People often say you have to learn to take the good with the bad, which is true in just about every walk of life, but especially poignant at a poker table. You’re never going to win every hand, you’re never
People often say you have to learn to take the good with the bad, which is true in just about every walk of life, but especially poignant at a poker table. You’re never going to win every hand, you’re never going to come out ahead during every session, so managing your emotions and not being solely results-oriented is a very important skill and mindset.
I decided to take my profit from my first few days and play in my first World Series bracelet event of this year, a $1,000 no-limit hold-em tournament on Sunday. Each Sunday features a $1,000 event, which is the smallest buy-in for the Series, other than the $500 casino employee event that opens each summer. My bankroll isn’t strong enough to afford much higher stakes than that, so the fact that I did well the first few days made it manageable. Plus, this is why I’m here.
I played in a $1,500 bracelet event last year, so this was my second true WSOP event. Just under 2,000 players wound up entering and despite the large field, my first table was actually quite strong. Usually there aren’t many great players early in these events, so I was hoping for an easy table draw. It wasn’t the case, but I managed to chip up a little bit in the first few levels and when our table broke, I had about 4,000 chips, up from the 3,000 starting stack.
I kept getting moved around, which was pretty annoying. It was tough to gain a feel for my opponents or develop a table image when I was only at each table for a level or two. But the fourth seat I moved to was when the day got interesting. As I glided across the Brazila Room floor and saw the “Table 47” sign above my next destination, a familiar face was adjacent to the one empty seat.
“Well this should be interesting,” I thought to myself as I tucked my belongings beneath my chair and shook hands with actor James Woods. Having starred in a couple of my favorite movies like “Casino” and “Once Upon a Time in America,” Woods is actually a fairly serious poker player who has been coming to the WSOP every year. I quickly learned that not only does he think about the game intently, he was also one of the most congenial and friendly guys I’ve sat beside in any game. He was more than happy to answer any questions and discuss everything from poker to old-school Hollywood flings.
It was both a great table and a nightmare seat draw for me. It was great because everyone was friendly and good-spirited, but a nightmare because three really good players were directly to my left with position on me every hand. Despite the light mood at the table, we were now fairly deep in the event, eight hours in with just about 400 players remaining. The top 194 would make the money, so while we were a ways away, it was within sight.
I never had any chips all day. It’s a skill to be able to nurse a short stack for hours on end, so I got plenty of experience in that category. I managed to double up once, moving all-in with pocket eights. Everyone folded to the big blind, who called with ace-queen. It was a typical “race,” which is a pair against two over cards. I survived that coin flip, doubling my stack up to 6,000, which was still below average, but felt like a mountain to me. I then took a couple chips off Woods on the final hand before the dinner break, but I misplayed one hand against a really good German player and was back down to 4,000.
My night ended soon after our table broke up, as I moved to a new seat and quickly found ace-ten on the button. Everyone folded, so with the blinds now at 200/400, I moved all-in. The big blind had pocket queens to make the easy call and I couldn’t outdraw him. With about 380 players remaining, I was heading towards the exit.
Woods actually looked up and gave me a wave when he saw me walking out of the room. I threw him a shaka and wished him good luck, but I think he was out shortly thereafter.
The rest of Sunday was pretty brutal as I tried to get back on track in a number of single-table satellites. I felt I was playing well, but I was shut out of the money in every attempt. Knowing I had to take the bad with the good, I kept my head up and Monday night’s action was a nice turnaround, thanks to some good Hawaiian vibes.
As I took my seat for a satellite, Genoa, the dealer, took my ID and said, “Ah, Hawaii. Me too.” She’s from Oahu, but said she has family on Kauai “about two hours from the airport” on the Westside. I said that’s about as far as you can get. Genoa must have been a little homesick, because she was a great dealer for me. It’s nice to both play well and “run good,” a poker term for consistently making hands. I pretty much blitzed through that satellite with little resistance and then chopped another one to end my night on a little hot streak.
The Seniors Event starts Friday, so I hope to have some good news to report on the Garden Isle ohana in the field. Until then, keep on running good.
