Early Exit

Today I played in my first ever World Series of Poker event. It was Event 3, Pot Limit Hold 'Em, with a $1,500 buy-in and ~700 entrants.

I walked into the relatively empty Rio poker pavilion as they were blaring the Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get it Started" over the loudspeakers. Within minutes, the room was full, which is impressive considering its size - nearly 200 tables.

It turns out I was seated at quite the star-studded table. First I noticed Katja Thater, a European woman who is sponsored by PokerStars, and is considered one of the top female players in the world. There were also a couple of guys who seemed like typical internet pros, sponsorship logos and all. However, they were all outshone when John Juanda showed up a few hands into the event and claimed the final seat at my table. Juanda is a spectacular player, and has been one of the top tournament pros in recent years. My table was by the rail, and we quickly attracted a handful of spectators watching Juanda and Thater's play. At one point, people were standing 3-4 rows deep directly behind me trying to catch a glimpse of the table!

Note: Detailed poker discussion beginning… The play was very tight, with a ton of pots taken down preflop. There was one player playing quite aggressively, seated directly to my right. I was a bit nervous early on, but it didn't seem to affect my play. I joined the rest of the table in playing tight, raising with a few big hands and picking up some small pots (I even stole Juanda’s blind a couple of times – hah!). In the first hour, I didn’t show down any hands, and I really only had one hand of any substance. I picked up AQ of spades in the big blind, and after a late position raise, I re-raised and was called. The flop came 10 3 2, and I led out with a large bet and took down the pot.

Juanda was actually eliminated by the aggressive player within 45 minutes! Juanda called a preflop raise, and they saw a flop of Q 10 5. Juanda check-raised the aggressive guy, and was called. The turn was a blank, and Juanda pushed all in. He was instantly called by the aggressive guy who turned over QQ and had Juanda drawing dead with KQ. Ouch.

We started with 3,000 chips each, and I had methodically built my stack up to ~4,200 when the following hand took place about an hour and a half into the tourney… The blinds were 50 and 100, and I had J7 of diamonds in the big blind. It folded around to the small blind (aggressive guy), who raised to 300. I figured it was a good chance to get some chips off of him if I hit something on the flop because he was betting so frequently, and getting 2:1 pot odds, I made the call. The flop came down 10 6 2, all diamonds. Bingo. I had flopped a flush, and immediately started thinking about how to maximize my profit on the hand. As expected, aggressive guy led out for 450, and fearing he could have a big draw, I decided I had to raise. I made it 1,400 to go, and after thinking for a few moments, he re-raised enough to put me all in. I probably nearly beat him into the pot with my chips, thinking that this is exactly what I had hoped for. I proudly flipped over my cards showing my flush, and then watched as he revealed his cards – Q8 of diamonds – and his higher flush. Shit. I was drawing dead. The table “oohed” and “aahed” as they saw what had transpired. Katja Thater said “Oh my god! What is this, PokerStars??”, referring to the fact that online hands at PokerStars always seem to have crazy occurrences like this. The aggressive player was gracious, and after shaking hands with him, I departed quietly. I think I finished ~580th out of ~700 (The top 72 players were to be paid, so I “just” missed out on that – haha).

So, my first WSOP event pretty much sucked. On the good side, I truly feel I played excellent poker (albeit not for very long), and just found myself in one of those unbelievably unlucky situations where you can’t possibly get away from a hand. I mean, the small blind and big blind both flopping a flush?!? Come on!

On a more positive note, the weather has been great (90s and sunny), so I had a nice afternoon hanging out and relaxing at the condo pool.

My sister Sarah is arriving Wednesday night, and we’re playing in the WSOP event on Thursday, so until then, I’ll be playing some golf as well as some smaller stakes poker (cash games and/or tournaments).

Until next time!