Aug
18
by Chad Holloway
Well, I am back in Wisconsin. I had a blast spending the past seven weeks at the WSOP, but it sure feels good to get home. My last shift for PokerNews was on Day 4 of the Main Event, meaning I missed the last couple of days. Luckily, I was able to keep updated checking PokerNews and was pulling really hard for Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi. He has had an awesome WSOP, winning his first bracelet in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship and making several more final tables, and it was good to see him make the November Nine.
I must admit that I wanted him to make the final table for personal reasons as well. You see, I picked up Mizrachi in the 2010 ESPN Fantasy League where I am competing against the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Howard Lederer, Dennis Phillips, Eric Baldwin and Bernard Lee. I’ve been among the leaders throughout the summer thanks to strong performances by Mizrachi, Jason Somerville and Amit Makhija. I knew I needed a strong performance in the Main Event and Mizrachi provided just that. He made the final table which is worth major points, plus it is a championship event which doubles any points earned. The real kicker though is that I earn a point for every 100 people in the event. This means that with 7,400 people in the Main Event, I will earn 74 points times two (for it being a Championship event). This was a huge performance and might just win it for me. It has been awhile since our commissioner updated the scores, so I am anxiously awaiting the numbers.
The Main Event itself was insane. It really is something every poker player should see at least once in their lifetime. The competition is fierce and the entire poker world is in the Rio. It was nice to see David Benyamine, Tony Dunst, Phil Galfond, Adam Levy, Scott Clements and Johnny Lodden make deep runs. Things were looking bleak that an established pro would make the final table as they have since 2005, but luckily Mizrachi pulled through and is no doubt the fan favorite. Now we just have to wait until November to see how it turns out. My personal Main Event came in the form of the PokerNews Freeroll that was held for the staff at the Hard Rock Poker Lounge on Sunday July 11. This was the first time the PokerNews team was able to get together and enjoy each other’s company. There was free booze and delicious cheeseburger sliders and mini corndogs. Everyone was guaranteed some money but those who finished higher got more, with the top five receiving brand new iPads. I won’t lie, I had my eye set on one of those iPads the entire summer. We we’re broken down into three tables and I was in Seat 7. My table was the following:
Seat 1- Mike Goldstein (the driver) Seat 2- Neil Fray (field reporter) Seat 3- Ben Conoley (blogger) Seat 4- Greg Lewis (field reporter) Seat 5- Tim Duckworth (blogger) Seat 6- Sarah Grant (Administrative extraordinaire) Seat 7- myself Seat 8- Elaine Charvarlis (blogger) Seat 9- Donnie Peters (veteran blogger/management) Seat 10- Alex the cameraman
I got things started early when I was holding Kx Qx and saw a flop of 4x 2x Qx. I had called a preflop raise from Neil and he moved all in on the flop. This was a big decision early on and I was in a tough spot. I looked at Neil and realized he had spent the day watching the World Cup final and probably had had a lot of alcohol. I asked him if he watched the game and when he said yes, I made the call. I figured he would push with almost any hand in that spot considering he was a little tipsy and impatient. He showed Ax Kx and I took down a nice pot while eliminating the first player from the tournament.
Another big hand developed a few orbits later when Elaine raised in early position and I called from the big blind with Jx 10x. The flop came ten-high and I opted to slow play. After I checked, Elaine threw out a big bet and I decided to move all in. She had been talking about getting out of the tournament so she could go shoe shopping, so I figured she was continuation betting with a big ace or the like. To my surprise, she snap-called me and turned over pocket aces! I was in big trouble but managed to hit a ten on the river to send her to the shoe store and increase my stack to one of the biggest in the tournament. I continued to cruise along eliminating a number of my friends along the way including Donnie, Sarah, Kristen, Heath and Rich (I think). I ended up making the final table, which looked like this:
Seat 1- Ben Conoley (blogger) Seat 2- myself Seat 3- Matthew Parvis (da boss man) Seat 4- Kristy Arnett (presenter) Seat 5- Andrew Bogner (marketing director) Seat 6- Adam ‘Snoopy’ Goulding (blogger & British) Seat 7- Tim Duckworth (blogger) Seat 8- Elissa Harwood (blogger) Seat 9- Alex Villegas (field reporter) Seat 10- Adam Brown (cameraman)
By this point, the blinds and antes were high and I was becoming a bit short-stacked. Since Parvis and Bogner were ineligible for the iPads (they were management), we only needed to lose three people to reach the iPads. I played my small stack as best I could until Brown and Harwood hit the rail. At this point, I was the extreme short-stack and looked like I might bust on the iPad bubble. Luckily, Duckworth had a fine idea. He was the big stack and wasn’t really interested in an iPad. He suggested we each give him a portion of our prize money and he would take himself out of the iPad running, ensuring the rest of us one. As the short-stack, I was all for the idea. A bunch of negotiating ensued and it was determined we would each give him $75 to ensure the deal (we were guaranteed at least $100 in prize money by making the final table anyway). So I locked up the iPad but was still playing for a last longer bet and personal pride.
Kristy soon busted, leaving three of us in the last longer (Parvis, Bogner and myself). The last man standing would receive $240, second to last $140, and third to last $90. I looked at the chip stacks and positioning and realized that if I folded, the blinds would hit Bogner and force him all in before me, possibly netting me an extra $50. That is exactly what I did, even causing uproar when I folded an ace in the small blind and left myself a single 500 chip (which was the smallest in play). Fortunately, it paid off as Bogner moved in and was eliminated by Duckworth, who also eliminated Alex in the hand. I soon lost my last chip and finished in fifth place, a little richer and with a new iPad. Duckworth went on to win the event and wrote an excellent of his victory on his blog that you can read here: http://www.tiltedbehaviour.com/random/freeroll-champion-and-partying-it-up-with-snoop-dogg/
All in all, the freeroll was among the highlights of an incredible summer. I’ve only been home for a few days now, but I am already looking forward to the 2011 WSOP. Hopefully I’ll be able to play a few events that year and maybe take home some gold. In the meantime, I’ll have to remain content and wait patiently for this year’s final table in November.