2006 WSOP main event retrospective ...

When you play in the biggest poker event of the year, and your life,
its hard not to have the occasional flash back. Sometimes I
look out the window much like in a (viet)nam flash back, and see
pocket 7s , see my bloodied body leaving the table , and going
to the cashier to pick up $47,200 stuffing it in my pockets and leaving
confused but happy.

The 4 days - poker and more poker ...

Day 1 - I get off to a good start for me , 18k 1/2 way through the day,
cruising along not doing anything too stupid. Then I get moved to another
table, where of course there is a generic blonde scandinavian maniac, with
all the green ($25) chips , and lots of other brightly coloured chips. I find
the table move an easy process, as I dont usually have a million chips to carry,
much like moving house , its best to travel light. Tho traveling light in poker
has a distinct disadvantage when you arrive at your desitination. I dont
really pick up any cards, then play this pot with Joe Cassidy. Where I have the
nut flush draw on the flop, he has a smaller flush draw tho he hits his small
pair, i dont make a flush, and although we didnt go all in, I end up down to 5k !
I end the day on about 6k , dire by any stretch, but a situation Ive been in before.

Day 2 - I survive some races, grind my way dodging bullets, and get up to 28k
after finding Aces and doubling up against Jacks. With one hand to go before the day,
and using my tight image i raise with 4-4 in early position hoping to get over 30k,
unfortunately i find a caller. With about 8k in the pot, im not that thrilled about
being out of position with a small pair, but when the door card is a 4 , i could kiss the
dealer, the flop looking like 4-8-Q, rainbow. I bet out 5k , which looks weak, not
because of the bet amount, but because I always look weak, havent they read
Caros book of tells or watched rounders, Weak is Strong !!! The guy thinks
puts me all in , and I call quickly which seems to put a dagger thru his heart, he bemoans
Aces again ? Im no , 4s. He is drawing dead by the turn and I double up to about 55k
at the end of day 2 !

Day 3 - We are approaching the money, and I have a bad table draw, the 3 ppl to
my left all have over 200k which is plenty of chips at this stage, and not to mention
one of them is Ted Forrest. Ted Forrest once took his entire million dollar bankroll
against chip reese and andy beal and came out a big winner in a 10-20k limit game,
when he was almost down to the felt. He seems to be quite solid in his play but
always has a good feel for his opponents. When he raised the first hand , and
the flop came A-3-5 hearts, he managed to bust an opponent on the river, conveniently
Ted had raised with 2-4 of hearts and flopped a straight flush, no one saw his opponents
cards, but he disaperared into the crowd as so many do, during the first 3 days
of the main event. I was all in early in the level on a K high flop with Ak , but my opponent
also had AK. I was free-rolling on runner runner spade draw, that didnt eventuate,
so I maintained my stack consistent. It was difficult as the bubble approached as
most of my raises to pick up blinds were met by re-raises by the big stacks on the
left, and I eventually had to give up. Down to 35k I picked up 7-7 in the small blind.
The cut off raised, I called, and the big blind big stack called. Once again I could kiss
the dealer, when the flop came 7-7-3. I maintained my poker face checked the flop,
and by the river I could push my last few chips all in, which the big blind who had
conveniently slow played Aces could well afford to call. Doubled up to 70kish average
100kish. Tho the bubble still handt burst... Once again I couldnt do anything with
my 70k stack, so I ended up making the money. At that point, there was the biggest
freefall of players being eliminated, with some 200 players being eliminated in 15
minutes. By the end of the day i ended up on 70k. I remember having pocket 8s
which are my lucky hand about to call a raise. Which i didnt end up doing. The flop
came k-k-8. Tho it turned out to be convenient when the turn came a 10, and the
preflop raiser showed k-10 ! Woulda been busted out there , it seemed like someone
was looking out for me.

Day 4 - With some 400 players or so left, the pressure was off, I had made
some money and I needed to get some chips today ! Luckily for me I picked up
a pair of Jacks and Kings early, double up busted an opponent, and was sitting
on a 180k, suddenly i was on about average, now what was the plan ?? Daniel
Negreanu came to my table short stacked, gave me a hard time about my accent,
but unfortunately I got moved again. This is where I slid down the abyss. I couldnt
find any opportunties to play, there was the chip leader and a few other monster
stacks, and without hands and bad position, I couldnt do much. Hours went by
and with about 200 players left and a 120k in chips i had been moved to a new
table. It featured some random indian guy, annie duke, doug lee eventual final
tablist, and some guy who people were dubbing the luckiest guy in the
room. He had featured in a pot, where there 4 all ins ! AA vs KK vs QQ vs 10s.
He had the 10s and a hit miracle 10 on the river, to knock out 3 opponents
and take almost the chip lead. Scary thing was that he called about 2 or 3 of those
all ins with 10s. And here it was , 172 players left, Im in the small blind with 7-7,
theres been a raise of 24k , blinds 4-8, i call leaving myself a 100k, hoping for a
miracle. And bang the flop comes 2-7-9 rainbow. I could kiss the dealer again,
tho due to sexual harrasment cases being filed for my other inappropriate
advances, I decide to just check. The pre-flop raiser who i put may be an over
pair bets 2/4 of the pot, doug lee who I peg as being solid flat calls, which is
quite worrying , i know that one of them will have to call all in, and i casually
shove in my remaining 100k. They both call , hmmmm. The turn comes a Jack,
they both move all in !!!! And I can almost call the cards before they flipem over.
set of Jacks for the preflop raiser, set of 9s for doug lee, no one is really looking
in my direction tho when i flop over my set of 7s running in 3rd place, there
are some oos and ahhs. The case 7 miraculous doesnt come on the river, and instead
a blank appears, and ive been sent to the rail. At that point the supernatural
force that had been guiding me this far, making sure i stayed out of trouble,
and dodged bullets, seemed to have left me. Patiently i waited, and over 4 days
I get my chips in with middle set, (other hands i got all my chips in post flop,
were bottom set and quads!) only to come 3rd :( Perhaps the poker god looking
out for me was on a toilet break. It can be a bitch getting to the toilet and sometimes
u gotta sneak out mid level or run to the far toilet. Although quite pleased getting
so deep, I felt a bit disapointed. Sometimes u feel it and that day i felt it.

Interestingly I only missed one hand over the whole WSOP, which someone pushed
all in with AK, and hit two aces on the flop. It might seem like I flopped a lot of
sets and quads, but when u play for 12 hours a day and ur manouvering to find
the best opportunity over hundreds of hands, I probably was not that lucky ! Tho
to be truthful I did have the luck when it came to races !

2007 bring it on ! :)