WSOP 2006: MAIN EVENT DAY 1

Ok so here we are, after several posts telling about the first several days in Vegas, playing in various tournaments. It's now finally time for the whole reason of this trip: playing in the World Series of Poker Main Event. My start day was Day 1c, Sunday July 30th. Play began at 12pm, and I was well rested after having sequestered myself in my own room at Fitzgeralds with Emily (again, in separate beds...) while the rest of the party was at our room right there at the Rio. Emily and I stopped in before heading down. Here's a picture with Rahul in the room:

In case you're wondering about the pink shirt, it says "tracysangels.com," and we were wearing them in support of a woman named Tracy DuPont who was suffering from breast cancer. On the back of them, we wrote "TEAM CHI." Not a bad deal, we support a woman who needs help, and we get free uniforms. :)

Of course I also had to wear Full Tilt gear since that is part of the deal with winning a seat on their site. So I had my knit cap, and the pullover that they gave me. I also had a Full Tilt hoodie, but it was a little bit too warm for that.

So on to the tournament. Day 1c had notables Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harmon, Greg Raymer, Tuan Le, Nam Le, Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly, and Mike Matusow, among others. Fortunately, I never came close to any of them. Odds weren't really in favor of that anyways since there were over 2000 people per day (a grand total of 8773 entrants, spread out over 4 starting days). Oh yeah and 1st prize was a cool $12 million. Top 800 or so would get paid, with the first level of prize money at ~$14,000, and to make it to the first money level would mean lasting until roughly somewhere in the middle of Day 3.

So we started at noon. Unfortunately, since the ballroom was so packed, they did not allow spectators in until somewhere after the 2nd break (4pm). So I was somewhat on my own for the first several hours, although my peeps would periodically peek in through the doorway since my table was actually visible from there. Actually here's a shot of my table from there:



So ok. First several hours. My assessment of the table was that it was a bit weak-tight. Not surprising, for a $10k event with many amateurs like myself. I'm sure that I was not the only one for whom this was the largest event they had ever played in. So nerves were running a bit high, and no one wanted to bust out early. So, this meant I had to open up my game and steal, steal, steal. Which is exactly what I did. For the most part, it was working pretty well. I did get played back at a couple of times, and there were definitely a couple of tough spots at the table, but for the most part I felt in pretty good control of things.


Early on, I had two hands go badly:

1) I find KK in mid position. Blinds are still quite small, I made a standard raise and got called in one spot. Flop was all low, I bet out, got called. Turn was a Q, I bet again, got raised. I didn't really think about folding since I still thought there was a pretty good chance I had the best hand, but turn raises aren't a very comfortable thing to deal with, because they generally indicate great strength, and you also have to have an idea of what you're going to do on the river when they (most likely) bet again. I'm certainly in no mood to go broke with one pair, though it's never easy to muck kings. Anyways, I called, intending to call any modest bet on the river. Luckily, the river brought 4 to a straight on the board, and even though there was basically no way that I had it based on the way the hand went down, it caused the man to check behind after I checked to him, and he took the pot with his set of Queens that he hit on the turn. So I definitely could've lost a bit more on that one.

2) The next one was with AKo (which I KNEW was going to be my worst hand because I am basically still a limit-donk as hard as I try not to be, and AK is incredibly easy to play in limit but might be one of the toughest hands to play in no-limit with deep stacks). It folded to me in late position, I made a standard raise, got one caller (the same guy with QQ) from the SB. Flop came down all hearts with an Ace, I had no hearts. He checked to me, I bet about pot. He thought and called. Turn came a blank, he checked, I put him all-in (he had just slightly over the pot remaining at this point, a few thousand). He deliberated for a while, and then finally called with AQ no heart. BEAUTIFUL. Until, of course, the river came a Q and he doubles through me.

That one hurt the psyche a bit and I actually had to get up from the table and go find Emily and BG who were at the Gaming Expo down the hall. They did a good job of calming me down and telling me I have nothing to worry about, this put me back down to about the 10k starting stack but at least I'm not in any danger, and I had to just relax and play my game.

So I went back to my table. One of the very next hands I picked up was KK, there were two limps and a raise in front of me. YUMMY. I thought about smooth calling, but I certainly did not want to play this hand 4-way. On the other hand, I don't know if my table thought I was crazy enough to re-steal here, so if I re-raise, I'm almost announcing that I have AA/KK. And even if someone did think I was re-stealing, there wasn't really anyone at the table with enough balls to play back at me without having something. So, I'm just hoping someone would call with a smaller pocket pair to try and flop a set but miss. I was laying just slightly worse than the right implied odds for that. If I had more confidence in my post-flop skills I think I could smooth call here, especially being that I was in position. But no messing around right now. I re-raised. Everyone folded to me and I took a couple thousand without even seeing a flop. Dang, I should be doing this with rags too.

Another semi-interesting hand... I was UTG, getting dealt my cards, and before I even looked at them, I started thinking, "You know what hand I hate getting UTG? AJ. I don't know how to play it out of position. Raising sucks, but I just hate folding. But, it's a tough hand to from early position... I think I should start folding it there." And then I look down at my cards, and what do I see? AJ. So I'm about to fold like I just told myself. But wait, it's SUITED! Ok, I raise!! haha. yeah... I get one caller. Flop comes down J-high no obvious draws, I bet out 300 (about half-pot), get raised to 900. AUGH, THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I SHOULDN'T BE PLAYING THIS HAND. But... I'm not quite ready to give it up yet. My opponent was a semi-aggressive young kid, so he could be making a play. I call. Turn comes another blank, I'm thinking... how can I best get to showdown without getting into a lot of trouble? I bet 1500. Probably not the best idea. However, he thinks for a second, and folds. Weird. I think I played that hand absolutely terribly, so I was feeling lucky to come out alive.

Around 4pm they allow spectators in, so my crew enters the arena. We're 2 hours from the dinner break. I get a nice run going, I bust someone with AA against his JJ, steal a few more pots, and run my stack up to about 20k and top 2 in chips at my table. At this rate, I'm thinking I can almost cruise into tomorrow with that stack which would be roughly average, though I do want a bit more.

But then, the table breaks. I get sent to a new table, and my early assessment is that this table is going to be a bit rougher. Way more aggression, and much bigger stacks. There were a couple with over 50k, and most people had like 30k. I was thinking that this table could be a lot of trouble.

I wasn't wrong.

We'll start there in the next post.