Posted by Junelli 10:32 AM
The 2005 WSOP
by Mike Padilla

"The Show"

I was to play on Saturday, but arrived Thursday night around 11pm thanks to a lengthy delay at IAH due to a sick kid and stormy weather.

I went to the Rio anyway to check in and register in order to avoid the massive lines I had feared.

Nothing. I was registered in 5 minutes. I guess that’s what midnight will do for you. (The Thursday night tournament players were still in action) I start wandering around the tournament room and am amazed at how many players I recognized. Naturally, there’s the Shannon Elizabeth sightings, then Scott Fischman, Greg Raymer, and Gus Hansen. Matt Dean was sitting behind David Grey, but short on chips. The stars are everywhere.

Friday, I returned to find the WSOP Lifestyle Show in an adjoining convention room. Like any other convention, there were booths, displays, videos, games, give-aways, raffles, etc, etc. All poker or gambling related. After all, this is Vegas.

I gathered hats, shirts, software, magazines, raffle tickets for a Hummer, trips to Costa Rica, a Harley (what would I do with a Harley?) and generally took in the entire experience, as a 2nd set of 1800 players were battling it out next door.

You were just as likely to walk by a celebrity or TV famed poker player as you were a stranger. Hey there’s TJ Cloutier, and there’s Greg Raymer signing autographs, and Cindy Violette, and boy those Moneymakers sure looked a lot taller on TV. Add 100 pounds to “Spanky”, and you’ve got Mr. Moneymaker. Vince Van Patten had just busted out and was about to get drunk, he said.

I head into the tourney room to get a feel for the tension, and to meet my uncle-in-law & wife. I spot Dan Harrington and want to walk up and thank him for writing his books, but he’s a bit involved in a hand at the time. Ken and Cheryl are watching Daniel Negraneu and Sam Farha battle it out at the featured table. Then they break. Cheryl says she wants Daniel’s autograph, but he’s mingling around the table, so here comes Sammy. Done. Next, we chase down Daniel after an interview. Great, thanks. Then Cheryl says “If I could just find Annie Duke, I’d be finished.” Hmmmm. I turn around and she’s 2 steps in front of me, walking towards me. “Miss Duke…..” Nicely done. We’re happy, and we head back to the show.

"All In on the Bubble"

560 players out of 5619 get paid at least $12500. The closer to 1 you are, the more you get paid.

We’re currently sitting at 561. This is what is termed the “bubble”. There’s one in every tournament. The room has been a roller coaster of anticipation, then boredom, as playing hand-for-hand with 64 tables can take quite some time.

Again, 561 gets $0.00……….560 gets $12,500.00

Surely, with 60,000 in tournament chips (no cash value), I would have the discipline to fold every hand until at least 1 of the stacks that has less than 5,000 in chips gets knocked out.

The antes are taken in, the blinds are posted to my immediate right, and I’m first to act.

I think about not even looking at them and just sliding them right back to the dealer as he deals them to me. Then I figure I’ll want to know what I have on the hand when I cash in my 1st World Series of Poker Main Event.

Action is on me. There’s nothing I can have that would be worth the risk of $12500 at this point.

Dealer: “Action is on you, sir.”
Me: “All-in.”

The table explodes. “WHAT!!!” “ARE YOU KIDDING?!?!?!”
Dealer: “Are you all-in sir? Verbal statements can be taken as action.”
(it’s a friendly game at this point, so if I wanted out, I could have folded)

Me: “I’ve got 60,000 in front of me, and I’m all-in.”

There are 8 people left to act behind me, and I dare say that all but 1 had enough chips to eliminate me on the “bubble”.

Everyone folds, and I toss my A-A into the muck facedown.

The small blind in the hand, Tom Santori, first thought I should have played the hand if I actually had A-A, “the beans” as he calls them. I quickly corrected him that any basic raise on my part could have welcomed a call and a flop, which could have provided all the luck one person needed to eliminate me. There were 2 plays, fold, or all-in. I still had my sights on bigger things, so I wanted the 5400 in tournament chips from the blinds and antes and really didn’t expect a call with anything but K-K, which I would have dominated.

We all had a good laugh, then exchanged congratulations as the bubble burst on one unlucky player. (Actually, player 561 received a $10,000 entry into next year’s tourney, poor player 562.)

"Most Profitable Semi-Bluff"

We’re in level 2 of Sunday’s action. My first 2 hours flew by as I simply nursed my 93,000 chip stack. I’ve won a few in level 2 to get me over 100,000 now. Table leader.

I’m dealt Q-10 clubs, on the button.

9-handed
UTG: Folds
UTG +1: Folds
#3: Raises the 400/800 blind to 2400 (New player at the table, but appeared loose)
#4: Calls the raise (Tight player on marginal stack)
#5: Folds
#6: Calls the raise (Another big stack, but not quite in my league)
Me: Call, with expectation of being re-raised out of the pot.
Blinds Fold
#3: Original raiser calls

Flop: A-diamond, J-heart, 10-diamond

Original raiser bets 2500, Seat #4 raises to 5000, #6 folds…pot is pushing 20,000, so I have to consider what the original bettor might do. I take my shot by calling, as my tall stack of $5000 chips looks really inviting. My nut draw is worth playing in position against a tight player that surely has an ace, and maybe even A-K. I actually take my time here, recalling the quick-bet tell that exists.

Much to my pleasure, #3 folds, and I’m heads up with seat #4.

Turn is a black 9. A-J-10-9
#3 checks.
I quickly decide that I have to show strength quickly to have a shot at the pot. Weak players don’t like to be pushed, but in my haste, I bet out a woeful 5000. If he’s on A-K, I may fold him with what appears to be a straight. The flush hasn’t come, so if he’s on K-? diamonds, or something like that, he’s probably not playing any further. But 5000 is too little…I didn’t think fast enough about the pot. This guy had been folded to power poker, but would an incorrect 5000 be enough?

He stews forever. He grabs his entire stack (another 20,000) on numerous occasions. I think it’s coming in. He studies the board endlessly, and his image is cemented in that this type of player is looking to see what can go wrong instead of right.

After 3 solid minutes, an eternity for my stone face, he folds A-10 face up.

In hindsight, it looked like a trap bet to him, but I don’t recommend that trap on that particular board. Too much money in the pot, and too many draws open to play around with an offsuit K-Q in that spot…if that’s what I had. Of course, I told him I had the straight and “I thought I priced you in for all your chips…….good fold” routine.

"The Hand That Rocked The Cradle"

After increasing my 93,025 stack up to 149,100 in a matter of 4 hours on Sunday, we went on break. I was probably in the top 10 (remember, we started the day with 1884) at that time if you figure that some of the previous 1-24 had dropped even a little. I returned from the break to run face first into 2 full-houses for my opponents on the first 10 hands. So much for nursing my big stack. In one instance, I limped and the big blind flopped a boat with 3-3 in hand and a board of 5-5-3.

I’m down to less than 110,000 in chips and tilting bad. I try to push around the table unsuccessfully and am down to 90,000. In one hand, Gabe Walls says “Easy man, it’s a friendly game, as he flashes A-K suited and pushes me out of another pot.” He knows I’m on edge.

As poker goes, it takes just a single hand to turn your fortunes, and for me, I thought my next hand was the one.

I hold J-J and raise a standard amount. This could be a steal, as my last 10 pots have appeared that way, but I only get 1 caller.

Flop is J-9-2. Hmmmm. My opponent had been playing tight, so a check would have been just fine here. However, I had been betting every pot that I had raised, so I put in 2000 to keep from raising suspicion. My opponent, whom I had covered, came over the top, sensing non-existent weakness. He’s all-in, I knock him out and approach 130,000 again. All is well, until…

Not very much later, I win another hand without showing my cards. And then I win another without showing. I’m hitting a rush that nobody wants to believe. Next up, I’m dealt Q-Q right after taking the blinds with A-K that nobody gets to see.

I make the standard raise to 3500. The button calls 3500, mistake #1, making the pot 10,000.

Flop is J-7-3. I bet 10,000, the size of the pot, as to prevent any draws from having any type of odds.
I get raised 15000 on top of my 10000 by Gabe, mistake #2. He’s playing table police, but I’ve got my stack back, so he’s biting off more than he can chew.

TJ Cloutier once said “the best players come over the top”, and I had used that strategy on Saturday to chip-up. I go all-in, which puts Gabe’s tournament life on the line. He gets a blank stare on his face. Our table hadn’t been pushing like this. This was an odd bet. It didn’t fit my pattern of milking my opponents. He asks if I have a big hand, which means I really want him to call now, as he doesn’t have a set or an overpair. I figure him for A-J, but not a lower pair, or he would have re-raised pre-flop in my opinion.

He puts me on a stone cold bluff and calls, mistake #3. I flip my Queens, he taps the table and begins gathering his things as he flips J-9-off for top-pair, NO kicker.

Turn 2

River 9

Pot of…500+1000+8*(200)+3500+3500+10000+25000+15000+71200+71200 = 202500…goes to him.

(I have less than 50,000 remaining, meaning I would have been up to nearly 250,000)

I know it happens to everyone, but this was a particularly bad beat, as outlined by the multiple opportunities my opponent had to release his mistake filled hand.

"418"

We are now down to 418 players, and in the middle of the $16,055 payout field. I just have to outlast another 18 players and I’ll receive more than $18,000 for my weekend’s work.

I’m not really thinking of just hanging on though. I still feel that one double-up will get me back to a position of leverage at nearly 85,000.

Less than 10 hands ago, a pot in excess of 350,000 took place between one player with 10-10 up against another player with A-K. A 3rd ‘10’ hit the flop and table power shifted to a player closer to my right, a good thing.

I look down to find the fortuitous 10-10. I raise the 1200/2400 blinds to 7000. At this point, not a single raise of mine had been called yet, but I had shown A-K to a player during hand-for-hand.

A player named “Ray” thinks it over, asks me how much I had left, and decides to put me all-in for $32000 more. Everybody else folds.

On just the information given, I think a fold may be in order here. The argument against a fold is the opportunity to blind down to make the next payment level. However, I was chatting with the guy to my right before & during the 2 or 3 hours we had been there and he had played with Ray the previous day. “He doesn’t like seeing money shifted elsewhere. He loves action.”
Anytime you hear that, you know you just need to find a hand to play against the seemingly loose player. I had my hand.
Ray had already played a hand with 5-5 against a board of J-9-Q-4-6 to the river and won a pot against the biggest stack at the table by calling a 20,000 bet on the river. Big stack showed A-8 diamonds on a bluff. So the idea of him only having a group 1 hand were out the window, so I shoved ‘em in.

The previous 10-10 glory may have (mistakenly) had something to do with it, but not much.

He flips up A-K, and catches an A-7-9 flop.
Turn is an 8, so I regroup to a gutshot straight draw and 2 tens.

Not to be. I’m out, and the hopes and dreams of 65 other players die with me.

4 Comment(s):

Posted by  Dr Fro, at 2:40 PM, July 13, 2005  

MP -

1) several websites said the place got nutty once the bubble burst - drinks were flying, etc. Evidently it took forever to eliminate 9 guys. Then they were dropping at a rate of literally more than 1 per minute.

Can you comment on what the scene was like during this time?

2) Biggest celeb / pro at your table????

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Posted by  Padilla, at 3:47 PM, July 13, 2005  

No pros or celebs. A bit dissapointing, but then again, I was the table chip leader for most of my tournament. I didn't give autographs.

I think they overstated things a bit for effect. It was crazy when 560 happened, congrats all around for the short stacks. The tension/air was let out of the room, and everyone tried to get in a rythym again. We literally played 13 hands in well over an hour, and keeping track of styles was worthless. Forget about being blinded down, I had plenty of time to fold, walk to the bathroom 100 yards away, and get back in before the next hand was dealt. In a room of 560 players, probably 100 of them ordered drinks, resigned to their fate of elimination. Nobody got drunk in 5 minutes, but the call of "Seat Open on ###" was heard non-stop for the next 30 minutes, maybe longer. They announced every number from 560 down, as Johnny Grooms stood at a podium over the whole tourney (think Congress) while his floor runners called out eliminations. He'd call a number, and you got a post-it note with a number on it for your efforts. Go up to the podium, let them get your name, then head to get your W2-G form. From there it was to the cage, where they graciously had a waiter running back and forth to the bar. Yeah, I want a beer! $100's....2 packages, one $10K wrap, one $5K wrap, and the other $1050 in hand.

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Posted by  Dr Fro, at 10:00 PM, July 13, 2005  

What did you order?
A Heinie?

My choice would have been gasoline. Maybe heroin.

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Posted by  Padilla, at 10:28 AM, July 14, 2005  

I thought I still had a chance to advance, so I didn't order alcohol.

I did however, nearly take the waiter's head off when he spilled what I thought was my beer when he returned to the cage line.

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