Harrah's WSOP Circuit
Went down to Atlantic City Friday afternoon. I had read a lot of bad things about how Harrah's was running the tournament but I was ready to give them the benefit of the doubt for a shot at a $10K, a $2 million freeroll, and tv exposure. I don't want to rant for too long about it, but this was by far the worst organized and worst run tournament I've ever been to...and I've been to many. Some highlights:
- In one super we were down to 20 players and had to combine three tables into two. The floorman looks at the six players at the breaking table and goes, "Three seats at this table, three seats at that one, go get 'em guys." That's right. No seat cards. No mention of the huge advantage of being able to come in after the blinds. Go get 'em guys.
- It comes to the point in one of these tournaments where we have to color up and race off the green chips. The dealer has obviously never done this before and has no idea what's going on. So we tell him and he sort of grasps the concept of the race and starts dealing the cards out to each odd chip......except he's dealing face down!
- For some reason, Harrah's set up their single table satellites to have breaks every hour. I've never seen this before and neither had anyone else I asked. You usually just play it out until there's a winner. So we get to the time we're supposed to break and we're three handed and none of us want to take a break so we tell the dealer so. The dealer says, "You can't just not take a break. That's not the kind of decision I can make." So we call the floor over and he agrees with the dealer. Mandatory ten minute break whether you like it or not. It took us about five minutes to convince him how ridiculous this was but finally he relented.
I could list six or eight more examples of the circus that was this tournament, but I'll spare you. Onto the tournies I played:
- Friday Super #1: I hit a lot of hands early in this one. K6 in the BB, flop K6x and got action. 65 in the BB, flop 874 and I'm against K8 and 74. 8 on the turn saves 74 a lot of chips but K8 calls me down. Then I went dead for a while and the blinds got big. I made a few bad raises from EP with hands I wasn't ready to commit my whole stack with. Made a standard raise with KQo UTG, Dan Alspach moved in on me, and I folded. Raised with 44, someone re-raised me the minimum and I called. Flop Q93 and we both checked. Turn an ace, I checked, he bet, and I folded. I wonder if he had a big pair or if he hit the ace. Either way, I don't belong in this pot in the first place. I don't remember my bustout hand but it was nothing spectacular.
- Friday Super #2: I got KK at leadt four times in the first two hours of this one and got action every time. Had a pretty big stack the whole way. They were giving out four seats and I made the final table. With the blinds ar 300/600 and a 75 ante, I had ~3000 chips and A8o UTG+1. This was the last hand at the 3/6 level and the next level was 500/1000/100 meaning I would have to post more than half my stack in the next three hands if I folded. I chose to move in, got called by JJ in the BB, and didn't improve. What do you think? Move in here or fold? I think it's close and if the blinds weren't going up I almost certainly fold.
- Saturday Single Table: Went down at about 3:30 on Saturday to sign up for the 5 PM super only to find out that I would be alternate #40 if I registered. Instead, I chose to play a $1065 single table satellite. I had seen a couple of these and the fields looked pretty soft but mine had Randy Jensen and two other pros who I recognized but couldn't name. While we're waiting for the tournament to get going (this took at least an hour and a half, by the way), Randy is talking to a fan who asked him for some advice. I overhear him say, "If you're going to stake someone, you don't want to put your money on someone like you or someone like this guy (he gestures to me)." Now, I've never met Randy before and I've definitely never played with him. So after the fan leaves, I ask him why he wouldn't pick me as a player to stake and he goes, "I look at you and I think 'This guy is a pretty conservative player.'"
On the FIRST HAND of the satellite, Randy and I get tangled up in a hand. Perfect. I raise in EP with QQ and only Randy calls in the SB. Before the flop, he's already chatting, "Didn't I say you were a conservative player?" The flop is 4h2h2s. He checks, I bet 200 into the 400 pot, he makes it 575 and says, "I don't think you have a four." I put him on a medium pair or something like Ah5h and call. The turn is the queen of spades. He checks and I check. The river is a blank spade. He bets 1200 and says, "There's a lot of stuff out there." I think for a while and move in and he calls and shows A2o. I guess this is how Randy is such a successful player. His reputation makes people pay him off when he hits a big hand. The board would have to get pretty scary for me to lay those queens down and he's got me in really bad shape. But I drew out on him.
That was the first of three lucky hands for me in this one. A player who was pretty shortstacked made a raise on the button and I moved in on him with KTs. He thought for a long time as he wasn't pot committed and then called with KJ. I hit a ten on the turn and busted him. With the blinds at 100/200, I raised one limper to 750 with AA and the BB and limper called. The flop was Q52 rainbow, which looked great to me, and the BB lead out and bet 1000. The limper folded and I decided to just call. This guy played a lot of hands and hadn't been playing them particularly well. The turn was a blank and he went all-in for 2500 and I called. He had flopped a set of deuces but I hit an ace on the river and busted him.
We got down to three-handed and my opponents were a tight, bad player and one of the pros. The bad player had made some terrible laydowns and was fond of asking people, "Do you want me to call?" when faced with a decision. He said that if the person said anything, he would lay the hand down, but if they were quiet he would call. He stuck to this plan throughout the tournament. Pretty easy to exploit this one, no? He also had about half the chips in play when we got 3-handed. They wanted to do an $1100 save but I couldn't justify it with the blinds being pretty small and this donkey in the game. After I declined the save, the pro started lecturing me about how stupid I was and the donkey called me a "mean person." It's funny how deal-making has become the norm in poker tournaments. It's to the point now that if you don't want to make a deal, people think you're doing something wrong. Lunacy. I misplayed one hand where I limped on the button with Jh8h and got heads up with him in the BB. The flop was K98 with one heart. He checked, I bet, and he called. At this point I put him on a 9. The turn was the Ah, he checked, and I should have checked. Instead I bet and he called. The river was a black queen. He bet and I mucked. We played for a while more and I got down to 8000 chips out of 40000 in play. The donkey still had the big stack. The blinds were going up to 500/1000 so I agreed to do the save and locked up $1100. The first hand of the level I found A9o on the button and went all-in. The donk called me with As8s, flopped an 8, and I was out. Do you like moving in here? I could just raise to 3000 and call if someone comes over the top, but 1500 represents a great increase to my stack and people will often call here with a worse ace or two face cards.
- Saturday Super: The most notable thing that happened in the first two hours of this one was that I taught the guy next to me a chip trick. I won a few small pots and treaded water. At the break I had invested $800 and had 1000 in chips. I got blinded down to 600 and posted the 200 BB. A player who I thought was solid raised to 500 in EP. I had QhTh and went all-in for 100 more. He called and turned over Qs7s. Time to change my read on this guy. My hand held up. The next hand I had Q9o in the SB, everyone folded to me, I went all-in and got called by KJo. My play is a little suspect here but I am still shortstacked and the antes had started at this point, so the pot was more than worth stealing. I turned a 9 and had more than quarupled up in two hands. This super paid nine seats and we had just combined to the final two tables when this hand came up: I had 2275 in chips with the blinds at 300/600/75. This was the last hand before the blinds went up to 500/1000/100 (is this sounding familiar yet?). I had AhQh. The player UTG went all-in for exactly 2275. I called all-in LP and the BB thought for a long time before calling for 2225 with AJo. What a great situation for me, right? Instead, J on the flop and I'm left with 100. Mr. AJ's four or five person cheering section went wild after this hand and told him how well he played it and what a good call he made. Donkey. The second worst part of this hand was that I was left with one 100 chip to post for the ante after the break. The worst part was having to get condolences from all the other players at my table during the break. I know it was a tough beat, you don't have to tell me.
So that was my trip to Harrah's. Three close calls but no seat. How frustrating.
I was going to write, "But the bright side of all of this is that I get to come home and play the big online tournaments on Sunday." Here's how that turned out:
Stars: Win a huge pot early with set over set in a 6-way raised pot preflop. Then get it all in with AdKd vs. AsQs and lose to a queen on the river in a 12K pot that would have put me in the top 25 in chips. Awesome.
Party: Go all-in with JJ, get called by As8s, see the board come 8228x. Awesome.
I'm running pretty good in the last 24 hours, yeah?
- In one super we were down to 20 players and had to combine three tables into two. The floorman looks at the six players at the breaking table and goes, "Three seats at this table, three seats at that one, go get 'em guys." That's right. No seat cards. No mention of the huge advantage of being able to come in after the blinds. Go get 'em guys.
- It comes to the point in one of these tournaments where we have to color up and race off the green chips. The dealer has obviously never done this before and has no idea what's going on. So we tell him and he sort of grasps the concept of the race and starts dealing the cards out to each odd chip......except he's dealing face down!
- For some reason, Harrah's set up their single table satellites to have breaks every hour. I've never seen this before and neither had anyone else I asked. You usually just play it out until there's a winner. So we get to the time we're supposed to break and we're three handed and none of us want to take a break so we tell the dealer so. The dealer says, "You can't just not take a break. That's not the kind of decision I can make." So we call the floor over and he agrees with the dealer. Mandatory ten minute break whether you like it or not. It took us about five minutes to convince him how ridiculous this was but finally he relented.
I could list six or eight more examples of the circus that was this tournament, but I'll spare you. Onto the tournies I played:
- Friday Super #1: I hit a lot of hands early in this one. K6 in the BB, flop K6x and got action. 65 in the BB, flop 874 and I'm against K8 and 74. 8 on the turn saves 74 a lot of chips but K8 calls me down. Then I went dead for a while and the blinds got big. I made a few bad raises from EP with hands I wasn't ready to commit my whole stack with. Made a standard raise with KQo UTG, Dan Alspach moved in on me, and I folded. Raised with 44, someone re-raised me the minimum and I called. Flop Q93 and we both checked. Turn an ace, I checked, he bet, and I folded. I wonder if he had a big pair or if he hit the ace. Either way, I don't belong in this pot in the first place. I don't remember my bustout hand but it was nothing spectacular.
- Friday Super #2: I got KK at leadt four times in the first two hours of this one and got action every time. Had a pretty big stack the whole way. They were giving out four seats and I made the final table. With the blinds ar 300/600 and a 75 ante, I had ~3000 chips and A8o UTG+1. This was the last hand at the 3/6 level and the next level was 500/1000/100 meaning I would have to post more than half my stack in the next three hands if I folded. I chose to move in, got called by JJ in the BB, and didn't improve. What do you think? Move in here or fold? I think it's close and if the blinds weren't going up I almost certainly fold.
- Saturday Single Table: Went down at about 3:30 on Saturday to sign up for the 5 PM super only to find out that I would be alternate #40 if I registered. Instead, I chose to play a $1065 single table satellite. I had seen a couple of these and the fields looked pretty soft but mine had Randy Jensen and two other pros who I recognized but couldn't name. While we're waiting for the tournament to get going (this took at least an hour and a half, by the way), Randy is talking to a fan who asked him for some advice. I overhear him say, "If you're going to stake someone, you don't want to put your money on someone like you or someone like this guy (he gestures to me)." Now, I've never met Randy before and I've definitely never played with him. So after the fan leaves, I ask him why he wouldn't pick me as a player to stake and he goes, "I look at you and I think 'This guy is a pretty conservative player.'"
On the FIRST HAND of the satellite, Randy and I get tangled up in a hand. Perfect. I raise in EP with QQ and only Randy calls in the SB. Before the flop, he's already chatting, "Didn't I say you were a conservative player?" The flop is 4h2h2s. He checks, I bet 200 into the 400 pot, he makes it 575 and says, "I don't think you have a four." I put him on a medium pair or something like Ah5h and call. The turn is the queen of spades. He checks and I check. The river is a blank spade. He bets 1200 and says, "There's a lot of stuff out there." I think for a while and move in and he calls and shows A2o. I guess this is how Randy is such a successful player. His reputation makes people pay him off when he hits a big hand. The board would have to get pretty scary for me to lay those queens down and he's got me in really bad shape. But I drew out on him.
That was the first of three lucky hands for me in this one. A player who was pretty shortstacked made a raise on the button and I moved in on him with KTs. He thought for a long time as he wasn't pot committed and then called with KJ. I hit a ten on the turn and busted him. With the blinds at 100/200, I raised one limper to 750 with AA and the BB and limper called. The flop was Q52 rainbow, which looked great to me, and the BB lead out and bet 1000. The limper folded and I decided to just call. This guy played a lot of hands and hadn't been playing them particularly well. The turn was a blank and he went all-in for 2500 and I called. He had flopped a set of deuces but I hit an ace on the river and busted him.
We got down to three-handed and my opponents were a tight, bad player and one of the pros. The bad player had made some terrible laydowns and was fond of asking people, "Do you want me to call?" when faced with a decision. He said that if the person said anything, he would lay the hand down, but if they were quiet he would call. He stuck to this plan throughout the tournament. Pretty easy to exploit this one, no? He also had about half the chips in play when we got 3-handed. They wanted to do an $1100 save but I couldn't justify it with the blinds being pretty small and this donkey in the game. After I declined the save, the pro started lecturing me about how stupid I was and the donkey called me a "mean person." It's funny how deal-making has become the norm in poker tournaments. It's to the point now that if you don't want to make a deal, people think you're doing something wrong. Lunacy. I misplayed one hand where I limped on the button with Jh8h and got heads up with him in the BB. The flop was K98 with one heart. He checked, I bet, and he called. At this point I put him on a 9. The turn was the Ah, he checked, and I should have checked. Instead I bet and he called. The river was a black queen. He bet and I mucked. We played for a while more and I got down to 8000 chips out of 40000 in play. The donkey still had the big stack. The blinds were going up to 500/1000 so I agreed to do the save and locked up $1100. The first hand of the level I found A9o on the button and went all-in. The donk called me with As8s, flopped an 8, and I was out. Do you like moving in here? I could just raise to 3000 and call if someone comes over the top, but 1500 represents a great increase to my stack and people will often call here with a worse ace or two face cards.
- Saturday Super: The most notable thing that happened in the first two hours of this one was that I taught the guy next to me a chip trick. I won a few small pots and treaded water. At the break I had invested $800 and had 1000 in chips. I got blinded down to 600 and posted the 200 BB. A player who I thought was solid raised to 500 in EP. I had QhTh and went all-in for 100 more. He called and turned over Qs7s. Time to change my read on this guy. My hand held up. The next hand I had Q9o in the SB, everyone folded to me, I went all-in and got called by KJo. My play is a little suspect here but I am still shortstacked and the antes had started at this point, so the pot was more than worth stealing. I turned a 9 and had more than quarupled up in two hands. This super paid nine seats and we had just combined to the final two tables when this hand came up: I had 2275 in chips with the blinds at 300/600/75. This was the last hand before the blinds went up to 500/1000/100 (is this sounding familiar yet?). I had AhQh. The player UTG went all-in for exactly 2275. I called all-in LP and the BB thought for a long time before calling for 2225 with AJo. What a great situation for me, right? Instead, J on the flop and I'm left with 100. Mr. AJ's four or five person cheering section went wild after this hand and told him how well he played it and what a good call he made. Donkey. The second worst part of this hand was that I was left with one 100 chip to post for the ante after the break. The worst part was having to get condolences from all the other players at my table during the break. I know it was a tough beat, you don't have to tell me.
So that was my trip to Harrah's. Three close calls but no seat. How frustrating.
I was going to write, "But the bright side of all of this is that I get to come home and play the big online tournaments on Sunday." Here's how that turned out:
Stars: Win a huge pot early with set over set in a 6-way raised pot preflop. Then get it all in with AdKd vs. AsQs and lose to a queen on the river in a 12K pot that would have put me in the top 25 in chips. Awesome.
Party: Go all-in with JJ, get called by As8s, see the board come 8228x. Awesome.
I'm running pretty good in the last 24 hours, yeah?
posted by Chris Fargis at 6:47 PM
2 Comments:
Chris, I'm enjoying your blog and have just created one entitled: No-Limit-Rounder. I'm looking for details on the WSOP Circuit Supers. I know that they're $220 + re-buys. How long is the re-buy period? Is there an optional add-on? What were the starting stacks, blinds and level duration? Typically, how many entrants were permitted and how many seats were awarded? I'm thinking of hitting Vegas and/or New Orleans, but would like to know what I may be getting into.
The structure in Atlantic City was:
$220 buy-in with $200 rebuys for the first three levels. These first three levels were 30 minutes each and subsequent levels were 20 minutes. There was a double add-on ($400 for 400 chips or $200 for 200 chips) at the end of the rebuy period. They started us with 200 in chips (dollar for dollar on the buy-in) and the blinds started at 5-10. The entrants depended on the super, but I think the last few got over 200.
It's not the best structure ever and you should be prepared to pay at least $820 to play it right, in my opinion, barring a run of good luck in the first few levels. The upside though is that a lot of bad players show up because of the WSOP name. My guess is that that will be more true in New Orleans than Vegas but who knows.
Glad you're enjoying the blog.
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