WSOP - TP makes the final table!!! And then...

[Aequitas58]

OH man. I thought you took it down. Ass.

But dude, that is awesome. $44k ... good for you.

[nutbag]

Congradulations, must have felt great to get that high, but been tough to finish sixth. How much longer are you out there, and are you going to play anything else?

[Talking Poker]

I'm leaving on a red eye Friday night. Since I've done nothing but play poker for the past 2 days, I want to get back to covering the Main Event a bit tomorrow. It's funny... I saw Matusow during one of our mutual breaks and was asking him about his stack. He told me where he was at, which put him in the chip lead or damn close to it. I told him how impressed I was, adding, "Not bad for a guy who dropped 4 F bombs in level 1" - That gave him a 40 minute penalty, in case you hadn't heard. He's talked about quitting playing poker forever if he finished high enough in this event, and I asked him about that. I sense he believes it, but I also don't think he'd actually quit. Love him or hate him, the guy is damn good. I'm hoping he makes the final table. Ivey and Raymer too. Can you imagine???

Anyway, I told Mike I was on break from the final table in the $1000 event across the room and he wished me luck. Right back atcha, Mike!

It was funny... when they announced the final table, the TD mentioned that I was a "Media Guy" and he read my name with "Talking Poker" in the middle, just like I wrote it. Pretty sweet, huh? Not 5 minutes later, TWO people I know from home had joined the railbirds watching. They couldn't believe it when they heard my name announced.

Sorry this is all so random.... my mind is kinda still gong crazy, ya know?

As for being so close to the bracelet and finishing 6th, I'm really not all that upset. Had my 77 held up and I taken down that near 100,000 chip pot, I seriously believeI would have had a VERY GOOD shot at winning the whole thing. But I was so crippled not long after that, that when we got to the final table, I had low expectations. I figure 9th was probable, 8th was possible, and 7th was a long shot. To finish 6th.... well, I'm thrilled with that.

[Scamp]

Woohoo! Congratulations. The suspense was killing me.

[Talking Poker]

Let me just tell you guys, this was the time of my life. I can't even imagine what it must be like to cash in the Main Event. But this was a WSOP Event, for a bracelet.... and I finished 6th. 6th!

Random stuff:

I played spectacular poker for 2 days, if I do say so myself. I filled a notebook with specific hands that I will post about, including a few I'd love to get some input on.

My reads were spot on for the entire tournament. I was focused, and it felt "easy" to me, if that makes any sense. I'm not going to tell you I could see into their souls or that it was like they were playing with their cards face up, but I am telling you I was "on."

Not counting the very end when I was short stacked and had no choice, I literally put my money in with the worst hand exactly once the entire tourney (calling an all in reraise from a guy I had covered). And when I did, it was the right decision because of the odds the pot was laying me and the range of hands I put him on. More on that specific hand (and many more) later.

I put 0 bad beats on anyone over the full 2 days.... Not a single suckout.

I (all but) always had the best hand when the money went in, and most of the time, my hands held up. I was fortunate and didn't take any sick beats, although I did see a few.

Did I get lucky? In the sense of putting bad beats on people, no, not at all.... but in the sense of not taking bad beats, yes, probably. I think my overpairs that should have held up 80% of the time held up 100% of the time. When I had someone dominated (AK vs AT for example), I won 100% of those. these numbers are higher than expectations, so in that sense, I had a bit of luck.

Now let's talk about my cards. I had exactly 1 flush the entire tournament (very early on), 0 straights, and 0 full houses. I kid you not. I didn't flop a single set! I had AA exactly once. One guy who was still alive when I got knocked out had them six times yesterday alone. I should know, because I saw at least 3 or 4 of them. My point here - my cards weren't spectacular, but I made due with what I had.

77 was my enemy this entire tourney. As I said, I'll go into the details later, but the one time I called an all in reraise with the worst hand, I had 77 and he had TT. I stand by my decision that it was the correct play though, which I will explain later. With about 15 players left, I raised from the button with 77. The BB (good player, but aggressive and likes to defend his BB) reraised me all in. Because of how long he took to act and how he acted (it's hard to explain), I was certain he didn't have a bigger pair than me. I figured it was a race, and even though I had been trying to avoid playing big pots, I decided to go for it, figuring if I won that hand, I'd have a monster stack at the final table. I called (for better than 2:1 pot odds) and he turned over Q9o. He hit a queen, and I lost a 96,000 chip pot.

The final table was crazy. I had around $17,000 chips when we got there. The chip leader had something like $350,000. The average stack was about $110,000. One guy was so short stacked, I HAD to wait for him to get knocked out, and I did. Hello $9000 increase in the payouts - 9720 for 10th (we played the final table 10 handed - most of ITM was 9 handed) and $17,670 for 9th - the "official" final table.

We were down to 9 when we went to dinner. I told my buddies I needed to make a move and wsn't going to just sit there and get blinded off, since I had literally less than 1 round of blinds/antees left. One of them said something about "any face card," and I said, "No way. I'm looking for a nice little suited connector hand, like 67." 2 hands into the final table, when I looked down and saw 6d7d, I knew it was time to go for it. I pushed in (from UTG!), even though the chip leader was on the BB. Everyone folded and he called with KTo. I hit a 6 and BAM, right back in it. Not 15 or 20 minutes later, I'm sitting with over $80,000 chips (and no, I wasn't playing recklessly), and TWO more players are gone! Hello $26,510. Hello, $35,345. I've never been in a situation like this in my life. Someone gets knocked out by another player, and $9000 falls into my pocket. Are you kidding me???

Eventually, the blinds ate away my stack, and I made a few questionable lay downs. My final hand was 9dTd in MP. I pushed in, and got called by the button and the BB. I was hoping to triple up when the flop came 55J with 2 diamonds. Both players checked. When a black 7 hit the turn, the BB checked and the button actually bet at it. The BB said "Well, I hope you've got him" and threw his hand away. The button turned over his A5, giving me 12 outs with my gutshot and flush draw. The river was a black 6, and I was eliminated. I shook a few hands and the crowd (no cameras, but we did have a small crowd) applauded. I think I was the fan favorite

$44,160. I tipped $560 (they told me between 1 and 2% was standard), leaving me with $43,600. They paid me in chips. $600 of those turned into $100 bills and the rest is being wired to my bank right now.

I did have a backer for these two events (for the first time ever, ironically), so he's getting his $2500 back and then half of what's left after that... Figure that leaves me with around 20 grand or so before taxes... Do I regret being backed and having to pay out half of this prize money? Absolutely not! Basically, I was on a freeroll for half of the announced prize pool, which was cool with me. And I'm thrilled that I turned my guy's $2500 into almost 10 times that amount for him! He originally told me this was a "one time thing," but now that this investment paid off, maybe he'll reconsider.

So, there you have it. Pretty sweet, huh?

It's a wicked shame this final table wasn't televised. I'd love for you guys to be able to see it, and I wouldn't mind seeing some of the other guys hole cards either.

[junYUN]

anyone catch the name of the 6th place finisher in this event

totally unrelated topic

totally

[Talking Poker]

LOL. Funny.... I just posted about this in Geoffs thread.

If the guy who runs can survive without anonymity, so can I, right?

[nutbag]

I think the heading under your name defiantely fits now.

[Talking Poker]

Funny, cause that's not even how I meant it when I wrote it.... I meant it like, "I'm the man behind the man," as in the guy in charge. But thanks.

[Talking Poker]

Here are a few more pics....

Bagging Chips for the first time in my life last night.

[Talking Poker]

One more quick thing to add here.... You would not believe how many times I tossed hands like AJ and even AQs, depending on the situation. I have no way of knowing for sure about all of them, but some of the laydowns I made were BIG.

I just checked. I have 8 pages of notes from the $1500 event (where I got busted with AQs, I might add) and 30 pages from this event. This is a small notebook, mind you, but still. There are a lot of hands I want to tell you about. One of them was, IMO, the best call I have made in my life. I called a helathy river bet with second pair and a flush on the board. No way would I make this call against a weaker player, but this guy was solid, and I was near certain I knew the move he was putting on me. And I was exactly right.

Oh, one more thing... I really enjoyed the people I got to play with. It's funny, online, people are so rude to each other, but in person, it's usually a totally different atmosphere. Robert Williamson III is an awesome guy, who I really enjoyed playing with, and learned a thing or two from too. He can go from being chatty and laughing and having fun to literally a blank expression after he looks at his cards when it's a hand he wants to play. It's really something.

I also got to play with Drew Dean - Matt Dean's brother (Matt finished 7th in the 2004 WSOP).... nice guy. I was rooting for him to go deep, but he got knocked out sometime today at a different table.

And lastly but not least, I met our very own (well, 2+2's very own, really), O Doyle Rules. You know, the guy who played 120,000 hands at True Poker for his WSOP buy in. I asn't at his table long, but he noticed my TP.com gear and introduced himself. Very nice guy.... Hopefully he'll come around these parts a little more often.

[O Doyle Rules]

Hey Talking Poker Guy,

Congrats on your win! Very impressive!

And thanks for not blowing my cover at the table. I wish they hadn't broken up our table so quickly. I felt it was one of the easier tables I had been seated at as far as the level of competition. (Except for you of course)

Again congrats and hopefully I can catch up with you at next year's WSOP.

[Talking Poker]

Hey, no worries. I wanted to tell them about it, because I think it's such a cool story, but of course I respect your privacy... that's why I asked first and dropped it when you said you'd rather keep it out little secret.

I had been moved twice relatively quickly BEFORE getting to your table, but I agree with you. I had strong reads on pretty much everyone there in no time. I wish I had taken better notes during the tourney (I have enough as it is). I think you and I only butted heads in one hand, if memory serves, and you folded to my continuation bet

It was nice meeting you. If nothing else, I hope you had a great time!

[PShabi]

Man TP,

You are one helluva poker player. Can't tell you how happy I am to read this this morning.

You need to get into more live events, plain and simple.

I smell a forum freeroll in honor of the win. $1,000 prize pool moneybags?????

Just imagine the confidence you are going to go back with next year.

Congratulations once again. We're all proud!

[GeoffM]

Pshabi, you took the words right out of my mouth, except for that paltry amount you mentioned .

TP, congratulations again. Hopefully your well coordinated uniform will bring some more members at this years WSOP to this forum.

[PShabi]

I had 10,000 at first, but I figured I could make it a little more realistic. I figured I had a better chance to take advantage of TP's euphoria.

[badblood44]

TP - Great job!!! I'm trying to keep my levels of envy down to managable levels.

When you finally get all caught up, make a thread dedicated to all the pix you took, I'd extremely interested in seeing them.

Thanks in advance!

[Zybomb]

Amazing finish -- it sucks this event wont be on TV, Id be interested to hear what ESPNs "superstar" commentators think of your play. Great job though and nice cash

I definately hope to be in Vegas for some of the series next year.

[Talking Poker]

Thanks.... How about some props in that blog of yours? We could use a little new blood around here, so maybe a mention would send some people over.

As for the pics, I'll post galleries of large images on the main part of the site like I did last year, but I'll pick and choose seom for a thread too, probably. It will be at least a week, I'm guessing.

[BrianSwa]

cant say im suprised, I thought you would do good. Not saying I knew you where gonna final table but saying from what ive seen how you play in the past figured you would have a good showing. Just think about it you just final tabled a WSOP event, I can't even comprehend how that must feel.

Nice job TP, I cant wait until next year when you win it.

[Talking Poker]

Thanks.

It feels awesome. This was a huge boost for my tournement confidence. It's been a while since I've had a really nice finish in a tourney (online, of course). I go fairly deep more often than not, but I never quite seem to make it to the big money. It always seems like some ridiculous beat ends up crippling me or finishing me off, but at some point, you have to stop making excuses and start re-evaluating if you are a good tourney player or not. I was honestly thinking about cutting way back on tourneys and sticking to cash games, where I have a proven track record.... but thanks to this, not only am I well ahead in lifetime tourament play now, but I've got the itch to play more

I've also got 320 Player of the Year points now!


I feel like I've got to play in another couple of qualifying events sometime this year. I've final tabled in 50% of the qualifying events I've played in now. LOL...

[sea]

Good for you! I couldn't be any happier for you.

[Dante1963]

Well done, TP! Well done!

Winning $44k and hanging with Shannon Elizabeth...not a bad week, all in all.

[drewjax]

Congrats again to our leader. AND I almost forgot. There is someone else trying to steal your girl. I followed the ME for a bit at pokertrails.com. Whoever that guy is, he is also claiming to have a thing with lovely Miss Shannon!! Whats the deal? Ho, in the house or what, lol..............

[Talking Poker]

My backer is a big Jennifer Tilly fan. So he's got an autographed TP.com hat coming to him with his fat check (she played in this event too). Nice touch, eh?