So, no fairytale triumph here but easily the most fun i’ve had playing poker, and a performance i can be pretty happy with.

Firstly, given that only the top pro’s enter this one i was hoping for some stars at the table and i wasnt disappointed – i was in seat 1 and in seat 3 was Robert Williamson III and in seat 6 was Freddie Deeb, the current $50k H.O.R.S.E champion.

Freddie missed the first level, but Robert was a dream to play with, a really top guy who was chatting away and having fun. I actually won the first pot of the day in amusing fashion as i bet on the end with what i thought was a made hand – my opponent folded and i looked at my hand to see a pair of 6’s, (a disastrous hand), so really i bluffed him ) We started with 5k in chips and i was always around this point, maybe slightly down, throughout the first 2 levels. Freddie Deeb turned up at level 2 and immediately showed that he is a mad gambler in a very old-school way – he would 3-bet (re-re-raising) and then draw 3 cards and continue to bet out. He amassed a big ol’ stack and was not messing about playing small pots. Robert was far more considered and playing a game i could relate to a little more. I did take pots from both of them, which is cool, tho i lost a few to Robert as well. I tended to stay out of Deeb’s way. Freddie Deeb was definitely not there to have fun, so Robert was the main man at the table. The pots between him & Deeb were fascinating, as the gambling Deeb got Robert, seemingly playing more conservatively, to break better hands on a couple of occasions.

Anyway, i was still there at the break and that was target 1. Shortly after the break i was up to around 7k and according to Ads this would have put me well in the top half, so things were good. However, as the blinds get high it becomes very costly to draw all the way to the end, and you really need to catch your cards. For example, with blinds at 100-200 and the betting therefore at 200-400, calling bets all the way to the final draw will cost 1600. When the big stacks have 6-7k, thats a lot of chips. Unfortunately for me I was dealt hands where i was drawing 1 card to a 7-low, (best hand), and therefore felt committed to drawing all 3 times for any bets – i missed everything and after 2 or 3 of those I was crippled, and eventually bowed out to Robert Williamson after about 5 hours of play. Having never played the game outside of our home poker crew and also never having ever played limit poker of any kind, i was pretty happy, if disappointed to bow out having been pretty competitive. There were about 250 entries and i think i went out around 150th or thereabouts.

I am definitely playing it again next year – my challenge is to improve, and that will be hard given that there’s nowhere to play it…

I then dropped a couple of hundred in cash when i got out-drawn horribly, and called it a night. Well, actually there was much drinking to do in Revolution at The Mirage, and check out the interactive tables.

So the next World Series event is the $1500 No-Limit Hold ‘Em event in a few days, and leading up to that i’ll be playing in the Caesars Palace Mega-Stack and the Deep-Stack series at Ventian tournaments to get ready for it. Photos of the Triple Draw event will follow…

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