My 2006 World Series of Poker Trip

This year of 2006 was my ninth outing in the world championship poker tournament. To say the changes in this event over the years have been immense would be an understatement. During the '80s, when there were 100 to 200 entrants, I knew personally and had extensive playing experience with more than 80 percent of the field. In a sense, we were an elite poker club of the world's best players. Johnny Chan, who won back-to-back world championships in 1987 and 1988, had the recognition of his peers as the greatest no-limit hold'em tournament player in the world. Chip Reese was considered the best all-around cash-game player.



This year, there was no one at my table whom I had ever seen in my life. There was only one player at our surrounding tables whom I recognized. First place paid $12 million, and just getting to the final table won you enough money to make you a millionaire. Allen Cunningham was the only finalist I had ever heard of before.



My starting table was filled to the brim with tight, cautious people. Limping in was not just tolerated, but the norm, even when opening from late position. There did not seem to be any poker geniuses at my table, but there was not a single loose goose, either. They were just a bunch of people who were not eager to go home excessively early and tell their friends and family that they did not last long in the big leagues.



Perhaps someone in the room with a "gunner" style would have started splashing about with such a group, but pouring money into the pot to try to win the $75 in blinds money is simply not my approach to poker. Plus, I held close to zero in cards for the better part of the afternoon. I saw other tables where people had more than $20,000 in chips early on, but at my table, whoever was in front had only a couple of grand more than they had started with. I had taken some small losses and went to dinner with less than $8,000 remaining.



On the first hand after the dinner break, I was in the big blind with the 10 9 with $100-$200 blinds and a $25 ante. The small blind had not yet come to the table. Everyone folded to the button, a lady who was a solid and experienced player. She open-raised to $600. I decided to call, partly because the missing player gave her only one person to get through in order to win the pot. The flop came to my liking, 10-6-3 rainbow with one of my hearts. Since my hand could not stand to give a free card and was not strong enough to check-raise, I led at the pot for a small amount. She called. The turn card was the J. I did not want to see an overcard, but it did give me a flush draw, so I bet again. The lady now raised me $2,400 more. I was getting about 2-to-1 on the money, and the implied odds were in my favor because I had another $2,400 to bet on the river, which would likely be matched, so I called her raise. The river card was a blank, and we both checked. She showed A-J to take the cheese.



After losing this pot and getting knocked down to short money, on the very next hand, I had an opportunity to steal the pot. Everyone folded to me in the small blind, a spot where a short stack frequently shuts his eyes and bets all of his money. However, a couple of factors induced me to muck my hand instead. One of them was the fact that I picked up 8-3 offsuit, which is not the hand you want to tell your backers that you went down the tubes with. The second factor was that it looks like you are steaming when you lose a big pot and then bet all of your money on the next hand. So, I chose caution and folded.



I got several opportunities to open-raise all in on the next few rounds. I was in the cutoff seat each time. My hands were A-9, 3-3, and, again, 3-3. In each case, I raised, and was happy not to get called. I finally played a pot when I went all in from under the gun with A-K for about four grand and got called by someone in early middle position with a pair of sevens. I believe his call to be misguided, since I had a lot of chips to be going all in and did so from under the gun. He was a mortal lock to be facing either two overcards or a bigger pair, and he still had a lot of players behind him. I was lucky, catching a king on the turn and doubling up. However, I lost a pot after that and went back down into the danger zone again.



Then, a key situation arose. I picked up a real hand, two aces on the button, with $100-$200 blinds and a $25 ante. My stack at this point was $3,000. What could I do? I could limp in, make a small raise, or bet all of my money. Here was my reasoning and my play.



People had open-limped fairly often from late position in my game, so limping would not look suspicious. On the other hand, the two players on my left were not particularly aggressive. I believed the right way to think about the situation was that I had to try to make some money, even if I ran a risk. So, I limped in with my aces. I figured that any hand that could call a $3,100 all-in bet could certainly raise a button open-limper. The small blind called, and the big blind checked. Rats. However, I still had a chance to make some money.



The flop came down J-7-4 with no flush draw. The first player bet $900 and the second player called. This was what I was looking for, and I moved all in for $1,900 more. They both called. The pot was checked on the turn and river, so I turned my two aces up right away, and they both folded. My play of limping in from the button with my two aces had gotten me back into the ballgame!



After that hand, our table broke, and I was moved to a new table where they were gambling it up. I was able to run my stack up to about $13,000, but then ran into a dry spell. When my swan song came, I was on the button with two red kings, and had about $10,000 in front of me. The blinds were $200-$400, with a $50 ante. Everyone folded to me, and I chose to open-raise for $1,200. The small blind folded, but the big blind raised enough to put me all in.

You never know for sure what you'll face in this type of preflop situation when there is a big overbet of the pot size. The most common hand for it in my experience is A-K, but you'll see everything from two aces down to a small pair or two paints. For sure, no one puts you on two kings when you open-raise from the button, so it was quite possible that my opponent had one of the lighter hands. Folding kings was out of the question, so I put the money in without a second thought. After I called, my opponent faced a red ace and the K. The flop was OK for me, three small cards and two clubs, but the A came on the turn, and another club came on the river. This meant I was beat by either of his two cards, the ace making a pair and the king making a flush. I do not ever remember losing to both cards in this layout (pocket kings against big slick) before in my whole poker career. Adios, Bob – better luck next year.



Bob Ciaffone has authored four poker books, Middle Limit Holdem Poker, Pot-Limit and No-Limit Poker, Improve Your Poker, and Omaha Poker. All can be ordered from Card Player. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons: e-mail [email protected]. His website is http://www.pokercoach.us/, where you can get his rulebook, Robert's Rules of Poker, for free. Bob also has a website called http://www.fairlawsonpoker.org/.