WSOPC Biloxi

The World Series of Poker Circuit Event at Imperial Palace in Biloxi, Mississippi marks the 4th stop on the Circuit Tour in the 8th season that will offer 17 stops in all from September 2011-May 2012. The Circuits unofficial motto is “12 rings in 12 days” First the ring then the bracelet. The purpose of the Circuit is an additional opportunity for players to earn points for that all but valuable seat into the $ 1Million National Championship Freeroll to play for a WSOP Bracelet & over $ 250K for first! Each stop will conclude with a $1600 Main Event played as a Re-Entry event so those players who fail to bag chips that play day 1A can always Re-Enter day 1B as a new player with a new stack. Both flights play the same number of levels in the structure to come upon an exact end point. The remainder of both flights move on to Day 2 & then play down in accordance to the structure sheet until a champion is reached. The Main Event Champion receives first place money, The Ring, & an automatic entry into the $ 1 Million National Championship Freeroll in Las Vegas Nevada. Lastly the individual at each stop whom amasses the most points that is not the Main Event Champion qualifies for a seat as well as Casino Champion.

It all started with a dream & waking up to see that Co-Owner of Gulf Coast Poker.Net Gene Dudek finished in 3rd place in the massive $355 re-entry that brought in a field of 477 players. It was a great way to start off the series earning Gene D $ 13,348 & 30 points that go toward the National Championship Freeroll. This is only the beginning of what was to become.

Thursday November 3, 2011. Bill Phillips & I arrive in the late afternoon in time for him to late register the $ 235 $ 1K mega satellite. Bill has the patients to wait where others don’t & manages to pick his spots when others would have shoved orbits before with any two. Not that I am saying he is overly tight, but patients & discipline in live poker are crucial to long term survival, but I am saying he understands basic game theory & that there are edges that exist in live poker that may not exist online due to lack of your opponent’s knowledge. So after several hours of grinding the short stack Bill turns that knowledge & experience into a $ 1K seat which starts @ 12pm on Friday. Ship it.

So while Bill is busy winning his seat into the $ 1K I am playing the $ 120 nightly. Yea I know, it better known as the shit storm. You start off with T3k in chips but 30 minute levels. Wait? 30 minute levels? For a nightly? I know right? Anyway, not much happens early as I pick up very few hands early on. Then in level 2 from middle position I look down at two black sevens (77) with T3K behind. I decide to open @ 50/100 to 250. I pick up a call in late position as well as the small & big blinds. Odd as it seems they would both flat a hand even being an early level to play the rest of the hand out of position (oop). The flop comes 3-3-9 with two clubs. The small blind checks, big blind checks, I make a continuation bet 300 & I get flat called 3 ways. Interesting. Turn card comes the 7 of diamonds. GIN!!!!!! Sb checks. BB checks behind. I bet 800. Late position folds, sb & bb insta ships & I snap call. Sb turns over A3. BB turns over J3. The unimportant river was the A & I eliminate 2 players in one hand. I thought that this would be the all important turn of events for me. The one that started the little glimmer of hope. A little run good perhaps? Not quite. Only poor play & coolers to follow imo, but nonetheless the weekend does continue to get better. I eventually bust the nightly with about 4 partial tables left. 110 players began & they were paying the top 12 spots. Let’s just say for discussion purposes that I bust in 40th place, but I don’t really remember. So the rest of the evening we decided to rail Gene Dudek in the previous days 12pm. This was Gene’s 2nd final table of the series & he also went on to finish 3rd in the event for a little over $6k.


So after what has seemed to be a short yet grueling day. Between sweating Gene D @ his 2nd Noon final table & Bill in the $ 1K mega then playing the nightly, it was up to the room in attempt to get some sleep & back downstairs @ 12pm to sweat Bill & Gene in the $ 1K while I tried to make up my mind to decide whether I wanted to grind sit n go's or grind cash. After several hours I finally came to the conclusion that a $ 125 with a $ 40 10 way last longer sit n go it was. Super soft table other than Blake Barrouse & Cameron Ainsworth with both sitting to my left, long story short, I chop the last longer three ways & take $ 120. Then chop the sit and go heads up for $ 500 each. Now this is where the weekend started to get interesting for me. I had a decision to make. Bill & Gene were doing well in the $ 1K. The Main Event started tomorrow. I was going to late register the 5pm mega with a voucher & sold Gene 33% for $ 50. So essentially for the $ 75 dollar buy in + voucher ($50) + Gene $50 , I get T8K going into 200/400/50 & they were giving 41 seats away with over 300+ registered. I managed to last down to about 150 or so when I had no choice but to shove J5hh from UTG with 3bb get reshoved on by UTG+3 with QQ flop a FD & brick the final two streets. Figuring my weekend is now over & I can either go continue to sweat Bill & Gene which is actually quite exciting for me. Most players don’t enjoy it unless they have a financial interest, but railing good friends of mine & providing moral support is something I really don’t mind, or I could go grind cash. I decide to continue to provide moral support instead. As it starts to get later in the night, Bill & Gene are making it deeper in the $ 1K & it appears that they are poised to make a dual final table which would be super exciting as well as great publicity for www.GulfCoastPoker.Net.

But this is where things start to get interesting. As much as I want to continue to be there for my friends as moral support, I don’t get out of the house often enough to play poker & I am having a desire to play. Trying to decide on whether I should play in cash games or should I in the Main Event. The biggest problem I have is the Main event is over-extending my bankroll a little so the only way I can play is by selling 5% blocks for $ 100. I eventually sold 5 10% blocks & I had 50% of myself with the standard 80/20 deal. 337 players entered both flights for a total prize pool of $490,335 which would pay the top 36 spots & $ 112K for 1st. I feel like I definitely owe a shout out to Jeremy Gaubert, Blake Barrouse, Kenny Milam, Ryan Lenaghan, & Jacob Naquin. Thank you for the opportunity & for believing in me. I have a long way to go when it comes to tournament poker & this was a great learning opportunity. Unfortunately running KK into AA AIPF for 50BB is standard I guess.

In the end on the $ 1K Bill & Gene do make a dual final table with Bill finishing in 8th place for about $3.5K & Gene in 2nd place for about $ 20K. Ultimately this 2nd place finish is what locked up “Casino Champion” & a seat in the National Championship Freeroll for Gene Dudek which came down to the wire in the final ring event & the last 4 players on Monday. Bill also decided to play the main after a single table satellite following the $ 1K & his solid play continued. Bill survived Day 1 with a little over starting stack with what amounted to about 20BB going into Day 2. He continued solid play. Doubled up when he needed it. Picked his spots & found folds when Necessary. He was in the zone. He found a way to stay disciplined, focused, & where there was a will he found a way. He never gave up. Bill made the End of Day 2, Bagged up chips for the last time of the tournament series & would come back for day 3 play a short session to get down to the final table & it was short work indeed. In the end Jerry Monroe takes out Bill in a coin flip AQ vs. 99 AIPF & only 3 hands into HU action. This was only 3 hands after Monroe had hit the miracle 4 outer when he hit his gutter on the turn against Jacob Naquin, otherwise he ends up crippled & it would be J Nock vs. Bill Phillips HU for the title. But congrats to Jerry Monroe even though he was the same guy who knocked me out of the main as well. Life has a sick sense of humor sometimes.