Main Event Efficiency Part 1

This year was terrifically efficient for me at the WSOP. Of all the noon tournaments that I played I made one dinner break. I finished second in that tournament. The only other day two I made I cashed, finishing 29th in the $2,500 eight-game mixed tournament. Efficiency is pretty great in poker, tournaments especially. The less time you can spend in the tournaments you don’t cash in, the better. Your hourly improves, you can spend that time doing other things like playing cash games or just going out and enjoying life (Contrary to what Harrah’s and other poker players tell you, you don’t have to fill every waking moment with poker during the WSOP). All of this was going through my head as I registered for the main event.

All other tournaments are basically practice for the main event. There would really be no tournaments in the world if it weren’t for this, the mother of all of them. It’s the most prestigious, the most lucrative tournament in the world. It’s probably the one tournament I’ll continue to try to play for the rest of my life as long as I’m able. So, how did it go for me this year? Just like the rest of the WSOP, I was very efficient.

My table consisted of mostly unknowns with a few recognizable faces. It looked to be one of the better ones I had drawn in the last few years. I was excited to be a part of it and, for the most part, I wasn’t disappointed. There were some good players, but overall, the level of play was less than satisfactory. Unfortunately, this isn’t Wilson’s Texas Hold‘Em simulator and you only get to play the hands you’re dealt. I folded the first few hands of the day, then called a raise in the big blind after three callers. I whiffed the flop and folded, thus ending my time at or near the starting stack in this tournament.

The next hand an early position player limped as he had already done in three of the first five hands, the button limped, and I made it 400 at 50-100 from the small blind with Q Q. The flop was 10-6-5 rainbow. I bet 800 and only the button called. At this point, I think he has something like a weak ten, a set, 7-8, a middling pair or a pair of sixes or fives. The turn is the 8 which makes a flush draw. I bet 1,700 into 2,950 and my opponent made it 4,000. I was quite surprised by this bet as the 8 looked like a pretty safe card. The plausible hands that beat me: 10-8, 8-6, 9-7, 6-6, 5-5. The plausible hands that I beat: 10-7, 8-7, 6-7, 5-7, 7-7, a pair with a spade flush draw, maybe a big ten or 9-9. I think with all of the hands that I beat and some of the hands that I don’t, my opponent will check down the river unimproved. The river is one of the worst cards in the deck for me, an offsuit 4. I check, he immediately flicks in 6,000, and I fold. I feel great about the way I played this hand. I don’t like to gamble too much in the main event and I’m more than willing to make a big laydown as we’ll continue to see.

A few hands later, I folded 10-10 on a 7-6-3-5 board in a three-way pot after only having put in 1,800. I was against 7-7 and K-K (the guy who I folded to in the Q-Q hand). Not long after that, a hand that I’m still uncomfortable with came up. As I’m writing this article, I’m getting a sinking feeling thinking about this hand. UTG limps, UTG plus 1 (same villain) makes it 400. The table has been playing five or six-way pots regularly, and I felt like if I called this raise that trend would continue, so I called with Q 9. I was right. Two people called behind me and the original limper also called. The flop was a great one for my hand, A-Q-5 with two hearts. UTG checked, the original preflop raiser bet 1,500, I called, and everyone else folded. Now, this is a hand that I will often take to the felt on the flop, but I had three people to act behind me and I was happy enough to let them in with middle pair and the second nut-flush draw. Also, the preflop raiser is showing quite a bit of strength leading into the field. I put him on A-K, A-Q, A-A, 5-5, and possibly something like J T or K J. The turn is the Q and my opponent quickly bet 4000. I have 17,300 thousand in my stack and he covers. Obviously this looks like a pretty good card for my hand. I’ve made trips with a kicker that plays and it’s very unlikely that my opponent would have a better queen given the action so far. However, when you consider the range I put him on, it’s not spectacular. I think he checks either this street or the river with A-K as this card is really good for my perceived range and he should be easily moved off of his hand if I raise. He might check his full houses except 5-5 because there’s no danger in letting me get a free card though I’m not sure he’s the trappy type. It seemed to me like he was just the kind of guy who would think “I have a full house, I should bet.” Also, if he does have A-K, he will check the river and I can probably get some value on the times when a heart comes. Finally, if he has a heart draw that misses on the river, I imagine he will continue bluffing and I can pick off a 5,000 or 6,000 river bet.

The river is an absolute blank, the 2. My opponent almost instantly jams 13,300 effective! This I was unprepared for. He has bet almost exactly 100 percent of the pot and has me covered by over 20,000. It won’t bust him, but it will put a big dent in his stack. I think we can pretty clearly take A-K out of his range now. He only gets called by hands that beat him and most people, even the most clueless (which he clearly was not), wouldn’t bet the pot with A-K on this board after being called twice. My hand looks quite a bit like a flush draw at this point so it would make sense to check and call with A-K to get maximum value. So, that leaves his range at A-A, 5-5, A-Q, K J, and J T. There are a total of eleven combinations of these hands. I lose to nine and beat two. The math says I should fold, but there is more to the game than math so I took some time and gave my opponent the once over. He looked pretty darn confident to me. Because of the new rules this year, I was able to talk to my opponent since there was no more action that could take place. I told him what I had and he gave me no reaction. I thought for about 30 seconds more and decided to go with my first instinct and folded.

I won a couple small pots and ended the first two hour level with 14,400 and that’s where we’ll pick the action up in my next column. ♠

Gavin Griffin was the first poker player to capture a World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour and World Poker Tour title and has amassed nearly $5 million in lifetime tournament winnings. Griffin is sponsored by HeroPoker.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NHGG