One Step Closer to WSOP 2005

I made it to step 4 last night in the Party Poker Steps to the WSOP. There are 6 all together that I need to get through.

I like the concept in that they are all single table sit-n-gos and you can start for $11. As I documented earlier, my first attempt was foiled on my first hand when I was dealt Aces preflop and had to go all in against two other all ins preflop. Right now I am on the second $11.

If I were to buy into the tournament at step four directly it would be something like $500. For the next two steps I only need to place in the top 3 to advance to the next step. The next two places get to try again at the same level. It's very rare that I bounce out of a tournament below the top 5. The hard one will be the last step where you need to win to get the World Series seat.

I am planning on making a couple of posts on 2+2 to get feedback about strategy at the higher levels. One thing I noticed last night was as soon as it got to 4 players and one of the players was a little low on chips, that everyone ganged up on him. If it was his blind, someone was going to raise him. If he folded, but someone else called, it was usually checked down to the end. I enjoyed playing that way, but I'm sure I will hate it if I am ever the short stack.

My other theory is if I get to the final table, it would seem that the first instinct of a player when it gets down to 2 or 3 is to wait for a premium hand. After all who wants to come so close to going to the World Series and get sucked out on. My first instinct is to play into that and start putting a lot of pressure on those players until they fold themselves into oblivion. Then hopefully I would have a big enough stack when I get heads up, that I will only need to get lucky one time. My guess is that the blinds will be huge at the end because everyone will have played so tight at the beginning.

On another note, my quick trip to Vegas is coming up in two weeks. I hear that the Rio is already running satellites for some of the WSOP events. I will definitely have to take a cab over and check it out. I am also going to check out the new Wynn hotel. The poker room sounds awesome.