The
World Series of Poker (
WSOP) has become more than just a series of tournaments; it's a season's worth of tournaments. I've been to Vegas many times in my life, but never have I spent so much time there as in June-July of 2007. I played 14
WSOP events in all, 13 of which had buy-ins of $3,000 or less. I like to enter only those tournaments in which I think I have a substantial edge, and I think the $5,000 buy-in tournaments have very tough fields. Strangely enough, the same is not necessarily true for a $10,000 buy-in tournament.
Everything leading up to the
WSOP $10,000 buy-in main event is considered a preliminary event, and the abundance of those preliminary events is what had me and many other aspiring bracelet winners renting condos in Las Vegas for a month or more. I failed to cash in 10 of the preliminary events I played. I won't bore you with all of the bad beats, cold decks, and all-around thumpings I took in those tournaments. It will be far more fun to tell some stories from the three events in which I did cash. I do this not to brag - far from it, as I failed to even turn a profit for the 14 events I played. Rather, I think stories of moderate success will be more interesting and entertaining than stories of failure.
Event No. 23, $1,500 pot-limit Omaha: I spent a fair amount of time playing pot-limit Omaha (PLO) cash games online in the last year, or at least enough that I believed I had enough of an edge to enter this small
WSOP event. This was my first brick-and-mortar casino PLO tournament of any kind.
We started with $3,000 in chips, which was only 60 big blinds even in level one. A stack of 60 big blinds is not nearly big enough to play PLO properly. By this I mean, in many situations, two players would have absolutely no choice but to commit all of their chips, which certainly negates some of the skill factor. I got down to $1,000 in chips early, but tripled up when I moved in with A-A-X-X, got called in two spots, and the flop came A-10-10. Shortly afterward, I got pretty lucky. I opened for a raise preflop and got called by one of the blinds. The flop came K-Q-4 with two hearts and my opponent led out with a bet. I decided that he might not have a big hand and moved him in with the A
7
5
5
. I was right that he didn't have a huge hand, but he still called with A-K-9-7. Instead of hitting my flush draw or a 5, I caught two running cards to make a wheel and bust him.
Later, I was the recipient of more luck. Several players limped in preflop, and I checked my option from the big blind with the 5
3
2
2
. The flop came down 8
4
2
. I led right out with bottom set and a straight-flush draw. The under-the-gun limper (UTG) raised, and then one of the other limpers moved all in! I decided that at least one of my draws had to be good, so I moved in, too. UTG called all of the raises for all of his chips. Incredibly, UTG had only K-K-J-7 with one diamond. The next limper had a set of fours, also without a flush draw. Both my straight and flush draws were live (and, of course, I could spike a deuce), and I had almost 50 percent equity in this three-way pot. I hit the J♦ on the river and busted both my opponents. This hand gave me about $20,000 in chips and, I believe, made me the temporary chip leader.
I rode that $20,000 stack all the way to the money without a ton of movement in either direction. Once in the money, I finally had a few more things go my way and started increasing my chip stack. Still, I was short enough that when a loose-aggressive player opened from late position and the player to his left called, I believed that I had to move in from the big blind (for almost a full pot-sized raise) with K-K-J-8 single-suited. The loose-aggressive player isolated with his 9-5-3-2, and when the other player folded, I found myself with about a 61 percent chance to more than double up, which is about the best one can ever hope for in PLO. Alas, the flop brought a 9 and a deuce, and I finished in 37th place out of 580 starters. The loose-aggressive player who won the pot, Scott Clements, ended up winning the tournament.
Event No. 51, $1,000 S.H.O.E.: This event appealed to me because I thought the (relatively) small buy-in and the fact that many top players were busy with the $10,000 PLO tournament would mean a fairly weak field. I was right. There were players at my first table who didn't raise with full houses, and who didn't know whether low hands were ranked based on their lowest or highest card. (For beginners reading this column, a low hand is ranked from its highest card on down. So, 8-6-5-4-2 is a better hand than 8-7-6-3-A, even though the ace counts as a low card.)
I gathered chips nicely on day one, but even with my above-average stack of $10,600, I would need a monster day two to propel me to the final table, where the average stack would be about $160,000. Well, I got some monster-style breaks early, especially when I raised the turn in hold'em, got three-bet, called, and then called again on the river and managed to win the pot with unimproved jacks. I went to the dinner break with $75,000, and then returned from the break just barely in time for the first hand. Thank goodness I made it. There were two limpers, the small blind raised, and I looked down at A-A-K-2 (single-suited) in the big blind - a monster of an Omaha-eight-or-better hand. I reraised, both limpers called, and the raiser called. The flop came 10-10-3. The small blind led out, I called, the first limper raised all in, the small blind called, and I called. The turn brought a king and the small blind checked. Now, I liked my hand, so I bet. The small blind called. The river was a beautiful third 10. The small blind checked, and now I loved my hand. I bet, and he called with J-J-X-X (yes, he raised two limpers from the small blind with a pair of jacks and little else). The all-in player failed to produce a 10 or pocket kings, and I scooped a monster pot. A few minutes later, I busted a player when I scooped him with A-5-3-X on a board of 8-4-3-3-X, and I found myself the chip leader with about $130,000 and 32 players left.
Unfortunately, the limits got very big, very fast, and I dwindled down to an average-size stack of $90,000 at limits of $6,000-$12,000 when we reached the final two tables. From that point forward, I couldn't win a hand, as an opponent caught runner-runner to chop a pot with me in Omaha, and then I got scooped after starting with such hands as A-10-3-2 and A-9-4-2, each with the ace suited. I ended up finishing a disappointing 14th out of the 730 entrants. I loved my chances of reaching the final table when I was sitting on $130,000 in chips, but it just wasn't meant to be.
Next time, I'll tell you about my cash in the limit hold'em shootout.
Matt Matros is the author of The Making of a Poker Player, which is available online at www.CardPlayer.com.
