I spent the last 2 weeks of October in Niagara Falls for the WPT North American Championship and the WPT Canadian Open.
The smaller Canadian Open, which was a $2700 event with 300 players, was the first tournament we played in. We started with $10,000 in chips, and I made it through Day 1 with $18,200 in chips. Day 2 started with the blinds at $400/$800 with a $100 ante. On the very first hand, I am dealt AK suited in the big blind. The cut-off raises to $2600, the small blinds calls the $2600, and I push all-in for $18,200. The cut-off quickly folds, and the small blind, who only has $25,000 in chips, calls instantly! I am thinking uh-oh, he has a pair and it's a race. I flip over my AK, and he shows K3 suited!
The flop is safe, J76. The turn is another 7. Here comes the river... 3! And just like that, I was out. After I calmed down, I said to myself, if my hands are going to hold up, it might as well be in the big tournament.
The WPT North American Championship was a $10,000 + $300 event. Around 500 people signed up to play in this tournament, and we started with $20,000 in chips and the blinds at $25/$25 with 90 minute levels, lots of time to play real poker!
On Day 1, I spent most of the day playing with David Williams and Allen Cunningham. I crippled David Williams when my trip Jacks on the flop held up against his flush draw, and Allen Cunningham finished him off a few hands later. Allen and I never really got involved in any big pots against each other, it was mostly just preflop raises and re-raises, and I had position on him, so that was a big advantage. I finished Day 1 third place in chips, with John Juanda slightly ahead of me in the chip lead.
Day 2 was long, with me being at the same table as John D'Agostino for the whole day. My most exciting hand of the day was against Freddy Deeb. I raised in late position with 55 to $5000, and he called in the big blind. The flop was K98 and he bets out $7000, I say to myself if he has a 9 or an 8 here, he has to fold to a raise. If he has the K, he probably calls and I give up on the turn. We both had over $300,000 at the time and we were the chip leaders. I raised it to $20,000 and Freddy quickly called. But the turn was a beautiful 5! Change of plans! He checks, I fire out $40,000. He calls quickly again. The river is a harmless 3. He checks to me, I push in $100,000 this time. He thinks for a while. He goes "That's a pretty strong bet." I tell him "It's $100,000 to find out Freddy". He calls with K8, and is furious when he sees my hand. I almost burst out laughing. I took another $70,000 off him a few hands later which left him with almost nothing, and he busted out soon after. I ended Day 2 as the chip leader.
We were down to 45 players on Day 3, and again I played the whole day with John D'Agostino at my table. It was pretty amazing, we played on the same table with each other for over 20 hours total, and we only got involved in one pot together. I think that just went to show how much respect we had for each other's playing ability. This was the hand we played against each other. I had around $1.8 million in chips, and I looked down at AQ offsuit in the big blind. John raised it to $70,000 in the cut-off, and I asked him how much he had left, which was around $400,000. I pushed all-in, and John thought for a while, and called with... AQ offsuit also! We all started laughing, but I stopped laughing after the flop brought 3 spades and John was holding the Ace of spades! Thankfully, the turn and river did not bring another spade, and we split the pot. In another pot, John Juanda raised to $70,000 in early position, and I looked down at KK in small blind. I made it $270,000 to go, but John immediately pushed all-in for less than $100,000 more. I knew he had Aces, but I had to call. I even said it out loud. Sure enough, he had them. That brought me down to around $1.3 million, and that's where I finished Day 3, in 5th place out of only 6 left, and on my way to the WPT TV Table!
The set for WPT TV Table was amazing! A lot nicer than the EPT's final table. While we were backstage getting our make-up done, Mixe Sexton and Vince Van Patten were also getting theirs done and they were rehearsing their lines. It was really cool.
I had one goal, and one goal only, and that was to win this thing. First place was over $1.3 million and the WPT title! I didn't care about moving up to 5th or 4th place. I was down to around $1.1 million in chips, and I raised to $90,000 with JJ in the cut-off. The small blind immediately raises to $400,000. Now, I had been playing with this guy for the past 2 days. He was a very tight player, he hated to play flops. This was huge money to him, he was an auto-plant worker, making $12/hour. Right now we were all guaranteed $170,000, but the next spot up paid $230,000, and I know that he would do anything to move up a spot or two. I observed him for a minute or two, and he looked very nervous. I eventually decided to move all-in, but to my dismay, he called instantly with AA. The board did not bring me any help, and I was out in 6th place. I was very disappointed, I really felt I could have won this tournament. I took home $169,027.00 for my 6th place finish. I was supposed to be in Amsterdam this week for the Master Classics of Poker tournament, but I have decided to take a couple of weeks off and just relax. I will be playing the B.C. Poker Championship in Vancouver in 2 weeks, so I should be well rested and prepared for that one.
In my short career, I have played in a total of 4 major international tournaments:
WPT Bahamas - 37th out of 725 - $15,000
EPT Championship Monte Carlo - Final Table - 4th out of 300 - $270,000
WSOP Main Event - Did Not Place
WPT North American Championship - Final Table - 6th out of 500 - $170,000
My next major tournament is the Aussie Millions in Sydney, Australia, which starts in mid-January. So, 2006 is pretty much over for me. Hopefully 2007 will be even better!
