If Women are the Rake, Ivey is the Tax: Thoughts After My First WSOP.

I remember in college while playing poker we'd run one of the most famous college DVDs for any poker degen: Rounders. Whether you picked up cards at a home game, fraternity, or social event, it was hard not to sympathize the romanticizing of Matt Damon's run for the World Series.

Even though I own the Collector's Edition, I don't touch it anymore. It's so far from the truth it's almost lethal to mire in its mystical vapors. After this trip and re-living what can only be described as the "euphoric hell" that grinders go through, I now understand how lucky I used to run in the $2-$5 games.

Here are three things that I learned that can be quickly applied to startup/every day mentality.

1. Preparing to Win Not Just on Special Occasions

The morning/day before the tournament I was meticulous in my planning. I made sure I ate non-greasy, light breakfast food and that I'd chew 20 times (which is insane, but the recommended number per mouthful) per bite, which I never do. I prepared snacks for each break, coordinated when I'd do bathroom breaks, down the wire.

Then I realized, "Why don't I do this every day?" Why can't I prepare the crap out of each day wanting to win the daily baby seal cereal prize? I had chosen to not kick ass every day, which is falling short of my potential.

Play like you're gonna win.

2. Variance Builds Character

There's a saying in poker that amateurs think it's all skill, intermediate players think it's all luck, and the pros know it's both. Even if you're making the right decisions, sometimes the deck is just a cooler. You can constantly adapt to the table's aggression, the type of tournament, or type of cash game. But nothing will prepare you for a bad down-swing.

And by bad, I mean you can be running for months or years bad. You're putting the money in ahead, but oops, he just two-outtered you on the river. All the best pros have known that fateful experience of "busting" out of Vegas and having to recoup a bankroll.

This trip reminded me that you need to have the balls and chubby skin to make through scrappy times. Boot-strapped startups are akin to such variances where you don't know when your next cash flow is coming from. But you believe in yourself and the cause, so press on.

The world doesn't reward scared money.

3. Paying Your Dues to Be a Killer

One of my poker pro buddies that I happened to meet up during this trip gave me a great explanation of why Phil Ivey is the best poker player in the world now.

"It's all about balls," he said as he pulled a drag on the cigarette (his smoking was proportional to the amount of poker he was playing). "Phil Ivey plays the best when he's broke. He has a terrible gambling habit, but that's actually what makes him a f-cking killer." Basically, he wasn't saving anything for the trip back home. Money was just a language of expressing how much he'd dominate you. He could care LESS about anything, and just focus on the poker.

And so the pecking order develops. The penny games come up to dump money to us $1/$2 lifers, and we dump money upwards when we think we can play at those $2/$5, $5/$10 games, and the chain goes all the way to the top of the circus: Phil freaking Ivey.

With that, it brings us to a savory lesson: dont' be afraid to fail and lose. It kind of ties with number 2 about not being scared money, but if that didn't tickle you, this is the other flip side of the coin. There are NO short cuts anywhere, even in poker. Long-term success is still a very tangible metric within this community, and the boom-bust of gambling is the measuring ruler of our poker civilization.

Learn as much as you can as you move up in your game with the due diligence that is needed, and someday you'll be smoking a cigarette talking about the f-cking killers you swam with.

Action Report for Lucky's

In preparation for the upcoming World Series of Poker, me and a shall-not-be-named-friend Canuk got the bright idea of practicing playing in tournaments at the closest casino in Colma, Caifornia: Lucky Chances.

Summary: I busted, but I learned a lot about the pacing of tournaments like these, and actually got in around 25th out of 70+ players. I also picked up some nuances & leaks in my game as well.

Long Story:

"Let's do this!" This was Canuk's consistent chant since he showed up at my door at 8:40am in the morning. I could still smell the booze on him. Possibly hung over. We were off to a good start.

After a missed exit and getting in just as the registration was closing, we got seated at the same table, Canuk in Seat 2, me in Seat 8. A $65 Re-Buy NL Tournament ($50 for 4k more).

Immediately I saw this structure was actually quite similar to the Sit-N-Go's I used to play out East and online, so with blinds going up every half hour, you had to play close to premium hands. My table was a pretty bad draw, with only Seat 4 and 7 live fish. Everyone else was either regular or seemed pro. I also soon realized it was pointless to NOT re-buy (almost everyone did before the tournament even started).

I got settled in, and didn't even try to set-mine with pockets when I was UTG or early position because the raising was pretty aggressive. There was not a single free BB pass for the entire time I was there.

One of the first hands I get involved I pick up Ad Qc. Blinds at 25-50 I made it 150 to go. My friend Canuk in the BB looks down and flat-calls.

Flop: Q x x. Rags to rainbows. We both check it around.

Turn: J. Canuk shoots 400. I call.

River is another useless rag. This time Ian bets out 700, and I min-raise it to 1400. He folds.

I stack one of the fishes when he goes all in for a short-stack. I look down at Qc Qd. I iso-raise all-in, and he flips up AK off. I win the race, and am chipped up to 7,000.

Then a late registration comes in, Tony. I've seen this guy everywhere and immediately we sized each other up.

"Why aren't you at the cash games?" I asked.

"Taking a break," he says while shrugging. Going forward, he would be the de facto table captain, raising hands like J 5 and the range was all over the place. I knew I had to play back at him at some point.

A few failed pre-flop raises only to see myself fold on the flop led me to a critical hand at pocket 7s. I had roughly 10x the BB at this point, and felt like I needed to make a move. Tony was BB. I raised mid-position to 400. A regular calls, and it gets to Tony. He flat-calls.

Flop 9c 9s 3c. Feeling confident, I make it 1,500 to go, a pot-sized bet. Regular folds, and Tony blows it 5,000. With my remaining 4,000 I go all-in, and insta-call. He tables 9h Ad. I'm out.

"Should I buy back in?" Canuk shuffles his chips. "How long are we staying man?"

"It's up to you." And then I flip out another $50 in resignation. The table murmurs in agreement, probably thinking I'm dead money. At this point I felt like it too.

Playing a few hands and building up my stack again, on the last hand before the 1st break, I pick up pocket 8s. I min-raise, and the two short stacks at the table wake up and jam around 750+. The other surviving fish, Seat 4, flat-calls them in. At this price, I had to call for this four-way pot.

Flop is a K high rag of cards. Fish and I check it down.

Turn is help to no one, and again we checked.

Here's where it gets sick: an 8 spikes the river. Fish again checks. I shuffle some chips, and I try to imagine what I'd do to over bet the pot.

"I'm all in." And I toss in the rest of my stack. He looks up at me incredulously, and folds saying, "I should call...but I won't."

We turn it over, and suddenly I'm up to 8,000 in chips. Canuk later talks to me during break, "That was a dirty river, and I knew you caught it or someone filled out somewhere."

Unfortunately after the break on the way up I got it in on the button with 10s vs Canuk's 6s all-in, and mine held up. He made his exit, and wished me luck as he looked for a cab. Now I was on my own.

At this part of the tournament, Tony begins to make insane 5x pre-flop raises with heavy continuation betting. No one stands up to him, and if we do, he catches amazing hands (his J5 spikes a J on the river against AK or he gets runner-runner straight to pockets).

I easily make my stand when I look down at red AAs. Delightful. With the antes and blinds making the pot already 1,400 I make it 1,500 to go. Tony is the only caller.

Flop is a rainbow 10x 5x 4x. Tony check-calls 2,000.

Turn: 5x. Tony again check-calls my 3,000.

River 4x Check. At this point I'm almost certain I have him beat, but I wanted to see his hand. So I checked.

He flips over Q 10, and I table my Aces. As the pot is shoved towards me, Justin (a new arrival to the table with a monster stack) notes, "You could've gotten another 3,000."

"I know, but I wanted to see his hand." The table then discusses that I could've actually asked for the hand, though it's considered bad poker etiquette. Who knew?

By the second break, I'd chipped up to a decent 18,200. Blinds though had crept up to 600-1200, antes at 50. We were already down to 36 players from 70.

This part of the tournament was where it became a race to keep up with the blinds. I made some pretty hardcore AJ folds pre-flop (correctly), but I'd win on the river. I had to constantly remind myself the results were not relevant, and that I made the right decisions.

Somehow I swing around between 25,000 and 20,000. The most critical hand in the tournament ironically was the most curious hand.

I look down at some 4c 4d and made it 3,000 to go. The dealer suddenly tapped the table saying "you need 200 more." Instantly I realized the blinds had moved up another level, and I didn't put in enough. "Discount!" I said, laughing it off.

It folds around to this tight Vietnamese player. He snaps, "All in." This is the part of the tournament where I had to accumulate chips, and I felt I could make a stand here.

"How much more?"

8,500. It was giving me almost a 2.5 to 1 on my money. I pulled all the tricks out in the bag.

"Why did you go all in? You were short-stacked last time with sixes when you jammed, but why didn't you want to bait me in? Maximize your hand value?"

He smiles. "Do you have AJ like last time?"

I call time on myself, and shuffle up the chips required to make the call. I had him on A overs, a race situation, but I'd be ahead. He just couldn't be this strong with a strong jam. The way he postured his chips forward and made his 1,000s in small piles to make his stack look bigger was suspicious as well.

I make the reluctant call, and I table my Fours before he can even get his out. He slowly opens up A9 off!

Feeling the rush, I yell, "Oh man you got your hand caught in the f-cking cookie jar!" The table immediately protested on my swearing, and I immediately apologized.

Flop: 10 2 x rag.

Turn: 9. At this point, he yells and hugs a supporting friend (the one I knocked out with Qs). I only have one more card, and one out. I pat the felt saying, "Nice hand."

The river is a meaningless 5. I see the chips shoved the other way. I'm now down to 7,000 and crippled.

After getting the BB/SB in, I was down to 4,500 and just shoved with Jc 9c. A regular jams his stack all-in to isolate my money and then flips up Ax Qx.

Flop: 10 X Qc. WHAT A FLOP. I now had the backdoor flush, running cards, and an open-end straight draw. 30% to 70% favorite.

Ac. 20% to 80%. Now I semi-filled up a flush draw and he two-paired up. Still yummy.

4 spades. A blank.

And then suddenly I saw myself put on my jacket and wishing everyone at the table good luck in the tournament.

Conclusion:

I felt overall I had a solid table image and made the right calls for the most part except when I went broke on the pocket 7s. I feel though I really need to button-steal/bluff way more (I did once, and got snapped off immediately by the BB, which just threw me off). The whole time though I was pretty snug, stack-wise, always hovering around 10-18 for my M factor.

If you guys have any thoughts and comments, I'd love to hear 'em. I thought this was a great segway back into the live tournaments, and I think if I can do alright in this structure, I can definitely make something happen at the WSOP $1,000k NL Tournament.

Shuffle up & deal!

I Miss Your Comics.

There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you'll hear about them. To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble.
― Bill Watterson