Ten Days in the Desert: My WSOP Trip Report Day 1
Cambodian Slick
the last two weeks. This is to be our third group outing to the WSOP,
and hopefully will be as fun as last year. I'm going to report to
this newsgroup every day this year instead of trying to remember all
the good stuff after I get back home.
We gave up on the RV plan again this year because many of our crew
were coming from different states this time out, so we are all meeting
up in Vegas. I'm the first one out here, hoping to win my way into the
big one by playing some of the satellites over the weekend.
I hit the ground running, my plane arriving a little late and putting
me in Vegas about 10:10 pm, with me yet to check in to the Golden
Nugget and dying to play in the 11pm second chance tourney. But my
cab driver hustles ass (almost thirty bucks!! its like im still in
NYC) and i check in, throw my shit in the room, and make it to the
tournament room in time to get a seat. Tonight's second chance
tournament is the biggest one yet, with 217 entries. First prize pays
over ten grand.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, my once-over the field told
me that Hellmuth, Seidel, Heimowitz, Gardner, Ma, and Negrenau are all
still in the NL tournament from today. They are at 33, and the bubble
is 27. Its going to be a long night.
I get into the second chance ready to play some solid poker. And for
the first hour and a half, thats what I do. I get dealt great hands:
jacks twice, tens, AK, they are all holding up. I triple up really
quick and am the big stack at my table. So i play Super/System style:
I steal a lot of small pots, beating up on small stacks, then I use
the money I make from those small pots to pay for some loose calls in
others. The system doesn't work too well, and I end up committing to
dumb hands that I limp in with only to fold to raises and reraises.
But I'm still the chip leader with my 3k after losing a couple of big
pots.
Then I catch AK on the button, and I raise it up to T400 with the
blinds at 25 and 50. I really just want to win this pot right here.
Small blind goes all in raising me another T900. I deliberate a long
time and put him on a pocket pair. The way I figure it, I'm even
money with this hand and need to build a stack if i'm going to survive
through 200 strong NL players when the blinds go up. PLUS i'm tired
and figure why not take some chances, bust out early and sleep or go
to the final table. PLUS i can't bust out on this hand, ive got him
covered big time. even if i lose im still doubled up from the start.
so i call, and he's got ACES. fuck. now im at about 2k and need to
slow down.
eventually other guys get big chip leads and i am no longer dictating
the flow of the table. and im not comfortable and can feel my stack
dwindling. then TJ Cloutier comes in and sits on my left (albeit
short stacked with 600).
i make it past the break mostly watching other guys play poker and
chatting with some interesting charachters. i also watch tj double up
twice and sitting on a good enough stack to do some damage.
after the break the blinds are at 100-200 with 25 antes and i have
T1700. i make it through a couple of blinds, limping here and there,
raising but folding to reraises, when i find AQ of hearts on the
button. early position player who has been quiet for a while (with
about the same stack as me) raises it to 400. i figure the blinds are
coming to me soon and i wont see a hand this good again this round. i
go all-in, and he turns over a pair of tens. the flop is two hearts,
turn is a ten, and the river is a beautaiful heart. i pump my fist in
the air, the guy winces and pounds the table, and then TJ yells out
"its a five, he made a full house!" thanks TJ. so i get up and wish
everyone luck.
i decide instead of going home, id go watch the real pros play for
awhile and maybe learn something.
phil hellmuth is the chip leader with a monster stack. plus, he has
on these goofy bugeye sunglasses that were so popular about four years
ago. after they get down to just the in the money 26, they put
hellmuth, negrenau, and gardner at the same table. "three young bucks
goin' at it" as mike sexton would probably say. daniel is playing
fast as always and not winning. hellmuth is playing straightforward,
and is pretty much unbeatable at this point imho. then the
unthinkable happens. he calls an all in bet with his KK and finds
himself up against AA. yes, he is going to lose his chip lead. but
then he spikes a K on the flop and the entire table, i mean the ENTIRE
TABLE winces in total horror and disgust. hellmuth is now
unstoppable. he is on cruise control to victory and everyone knows it.
i seriously want him to lose after reading his article in card player
that many people on this ng have already started to discuss. what a
punk. what is the point of writing an article like that? a leopard
truly cant change his spots, and hellmuth is one sorry ass whiny
leopard.
but he is going to win. easy money. he will win tomorrow. and ill
watch every minute of it. i have a lot to learn.
walking back to my room tonight i realized a couple of things. im
really outclassed here. there are some serious sharks in the water.
i planned on coming here and playing mostly no limit in satellites and
small buy ins around town. but now i feel like such dead money, i
wonder if i shouldnt put that money to good use in the ring games.
i cant wait for my friends to show up. im lonely here all by my
lonesome. we have much adventuring and clowning to do.
and on wednesday night, the 2003 upper west side world series of poker
will take place. if i leave vegas broke as a joke, i hope to at least
have that beautaiful brass bracelet on my arm.
until tomorrow night i leave you....
Bill
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Posted using RecPoker.com - http://www.recpoker.com
greatbrit
> How much was the buy-in for the second chance tourny?
$225, but that was the last one, from here on in it's going to just be
super satellites (also $225, but with $200 rebuys and add-on) for the
10K event.
stckthdck
Good luck, Dave. Play your best game with confidence and I am sure
you'll do fine.
I am suffering from a lack of confidence myself lately. Play
regularly the $30 and $50 1-table PartPoker tourneys and have been a
consistent winner (i.e. in the money about 60% of the time). I am on
an incredible streak of 23 out of 25 finishes out of the money. It is
really making me question my game.
I need to either re-establish my confidence or rethink my game. I
don't think I have any major leaks, but I certainly need to find out
soon.
T minus 8 days
Rainbow6