Today is the third annual World Championship of Online Poker on Poker Stars. We’re just shy of 3000 runners, and the $7.5 million prize pool makes it the largest internet tournament history.
The first hour was a roller coaster for me. I lost 2/3 of my stack 20 minutes in with set under set:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (9 handed) Hand History converter, Courtesy of PokerZion.com
MP2 (t17475)
MP3 (t19150)
CO (t19575)
Button (t27091)
SB (t23950)
BB (t20725)
UTG (t18450)
Hero (t20275)
MP1 (t13334)
Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with 4s, 4d.
1 fold, Hero calls t50, MP1 calls t50, MP2 calls t50, MP3 calls t50, 1 fold, Button calls t50, 1 fold, BB checks.
Flop: (t325) Td, 8d, 4c (6 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t225, MP1 calls t225, MP2 calls t225, MP3 raises to t1050, Button folds, BB folds, Hero calls t825, MP1 folds, MP2 calls t825.
Turn: (t3700) Kh (3 players)
Hero bets t1675, MP2 folds, MP3 raises to t5375, Hero calls t3700.
River: (t14450) Jc (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets t6500, Hero calls t6500.
Final Pot: t27450
He won with 88.
The guy was pretty solid, and I really think I could have folded flop. I had a bad feeling right away and did consider it. Leading the turn was very bad. I was concerned about knocking out the draw, but that was just the wrong thing to be thinking about. If I do lead, I should probably fold to the raise. I was going to fold the river, but the bet was small enough that I felt I had to call. Wasn’t happy about that at all.
My buddy Diego gave me a quick pep talk, reminding me of the deep structure and how easily I could recover. Sure enough, I doubled up twice in the next forty minutes, once with KK versus QJ on Q83K5 board (yeah, that guy was awful) and once with 55 versus AT on a A95T5 board (also pretty bad stack off by the guy, he really could have folded easily to my flop check-raise).
So despite the early cold deck, I’ve increased my starting stack by about 10% and am above average coming into the first break.
If you’re in the mood for a trip down memory lane, check out this hilarious interview with Jordan Berkowitz, former Magic card champion and winner of the first WCOOP. The video in the upper right hand corner is particularly amusing.