#446 - WSOP Notebook #19 - Vegas on $4,000 a Day

[written June 15, p.m.]

If you try something once, it’s research. If you try it twice, though, you’re a member. So I spent Father’s Day evening playing in another pair of $525 single-table satellites.

I can’t tell if my experience in this year’s World Series is exactly the same as last year, or exactly the opposite. Last year I spent Father’s Day away from home to work on a magazine article that later caused me to quit that magazine. I was pissed that I didn’t play the Razz, and pissed that I played lousy in the 150-Seat Guarantee. The next day I treated myself to the $2,500 No-Limit Hold ‘Em 6-Handed event as a Father’s Day gift, built a big stack, and then pissed it away. It was my low ebb, though the pieces I later wrote about that time were among my best ever.

This year I spent Father’s Day away from home because Annie Duke convinced me to stay for the Stud 8 or Better Championship on Tuesday. I was going to treat myself to the $3,000 No-Limit Hold ‘Em event on Father’s Day but changed my mind 20 minutes before the start as I was walking to my car. (I’m not sure why I changed my mind, it just dawned on me on the way to the car that I shouldn’t play.)

I played in the corresponding Mini-Series of Poker event of Full Tilt and finished 14th out of over 2,300. I busted out of the 150-Seat Guarantee on Full Tilt, again held on Father’s Day, but someone had to get lucky to take me out.

Then I came to the Rio on Father’s Day evening, just like last year, but instead of looking in on some intriguing events - the Heads Up Championship, won by Kenny Tran; the Razz Final Table won by Barry Greenstein; the beginning of the Limit Hold ‘Em Championship – I dove into another pair of $525 single-table satellites.

I won one of them, so I’m $8,000 ahead of when I busted out of the $1,500 No-Limit Hold ‘Em less than 36 hours earlier. So I can’t say this is anything like a low ebb for the series, in fact it’s the best I’ve felt about my game since I finished in the money in the $5,000 Mixed Hold ‘Em.

But from last year’s “low ebb”, I made final tables in two in my last three events.  Does that mean I shouldn’t expect a similar bounce this year?

All I can say is this: Past results don’t suggest future results; in fact, they don’t even suggest present results.

There’s no glory in succeeding in single-table satellites, and no recognition. In fact because I’m going to dump those chips back into tournament entries, there’s really no money. But winning is always nice, and this had the bonus feature of being strange.

Words cannot do justice to how people play here. (Incidentally, a lot of locals as well as players in “for the Series” are bouncing around between these satellites and the daily tournaments at the Venetian, Caesars Palace, and the Bellagio, so I suspect there are great opportunities there as well. I may have to “research” that at some point.)

Two or three players self-immolate during the first level or two of every satellite I’ve played. Blinds start at 25-25 and there’s a lot of limping. So a good player’s options are the following: (a) Bet big with premium hands to win small pots; (b) Limp along but only play after a huge flop because there is a lot of company; or (c) Watch and take notes.

In my second satellite I was in Seat 1. Seat 2 busted in two hands. In the first hand he limped with K-2s and called a raise. After an A-K-5 flop, he led with a bet on the flop, and bet out on the turn and river, called all three times by the raiser who had A-Q. On the second hand, now with a short stack, he slow-played his top pair and pushed all-in after his opponent made a runner-runner straight.

Seat 3 commiserated but he was the next to fall on his sword. He limped with pocket aces and was called by 5 or 6 players. He made a tiny bet on the flop, and was called by a player with a gutshot and an overcard. Seat 3 made a set of aces on the turn and checked. Because the player who called on the flop still had the gutshot and now a flush draw, he bet. Seat 3 just called. When the third diamond hit on the river, he again check-called, showing his aces and saying, “A set of aces is the worst hand in poker.”

Well, it is if you play them like that.

Maybe he was steaming, but he did something even dumber on the next hand. He limped with pocket deuces and four players saw the flop, which was A-A-9. He bet out 400 into a 100 chip pot. Another player called. After the turn brought another 9, he moved all in. The player who limped after him had A-Q [a questionable limping hand though I’ve seen so many players do it in satellites I’ve lost count] and called. Seat 3 showed his hand - which couldn’t beat the board - and stood up complaining about his bad luck.

He even came back to the table a half hour later to tell us that he busted out of another satellite with aces against a player who made a flush.

I went out 4th in this satellite with A-K against 9-9 and the remaining three players couldn’t wait to make a deal after I busted. (Two of the three remaining players had been talking about how to make a deal before the satellite even started.)

If I stayed in the satellite room until the end of the World Series, I would probably get rich or go crazy. Or both. It’s a very strange place, but an oddly comfortable one.