PRELUDE:
A little bit of background -- I am a 38 year-old teacher with four kids (2 of my own and two steps) and a wife. I have been playing poker for 7 years, but seriously for only about 4. I am by no means a professional as will soon be apparent, but I am an enthusiast that can make a little income on the side while pursuing my hobby.
Poker isn't easy. It is not a way I would encourage anyone to make a living. For me it is a hobby that I take seriously. I study and play daily, constantly reevaluating my skill sets. I put in the work to learn as much as I can, I only play with money I can afford to lose and I keep my poker economy completely separate from my real economy. I say all of this because I don't want any of my students, current or former, to see this as an easy way to make money because it is not.
Like many people, I caught the poker bug after watching televised poker tournaments. It looked pretty easy and people were winning huge sums of money. I thought, “I can do that.” I studied a bit and started playing for “play money” online and I crushed the game. I won almost every time. So I made a $200 dollar deposit online and quickly lost my meager bankroll. I realized when people played for real money, they tended to play better than I had grown accustomed to at the play money tables. So I took some time and studied more. I made another $200 deposit, vowing - if I lost it then this wasn’t for me. I have never taken money out of my bank account to put into poker since then. That original $400 investment has funded my hobby for nearly seven years.
I started off playing low buy-in tournaments and hoped to win more than I lost. My game progressed and I was able to make a bit of extra money. It wasn’t always easy. I had losing sessions and it hurt. I hated losing any money, I was fairly risk adverse. As soon as I made a bit I would withdraw it to be safe. I soon learned to leave my money in my account so I could play higher buy-in tournaments. I worked my way up, but stayed within a comfortable threshold. I learned to shrug off losses and winnings. I learned to not be results oriented. I learned to evaluate my play not by dollars won or lost, but by how well I made decisions on each hand - on how I played each opponent based on the situation the tournament was giving me. Over the years I have had some modest successes. I have had losing months but never a losing year. I was very conservative with my bankroll and never played over my head. As a result I am able to play, win or lose, with relative comfort.
Fast-forward to the Spring of 2010 when I decided to try to win a seat into the WSOP Main Event. This was pretty ambitious considering I’ve never played a major live big buy-in tournament before. My play is almost exclusively online where I usually stick to sit-n-go tournaments ($26 - $216). When I play multi-table tournaments, I try to satellite into any buy-in over $50-$60 dollars. I have the bankroll to buy-in bigger, but I’m just a huge bankroll nit and figure if I’m not good enough to satellite into the $216 buy-in multi-table tournaments then I shouldn’t play them.
I played the steps tourneys on FullTilt. I started up the ladder. I went up. I went down. I went out. I started over. The first time I worked a step 2 ($8.70) up to level 7 ($2100), I waited three days until I was in the right mindset to play. I was sufficiently rested and ready to go. The kids were in bed, my wife was in bed, I settled in on the couch with my laptop, turned the TV off, registered and it didn’t go well.
On the first hand, I called an early position raise from the button with 89 suited (clubs). The flop came 9 high with one club. The original raiser makes a continuation bet and I call. Turn is a J of clubs. 1st position bets. I shove. He shows two red Aces. River blanks. I lasted only one hand. I was out in 9th place and feeling pretty stupid.
The way these things work at step 7 is that first place wins a $12K package for the main event. 2nd and 3rd place remain at step 7 and get to try again. 4th – 6th place drop back down to step 6. But places 7 – 9 are SOL. Why was I even playing the first hand? Why didn’t I just call the turn? I didn’t get to level 7 pushing on the first hand. I had played my normal conservative game. Ugh! Oh well, lesson learned. I went back to the grind with a promise that next time I would be more patient.
The second time was a charm. I quickly worked another step 2 up to step 7. I made sure I was in the right frame of mind (patient) and I registered for the step 7. I basically folded until the first two people were knocked out. Then it was game on. We played 7 handed for a long time with no one distancing themselves from the pack as the blinds increased. Then, finally, number 7 was eliminated. We were all assured of at least staying on the ladder. It felt like 10 hands later we were 3 handed. Now it was serious. My wife walked through the room and I said, “Hey Babe, I am two people away from a Main Event Ticket.”
She replied, “That’s nice.”
Two hands later we are heads up. I say, “Babe, I’m heads up for a Main Event Ticket. You want to come watch?”
Wearily she sighs, “OK.’’ Hand #6 of heads-up I find AA on the button. I raise. My opponent re-raises and I decide to only call. The flop comes AKQ rainbow. He bets. I raise. He re-raises. I started to shake and my wife says, “I think you have a tell.”
Sweat is beading up on my brow as I say, “Surely he doesn’t have J10.” I close my eyes and go all in. I hear the click of his computerized call and quickly open my eyes to see his KK. Set over set! I try to think of how I can lose this. I know doom is coming. The turn blanks. I feel like time stands still as the dealer pauses and waits for the ESPN cameras to come over to film the carnage (that is called foreshadowing). The river blanks and there is no big cheer, not flashing lights or sirens. It was all very anticlimactic. I look at the screen not quite believing it. I turn to my wife and say, “I think we are going to Vegas.”
She says, “Cool.” Then goes to bed. I quickly rushed to Facebook to update my status “I just won my World Series of Poker Main Event Seat!!!!!!!!!!
We're going to Vegas!!!”
But wait, not so fast. It turns out the way this works is you are required to withdraw the money from the site and then send it to the WSOP yourself. So the cash is actually in my bank account. I have access to it. $12K represents my biggest win to date. Prior to this were sng’s and some small mtts with a few scores in the $5-7K range. 12K can go a long way in our household. With four kids and a house that needs a bit of work, I all of a sudden felt guilty and a bit irresponsible to put this kind of money at risk. When I thought of it as a ticket, it was a “no brainer.” But with the cash in bank, I had a very tough decision to make. I thought, “No big deal, I’ll just win another seat.” Then I could play one and cash the other and do stuff for the family.
So it was back to the grind with plenty of time to go. I played the steps and some mega satellites to no avail. The stress of the decision and not being able to win a second seat were affecting my play and my general well being. I was pressing and not playing in my comfort zone. I wasn’t sleeping well. I was not myself. Then, with about a month to go before the Main Event, my wife said, “Just go for it. We didn’t have the money before and we made do, so don’t worry about it. This is something you have always wanted, so do it. It’s a once in a lifetime chance.”
To which I reply, “I hope not.” I still felt some guilt over the decision, but I wired the money to the Rio and vowed to spend the next four weeks studying and honing my game so that I was prepared to play my absolute best. I also decided to sell off some of my action as a bit of an insurance policy. I sent out an email to some of my friends offering 1% shares of my buy-in. My wife thought, “no one would do that.” I figured if I sold off 10% then if I didn’t cash at least I would still have a $1K score. It turned out the response from my friends was overwhelming. I quickly had 19% sold and now felt even more pressure to do well. I didn’t want to let down those who so readily believed in me.
As an online guy, I don’t get to play deep stacked too often. I knew that if I didn’t spend some time studying deep-stacked situations I would be a true FISH out of water. So I got onto 2+2 and found other resources and dove in. I also posted a question asking for specific advice for a rookie with almost no live tournament experience. As always the 2+2 community was willing to help.
There were two other things I did specifically to prepare.
1. I made a vow not to let up on my exercise routine. I religiously went to the gym every morning. I figured “sound body = sound mind” (I also had an ulterior motive as my 20th high school reunion was two months out and I had to look good, right?). I wanted to arrive in Vegas in tip-top physical condition, just in case at the last minute they decided to just let us wrestle for the title. (as a former collegiate wrestler I like my chances vs the field – have you seen some of these guys – Poker players are not the most fit group).
2. I had to get some hours of live play under my belt. The nearest casino to me is about an hour and a quarter away. I made three separate trips up and each time logged at least 10 hours straight playing cash games. I tried to put myself into some deep-stacked situations, I worked on making moves in position, I forced myself to make some bluffs, and I made sure I could call and fold in marginal spots. I worked on reading live tells and tried to determine what tells I might have. I approached this like training camp. I left nothing to chance. I wanted to be sure I had the stamina and focus to play long sessions. There were times when I hated my table, but instead of changing, I made myself adjust (because I wouldn’t be able to change from a bad table at the tourney). There were other times when I had my table pretty well figured out and I made a change just to challenge myself to figure out a whole new group of people. I made a little bit of money along the way, but more importantly I wanted to be comfortable at the table.
In the last few days leading up to our flight, I focused on my diet and workout, reread what I had found to be the most helpful articles, posts, and chapters, and just tried to get into a positive mindset. I was nervous. My family and friends were wishing me well and telling me I was going to do great, but in my mind I translated their words into, “Ok, now I’ve given you money, don’t go donk it off.” My wife was saying, “You’ll do fine.” Which I translated into, “We should have used that money to paint the house and take the family on a cruise.”
Adding to my anxiety was listening to the 2+2 Pokercast podcasts and ESPN Poker podcasts and hearing the struggles even top pros were having in their attempts to cash. I thought, “What am I thinking? If these guys, who do this for a living, can’t cash playing event after event, what chance do I have.”
It even crossed my mind to get out there and withdraw. My wife and I could just turn it into a mini vacation and I could play in a few of the Venetian Deepstacks events or nightly deepstacks at the Rio just to get a bit of the WSOP experience. My friends and family would understand. It would be the more prudent decision -- especially from someone who was so conservative with his bankroll. But, by this time I had a lot of people excited about my prospects. I wanted to live the dream and have them all come along with me. I didn’t want to let anyone down. It was July 6th and we were flying out the next morning to play in Day 1C of the 2010 WSOP Main Event!
Day 1C -- Part One – Getting To The Rio And My First Big Hand
What was I thinking scheduling to fly in the morning of the tournament? Well, I was thinking I would maximize the 3 nights hotel stay that FullTilt was providing (although they would extend it if I was still in the tourney after the 3 nights were up). If I got knocked out in the first level at least I had three nights in the Rio as consolation prize (Ha!). But flying out the morning of? Not real smart. What if the flight is delayed?
As we sat on the tarmac at DFW, waiting for maintenance to replace a seat cushion, (yes, I said seat cushion, if they had to replace something vital like a wing, I would not have gotten annoyed, but a seat cushion? Really?) I started to realize this was a bad idea. We were scheduled to land in Vegas at 10:00am giving me two hours to get over to the Rio, finish my registration (I had preregistered online, but still had to sign things in person), get my FullTilt swag, get settled into the hotel, and prepare to play. We didn’t land until 11:05.
I left my wife to handle the bags and I ran through the airport, jumped in a cab and said, “Rio, as fast as you can!” I felt like I was in a scene from a movie. My cab driver asked if I was in town for the big tournament. I told him that I was and that play started in less than an hour and I still needed to get registered. He said he would get me there in under ten minutes. I am not very familiar with Las Vegas and I have never played in the WSOP, so I had no idea really where I was going and what I will need to do when I get there. (It did cross my mind to arrive two hours late in a boxer’s robe accompanied by scantily dressed dancers, but then I thought that might be a distraction to the other players and a bit disrespectful. Maybe next year.)
My cab driver made out like Dale Earnhardt and sped me to the Rio. He was weaving in and out of traffic seemingly ignoring all laws of traffic and physics. I started to regret my request as the fear of dying and my almost instant car-sickness set in. 9 minutes and 56 seconds later we arrived at the Rio. I looked at the meter and it said $22 so I gave “Dale” $30 and said, “Wish me luck.” As I got out of the cab, I resisted the urge to rush up the red carpet like a kid late for class. “Stay cool. Act like you’ve been here before.” No point in making it obvious to everyone around that I was a complete newbie.
I entered the Rio Convention center and was immediately aware that I was performing on a big stage. I quickly found the registration desk and was surprised to find no line and only one or two forms to complete. That’s it. I didn’t have time to second-guess the decision. I then headed up to the hotel room where I was to receive my FullTilt gear. I needed to look official as I represented the company in case I made it to the feature table – or the final table. I wanted to make sure I would get some sponsorship money.
I entered the room to find that it was about 90 degrees inside and there was one guy sitting in front of a laptop sweating (not sure what was going on with the air conditioning, but it was not cool.) I was instructed to get a bag, a couple of shirts, a jacket, a hat, and a handful of stick-on patches. I was told I could wear the shirt or jacket, or that I could wear my own shirt and just place the sticker on the chest. I was also told to wear the hat, but that they wanted us to wear the hat backwards. (There is a logo on the front as well as the back.) I asked if this was necessary, as I didn’t want to look like a tool. The kind gentleman said that if I were more comfortable wearing it forward, then they would probably just dock me 10%. I agreed to wear the hat backwards when the TV cameras came around.
On the way back to the convention area, I started to appreciate all of the cardio work I had been doing. I think I covered a few miles at Olympic caliber speed walking pace. When I finally got back down to the tournament area, players were filing into both the Pavilion and Amazon rooms. I made my way to the Amazon room, found my table and my seat just in time to hear and watch Joe Cada say “shuffle up and deal.”
Holy @#%^! Did I just set fire to $10K?
I settle in and do some quick calculations. With 30,000 in tournament chips and blinds at 25/50 I have 600 big blinds and two-hour levels. There is no need to play big hands without great cards, but speculative hands in position are a great value. Patience wins. I spend the first hour or so trying to evaluate my tablemates. So far everyone has been solid with no one getting out of line. It seems like everyone at my table has the same game plan as me. However, I am hearing the call, “all in on table ##,” from time to time and I wonder how you manage to get all in with 600 big blinds and $10K at risk.
One reservation I had about choosing to play Day 1C was it would cause me to miss Spain vs Germany in the World Cup semi-final game. Luckily there was a big screen TV right beside my table and sitting in seat 6 I had a great view. At times, I find myself more interested in the game than my cards. I am not alone as the room erupts with cheers as Spain wins.
My first significant hand of the tournament occurred about 1hour 15 minutes into the tournament. I updated my Facebook status from my phone shortly afterwards:
“Just won my first big pot. Almost pooped my pants. Stack up to 45k from 30k starting. Set of tens on ace high board.”
An early position raiser was called in two spots before I looked down in the small blind to find 10 10. I call. I thought briefly about raising, but this early in the tournament I felt I should play a pair of tens to set mine. If I do raise here, I may get one or more callers, I would have built a big pot out of position with a hand that is no good if the flop comes with paint, and of course I could be behind already. So I decide to play it safe and just call. The flop came A 10 x. I tried to stay calm, but inside I am really excited and wondering how I can get 600 big blinds in the middle. I have to decide to check or lead out. I decide that leading out was better. I figure at least one of my opponents has an ace and will call or possibly raise me. However, if I check and no one bets I’ve let drawing hands get there cheap on the turn. I lead out for about half the pot. I have one caller, who seemed to consider raising. I cannot remember the turn or the river (it’s been a long time since day 1 and I accidentally deleted the note I made on the hand) but I lead and was called on both streets. I show down the set of tens and my opponent folds saying “two pair.” I didn’t get 600 big blinds in, but I now have 900 BBs in my stack.
At the first break my chip stack is up to 48.5K. I am playing very conservatively and have only shown down big hands. I am feeling comfortable with my table image and have made two really good lay downs based on my reads.
During the break I catch up with my wife, who has checked us into the hotel and scouted out the Rio. We head in the FullTilt Pro Players hospitality room to get a drink and sit down. I look around and see some big names. Lederer, Elezra, and others. I don’t have time to be star struck as I replay hands to my wife who only understands that I have more chips than I started with and I that I am serious, but in a good mood. She slaps me on the rear and says, “Go get ‘em,” as I head back into the fray.
Day 1C Part 2 – Bluffing, Eating with the Pros and Expensive Nightcaps
Level 2 started off rough -- I was moving in the wrong direction. I made a lame bluff at a pot that no one wanted and was picked off. Then I flopped a straight flush draw and couldn’t get there against top pair. I proceeded to go card dead for about an hour. My stack was down to 39K when, on the last hand of the level, my mid position pocket nines called a small raise and saw a 9 high flop. I won a pot of 10K against a JJ on a board of 934 (rainbow) 7 K. To this point, not one person at my table has come close to getting knocked out. Everyone has stayed in line and shown good discipline even in cooler type hands that could have gotten ugly. I feel I have a good read on most of the players at my table and my table image is that of a tight-cautious player despite the one bad bluff. My chip count is up to 49K.
I spent most of the second break standing in line to pee. I figure only at a poker tournament is this a real big problem. I also physically bumped into Annie Duke in the hallway and she looked pissed. Not because I bumped her -- just in general. I wanted to say something witty about “Celebrity Apprentice,” but she didn’t seem to be in the mood to chat.
About halfway through level three, I decided to bluff. Taken out of context this hand looks reckless, but over the previous five hours I had developed a tight image by not playing many hands. When I did play, I showed down big hands and I made folds in tough spots. My table image was strong. The young kid two to my right has been raising a lot of hands and I had folded to him many times. I know he is opening a large range.
So this time, when he raises from the button and the small blind folds, I decide to call with the 54 of spades. This hand is way out of my image’s range. When the flop came J88, I decide right away that I am going to check raise no matter what. A few reasons – 1. I had not check raised one time yet – so it looks legit. 2. That flop misses most hands so my opponent is unlikely to have improved. 3. My opponent knows I’m a tight player and his reaction will define both his hand and mine.
He called my check raise, but he looked terribly uncomfortable doing so. I am hoping some card will come on the turn that will make me want to give up my bluff. But at the same time I really felt he did not have a super strong hand and he certainly did not know where I was. The turn is a third 8 giving me Imaginary quads or filling up my non-existent boat. I decide to check-call, as it would fit my image of being super nitty. He paused and didn’t look like he wanted to bet, but he did, and I called. The river was a 10 and I knew there was only one way to win the hand -- I had to finish the story. I lead out for a bet of about 2/3 pot. He thought for a long time and folded what must have been a small full house or a straight. Good fold considering the story I told. Based on everything leading up to that moment there was no way I was betting worse than jacks full of 8’s.
He turned to me and said, “I just can’t see you bluffing here.”
Image is everything.
Towards the end of level 3, my chip count peaked at about 59K but the last few hands I missed some draws and ended the level at 53.9K.
During the dinner break, my wife and I ate at the “Fulltilt Eat with the Pros” dinner that they had for online qualifiers. There were a bunch of big names there that I pointed out to my wife. She wasn’t impressed. She knows nothing about poker except that I play a lot and “Donkey” is not a compliment.
The food was not very good, but I wasn’t very hungry. My wife insisted that I eat something. Before we left for Vegas I told her that I needed her to fill an important role for me. I wasn’t there with any poker buddies -- I had no one to talk over hands or situations with. My wife has never played a hand of poker, but I told her that she could play a vital role on “Team 1-secret-1.” I needed my own Sam Chauhan. She looked at me with what is becoming an all too familiar look of “WTF?” And I explained briefly the concept of a “mind set coach.” She seemed pleased to have a role.
Besides teaching, I have been a coach for 16 years and for most of my life I had been a high level athlete used to following the orders of a coach. My wife on the other hand was on the dance team and has never coached anyone. But now, she was to be my coach. She was to give me pep talks, to keep me thinking positively, to keep me focused, eating well, and rested. During this dinner break, she went into action as my nutritionist. She knows that if I get busy and focused I can forget to eat. It comes from years of forced starvation to make wrestling weight. So she made sure I at least had a well-balanced meal. I don’t remember what it consisted of, but I was fueled up.
We happened to find an empty seat across from professional poker playing couple Chip Jett and his wife Karina. They were there with their two children. I used the kids (who are similar in age to my own) as a conversation starter. I told Chip that we had played against each other online recently. We had a very nice conversation. He was super nice and willing to share. I asked him about how he got into poker. I also asked some questions about the realities of living as a professional poker player. I have no desire to quit my job (at least until I final table this event), but I am intrigued by this life style. He admitted that budgeting and planning was difficult because your income isn’t steady or guaranteed.
I then solicited a bit of advice for how to go about playing the last levels of the day. I felt my table was really playing well and I wasn’t finding too many spots because of aggressive players on both sides of me. He basically said I had enough chips to sit on if I didn’t want to get involved. I can’t say enough about what a good guy and family man he seemed to be.
I did finally get up to my room for a short bit over the dinner break. I was surprised by how large the room was and what a nice view of the strip (albeit across the highway) we had. I splashed some water on my face and made the mile long jog back to the convention center for the last level.
The last level was uneventful. I sat on my chips mostly and tried to stay focused. After I would fold, I would pick a player still in the hand and try to play their cards (mentally of course – for some reason they frown on actually taking someone else’s cards and playing them). It was amazing how well I played when I wasn’t in the hand. I need to be this objective when I am in the hand.
I ended the day with 50,725. I was exhausted but wired at the same time. My wife had gone on to bed shortly after dinner, so I made the stroll back through the Rio and decided I would need a drink to help me unwind and sleep. I didn’t want to pay for one, because… well.. I’m a nit. So I decided the smart thing to do would be to sit down at a blackjack table, play a few hands and get my “free” drink. The only table I could find with a seat open was playing $25 a hand. I thought to myself, what the hell, I’m playing a 10K buy-in. I can play $25 a hand. That “free” Vodka and grapefruit cost me $125. Oops. And then it hit me. My worst fear was past. I didn’t bust day 1. I was officially into day 2 of the WSOP Main Event! I had played well and felt very comfortable with my reads and decisions. Pretty F’ing cool.
I got back to the room and my wife asks me what took so long. I tell her I stopped for a drink to help unwind (I didn’t mention the cost). She asks if there is anything she can do to help me unwind. Does a bear S@#t in the woods?
Thursday July 8 – Off Day. Time To Show My Wife Las Vegas On A Budget
I had a hard time getting to sleep after day one, but I don’t play today as it is day 1D, so I am not too worried about being rested. My wife and I wake up without an alarm at about 6:00am. We are on central time and we both tend to be early risers as it is. This is Las Vegas and the time of day doesn’t matter so we get up and head out. We eat breakfast and decide to head over to the strip. My wife had never been to Las Vegas and I had only been once before, briefly a year before. We are the type to stay active when on vacation or in a new place. So we set out to explore. The free shuttle to the strip didn’t start up until 10:00am, so I suggested we could taxi over. My wife looked at me like I was a wimp, “It’s just right there. We should walk.”
I explained that things in the desert appear closer than they really are. She turned east and started walking. It was 7:00am and we set out on foot.
My wife had researched all of the things to do in Las Vegas for under $20 (did I mention we both work at a school and we have 4 kids). She wanted to see the tigers and dolphins at the Mirage and the sharks at Mandalay Bay. She wanted to go to a show or two (not under $20) and see the Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon. I wanted to plant myself at a blackjack or craps table. But, I figured, if I was going to spend the first ten hours in Las Vegas at a poker table, then the next ten or so hours we could spend doing what she wanted to do. Vegas is an interesting place at 7 in the morning. As we walked up the strip as far as the Venetian, we made a game out of trying to guess “early riser” or “still out on the town” for each person we saw. We acted the role of tourists, taking in the adult fantasy that Vegas creates. We took some pictures and did some window-shopping. After a while, we headed back down towards the Mirage. My wife really wanted to see those tigers.
My wife has never gambled and said she really had no desire. She does not have the ability to distance herself from the value of a dollar. I tried to explain that I had set aside money to play with while we were here. (This money was pulled from my poker economy, which I keep completely separate from my real life economy. We use poker money for the “extra” things, like vacations. I never pay bills with poker money so I am able to distance myself from its value).
By the time we reached the Mirage, I convinced my wife to learn how to play craps. This is the best time of the day for beginners to learn. The table staff will explain everything and you don’t feel like a complete idiot for slowing down the game. We played for about 45 minutes and had some great luck. My wife started rolling and I pressed my bets. She crushed and playing conservatively, we were quickly up over $200. When her roll ended my wife had officially become a dice degen. (I knew I would have to manage her “fun money” bankroll for the rest of the trip). We decided to use the money to buy tickets to the Cirque “Beatles Love” show. I was free rolling on show #1!
A former student and player of mine, Gordon, works for Harrah’s and has his office at the Flamingo. I called him to see if he could get away for lunch and if there was any way he could hook me up with a discount on the show tickets (If I could get an overlay on my freeroll I was going to try). I went off to meet up with Gordon while my wife finally got to go see those damn cute tigers. It turned out that Gordon wasn’t able to help me out with tickets, however, we made arrangements to meet for lunch in a couple of hours just to catch up. I went to buy the tickets and meet back up with my wife.
We met up with Gordon who was able to pull some strings so we skipped the line at Le Burger Brasserie (We felt like high rollers). I have known Gordon since he was about 10 years old (and I was 22). His mother and I worked together and I had coached him from about that time until he was 18. He went on to an Ivy League school and now found himself working in Vegas. I asked how he was doing and if he liked living in Vegas. He seemed a bit indifferent. He was having a hard time meeting interesting people and he found intellectual conversations few and far between.
I knew that if he was looking for interesting and intelligent he would be able to find it playing poker, but at the same time I did not want to encourage him to take up any form of gambling. This young man has as solid a head on his shoulders as anyone I’ve ever taught or coached. He has, so far, avoided all of the vices that could entice a young single (and attractive) guy in Las Vegas. When he mentioned possibly wanting to play some poker, I went into my old role as mentor. If he wanted to play poker he had to put in the time studying and training before putting any real money into the game. I told him to promise me, if he was going to do it, he would talk to me first and we would do a bit of coaching online to see that he had the fundamentals down. I also wanted to make sure he had a good grasp of bankroll management. I myself started my poker on a $400 investment online 7 years ago. I have never made another deposit. I am of course a nit.
After lunch we took the shuttle back to the Rio and headed up the room to rest. I couldn’t even come close to napping, so I headed down the poker room. I decided not to go down to the tournament area where they were spreading cash games. I figured the game in the poker room up in the casino would be softer. (I was all for testing myself against the best in the tournament, but I don’t need to sit with professional grinders during my down time.) So I sat in the $1/$2 game and played ABC while slowly building a stack and killing time.
Then this happened: UTG limped (young Irish girl who had just gotten to the table). I raised to $10 UTG+1 with AK suited. MP (middle aged aggressive guy) re-raised to $27, and everyone folded around to the initial limper who went all-in for about $200. I fold expecting to see two big pairs. The MP guy thinks briefly before calling. Irish Rose shows AQo and MP tables AJo. Really?! Wait it gets worse – the flop comes AKK (no lie). I laugh as I told what I folded. They seemed baffled why I would ever fold that hand in that spot. I knew I was going to make some money. I played a few more orbits and left with a nice quick $230 profit. Sometimes poker is easy. I go upstairs to get ready to head to the Mirage for the show.
Staying on our tight budget, we take the free shuttle back to the strip to see the show. On the way, in a crowded and poorly air-conditioned bus, I decided I needed to stop being so cheap. The show was great. If I were to give advice, I would say to not sit too close at this show. We were basically below the stage and we were looking up the whole time. With that said, it was a great show especially if you appreciate the Beatles’ music. After the show, we walked down the strip and saw the fountains at the Bellagio (things to do in LV under $20!) before splurging for a taxi back to the Rio. I need my rest for day 2.
Day 2A – Part 1: Tussles With Tiffany
It’s Friday July 9th and today I will play day 2A of the main event of the WSOP. I am anxious and have a hard time sleeping so when 7:00am comes around I am wide-awake. I feel nervous. Day 1 gave me a boost of confidence, but I feel antsy. I decide that I need to workout. Leading up to the trip I had worked out almost everyday. Now with just two days of not working out I can tell a difference. I head down to the Spa and pay the $22 for a daily pass to the fitness center. I get all the way down there before I realize I left my iPod upstairs. I don’t feel like going all the way back up to my room now that I have already started to workout, so I suck it up and try to clear my mind. The music they are piping into the fitness room is not pumping me up. I find myself distracted by the other people working out. The fitness room at the Rio is NOT impressive. It feels like they collected a bunch of second hand fitness equipment from local yard sales and put them in someone’s living room. It does have a nice view of the pool, but it is 7:00 in the morning so there is nothing to see.
After a less than average workout, I am feeling a bit better physically. I decided to try to relax some by sitting in the steam room and then whirlpool. In my past, I have spent a good deal of time in saunas. I still have nightmares about putting the stationary bike in the sauna in order to lose 8 pounds in 3 hours before my first ever college wrestling match (I lost and suffered two dislocated shoulders for my trouble). I am happy to report that my sauna experience was short and uneventful. I had read Matt Moore’s TR and so I was prepared for outlasting anyone who may already be inside. (for a more interesting sauna story check out MM’s story of the PH sauna. ) I follow the steam with short time in the whirlpool and I finally feel sufficiently relaxed and focused. After a shower and a change of clothes, I meet my wife for breakfast. She asks me if I feel ready, and I honestly say I feel great!
An aside: My wife and I had our third anniversary on July 4th (Does anyone else see the great irony in getting married on Independence Day?). With four kids (her two and my two) and all of our family living in town, we seldom have time alone. In fact, in the 3 years we’ve been married we have not had a weekend alone away from the house. I sold her on this trip to Vegas as a chance for some well deserved alone time -- kind of a belated honeymoon (granted I’ll be playing poker 10 hours a day but hey, no kids and no parents around will be a novel experience).
Not so fast… When I told my parents of my plans for Vegas, they had already had a western driving trip planned (Vegas was not on the itinerary). Neither had ever been to Las Vegas so they felt this would be a good excuse to add it to their route. This did not even remotely make sense based on their original plan. I tried to tell them that it is not very exciting to watch people play poker when you can’t see their cards, that my table may be in the middle of the room, and that there was no where to sit, but they were insistent on coming. My parents never missed a soccer game or wrestling tournament as I was growing up. They were “those” parents and for that I am very grateful. They were always there cheering me on and providing the team with sliced oranges and Gatorade. Actually, that wouldn’t be too bad. I would have my own old couple fans just like Phil Ivey. It would be nice to have an enthusiastic rail, but kind of a buzzkill for romance. Vegas watch out -- Bebe and Papa are on the way!
It’s game time and my parents have called me three times with updates on their driving progress. They have also figured out how to text and have sent my wife about 20 messages. They should be at the Rio by 1:00. My wife and I walk down to the tournament area to find my table and my wife finally has a reaction to seeing a “famous” poker player. Today I will be playing with Tiffany Michelle. This is significant because “The Amazing Race” is a show that my wife and I really enjoy. She tells me I should give TM a hard time for her and Maria Ho being too weak to complete the task on the leg of the race that put them out. She was outraged at the time. “How could they not be prepared? Haven’t they seen the show?” My wife can be a bit competitive. I figure I would wait until the right moment to bring it up. TM is two to my left in seat 2. I am stuck in seat 9. In seat 6 and 7 are two other legitimate pros. Seat 3 seems to be a good player also.
TM came to the table with a short stack and an ESPN camera crew. In the first hour, there was a hand where three players limped in before TM raised on the button. The small blind re-raised. Everyone clears out back around to TM. She doesn’t hesitate – “All-in.”
The small blind calls and tables AA to TM’s 77. The flop brings the 7 and TM doubles up. ESPN is all over our table and I am aware that if I knock out TM I will probably make the telecast. This would result in some bonus money from Fulltilt. However, I am not going to do anything stupid just for a little TV time.
In the meantime, my parents arrive and my mom calls me three more times trying to find my table. I ask if she brought oranges for half time. She says no, but offers to go get some. I tell her it is not necessary.
In the first hour, I only play four hands and two were out of the blinds. Two wins – two losses. I am determined to be patient and pick my spots. I am down to 47K, but that is still very deep, so I am in no rush. The pros at the table are running the show. TM is playing loose and aggressive and her stack fluctuates up and down. “Vince” in seat 6 is calling out people’s hands as he folds in heads up situations and he is right more than once. (Kind of spooky – like he can see through the cards.) The second time he tells me I have AJ while folding, I remark, “If you can name the suits, I may have to leave.” He just laughed. The third pro (I never caught his name, but the tournament staff seemed to know him) pulled out a wad of cash so big he had a hard time holding it with one hand. It was all big bills. He was spilling hundred dollar bills on the table as he tried to find a small bill to tip the drink guy for his water. Finally, he found a twenty and didn’t take change.
The second hour doesn’t get any better for me. It seems every time I raise, TM calls, I miss the flop and make a continuation bet only to have her raise me. She has taken numerous small pots off of me. I wonder if I have a “tell” she is reading or if she has just determined that she can pick on me. Throughout the next hour I had to make some tough lay-downs, but players showed me their cards and I felt validated because I was losing the minimum in spots where others were losing much more. Vince notices this and also notices my frustration as we are leaving on the break. He says, “Sometimes there is nothing you can do. But don’t worry you are playing very well.” I feel good about the compliment, but also wonder if he is just saying that so that he can take all my chips later.
Here is the most significant hand up to this point. Blinds 250/500/25ante I raise to 1500 with AK from the button and get called by both the small blind and Tiffany in the big blind. The flop was 656 (two diamonds). Both blinds checked. I have the K of diamonds. I bet 2500 and both blinds called. I didn’t know what to make of my opponents’ play. I had shown strength twice and they didn’t seem to being going anywhere. The pot was getting big and I had only Ace high against two players. So, when the turn came with a 10 of clubs and both players checked to me, I thought I should not build the pot anymore. I can check and see what the river brings. I felt my image was strong, so there are a lot of cards I can bet on the river if flush or straight draws miss. I know this is a weak play, but I still have a lot of chips and position. There is no rush. The river is a 4 of diamonds. I don’t like this card, but the small blind checked. TM bet quickly (too quickly I thought)-- 9K into about 13K (too much I thought).
I went into the tank for a long time. The ESPN cameras were circling. It just seemed wrong -- like she was just trying to buy the pot because the small blind had checked and I had checked the turn. Obviously the 4 didn’t help me, but I felt she had “air.” She had been bluffing liberally and had shown down some very weak speculative hands. I think the cameras and the chance to win a big pot got to me. I thought that a big raise would win the hand. I counted out my chips. I had about 35K left and there was 22K in the middle. I felt that, if I went all in, it would look like I had a big flush. I picked up my stack to move in and then hesitated. Was something telling me this was a bad idea, or was I being a wimp? Could I make a big move? My stomach was in knots and my mouth was dry. Could I really make this re-bluff? I went back in the tank. I picked up my stack again. I had every chip in my hands off of the felt before putting it back down again. A long time has passed. Finally, another player (one not in the hand) called the clock on me.
"For the record, I didn't call it!" exclaimed Michelle as the TV cameras were rolling.
And that was all I needed. She was so relaxed and jovial as she said it --that changed my mind. I still felt she may be bluffing, but I chickened out. As I threw my cards into the muck they caught the table and both flipped up. I felt horrible because the small blind was still in the hand. If he decided to call her bluff because of the information he gained from me that would be awful. I apologized immediately and then just shut up hoping he would fold just in case. He finally did fold and TM turned up AJ of diamonds! I had come that close to bluffing my way out of the WSOP. Good thing I didn’t have the nerve. I am back down to 35K and my confidence has taken a hit. I got up and went over and apologized for exposing my cards. It was truly an accident.
Day 2A – Part 2: Mixing It Up With A Dirty Bird And Mr. Grey
A new young player - who I will call the “Dirty Bird” - comes to our table and immediately starts being obnoxious. He is loud and keeps saying he is trying to bust out so he can catch his flight home. He comes across as terribly arrogant and dismissive to everyone. As he sits down, he looks across at Tiffany Michelle and says, “Hey, I know you. You are one of those famous pros right? What’s your name?”
She smiles and says, “Liv Boree.”
He said, “Yeah okay, cool.” No one at the table lets on that he’s being leveled. He really has no clue who she is and keeps referring to her as ‘Liz.’ There are about to be fireworks.
But before that happens, the gentleman who had his Aces cracked early in the day has been patiently nursing his short stack. Finally, he gets all-in after a raise in front and he is called. His AA is once again cracked by an under pair, and I am reminded just how cruel this game can be. Some will not see AA the whole tournament and make it to the money and this guy is out on day 2 with nothing but probability to blame.
Luck = probability taken personally.
It could be worse – it could be me.
The “Dirty Bird” has been playing almost every hand since he sat down. He has won most of them through pure aggression. He is talking non-stop --being kind of rude and sarcastic -- before the following hand ensued.
“Dirty Bird” opened the pot for a raise; as he had done every chance he could. TM called from the big blind (with AK). The flop was AK7 with one club. TM sets her trap by checking. “Dirty Bird” fires a continuation bet that TM just calls. The turn is the 3 of clubs. TM checks again hoping her aggressive opponent will bet. However, he checked behind. The river was an 8 of clubs. TM now leads out with a nice size bet (probably ¾ of the pot) and the young guy quickly calls with his 9 2 of clubs! The kid jumped up rubbed his chest while dancing and saying loudly, “Who’s a dirty bird?! I’m a dirty bird!!”
It was terrible, rude, and obnoxious. He made no friends at that moment. Too bad the ESPN cameras missed it. He later apologized and TM was fairly gracious as she told him he might be a douche.
At the next break I am still sitting on 35k with blinds at 400/800/100a. I was feeling better because I was playing well even if not accumulating a lot of chips. With over 40 big blinds deep I can continue to stay patient. “Dirty Bird” has continued to beat on everyone at the table, but he was to my immediate right so he was picking on my blinds. He had been raising every hand that he opened. I had been folding to these raises. I had position on him, but I couldn’t seem to find a way to take advantage of it, or I didn’t have the stones to take advantage of it.
During the break I decided that I needed to start playing back at this kid or he would continue to run over me. I had to stand up. So the first two times he raised my blind after the break, I re-raised strong and he folded. I could tell he didn’t like my newly found aggression. That led up to the next two hands.
This was my Facebook post:
“Dirty Bird” raises the button to 2200, I re-raised to 6000, big blind folds, kid thinks and re- re-raises to 12000, I paused and 5 bet re-raise all in. He folds. My hand ..... ??????? Guess.
I knew this confrontation was coming. It had set up over the last two hours. For a while he had run over me. Twice I had made him back down pre-flop with re-raises. So this hand comes up and I picked up on two tells. He was ready to raise before he looked at his cards. He raised to 2200. I re-raised (6000) and he re-re-raised (12000) way too fast -- like he planned to no matter what. I took my time and thought about it. I felt I was in good shape. His bet sizes didn’t make sense, his frustration was obvious and his body language seemed weak. So I shoved all in. I had re-raised him before but never put myself at risk, so if I was willing to push all in I must have AA, KK, or QQ. He folded quickly. My hand was AJ. I was dialed in and I knew I was not done dancing with the “Dirty Bird.”
A few hands later – it’s me vs “Dirty Bird” again. This hand is a continuation of a series of hands played between the villain of the table and me. Three or four times I had outplayed him pre-flop. This time he was going to try to outplay me post flop. He raised (like he did every time he opened a pot - 2300). I had AK on the button. I re-raise (6000) to charge him a price out of position. He only calls this time. The flop comes AJ8 rainbow. He checks. I bet 9000, he takes his time and then re-raises me all-in for my last 36K. When he check raises me all-in I feel sick. It is one thing to raise yourself all-in – it’s a whole other thing to call off your stack with your tournament and $10,000 on the line.
I took my time, and replayed the hand in my head. What hands can I beat? What could he have? Hands that beat me include AA, JJ, 88, A8, AJ, and J8. I felt AA would have re-re-raised pre-flop especially considering previous hands played. So I eliminate that. A8 and AJ are possible but not too likely since I am holding an ace. Plus A8 is weak out of position pre-flop call against a player who has played back at you a few times (so I basically eliminate A8). JJ is possible but he wouldn’t push here as I am too likely to fold. And why would he want me to fold if he is that strong? 88 is the same story. Why would he bet in such a way that I am likely to fold if he is sitting on a set? All of this analysis leads to AJ, J8 or a bluff of some kind. There are many more bluffs in his range than winners so I should call. I am still wary, it’s day 2 and I have plenty of chips. But I have seen this guy show down so much junk. I swallow hard and call and I see his J9. I am not surprised to see a weak holding, but I am brutally aware that my hand is vulnerable. The turn brings a K so now I only have to worry about the last two Jacks. The river blanks and my hand holds up.
“Vince” tells me, “Its okay to exhale now.”
I am not sure “Dirty Bird” said four more words after that. I can tell the whole table is pleased with me. His stack is decimated and a few rounds later someone finishes him off.
My parents and wife had left the Pavilion room about 45 minutes before the dinner break to go get a table at one of the restaurants in the Rio. I was going to meet up with them at the break. When they left, my stack was around 35K. I was flying high when I met them for dinner with a stack of 95k and a bunch of table credibility. I am too jacked up to eat. I nibble on my burger then head up to the room to try to relax a bit.
After dinner I buckled down and folded for an hour before our table broke. (meanwhile TM bluffed off half her stack – she busted later at her new table – somebody just made the ESPN coverage)
I was moved into the Amazon room and sat to the immediate right of David Grey. Oh well, I guess I’ll just fold until bedtime. This table was made up of Euro pros on the right and young internet Americans on the left, with me and Mr. Grey in the middle. I was almost embarrassed by the hero worship one young guy was heaping on Grey, who by the way never shut up. He was talking when I sat down and never stopped to take a breath for a whole hour. It was very irritating. I have seen him on tv talking and talking, but to sit next to him while he tells you everything about everything was painful. He is one of those guys that if someone brings up a subject he will be the expert on it every time, no matter what the subject is. I figured if he was going to talk, then I might as well hear something interesting. So I asked him how he got started in poker. Mistake. Now he is talking to me and I can’t disengage. It turns out, his story wasn’t that interesting and I am convinced he only talked to hear himself speak. It’s almost like a disorder. Maybe it is a tactic to put players off of their game. I know it affected me.
I hit a few potholes coming down the stretch. First DG raised in first position. It was a bit smaller than the standard opening raise. It folded to me in the BB and I called with 10 10. The flop came three baby cards. I check he leads out half the pot and I just knew I was beat. I folded face up and he said, “You were supposed to call – I have KK” (He showed them.)
I replied, “I was supposed to flop a set.”
Last hand of the night and I was on the button with AK. It folded to me as people started to bag their chips. I raised and was called by the big stack in the BB. The flop came 72Q. He checks, I bet. He raised. I fold. He shows 72. Oh well. I made it through day 2A with 86,700. I am exhausted. I now have two days off before day 3. I head upstairs after splurging on a vodka and grapefruit from the bar instead getting a “free” one in the casino.
Two days off until day 3. We plan to explore outside of Vegas, watch the World Cup Final, and take in another show.
Sat. July 10 – Desert Heat – Fun with the ‘Rents’ -- Trouble with the Wife
No poker for 2 days. Saturday is day 2B and Sunday is just an off day for everyone. I have succeeded in getting extra nights at the Rio on FullTilt’s dime.
Since my parents were in town with a car we decided to get out of Vegas and see some of the natural wonders of the area. Our choices were Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon, or Mt. Charleston (Vegas under $20). Our first inclination was Hoover Dam, but we had heard that traffic getting out there was terrible and that it would be crowded on the weekend. My wife wanted to do some hiking so we headed to Red Rock Canyon. If we had talked to anyone who knew, we would have gone to Mt. Charleston. My folks came to pick us up and we headed out.
Red Rock Canyon is quite impressive with unique and beautiful geologic features. We stop at the first observation point and my wife and I go on a short hike/climb. My parents take some pictures and stay near the car. They are not quite up for the terrain, but are willing to wait for us to do some exploring. We hike and climb a short route (mostly in the shade of the canyon walls). At one point, my wife gets mad at me for being a wimp. There is a narrow and steep face that she really wants to climb. I express that I think it is a bad idea. She gets very upset with me and insists she can do it. She thinks I doubt her physical prowess. I explain that I know she can climb up, but I was more concerned with the coming down. Mind you we have no climbing gear, we are wearing running shoes, shorts, and t-shirts. A heated argument ensues.
I used to be a more adventurous guy --the kind of guy that would cliff dive, swim with sharks, race cars, rappel, sky dive, bungee jump, not wear my seat belt, and swim right after eating. (editorial note – I’ve only really done two of the aforementioned but I would have done the others, if given the opportunity.) I would have scrambled up that cliff and reached the top long before considering the more difficult climb back down. But, in my middle age, I have developed a more conservative outlook. I have children to look after, a 20th high school reunion to go to and the WSOP to win. I won the argument, but my wife was annoyed with me.
We hiked back to my parents’ Prius and headed to a different part of the park where we had planned to “do a hike.” The trail was rated moderately difficult and should take about 2 hours to complete according to the trail map. My parents were interested in going to the park’s information center to read all of the materials and enjoy the air conditioning. They would be back to pick us up in 2 hours.
Now, here is where I have to admit that I have a degree in neuroscience from a prestigious university and I think I’m a pretty smart guy. Yet, I think that it would be a good idea to hike for two hours across moderately difficult terrain at 1:00 in the afternoon, in July, in the desert, with running shoes and 4 pints of water. Actually, I just didn’t want to be called out as a wimp by my wife again. I didn’t want to argue, as she was ready to go. So off we go into the wilderness to find a natural spring that should be about an hour into the hike up the canyon. As we head out, I start to question our decision but decide to keep my concerns to myself.
The route is not well marked and a few times we end up off trail. Each time we find our way back, and we feel we are heading in the right direction. About halfway in, my wife takes a misstep and rolls her ankle. I ask if she is okay, and she quickly says she’s fine. I know she isn’t, but there is no way she is going to admit or show she’s hurt, so we press on. It turns out that the desert is hot midday in July and I notice we go through our first two bottles of water quickly. It is obvious that we haven’t brought near enough to drink. I recall episodes of “Man vs Wild” where Bear Grylls drinks his own pee and squeezes water out of elephant dung. I start thinking we should turn back, but my competitive juices are flowing and I want to see that damn spring.
We pass a couple who are on their way back out of the canyon and ask them how far till we reach the spring. The woman told us that we had about ten more minutes to go. I heard her out-of-shape companion argue that it was "more like twenty." They continue their disagreement as they walk away.
I look at my wife and see that she is thinking the same thing I am. “If they can do it, then we can do it.” So we press on. About ten minutes later, we still haven’t seen a spring and we are struggling. I have stopped drinking water because I want to make sure we have some left for the hike out and I am worried about my wife. I really don’t want to drink her pee. We come across another group on their way out and we ask them how much further. They say about another 15 minutes or so. I then ask if it is worth it. They emphatically say, “No, it is a small dirty pool of water.”
We sit in the shade thinking it over and finally decide to turn back. I am feeling a bit defeated, but I know it is the right decision based on the conditions and our supply of water.
It’s not long before we have another brief, but heated, argument about which way to go. We are both getting short tempered, and then my wife rolls her ankle again. This time there is no hiding the fact that it hurt. But my wife is tough, and she is pissed at me, so we keep moving. We are down to the last half pint of water and I have been making sure she has been getting a little water every few minutes or so. Up until this point, I had not really been worried about our safety – just our level of discomfort. However, now I actually started to consider that we were in a semi-bad spot.
On our way out we had not passed anyone coming in, so I did not expect we would see anyone else until we were in sight of the trailhead. I wanted my wife to just keep moving forward. I knew her ankle hurt and I knew she was struggling with the heat. I went into coach mode and just tried to motivate her. One thing to know about my wife is she is determined. Last year she completed a 100-mile bike race up and down the hills of Sonoma California to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund. There is no quit in her. We staggered along and finally reached the trailhead.
When we got back to the car we tried to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal, but we had made a foolish decision. We were not wearing the proper footwear for that terrain and we did not have close to enough water. My parents – the consummate team parents --had Gatorade and cold water waiting for us (but no sliced oranges).
We headed back to town with a plan to get cleaned up and have a romantic night out in Vegas -- just the four of us. By the time we got back to the Rio, my wife’s ankle was very very swollen. We showered and I wrapped my wife’s ankle with ice. I have seen enough ankle injuries to know that this could be serious, but we won’t know until we get the swelling down. She decides she wants to chill for a while. Then I made a tactical error. I asked if she wanted me to stay with her or go show my parents around a bit. She said I should go, which I found out later really meant that I should stay. That combined with the injury make it doubtful that I will be hitting the jackpot tonight.
My Mom wants to learn to play blackjack and craps. I want to teach her, but I want it to be a cheap lesson. They also want to see the strip. So we head over to Bill’s Gambling Hall (because of the low table limits). My Dad and I pull out some cash and put my Mom at a blackjack table. We start slowly but soon she’s getting the hang of it. When my Dad and I were distracted by some of the local scenery, my Mom hit her 14 with the dealer showing a 6. Of course she busted and took the big card away from the dealer who turned over the king and then peeled off a 5. The rest of the table was not pleased. My Mom was having fun and was oblivious to their unhappiness. I suggested we go give craps a try before one of them says something nasty, which would incite my father, who I would then have to defend with a threat of physical violence. Craps went a bit better, but my Mom really had a hard time following the fast action.* We left with our pockets a little lighter, but it was all about entertainment so no big deal.
*(editorial note – My Mom is not dumb, quite smart in fact, a PhD, but this is out of her element)
I had tried to text my wife a few times, but she didn’t reply. I figured she must have fallen asleep. So I didn’t call. However, as we are leaving Bill’s, I realize it has been about 4 hours since we left her. Oops! Vegas can do weird things to your sense of time passage. I call and she is pissed. She thought we were just going downstairs to the Rio for a while. In the meantime she has gotten deep into the mini bar (just to spite me and my budget). She also called the front desk to ask if they have any crutches she can use. (They say no – later we see they have scooters for rent, which they failed to mention– I really wish we would have known because that would have been awesome if she raced Doyle and TJ up and down the Rio hallways.) I tell her we will come get her. Her ankle is still bad, so I stop at the pharmacy to buy a compression ankle brace and Advil.
When we get to the Rio, she is not moving well and obviously in pain, but she wants to go out. I figure a few Advil and enough alcohol and she will be fine. We go grab a bite and head back to the strip. After a bit of walking and people watching, we head to Treasure Island - my wife really wants to see the free pirate show outside of Treasure Island and then the volcano at the Mirage. (Vegas under $20). This is a colossal waste of time and effort. If you are thinking about it on your next trip – DON’T DO IT! I guess you get what you pay for. We left before it was over. We decided it was time to head back. My wife’s ankle was hurting despite alcohol intake, my folks were tired and no one was really having fun.
We make plans to meet in the morning to go to Caesar’s Palace to watch the World Cup Final. My former student, Gordon was going to meet us there.
Sunday July 11 - The World Cup Final - My Vegas Rant –Craptastic - And A Show.
Today is the World Cup Final -- the most watched sporting event in the world. Spain vs Holland -- the two best teams to have never won the big one. I’m excited.
We get over to Caesar’s early, and settle in at Shadow (the lounge nearest the sports book). I decided to put a wager on the game because I’m a gambler. I have not bet on a sporting event since my run-ins with the campus bookie in college (that didn’t go well). Throughout the tournament, my 9-year-old son had an uncanny knack for predicting the winners. He’d studied the players and knew the key match-ups. So I called him and asked him who would win and what the score would be.
Being that my son’s soccer coach is a young Dutchman, he had been sufficiently brainwashed. He picked Holland to win 2-1. I felt Spain was the better team, but the kid’s a savant, right? I went to the window at the sports book and made my first ever legal sports bet. I put a whopping $20 on Holland and another $10 on the score 2-1.
The guy at the ticket counter said, “Are you really picking against the octopus? You know the octopus has caused the line to move?”
“That makes this a better bet for me right? Besides, I have a monkey at home that said Holland will win.”
He looked confused, “You have a monkey?”
I place my bet and say bye-bye to $30, the best team won.
While we were watching the game, my former student, Gordon, saw a friend/co-worker. He introduced me, by saying, “This is my high school coach and teacher. Besides my father, this man has taught me more about life than anyone else.” I was surprised and flattered. I knew we had a good relationship built over the years as teacher, coach, and mentor, but in that instant I was reminded why I teach. I love that kid. *
*(editorial note: I didn’t include this as a brag. It really made me think --Here I was, in this world of make-believe – playing poker with people who make a living at it and of course I let myself imagine what it would be like. And, if you are reading on this forum, you have thought about it too – the glamorous life of a professional poker player, right? But I don’t think there are many poker players who get to affect as many people as I do in my job. And if Leo Doc gave up his job to play poker, he would miss out the chance to save lives. I believe this is why so many poker players are so generous with their time and money to help charitable causes. As human beings we need to feel connected with other people and making a difference in some small way.)
After the game Gordon headed out and my parents were headed off to the next part of their adventure in the wilds of Colorado. My wife and I had the rest of Sunday to hang out. We decided we would see another show (translation: my wife decided we would see another show). She suggested a show called “Defending the Caveman” at the Excalibur. My parents dropped us off before heading east.
I instantly hate the Excalibur. From the outside it looks like it is built from Legos, and the inside is worse. It is designed to elicit, “Daddy can I get ……, or Daddy I want……” at every turn. They have the popcorn place, next to the candy store, next to the toy store, next to the pizza place. It was gluttonous. The Excalibur is a cheesy-over-the-top-themed-money-sucking example of American excess and consumerism. It bothered me that it was designed to appeal to the young -- an indoctrination to consumerism. Now that I think about it, it does to kids what the rest of Vegas does to adults – appeals to our weakness for instant gratification. This is an excerpt from a blog I wrote for a non-poker audience:
Too many people bring their kids to Vegas. The big corporations want to market Las Vegas as family friendly, but I don’t think it is. Vegas is hedonistic, capitalistic, salacious, hot, not pedestrian friendly, and caters to man’s every vice. Vegas is a place where adults can go spend their money. Period. It exists for no other reason than to entertain. The shows are great, they tell me the food is good (I’m not much of a fine food connoisseur), the gambling is fun, the sights are interesting, but it is not quality family time. Building sand castles at the beach is quality family fun. Covering your kids’ eyes from the trucks on the strip advertizing “Girls in 15 minutes” and “all nude” is not family fun. Yet everywhere I turned I saw people with their kids (at all hours of the day). Don’t get me wrong. I like Las Vegas. I can’t wait to go back, but family friendly…I don’t think so.
As a friend of my sister who is from south Georgia so elegantly put it: (insert southern drawl) “Keep ya babies out the casino!”
(Sorry for the rant – I hope I didn’t offend anyone who likes to take the family to LV.)
After purchasing our tickets, we had to decide what to do for four hours until the show. I knew I had to get out of the Excalibur, I didn’t want to go back to the Rio just to turn around a short time later, my wife’s ankle was still hurting so we didn’t want to walk too much -- we settled on going next door to the Luxor.
We hit the craps table and bingo! We quickly won enough money to cover dinner and the show tickets. I can’t believe I am freerolling show #2!!! We look for a place to eat and decide on the buffet at the Luxor. (What is wrong with me?!) Warning—don’t do this! It is not good. But we were hungry and all-you-can-eat sounded like a good idea.
After eating I wanted to play more craps, but my wife was convinced we shouldn’t. According to her we had used up our good luck for the day. I laughed and explained that the dice have no memory or agenda. Or do they? Right away we start to lose and lose quickly. My wife shows a mixture of displeasure and satisfaction. She’s convinced she was right as we run through the first $200. To her dismay, I pull out another $100. I decided to put a stop loss at $300. When we were down to the last $40, I put it all out on the table and my wife turned away. We won and I started pressing bets. Twenty minutes later we walked away with a profit of $150. I gloat for a moment, before my wife takes the $150 and heads off to shop. I go look for a poker game.
The Luxor poker room (if you can call it that) only had one table running ($1/2) and no seats open. I put my name on the list and watched. The game was horrible. Seven super-tight grandpas who only played AA or KK, one older woman who folded every hand and stepped away to smoke every three hands, and two young internet tools who talked about +EV, pot equity, and hand ranges and then ended up only playing hands against each other because everyone else folded. I took my name off the list and walked around to do some people watching. I observe that no one playing slot machines ever looks anything but miserable.
The show (Defending the Caveman) was fantastic – very funny. I recommend taking your wife if you get the chance. It will help her understand you. My wife now knows why at the end of the day I don’t really want to talk. It’s because I am all out of words for the day. I hit my quota around 3:45. Anyway, good show and not too expensive (I’m cheap even when I’m freerolling).
We taxi back to the Rio (craps winnings) for some quality time and sleep. I need to be in top form for Day 3 of the WSOP Main Event.
Sorry for so much non-poker content. Things heat up on the felt in the next installment. No more off days until it’s over.
DAY 3 Of WSOP Main Event - I Think I’m Becoming A Poker Player
Once again I’m up early, so I try to develop a game day routine that includes working out and some time in the spa to relax to get my mindset right. Today I feel things are going to get serious. Everyone left in the tournament is finally playing on the same day. The blinds will start to affect the play of some people and chips will be flying. I know there is still a long way to go, but I can start to see something on the horizon. I’m not sure what it is, but there is something there. Over the first two days of play I feel I have improved greatly. I am nervous, but confident. I feel like two days of playing live on the biggest stage has propelled my game forward light years. I’m thinking the game better than ever.
I start the day with 86,700 chips and one hour to go with the blinds at 500/1000/100a. With 86BB’s I am in no hurry. I can wait for good spots. Day 3 gets underway and I try to size up my table. It takes only a short while to confirm 4 pros and 2 amateurs with 3 unknowns. One of the unknowns is to my immediate right. He is well over 400 lbs and his breath is horrible. I thought about offering him a Tic Tac, but I was afraid he might eat me.
During the first hour, I continue my conservative play and pick up a few small pots, but nothing major. I have my stack up to 89K. The blinds are going up to 600/1200/200a -- I still have over 70 big blinds.
Two hours down and we reach the first 20 min break of the day. I am down to 83.3k chips but not worried. There is room to be creative or patient. I have played only one notable hand:
I’m in the big blind facing a raise from a late position player. I defend with 10 8 suited. The flop was J 3 6 (only one of my suit), I checked, he bet, I re-raised and he folded. Rationale – he looked weak, the board sucks and I’m in the blind and have a tight image. All other hands have been routine.
In seat 8 we may have the slowest poker player on the planet (it's not the 400lb guy). This guy is driving me nuts. He is so f’ing slow. I don’t know what the hell he is thinking about. Every decision he makes takes a lifetime. I think people are folding to him just to end the torture. We are probably playing 1/3 less hands per hour than other tables --maybe less. The weird thing is -- he is basically loose aggressive -- playing a wide variety of hands (he is playing “fast” but he is physically and I guess mentally, slow).
This morning my wife gave me a rubber band to wear on my right wrist. Every time I have a negative thought I am to snap it. So far, no snaps. I’m in my happy place.
During the break I made a conscious decision to change gears and exploit the image I had worked the past two hours developing. I wanted to mix it up a bit more and try to pick up some chips. For example:
An aggressive smart player raised to 3000 from the hijack seat. I re-raised from small blind to 8600. He flats. The flop was 858. I led at the pot, he called, turn came with a 5. I fired again with no hesitation and he thought for a long time, started to raise, then thought about calling, then finally folded saying, "jacks". My hand...... A6.
I was really surprised when he said “jacks.” I was also relieved. He had raised from the cutoff so many times when he had the chance to open, that I gave him no credit. I was determined to exploit my tight image. My re-raise out of the blinds screamed big pair. But with a low board it took two more bets to get JJ to fold. My opponent gave me a lot of credit to fold an over pair to the board. For an instant I thought about showing the bluff. But I didn’t feel I had enough experience or comfort to know how that would affect how people would play me. So I gave a slight nod, tried to look a bit disappointed and said, “good fold.” I figured I would try to keep the image going. I had just triple barrel bluffed a guy off of a pair of jacks and I had dodged a bullet.
The blinds headed up again to 800/1600/200a and the amount of chips in the middle seems to be making everyone at the table more active. I am in there mixing it up. As a result, I have lost some of my tight image and now I actually have to make some hands. My chips stack is also seeing more fluctuation. My low point was 75K, then I was up to 100K, then back to 90K. By the time we reach the next break I am at my high point for the day so far with 102.9K. Rubber band snap count up to 5.
I am feeling great, winning hands without having good cards, winning hands with good cards, losing some small pots, but not over committing. My image has changed from a super tight nit, to that of a creative tactical player. I am relaxed and focused and that is earning me credibility. I think the table thinks I am a better player than I really am. I think I’ve matured into a poker player over the last two and a half days.
I explain to my wife that I am completely dialed in. I try to recount hands to her and she politely smiles and nods having no idea what I am talking about. She does ask me for some cash. She had a mishap at the craps table and confesses that she probably shouldn’t play without me there. I tell her not to worry. For the trip, we were still way ahead on the craps tables, but she should probably lay off until she better understands the game.
After the break we get to the “Hand …of… the… Day!” As the hand is being dealt a new player is being seated in the empty seat on my left. The blinds were at 800/1600/200a and the action folds to me in the small blind. I raise to 4500 and the big blind (the loose aggressive but painfully slow guy) calls. I feel he will defend almost any two cards. The flop comes 5 J A. I lead out for 11,000 -- a week later he calls. I don’t like this. (pot = 32,000) The turn is the 6. I check --he thinks and thinks and thinks, then checks. I like this. The river is another 5. I check, he bets 22,000. I hate this.
I go into the tank for a long time! I think about calling, I think about folding. Something didn't feel right -- something didn't make sense. I try to get a read on him. Was I really going to call with this hand and potentially drop to 60K in chips? Another few minutes of agony pass before I lean forward and ask him if he missed his flush draw. I think he flinched, or was that me?
Time to analyze: I felt he would have re-raised an Ace pre-flop unless it was real weak. I don’t think he would have checked an Ace or a Jack on the turn. If he had a 5 then why bet so much on the end when I have obviously slowed down and seemed hesitant to put any more chips in – wouldn’t he want to be paid off? The only thing that made sense was a missed draw. This analysis might have been different for a different player, but I think I have it right.
All of my analysis said call. However I was having a hard time making myself do it. I almost folded, but I then had this internal dialogue, “If you can do all of this analysis, if everything you’ve seen says call and then you still can’t do it, then you should not have played in this tournament! If you don’t have the balls to make this call, then you should not have risked $10K!! Call you girly bastard!!!” I had to bully myself into calling.
I closed my eyes and said call. He said "good call" and the table waited for me to turn over an Ace, but they exploded in exclamations when I tabled 88. "Great call." “Sick call bro." "I'm going have to watch out for you," said my tablemates. My favorite comment was "You read his soul, mate." Now, when I look back, it doesn’t seem that amazing, but in the moment it was very very cool. My confidence was sky high and my chip stack was up to 140K.
By dinner the blinds were up to 1000/2000/300a and I had folded back down to 133K. There have been some huge hands played at my table with some of the players amassing over 400K. I feel I still have a lot of work to do. 7313 people started the tournament, 2557 made it to day 3, and as of the dinner break there are 1456 left. I have already accomplished a lot and I have a growing number of people back home following along via Facebook.
After the dinner break we only played two more hours. I didn’t play particularly well. I just seemed lethargic. I think the adrenaline rush of the hands before the break combined with eating just exhausted me. I made a few mistakes and missed a few opportunities. At the end of the night I was sitting on 135,900 chips. I actually was feeling disappointed. And then it hit me – I didn’t have the elation I had had the two previous day endings because now I was expecting more from myself. I snapped my rubber band three times really hard and shook it off.
I’m going into day 4 of the WSOP Main Event with an around average chip stack!!!! It might be that I am becoming a poker player. I post a Facebook update thanking everyone for the positive vibes. I stop off at the bar for my nightcap (though I don’t think I’ll have any problem sleeping tonight - I'm exhausted) and I head upstairs to my very proud (and beautiful) wife.
Next stop: Day 4 – Pros galore -- the bubble –and a scheduled flight home.
Day 4- It’s Bubble Day Our Flight Is Scheduled For 6:30pm.
I wake up on July 13 – Day 4 of the WSOP Main Event feeling excited. We are down to 1203 players and I am in 651st spot at the moment with my 135K in chips. 747 are going to make the money when the bubble busts sometime on day 4.
I am surprised by how good I feel. This will be the first day that I have played back-to-back days. I don’t really have a game plan, but I am aware that I am close to the money and right now that becomes a significant goal.
The bubble was more than just -$10K vs +$19K. It was sweetened by the automatic entry for next year’s Main Event that I would receive from FullTilt. This money bubble represented $39K in real value. It is strange I hadn’t really thought about making the money until now. I had day-dreamed about winning the whole tournament and how it would change my life, but I hadn’t run the scenario of the money bubble. So I spend the time during my workout thinking about possible scenarios.
The ideal case would be to have a big stack at the bubble that I could use to bully the table. However, the style I had been employing, combined with my starting stack, made that only a remote possibility.
Another scenario would be nursing a short stack at the bubble. Then I would have to find the right situation and the right amount of guts to get my stack in ahead and just hope. At least by shoving I couldn’t be outplayed. I thought there could be a point where, if I was very short stacked, that I would just try to fold to the bubble, call myself a winner and go home a hero.
The more difficult scenario entailed having an in-between stack. One that couldn’t bully, but wouldn’t be shoving. One that would be at the mercy of the big stack bullies and is worried about becoming a short stack if we called a shortie’s all-in and lose. One that might have to play post flop versus another medium stack. I decided that position would be more important than ever. I also need to really pay attention to all the small details.
I looked up my table draw. Then I did a quick Google search to see what I could find out. (I’m leaving out names except the one famous player)
Seat-1 was an unknown
Seat-2 was a pro with cashes at WSOP and WPT
Seat-3 was a part time pro and student from Canada who came to the table with 199K (we will come back to him later)
Seat-4 was a Swedish online pro
Seat-5 was young American online pro
Seat- 6 was Barry Shulman – owner and publisher of Cardplayer magazine and winner of the 2009 WSOP Europe main event
Seat-7 was an Australian pro with cashes on APPT tour
Seat -8 was a guy named Jeff who I had played with the night before. He’s a nice older guy who considers himself an amateur, but with cashes at multiple WTP events
And stuck in Seat -9 is your hero – a rank amateur, school teacher playing in his first ever real live tourney – an underdog in every respect.
As I walked down to the tournament area I put myself into a hyper-focused mental state. I pictured myself as a gladiator making his way to the coliseum, knowing that there were only two possible outcomes for how I would leave. I was ready to get bloody. As I took my seat directly across from Mr. Shulman and his very noticeable gold championship bracelet, I felt oddly comfortable.
The first hour we are playing 1200/2400/300a and I am completely card dead. However, chips are moving around the table as other players are mixing it up. I am getting a feel for the table dynamics and building an image by folding hand after hand. After the first hour, the other shorter stacks at the table have either been knocked out or doubled up. I am now the short stack and I feel everyone eyeballing my chips.
The blinds go up to 1500/3000/400a and I am down to 105K. I start to wonder if this is it. Am I going to get close but bust out before the money? Will I have to go home and explain that I outlasted over 6000 people but lost $10K. People will say that I did well for an amateur. I will wonder if I should have been more aggressive. I start to wonder if I have really been playing well or have I just gotten lucky and played so tight that I was bound to get deep. Have I been deluding myself? I get up from the table and go find my wife. I tell her I need my rubber band (I had left it up in the room). She comes back a few minutes later with a new one. I snap a few times and re-focus.
I have played well and I still have chips. I have observed enough to know where I stand at this table and I have not gotten it in bad once the whole tournament. I have not even tapped into my good luck cosmic karma yet. It feels worse than it is because everyone else had so many chips. But I remind myself that I have 35 big blinds. That is deep-stacked from what I am used to playing online. Be patient, stay focused, and find your spots.
While I was refocusing Mr. Shulman was repeatedly forced to fold hands after opening pots with raises. He was getting frustrated and got into a discussion with one of the young guys who made a comment something along the lines of, “Sometimes you have to find the hero call,” after correctly calling Shulman down with second pair weak kicker against Shulman’s bluff.
Shulman responded, “Big folds get you further in this tournament than big calls.” I tended to agree with the guy with the gold bracelet. Unfortunately, he took a bad beat a few hands later. He still had a healthy stack, but then he did the unexpected. He tilted and he tilted badly. I was shocked to see, what looked like to me, a total loss of composure. Not an outward blow up ala Matusow or Hellmuth, but a quiet implosion. An orbit later he was gone. Just like that. Somewhere in the middle of this I won a small pot off him with KK. My stack is back up to 125K
It is about 2:00 on day 4 and our flight home is scheduled for 6:30 tonight. When I booked the flight I didn’t know when to schedule the return leg (It never occurred to me to book “one way”). I strategically scheduled our flight such that if I had to change it and pay the fee, it meant I was in the money and would not mind paying the extra money. So our flight home is scheduled for 6:30 tonight. I told my wife that I would text her as soon as I knew whether we were going or staying. She would either start packing or call the airline. I really hope we miss that flight, but right now it looks like we may be packing. My stack is down to 107K and I can’t get anything going. Until I look down at AK.
I was UTG+2 and I open for 8000. (blinds 1500/3000/400a) It folds to the button (an angry looking hoodie-wearing young internet pro). This player happened to be the chip leader at the table who had around four times my stack. He re-raises me to 25,000. He has seen me fold big hands when re-raised and generally be hesitant to get chips in the middle. I feel he will bully with a big range. So I have a tough decision.
I don’t want to call because I'm out of position, and if I miss the flop I am at his mercy. So it is fold or raise. I can’t fold because that is just too weak, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I did. If we were closer to the bubble, I would consider folding, but here… I’d have to quit playing poker and take up knitting.
I decide to raise. I have 99K left and with the raises, blinds and antes there is 41.1K in the pot already so ..… “ALL-IN.” “Angry looking internet guy” is getting a good price on a call but, with my image and how it went down, I feel he can only call with the top three or four hands.
He tanks briefly. I like this. He asks, “You have Aces?” I like that too. Then he says, “I guess I’ll gamble.” Oops. I don’t like this. This is not good. I can only hope he too has AK or maybe QQ so that I have outs.
He calls and turns over KK. I am crushed. I hang my head and stand up. Everything goes silent and slows down. I look across the room to where my wife is standing (hurt ankle and all). She is on her phone and doesn’t see me at first. The flop comes down with no Ace and no draws. I grab my bag to leave. I guess we will catch that flight after all. And then, like some great scene of a great film, I watch the turn card fall. In slow motion the prettiest card in the deck – the Ace of Spades. I squint to make sure. I look back at my wife who looks confused. It’s real. It’s there. “Angry looking internet guy” looks angrier. The river was a blank and I have doubled my stack. I look at “angry looking internet guy,” say “sorry” and sit back down. I wasn’t really sorry.
(editorial note re: hand -- started hand with 35 BB, why get it all in, why not just call? 25% of stack – Weird how you feel short stacked even when you are not - all tourney I saw people go nuts with stack sizes that didn’t warrant it. When you see the average stack size is way above you and you have been playing 70-80 BB deep and then you dip to 35 it feels short-- Did I do this here? In hindsight it looks so bad, so reckless, but in the moment I really thought he would fold. The fact that he hesitated with KK shows I was right, except he had one of the 2 maybe 3 hands he is going to call with there)
Very next hand I pick up A5 in the big blind and defend against a mid position raise. The flop came with an Ace. I check call the flop and the turn. We both check the river. I win a nice pot against KK. I obviously couldn’t fold the ace, but I also didn’t want to get into a raising war against a better ace.
My stack is now up to 310K, but I’m not ready to cancel our flight just yet. I don’t want to jinx myself. Right on cue, I spent the next hour donating. I changed gears (not consciously, I just got caught up in the moment) and started calling raises in position with speculative hands. I missed every time and had to give up in some steal attempts. I spewed off 60K trying to be something I am not. I guess had I hit some of those hands I would have felt different, but I am disappointed with myself. I felt like I was not being respectful of the opportunity I was accorded by my good fortune. I snapped my rubber band 5 times and got back to work.
(editorial note: I was doing what I should with 100 BB’s and position. I took flops, I gave up on hands when I should have and managed pot sizes well—so my self-criticism may have been unwarranted, but you still feel bad as you bleed off chips that you were fortunate to win)
Sorry, but you will have to wait for the ending. I hit 2000 words and far surpassed the attention span of 99.37% of the people on this forum.
Day 4 -- Part 2 - Will The Bubble Burst? And When It Does Where Will I Be? - “Sleep well young Wesley. I’ll most likely kill you in the morning.”
When we left the story I was spewing chips and worried about making the money or catching my flight. I’ll jump right back into the action.
With my stack around 250K and the blinds up to 2000/4000/500a, I am in small blind. With an early position raiser and a mid position caller, I elect to call out of position with 99. The flop comes J37. I lead out for a bit more than half the pot. With only one over-card to my pair onboard I may be ahead. If I check, I will have to react to my opponents who may put me to the test with a big bet, or check behind allowing a big card to come on the turn. I am more concerned with the original raiser than I am of the pre-flop caller. This flop most likely misses any hand that only called pre-flop. Betting allows me to take the lead and define everyone’s hand.
The original raiser calls and the second player folds. So far so good -- I eliminated one opponent and wasn’t re-raised by the other. Off we go to the turn and it couldn’t be prettier – 9 (giving me a set on a J379 board). I thought about checking to induce a bluff, but the board is starting to coordinate and it is too easy for him to check behind if he has a middling hand or is drawing. I want to get more money in now. I bet again. He calls. At this point I try to put him on an exact hand, and in the moment I was having a hard time. 88? 10 10? AJ? Q10 suited? JJ (yikes!)?
I am getting paranoid. I am begging for the board to pair, and just like that --a jack on the river giving me a boat. I bet out. He thinks for a while then goes all in. He has me covered. The only hand that beats me is quad Jacks. I call -- he shows 77. My full house was better than his full house. My chip stack leaps up to 590K.
I text my wife, “Cancel the flight, I have CHIPS!!!”
On the last hand before the break, I called from the big blind with AJ of hearts. The flop came J47. I check, he bets, I call. The turn is a 9. I check, he bets, I call. The river is a 10. I check, he checks. He had 44 and flopped a set of fours so my stack is down to 550K. Feeling great. I lost the minimum I could have on that hand.
We go on a 30-minute break and the room is buzzing. People are saying we will get to the bubble before the dinner break. I take a moment and try to get my head around what is happening. I am playing in the second largest poker tournament (live) of all time. I'm sitting comfortably with 837 people left. The money will probably break in the next 2 hours. How did this happen?
We come back from break and things are moving quickly. The blue tournament clock is counting down 837…821…799. In the meantime, I am on lockdown doing laundry. Folding. Folding. Folding. I could have gone Rambo and started jamming to accumulate chips, but there were two big problems standing in my way (even if I had the guts). I was in seat 9. In seat 2, there was an 850K stack. In seat 3 there was the young Canadian who came to the table that day with 199K. Young Mr. Jarvis* now had 1.1M in chips.
(*Matt Jarvis is in the November 9)
The blinds are moving up to 2500/5000/500a. About this time, I was in the cutoff when it folded to me and I looked down at AK. I raised to 14K. The button folded. “Mr. 850K” re-raises to 40K from the SB. Yuck! Then Matt Jarvis (1.1M) four bets to 150K from the BB. Double yuck! I was put in my place and I fold. They have the table locked up.
785…773…769. The second big stack fumbles a min raise from UTG+1. It looked accidental, but something about it triggered alarms in my brain. I was pretty sure I would have folded KK to his raise if I had them. But before I had the chance, Jeff, sitting immediately to my right with over 300K in chips, called the 15K. I fold my trash, as did the blinds. (Pot = 42K) The flop comes J10x (rainbow). The big stack bets 30K. (Pot = 72) Without hesitation, Jeff goes all in for close to 300K. I immediately put him on a set of tens or jacks. What else could he have in this situation? Mr. Second Big Stack sighs, figures he must be behind, but calls with AA. Jeff grimaces like a guy trying to squeeze a watermelon out of his pee hole. He shows KQ -- open ended, but with two of his outs facing him from across the table. I thought Jeff was going to vomit. I slid my chair back a foot or so just in case. The turn and river brick off and Jeff is number 768 (or so).
I just watched a man lose his mind. We were twenty people away from the money. He could have folded to the money. He could have gone to his room and taken what would have turned out to be a $19,000 nap. I think he just couldn’t take folding anymore. He snapped. I felt bad. Jeff seems like a nice guy.
With 6 people to go, we start hand-for-hand play. I think we played two hands and lost two players before they decided to take the dinner break early. There was a collective groan around the room. I went to find my wife and head to the Rio Buffett for dinner (this one’s good). I was walking on air, but still very anxious. I felt like what early voyagers must have felt after months at sea when they finally see land. I feel I am going to get there but, until I cross the dangerous reef and set foot on dry land, I am still in peril.
We are on dinner break and I am trying to make myself eat and relax. My phone is going crazy with text messages, emails, and Facebook posts from my friends back home who are following the action as best they can.
After the break we have 4 more bust outs before the money. I decide I won’t play a hand against the 3 big stacks at my table. Then I consider what I would do holding AA and facing a raise from one of them. I think it is reasonable to fold, but I think I would just announce, “There’s only one hand I would do this with, I have Aces. I’m all-in.” Then I would climb under the table, assume a fetal position and wait.
(If I got a penalty, for talking about my hand, I wouldn’t be upset.)
My chip count is 475K and the blinds are at 2500/5000/500a. I don’t even have to go back to the table and I’ll be in the money. Throughout the tournament I had told my wife that she did not have to hang around. I told her to go have fun, visit the spa, hit the pool, and relax, but stay away from the dice. However, I told her if there was one time I wanted her in the tournament room it was when the bubble bursts. I wanted her to share in the accomplishment.
We’re back from dinner and the torture continues. It takes over 30 minutes to play 4 hands, but we lost 3 people. We are one away from the money. A couple more hands and it is done. The bubble has burst. While everyone in the room knew it was about to happen, when the announcement was made you could feel a tidal wave of tension leave the room. It was a pretty cool moment. (I just watched the video that my wife made on her phone and I got chills). I had outlasted 90% of the field. I allowed myself to enjoy the moment, but strangely at that instant I became more determined than ever to play good poker. I wasn’t done. I wasn’t satisfied. This was a beginning, not an end.
I knew, that in the hour after the bubble burst, people were going to go crazy. Short stacks, which had been hanging on just to cash, were going to get it in and try to double up or bust out. The big stacks were going to oblige and call with no fear of hurting their stacks. I however, had a stack size that required more discretion. I certainly had enough chips to play post-flop, but I didn’t have so much that I could call all-ins with impunity. And I still had to watch out for the big stacks at my table. Fortunately we only play about another hour after the bubble and my stack is intact at the end of day 4. Holy S#%T! I just cashed in the Main Event! And I was exhausted.
As I make the long walk back from the tournament area tonight I found myself “strolling.” I was taking my time and trying to absorb everything that had happened -- trying to put it into perspective. At the end of each day I have felt like Wesley in the Princess Bride when daily, the Dread Pirate Roberts would say "Sleep well young Wesley, I'll most likely kill you in the morning." That's what tournament poker is like. But my spirit is high – I live to fight another day. I celebrate with two drinks and some quality time.
Day 5 brings more pros, a change in routine and an accidental bluff.
Day 5 –Part 1 - A Lone Amateur And A Change In Routine
As I wake up on day 5, I am excited to find that I really have survived. It wasn’t just a dream. With the stress of the bubble behind me, I start to think about how I can get as deep in this tournament as possible. I get on my computer to assess my situation.
I have 417,000 chips. The blinds are at 3000/6000 with 1000 ante. The average chip count is 381,198. There are 576 left (we lost 171 people in the last hour or so after the bubble burst!). Not too shabby.
I check out my table draw and see a murderer’s row. Everyday at the World Series has gotten tougher and tougher. Today will be no different. When we sit down, I will be the only amateur at the table. All of my opponents are vastly more experienced than me. I came to sit with the best and I today will go toe-to-toe with some real good ones - including two 2010 bracelet winners and one past Main Event Final Table participant.
Seat 1 - Pro from Baton Rogue (672,000)
Seat 2 - Pro from California who already has won a WSOP preliminary event this year (721,000)
Seat 3 - Pro from Florida who once came in 4th in the Main event (149,000)
Seat 4 - Pro from France (182,000)
Seat 5 - 22 year old online poker phenomenon (1,078,000)
Seat 6 - Your Hero (417,000)
Seat 7 - Pro from Tennessee (504,000)
Seat 8 - Young online pro from San Diego (84,000)
Seat 9 - A top young pro with one WSOP preliminary win this summer (207,000)
I start to feel very anxious. After we eat breakfast, my wife observed that I haven't been outdoors since Sunday night (it’s now Wednesday morning). Living in a casino you can forget that outdoors exists. She suggests that I go hang out by the pool, get some fresh air and relax.
I head down to take an hour or so to clear my head, breathe fresh air, feel some sun, and maybe see some eye candy. Unfortunately, it is 10:00am and the only people at the pool are old folks and little kids. I did see one woman wearing a thong. Either that or her ass was trying to eat her bathing suit. Regardless, I am glad I had already eaten, because that took away my appetite.
I found a quiet area and meditated. I tried to visualize all the positive things that were going to happen to me. I saw myself making good calls. I saw myself making tough folds. I saw myself raising guys off of winners. I saw myself betting for value. I saw myself handling bad beats. I saw myself focused and composed. There was no reason to fear these pros. We are playing the same game and have the same weapons at our disposal.
As an athlete I never feared an opponent. I possessed a healthy respect for my opponents, but never fear. I felt that if I worked hard I always had a chance. I never out-muscled, out-ran, or intimidated anyone. I had skill and I tried to out-think and out-work. I was usually just more determined. I have never shied away from a challenge and today would be no different. I was up to the task. After replenishing my soul poolside, I prepare to go to war.
(note: I apologize ahead of time - My notes for day 5 were not as complete as other days, and as I try to reconstruct the day there are some missing details --I may have one or two hands out of order, and I may have some of the bet sizes off by a bit. I hope this comes across as coherent.)
We get settled in at the table and I am as determined as ever. The two guys at the table wearing very new gold bracelets do not intimidate me. I spend the first hour observing and playing only strong hands in position. By the time the blinds go up to 4000/8000/1000a, my chip stack is up slightly to 440k. I still have over 50 big blinds. However, things are moving quickly as there are still a number of short stacks from the night before. Many of the big stacks in the room are making huge gains. There are 495 people left.
My table is very active and I am finding it difficult to find good spots to get involved. I’m not getting dealt many playable hands. It’s like when you are waiting for the right wave while surfing. You might think one is going to be good only to have it not quite form, or you may just miss it, or someone else catches it right in front of you and you have to get out of the way. So you paddle back out, get into position again and wait. But you know, if you are patient, the right one will come along. Then you catch it just right and ride it all the way in hoping not to wipeout.
My stack takes a hit when I call a raise out of the big blind with JJ only to see a flop of AKQ against two opponents. I’m down to 370k.
I’m feeling great -- super-focused. Even though I am folding I am trying to put players on hands. I actually did a fist pump at one showdown. I nailed both players hands exactly. I don’t remember all of the details, but I put the small blind on a set of sevens and the other player on AJ. I was spot on. (The board was x7Jxx – jack high, no flush or straights). I was building confidence even though I wasn’t playing hands or accumulating chips. Now, if I could make those reads while I was in the hand, we would be in business.
Just like every other day, it is about this time that I start taking advantage of the solid table image I have established. I realized it was time to move some chips. I would either make good moves and good reads and chip up, or I would become short stacked. I give myself a pep talk.
“If you get short you get short. In a lot of ways, you will be more comfortable short stacked. Your decisions will be much easier. You play SNG’s all the time, you know how to play short, you know when to shove your stack. Who knows you may even pick up some chips.”
I resolved to not fear becoming short stacked. It’s time to make some moves and see what happens.
I call a mid-position raise of 20k with A9 suited on the button. Both blinds fold. The flop comes K48 none of my suit. The original raiser bets 40k. I called pre-flop so that I could use my position to win the hand. I need to follow through. I think for a while.
If my opponent didn’t have a pair pre-flop then he will miss on the flop 2/3 of the time. Even if he did pair his hand or started with a pair, there are many pairs under the K that may fold to a raise. I re-raised to 100k. He looked to see how many chips I had left, paused, then folded. I said "good fold". He said, "thanks." My stack was up to 430K.
After a short break the blinds are up again. (5000/10,000/1000a) I have fallen below chip average but I am not worried. Things change in a hurry and I’m going to be mixing it up. We just had a million chip pot go down at my table AK vs AA. I wasn't involved, but the AK won. Ouch. Things aren’t getting any easier -- Adam (Roothlus) Levy has been moved to our table.
I really did want to get into the fray, but the combination of weak cards in position, and medium hands out of position conspire against my plans. I just don’t have enough experience or guts to do it with nothing. Another hour passes with my table being extremely active. We have had a lot of players bust out only to be replaced by players as equally willing to get their stacks in the middle. I have not been involved in many hands. Finally, I had to improvise with a re-raise semi bluff out of the big blind to take down a nice pot. (I can’t find my notes on the exact details) I have my chips up to 475k and I am still feeling strong. There is a lot of time left. I’m hanging tough with the pros. I’m not getting run over, but I’m not getting out of line. I haven't shown down a hand yet.
In the next orbit I played three hands: I lost a small pot after missing a draw and having to back off of a steal. Then I won a 100K pot with position and second pair on a QJxxx board. I raised on the end and he folded. Then I lost 100K pot with a set of 4’s. (board K Q 4 10 9 ) – I made the mistake of betting on the end instead of checking behind and was called by KJ.*
*(note: This sequence of hands is a blur. I didn’t have time to make detailed notes, but I remember feeling good about how I was playing.)
My table image is starting to morph. It is obvious I am no longer just playing premium hands. It is obvious that I can make a “move.” I have to be aware of the shift in the table’s impression of me. My stack is down to 400K
I continue my more active approach. I feel like a boxer -- ducking and moving, bobbing and weaving. I've had to lay down some big hands AQ and JJ, but I have won some pots too. My stack has been yo-yoing, but on a short string. (between 470K and 396K) As we go to the dinner break, my stack is down to 396K. After dinner things will get very exciting. The blinds will be up and my stack is well below average. If I get a hand, chips are going in and I will either win or I will lose. There are 313 people left. I’m still fighting.
During the dinner break, I decided to change things up. Each day my chip stack has taken a hit in the post dinner lethargy that seems to overcome me. I have played poorly or slowed down or lost focus or something. So I decide after a quick bite, not to go up to my room. Instead, I head back down to the convention center and sit in the FullTilt Pro Players’ Room. I feel that talking to other players may help me maintain focus. Maybe relaxing hasn’t been the right thing to do.
Sitting in FullTilt’s hospitality room, I struck up a conversation with a 23 year-old college graduate who was a fulltime poker player (I’ll call him “John”). We shared some stories about our experience so far. I asked him questions about how he started, if he had a backer, how that works, etc. These young kids, like John, who are using poker as their sole source of income, are in a unique position. They have no other responsibilities. They can afford to go broke and often do. John said when he or one of his friends go broke they just borrow from a friend, go online and run it up to 5 figures (or more) in a month. Then they are back in action. (I wish it were that easy for me.)
I probe some more and John admits that he and his friends are terrible at bankroll management. The variance in tournament poker requires they be backed to afford the big buy-ins. In cash games the income is more consistent, but most play above their bankroll. If they run bad for a while they get into trouble. Furthermore, he said they often have “life leaks.” They overspend away from the tables. Living life in and around casinos gets expensive. Travel expenses and bar tabs add up.
John was having a good year after getting out of make up. He said that through college, and now, he has been able to make a living. He did admit to worrying about the long-term viability of his lifestyle. I asked him if was siphoning off any of his poker money into other investments or savings -- if he was building a non-poker side of his personal finances that could eventually provide a consistent steady income? He looked at me and asked, “Have you been talking to my father?”
“No,” I replied, “but I am a father.”
I then asked him what his college major had been. He knowingly hung his head in shame, “Finance.”
The dinner break ends and John and I wish each other good luck. “See you at the final table.”
Day 5: Part – 2- Catching Waves and an accidental bluff
Day 5: Part – 2 - Catching Waves And An Accidental Bluff
(note: Again - I apologize - My notes for day 5 were not as complete as other days, there are some missing details --I may have one or two hands out of order, and I may have some of the bet sizes off by a bit. I hope this comes across as coherent.)
We have three hours of play left in day 5. The blinds are going to 6000/12,000/2000a. I have 396K giving me 33 big blinds and an "M" of 11.5. I think this is the lowest I have been the whole tournament. I am determined to get my hands on some chips, but I cannot fully let go of my conservative nature.
I am all of the sudden aware of the general atmosphere in the room. There is a great energy in the air. Everyday has been incredible, but now something is different. I start feeling like this is kind of a big deal with the crowd and the media swirling around.
The second hand after break I pick up a pair of nines and say bye-bye to 30k of my chips. Chip stack down to 362K
And then…. I caught my wave. A player in the cutoff makes a raise to 32K and it folds to me. I call on the button and the blinds fold. (pot = 100K, I have about 325K behind, my opponent has over 2M) We see a flop of J5J. My opponent bets 70K and I just call. (pot = 240, I have 255K left). The turn is an 8. My opponent checks and I check behind. The river is an Ace. My opponent bets 120K. I decide that if he has AA, 88, or AJ then I just fly home tomorrow. I go all in for my last 255K. My opponent looks disgusted. He thinks I spiked the ace on the river. However, the pot size vs my bet size (and his investment so far) makes his call academic. He shows QQ to my 55. I had flopped a full house. My stack is up to 740K and I am back in business.
(Note: I don’t think my opponent played the hand very well. I’m not sure what he put me on, but I think my check on the turn was what sunk the hook deep. I know it could have backfired, but I wanted to extract the maximum. I expected to see AK or KK at showdown.)
I start folding again and with the blinds and antes and paying to see a couple of cheap flops my stack is shrinking fast. I am looking for a hand to play when I find 10 10 in late position. An active player on my right opens for a small raise. I call and everyone else folds. I thought about re-raising, but something made me just call. I felt he wasn’t going away unless I made a real big raise. I thought he may have raised small because he had a huge hand. I would rather use my position than my chips.
The flop comes 6 8 4 with one heart. The original raiser checks and I check behind. I still felt something sneaky was afoot. The turn is a 5 of hearts. Now my opponent bets and I decide to call again. With him not betting the flop I rate to have the best hand, but I decided not to raise here and continue to use my positional advantage. The river brings the Ace of hearts. My opponent leads out for a bet of 37K.
Time to bluff. Even if he has an Ace, my hand may look like two pair (ace + little card) or a flush. I need to re-raise but I need the right amount. Too big and it looks like a bluff, too small and he calls out of curiosity. I took my time before deciding 115K was the right amount. He thinks for a long time, before saying, "Your flush got there huh?" I say nothing. He shows an Ace before folding. I exhale and collect the chips.
(After looking back at it, I feel I played this hand poorly. I’m not sure why I felt he was strong early and weak late, but I did. I should have bet the flop or raised the turn. When I was in that moment it just seemed right. Oh well.)
Chip stack up to 810K. There are 240 people left.
I try to stay involved, but can’t get any traction and my chips stack is down around 700K. It’s getting late and we are about to take the last 20-minute break of the night. I am in the small blind. The action folds all the way to me. I take a peak at my cards and raise to 38K and the big blind calls. The flop comes out Q 10 3. The action is on me and I don’t know what to do.
I forgot what my cards were. Honestly, I have no idea what my two cards are at this point. I think for a minute, I want to look back at my hand, but I can't because the big blind is watching my every move. So I just decided I must have a Q and I bet 55K. My opponent thinks about it and I start to get nervous. Do I have a Q? I think I do, but I’m not sure. I’m really mentally fatigued at this point. The big blind finally folds and I can look at my hand. J 9. Oops. I did have a straight draw so it wasn't a total bluff, but I vow to not let that happen again.
We get to the last 20 min break of the night and I am sitting on 750k in chips, which is below the average (avg. = 903K). The blinds are going up to 8000/16,000/2000a for tonight's last hour. I have work to do but I feel good about what I have accomplished.
A quick interesting aside:
It was very interesting talking to and listening to the “pros” discuss how they make their livelihood. Most of these guys are not rolling in cash. In fact, most of them are in “make-up.” At my table, late on day 5, the discussion turned to - Who was deepest in make up? One guy said, “I have to get 90th in this tournament just to get out of make-up.” The next guy says, “that’s nothing; I am 150 deep.” Another of the top young pros then laughed and smiling the whole time said, “I win. 250!”*
(*This Pro is not in the November 9, but he is well out of make-up due to his very deep run.)
I asked him. “How does that work? How do you make a living and pay your expenses when you are $250 thousand in make up?” He said, “I have all of my own cash game action and all my endorsement money is separate from my backing deal.” These guys just seem to have very little regard for the value of a dollar.
In the last hour of the day I held my ground until I ran AQ into AK. That stung a bit. Then on the very last hand of the night I had A4 suited on the button. The action folds around to me and I raise to 37K. The small blind folds as everyone stands up to leave. The big blind, who is standing, looks down at his cards, seems surprised, sits back down and re-raises me to 85K. “Really?!”
“Really,” he answered.
I fold and he shows me AQ suited. I ended day 5 with 660K in chips.
I’m on to day 6 of the WSOP Main Event. It’s hard to believe. Once again I make the long walk back to my room with a great deal to contemplate. I am proud of what I have accomplished. Each day I have left with more chips that I arrived with, but today the blinds and pace of play outran me. I realize that at this point in the tournament every player is solid and there are very few soft spots left. If anything, I am the mark for most of the players left. I decide that if they are coming for me then I need to be ready. I wish I had spent some time studying and preparing for this stage of the tournament. I know tomorrow I am going to have to gamble at some point. It’s hard to believe, but there are only 205 people left and I am one of them.
I stop off for my customary drink. By now the bartenders know my name and they wish me well. I head upstairs and I collapse in bed.
Upcoming – Day 6 – The Grinder? – Rookie Mistakes – and Options
My Laboratory
I wanted to take a break from the action and relate a few of my thoughts about poker and the WSOP. I’m sure it’s nothing ground breaking but as long as I have the floor…
(Of course you can skip this post if you want and wait for the next post. I won’t be offended. I will post the next episode later today - I promise.)
My poker insights:
As a psychology and biology teacher I find my greatest strength is not my depth of content knowledge, but my ability to relate to people. I try to bring this skill to the felt. I feel the poker table is a great natural laboratory for my passion for the study of human behavior.
When I discovered poker, the fascinating mixture of mathematics and psychology enthralled me. I quickly realized this game of cards was much more than a game of cards. It’s like being engaged in mental warfare. As you play and study you begin to see layers upon layers of thought process. Then you add the thrill of the gamble -- when skill must give way to the randomness of the cards, -- and you have an intoxicating pastime.
I find poker to be a game of personalities as much as it is a game of mathematical reality. In a game of partial information and intentional misinformation, the task is to find the right balance of aggressiveness, cunning, and discretion. Making the big fold may not be as rewarding as making the big call, but in the long run it may be more profitable. Some people have the personality that will allow them to do one but not the other.
Poker is a game of observations. From the moment you sit down at the table you are sizing up your opponents, trying to get a feel for who they are and what they are doing and why. You cannot go into a table with a set game plan. You must go in with multiple game plans and then adjust to what your opponents are doing. The optimal strategy changes by the moment. The most successful players are those that most quickly adjust and most quickly realize when their opponents have adjusted and then readjust. On many levels human behavior is relatively predictable. You just have to know what to look for. (Not that I am an expert by any means)
I enjoy the social nature of poker, and in a social context there is much more information to be gained by listening than talking. I observed so much in the early stages of the tournament as there were many amateurs and quasi-pros in the field. They talked too much. They discussed hands after they played out. They tried to show off how much they knew about the game. The whole time I am taking notes. How did they think about the hand? What was their analysis? I nodded and agreed with them. Later as the day went on, I confirmed my mental notes with behaviors and decisions I saw them making. Once I had a good read on them I knew how to exploit their thinking. Even some of the pros seemed oblivious to how much information they were giving away.
Poker is an everyman/woman “sport.” There seem to be no boundaries to the types of people who like to play. Often you are sitting around a table with eight other people that you would never have an excuse to sit down with --and then you learn about them. This is my laboratory.
WSOP observations
*There are a LOT of very good, very young players. These kids have studied the game at a mathematical level that I vaguely understand. As they discuss these concepts I know enough to follow the conversation, but I haven’t done near the work they have in this type of analysis. I learned a great deal just by listening to them talk to each other during breaks. Sometimes, however, they seemed to lose sight of the person they were playing against. You could see their minds at work doing complex mathematical calculations when making their decisions. It was amazing how they “figured” out the best solution. And most the time they were correct. But when they were wrong, it seemed to be because they failed to look across the table. They failed to consider, that the player in the hand with them was not making decisions based on the same mathematical realities. They were not observing the human side of the game.
*Some of these young players were very personable and down to earth. Others were very arrogant. The down to earth ones made it deep. The arrogant ones seemed to find their way to the rail. I think it takes a dose of humility to be a good poker player. You have to be willing to get outplayed from time to time. You will get bluffed and you will make bad calls. It seemed like some of these kids felt they should win every hand. And arrogance seemed to be punished over and over.
*There were some pretty bad older guys playing in this tournament. (I say this as a 38 year old who was often one of the oldest players at my table) These guys (near 50 and older) did not appreciate the math side of the game and, as a result, were badly out played from time to time. They seemed unable to adjust to the ebb and flow of the game. They seemed to be offended by the aggressive play of the young players. They felt they had to stand up to them and often did at just the wrong time.
*Most players were very nice, but those who did not seem very nice, didn’t seem to stay around very long. (coincidence or karma?)
*Most people are not patient. The WSOP main event has a very slow structure. There is no need to be in a rush. You cannot win the tournament on the first day, but you can lose it on the first day. It is easy to feel you are in bad shape when others at your table have more chips than you, but there is so much time that you can be patient, establish an image, wait for cards, play in position and exploit your image. This played into my strengths.
*Playing live for 8-12 hours at a time takes an enormous amount of energy and focus. At the end of every day I was mentally exhausted. While mentally exhausting, the hours of relative physical inactivity are painful. I lost five pounds while in Las Vegas because I was too nervous to eat. I kept my energy level high with liquid meal supplements. I worked out in the Rio Fitness, but it was lame compared to the exercise I was used to getting. Poker players need to combat this sedentary lifestyle with a disciplined workout routine.
Thank you for indulging me. Maybe you found this entry helpful or interesting.
Day 6 – Grinder? OMG! Rookie Mistakes And Another Long Walk.
Today is day 6 of the WSOP main event and my 9th day in Las Vegas. I am missing my kids. This is the longest I’ve ever been away from them. I have talked with them almost every day, but I miss the hugs and laughter. I tell them I miss them and hope to see them soon. My daughter says, “But not too soon.” She is right, there is still work to be done. With 205 people left from the original 7313, I have a below average chip stack, but an above average attitude.
My wife called the Spa and scheduled a massage for me in the morning. I get up early as usual, drink my protein shake, and head down to workout. After my workout, I receive my first professional massage. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I found it extremely relaxing. However, there came a time during the procedure where I started to worry about “movement.” So I started to play poker hands in my head to distract myself. If anything can block a potential “uprising”, it is thinking about what to do with a pair of jacks when you get four bet after trying to isolate the early position raiser.
After my massage, I meet my wife for a late breakfast and look over my table draw. At this point every table is going to be tough. But when I saw my draw I realized there was a good chance I would get some TV time. In seat 1 was quite possibly the hottest tournament player in the world at the moment --Michael Mizrachi. I was assigned seat 6 just to the right of Pascal LeFrancois who won a bracelet earlier in the series. David Peters was slated for seat 2. The rest of the table seemed favorable for my situation. I was pumped.
When I walked up to table 317, there was a tournament staff member sitting at the table. I just knew he was going to tell me that we were moving to the “feature table.” Bad beat. He handed me a new table assignment. I was bummed. I don’t know what the reason for the change was, but I suspect it had to do with ESPN and ratings. Don’t they know I’m the next Moneymaker -- the everyman who shows that anyone can win – a chatty personable interview – a younger better looking Dennis Phillips without the annoying fan club -- a family man that middle America can relate to. You blew it ESPN and cost me FullTilt sponsorship money. I would now be sitting in seat 1 at table 338.
I walk over to find my spot and as I am sitting down I notice to my immediate left is none other than “OMGClayAiken” – Mr. Phil Galfond – arguably one of the best online players in the world. This kid is a complete super genius and he has position on me. He’s not as intimidating a personality as the Grinder, but I’ve heard this guy talk poker strategy and he’s scary smart. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to teach him a few things.
I quickly get onto Facebook from my phone and post my new table number. I ask anyone who can find it, to give me the names of the other people at my table so I know whom I am playing against. One of my former students quickly responds with the list. I study the list and think --- “When you can’t find the sucker at the table ….”
Seat -1 - Hero (660,000)
Seat -2 - Phil Galfond (1,025,000)
Seat - 3 – Dan Lu (1,160,000)
Seat – 4- Jakob Toestesen (775,000)
Seat – 5 - Brock Bourne (1,190,000)
Seat – 6 - Kristijonas Andrulis (619,000)
Seat – 7 - Josue Sauvageau (1,866,000)
Seat – 8 - Matthew Schreiber (1,286,000)
Seat – 9 - Ronnie Bardah (1,475,000)
I decide I am here to gamble. So after the mandatory orbit to observe, I decide to open for a raise from the hijack with 9 10 suited, only to have the small blind three bet and the big blind shove all in. I fold (as does the small blind). This was not the start I was looking for.
I pick up some small pots here and there. Lose some small pots here and there and by the time the blinds go up to 10K/20K/3000a, I have 500K. This represents only 25 big blinds and an “M” of 8.7. I am going to have to play some big pots soon as the money in the pot pre-flop represents 10% of my stack.
It is easy to look back now and say what I should have been doing. It was easy to say to myself at the time what I was going to do. But my inexperience was showing. Case in point:
I find myself in the big blind with J10 suited. There was an early raiser and a caller. I elect to call. The flop came KQ4 giving me an open ended straight draw. I check. The original raiser bets, the caller calls, and I call getting a great price.* The turn misses me, and I check again. The original raiser bets again and this time the other player puts in a large re-raise and I have to fold.
*(I should have shoved on the flop. As soon as the hand ended I knew that is what I should have done, but I didn’t. I missed my moment to be bold. I was down to 400K.)
Shortly after, we went on break. I was very disappointed. I was brutal in my internal dialogue. I was beating myself up pretty bad. I explained it to my wife and she told me to snap my rubber band and put it in the past. I tried to let it go.
(A quick gossipy aside – During this break we were in the FullTilt Pro Player’s Room and we overheard a very well known FullTilt pro on the phone in a very animated conversation. He was obviously talking to someone who he was in a relationship with. He was expressing his love and desire to make things work. He talked about taking chances and following your heart and passion. He was imploring this person to think about the possibilities. I will not say who this person was, but I will say my wife and I found him very convincing. He was making a good pitch. I kept thinking, “How is this guy going to focus on poker at a crucial time, in the most important tournament of the year, when he obviously had something more important on his mind?” He made it quite a bit further. I hope she gave him a chance.)
As I went back to the table, I told my wife to expect a double up or a bust out soon.
I had gotten my stack back up to around 500K when the following hand took place:
The action folds to me in the cutoff with the 10 8 of spades. I decide to open the pot for a raise. There is nothing wrong with this play in position with my stack size, however, here on day 6, I made my first technical error. I miscounted my raise.
After 5 days of being very meticulous (especially since I'm not regularly a live player) I goofed. I miscounted. I thought I had 2-25K chips and 2-5K chips. But I didn't. I had 1-25K and 3-5K chips! I just grabbed the wrong chips and didn't realize it at first. I never meant to raise the minimum. This gave Phil Galfond, who didn’t seem to like his hand very much, the impetus to call in position. The big blind was then priced in with any two cards. He calls.
At that point I realized I created a huge mess at a critical juncture. I built a big pot, with a mediocre hand, in between two aggressive players. I went to plan "B" - pretend you meant to minimum raise because you’re a donk amateur and you have "AA." Pot is now - 157K and I have only 457K left.
I plan to represent a very big hand no matter what hits the flop. The flop came 864 with two clubs. The big blind checks. I want to rep "AA," but at least I hit the flop for a pair of 8's with a 10 kicker. I decide to bet to now protect my "Big Pair," so I bet 100K. Galfond folds, so far so good. The big blind now thinks for a long time and then hits me with a minimum re-raise to 200K. The taste of vomit percolates up into the back of my throat.
This is a dirty move. It is begging for me to shove all in. It is designed to get me, with the hand I am representing AA or KK, to get it all in. He wasn't so deep that he could have folded to my all-in with so much in the pot by that point. He knows this, which means I have to fold because my opponent can beat AA or KK. Which is a moot point anyway because I have a pair of 8’s with a 10 kicker. The weakest hand I put my opponent on is a pair and a draw, most likely better. He may already have two pair or a straight.
I am done with the hand. But I have to make it look like a hard decision. I do have “AA” after all. Plan ‘C’ – “Earn some cred for laying down Aces.” So I wait for a while before folding. This hand had me throw away 140K in chips. If I had made the raise I had intended to make both of my opponents likely fold and I scoop the 57k that was in the middle pre-flop. So this was essentially a 197K swing. This mistake will haunt me.
(I posted the hand later on 2+2 to see if I made a good fold – general consensus is yes. Don’t look it up if you don’t want spoilers. If you’ve been patient thus far hang tight)
I am now down to 357K (less than 18 bi blinds and an “M” of 6.3) and looking to get it in pre-flop with any decent holding.
I spent the next hour folding and finding spots to shove. I collected a few blinds and antes. I felt that if I could double up I could get back to playing poker. I found myself in the big blind with 20K already invested with 360K behind. The action folded to the button (Mathew Schreiber- an action player with nearly 2 Million in chips who is going to raise any two cards in that spot). He raises to 55K. The small blind folds. With 112K already in the middle I look down at A2 of hearts. I feel my hand is way ahead of my opponent’s possible raising range so I go “ALL-IN.” My opponent thinks for a moment. He looks pained, he hesitates before saying, “I'll donate. I only have a weak Ace.” He calls.
"Not weak enough," I reply.
My A2 of hearts vs his A7 off suit. I am crushed when the door card is a 7 with all black cards. I need running 2's to win. No such luck. As a 10 hit the turn I stood to leave. I wish I had asked the dealer to pause so I could savor the moment. Since I was drawing dead on the river, I don’t think my opponent would have minded. But I was kind of numb. Busted.
It made me feel better to have Phil Galfond say, "That was the right shove against his range. You were unlucky that he actually had a hand."
“Not bad for my first time.”
Galfond asked, “First world series?”
“No, first real tournament.”
“For real?” He said.
“Does a charity tournament at the local VFW count?”
“Nope.”
I am escorted off to get my winnings. They made a big announcement over the speaker system, “In 152nd place, from Plano, Texas, Craig Savage!” and I received a round of applause.
It’s hard to express how I felt at that moment. I’ve thought long and hard about how to put it into words, but none seem to capture it adequately. Of course I should be proud of what I had accomplished, but I’m a competitor and at that moment I felt defeated. As I left the Amazon room, I passed by the featured table with the crowd, lights and the TV cameras, I paused for a second and considered, “What if………?”
One more episode to wrap this thing up:
“End of the Dream – Options, a night out, another delayed flight, a homecoming, and the future”
I’ll try to keep it short. Possibly some pics.
“End Of The Dream – Options, A Night Out, Another Delayed Flight, A Homecoming, And The Future”
As the sun set on my World Series, I felt a wave of different emotions. I was deflated. For so many days I had ridden a crest of excitement, adrenaline, and focus, and now… it was just over. I was hurting pretty bad. I know it sounds ridiculous. I had just earned $57,102 on a small investment, but now my shot, however remote, had ended.
My wife could tell I was hurting. While I was filling out the forms and waiting in line to be paid, she got on her phone and made a call. My phone rang. It was my two little ones and my two nephews. They serenaded me with “You are the champion” (to the tune of Queen’s “We are the Champions”). They were so excited congratulating me. I will admit openly that I got a tear in my eye. I really wanted to be with them.
Shortly after, I spoke to my Dad who told me how proud he was of me and how incredible it all was. But he could hear the disappointment in my voice. In the last couple of days I had believed I could go all the way. I had developed a following of friends and family who were rooting hard for me – staying up late hitting refresh on the pokernews.com website and checking my Facebook status. It almost felt like I was letting them down.
Of course I wanted to go further, who wouldn’t? To make it so far and to stumble at the end was disheartening. I guess if I had gotten coolered, or outdrawn it would have been better, but the mistakes and lack of boldness down the stretch really exposed my inexperience and left me with regrets.
I’m not sure what I expected. My father asked me later, and I didn’t have an answer. I certainly had nothing to be ashamed of. Quite the contrary; I had over achieved. I’ve embraced being the underdog. My friends and family were able to live the experience through me and they were excited and proud. With some time and perspective, I will be able to appreciate what I have accomplished.
In the payout room they asked me if I wanted my winnings in casino chips, cash, or check (their order of preference I’m sure). I asked if anyone took it all in cash and the woman said “yes.” I asked if they brought a duffle bag and she said “yes.” I asked if their backers met them right outside the door and she just shrugged.
I took a bit in cash and the rest in a check. I walked into the hallway and gave my wife $5000 cash. She looked at me like I was crazy. “You don’t have $57,000 in cash do you?”
“Let’s go put it on black,” I replied.
On the way up to the room I stop off for my daily nightcap. The bartender says, “You’re early…I’m sorry, but congratulations. This one is on me.” I tip her well.
When we got up to the room I busied myself updating Facebook, answering a bunch of texts and emails, and scheduling a flight home.
It was time to celebrate. I wanted to go downtown (I’d never been) so we Taxi (time to loosen up the purse strings) to the Plaza at Fremont Street. We eat and drink at Firefly (thumbs up). We then head into the night. I’ll give the abbreviated version: We gamble at Binions and the Golden Nugget and won a bunch of money playing craps. We drank a bunch of alcohol and took in the light show and a Styx cover band on the street stage. We did enough people watching to realize that we were living right. We considered a strip club, but decided no. (My wife was willing, but I decided that this was one of those times where she says one thing but means another. I made a good read and a tough lay-down.)
Then we headed back to strip and took in the Bellagio. They were filming the final table of the Bellagio Cup for the WPT. It was down to the final 2 players. We sat in the audience and quickly realized how terribly boring it was going to be. They were pissed when we got up to leave about 10 minutes later.
We then proceeded to lose back most of our earlier winnings rolling dice. It was 4am when we headed back to Rio.
When we woke up the next morning, I had more money in my pocket than when we left to go out the night before. Man, I run good! I was ready to go home. We checked out of the hotel. My wife did a bit of shopping and I played black jack. I won a couple hundred, which covered my wife’s souvenir shopping. I’m still on a heater.
When we arrived early at the airport we find that our flight has been delayed and we have three hours to kill. I decide we are not waiting at the airport. We taxi to the Hard Rock to chill out. I am not kidding. I won another $400 playing craps. I Love Vegas!
We finally get home and my stepdaughter picks us up at the airport. When we pull up to the house, I see balloons and my family waiting for me. My sister, her husband, my nephews, my ex-wife and my kids welcome me home with homemade signs and hugs. My sister had a big Happy Gilmore novelty check made up. (It’s awesome) It was great to be home.
The next day my friends stopped by for an informal welcome home party. I got into a bit of trouble with my wife when I started handing cash to all of my buddies. I had to explain to her what selling shares meant. She said that was the stupidest thing ever. It was only stupid because I won. If I had lost, I would have been genius. I won’t have to buy drinks for the next year at least.
Finally, I wrote this trip report. I saw it as a chance to extend my experience and make sure I had a record as keepsake. The fact that so many of you encouraged me, galvanized me to keep going. I felt obligated to produce an accurate and detailed account of a rookie’s main event experience. I apologize for some minor detail mistakes here and there due to less than perfect note taking, but it is as accurate as I could make it.
My journey started on a whim. Why not try it I thought? Why not? -- Too many reasons to list. Better to ask why? Because I didn’t want to look back one day and say, I should have, or I could have.
I’m a guy like many of you who fires up his laptop each night after the kids are in bed to grind out a small profit (some months) playing low stakes. I’m a guy who had to make a very hard decision to put the money up once he had won his entry. I’m a guy with a great gal for a wife who gave him the nudge he needed. I’m a guy with friends that believed in him enough to fork over $1900 of insurance against his losing. I’m a guy whose wife stood by during the hours of monotony to ensure that he had someone to support him during the lonely time in Las Vegas. I’m the guy whose parents are still going to sacrifice their time and plans to show up for every game. I’m the guy whose sister and ex-wife will carry more than their share of the load to take care of his kids while he chases a dream. I’m the guy who, if he had won the whole thing wouldn’t want to give up his real job. I’m that guy. I’m the guy who outlasted 98% of the field. I’m one lucky SOB.
I have to thank my wife one more time. She gave me the nudge I needed and the confidence to take a chance. She was there with me the whole way keeping me level headed, well fed and de-stressed. I could not have done it without her. I think having a support system there is important to keep you grounded and focused.
Writing this report has helped me put a great deal into perspective. I lived a dream and all it did was whet my appetite for more. I was ready to go home and be back with my family. But after a few days, when the echo of riffling chips finally subsided (truly I heard them in my sleep), I was anxious to play again.
So what does the future hold for 1-secret-1? Not much has changed for me. I teach my classes and I rush to soccer practices and games. But I will be at the 2011 WSOP. I will try again to win a package and use it to go out early to play a few of the prelims, then return home for a few weeks before returning for the Main Event (thanks to FullTilt). More immediately, I head to Winstar Casino in Thakerville, Oklahoma in a few days to play the Main Event of their River Tournament Series. I look forward to possibly playing a few events when the WSOP circuit comes to nearby Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma. Otherwise, it is back to online and my usual sit-n-go tournaments and the occasional multi-table tournament.
For now the story ends. Though I hope for a sequel.
Goodnight.
I put two links below the first is to the on camera interview I did for FullTilt (quite embarrassing in retrospect – “ethereal” really, did I say that? What a tool!)
Second link to the hand I posted:
Final observation: The sound of chips shuffling – constant background noise = the vuvuzelas of the poker world.
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