2005 WSOP Main Event Trip Report: Day 2

Following Shane’s demise on Day 1, we commiserated with him at the blackjack table while he alternated between screaming obscenities at unsuspecting patrons and wishing SARS on the world. We let him run with a loose leash for a while, made all the more helpful by an amazing run of cards. Todd and I quadrupled our stacks and Shane and Fawcett did well in their own right. Sadly, the Freeze continued to pay Mr. Caesar and pay dearly.

We knew the full-on suicide watch was coming sooner or later, and like clockwork, Shane inexplicitly left dinner and went up to the room to “self-medicate.” Thirty minutes later Todd drew the short straw and went to retrieve him. When they returned, I spent a good thirty more minutes talking Shane off the ledge about his play. Then we all went to bed, or something.

Coming into day 2 with only 13,975 in chips meant I was a short stack (as was becoming my custom). Since we had played 25 minutes into Level 8 at the close of day 1, for the first hour and forty minutes the blinds would stay at 250-500 with antes of 50. Since we were still 10-handed, it was costing 1250 per orbit to play, giving me just over ten rounds before I was blinded off. On the upside, with average at right around 30k, I would be right back at par if I could double up.

There weren’t any known pros at my table once again, though seat 5, directly to my left, was “pro” David Feldman, a 21-year-old recent graduate of George Washington who’d decided to take a shot at professional poker for a living following success on the internet. David’s claim to fame to date in live tournaments was a cash finish at a preliminary event in last year’s US Poker Championship at the Taj. He had around 50k and was far and away the chip leader at the table.

To make matters a little more interesting, David’s two buddies, recent graduates of Columbia, were making a documentary on his foray into professional poker. All three of them were very likeable guys, but it did strike me that his “media” was every bit as phony as Pokerati’s. But I digress.

Everyone else at the table appeared to be very happy to have made it to day 2 and hardly a threat to start running over the table. I resolved to try and take some blinds and get a little above water if I could. A couple of orbits came and went, and I managed to steal some pots and chipped up to around 16500 or so. Feldman had raised two or three pots and either won the hand right there or won it with a continuation bet on the flop. I was definitely monitoring his every move, hoping I could re-raise him and double through.

At the end of the second orbit I found pocket aces for the first time in the tournament in the small blind. I was begging for someone to open-raise, but of course, it folded to me. Given his image and given he might try and steal from my short stack, I elected to call. I thought it might scream strength, but it was early enough in the session that he couldn’t have had a real read on me. Fortuitously, he raised it to 2500. I hemmed and hawed a little and even looked around to see if his boys were filming the action (I think they were starting to feel some heat for filming from ESPN, holder of the exclusive rights). Finally, after about 30 seconds, I moved in for around 14000 more.

I was thinking I probably wouldn’t get called by anything short of a pocket pair above sixes or AK, and it was probably too aggressive, but there were several other things in play: (1) Feldman, like a lot of players who hone their skills on the internet, tend to overplay (and overcall) big cards, regardless of whether the circumstances dictate otherwise. That can actually create a very valuable fear factor but can also be exploited. (2) Since I felt calling was out of the question with such a big hand and short chips, the only choice was how much to raise. If I re-raised to just 5000 more, I was only leaving myself with around 9000, certainly committing myself to the pot. (3) I was okay with taking the pot down right there and moving close to 20k. I liked the table in spite of the chip leader to my left and felt I could continue to chip up without getting cute. (4) There was always the possibility that moving all in there would be seen as far less than aces: maybe a middle pair or KQ or even a complete steal. (5) Finally, as a big stack, Feldman may just get stubborn.

To my shock, Feldman called IMMEDIATELY and turned over AQo. Huh? Now if it was me, I can’t imagine a short stack is going to complete in front of the big stack without a hand he can stand a raise. And then, when that short stack then moves in on you for 2.5x the pot, can you call with AQ? And even then, can you call that fast? David flopped a gut shot straight draw with KJx, but I managed to avoid his 4 outs and doubled through to 38500 or so. Finally, finally, I was in business.

Nothing of note happened for the remainder of the level, and right about that time our table broke and I was moved across the room near the feature table.




I knew immediately that my luck had changed. Even though I was around average, several of the players at the table had bigger stacks than mine, and I was stuck with Seat 10 again. (This would prove to be almost fatal.)

To make matters even worse, Gavin Smith was in seat 4 with about 87k in chips. Gavin won the championship event at the Mirage Poker Showdown in May (the inaugural event of WPT Season 4) for $1.1 million. Oh, and for good measure, he’d won the $1500 NL event a week earlier for $155,000. Seated to his right was the guy who served as Robert Varkonyi’s “coach” before the 2002 and 2003 WSOP. He had about 50k. To his right, in seat 2 was Michael Kessler, who ended up finishing 18th. He had a huge stack, too. Finally, seat 1 turned out to be a very tough, young Asian guy from LA.

I went card dead for at least two hours. That coupled with the fact that I was a little unnerved by the competition meant my stack dwindled down to around 15k. Then I raised all in with KJs and got called by Kessler almost immediately. I threw over my hand and the corner of the king touched the muck. Someone said “it’s mucked” and panicking, I pulled the cards two inches over. Then someone screamed “call the Floor!”

“Oh, shit! I’m going to get eliminated from the Main Event by mucking my own fucking cards! Unbelievable!” I thought. (But yet, somehow fitting for a batface.) Kessler, like a true gentleman, waved it off and turned over Kjo with a smile. We chopped. 4000 people that entered the man event in Kessler’s situation would have been demanding to the Floor that my cards were mucked. Another 1500 would have been uncertain about the outcome and let the Floor decide. A handful, like Kessler, would have let me off that easy. It was a good-guy move from what turned out to be a very, very good player. I was glad to see him win $400,000.

[sidenote: as it turns out, the standard rule is that the dealers and Floor try to save a hand if they can, so since my cards were clearly visible, I suspect the result would have been the same. Unless, of course, Gonz was the Floor.]

Somewhere in this timeframe, Gavin Smith managed to get involved in a big hand with A9 against A10. He clearly doesn’t know how to flop two pair with A9 like Celeste and get out of a completely dominated situation. He lost about a quarter of his stack there and another half of it a couple of hands later doubling up a short stack with QQ vs. KK. Then he went on tilt, singing about it and talking about it to anyone and no one.

Not long after that I doubled up with pocket 8s vs. the Coach’s AJo. Then the coach raised from middle position and I came over the top all-in with QQ. I had about 32k at the time, and it was going to cost him about 26k more to call, or over half his stack. He thought about it forever, clearly doing all the higher mathematics in his mind. I guess he finally assumed there was just too much of a chance that I was moving with any pair again and he called with KJs. My queens held up and I was over 64k, the high point for the tournament thus far.

Shortly thereafter the Coach busted out only to be replaced by the highly deceptive J.C. Tran. Tran had close to 200k in chips, but it was late in the session and he appeared too tired to play many pots. He also had Gavin Smith on his left, and Gavin was stealing his way back close to 65k. By the way, I love the way Gavin plays poker, and he seems to be a very likeable, approachable guy to boot. He was very friendly and jovial with all the unknowns.

[sidenote: when JC Tran sat down next to Gavin with a huge stack, I was more nervous than the night Darling tricked us into his uber-high stakes, low max buy-in crapshoot. I know who JC Tran is. Anybody who follows poker does. But apparently Dan doesn’t. And I’m told he actually proposed the question to anyone who could hear in the media room, “hey, does anyone know JC Tran?” I mean, seriously, how they didn’t take away all of the absurd pokerati credential right there is beyond me.

So Todd retells this story to me while I’ve stepped away from the table, and then tells me that Dan’s looked up JC on pokerpages and wanted to come tell me he plays very “celesty”. Seriously, I’m not making that up. I could feel the life-force leaking out of my body.]

In any event, with Gavin and JC stalking pots, and my once again going card dead and dwindling, I basically sat out the last 2 ½ hours of poker, only occasionally raising pre-flop to take down the blinds and antes. At the same time, people were busting out like crazy, and suddenly we were under 600 people. With the top 560 getting paid at least $12,500, I was starting to believe I might actually make it into the money. When the clock expired at the end of level 12, I had just under 34k in chips, and there were only 569 players left.