Even the best player in the room has to be sweating at least a bit over that heady of a number.  This event is truly unprecedented—the prize pool today will be larger than any golf tournament in the world.  If all goes well and ratings are high enough on ESPN this will simply be the first stop on a high-stakes golf “tour.”  

The inspiration for the event comes from Sports Illustrated’s back page author, Rick Reilly.  Reilly’s 2003 book Who’s Your Caddy? documents his experience as a caddy for golf greats including Jack Nicklaus, John Daly, and David Duval.  He also spent some time as a caddy for some high stakes gamblers—including Dewey Tomko.  Reilly is one of the partners in High Stakes Entertainment, the company behind the proposed tour.

After filling us in on some of the story behind this event, Mike asked Doyle and Dewey to come on stage. The Texas Dolly wasted no time in expressing some disappointment as pulled the microphone close to him and muttered, “Mike, my only objection about this whole thing is you’re not in it.”  

Player introductions for the three-man scramble followed and the hustling was not far behind it.  “I don’t know.  I’m old and broke down.  I think I need a few strokes,” claimed former main-event champion Russ Hamilton when asked about his team’s chances.  Unfortunately he was left shaking his head when teammate Phil Hellmuth started killing their side action by announcing, “I’m playing as good as I have in my life.”  At least we know why Phil was invited.  

E-Dog, Josh, and Daniel were introduced next and when Mike asked him about how he thought they would do, Erick motioned to Phil and stated, “If it weren’t for negotiations, we’d win ‘em all.”  You can already tell who the whipping boy is going to be over the next few days.  I’ll probably have enough material for an entire post dedicated to digs on Hellmuth.  

The highlight of the evening was Venetian headliner Gordie Brown’s 15 minute appearance on stage.  Things started off a bit rough for the impressionist, but his comedy found it’s groove when he brought out his George Bush impersonation.  One of the fellows decked out in full cowboy regalia got up from Doyle’s table  and, in jest, started to leave.  Brown had a field day on him before turning his attention to Brunson, whose seat at the table was facing away from the stage.  “Doyle’s a legend, I’ve been a big fan and followed him on TV.  Wow, that’s the only thing I’ve said all night that finally got his ass to turn around.”

It’s now 8:40 AM on Wednesday which means it’s time for me to head to the golf course.  However, I’m still left wondering about the look on Daniel’s face last night.  Was the fear in his eyes all part of working the hustle, or was it truly genuine? Their team could possibly lose more money in a few hours than my entire family makes in a year (and I have plenty of siblings).  Playing for a million bucks a hole on nine holes probably means that it's much more likely that one teams leaves the course a huge loser than it does another being a big winner.

All Daniel could manage to say when asked about the event was, "We're drawing soooo dead..."  Shaking his head, Daniel continued, "We're in trouble with some of these teams.  David Grey and Huck against me and E-Dog?  That team is stacked!" 

In the background, Janet Jones and Vince Van Patten were parading around the set of giant metal cut-out cards.  It's no secret that Wayne Gretsky's wife likes to gamble but I'm going to be a bit surprised if she can hold her own with some of these guys in a round of golf (actually, the consensus was that Vince's score would be the only one showing up on the card in best-ball).

While the next few days of golf will be entertaining, the constant wagering and bullshitting will tell the real story about these players.  "I like having Huck around. He's kind of like a little kid that I'm always keeping out of trouble," remarked David Grey while spinning tale after tale of Huck's famous prop-bets.  It's one thing to hear the account of Huck playing tennis eight hours a day for thirty days straight second-hand and quite another to watch David's eyes bulge while insulting Huck's intelligence for only making $15k on the bet.  Then there was the story about Huck winning $5k for spending over a dozen hours in a strip club...betting Hellmuth that he would never weigh over 185 pounds in his lifetime...running the marathon on a summer day in Vegas (all 26 miles on an oval track)...

Stay tuned to PokerWire as I'll be tagging along on the golf course (and the after-parties) to follow the action...

Fellow Canadian Brad Booth stopped by a moment later to relay the news that he’d just been knocked out. “Just lost with aces,” he said. Negreanu, who was proudly sporting a bright red Canadian hockey jersey, nodded and went back to studying the player on his right who looked like he was trying to steal a pot with nothing more than position. The player had bet the river after it got checked to him twice and two blanks had fallen. Did he really have a hand or was he just taking a stab at it? On the very next hand that same player raised from the button and Negreanu reraised him from the small blind. His opponent called and the flop came AJ7. Negreanu bet 1.5k and his opponent folded. Had he picked up some information while staring at his opponent on the previous hand? It sure looked like it.

Several hands later, Negreanu raised 250 from late position. The standard opening raise for most players at this level is 300, three times the size of the big blind, but Negreanu has been raising 50 less. I believe he does this because he wants to get called. He’s not looking to steal the blinds at this level. He wants to build a pot and outplay his opponents on the flop and beyond. Sure enough, he got a caller on this hand and the flop came K98. Both players checked. The 10 fell on the turn and Negreanu bet 2.5k. His opponent called. The 4 came on the river, and his opponent led out for a 4k bet. Negreanu threw his hands in the air in frustration. At that point about ten press people rushed over. Negreanu then proceeded to do something that appears to be the lone weakness of his game but may actually be a strength. Very much aware that he was beaten, he called anyway. This is how he confirms his reads. As long as he still has chips to work with, it can be effective because he might win a much bigger pot off this opponent later on down the road when winning pots becomes even more important. His opponent showed him A2, which gave him the nut flush. Negreanu showed the Q and mucked his other card. Another guy at the table asked what the other card was. “A four,” Negreanu joked. I have to assume he made the nut straight on the turn with Q-J and didn’t have a queen-high flush on the end as he surely would have semi-bluffed with his flush draw on the flop.

The very next hand he raised a limper to 350. The limper asked, “You on tilt?” “I am,” Negreanu answered. “Absolutely.” After A38 flopped, he bet 650, and his opponent folded. Negreanu showed AQ. “Not a bad flop for me,” he said, obviously not on tilt.

After wishing Vinny good luck in the event, I made my way inside the Amazon Room where, with three minutes to go before the cards were in the air, I did not recognize a soul.  While the room was full of players, I counted exactly zero familiar faces.  It has been fascinating watching the professionals show up later and later to each event.  Finally, with two minutes to spare, I saw John Juanda taking his seat.  Maybe there's something to learn from a late arrival; John was one of the days first casualties.

I soon learned why the pros waited to make their appearance.  Media Director Nolan Dalla (who has an amazing work ethic and an even better personality) introduced Tournament Director Jack Effel who wished everyone a "Happy Main Event!" Weird.  This was followed by a commercial for Corum watches, the official bracelet provider of the WSOP.  This commercial was followed by an unusually concise Penn Jilliette who announced, "Uhhhhhh.....Shuffle up and deal!" (which was, in actually, another commercial for an act that just happens to take place at the Rio).

Two of the people I always look for are BJ Nemeth and Dr. Pauly.  While there's a lot of people who think they're good at reporting, these guys actually are.  BJ's type-A personality mixed with extreme OCD seems to be the perfect formula for the world's best final table reporter.  BJ never lets his opinion get in the way of reporting what's actually happening.  If I ever need to know a fact or a detail, he's the man to ask.  On the flip side, Pauly never lets reporting the facts get in the way of his opinion.  Paul writes one of the best poker blogs on the 'net, and anytime I need to know the latest dirt, he's the man to ask.

After bugging Pauly for a bit, it was apparent that dead money can be broken down into a few categories

1. Dead Dead Money
These players just don't have a freaking clue and might as  well get out some poker chips, spray kerosene on a brick of $10,000, light a match and call it a day.

2. Dead Money That Learned How to Play by Watching Hoyt Corkins on TV
These players have a lot of variety in their game:

• "All in."
• "I'm all in."
• "I'll put you all in."

3. Dead Money That Learned How to Play by Watching Daniel Negreanu on TV
I watched a player reraise to 1.8k when the blinds were 50-100 and bet 6k on a K84 flop, then proudly turn over 64 offsuit to show that he knows how to play any two cards, just like "Kid Poker."  Except Daniel plays these in position.  And he relies on his years of experience and uncanny reading ability to outplay people postflop.  Which I guess is kind of like making ridiculous raises preflop and silly ginormous big bets on painted flops.  But not really.

Seat One Don Baruch

Seat Two Daniel Negreanu

Seat Three Jared Davis

Seat Four Thomas Fuller

Seat Five Fred Goldberg

Seat Six Brandon Lee

Seat Seven Michael Wehner

Seat Eight Doug Baughman

Seat Nine Erick Lindgren

Everyone started with 300k with blinds at 3k-6k and a 1k ante.

For television, they had us play in a small, blacked out room. We were allowed one guest apiece but I snuck in MasterJ along with PiMaster. I had never played with hole card cameras and, at first, it was a little uncomfortable. My chips were in the way and I struggled to show the cards to the cameras. The producers asked me a few times to hold my cards higher and longer for the camera.

Since this was a shootout, the players had not played with each other in the tournament until the final table and everyone came in with the same chip stack. I knew a decent amount about the games of Negreanu, Lindgren, and Goldberg, but nothing about anyone else. No one knew anything about me other than what they could find on the internet.

I was planning on playing my usual super-tight early game as I had the first two tables. I raised the second hand with A10 in early position and everyone folded. A couple hands later I got a walk. After this I didn’t play a hand for quite a while. The other guys were playing quite tight also.

There was a lot of banter at the table, mostly between Erick and Daniel. Daniel is perhaps the funniest guy I have ever seen at a poker table. His schtick was actually much funnier in person than on tv.

Erick and Fred got involved in a pot where Fred limp-called a large raise with 54 against Erick’s AJ and wound up winning it with a pair of fives on a scary board. This hand appeared to put both players on tilt – Erick was annoyed Fred called such a big raise with such a small hand and annoyed at himself for not buying the pot postflop; Fred may have gotten annoyed at Erick’s light chastising.

After folding a couple rounds Erick raised my big blind and I called with K10. The flop came 1093 and I had to decide on a course of action. I thought about leading out but don’t like that play against an aggressive player like Lindgren unless you are comfortable with your hand. Madsen liked a checkraise, which I really don’t like, because it would commit such a big chunk of my stack and give Erick the opportunity to push me out with a big draw with the A or a hand like QJ. I decided to check and call and think this is the best play.

The turn was the 5. Madsen said he would have liked me to bet out and I tend to agree. I didn’t because I felt like I wouldn’t gain much information from a bet out (Erick could raise with an unmade hand or smoothcall with a big one, leaving me informationless to make a river decision). Still, I think betting out would have been a good play because it wouldn’t give him much info and my hand was quite vulnerable.

Erick checked behind so I thought I probably had the best hand, and the river came 7. I now had to decide if I wanted to check and call or bet. I decided if I bet Erick would only raise with a high flush, and he might call with many hands, maybe any pair. It looked like I might have two high cards with a spade. Schneider and Madsen thought the best play was to check-call. I think it’s quite close, but prefer betting against a professional like Lindgren who is more likely to make thin calls and less likely to bluff rivers. I bet about 60% of the pot and Erick folded what I later learned was AJ. Considering what he had checking would have been better but I’m happy with my decision to bet.

Erick and Brandon Lee were the most aggressive players at the table in the early going. Brandon was playing the most hands and doing a lot of preflop reraising. We all thought he was a maniac but the video reveals he was just picking up a lot of big hands. During this stretch I tried a button raise of his blind with 109 but Brandon reraised (with what turned out to be AK and I instafolded.

Daniel won a big race to bust Fred and we were at eight. I raised AK in early position and Brandon, now directly to my left, made a 3x reraise. I felt he was tremendously strong this time. He had reraised me a few hands ago so wouldn’t want to do it again without a big one. His body language was strong and confident. I was in early position and he was right behind me. I never thought about coming back over the top because of my read. I considered calling but eventually decided to just fold. This was a classic Moon weak-tight cash-game based play and a questionable tournament laydown, even considering my read and the state of the tournament. It turned out Lee had JJ.

My next big blind Erick limped and I checked with 97. The flop came 10610 and I checked. Erick bet as expected and I decided he couldn’t just have the pot that easily. I knew a call would scare the crap out of him so I decided to do that and buy the pot later. However, the turn was the 10. My plans to represent a ten were now foiled. I checked and Erick bet, which surprised me. I figured he’d check behind there with or without a hand. I couldn’t see him betting without a pair bigger than sixes so I quickly folded. It turned out he had KK.

I folded the next couple orbits and then a strange hand came up. Baruch doubled the 8k big blind to 16 in early position, which he hadn’t been doing. Usually he was raising 3-5x the blind. I looked down at KK and really wasn’t too happy about it. I felt Baruch probably had aces or some crap like a suited connector. I thought reraising would accomplish nothing, but I didn’t want to let a bunch of players in behind me. I eventually made it 50k. When it got back to Baruch he took a long time before calling, which had me even more puzzled. The flop came A54 and Baruch immediately went all-in for 2x the pot. It almost seemed like he was going to go all-in no matter what hit.

I sort of thought about calling, but not really. I didn’t know what to put him on but I can’t just call it off with kings on an ace-high board, as Madsen and Schneider said. Baruch had AJ. I have no idea what he was thinking at any point in the hand.

I raised the next hand with A10 figuring no one would mess with me but both Lee and Wehner called in position. The flop came 884 and I thought for a while about betting. I decided at least one of them probably had a pair and wouldn’t fold to a bet so I checked and folded to Wehner’s bet. It turned out Lee flopped quads with 88 so in this case my weak-tight play worked out for the best. In addition, the A hit the turn, so I got bailed out by Wehner’s attempted steal with J10.

Play lulled after this and Erick was the next to go. After a short break, Baruch raised in late position and I found KK in the small blind. Baruch raised habitually in late position and I needed a double-up (it turned out he had 53, so I decided to slowplay. Lee thought for a while in the big blind, then called. It looked like he was contemplating a reraise but decided to just call. The flop came J84 and I led for 25k. Lee quickly made a small raise to 60k and I put him on a big hand. I was worried he flopped a set but there was no folding at this point so I went all-in for about 100k more when Baruch folded. Lee quickly called with AJ and I doubled up when the K hit the turn. This was a brutal cooler for Brandon that couldn’t have been avoided when I decided to slowplay.

It should be noted that Baughman made the play of the day, betting a Q35 flop with A3, then reraising when Daniel checkraised. Baughman may have played the best of anyone that day, but he was extremely card-dead and busted in a massive pot with Q10 against Negreanu’s AK on a flop of KJ3.

After a second break I limped the small blind with 44 and Brandon raised from the big blind. I called and the flop came K94. I checked and Brandon made a substantial bet. I felt like he hit it pretty good so I immediately announced all-in. Brandon instacalled me again with KQ, I dodged a heart, and doubled up to second in chips. The two double-ups against Brandon were pretty much dumb luck. If the cards had been reversed, he would likely have doubled. I think I played the hands well but it didn’t really matter.

The next hand I played was 109 under the gun. This was my best steal position with Daniel in the small blind. I raised and only Daniel called. The flop came J85 and I bet 50k after Daniel checked. He called. The turn was the 6 and I had an interesting decision after Daniel checked. Some people have said that the six on the turn was likely to help Daniel’s hand, and therefore I should check. I do think this card will often help him out, but I also didn’t think he had two pair. I really thought he would bet out there with two pair on that board especially with me raising under the gun and betting the flop. Also, I didn’t think he would raise me with anything less than two pair since we were the two chip leaders. I ultimately decided to bet 100k on the turn hoping Daniel would fold a hand like A8 or A5. He thought for a bit and then called.

The river came 2 and Daniel checked again. This is where I blew the bracelet. If I had bet the river, Daniel would have been in a terrible spot and a call would have been heroic. There was no reason whatsoever to think I could have anything but a monster there. Both Madsen and Schneider commented that once I bet the turn, I was committed to the bluff and needed to bet the river. I completely agree. The line here was to check the turn or bet both the turn and river. It was hard to bet the river after getting called twice by a great player (and loose caller) like Negreanu but a world-class player would have fired the river there and picked up the pot. Hands like this make all the difference.

Daniel busted Lee and Wehner and suddenly we were down to 4. I had gone card dead and lost several small pots, 20-70k at a time. I think I played most of these hands properly but I wasn’t hitting anything. With the fast play and consolidation, I was soon the short stack. One hand I totally screwed up was when Jared limped from the small blind and I checked QJ in the big blind. The flop came A66 and he quickly checked, which worried me. I checked behind. The turn was the 3 and it again went check-check. The river was the 3 and now Jared bet out. I was honestly thinking that I had queen high here and not the board. Unbelievably I did not realize that I was playing the board. I was thinking about all the hands queen high could beat and eventually called. Even thinking I had queen high this was a dumb call cause I felt Jared had something all along. What an idiot I am sometimes.

Another one I tried to trap the short-stacked Wehner (in the big blind) by limping AQ from the small blind after Baruch limped, but he just checked and I folded to a bet and a call on the J96 flop. Another Daniel raised and I called with 22. The flop came Q96 and Daniel quickly checked. I felt like he had hit it in some way so I checked. The turn was the 9, Daniel bet out, and I folded. He had 108 for a double gutshot.

I raised a couple hands and ran into big pairs and suddenly I was down to thirteen big blinds. I found A5 in first position and shoved in. Considering the tight, passive nature of the table and the chip stacks, I think this was a bad shove. I could have raised and folded if someone came over the top, knowing I was dominated. Jared woke up with AA and I was finished.

Overall I really didn’t play great poker, especially at the final table. I actually played better in the three subsequent tournaments I played at the WSOP. The first round I ran good, didn’t run into hands when I had moderate holdings, took advantage of a couple weak players, and played well heads up. The second round I had a bunch of huge hands at an aggressive table, made one mistake heads up, and got lucky. The third round I coolered Brandon Lee twice, then went card-dead and ran out of gas. Nowhere in there did I do anything special.

I attribute my result to three causes:

1) I was extremely enthusiastic throughout the tournament, always thinking positive thoughts and believing I was going to win.

2) I had a lot of good cards, took only one bad beat, and flopped a ton of sets.

3) I have run quite poorly in live tournaments, so it was only a matter of time before good things started happening to me.

I learned a ton from playing the tournament and watching the final table. My table presence is pretty terrible. It’s something we’ve worked on before (Mike Odeh was a master of table presence and often discussed its importance) but I get sloppy at times. Since watching myself play on tv I’ve put a lot of emphasis on better posture and presence. I’m also trying to stare players down or look into space rather than covering my face with my hands. Finally, I’m going to try to play even slower than I usually do and think even more heavily about my decisions. The difference between good and average players is so small. One or two pots per day can make the difference. If I had picked up that pot with the busted straight draw, I would have been in contention for the bracelet.

Making a WSOP final table was a great experience, one of the most exciting events of my poker career. At first I was relatively happy with the $68k score, but now I realize how fleeting those opportunities are and I’m hungry to return. Thanks to all the people who supported me before, during, and after the tournament. Records were set for text messages, emails, phone calls, and blog comments. I hope to surpass this result soon, if for no other reason than to set a new blog comment record.

I hesitate to say I agree with anything that comes out of “The Mouth,” but the outspoken pros are right—the new structure offers more play in the first few levels but turns the late stages into a shove-fest. Players have the freedom to splash around a bit more in the early going, but have little room to maneuver when the chips matter the most.  

The levels that have been removed in the $5,000 No Limit Holdem event were: 25-25, 2.5k-5k, 12k-24k, and 25k-50k.  The smaller events have other levels missing.

The problems with taking the levels out really begin to show on Day 2. By the time they are down to four tables a standard raise usually pot-commits the average stack. If you want to see where the greatest discrepancies lie, look no farther than any final table.

After writing about Mike Binger’s quick start to this year’s WSOP, I began following his play through the final sixty players of the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem event. By the end of the night, Mike had made the final table (albeit as the short stack) along with several other good players.  

The next day I found a seat outside the media center at the Rio to watch the one-hour delayed final table on the big-screen TV. I was anticipating a final table that would demonstrate some great end game play. 

If I were a betting man, I would’ve placed money on Nick Schulman to win. It’s a good thing I’m not, because Nick made an appearance by the TV while he was still on it. Confused? So was I, because Nick had a ton of chips on the big screen, and it was only a one hour delay. As it turns out, play was an all-in fest from the time the cards were in the air.

Last year’s $5,000 event had a field of 622 and a star-studded final table (Phil Hellmuth, Marcel Luske, and Eugene Todd, bro to name a few). Play began just after 2:00 PM and lasted until just after midnight. Take out the dinner break and they played for 8.5 hours.  

As a spectator and poker fan, I was horrified by the rapidity of eliminations at this year’s final table. After whittling down the field of 640, it only took James Mackey 48 hands to claim his bracelet. They played for about 2.5 hours. In no way do I want to take away from the bracelet-winning efforts of “mig.com”, but the disparity in times must be pointed out.

Second place finisher Stuart Fox played exactly one hand before he was heads-up with Mackey. One hand. He then folded the next three before he was all-in and lost. Two hands equals second place. 

When Jon Friedberg captured the $1,000 No Limit Holdem bracelet in the 2006 WSOP, it took him 122 hands. With double the starting stack, this year’s first $1,500 No-Limit event took less than half that many hands to finish—only 59. Brandon Cantu’s victory in event #2 last year lasted nearly 10 hours; Ciarin O'Leary’s took less than 5.  The final blind level for Cantu was 20k-40k-5k, for O'Leary 60k-120k-15k. 

After two and a half hours, the final blind level was 30k-60k-5k for Mackey.  After ten hours, Cabinillas defeated Hellmuth with blinds at 25k-50k.  Even though the average stack for the final 9 may be doubled, the missing levels have clearly impacted late stage play.  While it's possible that some players may be playing faster, almost every no-limit holdem final table has finished in half of the time.  I find it hard to imagine that the difference lies in the players and not the structure.

WSOP officials have shown a bit more willingness to make changes on the fly this year, and I hope they can see a problem when players begin describing the end of tournaments as a “crap-shoot.” I’m not sure what changes the Nevada Gaming Commission allow to structures once they have been posted, but something needs to be done about the late stages of these events.  

An immediate solution would be rolling back the blinds once players reach the final table. Officials could make an easy decision based on X# of big blinds for the average chip stack (50 would be ideal; 35 seems more likely). Yes, events would last several hours longer, putting that much more of a strain on tournament staff and the media…but we’re not the ones playing for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In the words of the not-always-articulate-but-usually-insightful Mike Matusow, “We can fix it.”

So instead I have been filling my poker jones observing Day One of the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em event. Whoever determined the seating assignments for this one is a genius as “Captain” Tom Franklin and his ex-protégé Brandi Hawbaker are seated back to back. They’re within spitting distance of each other, but so far they haven’t stooped that low. Yet. If you haven’t heard anything about this saga, you must have been living under a rock for the past six months. In the poker world Brandi is bigger than Paris Hilton and right now Franklin is her Nicole Ritchie. Once big-time buds, the two had a falling out when Franklin made the mistake of hitting on the poor lass. I would feel a little sorrier for her if she hadn’t posed for countless half-nude photos that are now splashed all over the internet.

Hawbaker seems too busy at the moment flirting with her entire table to bother with Franklin. Sitting on her left, Paul Wolfe seems particularly mesmerized. Meanwhile, Franklin is trying to keep afloat with a small stack and Phil Ivey sitting directly across the table from him.

Speaking of Ivey, he was the subject of my favorite Railbird Moment of the Series so far. Yesterday, a guy with a cop moustache and greasy 70s hair tapped me on the shoulder and asked if the man at the table in front of him was Phil Ivey. “That’s got to be Phil Ivey,” Cop Moustache assured me. “Look he’s got his blue Full Tilt hat tilted up. And look how he’s resting his chin on his fist. That’s Phil, right?”

“There’s only one problem with your logic,” I told him. “That guy’s white.”

The last time I spotted Cop Moustache he was outside the Poker Tent talking with “Dutch” Boyd. What a conversation that must be.