Papple's WSOP update

Sorry that I wasn’t able to update you all on what has happened out here in Vegas, but Saturday was a very tough day. The day started off with a good breakfast and a trip over to Rio to make sure I was all checked in for the World Series of Poker. I got there about two hours early just incase there were any problems. Everything checked out and I was on my way to the first day. Once I was registered, my nerves started to go a tad bit crazy. There I was getting ready to play in the WSOP. May not sound like much to some, but this has been a personal dream and goal of mine for many years.

I have been playing all types of poker for about 13 years now and within the last few years; I started primarily playing Texas Holdem-No Limit. About a year and a half ago I got involved in a local home game with 13 guys and with the structure of our weekly games, one final tournament winner was sent out to play here in the WSOP. For those that didn’t know, it was me.

Now back to Saturday. As I was saying, my nerves started to get a little jumpy and I had about two hours until start time, so I headed back to the room to lie down and go over all my strategies and make sure I had some type of plan. My main goal was to make it through day one and hopefully double my chip stack.

Table 18 seat 4 is where I was seated. When I got there, I took a look around and saw many famous faces. A ton of poker pro’s and many Hollywood faces as well. When play began, I noticed that everyone at my table was playing very tight…not exactly what I had expected. I myself am a very cautious tight player and decided to change up on my tight play and make a few plays on some of the tighter players. It all paid off and within two hours I had climbed up to around 25,000 chips, 5,000 more than we started with.

We were at our first break and I got up from the table feeling confident and realizing I could play with these guys. We played six rounds that day with breaks every two hours. After each break the blinds were raised and people were dropping left and right. I think in the last four hours, one person dropped every minute and a half. Crazy shit!

Throughout the day I had three legitimate but not too famous pro’s sitting at my table. It was a little intimidating at times but I kept telling myself that I am Papple Dankin and the poker world is going to know my name soon. Sure it may be because one of them takes all my chips, but they will then know me.

After the second break I was sitting with about 19,750 chips and still feeling alright. I had played some good hands and even though I was down in chips, I wasn’t out and didn’t make any mistake as far as I was concerned. While on this break I was out in the hallway and noticed that this very tall very attractive Asian woman was standing in front of me and the tag was sticking out of her shirt. When she turned around, I realized it was Evelyn Ng. Holly crap, there I was standing next to one of the top lady pro’s. In Papple Dankin form, I tapped her on her shoulder and let her know that her tag was out and I wouldn’t want to see her on ESPN like that knowing that I could have let her know. She was very appreciative and said to me, “well tuck it the hell in and please let me know if you ever see anything hanging from my nose or in my teeth too.” We talked for about 10 minutes or so then it was back to poker.

Two more hours and we were at the next break. I now had 29,575 and was sitting pretty. At this point many of the pros and a lot of the field were dropping. After dinner I played tight and tried to not put my money in the pot unless I knew I was strong. At the end of this round I lost a few chips and was at 26,550. Montell Williams was the chip leader at this point with 150k and he was pushing people around on his table. When I looked over to my right, I noticed Jennifer Harman winking in my direction, but I wasn’t going to let it get me off my game.

In the fifth round I took a couple hits and was heading into the final two hours somewhere around 15,000. At this point I am getting extremely tired and had been playing for 14 and a half hours. I’m 1 and a half hours away from day two and things aren’t looking good. Blinds are at 400-800 and antes are 100. Half an hour goes by and now with an hour left I have 6,000 chips. My emotions are down and I am trying to figure out what to do. I stood up and took a few steps away from the table, looked around and prayed to the poker God’s.

Hoping for a small miracle I get pocket ten’s. I raise the beat to 2,500 and get to callers. One being pro Neil “Bad Beat” Channing. He sat with about 85k and had the stack to take me out. The flop came 9-2-4 rainbow suites. Both players check and I bet 2,500. They fold and I am now around 12k. 10 more minutes or so go by and I am sitting in the big blind with 5d-6d. Neil, pushing as he was with the big stack bets 2,500 and I decide to call. The flop came right from heaven 5h-6h-6c…a full house for Papple. I check and he bets 2,500. I try to play some mind games and start asking him what he has. I tell him I will see one more card. Ace of heart on the turn and I am praying that he is looking for an ace or maybe even has a high heart. He now check, probably because I said I would pay to see one more card and he now put me on some type of ace. The river turns a 10s and I bet 3k, Neil folds and now I am in good shape.

With about half an hour I get pocket kings sitting in the dealer position. Neil is the big blind and I bet 2,500, he calls. The flop turns an ace and two meaningless low cards. Now I’m nervous that he just hit an ace. He bet’s 2,500 and I raise to 5,200 to see how strong his ace really is. He instantly shouts, “I can’t play like this, how can you play like this” and throws his cards in the muck. I guess I pissed a pro off, but I had no idea why. He tried to make a move on me and I showed that I was stronger from the dealer’s position. A few hands later he asks if I had pocket aces and I tell him that I had him beat. He was telling me there was no way I had aces and there was no way I was telling him I had kings. He was mad and I was stacking my chips. A few minutes left until day two and I had 47,100 chips. Right where I wanted to be and right around the average chip stack.

Day two is going to make me or break me. Even though I have an average amount of chips, the blinds are 800-1600 and the antes are 200. With every bet people are going to raise to 4,800. Chips dwindle quickly at those amounts. Wish me luck people and stay posted I will write more Wednesday morning.

You can check out my standings and follow my progress at worldseriesofpoker.com or you cancatch a few pictures at worldseriesofpoker.com/photostore look at event #55 July 7,2007 noon table 18.

I'm going to need a nickname for the finals so please give me some idears.