I Feel For You (Cause I Think I Love Ya)
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Wait...retract that whole Cause I Think I Love Ya part...that was just me getting caught up in a song title...
I actually feel bad for one of my buddies. Here's the scoop. I've been reading and hearing about these WSOP Steps tournaments at Party so I decided to sweat some of the players last night to see the action. Of course I migrated right to the Step 6 to check out a table that would send one hopeful to the WSOP Main Event.
After about 30 minutes of watching I noticed a name that made me do a double take. I won't mention the name, but I realized it was one of my good buddies that I play poker with a lot. In fact, Tuesday nights are the designated night to play at his house. Actually, the game was moved to his Dads house since his girlfriend moved back in with him. Anyway, I've been unable to go to any of his games recently due to the baby being due any day (born April 16th) so I haven't seen him in a couple months. My last time playing at his house was an Omaha 8 tourney with 18 people which I came in 3rd place.
Moving on...when I saw the name I was about to start chatting with him, but then I decided that was a stupid idea. If I was playing a SNG for a seat at the WSOP I wouldn't want anybody chatting with me - friend or no friend. So instead I dropped the occasional good job or nice hand where appropriate.
Amazingly, after some great play and one lucky draw out, he was heads up. I couldn't believe it. He took the lead for a while, but then had a tough hand put him down to around 1500. At one point, he was 1 card away from winning it, but the guy caught the card he needed. Our hero eventually got all his chips in with something like A Q against K 10 and - though the bad guy never caught a K or 10, he did win the game when 4 clubs hit the board and his 10 was a club. I was dumbfounded. I know that's poker and it's the breaks, but this wasn't just any random player I was watching...it was a good buddy playing for a freakin seat.
About 10 minutes after it was over I called to console - and I'm glad I did as he was searching for someone to reach out to in order to talk about it. When I told him I saw the whole thing he was happy to know that he played the game well...though he was still a little in shock with the whole situation. He made we laugh when he said, "wanna go play a $5 SNG with me?" Here's a guy who was just playing a $2000 SNG asking if I wanted to play a $5 game. It's amazing how these Steps tourneys can put the average guy out of his league. Since it was 1:30 am I declined and decided to hit the pillow. I think I dreamed about winning a Steps tourney or something like that.
As for my buddy, luckily with the Steps program he has another shot at Step 6. I really hope he makes it cause he has been trying for 2 weeks. Interestingly, he has only put $12 into it and has made Step 6 twice (this will be his 3rd try coming up). That will just be unbelievable if he makes it. Good luck RW!
So, on the heels of watching that excitement, I decided to give the whole thing a try tonight. I know, the amount of rake they are getting is unbelievable, but to be honest where else could you pay $12 and make it to the WSOP by winning (or doing well in) 6 SNG's. I've been playing well in SNG's at Noble Poker so I hope my trend continues.
On my 1st attempt - an $11 + $1 Step 1 SNG - I ended up making some good moves and winning it. I was heads up with a big job ahead of me down 6000 to 2000, but I managed to break the guy for most of his chips when the flop was A 2 3 5 3 and I held 4 6. I was hoping he had a 4 and played a straight and that's exactly what happened (he had 4 2). My nut straight was a cinch and not long after I took him down with A 5 against K J.
I end this post with a hoist of the brew in hopes that I can't devour Step 2. I've heard it is one of the hardest Steps to pass...we'll see. I'll keep you posted.
posted by TripJax @ 2:34 AM,
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