(Long time 2p2 user, I created a fresh account because I value my anonymity).

I was the 2019 WSOP Main Event bubble boy (or so I thought)…
A few days ago I got a call from the WSOP telling me that I had actually cashed in the Main Event as they checked surveillance. I was a bit confused about the entire ordeal until I read this story today from Poker News:

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2019/...t=pn-hp-hero-3
Apparently, due to a dealer error the bubble had already burst before my bust out hand even occurred.

Flash back to the WSOP Main Event, very late on day 3.

Players were dropping like flies, and there was evident stalling by short stacks at the surrounding tables. At no point did we go hand for hand, which I remember thinking at the time was super odd. My table is playing quite fast as the average stack was well over 50bb with no super short stacks.

Eventually, on the stone bubble my nightmare hand comes up. The player I’m up against is the table chip leader with over 150bb. He has been steadily ramping up the aggression (45% vpip and 3betting a ton) as he relentlessly applies pressure to pretty much everyone else.
Blinds 3k/6k

I open AKo utg to 14k off a 62 bb stack. Utg+2, the chip leader 3bets to 42k with 76ss. I call. The flop comes 873r. I check call 18k. Turn K. I check, he checks. River 7. I check. After some deliberation he bets 300k which is about 2x the pot, and my heart sinks. I go in the tank and eventually get the clocked called me by another player. I talk myself into calling because I’m at the top of my range and get shown trips.

I’m escorted out of the Pavilion and handed a cardboard WSOP cutout with a bunch of old time pro’s signatures on it (lol). The media surrounds me and flashbulbs are going off in my face. I stand there as Jack Effel announces the bubble and everyone in the room cheers at my exit. I wind up in an Uber back to my hotel, after one of the worst days of poker in my life (and a sort of humiliating exit).

I’m a bit salty because in my mind this hand should never have happened. For one, since the bubble had already burst prior to this hand it’s likely this player would have folded 76ss to my utg open preflop. In addition, in a non-bubble situation I am mixing in 4bets with AKo, so in most cases I would have taken it down preflop. Last of all, his river overbet is fine in all situations but he is much more likely to do it on the bubble to put me in a very difficult ICM spot. Additionally, we never once went hand for hand and my table was likley seeing 3x the amount of hands as the surrounding tables were.

Ultimately, I feel like I got screwed out of quite a bit of equity due to the mismanagement of the bubble by the WSOP staff, dealers, and management. As a seasoned mid-high stakes cash pro 62bb going into day 4 of the Main Event would have been a total dream.

I’m not here looking for sympathy or for NVGers to give me advice on how to play AKo on the bubble. I just want the poker community to be aware when problems like this occur so that we can police/force these poker rooms and tournament venues to improve their product.

Sucks man... some bad beats just don't go away.

Two hands at last August in Cherokee event probably cost me a deep run. A year later it hurts even more.

I won the seat via satellite, and kept gettin AK after AK as we got down to the final bust out. At least four or five out of the last ten hands.

Folded like a *****... hahaha

1. You're not anonymous. Pokernews outed you. (never mind, i see what u mean)
2. Did you get to keep the free buy-in to 2020 or just the $15000 mincash?
3. They made a mistake but there's always that possibility when the biggest event of the year is taking place in two different rooms on 143 tables.
4. Most players don't tighten up after the bubble. Those who do will not be betting 2x pot on the river with worse than TPTK.

2. No I don't get a 2020 seat as far as I know.

3. Yes mistakes happen but we should have went hand for hand much, much earlier. The fact that we never did it doesn't make any sense. It's not like 5 people busted in unison. There was ample time to go h4h.

4. I'm not sure what you mean, the correct play is to abuse the bubble especially in the Main Event where people over fold and just want to cash. This guy wasn't very laggy until we approached bubble time and he correctly leveraged his stack. A 3b with 76ss to ep open is not standard and no winning reg is going to do that vs me and garner any sort of chip ev.

I hear you man. I was on the floor during the bubble and it was strange how long they waited to go hand for hand. Players were busting at a rapid pace and people were looking around like "are we going hand for hand"? and we never did until very late and it only lasted one hand and even then there was confusion as to what exactly had happened.

You need to shove AK pf this guy is bullying you.

maybe villain did not play as he would in the money, but maybe you didn't either. my point is it's impossible to say. don't tie yourself up in knots over it.

so hand for hand only lasted one hand? meaning the actual bubble boy could have stalled with his kings, but he chose not to? respect.

you busted yourself and want sympathy? GTFO

+1

Not nice

I feel for you OP--I thought the bubble was handled very poorly this year by the floor, and this hand would not have gone down the way it did had the floor been doing their jobs.
I hope this incident/year motivates the TDA to improve the way bubbles are handled.

Wonder if the actual bubble-boy had to give his minimum cash back? (If he ever received it). On the bright side you took one for the team and he didn't have to get humiliated lol. But maybe he wants the cardboard autographed cutout still. lol So sick about h4h not being used early enough, that sucks.

Easiest 4 bet shove ever

Mathematical principles would dictate that the “the actual bubble boy” didn’t collect a min cash but rather was the soft bubble, which was the case if you read the article.

The actual bubble boy was the guy who thought he busted one before the stone bubble, not somebody who min-cashed.

That guy was upgraded from nothing to buy-in for next year.

Sheesh, cry me a river.

Suck it up buttercup. You picked up 5k for calling off your stack on with tptk because the floor waited too long to go h4h. No one feels sorry for you and being salty is a hysterical rsponse to winning 15k rather than a seat to next years main.

You hate your life.

ouch, you should get both - free entry next year and $15K min cash for your troubles. Mason feels the rake is too high.

As stated in the OP I wasn't looking for sympathy nor hand advice (particularly from NVG, no offense). I don't expect anyone to really care unless it happens to them. My point in sharing the article and explanation is to spread awareness for HOW NOT to run a bubble. I'm sure the WSOP will be more careful next year as they had to waste some man hours figuring all of this out. What hadn't really been discussed in the Poker News article was how different the hands play out if the circumstances are different. I think I have every right to feel cheated out of five figures in equity even if random NVGer (who thinks Negreanu can't beat nl100, bro!) thinks I'm donkey for calling it off with TPTK (how I played the hand is totally irrelevant if the hand would have never happened in the first place).

I know you said don't talk about the actual hand, but man, looking back, do you think you played it pretty horribly?

Flat-call a 3b with AK oop? (so you are flop dependent then?)
Check-call 873 flop? (so now you aren't flop dependent anymore?)
Check turn when K hits.
Call off all your chips when middle pair on flop pairs board on river?

You played it so passively, I assume due to bubble, then called it off massively when "omg I have top pair, I cawww". If you had shoved pre hand over, no thread created. I'd rather bust that way, then let my opponent see all five cards then call it all off, just personally speaking.

Also, this could be entirely false, plenty of table big stacks will play this hand against a raise whether bubble has burst or not.

4b ripping is totally fine and could be preferable. With 50bb I probably do it. At 62bb I felt we were a little too deep.

As played flop check/call is standard when he bets like 20% pot - he is cbetting range there and more often I'm ahead. A lot of his turn cbet bluffs actually hit my underrepped AK. Turn K is obvious check by me. River 7x I could block bet small and try to get value from TT-QQ but I was afraid villain would pick up on the fact that he has all the 7x and turn some of his 8x or even something like TT into a bluff. His 2x pot shove is something a good player will do to attack perceived capped range - it's entirely possible he chooses exact sizing with some Kx that I beat if he is thinking I am capable of heroing light. My hand looks like face up middle pair especially since I checked river. Gotta call.

I'll never know, of course. Poker is a game of frequencies. It's safe to deduce this guy isn't 3b 100% with suited connectors to my utg open, he would be burning money doing so. He seemed overall competent. On the stone bubble though, he may 3b that combo near 100%.

Fold pre IMO