Mission WSOP

The last thing I ever thought was that I would be attending the 2008 Aussie Millions Championship in Australia.  Thanks to an unusual turn of events and a run of two outers that very few people including myself have ever seen, now I’m sitting here on the eve of the final day of the Main Event of this magnificient poker tournament waiting to play at the final table of a major event.  Who knew a poker blogging nobody such as myself would actually have this opportunity.

If you’ve been following along my blog leading up to the event (which there’s a good chance that you haven’t since I’m basically a nobody in the poker blogging world) you know how unlikely the course of events that led to this were that actually made this all happen.

First, there was my unlikely entry into the Battle of the Bloggers Tournament of Champions despite my abysmal and sparse showing in the actually events but my largely unread blogging skills earned me a spot through the backdoor.  Then, there was the oversleeping which led to me being blinded down to practically nothing.  Then there was the miraculous comeback to make the final table of the TOC only to face hardship once again when my ‘net lost connection with the chip lead four handed.  After frantic calls to the cable company and no satisfaction, it took a drive to a local WiFi spot to save my nearly blinded-off self yet again as I wound up heads up with Kajagugu and on break with just 3x the blinds.  Somehow I was able to mount yet another amazing comeback and knock off Kajagugu for the title despite the endless railing about my near blunder of getting disconnected and wiped out.

But the unlikely events didn’t end there as Full Tilt had to investigate my unusual IP change and the blogging world of poker was full of rumor, conjecture and controversy as I came out unscathed and with my Trip of a Lifetime to the Aussie Millions.

Then, there was the nearly disastrous personal crisis of convincing my employer to allow me 10 days off to fly to Australia.  A few back room meetings and the promise of the return to the U.S. with a koala bear for my supervisor’s supervisor’s daughter which looks like it will be going unfulfilled averted crisis #2.  Luckily, I’m at the final table because I may need the money if I’m unemployed when I return… the frustrations of a part time low-limit poker player.

Without a doubt (even if I don’t have a job when I return home) this trip is truly as Full Tilt described, a trip of a lifetime.  The action away from the tables has been neck-and-neck as exciting as the action at the tables themselves.  Parties, golfing, bowling, gambling… it’s been insane.  How one person could experience it all is beyond me but I have found a way to make it happen and have done it with minimal aggravation to my girlfriend who is also enjoying accompanying me to Australia as my guest.

I hope I’ve captured enough of the excitement away from the tables throughout my blogging but I do want to recap the highlights:

• The total embarrassment of offering to play for $5.00/hole with Phil Ivey on the very first golf outing and then whiffing on my first attempt to hit a golf ball in two years followed by the worst front 9 score I’ve ever posted… a 73 (who knew I could ever shoot higher than a 72 in 9 holes?).  That followed by a back 9 of 39 which topped my best 9 hole score of 40 (which I also did on the day I shot a 72). 
• Talking everyone into playing lowball bowling with the challenge being that you had to score the lowest score but the frames only counted if you hit at least one pin each time you rolled the ball.  Sure, anyone can knock ‘em all down but how many players can knock’em down one at a time.  My best lowball score of 25 could not be broken (don’t tell anyone I was trying my hardest).
• Meeting all of my favorite Full Tilters and pulling it off without making myself look like a total tourist as I witnessed many a poker player do during my excursions to the WSOP in 2005 and 2006.
• Breaking the Mr. Peanut-Mike Matusow controversy in my blog first (more to come on that later).
• Still keeping my Iron Man status on Full Tilt going strong by sneaking off to the hotel room to get in 30 minutes of Online play a day.
• Earning a few bounties in the bounty tournament (all while wearing my various "I Busted XXX at Full Tilt" shirts during play… sorry about that time I removed the last one only to realize I didn’t have one more on… talk about embarrassing!  By the way, do I get shirts for these bust outs, too?
• Partying it up and winning some prop bets by being one of the few party goers to not be drinking.  Boy, bets are a lot easier to win when everyone else is drunk.

Then, there’s been the action over the past few days of the Main Event which now features what may be the strangest final table with the strangest conclusion ever.  First of all, we are already down to 6 players and the final table hasn’t even started.

There’s Gus Hansen looking to defend with what looks like a seemingly impossible amount of chips going into a final table.  I think he has the 5 of us covered by a 2 to 1 combined margin.  I guess that’s what happens when you take down 5 players in one hand.  Who knew that T7 could best AA, AA, KK, QQ and JJ?

Then there’s me… who survived 3 short stack all-ins near the bubble of this event when my lower pairs sucked out against bigger pairs.  I guess all those bad beats paid off as the luck is finally coming back to me!

Then there’s Andy Bloch… another Full Tilt pro who is the only player at the table I’ve ever played with before (If you count Online play). 

Joseph Hachem is the hometown favorite although the "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oy! Oy! Oy!" chant hasn’t been heard often… thankfully!

Sure, John Malkovich is a great actor but who knew a publicity tour for the upcoming "Rounders 2" would prove that John could play poker, too?  I’m a little tired of the Teddy KGB-in character routine.  Don’t I hear it enough in Atlantic City from the wannabe players as it is?  Let’s just hope he doesn’t bring the Oreos to the table again.  Does he have to be in character all the time?

Finally, there’s the most unlikely of final table members: Mr. Peanut!  At first, I thought it was Gavin Smith who lost a prop bet… but he was dressed as Cinderella (what a sight to see that was!) because of a bet he lost with Jeff Madsen.  Bravo, Jeff for creating the most horrific scene in the history of poker since Robert Varkonyi won the WSOP Main Event.  I still don’t know who this guy is but he’s one heck of a player.  Fresh on the heels of Mike Matusow’s retirement from poker to become the new mascot for Planters after Planters sales skyrocketed from his battles with Mr. Peanut at the WSOP, it seems that "the ‘nut" (as we have taken to calling him) decided to exact revenge of his own by proving that he could outplay Matusow at his own game after Planters fired Mr. Peanut to make room for "The Mouth".  Matusow was in attendance as well as Planters sponsored him for a return to the poker world but he was subsequently ousted in the first hand when, in an unbelievable turn of events, Mr. Peanut sat as his table.  "The ‘nut" with his shaded monacle and "The Mouth" agreed to push all-in blind and the results were sick.  Matusow turned over pocket Jacks and Mr. Peanut turned over pocket 7s.  The flop was J-7-5 and at that point Matusow had the mortal nuts.  The turn was a 2 and the river was a 7 giving Mr. Peanut the absolute nuts.  (Kinda hungry for some cashews now!)

Anyway, as the tournament progressed Matusow and Peanut consistently battled but Peanut kept true to character and never said a word, although there was some interesting gestures thrown Matusow’s way… and I thought that battle at the 2007 WSOP was for show.

Time to get some rest so that I’m ready for this final table… who knows what will happen?  I’m not going to try to predict this thing after the course of events that led up to this.  Thanks to Full Tilt for this great opportunity and thanks for following along on my Aussie Millions blog!