Travel Report: 2012-13 WSOP-C Foxwoods Main Event, Day 3 -- Saul Crushing

Another airport posting here as I await my flight out of Providence back home. The WSOP-C Foxwoods Main Event wrapped up a bit before midnight last night, with Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul emerging as the winner.

After the tourney ended, I saw some of the congratulatory tweets coming through for Saul, including one from Jason Somerville ending with the hashtag “#saulcrushing” which I immediately wished I had thought of at some point when posting his hands over the last couple of days. (So I stole it for the post title above.)

Saul started the final day of play with a below average stack among the final 16, but it had been clear since the middle of Day 2 that he was probably an odds-on favorite to make it deep, if not win the sucker. My blogging partner Chad and I were discussing at night’s end how this often happens in these events, namely, that a particular player tends to emerge even with six or seven tables left as a likely candidate to win, and while it doesn’t always work out that way it often does.

It was a similar story a few weeks ago at the WSOP-C Caesars Atlantic City Main Event, where Joseph McKeehen had already distinguished himself as a tough player on Day 2, then he picked up significant chips late in the day to be a prohibitive favorite going into the last day (when 19 were left). Also happened at that Sands Bethlehem Deepstack event from December with Chris Klodnicki, although in that case he was already a seeming favorite with 100 players left.

Actually everyone at yesterday’s final table distinguished himself, I’d say, with all having good moments in which hands were played well and most getting lucky here or there, too. Saul even experienced some good fortune yesterday in a hand against Bobby Corcione.

In that one Saul and Corcione traded bets after a flop to build a nearly 3 million-chip pot, with Saul ultimately all in and Corcione just barely having Saul covered (by 10,000, it turned out). Corcione had and Saul , which meant it was almost exactly a 50-50 flip -- kind of uncanny, actually, considering they’d begun the hands with nearly even stacks, too. A diamond came on the river and Saul survived.

“That’s not good,” said eventual third-place finisher Cory Waaland to me off to the side, remarking on Saul’s having not only avoided elimination but had built himself a big stack once again. Paul Snead -- who’d end up fourth yesterday -- had said nearly the same thing to me the day before when Saul had won a big pot while eliminating a player, again indicating the respect others had for Saul.

Snead actually was knocked out by Saul in another near coin-flip of a hand in which Snead was all in with ace-king and up against Saul’s two red eights, then the two black eights came out on the flop to give Saul quads.

Saul was on the other end of a number of bad-beat scenarios, too, both yesterday and the day before. But when such hands occurred he always had the chips to sustain himself afterwards, and continued to apply pressure and play smartly to build back up time and again.

There was an even more eye-popping flop than that quads hand yesterday, one that saw Waaland find himself in what I called a “hand-in-the-cookie-jar” moment after shoving from the blinds with and getting called by Ethan Foulkes who held . The flop then came , driving everyone into hysterics. The turn was the , thus giving Foulkes a flush draw, then the river brought the , giving Foulkes the flush but Waaland a better full house.

It was a nutty hand, and while both Waaland and Foulkes played well throughout the tournament, it is funny to think how a hand like that can affect how these things turn out. (Foulkes ended up finishing seventh, Waaland third.)

Saul is probably the best known player to win a WSOP-C Main Event during the 2012-13 season, aside perhaps from Dan Heimiller who won the ME at the Horseshoe Southern Indiana stop last October. Heimiller needs to update his awesome website to reflect that triumph.

Foxwoods was a fun place, although Chad and I didn’t have a heck of a lot of time to explore it much other than to sample a few of the restaurants. We didn’t play any poker either, although we did use our $10 freeplays to try our luck at Caveman Keno, with Jay “WhoJedi” Newnum tutoring us as we did.

Besides being a great blogger and photographer for the WSOP and an expert in all things Star Wars, Newnum also has advanced training in Caveman Keno, and thus advised us regarding optimal play. Alas for your humble scribbler, I couldn’t turn a profit with my Fibonacci-derived numbers (skipping 1 and 2 and using 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55), but Chad did manage to walk away with a small win of $14 or so.

From here it’s back home for a couple of days, then I’ll be trucking it over to Harrah’s Cherokee for the Main Event there (which starts Friday). Am very curious to see the scene, and bracing myself for what will likely be a huge turnout for the Main Event. I expect I’ll see a number of the same folks from this weekend’s tourney at that one, although the difficulty of flying in -- the closest airport is Asheville -- might keep some away from Cherokee.

All in all it was an exciting tourney in Foxwoods with a somewhat satisfying result, confirming once more the curious combination of luck and skill that distinguishes the game.

Travel Report: 2012-13 WSOP-C Foxwoods Main Event, Day 2 -- Will Reason Win Out?

Another crazily long day of criss-crossing the tourney floor leaves your humble scribbler in a less than ideal state for chronicling his adventures this morning. We started at noon, didn’t leave until nearly 3 a.m. this morning, and after a few hours of winks I’m up again and eyeing one more day of poker at Foxwoods.

The day went well, all things considered, as the field whittled down from more than 200 to just 16. There were some good story lines emerging along the way, including the fact that among the final group there are two players who coincidentally share the distinction of having both finished 21st in the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Robert “Bobby” Corcione accomplished the feat last summer, the first time I got to know the player. And Paul Snead did so back in 2008. Corcione is a regular player these days, but I know Snead only plays occasionally since his deep ME run, and so it’s kind of intriguing to see both still battling as this tournament has reached the final two tables.

Those who remember Snead probably think first of that incident in which Tiffany Michelle called the clock on Snead in what turned out to be his final hand of the tournament (not against Michelle, but Scott Montgomery). Snead ended up making a great call after his session of contemplation was cut short by Michelle, but sadly suffered Montgomery hitting a three-outer to end his tourney run.

My blogging partner Chad Holloway has been industriously grabbing a few interviews with players here and there during the short 10-minute breaks to use in his future PokerNews pieces, with Snead being one of those with whom he’s spoken (probably for a “Where Are They Now?” column). Snead was very candid with Chad about that 2008 ME bustout and how it really kind of sent him away from poker, at least in a full-time sense. He’s a super amiable guy and a good player, too, one of several personalities left among the final group that help keep things interesting.

Looking at other sidebar stories, not a single woman made the money in this event (out of 63 cashing), the first time I think I have seen that happen in something other than a high buy-in, non-hold’em event at the WSOP. Meanwhile, Ylon Schwartz -- who also made a deep run in that 2008 WSOP ME with Snead, finishing fourth -- was knocked out late yesterday to finish 22nd.

Kevin “BeLOWaBOVe” Saul is probably the player left most likely to grab one’s attention as an observer. A good table talker and a great player, Saul might have been in first position to enter today’s final day if not for losing a big race with the excellently-named Ben Reason near night’s end to give the latter the chip lead. We’ve been somewhat restrained with the puns so far with Reason’s last name, although I couldn’t resist doing so above. I also had to break out a literary reference for my introductory post today.

Speaking of excellent names, one player who busted yesterday and with whom I chatted a little bit before his exit was named Z Stein, his legal name actually being just the letter Z. A nice guy who offered some encouraging comments about the reporting, Stein finished 26th.

Would obviously like to see a relatively shorter day play out today, perhaps giving us a chance to explore Foxwoods a bit more and maybe even play down in the very popular poker room where tons of tables are always going. But it’s likely we’ll go late again, thus diminishing the chance of our doing much of anything other than covering poker today.

Like I say, though, there are some characters and stories still in play. As you finish clicking around elsewhere to follow the WSOP Asia Pacific events -- where their day will be ending just as ours begins -- come follow along over at PokerNews to see how the remaining cast of characters play out today's last act in the WSOP-C Foxwoods Main Event.

(1900th post here, by the way. Damn lot of scribblin’!)

In the Fishbowl

Was kicking around the PLO tables on Stars yesterday afternoon and decided to watch a couple of the Sunday tourneys while I played. Spotted a short-stacked Annette “Annette_15” Obrestad bust out of the $200+$15 Sunday Warm Up. Moved over to the $100+$9 w/rebuys tourney and noticed a few familiar names up and down the leaderboard, including Jon “PearlJammer” Turner, Shane “Shaniac” Schleger, and Tim “Tmay420” West. Ended up spending a little bit of time railing a table featuring not one but two well-known online phenoms, Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy and Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul. While there I witnessed a semi-interesting situation come up involving the two of them I thought I’d share.

This was not quite a couple of hours into the tourney – Level 8 (200/400 blinds with a 25-chip ante). Saul was actually the chip leader at the time with over 46,000 in chips. Meanwhile, Josephy had recently lost a chunk of his stack after missing a nut flush draw and found himself down to a lowly 4,145 in chips, putting him near the bottom of the 250 or so players remaining. Folded to Saul who from middle position put in a raise to 1,100. Another player folded, then Josephy raised all-in, pushing his remaining 4,120 into the middle.

It folded back around to Saul who took a few extra seconds deciding what to do. At the time, the pot was a little over 6,000, and it would take just about 3,000 for him to make the call -- about 2-to-1. As an untutored observer watching from afar, I couldn’t imagine Saul folding in this situation unless he had utter trash. And since he’d raised, it seemed as if he at least had something. But what do I know . . . .

Finally he made the call, and the cards were turned over. Josephy had a pair of kings, while Saul had . Both players sarcastically typed “RACE!” as the cards came out. A king flopped, and Josephy managed to survive. “NICE SUCKOUT BAD,” wryly typed Saul. (I think he meant either “Bax” or “bud.”) Josephy quickly responded with a “tyty.”

During the next hand, Saul typed “id love to fold there...” Then, “but everyone screams chipdump if i do.” He added a little frowny face.

He’s right, of course. That thought had crossed my mind as I watched. As Saul hesitated before making the call, I thought about how these guys all know one another, and might very well soft play in situations just like this one. (The fact that Saul and Josephy work together at PokerXFactor perhaps encourages such suspicions even further, for those who can’t help indulgin’ in them.) Completely unfair, of course, for me to think that way, although in today’s collusion-clouded climate, such thoughts are understandably hard to avoid.

While Saul certainly shouldn’t feel obligated to make an incorrect and/or marginal play in a spot like that just to stave off unfounded charges of complicity, I have to say I do appreciate seeing some of these guys showing an awareness of such matters. Would definitely be unfair should anything like that be happening, and I imagine a few of those who were sitting around the pair’s table probably appreciated Saul’s post-hand disclaimer.

Kind of makes missteps such as the one made by Jonathan Little last week even harder to comprehend. Once you experience some success -- online or live -- yr in the fishbowl, whether you like it or not. And people be watchin’.