Memories - 2007 WSOP Event 47 - $2000 NLHE

I shut the blog down half way through last year, so I thought I’d blog 2 major events I played in the second half of the year now that I am restarting in 2008. I went into the WSOP event feeling good after several strong cashes in the casino tournaments.

The field for my event was 2,800 from memory. Now the first thing to say is that the standard at the WSOP is abysmal. I don’t have a problem with it, as I don’t think there is any difference between somebody coming to Vegas to punt 2k on roulette and someone who wants to gamble it up at the WSOP and maybe hit lucky for the big pay day. As long as you are ready for this it is fine, but it does mean there are a lot of bombs to avoid as you pick your way through the field as you will see…

I was the first to take my seat, and the rest of the table fills up with young Americans with caps and iPods, one Scandi and some older guys who I expect to play tight. I guy covered in tattoos sits 2 to my right (he is significant and is now known as “tattoo” for the rest of this tale). Finally Devilfish, Dave Ulliot, sits down at the opposite end of the table from me. We start with 4k in chips.

First hand AK. Not bad. I raise to 150, 2 callers including Devilfish. Flop missed me and was non-descript. Check, Check, DevilFish bets 200. I re-raise to 700. They both fold. I felt this was important because I didn’t want Ulliot to think he can run over the table from the word go and was happy to risk 900 chips making this point.

Next hand JJ (easy this game). I raise to 150, Scandi calls.
Flop 2, 4, 10. I bet 400, Scandi calls.
River is a brick, I bet 1000 and Scandi folds.

Now Tattoo comes into play. He has been playing very loose but I haven’t seen him show anything down yet. He raises from early position and is called by Scandi. Flop Ace, King, Two.

Scandi bets 500, Tattoo calls. Turn is a 7. Scandi bets 1000. Tattoo calls. River is a brick. Scandi is all in. Tattoo calls with JJ! Scandi hasn’t had any speeding offenses up to this point and is utterly distraught. For the next half an hour Tattoo’s stack goes up and down like a yo-yo as he makes numerous reckless bets and calls. He ends up with a stack back down to 5000. Then this happens…

I am up to about 6,000 and cruising, playing pretty tight to pick off the loons and I don’t really want to get into a big scrap with Ulliot with a marginal hand. Ulliot raises to 300, Tattoo re-raises to 900. I look down at King King. I re-raise to 2700 and Ulliot folds. Tattoo re-raises all in. Sigh - I guess I’ve run Kings into Aces then. I call and Tattoo turns over…King…Queen…off. Flop: 7,8,Q…Turn:2…River:Q

Cheers for that - down to 1000 chips. I go over and sit in the corner because I am tilting massively and about to push with nothing. The break arrives and probably saves me from imploding as I get nicotine solace.

When I get back I decide to hit the double VRBs as I figure I may as well get some free booze for my troubles. The blinds are 300-600 now, so I am getting called whatever i push with. I push with 55 and the old boy in the big blind folds (?). Up to 1900. I push with AK and get called by A10 in the blinds. Up to 3800. I push with AK and get called by AJ this time. Up to 7600 and all of a sudden approaching average.

Devilfish gets eliminated, and by this stage there are only 5 of us left from the starting table: me, a Hispanic guy from Miami, Tattoo, and 2 older American guys.

Three new arrivals are worth mentioning. A young Chinese/American guy arrives with a mountain of chips. He and I would eventually end up running the table later until one of us was to perish. Secondly Rafe Furst arrived complete with bracelet - he played surprisingly tight throughout, but then he didn’t have a mountain of chips. I have to say he wasn’t the best company either, just focused on his game and no interest in banter. The third player to join was a 45 year old Aussie guy, having just flown in from Melbourne. He sat next to me and was very friendly and a good laugh. It turns out he had placed 4th in the Aussie Millions that year so had a solid game.

The best thing about him though was his attire - he wore a silver shell suit with yellow piping, complete with loafers (no socks) and Top Gun style aviator shades. Awesome. He looked like he had just stepped out of a time machine from the 80’s, wondering what this new holdem game was! Anyhow back to the poker…

Blinds are still 300-600 with a small ante. I am in the big blind with A♥Q♥. Young american raises to 1600, Tattoo pushes for 4000, I want to get him heads up so I reshove for 8000 (I would have folded against any other player’s re-raise). Other guy folds. Tattoo has…Q…8…off.

Flop 4, 6, EIGHT…Turn brings a second heart…river HEART! Justice! Tattoo is on his way out. I am up to about 16k now and above average.

After another level we are down to about 400 players. The payouts start at 280. The complexion of the tournament has changed - the donkeys are largely gone and people have now tightened up significantly. There are a lot of medium stacks at my table, 1700 in the middle every hand (including the antes) this is a perfect time to loosen up.

If one of the tight players has a hand they’ll soon let you know. Unfortunately my Chinese friend down the other end has the same idea, and there is a one hour period where the pair of us play about 70% of the hands heads up. The chips are going back and forth between us. An example hand below:

I raise 4BB UTG with 78 off. Folded round to my adversary in the big blind who calls.

Flop 7,7,8. Wow.

Now, the standard play here is clearly to check, flat call and try and get more on the turn. However, we have been playing so many hands together, and have both been making so many continuation bets that he will know something is wrong if I check. I push for another 20k and he dwells up for a long time. I am praying he has a pair of 9’s or even the 8 because he probably calls me with that given the aggressive confrontations we have been having. He folds and it’s perhaps a missed chance, but I’m sure he’d have sussed out the trap.

I’m up to about 32k now and cruising to the money. We are down to about 320 players, and within 30 mins we are down to 290, ten from the bubble. The Aussie 80’s time traveller has departed and it is only myself and guy from Miami left from the original ten players. We started on Table 10, so never had to move.

And then my exit hand…

I am in the big blind with 37k in chips. Folds round to Chinese guy who raises it up 3600 with 70k behind. Folds around to me as usual. There is 8.4k in the pot. The raiser is more likely to have nothing than a strong hand as he has been raising consistently. I push all in for my 37k more with 8 6 diamonds. He thinks for an age and finally says “Let’s gamble”.

He shows 2 5 off.
Flop 5, K, J…turn is a 5 and I’m toast.

In retrospect it was a reckless move by me as I could have cruised into the money but I was playing to win. Next time I’d probably play it defensively, but I couldn’t believe when he called.