Following Day 2 (which ended somewhere beyond 1 a.m.), Todd, Ricky and I enjoyed some late night Burger King on the strip, and then I tried to get some sleep (after I moved my flight back for the second time). An under-reported consequence of these tournaments (and I would assume particularly the Main Event) is how tired it makes you, how late you play, and at least for a novice like me, how hard it is to sleep.
As I lay in bed, I simply could not get cards out of my head. Did I play that right? Did I play it wrong? Should I get a lot more aggressive? Should I hang on desperately for the money? Will I play with someone I know tomorrow? Will I go out on the bubble (again)? What is time? Around 4 a.m. I finally drifted off.
Shortly before 10, I awoke feeling relatively rested and all kinds of nervous. No need for the 3 alarm clocks and two separate wake-up calls. Nine players left. Nine. All I had to do was outlast nine freaking players and I would make the money. Unbelievable. I quietly gave myself even money to get there, even though I’d found out from Dan (via Alicia, I believe) that I was in 450th place out of the remaining 569 with several tiny stacks that would surely be all in during the first orbit.
I also was informed that no one of note was sitting at my table… except immediately to my right in seat 5. That would be one Sammy Farha, sitting on over 170k in chips. Awesome. After throwing up several times I was almost looking forward to it.
We made the mistake of arriving at the Rio with about 45 minutes to spare. The last thing I needed to do before playing the most important hour of poker in my life was to mill around amidst all the fanfare getting completely psyched out. I was Shaning hard. My man-crushee, Gavin Smith, had told our table at the end of Day 2 that once you get into the money at the Main Event, it becomes the “greatest thing in poker.” With all the crowds and cameras everywhere, he claimed it was nothing short of electric.
On one of the many trips up and down the convention hall to kill time (and take care of my nervous stomach) I noticed Mr. Farha perusing what appeared to be a handwritten chip count for our table. Super. Now he’s actually preparing to devour me. Cue more throwing up.
Finally the witching hour arrived. I took my seat at Table 36, seat 6, opened my bag and self-consciously stacked my paltry chips. About 3 minutes before the level started, Mr. Farha arrived and clumsily dumped his enormous pile onto the table. He and a tournament director were still stacking his chips at the first deal.[side-note: as much as the 2003 WSOP seemed to make Farha into a kind of made-for-tv gambler with the Cheshire grin and the one-liners, he is actually even more of a character in person. First, the presentation: designer jeans, perfectly polished Italian shoes, an unbelievable lace shirt and more bling than you can imagine. His watch had to have 120 diamonds on it. And the teeth! Amazing. Reminded me of Matt Dillon’s character from There’s Something About Mary.
But here’s the other thing. He’s also just a great guy’s guy. Funny, telling stories, laughing, poking fun, just basically holding court. And I’m sure it’s like that wherever he goes. It was just awesome to hang out next to him, and we hadn’t even started playing cards yet! He was beginning to rival Gavin…]
With the railbirds seeming to increase in number (somehow), and with the electricity of being that close to the money, I was starting to feel the pressure. REALLY feel it. I was nervous on Day 1, somewhat less nervous and excited on Day 2, and now on Day 3, I was close to becoming a complete wreck. At the same time, it was utterly exhilarating.
As it turns out, seat 3 and seat 1 became notable players by the end of the week. In seat 3 was Shahram "Sean" Sheikhan, who ended up finishing 11th. Sean had about 150,000 in chips. And in seat 1 sat a nervous-looking kid named Brad Kondracki with about 140,000 in chips. Kondracki made the final table, finishing 8th.
With the cards in the air, we began the slow process of playing hand-for-hand until we made it through the bubble. It turned out there were actually only 567 left, but amazingly, it took a little over an hour to get into the money. I think we played about 10-12 total hands. Most of these hands were taken down pre-flop by Farha or Sheikhan, each giggling about how the rest of us weren’t doing anything unless we held aces.
It was during this time that Farha and Sheikhan played the infamous game of high card. I’ll only add one more detail. After Sheikhan had won the $25,000 Bellagio chip, he was noticeably excited. He’d been matching Farha needle-for-needle to that point, and you got the impression that the money meant just as little to him as it did Farha. But the $25,000 chip changed that. Now he was pumped, and he needled Farha perhaps a little too far.
“Okay, Sean, let’s go for $100,000,” Farha finally snarled, stone-faced. Sheikhan stopped smiling and sat down, realizing the fun was now over. “Murmur,” I thought.
Once we broke through the bubble, I took down the blinds and antes a couple of times, but I was still losing ground. Finally, I made a stand when Sheikhan raised my big blind and moved in with QJ off-suit. It was only about $20,000 more for him to call, and he did so reluctantly with A-10. I caught a queen on the flop to double through to around $60,000 (look, my stack has grown!).
Shortly thereafter Kondracki, who’d already showed down a couple of big hands, got involved in a huge pot with seat 9, Kelly Kim, who had started the day with just over $100k in chips. Kim had doubled through Sammy when he flopped a set of 8s on an 8-high flop and Farha moved him in on a stone bluff (read: hurty). Both Kondracki and Kim had around $200k in chips at the time.
Kim open-raised from the cutoff and Kondracki called from the button. The flop came down 8-6-5 rainbow. Kim led out, Kondracki raised pot and Kim re-raised to $100k to go, leaving himself around $100k more. Kondracki went into a brief tank and then moved in. Now stop reading here for a second and tell me what you think they are likely to be holding in this spot.
As Todd can attest, Kim went into the tank of a lifetime. Seriously, it had to be at least 8 minutes, probably longer. I assumed we were dealing with set-over-set, or that maybe even Kondracki had made a loose call with the BONE (7-9o) and flopped a straight. What the hell could they have, and what could Kim possibly be sweating over? He HAD to have 6s or 5s, didn’t he? Sure, any easy call if it’s bet and raise all-in, but how about bet, raise, re-raise, re-re-raise all-in? Wow, that’s a tough spot for all your money, particularly when you were far north of average in chips to start the hand.
Add to that the fact that Kim seemed to be one of these countless young, solid, aggressive Asians from L.A., and Kondracki was, and no offense to Kondracki here, basically an internet punk/schmuck. You could almost see Kim sitting there thinking, “I can’t believe I’m going to get knocked out by this internet geek who flopped a garbage straight.”
Finally, Kim reluctantly called. Kondracki sighed as though beaten (which he clearly thought he was to pocket 6s) and turned over pocket 5s for bottom set. Then Kim turned over pocket queens! I almost fell out of my chair. What?!!? Amazingly, Kim caught another queen on the river to make the nut boat, but sadly for him, Kondracki had already turned four-of-a-kind. Wow!
While they counted out chips to see if Kim survived, Farha commented about Kim’s miserable play. For both players, I suggested, and he agreed, though he did motion to Kondracki (who was shaking so badly his sunglasses were following off his face) and said something to the effect of, “yes, but he’s clearly an idiot.” Kondracki had Kim covered by $100, and they re-counted to make sure. During that time Kim actually went up a prize level as players were being eliminated left and right.
In re-thinking the hand, I still think Kondracki was a little over-aggressive in that spot with bottom set. I know that sounds crazy, but given the action in the hand, and given where he was in chips, it just seemed like a spot where one wouldn’t have been certain bottom set was good there. More power to him, though, as aggression was rewarded (as it usually is), and he finished the day third in chips out of 185.
Shortly thereafter, our table broke, and I was moved to a new table featuring Ms. Robert Varkonyi and Aaron “Knock-out” Kanter, who finished 4th. More to come.
1 comment:
nice
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