The World Series of Poker (Part 2)

July 8th, 2005

I wake up super early, around 7am PST, and I'm way too excited to sleep any longer.  Today is the big day.  The World Series of Poker.  An opportunity to become a millionaire and change my life forever.  Hell, even a min-cash... even making it past the first day of the tournament would be an accomplishment to be proud of.  In the time it takes me to shower and get dressed in my PokerRoom.com apparel, I decide that I'm going to sit back, play tight and observe the rest of the players at my opening table to get an idea of who knows what they are doing and who doesn't.  Once I shake the nerves and get somewhat comfortable at the table is when I will open up my game and start getting involved in more hands.

With a strategy for the tournament in place, I meet up with Dave ("NIWSYAWLAI") and my mom drives us from Luxor to the Rio.

We arrive at 10:15am, 45 minutes before the tournament is scheduled to begin.  I wish Dave good luck and venture off to find table #69 in the Amazon Room.

Fortunately, it's located along the rail and is one of the outermost tables in the room.  I rub the table felt for luck before heading back out of the room to relax and clear my head.  A short while later, I return to the Amazon Room to find that my table is nearly full, save for my seat (7) and seat 5.   Among my opponents, there are 3 guys dressed in Poker Stars shirts, 2 older gentlemen, 2 middle-aged fellows (one of whom is from India) and a younger guy who is probably a year or two older than me.

I don't recognize any of them, so I assume that none are professionals (whew!).  At 11am, Carolyn Gardner (who was apparently a WSOP champion in a stud event back in 1983) sings an absolutely horrible rendition of the National Anthem.  At 11:15am, the button is drawn to seat 9 and someone else (I forget who exactly) announces "SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL!"  I quickly count my chips to make sure that all of my 10000 starting stack is there and it checks out with 12 green chips (25), 7 black (100), 4 pink (500) 2 yellow (1000) and 1 lavender/light blue (5000).  Blinds start at 25/50 and will increase every 2 hours.

As the first hand is being dealt, I put my iPod headphones into my ears but neglect to turn the music on just yet.  I look down and find the Js 5d and quickly fold my first ever hand in the WSOP.  Seat 8 (the middle-aged guy from India) raises right behind me from the hi-jack and takes down a small pot with a continuation bet after the flop.  "OK, I survived one hand." I think to myself, with a deep sigh of relief.  The very next hand, however, I look down at AQ and the action folds around to me.  I really wasn't expecting (or wanting) to play any hands this early in the tournament, but in this case, the cards and lack of action ahead of me essentially force me to.  Carefully and methodically, I raise 4x the blind (again, that was the standard raise back then) to 200 and I take the pot uncontested.  I know it sounds stupid, but dragging in those 3 measly green chips from the blinds gave me some much-needed confidence to enter subsequent pots.  I would need that confidence sooner rather than later, because on the very next hand, I'm dealt JJ!  Once again, I'm first to enter the pot and raise to 200.  This time, however, the small blind comes out of nowhere and re-raises me 800 more.  "Fuck," I think to myself as I contemplate whether I should call or fold.  Admittedly, 4-betting my opponent didn't even cross my mind, not on Hand #3 of the tournament.  Not that it would have been a viable play, I just never considered the move.  Still, pocket Jacks was a strong holding and I'd have position on my opponent throughout the hand if I called his re-raise, so I did.  Flop: Q 8 3, with two spades.  Immediately, my opponent fires 3000 into the pot, without any hesitation whatsoever.  I'm not even sure he looked at the flop, but in any case, his bet makes it clear that my Jacks aren't any good. Regretfully, I muck my hand and am suddenly the short stack at the table with a total of 9075 in chips.

Looking back, I don't think that I played the hand wrong, but at the time, I was kicking myself as if I fucked up my whole tournament.  Watching from the rail, my mom could tell I was a bit flustered and stepped away for a bit to perhaps take some pressure off of me.  The very next hand, my stack takes another hit when I raise to 200 (for the third consecutive hand) with pocket sixes from middle position.  2 players call what is clearly a tilt raise and we see a flop of A K T.  Betting ensues and I fold, leaving me with a stack of 8875.  Thankfully, a string of unplayable hands follows and allows me to catch my breath a bit from my initial WSOP beating.  During this time, I chat it up with the guy sitting to my left in Seat 8 (middle-aged guy from India).  His name is Pat and this is his third WSOP.  He proves to be the most experienced player at the table and is by far the most aggressive.  He's also very nice and has several Indian statue things on the table that he uses to protect his cards.  I'm pretty sure that one of them is made of pure gold.  Anyway, in the midst of making a new "friend" at the table, I chip back up a bit and have 9600 on the first break of the tournament.

To be continued...