WSOP
2004
T2+T3 Cinderella Goes To The Ball
I
had a whole bunch of stuff I was going
to write about today, but that all seems
pretty unimportant to me right now. Today
was the $1,500 Limit Holdem. As predicted
I lasted much longer than 30 minutes this
time, I lasted 3 hours. I had the always
pleasant to play with David Chiu and Antonio
at my table, plus a couple of people who,
shall we say, had less experience than
those two.
I
lost half my chips early on with a bad
beat when one of the new kids raised with
his premium suited Q9, bet at the T95
flop with two of his suit, impervious
to my raise with AT, betting again on
the turn and again calling my raise, until
his flush finally got there on the river.
A little later David Chiu limped UTG,
that seemed a little scary, and 4 others
called, so I called with 74o in the small
blind. Flop was K54 two spades, we all
checked. a dreamy looking 7 on the turn,
I bet out T100 and all folded to David
who raised. I called. A disastrous 5 on
the river counterfeited my two pair, I
checked, David bet almost his last chips.
I had T500 left, with T200 to call. If
I was wrong I was in big trouble, if I
folded I thought I had enough for a comeback.
What could David possibly have had that
he wouldn't bet the flop? With 5 limpers
and two flush cards I couldn't see him
slow playing a set or AK. Then when he
raised on the turn the only possibilities
seemed to be the unlikely 77, or maybe
he had a flush draw and was trying to
buy the pot, or maybe he had limped in
with 86s or 63s and had hit a straight,
or just maybe he had a big hand on the
flop and was hoping to check raise. His
bet on the river could have been a total
bluff. I sat for a LONG time thinking
about this one, and being a wuss I folded.
I think maybe I should have called.
Most
of my last chips went in with a raise
with QJs, I got called in 4 places, if
I won this hand I would be right back
in the game, it was a big pot. The new
kid bet out and got one caller on the
Qxx flop, I was feeling fairly confident
I had the best hand as I threw in my last
chips. He bet again on the turn and the
other player folded, it was just me and
the bluffer, he had a flush draw and on
the turn a gut shot straight draw. Of
course he got there and ighn.
Actually
I didn't ghn, I had a need to lose more
money, tried to get into a satellite but
the wait was long, so meandered upstairs
where a Super had just started a few minutes
earlier at 3 p.m., I decided I might as
well give it a try, although I was definitely
feeling like just getting up without rebuying
if I went broke. My T500 was soon down
to T250, then I hit a nice rush and was
soon up to a respectable T2100 at the
break, No rebuys and no add-ons for me,
I'd rather just come back again tomorrow
and buy in again. I think I played my
best ever poker, I played a super tight
game with an occasional steal, but just
wasn't catching any cards and was short
stacked the whole time. Then disaster
struck, I was getting low and the blinds
were coming, I did something I rarely
do, I moved in with junk, J4o in this
case, and got called by David Colclough
who was also short chipped and decided
to gamble with his KTs. Oops. He won,
and now I was in major trouble. So I raised
the next hand all in with 88 and doubled
up. Then I raised again the next hand
with ATo, and doubled up. Then I raised
the next hand and they all folded so I
picked up all the antes and the blinds.
I got moved to a new table, 18 players
left, 5 seats and 4 cash places being
given away. I sat patiently again and
again no cards, but suddenly I was at
the final table, and having suffered a
bad beat was now the really short stack.
So I welcomed the offer of taking $100
off of each of the five seat places (the
prize was a seat and $400, it varies each
day depending on the prize pool), so suddenly
I was guaranteed $500 and was feeling
pretty happy considering I would be gone
the next hand. Except I wasn't, I raised,
I raised and I raised and now I was an
average stack, in fact someone had already
got eliminated. Again I sat patiently,
but with the blinds totally out of control
there was no more time to sit still. Then
the small blind, a maniac kid who earlier
could have literally gone to bed and guaranteed
a seat, except he kept raising with junk
and kept getting called so was now fairly
short, raised my big blind all in. I had
KQs, it was time to think. I 'knew' I
had him beat but at the same time I knew
I wasn't going to be a huge favorite against
a random hand, but there again if I could
win this hand I would definitely have
a shot at a seat, and if I folded I would
definitely have to get lucky as I would
be too short stacked to scare anyone away.
I called, he had Q8o, I now had a big
stack, and a little while later I had
a huge stack and we were on the bubble.
I wasn't going to play another hand if
I could help it. Then a rather bizarre
hand happened. The kid moved all in with
a weak hand, he was immediately called
by a young lady who it turns out had never
been this far in a tournament. The big
blind also called, this was going to be
the classic, check-check, check-check,
check-check to the river in hopes that
one of them would win the hand and we
would all have a seat. Except on the Qxx
flop the lady moved all in! The big blind
had AQ and a huge dilemma, should he call
or fold? If he folded the kid might be
able to win the hand, if he called and
the kid won and he lost to the lady he
would be the new short stack. It turned
out the lady hadn't yet learned the concept
of check-check, but at least she had a
real hand, KQ. The other guy folded, the
kid was eliminated, and I am going to
the big dance, the 10K championship event,
my third year running.
I
can't tell you what a great feeling it
is to already have a seat, no more playing
online supers, no more live supers to
worry about. Last year I got my seat on
the very last day, it had cost me a total
of $1,200, the year before I'd gotten
there for $450. This year I am there for
$225. So, a crazy day of highs and lows.
One
of my best friends arrived tonight, I
picked him up at the airport, bored him
to death with every excruciating detail
of my limit holdem and my super, he's
staying for a week unless he jumps from
the window. We went for the late night
Chinese special in the coffee shop, $3.95
for soup, entree, egg roll and rice. Neither
of us had eaten all day, we shared 3 plates,
it was excellent, maybe the best late
night deal in town.
Today
is the Omaha hi-lo, I'm not playing that,
I'll probably just spend the day trying
to tell my supersat story to everyone
I know, and maybe everyone I don't know.
Paul Westley
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