So close I could taste it, but alas, it was not in the cards. I entered Day 2 feeling good. My strategy was to be more aggressive up front and try to build a stack. It worked well for the first couple of levels. I found myself at a table with Mike Wattel, a WSOP bracelet holder (who in this damn tourney isn’t!) with a big stack. We must have played 4 or 5 hands in close succession and I came away from that little exchange much healthier. By 6:00 pm, I was 5th on the leader board with close to $40K in chips, having my picture taken by a Bluff magazine photographer and spelling my name for Poker News (yes, it’s Daniel, not Dan).
It’s always fun, and much easier, to win with pat hands, and I did have a couple during the course of that early rush. The best feeling, however, is when you push with absolutely nothing and get away with it. I had one hand, after winning two pots out of three showing 7-6 and and 8-5 in succession, that was the most satisfying. In the big blind, I looked down and found a full house, 2-2-2-7-7. Now remember, this is low-ball. Any pair is useless and a full-house is an easy fold. This particular, hand, however, is ideal to “snow” if the circumstances are good.
Snowing is a strategy whereby you represent a huge hand and play it strong, hoping (and gambling quite a bit) that the other guy will not make a strong hand and eventually fold before you have to show the hand. It’s very difficult because once you start, you have to keep betting or give up.
My hand was particularly good for snowing because to make the best hand (7-5-4-3-2), a player must have both a 7 and a 2. With my hand, it was unlikely anyone was going to make a 7 or even a strong 8. Also, because I was in the big blind, I was last to act before the first draw, and then first to act thereafter, meaning I could gauge how strong the table was before committing to it and I could apply pressure from the outset after each draw. The hand folded around to the button who raised. The small blind called and I re-raised. Both the button and the small-blind called. I drew one card (an 8), while the other two drew 2. I then bet. The other two called. I stood pat. Thus, I was going to bet all the way with 2-2-2-7-8 and representing that I had a 7 draw and made my hand on the first draw. I was thrilled to see both players draw 2 again. Neither had improved their hand on the first draw.
I bet immediately (as is expected with a pat hand). One player folded, and the other called. I stood pat again, and the other player drew 1 card. I was just praying he didn’t hit anything strong. I bet again, the last bet. The other player took a deep breath and starting thinking. After what seemed like forever, he finally tossed his cards in the muck, declaring that he was sure his 8-7 was beat. Phew. As calmly as I could, I dropped my cards face down in the muck and began stacking chips.
Triple Draw, I’m learning, can be a cruel game. When the rushes come, they come fast. When bad beats come, however, they also come fast. I lost two big hands with a 7-6, and another with and 8-6, all very strong hands. Strong hands that finished second best are by far the most expensive to play. My stack dwindled as the dinner break approached and the blinds continued to climb.
In the last level before the break, I had Bill Chen (5 final tables in 2006 and 2 bracelets) to my left at an extremely tough table. All the tables at that point were stacked with pros and I was one of perhaps 3-4 amateurs left in the field. I pushed a hand hard and made an 8-6 with one draw to go and one opponent drawing 1 card. Thankfully, as I tossed my last chips into the pot, he turned over a 10-6, and I doubled up.
Coming back from dinner, even after doubling up, I was one of the smallest stacks left. 28 players left out of 208 starters, and only the top 24 get paid. The blinds were up to $1000/2000 with limits at $2K/$4K meaning I had to pick a spot and assume all my chips would go in. Three hands in, I found it with an almost perfect starting hand: 7-6-4-2. Three shots to hit a 3 or 5, with an 8 likely good enough. Before the action got to me, Chau Giang ($3 million won on tour and one of the most feared cash game players in the world) raised. I re-raised to chase out the blinds. Chau called, and drew 2. Needless to say, although a favorite from the start, my hand did not hold up, ultimately losing as a 10-7 to Chau’s 8-7 made on the last draw.
It was an amazing run and I know full well how lucky I was to get as far as I did, but it sure hurt to get up from the table 3 spots from the money. I learned a lot about tournament play and certainly felt much more comfortable with the pressure down the stretch. Once we hit the top 30, the photographers and reporters from several poker-related web sites and magazines were flitting from table-to-table. ESPN cameras, lights and mike booms interceded occasionally when big names were faced with an all-in. With those distractions, focusing on a complex game was really tough.
That said, I can honestly say I went toe-to-toe with the world’s best and did better than more than 85% of them. Hopefully I can carry that experience with me into the $10K main event next week. I’m certainly more comfortable with hold-em than triple draw. In the meantime, I’m going to get some sleep at a reasonable hour and, if I’m feeling good, take a shot a smaller hold-em tournament tomorrow at the Venetian that starts at noon.
It’s 3:30 am and I just got back to the hotel after an exhausting first day. I left home about 24 hrs. ago and caught about a one-hour cat nap between 3 pm and 4 pm. After registering for the Triple Draw event at the Rio (and figuring out the best place to park, etc.), I came back to the Westin to grab something to eat and to try to get some rest before the 5 pm start. The restaurant at the Westin was surprising good — best steak salad I’ve ever had — but sleep was not easy. I ended up dozing off to Wolf Blitzer interviewing Elizabeth Edwards (can always count on Wolf to help me sleep).
I woke up to my cell phone alarm at 4 pm, dozed for another 15 mins, and then headed out. It only took 10 mins to get to the Rio earlier in the day so I figured I had plenty of time. I had not, however, counted on Friday evening traffic in Vegas. Although it was stop and go the whole way, I got to the Rio with time to spare and found my table.
With 5 minutes to go before cards were in the air, however, they announced that you could only rebuy with Rio chips, not cash. This was a minor panic, because you have to rebuy before the first hand or potentially lose the opportunity. I sprinted over the cashier to convert my cash to chips. The cashier asked for my players card and my driver’s license. No problem. Player card, check. Driver’s license, umm. Where the hell is my driver’s license? It was conspicuously absent from my wallet. I knew I’d had earlier in the day because I needed it to get a player’s card and when I registered for the event. I ended up talking the cashier’s supervisor into giving me the chips with the driver’s license, but it was still a lot of stress right before we got started. At a break, I went over to the event registration window and asked the guy if he could check to see if the woman who registered me had forgotten to return my ID. Sure enough, after a 5 minute search, he found it. Phew.
Anyway, back to the action. I sat down and instantly started recognizing faces in the field of 208. Greg Raymer, John Juanda, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Phil Helmtuh, Alan Cunningham, “Grinder” Mizrachi, “Jesus” Ferguson, etc. At my table, I had Jon Turner, a young pro with 6 WSOP cashes to his name on my immediate left, followed by Eugene Ji, another very aggressive young pro. Eugene had an amazing rush of cards and at one point just dominated the table, finishing in the top 5 at the close of Day 1. Jon and Eugene raised and re-reraised just about every pot they played but backed up the action by hitting a lot of their draws.
I tried to buy the first pot unsuccessfully when my 7 paired up on the last draw, but Jon made a “look-up” call with a queen high (typically in this game, anything higher than an 8-high will lose). I tightened up significantly and waited awhile before trying to bluff again. I spent the first couple of rounds moving up and down, but getting little in the way of traction. I lost a big pot with a 7-6 high to Eugene holding 7-5 — ouch. The very next hand, I lost with 8-6 to an 8-5, double ouch. It was a very stable table, with nobody busting out for the first 5+ hours.
Meanwhile, Phil Helmuth showed up 45 mins late and caused quite the commotion at the table in front of mine when he discovered the tournament director had taken his chips off the table. It got sorted out, he played very fast and loose, and ended up busting soon after the rebuy period ended. Alan Cunningham was also at that table, very chatting, and consistently accumulated chips.
At 8:45 pm, we broke for dinner with action resuming at 10:00. I got some good sushi in the hotel (quick and healthy), sitting next to Todd Brunson and a pack of pros.
The first level after the dinner was disastrous. I kept getting strong starting hands, lots of callers to my raises, and nothing was hitting on the draws. On one hand, I paired up on all three draws. With the blinds rising quickly, these hands were very costly. I was down to about $2,500 with blinds at $200/$400 (meaning most pots would require an investment of $1,000 to 2,400 to play to the end depending on the raises). I had to pick my spots and, thankfully, started to hit some draws.
I chipped back up to about $10K, only to see it fall back down on another close-but-no-cigar hand where my opponent hit a miracle 3 on the last draw. In the final 2 levels of the evening, however, I went on an unbelievable rush. At one point, I took down 4 hands in a row and busted two people. I took a bit of a dip right before then end and was mentally castigating myself for not coasting to the end with a decent stack. Thankfully, I took down a good sized pot on the last hand against Jon that brought me close to my high for the day.
At 2:45 am, they announced that we would resume tomorrow (today) at 4:00 pm. With 100 people left, we will either have to play all night or go to a day 3. It is unclear how that will be handled. After the final level of the evening, we filled out forms to document our chips, put them in sealed plastic bags, and filed out for a little fresh air.
My goal for this event was both bold and modest — to get through the first day still in the running. I knew it would be a smaller field than the crazy hold-em events that are drawing 2000+ players, mostly amateurs. Although the field is small (at 208), it is filled with pros. Add to that the fact that I’ve only played the game online sporadically for about a month, and I figured I was a long-shot to survive the dinner break.
Anyway, not only did I survive, but I’m in decent shape. The top 24 will get paid with the bottom getting over $5,000 and the winner receiving over $200,000. I’m currently in 30th place according to Poker News. There’s little ole me at 19,300 in 30th position, just above 6-time bracelet winner Alan Cunningham. I’m going to get some sleep and try to update more tomorrow.
You can follow the action with periodic updates online starting at 4:00 pm here.
I’m safely ensconced at the Westin Las Vegas after a relatively pain-free 8 hr. drive from Palo Alto. Heading over Pacheco Pass at 4:00 am is definitely the way to go. There was no traffic leaving the Bay Area and I hit no heavy traffic the whole trip. One stop for gas and I rolled into Vegas around 11:00. One benefit of all those years of travel was an upgrade at the Westin. Bigger room, more amenitites but on the downside, the club floor is on 15. No problem except the elevators are having trouble so only two are working. Either a long wait or a good work-out. All things considered, however, it will be a great base camp. Just up the road from the Rio where the WSOP is held, 2 blocks from Caesar’s where the 3-day WSOP Academy will be, but away from the craziness that is the Strip. The lobby doesn’t have a casino between the parking lot and the guest room elevators (a huge plus), great bed, and quiet hallways.
I’m heading over to the Rio to get the lay of the land and to register for the 2-7 Triple Draw event that starts at 5:00 pm. The WSOP has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1969. That first WSOP was really an informal gathering of the top players in the country. The winner was declared by acclimation rather than a tournament. The 2007 WSOP spans more than a month and includes 55 separate multi-day events. The Series culminates with a $10,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold-em tournament that will take 8 days to crown a winner. Last year, over 7,000 played and the winner took home $12 million.
The 2-7 Triple Draw event is #48 and schedule to run three days. Triple Draw is a derivative of the old five-card draw poker game with a few twists. First, there are three draws instead of one, with betting before each one. Second, it is a pure lowball game so the worst hand wins. Straights and flushes count so the best possible hand is 7-5-4-3-2 with no flush. The betting, bluffing, and drawing strategy can get quite complex. Although I have only been studying and playing Triple Draw for about a month, my hope is that the field will be relatively small and that I can be competitive given the few true world-class experts in the game.
The WSOP event is a $1,000 buy-in with unlimited rebuys through the first break. For the $1K entry, I will receive $2,000 in chips. I will also have the option to buy an immediate rebuy for another $1K. I assume all serious players will take advantage of that option. If I go bust before the first break (two hours in), I will have the option to rebuy another $2000 in chips. That option is open to all on an unlimited basis until the first break. At that point, one last $1K will buy an “add-on” of $2,000 in chips. Thus, assuming I don’t go bust in the first period, the event essentially requires a $3,000 investment (initial buy-in, immediate rebuy, and the add-on).
The event is a “limit event” meaning that the amount of each bet is predetermined by each level. The tournament starts at $50/$100 limits ($50 for each bet and raise for the first draw, and $100 for each bet and raise for the second and third draw). Because there are so many bets in each hand and because Triple Draw is an “action game”, it will be quite easy to go bust in the first two hours. I expect many players will invest $5K-$10K in an effort to build a big stack early.
After 15 years of practicing law, primarily in the Silicon Valley, I’m taking a little hiatus. Ellen and I struggled for several months to decide whether to move the kids from Northern California to Washington, DC. The alternative was to consider another location, or leave my position as a senior partner and global head of intellectual property at the world’s largest law firm. After a lot of hand-wringing and soul-searching, we opted to jump into the black hole of the unknown. I’ve used the last couple of months to explore photography and poker, two passions for which I’ve had precious little free time in the past couple of years.
I’m leaving tonight for Vegas where I intend to compete in my first two World Series of Poker (WSOP) events. The first will be a little known game called 2-7 Triple Draw and the second will be the more well-known no-limit hold-em Main Event. The Triple Draw event begins Friday at 5:00 pm so my plan is to drive from Palo Alto to Vegas tonight so I arrive Friday morning with plenty of time to register, check-in to the hotel, and get some sleep before the event begins. After the Triple Draw event, I’m registered for a 3-day WSOP Academy session that will include seminars, tutorials, and two tournaments the winners of which will receive a $10K entry into the Main Event. If I don’t win either, I’ll suck it up and pay the entry myself.
The Triple Draw event is scheduled to last 3 days. The Main Event is a 7-day marathon with over 6,000 entrants expected. My goal for both events is to at least survive the first day. Both are long-shots to even do that given that I first played Triple Draw about a month ago and I’ll be playing the best in the world. That said, I’m heading into the adventure looking to have some fun and not focus too much on the money or the ultimate finish. It’s likely that this is the only time I’ll ever have the means and time to play at this level so I’m going to make the most of it, whether that means busting out in 30 seconds or going deep.
