A common cold call I will receive is a version of “I am a low-stakes player, but I won a satellite into the WSOPME / SCOOP Main / EPT Main. What advice do you have for someone playing the biggest tournament of their life?” My general advice is to not treat it like a special tournament and to try to play the best poker you are capable of, but some of the biggest mistakes I see are from people who convince themselves that playing the high stakes requires doing something out of character. They’re afraid to get all-in with JJ because the stakes are too high, or they make a hero call because they think they’re getting pushed around, or they make a crazy bluff because “no one will see it coming.” The specific follow-up question that I am often asked is "what Day 1 should I play?” My answer to this is usually that you should play the day 1 that you feel most comfortable playing. Day 1D of the WSOPME has the softest field, but if you don’t want to wait in massive lines for the bathroom or are mildly claustrophobic or got a great night’s sleep before Day 1B— play 1B instead. You know yourself and you should try to recognize the factors that will make you play at your best, instead of hunting for a slightly softer starting day.
The question of what is the best starting day has reached a point of absurdity with GGPoker’s online WSOP Main Event. What’s softer, Day 1J or Day 1N? If you are someone who is bankrolled for $5ks, you want to play as many flights as possible to make sure you get through to Day 2.1 If you only had one bullet to fire, you should try to pick a flight closer to Day 1Z than Day 1A, because the pros who get through will stop firing and the games will get softer. However, if you might fire more than one bullet, depending on your luck in satellites and other such things, then you want to give yourself a chance to fire more bullets and should not just fire the last flight. Today’s hand is from Day 1Q in 2023, which I played after failing to cash day’s 1B, D, H and J. Would Day 1Q be the day where I got off the schneid? It was not, and I was not helped by making an early punt that cost me 1/3rd of my stack.
2023 WSOP Online Main Event Day 1Q
(200/400/50) (SB/BB/ANTE) 60k Starting Stack
I folds to me UTG7 and I (62,647) make it 880 with 6♠️6♥️, it folds to Vlad Darie (61,741) who calls in the BB
Flop (2,360) K♥️6♦️2♦️: Vlad checks, I bet 590, he calls
Turn (3,540) Q♦️: Vlad checks, I bet 1,169, he calls
River (5,878) 8♥️: Vlad checks, I bet 5,878, Vlad makes it 21,396, I call and lose to J♦️T♦️
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Punt of the Day to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.