For years, people in my home country of the Netherlands have been talking about the big issue: Who would be the first-ever Dutchman to capture a bracelet? After all, despite having at least three world-class tournament players (Steve Wong, Marcel Lüske, and Rob Hollink) and a whole bunch of talented young guns, no Dutchman had yet been crowned a world champion.
In fact, this whole issue was the main reason for me to go to Vegas and play in the
World Series of Poker, for the first time ever. I always used to call myself a strictly cash-game player, and for that reason, I never saw any need to go to the
World Series. But having been the first in many different things (first-ever Dutch Champion, first official Dutch poker pro, first Dutchman ever to release international strategy books), I decided I would set myself a new goal: try to become the first Dutchman to win a bracelet.
Upon arriving in Vegas, a remarkable thing happened - something that stunned the entire Dutch poker community. I received an e-mail from Christian Van Hees, someone who, quite frankly, I had never heard of. He had read my blog update, "Hunt for the first-ever Dutch bracelet," and informed me that he already had won one - in 1995! For years, the tension in my home country had been building about who would be the first Dutchman to break this dry spell, this "curse," as we called it - when it turned out that we all had overlooked Christian's limit hold'em win of 12 years ago. The fact that Christian has been living abroad for the past 30 years and was not officially Dutch anymore at the time of winning the bracelet didn't take away the fact that he is Dutch by blood - and thus, at least in my view, deserves to get credit for being the first.
So, it turned out that I could capture only a
second Dutch bracelet - but the truth is that I never even came close. In 15 tournaments before the $10,000 main event (which I will discuss in my next column), I cashed three times - which was quite decent, in my view. Still, I had not gone to Vegas just to cash, but to make final tables and write poker history. For that reason, I was not afraid to make some risky, and at times even flat-out crazy, moves if I thought they could maximize my chances of getting very deep in an event.
The move that probably caught the most attention was a play that I thought was not very crazy at all. Facing a raise to $1,300 from Eric Froehlich, whom I read for having a good but not great holding (most likely A-J or A-Q, and possibly A-K), I decided to try to push him off his hand by reraising all in to $13,500 out of the small blind, holding the 9
8
. Knowing that even if I got called, I would be in terrible shape only against a big pair (which I thought he was rather unlikely to hold), I figured I could pick up the pot here at least 60 percent of the time - because in the previous four hours, I had hardly played a hand. As it turned out, Eric decided to call with the A
K
, making him about a 6-to-4 favorite to win. He didn't: I received help, busted him out, and instantly had put myself among the 20 biggest stacks in the event. Continuing to play very controlled and disciplined from that point on (I needed to, as my kamikaze move had not gone unnoticed), I finished in a relatively disappointing 51st place, which was good for a decent $10,748. And it was probably that very play with the 9
8
that was the cause of my elimination. I made a massive all-in raise with the A
5
, and big blind Danny Falkenstein, who had witnessed my move against Eric, decided to call with just the J
10
- something that he definitely would not have done if he hadn't seen my previous move against Eric. Having been lucky before as a slight dog, I now was a bit unlucky to lose as a slight favorite - so that instead of getting into the top 15 stacks, I was out on the rail.
Still, with my first cash in just my fourth event in Vegas, I figured that this could be the start of a huge
Series for me. As it turned out, I would add just two more cashes to my resume, and they were only moderate cashes, at that (in the $2,000 limit hold'em and the $1,000 seven-card stud eight-or-better events). In fact, with the exception of the $1,000 S.H.O.E. event, in which I was the clear chip leader with about 140 players left, I could never get myself in any kind of winning position. It was a little disappointing, especially considering my big ego, yet in all honesty, I probably had already accomplished more than I realistically could have hoped for.
So, that meant that there was just one tournament left for me to write history: the main event. After a few days of parties, sunbathing, relaxing, and watching all of the fake boobs, I felt ready and eager to perform well on poker's biggest stage. Read all about that in my next column.
Rolf has been a professional cash-game player since 1998. He is the author of the successful Secrets of Professional Pot-Limit Omaha, and the co-author of Hold'em on the Come. He is the creator and presenter of the hold'em four-DVD set Rolf Slotboom's Winning Plays. He is the first-ever Dutch Champion, and maintains his own site at www.rolfslotboom.com.
