WSOP or Deep Stack?by Dennis Phillips | Published: May 20, '09 |
 
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Last night, my radio co-host Paul Harris asked whether I thought he should play in the $1,000 buy-in “Stimulus Special” tournament at the WSOP next week or take a shot in the Venetian Deep Stack event that day. The money isn’t a problem, but he’s a cash player who’s more comfortable in deep stack games, and is worried that the 3,000 in chips at the WSOP won’t give him as much room to maneuver as the 12,500 chips at the Venetian.
Here’s the advice I gave him, and it may apply to you, too.
In the deep stack events, yes, more poker is going to be played. You can sit back, check for tells, analyze the other players more, and develop your hand post-flop. In the WSOP $1k, though, it’s probably going to be an easier field. You’ll have a lot of celebrities and other people who look at it as their best shot at a bracelet, and that’s going to mean a lot of easier tables. That can be a minefield if you run into someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing but gets lucky against you, but if you catch a few cards and play well, you can double up and really build a stack very quickly. The Venetian will have far fewer players but — on the average — they’ll be better and you’ll have to be at your best and go really deep.
Even if you’re more comfortable in the bigger stack tournament, even if that’s more suited to your game, the reward at the WSOP event could be huge (with a field they expect to top 5,000 players, that’s a prize pool of over $5,000,000). If you get the right table, you can pick it apart. Find the one or two really good players, kind of avoid them, play them solid. Find the one or two calling stations you know you can go with. Find the guy who thinks he has to shove every other hand, just as you would in a smaller tournament. But with the longer rounds, you’ll have more opportunities to pick on the weaker players.
Yes, with 3,000 in chips, you’re going to have to both play well and get lucky, but if you do, and can build your stack to eight or nine thousand quickly, you can protect yourself against one crippling hand, and go from there.
This is the one tournament I would suggest gambling on, even if it’s not right in your wheelhouse. And if your dream is to someday play in the Main Event or some other bigger buy-in tournament, this is a good start.
Besides, who doesn’t want a WSOP bracelet? It’s not like the Deep Stack tournaments at the Venetian (and the Mega Stack at Caesar’s Palace) are going away — they’ll be running every day during the WSOP, too.
If you’d like to hear more of our discussion on this week’s edition of our radio show, The Lumiere Place Final Table, click here and listen to the podcast!
As always, I’d like to hear your comments. My e-mail address is dennisphillipspoker@gmail.com.