WSOP Trip

Well, I’m back from my first trip to the WSOP – it was an interesting experience. Before the trip, I was much more excited about playing the tournaments then the cash games. The three tournaments I played in, however, left me feeling fairly unimpressed. Considering it’s arguably the most important and prestigious series of tournaments in the world, I didn’t feel like it was very well run, or very well organized. Perhaps it was the shear sea of people. Perhaps it was playing in a makeshift tent. Perhaps it was the PL Omaha dealers who didn’t know how to split a pot or how much a player could raise. Perhaps it was the fact I didn’t even cash, much less win a bracelet. :-)

I was expecting to get butterflies as the first hand was dealt, but instead I felt like I was in a cold, sterile environment, like the waiting room of a doctor’s office. So, with no warm, fuzzy feeling, and (sadly) a moderate degree of apathy, I set out to try and play some solid tournament poker.

My first tournament was $1,500 PL Omaha 8, and we started out with 3k in chips. With not many chips to play with, I figure the first hand I play had better be a good one. I fold the first dozen hands or so before picking up Ad-2c-3d-Kc, a very nice starting hand. A player in front of me raises the pot pre-flop, I re-raise the pot, and he calls. Since he doesn’t re-raise, I figure there’s a decent chance he doesn’t have aces. The flop comes Kd-4d-8s, giving me top pair with top kicker, and nut flush and low draws. I’m now officially excited about my hand. He pots, I re-pot, and we get all the chips in on the flop. He turns over Ax-2x-4x-7x (four-suited!), and is drawing pretty thin. The turn brings the Qc, a great card for me. Now any A-2-8-9-10-J-Q-K doubles me up, and any 3-5-6 or the 7d gives me ¾. Of course, he hits a miracle 7c on the river, giving both of us the nut low, but giving him two-pair and quartering me in the process. I guess I should be thankful it wasn’t a four…

Turns out the guy is a lunatic (as if you couldn’t tell from the way he overplayed that hand). He actually busted out before I did. Crippled, I continue folding crap hands until I can’t wait any longer. With blinds at $75/150, I’m down to $775 in chips and pick up 2s-3s-4c-5c in late position. No ace, but with two limpers I decide I need to take a chance. With no raise, there’s a decent chance I can spike an ace and maybe get lucky, or better yet, take down the pot right there. I raise the pot (which is most of my chips), and get one caller. I’m hoping to see the As on the flop, and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t pop up in the window. Sadly, there are two red face cards along with it. I push (“flick” may be the more correct term) my few remaining chips into the pot, and get called. Two more big red bricks come, and I’m out the door. I don’t even remember looking at my opponent’s hand, but I presumed he could beat five-high…

I’ll write more about the trip over the next week or so as time allows. There were a few interesting hands and stories from the cash games!

See ya at the tables…
Rick