Alright the next several posts are gonna be my World Series of Poker recap. I figured I'd start from the beginning and go all the way through the two weeks that I spent there, so this is gonna be pretty long.
So, to start from the beginning, we have to go all the way back to when I started trying for my seat. This was around the end of February or so. I didn't tell many people that I was going for it, because I didn't want to make a big deal out of it in case I didn't make it. So. I set $2000 out of my poker bankroll, which at the time was around $8000 or so. And I took shots at Full Tilt, Party, and Stars. If I went through that $2000 without success, then I was done with it.
I'm not even sure what spawned this idea in my head. I mean I've always dreamed about playing in the World Series. But. I've been primarily a limit grinder for the past two years. That was my bread and butter, that was how I built my bankroll. Didn't play a lot of no-limit, either in cash games or tournaments. So why now? Well, the allure of the World Series of Poker is almost magical. I just knew I wanted to be there, and I thought I had a reasonable shot at it at that time, with my allotted bankroll and overall knowledge of poker and gambling theory to make up for my lack of no-limit experience.
There are an almost countless number of online satellite tournaments to qualify for the WSOP Main Event. Ranging anywhere from $3 to $1000ish. I didn't want to waste time with the huge fields of the tiny buy-ins, but I didn't want to plunk down $1000 on a shot either. So my primary method was to play $150 single-table tournaments into the $1060 tournament on Full Tilt. The players in the $150s were not terribly tough... only 1st place got a seat into the $1060, but 2nd place got some cash. Which happened to me twice, which was pretty frustrating despite the $300 consolation prize. Anyways, eventually I got it, to play in the $1060 on Monday, March 20th.
This field was incredibly... NOT soft. People were playing back at me left and right. I felt completely outmatched, and very nervous. But then... I had a few hands go my way, which helped. There were a total of 72 entrants, and the top 6 got a seat. It wasn't until we got down to around 3 tables, and I found myself in the top 5 in chips, that I thought it actually might happen.
We got down to the final table after about 2 hours of play. From there, we got down to 7 very quickly. But THEN... BUBBLE PLAY. No one wanted to be that guy. 7th place got absolutely nothing. 6th place was just as good as 1st place, for the $10,000 seat + $2000 travel expenses. All I need is for any one of those other guys to bust out before I do. For the most part, I was around the middle in chips. But not a whole lot of "poker" was being played. It was either, everyone folds to the big blind, or, one guy moves all-in and everyone else folds. This went on for what seemed like DAYS. At one point, a medium stack moved in. The big stack called him, with AK. The medium stack had... KQ!! I thought it was all over and I could book my tickets... until the flop came KQx and no ace to come. Then... a little later, a small stack moved in, got called by A4. Small stack had Q9. Flop came with an ace, and again I thought it was all over. Then the turn comes 9, and river Q. Again I must sweat some more.
I don't even remember many of the hands but eventually the previous big stack dwindled so much that he was forced to move all-in with crappy cards that didn't find any luck. And HOORAY I won my seat :D
It took me about $800 out of the allotted $2000. Now at this point, I started thinking, maybe I should play in one of the earlier WSOP events too, to prepare for the Main Event that I just won a seat into (For anyone who may not be familiar, the World Series of Poker is comprised of roughly 40 events or so, maybe even 50 this year. The $10,000 buy-in Main Event is just one of these, although it is often what people are referring to when they just say "World Series of Poker" without specifying any further). So, there were online satellites for these other events too, so I started going for that. Now, ironically, I blew through about $1100 in those satellites, with no luck at all. Yes, I got a $10,000 seat with $800, but I could not get a $1500-$2500 seat with $1100. Funny how that works.
The next part of the story involves Rahul. See, he's a pretty good poker player too. A couple months after I won my seat, I got an e-mail from him saying that he just won one on Party. WHAT?? Yes. For real. Buuuttt.... he couldn't play in the WSOP because he couldn't get time off of work. WHATTTTT?????? Yes. For real. So, he needed to sell his seat. He asked me if I could help him out with that, since I have connections in poker forums and such. And I was like sure I'll ask around. And he said, "How much should I ask for? Do you think $8000 is too much?" and I was like DOOD you can get more than that.
One day later, I got him a buyer for $9500.
Rahul was quite happy, and said he'd give me a cut. At first I was like nah don't worry about it. But then, I remembered that I wanted to play in a prelim WSOP event. And I knew that Rahul likes to gamble. So I asked him if he would be willing to stake me in the $1500 NL event right before the Main Event. Standard staking deal: he pays my buy-in, and if I cash, he gets 50% of whatever I win. He said "let's do it."
SWEET I'm now playing in two WSOP events.
On a side note, these actually were not the first WSOP events that I ever played in. Back in 2005, I went to Vegas with Emily during the WSOP (that trip was her Christmas present to me). Her dad dropped in for a few days too (he likes Vegas, and he likes to fly his plane). Well, while he was there, he knew that we were crazy about the WSOP. And he decided to buy himself, Emily, AND me into one of the $1000 NL events that was going on while we were there. WHAT???? Yes. For real. That was an amazing experience, as my first large buy-in event that I've ever played in. I got to sit with Jennifer Tilly, and Todd Brunson. Emily sat with Marcel Luske, and Kathy Leibert. She lasted the longest out of all of us, at about 3 hours. But the experience was awesome.
So I am hugely indebted to both Emily's dad and Rahul for their contributions to my poker education. I plan to thank the both of them in my first TV interview. Even if it is 30 years from now.
Next post will start in Vegas.
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