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| Reflections on the 2004 World Series of Poker - Trip 1 |
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Details about the four small events I played during the 2004 World Series of Poker
Reflections on the World Series of Poker: Trip 1 On my first trip to the World Series of Poker I played in four events ranging from $1500 to $2500 buyins (my trip to the main poker event would come a week later). As this was my first trip to the World Series of Poker, it was quite exciting when those first cards were dealt out. I finally was going to be able to test my skills against the best poker players in the world. As we will see, I seemed to do fine against those poker players but in three of the poker tournaments the players who got the best of me were the worst poker players at the table. Event 1, 140th of 237 John Juanda was at sitted my poker table in this one. I did pretty good the first few levels and then was moved to a new table where I could match poker wits with Chris Hinchcliff was playing. I had already been on a major downturn and I don’t remember getting any poker hands for a couple of hours. I was blinded down to $400 and made a stand with KQ in the BB against two opponents. Fortunately, my opponents showed JJ and 88 so I had a decent chance at the pot but nothing came and I was out of the poker tournament. This was one of those tournaments where you just look back and can’t really say much as the cards just weren’t there…not even to try and make something happen. Event 2: $2000 Limit, 160th of 287. One notable at my poker table was David Sklansky. He was knocked out after about two hours and just couldn’t catch anything. Sitting directly to my right was the worst poker player at the table. He was just plain bad but was having all kinds of luck and had the chip lead at our table by far. Everything in the poker game was working for him. He loved Ax and won with it several times without hitting anything One particular poker hands sticks out. He raises from early position. I had Qs Js in early position also. I normally would fold this poker hand in this situation but I felt that if I hit my poker hand I would get paid off nicely and even if someone else came into the pot I had a decent poker hand for multi-action. Man how plans can change! The flop came Ts Xs Xh. My opponent checks. Now here I am with a flush draw, two overs, and a backdoor straight so I decide to bet…there goes my poker strategy of seeing a flop cheaply in hopes of getting paid off nicely if I hit. Actually, I did hit a great draw so I like my bet on the flop. The turn comes a rag. The weak poker player checks again. Let me say at this point that this poker nemesis did respect a couple of my bets earlier in the poker tournament on the turn/river but I knew I was asking too much for him to fold a third time. In any case, I decide to make a stab at it and bet again. Of course the river comes another rag and my opponent checks. Now there is almost $1500 in the pot so it seemed like I was getting decent odds for another bet here. I bet and my opponent goes into thinking mode for about a minute and finally calls. He shows A6, no pair and takes home a very nice pot. I told you he was a bad poker player! I guess he knew I was on a busted draw and had a weak poker hand. That pot eventually led to my downfall in the poker tournament. I had also lost a couple other pots to this same opponent when everytime he had weak poker hands. Weak passive with Ax and he kept winning! He had no chance of making the final poker table yet here he was with all of those chips. Where is the poker justice in this world! But that is poker…I got myself in trouble trying to bluff on the turn when I knew he was reluctant to fold a poker hand. I went out with KT from cutoff, was reraised by QJ in SB. Flop was J97. Event 3: $1500 Limit Shootout, 3rd. This was the toughest single-table poker satellite I have ever played. My poker table included John Bonetti, Barry Shulman, a poker player who won a bracelet a few days earlier, and several seasoned pros. Fortunately, Bonetti and Shulman were the first two to get knocked out. I had to fight and battle for every chip. Two seats to my right was a VERY loose and aggressive poker player. He attacked all night with a relentless poker strategy. I remember one key poker hand early when he raises, I reraised from the cutoff with 66 and a short-stack. The flop came Axx. I bet, he raised, and I decided to reraise and make a play. Fortunately he laid his poker hand down. Once it got to be a three-handed poker game the play was very tough. To my left was a very conservative but solid poker player who had won a bracelet a few days earlier. To my right was one of the most aggressive poker players I have played poker against. He raised my big blind from the small blind about 90% of the time. He was relentless! I found it very difficult to fight back when I had a short stack and one pot to the river would cripple me. I reraised a few times preflop even with mediocre poker hands and took the pot on the flop but as I reflect back I didn’t do this nearly enough. I will say that the cards just didn’t seem to hit. I called his preflop raises quite often but couldn’t hit a flop. Looking back, I think I also made some questionable folds on the river. I remember at least three pots where we both checked the turn and he bet out the river to take the pot. I thought these through carefully and determined each time that he most likely had the best poker hand but looking back I think I gave him too much credit. I also probably has some bluff raise opportunities there but didn’t take them. Overall I played poker quite conservatively and I invited him to steal some pots. I suspect now that he probably stole at least one of those pots that I folded on. The poker tournament lasted six hours and I was quite exhausted. The relentless raising from the SB wore me down mentally. It didn’t help that the conservative poker player slow played a couple of poker hands against me to take some extra bets away from me. I should have saved some bets against her knowing she was such a conservative poker player. Finally towards the end of the poker tournament I decided I would fight fire with fire and reraise most of the time against the SB. This is risky when you are short-stacked and the dreaded happened…I flopped top pair and he flopped a flush. This is the one poker tournament that I think I let get away from me. We had the loose aggressive poker player on the ropes early but wasn’t able to give him the knockout punch which eventually cost me but it was my poker playing that hurt me when it got three-handed. I let the aggressive poker player beat me when I should have identified more opportunities to make some poker plays against him. Instead, I let him chip away at my stack almost every poker hand. The only good news is that I will be ready next time for this kind of attack. Event 4: $1500 NL Shootout, 4th. Highlight of this poker tournament was knocking out Men the Master but once again the weakest poker player at the table got the best of me. I knocked out Men the Master early on and built up an early chip lead. Flop was QJ and I had AT. Men made a small bet and I called only to see a K hit the turn. Men was short-stacked already and went allin with KT. Made a nice poker play on another poker hand when I called AT UTG. Two others limped and the BB bet out a board of K42. He was a solid poker player so I knew he had a king, but I also knew he would respect my raise if he had a weak kicker and I was pretty sure he didn't have two pair. I raised and he folded helping me pick up a decent pot. I had moved my stack from 1500 to about 2600 when the following poker hand came up. I raised with AK UTG, the button reraised and I decided to gamble and go allin only to find myself against JJ. I lost the tossup. Questionable play but I wanted to show a strong poker hand, show that I wouldn't be bullied, and went for the gamble to hopefully build a huge chip lead in the poker tournament. I considered just calling but his raise was big enough compared to his remaining chips that it was really either fold or go allin to see five cards. My gamble didn't work out but I was still alive. Dropped back down to 1100 instead of something like 4000. This changed the entire complexity of strategy for me. This was followed by a couple of hours of grinding. Our poker table seemed to be getting a lot of big poker hands. Unfortunately, every time I raised I seemed to run into big poker hands. They showed a lot of them so it wasn't just talk and their style of poker playing seemed conservative...except when I raised! It was a tight group of poker players and I really thought an aggressive poker strategy would pay off but I just kept running into trouble. Later I misplayed a poker hand against the weakest poker player at the table. Flop was 8 X X and I had 98. I bet out 300, was raised to 600, and I decided to go allin. I put her on a bluff but she had called with K8s UTG...like I said a weak poker player who loved suited cards. My first big break came when a 9 fell on the turn and I stayed alive. Later on another key poker hand came up against her. She limped 200, the SB limped, and I raised from the BB another 500 with A4. I was surprised when she called. The flop came A65, two clubs. I bet $500 and she went allin. I thought this one out a long time...she looked like she had either a monster (66 or 55) or was on a stone bluff...I couldn't tell which but her demeanor was definitely different than normal. If I only had Lederer's player reading skills! I decided to fold and showed the ace. When she was knocked out later I asked her about the poker hand and she said I would have won. I had several allins that stood up to keep me alive. I got lucky on another poker hand with A2 short-stacked and I raised allin 4 handed, two poker players called and I was against AK and AQ. Board came T9876! Still kicking but kept going up and down. Whenever I had chips and made a raise I seemed to always run into a reraise. Finally I got a couple of big poker hands and was up to an average stack with 4 poker players remaining when the following poker hand came up. I raise UTG with JJ to 800, $150-$300 blinds with 25 ante. The SB went allin. This was the same poker player earlier who beat me with JJ against my AK. He was a solid poker player so I had to respect the raise but to be honest I was getting tired of constantly being reraised. Either they kept getting monster poker hands or I had to make a stand at some point to keep them from bullying me. JJ is a pretty darn good poker hand with four poker players left so I decided to gamble and unfortunately ran into QQ. Another frustrating defeat in the poker tournament. This poker tournament had so many ups and downs similar to the Limit poker shootout before. I seemed to be everyone's punching bag both days as I was constantly being moved on. But I really think in this poker tournament that I was just running into solid poker hands most of the time which was frustrating as they always seemed to be against me. My AK allin play early in the poker tournament was questionable risking my chip lead, but of course if it held up I wouldn't be saying anything about it. The JJ call late in the tourney also questionable if you want to play it safe and not worry about all of that reraising going on. I also made a couple of poor judgments against the weak poker player and I think I need to get more live play in to be able to better read those types of poker players in similar situations. If is often difficult to reason through a poker hand with a weak poker player but they often give signs in live poker game playing which strong poker players are able to read. Overall, I tried to make things happen but had terrible timing all day long. My short-stack play was stellar all week as I was able to survive quite a long time with short stacks...the problem was that there were very few times when I had an above average of even average stack...and when I did I lost it soon after. I went to the World Series of Poker with the intentions of seeing how I would stack up against the best poker players in the world and in three of the poker tourneys it was the weakest poker player at the table who got the best of me. The frustration of this poker tourney was once again being outplayed by the weakest poker player at the table. She loved any two high cards yet I couldn’t find an opportunity to get my chips in the pot with the best of it. So in four World Series of Poker tournaments, I matched wits with the best of em and got spanked by the poker players who I thought I had the biggest edge against. I would much prefer for Negreanu to put me in my place than the kind of poker players I play every day on the net! All in all a great experience but disappointing results. Hopefully I can gain some redemption in the poker tournament that matters most…the Big One! |
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