PP.C
Million Trip Report (Long)
I
missed last year's event, so I was looking
forward to having a relaxing week with
my wife on a cruise, while playing for
250,000+ in a well run, well structured
tournament. The pressure to win started
before I left Vegas. My wife, Suzie, was
told she would need to stand-in for Doug
Dalton during the final presentation,
and give the winner of the $25,300 seat
into the WPT Bellagio event his or her
check. She told me that even though I
could not win the seat, a player can only
win one seat per season, she wanted me
on stage as she gave the seat to the second
place finisher. I told her not to keep
her hopes up.
We
got on board, and we were immediately
pleased to see the size of our room. The
Zaandam is a new boat, and the rooms are
bigger than on most boats. Card Player
Cruises had an orientation before dinner
where we learned that half of us would
play on Sunday, and the other half on
Monday. Play would begin at 10:00 AM and
go for 8 one hour levels. After playing
for the exact same amount of time on each
day, the remaining players would combine
on Tuesday night and play down to 18.
Wednesday would see the field reduced
to 6. With the final on Thursday.
I
drew a Monday starting time, and I was
pleased to only recognize one other name
at my table. There were 177 starters,
and only 41 of them bought in on their
own. The others had won their seat at
Party Poker. I know that Mike Sexton was
pleased when the event went over the million
mark. I told him that "Party Poker.Com
$992,000" didn't roll of the tongue like
"Party Poker.Com Million." Party Poker
was generous in their added money. They
paid places 19-108 between $500 and $1000,
and they added the $25,300 seat into the
Bellagio tournament. This totaled $106,000
in added money. With Foxwoods adding $25,300,
the WPT adding $200,000 for its invitational,
and Party Poker adding $106,000, this
brings the total to over $330,000 in added
money this year on the WPT. I have said
in previous posts, that if the WPT does
well on TV, we can expect the added money
to increase over time, and this is the
best way to compensate the players for
their support of the tour.
Sunday
was a day to get used to the motion of
the boat, go to the spacious fitness room,
and plan some onshore excursions. I got
a good night's sleep and settled into
my table at 10:00 AM Monday morning. John
Esposito got off to very quick start.
He turned over many big hands, and was
the chip leader after a few levels. I
started slow, but finished the day strong
at 17,000. I felt bad for our starting
table. Esposito had a huge rush early
and didn't let up, while I caught a few
cards late. Between my 17,000 and Espo's
26,000, only one other starter at our
table survived day one. This seemed to
be the exception rather than the rule
for the other tables. A check of the day
one survivors, saw the pros eliminated
at about the same rate as the online players,
and the total pro chip count did not go
up very much.
From
what I heard from pros that played in
both PP.C Millions, the play of the online
qualifiers was much improved from last
year. The extra year of play has made
a big difference.
Tuesday
found us docked in St. Martin. Suzie and
I had talked most of our dinner table
into doing an America's Cup regatta. It
was a lot of fun. We were split into four
teams, groups stayed together, and we
got to race a boat that has actually competed
in a recent America's cup race. They are
magnificent pieces of engineering, and
reached speeds of 11 knots. After a brief
history of the race and an orientation
period with job assignments, we got to
race the boats for about an hour. We got
back on the ship, had dinner, and started
playing at 8. I caught a quick rush and
found myself with over 50,000 with 50
players left. I was almost triple par.
It looked like the pros were starting
to run away with the event. Phil Hellmuth
had 60,000 and Chip Jett had about 70,000.
But wait, about an hour later, I was down
to 15,000 and Phil was down to 10,000.
Some of the online guys really caught
fire during this period, including a 21
year old law student named Dan Coupal.
At the end of day two, I had recovered
to 64,000 and Dan was the chip leader
with about 117,000. Chip Jett was second,
not far behind.
The
boat was scheduled for a customs inspection
in St. Thomas at 7:00 AM!! Since we had
left the US and were now returning, US
customs boarded the boat and made everyone
on board come to a central location and
present their passport. I decided to stay
up till 7 and then sleep in, as the final
18 would begin at 8:00 PM. There would
be no shore excursion for me today. While
we waited in the bar, Phil Hellmuth told
me that he dreamt last year that I was
going to win the first PP.C Million. Since
I didn't play last year, he thought this
meant that I would win this year. After
the inspection, I retired to my cabin,
but then the announcements started coming.
Of course a few passengers hadn't come
to the inspection and had to be rounded
up. Also for some reason, "Mr. Bingo"
made numerous calls over the intercom
for everyone to go play some bingo. Then
the generators failed and the room started
to heat up. Then more announcements from
the Captain about the status of the engines.
I managed to maintain a state of half
sleep till about 3:00 PM. I felt better
than I thought I should. Maybe some adrenaline
kicked in to get me through this important
time.
Play
started at 8:00 and I started slow. I
was down to where I could only afford
to lose a hand or two a couple of times.
One key hand. All folded to me in the
small blind, I had a K4o and decided to
raise. The BB re-raised and I called.
Flop came K53. I checked, BB bet, I raised,
BB re-raised, I was sick and called. Turn
was an A. I checked, BB bet 4000, I raised
2000 all in. What a great feeling when
the BB started to think about whether
to call the 2000. He called with 88, and
the board came a 2, giving me a wheel,
just in case.
I
limped into the final table near last
place. Then I caught fire. I went from
about 35,000 to 200,000 in about half
an hour. I made a couple of full houses,
and flopped a straight in a very big hand.
I continued to work my chips up to over
300,000 when we got down to 7 handed.
It took us about another hour to eliminate
the next player. Three different players
got short stacked and then would get there
on the river to stay alive. Finally Erick
Lingren couldn't beat my JJ with his A3.
I played with him for the first time during
this event. He impressed me as much as
any young player has impressed me in recent
years. I think we will see a lot of him
in the years to come. It seemed like I
couldn't win a pot during the final hour
and got whittled down to 217,000. Chip
Jett was chip leader with over 300,000.
The
WPT really got some great stories to talk
about with the 4 online qualifiers who
made it to the final. Dan Coupal from
Canada is 21 years old and a law student,
"Cowboy" Simpkins was quite a character.
Maureen Feduniak exudes nothing but class
and dignity. And Tim Lark got into the
event on 4 dollars!!! He entered four
$1 dollar satellites to win the $25 start
that most people use to qualify. He won
in his fourth try, then breezed through
the first and second levels to get on
the boat. Now he was at the final 6!
I
won't go into detail about the play of
the final six. You will see it during
the broadcast. I will say that I found
myself low stack a couple of times. But,
it seemed like a winning hand would come
along just when I needed it. The WPT constructed
quite a set, and the atmosphere in the
auditorium was electric. During one of
the breaks for technical difficulties,
Linda Johnson announced she was giving
away a watch for the couple who had been
married for the shortest time in the room.
Surprisingly, there were no newlyweds
at the taping. In a bizarre coincidence,
Suzie and I won the watch by a couple
of months over Chip Jett and his wife.
I guess it was an omen of things to come.
I don't believe in destiny but with my
wife being a part of the final presentation,
Phil's dream, the 5-10 other passengers
who told me I was going to win, plus the
weird marriage coincidence, you never
know.
The
engine troubles caused us to miss our
stop at Half Moon Cay on Friday. From
what I hear, this private island would
have been the highlight of the trip. Overall
Holland America got mixed reviews versus
Carnival last year. The food and the rooms
were clearly a step up over Carnival.
But the boat's service and schedule seemed
set up for older passengers. Late night
food was not very available, and only
one bar stayed open after midnight. I
think with some forward planning, the
cruise line should be able to better accommodate
the needs of us degenerate gamblers next
year. The quality of the dealers was excellent,
and Linda's no abuse policy makes for
a pleasant environment for both the players
and the dealers. Next year should be bigger
and better. The poker players had about
half of the boat this year. Maybe we will
get the entire boat in future years.
One
note of caution, don't even think about
going on a poker cruise if your get seasick.
All the players that seemed to struggle
with seasickness where eliminated before
the final table. I wanted to thank Linda,
Jan, Mark, and Mike for putting on a great
event. I look forward to next year's cruise.
Howard Lederer
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