WSOP 2006: Event 37 $1500 NL

ok so it's been a while but here we go

So the World Series of Poker Main Event started on Friday, July 28th. And the pre-lim event that Rahul was staking me in started on Tuesday, July 25th. So I needed to be there before that... and the Main Event ran all the way until August 10th I think, so while I didn't quite expect to make it to the Final Table, I was hoping to at least make it some distance, so this meant I needed to be ready to stay in Vegas for a little while.

Using the $2000 that Full Tilt gave me to spend on travel and lodging, I set up a series of hotel rooms over a period of two weeks, basically hopping around based on where I was getting the best deals, including stays MGM, Rio, Bally's, and Paris. And I invited my Vegas-inclined friends to come join me at any point in that time that they could, with hotel rooms on me.

Depicted below is the schedule of who was coming in and when:

So on Monday, July 24th, Emily and I flew from Rockford, IL to Las Vegas (long story as to why I flew out of there with her... partially because it was much cheaper). Unfortunately, due to a 6 hour delay in our flight, we arrived in the late evening instead of mid-afternoon as planned. I was slightly anxious to get there because I had been hoping to get in some time at the tables that day, just to get back into the swing of playing live poker. Well, we did manage to get over to the Rio around 9pm, where all of the WSOP action was taking place. And there were plenty of cash games going on. Emily got on a $4/$8 limit table, and I went to a $500 buy-in NL game, thinking this was the best way to prepare for a NL tournament the next day. Well I managed to drop about $300 in about two hours, so that was no good.

But no worries. I took Rahul's $1500, registered at the cage for Event 37, the $1500 NL tournament, and Emily and I headed back to the MGM for some sleep.

We started play at noon, and there were about 2800 entrants. The top 270 would get paid (WSOP events pay top ~10%), which probably meant needing to last until early in day 2 of this 3-day event to get any cash. First prize was $760,000.

As a $1500 event, we started with 1500 chips, and level 1 blinds at 25/25 with 1 hour levels. For the poker savvy people out there, you can see that this was quite a shallow event. This meant needing to make moves fairly soon.

As for the table conditions... the play didn't seem too remarkable in either direction, weak or tough. I did have Barry Greenstein two seats to my right. However, he was pretty quiet through most of it. I let him steal my blinds as much as he wanted, but that's about all I remember him even trying to do.

BG busted about 2 hours in, losing on a pre-flop shove with AJ against KK which held. Yes, that's how shallow this event was, that on level 2-3, we're having to push it with AJ and pray. A note on Greenstein -- he is such a class act. After busting out, he pulled out a copy of his book, autographed the first page, wrote out the hand that busted him, and gave it to his opponent. Coooool, I want one.

I don't really remember too many of my hands. I do remember one where I got unlucky and then lucky... I think I had AQo, flopped top pair, got it all-in on the turn when my opponent turned a straight, and I rivered a higher straight.

Humberto Brenes was at my table for exactly one hand... he moved in with 66 from UTG, and got called by the same guy who busted Barry Greenstein, again with KK, which again held. I could use some cards and spots like that, thanks.

From our starting stacks of 1500, I got as high as about 6000 by level 4 or 5. I gave Rahul a call at the 2nd break to check in and let him know that his investment was still alive and doing okay. Blinds were quickly catching up though, and I bled away a little bit too in the next couple levels. By level 6 we were at 150/300 + 25, and I was probably down to about 3000ish, so it's really time to move.

I'm in the big blind, and there's an all-in from middle position for about 4000. Then a call from late position. I haven't looked at my cards yet, but I'm just thinking, "Please let this be an easy decision. High pocket pair or crap, please." I look down at pocket 7s. Thanks, just about the hardest decision I could have.

I'm about to just muck it, when I'm thinking, these blinds aren't going to get any smaller. And this is a fairly easy shove with just one opponent and these blinds. Two is what makes it tough. Chances increase that I'm looking at an overpair, or at LEAST 3-4 overcards to have to dodge. But eventually, I decide that time is running out and I might not even get a better spot than this. I shove. They flip over 55 and AK. YES, just about the best scenario I could hope for. Just two overcards or a set to avoid.

Emily comes running over from the other side of the convention center from her cash game table as she saw me stand when I moved in. Unfortunately, I'm put out of my misery quickly as a K flops, and I get no help. I'm out in ~800th just before the dinner break.

After this, I drank free scotch while playing $4/$8 limit with Emily.

Next post will cover a few other tournaments that I played along the way before the Main Event.

WSOP 2006: Prelude

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.