2007 WSOP Results

Well, I'm home after 15 days in sunny Las Vegas and countless hours at the gaming tables and forgettable buffet rooms.

I arrived on the 4th of July (Wednesday) about 10:30am Vegas time. As my room was not available yet, I headed to the Rio to plunk down my (our) $10,000 and register for the Main Event. The cute cashier didn't even blink as I handed her a hundred $100 bills. She ran them thru a counterfeit detection machine, counted them and handed me a receipt, along with a voucher good for a whopping $10 at any Rio eating facility.

Of course a hamburger, drink, and chips cost $11.25.

Day one had been split into 4 sessions, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Sunday's session was full and I chose the Saturday session that I had hoped would be available.

Then I was off to Treasure Island to register with Pokerstars and pick up my Pokerstars clothing. I was issued a backpack filled with a hockey jersey, a polo shirt, a tee-shirt, a pullover, a hat, a visor, a 1 ounce silver round card protector, and other assorted items, all plastered with the Pokerstars logos.

I was looking for an exit when I spied daylight thru some glass doors. As I went thru the doors into the 123 degree Vegas oven, I found myself at the Pirate Ship exhibit with no exit to the street. I went back inside the casino to find the real exit and spotted a "Let It Ride" table.

As I peeled off a hundred dollar bill and sat down, I noticed the $15 minimum and realized I might not be there long. On my second hand I looked down at a pair of Kings and tucked my "no brainer" under my chips and "Let It Ride". The dealer dutifully exposed a pair of Kings in her hand, giving me 4-of-a-kind and a $1900 payoff.

I donated a few hundred back over the next hour or so, finally walking with a $1600 profit. My trip was off to a rousing start!

The Main Event

On Saturday I grabbed a cab to the Rio for Day 1. My plan was to play tight, small-pot poker on Day 1, and try to make it to Day 2 with at least an average stack.

We started at noon with each blind level lasting 2 hours and I played only a handful of times during the first few hours. There were recognizable players and celebrities everywhere in the massive Amazon room, but none at my table.

I slipped a note about myself to a Pokernews reporter covering our area. I didn't know if he'd consider it newsworthy but figured it was worth a try. Sure enough, he gave me a small blurb on their live coverage blog.

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop/event-55-world-championship-no-limit-holdem/day1b/

After a break I settled back in my seat and a fellow with a media badge, tapped me on the shoulder. He was from ESPN and had read the Pokernews mention. He briefly interviewed me and wished me good luck. Had I gone further in the tournament I'm sure he would have been back to further explore the "feel-good" story of Pat Fleming and his Bement Backers.

We were playing ABC poker with a raise of 3 times the Big Blind being typical. I had pocket Kings once and AK once, winning a small pot each time when all folded to my standard raises.

After about 8 hours we went on a 90 minute dinner break and I was hovering at a little over 20,000 chips (we started with 20,000).

At about 11pm my stack was about 18,000 and I was dealt pocket Queens. At this point in the tournament, the big blind was 600 and the small blind was 300, with a 75 chip ante per player. With 10 players at my table, that meant each pot started with 1650 in blinds and antes.

Two more players entered the pot for 600 each and the action was on me. The pot now contained 2850, so I made a raise to 2800. The small blind folded, the big blind called me, and the other two players both folded. There was now 7850 in the pot.

The flop was Jack, 7, 4. He checked and I bet 6000, about 3/4 the pot. He went all-in for a total of 7200. Since it only cost me another 1200 to stay in this 20,000+ pot, I called.

We then turned over our hole cards and I fully expected him to have 2-pair or three of a kind, since he had check raised me on the flop. I was praying he had something like Ace/Jack or King/Jack.

I was thrilled to see he only had a pair of fives, and badly trailed my pair of Queens. I was an 88% favorite to win the 22,250 pot and be sitting with over 30,0000 nearing the end of Day 1 and be in great shape (at this point, the average chip stack was about 32,000).

He needed a 5 to win, I needed anything but a 5, to hold him off.

Forty-Three unseen cards.
Forty-One of them were not a 5.
Two of them were 5's.

Alas, it was not to be. He caught one of the two remaining fives on the turn and I was left with a short stack of 8,000. The blinds were soon to go to 400/800 with a 100 ante, meaning I could last only about 4 orbits before being blinded away.

This put me in "shove" mode, looking for any decent hand to try to double up with and get back in the game. A few hands later I committed all my chips with pocket sixes and was called by a big stack with KJ. A classic 50/50 "coin flip" which I was unable to win, eliminating me about 12 hours into Day 1.

http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2007-wsop/event-55-world-championship-no-limit-holdem/day1b/

Overall, I was pleased with the way I played. I didn't feel I missed many opportunities and got my money in the pot as a huge favorite. The cards just didn't fall my way this time.

Thanks to all my backers and sorry I didn't bring us home some money.

Below are some top names that played the same day as I did, and the time (where available) that they, too, busted out on Day 1:

Eliminated:

John Juanda 3:40 pm

Barny Boatman 4:48 pm

Davidson Matthew 5:28 pm

Sam Farha 5:32 pm

Howard Lederer 5:59 pm

Simon 'Aces' Trumper 6:02 pm

Scott Clements 6:02 pm

Aaron Kanter

Patrick Bruel

Kevin "BeL0WaB0Ve" Saul

Barny Boatman

Sam Grizzle

Mads Wissing Andersen

Mike Wattel

Vanessa Selbst

David Williams 6:15 pm

Steve Wong 6:15 pm

Allyn Jaffrey Shulman

Robert Cheung 6:15 pm

Annie Duke 6:20 pm

Dan Shak 6:35 pm

Dan Nassif 6:49 pm

David "Chino" Rheem

Paul Sexton

David Bach 6:55 pm

Justin Bonomo 6:59 pm

Juha Helppi

Roland de Wolfe

Dan Alspach

Jennifer Harman 8:54 pm

Jeff Lisandro 8:55 pm

Norm Macdonald 8:58 pm

Kathy Liebert 9:01 pm

Scott Fischman 9:03 pm

Marc Karam 9:06 pm

Isabelle Mercier 9:21 pm

Max Pescatori 9:29 pm

David Singer 10:21 pm

Erik Seidel 10:30 pm

Pat Fleming 11:35 pm

I Move Downtown

After busting out of the Main Event I decided to move Downtown to Binions. Cheaper rooms and cheaper table limits along with a wider choice of casinos and activities. I did stay one night at the Rio and was impressed with the luxurious suite.


But given the choice of a $99 suite or a $29 room at Binions, I opted for the cheaper alternative.

The 2nd Chance Tournies

I played in a $550 2nd Chance tournament on Thursday (July 12th). In these tournaments you started with only 2000 chips with 20 minute levels so it required a more aggressive approach.

About an hour into the tourney I looked down at pocket Queens. I raised 3 times the Big Blind and got one caller. The flop came three low rags. I checked with the intention of check-raising my opponent if he took a stab at the pot. He bet about half the pot and I re-raised a little more than half of my chips. When he went all-in, I decided to make my stand and called. He showed me pocket Kings and I was gone.

He played this hand well by just flat calling my pre-flop raise, disguising his monster. Knowing the format dictated aggressive risky play, he gave me just enough rope to hang myself.

I was prepared to take another stab on Sunday (the 15th) and took another $20 cab ride to the Rio. Unfortunately, I was informed the 2nd Chance tournies had been canceled. I was not too happy about this, as I wasted $40 in cab rides.

Since I was only able to play one $550 tourney, shareholders of the 2nd Chance pool will get a $22 per share refund.

Thanks again for the backing.

I'll post some more about the rest of my trip later.