Well Day 1b of the World Series of Poker Main Event is in the books, and I'm still alive.  Not only that, I now have more than double my starting stack, with a total of 66,925.  We began the day with 30,000 in chips, 50-100 blinds, and two hour levels.  The plan was to play four levels, with a 20-minute break between levels and a 90-minute break for dinner midway through.  The first thing that deserves mentioning is the toll it takes on you to play here.  I've heard that the World Series is as much a physical grind as a mental one, but it wasn't until today that I realized what that meant.  I've played for 18 hours straight and finished no worse for wear, but after about eight hours of play today, I'm spent.  My back hurts, I'm tired, and I'm very glad that I have a few days until I play again.  Anybody that makes it through this thing will certainly have earned it.

OK, on to the good stuff.  I'll begin with my table set-up, which was pretty favorable.  We actually began play shorthanded, as a couple people hadn't shown on time, so there were only seven of us to start.  In Seat 2 was an older gentlemen who seemed pleasant enough, but didn't seem to be much of a threat.  On his left was Bill Edler, a pretty well-known pro that has made a couple of deep runs in the Main Event.  I think he finished top 20 a couple years ago.  I recognized Bill right as he approached the table, but didn't let him know that I knew who he was.  All in all, though, he was a very amiable guy and a fun person to have at the table.  I spoke with him quite a bit during the course of play.

To Bill's left was a younger guy named Jeff that gave off that "hotshot" kind of vibe.  He had a hooded sweatshirt that he usually kept over his head, plus a pair of shades and a generally aggressive style of play.  The seat to Jeff's left was unoccupied, and I was in Seat 6.  On my left was another young guy who played a solid, tight-aggressive game.  Next up was a middle-aged fellow from Ireland named Paul.  When he first sat down I expected him to have that aggressive, creative European style of play, but he was actually rather tight.  Not overly so, but he didn't mix it up if he didn't have something.  Finally, the 9 seat was taken by an Asian guy with a cowboy hat that seemed to be roughly my age.  We'll call him Cowboy Bebop for future reference.

As far as table placement goes, our table was in a great spot for spectators, right in the corner of the middle of the room, which gave people the chance to be within a few feet of the table on two different sides.  Brigid, Pete, and Mom were there all day, and Uncle Kevin was there for a while, also.

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm nervous playing in such a big tournament.  I'm really not.  I don't know that I have a word to describe it, but it's definitely not nervous.  I feel energized.  When I walked into the room, took my seat, and had my chipstack in front of me, it was an awesome feeling.  As the day grew on, I became more and more comfortable, and there hasn't been a time when I felt like I didn't belong with the rest of these guys.  Even playing against Bill, a guy who has made some serious money off of poker--I felt like I had a good feel for what he was trying to do.

I wish I could remember what my very first hand of the tournament was, but all I know is that it was ugly.  I folded it, and the older gentleman in Seat 2 actually got a walk, making him the temporary chipleader.  On the second hand, I picked up pocket tens in mid-position, and opened with a raise to 300.  Everyone folded, giving me my first pot.  And for anyone wondering, I am definitely taking it as a good sign that my hand showed up so early.  I folded my next hand, and then sat back and watched the following carnage develop.  Keep in mind how low the blinds are and how much we have in our stacks.  The kid to my left opened for 300, and the guy in Seat 2 tossed in a yellow 1,000 chip.  Now being that he didn't declare a raise, that chip only indicated a call.  Everyone else folded, and they saw a flop of 89J with a couple clubs.  The younger guy checked, then raised the older guy's bet of 800 to 2,000.  The older guy called pretty quickly.  The turn was a red ace and the kid led out for 2,250.  The older guy raised to 5,000, and almost instantly, the kid went all-in for another 23,000 or so.  Just as quickly, the older guy called.  My read on the situation was that the kid had QT, and the older guy had turned a set of aces.  I was close--the kid did indeed turn over QT, but the older guy tabled AJ for top two pair.  Obviously top two is a nice hand, but how can you get all your money in on the third hand with it, especially with a straight on board?  The kid dodged the four-outer on the river, and just like that we had our first elimination.  It was pretty cool, because one of the Cardplayer reporters came up to him and got all the details of the hand, and his name went up on the chip count screen as the chipleader.  I just checked Cardplayer and he was on their live updates almost all day--his name is Dave D'Elessandro.

It wasn't long until I got involved in a pot of my own.  Jeff raised it to 300 from under the gun, and with pocket queens, I called.  Cowboy Bebop also called on the button, and we saw a flop.  It was pure gin, Q33.  Jeff checked, I did the same, and so did Cowboy Bebop.  The turn was a 9, and Jeff led out for 650.  I smooth-called, and Bebop folded.  The river was an ace, which I saw as being a good card for me, because maybe he paired up and would pay me off.  Jeff checked, and I threw out 3,000.  He deliberated for a couple of seconds and then threw in the call, and I showed my queens full to take the pot.  He didn't show, but I have to figure he had an ace.

I got more than my share of pocket pairs early on, and I kept trying to see flops and hit my set.  It worked with the queens, and it worked again about 20 hands later.  It folded around to me in the small blind, and with 88, I limped.  Dave raised it just another 200, and I made the quick call.  We saw a beautiful flop of A84, and I checked.  He bet 800, and I decided to raise it to 2,000.  I figured him for an ace, and fast-playing it might make me more money then if I just called.  he thought briefly and made the call.  The turn was a 7, and I led out with 2,200.  He thought for much longer this time, even letting out an audible sigh, then threw in the call.  I figured that he was having trouble putting me on a hand and was determined to call down with his ace.  The river was a king, a card that I thought might have given him top two.  I made a substantial bet of 6,000.  He thought for a good two or three minutes, saying "What do you have?" with pain in his voice.  He finally threw the call in, and I said, "Set of eights."  He told me that he had turned two pair with A7, which would make it a very tough fold to make.  It also helped that he had so many chips from his early double-up that he knew that calling me down wouldn't hurt him too significantly.

Pocket 8s seemed to be the hand of the hour for me, as I was dealt it four times in the first level alone.  In addition to the aforementioned hand, I took a pot down preflop with a standard raise, called a raise then folded on an AKJ flop with three-way action, and then limped under the gun the final time.  On this hand, Bill raised it to 500 from the big blind, and I was the only caller.  We saw a 9-high flop and went check-check.  A jack came on the turn, and again we both checked.  The river was a rag, and after we both checked, I said, "Are 8s good?"  They were, as Bill had a lower pair, so I took my first pot off of him.  It wasn't a big one, but it gave me confidence because Bill could have tried to bowl me over with a flop, turn, and/or river bet, but he gave me credit for a hand and didn't get cute.

After a couple hours of play, we got some fresh blood at the table as a middle-aged guy named Mike took the 2 seat.  Mike made it pretty clear early on that he was nothing to worry about, calling lots of raises and either folding the flop or paying off a better hand by time it was all said and done.  I got my first action against him after the first break.  After he and another player limped, I did the same with K9 from the small blind.  Dave checked, and we saw a flop of K85.  It checked around to Mike, and he bet out 500.  I was the only caller.  The turn was a 9, and this time I led out with 1,100.  He gave it some thought, then called.  At this point I had him pegged pretty squarley on KQ, KJ, or KT, all of which I had beat.  The river was a 6, making the final board K5689.  It was pretty scary with the straight cards out there, but I figured I'd get paid off by his king, so I made a value bet of 1,100.  He thought for over three minutes, continually checking his cards and looking at the board.  Finally he called and I said, "Top two."  Much to my amazement, he flipped over 77 for a straight.  I was a little confused on a lot of fronts.  Why did he call the turn?  And why didn't he raise the river?  Only T7 beats him, and there's no way I could have that.  I probably would have paid off a raise, too.  It was a very weird hand, and definitely one that I thought I had in the bag.  That's OK, though, as I would get back at him later.

I came out of the dinner break feeling good.  My stack was at 45,600, and I hadn't gotten mixed up in anything too dangerous.  I was making a conscious effort to really use position to my advantage, trying not to over-commit to good preflop hands, and always trying to be the first one in the pot.  I was mixing my play up pretty well, flat-calling a raise with AK spades preflop to disguise its strength, and raising a few times in late position to take down the blinds.  I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar a couple times on steal attempts, but nothing that did any damage to my stack.  One early pot that worked out for me was when I called a standard raise from Cowboy Bebop in the big blind with AQ.  The flop was T94, and I led out for 600, obviously hoping to take it down right there.  He called, though, and we checked the turn and river, both of which were low.  Fortunately for me, ace high was good enough to take it down as he just had QJ for a busted open-ender.

Bebop was no slouch, though.  Twice before the break he put the squeeze play on me.  First, with blind at 100-200, I raised to 500 with 55.  Dave called on the button, and Bebop popped 1,000 on top of that from the big blind.  I called, and Dave folded.  The flop was T44, and he led out for 2,100.  I very well may have been good, but decided against mixing it up in such a marginal spot.  He got me again later after I raised from the cutoff with A7, got called again by Dave, and reraised by Bebop.  Dave and I both folded, and he took it down.  Just before the break, though, he lost a decent pot to Bill that dropped his stack down to about 18,000.

About 45 minutes out of the dinner break, I had the classic case of making the wrong move at the right time.  I hadn't gotten much to play, taking a small pot with AQ on a queen high flop off of Jeff but not really playing much else.  We had finally gotten nine-handed after filling the seat on my right with an Indian guy named Mike.  A very friendly guy, he had gotten moved from another table with a good stack of about 40,000.  Anyway, Cowboy Bebop made it 800 to go from early-mid position, and he was called on the button by Jeff.  Needing just another 500 to call, I looked down to once again see pocket 5s.  I made the call, and we saw a three-way flop of K24 rainbow.  I checked, Bebop bet 1,600, and Jeff folded after a moment or two of thought.  Bebop had been continuation betting everything post-flop, and this actually seemed to be a good board for 55, with only one overcard.  I decided to make a move at it, and I repopped him back to 3,800.  Much to my dismay, it didn't take him long to call.  The turn was about as much as I could hope for.  The 3 got me open-ended, and I stayed strong with a bet of 4,500.  I thought there was a chance that he thought I was full of it on the flop and was calling to take it away on the turn, so I led out again.  Again he called.  At this point, I figured him for one of three hands--AA, AK, or KQ, all of which obviously had me in trouble.  The river was absolutely beautiful--an ace to give me the wheel.  I took my time, asking him how much he had left (it was around 13k), and trying to figure out what he had and how much he would call on the river.  I didn't think KQ could hang around to much of a bet, but AK and AA weren't going anywhere, no matter how much I put out.  I decided to put him all-in, which could also make it seem like less of a value bet and more of an "I want you to fold" bet.  He thought for close to five minutes it seemed like, and I just kept staring at the table, stealing the occasional glance at him to try to get a gauge on his thought process.  Eventually he said, "Well if I'm meant to go out I'm meant to go out," and he put the chips in for a call.  The dealer told us not to turn our hands over yet, because any time there's an all-in the cameras, microphones, and reporters all have to come over.  I looked at Bebop as we waited, though, and said, "I've got you."  Once the dealer gave the OK, I turned over my wheel, and he flipped 22 for a flopped set of 2s.  Ouch.  I definitely got a little lucky after trying to make a creative play, but I think his one mistake was not shoving the turn.  The flop was so dry that he probably called to just set me up for devastation, but the turn put a straight draw out there.  Obviously, if he had shoved over the top of me on the turn I would have been gone, but fortuitously enough he opted to call and allow me to hit.

This was by far my biggest pot of the tournament, much larger than the set of 8s that I stuck on Dave, and it got me up around the 70,000 chip mark, close to the table lead along with Dave.  I didn't get much else for the rest of the level, save for aces in mid-position, which I took down with a preflop raise and no action.  I entered the third and final break of the day with 70,200.

Coming into the day, my goal was to reach 40,000 in chips.  I was obviously well ahead of that pace, barring anything disastrous from happening, so I set a new goal coming out of the final break to see if I could reach 80,000 by the end of the night.  The cards didn't seem to want to cooperate, though, and I mostly folded for about an hour.  I did take one small pot after limping into a four-way pot with KQ of spades.  The flop came A87, with two spades (one of which was the ace), to give me the nut flush draw.  It checked to me and I bet 800 and got called by one player.  This guy had the big sunglasses, big headphones, the whole shebang.  He had gotten moved to the table around the same time as Mike, but before John, a tough-looking guy that reminded me a little bit of my cousin Duke.  John filled Cowboy Bebop's seat shortly after I left my treadmarks on his head.  Anyway, the early position player called my flop bet, then we both checked as a red 9 hit the turn.  The river was the 6 of spades, giving me the nut flush, and oddly enough, he led out for just 800.  I figured he had a weak ace and didn't want to be faced with a tough decision if I made a big bet.  I didn't think his hand was big, so I had to figure out what I could raise that would get called.  I put in another 3,200, a bet that was less than the size of the pot, but not small.  Fairly quicky, though, he mucked it.  Maybe I could have squeezed a little more out with a smaller raise, but it was still a good take.  Outside of a couple uncontested preflop raises, my only other hand of significance was also my only preflop three-bet of the night.  Headphones guy raised it to 800, and Mike called on my right.  I had AQ off on the button, and seeing as I had been playing pretty tight for the past couple hours, I thought this was a good time to flex my muscles a bit.  I raised it up to 4,600 and both guys tossed it rather quickly.  From there, I mostly folded as we neared the close of Day 1, just taking a small pot with T8 of diamonds when I flopped top pair in a limped pot on the second-to-last hand of the day.

I ended the day with 66,925 in chips, well above the chip average in the room and second only to the ~95,000 of Dave at my table.  I feel like I more than held my own.  Bill Edler ended with under 20,000 in chips, and Jeff also had under 20,000, despite catching running diamonds to double up off of Mike's pocket queens with KT off on a ten-high flop.  I outlasted a lot of big names already, as Doyle Brunson got taken out about midway through the day, as did David Pham, Chris Moneymaker, Ralph Perry, and quite a few others.  The seats are re-drawn for Day 2, so I'll have a new set of tablemates, and a whole new challenge before me.  I couldn't really be happier with how my first day of play turned out, as I far exceeded my hope of reaching 40,000 in chips by day's end despite never really being in a bad situation in a big pot (aside from the 55 hand, since I was check-folding any non-A or 6 river).  I know it's only going to get tougher from here, but I think I'm ready to take on whatever comes my way.  There's a long way to go, but with a formidable amount of chips and the confidence to know that I belong here, I've still got a shot.  How awesome is that?

Currently feeling: tired
Posted by Terrence on July 5, 2009 at 04:17 AM | 5 comments

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Comment posted on July 5th, 2009 at 10:31 PM
man, i miss those tuesday nights... don't get sloppy because you're tired. i hear that people play well for a few days and get sloppy due to lack of endurance.
Comment posted on July 5th, 2009 at 02:53 PM
that's awesome. keep it up. what i don't understand is given the deep stacks, how did so many pros bust early? guess they don't really care?
Comment posted on July 5th, 2009 at 02:15 PM
Amazing job sir! Long way to go, but I've never met anyone else about whom I could confidently say "He has what it takes to win the WSOP." It's like that first Hold em for Hunger.... we all gave odds on the group, and you sir, I gave 2:1. Amazing brother! Praying for your well being, safety, and prosperity. Can't wait to hear more about your venture!
Comment posted on July 5th, 2009 at 12:11 PM
good job sir. enjoy your days off and good luck on day 2!
Comment posted on July 5th, 2009 at 07:00 AM
Keep it going