News from the Field: WSOP Event #13 and a Night Out in the Strip

Week two at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) began with nothing but excitement and anticipation, as Saturday marked my first event of the year. I set my alarm nice and early so I’d have time for a shower and a good breakfast before heading to the Rio. Four of us – Tim, Dan, Tristan, and I – were playing in the event, and while getting ready to leave, we pumped each other up by talking about how horrid the play was going to be and what a  significant edge we all had over the field.

The astoundingly low level of play is easily the best thing about the WSOP. Granted, there are obviously tons of good players in every event, but in a 3,000 person field, you’re much more likely to be seated beside a muppet than a shark. While a $1,000 buy-in is higher than I usually play – mid-stakes online MTTs and the Sunday majors – it doesn’t run like a $1,000 event online.

The skill level in the $1,000 WSOP events is akin to a $20 online tournament, and that’s not even an exaggeration. In that regard, instead of feeling overwhelmed by the money, my pre-tournament thoughts were concerned with how I was going to accumulate chips from the bad players I was sure to be seated with.

When we arrived at Rio, I felt great and was anxious to get to my seat and play poker. We exchanged table numbers so we’d be able to find each other on break and went our separate ways amidst a chorus of “good luck” and “run hot.” I sat down at my table with a minute to spare and immediately took stock of my opponents. As silly as it might sound, physical appearance stereotypes can be very helpful in live poker tournaments, especially when used in combination with other information.

For example, men who look older than 50 are generally super tight, so when I have an older man at my table, I assume that’s how he plays unless he shows me otherwise. If he starts playing aggressively, I’ll definitely change my read on him instead of blindly sticking to the stereotype. In general though, a player’s appearance is a great starting point for constructing his image.

I would love to report that I had a great tournament and took it down, but unfortunately, I only made it three hours. In a nutshell, the most action I had all day was getting moved three times. Online, I wouldn’t have even given the tournament a second thought; I was just on auto-pilot the whole time and then all of the sudden, I was out.

Despite the end result, I thought I played my best game with what little was given to me. I was dealt A-Q once and 8-8 twice, but other than that, I didn’t even have the chance to open any suited connectors or random hands in position. It was extremely frustrating, but remaining snug instead of trying to force the action is undoubtedly the correct decision. I played correctly, but it just didn’t go my way, which is the standard in tournaments.

In the hand that doomed me, a young player opened under the gun to 125 at 25-50 blinds. I had about 3,000 in chips and, after looking down at black eights in middle position, I elected to just call. It folded around to the small blind, an internet player who had a short stack and was shoving once or twice an orbit. He moved all-in for 1,400. When the original raiser folded, I quickly called and the other guy tabled A-J offsuit. After a Q-6-Q flop, the Jh fell on the turn and I didn’t bink an eight.

The race occurred on the last hand before break and when we returned, the blinds were up to 50-100. I didn’t get any good shove spots for two orbits until it folded to me with Kh-2h in the small blind. With 50 already posted and just 1,250 in my stack, the spot was a trivial shove. I certainly wasn’t going to let the WSOP or a $1,000 buy-in change my play, so I put my stack in the middle. The big blind ended up calling with Ah-Th and that spelled the end of Event #13 for me.

Tim and Tristan didn’t fare much better than I did, but Dan made Day 2 and although he busted, he’s now three-for-three in cashes thus far. You never want to just make the money in World Series events, but the deep runs indicate that he’s playing great poker and feeling very confident, which bodes well for future tournaments.

After the end of Day 1 on Saturday, Tim, Dan, Brian, Tristan, and I decided to hit the Strip to blow off some steam. We casino hopped for a while and eventually ended up at a Harrah’s roulette table. After a marathon session, Tim and I found ourselves alone and extremely inebriated, so we decided to call it a night. Little did we know that it was actually 8:00am. We cabbed home and slept off most of Sunday and although I didn’t exactly feel great that day, it was a fun night out with friends. The guys had been intensely focused on poker and what they needed more than anything was a break from the game.

We’ll be back at it soon enough, so stay tuned to see how we do this week!