pretty substantial breathing room to wait for premiums.

I could count on one hand, the number of limped pots in the 8 hours and 43 minutes of poker time that I played. Nobody limped at my table without getting raised; nobody. It just, didn't, happen.

Each and every player, to a man (and a woman or two) knew what they were doing. I wouldn't say I was greatly outclassed, but there weren't any dolts to be seen. After reading story after story on poker forums about how soft the fields were at the Rio, I was mildly disappointed at how solid everyone was.

There was one hippy dippy guy, just to the right of Specs, who had a lot of fun and luck early on fooling around with speculative hands out of position. He defended his small blind to the death I noticed - but he hit often enough and bet time after time so that he got paid handsomely. But I knew he was not long for the table unless his heater continued. It was rather gratifying to have my prediction of his fate come true, as he started to spew and spew as his luckboxing cooled off.

Anyhow - my last hand. As I said, I had pulled the trigger a few times and found success. Even managed to release pocket jacks again when I knew there was an over pair behind me (and there were actually two, kings vs. queens!)

But each time I pulled the trigger, there was one mouthy douche who had showed up only a couple of hours before - who would hem and haw and hem and haw and finally release.

Then I looked down at kings. Douche raised it up, I shoved, it came back around, he tanked FOREVER again, and finally folded with much griping and grousing.

Less than 20 minutes later, I was getting a bit more desperate. Douche raised it up for the umpteenth time from middle position. He didn't have a big stack, but he was getting involved a lot and always seemed to scrape by or luck out.

Fromt he cutoff I looked down at AQ suited - I really believed in my heart of hearts that I was ahead of his range. I shoved.

To my horror the small blind re-shoved. He was a rockish home gamer who I knew had me crushed.

The douche yammered on and on once again, but finally called and turned over...

wait for it...

...yep, aces.

Slow rolled in the WSOP! Nice!

Small blind had both of us covered, I had douche covered by just a little bit. Small blind had AK.

The board ran out and the aces held, but a queen spiked on the river so I got a small side pot to ease the pain a little. Otherwise I would have been bust - now I was sitting on less than 3K with the blinds at 150/300 and soon to be 200/400.

Two or three hands later I got it first in with A10. Rocky small blind from the previous hand with my AQ shoved again; this time he had kings and that was that.

I admit, I was a bit pissed at the slow roll and I berated the douche a bit. He wasn't worth it.

About 15 minutes after my bust out I cooled quite a bit and felt over all pretty happy with my experience. It was by far the longest session of poker I'd ever played - and I did pretty well. I won more than a handful of pots, sometimes with the goods, a couple of other times with c-bets and even two or three times by raising a weak lead with nothing.

I had played poker. Really, hung in there exceptionally well, with a bunch of dudes who all were at my level or above. In the end, the only original players from our table left were Specs and I. He would go on to make the money and play well into day 2. It turned out that I was 110 from the money, but they finished the night with only 35 non-paying spots left.

In the end, my call with AQ wasn't the best in the world, but I had to go with my read. I supposed I could have been more patient and lasted a few more orbits. One thing I never got a chance to do was limp with AA or KK and then shove the 3 bet, I know that would have worked.

Ah well. I CAN'T WAIT until the next one. I WILL be playing in it.

There were a couple of dudes in our group that didn't indulge, but they seemed to be having fun..

No, I didn't know they were doing this. But how can anyone not be giddy in the face of this...

A veritable ocean of poker players and an overwhelming din of shuffling chips. My table was right up against the stage - so I got to see tournament director Jack Effel up close and personal for his announcements. And I got a very good look as well at congressmen Joe Barton from Texas, who had the honor of yelling out "Shuffle Up and Deal!" at my event.

I must say, and some of you know this about me, as a facist rightwing nutball (not really, but on some stuff yeah, I'm evil) it did my heart good to finally, finally, FINALLY see someone from the right side of the aisle stand up for poker.

Rep. Barton has co-authored a bipartisan bill to legalize money transactions between banks/credit card companies and online poker sites. Here's hoping it goes through Joe! All of you should write your congress people and tell them to make it so! If you haven't already, click on the banner on this site to the right and join the Poker Players Alliance today!

Yes, I digress, but this stuff is important for poker players, especially us recreational ones. Numbers don't lie, attendance for the WSOP is up over 20% overall this year, it is crazy that our government wants to stand in the way of our right to be degenerate gamblers! (Or to put it another way, keep us from the beautiful game of skill that is poker).

Speaking of skill, my home game - Pepper St. Poker had two other players besides me (who wasn't even playing for the league after all) representing the humble garage out back - and both of them lasted longer than my mere 8 hours and 43 minutes.

Allen Q. almost made day 2, almost. After nearly ten hours of playing poker (plus a 90 minute dinner break and several other breaks, making for a 14 hour day) he got his money in way ahead, only to have trash call him down pre-flop and hit on the flop. Cest' le' pokerz.

Allan is a dear friend and confidante - he excels at reading people at the poker table and usually has superb timing at getting his chips in. That said, he is one of the most passive poker players I've ever sat down with (though he will dance if his stack is deep and/or the blinds are large). As I've noted before on this blog, it all stems from the hundreds of hours he played online for free. He seems convinced, that "making correct decisions" is all that matters irrespective of his opponents.

I know better; that if your opponent doesn't care about the money (or in his case, doesn't care because there IS NO MONEY to begin with) if fundamentally changes the game itself. The day that Allen recognizes the fundamental fallacy behind his reasoning and rationalizing play money poker, is the day that he becomes an incredibly dangerous poker player.

The other PSP rep, Eric T., did all of us more than one better, getting to day 2 with 10 big blinds, and then incredibly accumulating and making it into the money! Of all the years I've been doing this, in my home game, online with friends, and elsewhere - I've sent 9 people to the big show, including myself. This is the very first time someone has cashed. We are not worthy Eric!

Every PSP player who participated in the satellite that Eric won will be pocketing $165, and Eric himself will be taking home around $2000. Hopefully this will give some incentive next year for those of you who have been a bit unsure. The great thing about poker and this event, is it is truly a game where anyone on any given day can sit down with the best and beat them, at least in the short term.

I haven't played with Eric that much in my home game - until he cashed here in Vegas I would have pegged him as a typical TAG with an emphisis on the T. He routinely does not C-Bet, and will check fold if he's out of position when he blanks the flop. Still, I have to give him credit as a player based on his short term results. After returning from his World Series cash, he promptly took down a PSP tournament. He must be doing something that I'm not reading.

I am especially excited to play in the WSOP next year. While I still plan to take a shot in a satellite or two, I am also going to just flat out save up and buy my own way in so I can be the only one who collects if I cash. Eric has proved to me that it can be done, even playing ABC poker, and this fills me with confidence that I might not be dead money after all.

Most of all - I want to cash, and get all the monies - at least several thousand dollars that I can put entirely into a real poker bankroll. If I cash for crazy money, I would even set some aside for the Main Event, no doubt.

After the WSOP, there was still plenty of poker and other activities. Dog took it upon himself to take two food challenges. First, there was the firecracker burger at Aria's SkyBox, which featured Ghost Chili, a substance three times hotter than jabenero peppers. He had to first sign a waiver before he could indulge, just in case he passed out or something. The waitress was super paranoid about touching Dog's dishes and then accidentally wiping her face. Dog himself also wore rubber gloves and had pepto at hand.

In the end he couldn't quite finish it off. With 3 bites left he smartly called it quits - as there was only bragging rights and a free beer at stake. He was in severe pain, his bald head glistening in sweat and bright red. I was in awe. The next day he confided to me that he paid an even steeper price at 4am in the form of a spectacular gastro-intestinal detonation. Had he known that such a horrific cost was going to be endured, he would have simply had those last three bites. Ah well.

A far bigger pay day than a free beer was at hand for his next challenge - this.

Yes, that is a 9 pound bowl of the Vietnamese classic - Pho. With a progressive jackpot of around $900 to be paid to anyone who could consume this monstrosity in 87 minutes or less (the name of the offending restaurant being "Pho 87") this was just too juicy a proposition for the good Dog to pass up. Unfortunately, the noodles were also too juicy, despite Dog's rapid drinking of the broth and consumption of the meat, he couldn't quite stomach the fierce expansion of the pasta, and so too this challenge had to go un-beaten.

But for all of us on this trip, the destination (or the cash you might say) was secondary to the journey. We all played additional deep stack tournaments, and Allen and I even tried our hand at a $200 Pot Limit Omaha 8 or better event at the world famous Binion's gambling hall.

I played nearly as long as I did in the WSOP and busted out in heart breaking fashion with AA28 double suited against a garbage hand that had a mountain of chips behind it to call me down and flop a monster draw which hit on the turn.

This really was a true heart-breaker. I felt invigorated at the poker table after 8 hours, because I knew I was better (or at least AS good) than most of the other guys, and at least in the same league as the 2 "pros" that sat across from me.

I will definitely seek out more Omaha/8 tournaments of the Pot Limit variety - if the crowd at Binion's was any indication, I'm definitely not at the shallow end of the ability pool in this game.

It was a very memorable time for many reasons - most of all that I surprised myself at how well I played in an event that I just assumed I was dead money in. My years upon years of home cash game play in fixed limit O8, combined with a half decade of NLHE study and dedication, paid off big time as I held my own against these PLO8 specialists. For me, this was just as memorable as the WSOP in it's own way; the best time I've had from a pure playing standpoint in any event ever.

In fact, and I know I say this with every Vegas trip report, but this really was the best time ever. 5 days was probably too much, I was dead tired at the end, but I wouldn't change it for anything. The memories and these photos, courtesy of Allen and his kick ass low light camera, are truly priceless.

Look very carefully above and below. Where's Waldo?

Above - The money approaches. (My favorite shot of the trip.)

Jason finally breaks his stoic and intimidating table demeanor. And the next shot reveals why, Allen and Jason are at the same table in a 1000 player deep stack event. Hmmm.

Later, Allen reaches the money and min-cashes. The rest of the table is just as excited as he is.

Later, he takes it down at Binion's. Okay, he actually just poses in front of their famous pile of a million bucks. Benny Binion started this back in the early 70's and you can still do it today.

Someday...