Three full weeks in Vegas can change a person. Just 12 hours in Vegas can change a person, but spending 21 days in this otherworldly environment that may as well be a suburb of the sun certainly leaves a lasting impression.
My 2018 World Series of Poker has come to a close and I arrive back on Kauai today. I’m very much looking forward to my bed, my car and my first Costco run, which should hopefully get me off the Morgan Spurlock “Supersize Me” diet. But while the comforts of home are enticing, I’m already looking forward to next summer because I feel like I’m leaving with some unfinished business.
This trip included the most multi-table tournaments that I’ve scheduled for myself and I managed a few cashes along the way. One event, the Ultimate Goliath Stack at Planet Hollywood, feels like a missed opportunity. I made it through day one and came back for day two in 21st place with 186 still in the field. The money bubble burst with 171 players left and I was cruising, chipping up and finding good spots at my table.
Then the fourth level of the day came along and everything unraveled. I lost a monster pot all-in pre-flop with pocket tens against pocket sevens, then I had to call a short-stack shove with pocket fives when he had pocket nines, then I shipped my dwindling stack all-in with king-ten suited and ran into pocket kings. Just like that, I had my cashout slip which read 103rd place. Not the result I was hoping for.
I had a similar rough stretch in the WSOP Double Stack event, seeing a 100-big blind stack late on day one diminish to an early day two departure short of the money. Tournament poker can be cruel in that one or two hands can completely derail many hours of work, but that variance comes with the territory.
One other regret is that I wasn’t able to bust well-known player Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, though we were placed at the same table in two different big events. He was short on chips for day two of the Double Stack, but another player at the table had the pleasure of the knockout. Then he was a late registrant for the $2,500 WSOP event, which was the final tournament I played, but impressively ran his short stack up to an eventual final table showing.
Ferguson was once a fan favorite, but his involvement with and benefits from the shady dealings of Full Tilt Poker has changed much of that image. He’s incurred his fair share of derisive comments since reappearing at the World Series a few years back, which is deserved, in my opinion. But I have to admit that he was a very nice guy and nothing but a gentleman at the table in both instances. I wanted to dislike him. I wanted to gleefully yell “seat open” when he was knocked out of the Double Stack. Neither of those things occurred. Darn these rational feelings based on actual encounters. I want to go back to an irrational disdain based on hearsay.
Anyway, this was not a financially successful visit. In fact, it was my least successful annual trip of any since my first in 2013. However, I actually feel like it’s the best I’ve played during any trip. Poker is a funny game in that playing correctly and well doesn’t always yield immediate results. All you can do is put yourself in the best opportunity to be successful and then hope that things work out. In that way, it’s very similar to being successful in all aspects of life.
I’m excited to get back in the lab, work on certain parts of my game and head back in 11 months. Maybe then I’ll manage to complete some of the unfinished business I’m leaving this time around.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
I think poker was not really high school. I mean, can you tell if he has a winning play? What if I had Aces are high and joker, full house, 5 card draw, would bet $500 dollars and collect? Just at home or there. In Delaware maybe.