Main event tedium

July 16, 2010 by Nick Wealthall

I have to write a blog about my main event I guess. The sad fact is there isn’t much to write. I owe a huge thanks to Stars for putting me in but sadly I couldn’t return the favour with a long run.

On the plus side unlike my first year playing it I was super comfortable from the start which was nice – I don’t think I’ll encounter being phased in a big tournament again

The line of the day was from some wag who when it was announced the oldest player in the event at 90-something was in the field commented ‘can’t believe he took the risk and waited til day 1D’

My table was great – with one active player who was decent, one tag player who was good and the rest pretty horrible. I was able to chip up really easily and only lost chips when I made a big unnecessary bluff early on. Once out of my system it was plain sailing but without any big hands…

Until I busted in level 3 just before dinner. It was so so frustrating – the ante was about to come in and I felt like my table wouldn’t adjust properly at all and I’d make chips easily

I had 115 bbs at the start of the hand and pocket 7s on the button. Decent player opens, horrible player flats and I call. Flop is a-j-7 no suits a good flop for me reader…I have a set!! Good player checks, bad player bets I flat; we’re heads up. Turn is a 6 bringing a spade draw. Bad player bets I raise; he calls. River is a 4 clubs – he checks I move all in he tanks for 2 minutes …calls and shows a soul crushing set of jacks.

The funny thing about the hand is that obviously I think I’m ahead the whole time and I’m just trying to get his money in. On the river I have no clue what he was thinking about and it was a really shocking nit roll – I was so surprised when he turned his hand over. I mean I’m sitting there making all the weak signals praying for him to call (trust me my lips were curling under I was fidgeting and staring the works)

When he finally turned his hand over I didn’t take it well. I was fine about it one drink later just disappointed. In an interview a few days later pro Daivd Williams summed up the feeling of going out on a hand that was brainless in how much it played itself - ‘its like the main event got taken from you’. We don’t play poker because we’re passive we play it because we like to influence action and I feel like I didn’t have much of a chance to do any of that.

Apparently the WSOP is still going on – as soon as those Jacks hit the felt I lost interest. … Next year….

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