WPT World Championship 2024
Will 2024 be the year for me?
Today I played in the WPT World Championship. This is the second largest/most significant tournament of the year after the World Series of Poker. The buy-in is significant ($10,400) and unlike the WSOP, you can rebuy on each of the three Day 1s (Day 1A, Day 1B, Day 1C). While most players won't rebuy, most pros will. The ability to rebuy makes some players take crazy risks, which throws off my game. My game depends on assuming the other players don't want to bluff big on early hands and risk losing their tournament life. However, I've played against some amateurs who took crazy risks and got lucky.
My plan on day 1 is to play tight. My goal is not so much to gain the most chips but to lose the fewest chips. Day 2 is Thursday and then it continues though the final table on Saturday evening. If I bust out because the cards didn't go my way, I'll feel bad, but if I bust out because I took an unnecessary risk, I'll feel really bad.
Here’s a thought. I'm always wishing other players "good luck." Should I be wishing them "bad luck"? Is that my problem?
Going into the second level, my stack was above average, which was slightly above starting stack. Then I got A8 and the board ran out 788J8. Pretty nice! I won a small pot.
I won a big pot with AK and a flop of KK8.
Then I immediately won a monster pot against two players. I had AK again. One player raised from $600 to $1500. I decided to just call. The aggressive player to my left raised to $7K. The first player called and so did I. The flop was 23K. I bet $7K. Both players called. The turn was 8. I bet $10K. The aggressive player folded. The other player called. The river was 7. I bet $10K. He called. I showed my hand, and he folded. I had become the table chip leader!
A friend asked me on my Facebook page how I won with just a pair of kings. I said the since the bet was so big before the flop, all players would probably only call such a big bet with AA, KK, QQ, and maybe JJ, AK, or a bluff. Since I had a K in my hand and there was one on the board, it was less likely the other player had the remaining two kings in his hand. So that left him with AA, QQ, and maybe JJ, AK, or a bluff. The only hand I lost to was AA. If the player raised after I bet, the player probably had AA and I would fold. So there was a very good chance that the K gave me the best hand.
I was getting good cards and playing well. I didn't want to get overconfident, though. It's nice to play with a big stack because I can't be bullied off of decent hands, and I can bully some of the other players.
At the first break, the average stack was $108K, and my stack was $160K. I was very happy!
But then I started to lose small pots. After a couple hours, I was down to just above average stack. After another hour I was down below starting stack. That was still a lot of chips, but disappointing nonetheless.
Suddenly I was in a worst-case scenario: getting really good cards that don't connect on the flop.
I got dealt J♦9♣ in the big blind. One player min raised. Another called. I called. The flop was 7♥8♥10♠. I was a little afraid of the other player getting a flush, so I bet big. One player folded; one called. The turn was A♣. I bet very big. The other player called. The river was 5♠. I bet almost half my stack (I had the nuts). The other player almost called but decided to fold after a minute. My stack was almost back up to average.
At the second break, I was just above starting stack, just below average stack. I couldn’t complain; It wasn’t a bad position.
A player bet pre-flop. I called. Everyone else folded. The flop was QQK. He checked. I checked. The turn was A. He bet; I called. The river was 9. He checked, I checked. He showed pocket 7s. I showed pocket 8s to win. Whew!
I started losing lots of hands after that because I couldn’t connect on the flop.
After about an hour, I started getting good cards and good flops while my opponents were getting better cards and better flops. My stack was getting short, of course. Why does this always happen?
I finally won a hand. I was holding my breath (figuratively) until the end. I had AJ. I raised from $2K to $5K. One player called. The flop was 789. I bet $5500. He called. The turn was 2. I checked. He bet $10K. I called. The river was 10, giving me a straight. I checked, he checked, I won.
Shortly after that, I won a nice hand with A7. The flop was 457. I bet 3/4 of my stack, convincing the other player I had flopped a set, so he folded. I was probably ahead of him anyway, but he said, you flopped a set, didn’t you?” I just shrugged.
I limped in with pocket 5s. A very short stack shoved. I called. He had K4 and hit a K.
At the dinner break, I had $49.5K, about 20 big blinds. Not good, but I was still in it. I needed to get some better cards after dinner.
After dinner, I immediately got pocket As! I min raised to $5K. As expected, the aggressive player to my left raised to $12K. I thought and thought and thought and raised to $30K. He folded. I was hoping he’d call or raise.
Interesting. The player to my left was very good and had a very big stack. The player to his left bets too much and bluffs too often but is getting the first player to make bad calls. The chips are moving leftward. Because of this, the player to my left lost most of his massive stack in 3 or 4 hands. Then he seemed to be on tilt and betting too much.
For the next hour or two, I couldn't get any playable hands. My stack became short again.
I shoved with pocket Js. Got called by KQ. My jacks held, so I doubled up. I was still short stacked, though. Just not as short.
After the last break of the day, I was very short. I got A♦5♦ under the gun. I shoved with 10 big blinds. I got called by A♠Q♣. I busted out.
It looks like 2024 won’t be my year. Maybe 2025.
About the author
Bob Zeidman is a high-stakes recreational poker player. He created Good Beat Poker, a free online poker site using patented technology for audio and video—see and hear the other players at the table if you choose.