WSPL Goes to Vegas Game 10

I'm goin' to Veeeegas
I'm goin' to Veeeegas.

Ok its not definite yet, but after this week's game it's looking pretty likely. Noah finally cashed this week taking first place, and I finished in second. Which means I increased my lead on the rest of the pack and makes it very difficult for anyone else to catch up. It will take cashing in both of the remaining events and me finishing worse than fifth in both for any one else to have a chance.

I'm getting ahead of myself though.

Back to the action:

Things went slowly this game. I think especially for me and possibly others that the format of the event has a lot to do with it. I knew that I was comfortably in second place overall, and as long as I could outlast some of my nearest competitors, and/or finish above my previous worst scores of 5 points, I'll be that much closer to winning the WSOP entry. That fact coupled with the absolutely abysmal cards that I got meant that I didn't play very many hands. There was no reason for me to risk chips with anything less than a premium hand. This enrages Aaron who really wants me to go out early as he realizes that I'm standing between him and a WSOP entry. That alone makes folding hand after hand somewhat enjoyable.

As a result of my super tight play, the few hands I did get into resulted in me winning and allowed me to stay a little bit ahead of the average chip stack. I didn't blow a lot of chips on speculative hands as I might often do.

Our points leader Smack had a rough night. He plays very aggressively and if he doens't at least get some cards to back up his play he can find himself in trouble pretty quickly. He was forced in to all-in or nothing mode fairly early, and while he managed to get all-in with the best hand, Noah hit a runner runner straight to knock him out.

After that, no one was eliminated for quite a while. An absurdly long time There was a lot of back and forth plays, and a three players, Archie, Rich and Jason, struggling to keep their heads above water. The blinds would eat away at their short stacks, and they would finally make a move and steal some blinds or win a small all-in to start the cycle over again. They hung around for a long time before luck finally caught up with them.

I really think PokerStars wanted me to win this one though. Like I said earlier I got horrendous cards. However, most of the time, and way more often than usual, had I played those cards I would have flopped a monster. Not only that, it would have been a monster that no one would have seen coming, because who plays 53 off under the gun? Of course I was playing exceptionally tight so it was all for naught.

Noah was getting cards this game, and for once not getting them cracked. He was the big stack for most of the tourney and used it to effectively bully the rest of the table. Eventually it came down to just us two. He had me by 5 or 6 to one, but his luck finally started to wear out. We battled for quite a while and I whittled down his lead when he finally got me all in. I had a pair of sixes, he had wired tens. I congratulated him on a good game and was about to log out when I rivered a third six to nearly cripple him. Like I said, PokerStars wants me to win.

We battled back and forth for a while longer still. I think this had to be the longest heads up battle of the season. Finally Noah is able to win a few large sized pots and suddenly I'm on death's door again. I don't remember what the final hand was, but he managed to knock me out. It was late I was content with a second place finish and a non-contender ahead of me so the final hand didn't seam to be worth remembering.

Here are the current standings.

Week 10:

1. Noah
2. Me
3. Aaron
4. Shane
5. Jason
6. Archie
7. Rich
8. Cooke
9. Smack

Totals:

1. Smack (81 Points)
2. Me (81)
3. Cookie (63)
4. Aaron (60)
5. Shane (58)
6. Archie (58)
7. Rich (56)
8. Noah (48)
9. Jason (41)

Total (minus worst two)

1. Smack (79)
2. Me (71)
3. Cookie (59)
4. Aaron (57)
5. Shane (56)
6. Rich (54)
7. Archie (53)
8. Noah (47)
9. Jason (40)

The interesting thing here is that the totals section represents the worst case scenario for each player. If, for some reason someone doesn't play the next two events and gets 0 points, what they currently have in the totals section will be their final score. This means the worst I can do is 81 points. Looking at it from the other side, the best someone can do is their total minus the worst two + 30. This means even if Noah or Jason win the next two, they can't catch me, or Smack.

For Archie to qualify, he will need to win the next two and then have me finish no better than fourth.
Rich also has to win the next two. He can tie me if I finish third and fifth or worse, or beat me if I do worse than that.
With a first and second place finish, and me not doing better than fifth, Aaron or Shane could still go.
Cookie can tie me with two second place finishes and me not doing better than fifth.

I think that except for Smack and myself, whoever doesn't win the next event is eliminated. I think all Smack has to do is not finish last in both of the next games and he is in. Even if he does finish in last he is still probably in.

Now we'll have to see how my wife feels about me ditching her with an infant for 3-4 days so I can go play poker. Maybe if I promise to buy her something nice with my winnings she'll let me go. Otherwise I'll have pick a stand in. My instincts for fill in would be Archie and then Noah, but neither of them have done very well in this format so I'm not so sure. Maybe the live format suits them better.

No game next week since Archie will be out of town, but we're thinking of doing two the following week so that we can finish up the season and figure out which event we are going to play this summer, and start making travel plans.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com