My First World Poker Tour Tournament: The WPT Voyage āSea-HORSEā - Cardplayer Lifestyle
Detailing what it was like to play in my first ever World Poker Tour tournament. the $660 HORSE tournament aboard the 2024 WPT Voyage aboard the Valiant Lady. ByRobbie StrazynskiApril 03, 2024
Itās wonderful that at 42 years old I still have the privilege of experiencing so many firsts as a poker player. When you play in as few poker tournaments as I do, on average somewhere between 1-3 per year, the rarity on its own adds extra weight to each one. Itās with that level of excitement that I looked forward to registering for my first ever World Poker Tour tournament. As a mixed game guy, when I saw that a $660 HORSE event would be spread as part of the WPT Voyage, I knew immediately that that would be the one that Iād hop into.
Alright, folks.
Time to play in my first-ever @WPT tournament!
The $660 āsea-HORSEā š¢š
Letās have some fun š„³ pic.twitter.com/hC31lTa0zj
ā Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) April 1, 2024
Arriving on Scene
With all hands on deck, we set sail with the āshuffle up and dealā. A total of 30 players ended up registering, and as play got underway Iām pretty certain that I recognized a good 30 to 40% of the field, at least by face. Unexpectedly, I also recognized one playerā¦ by shirt. I suppose that means weāre doing well with our ongoing Mixed Game Festival initiative! š
What are the odds ā¦. wearing this nice manās shirt ā¦ and he ends up in the seat right beside me !!! @robbiestrazinski pic.twitter.com/2efx2exoqd
ā Darren Johnson (@WASHDUDE) April 1, 2024
Boats on Boats
Whatever your skill level, in tournaments thereās always that hope that the cards run out favorably for you. That was indeed the case as, during the first three levels, no matter which of the five poker variants we played, I managed to secure full house after full house. Even in razz, as my A3 in the hole somehow filled up by 5th street, LOL!
The Man that makes Boats on Boats! pic.twitter.com/N6gGRl83ds
ā Daniel Williams (@s4ooter) April 2, 2024
Even so, with two split pot games as part of the sea-HORSE mix (Omaha 8 or Better and Stud 8 or Better), even an armada of boats will only net you half the pot most of the time, as low limits and blinds means you canāt chip up by too much.
The Structure Daemons of the Sea
And while you naturally want that rungood to come at all times, in particular itās always helpful for the poker gods to smile upon you in the early stages of a tournament so that you can build up a healthy stack and play aggressively. That holds doubly true when the tournament structures are fast, and our tournament featured 20-minute levels throughout.
Incidentally, on that note, WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage stopped by and mentioned that he wants to change this to a āSavage Averageā structure. Iām pretty sure heād find near-universal agreement from players on this. #letsmakeithappen
READ MORE: Interview with Matt Savage
Smooth Sailing Aboard the WPT Voyage
Ahh, mixed games, the sirens that sing sweet music to my ears.
Over three hours into the tournament, as we took our second break and while registration closed, I found myself with a pretty healthy stack of 40,000 ā up from the starting stack of 30,000 and comfortably above the 33K chip average. I wasnāt making many mistakes, wasnāt playing too spewy, was displaying just the right balance of aggression and patience, wasnāt running below or above EV.
Still āsea-HORSE-ing aroundā on the @WPT Voyage.
Hereās the loot weāre competing for. š° pic.twitter.com/WfErDUQfIE
ā Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) April 1, 2024
Amidst the sunny calm of silent seas ā which, by the way, make for one hell of an incredible view while playing in a poker tournament! ā I didnāt realize that a storm was brewing in the distance. Apparently, my sextant (no, NOT Mike Sextonā¦ my sextant!) malfunctioned and this poker-playing sailor had unwittingly entered the Bermuda Triangle.
The Anchor Drops
In most tournaments, thereās usually a pivotal hand or two that at least in part ādefineā how your tournament went. I returned from the water loo (thatās what you call a bathroom onboard a cruise ship, right?) to my own personal Waterloo, the lovely game of stud 8.
Without getting too deep in the sea-weeds of post-hand live reporting, I was up against Jesse Hollander who had half the pot already locked up with a low by 6th street, and then managed to spike an inside straight on 7th street to relegate my set of sixes to the poop deck. That ended up decimating my stack and cutting it clean in half.
I suppose you know what happened from there on out. Ever so slowly, thanks to rapidly-escalating blinds and limits, we walked the plank. Within one utterly painful level, my lovely pile of chips just disappeared into Davey Jonesā locker, never to be seen again.
And in tournament poker sometimes the story just ends with a whimper and thereās not much you can do ā¦
That spot is where my chips used to be.
The good news?
Iām on the incredible @WPT Voyage and thereās a lot more poker to play š pic.twitter.com/tlFRxUxUOF
ā Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) April 2, 2024
The Aftermath
At the very least, my chips went to a good cause. Jesse ended up, uh, shipping the tournamentā¦
Busting a tournament hurts just a smidge less when your chips end up going to the eventual winner š
Congrats, @Jmanpokerking!
ā Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) April 2, 2024
Tournament grinders out there know very well that itās completely reasonable to go for long stretches without recording a cash. Iām pretty sure that if you ask around, youāll find that blanking 20 tournaments in a row isnāt too uncommon. But when those 20 tournaments come over a 20-year period (no, thatās not a typo), it almost makes you feel like you have no business playing poker in the first place.
How is it even possible to not have recorded a single cash? How is it possible that a lifelong winning player like me (in the cash games) still doesnāt have a HendonMob profile? Why couldnāt I, just this once, have found my sea legs?! I couldnāt have picked a better spot, eitherā¦ this was the highest buy-in tournament Iāve ever played in for which I had 100% of my own action. Just 29 other players stood between me and that $8,100 top prize, which would have made a MASSIVE difference to my humble bankroll.
So now, I need to give my heart a rest and let my brain retake the helm. Whatās taken me two decades to āachieveā ā a whopping 0-for-20 record ā is nonetheless an infinitesimally small sample size when it comes to tournament poker. Eventually a mermaid will appear on the horizon, and lead me to the treasure I seek.
For now, I must end this entry in the captainās log. My motley crew of fellow mixed game lovers is calling me back to the cash game tables, and Iāve got a ransomās worth of doubloons to wrest from those scallywags!
First ever @WPT Voyage mixed game is underway!
Look at all these beautiful, smiling faces š pic.twitter.com/1iqjiWFB2f
ā Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) April 2, 2024
With all hands on deck, we set sail with the āshuffle up and dealā. A total of 30 players ended up registering, and as play got underway Iām pretty certain that I recognized a good 30 to 40% of the field, at least by face. Unexpectedly, I also recognized one playerā¦ by shirt. I suppose that means weāre doing well with our ongoing Mixed Game Festival initiative! š
What are the odds ā¦. wearing this nice manās shirt ā¦ and he ends up in the seat right beside me !!! @robbiestrazinski pic.twitter.com/2efx2exoqd
ā Darren Johnson (@WASHDUDE) April 1, 2024
Boats on Boats
Whatever your skill level, in tournaments thereās always that hope that the cards run out favorably for you. That was indeed the case as, during the first three levels, no matter which of the five poker variants we played, I managed to secure full house after full house. Even in razz, as my A3 in the hole somehow filled up by 5th street, LOL!
The Man that makes Boats on Boats! pic.twitter.com/N6gGRl83ds
ā Daniel Williams (@s4ooter) April 2, 2024
Even so, with two split pot games as part of the sea-HORSE mix (Omaha 8 or Better and Stud 8 or Better), even an armada of boats will only net you half the pot most of the time, as low limits and blinds means you canāt chip up by too much.
The Structure Daemons of the Sea
And while you naturally want that rungood to come at all times, in particular itās always helpful for the poker gods to smile upon you in the early stages of a tournament so that you can build up a healthy stack and play aggressively. That holds doubly true when the tournament structures are fast, and our tournament featured 20-minute levels throughout.
Incidentally, on that note, WPT Executive Tour Director Matt Savage stopped by and mentioned that he wants to change this to a āSavage Averageā structure. Iām pretty sure heād find near-universal agreement from players on this. #letsmakeithappen
READ MORE: Interview with Matt Savage
Smooth Sailing Aboard the WPT Voyage
Ahh, mixed games, the sirens that sing sweet music to my ears.
Over three hours into the tournament, as we took our second break and while registration closed, I found myself with a pretty healthy stack of 40,000 ā up from the starting stack of 30,000 and comfortably above the 33K chip average. I wasnāt making many mistakes, wasnāt playing too spewy, was displaying just the right balance of aggression and patience, wasnāt running below or above EV.
Still āsea-HORSE-ing aroundā on the @WPT Voyage.
Hereās the loot weāre competing for. š° pic.twitter.com/WfErDUQfIE
ā Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) April 1, 2024
Amidst the sunny calm of silent seas ā which, by the way, make for one hell of an incredible view while playing in a poker tournament! ā I didnāt realize that a storm was brewing in the distance. Apparently, my sextant (no, NOT Mike Sextonā¦ my sextant!) malfunctioned and this poker-playing sailor had unwittingly entered the Bermuda Triangle.
The Anchor Drops
In most tournaments, thereās usually a pivotal hand or two that at least in part ādefineā how your tournament went. I returned from the water loo (thatās what you call a bathroom onboard a cruise ship, right?) to my own personal Waterloo, the lovely game of stud 8.
Without getting too deep in the sea-weeds of post-hand live reporting, I was up against Jesse Hollander who had half the pot already locked up with a low by 6th street, and then managed to spike an inside straight on 7th street to relegate my set of sixes to the poop deck. That ended up decimating my stack and cutting it clean in half.
I suppose you know what happened from there on out. Ever so slowly, thanks to rapidly-escalating blinds and limits, we walked the plank. Within one utterly painful level, my lovely pile of chips just disappeared into Davey Jonesā locker, never to be seen again.
And in tournament poker sometimes the story just ends with a whimper and thereās not much you can do ā¦
That spot is where my chips used to be.
The good news?
Iām on the incredible @WPT Voyage and thereās a lot more poker to play š pic.twitter.com/tlFRxUxUOF
ā Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) April 2, 2024
The Aftermath
At the very least, my chips went to a good cause. Jesse ended up, uh, shipping the tournamentā¦
Busting a tournament hurts just a smidge less when your chips end up going to the eventual winner š
Congrats, @Jmanpokerking!
ā Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) April 2, 2024
Tournament grinders out there know very well that itās completely reasonable to go for long stretches without recording a cash. Iām pretty sure that if you ask around, youāll find that blanking 20 tournaments in a row isnāt too uncommon. But when those 20 tournaments come over a 20-year period (no, thatās not a typo), it almost makes you feel like you have no business playing poker in the first place.
How is it even possible to not have recorded a single cash? How is it possible that a lifelong winning player like me (in the cash games) still doesnāt have a HendonMob profile? Why couldnāt I, just this once, have found my sea legs?! I couldnāt have picked a better spot, eitherā¦ this was the highest buy-in tournament Iāve ever played in for which I had 100% of my own action. Just 29 other players stood between me and that $8,100 top prize, which would have made a MASSIVE difference to my humble bankroll.
So now, I need to give my heart a rest and let my brain retake the helm. Whatās taken me two decades to āachieveā ā a whopping 0-for-20 record ā is nonetheless an infinitesimally small sample size when it comes to tournament poker. Eventually a mermaid will appear on the horizon, and lead me to the treasure I seek.
For now, I must end this entry in the captainās log. My motley crew of fellow mixed game lovers is calling me back to the cash game tables, and Iāve got a ransomās worth of doubloons to wrest from those scallywags!
First ever @WPT Voyage mixed game is underway!
Look at all these beautiful, smiling faces š pic.twitter.com/1iqjiWFB2f
ā Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) April 2, 2024
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Robbie Strazynski
Robbie founded Cardplayerlifestyle.com in 2009. A veteran member of the poker media corps, in addition to writing and video presenting, Robbie has hosted multiple poker podcasts over the years, including Top Pair, the Red Chip Poker Podcast, The Orbit, and the CardsChat Podcast. In 2019, Robbie translated the autobiography of Poker Hall of Famer Eli ā¦
View Profile Robbie founded Cardplayerlifestyle.com in 2009. A veteran member of the poker media corps, in addition to writing and video presenting, Robbie has hosted multiple poker podcasts over the years, including Top Pair, the Red Chip Poker Podcast, The Orbit, and the CardsChat Podcast. In 2019, Robbie translated the autobiography of Poker Hall of Famer Eli ā¦
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