Tournament Play

When Barry called and told me to meet him at the Eastside Cannery Casino I expected to see something right out of a Steinbeck novel. Opening in August just last year, the modern architecture put that image to rest. Once inside, the decor does lean toward nostalgic Americana and the music is constant oldies, but not swing. Of course, everything is new and really nice and much less expensive than on The Strip. The value needs to be there to draw tourists six miles to the east. Two reasons for coming: The lunch buffet was on special for $5.99 and the Poker Room was holding a $27 buy-in No Limit Hold 'em tournament.

There were twenty players in the tournament. Two tables. I decided to try my hand at a wild and aggressive style that could either build a huge stack or bust me out early. Whenever an opponent showed weakness I was right there with a raise to apply the pressure. As you would expect, eventually somebody would catch on and try to trap me. All the money goes into the middle and I catch a straight on the river to bust a big pocket pair out of the tournament. It is early enough in the proceedings that he buys in again at the desk and gets a new starting stack. I kept the pressure on and had another player all in when I held two spades including an ace and sent him down the river having caught the unbeatable nut flush on the last card.

Enough players busted out that we combined to one final table. We were now playing 200-400 blinds and I had a stack of over 8000, double the average. First hand, I was in the Big Blind. After a couple of players fold a lady with a smallish stack calls. I am thinking she must be weak or have a drawing hand. Two players behind her also call. With all this weakness showing I started thinking that a big raise might get everyone to fold. There was 1800 in the pot, so it would be a very nice pot to steal. I peak at my cards and verify that the only way I can win this juicy pot is to steal it. I had a seven-deuce off suit, mathematically the worst possible starting hand. I announced, "All in!" The lady calls me and the others fold. She showed ace-ten both spades. I sheepishly showed my cards and the table erupted with guffaws and cries of "Oh my God" and "Unbelievable!" The dealer put out the flop. It came out all red with a seven to pair me up. No help for her on the Turn or the River and my lowly 7-2 takes the pot. She stormed out of the poker room mumbling to herself.

Winning this pot is not as outrageous as it first seems. If you run a simulation pitting 7-2 against A-10 it comes out that the 7-2 is just a little worse than a 60-40 underdog. Maybe 65-35 because the A-10 were the same suit and can make the flush about 5% of the time. Besides that, I was thoroughly convinced that I was not going to get a call.

The more unlikely hand came on the very next deal. Now I was in the Small Blind. Gun shy, the table folded around to me. I have A-8 and raise to 2000. The man in the big blind had been playing very tight and aggressive and had 4200 chips left. "This should be a no brainer," he announced and after a few seconds of thought pushed all his chips forward. It would cost me 2200 more to try to win the 6200 already in the pot and this time my hand is a lot better than seven-deuce. I called. I was getting almost 3 to 1 on a call. His raise was a no brainer because he had a pocket pair of queens. Flop-Turn-River and the board showed 5-6-7-9-10. Another amazing come from behind victory with a lot of comments around the table. We shook hands and shook heads and smiled and shrugged, "That's Poker!"

I tried to tighten up after that but after another orbit I saw queen-ten and re-raised, the raiser went all in and I had to call. That raiser was the same guy that had bought back into the tournament earlier and had built a sizeable chip stack since then. I lost a big chunk of my stack to his ace-king, making him the new chip leader. I guess I was simply steaming because the next hand when that same player just limped with a call and I had another queen-ten I pushed all-in. He called and showed pocket Aces. Oops. I quickly went from second place with an excellent chance to win a few hundred dollars to busted.

Hopefully, I learned something about tournament strategy from this experience. The lesson was not free.

A Soft Opening Day

"Welcome to the 2009 World Series of Poker!" I say as I greet each player that comes to take a seat at Table 4 of the $330 Buy-in Mega Satellite Tournament, the first official tournament of the 2009 World Series of Poker. The prize for winning this tournament is a seat in the "Main Event", the $10,000 Buy-in tournament that gets television coverage and begins July 3rd. There were about 60 entries, so total prize money would be about $18,000 meaning that first place would win entry to the "Main Event" and second place would get $8,000 cash. When we get closer to July 3rd, this kind of tournament will get much more popular. Some days we could have 500 entries. That would mean that places 1 through 15 would each win the $10,000 entry into the main event.

WSOP uses a soft opening. They save the brass bands and fireworks for the opening of the Main Event and use these preliminaries to test systems and functions and also to complete setting up all the tables, registration booths and cashier's cages.

There will be 57 tournaments this year where the winner gets a gold bracelet in addition to the prize money. The first "Bracelet Event" is the Casino Employees No Limit Hold 'em Tournament. It has the smallest buy-in of all the bracelet events, only $500 and is a very popular tournament among the poker dealers in town. Last year first prize was over $80,000 plus the bracelet. Usually about 10% of the field "makes the money" and the smallest payout is typically double the entry fee.

Things went pretty smoothly for me on day one. My back hurts from reaching across the table for chips all day. Thankfully this year Jack Effel, WSOP Tournament Director, negotiated a deal with a furniture supply company to provide dealer's chairs with adjustable height mechanisms. You can't believe how much better it is to deal when sitting at the proper height. Last year dealers carried around multiple cushions or stacked chairs trying to get to the right position. Many thanks from 1000 dealers to Jack for getting us good chairs this year!

I'm baaaack!

No longer a rookie, but probably a little rusty. When I left last year I figured that having had the experience, I wouldn't want to return. Things change. I wasn't able to leverage my WSOP experience into a regular job back in Tampa. I dealt a few charity tournaments, but couldn't catch on to anything regular. When the WSOP invited me to deal this year, the thinking was that if I wanted to deal in the future, I should probably keep my hand in it and keep my experience relevant. The toughest part is being away from Lillian and home for six or seven weeks.

This year I again have some very nice acommodations, but in a different place. The Chapman BnB is no longer taking guests, so this year I am staying on the south side. The couple that owns the house lives in the master suite on the main floor while they rent out the three bedrooms upstaires. The place is neat, clean and located in a nice middle class kind of neighborhood. According to Google Maps it should take me 11 minutes to get to work. How? My friend and fellow dealer Barry put me in touch with the person he rented a car from last year. Barry drove from Tampa this year and didn't need to rent a car. So now I bop around Vegas in a 15 year old beat up Miata at about half the cost of the cheapest rental I could find at the airport. It runs. Tires are good and the A/C works. It has a tiny little oil leak but I think it will get me through the series.

Work starts today, May 26, 2009. Opening day. Only satellite tournaments and Live Action cash games today. The $500 Casino Employee Poker Tournament starts tomorrow to kick off the World Series of Poker. I decided to work rather than play in it. Maybe next year.

WSOP is History

I dealt on Day One of the WSOP: 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d as well as Day 2. After that, the field melted down and fewer tables were needed. The Satellite room, usually packed, was empty. We started over seven weeks ago with some 4000 people applying for positions and attending auditions. Of those, 896 were hired. No idea how many actually made it to the Main Event, but I know that there were a small number who were fired for incompetence and a number that were taken off the roster because they simply didn't show up regularly and a number walked away from the job because they either realized that they weren't going to make the kind of money they expected or they discovered that dealing can be tough and it just wasn't worth it.

By the time the Main Event arrived there were 305 dealers on Swing Shift alone. Sunday's Main Event had some 2700 players which means 270 tables were needed. They used the Amazon Room, which is the primary location for the tournaments and they also filled the Satellite Room with Main Event players. They put people in the casino poker room and the hallway outside of Buzio's restaurant and also in the Brazilia Room. From WSOP Updates:

The Brasilia room is packed full today. Some of the notable names in the field are: Ryan Young Tim Vance Lou Esposito Sully Erna Eskimo Clark Jose Canseco Amir Vahedi Phil Gordon Erik Cajelais David Williams Hevad Khan There are still a bunch of empty seats that should be filled in soon enough. Some of the big pros tend to arrive late to the event. We'll keep you posted as to when they show up.
Today's field includes none other than the 2007 WSOP Main Event winner and defending champion Jerry Yang. Last year Jerry overcame
6,357 other players to take down the biggest prize in poker and $8.25 million in cash. Jerry hasn't let fame and fortune go to his head, maintaining his humility as he carried the honor of poker's world champion for the past 12 months. Jerry is back today to try and do it all over again this year, but it won't be easy, as the cameras swarm his table with all eyes centered on him.

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:27:13
Think I'll Wait for the Fourth Day One - So thought a lot of folks. Shane "Shaniac" Schleger and Joe Pelton are here and at the same table. And Layne Flack and Antonio Esfandiari are also tablemates. Also among those here in the Brasilia Room: Scott Clements, Dan Shak, Tom Schneider, Ryan Daut, and Eugene Todd, bro.

I was also assigned to deal in Brazilia on Sunday. Of the names above I dealt tables that included Sully Erna, Phil Gordon, Eskimo Clark, David Williams, Hevad Khan, Shane "Shaniac" Schleger, Scott Clements and Eugene Todd.

This year WSOP instituted the "Hevad Khan Rule" which can assess a player a penalty for "Excessive celebration" because of Hevad's antics at last year's tournament. I just have to tell you that when I dealt to Hevad Khan he was one of the nicest and most polite players in the field. He was pleasant, affable and demonstrated a clever sense of humor. Other dealers had the same experience. I guess he saw himself on TV and made a decision to behave differently.

I also dealt on Day 2 but after that, with no Single Table Satellites, no Mega Satellite, no $330 Nightly No Limit Tournament and hardly any cash tables, it was time to call it quits.

My World Series of Poker Dealer experience is ended. Just like I can say that I once caddied for a PGA pro and for an LPGA pro I can say that I dealt at the tables of the 2008 World Series of Poker and viewed the action from the inside.

Tiffany Sticks Around

Tiffany Michelle, who I dealt Aces to on Day One seems to have put those chips to good use as she has made the group of 27 players (3 tables) starting the final day of play. Right now she is guaranteed to win over a quarter million dollars. If she makes the final two tables, she will be guaranteed over three hundred thousand and if she survives to the final table, she will get, at worst, over nine hundred thousand. It will take eighth place this year to be paid a cool million.

This year, for the first time, the final table will be delayed. ESPN decided that they wanted the television experience to be "Near real time" so that when the champion is crowned, you won't be seeing six month old news on ESPN. Starting July 22nd, ESPN will be airing weekly episodes of poker from this year's World Series of Poker. By the time November rolls around, viewers will have seen all the tapings of preliminary events and the build up to the final table. The final episodes should air the day after they actually happen.

Best of luck to Tiffany. It would be really cool to have such a special connection to a player at the final table.

Little Bluffs and Big Hands

Monday was a day off for the players in the Main Event. Day Ones were Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The concept is to eliminate about half the field on Day One. The Thursday and Friday survivors are combined and play as one group on Tuesday and the weekend survivors come together on Wednesday. Rather than playing the Main Event, Monday was scheduled for the Casino Employees Tournament. I suppose it would have been cool to be able to say that I played in a WSOP Event but I just couldn't convince myself that it was worth the $500 entry fee and besides, it's not like I haven't spent a lot of time sitting at those tables. Then on Monday I got a text message from my Dealer Coordinator saying that there were way too many dealers scheduled and that Tim and I could take the day off. I could have gone down to the Rio and tried my hand at some of the cash games but I figured I had a better shot at winning a few bucks up at the Stratosphere where I might find a softer game.

The Poker Room at the Stratosphere runs a nice promotion on the first Monday of every month by adding money to the prize pools of their daily $60 entry tournaments. They double first place money. For example with 60 players there would be a prize pool of $3300 with $1320 going to the winner. They add an extra $1320 and make it $2640 for the winner. This is a generous promotion to get players into the casino. Stratosphere also usually spreads a $1-$2 No Limit Hold'em game which is a low stakes level that I am very comfortable playing at.

Tim and I got there about an hour before the 4 PM tournament. We signed up for the tournament, paid our $60 entry fee and then found open seats at the $1-$2 games at different tables. The idea is to try to win the entry fee to the tournament in the cash game and then freeroll in the tournament.

The first hand I see is Queen - Ten. I raise to $7 and get 2 callers. The flop is Queen high. I lead out $15 on my pair of Queens and get one caller. The Turn card looks safe, doesn't seem to complete any draws and is small enough to be unlikely to hit a caller's hand. I toss/slide five red chips out. They start in a nice neat stack and as they slide forward they form a straight line of five $5 chips evenly spaced on the felt in front of me. My opponent folds. I win the pot. Nearly half way to my goal on the first hand.

The next hand is rags and I fold it. This is followed by an Ace - Queen. After two players limp (call the $2 Big Blind) I raise it up to $7. The blinds fold and the two limpers call. The dealer pulls the bets into the pot and puts out the Flop. It's a King and two small cards, three suits. Both callers check quickly and without hesitation I toss out $15. They both fold and I am another $14 closer to my goal.

Goals are funny things in poker. I can't tell you how many times I have looked down at my chip stack and thought gee, if I can win just another $20 I will reach my goal of tripling up today - and then go broke trying to do it. Much better to just play each hand and each situation for what it is rather than relative to any artificial goal I set for myself.

The very next hand I peek down and see a red Queen. Then I look at the other card and see a red Queen. Then I look back at the first card and see a red Queen and again check the second card and yes, I have the two red Queens. One player limps from early position and I make it $15. Everyone folds to the blinds. The small blind calls the $15 and so does the limper. Carri the dealer, a dark haired pretty woman in her twenties who cannot weigh more than about 95 pounds, pulls in the bets and spreads the flop: J-10-4 with two spades. Check. Check. I push another $15 out. The small blind calls. The limper folds. I figure the caller either has a 10 or two spades. Carri adds a red 7 to the board and the caller checks. I think it is highly unlikely that this guy started out this hand calling a $15 raise with 9-8, but not impossible. I lead out with $20 and after a beat he calls. Hmmm.
He is probably chasing the flush, but I can't rule out that he caught part of that board and thinks he is letting me hang myself. The River card is a red 4, pairing the board. He checks and I have this feeling that if I bet he is going to make a huge raise which I would have to fold to. Instead of a value bet on the end I just flip over my cards and say, "All I have is the Queens." He tosses his hand in face down and Carri pushes me the pot.
The tournament is getting ready to start and the timing is just perfect for me to take my winnings and go try my hand in the tournament.

I didn't do as well in the tournament. Although I outlasted more than half the field, I ultimately busted out well outside of the money. After busting out I went back to the cash game where the Queens were once again very good to me winning one pot that was over $200. Sometime after midnight Tim came over telling me he had had enough poker for the day so I cashed in and on the way out we stopped by Lucky's diner for the $9.99 Prime Rib Special. It would have been much better served a little quicker and warmer but for $9.99 I don't really expect Lawry's.

Day 1-D, the Last Day One

No, I did not get to see Phil Hellmuth's grandiose entrance to the Main Event where he dressed up like General Patton and was driven up in a camouflage painted Jeep. Swing shift starts at 6 PM after all those frivolities are over.

This fourth "Day One" was the most popular with some 2700 players. They could not fit all of them in the Amazon Room. The overflow was handled in other available rooms in Rio's conference center. My assignment was in the Brazilia Room where 50 tables were set up for Day 1-D. While this room was separated from the enormous Amazon Room it still had its share of ESPN cameras and poker celebrities in the field. Sully Erna, the Poker playing leader of the heavy metal rock band Godsmack was at one of my tables and my roomie had the honor of dealing for Todd Brunson and dealing the hand that busted him out of this year's Main Event.

The highlight of my shift was dealing at Phil Gordon's table. Not only was he at the table but in the #9 seat to my immediate right. He was also a delight to have at the table, friendly to all the other players and animated in conversation.

Phil Gordon is one of my primary Poker heroes. While there may be a pretty large seedy side to poker, Phil Gordon represents the more classy, more mainstream side of the sport. I relate to him somewhat because of his career prior to poker. Phil is truly living the dream. A graduate in Computer Science, Phil was one of the founders of a company called Netsys Technologies during the Internet explosion of the 1990's. When Cisco bought them out, Phil (in his late twenties at the time) became a multi-millionaire and retired from the technology business. He travelled the world, attended sporting events everywhere and found poker. He became one of the best there is, not only at playing the game, but at explaining it. He has written several books, all of which are in my personal collection, and for seven seasons he was the expert commentator on a cable TV show called Celebrity Poker Showdown. His analysis of the play on the show was especially insightful because rather than discussing the subtleties of professional play at the highest levels he pointed out things to look for when playing with typical poker players. This kind of information is very useful at the local cardroom! Phil also has a very engaging personality which helps to explain why the show lasted so long. In fact, he was replaced by world famous poker pro and 12 time WSOP Bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and the show was cancelled very soon after. It just did not work without Gordon.

I grew up playing golf, working in my dad's golf shop and have a healthy respect for the games history and traditions. Harvey Penick wrote a classic book on the fundamentals of golf and called it simply, The Little Red Book. When Phil Gordon wrote his book on the fundamentals of No Limit Hold 'em Poker he borrowed from that theme and called it The Little Green Book. I liked it before I even opened the cover. It is must reading for anyone that plays the game. As a matter of fact, he has also added a Blue Book and a Black Book to the collection.

So nothing really eventful happened while I dealt to Phil Gordon, I was just delighted to be there and have a little light conversation while he played a little poker at the Main Event. I was happy to see his chip stack was about double the starting amount. Upon moving on to the next table I wished everyone good luck and congratulated Phil on becoming a father for the first time a few weeks ago.