I have been planning on playing in WSOP event #17, $1000 NL Hold-em. I won enough at Poker Stars to pay for most of the buy-in, so the out of pocket is only around $350, but I am having second thoughts.
My first problem is with the blind structure. In most online events, you start with the equivalent of 100 big blinds in level 1. For example, you start with 1500 chips and the initial blinds are 10/15. As is WSOP custom, you start with the same number chips as your buy-in. So, in this event everyone gets 1000 chips. But the level 1 blinds are 25/25, which is equivalent to only 40 big blinds. This is understandable, since they don't want to deal with $5 chips, but it hurts my uber-tight style. I am only going to be able to play a few hands before I have to win a pot.
The other problem is the obvious one, there are going to be an obscene number of people in this event, since it the cheapest one in the entire WSOP. I figure at least 3000, so my shot at cashing is pretty damn remote. I have been playing simulated tournaments using Wilson Turbo Tournament Holdem, using a blind structure similar to the real thing. The Wilson software is very good, the AI can be very strong. I only make the money about one out of five tries.
So, what is comes down to is, do I want to play in something this big (hopefully fun) even though I know it is EV-?
I'll see how I feel about my play after the blogger tournament Saturday morning.
Oh stop gambling, and become a loanshark over at Prosper.com!
Posted by: Ellen | July 06, 2006 at 09:30 AM
You can't back out now. I've told too many people that I'm going to Vegas to watch you play.
What am I going to say, when they ask how you did? He forgot to pack his balls, and chickened out!
Posted by: Mark | July 07, 2006 at 01:12 PM
Ok, ok, I won't wuss out.
Posted by: Matt | July 07, 2006 at 02:09 PM