Day 1c Main Event

Ollieboy · 31-07-2006 6:31pm #1

Day 1 of the ME at the WSOP

Wow, what a day. I can safely say nothing prepares you for the main event in the WSOP and is a must for all poker fans. I got to the Rio about 11:00 but had been preparing myself from about 8:00 am that morning by having a good breakfast and going for a swim. It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been in Vegas since Wednesday and I’ve not seen a deck of cards! I went to the sites and relaxed but was determined to be fresh and not have any bad beats in my head from playing cash games etc.

The main event is 6 levels of 2 hours with 20 minute breaks each level and 1:30 for the dinner break. Now this might seem like long breaks, but the time you get out of the room, to the toilet and back into the room, its started and even the dinner break is leaving it tight. Also, it takes time to get used to the very slow blind structure and I mean very slow.

The atmosphere in the place is amazing and everyone is delighted to be here. The set-up is massive, tables, cards, decks and even chips everywhere. TV crews flying around the tables the TV table in the right middle of the room and then all the top pro’s along with loads of celebrities, I’m not joking you would have a sore neck keeping up with all the people you want to meet in this place. My personal highlight was when I got 2 minutes with Greg Raymer and this guy has to be the nice guy in poker.

Enough of the small talk. I started ok and built up a good table image in the first few levels. The only real player at my table was Dustin Wolfe, one of the top internet pro’s in the world and if correct I think he finished 32 in the main event last year and made the final table of the shorthand this year. This guy was a raising machine and we both kind of agreed to stay out of each other’s way very quickly, me more due to his aggression and him due to my position on him. He made a bad bluff for over half his stack in level 2 and shortly after I got the AK suit in the BB when he pushed all-in from the SB after a button raise for his last 3.5k, a king on the flop and I had knocked out my first player of the event and was back up to 14k.

In general level 1 was my worst level. I dropped to 8k and did not feel comfortable about my game at all. I couldn’t see where I was going to get chips from so I was keeping an eye on the clock counting the minutes to the break to get my head straight and make a few changes to my game.

After the break I took off my cap and wow, I was a new person, I took down the first 3 pots after the break and was up to about 10k again, after that I started playing some great poker and I increased my stack steadily by 5k each level. By level 6 I had total control of the table and was raising freely with any 2 cards and if I got a caller I just bet the flop and collected more chips. I finished the night as chip leader on my table with 39,775 and will be on table 39 seat 5 on Wednesday. I’ll have Eric Kanter from last year’s final table on my button with 25k, but after that I’m 2nd in chips with only 1 bigger stack of 45k.

I got AA & KK about 3 times each during the day and can’t even remember how many times I got JJ/QQ/AK etc. I hit the deck all over the place and flop trips 3 times in a row. The best hand of the night was when I called a utg raise with 99 and the flop came 8 high, she bet out for 1k and I reraise her 4k, she flat called this raise and the turn came a 7 to give me a straight draw and no over cards on the board to my 9’s, there was also a flush draw on the board and I think this is what she was drawing too, she bet out 1k into a 10k pot, I felt she was weak and I re-raised her to 6k putting her all in, she folded after a long thought process but I now had about 24k in chips.

I was up and down most of the day, but in this game you have to be willing to re-raise people with nothing to win pots, I was getting pushed around by 1 player in my blinds and I re-raised her to 5k from the bb when she had done her standard raise again on me, I also told her each time she raised my blind I would re-raise her. So next bb again she raises, so I re-raised her again, she calls, now I don’t like that call. The flop comes KQ 7 with 2 diamonds and I’ve 88 in the hold, I check, she bets out 2k I re-raise her to 5k again, she folds and I then throw down the 8’s to her and that’s the last time she raised my blind, but that’s the standard of poker here and you’ve got to mix it up against the really aggressive American players.

The standard at this event is a lot higher than you would think, but I’m delighted to get through day 1 and have nearly 40k.

Well done to all the Irish lads and the team spirit out here is great, were doing our best to prove Scott wrong and bring a bracelet home.lol

Also, wp to Robbie, he had a tough day but came back brilliantly.

Update you all again soon.

Ollie

P.S. thanks for all the support from home, its been great to have it out here.

accensi0n · 31-07-2006 6:46pm

Nice report.

Good luck.

Doc Farrell · 31-07-2006 7:00pm

I forgot you were playing Ollie, the best of luck old boy!

shoutman · 31-07-2006 7:22pm

Great report Ollie,

Well played, some balls to be making that move with the snowmen, I like it

rag2gar · 31-07-2006 7:30pm

very interesting stuff, best of luck on wednesday

Sangre · 31-07-2006 7:38pm

Great report, wp and best of luck!!

staringelf · 31-07-2006 8:00pm

excellent report. keep them coming. gl in day 2...kanter is a donkey, i hope you show him up.

willis · 31-07-2006 8:54pm

nice 1 ollie,ur flying as are most of the irish out there,its incredible when you see all the pros whove gone, and yet look at the amount of Irish have safely made day 2,unreal! gl 2 all of u

WarZoneBrother · 01-08-2006 12:42am

willis wrote:

nice 1 ollie,ur flying as are most of the irish out there,its incredible when you see all the pros whove gone, and yet look at the amount of Irish have safely made day 2,unreal! gl 2 all of u

nice man great report hope ya come home with a bracelet

even being there is a great experience...

WarZoneBrother · 01-08-2006 1:12am

haha...if i aint wrong u have $39,775 found ya on a website

http://www.pokerlistings.com/world-series-of-poker/2006/event39/chip-count

shoutman · 01-08-2006 1:41am

Interesting to see that Danial Negranu who has 85,800 chips is on the same table as Adam Jones who has 125,525, whats even more intersting is that Adam Jones is in seat one, and guess where Negranu is? Yup seat 3...
Me wonders if Mr Jones will try and undertake much blind stealing....