WSOP Circuit Event: New Orleans
The last World Series of Poker Circuit Event of the year (and possibly
forever, but that's another story for another time) was held in New
Orleans last week. A couple friends and I made the trip to The Big
Easy to enjoy some live poker action. New Orleans is an interesting
place, certainly one of the most unique American cities I've ever
visited. One evening we had dinner with a friend who has lived in New
Orleans for most of his life (save a ten month stay in Houston due to
Hurricane Katrina). It was interesting to hear him talk about how much
the city was changed by that storm. Apparently, only about half of the
people who evacuated the city ever moved back. In a sense, the city
seemed drained of its spirit and destined to experience more trauma if
the local bureaucracy doesn't find a way to safeguard its
vulnerability to ravaging hurricanes. But, that's enough social
observation for now. Let's talk about poker. online poker 468x60
Satellite The $5,000 buy-in for the WSOP Circuit Main Event was a
little rich for my blood, so I decided to play a $500+$50 multi-table
satellite. Winning a seat was surprisingly easy. During the
tournament, I learned that the prize was a tournament chip worth
$5,000. Players were discussing how they might sell the chip to
someone buying-in directly to the tournament, and thus walk away with
$5,000 in cash instead of a seat to the tournament. At the time, this
plan sounded very tempting to me. However, after winning the
satellite, I decided to take a gamble and play the $5,000 event based
on the weakness of the satellite competition. Day One We started with
10,000 chips, 25/50 blinds, and 75-minute levels (read: great
structure). All told, there were 346 entrants in the tournament, only
about 5 of which were well-known pros. I was able to climb to 17,000
in the first couple of levels without any significant confrontations.
Later, I semi-bluffed all-in with an open-ended straight draw into a
large pot. After several minutes of contemplating, my opponent called
himself all-in with a pair. My straight draw didn't get there for a
23,000 chip pot, and I was reduced to a stack of 6,000. It should be
noted though that, had I made my straight, I would have had 30,000
chips at a time when the average stack was only about 11,000. Needless
to say, I was a bit discouraged after losing that hand. I was able to
build my chip stack to the 12,000-18,000 range, which is where I
stayed for most of the day. The last level of the day was 600/1200
with an ante of 75. At this point, it was about 1:30 am. We had been
playing since noon. Since I only had about ten big blinds, I was
looking for a spot to double-up. An older player limped in while I was
on the button with Ace-Two offsuit. He had been limping in quite
often, so I moved all-in for 11,000 not expecting to be called.
However, I was all-in for the first time in the tournament when he
called off most of his stack with King-Ten suited. Thankfully, I won
the hand. On the very last hand of day one, I started the hand with
16,000 chips. Blinds were going to be 800/1600 to start day two. I
wasn't looking forward to going to bed with just ten big blinds. With
that in mind, I moved all-in with Ace-Ten offsuit after an older, weak
player limped just before me. It folded to the big blind who, to my
utter disappointment, immediately called himself all-in (I had him
covered by just 2,000 chips). The limper folded and I begrudgingly
turned over my hand. Astonishingly, my opponent turned over King-Eight
suited and I was fortunate enough to win the pot and go to bed with
31,300 chips. Day Two Just 87 players returned on day two to chase one
of the 36 payout spots. Phil Gordon was the talk of the tournament. He
started the second day with over 300,000 chips. Not a bad chip count,
considering the average stack was just 40,000. In a rumor he was able
to substantiate for me later, at one point on day one, he was all-in
for his last 525 chips with King-Two on a King-Jack-Ten flop against
Ace-Queen. The early part of day two was good to me. I went from
31,300 up to 90,000 chips in the first level thanks to calling a tough
all-in with top pair (my opponent turned over queen high and was
basically drawing dead), and then later winning a race with pocket
eights to bust a shorter stack. I had a comfortable 105,000 chips with
38 players left and was clearly cruising to the money. However, my
situation became a little more tenuous when I raised from the button
with Jack-Nine offsuit. Both of the blinds were short-stacked and
trying to fold their way into the money. I was stealing here with any
two cards, so Jack-Nine was a fine hand in this situation. A woman in
the big blind actually called my preflop raise (for about 30% of her
chips, an odd play for sure). The flop came Queen-Ten-Seven and she
pushed all-in. Because of pot odds, there was no way I could fold my
open-ended straight draw. I called, she showed Ace-Queen, and
unfortunately I wasn't able to get there for a 90,000 chip pot,
leaving me with just 65,000. After a three-player bubble bust-out, I
was moved to Phil Gordon's table. Gordon, who was seated two to my
right, had amazingly climbed up to 700,000 chips, which was 20% of the
chips in play with 35 players left. My position in relation to him was
great. I had about 60,000 chips and we were playing 2000/4000. I knew
he would raise my big blind from the button with a very large range of
hands, but would have to fold a lot of those hands if I pushed all-in.
I played just two pots against Gordon. On the first one, a loose,
young player with about 250,000 chips (average was about 115,000 at
the time) raised to 11,500. Phil Gordon called. The original raiser
had been raising frequently. Phil Gordon was probably calling his
raise with a very large range of hands due to implied odds. Before I
even looked at my cards, I knew I was moving all-in simply because the
pot was already 30,000. I looked down at Queen-Ten offsuit, far and
away a fine hand for this situation, and moved all-in. The original
raiser contemplated for over a minute and finally folded. As Phil
Gordon folded, he said "good play." In an adrenaline-fueled move, I
turned over my Queen-Ten and said, "No, that was a great play." On the
second hand, during 3000/6000, Phil Gordon raised my big blind from
the button to 16,000. I looked down at Queen-Eight offsuit and pushed
all-in for 65,000 total. He folded almost immediately while asking,
"Queen-Ten again?" I showed him my hand and said "close". I think I
actually got under his skin a little bit because he kind of rolled his
eyes and said "I folded the exact same hand, only mine was suited."
Me: 2 Phil Gordon: 0. The most crucial hand in the tournament for me
came during 3000/6000 while I was no longer at Phil Gordon's table.
With 140,000 chips to start the hand (at this point, average was
170,000, but thanks to Phil Gordon, the median was really only about
125,000), I raised to 15,000 in early position with Ace-Queen of
diamonds. The loose, young player from before called on the button. A
good, tight player in the big blind also called. The flop came
Ace-Ten-Nine, one diamond. The blind checked, I checked (expecting the
button to bet), and the button checked. The turn was good for me, the
three of diamonds. So at this point I had top pair, queen kicker, and
the nut flush draw. The blind checked again, and I bet 25,000 into a
pot that was about 55,000. The player on the button called, and the
blind folded. A black jack came on the river, not an especially good
card for me, but I was still fairly certain I had the best hand. I
checked and was prepared to call almost any bet the button made. He
asked me how much I had left. After telling him "about 100,000," he
announced a bet of 50,000. I called fairly quickly. He showed
King-Queen offsuit, and scooped the 205,000 chip pot. As questionable
as he may have played that hand, I have to tip my hat to him, he made
an absolutely perfect river bet. I probably would have folded to a bet
of 60,000. With19 players to go, I looked at just one of my hole
cards, a Jack, and pushed all-in for 47,000 under-the-gun during
4000/8000. The only player at the table with less chips than me called
himself all-in. It folded to the big blind who called both of our
all-ins and turned over pocket Jacks. The other player showed Ace-Ten.
My second hole card was a Six, meaning my tournament was virtually
over before the flop ever came. The case Jack came on the flop, and
both myself and the other player were busted out. Since I had him
covered in chips, I officially placed 18th, which actually paid $3,334
more than 19th. In total, I cashed for $13,337. Conclusion The player
who crippled me with his completed gutshot straight draw was Louie
Esposito, who eventually won the tournament and $516,000. Clint
Schaefer, the guy who eliminated me and the 19th place finisher with
his pocket jacks, went on to finish 2nd which was good for $266,000.
As for Phil Gordon, his unprecedented domination of the tournament
came to a stall at the final table. He had to settle for the $116,000
fourth-place payday. Looking back, the one thing that sticks out to me
about this tournament was how easy the competition was. I've played
$10 online tournaments that featured harder competition than this
$5,000 WSOP Circuit Event. There are a few reasons why the competition
in this tournament was so easy. First, since the buy-in was just
$5,000, many pros from Vegas and California were not motivated to
travel all the way to New Orleans to participate. Secondly, a $10,000
buy-in tournament at Mirage in Las Vegas was running simultaneously
with this Circuit Event. This was the icing on the cake for those pros
who might have otherwise made the trip to New Orleans. Finally, most
poker pros don't regard Louisiana as a desirable destination. Let's
just say that the viewpoints of a typical resident in the Southern
states aren't quite as progressive as most poker players living on the
West Coast. Due to those factors, only a small handful of well-known
pros showed up for this tournament, possibly the most notable of which
was Chris Moneymaker. On the first day of the event, I got to play
with Moneymaker for about an hour. I'm not the type to become
starstruck, but it was hard to avoid looking across the table at him
and thinking about how cool it is to be playing poker against the guy
you idolized on WSOP re-runs when you were first learning that Ace-Six
isn't that good of a starting hand.
