WRGPT Swan Song

by Jim Woods

Those of you who read my last article know that for the first time, I competed in this year's Worldwide Recreational Gambling Poker Tournament (WRGPT), which bills itself as "probably the World's oldest and biggest free email poker tournament." I use the past tense for a reason, because I am now on the cyber-rail in that tourney, finishing 20th out of 1,133. The way I bit the dust, however, may interest some of you.

I was in the big blind with 7 7, and I was in fifth or sixth place in the tourney. After a couple of folds, a player in mid-late position (an aggressive sort) raised about 7% of my stack and the button called. I had already decided that was an easy call when the tourney's biggest stack (let's call him "Rhino") re-raised from the small blind. Now a call would cost me almost 40% of my stack!

Looking back, it's easy to say, "Fold those sevens and wait for a decent hand in strong position." However, I felt that Rhino was, well... playing big-stack poker. He knew he could put me all-in, lose, and still be in eleventh or twelfth place in the tourney, and he probably assessed the initial bettor's raise the way I did - as a steal attempt. Rhino's re-raise was enough to put both him and the button all-in and the big stack may have discounted the thought that I would even call (I had been folding rather regularly before that hand).

Therefore, I buckled my chin strap, put Rhino on a big ace, and called. The other two players folded and the flop was a gorgeous 5 8 6! I had flopped an open-ended straight-flush draw, plus my pair might be good! Even before Rhino made his next move, I used one of the advantages of the WRGPT over a live or online tournament. I had plenty of time to run many different scenarios through my trusty poker odds calculator.

Some of the results were surprising: I would be about even money against a flopped set, and I'd be a 60-40 favorite against an overcard pair IF Rhino didn't have a diamond. Even if he had an overpair that contained a diamond, I'd only be a 34-66 underdog and my pot odds would be better than 2-to-1 if he put me all-in. If he only had two overcards (one of the likely scenarios preflop), I'd be an 88-12 favorite if he had no diamond and a 62-38 favorite even if he had a diamond.

Not unexpectedly, he put me all-in on the flop. Nothing about that move convinced me that he had a diamond. In fact, I'd have expected him to put maximum pressure on me if he DIDN'T have the diamond flush draw and DIDN'T have a pair. Also, I figured it was nearly impossible for him to have flopped a straight, and he almost surely would have checked if he flopped a flush. Therefore, right or wrong, I felt fairly confident. As Phil Ivey says in a Full Tilt commercial, "I like my chances... I'm all-in."

Well, Phil is a helluva lot better than I am. Unfortunately for me, Rhino DID have an overcard pair and DID have a diamond. He had re-raised preflop from the small blind with J J. Apparently he wanted to put maximum pressure on me in case I had a bigger diamond (no such luck!) Therefore, I had only ten outs and none of them fell. In fact, even if all he had was an ace, he'd have won anyway, since one fell on the turn. To add insult to injury, the river was another jack, giving my opponent trips, a monstrous chip lead in the tourney and giving me a place at the rail.

Would I do anything differently if it happened all over again? I think so, at least preflop. A medium pair isn't that great of a hand and I could have been seeing the flop with three opponents, two of whom I couldn't get out with any bet and the other having almost double my stack. Maybe, in hindsight, a fold was in order preflop, but once I saw the flop, I don't think you could've gotten me away with a tractor! If I had won that hand, I'd have had the chip lead, with 50% more than my nearest competitor and after all, it IS a free tourney.

But that is another very cool aspect of the WRGPT. With a few notable exceptions, especially very early in the tournament, most of the players DON'T play it like a freeroll, they take it fairly seriously. I saw many plays (and hopefully made a few) that were exactly like what you see in tournaments with substantial buy-ins. Even the yahoos who got knocked out early weren't playing that differently from those you encounter in many of the smaller real-money tourneys. You know the type... determined to bully their way (or ride some incredible luck) to a big stack quickly, or else get busted so they can play a cash game. So the fact that the WRGPT has no entry fee and awards no prizes does not at all deprive it of much of the feel, excitement, and plain fun of tournaments that cost money. In addition, what real-money tournament makes available a hand history of EVERY hand your opponent has played, including those at other tables that didn't include you?

Where does the tournament stand now? As of this writing, thirteen players remain. The average chip stack is about 1.75 million, with 10,000-chip antes and blinds of 30,000 and 60,000 chips, so the average survivor has ten or more rounds worth of antes and blinds. Translation. It could go on for a while. Go to www.wrgpt.org for updates.

Hopefully this article and my last one have inspired some of you to enter WRGPT 18. Registration will begin this September or October. If you are at my table, please send me a note in the chat and let me know what you think of my articles or the tourney! I MAY even refrain from check-raising you...once.

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About the Author:
Jim Woods is a middle-aged attorney (but please don't hold that against him) that loves fishing and poker. He has an undergraduate degree... that comes in handy in poker, less so in poker. His one favorite poker fantasy? Using Cling Eastwood's famous line on Phil Hellmuth while having him dominated in a hand: "I know what you're thinking... But what you gotta as yourself is: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well... do ya, punk?