Subject: Perry's Big Adventure (Part I) Date: 17 Apr 2001 23:51:59 GMT From: friedman@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Perry Friedman) Organization: Stanford University, CA 94305, USA Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker Perry's Big Adventure Day 1 - Saturday night, April 29 The Spew Unfortunately, I couldn't get a room at Binions for the weekend, so I had to stay at the Mirage. In order to get the poker rate, I had to log enough hours there. I am a notoriously poor ring game player. I just can't take ring games seriously. I refuse to play at a limit where the money matters, because I want to have fun, and not worry. Last year, my company was acquired for a large cash amount, plus stock. I went to the Bellagio a few weeks later to play, and after checking out all the games, I ended up playing $1-$5 stud! I was doing well, and up about $100, when I started to spew. A player to my left says that I could be a good player if I just played tighter! Heh. I was probably worth more than the whole table combined, and I was just there to have fun and be social. I don't TRY to lose, but I also don't make winning my first priority either. Anyhow, I arrive at the Mirage and proceed to win a bit at $5-$10 stud. I say to someone there that this bodes poorly for me. I have placed in at least one tourney every time I have been to Vegas except one, and that was the only time in years (if ever) that I actually made money in the ring games. Anyhow, I then proceed to spew a few hundred and ease my mind. Day 2 - Sunday, April 30 The Setup Today's specialty is the $2,500 no limit holdem. I had entered two events at last year's WSOP and made it just past the first break. This was, as foreshadowed above, my only profitable ring game trip in years. The year before I had been very nervous and not played particularly well. However, I did manage to accomplish one goal, which was to put someone on tilt. In fact, it was Annie Duke and Melissa Hayden). Anyhow, they had been talking for a while and I had been sitting there quietly (which shows how nervous I was... I hardly EVER shut up). Well, at some point she mentions to her friend that she had made or had wanted to make a last longer bet with Huck Seed. So I chime in "women ALWAYS last longer than men!" Well, she and Melissa turn to me, in dead silence, and stare in disbelief or confusion or whatever for a good 20 seconds before resuming their conversation as if nothing had happened. Anyhow, this year, I did WORSE. I busted before the first break and didn't succeed in tilting anyone, except myself. I don't think I played terribly, but I wasn't too happy either. The Super Satellite I proceed to head downstairs and enter a super satellite. 5 hours later, I had my seat for the big event! The first day of main event of the WSOP happened to fall on my birthday this year, and my wife wanted me home for my birthday. Also, I had been signed up for Skip Barber Driving School on May 8 as a birthday present from my wife so I was only planning on staying through Friday, May 5. However, she said if I WON a seat, I could come back for the main event. So, after the super, I called her and let her know that I had good news and bad news... Now, as I have told many people, and as is somewhat alluded to above, I don't consider myself a great player at ring games. I don't think I am very good at any individual game of poker. But I have had very good tournament results. I have placed in the money in about half of the tournaments I have played in, and have placed in stud, limit and no limit holdem, and omaha tourneys. Now, the reason is, I consider myself to be a very good tournament player. The smaller the tournament or the faster the blinds escalate, the more dominant tournament skill becomes over general poker skills. Anyhow, this tournament illustrated the reason why some people, even successful ring players, just can't do well in tournaments. I saw some awful plays, and I also made one play, which I thought was my best play of the super (although it turned out to have no affect on my results) which several people thought was a BAD play. Even after I tried to explain why it was correct, they only conceded "oh, I guess it wasn't THAT bad." Anyhow, here's one bad play: We get to the final table. This super pays 3 seats, and three additional cash places, so all but 4 people get some profit out of the table, and there were several short stacks. I had about $8K which was either chip lead, or close to it. I look down first hand and I have A-K. Blinds are $100-$200 and I am second to act, I think. I make it $600 to go, which I figure is a good bet. I don't want to risk a lot, since I have a great shot at a seat if I just maintain my stack, but I want to chip away at the blinds. A small raise or call could invite a raise behind, but a bigger bet leaves me vulnerable. Anyhow, the guy 2 or 3 to my left has about $7K. Now, at this point, I think it's a MAJOR mistake for him to try to tangle with a bigger stack. He's also in great position to get a seat, and he should wait for the small stacks to drop. Anyhow, he goes over the top for a large reraise. It's folded to me and I, of course, muck. I figure he must have a pocket pair and there's no point in me mixing with a large stack at this point. As I fold, he shows me A-Q. I think this move was awful by him. We get down to 4 players and one player has almost all the chips. He has about 90+%, and he's still playing very aggressively, stealing and betting, trying to get all the chips. Not sure if this is wise or not. I suppose he just wanted it all over, but he could have waited to win his seat and sat pat and not risked anything. Anyhow, we get to the following situation: Blinds and $400/$800. I am the small blind, and have $800 total, so I am in for half my stack. Under the gun has $400 total (he's also the same guy who made the move with the A-Q). He calls all in. Big blind has about $1300 total. Super stack folds. Now, my initial reaction is that with someone all in, I should fold and let him bust. However, on second thought, in this situation, I had to ask the one all important question of the tourney director: If we both bust, who gets the seat? Well, the person who had more chips before the hand does. That was me. So, if I fold, I lose half my chips. If I call and small stack doesn't win the hand, I get a seat. And even if he DOES win the hand, if I finish second I still get $800 back on the side pot. So the only way I bust out is if I finish 3rd and small stack wins the hand. Anything else I either win the seat then and there, or I get back $800, instead of folding and having $400. Not only that, in the scenario where small stack wins and I finish second, the small stack gets NO extra money from me. He still ends up with only $1200, which is just enough to play the blinds (and he has the BB next). Whereas if I fold and he wins the pot, he still has $1200 but I have only $400 which means next time I am all in, it's for less than one BB. Now, if I were the button and he was all in on one of the blinds, let's say, and I have no money in, it's a tougher call. Here, if I fold I have $800 and if he wins and I finish second, I still have $800, but he gets an extra $400 out of the pot. Still with the hand I had, I'd probably have called from the button. I looked down and saw Ks-Js. I thought given the above, this is a no-brainer call! This is the move that I thought was a great move by me, and that afterwards people were criticizing. Well, here comes the REAL kicker: After I call, big blind MUCKS HIS HAND! He mucked to NO BET, since I was all in calling his big blind! At first, I didn't know if I should object or not. I may want an extra chance to win the seat. But instead, now I have a complete freeroll, with my $800 back and a chance to win. Well, as it turns out, small stack has Kc-Qc. Flops comes a Q but also 2 spades and a 10, giving me straight draw and flush draw. Turn comes J. River comes A. Now we both have broadway. Small stack is ready to chop when some points out that there is a flush! At first, I thought it had to be me, since I flopped the flush draw. But it turns out it came running clubs. In fact, after pointing out it was a flush, someone points out he had a ROYAL FLUSH! Oh well. I guess the third player didn't matter. Or did he? If he had 2 small clubs, I'd have been out. This was an outrageously bad laydown. In fact, he ended up being the one player who didn't get a seat! As it turns out, my plan for the week was as follows: NL on Sunday, Stud on Monday, take off Tuesday and play satellites because I don't want to play pot limit, play limit on Wednesday, and play hi lo stud on Thursday, then head home. However, now I'd now already won a satellite. PhoneGyver I head upstairs all excited and decide to login and send some email to the Tiltboys. Well, the phone at Binions sucks. There is no data port and the phone jack tabs are broken off on both ends (the wall and phone). And apparently, someone has tried to unplug it before, because the jack part of the phone is pretty much messed and and broken and jiggling around. So, I manage to get the phone line out and use the computer, but in doing so, I finish off breaking the jack so that now it is completely broken (the plastic part it plugs into has broken in two). I try to put the phone back together, but to no avail. I consider going to the front desk and tell them my phone is broken, but how do I explain that I had already made a local call on it? So I look around the room and consider what I have at my disposal to fix the phone. I have no tape or a screwdriver or any glue. I consider maybe some string, but then PhoneGyver takes over. Using a dime, I remove the screws from the bottom of the phone and completely disassemble it. Then I take two of the complimentary Binions envelopes and remove the gum strips. I lick them and use them to tape the plastic jack housing back together. Another few turns of my dime to reassemble the phone and it's as good as new! Day 3 - Monday, May 1 Seven Stud I wake up Monday morning, still in the afterglow of my super satellite victory, and ready to play in the $2,500 stud tourney. Personally, I prefer stud to any other game. I don't know if I am any better at it that any other game, but there are more things to watch and keep track of and so it keeps me from getting bored and then playing too losely. As I have some time to kill before the tourney starts I sit down and play some $1-$5 stud. There was one guy there that I had seen before and who had struck up a conversation with. We play for a while but nothing exciting. After a while, he leaves for another game and shortly thereafter, I'm doing killing time and head upstairs to play in the tourney. Early on, I get mixed up in a few hands, playing a bit loose and feeling out the table. I play a few drawing hands and build an image as a loose player. So loose in fact, that one hand I catch a 9 (I think) on 5th street and another on 6th. As I get ready to show down at the end of the hand, another player, not in the pot, says "he's got trip 9's." Sure enough, he was correct. I had caught runner runner on 5th and 6th. I steadily increase my stack, but I tighten up as well, trying to leverage the earlier loose image. Meanwhile, I see one player at the next table over who easily has managed to quadruple or quintuple his stack very early. However, he managed to blow through his stack, which was probably already big enough to just coast to at least a seat in the money. He didn't even make it to the money (two tables). We shuffle around the tables and we get some new faces. One hand, I end up with a very marginal hand but I try to run a bluff on the new guy. He calls me down and takes the pot. Afterwards, Andy Bloch comes over and says "you tried to make a mover on Men 'the Master'?" I had heard of Men, but didn't know who he was. Now, I pride myself on tilting famous people (such as Gabe Kaplan and Tori Spelling). So, now I have someone to play with. We chat back and forth, and as we get more comfy, I cruise into teasing about his name and making bad jokes, and telling him that I was "the Master Baiter." I even accidentally got him warned for cursing! He had been swearing like a sailor the whole time, and so at one point I turn to him and, in a serious/uptight voice I say "Sir, could you please watch your language?" Well, it turned out the floorman was right behind me and overheard my comment. So he turns to Men and warns him for foul language and tells him if he curses again he will have to sit out for 20 minutes. I tell the floor and Men that I was just joking, but the warning stood. I apologized to Men and told him if he had to stand up, I would stand with him. Anyhow, the warning didn't stop him from cursing and even though the floor overheard him, no action was ever taken. At this point, we were down to three tables, and I had a very healthy stack, looking to easily make it into the money, he and I got into a hand. I don't remember what I had, but I was sure I had him beat. After making a bet, he stalls for several minutes, looking around at the other tables, and saying how it would be bad to make it this far and not make it into the money. He eventually folded, but he also didn't make it into the money. We get down to two tables (we're now all in the money) and I am still playing very tight and just trying cruise on to the final table without taking a lot of risks. Just work my way up the ladder. We get down to 9 players and there are two short stacks, one at my table and one much shorter stack at the other table. The guy at my table commented that he'd rather but out 9th than make the final table short-stacked. I told him that if he makes the final table, his name gets on the wall (not to mention the extra money). After my comment about the wall, he says something like "Oh" and starts thinking about his position. He asks the dealer about the antes and comments that he could probably last another hour without playing a hand. Five minutes later, he was out of the tournament. Hell, if I had mentioned he also gets a jacket, he might have screwed it down and waited it out! And how he busted shows another major tourney blunder. He bets his hand all the way, picking up hearts for all of his upcards. After betting sixth street, with 4 hearts showing, his opponent, who has barely more chips than him, makes a crying call with one pair of 5's showing. The river comes and he immediately makes an all-in bet, for less than a full bet. She calls, and says that he can't even beat the fives! And with that, I make the final table! Now, this had to be a terrible mistake. After having called on 6th street, it would have been a MAJOR mistake for the woman (Kim Nguyen) to fold on the end. There was so much in the pot and if she folds, she basically crippled and out. If the 4th suited card up didn't scare her, what changed on the river? OK, maybe she had two pair or trips and thought she had a shot to fill, but she still can't fold. Not for a such a small bet on the end and with such a big pot, and where it would leave her. So, that had to be an awful play to try to bluff her at that point. Not to mention, that if he had been observing her throughout the tourney, she was not going to fold here. No way. We break for the night and I strike up a conversation with Andy and also get to know Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, who also made the final table. Chris is a very nice guy. I am very happy for him and all the great results he had at the WSOP in 2000. Anyhow, I am speaking to one other guy who is briefing Chris on the players and he asks me about one of the other players at my table. He said he had played with most of the other people but didn't know that one player. I said to him "You've never played with ME before, have you!" He says, "No. But I'm starting to figure you out!" I said "That's because I have never played higher than $5-$10. Oh wait, Bay 101 used to have a $6-$12 stud game!" Heh. He knew all these guys from $20-$40 or whatever. And here, a lo-limit stud player, who still plays $1-$5, makes the final table. I head downstairs to go to bed (OK, I admit it, it took me a week or so to figure out that you could up to the rooms from the second floor) and as I pass the poker room, the guy I knew from the $1-$5 stud game comes over to me and asks "What did you have that hand?" I was completely perplexed. I'd been playing all day in the tourney, for more 12 hours, and I was completely mentally exhausted. So I ask "What hand?", thinking there must have been some crucial hand in the tourney that I don't remember. He says "You know which hand. The one with me before I left." Heh. I've just made the final table at the WSOP, and he's asking me about some $1-$5 stud hand from that morning! Before heading to the the WSOP, I had made a bet with Rafe (another one of the Tiltboys) that I would make it into the money in at least one event at the WSOP. During one of the breaks, I had called him to give him the good/bad news. I also had called my wife, when I was already in the money, but before the final table. It was getting late and she was getting ready to go to sleep. So I told her that I would call her when I busted out, unless I made the final table. She woke up the next morning happy to have not gotten a call! Day 4 - Tuesday, May 2 The Final Table I tried to get a good night's sleep, but starting from early in the morning, Tiltboys kept calling me to see how I was doing. I laid in bed, resting but I couldn't get much additionally sleep. It worked out quite well that I had made the final table today, of all days, since I wasn't planning on playing in today's regular tournament anyhow (which would have conflicted with the final table). AND, since I had already won a seat for the big dance, I didn't need to play in any more supers, which was my original plan for the day. On the forms you fill out for the final table, they ask for various things, like nickname, occupation, etc. Well, I had thought about putting "Tiltboy" as a nickname, but that's not any one person's nickname. I decided to do the much more appropriate thing and put "Tiltboy" as my occupation! As for nickname, well, I told the tournament director I didn't have one, so he put in "Lasts Longer." He turned out ot be pretty prescient. We had filled these out the night before, but when I arrived that afternoon, I asked if I could change my nickname. They asked "to what?" and I said, I'd have to write it down for them. I put down "the Master Baiter." They declined. However, since then, I have decided to shorten my nickname, and I am now offically calling myself Perry "the Baiter" Friedman (IRC nick TheBaiter). I figure, they'll be able to announce THAT, and the pun will be just as obvious to anyone who would have gotten the original pun anyhow. The night before I had grabbed a sheet with everyone's chip positions. This is where is stood: Fred "Fast Freddie" Brown: 85,700 Chris "Jesus" Ferguson: 69,100 Kevin Song: 60,400 Al DeCarlo: 60,100 Perry Friedman: 48,600 Kim Nguyen: 25,200 Perretti Pierre: 24,700 Larry "Lucky Larry" Kantor: 24,700 So, I was sort of in no man's land. I was well above the 3 short stacks, but I was a little over 10K from the "pack". I also noted that if I could take one pot from the top stack, it would be basically a four way race of more ore less equal stacks. Sure enough, the first hand of the the final table, he and I mix it up and I take down a pot. It's now anyone's (well, any of the four of us) game. Incidentally, it was a bit of a beat I put on him, as I caught an open pair that apparently beat his starting pair, and he folded, muttering something indicating how I had caught him. Indeed, "Fast Freddie" lived up to his name, going from top stack to start, to busting out 6th place. And even short-stack Kim Nguyen managed to place ahead of him. I'll leave out the details of much of the final table, as they are available from other sources in more detail than I am willing to go over. Check out http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~friedman/WSOP.html for pictures and links to the stories. I will go into a few things, from my perspective. Kevin Song happens to be involved in the bulk of these stories. The first involves myself and Kevin. I called him down with just a pair of fives and took the pot. He was amazed that I could call him down. But really, given my stack at the time and the size of the pot, I had to call on the end, whether I thought I was beat or not. I didn't really think fives would win it, but I had to call at that point. Clearly, I hadn't stayed in all the time just with the fives, I had a draw of some sort, which I can't remember, and he had nothing too threatening showing. But when he bet on the end, the call was pretty easy, given the tournament situation and that my stack would be pretty short if I folded, but would be back in pretty good shape if I won that pot. In a ring game, it would have been a tougher call, although I may have had pot odds to call even there. But given the tournament situation, the decision was much easier. Now, what I should have done after the hand was stand up and show him my shirt, which happened to be my "Roshambo World Championship" shirt, and has in big letters I'M IN YOUR HEAD on it (you can see part of the shirt, although it got cut off, in the picture in the Mike Paulle article linked in from the URL mentioned above). Another hand with Kevin involved Al. Al and Kevin were heads up and go to the river. After betting, Al TURNS OVER HIS 7TH CARD and shows it Kevin. Now, I wasn't paying close attention, and I thought maybe he had done it accidentally after looking at his hole card using his upcards, or something like that. But other observers said it was clearly intentional. The floor warned him and Kevin did not complain. But in reality, if one of us had made a stink about he, he really should have been forced to sit out (and be blinded) for 20 minutes. This would have effectively eliminated him from the tournament. But I guess we were all too nice, and Al played on. Then next real interesting hand for me was a crucial hand, also against Kevin. I started with split aces, A2-A. Kevin had a 5 showing. Apparently, Kevin had started rolled fives! I raised and I think he just called. I picked up the innocuous-looking second deuce on fourth street and bet out. I don't recall Kevin every raising me. I thought i was leading the whole way. No change on 6th street and the I pick up another deuce on 6th, making a still innocuous-looking pair of twos, and let out a little chuckle about it (was this a tell? You'd think so, but then, Chris Ferguson told me after the tourney was over that he couldn't figure me out and complimented my play. He asked where I learned to play, and I told him I played wit the Tiltboys every week, and occasionally in Vegas, but that I really didn't play in card rooms much). So, I end up taking down the pot with my deuces full of aces, thinking I was ahead the while way, and crippling Kevin Song. This began my super rush, and by the time we got down to three players, I had more than half of the chips! For the first time, I really thought I had a good shot at winning this thing! When they brought the bracelet to the table, I was pretty nervous and excited. Chris was to my right and Al to my left. Al had been playing very aggressively and I ended up picking up a few decent starting hands, and going heads up with him. Soon, my stack had dwindled. Perhaps I should have tightened up more, and let Chris and Al do battle, knowing I could easily finish in the top 2. But I thought if I could pick Al off, I'd be able to easily cruise to victory and take the whole thing. It didn't work. Al went on a massive rush. Several times, we discussed the idea of a deal, but Al would have none of it. Soon, Al had more than half the chips and Chris and I were hanging on for life. Andy was posting updates by email and *I* kept getting calls on my cell phone. I eventually had to turn it to vibrate and hand it to Andy who surprises some people by answering for me. Eventually, at one of the breaks, Chris and I made a deal, since we each had about 50K and Al had all the rest and it was looking like it would be a battle for 2nd place between us. We decided on a small save between the two of us. The dynamic between us was interesting. One of us would dwindle, and keep playing hands, trying to get back up, while the other would fold and wait for the first one to bust. Then eventually one of us would win a big pot, and the other would be forced to take shots at Al. But the final hand for me was actually against Chris. Chris eventually started picking up chips and Al changed from aggressive to passive. Soon, Al was folding everything. I started to dwindle and so I knew I had to play aggressively to get back into the tourney. I ended up taking down about 5 pots in a row. Al was starting to drop down and now talk of a deal came up again. Al was still reluctant and said he'd like to see how things went for a little longer. Well, I was out before we could iron out a deal. I picked up split aces and raised. Chris came back at me, and I reraised. I quickly ended up all in. Chris had put me on a bluff, and had put me all in with a pair of twos! I ended up picking up a pair of kings as well, and now Chris was drawing to a deuce! Sure enough, the river brought him the deuce and I was out. But, after all I had been through, and the good luck I had had to even get that far, I was pretty darn happy to have finished third place. Shortly after, Al managed to basically fold himself out of the tournament! From being super aggressive, he totally changed pace and he just dwindled straight down against Chris. I was also really happy about this. Besides having gotten to know Chris beforehand, I was even more happy that he won given Al's hard line on cutting a deal. The Celebration So, Chris, his friend Ray, and Andy and I head out to celebrate Chris' victory. We decide to go to Mandalay Bay and eat at some Chinese restaurant there. Now, I am a VERY picky eater. I only eat very bland American food. But, as this was Chris' celebration, I decided I would not say anything and let him do whatever he wanted. By the time we got to Mandalay Bay, however, the restaurant was closed. Actually, BOTH of their Chinese restaurants were closed. "What a suckout", I think to myself. We wander past the Rock Lobster, which I could have eaten at, but they are closed too. Bad beat. Looks like everything is closed, so I suggest the cafe their, which I know is always open and I know I can find something to eat there. We start walking their, but as we do, we come past a sushi bar and people are still eating there. Someone suggests we try it. Bad beat. I still don't say anything, not wanting to break up the fun. Well, it turns out that they had just closed! Chaching! Another suckout. We end up at the cafe, and I get some food after all. Day 5 - Wednesday, May 3 Today it's limit holdem, and I've got quite the table. Phil Ivey is to my left and around the bend is Scotty "it all over" Nguyen. Scotty is another very nice guy. And boy did he have to be. We were the first table to break, and there were six pocket aces made at the table. And Scotty was the only one to lose with them. Twice! Every other time it held up, but the two times he got them, he was cracked. He made a comment how he would have already been out had this been a no-limit tourney. But he took it like the gentleman he is (in fact, that's his nickname, Gentleman Scotty or something like that :-)). Later, he brought back a bag of little cookies in the form of playing cards. He gladly shared them with me. Later, I jokingly asked the dealer to call the floor because he (Scotty) had "cards" at the table. Anyhow, I survived the table, but make an early exit in this tournament was well. Day 6 - Thursday, May 4 Not much to tell about this. I survived a decent length of time, but the problem with hi-lo stud is that they play it with the same ante/bet structure as regular stud for the same buyin, but it's a much bigger game. You don't get multi-way, raised up pots in regular stud, like you do in hi-lo stud. The variance is much higher, and once you get a high hand cracked, or a good low beat, you're in trouble. This ends my first stay in Vegas. But I would be coming back the next week, since I had already won a seat in the big dance. I went home and planned to return for the $5K stud event and play some satellites and hang out ahead of the main event.