WSOP 2007 - Update #3

Unfortunately, this is the final update for WSOP 2007, after being eliminated on the first day of play. This year, they doubled the starting stacks to $20,000, but they also doubled the starting blinds and the antes started at $50 instead of $25. I'm still trying to understand what the point of that is. If they started us out at $25/$50, it would have been much better with 400 BB's instead of 200 BB's. Shout-out to Howard Lederer et al. for making a debacle of the WSOP structures this year. He's doing exactly what Harrah's wanted him to do, run more tournaments, end them as fast as possible, and juice every dollar that they can, including the rebuys and add-ons.

I'm not trying to use that as an excuse for my early exit in the Main Event, since 200 BB's with 2 hour levels is still enough for a lot of play. I started off very well, grinding my way up to ~$25,000 in the first 2 hours. Early in the second level, I found AcJc in the SB. It folded around to me, and I completed to $200, and the aggressive BB made it $800. I called. Flop came A33 with one spade. I checked, he bet $1200, I called. Turn Ks. I check, he bets $2800, I call. River 5s. I check, and he bets $6000 this time. I was sick about the last spade. I tanked it and after about 5 minutes Jeff Lissandro is about to call the clock, and I throw in the call. He flips over AsQs for the runner runner flush. It sucks because the Ks on the turn is probably the only card in the deck that can cost me a lot of money for the rest of that hand.

That brought me down to ~$15,000. A few hands later, I get QQ, and raise to $800. The same player I just lost the previous hand to makes it $2600 to go. I call. The flop is horrible for me, JT7. Now AA, KK, JJ, and TT have me crushed. I check, he fires $3200, I almost folded, but I called hoping he had AK and would slow down on the turn. Turn is a 6, I check, he bets $6000, I quickly fold face up. He knows I am probably steaming over the last hand and I might be willing to play the rest of my stack with a mediocre J or even a T. I didn't think there was any way he could be bluffing me here.

I bled down to ~$8000, and then in a 5-way limped pot with $1000 in the pot, I shoved with AK and took the blinds. The very next hand, I limp with 77 and take a flop 4 ways. Flop comes J74 rainbow, calling station in the BB checks, UTG bets $700, I call, 2 players fold, and the BB also calls. Turn is an offsuit 5. They both check, I fire 2000, BB calls, UTG folds. River 9. BB checks, I push all in for over $6000, he calls instantly and flips over KJ. I show my set of 7's and take down the pot. That brought me back up to ~$22,000. It's always nice to double up after your opponent is already drawing dead on the turn.

A few orbits later, the same player raises to $700, and I call on the button with KhTh. I know he's strong because he has been limping everything from mid pocket pairs to KQ and KJ suited and semi-strong aces. The flop is nice for my hand but not amazing, KQT, giving me 2 pair. He overbets the pot for $2000, and my gut is telling me he has AA or AK. I know he's not going anywhere, but he is getting his money in either way with those hands, and since I have position on him, I want to see a safe turn card before I get committed. If any A,Q,J,9 comes then I can still get away from the hand without losing too much. The turn is a nice offsuit 5. I'm ready to come over top but he does all of the work for me, pushing all-in for $8600. I beat him into the pot, but he flips over QQ! :( I miss my 2-outer and I am back down to $9000. It's another sick hand because he would have played AA and AK the same exact way, and it was a lot more likely that he had one of those hands than QQ.

I dropped to $7000 and was moved to another table. The blinds were now $200/$400, and a mid-position player makes it $1100 to go, and I call another $700 from the BB with 9c8c. The flop comes 982. I check, and he checks. Turn is the 5c, putting 2 clubs on the board and a flush draw to go with my 2 pair. I check again, and he fires $2000. I move all-in for my $5900, and he calls me with... AK off, drawing dead. Uh, thanks!

Then came an interesting hand. A player limped for $400 in mid-position, and I looked down at KQs on the button. I made it $1500 to go, the BB called, and the MP limper called. The flop comes AKK, giving me trip Kings. They both check to me, and I bet $3000. BB folds, and the MP min-raises to $6000. In my head, I'm thinking he has a weaker K and I have him crushed, he is making a bad play with an Ace and I have him crushed, or he's on a pure bluff, and as you guessed, I have him crushed. I elect to just call the $3000 raise, leaving me with just under $10,000 behind. The turn comes K, giving me quads! At first I was happy, but after a few seconds, I quickly realized that this was the worst card in the deck for me other than an Ace. He obviously can't have a worse King, and if he has an Ace, I'm still getting all of his money, but he'd have to be really bad to have an Ace here. So that leaves one option, a pure bluff. If he was trying to represent a King with the min-raise on the flop, now he has to be thinking "Damn, there's no way he's going to fold an Ace now, I give up." Sure enough, he checks, and I check behind. The river is a meaningless 5. He checks, I shove, praying he somehow has an Ace, but he folds instantly. The first time I ever make quads in a tournament, and it ends up COSTING me money, lol! I was up to ~$26,000 after this hand.

Barry Schulman is a true maniac. I was at his table for a short period of time, and his stack went from $50,000 to $6,000 to $40,000 to $5000 to $35,000 and back down to $10,000 when our table broke within 5 orbits, it was unreal! There was one pot where he limped $400 UTG, I limped in MP, and the very tight BB made it $2500 to go. He called and I folded. Flop comes 843 rainbow. The BB bets $5000, Barry raises it to $19,000, and after some thought, the BB moves all-in for $5000 more. There's almost $60,000 in the pot, and it's $5000 to call, and he folds! Anyways, the point is that he was involved in almost every single big pot at the table. I played one big pot against him, but I missed my flush draw and that brought me down to $17,000. I surely would have doubled up had I hit my flush.

The next hand I played was against Shirley Williams, David Williams' mother. I limped in MP with 6d5d for $400 and she raised on the button to $1200. I was the only caller. Flop came 542. I checked, Shirley bet $2000, and I called. The turn was a 9. I led out for $4000, hoping she had a hand like AK or AQ and would lay it down. She played with her chips for a while, and eventually put me all-in. I chose to save my last $9000 and I folded.

I bled off chips for a few orbits and before I knew it I was down to $5500 and needing to make something happen with the blinds at $200/$400 with a $50 ante. I limped UTG with Jc8c and we took a flop 5 ways. The flop came 653 with 2 clubs, and I immediately knew I was putting all of my money in. The blinds checked to me, and with almost $3000 in the pot already, I chose to just push in my last $5100. I was hoping to take down the pot as it was, but I also didn't mind getting called by a hand like A6 or 77, where I was drawing to 15 outs and was a slight favourite. The lady on the button called by bet, and she turned over a hand I did not want to see, 42 for the flopped straight, yuck! I was now down to 9 outs. The 8 on the turn was no help, and the off-suit Q on the river closed the lid on my 2007 World Series of Poker.

What a ride it's been! Even though I only cashed in one event, I had a great time at the WSOP and I feel like I played very well. I also did very well in the cash games. I absolutely love the non-Hold'em games, and I have been playing a lot of cash games and tournaments in different formats ever since. I'm already looking forward to the 2008 WSOP, the 2009 WSOP, and so forth. The amount of equity a good player has in these tournaments is mind-blowing!

This is the end of the 2006-2007 Poker "season". The EPT ended in April, the WPT ended in May, and the WSOP ends this week. Now comes the planning for the 2007-2008 season. I think I want to put most of my focus into the European Poker Tour this year. I am 2nd all-time in career earnings, tied for 2nd all-time for career final tables, and 5th on the all-time TLB, and I've only played in 2 events. The EPT is growing like crazy in Europe, and with the online poker ban in the USA, I think it would be in mine and my sponsor's best interest to focus on European and international tournaments. I don't think I'll ever miss the WSOP though, and Las Vegas is like my 2nd home, so we'll have to work something around that. ;)

For the time being, I will be going back to cash games. It feels so good to be able to play on Eurolinx again, for some reason I could not log in from Vegas, so I was stuck playing on Pokerstars.

I'll leave you with a few pictures from my 2007 WSOP.






Chatting with Joe Hachem




Am I next?


Shannon Elizabeth from 'American Pie' fame. It's funny because I guess I was playing a little too aggressively for her liking, and we got into a little bit of a verbal spat which she apologized for later on in the day.