Final Thoughts on the 2005 World Series of Poker A disappointing performance at the World Series, but praise, nonetheless

I did not fare well in any of the events that I played during the 2005 World Series of Poker. Despite this, I am very pleased with my overall poker results for the last month or so; thank goodness for side action! The main event was an utter disaster for me, and rather symbolic of how the WSOP went for me as a whole. I was in the first group to play in the main event on July 7. The event started at 11 a.m. and I showed up at around 12:40 p.m., and caught two hands before the first break. I don't generally show up late for tournaments, but I figured (hoped) the first day would be a long one and it would be better to come in well rested, so I slept in after a late night of side action.



The hand that devastated me was the first one I played after the break. The blinds were $50-$100 and I opened from under the gun with a red A-K offsuit for $300. I got called in two spots from players in middle position, so three of us saw the flop. The flop came down K-Q-6 with the Q 6. I was not thrilled with this flop, figuring that one of my opponents could have smooth-called me preflop with K-Q, pocket sixes, or even a hand as big as pocket queens. I considered checking with the intention of check-calling the flop and maybe even the turn and the river, hoping to induce some bluffs or lose less if I lost the hand. But I finally decided to bet $500, about half the pot, into my two opponents. The first opponent made it $1,500 and the player behind him folded, bringing the action back to me. I didn't have much of a read on my opponent, as I had just gotten to the table and had not seen him play any hands, but he didn't look like a maniac, so I figured him for at least some kind of decent draw if he didn't already have me beat. I had about $10,000 in chips and he had me covered. I really wasn't sure where I was at this point, but getting 3-1 with A-K on this flop seemed like too good of a price to fold, so I decided to call and see what the turn would bring.



The turn brought the K, making the board K-Q-6-K with the Q 6. Even though the king improved my hand, I was still drawing slim to any of the three hands with which I thought he may have called me preflop that had me beat on this flop. So, I decided to check to my opponent again, hoping that if he did have me beat, he would perhaps bet small or even check to try to trap me if he did have a full house. He definitely may have checked or bet small with a full house, hoping that I had a straight draw or flush draw and would make a big second-best hand on the river. When I checked, he bet $2,500 into the $4,000 pot, and again I was confused. I really thought he had a big hand and was not semibluffing with a big straight draw or flush draw, especially when the king paired on the turn, making any draw much less valuable. However, I didn't necessarily think he had a full house at this point, because I think he may have bet less or even checked a full house for the reasons I just described. The problem was that I also held a big hand, three kings with the nut kicker, and given the way I had played it, I was pretty sure that he didn't put me on a hand as big as the one I held, since I just called his small raise on the flop and checked the king on the turn. Therefore, I thought it was likely that he also made trip kings, possibly with an ace kicker but perhaps with a worse kicker. Using the same logic that I used on the flop, I decided to just call him again on the turn with my three kings, figuring that if he did have me beat, he may not put me all in on the river, or that I could river a full house and go all in myself.



The river was the 2, and I checked to him again. To my dismay, he bet $5,000 even though the flush got there. I did not like my hand at this point, but again, I was getting 3-1 with a big hand against a player with whom I had barely played and had no read. Also, I had played the hand passively, so I thought he might even make this kind of a value bet with K-J or K-10, because I was sure that he didn't put me on a flush draw. He had to know there was no way I would call $2,500 on the turn with just a flush draw and that board. Even though I didn't like my hand that much and would be calling with virtually all of my remaining chips, I just felt that I didn't have enough information to lay down such a big hand when getting 3-1, so I called him. He sheepishly turned over his hand, and sure enough, he also had A-K. He was at the other end of the table, so I couldn't see his suits very well and turned over my hand, as well.



One of the players said, "Chop the pot."

Then, another player said, "No, wait, he has a flush."



Sure enough, he had A-K, but it was the A K, giving him a flush on the river. I was pretty disappointed to lose almost all of my chips in this one hand, and I busted out a few hands later. Thinking back on it though, I don't regret how I played the hand. It was merely a terrible break.I mean, in a tournament of such magnitude with such a record field, if you can't at least chop with A-K against A-K, it's going to be tough to win.



This World Series had a very different feel to it than in years past. The incredible amount of energy and enthusiasm displayed from the very beginning to the final event was awesome. The staff at the Rio did a great job overall of handling this mammoth series of tournaments. I had some issues come up, and had to cancel out of some tournaments for which I already had paid, and the staff was very pleasant and understanding of my predicament. Even when there was a huge mix-up regarding my buy-in in one of the events, the Rio gave me a credit for the buy-in to go toward the 2006 WSOP. As a result of this, the Rio took a $5,000 loss, since my buy-in already had gone into the prize pool of the tournament from which I was mistakenly not canceled. Because of the unusual nature of this situation, the decision to give me a credit for my buy-in had to go all the way to the head of poker gaming at the Rio, and I cannot express my thanks enough to him for making the right call in this situation. I am not saying this merely because he decided in my favor, as $5,000 in the grand scheme of things is a very trivial amount of money, but because he genuinely did the right thing when it would have been very easy to let me take the $5,000 loss, even though the mix-up was not my fault.



There are so many people to whom I would like to give kudos for pulling off this record-breaking event that the list would take up its own column, but I have to commend Howard Greenbaum, Mike Soto, and Tournament Director Johnny Grooms for running such a great series of tournaments. Suffice it to say that I feel great about how the Rio staff handled my situation, and I can't wait to get another shot at a bracelet in 2006!

Thomas "Thunder" Keller is a 24-year-old professional poker player and one of poker's young and rising stars. He can often be found playing at Ultimatebet.com under the name thunderkeller. To learn more about him, go to his website at www.thunderkeller.com.