So naturally I write this great blog post about Antonio Esfandiari and how he got boned at a final table in the World Series of Poker, and how tournament variance is a bitch and yaddah yaddah yaddah... and of course he then binks the million dollar Big One for One Drop tournament for 18 million dollars. Nice.
As for me, I fell a bit short of that mark this summer.
I played tournaments, non-stop, for five days. 18 events, five cashes. Paid $1825 in entry fees, and finished stuck $635.
To be fair, all in all, this is a pretty decent result. A very cheap five days of immersive entertainment. But no doubt my results would have been better had I avoided a few key mistakes. No, I'm not talking about poker decisions (though they did come into play), I'm talking about planning and playing choices that were at times exceptionally poor.
First off - the whole five day thing has got to stop. Three days is my sweet spot, four is pushing it but doable. Five days is simply unacceptable, as it was on this fifth day that I had my biggest poker screw up and I attribute it directly to sleep deprivation.
Case in point - my good buddy Jason joined me for a bit of the trip, and probably played half of the events I did. He finished up in profit, no doubt aided greatly because of his more thoughtful time management. Yes, he also happens to be a very good player with the patience of Jobe.
Secondly, one evening turbo is sufficient. I must have been truly brain damaged to think that going from one shitty tournament to another to another (T.I. to Monte Carlo to Harrah's) in one evening could ever be profitable. What's even worse is that I re-entered in the T.I. donkament when the table (yes they put me back in my same seat) was clearly -EV. That evening alone was hugely responsible for my loss in profits and if I had just used any semblance of judgement it could have easily been avoided. Instead of being stuck $50 (the cost of a single entry to the T.I. tournament) I ended up dumping $200 plus because I stubbornly tried to get unstuck by double dipping at T.I., entering the 11pm at Monte Carlo AND playing the notoriously bad structured 1am at Harrah's. Even though I cashed in the final event, and the monetary damage was mitigated, it was no doubt made much worse in the long run over the following days because I was playing catch up with the sleep my body needed.
Anyway, enough beating myself up - at least my poker decisions (for the most part) were good. Overall I'm very happy with my play, I had more than a handful of shining moments where everything clicked and became clear. Like that beautiful drive on the 16th fairway that keeps us coming back for more after stinking it up for most of the day, I was able to cling to these brief flashes of greatness and keep my love of the game intact.
DAY 1
All by myself - I hit the noon $130 Grand Series Event #58 at the Golden Nugget.
First let me say, that is one fucking cool swimming pool. Yes, that is a water slide that goes through a shark tank.
Second, the structure of this tournament was amazing. Perhaps too amazing. 15K in chips to start, and 40 minute levels, that were (as far as I can tell) gradual from beginning to end.
With well over 100 runners, it became pretty obvious to me fairly quickly, that I could easily play in this tournament for 8 hours and not cash. This probably didn't help me mentally, as I got tangled up and stupidly busted against a large stack about 4 hours in.
Card dead for awhile, I finally woke up with AQ in the cutoff. With 2 limpers behind, raised it up nice and fat and was flatted by the button - a dude with a gang of chips who had just arrived at our table. Everyone else released.
The flop came xJx and I c-bet. Big stack raised me. I flat called. I didn't know if he was dicking me around, but that was for sure my instinct. He was older, but had the air of a regular, so I guessed he was capable of making a move.
Of course an ace peeled on the turn. I checked planning to check-raise jam. He bet half the pot and I followed through. He actually tanked for a moment before declaring "You and I probably have the same hand or you have a set, either way I call" He had AJ.
He wasn't fooling around, he was a typical TAG, of course. In a way I was relieved that I wouldn't be subjected to potentially four additional hours of play with nothing or very little to show for it. But this is a big indicator that this tournament was probably not for me.
On a side note, one great thing about the event, I met up with North Bay Bill from my online league. It was great to finally put a face to a name and discover that he's even more of a cool guy outside of a chatbox, even though he is a Giants fan. Bill did indeed cash, yes he's far more patient than I am, and you can read his report here.
That evening I carried on with one of my favorite turbos, the 7pm Mirage for $60. Sure it's silly, but at 6 tables the prize pool is no joke and most of the players are soft.
I had a great evening and played well. I was very aggressive when I got involved, and pushed people around quite a bit. My bust out hand was just one of those unfortunate things that happens in this game. WARNING: CRY BABY BAD BEAT STORY BELOW.
Sitting on 15 big blinds (just above average in chips) with the money 6 spots away I raised large with A6hh from the button after multiple limpers came in behind. I had been doing this successfully for awhile now, and likely most players at the table were fairly sick of it. I only got one caller however.
The flop came 9hQh6s. The caller donked it and I shoved. He tanked FOREVER. He had me covered so I was excited for a call. Of course he had a queen, but I didn't care, this was a great opportunity to get a decent stack and really do some damage on the bubble. Finally, he talked himself into calling and turned up... wait for it...
Two black fives.
Oooookay.... This was awesome. I was actually ahead.
A red five hit the turn. Not a heart. Good game me.
Even at this stage in my amateur career, one outers still sting. I winced a bit, but that was it. Tapped the table and took my leave.
I had one more in me, the 10pm Flamingo for $60. I've never played there before, and likely won't again. The field was beyond soft, but it was only 1 table. Plus the "poker room" was completely open to the smoke and noise of the sprawling pit.
I have to say, my play was still pretty exceptional, despite my requisite bad beat earlier in the evening.
In the end though, it was still not to be. I bubbled, missing out on $90 of third place monies. Oh well.
DAY 2
I have to say, staying at Harrah's is pretty damn awesome. They have a completely enclosed poker room with a friendly floor and good dealers - plus regular turbo tournaments that are perfectly timed around the rest of the daily majors in Vegas.
Best of all, I can stagger down from my room in the morning or stagger up to my room late at night directly to and from poker tournament goodness!
I didn't quite make the 8am $25 stupidament on Friday, but I did pull up a chair in the 10am $60 only slightly absurdament.
This was my biggest cash of the trip (by ratio of entry to prize). I took a very generous chop, finishing second in chips. I got $350 and the chip leader got $400. Probably not surprisingly, I remember very little from this tournament - as there were no real bad beats to speak of. No doubt the euphoria of most of my opponents falling away with a pile of money at the end has muddied memory of my play considerably.
Thankfully, I have my twitter feed which does say this -
Poker tip: don't announce to the table that you're "never slowing down."
Yes, I do remember this guy, that was the first thing he said to me after I floated him on the button and again on his c-bet. I relented on his second barrel on the turn and that's when he made the proclamation above.
Then this unfolded between us -
Aforementioned announcer 3 bets my aj in mp from the button. I flat, flop A92. I check he fires half pot. I call. Turn is an ace.
I check, he barrels half pot. I call. River blanks, I check he shoves, snap call, ship it.
He staggered away from the table, muttering something about fish and donkeys. Whatever dude. Twitter also helps me recap the whole thing -
Finished second with a nice chop for 350, chip leader got 400. Ran like crap, have to say I played great. Abused the bubble without mercy.
No pocket pairs above nines, 1 ak, a handful of aj, aq, k10 ish stuff. Biggest hand at show down ws a rivered broadway, on which i got paid.
Then Jason showed up and we headed for the Rio!
It really is a sight to behold, the World Series of Poker!
I didn't end up playing any major events - my lone cash in the Rio Deepstack wasn't enough to justify entry. But I was more than content to indulge in a greater quantity of tournaments, rather than one or two quality bracelet events.
Jason was originally supposed to be a representative for Pepper Street Poker in a $1500 event - but a recent sudden tragedy in his life has deferred that pursuit until next year. Jason didn't feel up to the task of a bracelet event, as none of us would, especially with other people's money - but I'm glad he got to come to Vegas anyways and gamble it up on a smaller scale.
The 2pm Rio Deep Stack really came into it's own this year. On the Friday we played there were 1500+ runners! First place was just under 60K! Wow!
I loved my first table and was able to accumulate nicely. Everyone at the table was soft for the most part, including a mouthy Brazilian on my immediate right who thought he was way funnier than he was. Although he didn't shut up he did occasionally make a sincere enough remark which kept me from tilting too hard.
I got whittled down at first from 15 to 12K and then got it in with the nut flush draw and two overs on the flop which thankfully hit on the turn. The chip and a chair player across from me was disgusted, oblivious that I was actually the favorite against his made hand when the chips went in.
I began to chip up with standard small ball, the table was very recreational and it wasn't difficult. I eventually did bust the mouthy Brazilian by shoving my 1010 from the big blind on his umpteenth 3 bet from the button. The original raiser left and Brazilian called for his tournament life with KQ which thankfully didn't hit.
Two hands later I had 1010 again and this time flatted the hijack's standard raise. Both blinds defended.
I smashed the world with a flop of 1022. Thankfully the original raiser never took his foot off the gas, and the small blind came along! I slow played them both into oblivion, knocking out the older guy in the small blind who was drawing dead on the turn looking for the nut flush and crippling the raiser who could not let go of his rockets. Now I had 60K!
But when I moved to the second table all the green lights over the heads of weaker players vanished and transformed into red "X"'s. Lots of three betting and even four betting made it very hard to chip up, I got frustrated and had a couple of disastrous hands. They were ill-planned, and by ill-planned I mean I had no plan. Always a recipe for disaster. Eventually, with 8 bigs, I had to jam with A10 pre-flop which naturally ran into A3 which naturally binked a 3 on the turn.
It didn't hurt too much. I felt I deserved to be on the rail after spewing, even though the new table was exponentially tougher. In hindsight I felt better and better as time passed. These "Deep" stack things are actually turbos - but 60K is fairly hard to beat for a less than 1% investment.
After my bust out Jason was still going strong so I meandered a bit through the different rooms. I had quite a few celebrity poker sightings including Andy Block (who shipped a bracelet earlier in the summer) Todd Brunson, Bill Chen, David Williams, David Sklansky (google that one will ya!) and Eric Lindgren.
After a couple of hours of fairly enjoyable meandering, it was time for me to head out. I had missed the Rio Poker room's 7pm donkament, so after recovering from a very tasty but gastronomically disastrous Sasquatch Big Stick of beef jerky, I was off to the calamitous evening that I mentioned at the start of this report - T.I. double dip, Monte Carlo and Harrah's 1am. I did cash in the last of these for $180, but I would pay over the following days, my exhaustion certainly cutting into my results as you will see shortly.
DAY 3
Saturday! My twitter read that "Sleep is for losers!" And so it was. Again I missed the 8am, but stumbled into Harrah's poker room just in time for the 10am $60.
I didn't play especially well, but my bust out hand was comical. With 20 bigs or so I raised from late position with A7, the big blind defended with A5 and the flop was 557. Is there much more to say?
But that bad beat was extremely small compared to what I endured at 2pm. After I sat down at the $235 Rio Deepstack an announcement came on that the field had been capped at 440 players! WTF?!!
This was a turbo event where the only incentive to play was the gi-normous first place prize of 60K. Today that prize was cut by 2/3rds. Suck.
Oh well. Good thing I don't make my living at this game, as did more than a few players I ran into that day do. They were pretty pissed.
I decided I wasn't going to let it bother me and I had a good time.
Again my first table was soft. There was a regular to my left which wasn't great, but she was savvy enough to pick on softer targets than me, so it was a mutual avoidance which worked out well. If I raised it up, she almost always folded. When she didn't I basically shut it down and did indeed see a premium from her when she did get to showdown with someone else in a hand she had entered with me that I had left.
I also got my first ever penalty in this tournament - later on at a different table I fast rolled my AK to another guys shove but didn't see that an old slow poke with his hands over his cards was still in the hand. The floor was called, the hand was ruled live, the old guy slowly folded. The shover was then slow to turn up his card and when he did he had AK also.
"They're never going to kill my hand" I mentioned to him because he was slow to turn up, the floor overheard my remark and then tacked on my one hand penalty. I had already apologized, the floor seemed to be done with it, I guess I should have kept my mouth shut. Again I apologized and the floor seemed to be fine.
I was around average in chips as the second break approached. I had been moved twice, each table got tougher than the last. This last one was full of savvy regulars and serious recreational players.
Of course with such an abundance of aggros I missed reading the one nit at the table correctly. He was in the small blind, I was on the button. Another player in early position raised it up. I flat called with jacks. The small blind shoved.
I had about 50 bigs, but I knew the hour was nigh - after the break I would have 25 bigs and it would be go time. This shove looked extremely squeezy, so after the original raiser released I called off with jacks and ran into queens.
Had I been in the zone I might have found a fold, old guy across from me had barely played a hand and when he had gotten involved had shown the goods. Ah well.
Once again Jason was still in - which means he's either very good or just a massive nit (don't think it's the latter) - so this time I made it in time for the 7pm donkament in the Rio poker room.
The Rio poker room is entirely separate from and on the opposite side of the Rio property from the WSOP. It's a nice little room, but unfortunately the tournaments are structured beyond bad (even for turbos) and they typically are held out on the casino floor amongst the rattle and hum (and smoke) of the casino floor.
I'd like to say that in this tournament I ran the most awesome bluff of my trip, but the victim was too drunk to fold - and I was too tired to realize this, so really I can't get too excited about it. It was for my tournament life so at least I can say I've got HAAAAAART. (Say the word "heart" in an Australian accent like Tony G. - no, not our Tony G., the poker whale from down undah).
After this fairly fun but still futile exercise I actually found it in me to go to bed. I was burnt toast.
DAY 4
Awake and refreshed, I finally made it for the 8am $25 three table brain damageament at Harrah's.
Thanks to a bit of luck and a complete ignorance of inflection points by my opponents, I took third place for $90. I got it in behind more than once, much to the incredulity of a nice guy with a huge coin card protector, but my decisions were all easy and correct. It's very reassuring to know that there are lots of players who simply don't have a clue about ICM or even M.
The 10am had already started by the time I finished, so I registered as an alternate. I finally sat down with 30 bigs at the start of the third level.
To my immediate right was Jason. I was at this point very jealous of him as he had cashed twice already in the big Rio Deepstacks (min-cashes, but still impressive) so I had some fun by bluffing him off a hand on the turn with an absolute trash hand, J4, that I delighted in showing him and the table.
Unfortunately this silliness didn't pay off later as I managed to get my aces cracked anyways, AIPF.
So it was off to the Rio deep stacks for what I figured would be the third and final time. Thankfully the field wasn't capped - 1500 runners, 60K for first!
Again I had a regular on my immediate left as I sat down, and he was a bit mouthy. Thankfully he spewed off within a couple of levels and I could open up a bit and accumulate.
Towards the second break I got tangled up in a bizarre hand that ended with me shoving on the river with zip and pip because the flush got there and I knew the guy in the 10 seat already had a medium strength hand. He tanked for a bit and did find a fold.
It was a great relief, and also a great hand for me because I had a plan as soon as I flatted a very wet board. He checked behind on the blank turn as did I, then he led out on the river which had hit a third spade. I immediately shoved, as had been my plan. It worked. Yay me.
During the second break I almost ran headlong into these guys.
Yes that would be Lon and Norman, commentators of the WSOP on ESPN. They were wandering down the hall together, I was tweeting, and I kid you not that there was almost a head on collision with both of them.
Then I saw Greg Raymer held hostage by a fan in conversation down another hallway.
Then to my surprise I saw Tom Dwan, playing in the million dollar Big One for One Drop tournament. I didn't like how they had the seating, it was full and closed off - but you could see Mr. Dwan plainly through the entrance. He had been AWOL from the World Series this year, cleaning up in monster cash games in Macau, but the allure of an 18 million dollar score had finally been enough to pull him away.
Back at the table after dinner I had accumulated the biggest stack in my life. 170K. But the funny part was, it was only 30 bigs or so, even though it was twice the chip stack average.
I had gleaned a big chunk of it from a three way hand that I must say I played ok save for one big mistake, but the third person involved played terribly all the way through.
I had pocket 8's and 3 bet after a medium stack had raised behind. A bigger stack in the small blind flat called for... wait for it... about a third of her stack. Yeesh.
The original raiser shoved for the rest of his chips, which I had pre-planned to call. But the problem was the third player in front of me. I should have re-shipped it or folded, but I chickened out and flat called. This is a terrible play on my part, because now when overs come on the flop I'm fucked.
The bigger stack... wait for it... also flat called. Now half of her chips were in the middle. I still have her covered by a wide margin though, so it's not an absolute disaster for me yet.
The flop comes all threes.
I think and think and then realize I have to shove. There's just too much money in the pot. If she has a bigger pair, then I got massively unlucky. 99, 1010 and JJ are really what I'm worried about. QQ or better she seems good enough that she would have 4 bet PF. More likely she has AK or any number of pretty but shitty broadway card combos.
She mucks and the poor short stack turns up 77 and is drawing dead to 2 cards which mercifully he doesn't hit.
Like I said, the most chips I've ever had in front of me in any tournament ever. Felt pretty good.
But all that was washed away after a disastrous hand after the break at my 5th and most difficult table.
EP big stack, though about half of my chips, raises it up. I flat with 1010 in the hijack.
This is the biggest and stupidest mistake of the hand entire.
Strangely but thankfully we get no other players to come along. The board is xKx and he donks. I three bet, he shoves and I snap call.
Very fucking stupid. Of course he has KQ. Everyone knows that's a great hand. (Insert eye roll here).
The problem with this hand is that there was no thinking involved - either on my part or on his.
It became very apparent to me after the tournament as I played this back over and over that this guy to my right is the perfect opponent to have in a tournament. My image at that table was nowhere near maniacal, yet he was willing to insta-stack off with top pair meh kicker.
If I had flopped anything - TPTK, 2 pair, a set - I'd get all of his chips immediately with his mediocre hand that he is popping from EP. Instead, after a flop in which I have no business continuing with, I spew with nothing.
Very dumb. But I can't blame fatigue this time, I was rested, and otherwise played very well. I recognized the scope of my idiotic error at the table quickly but moved on and locked down considerably, squeaking into the money in 125th place and getting $390 for my time.
I was both elated that I hadn't played for 9 hours for nothing, and also pretty disappointed that my one amateurish brain fart had cost me a chance at a deeper run.
For once Jason had busted without cashing, so we both adjourned to Harrah's for some silly evening play.
The money bubble had burst around 11pm, so it looked like my only choice was the 1am.
I had my only unpleasant experience of the trip in this one. A drunk angry fellow unloaded on me verbally when I had the temerity to suggest that maybe he should shut his fucking mouth when other players were in the hand. I quickly disengaged when I realized that this guy was on just enough drugs that he might take a swing at me at the table. I apologized and he cooled off, then I made it my business to open shove just about every hand until I busted. I was never really scared, I play on a regular basis in Inglewood after all, but I didn't want to have to deal with such infantile thuggery at 2 in the morning. I was glad to get out.
The incident left a bitter taste in my mouth that was thankfully washed away with some yummy soup and good conversation with Jason before retiring for the night.
DAY 5
I didn't plan to play the Deep Stack again, I felt one cash was good enough, and now I was pretty darn tired - so I was cognizant of the fact that I was pretty negative EV in any major event.
But fate intervened and I scored $180 in the 10am Harrah's, so I figured why not take a $60 shot at 60K?
Jason and I were a bit late so I sat down at the start of the third level. And then this guy joined my table.
The dealer, who spoke passable English (certainly better than my Mandarin no doubt), simply stared at him and said "I.D. please." Mr. Woods (yes, the actor James) blinked in disbelief at first, then shrugged his shoulders and ponied it up. Welcome to the table Mr. Glengary Glenross.
Our table broke after 10 minutes, but I got to see him play a few hands where he 3 and 4 bet people large post flop to take it down. "He seems to have it a lot" said the guy to my right. "Yeah, well he also acts for a living." I remarked. Light chuckles floated around.
My new table had to be the toughest I'd faced yet. Plus I was also pretty beat. I dragged a big pot here and there, but eventually was whittled back down to about 15 bigs.
Then came the implosion.
There were a couple of softer targets I had my sights set on to my left. I had been super card dead and so I decided that the next target that had a big blind, if it was open folded to me, I would standard raise and shove on a safe flop to take it down.
It was folded to me, I was in the 1, and my big blind target was up, so I raised. She defended.
I had Q7 by the way. Flop was x7A. The ten seat led out. Wait, what? There was a third player in the hand? He had raised, I had thought I was raising but was just calling.
He also happened to be the best player at the table by far.
Shit.
I hadn't seen him, it's tough to see the ten seat, but I was so tired and frustrated at my inability to chip up, that I stuck it in anyway. Big blind released, 10 seat snapped with AK. Tournament over.
I played in one more tournament, the 8pm bounty at Harrah's. It was fun because it was loaded with recreational players who were utterly clueless, but I was way too fried to make anything meaningful happen. I busted and went to bed.
***********
Another great trip is in the books - next year I VOW to make it four days maximum. I have no doubt I would have turned a profit if I had paced myself better and had fewer days. By giving myself five I didn't have enough requisite fire in the belly to fight harder for bigger results. When I was awake I figured "Eh, there's three more days" instead of "This is it! Dig deep!" Ah well.
Can't wait for 2013!
