Sunday, July 10, 2011

A trip down memory lane

As I am sitting here typing away on my blog I am enjoying my rest day and contemplating day 2a of the WSOP main event tomorrow. This is my second WSOP main event and I recall disappointingly crashing out of last years main event mid way through day three when I started day 3 as the table chip leader with about 110,000 chips. A couple of questions came to mind this morning - Will I do better this year? How did I get to here for a guy that doesn't play poker full time? Let's take a trip down memory lane...

The year is 2008 and I had been playing some serious live cash games and online cash games for a couple of years up until this point with quite some success. I had a lot of annual leave time saved up at work and decided I was going to go to my first WSOP but with a very limited budget. My intention was to check out Vegas as a tourist and play in just one of the WSOP bracelet events. With a very limited ABC tournament strategy I manage to cash in my first event for 112th and about $4000 in prize money. This was nothing to write home about in terms of finances but the experience got me hooked on tournament poker and the WSOP for years to come.

During my 2008 bracelet event another important thing occurred - whilst my pocket aces were cracked by an unknowing Irishman's pocket eights (he was all in and this saved him!) I was about to make one of my best friends in the poker world. That Irishman is Feargal Nealon. Despite exchanging email addresses scratched on bits of paper we were not to talk to each other again until the following year at the WSOP where we 'accidentally' ran into each other again. But some things in this world are just meant to be!

Enter the 2009 WSOP - over the past year I play more tournaments online with a very basic strategy but I study and improve dramatically in Sit and Gos and they become my specialty. I was not prepared to put up the $10K entry out of my poker bankroll. I play in one bracelet event and busted out around midnight of day one after twelve hours of play. I then manage to fall ill in bed with a severe cold for several days and realised after I recovered that there was only the weekend left before the main event entries close. How was I going to try to make the money to play in my first main event?...

The answer is always to try the satellite tournaments - I attacked the single table satellites which are essentially a 10 player Sit and Go where the winner takes all ($5K). Normally however deals are cut by the last 2-3 people left as no one wants to play for a few hours and leave empty handed. After grinding the $500 satellites for the first day of the weekend I managed to get to a $6K profit - this is no mean feat when a deal is cut 95% of the time. Rather than going all through the night I decided to go back to my room and get some sleep and try to do the same the next day. The next day things weren't going so well - I battled all day and night to basically break even and end up in the same position - $6K to the good but no $10K main event entry needed.

That night Feargal talked me into entering one of the $550 mega satellite tournaments the following morning - there were about 200 entrants and the top 10 finishers won a seat to the main event. I battled hard but busted out in 18th where I recall losing my final two hands in a row where I was the 4-1 favourite on both occasions - a very bitter pill to swallow just missing out on a main event seat - I was also back down to only $5.5K of my $10K needed. I played a final $500 single table satellite and managed to chop it for $2.5K bringing me up to $8K in profit but alas the main event entries were about to close and I was far too tired now to play in it on the same day with any energy. I may not have played in the main event in 2009 but the experience in trying to do so and railing Feargal during his first main event (in which he cashed!) has helped me more than any study materials ever could at that time.

Despite the 2009 WSOP being my least successful year to date in terms of poker I still consider it one of my most successful years in life. To re-acquaint myself with Feargal and also meet one of his close friends Shaun Craig who has also become a friend of mine means a lot to me. I remember the three of us entering a guitar hero competition in Vegas and the best we could come up with for a band name was "An Englishman, an Irishman and an Australian walk into a bar..." - what were we thinking? But we won the competition and the multiple jugs of beer as prizes!

Enter WSOP 2010 - I play in 5 bracelet events and my first main event! I manage to have my most successful year to date with 2/6 WSOP cashes. My tournament game has come a long way with exchanging ideas with Feargal and I also meet Dara O'KearneyWSOP - they are all down to earth, funny and OK they also like to have a drink! They are welcoming and more than happy to help me with my game. Remembering drinks one evening last year at the Wynn with almost the who's who of Irish poker was great - and Marty Smith if you are reading this I owe you a few drinks mate!  

I remember returning to Sydney after the 2010 WSOP with a buzz of excitement that my tournament game was really starting to improve. Since then I have had good success online in small buying MTT events grinding up a bankroll and continued to work on exchanging poker theory with Feargal, Dara and Shaun. I also get involved in staking players on Chip Me Up.

Enter WSOP 2011 - I have now played in three events this year and cashed in my first event of the series which basically has allowed me to 'freeroll' the other events. My only disappointment is that Feargal could not make it to be here this year. I have spent a lot of time here this year with Dara and his calming and logical influence. I have now cashed in 4/11 WSOP overall which is a result I am very happy with although like everyone else I still yearn for my first 'big' result. My thoughts now loop back to those echoed at the beginning of this blog...I have answered how I got here for a guy that doesn't play poker full time - the other question about 'Will I do better this year?' will be answered in a future blog...

Hopefully this was an interesting read on my WSOP trip down memory lane...if nothing else I hope it was enlightening to non poker players (and maybe even poker players alike) on the ups and downs a player goes through as they learn to try and compete at the world's most prestigious poker event. Its not always what you see on TV...

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