The WSOP $2500 NL 6-man event recap

The following was written by Zack Sanders

Shuffle Up and Deal
When I had originally scheduled my Vegas trip, I wanted to
play in the first event (the $1500 NL), mainly because it best
suited my bankroll. The 6-man (shorthanded) tables intrigued
me but the lowest buyin was $2500. Then I had to reschedule my
trip around my brother's graduation, and so it turned out the
only events I was even there for were the $1500 PL Omaha event
(not a chance I play that) and the $2500 NL Hold'em 6-man
event. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do and then Tom
approached me and offered to stake me in half the buyin for
the event. I accepted this generous offer and signed up for
the event on Monday (the event was scheduled to start
Tuesday). I had a relaxing night on Monday (that's a first for
Las Vegas) and went to bed around 2 a.m. The tournament
started at noon the next day. I woke up around 11 a.m,
showered, and ate a small lunch but it was hard to eat because
I was both excited and nervous. I had been looking forward to
playing in an event for 6 years and it was finally happening.
I walked into the giant convention center that was
wall-to-wall with poker tables and found my table and seat.
Table 39 Seat 4. I sat down, and already sitting there was
Rajja Kattamuri, a recognizable pro. He was in seat 2. Seat 1
was empty as well as seats 3 and 5. Seat 6 was a known Asian
player who I could not attach a name to. Rajja and him
obviously knew each other. Then to my left (in Seat 5) sits
Allen Cunningham. Two days ago he won the $1500 NL event that
I had originally wanted to play in. A very beastly player and
extremely analytical. Seats 1 and 3 are still empty and then
through the convention center rings "Shuffle-up and Deal." We
are underway.

"Dude, come down here now, my table is insane"
The tournament structure was pretty good. We all started with
2500 chips and the blinds for the first level were 25-25 and
they went up every hour from there. In the early stages there
is no calling. It was only raising and folding. The trouble
was, I didn't realize this at first - because I was mainly
just calling. It was obviously not working out because when I
missed the flop, I would have to fold. 4-handed everything was
pretty aggressive. I lost 700 chips in the first 10-15
minutes. Then I won a small pot and was stacking my chips and
directly to my right in Seat 3 sits none other than Howard
Lederer - the Poker Professor. I was half excited and half
wanted to piss my pants. I was just extremely thankful he was
to my right. Immediately after that a well-dressed gentleman
sits down in Seat 1. He cordially says "Howard" to which
Lederer responds "Allen." Then I knew who this was. It was WPT
champion Allen Goehring. The table was complete, and I knew
all of them. None of them knew me. The rail now crowded around
my table. Even though there were pros at every table, this
table was particularly fascinating to them. It felt like it
was the final table already based on the photographs and
crowd. Now it was time for me to make some moves.

Brave Call
I was down to about 1800 in chips when the first crucial hand
came up. Allen G. made it 50 to go like he had been doing
every time he raised. I look down and JJ in the small blind
and decide to make it 200 total. He thinks for a minute and
calls. The flop comes QQ9, and I decide to check, somewhat
hoping he would bet so that I could raise. But then he checks
quickly. The turn is a T and I check again. He fires out a bet
of 400. And I call quickly, thinking he could have AT or just
a J. The river is a horrifying T. Now I don't beat as much as
I did before. I check, and he bets 950 and I go into the tank.
If I lose this, I am basically done. I think for about 2 min
and decide he is bluffing or has an A and thinks I will lay
down. I call. And he says, "I just have an A." And I show my
JJ and take down the pot. To which Howard turns to me and says
"nice call."

Gnight Allen
For about 1 hour after that (actually a little past 1 hour and
8 minutes, which was Howard's over/under on when Goehring
would get eliminated) my stack was pretty constant, around
3100. At 1 hour and 12 minutes after their bet was made, I
eliminated Allen Goehring when I raised in second position
with KdTd and he went all in in the cutoff for not even a
minimum raise more; I had to call. He ended up having AT and I
spiked a K on the turn to send the WPT champion packing. To
add insult to injury, Howard had the over bet.

Don't Mess with the Bag
The table was frustrating in the time around the first break.
These shorthanded tables are all about raising and position,
and every time I was the button, Howard would raise the BB, and
every time I was the cutoff Rajja would calmly raise the BB as
well. I don't even have to mention that when it was my BB or
SB, there was a raise almost every time. This was not good for
me, I needed those chips. I talked to Tom during the break and
he reminded me to not be afraid to come back over the top of
these guys with nothing. Because I have been playing so tight,
they would probably have to lay most hands down. A few hands
after the break, Lederer does the usual raise to 200 in the
cutoff and I have the button. I decide that I am going to
reraise with any two cards, and I look down and it happens to
be Tom's favorite 83off. I make it 650 and he thinks for a bit
and folds. The same attempt was made 5 hands later against
Rajja and it worked like a charm. I was finally starting the
show some sack at this table, and people began to not push me
around any more.

Douche Facial (Not as nasty as it sounds)
Around this same time Allen Cunningham is eliminated by an
unknown player who had earlier replaced the known but unknown
Asian. Cunningham was eliminated by this guy who new-school
played his AK to take him down. Well-played I thought. In
Goehring's seat sat a total tool. Tom and I referred to him as
"Douche" the rest of the tournament. He was a middle aged guy
in a Polo shirt and swimming trunks. He basically just took
Patron shots, drank beer and tried to hit on all the female
dealers. He was making both terrible plays and terrible calls.
He was also making terrible folds, as is evident in this hand.
Blinds are 50-100 and I make it 300 to go in second position
with A6off. It folds around to Douche who flat calls in the
SB. Rajja folds. The flop comes 654 rainbow and he checks. I
decide to make the sneaky check. The turn comes a K. He checks
again and I fire off 450. Douche thinks for a little bit and
says to the dealer, "Now why couldn't that have been an A?" He
checks his cards once more and mucks. As the pot is being
pushed to me, I flash him my ace. To which he responds, "Well
yeah, but at least you didn't have a 6 with your ace." This
comment was too funny to not show him the other card, so I
did.

A Friend Amongst Scary Beasts
A few minutes later, in Cunningham's former seat sits a guy
that looks just like your typical business professional. Suit
pants, white collared shirt with one button undone, and a nice
watch. After talking to him later, I found out that he
actually was a business professional, and also a tournament
poker professional - Chad Lane. The trouble was, I didn't
realize this until after the following hand. It folds around
to me in the small blind with the blinds at 50-100. I make it
300 to go with 52off and Chad thinks for a minute and calls.
The flop comes J76, and I check. He bets 250 and I
check-reraise 400 more. He thinks for a minute and calls. At
this point I am a little worried. The turn is an A. A good
card for me I thought. I bet out 700 and he folds after a
short think. I show the table my hand, and he responds
"touche." Despite that move by me, Chad and I struck up a
friendship at the table. He really gave me confidence by
telling me that I was playing well and that he was impressed
it was only my second real live tournament ever. I was sad to
see him later eliminated in the day on a terrible beat - AK vs
KJ all in preflop.

Terrible Beats
In the period of one hour I took two pretty bad beats. The
first was for a smallish pot when I had AT vs A4 all in
preflop. He hit a flush on the river. The other was against
Douche when he wildly went all in for half my stack with
A2suited and I called with my KK. He turned a straight and
gained a lot of chips in the minutes that followed that hand.
I on the other hand (no pun intended), had to rebuild my stack
to its average glory.

Howard's End
The crowd around the table was starting to grow even more. It
was partly because our table was on the edge of the room, and
the rail had a good view from there. It was also because in
the matrix of the closest 6 tables sat Lederer, Negreanu,
Duke, Matusow, Rajja, Giang, etc. All the camera flashes and
whispers were all starting to get to me so I decided to take
care of the problem by eliminating the source. Two people
limped on my BB and Howard did as well in the SB. I checked
with my 86off. The flop was as pretty as it gets. 975 rainbow.
The nizzity nuts. Howard checks, I check, and the two limpers
check. The turn is a very intriguing 9. Howard takes a little
longer to act this time and then checks. I found this weird
because at this table, Howard was trying to be the captain. If
he smelled weakness, he pounced. The flop wreaked of weakness,
and he still chose to check. I glanced subtly at Lederer's
stack and saw that it was about 1800 (somewhat short). I
decide to make it a small 400. The two limpers fold and it
comes back to Howard who starts playing with his chips and
stacking them in different ways. He puts them in one big pile
and moves all in. I calmly ask the dealer how much more, call,
and show him my flopped straight. He has J9 and gets no help
on the river. No question an unavoidable for him on the turn,
but if I bet the flop, he might have been able to get away
from it. As I stacked my chips, I gave a little chuckle to
myself. I had just eliminated Howard Lederer. At that point I
knew the rest of the day was going to be fun.

It's Raining Pros!
Not long after the table is rid of Lederers, Goehrings, and
Cunninghams, the seats are filled by two more TV
personalities: Harry Demetrieau to my right and Jeff Lesandro
two to my left. The other bad part of it was they had HUGE
stacks. I knew this had potential to be very bad. Demetrieau
is fairly mild mannered and polite and so is Jeff. Neither of
them I would want to mess with at the table, but Lesandro is
the type of guy I would not want to mess with off the table.
He has a Sopranos look to him that would put anybody on edge.
Not long after they arrive I double up my stack through Harry.
He raised under the gun and I stacked up my chips in two
separate piles and pushed one of them in, intending to go all
in with my QQ. I started pushing the other in and they called
a string bet on me. I was not intending to do this, as it
would be pointless for me to leave myself with only 1500. But
rules are rules - just one of those things from being an
online player that you have to get used to in real
tournaments. This time, my mistake actually worked out for the
best. Because the raise was smaller, Harry felt more compelled
to call. When he did, I announced all in in the dark. The flop
was J78 and he called my dark all in with 22. The two-outer
didn't get there and I doubled up to about 8k in chips. Chad
was eliminated by Harry on the afformentioned bad beat and in
his place sat another pro J.C. Tran. Normally a scary Asian
player whom you would not want on your left, but he was
extremely short stacked and barely played a hand. Not too
much happened in the next half hour as we had to stop dealing
for some time because we only had 4 people at the table, With
5 minutes left until the dinner break, a guy who was also
named Isaac sat down in Douche's former seat. Douche was
eliminated earlier by Lesandro on a brilliantly played hand.
This guy had an absolute mountain of chips - approx. 42k. The
clock ticked down and it was finally dinner time. We had an 1
hour break and Tom and I went to eat and discuss the next few
hours of play.

Dinner Break - Finally
Out of 548 entries into the tournament, there were now 92
left. 66 people make the money, and first gets 316k. Again it
was hard to eat much because I was so excited and nervous.

Lesandro - As Scary as He Looks
After dinner, our table played for about 15 minutes before it
was broken up. The blinds were 150-300 with a 25 chip ante. I
made the standard raise to 900 in the cutoff with QQ and Jeff
called in the SB. The flop was AT9. He checks, and I elect to
check. The turn is a T, and he bets out 2k. I think for about
30 seconds and minimum raise 2k more to 4k, putting my whole
tournament at risk. He folded fairly quickly and I took down a
decent pot. When the table broke, I had about 10k in chips.
There were now about 77 people left. The average stack at this
point was about 15k. I was still below average, like I had
been the whole day, and needed a double-up to make sure that I
survived the bubble at 66 and to put myself in better shape to
accumulate chips. As it was, I really didn't have the stack to
bluff, and would have to let the table sort of run over me
until I picked up a hand. I was not afraid to go out before
the money, my focus was on elevating my status for the rest of
the tournament and going for first place.

My New Table, Does it Ever End?
I move over to Table 139, Seat 5. The view isn't as good from
Seat 5, but it wasn't terrible. The view got a lot worse when
I looked up and realized that I formed an invisible triangle
with tournament pros David Levi and John Juanda (a complete
and utter beast and the obvious table captain). Then the
crucial hand that elevated me into the money came up. David
Levi raised in the cutoff to 1800. The button folded, and I
moved all in with my 33 for 7k more. It folded back around to
him and he didn't take long to call. With the speed at which
he called, I thought I was screwed, but then he turns over
T9off. I was a little happier now about my chances. When the
dealer set out the flop the cards appeared to me in this
order. A jack was first off in the door, followed by a
horrifying 9. The dealer then moves his hand off of the third
card and reveals a miracle 3. I doubled up and now was a
pretty sure shot to make the money. In the time that past from
70 people left to 66, there was not much action at our table.
Juanda basically raised every pot and most of the time people
folded. I raised his BB one time with KcQc and he called. The
flop came 6h7h8h and he bet into me. Which I thought me might
do with any two cards and no matter what the flop was. I
folded not wanting to tangle with him on such a bad board. Tom
later told me he was fiending for me to reraise Juanda, but I
never had the cards or the sack. Right on the bubble I flopped
the second nut flush in the SB against the shortstacked BB. He seemed upset that I even called the bet preflop. He said something weird like, "Hey man, I thought we were friends." Tom was my only friend in all this as far as I was concerned. It
went check-check on the flop and the turn was an offsuit Q. I
bet 1k and he reraised 2.5k more. I announced all in but the
dealer didn't hear me. It was ruled a call and I said "all in
in the dark." A fourth heart came on the river and he
reluctantly folded his two pair. I knew that's what he had,
but the four-flush screwed me out of a call I think.

The Bubble Bursts
After going hand-for-hand for about 15 minutes, the 67th
person was eliminated and a round of applause broke out. Now
the aggression could resume without fear of getting 67th. The two-pair guy who I had tangled with pre-bubble was quickly
eliminated and his Seat 6 became empty for a few minutes.
After some commotion at another table, Antonio Esfandiari,
also know as "The Magician" sat in the vacant seat,
unfortunately to my left. Normally this would be bad news, but
I was used to it by now.

Aggression Against the Beasts
After a series of hands in which I raised two consecutive pots
- one with AA and one with 96off - I came upon AQ. I raised
the pot again in second position. This time it was Juanda's
button. Once I set my chips in the pot my eye caught Juanda
staring at me with his big head and big eyes. He glanced at
his cards and gave me this look that made me pray for a none
raise-worthy hand the next time around. The look basically
told me "you better not do that again, this is my territory."
He folded and intently focused on the rest of the hand. David
Levi in the BB called my raise - I think mainly cause he was
sick of the raises. The flop came AQ8 with two hearts.
Beautiful. I bet 2k and he immediately called. The turn was
the 5h and he checks and I quickly check. The river is a blank
and he bets 5k into me. It really didn't look like a flush,
but this bet represented a lot of my chips. I decided he had a
bad ace or a lower two pair and called. It turned out to be
correct, and I won a sizeable pot.

"Nice call man"
There was a gentleman to my right who liked to limp into a lot
pots. Normally this plan was foiled because someone always
raised. I was in the BB and it folded to him in the SB and he
just called. I had J8 and the flop was 875 with two diamonds.
He bets the size of the pot, and I flat call. The turn was an
offsuit K. Then, he quickly goes all in! I think for a minute
and put him on a diamond draw. It turns out that I am right,
and he has AdTd. He has a lot of outs but the river is a
blank, and he is eliminated. Esfandiari turns to me and
acknowledges the call.

A Funny Hand
This hand was probably my favorite from the day. Not
necessarily because I thought it was raw ownage or anything,
but because of the reaction it got. An unknown player limped
and it folded around to me in the SB. I called with J9off and
Esfandiari checked in the BB. The flop was J77, a decent flop
for me. I decided to check in early position and Esfandiari
made the expected bet. 1200 chips. Then the limper quickly
called! Now what to do. I thought I had the best hand. I
didn't want to get bullied by the Magician so I made it a
large 5000 more. The Magician quickly folded and the action
came around to the original limper. He went into the TANK. He
literally thought for 4 minutes. He was asking me all sorts of
questions about my hand. I wouldn't budge. I didn't even move
my mouth. After a very long think he shows the rail his hand
and shows it face up on the table. AJ!! I was just going to
muck, but this was great. I lofted the J9 up in the air and it
landed face up on top of his hand. The rail erupted with
confusion and the normally stoic John Juanda stood up and
exclaimed, "What a play!" What a moment. I felt like I had
finally earned the respect from the other players and the
rail. It was a great feeling.

The Magician Makes Bag Disappear
I was rolling good. I was making some plays, some hands, and
some bluffs. Most things were working out. Then, in the SB,
when it folded around to me with Magician in the BB, I look
down at AK. I thought about limping because I knew the
Magician would try to bully me, but in the end I decided to
make a big raise. Of course he called. The flop was Q high,
and I decided to bet 6k. He raised 14k more and I had to fold.
He said he had KQ and I sort of believed him. The VERY next
hand on the button I look down at AQ. I make the standard
raise and Magician comes over the top AGAIN. I decide this is
not the time to be bullied and go all in. At that moment he
has this pained look on his face. I feel a lot of excitement.
Maybe I caught him bluffing. Then he calls and turns over QQ.
The flop is ugly and I get not help. My run ends in 42nd place
, earning me $6,050. Not a bad pay day.

Conclusions
First off, I want to say that this was one of the best experiences of my life, and I want to thank Tom for his generosity and faith in backing me in such a venture. I felt like I played with the best in the world and held my own. It wasn't like I encountered a couple of pros along the way, I played against all pros all day with the occasional buffer of a bad player. More important than any cash netted was the respect I felt I earned from other players who are at the highest level in the world. My confidence is as high as it's ever been and I am excited for the future.