2011 World Series of Poker Recap

Poker players, both professional and amateur, spend the whole year looking forward to the World Series of Poker, almost the way a kid looks forward to Christmas. Having a terrible Series is a huge disappointment; you feel like the kid who asked his parents for a bike and a train set, but got a nerdy winter jacket with a plaid lining and a box of wool socks. The series of events that made up the 2011 WSOP has just ended, except for the November Nine and the European events.

I think the 2011 WSOP was very successful for Harrah’s, at least from a financial point of view. However, for me it was disastrous, unfortunately, from a financial point of view. I played a lot of tournaments, including those with high buy-ins, and never cashed. In nearly all of the high buy-in events, I lasted until relatively late in day two, but was eliminated before the money on every occasion. I had reasonable results in the few satellites I played, basically covering my entry into the $50,000 Players Championship. I also did fairly well in cash games.

In trying to evaluate my play, I think I generally played reasonably well in the big events, but too casually in the smaller ones. I had many unlucky hands. For example, I played a jammed seven-card stud eight-or-better hand against Phil Laak in the Players Championship in which I had started as a big favorite. I was all in by fourth street, he had caught up along the way, and by the river the best I could do was to chop. Phil finished with an ace with a medium kicker for high and a bad low. Every card except a 9 would allow me to chop by giving me a better high or a better low. Of course, I caught a 9. I would describe more unlucky hands, but my tears tend to get the keyboard sticky with their salt, and that makes it hard to type.

Do I have any other excuses besides being unlucky? The demise of online poker in the United States and the questions revolving around Full Tilt Poker — where I had been a Red Pro — were big distractions. My cash-game play ended with a horrendous $200-$400 mixed session at Bellagio. I flat out played terribly; although a combination of fatigue and general disappointment had definitely worn me down, there was no reason for me to play as badly as I did. I also have no excuse for not quitting sooner when I realized that I was off my game. Finding excuses for poor performance may make one feel better, but it isn’t very constructive. In general, improvement comes from intelligent analysis of one’s play to find what errors were made, and avoiding those errors in the future.

Among the many players who did well at this year’s WSOP, I particularly want to praise three players from three generations. Each had a good Series, but in different ways. Ben Lamb is a likable young pro whom I have played a lot with online. He seems to be getting stronger by leaps and bounds. He was a tournament monster, and it will not be a big surprise to me if he ends up winning the main event. Matt Glantz, who is not too well known, has been not only a terror in the high-stakes mixed games, but also is becoming a dangerous contender in every tournament he enters. Lastly, Phil Helmuth, who has long been known as one of the most successful tournament hold’em players, has shown that his tournament skills can carry him a long way in other games. Hardly anyone would have expected him to do well in a no-limit deuce-to-seven event, a seven-card stud eight-or-better event, or the multi-game mix that makes up the early days of the Players Championship, and yet he managed to come in second in all three events. While he must be terribly disappointed not to capture another bracelet, his performance in these games, none of which can be considered his specialty, was truly remarkable. This year, he also reined in his “poker brat” personality and let his good side show more than he usually does.

Steve “Zee” Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful games player. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. He can be found at many major tournaments. When escaping from poker, he hangs out in his bars on Avenue A — Nice Guy Eddie’s at Houston and Doc Holliday’s at 9th Street in New York City._