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A return
appearance in the World Series of Poker championship event after
more than a decade
The huge
payoffs in the World Series of
Poker championship event, in which thousands of people
participate - each paying $10,000 to enter - make it hard for any
professional poker player to resist. This year, one of my friends
offered to put up the money for me to play, and we were able to work
out a mutually satisfactory financial arrangement. It was the eighth
time I have played in the world's premier poker event, but my first
appearance in well over a decade.
I did not expect the number of entrants to double again this year,
after tripling in 2004, but it did. Imagine what the line would have
been five years ago against the 2005 world championship paying 560
places, and a million dollars just for finishing ninth. It would
have sounded like an impossible fantasy, but that is exactly what
happened.
The tournament room at the Rio Hotel and Casino was big enough to
accommodate 200 tables, but there still needed to be three "starting
days" to accommodate the huge field. Your starting day was assigned
to you by random draw when you paid your buy-in. I drew day three,
the one I had hoped for, so that I would be away from home the
shortest length of time. However, after playing from 11 o'clock in
the morning until 2:30 a.m. the following day, I will hope for day
two next time. I do not mind playing that many hours - I was able to
maintain my concentration the whole time - but I sure paid a price
for it the next day, struggling on short sleep. I think the playing
schedule should be rearranged so that players do not have to play
past midnight in any session.
I did not know a single player at my starting table, and was never
at any table where I knew more than one person.
Furthermore, I think few opponents knew who I was. I like being
unknown, believing it is to my advantage in this event, so I do not
appreciate it when a dealer who knows me greets me by name. It's
fine to smile and say hello, but please don't be a stoolie. I am
sure there are others with fairly well-known names who feel exactly
as I do.
Most of the participants got into the "big one" by winning an online
entry. I thought that I would see some weak players who had simply
gotten no-brainer lucky one time. However, after playing at several
different tables over the course of three days, I have to say that I
did not see any truly weak players in the event. I am not saying
that everyone was a strong player, but there were no patsies giving
their money away. On the contrary, the play starting out was very
solid, as if everyone wanted to savor the experience of staying in
the world championship event for a while. Fortunately, although
there were no weakies, the very strong players who keep you under
constant pressure were few and far between.
There were lots of young guys in their 20s who played in the event.
I think having white hair like I do can be an advantage, especially
if you are struggling to stay alive with a short stack, as I was my
first two days. There were three hands in which I am still amazed
that I did not get called. (I am not going to say whether I wanted a
call or not, as I am only showing how some people played against
me.)
In the first
hand, the blinds were $400-$800 with an ante. The player on my
right, who habitually open-raised from late position every time it
was folded to him, opened for $3,000. I raised him $5,400 all in,
hoping that he was playing his usual garbage. He threw his hand
away. I do not know what he had, but he was getting about 2.5-to-1
on the money.
The second hand arose when the blinds were $500-$1,000 with a $100
ante. I was on the button with $11,400, and open-raised all in. The
guy on my left went into a big tank-job and finally folded. The big
blind also folded, so I won an uncontested pot. The guy told me
later that he had laid down A-Q offsuit. I think the chance of him
folding such a quality hand (to a button raise) against one of the
young guys was close to zero.
The third hand came up in the same structure. A fellow in the cutoff
seat who usually open-raised when he could from that position opened
for $4,000. I was in the big blind and raised him $9,000 more, and
he called. The flop came down 9-5-3 rainbow and I moved all in for
$26,000 (having finally gotten my hands on some chips). He went into
a monster huddle. I figured that he probably had two tens, although
it was possible he was thinking about running me down with a small
pocket pair, hoping I had A-K or A-Q. Finally, he flashed his hand
and folded. He had laid down two black queens! I also attribute this
result mainly to my having white hair.
Late on day three, I finally achieved a comfortable chip position.
Here is the hand in which it happened. I picked up two aces on the
button and the usual occurred - everyone folded to me. I raised to
$7,000. The big blind was my only caller. He was a young fellow from
Denmark who had several hundred thousand dollars in front of him, a
huge amount for this stage of play. The flop came 5-3-2 rainbow. He
bet $8,000 into me and I "mustered a call." The next card was the Q ,
creating a diamond two-flush, and he put me all in for $51,000. I
called him after some thought.
My huddle was mainly a mental pause just to make sure that I did not
make a knee-jerk reaction in what was obviously a key hand; I really
did not have any doubt about what had to be done. I expected to see
something like a straight draw and flush draw, rather than a better
hand than mine. When we turned up our hands, I was more than a
little surprised. He had J-9 offsuit, which was no pair and no draw.
Welcome to modern poker, Bob! This put my stack into a comfortable
six figures.
My last hand of the event had an element of déjà vu. I picked up two
red aces on the button, everyone folded to me, I raised, and the big
blind called. The flop again came small: 7-3-2 rainbow. At this
point, the betting diverged from my previous A-A hand. He checked, I
bet $12,000, and he called. The turn was an offsuit 8. My opponent
checked, so I bet $25,000. Now, he sprang to life and put me all in
for about $45,000 more. I thought this one over, also, but had to
call. There were legitimate hands he could hold that I could beat,
such as an overpair. I have even seen this kind of betting from a
small pocket pair that's playing the button for a no-pair bluff.
However, my opponent showed up with pocket deuces, and his set
eliminated me. I had been lucky up to that point, not running into a
trap, but finally I fell into one.
Although I should not complain about winning $24,465, I had my heart
set on a lot more. But as The Terminator said in the police station,
"I'll be back."
Bob
Ciaffone has authored four poker books, Middle Limit Holdem Poker
(available at CardPlayer.com), Pot-limit and No-limit Poker, Improve
Your Poker, and Omaha Holdem Poker. Ciaffone is available for poker
lessons: e-mail
thecoach@chartermi.net. His website is
http://www.pokercoach.us/,
where you can get his rulebook, Robert's Rules of Poker, for free.
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