WSOP Auction Tournament

In my poker league I played a simulation of the WSOP final 9 where we bid for the exact stacks the November 9 have.

How it works is that we did a silent auction where noone else knew about the other’s bid until all the stacks were won. The minimum bid was $20.

We started with the exact chip count and used the same blind structure. The only difference was that we implemented 30 minute levels.

The big stack ($58,930,000) went for $137
2nd stack ($34,800,000) went for $101
3rd biggest stack ($28,885,000) went for $82- best value in my opinion.
4th biggest ($19,580,000) went for $66 (out bid me by $3)
5th biggest ($13,215,000) was won by me at $55.
6th biggest ($12,390,000) went for $47.
7th biggest ($9,765,000) went for $28
8th ($9,500,000) sold for $23
9th stack ($6,800,000) was $20.

$559 in the prize pool. 3 places payout.

The auction went well. I bid $115 for the big stack and wasn’t even close as 4 others bid more. The fact that I wasn’t going any higher than $115, I knew that I had to target the middle stacks. The surprise was that the 2nd biggest went for just over $100. Maybe I should’ve taken a stab at this but I decide to stick to my guns. I low bid for the next stack but get outbid for the 4th stackby $3. I now target the 5th stack, because I really don’t want to deal with playing the small stacks.

My bid of $55 wins this stack. I outbid the next player by $10. Value? I’m not sure especially since the next stack went for $47 (which was 600k less than me).
Now we’re ready to play some cards. The blinds start out at 120k/240k with 5k antes. It was kind of weird at first because it took some time getting used to betting and calling large amounts but it went smooth.

I didn’t want to mix up too much early on as the pots were pretty wild and I didn’t want to get crippled or short stacked too early. I played it pretty tight early on and during the second level I win a big pot against “Ivey”. I hit a flush on the turn and get paid off.

I’m cruising along playing small ball for the most part but I build up a decent stack after the first hour. After two hours, I’m riding about 19million in chips. Then I finally knock out seat 3 (Ivey).

Seat 6 takes down a huge pot when he hits his flush against a set on the turn. The curious thing about this hand is that seat 6 and seat 4 had a lot of chips and yet we get a shove and a call on the flop. This was a $30 million dollar pot and the guy drawing called a huge raise on the flop with nothing but a draw. Pretty sick.

We go back and forth and I’m still building my stack. I’m playing solid poker, I’m reading well and making good folds (at least I think I am). I folded some pretty strong hands at times but I was never truly in trouble, I never risked my stack at any time and I rarely played out of position.

After 4 hours, I’m sitting on a stack of about $36 million and there’s 5 of us left. The play has really slowed down and I get by winning blinds and antes from time to time. Then the two biggest stacks go at. One has JJ and the other has AA. JJ spikes a Jack on the turn and takes down a huge, huge pot (there had to be at least 70 million in that pot). So now we’re down to 4 players. Bubble time.

There’s one huge stack with over 100 million and I’m at about 39 million and the other two are about the same as me but I have them outchipped I think.

The big stack starts to bully and I mostly fold. My stack shrinks to about $32 million when I strike gold.

I’m in the BB with 67 suited. The blinds are 500k/1million with 50k antes. The big stack limps in. Button folds and the SB completes. I smell dead money so I raise to 5 million, hoping to take down this pot. The big stack calls. I get a decent flop. I have top pair with a gutshot straight draw. I bet out 8 million and the big stack calls. Not good, now I have to put him on an over pair but then this player is tricky so he could have anything at this point. I turn trip sixes and I’m golden. I check and the big stack bets, I push and he calls. He turns over AA.

I double up and now I’m in business.

Later on I take down a 40+million dollar pot when I have AK and flop broadway. The villain had top two pair and I knock out the bubble boy. I feel that I played this hand very well. I had AK in the BB. The button attempts a steal but I flat call hoping to trap. The rest is history.

Now I’m the big stack and I start to bully myself. I’m guaranteed a profit because I bought my stack for $55. The other two guys paid more than me, so they need to hit second in order to make some money. They’re playing relatively safe so I keep up the heat.

I finally take the short stack down with A10 when he shoves with A9.

We’re now heads up and I have over $130 million in chips, twice my opponent.

We go back and forth. He runs hot for awhile and we’re just about even.

He’s been trying to trap more often given my aggressive nature so I turn the screws on my opponent by limping with big hands.

This was how I was finally able to crack the other stack. I flat call a raise with JJ. The flop is 7 high with two hearts. I bet out and get flat called. The turn brings another heart. I still have an overpair to the board but no heart. I decide to take anther stab at it. Again I get flatted. The river was a scare card as it put 4 hearts out there on a 9 high board. Now I’m screwed, I decide to check and the villain checks behind me. He shows 88, no hearts. I am relieved because at this point the pot was pretty big but even though I had an overpair, I just couldn’t bet out of position on a board where its’ 4 to a flush. I was glad he didn’t raise because I would’ve folded if he did.

Now that I’m 3-1 in chips against my opponent, I get a decent run of cards and I finally take down the tournament.

The winning hand was 97 and I cracked 55.

I clear $245 for my trouble. Pretty sweet. The whole tournament last about 7-8 hours (with breaks for food and stuff).

Although, it took a very long time, it was worth it (especially since I won). It was fun, I think we’ll do it every year so now it’s tradition.

This tournament may given me a glimpse of what goes on during the final table of the WSOP, so that was an adventure in itself. Maybe the best thing about this tournament was that I was finally able to say “I raise to 10 million” on a bluff.