Betfair Official Blog

4th day of the WSOPE

I'd made it through Day 3 with an average looking stack, and now we were all in the money.

Since I'd qualified via a $78 super satellite on Betfair Poker, everything from here on in was a bonus, so I'd decided to just make my decisions based on the chip expectation and not think about the money at all. The prizes from 36th to 10th only rose from roughly £27k to roughly £40k, the next big money jumps would be on the final table.

At the start of the day we returned to our seats from Day 3, without a redraw, as by the original tournament schedule we hadn't actually finished Day 3 yet. There would be a redraw at 27 players remaining. Early in the day I knocked out a short-stacked Sincero with pocket 9s against his K6s all in shove.

A few hands later I found pocket tens in the small blind. Dominic Kay raised in late position and Ian Frazer shoved from the button. I'm sure Ian was thinking the same as me, that the prizes weren't steep for a while, so I didn't give his push much credit for a big hand. However, Dominic Kay had me covered so I couldn't commit a third of my stack if he was going to re-shove over the top. I waited for a few seconds and then Dominic waved to get the attention of a valet, asking for a glass of water. I don't think I could do that with AA or KK in a big pot like this, so I called. Kenny Tran and Dominic folded, and Ian turned up J2o. My tens held up. Shortly afterwards I got a phone call from a friend watching updates on pokernews, saying "you just knocked out Ian Frazer!". Apparently he's good, can't say as I noticed.

Shortly afterwards came the redraw. On my new table I had Gus Hansen three seats to my right and an extremely short stacked Kenny Tran sitting to my left. Early on I didn't get a look at an unraised pot, Gus was clashing with the rest of the table in nearly every hand, and the blonde scandinavian sat between us was taking the rest. After watching Gus play for an hour or two, I thought I found a spot where I could use my tight image to bluff him. Shortly afterwards, I executed my plan. I risked nearly half my stack, but I figured the move to work a huge percentage of the time and I wouldn't be the short stack even if I had to fold. Gus folded, and for some reason, I lifted my cards to show the bluff to my friends behind me on the rail. Kenny Tran saw them and announced them to the table. I was embarrassed for showing off, and I'd ruined the tight image I'd tried to create. I apologised to Gus for showboating, but he thought I was apologising for bluffing and said "it's ok, you bluffed me. It's ok", then went and talked into his dictaphone for a while. I wasn't sorry for bluffing :D.

I was healthily stacked with 350k or so when this happened. Matthew McCulloch raised in early position, the button pushed a short-stack and I looked down at KK in the big blind. Heart racing, I faked a bit of thought and then pushed over the top, Matthew called instantly. I was up against Matt's QQ and AKo, with about 300k in the main pot where I'm about 50:50 against both hands, but 300k in the side pot where I was a 4:1 favourite over the queens. I was left with around 100k. Both an Ace and Queen hit the flop leaving me with just one out, which never came. For the rest of the tournament I remained short stacked. After the hand, the AK player had gone out in 19th so we were down to 2 tables.

After the redraw I was again drawn on the outer table (would I ever get to play on the TV table??), with John Tabatabai now sat to my left and Gus Hansen to his left. It wasn't a worry though, with my short stack I wouldn't be playing any flops out of position, and having them to my left meant I would usually be the first into the pot. Only problem is I would have to steal their blinds, and I knew they wouldn't make it easy. Early on I doubled up against Pat Scanlon with 77 vs AT all in preflop. After that I made a few plays to tread water and possibly gather some chips together but it was tough going against the blinds and antes. Meanwhile players were dropping out on both tables, with a number of horror stories about Annette's outdraws churning through the rumour mill.

As we approached single figures, the thought of Betfair's Threedom Pass offer, where they buy final tablists in live events into the tournament for the next three years, began to loom. It was impossible to ignore this £30k of added value. So now I HAD to make the final table, maybe I tightened up a bit too much. One day I'll ask John Tabatabai if he thinks so.

Noticing that I'd tightened up, I decided to open up again. When Gus limped UTG for 10k, I raised pocket 3s from the small blind for 30k or so. Gus called, but folded to my bet on the flop. Next hand it's folded to me on the button, I find 8s9s. Flush with confidence from my win with 33, I raised it up to 26k, which Gus called from the big blind. The flop came KsQs9c, giving me bottom pair with a flush draw. Gus checked to me, I bet 40k, knowing my hand is very strong in this situation, with a good chance of beating almost anything Gus could be holding. Then Gus put all in, it was 220k more for me to call. I thought for a long time, but in the end I just had to let him have it, I really needed to make the final table. In hindsight, I should have checked behind on the flop, or just shoved all in myself. I really wish I could have seen the turn and river, and Gus's hand. Ho hum.

I later got cut in half when Matt McCulloch rivered me, then doubled up with J9 against Tabatabai's Q9, before we got down to 10 players and the 'almost final' table. I asked a friend of mine to speak to Ben Fried from Betfair and confirm if I'd won a Threedom Pass, while I headed to the final table with my chips. Once we were all mic'ed up and about to resume playing, I got the thumbs up from my mate, which was a huge weight off my mind. After half a round I was looking for a spot to shove all in again. There was a £20k difference between 10th and 9th and as short stack everyone was looking at me to take the fall next. However, the cards had other ideas and Gus went out holding QQ against McCulloch's KK. I would be on the final final table after all.

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