I've been dry from real money poker for the last three and a half weeks, but poker is still a presence in my life that I can hardly escape, nor do I really want to.
I've been playing Poker Academy 2.0 a couple times a week not only working on my game but also my money management. I simulated what I want to do when I actually do accumulate some scratch, and that is I started myself with a $1,000 bankroll and I try to play within my limits. I've mostly been hitting up $.25-$.50, $.50-$1 and a couple $50 buy-in tournaments. You may laugh and ask, "How can a computer program possibly be as realistic as online and live poker?"
Like online and live poker, each player in the program has a completely different style, and the better ones adapt to your game at a faster rate. To be honest, I feel like the computer has put me in just as many marginal situations as real poker. I feel my game improving, and I guess that's the purpose.
But enough about me and more about the World Series of Poker. Up until the granddaddy of them all, I'd been following the series casually. I know that Phil Hellmuth and Allen Cunningham both notched bracelets (Hellmuth's record setting 11th) and that Tom Schneider, the WSOP player of the year, is having a hell of a tournament with three final tables and a bracelet. However, maybe it's ESPN's fault, but I feel it's all about what happens in the main event.
Play started two days ago, and I can already tell that this year's field will be much smaller than last year's. It'll probably be around the size of the 2005 main event when more than 5,500 sat.
There are storylines buzzing all around, but for me it comes down to this: recognizeable veteran, Internet whizkid, or average Joe off the street who decided to give the WSOP a try?
It'd be cool to see one of the first two come away with the title this year, but the beauty of the series is the fact that anyone can win.
With that in mind, here are some of the players I'm rooting for:
Daniel Negreanu
He's probably one of the top five poker players in the world in my estimation, and he's proven that with 26 cashes and three bracelets, but in order to be the best, he's got to conquer the massive main event field. I don't know if his crafty style of play translates very well to this huge field of amateurs, but no one has better instincts than this man.
Phil Ivey
You can probably cut and paste a lot of what I said about Negreanu and transfer it down to Ivey. He's got five bracelets (amazingly none in Hold 'Em) and 26 cashes, and if you ask people who the best player in the world is, Ivey is definitely on that short-list. If he doesn't get too bored I think he'll at least cash, but if he gets hungry, I really do think he's got a shot.
Paul Wasicka
He finished 2nd last year, which is cool and all but I wanted to see what he did after the WSOP. Well, he's actually one of the hottest players of the past 12 months, having amassed a sick run of finishes which included the National Heads-Up Championship this year and a 4th place finish at the LA Classic. His tight-aggressive game is geared perfectly for this tournament, and it seems like he's always making the right decision. Plus, his backstory of how he got started kind of reminds me of me.
Joe Hachem
He followed up his win in 2005 with an impressive 2006, and while he's been fairly quiet this year, I think a victory in the Main Event would go a long way in solidifying his status as a legitimate player in the poker world. He's already out of Day 1, which is cool because that means he's made it out of Day 1 three years in a row. He must be doing something right.
Irv Gotti
I can't believe big man made it out of Day 1... anything's possible.
