PART 1:

So I arrive at Pearson Airport ready to head to Vegas for the 2009 World Series of Poker. I check my luggage… 43.5lbs. Maximum weight, 43lbs. $20 please. Ugghhh, bad start. Let’s hope that’s not a sign of things to come.

After a 6 hour journey including a layover in Chicago, I finally arrive at Mccarran Airport and take the motion sickness unfriendly shuttle to the Rio where all the magic takes place. As I walk towards the Amazon Room, I can feel the buzz of excitement in the air. Upon entering the WSOP area, I see thousands of bad poker players brimming with hope; some playing, some watching. I also see hundreds of good poker players brimming with legitimate confidence; some winning, some getting unlucky. That’s pretty much the essence of the World Series of Poker. It’s a fantastic short-term high risk investment. If we could string together 1000 years of the WSOP, we would see a relatively small group of people winning all of the money. Unfortunately, each year is only a sliver of time in the grand scheme of the live poker world. But enough with preaching variance and statistics, you want to hear stories!

Every time I arrive for the WSOP, I’m always curious as to which poker player will own the first face I recognize. This year, it happened to be two of my best poker friends as they were off to lunch as I waited in line for the cashier. Talk about coincidence. Of all the thousands of people at the Rio and hundreds that I know and/or recognize, the first two I see are the guys I’m staying with for my first few nights in Vegas.

I join my friend Todd to watch him play from the rail as he’s managed to go deep in today’s event. As they approach the money bubble and the tournament slows down to hand-for-hand play, a seat opens up beside Todd. Over strolls Antonio Esfandiari with his stack and he sits in the seat. As he sits down, I’m conversing with Todd about how I’m considering selling some of my action in the two events that I’m playing. Antonio overhears this and instantly says, “I’ll buy it!” I remind him that he doesn’t even know who I am. But he assures me that Todd looks like a smart young guy and if he’s interested in buying my action, it must be a good investment. So I give him 10% of my action and he proceeds to give me $1500 in chips while I write down my name and phone number on a scrap piece of paper for him. We chat a bit about Toronto and how we should party together next time he’s in the city.

So eventually I go home and rest up for the next day’s event, the $5000 6max No Limit Hold’em. This event is traditionally dominated by online kids as we’ve played millions of hands of 6max 100BB poker while even the best live poker pros have less than 1% of that experience at these tables.

I only really played 3 hands that were worth noting in the 6max event, as I didn’t last very long.

1) Blinds 50/100, ~T14,000 effective, (starting stacks were T15,000)
MP limps for the 2nd time in two hours. The table had generally been open-raising so limping was rare.

I raise to T425 with JJ from the button, MP calls.

Flop: 5c 5d 2s (pot=1000)
MP donks T700, I raise to T2100, MP calls.

Note that MP genuinely looked a bit dejected when he called. He simply wasn’t good nor smart enough to be doing it as a trick, he was legitimately concerned.

Turn: 4h (pot=5200)
MP checks, I bet T3000, MP calls.

River: Tc (pot=11200)

Up until this point in the hand, I really thought there was next to no chance I was beat unless he spiked a 4 on the turn. I felt like he had 33/66-88 here like 90% of the time along with maybe the odd AA/KK. Then it dawned on me. I’m playing live poker against bad players. He could conceivably have a 5 with a hand like 65s or 54s and thought that my raise on the flop meant I had a better kicker. Online or against a better player, I think this river is a pretty clear bet. Ultimately, I decided to check it back figuring that the value of the all-in bet wasn’t worth risking my tournament life. Sure enough, he tabled 65s and took the pot. Ugh.


2) Blinds 50/100, ~T8500 left

CO opens, who had been quite active up to this point. Folds to me in the BB with ATo. In retrospect, I like 3betting or folding better than calling, but in the moment I must have felt like it was a bad time for a 3bet yet also too strong to fold. The CO also played fairly telegraphically post-flop. Earlier, he had checked back AKo on a KJ3r board. I’d also seen him check back another top pair, yet continuation bet draws.

Flop: Td 8s 4d (pot=640)
I check, CO bets T500, I call.

Turn: Jd (pot=1640)
This is clearly a bad card for me as it completes the flush along with a straight draw as well as serving as an overcard. (I have no diamond).
I check, CO bets T1200, I call.

In retrospect, I should have just laid this down. My thought process at the time was that he virtually never has a pair or even a set and potentially never a straight. He’s completed his flush, or he’s barreling off on a scary turn card. I decided that of his flop betting range, only X% consisted of a flush draw while Y% was filled with pure bluffs, along with a small % of made hands that decide to check the turn. So I deduced that most of his Y% of hands fire the turn, and that this frequency was high enough in comparison to the X% of hands that made the flush and that I should call. In hindsight, I should have taken the careful route and left myself with in a much better position with ~T8000 left instead of risking getting really short. I also didn’t have enough reason to be sure that he would barrel off with all of his missed hands, which essentially I would need to happen for my call to be good.

River: 3s (pot=3040)
He bets T3000, and I make the stubborn call believing that the card doesn’t change anything and that his barreling frequency is high enough in comparison to the times he’s made a flush for me to make the call. [SARCASM]I mean c’mon, I know that I’m only losing to a flush, and what are the odds that he can have two diamonds!?!? [/SARCASM] Plus, hero calls are so much more fun during live poker.

He tables 75dd and I’m down to 20% of the starting stack.


3) I 3bet all-in to T3000 with AKo and get a tank/call from A6s. Flop is T64ss. GG ME. Not my day.

The good news: I busted at 5:40pm, enough time to make my way over to the Rio pool to “cool off” in the sun after being a bit steamed about busting from the tournament.

The bad news: The pool closes at 6pm.

Okay, so I’m getting rid of all my run bad before the Main Event, right?

To be continued…

[Teasers for Part 2: Some cash game hands, partying with LeBron James (kind of?) at LAX, a party at Durr’s Palace, my Main Event experience, a private PokerStars party with Nelly where two well-known poker pros try to pick-up my girlfriend (at least, I thought so..)]

PART 2:

So I guess I’ll kick off Part 2 with the cash game hands I promised. They’re not all that interesting, but hopefully they’re at least pseudo-entertaining for some readers.

1) 5/10NL, $2000 effective stacks

Folded to me in the SB and I open to $30 with T7dd, BB calls.

Flop: Kd Jc 9d (pot=$60)
Bet $45, BB calls.

Turn: Qh (pot=$150)
Bet $115, BB raises to $300, I call.

River: 4d (pot=$750)
I check, BB bets $600, I shove all-in, he snapcalls with A3dd.

This was obviously a pretty deflating hand. The problem is that I have the Td so for him to have one of the higher flushes, he would have had to raise the turn without the straight but with the flush draw. This is a pretty bad/strange line for him, figuring that all those flush draws play a ton better as floats against my turn bet. But hey, that’s the beauty of live poker. People are bad, and that means you can never rule out them having the nuts on the river no matter how badly/weirdly they’ve played them up to that point. I was completely aware of this at the moment, and genuinely tanked about whether to shove or just flat his river bet. I felt like he had ATo and would call a decent portion of the time, combined with the fact that he’s almost as likely to have raised the turn with a smaller bare flush draw than he would with the nut flush draw. And there’s the outside chance that he decides to call me down with just a T.

2) I open to $50 from the button after the CO posts $10, and just the BB calls.

Flop: Jd 9d 5c (pot=$115)
Check, Check.

Turn: 7c (pot=$115)
Check, I bet $75, Call.

River: 4d (pot=$265)
BB bets $180, I call. BB shows 44.

I really don’t think I can raise this river the way his range is represented. Regardless of what he has with his river bet, it’s played quite strangely. And strangely played hands are often bluffs/nuts, not one-pair/2-pair type hands that would consider calling a river raise.

3) EP limps, MP limps, CO opens to $55, I make it $170 OTB, SB makes it $475, I fold AKo. He later claims he had KK and I believed him. Fairly standard but man do I hate laying down big hands in live poker. Might not see it again for hours!

4) MP opens for $50, LP calls, I call with KQcc in SB, BB calls.

Flop: Kd 2d 2c (pot=$200)
I check, BB checks, MP bets $125, CO raises to $375, I puke and fold. They somehow get it in and MP wins with A2ss, and to my surprise, nitty CO showed KJhh.

Okay, enough with the boring cash game hands, time for the Main Event report. I’m sure you’re dying to know how I managed to bust from the big one so early on Day 1!

So we started with T30,000 and 50/100 blinds which was a fantastic structure. Much to my surprise/disappointment, my table was playing significantly tougher than the 5/10NL cash games I’d been playing at the Rio. There was very seldom limping and not a whole lot of passive fishiness. That’s not to say it was tough, but I wasn’t going to be fed chips on a silver platter.

I managed to run my stack up to T48,000 at the first break, a great start. Back from the break, I was down to T44,000 after missing a draw in a small pot when this hand occurred:

1) Blinds 100/200

I open KJo to T600 from MP, CO calls, BUTTON calls, BB calls.

Flop: Kc 8d 7d (pot=T2500)
BB checks, I bet T1400, CO calls, BUTTON and BB fold.

Turn: Jh (pot=T5300)
I check, CO bets T3300, I call.

River: 7h (pot=T11900)
I check, CO bets T9000, I call. CO shows T9cc.

This hand obviously sucked. There were a ton of draws on the flop that would fire the turn regardless of whether they hit or not (he happened to have one of the three combinations among 20+ combinations that did hit). And I was pretty certain that he was the type to follow through with bluffs, regardless of whether the river was a good scare card or not. And there is always the outside chance the he is getting some value out of a hand like KX. Blah, down to T31,000.

2) Blinds 100/200

*WARNING* For those readers with weak stomachs, do not read any further!

After hand (1), I probably gave off a tilt-vibe to the rest of the table as I was visibly upset with the hand and proceeded to get hit with the deck and so I was probably viewed as spite-raising and being overly aggressive. I had just cold 4bet VILLAIN with AA a few hands prior to this one.

VILLAIN opens to T600 from UTG+2, I 3bet AA to T1800 from the CO, he calls.

Flop: Kd 4s 3c (pot=T3900)
VILLAIN checks, I bet T2100, VILLAIN raises to T6000, I call.

Now, here’s the read on VILLAIN. Essentially, he’s a Dutch maniac. He won a bracelet during this series in a Limit Hold’em Event and a warning from a friend confirmed my already looming suspicions of his aggressive nature. He’s definitely check-raising this flop with much more than the 6 combos of 44/33 that beat me. And I’m fairly certain that those are the only hands that are beating me here as he is most likely folding K4/K3s preflop. So I’m not happy about his raise, but I’m more than prepared to put on my seatbelt and call.

Turn: Jh (pot=T15,900)
VILLAIN bets T9000, I call.

The turn card is pretty good for me, it really doesn’t complete a whole lot of anything for him. Although, the counterpoint is that it might slow him down if he’s on a bluff with a straightdraw. My gut told me it wouldn’t.

River: 6c (pot=T33900)
VILLAIN bets T14200 (all-in), I tank a bit and call. VILLAIN proudly shows 75cc.
I realize that shoving the turn was an option, but its a spot where villain is way ahead or way behind and also inclined to bluff the river so it doesn't make that much sense to shove the turn, although stacksizes may have indicated otherwise had I been more acute in realizing the river bet would be <1/2pot. I just felt like at this point in the day, he was really ready to make some moves and exploit the fact that nobody at the table seemed to be willing to play a big pot and risk their tournament life so early on day 1. I was confident that along with the 6 combinations of sets that he’s check-raising the flop with, there were also 20+ combinations of wheeldraws/straightdraws/air that he was willing to fire 3 barrels with when he’s certain I can’t have better than 1 pair very often. So that was the end of my first Main Event experience. Not a good one.

Alright, enough with the boring poker talk.

So one of my first nights in the city I decide to go to dinner and a club with some poker friends. Dinner at Nobu was fantastic as always, and a few brandys later I was ready to go to the bar. As we’re waiting in the VIP line at LAX, a hot Vegas club known for celebrity sightings, I take a time-out to enjoy the scenery and appreciate the surroundings. Then something catches my eye. A big, black, something. A big black something with tattoos, sleek aviator glasses, and an intimidating entourage. As the something brushes by my shoulder, I awaken from my stupor to realize that the something is in fact, LeBron James. Turns out, our VIP table was located just below (of course) the King’s fancy celeb table. So in our drunken state, we decide that it’s a mega +EV play to buy the King a couple bottles of champagne as he’ll certainly appreciate the gesture and most likely just return the favor by buying us at least 8 bottles back. I mean c’mon, it’s LeBron James. So with visions of clanking bottles with LeBron as we talk ball with him and exchange dance moves, we give the waitress our special order. After fifteen minutes pass by, the waitress returns to tell us the LeBron has let it be known that he enjoys a different type of champagne, a more expensive one. We give her the okay, and rejoice in knowing that LeBron has received our gesture. Another thirty minutes pass by. And then an hour. And then another hour. And then it’s the next morning and nobody really remembers anything except the fact that LeBron James owned us for a couple bottles of champagne and we never heard from him again. Two big bottles of failpagne.

The funny thing about champagne is that it causes severe drunkenness and hangovers when drank at an ill-advised pace. So the next morning I wake up at 7:30am in the blazing Vegas heat lying on a lawnchair in the backyard of the house I was staying at, with only boxers on. I crawl inside and pass out on a couch until I wake up around noon to voices of inquisition. I clamber out to the backyard where the investigation is taking place. The first thing I notice is that my feet are now wet. The second thing I notice is that water is spewing into the air from the water supply beside the house at an alarming rate. We all spend the next 15 minutes trying to figure out what the heck happened last night, but to no avail. So I go back to bed until the mid-afternoon when I start feeling well enough to resume daily activities. By this time, the water main had been fixed by the landlord and it was no longer a big deal. But its dumbfounding origins were still the hottest topic of conversation. Later that day, I walk around to the side of the house where I have trouble opening the gate, even though its completely unlocked. The procedure for opening the door just happens to be not-so-obvious. Then it occurs to me. I was the first one home last night, and I didn’t have a key to get into the house. That explains why I passed out in the backyard. But how did I get into the backyard if I can’t even open the gate when I’m sober? Well I must have climbed the wall beside the gate. The wall that’s located directly beside the broken water main, which would serve perfectly as leverage to help climb over the wall. Mystery solved. We all had a good laugh about that one.

The other notable partying experience during the first week of my Vegas trip was a party at Tom Dwan’s bachelor suite in Palm’s Place, the condominium resort concept. First of all, Tom’s place is pretty unreal. There’s a huge balcony that can support about 30+ people with a hot tub that features water pouring over the edge of the tub into the abyss of what is the best view of the strip in Las Vegas. The inside is incredibly spacious and furnished with lavish pieces that create an atmosphere of youthful success. The sound system is pretty sweet too. But the most amazing thing about this party was not the setting, but rather the company in attendance. Of the 40-50 people there, roughly ~30 people were young poker professionals. Of those 30 people, the average age was somewhere between 22-24 and the total net worth was somewhere between $50-$100 million. At least, that’s what a few of us put together as a guess. I won’t bother listing names, but it was pretty much a who’s who of online poker and it was a really fun experience for someone like myself that doesn’t spend a whole lot of time in Las Vegas or following the World and European Poker Tours.

Just like my prior WSOP experiences in Vegas, I had the best time when my friends from home were there to visit. This year, my girlfriend Lauren, along with four of my closest friends from home all came up to share in the fun that Vegas has to offer during the World Series.



There were plenty of great stories generated from our tomfoolery, but this blog entry is becoming exceedingly long and I’m simply tired of writing. So I’ll just limit the recap to the most eventful night, the PokerStars VIP party at the Palms providing entertainment by rapstar Nelly and highlighted by PokerStars pros being in attendance. Open bar was a pretty lucrative perk as well. It was really fun to experience a rap concert with a small audience and be able to get so close to the stage. I was never a huge Nelly fan, but it was really fun listening to him rap some of his old classics while we drank free triples from the bar. It didn’t take long before we spotted some PokerStars pros. The first being Marcel Luske. We did a shot of tequila with him before handing him off to my friend Jim who has a Dutch background in common with Mr. Luske. Apparently the conversation was boring because it didn’t take long before Marcel was back to talking to Lauren with hopes of taking her back to his place. So we moved on to the next pro, Daniel Negreanu. Lauren walked up to Daniel and started talking to him about Toronto and how they are both from the same area. It didn’t take long before I conjured up a plan to interrupt their conversation while pretending to be upset with Daniel for trying to pick up my girlfriend. At the time, I thought it was going to be hilarious. So I charged up to Daniel and grabbed him by the collar as I told him to get the hell away from my girlfriend, in not as many words. Apparently I was too drunkenly serious because he didn’t receive the joke well. He abruptly stated that he was just having a polite conversation, and immediately left the party. I’m fairly certain he was on his way out after his brief but mandatory shown face, but I like to think that I was the main culprit for his early exit. Just in case you didn’t believe me:



So that’s it for my 2009 WSOP Trip Report. I’ve got some other material to write about including a rant about Vegas and live poker, and analyzing live poker vs. online poker, but I’ll leave that for my next blurb. Until then, keep fit and have fun!

Awesome TR.

WTF were you thinking when sending champagne to LeBron? VERY EV- imo.

hmm I thought DN was sick during the ME ?


nice TR I feel for you on that AA hand

i like this part, good read

Nice TR.

Your girlfriend is gorgeous BTW.

lmao, I'm really glad I saw this. It was a great read

Was it you, your opponent or both that didn't want to chop in the 5/10 game? Would have saved you a buy-in if you chopped.

Chopping is for pansies.

I usually just do whatever the person wants chopwise. Mostly just cuz I generally don't care when I'm playing live poker, its more of a vacation than a grind-out-every-galfond-dollar-mission. Glad you guys enjoyed the TR.

pics of durrr's place?