WSOP Circuit Report - Day 1

Ok... so a pretty long and tense day at the Harrah's Rincon WSOP Circuit main event. In a lot of ways, this is the most important tournament I've ever played since it's the one that I auctioned off a significant piece of on eBay. Besides that, you should always consider the tournament you are playing to be the most important. A lot of people say that a poker player is only as good as his last tournament. I think it would be better to say a poker player is only as good as his current tournament... or current hand is even better.

My goal was to play this tournament the best I could and slip into the zone for the whole day. I wanted to end the day with over 30k in chips. To do it, I prepped by meditating a lot, using positive affirmations in the bathroom (I know looking at yourself and saying "I'm a winner and WILL win this tournament" might sound a little cheesy, but why not?), and even praying. I read the tournament section in Super System 2. I also took Howard Lederer's advice and picked up Zen in the Art of Archery. I haven't finished it, but I can see why it helped his game (he busted out, btw). It talks about how the archer must become one with the target. You can change "archer" for "poker player" and "target" with "table" and you have a good idea how it applies. Be the table. Be the cards.

I woke up pretty early... probably about 2am. Bobby and I were staying at the Commerce in Scotty's room and that's when he came up, accompanied by Grinder... one of the Mizrachi boys out of Miami that has proven himself time and time again, but most recently by taking down $1.9m at the last Commerce $10k. They started playing headsup, and I wasn't going back to bed... so Bobby and I played a few three-handed tourneys with Danny Alaei, a smart-as-hell under-25 poker pro who took 50th last year at the series. At around 6am we (Bobby, Scotty, Grinder and his family) caravanned to the Rincon casino... Scotty got to ride in Grinder's new pimp-ass RV that he bought after his recent score. The thing ran him $175k, from what I hear. He's travelling like a rockstar.

Play started at 12pm. There was an excitement in the air as the rail was filled with onlookers. Registration lines were building up... they said they expected at least 350 players. Finally a little after noon the players were told to take their seats. I drew table 10 seat 5. I sat down and concentrated as the table started to fill up with some pretty recognizable players. I usually don't like seat 5 because you have to constantly be looking back and forth, and can't watch the whole table from a comfortable corner, like seat 2 or seat 3 (my personal favorite). Here was the lineup :

Seat 1 : Jesse Martin
Seat 2 : Eric "EDUB"
Seat 3 : Charlie Sewel
Seat 4 : Dan Asbaugh (Spelling?)
Seat 5 : Me
Seat 6 : David Pham
Seat 7 : Ram Vaswani (Hendon Mob)
Seat 8 : Vinnie Napolitano
Seat 9 : David Chiu
Seat 10: Syracuse Chris

I can't remember all the hands that went down... I do remember, though, the hands where I busted David Chiu and EDUB. With David, I was in the BB with T7o and it was unraised before the pot with Charlie and Dan both in with Pham, Chiu and I. I checked. The flop came TT7. Wow. Dan checks, I check, Pham checks, and Charlie raised to 700 (I think the blinds were 50-100 at this point, so there was about 500 in the pot). Dan folds. I think about how I'd play 89o and just call. Pham folds. Chiu raises all-in. Bingo. Charlie decides to fold and I turn over the nuts. He has KT, so he's got outs... but they don't come and he smiles and shakes his head. I have a lot of respect for players who can lose with class.

With Eric, it was a little embarassing. Jesse Martin had been raising a lot that round, and the third time he raised to 700 (blinds at 100-200), I decided I was going to reraise him no matter what. Eric beat me to it, firing 2100 into the pot. He had about 5000 left, which I decided was enough for him to fold if I tried a re-reraise. So I put in 6k after checking my holecards : 94o. Ugly. Everyone folds to Jesse Martin who hims and haws a bit, before laying down. I figured him for AK, so the chances of Eric having a hand he could call with were bad. He thinks for awhile, and finally mutters something about "having to call" (readers please remember that in tournaments you never HAVE to do anything) and puts in his last chips with pocket Queens. I really didn't think he'd call with anything less than KKs, but he did and he was right to do it I guess. I felt it, though, and when the flop came 9 high somehow I knew the 4 was coming. It came on the turn and Eric was out, cursing and criticizing the play. It was about a 12k pot, and I had about 18k at the time, so it would have set me back to around 12k if I lost. Sometimes, though, I really believe that you can will a certain card to come.

I also remember two hands I played against Charlie Sewel. Both times I had QQs. The first time he raised preflop and I just called. I was thinking of folding, and I hope someday to be the kind of player that can just fold there and be done with it. But I called hoping to hit a set. The flop came ten high... he bet, I raised, he reraised and I folded. I showed him the QQs and he did me the favor of showing me the KKs. The second time I had QQs again in late position and he just limped. I raised. He considered folding but I think I talked him into the call. The flop came JT9 rainbow. He bet 1000 and I just called. Turn was an A. He bet 1000 again and I called. River was a 2. He bet 2000. I called and he shows a ten. I take the pot. I was really proud of how I played these hands... even though again I hope to be the kind of player one day who would have folded preflop with the QQs. It's hard to lay down an overpair. Harder still to call a significant bet with only an underpair.

Anyway, I'm not going to make this too long. At the end of the day, the only two remaining original players were me and Jesse Martin. Horalabos replaced Edub and got knocked out (after needling Jesse for taking too long, and asking to see a couple hands that were mucked at the showdown by some loose players... I really hate that because it causes a loose player to tighten up). Kenna replaced David Pham. Joe Bever, another Hendon mobster, replaced Syracuse Chris and got knocked out. Mike Caro replaced Horalabos. Chad Lane replaced Dan A. Mel Judah replaced Chad Lane. David Oppenheimer (spelling?) replaced Joe Bever. I finished the day with 33,575 in chips. Right on track with my goal. The tourney had a somewhat disappointing 209 players... which actually isn't too bad at all, since the top 20 get to go to the Tournament of Champions $2m freeroll. With fewer players it'll be easier to make one of those spots. But first place is only $650k, which means I'm feerolling for only about $75k.

Going to try and get some sleep now, but first will probably grab a bite to eat and watch a movie with Scotty (who busted out before the dinner break). My goal tomorrow is to make Day 3. I don't have any set goal as far as chips. As long as I have more than 15k I can work the short stack up. But I'm going to try to slip into the zone again and win this tournament. I like my chances. I just keep repeating... get in the zone... get in the zone... be the table... be the cards.

Thanks again to all the backers that have made this possible. I got Bobby a media pass for tomorrow and he's going to take some pictures. I'll try to see if I can't post some of them on here. Wish me luck tomorrow, and I wish you all the best.