There’s no crazy bad-beat story to tell, no dramatic fall from grace to speak of, but my World Series of Poker Main Event came to an unfortunate end late Wednesday night. Having made it to Day 2 of the biggest
There’s no crazy bad-beat story to tell, no dramatic fall from grace to speak of, but my World Series of Poker Main Event came to an unfortunate end late Wednesday night. Having made it to Day 2 of the biggest poker tournament in the world, I was feeling confident in my game and excited at the challenge of reaching Day 3.
My table dynamic was great. There was just one big stack and although he was two seats to my left, he was playing very solid and not using his chips to push the rest of us around. Despite the fact that I felt like I had a good read on the rest of the table and was comfortable playing pots with everyone, I didn’t have many opportunities. I never complain about being “card dead” because I like to believe there’s a lot more to the game than just picking up big hands, but as levels seven, eight and nine progressed, I was growing more and more frustrated at looking at 6-3 offsuit seemingly every hand.
The biggest hand I picked up all day was pocket queens, but I had to fold it pre-flop. There was an opening raise to 1,300 in early position that earned one other caller. I looked down at the queens in late position and decided to raise to 3,200. The initial raiser thought for a few seconds and then fired a hefty raise up to 13,200. It folded around to me and I had a big decision to make. The strength of my hand was somewhat disguised because I could have been pulling a “squeeze play” in late position with a very wide range of hands. If that’s what the first player thought I was doing, he can re-raise me with many hands that aren’t as strong as queens.
But his body language told me all I needed to know. His hands were shaking violently as he put the chips in the pot and he just didn’t strike me as the type of player reckless enough to bluff at that moment. Folding queens isn’t easy, but it felt obvious in that spot. So I said “Alright, I wasn’t fooling around, but I believe you,” and folded the queens face up. I breathed a sigh of relief as he kindly showed everyone his two kings as he raked in the pot. Making a good fold can help your confidence as much as winning a big pot, but I had very few chances to build momentum the rest of the day.
I’m not usually a tight player, but my starting hands forced me to be one Wednesday. I was very proud of my patience, but as the night wore on, I began to creep into the danger zone. Level 9 had blinds of 500 and 1,000 with a 100 chip ante, so my 22,000 chips at that point were beginning to get short. About an hour in, a player opened early for 2,200. It folded to me on the button with pocket fours. It seemed like an easy decision and I moved all-in for my last 15,300 chips. I was hoping to just pick up the pot there and win the 4,600 in the middle and I had been folding so much that I felt I could only be called by a super strong hand. Well, the initial raiser thought for a little bit and said, “Ah, why not?” He turned over queen-jack offsuit, which I wasn’t thrilled about. It’s a pretty weak hand against my range, but I was now in a coin flip for my Main Event life.
The flop was ugly, though I was still ahead. It came off nine, 10, 10. He had an up-and-down straight draw, plus plenty of pair opportunities. An eight, nine, jack, queen or king would make his hand and the eight peeled right off on the turn for a made straight. I could still catch either a four or 10 on the river for a full house, but that was an 8 percent shot that didn’t materialize. I got up and collected my things, wished everyone at the table good luck and exited the Amazon Room with a sort of empty feeling that any tournament player knows well – and feels more often than not.
I can take some solace in the fact that I wouldn’t have played any hands differently all of Day 2, I just didn’t find spots to chip up. I had a blast and the fact that I was able to play my way into the Main Event, which had been my goal each of the last two years, feels like an accomplishment in itself.
Alright, that’s all the poker for this summer … until 2015. I’m very happily arriving back in Lihue today (if anyone wants to pick me up at the airport).
ASP: Shifting to an entirely different continent, the J-Bay Open began Thursday in South Africa. As the sixth stop on the men’s Association of Surfing Professionals 2014 World Championship Tour, waves were pumping for the opening round. Kilauea’s Sebastian Zietz went up against Aussies Mick Fanning and Dion Atkinson in the first round, a heat won by Fanning. Seabass now faces off with fellow world tour sophomore Jeremy Flores in the second round. Zietz entered the competition in 18th place in the WCT rankings and needs to continue to pick up keeper results to ensure he stays in the Top 22 for re-qualification. More on the action at J-Bay to come on Sunday.
