FYI: Howard Lederer on Party Million II
[My apologies if this has been previously posted -Jim]
By Howard Lederer
I missed last year's event, so I was looking forward to having a relaxing week with my wife on a cruise, while playing for 250,000+ in a well run, well structured tournament. The pressure to win started before I left Vegas. My wife Suzie was told she would need to stand in for Doug Dalton during the final presentation, and give the winner of the $25,300 seat into the WPT Bellagio event his or her check. She told me that even though I could not win the seat, she wanted me on stage as she gave the seat to the second place finisher. I told her not to keep her hopes up.
We got on board, and we were immediately pleased to see the size of our room. The Zaandam is a new boat, and the rooms are bigger than on most boats. Card Player Cruises had an orientation before dinner where we learned that half of us would play on Sunday, and the other half on Monday. Play would begin at 10:00 AM and go for 8 one hour levels. After playing for the exact same amount of time on each day, the remaining players would combine on Tuesday night and play down to 18. Wednesday would see the field reduced to 6. The final table would be played on Thursday.
Sunday was a day to get used to the motion of the boat, go to the spacious fitness room, and plan some onshore excursions. I got a good night's sleep and settled into my table at 10:00 AM Monday morning. John Esposito got off to very quick start. He turned over many big hands, and was the chip leader after a few levels. I started slow, but finished the day strong at 17,000. I felt bad for our starting table. Esposito had a huge rush early and didn't let up, while I caught a few cards late. Between my 17,000 and Espo's 26,000, only one other starter at our table survived day one. This seemed to be the exception rather than the rule for the other tables. A check of the day 1 survivors saw the pros eliminated at about the same rate as the online players.
From what I heard from pros that played in both Party Millions, the play of the online qualifiers was much improved from last year. The extra year of play has made a big difference.
Tuesday found us docked in St. Martin. Suzie and I had talked most of our dinner table into doing an America's Cup regatta. It was a lot of fun. We were split into four teams, groups stayed together, and we got to race a boat that has actually competed in a recent America's cup race. They are magnificent pieces of engineering, and reached speeds of 11 knots. After a brief history of the race and an orientation period with job assignments, we got to race the boats for about an hour. We got back on the ship, had dinner, and started playing at 8. I caught a quick rush and found myself with over 50,000 with 50 players left. I was almost triple par. It looked like the pros were starting to run away with the event. Phil Hellmuth had 60,000 and Chip Jett had about 70,000. But wait, about an hour later, I was down to 15,000 and Phil was down to 10,000. Some of the online guys really caught fire during this period, including a 21 year old law student named Dan Coupal. At the end of day 2, I had recovered to 64,000 and Dan was the chip leader with about 117,000. Chip Jett was second, not far behind.
The boat was scheduled for a customs inspection in St. Thomas at 7:00 AM!! Since we had left the US and were now returning, US customs boarded the boat and made everyone on board come to a central location and present their passport. I decided to stay up till 7 and then sleep in, as the final 18 would begin at 8:00 PM. There would be no shore excursion for me today. While we waited in the bar, Phil Hellmuth told me that he dreamt last year that I was going to win the first PP.C Million. Since I didn't play last year, he thought this meant that I would win this year. After the inspection, I retired to my cabin, but then the announcements started coming. Of course a few passengers hadn't come to the inspection and had to be rounded up. Also for some reason, "Mr. Bingo" made numerous calls over the intercom for everyone to go play some bingo. Then the generators failed and the room started to heat up. Then there were more announcements from the Captain about the status of the engines. I managed to maintain a state of half sleep till about 3:00 PM. I felt better than I thought I should. Maybe some adrenaline kicked in to get me through this important time.
Play started at 8:00 and I started slow. I was down to where I could only afford to lose a hand or two a couple of times. One key hand; all folded to me in the small blind, I had a K4o and decided to raise. The BB re-raised and I called. Flop came K53. I checked, BB bet, I raised, BB re-raised, I was sick and called. Turn was an A. I checked, BB bet 4000, I raised 2000 all in. What a great feeling when the BB started to think about whether to call the 2000. He called with 88, and the board came a 2, giving me a wheel, just in case.
I limped into the final table near last place. Then I caught fire. I went from about 35,000 to 200,000 in about half an hour. I made a couple of full houses, and flopped a straight in a very big hand. I continued to work my chips up to over 300,000 when we got down to 7 handed. It took us about another hour to eliminate the next player. Three different players got short stacked and then would get there on the river to stay alive. Finally Erick Lindgren couldn't beat my JJ with his A3. I played with him for the first time during this event. He impressed me as much as any young player has impressed me in recent years. I think we will see a lot of him in the years to come. It seemed like I couldn't win a pot during the final hour and got whittled down to 217,000. Chip Jett was chip leader with over 300,000.
The WPT really got some great stories to talk about with the 4 online qualifiers who made it to the final. Dan Coupal from Canada is 21 years old and a law student, “Cowboy" Simpkins was quite a character. Maureen Feduniak exudes nothing but class and dignity. And Tim Lark got into the event on 4 dollars!!! Now he was at the final 6!
I won't go into detail about the play of the final six. You will see it during the broadcast. I will say that I found myself low stack a couple of times. But, it seemed like a winning hand would come along just when I needed it. The WPT constructed quite a set, and the atmosphere in the auditorium was electric. During one of the breaks for technical difficulties, Linda Johnson announced she was giving away a watch for the couple who had been married for the shortest time in the room. Surprisingly, there were no newlyweds at the taping. In a bizarre coincidence, Suzie and I won the watch by a couple of months over Chip Jett and his wife. I guess it was an omen of things to come. I don't believe in destiny but with my wife being a part of the final presentation, Phil's dream, the 5-10 other passengers who told me I was going to win, plus the weird marriage coincidence, you never know.
The engine troubles caused us to miss our stop at Half Moon Cay on Friday. From what I hear, this private island would have been the highlight of the trip. Overall Holland America got mixed reviews versus Carnival last year. The food and the rooms were clearly a step up over Carnival. But the boat's service and schedule seemed set up for older passengers. Late night food was not very available, and only one bar stayed open after midnight. I think with some forward planning, the cruise line should be able to better accommodate the needs of us degenerate gamblers next year. The quality of the dealers was excellent, and Linda's no abuse policy makes for a pleasant environment for both the players and the dealers. Next year should be bigger and better. The poker players had about half of the boat this year. Maybe we will get the entire boat in future years.
One note of caution, don't even think about going on a poker cruise if your get seasick. All the players that seemed to struggle with seasickness where eliminated before the final table. I wanted to thank Linda, Jan, Mark, Matt, Dave and Mike for putting on a great event. I look forward to next year's cruise.
http://www.wptinsider.com/tour/tripreports/S1/Lederer-PPMIIS1_1.asp
By Howard Lederer
I missed last year's event, so I was looking forward to having a relaxing week with my wife on a cruise, while playing for 250,000+ in a well run, well structured tournament. The pressure to win started before I left Vegas. My wife Suzie was told she would need to stand in for Doug Dalton during the final presentation, and give the winner of the $25,300 seat into the WPT Bellagio event his or her check. She told me that even though I could not win the seat, she wanted me on stage as she gave the seat to the second place finisher. I told her not to keep her hopes up.
We got on board, and we were immediately pleased to see the size of our room. The Zaandam is a new boat, and the rooms are bigger than on most boats. Card Player Cruises had an orientation before dinner where we learned that half of us would play on Sunday, and the other half on Monday. Play would begin at 10:00 AM and go for 8 one hour levels. After playing for the exact same amount of time on each day, the remaining players would combine on Tuesday night and play down to 18. Wednesday would see the field reduced to 6. The final table would be played on Thursday.
Sunday was a day to get used to the motion of the boat, go to the spacious fitness room, and plan some onshore excursions. I got a good night's sleep and settled into my table at 10:00 AM Monday morning. John Esposito got off to very quick start. He turned over many big hands, and was the chip leader after a few levels. I started slow, but finished the day strong at 17,000. I felt bad for our starting table. Esposito had a huge rush early and didn't let up, while I caught a few cards late. Between my 17,000 and Espo's 26,000, only one other starter at our table survived day one. This seemed to be the exception rather than the rule for the other tables. A check of the day 1 survivors saw the pros eliminated at about the same rate as the online players.
From what I heard from pros that played in both Party Millions, the play of the online qualifiers was much improved from last year. The extra year of play has made a big difference.
Tuesday found us docked in St. Martin. Suzie and I had talked most of our dinner table into doing an America's Cup regatta. It was a lot of fun. We were split into four teams, groups stayed together, and we got to race a boat that has actually competed in a recent America's cup race. They are magnificent pieces of engineering, and reached speeds of 11 knots. After a brief history of the race and an orientation period with job assignments, we got to race the boats for about an hour. We got back on the ship, had dinner, and started playing at 8. I caught a quick rush and found myself with over 50,000 with 50 players left. I was almost triple par. It looked like the pros were starting to run away with the event. Phil Hellmuth had 60,000 and Chip Jett had about 70,000. But wait, about an hour later, I was down to 15,000 and Phil was down to 10,000. Some of the online guys really caught fire during this period, including a 21 year old law student named Dan Coupal. At the end of day 2, I had recovered to 64,000 and Dan was the chip leader with about 117,000. Chip Jett was second, not far behind.
The boat was scheduled for a customs inspection in St. Thomas at 7:00 AM!! Since we had left the US and were now returning, US customs boarded the boat and made everyone on board come to a central location and present their passport. I decided to stay up till 7 and then sleep in, as the final 18 would begin at 8:00 PM. There would be no shore excursion for me today. While we waited in the bar, Phil Hellmuth told me that he dreamt last year that I was going to win the first PP.C Million. Since I didn't play last year, he thought this meant that I would win this year. After the inspection, I retired to my cabin, but then the announcements started coming. Of course a few passengers hadn't come to the inspection and had to be rounded up. Also for some reason, "Mr. Bingo" made numerous calls over the intercom for everyone to go play some bingo. Then the generators failed and the room started to heat up. Then there were more announcements from the Captain about the status of the engines. I managed to maintain a state of half sleep till about 3:00 PM. I felt better than I thought I should. Maybe some adrenaline kicked in to get me through this important time.
Play started at 8:00 and I started slow. I was down to where I could only afford to lose a hand or two a couple of times. One key hand; all folded to me in the small blind, I had a K4o and decided to raise. The BB re-raised and I called. Flop came K53. I checked, BB bet, I raised, BB re-raised, I was sick and called. Turn was an A. I checked, BB bet 4000, I raised 2000 all in. What a great feeling when the BB started to think about whether to call the 2000. He called with 88, and the board came a 2, giving me a wheel, just in case.
I limped into the final table near last place. Then I caught fire. I went from about 35,000 to 200,000 in about half an hour. I made a couple of full houses, and flopped a straight in a very big hand. I continued to work my chips up to over 300,000 when we got down to 7 handed. It took us about another hour to eliminate the next player. Three different players got short stacked and then would get there on the river to stay alive. Finally Erick Lindgren couldn't beat my JJ with his A3. I played with him for the first time during this event. He impressed me as much as any young player has impressed me in recent years. I think we will see a lot of him in the years to come. It seemed like I couldn't win a pot during the final hour and got whittled down to 217,000. Chip Jett was chip leader with over 300,000.
The WPT really got some great stories to talk about with the 4 online qualifiers who made it to the final. Dan Coupal from Canada is 21 years old and a law student, “Cowboy" Simpkins was quite a character. Maureen Feduniak exudes nothing but class and dignity. And Tim Lark got into the event on 4 dollars!!! Now he was at the final 6!
I won't go into detail about the play of the final six. You will see it during the broadcast. I will say that I found myself low stack a couple of times. But, it seemed like a winning hand would come along just when I needed it. The WPT constructed quite a set, and the atmosphere in the auditorium was electric. During one of the breaks for technical difficulties, Linda Johnson announced she was giving away a watch for the couple who had been married for the shortest time in the room. Surprisingly, there were no newlyweds at the taping. In a bizarre coincidence, Suzie and I won the watch by a couple of months over Chip Jett and his wife. I guess it was an omen of things to come. I don't believe in destiny but with my wife being a part of the final presentation, Phil's dream, the 5-10 other passengers who told me I was going to win, plus the weird marriage coincidence, you never know.
The engine troubles caused us to miss our stop at Half Moon Cay on Friday. From what I hear, this private island would have been the highlight of the trip. Overall Holland America got mixed reviews versus Carnival last year. The food and the rooms were clearly a step up over Carnival. But the boat's service and schedule seemed set up for older passengers. Late night food was not very available, and only one bar stayed open after midnight. I think with some forward planning, the cruise line should be able to better accommodate the needs of us degenerate gamblers next year. The quality of the dealers was excellent, and Linda's no abuse policy makes for a pleasant environment for both the players and the dealers. Next year should be bigger and better. The poker players had about half of the boat this year. Maybe we will get the entire boat in future years.
One note of caution, don't even think about going on a poker cruise if your get seasick. All the players that seemed to struggle with seasickness where eliminated before the final table. I wanted to thank Linda, Jan, Mark, Matt, Dave and Mike for putting on a great event. I look forward to next year's cruise.
http://www.wptinsider.com/tour/tripreports/S1/Lederer-PPMIIS1_1.asp
Comments
Great read...
unlike his sister :roll:
www.howardlederer.com
happy reading!
neat!