The six-week-long World Series of Poker ended for me July 11.
Only two days later, the first World Poker Tour event of the season began with a $15,000 buy-in affair. That would be an opportunity for redemption as I could erase the memory of a disappointing WSOP in one fell swoop. A win in this WPT event would pay at least $1 million yet I had mixed feelings about playing. I was burned out after six gruelling weeks of poker and was more than ready to go home to my wife and kids. Still, I decided to play. I arrived more than three hours late on Day 1 and played decently. After a day off, I came back and played well on Day 2. I was in good shape and had a lot of gas left in the tank. I came out smoking on Day 3! I won a $300,000 pot when my A-A crushed my opponent’s A-10 with the board reading Q-10-4-Q-Q. Then it happened the wheels completely fell off my game. First, I lost a coin flip for roughly $150, pocket sixes lost to A-K when an ace came on the river. I opened for $7,000 and called a $65,000 reraise. Even though I was a small favourite at the time, I normally would have folded that hand. Then I truly gave my chips away. With the blinds at $1,000/$2,000, the player under the gun opened for $7,000 and I made it $23,000 to go with pocket fours. He called and the
flop came Q-9-2.