My WSOP Circuit Experience

I was convinced I would win. I knew I had to play well in order to win, but I had convinced myself not only that it was possible, but that I would. I have made calls like this before and been right ... but this time it was not meant to be.

It was WSOP Event #2 at the West Palm Beach Kennel Club's Circuit series. There were about 450 entrants with the top 10% of the field to make the money. I have played in a WSOP event before, but on a much larger scale back in 2007 ... it was a $1500 event with thousands of players. I went out before the first break in that one ... I would prove to fare better in this tournament.

We started out with T12,000 and the tournament structure was fantastic, leaving lots of room for play. First prize was more than $40k, which is more than enough money to justify taking 18-24 hours of your life to sit at a poker table.

The first two rounds, I decided I was going to see cheap flops and see if I could make some magic. Nothing great and nothing awful happened, but thanks to 2 good flops with suited connectors, I had doubled up by the first break.

After that first break, things couldn't go better. All within ~5 levels I had KK once, AA twice, flopped 5-6 sets, made a straight or two, etc. I wasn't super aggro preflop, I was mostly playing passively preflop, set-mining. I flopped not one, not two, not even THREE, but FOUR sets of three's in these middle 5 levels. I chipped up nicely to about $120k when I have a pretty major mis-step. Before you continue reading, know that I won the hand, but I certainly didn't maximize my gains.

Blinds were probably 800/1600 or thereabouts, and I have well over T100k in front of me. I have pocket 3's and I limp from EP. One caller, and the guy across from me in LP (with ~T70k chips) makes a ~4x raise. I flat call, other limper folds - heads up. The flop comes down as 663. YAHTZEE. This is my FOURTH set of threes for the day, and I casually check. The other guy (a good player, mind you) bets ~T15,000. I'm now positive that he has a monster overpair (QQ+) - he's not putting those chips in with air on a continuation bet. I sit still, evaluating what my options are and I decide to raise. I mean, who would check-raise with a flopped boat? Right? So I start counting out chips, and I make it something like T47,300.

He tanks. It took about 4 minutes for him to decide as I sat there like a statue. Finally he picks his cards up, looks at them one more time and twirls them once so I can see them ... QQ.

MAN did I play that hand wrong. I really knew he had an overpair ... and I kinda-sorta wanted him to fold ... but I mostly wanted him to come over the top. I only wanted him to fold because if paint came on the turn, I wouldn't know what to do if he bet big based on my read - I wasn't looking for any tough decisions. If I flat call and anything under 10 comes on the turn, I probably get all his chips. Lesson learned. Great fold by him ... I mucked and didn't show.

(Side note - I was a newbie to the table, and they were all gabbing like high school friends. There was one guy at the table who swore up and down I had 33, but I never told them. I offered to tell for $100 - but no takers. The conversation about that hand went on for at least 30 minutes ... I found it hilarious.)

So I wound up losing some races making "flyswatter" calls to knock people out. The one that sticks out in my head is a raise by me with AdKd, guy in LP pushes for ~T30k. I called and lost. Oh well. So then I'm in the position of having to chip up a bit and my big aces weren't hitting, I found myself with about 10BB's at level 18 (500/1500/3000). I managed to steal the blinds once, then was on the button with Jd8d and T9000 already in the pot ... it folds to me and I push. SB snap calls with pocket tens and I go home in 55th place, about 10 out of the money.

Overall it was a great experience. I feel I played pretty well and maximized most of my winners. I'm torn as to whether these "flyswatter" calls were so necessary ... but I believe if you want to take an event like this down, you have to get lucky in a few key spots. Picking up an extra T30k in chips calling an all-in with AdKd seems like something I should be doing, but at the same point, I think a fold there isn't wrong either. In retrospect I really do wish I had just cashed (not my original goal) and not gone for the win right off the bat. I think maybe it's smarter to have 2 goals ... 1. to cash and then when you do cash 2. is to win.

As a side note, I was sitting next to this guy "Matt" (whose last name I never got) for much of the late afternoon. I saw him coming in for Day 2 of the event, wherein he told me he had amassed a good amount of chips. I wished him luck ... and I think this was him finishing 11th, I don't see anyone else in the money named Matthew, so I'm guessing unless he uses his middle name as his first name, it was most certainly Matthew Baseman. Congrats Matt!