Seat One Don Baruch

Seat Two Daniel Negreanu

Seat Three Jared Davis

Seat Four Thomas Fuller

Seat Five Fred Goldberg

Seat Six Brandon Lee

Seat Seven Michael Wehner

Seat Eight Doug Baughman

Seat Nine Erick Lindgren

Everyone started with 300k with blinds at 3k-6k and a 1k ante.

For television, they had us play in a small, blacked out room. We were allowed one guest apiece but I snuck in MasterJ along with PiMaster. I had never played with hole card cameras and, at first, it was a little uncomfortable. My chips were in the way and I struggled to show the cards to the cameras. The producers asked me a few times to hold my cards higher and longer for the camera.

Since this was a shootout, the players had not played with each other in the tournament until the final table and everyone came in with the same chip stack. I knew a decent amount about the games of Negreanu, Lindgren, and Goldberg, but nothing about anyone else. No one knew anything about me other than what they could find on the internet.

I was planning on playing my usual super-tight early game as I had the first two tables. I raised the second hand with A10 in early position and everyone folded. A couple hands later I got a walk. After this I didn’t play a hand for quite a while. The other guys were playing quite tight also.

There was a lot of banter at the table, mostly between Erick and Daniel. Daniel is perhaps the funniest guy I have ever seen at a poker table. His schtick was actually much funnier in person than on tv.

Erick and Fred got involved in a pot where Fred limp-called a large raise with 54 against Erick’s AJ and wound up winning it with a pair of fives on a scary board. This hand appeared to put both players on tilt – Erick was annoyed Fred called such a big raise with such a small hand and annoyed at himself for not buying the pot postflop; Fred may have gotten annoyed at Erick’s light chastising.

After folding a couple rounds Erick raised my big blind and I called with K10. The flop came 1093 and I had to decide on a course of action. I thought about leading out but don’t like that play against an aggressive player like Lindgren unless you are comfortable with your hand. Madsen liked a checkraise, which I really don’t like, because it would commit such a big chunk of my stack and give Erick the opportunity to push me out with a big draw with the A or a hand like QJ. I decided to check and call and think this is the best play.

The turn was the 5. Madsen said he would have liked me to bet out and I tend to agree. I didn’t because I felt like I wouldn’t gain much information from a bet out (Erick could raise with an unmade hand or smoothcall with a big one, leaving me informationless to make a river decision). Still, I think betting out would have been a good play because it wouldn’t give him much info and my hand was quite vulnerable.

Erick checked behind so I thought I probably had the best hand, and the river came 7. I now had to decide if I wanted to check and call or bet. I decided if I bet Erick would only raise with a high flush, and he might call with many hands, maybe any pair. It looked like I might have two high cards with a spade. Schneider and Madsen thought the best play was to check-call. I think it’s quite close, but prefer betting against a professional like Lindgren who is more likely to make thin calls and less likely to bluff rivers. I bet about 60% of the pot and Erick folded what I later learned was AJ. Considering what he had checking would have been better but I’m happy with my decision to bet.

Erick and Brandon Lee were the most aggressive players at the table in the early going. Brandon was playing the most hands and doing a lot of preflop reraising. We all thought he was a maniac but the video reveals he was just picking up a lot of big hands. During this stretch I tried a button raise of his blind with 109 but Brandon reraised (with what turned out to be AK and I instafolded.

Daniel won a big race to bust Fred and we were at eight. I raised AK in early position and Brandon, now directly to my left, made a 3x reraise. I felt he was tremendously strong this time. He had reraised me a few hands ago so wouldn’t want to do it again without a big one. His body language was strong and confident. I was in early position and he was right behind me. I never thought about coming back over the top because of my read. I considered calling but eventually decided to just fold. This was a classic Moon weak-tight cash-game based play and a questionable tournament laydown, even considering my read and the state of the tournament. It turned out Lee had JJ.

My next big blind Erick limped and I checked with 97. The flop came 10610 and I checked. Erick bet as expected and I decided he couldn’t just have the pot that easily. I knew a call would scare the crap out of him so I decided to do that and buy the pot later. However, the turn was the 10. My plans to represent a ten were now foiled. I checked and Erick bet, which surprised me. I figured he’d check behind there with or without a hand. I couldn’t see him betting without a pair bigger than sixes so I quickly folded. It turned out he had KK.

I folded the next couple orbits and then a strange hand came up. Baruch doubled the 8k big blind to 16 in early position, which he hadn’t been doing. Usually he was raising 3-5x the blind. I looked down at KK and really wasn’t too happy about it. I felt Baruch probably had aces or some crap like a suited connector. I thought reraising would accomplish nothing, but I didn’t want to let a bunch of players in behind me. I eventually made it 50k. When it got back to Baruch he took a long time before calling, which had me even more puzzled. The flop came A54 and Baruch immediately went all-in for 2x the pot. It almost seemed like he was going to go all-in no matter what hit.

I sort of thought about calling, but not really. I didn’t know what to put him on but I can’t just call it off with kings on an ace-high board, as Madsen and Schneider said. Baruch had AJ. I have no idea what he was thinking at any point in the hand.

I raised the next hand with A10 figuring no one would mess with me but both Lee and Wehner called in position. The flop came 884 and I thought for a while about betting. I decided at least one of them probably had a pair and wouldn’t fold to a bet so I checked and folded to Wehner’s bet. It turned out Lee flopped quads with 88 so in this case my weak-tight play worked out for the best. In addition, the A hit the turn, so I got bailed out by Wehner’s attempted steal with J10.

Play lulled after this and Erick was the next to go. After a short break, Baruch raised in late position and I found KK in the small blind. Baruch raised habitually in late position and I needed a double-up (it turned out he had 53, so I decided to slowplay. Lee thought for a while in the big blind, then called. It looked like he was contemplating a reraise but decided to just call. The flop came J84 and I led for 25k. Lee quickly made a small raise to 60k and I put him on a big hand. I was worried he flopped a set but there was no folding at this point so I went all-in for about 100k more when Baruch folded. Lee quickly called with AJ and I doubled up when the K hit the turn. This was a brutal cooler for Brandon that couldn’t have been avoided when I decided to slowplay.

It should be noted that Baughman made the play of the day, betting a Q35 flop with A3, then reraising when Daniel checkraised. Baughman may have played the best of anyone that day, but he was extremely card-dead and busted in a massive pot with Q10 against Negreanu’s AK on a flop of KJ3.

After a second break I limped the small blind with 44 and Brandon raised from the big blind. I called and the flop came K94. I checked and Brandon made a substantial bet. I felt like he hit it pretty good so I immediately announced all-in. Brandon instacalled me again with KQ, I dodged a heart, and doubled up to second in chips. The two double-ups against Brandon were pretty much dumb luck. If the cards had been reversed, he would likely have doubled. I think I played the hands well but it didn’t really matter.

The next hand I played was 109 under the gun. This was my best steal position with Daniel in the small blind. I raised and only Daniel called. The flop came J85 and I bet 50k after Daniel checked. He called. The turn was the 6 and I had an interesting decision after Daniel checked. Some people have said that the six on the turn was likely to help Daniel’s hand, and therefore I should check. I do think this card will often help him out, but I also didn’t think he had two pair. I really thought he would bet out there with two pair on that board especially with me raising under the gun and betting the flop. Also, I didn’t think he would raise me with anything less than two pair since we were the two chip leaders. I ultimately decided to bet 100k on the turn hoping Daniel would fold a hand like A8 or A5. He thought for a bit and then called.

The river came 2 and Daniel checked again. This is where I blew the bracelet. If I had bet the river, Daniel would have been in a terrible spot and a call would have been heroic. There was no reason whatsoever to think I could have anything but a monster there. Both Madsen and Schneider commented that once I bet the turn, I was committed to the bluff and needed to bet the river. I completely agree. The line here was to check the turn or bet both the turn and river. It was hard to bet the river after getting called twice by a great player (and loose caller) like Negreanu but a world-class player would have fired the river there and picked up the pot. Hands like this make all the difference.

Daniel busted Lee and Wehner and suddenly we were down to 4. I had gone card dead and lost several small pots, 20-70k at a time. I think I played most of these hands properly but I wasn’t hitting anything. With the fast play and consolidation, I was soon the short stack. One hand I totally screwed up was when Jared limped from the small blind and I checked QJ in the big blind. The flop came A66 and he quickly checked, which worried me. I checked behind. The turn was the 3 and it again went check-check. The river was the 3 and now Jared bet out. I was honestly thinking that I had queen high here and not the board. Unbelievably I did not realize that I was playing the board. I was thinking about all the hands queen high could beat and eventually called. Even thinking I had queen high this was a dumb call cause I felt Jared had something all along. What an idiot I am sometimes.

Another one I tried to trap the short-stacked Wehner (in the big blind) by limping AQ from the small blind after Baruch limped, but he just checked and I folded to a bet and a call on the J96 flop. Another Daniel raised and I called with 22. The flop came Q96 and Daniel quickly checked. I felt like he had hit it in some way so I checked. The turn was the 9, Daniel bet out, and I folded. He had 108 for a double gutshot.

I raised a couple hands and ran into big pairs and suddenly I was down to thirteen big blinds. I found A5 in first position and shoved in. Considering the tight, passive nature of the table and the chip stacks, I think this was a bad shove. I could have raised and folded if someone came over the top, knowing I was dominated. Jared woke up with AA and I was finished.

Overall I really didn’t play great poker, especially at the final table. I actually played better in the three subsequent tournaments I played at the WSOP. The first round I ran good, didn’t run into hands when I had moderate holdings, took advantage of a couple weak players, and played well heads up. The second round I had a bunch of huge hands at an aggressive table, made one mistake heads up, and got lucky. The third round I coolered Brandon Lee twice, then went card-dead and ran out of gas. Nowhere in there did I do anything special.

I attribute my result to three causes:

1) I was extremely enthusiastic throughout the tournament, always thinking positive thoughts and believing I was going to win.

2) I had a lot of good cards, took only one bad beat, and flopped a ton of sets.

3) I have run quite poorly in live tournaments, so it was only a matter of time before good things started happening to me.

I learned a ton from playing the tournament and watching the final table. My table presence is pretty terrible. It’s something we’ve worked on before (Mike Odeh was a master of table presence and often discussed its importance) but I get sloppy at times. Since watching myself play on tv I’ve put a lot of emphasis on better posture and presence. I’m also trying to stare players down or look into space rather than covering my face with my hands. Finally, I’m going to try to play even slower than I usually do and think even more heavily about my decisions. The difference between good and average players is so small. One or two pots per day can make the difference. If I had picked up that pot with the busted straight draw, I would have been in contention for the bracelet.

Making a WSOP final table was a great experience, one of the most exciting events of my poker career. At first I was relatively happy with the $68k score, but now I realize how fleeting those opportunities are and I’m hungry to return. Thanks to all the people who supported me before, during, and after the tournament. Records were set for text messages, emails, phone calls, and blog comments. I hope to surpass this result soon, if for no other reason than to set a new blog comment record.

 I folded about twenty hands before picking up AQ after the maniac limped. At this point he hadn't yet exhibited his maniacism. I made it 2500 after his 600 limp expecting to just pick it up right there but when it got back to him he quickly moved all-in for around 13,000. I thought for about ninety seconds and then folded. This was literally the first hand I had played so there was no reason for him to think I had anything but a monster. He ended up showing KK.
 
An orbit later the same guy limped and I again made a large raise, this time with AJ, and when it got back to him he reraised me once again. I knew he had to have a monster to pull this one twice so my cards hit the muck within a couple seconds. He showed AA.
 
At this point I was the short stack of the ten. I got lucky though and nailed a K97 flop with the 77 and doubled through an AK in a raised 4-way pot. I checked the flop from the small blind and was facing a bet and a raise for almost all my chips by the time it got back to me, so that was an easy double-up. Not too much later I busted the same guy with AA against his 55.

We got down to two players without much trouble. The professor to my left busted a young player with a sneakily played AA against JJ on a board of 101036 in a reraised pot, then broke Adams with KK against A2 on a 432 board, again by just calling the preflop reraise. I was happy to see Adams go as he is a skilled lunatic and would be tough to beat coming from behind.

On the other hand the professor was getting a hold of a ton of chips and in the shootout format you have to get ALL of the chips so consolidation to one player is a bad thing unless that player is you. Fortunately I was able to win a large pot with QQ preflop, bust an Armenian pro with AK against his AJ, and then oust the Australian to my right with A10 against K3. There were some steals and small pots and a successful checkraise with 99 against the Armenian on a K72 board but mostly it was really easy straightforward poker.

My heads up opponent was a cagey professor named Stephen. He didn't really play tight but he wasn't really loose either. His game was really hard to figure out actually. This tournament was his first ever at a casino but I think he could be an extremely successful player on the tournament circuit if that was what he chose to do. I really had a hard time figuring out what he had in a bunch of hands but it seemed every time there was a big bet out there, he had way the best of it. When we started he was up around 170k-130k and it wasn't too long before he had me down to 100k.

At this point I made a decision that I was going to have to start making some reckless moves if I wanted to get back in the match. The crucial hand came when he raised on the button and I reraised with 75. The flop came Q65 and he called my continuation bet. The turn was the 10 and I decided the tournament was over if I checked so I moved all-in. This hand was pretty wild and non-professional. I can't see a top pro getting all his money in the pot in a spot like this just praying his opponent will fold with no idea what he has. Like I said though, Stephen was running me over and I felt I needed to take some risks to shake it up. Luckily he folded.

Just a couple hands later he limped on the button and I raised it up with Qc8c. He called. The flop came something like 993 and I bet out. He raised liked I had hoped and I shoved in for a huge amount more. He folded and now I had a small chip lead.

The next big pot we played came when I raised the button to 4500 with 96. He called. The flop came KQ7 and he checked. I bet bigger than I usually do, 7.5k I think, as I had earlier when I flopped top set with KK and had shown the hand. He called. The turn came 8 and he led out for 7k. I considered taking the cheap card but instead decided to stay aggressive and represent a big hand and raised to 20k. He thought for a long time and then raised 18k more.

At this point I sat back in my chair and sighed, which was a mistake. People told me later I looked really weak when I did this, though I don't know if Stephen was paying attention. I thought for quite a while about whether to just call or not and then sort of suddenly decided Stephen probably didn't have a big hand, was feeler-raising, and would have to fold one pair if I moved in for his last 100k. I declared all-in and Stephen didn't take too long before calling with K9.

I think I made a good poker play here, and my opponent played the hand quite poorly. I was aggressive every step of the way and my betting represented a huge hand. However, I made a gigantic mistake. I had been pushing Stephen around lately and I failed to consider his psychological state. If I had not gone all-in in the face of heavy betting on two of the previous few hands, Stephen might have given me more credit for a big hand and maybe laid his top pair down. As it was, Stephen was likely sick of getting pushed around and felt he needed to take a stand.

Before I even processed what was happening, the 5 was on the felt and they were counting the chips down. I immediately started apologizing to Stephen for the bad beat and told him how well he had played. His wife had just come over to watch and said "so he just hit a straight on the river?" I felt really terrible, but the match was over and I was going to a WSOP final table.

There were some pretty bad players at the table who busted fast in a predictable fashion of losing a cooler, then tilt-panicking and dumping their short stacks. I feel short-stack blowups are one of the biggest ways the amateurs play worse than the pros - they panic and throw their tournament away when a comeback is still possible.

I won a good pot with a slowplayed AK against AJ on a board of A7437 where I may have missed a little value, then lost it back with JJ against 55 on a board of 1055K8. If I had been raised by quads on the flop here I would have been out less than an hour into the tournament.

Then a pattern emerged which would repeat itself the next two tables: I got all my chips from one loose-aggressive player. There was this maniacal amateur who would raise 83 offsuit and other crap like that in late position all the time.

One hand he raised and then I reraised about 60% of my stack with 99. He called so I assumed he was doing a stop n go but heprobably had no idea what a stop n go was. The flop came 975 and he checked, which was weird. I eventually decided to just stick the rest in and he called with AQ...okay. The turn was a scary 8 but the river paired the board and I doubled up to a healthy position. The very next hand I raised 1010 and Howard moved in; I called and outran his KQ and I was now the chipleader.

I extended the lead a bit later when the maniac raised and I reraised from the small blind with 88. He then called half his stack. The flop came J1010 and I put him in. He thought for like two minutes and then folded KQ faceup! Getting like 3.5:1 or something. Definitely one of the worst folds I've ever seen...and he was a maniac. This is why the WSOP is such a juicy tournament, even with the outrageous juice Harrah's takes. The fields are the softest you'll ever find withthese buyins. The equity for good players is just so enormous. The maniac rabbit-hunted and found an ace on the river...which would have made me the short stack with like 5 left.

A bit after this I raised and the maniac moved in. I made a marginal call with 98 thinking he was fairly weak...whoops he had jacks and I doubled him up. Then Jennifer won a coinflip against a really solid player and he was short stacked. Not long after I busted him with KK against A3 suited.

We played three-handed for a while and I accumulated some more chips. One hand Jennifer raised the button, the maniac called and I called with 44. The flop came 844 and we all checked. The turn was a 9 or something and the maniac bet out - I just called and Jennifer mucked. The river was a Q, he bet, I shoved, and he folded. He was eliminated (I think by Jennifer but I don't remember how) a bit later and we were heads up. I think I had 18k and she had about 12k when we started.

I grinded her down a little bit and then she limped the button and I raised with QQ in the BB. She called, then called my bet on a 1085 flop. The turn was a 6 putting two flush draws out and I shoved in. She thought for a good two minutes and folded. I now had a lead of like 23k to 7k.

She came back though and took a small lead. One hand I paid off her 74 on a board of 9449K with ace high. In retrospect this was a mistake because she bluffed pretty rarely. At this point I was really, really worried about losing and what it would do to my emotional state having blown a 3:1 chip lead in my first tournament back at the WSOP. Luckily we went on break and MasterJ and PiMaster were there for me.

We played something like two and a half hours heads up. Jennifer and I both play really nitty small-pot poker so it went on forever. You wouldn't think I could outplay a famous pro like Jennifer playing small ball but, as Jennifer would admit later, she's really not that great at no limit hold em. I know her cards were shitty but she was playing too tight, too passively, and not bluffing enough.

It took me a while to realize it but eventually I decided to just run over her and it worked - luckily she didn't pick up a hand to trap me in that stage. Soon I had her down to around eight big blinds and called her shove with A5 when she had Q5 suited...but she sucked out. I ground her down again though and finished her off raising 103 offsuit on the button and getting it all in on the turn of 1032X when she had J10.

I was really, really excited to win because of all the turmoil in my recent life and how long the heads up went on for. It was a fantastic feeling to have won something.  I'll post about the second round and final table soon...

Right before the first round, Kirk Morrison came up to me and we talked about Speight's, whose brewery logo was on my shirt. It's probably my favorite shirt and I wear it all the time, always hoping someone will know what Speight's is and talk to me about it. After I finished off Jennifer Harman heads up to win the first table, the dealer told me she was a reader of my blog. My head was spinning and I got pulled over for administrative purposes; I really wish I had gotten her name and talked a little more. Those were two nice cherries on this Sundae of a Monday.

Joining me at the final table are:

Seat 1 - Donald Baruch
Seat 2 - Daniel Negreanu
Seat 3 - Jared Davis
Seat 4 - Thomas Fuller
Seat 5 - Fred Goldberg
Seat 6 - Brendan Lee
Seat 7 - Michael Wehner
Seat 8 - Doug Baughman
Seat 9 - Erick Lindgren

_{*Chris Viox and Jason Dewitt (who made this same final table last year)}

Despite a half an hour delay to accommodate a slew of last-minute entries which pushed the field from 800 to 900, the tournament got off to an excellent start, especially when compared to last year when the event was played with only six players sitting at each table. Even with nine players at a table, the field was still large enough to require the use of the Poker Tent, where, you might recall, “Eskimo” Clark collapsed yesterday afternoon. Amongst the big names forced to schlep themselves out to the Tent were Erick Lindgren and Eric Froelich (“E-Dog” and “E-Fro”!).

What I find most interesting about this tournament is how different the play can vary from table to table. At some of the faster and looser tables a winner of Round 1 was crowned within an hour or two while at the slower tables a champ might not emerge until this evening. At one of the faster tables to get down to two players Erick Seidel is battling Mitch Shock heads-up. At the outset Seidel only had 10k while Shock had 20k, but Seidel knows a little something about heads-up play. Relying on his experience and guile as well as a hand where he got quad jacks, Seidel grabbed the lead 17k-13k, which at last glance he had stretched to 19k-11k. “You got the best of me on this heads-up,” Shock said at one point. “I really want to suck out on you so if I say I beat Erick Seidel I can then explain that I was way behind in the hand.”

As important as who is left is who is gone. Fresh from winning his record-breaking 11^th gold bracelet, Phil Hellmuth was all smiles at his table until he pushed a little too hard with K-7 and got called by a player with A-10 and another holding pocket sevens. Hellmuth complained about his misfortune to Daniel Negreanu: “I can’t believe it. I can beat 3,000 players, but I can’t beat those nine?” Negreanu didn’t respond. He was too busy steamrolling his table. With three players left he had amassed most of the chips on the table.

It felt great walking into the Amazon Room this evening. Just looking at the chips and the cards and the players felt fresh and exciting, whereas three months ago the same images filled me with cynicism and disgust. Shortly before my "escape" from poker I concluded I was likely the worst regular player on the professional poker tournament circuit.

That's no longer the case. Hopefully it's for two reasons: 1) I'm no longer a regular on the circuit, and 2) an improved attitude (and a couple strategic adjustments) will allow me to play better tournament poker than ever before.

I plan to play 8-10 events this year at the WSOP, beginning with the $1500 NLHE shootout today.