I recently had the privilege of playing in the
World Poker Tour Championship event at Bellagio. With a buy-in of $25,000, it's one of the biggest events of the poker year. This year's event featured a mammoth field of 605 players, 100 of whom would finish in the money. I went into the event with high hopes and expectations. I've been trying to play most of the bigger buy-in no-limit hold'em events lately, and believe that the experience I have gained as a result is beginning to show in my play.
Day One: I was happy with my opening table. We played 10-handed (I vastly prefer ninehanded, both for comfort and strategic reasons), a necessity borne out of the size of the field. I knew only three of my opponents: Thor Hansen in seat No. 3, Nick Schulman in seat No. 6, and Matt Keikoan in seat No. 10. This left six completely unknown players occupying the other seats. The player who drew my immediate attention was the nicely dressed younger gentleman in seat No. 2. He seemed to be in every pot, and didn't appear to have any understanding of no-limit hold'em. In the first several hands, he made some strange plays, such as betting $10,000 into a pot of less than $1,000, indicating to me that he had little or no prior experience. This was affirmed shortly thereafter when he confided to the table that this was not only his first poker tournament, but his first time in a casino! Evidently, the seat had been given to him as a birthday gift. I got socks and underwear.
In any case, I figured that he would use up his gift by the first break. But, strange things happen in poker. When the smoke cleared at the end of the day, he was still in seat No. 2, and his initial $50,000 in chips had grown to more than $80,000. And, I must say, he was a quick study. Within a couple of hours, his play became more "normal," and he actually demonstrated surprisingly good instincts.
As it turned out, the tone for the day at my table was set by the play of the older gentleman in seat No. 1. He played every hand - except when he was out taking a cigarette break. It didn't matter if someone raised or not - he was there for the flop. And then you had to be careful, as he would call you down with just about anything. There was no bluffing at my table!
It is interesting to see how one player can completely change the table dynamics. In this case, there was much more limping in, and not once during the entire day was a hand folded around to me on the button or in one of the blinds. This one player's style in turn caused the others at the table to see more flops, as well, as everyone wanted an opportunity to trap him in a huge pot.
My cards had been cold most of the day, until I finally had a chance to play a pot with the player in seat No. 1. With $300-$600 blinds, several players limped in, and I put in $600 from the button with the K
5
. The flop was nice for me: Q-4-2 with two clubs. The player in seat No. 1 bet $3,000, and I called. Everyone else passed. The turn was an ace, and he bet $3,000 again. I called, and caught my dream card on the river: an offsuit 3, giving me a well-hidden wheel. Now, he bet $4,000. Well, obviously I was going to raise, but how much? This player had shown a certain disregard for amounts when it came to betting, raising, and calling all day long. By this I mean that he sometimes bet huge amounts into small pots, or called big bets with fairly weak holdings. So, I thought I might be able to just move all in (a raise of about $40,000) and possibly get called. Instead, I settled upon a smaller raise of $15,000, which he called instantly, flashing an ace as he mucked his cards. In retrospect, I may have made a mistake here, as I think there is a good chance he would have called an all-in bet. I won a nice pot, but it probably should have been bigger.
I really played only one other major hand the entire day. In this pot, there once again were several limpers, and I happily called $200 from the button with pocket sixes. The flop was very friendly: 9-6-2 with two spades. It was checked to me, and I bet $1,500, which was slightly larger than the size of the pot. The small blind and one other player called. The turn was an offsuit jack, and they both checked to me. Now, I bet $5,000, trying to make it expensive for a draw to call. The small blind said, "Raise," making it $15,000 to go. The other player quickly folded. Now, I stopped to think for a bit about what I may be up against. Basically, there were three possibilities: a set, a pair, or a draw. As for sets, I didn't think three jacks was a possibility, as my opponent would have had to just call preflop (unlikely, yet possible), and then just checked and called on the flop (I would have expected him to check-raise a bet from the button with this flop, in an attempt to protect his hand). Three nines or three deuces were both possible, though, so if he had one of those hands, I was either in very rough or very good shape.
The second possibility, a pair, seemed farfetched at this point, as his play seemed too bold. Finally, what about a draw (maybe both a straight and a flush draw)? This was certainly possible, and was a hand that had my set in real peril. Well, I decided that if he had three nines, he was just going to bust me. I moved all in, and he started agonizing. I felt better now, as he obviously didn't have three nines. It would cost him about $30,000 more to call, and he finally folded what he told me was the Q
10
. I got a real break there, as I won a nice pot without seeing the river card, which didn't necessarily have to be friendly for me. This is the danger in pushing a drawing hand in no-limit; if you aren't committed to it, when you reopen the betting, you are giving your opponent an opportunity to blow you off the hand.
I finished day one with around $76,000, which was a decent start, as it was above the end-of-the-day average of just over $60,000. Thor Hansen survived the day of mostly chilly cards with his starting stack intact. Nick Schulman had bad luck all day long, but still had a shot with around $30,000 (that's the beauty of this event - you can have an ugly first day and still be right in the hunt). Matt Keikoan didn't make it, though, taking a couple of ugly beats and running K-K into A-A. I hope that doesn't happen to me at a key moment later on.
Next time, I'll discuss more of the main event.
