Tuesday, July 17, 2012

2012 WSOP RECAP

Well after making two trips to Vegas for the WSOP I was starting to think that the luck factor was just to much to overcome.
     WSOP Event #31 $1,500 entry...4,500 chips to start. Played well early and picked every right spot, and a great read on a opponet. got up to 14.5K which was very solid. but the poker gods beat me down a couple of times and just decided it wasnt my time and I was ousted in level 5
     WSOP Event #33 $1,000 entry...3,000 chips to start. this stucture is brutal and even though the blinds are a hour your really restricted in your ability to play poker as you know it. So after getting rivered and having jacks run into aces the party was over into level 4.
     WSOP Event #38 $1,500 entry...4,500 chips to start. This one was doomed from the start. I got to play A8s from the blind and after a A48 rainbow flop Im liking this spot. so I bet player calls after the turn I bet more player stays then the river was a Jack and how did I know thats what he had so he bets and I just call. Yep he had AJ. So know I drop to like 1.7K I try and grind the best I could then I was able to qet QQ aipf vs 33 and player spiked a 3 to send me back to NJ until the Main Event.
     WSOP MAIN EVENT #61 10,000 entry...30,000 chips to start... I must say I felt I was ready, I got to Vegas a day early and just rested No poker No blackjack No going out. So it was all business. So as I walked in the Rio I realized The atmosphere was very electric and the tension was thick you can sense that this was the place to be, its the superbowl the world series the Daytona 500 of Poker. There were cameras throughout, reporters and radio stations. So the adrenaline was very high, I just remember tweeting and texting and just wondering when I was going to be grounded. Well as soon as I sat down It all went away I was playing Poker with cards chips and players.
    So 30k start I won my first three hands to move to 34k and after Elio Fox one of the best players in the world had doubled up on my left I was second in chips at the table. Then after getting rivered which I think I lead the league in and c-betting in a bad spot I drop to 14k but then I show fight and character as I get back to 27k. Then after trying to make a move on a big pot with 10-10 Fox folds but another players put his tourney on the line with a call JJ (really) He procedded to spike a J and river the last one for quads for a 70k pot I was not happy with how I played that at all. Then into level six with only  2.1k left I got my A10 aipf only to lose to A6. and I was flushed out. Surely the worst day of my young poker career.
    Redemption-A friend of mine had came down for a few days for support but with my day one exit I really wasnt feeling anything but to go home. But I didnt want to leave Jeff hanging so I said I would stay two more days. So I get up have a nice breakfast, chill at the pool and head off to the Rio deep stack at 2pm $235 entry with 15,000 chips to start. This game felt like a pop warner exhibition game. So I go from super bowl to that, it was tough. so here we go. I put on my shades and go into work mode. from a 15k start I move into the 20k range then the 25k the 40k I knew I was the best player at the table until my nut flush got quaded by aces (Brian Rast in one drop) I was like "What next" with a smile. So I drop to 9k. But I knew I had to fight and fight I did. This field started with 839 players with the top 90 getting paid and $34,000 $21,000 and $13,000 up top. So I went into eastcoast swag mode and made a move. 200 left, 150 left 100 left. Now we are breaking the money bubble. So with 55 players left I get AA dude bets I shove He calls shows 77 and yep 7 on the river which was a 240k pot and dropped me to 65k. So again back to the grind 45 left 35 left 27 left. The structure was crazy the table chip leader at that point had only 12-13 BB so if you had more than 5 you had value. I called a shorties shove and hit a open end straight and thats when I knew It was going to happen. 25 left 20 left 16 left 12 left.
     Final Table chop talk started when we had 9 but the who signs for what tax wise could not be worked out. chop would had been $10,000 each (roughly) so next one out gets $1,300. 8 left 7 left 6 left Im doing ok with chips durning this run beween 600k-2.1m  blinds are high as hell. I polielty tell he table that there was no way I wasnt winning this. 5 left 4 left. now a 4 way chop is $17,000 again cant work it out. 3 left female players husband said no deal keep in mind blinds are 300,000-600,000 there is very little skill at this point. I said to them "your nuts" then I knocked her out. Now we are heads up with the blinds 400,000-800,000 and a 100,000 ante and get this only 12.5m chips in play. At this point my twitter had blow up on the east coast support but all my Vegas peeps were sleeping because its like 5am. 15 hours later Im heads up and playing for $34,166 or $21,000. and after 4 hands it was over the ultimate redemption.The poker gods came through, From my worst day to my best day (so far) It was all about character the will to overcome adversity.
     So I was about to pack up and head home then one of my coaches from the Inside The Minds..Dwyte Pilgrim suggested that I play in the Caesars 1K
     Caesars 1K A day got there late in level 5 which was my first mistake and never got on track. After I busted  my boys were like stay and play again
     Caesars 1K B day much better here got up to 74k from a 30k startimg stack then got knocked down three times and faded. again I felt it was time to leave but my boys were like you put that much in and its a huge tourney. I said ok
     Caesars 1K C day. This was the day where everyone was scrambling to get in this. There were 80 alternates waiting at one time. Many Many Many well know players were in the house. Again I get off to a good start as I move up to 89K then a few hours later after trying to knock out an agressive German I was down to 40K but after looking down at AA and flopping a set and turning the boat and getting max out of it I knew I was bagging something. So the three day entry total was 1,602 players with 166 from the A and B day surviving the C day had only 930 players and only 92 survivors and me:) I bagged 83K
     Caesars 1K Day 2 probably the best poker I ever played I did allot with nothing and I had my mentor at my table Dwyte Pilgrim. I held my own very well picked every right spots folded 3 hands that I would have busted if I played. Started with 83k up to 103k and went card dead for 3 hours but managed to stay even. Players were dropping at a rapid pace so I knew I was going to get in the money so I had to wait for a good spot to shove. We are now at 200 then 190 then 185 then hand for hand then after the bubble broke all hell broke loose players were fallng like 3 per hand so again I knew I had time to look for a good spot and after dropping to 60k I got 99 in vs 55 and doubled to 135k then about 7 hands later with the blinds at 5k-10k with a 1k ante I had about 105k left I looked down and saw AQ hearts and a player raised 25k I shove and he calls with KK but the flop was 49Q (2 hearts) "ONE TIME" I said 14 outs twice and the dream of going back to back was over A 270k pot...I finished 128th for $2,464. First place was $260,000 then $184,000 -$112,00 -$94,000 I really felt that if I would have hit that hand I was going very deep.
     So it was all about redemption and overcoming the adversity and I did that. Poker as we all know is a skill game sprinkled in with bits of bad luck.
    Want to thank all those that invested in me and even though the Rio deep stack hit for $34,166 wasnt in there package they all got paid as if it was. Good guy doing the right thing.
    I put the Poker world on alert a while back because I know I have the game to play on a high level and after some intense Inside the minds training with poker greats like Lee Childs, Gavin Smith, Jason Young, Dwyte Pilgrim, Matt Glantz Im surely ahead of schedule.
    Team Propayne  Antonio "Anthony" Payne

1 comment:

  1. Great Job Anthony - glad to see you are doing well. You did what most of us poker players dream of doing. I wish you all the luck!
    Marlene O'Grady

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