The final 1k event at the WSOP – busted in 98th place
Thursday was Canada Day and a very happy one to all of you! I was playing in the event 54, final 1k nlhe event at the World Series of Poker, and had a really good day.
A friend of mine from England was also playing and it was great to have someone to catch up with at the breaks and exchange stories with.
I finally felt like I had a day where I was playing well (except for a few hands right before the dinner break where I was a bit of a donkey) and not running like crap either.
The big blind woke up with aces
My chip stack headed in the right direction quite steadily and I managed to win lots of small and medium sized pots to get up to my chip peak of 18k.
After missing few flops or having people play back at me at the end of the day, I finished on 13k. Finally a Day 2!
Yesterday I played Day 2. It was a great day and probably the most enjoyable I’ve had at the WSOP so far. I spent the entire time at the same table, watching people come and go until I busted in 98th place when I shoved 14bb with 77 and the big blind woke up with aces.
It felt great to get a good run at a tournament for the first time this summer and not feel as though every move I made was getting snapped off. It was also a very funny and friendly table. Two gentlemen there were playing their very first live event, one American and one Portuguese.
Getting a cash in their first WSOP meant a lot to them. It’s so easy to become jaded once you’ve played a number of live MTTs, so their enthusiasm and excitement was refreshing and a good reminder for me about why I love to play.
Funny and lively and incredibly entertaining
Also at the table were two players who I know either through the wider poker community or through mutual friends. Jon Van Fleet (Apestyles) and Tony Dunst (Bond18). They were funny and lively and incredibly entertaining.
There was such a lot of banter on the table and although we’re obviously all there playing for a lot of money and a WSOP bracelet, the mood was light and full of good natured swiping back and forth. A good lesson for me though, was that although there is a lot of banter and joviality outside of the hands, it’s important to remain quiet about any hand in progress unless you’re heads up with a player yourself.
At one point towards the end of the day, I was in the small blind and the big blind was missing. I had been defending my blinds VERY sporadically and I think it was quite well known at the table that I was a weak spot in that respect.
I’m particularly loathe to defend my blind out of position against a better player. Bond18 raised under the gun and I started to make a remark to him about how he was going after my defenceless small blind because the BB wasn’t there to defend for me.
Important to stay conscious of whats going on
As soon as it was out of my mouth I wanted to bite my tongue. It’s never good form to discuss someone’s possible card strength or weakness when there are other people still in the hand. Had it passed to me, I could have jokingly called him a bully and flipped over my 62 to give him the pot.
As it happened, he had QQ and was called by the big stack on the button with KQ who turned a straight. The hands as they were, it would have played out pretty much exactly the same no doubt, but that’s not the point. It was a sharp reminder that no matter how ‘friendly’ things are at the table, it’s important to stay conscious of whats going on around us.
So the body of the WSOP has ended and the run up to the Main Event has begun! I’m going to be playing Day 1d on the 8th of July so I have a few days to prepare and get some rest. Today, we will be welcoming the Party Poker qualifiers in our lounge at the Rio and no doubt many good photos will pop up on here in the next week from that.
And a very happy 4th of July to all the Americans!
