I had seen my dreams of winning a World Series of Poker Main Event seat dashed on Thursday night (May 20) when late in the tournament (a $1000 buy-in multi-table satellite) I folded my pocket sevens pre-flop to a raise and an all-in re-raise in front of me. I was pretty sure the two players just had big overcards, but with two of them in there the odds of a bigger pair than mine was good. So I folded and of course they both turned over big cards, but no pocket pairs. The board didn't help either player and the ace-high hand won. Had I played I would have knocked out two players, tripled my chips and most likely locked up a $10,000 payday. Anyway, it was not to be that night (my second in Vegas) and I headed back to the Golden Nugget dejected. It was very late and I had played alot of poker that day. Three tournaments with one win and two out of the money finishes. Tomorrow, Friday, was the final day to win a seat in the main event which started Saturday, May 22. There were 4 tournaments scheduled starting at 10 am, 2pm, 7pm and 11pm. These would be the last chances I had at playing in the world series as I had no intention of paying the $10,000 entry out of pocket! I still had a week left in Vegas and wanted to conserve money for the cash games and the occasional meal I might want to enjoy.
I headed back across Fremont Street to the Golden Nugget where my room and king size bed was awaiting my return. I stopped beneath the electronic canopy that runs for four blocks over the street and watched the incredible light display. I felt good. I was in Vegas playing good poker and having a great time. At the same time I felt so alone. I didn't really know anyone and all I had been doing was playing poker and sleeping since I got into town. As I strolled through the casino I saw Phil Ivey at a private craps table. There was a velvet rope around the table, but I inched as close as I could to get a view of his action. He was betting $10,000 on the pass line with at least $20,000 odds behind it. He had $10,000 on every number across the board as well, so he was basically risking $80,000 per roll of the dice! Here's a 26 year old kid from Atlantic City living the high life in Vegas. Must be nice! I continued to my room and tried to get some sleep. I had a big day ahead of me.
I knew I'd never make the 10am tournament so I decided to sleep in and get a good breakfast and play in the 2pm event. I'm glad I went over to Binion's for breakfast because the line for registration was already getting long. I got in line at around noon. It took me an hour to get registered and the line was continuing to grow. I was in my seat at 2pm raring to go but then they announced that due to the long lines for registration the tournament start would be delayed and that it should start at 3pm. I stayed close to my table and killed some time watching the single table satellites where Chris Moneymaker was trying to win his own seat in the main event. I also got to chat with Phil Helmuth's nemesis Sam Grizzle and Scotty Nguyen, the 1998 World Champion. I saw Kenna James and he remembered me from the tournament at the Sands. I congratulated him on his win in the Austral-Asian Championship back in February and then we exchanged e-mail addresses to keep in touch as he was organizing a group travel rate to Melbourne for the tournament next year.
I headed back to my seat and looked out across a sea of tables in the room. The tournament director was calling for everyone to get seated so they could get started. It turns out that 580 people had signed up for this event which had a $225 buy-in with unlimited re-buys for the first hour. That's a big field to beat, but I knew that the more people who played, the bigger the prize pool and the better chance I had at winning a seat in the main event.
I got comfortable and we started to play. Starting with $500 in chips, I managed to run up my chips to about $1700 by the end of the re-buy period and was still in for my original $225. Some people played so aggressively (recklessly) that they had to rebuy multiple times so that was driving up the prize pool and putting more chips in play for me to accumulate. At the end of the rebuy period there is an optional $200 add-on which gives you an additional $500 in chips. I debated doing this as it wouldn't really give me that much more of an advantage, but I wanted the best opportunity to survive and win and those extra chips could make the difference when the smoke cleared and this thing was over. I did the add-on and came back from the break to a chip stack of $2200. I lost my sunglasses somewhere during the break and would have to play the rest of the event without one of the tools of the trade. It must have worked because I started to build my chips and knocked a few players out. My confidence was growing and I was also getting great cards to boot. I was hitting alot of flops, making alot of draws and things were really going my way. I was building enough of a chip stack where I could really afford to gamble if I wanted and was starting to become the table bully. I was moved around a few times as they broke tables and combined players. I was moved about 5 times and each time I was the chip leader at the new table.
I was sitting across from Thor Hansen, a pro who I remembered from the final table at the Sands tournament. We did a rough estimate of the average chip stack and what it might take to win a seat. I had about $16,000 at this point and we figured that we would need a bit over $20,000 to survive and get awarded a seat. I was on my way but would still need to play well and survive as the blinds and antes were constantly creeping up every twenty minutes. Finally, there had been enough players eliminated that all the tables were combined upstairs in the main tournament room. There's alot of history in that room, as that is where the final table of the World Series of Poker is held each year. We had to have our chips bagged and tagged and they would be waiting for us upstairs at our new seat assignments. There were still about 150 players left in the tournament, but the they were still counting all the money from the rebuys and add-ons so nobody knew just how many seats we were playing for. I tightened up and played very conservatively until I knew where I had to be. I had a chip stack of over $36,000 and now there were less than 100 players. Players continued to drop and then there were 6 tables...then there were 5. Finally, they announced the prize pool was over $260,000 and there would be 26 $10,000 seats to the main event awarded. I was so close I could taste it. I looked around the room, counted the remaining players and calculated the average chip stack. I was golden as long as I didn't make any mistakes, but in no-limit hold em every hand can be your last hand if you're not careful!
I folded alot of great hands including ace-king and even pocket queens. Why risk playing them? I couldn't believe how willing some players were to gamble this close to victory. I just wanted a seat so bad. Soon we were down to 3 tables and only 10 players away from finishing this. With only three tables it was easy to keep an eye on everything happening around me. I could barely stay in my seat, jumping up every time someone went all-in at my table or one of the other two.
Amarillo Slim was the only pro I recognized still playing. He had a big chip stack, maybe a bit more than me. The average chip stack was probably about $18,000 andf I had more than twice that. I was close to my goal and only a few more players had to go for this to be over. It finally came down to the action at Slim's table. I could see at least two players who wouldn't survive the next blind and I could taste victory. A deal was offered up to give the leftover cash to 27th place so he'd be a little closer to his $10,000 buy-in, but it had to be unanimous and old slim just wouldn't agree to a deal. Two hands later it was all over and the 26th player won his $10,000 seat with exactly one $500 chip left in his hand. Since that was the amount of the ante each hand, he was only one hand away from elimination himslef and had gotten very lucky.
I was walking on air and congratulated the other players as they handed out the paperwork for us complete to get prize certificates. It took about an hour to get everything done and then we were given our prize vouchers to turn in for our table and seat assignments. I would be starting play the next morning at 11 am just three tables away from the ESPN televised feature table.
The satellite had been so big that Binion's had to cancel the 7pm for lack of tables and now it was 11pm and with over 2000 players already registered for the main event they decided to cancel that one, too. I had won my seat in the last possible satellite on the last possible day before the main event. I couldn't believe it. I had actually won a seat and would be playing in the World Series of Poker at Binion's Horseshoe. I was so excited and proud of my achievement. I had accomplished what I set out to do. I had come to Vegas Wednesday night and won my seat Friday night. I vowed to leave myself more time in future years.
It was hard to get any sleep with all the adrenaline pumping through me and my mind was racing a mile a minute thinking of all the possibilities that lay ahead. All I wanted to do was tell someone what I had done, but I knew it was late back east and people were probably asleep. I called my mom anyway and woker her up to tell her about it!
I got up early Saturday morning and had a good breakfast so I would have the energy I'd need for the day ahead. I started to go over some strategy in my head as I headed to Binion's for something to eat. I knew I'd be starting with $10,000 in chips and blinds of $25 and $50. With one hour levels (they raise the blinds every hour) I knew I could afford to be patient and wait for the right cards to play. I headed over to the free player buffet (you spend $10,000 entering a tournament you figure the least they can do is feed you) and loaded up with a big breakfast. I saw familiar faces from the TV tournaments all around.
There was quite a long line forming to get into the main tournament room. Mostly, it was spectators, but the final count for paid entries to the tournament was 2,576! Half the field would play today with the other half starting on Sunday, with the survivors combining on Monday. Monday was my birthday and my new goal was to survive to play on my birthday.
The crowds were unbelievable as I made my way to my seat for the start of the tournament. The tables were really packed into the room and it was difficult just to maneuver through them to sit down. The press and TV camera crews were everywhere, interviewing all the big name players as they arrived. I sat in my seat and looked around. The $10,000 in chips were neatly stacked in fron of each seat. The chips were brand new and I riffled through them. There were green $25 chips, a black $100 chip, a pink $500 chip and then yellow $1000 chips.
The time had finally arrived and Matt Savage, the tournament director came on the PA system and made some opening remarks. Then I heard it. "Shuffle up and deal!" The 2004 World Series of Poker was starting and here I was in the middle of it with $10,000 in chips in front of me. I was in awe. To think that only a year ago I was watching the 2003 series on ESPN and dreaming of playing in it!
The dealer shuffled and dealt the first hand out to the table. I looked down at tow queens and thought not a bad way to start things off. I raised to $150, got got a few callers and the dealer put out the flop. I don't remember what cards came out, but I bet out and the other players folded and I scooped the first pot! I looked down at my next hand to see the Ace and Queen of hearts! I raised again to $150, got a queen on the flop and scopped the next pot. Things were looking good on day one for me! I didn't play the next hand but there was alot of action on that one. After the flop, the player in seat seven had made a large bet. The player on my immediate left announced raise and then seat 7 moved all-in. The player to my left called and they turned over their cards. The player in seat 7 had made a straight. The player to my left had the Ace and King of hearts and with 2 hearts on the flop had made the nut fluch draw. It was still a draw and I couldn't believe a player was risking all his chips on the third hand of the biggest tournament in the world on a draw! I remember the river card was the ten of hearts and I winced at the thought of the pain that the player in seat 7 must be experiencing right now. He stood slowly and quietly walked away, quite possible the first player eliminated. The seat was quickly filled from the nearly 300 alternate players waiting outside to play.
That hand seemed to set the pace for the rest of the day. After that, a hand wasn't played out after the flop unless it was for most if not all of your chips. I played it safe and waited for some good hands, but in hindsight probably still played too many. The decision to fold came pretty easy though when you are faced with a massive bet on the flop and drawing hands are just too expensive to gamble with.
I did get trapped in one big hand when I played my ace-jack in an unraised pot and caught a jack on the flop. I played the hand a bit too strong and lost a chunk of my chips when the player to my left revealed he had slow played a pocket pair of queens!! That hurt!
I won another pot with ace-king when I caught a king on the flop, but the player folded to my bet so it was a small victory. Later against the same player, I made a good read on him and folded a big pair face up on the table as I told him his three kings were good. He showed me I was correct in my call and flashed me his hand. I was happy that I had saved myself some money on that one.
I couldn't believe the actual physical feeling of pressure I felt as the hours dragged by. It was like an enormous weight on my shoulders. In my mind, all I could think about was the fact that it was day one of a seven day tournament! I hope that this is a sensation that is unique to your first time in the main event and that the pressure will be somewhat less intense in future attempts.
My final hand came over five hours into the day. I was on the button and down to about $5000 in chips. The action had come around to me, with everyone else folding in front of me. I looked down at my two hole cards to see a pair of sevens. I felt confident with a medium pair in this position against two random blind hands. I tossed in a raise to make the bet $1200 and looked to the blinds for their reactions. I was hoping to end it right there and take down the blinds and antes. The small blind quickly folded, but the big blind started to think for a minute and then moved all in. If he thought I was making a button steal he might do that with any number of hands, but something told me he had two big cards, probably ace-king. The big blind had more chips than me so if I called an lost I was out of the tournament. If I folded I'd be the short stack at the table and vulnerable. If I was right and my hand held up I would be back to a little more than what I started the day with. I went with my gut and pushed my remaining chips in. I turned my cards over in front of me and the big blind flipped over an ace and a king. The race was on!
The flop was all low cards which was good for me but actually started a straight draw for my opponent. The turn was an eight, no help for either, but I was still ahead. The dealer paused, burned a card and turned over the final card; the river. It was an ace! My first World Series of Poker was over!
I was disappointed for sure, but the pressure lifted almost immediately, too. The other players wished me luck and I rose and walked away from the table. I walked out of Binion's into the warm May sunlight and took a stroll down Fremont Street to clear my head. My first attempt at the WSOP had come to an abrupt end, but I still felt a great sense of accomplishment just from coming out to Vegas and winning a seat. I still had an entire week in Vegas ahead of me and I wanted to make the most of it so I headed back to the Golden Nugget poker room and found a $10/$20 game. I spent the rest of my time in Vegas playing poker in the GN poker room. I was having fun, winning almost daily and enjoying all the comped meals. In my best session I won over $1200, and on one break from the table I dumped $20 into a Wheel of Fortune slot machine and hit a $1600 jackpot on my last three coins. When I made my reservations I had made a mistake in the dates and it turned out that I had to check out of the hotel on Friday and my flight home wasn't until Saturday morning. I checked out of my room at 2pm Friday, left my bags with the bellhop and sat down at a poker table. I played for 15 hours straight with no breaks. At 5 am Saturday I cashed in my chips (up over $1000), hopped into a cab and headed for the airport for my 7 am flight home. I left Vegas tired, but with a smile on my face and cash in my pocket. I will never forget my first World Series of Poker
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