2013 WSOP, Day 42: Running Good, Catching Hands

Much as players in a poker tournament will experience occasional stretches of “run good” or being “card dead,” so, too, will those live reporting a tournament undergo periods when “good hands” are dealt to them one after another and others when their timing is off and they keep witnessing non-newsworthy orbits’ worth of hands being folded.

Day 1s of large field tourneys -- or, in the case of the Main Event, Day 1 flights, Day 2 flights, and even Day 3 flights -- often present this challenge, since a reporter frequently finds him or herself wandering around a large group of tables, say 20 or 30 or even more, looking for hands or other stories to report.

The Main Event has such a deep structure there are many patient players who will go hours at a time during the first couple of days without getting involved in a big showdown with a significant pot at stake. Thus if you’re only passing by that player’s table once a half-hour or so, it can be easy to miss those moments when the player is actually doing something worth reporting.

For me there were a few dry stretches yesterday that came up while covering the “Day 2a/2b” flight of the 2013 WSOP Main Event, but for the most part my timing was pretty good and I had plenty to report as things went along. In fact, I had one short little “rush” (so to speak) lasting half an hour in which every time I went back out on the floor I’d find myself walking right up to another especially interesting and highly reportable hand.

One of the hands was a standard all-in situation involving PokerStars Team Pro Toni Judet in which he’d gotten A-A and an opponent a couple of seats over had K-K and the pair predictably got all of Judet’s below average stack in the middle before the flop. Alas for Judet, a king spiked on the river and he was eliminated.

Just minutes later I saw and reported on a more interesting hand involving Phil Galfond in which he’d opened from early position and got two callers behind, then the small blind three-bet and he and the other two all called. Galfond then flopped a set of eights, called the small blind’s flop bet (while the other two got out), then called his opponent’s turn shove with an overpair of queens and won a big pot while scoring an elimination.

Again, it was kind of a standard situation, although given how deep the players were one might have imagined Galfond’s opponent perhaps found a way to avoid getting felted in the hand. (Easy to say, hard to do.) But from the standpoint of a reporter looking for interesting hands involving known players, it stood out as a nice “find” among lots of less notable hands.

But the most interesting hand of that half-hour -- and as it turned out, of the entire day -- came between 2012 WSOP Main Event champ Greg Merson and Wilfried Harig, who was sitting to Merson’s right. I happened to be there to watch this one with Tim Fiorvanti of BLUFF who once again was compiling another of those start-to-finish pieces following Merson’s entire day.

During the hand we were trying to remember Harig, as he definitely seemed like someone we’d encountered before, and in fact it was shortly afterwards that we all remembered him as last year’s 15th-place finisher in the ME. As it would turn out, post-hand table talk helped ensure anyone standing nearby would know who Harig was.

Like the Galfond hand (which came a little later), this one saw a player raise and a couple call (including Harig), then Merson three-betting, only in this case Harig was the only player to stick around for the flop which came . That’s when the pair surprisingly bet back and forth enough to get Harig’s big stack all in and almost all of Merson’s, too.

Merson had top two pair with , but Harig had for a set. Then the turn stunningly brought the to give Merson the better full house and leave Harig drawing dead. Harig graciously shook Merson’s hand and left, and that’s when he reminded the table how he’d knocked out Harig last summer in the ME after the latter had committed his stack with pocket aces versus Merson’s king-jack, and Merson flopped a king then turned a jack.

As it happened, it was an uncanny reprise of poor Harig’s final hand in the 2012 ME, and that made for an interesting post punctuated by Merson’s own tweet regarding it.

Like I say, watching and reporting on that hand was part of a fun, brief sequence of “event highlight”-type hands that had more to do with having the good fortune of being out on the floor rather than behind the laptop at the moments they were occurring than anything else. As in poker, there’s certainly some skill involved in being able to anticipate when and where interesting clashes are more likely to occur. But luck is an obvious factor, too.

Today it’s back at it for Day 2c in which those surviving from the large field that played Day 1c will be returning. (All of the different flights will finally join together for tomorrow’s Day 3.) The larger field means more tables and players, and probably more hands of note will be happening, too. Here’s hoping I can “run good” -- both figuratively and literally -- and catch as many good hands as I can.

2013 WSOP, Day 41: Where There’s Smoke

As I mentioned yesterday, had such a late one Sunday-night-slash-Monday-morning I was pretty much wiped out for much of the day, sleeping ’til noon, operating with low efficiency for the afternoon hours, then peaking mentally at dinner time for a very enjoyable couple of hours with Pokerati Dan and his girlfriend, Trish, at the Herbs & Rye not too far from the Rio.

As proof that I was still essentially waking up when I arrived at the restaurant a little ahead of our scheduled meeting time, I hadn’t even noticed the enormous and alarming billowing ridge of smoke covering the landscape on the other side of South Valley View Boulevard and visible from the restaurant’s parking lot. It wasn’t until after I went in and Dan and Trish mentioned it that I had to go back out and get a look before we ate.

What I was finally seeing after having been cooped up inside the Rio for most of my waking hours during recent days was evidence of the wildfire currently raging on Mt. Charleston located about 35 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Apparently the fire started with a lightning strike on one side of the mountain on July 1, and now more than 15,000 acres have been burnt or are burning with hundreds of the area’s residents now having been evacuated.

So far it has yet to reach any structures and no one has been hurt. But the fire has not been contained. One report I’m reading this morning says officials are estimating July 19 as a date by which they hope to have a handle on it, which means it will continue to burn and fill the sky this way until after all of us here for the WSOP have left.

I’d seen a few photos and had been pointed to some incredible time-lapse videos of the fire, and was thus aware of it. Brad “Otis” Willis -- here at the WSOP now and reporting for the PokerStars blog -- yesterday pointed me and his Twitter followers to this short one yesterday taken by the poker player William Reynolds (@ReynoldsXO) on July 4:

It was a little bit of a shock to walk back out of the restaurant prior to our meal and look at the huge, apocalyptic-looking cloud of smoke eclipsing not only the sunset but nearly half the early evening sky. I snapped a couple of photos, not really seeing until afterwards how the sun was peeping through and appearing ruby red through the haze. (Click the pics to enlarge.)

Dinner was terrific and it was a good time catching up with Dan and meeting Trish. I won’t rehearse all of our various topics of conversation, but there was lots of common ground between all three of us with Dan and my shared history in poker and Trish being an academic teaching at the university level. It was fun hearing their stories and sharing my own. I also can now share Dan’s recommendation of Herbs & Rye as a great getaway for folks searching for good eats and a comfortable ambience without wanting to fight the crowds on the Strip or to travel too far from the Rio.

I got back to the home-away-from-home by nine and didn’t last much beyond that before drifting off again, only checking in on the WSOP coverage briefly including taking note of all the official numbers that were being passed along once late registration closed during yesterday’s third and final Day 1 flight of the Main Event.

The ME ended up drawing 6,352 total, down a couple of hundred from last year. All the stats are being spun this way and that, with the WSOP leading the charge with its early evening press release compiling various records -- some legitimately impressive, others perhaps a little contrived -- for news outlets to cut and paste. I was too tired to think deeply about any of it, although it seems obvious that poker is doing just fine and that the WSOP is again holding steady as it has each of the six years I’ve been here to help report on it.

People in poker, in particular those who profit from the game and its surrounding industry, are so often on the defense regarding its health and well being. It’s understandable, to an extent, given the many different forces (legal, economic, cultural) that are constantly exerting pressure on poker, either seeming to or actually threatening it with various proscriptions.

Ever since I’ve been coming to the WSOP there’s been this worry about the end coming somehow, that all of the many pleasures -- intellectual, emotional, social -- the game provides to so many will in some way be limited or taken away. Such fears sometimes take a concrete shape but are mostly wispy and vague, given greater influence by the uncertainty they introduce.

Soon I was asleep, then woke up this morning thinking again of the smoke and the fire. And about how I’ll probably forget about it in a few hours once I’m on the floor passing between the tables at the WSOP.

2013 WSOP, Day 40: Connectivity

A buzz saw was screeching loudly from across the Amazon room, firing every few minutes in loud, wince-producing bursts like an exaggerated version of a snooze alarm.

A man with an unlimited supply of throat-closing phlegm was hacking without stop as though approaching a final death rattle, aggressively grabbing the attention in between the construction-related cacophony.

A doorway to the Amazon room was open and music poured in, flooding the space with still more noise.

It was a few minutes past three o’clock in the morning. The last final table of the summer at the 2013 World Series of Poker was down to four players, all vying for a bracelet and a cash prize worth more than $850,000. I was there along with my blogging partner Rich and photographer Joe as part of a small team tasked with reporting every hand of pot-limit Omaha being played.

The noise added somewhat to the challenge. Fatigue was another obstacle to overcome, as we’d been at it for more than 13 hours as Event No. 61 ($10,000 PLO) had raced down from 32 players to the final four, all of us likewise having been working at least several long days in a row (it was my fifth).

But there was an even bigger obstacle to our getting the news out about what has happening as the remaining players continued to be dealt hand after hand, to make bet after bet, to inch ever closer either to finding a winner or reaching the end of the day’s 11th level at which point -- according to the announced plan -- the tourney would be stopped and resumed again on Tuesday.

The friggin’ internet, man. It was down. Again.

For the most part this summer, connectivity hasn’t been too big of a problem for me when reporting from the Rio. While some of my colleagues have been having issues now and then, for whatever reason I’ve mostly steered clear of the difficulties and have remained online without too many interruptions, either using a wireless network or plugging into a hard line (both provided by the WSOP).

Maybe I’ve just been lucky in terms of where I’ve been stationed over the last three-plus weeks. Another meaning for “picking good spots” in poker, I guess.

But last night we all lost connectivity for over an hour, just as the event had reached its most frantic and meaningful moments. And the longer we were offline, the more we felt ourselves losing connectivity in other ways, such as with the ability to think rationally.

At one point an exasperated Rich looked up from his computer at the banner of 1975 Main Event champion Sailor Roberts hanging over our heads. For some reason the picture shows Roberts not playing poker, but talking on a telephone while smoking a cigarette, his face mostly obscured by smoke and the brim of his visor.

Rich surprised us into laughter as he had a comment to offer.

“What year is this?!? 2013?!? Sailor Roberts had better internet with his friggin’ dial-up than this!”

About a half-hour into our struggles, I managed to get back online by tethering with my iPhone and became the sole conduit to the outside world among us for the next stretch. I madly entered hands we’d been recording and saving, uploaded a photo or two, and tried to keep everything straight as the tourney continued to march on rapidly before us. For several minutes I was simultaneously in the recent past, the maddening present, and bracing for an uncertain future.

I felt like a computer running too programs at once. If it were possible to check my brain’s “Activity Monitor,” all meters would have been in the red, my processor’s usage either nearing or at 100%. If someone asked me at that moment my birthdate, my social security number, my name... I could have frozen up completely.

As the tournament reached heads-up between Daniel Alaei and Jared Bleznick, internet connectivity was suddenly, inexplicably restored. Even more surprising, heads-up lasted just a single hand, with Alaei winning and the problem of having to delay the event’s conclusion an extra day to accommodate players playing today’s last Day 1 flight of the Main Event suddenly evaporating.

It’d take some time longer for us to tie all the loose ends and finish out the live blog, and I’d be up more than a hour more after that as my brain finally cooled down enough to permit sleep to come some time after five.

With the Main Event in full swing, the amount of media now reporting on the WSOP has swelled to probably four or five times the size it had been before, which I assume will increase the chances the plaintive wail of “internet’s down” will be heard many more times over the coming week. And despite the hyperbole I employ above, I ain’t really all that stressed over it, knowing from having gone through similar trials before while reporting that there’s really not much reason to be.

I’m off today, and I’m going to try to stay mostly unplugged, if I can, keeping the Activity Monitor on both my laptop and brain at low levels. That to the left is my view of the Rio currently, and I mostly plan to keep at this distance until I return tomorrow to help with the coverage.

Meanwhile for those who remain connected, check over at PokerNews to see how today’s final Day 1 Main Event flight goes.

2013 WSOP, Day 39: Nitcast Meet-Up, Shuffling Up and Dealing, and Turtling Up

Super long day yesterday. Ended up over at the Rio for something like 17 hours, working about the last 14 of that helping cover the last preliminary event of the summer, the $10,000 PLO (Event No. 61) over in the Pavilion ballroom, while the Main Event kicked off down the hall in the Amazon.

I went in early yesterday, arriving late morning for an enjoyable gathering of the hosts, some guests, and some listeners of the Thinking Poker podcast at Starbucks -- or, as they dubbed it, the Nitcast Meet-Up. Andrew Brokos and Nate Meyvis who host the show had the idea for the get-together, scheduling it the morning of the Main Event’s first flight so as to increase the chances of more people attending.

Had lots of fun spending more than an hour visiting with those two and meeting others, among them Mike Gentile of Pokerfuse, Nicole “SGT RJ” Rejiester, Russ Fox, Jared Tendler, Leo Wolpert, and Adrienne “Talonchick” Rowsome. There was some strategy talk, but a lot of other “life stuff” discussed as well, not unlike happens on the show. (If anyone’s curious and missed it, I was a guest back on Episode No. 4.)

Several there were readying to play in the Main Event, including Andrew and Nate. Indeed, some of the talk was about which of the three Day 1 flights was best to play both in terms of the relative strength of the fields and the need to plot a strategy that enables one to get the needed rest in preparation for the long grind of a deep run -- something Andrew has managed to do several times and Nate has done as well.

It was just after noon when I left, meaning defending champ Greg Merson had already delivered the announcement to “shuffle up and deal” and sat down at a secondary feature table for the start of this year’s ME. Tim Fiorvanti would spend the day tracking Merson’s progress for BLUFF and delivering a full report on his strong first day that saw him spin his starting stack of 30,000 up to 81,650.

The mood in the Amazon during that first hour seemed fairly reserved. The rails were certainly more crowded with onlookers than during the last few weeks. But there was little fanfare to suggest the tournament was that different from other ones that have been happening in the spacious ballroom, seeming even more spacious with the (relatively) small Day 1a field of 943. Brad Willis and Stephen Bartley are here now and they offered their thoughts throughout the day on the PokerStars blog regarding the fire raging at nearby Mt. Charleston, the day’s relative calm, and the overall lack of weirdos showing up for the Main Event.

That short visit during the first hour of Day 1a was all I’d see of the Main Event yesterday, though, although during the day I’d hear about the fellow managing to get eliminated in the first level after attempting the much-fabled triple check-raise as well as the five-way all-in hand that happened later in the evening. Those stories I’d hear while in the Pavilion covering with the $10K PLO played out from 2 p.m. until about 3 a.m. There are still 32 players left in the sucker, which means Rich and I are likely in for another long one today as we see this one through to the end.

Ended up watching and reporting on NBA star Paul Pierce a few times during the day, which was entertaining at times. (Pierce was eliminated just before dinner and shy of the cash.) Also entertaining was the lengthy period of hand-for-hand play when Jamie Pickering made a couple of surprising folds, turtling up big time to preserve a teeny weeny stack while on the stone bubble.

Pickering called preflop raises a couple of times then folded afterwards and once the blinds passed him again he was down to just 3,000 chips (less than one big blind). A huge crowd gathered on the rail, and Pickering played to them a bit although it was his tablemate Jared Bleznick getting the most laughs as he commented on Pickering’s play.

For me the scene recalled one I seem to recall a lot when at the WSOP, namely that crazy final table back in 2008 that saw Pickering finish runner-up to Vanessa Selbst in the $1,500 PLO event. That’s the one where Pickering had mostly kept quiet throughout the final table, then suddenly began ordering drinks and making pot-sized raises and reraises without looking at his hole cards in an effort to gamble his way to a win versus Selbst.

Here there was again a somewhat raucous rail, but Pickering’s play was in sharp contrast from what I’d seen six years ago, with the him being as loose as one can possibly get then, and as tight as is possible yesterday. Alas for the Aussie, when the big blind reached him again he bubbled in a four-way limped pot that was checked down to the end. That’s Pickering above in the foreground on the right, having already stood and donned his jacket after seeing the uncooperative community cards on his final hand.

Like I say, I’ll be back over on the $10K PLO today, then move over to help with Main Event after that. Kind of a stacked field still left in our event, with players from 12 different countries among the final 32. As always, check over at PokerNews to see how both Event No. 61 and Day 1b of the ME play out today.

2013 WSOP, Day 38: Number One and Number Two

Kind of a fun one last night, helping report on the last day of Event No. 59, the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw in which Eli Elezra won his second bracelet after outlasting a bunch of other bracelet holders for the win including Daniel Negreanu who finished runner-up. Negreanu actually had the chip lead to begin heads-up play, but Elezra soon closed the gap and began catching hands to win in fairly short order.

From the start of the day yesterday Negreanu was asking about the WSOP Player of the Year race and how his finish in Event No. 59 might affect it. I haven’t done the math myself, but I believe if Negreanu had won last night he’d have retaken the lead in the POY race by a tiny margin, but by finishing second he remains in second behind $50K Poker Players Championship winner Matthew Ashton at the moment.

I helped cover this one from start to finish with my blogging colleague Kevin. After it was over I thought about one of the first posts I’d written for the event I which I reported about Negreanu chatting with Bill Chen at a neighboring table, using the post as an excuse to list the top hands in 2-7.

Before any of the 282 players who entered the event had busted, Chen was telling Negreanu about “number two” hands (i.e., 7-6-4-3-2 or the second-best hand in deuce-to-seven) sometimes being costly for him. Negreanu joked with Chen that he overplayed his number two hands, and to “stop being a victim” and to start “taking responsibility,” then uttered the phrase that I made the title of the post: “Number Two is Not Number One.”

Funny how Negreanu would eventually end up taking number two in the event and thus remained at number two in the WSOP POY race. And in fact on one of the key hands during heads-up play Elezra made a “number one” -- i.e., the nuts or a wheel (e.g., 7-5-4-3-2) -- to win what was a fairly big, decisive pot. Negreanu mucked, so we didn’t know if he had made a number two on that one or not.

After Elezra won I also thought about something that happened with about 40 players left on Day 2. I’d been standing near the rail at one of the outer tables when Elezra looked up and called me over. Reading my name off the credential hanging from the lanyard, Elezra grinned and said “You stay around here... you are lucky for me.” (Future players in tournaments I cover may wish to take note.)

Both Negreanu and Elezra are fan favorites, of course, and thus there was a nice-sized crowd on hand for the finish. I tweeted when it was done how it was hard not to pull for both of them at the end, and I meant it. While there were a lot of great players who made deep runs in this one -- and likable players, too -- I think if the rail had been asked which two were at the top of their list of those they wanted to see make it to heads-up play, for most Elezra and Negreanu would have rated number one and number two.

Both engaged the crowd repeatedly both during the pre-dinner break portion of play when they were on the secondary feature table and again afterwards when at three-handed they were moved over to “the mothership” for the finish.

A couple of times Negreanu asked people on the rail if they even knew what they were watching, 2-7 being a game foreign to many. He humorously delivered a rapid explanation to them how the game worked -- “the best hand is actually the worst hand and the worst hand is actually the best hand... get it?” -- and it was easy to see how his doing so added a lot to their enjoyment while watching, even if it didn’t necessarily increase their understanding of the game.

It was a good example of how personalities like Negreanu and Elezra help considerably when it comes to poker being a “spectator sport,” since in truth the actual game play was not something the majority of spectators -- even those with a knowledge of 2-7 -- could really follow that well from afar.

Speaking of poker being a spectator sport, the Main Event begins today, which means even larger crowds on the rail going forward. The ESPN production crew will be making their first appearance as well soon, as they haven’t been shooting any of the prelims. Again, their packaged coverage is going to start with Day 3 of the Main Event with the weekly shows beginning on August 6.

I’m also going to be joining the Main Event a little late, as I’ll be helping with the very last preliminary event for the next couple of days, the big $10K PLO that enters its second day today (Event No. 61). Looks like 169 are left from a big starting field of 386, among them NBA star Paul Pierce -- formerly of the Boston Celtics, now a Brooklyn Net -- who has about twice the average stack heading into today (no shinola).

Click on over to PokerNews for the next couple of days to follow along with Event No. 61 in between checking those Main Event updates to see who ends up number one in this one to win the last bracelet of the summer.

2013 WSOP, Day 37: Look Away

Kind of up against it once again as I have little time to scribble here, being mostly preoccupied with getting back over to the Rio to help cover the third and final day of Event No. 59, the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw event. Just 10 players are left, including six bracelet holders -- David “ODB” Baker, David Chiu, Scott Seiver, Michael Mizrachi, Daniel Negreanu, and Eli Elezra -- so it should make for an interesting final day with lots of different storylines in play.

If I had more time, I’d write a longer post addressing a particular challenge faced by tourney reporters, something that this particular event has reminded me of repeatedly. I’m referring to the importance of not looking at players’ hands while reporting, something that can be especially tricky at times when doing an event like the 2-7 Triple Draw.

I remember when I began reporting on tourneys and found myself standing by a table for the first time with a notepad and pen in hand. I was startled, I think, at how often players failed to conceal their hole cards, even in hold’em where there are just the two cards to keep hidden from view.

Most of us have experienced this phenomenon as players, probably, where we occasionally find ourselves sitting next to those who aren’t so careful about covering their cards. But the reporter standing nearby a table has what is often an even better angle for viewing such, especially in a game like Triple Draw in which players have five cards to consider, and in which they keep drawing more which requires them to consult their hands over and again.

Early on I trained myself to anticipate players’ squeezing of their cards and to look away, often turning to the side and/or peering upwards to study the ceiling. I obviously don’t need to know what anyone is holding when reporting a hand, nor would I want any player ever to think twice about those circling the tables as they play.

I’m remembering a moment during the 10-game event that I helped cover last week when I was standing near a table counting stacks after a hand had completed. I can’t remember which game was being dealt -- it might have been 2-7 triple draw, actually -- but I had lingered just a moment longer than usual to get a look at one player’s chips when he took a quick peek over his shoulder after noticing me in his peripheral vision.

At that, another player sitting across the table offered a wide grin and said “You better look out... that’s my guy!” The table laughed as he was obviously kidding. I smiled, too, but I also immediately walked away from the table, not wanting even to joke about such a thing.

Triple draw is an interesting game, though, in which players sometimes aren’t shy about even letting opponents know what they are holding as hands proceed. Hands are frequently held aloft as players inspect them and consider their options, meaning it requires an extra effort for those of us reporting not to look at the cards while still keeping an eye on the table in order to keep track of the betting and draws.

Like I say, if I had more time I might discuss this whole issue in greater depth, but I’ve got to go get ready. Gotta prepare a little more before I go watch more hands of poker being played. And not watch them, too.

2013 WSOP, Day 36: Breaking a Hand

I suppose like just about everyone who learned how to play poker from the early 19th century up through around 2003, I was first introduced to it as draw poker. That is, as a game in which you were dealt five cards, you gave some back and got more, and you tried to build a poker hand right there in your hand. Etymologically speaking, that is of course where that term came from -- a poker hand, with five cards (like five fingers).

Meanwhile those who first learned the game over the past decade -- i.e., after ESPN showed Chris Moneymaker winning $2.5 million at the World Series of Poker -- likely began with Texas hold’em, with one’s hand being built from the two cards one held face down and the five sitting face up in the middle.

It was five-card draw, of course, that I was playing as a kid, in which one tries to make high hands. I didn’t really get introduced to lowball games until much later. So I didn’t play deuce-to-seven triple draw -- the game I was watching people play last night as I helped cover Event No. 59 ($2,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball) -- until much later, and even then only occasionally.

As a tourney reporter, I’ve only encountered non-hold’em games at the World Series of Poker. That’s the only place where I’ve reported on Omaha, stud games, draw, and so on. Before going in last night I was remembering having covered the 2-7 Triple Draw event way back in 2008, my first year at the WSOP. I also covered David “Bakes” Baker’s first bracelet win in 2010 in the 2-7 NL Draw event, and have reported on a few different mixed-game events which have included either 2-7 TD or 2-7 NL (with a single draw), and occasionally both such as in the 10-game event last week.

Last night saw a starting field of 282 whittled down to just 88, with most of the eliminations coming during the second half of the day. One who busted was Bill Chen, and it was his elimination hand that got me thinking about (1) a hand of triple draw I’d reported on back in 2009 and (2) that unique occurrence in triple draw of a player “breaking” his or her hand.

With the hand last night I’d missed the first draw, but as I passed by I saw it was a three-way hand and Chen was nearly all in, and so I stopped to take note of what happened next. Chen ended up nearly out of chips after standing pat on the second draw while both of his opponents -- Mike Leah and David “Bakes” Baker -- drew one card. Then came the third draw, and when Chen saw Leah stand pat (while Baker drew one again), he decided to break his hand and draw one card in the hopes of improving.

As it turned out, Chen made the right decision to break his hand, although he was all but doomed, anyway, as Leah had already made a “number one” or the nuts -- 7-5-4-3-2. Chen said afterwards he “had an 8-7,” and in fact managed to draw to a better hand -- a “number three” (7-6-5-3-2) -- but it wasn’t good enough and he was eliminated.

The 2009 hand I recalled came from that year’s $2,500 “Mixed Event” (which is what they called the 8-game tourney then). It was the final day, and they were down to the last couple of tables. The game was 2-7 TD, and the hand involved Layne Flack, Eric Crain, and Jimmy Fricke. All three had drawn cards on the first round, then only Flack stood pat on the second. After that second draw Flack bet, Crain raised, Fricke folded, and Flack called. Then Flack watched as Crain stood pat on the third draw.

That sent Flack into the tank for a spell, and after much thought he finally decided to break his hand and draw one. As we discovered afterwards, he’d had 9-5-4-3-2 and had tossed the nine only to receive a jack and worsen his hand. Meanwhile, Crain also had 9-5-4-3-2, and Flack was obviously unhappy to see that his decision had cost him half the pot. Here’s that hand report, and here also is a HBP post titled “Intense” which discusses the hand.

I call breaking one’s hand unique both because it doesn’t come up that often in 2-7 triple draw -- it’s rare that a player will stand pat, then draw on a subsequent round -- and because such obvious change-of-course-type decisions don’t really come up in other poker variants, or at least not as conspicuously. Sure, a seven-card stud hand with five rounds of betting might well cause players to alter some larger plan for the hand at some point along the way. The same can happen in hold’em or Omaha games, too. But from an observer’s standpoint, there’s usually no obvious action to witness that unambiguously announces a player has suddenly been forced to adopt Plan B.

I’ve been talking to various people out here this summer about the detour I experienced career-wise where I began going down one path, then took this interesting turn to write about poker. For example, when meeting Reading Poker Tells Zach Elwood yesterday, at one point I kind of ran through an abbreviated version of the story to give some context to our discussion of my “Poker in American Film and Culture” class.

I left what was a fairly secure full-time position to embark on this other, less certain career, primarily because I’d reached a point where I wasn’t comfortable staying with the original plan and I had an option available to me to make a change. In other words, it felt a bit like I was holding what might turn out to be a losing hand, and I decided to break it with the hopes of drawing to something better.

Making that sort of “break” is easier said than done. Perhaps that’s why I find it a little bit fascinating to see a player make that decision in triple draw -- to admit things aren’t going quite right and risk trying a new path. Such a sudden, meaningful revision to the story one has been telling about oneself. Interesting to think something so explicit and plain to see can come up in a game in which you can’t see anyone’s cards.

I’m back on “the deuce” today for Day 2. Click over the PokerNews to see if anyone else decides to break a hand.

2013 WSOP, Day 35: Talking Tells

Was a quiet, restful day for your humble scribbler yesterday as I enjoyed what might be a final day off before the last big push through these next couple of weeks helping PokerNews with the coverage of the 2013 World Series of Poker.

As I mentioned yesterday, I did indeed make it a priority to fill the rental’s tank with gas. Actually took a couple of visits to Terrible’s as the lot was too packed with cars on the first try and I did not relish sitting in the heat for even 10 minutes to wait for an open spot. But I did fill the tank, probably for the last time until I head back to the airport in a couple of weeks. And after sleeping late both yesterday and this morning, I feel more or less replenished energy-wise, too.

I did make it to the Rio briefly yesterday, although didn’t look in on any of the poker happening. Following the reports I saw that the $50K played all of the way down to 26 players, meaning the tension is rising considerably there as only the top 16 get paid. Doyle Brunson was among those eliminated on Day 3, and was tweeting a short while ago that he felt he’d only brought his “B” game to the event.

Noticed as well that a woman other than Vanessa Selbst won the first bracelet in an open event in six years as Dana Castaneda won Event No. 54, another of the $1,000 NLHE events.

Several women have made final tables this summer, and while I don’t have current numbers I know that WSOP Communications Director Seth Palansky tweeted a week-and-a-half ago that women made up 4.1% of the entrants through the first 39 events. That would represent an increase in women participating from recent years. For instance, I see in a post I wrote during the summer of 2011 the percentage was about 3.2% through the first 29 events.

I imagine Castaneda’s win won’t hurt that upward trend. Incidentally, there were two women among the 132 who played the $50K Poker Players’ Championship, Jennifer Harman and Vanessa Selbst. Selbst busted Day 1, while Harman got knocked out yesterday along with Tex Dolly.

Like I say, though, while I was at the Rio briefly, it wasn’t to follow any poker. Rather I was there to visit with Reading Poker Tells author Zach Elwood (@apokerplayer on Twitter) over a mid-afternoon lunch. I reviewed his book a while back on Betfair Poker and have mentioned it here from time to time. Like many who have read it, I found it especially insightful and well presented, and am liking hearing other good reviews of it since I wrote mine.

Zach has been in town for a few weeks playing some events and in the cash games while promoting his book. He’s done really well, in my opinion, when it comes to making those who would be most interested in his book aware of it.

Among our topics of conversation was the relative importance of tells in poker, something which I think Elwood addresses well in his book when he points out that “tell-reading is only a small part of playing great live poker.”

I mentioned how when I played that Golden Nugget event a couple of weeks back I couldn’t honestly remember any instances where my decisions were affected by having noticed an opponent’s tell, and that more often I was thinking of others’ betting patterns. He made a great point that when it comes to tells there is a big difference between tourneys and cash games, namely, that in tourneys many players are less likely to reveal them.

He also shared a neat story with me about interacting some with Bill Perkins over recent months, including recently during Perkins’s deep run in the “One Drop High Rollers” event where he finished third.

Zach had analyzed some earlier video of Perkins from High Stakes Poker and the two had gotten in touch afterwards. Edwards has probably improved as a player in several ways over the last couple of years, and while I didn’t get a chance to see any of the tournament last week, I don’t think it is too farfetched to say he might have benefited from Zach’s analysis and advice, perhaps in a hand or three.

After we parted, I joked on Twitter that while I enjoyed our meeting, I didn’t want to say more and give away any “post-meal tells” (an allusion to Zach’s “post-bet tells” category). “I soul read you for IBS” he replied. (I am glad to report his read of my gastrointestinal system was incorrect.)

Will be back over there later this afternoon for Day 1 of the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw (Event No. 59). Having memories of one of my favorite events I ever covered at the WSOP way back in 2008 when F-Train and I were on this same event. John Phan won it and David Sklansky took sixth, and a couple of months afterward I wrote a post here about the contrasting styles of those two.

As always, head over to PokerNews to follow along.

2013 WSOP, Day 34: Motoring Through

Have to admit I’m running just a sliver above empty at the moment in terms of mental fuel, having just completed another sequence of several days of work in a row and finally landed on what I think might be my last day off this summer today. So I’m afraid I’ll again have to keep today’s update short as I’m not sure the engine in my head can motor all of the way through something longer and of greater depth.

Yesterday I was back on Event No. 55, the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship, which ultimately ended up drawing a bigger than expected field of 132. I sincerely thought the turnout might be down from last year’s 108 given the fact that both the $111,111 buy-in One Drop High Rollers event and the $25K NLHE 6-max. had just completed in the days leading up to the PPC. But such was not the case.

They played down to 78 players last night in this deep-structured tourney. I was working with Donnie and Chad yesterday, and at one point Donnie noted how the tournament is especially fun to cover given the fact that there isn’t this rush toward the final table that marks even the large-field, lower buy-in events. There’s a lot of play early, but there’s a lot on the line, too, as only the top 16 make the cash.

It’s almost as if the “bubble” in the event begins relatively soon after the tournament starts. There are several levels early on where one could reasonably say the tourney plays like a deep-stacked cash game. They start with 150,000 chips and tiny blinds and limits, so the threat of elimination on Day 1 isn’t really that great and there were very few instances of players being all in and at risk. Indeed, only a handful of players failed to survive Day 1.

But once we got about halfway through Day 2, there were numerous players who had gotten short enough that even the limit games presented situations where they could find themselves all in by the end of a hand. That said, since the game isn’t strictly no-limit even those with the super short stacks had legitimate opportunities to work their way back into the mix and avoid elimination -- i.e., they could find spots in which their risk was less and not necessarily have to rely on winning a few flips in a row to double up multiple times and get back to a workable stack.

So like I say, it’s a little like they’re on the bubble from about 100 players all of the way down to 16, if that makes sense. If it doesn’t, then let me refer back to the fact that I’m running on fumes at the moment, intellect-wise.

John Juanda provides the most ready example of what I’m referring to from yesterday, having slipped all of the way down to less than 4,000 (not even a single big bet) at one point after dinner, yet somehow worked himself back up over 120,000 with less than an hour to go, then doubled that before night’s end to be sitting with an average stack.

The highlight of Day 2, though, was Doyle Brunson’s survival in a late-night situation that saw him all in a NLHE hand with pocket jacks on a 10-3-9 board versus Cole South’s set of treys, then the turn and river bringing two more tens to enable Tex Dolly to survive. Kind of reminded me a little of Brunson’s “miracle” stories with regard to his health and survival from over the years such as are included in his autobiography. He returns today to a stack of 265,000, which is just a little above the average as well.

Like I say, I’m off today and in fact won’t be rejoining the $50K coverage when I return, as I’ll be moving over to a couple more non-hold’em tourneys (2-7 Triple Draw and more PLO) before the Main Event event arrives. But I will be checking in over at PokerNews to see how things continue to play out in the PPC, including keeping an eye on how Brunson fares.

Okay, need to sign off and get a little rest so as to refuel for this final push. In fact, this talk of running low on fuel reminds me that the rental car is also in need of a fill-up. That’ll have to be a first order of business today, as the consequences of being stranded on the side of the road with an empty tank amid these 115-plus degree days could be especially dire.

2013 WSOP, Day 33: Doyle Takes a Seat

Was on the first day of Event No. 55, the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship, yesterday, and will be back on it for today’s Day 2 before getting a day off tomorrow. I’ve helped here and there with covering the $50K in the past, always an interesting one thanks to the fact that nearly everyone who enters is a “name” player instantly recognizable even to casual followers of poker.

The big board was showing 123 had entered by the time play concluded at nearly 3 a.m., with late registration continuing until they kick off today. I’d say of that field there were perhaps only a half-dozen or so players in the entire tourney whom none of us recognized.

All of the usual suspects were there, of course. I don’t even have to name them, as most anyone reading this blog knows who they are. But when the day was done, I found myself thinking primarily about one in particular, Doyle Brunson (pic via PokerNews).

Event No. 55 marked Brunson’s first event this summer. He’s scaled back his participation at the WSOP considerably over the last couple of years, only playing a half-dozen prelims a couple of years ago (plus the Main), then last year playing in just three events prior to the ME, including the $50K PPC.

Brunson turns 80 in a little over a month, which means he probably has at least a couple of decades on the next oldest player in the field. I’m guessing Konstantin Puchkov (born in 1952) might be the nearest in age to Brunson among those playing the event. Meanwhile, Brunson is more than a half-century older than a lot of the field, yet to reach their 30s.

Early in the day Josh posted about Brunson having tweeted about his numerous side bets for the event. He reported having made 28 different bets on himself in this one, including bets on him cashing, final tabling, and winning. If he were to win the event, he says, he’d earn an extra $800K on top of whatever the first prize turns out to be (probably $1.7 million or so). If he doesn’t, it’ll cost him between $80K and $140K, he says.

Brunson had a good first day, chipping up all night and building a starting stack of 150,000 up to 232,000 by bagging time, good enough to sneak inside the top 15. It’s a long event -- five days -- and still a long way until it gets down to 16 or so and the money. But Tex Dolly is off to a good start.

I reported just one small hand of stud he played with Jennifer Harman, sitting to his left, thinking as I did about the “Big Game” in Bobby’s Room and how those two had played many stud hands over the years.

While I tend not to pull for anyone in events I cover, it’s difficult not to want to see Brunson continue to accumulate and advance. I got the sense yesterday a lot of his opponents feel similarly, even if they’re trying their hardest to get his chips in order to help their own causes.

Back at it in a little while. No rest for the weary. Then again, seeing Brunson continue on down a road much, much longer than the ones most of us have journeyed tends to inspire one more than a little to press forward.

As always, head over to PokerNews to follow along.