WSOP Steps

So I was reading 2+2 this afternoon and saw a thread about UB offering steps for this year's WSOP. There's 10 steps and the first step starts at $.10+$.01 where the stakes basically triple all the way to step 10 which is $2250+$100. You can buy into any of the steps directly, but UB is offering an extra incentive if you go wire to wire from $.10 to the main event. If you're one of the first ten people to do this, the site will also throw in an $8,500 package to the UB Aruba Classic. Also, if you end up winning the main event, UB will throw in an extra $10 million.

I looked into it more and the structure is not bad. If you finish in the top two, you move up a level, if you finish 3rd or 4th you get to try again at the same level, and 5th moves down a level (except at level 1 when you get to try again and level 10 where 5th pays nothing). With the safety net you have a good chance of moving up gradually if you keep working at it.

I actually did this three years ago on Party Poker (those were the days). Party was offering a 5-step structure that started at $11 and ended at $1665. I took a shot and throughout the month of April of 2006 I gradually got over the hump and got my chance at step 5. It was the last weekend of April and I was already starting to plan my visit to Vegas. I was a college student and it would be during the summer, so no worries about having it interrupt anything else that was going on. 

So I sat down and it took awhile to get the table going, but the game started and after a little while we were down to 4 players. I was the shortstack, and ended up getting dealt Q8, raised from the CO, BB (who was the big stack) called, and then put me all-in on a Q-high flop. I called and didn't improve, my Q8 was no good against his QJ.

Moved down a level but worked my way to the final level one more time. This time I would suffer an early exit on this hand. I still think 3 years later my play was at least defensible. I ended up getting it in as a 3:2 favorite, and I think it was a mistake for villain to call off most of his chips that early in the tournament. As for me risking that many chips on the all-in overpush, what are my other options there? I could make a smaller reraise, but if I get called it would be tough not to open-push the flop no matter what. I could just fold, which might not be terrible either, but I would be given too much credit to a button raise. Calling is probably out of the question given the stack sizes. We're not deep enough to just take a flop and see what happens. FWIW though, villain played but did not cash in the 2006 main event. 

So here I am three years later. The last two years I did not make an effort to satellite into the main event. Party for one was no longer around and the buyins that were available on other sites were much higher. Last year I wasn't even playing anyway. 

Despite the well known scandal that took place last year, I put $10 that I had on a gift card and made a deposit. One good thing about UB is that it does accept Visa gift cards. I had to call up though and verify everything to a live rep before the deposit went through, but at least it was only a gift card so I didn't mind giving the information.

I got the $10 onto the site and sat down at a level 1 table. Play was very passive, a lot of limping, not a lot of preflop raising. For the first few orbits I was doing nothing but folding. I got to see a few flops in the BB but had to throw them away after the flop. Finally got AJo in the 2nd level (10/20) and after a few limps just limped behind in the CO. Flop came J85 two . Someone bet $50, one call, I raised to $190 (stupid slider), and got 1 call from an EP player. Turn came offsuit 7, he checked, I potted it for $460. River came offsuit 6, went check-check and I took it down against his busted spades. After that I had a few steals and all-in double ups but I would end up finishing 3rd however after getting it all-in with QQ against AK, only to see a K on the flop and no improvement.

After that I jumped into a turbo level 1 with my freebie, this time it would have 5 minute levels instead of 10. I was playing tight again and quickly I would find myself down to about ~1250 with 50/100 blinds. I started moving in with all sorts of crazy hands. At one point I moved in 4 hands in a row, had suited connectors one time, a suited ace one time, and AJo the third time. Took it down uncontested each time. By the time it got to hand #4 I was in the BB with 66 against a few limpers. I decided to gamble and just shoved it in, knowing one person may call me light. I went up against J8 with my 66. J6x flop came and I doubled up. 

Pretty soon I ended up being the big stack and now didn't want to just open-shove. We got down to 4 handed too pretty quickly so the blinds were getting higher and I couldn't just sit on it. Luckily for me the BB was tight and would let me get away with 3x raises in the small blind. Even when it was 150/300 with a 25 ante I could still raise to $900 and take it down. Got down to 3 handed with me, that player to my left, and another player. The other two players got it in quite a few times and each time the shorter stacked player would have the worst hand going in and would suckout. This happened 3 or 4 times. I stayed afloat with my blind steals, mostly raising out of the SB and folding a lot of hands on the button as it had been mostly a preflop game at this point. Still though, none of my raises were being challenged by the other two players. If they didn't have it, they folded.

Finally the other two players were 260 chips apart and got it all-in. Of course the short stack won (the player to my left), but that left the other player crippled. Next hand my friend to the left is on the button and stupidly raises to $1270 with blinds at 200/400-50. I had like 3300 behind at this point and didn't want to risk it. I folded and let the other 2 play it out and fortunately the short stacked player was eliminated. 

So I move on to level 2 where I'll give it a try when I get a chance. It will probably be another turbo, just let me get to the push stages and do my thing. If the first few levels play like this though (which someone on 2+2 did say they were kind of soft up to level 5), I like my chances of moving up the ladder, even if it takes a few tries at each level.