WSOP Salute to Warriors Tournament
I played in the WSOP Salute to Warriors tournament this week. All proceeds go to the USO and other veterans organizations. I asked the soldiers to pose for this picture, and they gladly obliged. I started to thank them for their service and got really choked up. That happens a lot these days when I thank military or police. They just don’t get enough respect for the important, dangerous jobs they do.
I haven't been doing well in the WSOP tournaments and this started out as no exception. I was getting lots of aces, and was initially winning small pots, but then kept losing to slightly better hands.
Day 1
I lost over half my stack when my small flush (two in my hand) got beaten by a bigger flush. The player who beat me turned to the player next to him and said, “That’s why you never play baby flushes.” The two of them then had a long conversation about the mistakes that bad players make. I was tempted to argue with them, but it’s always better to have players think I’m a bad player, so I have to tamp down my ego. I called him because he had half my stack and it was early in the game. If I lost, I was still in the game. Also, I knew he didn’t have the nut flush, so because his stack was short, and he could buy back in, he might have been bluffing. I figured it was worth the chance.
I started very slowly building my stack back up.
First break. I wasn’t doing well, but it was still early.
I was short stacked and shoved with pocket Js. I was called by pocket Qs. I busted out.
I bought back into the tournament. I was losing a lot of small hands but was eventually able to shove twice against other players and double up both times. I then had a decent stack. In one case I had Q♥J♥. The flop was A♥Q♣7♥, giving me a pair of Qs and a flush draw. Pretty good for me. The chip leader bet $3K. I raised to $7K. He called. The next card was 2♠. I checked. He checked. The river card was K♥, giving me the nut flush. I shoved and he called with a smaller flush.
I had over $150K, almost 130 big blinds! I was suddenly sitting pretty.
Dinner break. Interestingly, right before the break, a new player with a starting stack raised big. I had pocket Qs, so I shoved. He called with AK and got an A to beat me. My pocket Qs keep getting beaten by AK. However, I've been building my stack and still have a really big stack despite that loss.
Got AK twice in a row and won big pots both times.
I ran card dead for about 3 hours, so my stack dwindled. Finally got to the end of Day 1 with one more hand to play and got dealt pocket Js. I shoved and everyone folded, so I got a few more chips. I made it to Day 2 tomorrow at noon. Here are the stats:
3209 total entries
499 players left
482 Players get paid
So I need to outlast at least 17 players, but I'll start Day 2 with only 11 big blinds, so it may be tough.
Day 2
Here are the chip counts going into Day 2 today. The good news is that there are two smaller stacks at my table. The bad news is that one of the largest stacks in the tournament is at my table, and to make things worse, he's to my left, which means I need to bet before I know what he plans to do. He can easily bully me out of every hand.
Another interesting fact, there are a lot of very small stacks left in Day 2. That means there will be a lot of people busting out shortly after the tournament restarts at noon. If I'm careful, I can be in the money.
I'm ranked 412 out of 497 for Day 2. Not nearly as bad as I thought.
I told myself I'd just fold until I got into the money. Then with 5 players till the money, and in early position, I got A♠Q♠. I figured, I'm not going to see that again, and I'll need to double up if I'm going to get anywhere significant in the tournament, so I shoved. No one called, though one player thought about it for a while. I made a few extra chips.
I made the money!
I got A♠5♠ in the big blind. The big stack did a min raise. Another player called. The flop was J♠J♦10♠. I had the nut flush draw, so I shoved. The big stack shoved. The third player folded. The big stack showed pocket 10s for a full house. I was virtually drawing dead (my odds of winning were just over 1%). I busted out.
The tournament winner was James Todd who was at my table on Day 1 with a huge stack. He was able to maintain that huge stack throughout the entire tournament, which is unusual. He was a very good player, though I felt he bet too often while his stack was really big. As his stack got eaten away a little by other players, he changed that strategy and was pickier about which hands to bet on.
Also, James is a really nice guy. Fairly quiet at the table, he seemed focused on the game. He laughed at my jokes and listened to my talk and at the end of Day 1 came up to me, congratulated me on my last hand (pocket Js), and wished me luck. Today we connected on Facebook. It’s especially good when you make friends at the poker table.