POTD #232 A Sick Hand in the WCOOP Main Event
Literally, I was sick.
In the fall of 2024, I went to Dublin, Ireland for the wedding of POTD Subscriber Steve O’Dwyer and his wife and private citizen REDACTED REDACTED. The couple planned a beautiful wedding, up to and including having the wedding the night before the WCOOP Main Event, such that the poker-playing attendees of their wedding could try to celebrate by having a nice large six-figure bink. Me, my wife and my at the time five-month-old son checked out of our hotel and went to a new hotel, where I would play online poker while very hungover and battling the type of illness one gets when they are travelling internationally with a disease-transmitting five-month-old. We checked into the hotel and discovered that this specific Irish hotel routed their internet through a British ISP, which meant that I could not play on PokerStars, as their software believed I was in Great Britain, where one cannot play on the global pool.
So I found another hotel, one with a good old-fashioned Irish IP address, and prepared to play the WCOOP Main Events in both NL and PLO, and, dear re
aders, I played terribly. I was hungover, sick, and exhausted from trying to find a new hotel room. I busted my first bullet calling a three-bet with KJo CO vs. SB, only to realize I was out of position on the flop and the hand was actually HJ vs. BU. I was timing out left, right and centre, and yet I battled back and ended up cashing the tournament. I had spun up my 250k to 2.1M chips with only ~20 minutes left in day 2. I got KK and 3-bet, I was 4-bet, and I 5-bet shoved and got the fold and was closing in on the 3 million chip mark. Then I raised A5s, got three-bet by Joao Simao, and did what you do with A5s when three-bet by a Brazilian and shoved. Unfortunately, I ran into his pocket kings and while I turned a flush draw, I did not river a flush. At this point, I wanted to take my 17bbs and just go to bed, I was tired and sick and wanted the day to end. Then I looked down at pocket eights under the gun.
WCOOP Main Event 2024
(25k/50k/6250) (SB/BB/ANTE). 250k Starting Stack. We Are in the Money. ~45 Remain.
I (850k) make it 100k UTG with 8♦️8♥️, it folds to the BB who calls.
Flop (275k) 5♣️4♠️3♦️: He checks, I bet 165k, he calls.
Turn (605k) A♦️: He bets 60k, I call.
River (735k) 9♦️: He leads all-in for my final 525k, I fold.
