Final Table Takedown: Daniel Marx Earns First WSOP Circuit Ring

Daniel Marx got into poker with friends the summer after high school, watching Chris Moneymaker win the World Series of Poker. Marx had a knack for the game right away and fell in love with learning the strategy behind it.

After years of playing online and grinding live cash games, Marx got bit by the tournament bug. He began by working on various short-stack strategies, only to discover how truly complex tournament poker could be.

Marx had a breakthrough after he moved to Dallas and found the local Texas Card House. After becoming a fixture in the biggest games and growing his bankroll, he was able to nab a regular spot in the popular $5-$10-$25-$50 game on the TCH live stream.

Last summer, Marx traveled to nearby Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma for the WSOP Circuit main event. He was able to top a field of 931 entrants that included defending champion Quan Tran during heads-up play. He picked up his first WSOP Circuit ring, and the first-place prize of $246,820.

Craig Tapscott: What’s been the most crucial part of your transition from cash games to tournaments?

Daniel Marx: There are some major differences. One of my favorite parts of Dallas cash games is how deep they play. It is normal to be between 500 and 1,000+ big blinds deep. I grew up learning to play in 100-big blind max buy-in cash games. Because of this, I am very comfortable in the early stages of the tournament. It’s a good time for me to slowly accumulate and hope my opponents make a big mistake.

The biggest challenge was learning the various stack depths and transitions at different stages of MTTs. I think it’s important to study spots. For example, I would learn 20 big blinds – button versus big blind – in single-raised pots strategies. Then I would learn 30 big blinds, etc. and I would extrapolate from there. But there are nearly infinite situations, which is why the game is so beautiful.

CT: Where should cash game players begin?

DM: For cash players looking to get into MTTs, I would recommend starting by learning 10-20 big blind play as you will spend most of the tournament in this range. It’s also important to know your shoving and squeezing ranges at this depth. Then I would learn 20-30 big blind play and up, etc.

The next major difference is ICM (Independent Chip Model). Chips change in value as the tournament progresses and your tournament life becomes increasingly important. In a cash game, you can just make the correct play and rebuy if you bust. I still need the most work on the specifics of ICM, but I understand the general theory behind it.
CT: Is there anything else you focused on?

DM: Mental toughness. You need that to have longevity playing MTTs. I consider myself very strong in that realm coming from a cash background, but the difficulty is amplified in tournaments. The days are very long and grueling, and most of the time you will go home with nothing.

Stacks: Daniel Marx – 700,000 (70 BB)
Villain – 500,000 (50 BB)
Blinds: 5,000-10,000 with a 10,000 big blind ante
Field Remaining: 50
Players: 8

DM: I came into day two with an average stack. We quickly got into the money, and I was able to open my play up a bit. I won a few nice hands early on to get an above-average stack and then ran into an interesting spot.

Marx raised to 22,000 from early position holding A 5. Villain called from the big blind.

DM: He had just moved to the table, so I didn’t have a strong read. He also had an above-average stack. We were about 50 big blinds effective so there was plenty of play.

Flop: 5 3 2

DM: I flopped a strong, but vulnerable hand on a very dynamic flop. This meant the value of strong hands can change drastically from street to street depending on what cards come. I was actually unsure if I should continuation bet on that flop as it is reasonably range neutral. But it did hit a lot of hands in the Villain’s big blind calling range that can check-raise and put me in a tough spot. At the same time, I have a strong hand that needed protection, but could also still bet for value.

Villain checked. Marx bet 19,000, and Villain raised to 55,000.

CT: You did say you were expecting that was a possibility.

DM: I knew if I was going to bet this flop I was going to get check-raised with a decent frequency. He was going to have a lot of semi-bluffs on the board. That being said, I had a reasonably strong hand and definitely needed to continue, or I would be folding too much.

Marx called.

Turn: 5

DM: A beautiful offsuit five, which gave me top trips on a still dangerous board.

Villain bet 80,000.

DM: This was a very interesting spot. I felt like my opponent may still continue with his semi-bluffs on this card. Even though board pairs are normally bad, he will have more fives in his range as the big blind defender versus an early position open. I was still ahead of a lot of his value range, but the board was also still dynamic. I didn’t think I could raise.

CT: Why not?

DM: That would allow my opponent to play perfectly and fold all his worse hands while calling with all his better hands. This gets said quite a lot, but I thought this was a classic way ahead, way behind spot. I wanted to keep my range wider and keep in his bluffs.

Marx called.

River: 10

DM: The river completed a four-flush on the board and my opponent jammed after thinking for a bit. This was a very gross spot. Many of my opponent’s semi-bluffing range just got there. That being said, the board was paired. He could really only be jamming his best flushes here. I was going to have the ace or king of clubs a lot of the time in my range given my line. The fact that my opponent started his aggression on the flop actually narrowed the amount of value he could have. He was saying he had hands as strong as flopped straights, turned boats, and rivered nut flushes.

Marx folded. Villain won the pot of 329,000.

DM: I decided to wait for a better spot. This hand was my first real test, but I feel fine with the fold. From my experience, this type of line is under bluffed when facing unknown players. The structure of this tournament was very good, meaning I could be patient.

Stacks: Daniel Marx – 2,200,000 (11 BB)
Brad Ruben – 12,000,000 (60 BB)
Blinds: 100,000-200,000 with a 200,000 big blind ante
Players Remaining: 5

CT: Did you do anything to prepare for the final table?

DM: One of the biggest challenges when running deep in a big live tournament is staying mentally sharp. The days can be very long, and your adrenaline is running, so it is hard to wind down and fall asleep. On the final day, 13 of us bagged. I had about 13 big blinds which was good for 11th place. This helped me to not have big expectations. I could just play my game and hope for the best.

Around this time, I was studying hard and watching Patrick Leonard’s MTT Course. As I wound down each night, I would watch a couple of relevant videos to my stack size and situation as well as look at my ranges on various solvers. I would look over 10-15 big blind three-bet, opening, and calling ranges from each position, and try to understand how ICM affects those ranges.

CT: Can you set this hand up for us.

DM: Going into the final table, I was eight of nine in the chip counts. I was playing patiently and trying to ladder up as my opponents busted. With five left, I was the shortest stack at 11 big blinds.

Ruben raised to 400,000 UTG. Marx shoved all in next to act for 2,200,000 holding A 10.

DM: The chip leader had been very active and was going to be opening wide. I didn’t have to worry about ICM as much as the other players by the time this hand unfolded. My biggest worry at the time was blinding out. It was definitely a close spot, but with the combination of blocking his strongest holdings and having such a short stack myself, I felt I had to go with it.

Ruben called and revealed A Q.

Board: A 4 6 10 4

Marx won the pot of 4,900,000.

CT: During a long tournament these types of hands will happen.

DM: As a poker player, I understand that variance is an inherent part of the game. There will be times when I run well and win despite making mistakes, and there will be times when I make all the right moves but still come up short. That’s just the nature of poker.

I try to stay grounded by reminding myself that one hand or one tournament does not define my overall success as a player. It’s important to have a long-term perspective and stay disciplined and stick to my strategy, even when things aren’t going my way.

Stacks: Daniel Marx – 19,600,000 (98 BB) Quan Tran – 8,400,000 (42 BB)
Blinds: 100,000-200,000 with a 200,000 big blind ante
Players Remaining: 2

DM: After that lucky 10 on the turn, everything seemed to go my way. It was happening so fast that I didn’t have a chance to process everything. I went from short stack to massive chip leader. Eventually, I was heads-up against the previous WSOP Circuit Choctaw champion, Quan Tran. I had a little less than a 2:1 chip lead, so it was still anyone’s game.

CT: And there was still a lot of play to be had.

DM: Yes. We were very deep still at about 40-big blind effective. Quan seemed just happy to be there and also did not seem to have much heads-up experience. I quickly realized his strategy was to play passive/fold or just ramp up the aggression and go all in. I don’t think he realized how deep we were and that there was plenty of play left.

CT: How did that affect your heads-up play approach?

DM: I adjusted my strategy to open 2x big blind on the button with a linear range. This meant raising my value hands as my opponent will be playing straight forward. I can limp everything else and stab every flop that is checked to me for one big blind since he will not be fighting back except with an all-in. If he did show some aggression, I could just fold all but the strongest of my range. This strategy was effective, and I quickly increased my chip lead until the final hand.

Marx raised the button 400,000 holding 8 8. Tran called.

Flop: 6 4 3

Tran open jammed for roughly 8,000,000.

DM: Quan open jammed into me for about 8x the size of the pot. Based on my understanding of his strategy, I knew this was a snap call. Since I knew he was doing this with his entire continuing range. He was doing this far too wide and my eights are going to be way ahead of his average strong hands.

Marx called, and Tran revealed 2 3.

Turn: 10

River: J

Marx won the pot of 16,800,000, and with it, the tournament. ♠