2003 World Series of Poker - Day 4
I had another iffy night's sleep after day three. Not that I didn't sleep.
Just that my dreams were dominated by poker and the tournament. I am finding that the hardest part of this tournament for me is all the time between play. My mind is constantly occupied with thoughts like; what if Farha is to my left, what if I bluff off my chips, what if I catch a big rush and win this thing? When I am at the table, my mind is occupied with only the matters at hand. I find it calming.
It's time to go to the computer and see my table draw to start of day four. Well, this is not what I was hoping for. Scotty is to my left with a big stack, Phil Ivey to his left with a very small stack, and Jeff Shulman with a large stack is two to my right. We will also be at the camera table. I head on down to the Shoe, ready for the biggest day in my poker life, so far.
I get wired up, and before they get the cards in the air, I decide to take a quick bathroom break. I see Humberto Brenes in the bathroom, and say to him, "I hope the best hand holds up when we get our money in today." He smiles at me and nods.
I am playing for more money than I ever have, and this kind of chance at the WSOP will probably only come up for me a few more times in my life. But, for some reason, I am only thinking about this table, this hand, this moment. I have read some Zen Buddhism the last few years and it is really helping me now. In particular "Zen and the Art in Archery", a short little book, has everything you need to know about staying in the moment. Thinking about the recent past or the possible future at moments like these can only hurt your ability to make the plays necessary to win. And, those thoughts can actually make it impossible to win. I have started to think that players like Varkonyi and Moneymaker have an advantage over experienced tournament players. Yes they would like to win, and they know this an important tournament, but they don't feel that importance deep in their bones like a seasoned pro, who has been trying to win the WSOP for years. It frees them up to play their best when it matters. Did Moneymaker have a better chance to win than a good pro? Absolutely not. But, there were a lot of Moneymakers in the field; first time players who were drawing live. A few of them figured to get a hold of a lot of chips, and the first timers, once on a roll, have an easier time playing well than the rest of us. I know. My best finish was in my first try. It wasn't real to me. I remember having a great time, and not feeling a lot of pressure.
I don't play a hand for a while, but right away my prospects dim. Ivey limps, and Jeff call from the small blind. The flop comes 468. Ivey makes a small bet, and Jeff raises. Ivey moves in and Jeff calls. Ivey turns over 66 and Jeff turns over 6-10 off suit. Am I seeing his cards right?! Jeff is a good player, but I think he pushed it a little too far this time. And, doubling Ivey up early just adds insult to injury. Now I have two big and dangerous stacks to my left. But, it turns out that Scotty and Phil had little impact on my chips at this table. I only have myself to blame for not moving up. I would win a couple of small pots and then make some ill advised bluff to go right back down. One, in particular, I remember. Chuck Hoang was playing extremely tight, and he opened in cut-off. I felt like he could be bluffed and raised him before the flop. I was right that he could be bluffed, but I would have to catch him with a weak hand to do it, and he just wasn't opening enough hands to justify the raise. He moved in on me and I had to fold.
Our table broke after about 90 minutes. I drew table one again, and this time I found myself back with Men Nguyen. I also had my good friend David Grey to my left. David is a very good high stakes side game player, but he does not have a lot of tournament NLHE experience. I felt a lot more confident at this table. Almost right away a very strange hand occurred. David opened the pot for 20,000 and Men raised him about 40,000. David moved in on Men. Men only had about 65,000 left. He was getting over 3-1 to call. He now went deep into the tank. I was trying to think of what I would call with. I decided I would have to call with any Ace, and any pair. The way the prize money is structured, places 63-10 get very similar money. Yes, 65,000 is a lot more than 15,000, but it is only about four times as much money for finishing 53 places higher. Meanwhile, first place pays 2.5 million and third pays 650,000; almost 4-1 for finishing two places higher. Clearly, lasting does not have the same value now as it will later. I almost fell out of my chair when Men showed AK and folded!! He decided to leave himself with 65,000 instead of taking what could have been an even money shot to have 280,000.
We are blinding 2500-5000 and Men starts to move his chips. He moves in almost right away, and the big blind thinks for quite a while and folds AJ. Men just laughs and shows the 73 off suit. I decide to call him with any decent hand if I have the chance. About a round later, he moves in again, this time on my BB. I look down at K6 of clubs. Okay, I'll just have to let him take this one. He giggles again, and shows the 95 of clubs. Now, I see why Men wouldn't want to risk his valuable short stack. Meanwhile, at another table, I hear a loud cry of pain. Humberto has just been knocked out, and it doesn't get any uglier. The flop came K92 off suit. Humberto bet and Moneymaker put him in for about 200,000. Humberto called with AA and Moneymaker had 88. An eight on the turn and Humberto had failed to implement my bathroom advice regarding the best hand holding up. My own chips continue to not move. I steal enough blinds, and win a few small pots, but I don\'t pick up any big hands at the right moments. It has been more than a day since I've had a double up. I know I will need one soon.
We are down to 27 players, but we have to wait. Sammy Farha is playing a huge pot with Bryan Watkins. The flop came Q72, and they both checked. The turn came (Q72) 4 and Bryan bet and Sammy called. The river was (Q724) J with no suits. Bryan moved in for over 200,000. Sammy thought for five minutes. He finally turned over the QJ and folded!! I don't know that I have that fold in me. I look around the room and see that there are still a lot of tough professionals left. Unlike, last year, when there were no bracelet winners in the last 21, this year I can see at least 9 bracelet winners in the final 27. I greet this news with mixed emotions. Winning this event will be tough, but Matt's great structure is doing its job. I feel like I will get more opportunities in the future, although I will face tougher fields when I do get my chances. It's a fair trade-off.
At my new table I have David Grey to my right, and David Singer with a short stack to my left. Then comes Freddy Deeb, Marcel Luske, and Phil Ivey with a huge stack of chips. No surprise after his fast start. I am short stacked and will have to hold some hands. My chips have stagnated for a day and a half and it's finally starting to catch up with me, as it should. I also realize what great position I was in after day two. If my chips had just doubled up over the course of the last day and a half, not too much to ask, I would be in great shape.
We are playing 3000-6000 blinds and I am down to about 180,000. Early on, Ivey raises it to 18,000, and I pick up JJ. I raise him 40,000 from the BB. He thinks forever and folds. This is a prime example of how tough it can be with a short stack. I am committed with the JJ, but I am risking my whole stack with JJ to only win his 18,000 plus the antes. Laying about 8-1 that your jacks are good is no fun. If my stack had been bigger, I could get away from the hand. Then I would only be risking the 40,000 raise to win his opening bet, a much better price.
A little while later, I saw this hand. Ivey opened in early position and Deeb called in the BB. The flop came K99 and Deeb checked. Ivey bet about 30,000 and Deeb called. On the turn the board came (K99) 4 and Deeb checked. Ivey bet about 50,000 and Deeb called. The river came (K99) 4 7. Deeb checked again, and Ivey moved in for about 150,000 more. Deeb went deep into the tank. I have played quite a bit with Phil this year, and I felt pretty sure he was bluffing. After about two minutes, Freddy folded. I flashed Phil a look like I knew he just got away with murder. The sheepish grin he returned to me confirmed my suspicions. What a great play by Phil there. Later, on the break, I warned him to not try any of that stuff with me. He just laughed and said, "You get your chips your way, and I'll get my chips my way." No truer words have ever been spoken about NLHE. You have to find your own style and make it work for you. Trying to blindly copy what other good players do is a sure recipe for disaster.
We returned from the break and now things were definitely getting desperate. The blinds were now 4000-8000 and I was down to 170,000. Early, David limped from the SB and I raised the BB with A7 suited. He folded. The next hand, he opened the button for 25,000. He had raised the last six consecutive times everyone folded to his button. I looked down at KQ suited. I decided that his bullying had to stop and I raised 50,000 from the SB. He thought about it briefly, and moved me in for 120,000 more. What a tough decision. I was getting 280,000 to 120,000. If I called and won, I would have about 400,000. If I folded, I would have a desperate short stack of 120,000. I know I would definitely have called getting 3-1. But after an agonizing think, I folded very reluctantly. This play could haunt me. If I had two over cards, what a bad fold I made. But, if David had lost this hand, he would have been crippled. I just didn't see him making this play with a medium pair. I guess, I'll never know.
I moved in a couple of times and had my chips up to 135,000 when this hand came up. We were down to 6 handed, and Marcel Luske opened the pot for only 16,000. Sometimes, this is a sign of extreme strength. This time it felt like weakness. David called the 12,000 more from the SB and I called 8000 with 64 suited. The flop came A72 rainbow. David checked. I felt like this was a great time to make a 30,000 bluff at the pot. There was 50,000 just laying out there. I just didn't pull the trigger and checked. Marcel bet 25,000 and I was so disappointed in my check I quickly folded. Of course, I could have moved in here, as my read on Marcel hadn't changed. This is the play I most regret during the four days. It was a real missed opportunity. After I folded, Marcel proudly turned over the K5 of clubs. The blinds were coming around pretty fast, and I was down to 120,000 a couple of rounds later. I was under the gun, and picked up A10. I hadn't seen anything this big in quite a while and I moved in. I would normally open for the usual 24,000 but short handed and short stacked, I made a poor decision. David Singer called about 104,000 of it with AK suited and we were off to the races. The board came no help and I was down to 16,000. On the next hand, I was the 8000 BB. Freddy Deeb limped, and Ivey limped to me. I raised my last 8000 hoping that Deeb would take this opportunity to raise and get Ivey to fold, but he just called and Ivey called. The flop came Q45 and Deeb made a small bet and Ivey called. It was not looking good. The turn came (Q45) 6. Check, check. River (Q456) 7 and Deeb checked. Ivey bet and Deeb folded. When Ivey showed me his Q8 I was out in 19th place.
I didn't feel anything. I was in shock. I am sure that at that moment, every brain chemical responsible for aggression, focus, and feeling good drained out of my body. After playing for four days, you almost don't know what to do after you've been eliminated. I stumbled over to the ESPN interview area. I couldn't tell you what I said. I collected my prize money and headed up to my room at the Horseshoe. I cleared everything out, as my elimination slowly sunk in. I wanted to keep that room for just one more day. As I left the Horseshoe, I was walking right behind Bryan Watkins. He had finished 20th. I overheard him telling his friend about the incredible lay down that Sammy made against him. Bryan had made trip 4's on 4th street (wow).
I basically slept for three days. And, it took ten days before I had any desire to play poker. I kept my mental and physical focus for four days, but the toll it took on me was felt for over a week afterwards. Meanwhile, I can't wait to do it again. Hope to see you all at next year's WSOP.