Qualified Success

I qualified for the WBCOOP final at the first attempt (in the PLO qualifier on Monday).

However, someone pointed out to me that it is worth playing the other qualifiers because of the juicy cash-equivalent prizes on offer for the top 45 places (top 72 reach the final, which is the prime objective).

The prize for 45th is "only" a Step2 ticket (worth $27) but on the final table the prizes are worth $100s and well over a grand for first.

And since the qualifiers are freerolls, it is worth a shot. Especially since the standard of play doesn't seem great !

Last night I played the "8 game" qualifier. I only recently discovered what "8 game" even is. It is 8 different poker variants played in sequence. So for some period of time we play Hold'em, then we play some Omaha and so on.

The 8 games are ...

2x Limit High Games: Hold'em and 7card Stud
2x Limit Hi/Lo Split games : Omaha Hi/Lo and 7card Stud Hi/Lo
2x Limit Low games: Razz and 2-7 Triple Draw
2x Big-bet games: NLH and PLO

They are played in rotation (I forget the order) and the blinds, antes and so on are engineered (I suppose) to make sense in relation to the average chip stacks.

The intriguing thing about this qualifier was that many of the players would have scant knowledge of the games. I barely know the rules myself, but it seemed that even this level of awareness was an edge.

It's quite easy to forget which game you're playing - especially when you switch from one to the next. This must be the explanation for some of the plays. For example, one player called me on the river in 7card Stud Hi (you get 2 cards down, 4 cards up, then 1 card down and make your best 5 card hand). He can see that I have at least a pair of 9s showing. He had no pair !

Once I realised that most of the other players had really no idea, I tried to play tight hand selection pre-flop, play draws passively and value bet strongly with a made hand. tbh I think I could have gone even further down that road.

In any event, I advanced up the rankings to be 5th at one point. Actually, I was 5th at two points and in between that I moved down to last-but-one !

However, although I qualified again (the good thing about that is it means one less person in the final !) I failed to make the top45. The real damage was done in the PLO round.

I held 789J and flopped the nuts on the 456-rainbow board. I got it all in vs 78XX and unfortunately it came runner-runner clubs to give him a flush.

I then lost, and busted, in the 2-7 Triple Draw round when my 9-7 low was pipped by an 8-7 low.

The standard of play did noticeably improve as the field thinned, and with the higher blinds as well it did get a lot harder for me.

I dodged a few bullets earlier, so I can't really complain, but I am disappointed.

Still, there is one more qualifier I could play tonight (NLH) but the main thing is the final on Sunday - big prizes on offer. The top100 all get something, and the final table is big "money" and kudos of course !