WSOP Main Event!

On a whim, I decided to fly to Vegas and play in the Main Event this year. Kind of crazy, because I don't generally gamble anywhere close to that level, and, moreover, I don't really do tournaments. But I can afford it, so why not? It's something every poker player should experience at least once in their lives, at least if it's within their means.

Sadly, I busted on day 2, but it was still a great experience. Here are some of the significant hands:

Raised KK preflop, got a caller in the blinds. Bet 8-high flop when checked to and was called. Turn was a rag and my opponent check-called another bet. River was a 4 and my opponent led out for 2K or something which was a small fraction of the pot. I called and it turned out his 84o had rivered two pair. Ugh.

Raised AQo preflop and was called by a good young online player sitting to my immediate left. Flop was all undercards with two hearts. I bet out and was called. Turn was the ace of hearts. I check-called. River was the queen of hearts. I checked and faced another bet. I thought for a long time and called and was shown 97 of hearts.

I knew I only had a bluff-catcher, but I convinced myself that this was a situation in which he might well be bluffing. In particular, because he was a young skilled online player. Later my opponent said he thought it was a good call, claiming that he turns a lot of top-pair hands into bluffs on this river. I'm not so sure, though. Certainly against most opponents this is always a flush. For most opponents, any good non-flush hand checks behind 100%. And most people wouldn't have many bluffs in their range after calling the flop and betting the turn.

I had observed this same opponent raise his big blind after the button open-limped. Later the button open-limped and I elected to complete J9s from the small blind, fully expecting him to raise his big blind with any two cards. And he did in fact raise, getting called by the button and by me. The flop was Qxx, no help to me, and I checked. He bet and the button folded. I figured this is just a c-bet, he can still have any two cards, so I check-raised. He stared me down and called. I don't remember what the turn was, but I check folded. I was worried that he saw right through me. But later he told me that he flopped bottom two pair, and, in fact, he is folding a ton of hands in that spot. So my read was dead-on, at least with respect to preflop. I was just unlucky that he flopped a monster.

Later I called a raise with 77 in the small blind and saw a four-way flop. Flop came 76x. I checked, hoping to check-raise, but the flop was checked through. The river was a 5 and I led out and was called in two places. The river was a 5 and I overbet the pot. My opponent on my left (same guy from the two hands above) called and said "I really should raise", showing 65 for the lower full house. Nice just-call, sir. He claimed he even thought about folding the turn, and he has a point. What can I have there that he beats, even with two pair? With hands like A7, 87, 88, 99, TT I lead out the flop typically. With JJ-AA I reraise preflop. And I would almost never bluff the turn into three opponents.

An early position player raised, a fish in middle position (the 84o guy) called and I called in the blinds with AQo. The flop came Q6x with one club. I check, early position player bets, the fish calls and I elect to just call. The turn is a low club. I check again, the early position player bets smallish, the fish raises to 7K or so - a pretty healthy-sized raise leaving himself just 1-2K behind. I call. Early position player hems and haws and eventually folds what he later says is KQ. Fish dumps his remaining 1-2K into the pot even before the river is dealt. The river is another club (the ace I think), but I don't really have an alternative to calling. I get shown a set of 6s.

I make it to day 2 with a stack of 24.5K (down from a starting stack of 30K). Early on day 2, I raise in early position with AKo and am called by a player who seems to be aggressive. The flop is eight-high, I check and he bets. I elect to check-raise and he calls. The turn is another rag and I lead out for another 7K or so. He calls again. The river is another low card that completes a backdoor flush draw. I don't have enough chips left, though, to get him to consider folding so I check and fold when he bets. He later tells me he had AA.

This was the biggest pot I lost so naturally I spent some time reconsidering whether I played it well. I don't think it's a terrible line; I was mostly just very unlucky to run into a huge hand. Since he just called preflop, the chance of him showing up with KK-AA (or even QQ) is not that high. I was more worried about a set. If he calls me with a fairly broad range preflop, and he bets when checked to a fair amount of the time (debatable), then he likely folds a lot of hands - basically everything except sets and 99-JJ. (Also, of course, QQ-AA, but as already stated I generally don't expect him to have those.) When I bet the turn, he probably ought to fold 99-JJ, although it's hard to be sure. Maybe he can call with JJ.

So, I don't know, it seems like both the flop and the turn bets should be folding out enough hands to be profitable. Although he actually had AA, I still think my assumption that he is unlikely to have AA (based on the preflop action) is valid.

Later I faced an early-position raise from a player with relatively normal tightness. I elected to reraise with JJ. When the action got back to him he raised again (basically putting me all-in) and I elected to fold. I assume his range for the 4-bet is AA-QQ and AK with AK not always 4-betting. That must leave me with no more than 30% equity and maybe a lot less (depends a lot on what he does with AK). Anyhow, he told me afterwards he had KK. I wonder if instead I should just call. I probably still have to call a bet on the flop even if an ace or king comes. But I can fold to a second bet on the turn. If the flop and turn are all lower than a J, though, it's going to be tough to lay it down to the second bet. Maybe I can do it though. Most importantly, if the flop is all low, maybe he check-folds with AK. If that's all true, maybe calling is superior. On the other hand, that may lead to other people behind me cold-calling which maybe I don't want. Also, I let AJ and AQ see a flop and get a chance to catch an ace, whereas they might fold to the reraise preflop.

Pretty soon I was down to push-or-fold territory. I pushed once with K9o in late position. I pushed with a medium or weak ace UTG and the big blind surprisingly folded AJo indicating he was pretty sure he was not ahead. I did nothing to disabuse him of this notion. I did hear some muttering from other parts of the table saying this should have been a snap-call. Later I pushed with KK over a limp from another short stack. Of course, I showed after the fold. I'm not sure I fooled anyone into thinking I was only pushing premium pocket pairs though. Later the other short stack (same guy from KK hand) open-raised his button. I figured maybe this could be any two cards, so I elected to push over this raise with J9. (His raised was probably to something in the range of 1.2K-1.5K and my all-in would have been to 10-12K.) He called pretty quickly with AJ (as he should of course) and I didn't suck out. Amusingly I barely covered him and was left with 50 chips. I was all-in on my small blind next hand with a chance to 9x my stack (Nontupling my stack? There should be a word for this.). Sadly, that did not occur.

There were TV cameras filming our table on a few different occasions. Probably because David Oppenheim, a well-known player, was in seat one until he busted. Apparently he is one of the biggest cash-game players around (at least according to his Wikipedia page), but he didn't impress me that much. He seems very fond of the overbet and it seems to always be a bluff and never a real hand. In fairness, I didn't play with him very long and one really shouldn't generalize from a small sample.

In general, though, I have to say that the reputation of the main event for attracting all sorts of very weak amateur players who just want to "take a shot" is grossly exaggerated. At the two tables I spent a fair amount of time at, there were only two players I thought were fish. Everyone else was at least competent.