COTW: How to final table a WSOP event
07-15-2010
, 01:34 AM
WTF? I haven't learned a thing about how to FT a WSOP event??
Just kidding, this an awesome story and an awesome TR. Keep up the good work!
And congrats!
Just kidding, this an awesome story and an awesome TR. Keep up the good work!
And congrats!
07-15-2010
, 01:48 AM
LDO I learned it by reading your clinic. 
REST
pfapfap more finds me than I find him. Another brief tangent... Just like I'm the "cashgame guy" and he's the "tournament guy", I'm also the "online poker guy" and he's the "live poker guy", despite the fact that in realitly we're both proficient at both versions... that's just the way it works out. (I'm also the "math guy" and he's the "feel guy".)
Anyway, he finds me and he is glowing! He slaps me on the back "Holy ****ing ****!"
Me: "I know, right!"
"Are you nervous while playing?"
"Nahhh."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Sure."
"Really???"
"Its just poker man. I've played this game before."
As we walked out to the car he told me he heard one player (who I knew plays midstakes) tell his friend at the rail that he was really really nervous. He also struck up a conversation with another guy who was railing a friend at my table, and he said his friend who was playing was sweating bullets. I tell him the cards don't change and the cards are all I'm paying attention to.
He tells me I looked comfortable at the tables... comfortable, confident, and completely in control. I tell him about pokerstars pro and how annyoying that was and and how badly my neck hurts now. pfapfap says "I think your live experience is really big advantage for you at this stage in the tournament. There are a lot of online players left that know the game inside and out but are really overwhelmed with cards and chips and other people right there in their face putting them out of thier comfort zone. Whereas you're used to all that and can just concetrate on playing." I find it hard to dasagree.
But then, I find it hard to do pretty much anything right now. We reach the car and he drives me back downtown. On the way I reach for my phone to call my wife and see I got a text from her:
I'm not sure who "that Wong guy" is or what I did to him, but I feel kinda dirty about it anyway. I realize its about 4 in the morning and think better of calling her. I'll ring her in the morning. Instead I update twitter and read a few feeds. Apparently there's a lot of people sweating this on twitter and on the internet because I have a ton of good luck notes. I check my email real quick and send a quick note to my mom that I'm going to day 3.
We get back to the hotel, and I crawl into bed and try to go to sleep. Emphasis on "try". I can't sleep. I'm wayyyyy too pumped. my brain is working at a million miles an hour and I just sit there in the darkness, wide awake, staring off into space for at least two hours. Sometime after 6am I finally drift off....
At 8am I jump out of bed. Did I mention how I am physically incapable of sleeping in? Its a damn good thing I don't need sleep.
I putter about the room until pfapfap and gedanken wake up.
They are playing their own $1500 event today, which provides a little bit of a logistics issue. We have the one car between the three of us and we're staying downtown, and their tournament starts and noon, and mine resumes at 3:30. they're verry deferential and say they will take a bus don't worry. I think busses suck and don't see why that's necessary, so I tell them I'll try to figure something out. I ring up El Nino over at the grindhouse because he mentioned something about coming out to rail me today.
I get Gary on the horn and ask him, if he's heading to Rio today, if I can grab a ride with him. He doesn't have a car in Vegas, but he'll check with the other 1Month1Micro guys once they wake up and get back to me. Cool.
I urge pfapfap and grdanken not to laugh too hard when they hear the next phonecall. I ask you, dear reader, not to laugh too hard either, but this is surely the most embarassing part of the trip report. I phone up my wife.
She's excited hear from me and we exchange pleasantires. She tells me how excited she is, and tells me that facebook is blowing up over my deep run. I find that amusing since I don't even have a facebook page. I tell her I have to ask her something.
"You see, here's the thing, I know that no matter what happens that my picture is going to be plastered all over the internet after today. I don't know what to wear."
"What did you bring?"
"Well, I could go with jeans and my red buttondown. Or my khaki cargos and blue teeshirt."
"I don't know. That could really go either way. Which do you feel more comfortable in."
"The cargos and the teeshirt."
"Well, since you don't have anything good either way, I'd just go with what you're comfortable in."
"Cool. That's what I was thinking anyway."
She tells me to stay focussed and wishes me good luck and we hang up. Yeah, that's right. I asked my wife for fashion advice beofre final tabling the WSOP. Suck it!
Gary calls back and tells me he and dabomb will be coming over to Rio to rail me, so what time shoud they pick me up. I say 2:00 and its all set. I tell pfapfap and gedanken they can take the car. They split at around 10:30 am so they have plenty of time to get settled at Rio. I now have about 3 hours by myself to kill before the grindhouse guys pick me up.
Now, the thing about seating for day 3 is that we do NOT redraw seats. We'll be at different phsyical tables, but we keep the same players at our tables in the same position and the button starts just where it was at the end of play yesterday. So I know exactly the position I will be in the start the day: I'll be UTG with 177,000 chips with blinds of 8000/16000 and 2k antes. With 8 players at the table my M will be 4.4. I'm about to go through the blinds and when I do my M will be around 3 1/2. I'm in the danger zone. I will probably have to shove either UTG, or hopefull in BU or CO. Anyway you slice it, I will probably be all in within the first 5 hands of day 3.
So I just start thinking about that first hand. I know everyone at the table and their tendancies. I can guess at their calling ranges against my UTG shove, and I just start going through FE+showdown equity for various hands in my head. I just lie there on the bed going through hand after hand figuring out if I would shove it at this table with M=4.4.
I do that for three hours. I go through ALL the hands. All of them. I come up with some odd stuff because of domination issues in calling ranges, like there's some broadway hands I won't shove but there are some smallish suited connectors I will. But by the time I'm done I feel pretty confident about my shoving range for the first hand.
Three hours later I'm ready to get picked up so I head over to the spot nino and dabomb said they'd get me and wait for them. I wait until 2:15 then text nino for an ETA. He tells me they're stuck in traffic and it'll be a little bit. I tell them I'll take a cab and to meet me at the Rio. So I hop in a cab and head over.
You know all through the trip report where I'm early for EVERYTHING? Yeah, this is why I do it. I'm currently on plan C for how to get my butt to the Rio and I'm still going to be there a half hour early with plenty of time to spare. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
On the way over to the Rio my phone is blowing up with texts from people wishing me luck. That's so awesome! I'm even getting texts from numbers I don't know wishing me well.
At the Rio I scope out the my table and its filled with a bunch of people playing 7 card stud. I spot the tournament director and tell him I'm in event 8 and I'm supposed to be at this table. He tells me event 8 has been moved and directs me to the new tables.
On my way over I spot "long hair" milling about near our area. "Hey man, congratulations!" I say and shake his hand. I find out his name is Max and I hear a little bit about how the rest of his day 2 went before wishing him luck. Then I spot Jimmy.
"Jimmy! Yo, Jimmy! What's up man!" He looks thrilled to see me and eagerly comes over and shakes my hand. We shoot the **** for a little while when suddenly he looks surreptitiously from side to side.
"Don't tell anyone this, OK?" he asks.
"Nah man. No worries"
His voice drops low and quiet. "If I get to play with that Hellmouth guy I'm going to ****ing check raise him all in on the turn. I don't ****ing care if I have 9 high I'm checkraising him allin on the turn just to see him blow up."
I laugh my ass off. He joins me. After about minute or two of uproarious laughter Jimmy and I straighten up, wish eachother luck, and part ways.
I head out back for a couple final smokes before taking my seat.
REST
pfapfap more finds me than I find him. Another brief tangent... Just like I'm the "cashgame guy" and he's the "tournament guy", I'm also the "online poker guy" and he's the "live poker guy", despite the fact that in realitly we're both proficient at both versions... that's just the way it works out. (I'm also the "math guy" and he's the "feel guy".)
Anyway, he finds me and he is glowing! He slaps me on the back "Holy ****ing ****!"
Me: "I know, right!"
"Are you nervous while playing?"
"Nahhh."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Sure."
"Really???"
"Its just poker man. I've played this game before."
As we walked out to the car he told me he heard one player (who I knew plays midstakes) tell his friend at the rail that he was really really nervous. He also struck up a conversation with another guy who was railing a friend at my table, and he said his friend who was playing was sweating bullets. I tell him the cards don't change and the cards are all I'm paying attention to.
He tells me I looked comfortable at the tables... comfortable, confident, and completely in control. I tell him about pokerstars pro and how annyoying that was and and how badly my neck hurts now. pfapfap says "I think your live experience is really big advantage for you at this stage in the tournament. There are a lot of online players left that know the game inside and out but are really overwhelmed with cards and chips and other people right there in their face putting them out of thier comfort zone. Whereas you're used to all that and can just concetrate on playing." I find it hard to dasagree.
But then, I find it hard to do pretty much anything right now. We reach the car and he drives me back downtown. On the way I reach for my phone to call my wife and see I got a text from her:
Quote:
I saw what you did to that Wong guy, great job baby! I'm so proud of you and I love you!!!!!
We get back to the hotel, and I crawl into bed and try to go to sleep. Emphasis on "try". I can't sleep. I'm wayyyyy too pumped. my brain is working at a million miles an hour and I just sit there in the darkness, wide awake, staring off into space for at least two hours. Sometime after 6am I finally drift off....
At 8am I jump out of bed. Did I mention how I am physically incapable of sleeping in? Its a damn good thing I don't need sleep.
I putter about the room until pfapfap and gedanken wake up.They are playing their own $1500 event today, which provides a little bit of a logistics issue. We have the one car between the three of us and we're staying downtown, and their tournament starts and noon, and mine resumes at 3:30. they're verry deferential and say they will take a bus don't worry. I think busses suck and don't see why that's necessary, so I tell them I'll try to figure something out. I ring up El Nino over at the grindhouse because he mentioned something about coming out to rail me today.
I get Gary on the horn and ask him, if he's heading to Rio today, if I can grab a ride with him. He doesn't have a car in Vegas, but he'll check with the other 1Month1Micro guys once they wake up and get back to me. Cool.
I urge pfapfap and grdanken not to laugh too hard when they hear the next phonecall. I ask you, dear reader, not to laugh too hard either, but this is surely the most embarassing part of the trip report. I phone up my wife.
She's excited hear from me and we exchange pleasantires. She tells me how excited she is, and tells me that facebook is blowing up over my deep run. I find that amusing since I don't even have a facebook page. I tell her I have to ask her something.
"You see, here's the thing, I know that no matter what happens that my picture is going to be plastered all over the internet after today. I don't know what to wear."
"What did you bring?"
"Well, I could go with jeans and my red buttondown. Or my khaki cargos and blue teeshirt."
"I don't know. That could really go either way. Which do you feel more comfortable in."
"The cargos and the teeshirt."
"Well, since you don't have anything good either way, I'd just go with what you're comfortable in."
"Cool. That's what I was thinking anyway."
She tells me to stay focussed and wishes me good luck and we hang up. Yeah, that's right. I asked my wife for fashion advice beofre final tabling the WSOP. Suck it!
Gary calls back and tells me he and dabomb will be coming over to Rio to rail me, so what time shoud they pick me up. I say 2:00 and its all set. I tell pfapfap and gedanken they can take the car. They split at around 10:30 am so they have plenty of time to get settled at Rio. I now have about 3 hours by myself to kill before the grindhouse guys pick me up.
Now, the thing about seating for day 3 is that we do NOT redraw seats. We'll be at different phsyical tables, but we keep the same players at our tables in the same position and the button starts just where it was at the end of play yesterday. So I know exactly the position I will be in the start the day: I'll be UTG with 177,000 chips with blinds of 8000/16000 and 2k antes. With 8 players at the table my M will be 4.4. I'm about to go through the blinds and when I do my M will be around 3 1/2. I'm in the danger zone. I will probably have to shove either UTG, or hopefull in BU or CO. Anyway you slice it, I will probably be all in within the first 5 hands of day 3.
So I just start thinking about that first hand. I know everyone at the table and their tendancies. I can guess at their calling ranges against my UTG shove, and I just start going through FE+showdown equity for various hands in my head. I just lie there on the bed going through hand after hand figuring out if I would shove it at this table with M=4.4.
I do that for three hours. I go through ALL the hands. All of them. I come up with some odd stuff because of domination issues in calling ranges, like there's some broadway hands I won't shove but there are some smallish suited connectors I will. But by the time I'm done I feel pretty confident about my shoving range for the first hand.
Three hours later I'm ready to get picked up so I head over to the spot nino and dabomb said they'd get me and wait for them. I wait until 2:15 then text nino for an ETA. He tells me they're stuck in traffic and it'll be a little bit. I tell them I'll take a cab and to meet me at the Rio. So I hop in a cab and head over.
You know all through the trip report where I'm early for EVERYTHING? Yeah, this is why I do it. I'm currently on plan C for how to get my butt to the Rio and I'm still going to be there a half hour early with plenty of time to spare. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
On the way over to the Rio my phone is blowing up with texts from people wishing me luck. That's so awesome! I'm even getting texts from numbers I don't know wishing me well.
At the Rio I scope out the my table and its filled with a bunch of people playing 7 card stud. I spot the tournament director and tell him I'm in event 8 and I'm supposed to be at this table. He tells me event 8 has been moved and directs me to the new tables.
On my way over I spot "long hair" milling about near our area. "Hey man, congratulations!" I say and shake his hand. I find out his name is Max and I hear a little bit about how the rest of his day 2 went before wishing him luck. Then I spot Jimmy.
"Jimmy! Yo, Jimmy! What's up man!" He looks thrilled to see me and eagerly comes over and shakes my hand. We shoot the **** for a little while when suddenly he looks surreptitiously from side to side.
"Don't tell anyone this, OK?" he asks.
"Nah man. No worries"
His voice drops low and quiet. "If I get to play with that Hellmouth guy I'm going to ****ing check raise him all in on the turn. I don't ****ing care if I have 9 high I'm checkraising him allin on the turn just to see him blow up."
I laugh my ass off. He joins me. After about minute or two of uproarious laughter Jimmy and I straighten up, wish eachother luck, and part ways.
I head out back for a couple final smokes before taking my seat.
07-15-2010
, 02:47 AM
07-15-2010
, 02:55 AM
Quote:
LDO I learned it by reading your clinic.
But then, I find it hard to do pretty much anything right now. We reach the car and he drives me back downtown. On the way I reach for my phone to call my wife and see I got a text from her:
I'm not sure who "that Wong guy" is or what I did to him, but I feel kinda dirty about it anyway. I realize its about 4 in the morning and think better of calling her. I'll ring her in the morning.
I phone up my wife.
She's excited hear from me and we exchange pleasantires. She tells me how excited she is, and tells me that facebook is blowing up over my deep run. I find that amusing since I don't even have a facebook page. I tell her I have to ask her something.
"You see, here's the thing, I know that no matter what happens that my picture is going to be plastered all over the internet after today. I don't know what to wear."
"What did you bring?"
"Well, I could go with jeans and my red buttondown. Or my khaki cargos and blue teeshirt."
"I don't know. That could really go either way. Which do you feel more comfortable in."
"The cargos and the teeshirt."
"Well, since you don't have anything good either way, I'd just go with what you're comfortable in."
"Cool. That's what I was thinking anyway."
She tells me to stay focussed and wishes me good luck and we hang up. Yeah, that's right. I asked my wife for fashion advice beofre final tabling the WSOP. Suck it!
But then, I find it hard to do pretty much anything right now. We reach the car and he drives me back downtown. On the way I reach for my phone to call my wife and see I got a text from her:
I'm not sure who "that Wong guy" is or what I did to him, but I feel kinda dirty about it anyway. I realize its about 4 in the morning and think better of calling her. I'll ring her in the morning.
I phone up my wife.
She's excited hear from me and we exchange pleasantires. She tells me how excited she is, and tells me that facebook is blowing up over my deep run. I find that amusing since I don't even have a facebook page. I tell her I have to ask her something.
"You see, here's the thing, I know that no matter what happens that my picture is going to be plastered all over the internet after today. I don't know what to wear."
"What did you bring?"
"Well, I could go with jeans and my red buttondown. Or my khaki cargos and blue teeshirt."
"I don't know. That could really go either way. Which do you feel more comfortable in."
"The cargos and the teeshirt."
"Well, since you don't have anything good either way, I'd just go with what you're comfortable in."
"Cool. That's what I was thinking anyway."
She tells me to stay focussed and wishes me good luck and we hang up. Yeah, that's right. I asked my wife for fashion advice beofre final tabling the WSOP. Suck it!
Why you would think asking your wife for fashion advice is embarrassing - I do not understand?
07-15-2010
, 03:02 AM
07-15-2010
, 03:08 AM
07-15-2010
, 07:44 AM
