WSOP 2012, Event 16: Part Two

In my last column, I told tale of how I built a big chip stack in the $1,500 six-max no-limit hold ’em event at this summer’s World Series of Poker, only to see most of that stack disappear during a massive all-in confrontation on Day Two. After Mark Darner and I each put 106 blinds in the pot preflop, Darner’s ace-king caught a magic ace of spades on the river to best my pocket kings and give him an enormous chip lead over the rest of the field. For my part, I went to dinner break with 167,000 – safely below average with 31 players remaining.

I don’t tilt, but I have to admit I was flustered after taking such a huge beat. Mark and I were the two biggest stacks at the time we played our big pot, and it felt especially punishing to dodge trouble on the flop and turn, only to see disaster fall on the river. Given the circumstances, the dinner break came at a good time – I was able to regroup and give myself a pep talk. I realized I still had an excellent shot at a run, and that I had to shake off whatever residual trauma remained from my K-K hand.

Upon returning to the table, I found a couple of spots to reraise all-in. Then I managed to win a few showdowns. Actually, more than a few. After having already busted a short stack with K-Q against A-K, I doubled through with T-T against A-4, and then busted another short stack with T-T against A-3. Then I got even luckier. Facing an all-in squeeze from 2010 WSOP Player of the Year Frank Kassela, I decided to isolate with A-J getting a decent price. The caller folded, but unfortunately Frank had me in bad shape with his pocket jacks. Fortunately, I spiked an ace on the turn to eliminate him.

For my next trick, I performed a squeeze with 8-5 suited, only to see the big blind cold-call for all his chips. The original raiser and flat-caller both folded, and I was then thrilled to see that the big blind had only A-J offsuit. Despite getting caught making a play, I still had 39 percent equity in the pot. Sure enough, I rivered two pair to eliminate another poor soul.

Despite this run of extreme good fortune, I still had only worked my way up to 542,000 chips at day’s end. Average was 802,000, and I was in eighth place out of the nine players remaining.

The poker gods must’ve known I’d need a fast start on day three, because not only did I get two aces during the first half-hour, but I got them against a player willing to five-bet me all-in with K-J. My aces held, and I vaulted near the top of the leaderboard with 1.4 million in chips. I brought that stack with me as we reached the last six players and the official final table.

As is typical at final tables, eliminations came to a halt for more than an hour as the six of us tested the waters. With significant pay jumps at stake for every position up the ladder, players often become more cautious and risk-averse. Our table was no exception. We battled, probed, parried, and withdrew – no one wanting to bust, but all of us trying to maintain some aggression while keeping our eyes on the prize of a WSOP bracelet.

Finally I picked up A-K, only to have my old friend Mark Darner three-bet from the big blind. I moved him all-in and he called pretty quickly with A-J suited. The queen-high flop brought little drama, but the same couldn’t be said for the J that hit the turn. I was getting ready to tell Mark that I was destined never to beat him in a pot when the 10 hit the river, giving me broadway and eliminating Mark from the tournament.

On the very next hand I picked up two queens against Robert Muzzatti’s A K of spades and got it all-in again. Despite the two spades on the flop, I won yet another showdown. In the span of two hands we’d gone from six players to four, and those who remained had locked up a guaranteed six-figure score.

Throughout the course of this tournament, luck and skill took turns as the predominant factor determining the movement of my chips. As I mentioned in the last column, I thought I played great on day one to get myself into position for a run. Then early on day two I caught an insane run of cards to move into the chip lead. Later on day two, I took that vicious beat to fall below average. Still later on day two, and on into day three, I got insanely lucky winning every showdown, until eventually I went into four-handed play with half the chips. Luck did a lot of the work for me in this event, but I’m pretty proud of how I played once we got down to the very end.

Three-handed, I opened from the button with A-9, and short stack Ramey Shaio moved in from the small blind. I called, and Ramey tabled Q-J offsuit. He eventually won the showdown when he rivered broadway. Despite this bad beat, I was able to pick up pots without getting called, and that allowed me to survive my own lost showdown relatively unscathed.

After Mark Radoja eliminated Ramey by winning a coin flip with A-10, I went into heads-up play with almost exactly as many chips as I had with four players remaining.
Radoja is an extremely tough opponent, and he had me down 3-to-1 early in our match.

I’m so happy that I never lost focus, and that I was able to catch a few big hands and rally back to win my third bracelet in three years. There really are no words to describe my result, except maybe “insanely fortunate,” or “luckier than any human being has a right to be.” I’m glad I took advantage of some great cards, but I’m more shocked that anyone could run so good that they’d win three big tournaments in three years. I’m simply flabbergasted that I am the person who has run that good. ♠

Matt Matros is the author of The Making of a Poker Player. He is also a featured coach for cardrunners.com.