World Series Of Poker

I haven’t posted for awhile (I was never able to get my Internet to work at the Plaza) but now that I am at the Rio, I am connected again.  There’s been a lot happening so this might be a long entry.

First of all, I have made it to Day Two, but just barely.  I have around 12k left.  It doesn’t look like I will make it to Day Three.

But I have outlasted over half of the field, which to me is significant.  And I’m having the time of my life!

I’ve seen so many poker celebrities, here is just a partial list:  Clonie Gowen, Erick Lindgren, David Singer, Hoyt Corkins, Kirk Morrison, Jack Ury (at 95, the world’s oldest poker player), Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker, Mama Williams (David’s mom), Mike Matusow, Shawn Sheikhan, Humberto Brenes, Robert Varkonyi, Olga Varkonyi, Erik Seidel, Chau Giang, Minh Le, David Dirksen, Patrik Antonius, John Hennigan, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Gus Hansen, Larry Flynt (he was at the next table and I think he busted out in the first level), and so many others.

I even ran into Daniel Negreanu.  Literally, unfortunately.

He was booking down the very crowded corridor, like he was late for something.  Meanwhile, I was going the other direction, just sorta doofing down the hallway, looking around, la-la-la, like usual.  And then … WHAM!!  I about killed the poor guy.  Before I was even able to apologize, he had recovered and zoomed down the corridor again.

(The same exact thing happened to me once with Yoko Ono in Manhattan, about 15 years ago.  She was walking from the Ritz Carlton to her limo, and I zoomed around the corner and crashed right into her.  As she got up and into her limo, the guy I was walking with said, “Dude!  That was Yoko Ono!”)

Aside from the WSOP, I’ve been playing quite a few tournaments on the days off.  Primarily this is to beef up my live tournament experience, which I think is pretty thin.  I have played four tournaments aside from the WSOP, and all four of them I finished in the top half of the field but only once in the money.  But I’m very pleased with my play so that is good.

The tournament I cashed in was a daily tournament at Binion’s.  They had about 45 players and paid the top five.  The buy-in was $50.

I made it to the final table of ten players.  Then I made it to the final six; the next person out would be the “bubble boy” and win nothing, while the rest would make the money.

I found myself in the Big Blind, and called somebody’s all-in while I was holding Ace-Queen.  The other player had King-Ten, and a King on the turn gave him the win.  I lost so many chips, I couldn’t even complete the small blind!  So I was all-in the next hand and looking at the bubble.

Well, I quadrupled up that hand (Ace-Ten, and won with Ace-high), and I was back in the running.  I ended up finishing second!  That gave me a lot of confidence in playing the small stack.

The only other tournament of note that I played at was called the Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza.  Once again, I made it through half of the field but finished out of the money.  But I played very good poker.  Two hands took me out.

In the first of these hand, I had QQ.  I called another player’s all-in.  She held AQ, so I was about a 4-1 favorite.  But an Ace came on the flop, and I was drawing to only one out (about a 7-8% chance).  Just to rub salt into the wound, another Ace came on the river.  So I was down to short stack once again.

I limped into the next level, and then went all-in with AK.  I got two callers – one had QQ, and one had AA.  The board was no help, so the Aces took both Mr. Queens and me out.  I can’t complain about how I played these hands though.  Maybe if I had had a bigger stack, I could have gotten away from the AK on the flop but I’m not complaining.  If I consistently play good poker, I am really happy with my play regardless of where I end up going out.

One thing that I am really pleased about is my reading.  I have been spot on.

Here’s an example:  I was playing a no-limit cash game at the Golden Nugget.  I woke up with Ace-King, so raised preflop.  I got one caller, the guy on my left.  The flop came King-Seven-Four, so I had top pair top kicker.  I bet, he called.  The turn was a Ten.  I bet, he called.  I knew I was dead; what would he keep smooth-calling with?  On the river, I checked and he bet.  I said, “Don’t bother; your set is good.”  He said, “Wow, when did you realize that I had a set?”  I said, “Just now, when you admitted it.”

I went down to the WSOP the day before I was scheduled to play, just to get familiar with the environment and hopefully calm my nerves a bit (I have been a wreck because I’ve been so excited).  I watched one hand in the bleachers of the ESPN TV table.  Erick Lindgren was head-up against somebody named Andrew or Andreas (I couldn’t hear the announcer clearly), and Erick had position.  The flop was Ace-Five-Ace.  Andre(w/as) bet; Erick raised, Andre(w/as) called.  The turn was a six.  Andre(w/as) checked, Erick bet, Andre(w/as) called.  On the river, Andre(w/as) checked again; Erick put out a huge bet, and Andre(w/as) went into the tank for a long time.

The guy sitting next to me said, “I bet Erick as an ace.”  I said, “I don’t think so.  I think the other guy has the ace, but he doesn’t like his kicker.  I don’t have any idea what Erick has.”  Then I thought about it a bit more, and I said, “I wonder if Erick flopped a full house.”

Andre(w/as) eventually called, turning over Ace-King.  Erick turned over his pocket fives for a Full House, and scooped the pot.  It’ll be interesting to see if that hand makes the ESPN coverage!