WSOP Quailifers

I haven't posted for a while, so here goes with an update.

On 11th June, I played in a freeroll organised by ITH where the winner wins a seat to the World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event in August. The buyin for this event is $10,000 so it's certainly a nice prize to win. I qualified for this freeroll back in February by winning one of the league matches being run by ITH (which i wrote about in this blog earlier). The freeroll had 59 entrants, and as usual with these events, all good players. I played ok for the first half of the tournament. Just kept it steady and ensured I didn't take any unnecessary risks. I was able to double up when my AA beat QQ, but after this I went card dead for the rest of the tournament. I ended up in 17th place, which I should be happy with. I suppose I am really as I feel like I played good solid poker. It was just a shame that my cards ran dry at the end.

As it turned out the eventual winner of the freeroll was under 21, and was therefore ineligible to take part in the WSOP. So, ITH decided to organise another event to get a representative in the main event. The buyin for this tournament would be $200, with $100 of the fee going towards a stake in the winner. Basically, this meant that I would get a share of any winnings made by the person who qualified. $200 is quite a chunk of my bankroll, but I was keen to play. Then one weekend, I had a bit of luck. First of all, I finished 7th in a 180 man SNG winning $25. Next I won a 27 man tournament winning $72, then capped it by staking Suited_Jock in the Stars Million to earn $100. I had earnt close to the required $200, so I decided to buy straight into the ITH tournament.

The next tournament wasn't so successful. It was held on 9th July. This time there were only 42 entrants. I just didn't get going and didn't get any luck. My tournament was pretty much over in 2 decisive hands. First was when I held JJ. Jeffnc was short-stacked and pushed all-in with AK. It was an easy call for me as it was for about a third of my stack. An ace on the flop ended that hand for me. My tournament was over with blinds at 75/150. I had a stack of $1520 and held AK. McFoldem raised pre-flop with 33. I came over the top of him by pushing all-in. He called. I had no help on the flop, and another 3 on the river finished me off in 33rd place.

In order to progress in these tournaments, you have to win your coinflips. There's nothing wrong with the way I played either hand, but you need luck on your side at times. This time it wasn't to be.

The tournament was won by Primitive who I know is a very experienced tournament player. I honestly believe he will do well in the WSOP as he certainly won't be overawed.