My First big offline tournament cash - WSOPE

/ James Keys / 27 November 2007 / 1 Comments

From satellite qualifier to the final table James Keys has joined the bloggers at Betting@Betfair to recount his extraordinary run at the first WSOPE.

Welcome to my first post. If you're interested, I've been blogging for a short while already at http://skolsuper.blogspot.com, but now I'm honoured to join an incredible roster of bloggers on betting.betfair.com. I'll be mainly talking about my experiences playing side events and low stakes cash in the UK poker circuit, hopefully providing a different view of the game than from Annette, Ben or Buzzer's blogs. I'll also throw in a couple of strategy posts if I can think of anything that's worthwhile knowing. I'll get things started with a WSOPE tournament report, from the perspective of a satellite qualifier and 9th place finisher. It's as thick as Harry Potter 8, so I'll post it one day at a time to break it up a little.

Day 1:

I was drawn on Day 1b, so I came into work on Monday and sorted some stuff out. Then on Tuesday, the months of anticipation were coming to an end. I was nervous on my way to the casino, but strangely calm once I got inside. On my table there were only 2 names I recognised, Shaun Deeb and Mark Goodwin. I couldn't remember where I recognised Shaun Deeb's name from, and for a little while I didn't know which player at the table he was, but it was soon apparent that the big guy across the table from me was very aggressive and obviously skillful so I put two and two together. For most of the day I just sat tight, playing my hands when I had them.

The table was tough, to my right Stefan Aas Hansen (a.k.a. djponytale1) knocked back 7 pints before the dinner break and played somewhat loose-aggressive poker. To his right, I have Mark Goodwin, a good player who opens nearly every pot that's folded to him in late position, meaning I have to make some difficult reraises to defend my blind. He usually has to fold pocket tens, face down. At one point he tries minraising, I flat call and bet out a low flop. He folds pocket tens, face down. In fact I'd say once a round, every round, Mark Goodwin got dealt tens on the button and had to make a tough laydown. After losing a few chips I get back up to around 20k in time for the dinner break. There will be only 1 level after the dinner break, then a day off until Day 2b on Thursday.

Level 4 is 200/400 +50 and that it's the crunch time to get a stack to continue on to Day 2. Dinner is delicious, as was all the players' food all week, then I sit down ready to go up gears. Isabelle Mercier is moved opposite me and I end up making a move against her. I'm genuinely worried about an all in and immediately regret the play. Isabelle thought for a long time before folding. I don't remember any specific hands from the 4th level on Day 1, but I was very active and moved my stack up to 32k in time for Day 2, which I was very happy with.

I'll get day 2 up here by Friday

Cheers
James Keys

Comments (1)

1. Stevie | 27 November 2007

   Great stuff James - always nice to hear about a bit of success from a "normal player" looking forward to the rest!