Phil’s Hand At The 2000 WSOP  

All right, so I finally remembered how to play poker card games great in the WSOP Big One sometime during the second day of the event.  The problem is that I remembered about one day too late, and finished 64th that year.  At least I gave myself a chance when I ran my $9,425 stack into about poker $48,000 or so the second day.  I love the World Series of Poker.  I wish we had one every month!

            About one hour after the dinner break, at around 10:00 p.m. the second day, the following hand came up.  I had been playing very tight and solid poker all day long. 

From one off of the button, I opened for $6,000 with Ac-Kc.  The blinds were $1,000-$2,000 and the antes were $300 apiece.  The player in the small blind then asked me how much gaming money I had left, and I showed him the roughly $30,000 that I had in front of me.  He then bet $6,000 bluff.

            I hated the flop.  It would have been pretty easy for the small blind to K-Q, Q-J suited, or something similar.  I looked at my opponent and sensed some weakness, so I very quickly decided at my opponent and sensed some weakness, so I very quickly decided to raise him $10,000 fairly quickly.  Damn! I had only about $14,000 more, and I knew he was going to call that, too.  We both checked the next two card games, and he won the pot with his 7-7.

            How badly did I play this hand?  Well, if I really thought he was weak, then I should have raised all of my chips on the flop and not just the relatively weak $10,000 amount that I raised.  It was too easy for him to call $10,000.  He might have called $24,000 more, but at least I would have given myself a better chance to win the pot limit omaha.  Of course, if I didn’t sense weakness, then I could have folded my hand and continued to hang around with my last $30,000.  I don’t like the fact that I acted so quickly on this hand, either.  I should have given my reading powers a better chance and studied for a minute or so longer.  Maybe I could have figured out that he had about 7-7 and then figured out what he would do with it if I raised first wpt 2003.  (One of the things I do well is figure out these kinds of scenarios in my mind by reading my opponent well.)

            This WSOP was a bit different for me.  In two full days of playing, I never had over $50,000 in chips.  What are the odds of a player playing this four-day-long event as long as I did and never having over $50,000?  To my way of thinking, I would say over 20 to 1 high limit action.