After putting some wins together at the 1-2 NL cash tables, I decided to play the WSOP $1500 NL event and chase a bracelet for the final time---887 entries and a first prize of roughly $350,000. I completely ran over my first table and ran up my initial stack of 1500 to 4000 by the first break (breaks every 2 hours). I was feeling good and rolling despite not seeing a high pocket pair (AA, KK, QQ) all day.

There were a few key hands during the next 2 hour session that helped me increase my stack to upwards of 7500. <READMORE>A European pro named whose name escapes me called my preflop raise of 800 (I held 8-9 of diamonds). The board came 5-Q-Q and I led out with 1000. He stared at me and said, "I know you don’t have the Queen," and he raised me 1000. Normally I’d let the hand go there but I knew he was weak and called his raise with the plan to take down the pot after the turn card. The turn came and Ace, which was tricky, because he called a decent preflop raise so he may have an Ace, but I decided to lead out with 2000 and after a few minutes of kicking himself, he folded his pocket jacks! A few hands later, the same guy raised in first position by betting 600 (100/200 blinds). After 4 callers, the odds were too good for me to fold my 7-9 of hearts and I called. Bingo! The flop came K-J-3 all hearts! I flopped my flush and decided to check. After a bet and two callers, I pushed all in and actually got a call from someone who had top pair and no hearts! Thank you very much sir, but horrible call!

I was rolling and that’s when it really got interesting, as Marcel Luske, the Flying Dutchman himself, settled in two seats next to me and started his singing routine. That definitely made it worth the price of admission. I went card dead for a while and played few small pots over the next two hours, but I stayed entertained by Marcel’s rendition of “Lean Back.” After 7 hours at the table, I went to dinner with over 12k in chips, well above the average of 7k.

Things got interesting right after dinner when I looked at 7-2 (but it was suited---wooohoo). Blinds were 200-400 and Marcel led out with a minraise of 800. After 3 callers, I decided to take a shot w/ my 7-2 and called. The flop came 7-J-2, all diamonds---two pair for me but a scary diamond board. I checked and observed the betting as Marcel quickly fired out 1500 and another guy quickly called. From the bets and the circumstances, I put Marcel on two high cards, possibly top pair, and maybe one diamond and the other guy definitely had a mediocre flush draw. I knew I was ahead, so I raised an additional 2500 and neither of them felt like chasing and folded after some thought. I was rolling w/ nearly 20k in chips (average around 9k) and there were approx. 180 people left out of the original 850 at this point.

At this point, Marcel was running over the table so I decided to stay away from him for the most part. He was raising hands blind and pulling out all the tricks, while singing of course. Then I picked up A-K in late position when Marcel was in the big blind, so I decided to make a big raise because he had been calling all raises with marginal hands. Surprise, surprise, Marcel called my raise. The flop came A-9-10 and Marcel checked quickly and said “Please sir, do the honors” and then started singing “Give a little bit, give a little bit of your chips to me." Honestly, I had no idea what this meant and something felt fishy, but I had top pair w/ top kicker so I led out with 1500. Marcel called quickly saying, “Be very careful, sir.” We both checked the turn (I admit that he had me on my heels). Since there were no possible flushes or straights, I thought Marcel missed his draws or had a lower Ace and bet out 1500 again. He flat called immediately and turned over 9-10 for two pair. I still have no idea why he just flat called me on the flop and river while checking on the turn, but I felt fortunate to get w/ my stack still in tact.

I won a few small pots over the next hour, and then came the biggest hand of the night. Marcel made his usual 1600 chip pre-flop raise in late position and was reraised all-in by an Irish pro for 4900. The action folded to me and I looked down to find A-K of clubs! I stared at the re-raiser and reviewed his past play (he had been at my table all day). All of a sudden everything clicked and I had dead-on read. I was willing to say that I was 70-80% sure that he held A-Q or A-J and the other 20-30% would be a race situation. I was also nearly 100% sure that Marcel would lay down his hand if I re-raised. Well, it was decision time. I could sit back and probably sail into the money and collect my first WSOP cash, or go after chips based on my read that I was a sizeable favorite and set myself up to contend for a bracelet. I was there to win, plain and simple, and I knew I needed to go w/ my first instinct and make my move. Just like I planned, I re-raised all-in, Marcel folded his hand after staring at me and singing, and I immediately stood up and said to the raiser (as heard by everyone on the rail), “Show me your Ace-Queen”. His face went stone cold and he said, “Very Nice, sir” as he turned over the A-Q of diamonds. This was the best I have ever felt at a poker table, and I was on my way to being close to the chip leader with only 120 guys left. The flop came 3-9-7, the turn brought a jack, and as you can imagine, the river brought an ugly Queen!!

Yep, that pretty much sums up my whole week here! I got all of my chips in w/ a sizeable advantage and lost again! This crippled me down to 3500 (blinds 300-600), and I quickly picked up A-K again on the button and raised all-in. The small blind quickly called (with 3-3) and Marcel decided to join the party with Q-J. They checked it all the way down and 3-3 won the pot as I failed to get any help w/ my A-K. Game over. World Series- done. Un-frickin believable!!!

It stings, but looking back it was an awesome experience! I can’t second-guess any of my plays, since I got to play w/ Marcel Luske, who honestly taught me a lot in the hours of table time. Even though I trusted my instincts and was correct, I'll always find some way to at least try to second-guess that move. One thing I know is that I was not significantly overmatched, and this experience will give me a boatload of confidence going forward. Not sure the wife's too thrilled to hear it, but this will be the first of many WSOP's for me.
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