Covering an event as huge as the World Series of Poker isn’t easy. With 65 events on the 2014 schedule, there is never a dull moment at the Rio and there are plenty of days where there can be four or five events running simultaneously – a final table here, a bubble bursting there and a $10,000 Championship event pulling us everywhere … well, you get the picture.
One way we keep ourselves up to date on all that’s going on and ensure we haven’t missed anything important is by reading up on the many online stories, blogs and live reports doing the internet rounds, but one blog has caught our eye in-particular.
World Gaming was contacted a few days back by Damon Shulenberger, who has not only been playing in a few select WSOP events these past few weeks but spending his spare time writing about them too.
Damon won the APT Iron Man event at Resorts World Manila in December
You might remember Damon from his recent exploits at the poker table – in December he topped a field of 115 players to win APT Manila’s Iron Man event, which broke the world record for the longest continuous poker tournament at a staggering 48 hours, 58 minutes and 55 seconds. That’s right, no breaks and no sleep for more than two days! We spoke with Damon about that remarkable feat in the Mar/Apr 2014 issue of WGM and you can read the interview here.
As you can see, he is a natural story teller and it is this unique ability to paint the picture with his words that attracted us to his WSOP blog. Take this golden slice of commentary from the final table of the US$3,000 No Limit Hold’em 6-max event:
“Bad blood boiled up at the table when Kitai made a hero call that cemented his status, in my mind at least, as among poker’s best. Sitting with Q-4, he was up against Ruberto’s 8-5 suited. When the flop came out A-10-J, with two diamonds on board, Ruberto bet his flush draw 90,000 and Kitai called. Ruberto continued to bet out on the turn when a 2 of clubs peeled off. Kitai called, as he had picked up a back door club flush draw. When the board paired up with a 10 on the river, Ruberto made a major bet of more than half a million chips. Kitai thought for a while before making the ultimate hero call. Ruberto announced that he had an eight high and Kitai scooped the pot, shaking his head. Things now took a surreal turn. Ruberto did not eat humble pie at Kitai’s correct read of the river bluff, asking him if he had seen his cards. He did not let up on when Kitai laughed off what seemed like a half joke — going so far as to ask the tournament officials if they could review the tape and check if Kitai had seen his cards. This was a beyond ludicrous request – even if Kitai had caught a peek of one of Ruberto’s cards by some miracle, it would be Kitai’s fault for failing to protect his hand. Essentially, Kitai had called with Q high because he sussed out that a triple barrel bomb did not make much sense. Ruberto would not want to bet out that much with the two 10s on board, even if he had an A, as he might get re-raised off his holding. Basically Ruberto had a very polarized betting range – either a 10 or complete air. What made Kitai’s read with Q high most impressive was that he could even be beat by a K high semi-bluff on Ruberto’s part. Ruberto finally decamped to the other side of the table, away from Kitai, commenting to the rail ‘I see some sunlight here’.”
Damon’s blog can be found at http://wsop14.blogspot.com.au/ and we highly recommend it for an informative, at times quirky and without doubt very different view of this year’s WSOP. At Damon’s request, we will also be providing some selected highlights from his blog over the coming weeks right here at wgm8.com.
Thanks Damon and hopefully you’ll be writing about yourself at the next final table you cover!
