WSOP 2009 Trip Report: Part 4

Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Off to a Good Start

On Day 3 of the World Series of Poker, I was feeling good. Nearly 6500 players entered the tournament, and now more than two-thirds of them had been sent packing. With roughly 2000 of us remaining, there was finally room for everyone to play on the same day. It had been a week since I played my first day, but now there were no more days off. Everybody would be playing every day until he lost his chips or there were only nine remaining.

Day 2 had been harrowing. I’d come in short stacked, and despite opposition so tough that Poker News called mine the “Table of Death”, I’d managed to finish the day with just over 90,000 chips, putting me right around the average.

What’s more, my Day 3 table draw looked to be a welcome respite. There were no names I recognized and only one or two other players who even seemed to be professionals of any stripe. Things were looking good for me.

They were looking even better for me after the first hand I played, where I called a raise from a young Czech player holding a pair of 2’s on my big blind. The flop came K52. Not wanting to risk checking and giving my opponent the option of keeping the pot small, I bet into him at every opportunity. He called the flop, he called the turn, and after considerable thought, he called the river. I showed my trips, he mucked his hand, and just like that was at 125K. Not a bad way to start the day.

A Turn for the Worse

About 20 minutes later, I raised with 5-4 of diamonds. It was a weak hand to play from relatively early position and not something I could have gotten away with at the “Table of Death” where there were strong, aggressive players willing to fight me for every pot. With this bunch, though, I was very clearly the best player and I intended to take advantage of that. The same Czech from before called out of the small blind, and everyone else folded.

The flop was JT3 with two diamonds. I bet 4400 into a pot of about 7500, he raised to 15K with about 40K behind, and I shoved. After some thought, he called with AJ. The turn was a 7 to give me a gutshot, but the river blanked and I was down to 60K.

The guy turned out to be pretty tight, and knowing what I know now I may not have shoved on him. With the information I had at the time, though, I think it’s a good play. I doubt he shows up with JJ+, so his calling range is probably AJ, JT, 66, and maybe TT if he doesn’t 3-bet it pre-flop. If he’s also calling KJ and QJ it’s probably a bad shove, but if he’s raise-folding stuff like that, which a lot of the randoms in this tournament are, I like the shove. I think he can also have stuff like AT, maybe bluffs, maybe even draws that fold. Yes, I realize I’m crushed by better flush draws, but I don’t think it’s inconceivable that he raise-folds them. What good are lots of chips if you aren’t going to use them?

Unfortunately, I soon lost another sizable pot. I raised from late position with a pair of 5’s, and the player on my left, who was one of the better amateurs at the table, moved all-in. Although it was going to cost me half of my chips to call, I really didn’t have too much of a decision.

My opponent had a suited Ace-9 and won the flip. The chips went his way, and I was down to 26K at the first break. Now, I was deflated. I knew, though, that I’d been in worse spots before, including last year when I ended up doing very well. Chips or no chips, I was still the best player at the table. Plus, there was an aggressive player on my right, meaning that with my now short stack, I would probably get some good re-stealing opportunities of my own.

The Frustrating Unimportance of Results

Some of you might be thinking that my play sounds needlessly reckless: “Hey, kid, you played two big pots. One of them you had a 33% chance of winning, one of them you had a 50% chance of winning. No wonder you’re broke.”

The most important thing to realize is that in both cases there was already a lot of money in the pot. At the point that I was considering calling the all in with 55, there were about 33,000 chips in the pot, and it was going to cost me 23,000 more to call. You can see, then, that although I have a 50% chance of winning, I don’t have to put up 50% of the pot. Taking odds of 33:23 on a 1:1 proposition is in fact quite a good wager.

The 54 hand is a little bit different. In that case, I wasn’t the one calling the bet, I was the one putting my opponent to a decision. It would indeed be a bad wager on my part if I knew for certain that he was going to call. What I am banking on, though, is that he sometimes folds and I win the pot outright. The flush draw is just back-up in the unfortunate event that he calls.

Since he did call, does that mean my play was bad? Maybe, but not necessarily, and that’s one of the things that’s so frustrating about poker. Sometimes you do everything right, get your money in good, and lose anyway to an unlucky card. Other times, you do everything right but get your money in bad anyway. Bad results don’t necessarily mean bad play, which is what makes it so difficult to realize when you are playing badly.

It might be that my opponent never raises the flop with a hand that isn’t going to call all in, in which case my re-raise was bad. Or, maybe he raises the flop with a lot of hands that will fold to an all in. In that case, my play was good and I just got unlucky that he happened to have a particularly strong one this time. I’ll never know.

Brrrrr

What I did know was that I was really short now. I had a plan for survival, though.
The guy on my right was a very aggressive Vietnamese guy who was friends with, and quite possibly backed by, Menh “The Master” Nguyen. I’d been looking for opportunities to resteal on him but it was never quite right. Finally I got QJs on my button. He opened to 4800 (blinds were 800/1600/200), and I shoved for about 34K. The big blind gave me a scare by asking for a count, but he eventually folded. The raiser folded AT face-up and walked away from the table, seemingly a little frustrated.

Next orbit, action folds to him in the SB. This is the third time that had happened. Once he limped, I checked and folded to a bet on an Ace-high flop. Second time, he raised and I folded.

This time he limped, and I checked 64o. The flop came 578 with a flush draw. He checked, I bet 2200, he started talking. “You hit that? You hit a piece of that?” Then rather abruptly he threw 6200 chips in the pot.

I was pretty sure he was hollywooding with a strong hand, but you know, the second nuts beats a lot of strong hands. Besides, there are a ton of turn cards that can kill my action. So after some silent contemplation, I made it 12,200 with about 25K behind. He asked for a count and then shoved, and I snap-called. I flipped over my straight, and he turned over 96 for the higher straight. The turn was a 6, which didn’t change anything, and the river was a blank to eliminate me.

It was a bummer, but I don’t think anything other than getting it in on the flop is an option. The only questionable thing from the day is the 54s shove, which granted was a big pot to lose, but like I said, I don’t mind it based on the information I had at the time.

I was eliminated somewhere around 1800th place, but I couldn’t tell you with any more precision than that. For the first time in my WSOP history, my showing was too poor for the tournament officials to track or record where exactly I finished.