I have returned to my home in North Carolina after participating in the $5000. buy-in main event at the venetian casino in Las Vegas.
I have many positive, and interesting subjects to address pertaining to this event.  The Venetian deep stacks events have become quite popular and attracts many entries, and now adding to the mix is the affiliation with PokerStars.com. newly formed North American Poker Tour (NAPT) combined their efforts generated 870 entries.

The structure of the new NAPT is player friendly. By extending the tournament to five days it has incorporated some common sense into the grueling effect tournament play can exact on a person.  I was pleased to learn that in this new structure instead of playing from noon thru till 2am, we would only be playing each day until approximately 9pm.  I realize that many of the young puppies that are involved in today's game, want to play till they drop, but when your playing for such a large prize it makes good sense to arrive at the final table with a good nights sleep, refreshed and ready to make good decisions. This is the format that hopefully will become the standard for all major buy-in events. It also in a sense of fairness keeps the older generation (who needs to sleep) on a level playing field, and in my opinion will be a plus for the poker community.

We all started with 30,000 in chips and the first level opened at 50/100 blinds 60 minute levels.

Day one:  Was an up, and down adventure for me. I had a good mix of players at my table, some solid players, and as usual a couple of players that think they are players but in reality are bait for that table. I really didn't get involved with many hands, won most confrontations, and had my chip count up to about 58K when I ran into my first suck out. I reraised an aggressive player with a hand of QQ he called and the flop came J-9-3 rainbow. by the time this hand took place I had a reasonable expectation of how to play this player. He led out with a bet of 5K on the flop, and I reraised to 12k he called the turn card was a 9 and he checked. It was not a good card because he was fully capable of having the nine, and I had seen him earlier check raise with a set. But you still have to continue to play, by making another bet, so I considered his chip count which was close to mine, and decided that a bet of 9K which was about one third of the pot, was enough to risk. He just called. river produced a jack (worse card in the deck for me) he must have thought that I just fell off the back of a farmers truck, because he checked hoping that I would bet. I checked behind him, and he showed Q-J and won a good size pot from me. I want players to call me with Q/J when I have QQ there is no hand that they could make where I would allow myself to get broke, but if the river Jack would have been a queen I break him. After that hand nothing exciting happened, and I ended the day with 39K just a bit below average.

By the way on this day I had the good fortune to play next to a very pleasant young man who later emailed me these very kind comments:

• Hello Bill,
  
  It's Seth (from Day One, seated to your right). I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed being seated next to you for the entire day. I got the luckiest seat in the house, even if I didn't actually accumulate very many chips. I accumulated hours of good conversation with a great person. You were so kind and interesting the entire time. I learned lessons in poker (which of course after playing for a while myself I sometimes forget I can still learn so many things). I certainly got about $1000 in free lessons from the pokercoach.com that day! Just from watching you play so brilliantly, not mention our discussions about the hands we watched and some of your stories from your poker career. Your insights will be very valuable to me I'm sure.
  
• I just wanted to thank you for the great time and sharing your wisdom with me. Anyways, thanks again, it was an honor and privilege meeting you sir! If you're still in Vegas and have time, it'd be really nice if I could buy you a coffee and talk again. If not, I'd love to keep in touch with you via email. I know I can learn so much from you about poker, and I'm betting I could learn a thing or two from you about life in general as well. Plus, you're just a kind, funny guy with lots of good stories on top of all that. So of course it'd be cool to "chat" through email with you periodically.

Day two:  To start I checked the posted list for my new table, and seat assignment. who would my new friends be today, and what would today's play encompass. Its always fascinating to anticipate what fate awaits you. Sadly my quest for victory was not to be in the cards and I was eliminated late in the day with about 200 players left. However I had a (FIRST IN MY CAREER) clock called on me. Before telling you about the hand, let me explain the terminology to my readers who have only played on-line and are not familiar with the meaning. If a player is, in the judgment of another player, taking to much time to make a decision, then any player at the table can call a floor person for a clock. Once this is done you have one minute to call or your hand is dead. Much the same as on-line play but not automatic.

Now to the hand, and why I had a tough decision to make for my tournament life.
The hand in question began when I raised Tom MacEvoy a former world champion's blind with KK, the blinds were 500/1000 and I raised the pot to 3000. Tom called the 2000. and we got a flop. Before we proceed let me give you my history with Tom. We have played against each other for at least 20 years, and have probably been at the same table, at least 50 times, so we have a good understanding of each others game. Tom is an ABC player very solid and predicable, and usually a decision with him is simple.

BUT NOT THIS TIME! OK here is what happens: the flop brings 10-7-3 rainbow, Tom checks, and I bet 6k Tom declares a check raise, and places 6k in checks in the middle. This is where it gets complicated, he sits back but I'm waiting for his raise after a bit of time dealer tells him to act, he says he did. MYSTERY SOLVED DILEMMA STARTS. Tom thought that I had bet 2K and that he was raising the pot total to 6K thus they now instruct him that he must raise the pot to a total bet of 12K (at the time this takes place we both have about 40K in chips) I'm watching Tom and realize this was not a move and that he actually thought I had bet 2K and he was not nervous about having to increase his bet to 12K. With the confusion I elected to just call the additional 6K. The turn card was a blank 4 and Tom being first to act moved all-in. I must admit that because of the way the hand came down I wasn't sure what I should do and it took me some extra time, which is why a clock was called, but not by Tom. Final analysis: when faced with a tournament ending decision you must rely on the information you have acquired to that point. This is how I broke down the hand: 1. preflop Tom would have reraised me with AA but not with A/K or even QQ this much I know based on his respect for my play and his character. 2. If he had QQ or JJ he would have led out with a bet to see what I would do, but I also factored in that he might choose to check-raise me with either of those hands although that usually isn't his style. 3. would Tom look to check-raise me with a set???? most of the time I believe that Tom would lead bet with a set but the board wasn't scary, and if I held an over pair his check-raise might induce a reraise from me, and if I held A/K or A/Q he would get an extra bet from me. 4. the key in the end was simple based on all facts. Tom's demeanor, after his mistake on the flop. FACT once I called the additional 6K he knows I have a big pair and quite simply he would not have the nerve to push all-in on the turn without a set. I showed the king's threw them in the muck and the hand ended with the other players all saying they wouldn't have folded. Knowing your opponent's capabilities is a huge advantage, and I knew that the only hand he was holding was a set of ten's which he confirmed the next morning.  

My day came to an end later when short stacked I pushed with A/Q of spades and was beaten by KK.

Bill Seymour