Poker in Vegas is a rush
McDonald and another Williamsburg player, Mo Mostafa, qualified for the tournament after finishing in the Top 2 during a special tournament presented by Seven Cities Poker League.
For three months, players earned points based on their performances during nightly tournaments throughout Hampton Roads. The Top 120 players earned a spot in the four-day qualifier, with the top two winning an all-expenses trip to Vegas to compete in a World Series of Poker event.
McDonald got there last Wednesday, where he found the Rio Casino a Who s Who among the poker world.
I ran into Gabe Kaplan coming out of the men s room, McDonald recalled. I passed Michael The Grinder Mizrachi, Alberto Brenes and Scotty Nguyen. What a start to the day. Mizrachi is a former player of the year by Card Player Magazine, while Nguyen won the 1998 World Series main event.
I was feeling exhilarated, he continued. I ve played about 300 tournaments in the free poker league and only a handful of cash-entry tournaments.
The night before his tournament, McDonald went to the poker room to watch some of the other events. He spent a couple of hours watching Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch and Erick Lindgren in the Mixed Hold em event.
After a brief chat with Lederer, he moved over to watch the filming of the Pot-Limit Hold em Event final table.
It was thrilling to see the event in an area that we normally see on television, he said. I watched over the course of 21/2 hours Chris Jesus Ferguson get short-stacked, down to $500,000 in chips, not once but three times, and come back from the dead each time. He eventually went out in fourth place, but it was a great battle.
The following day, McDonald made his way back to the poker room to register for his tournament. He was a little nervous after putting down his $2,000 registration fee.
I must say the World Series of Poker was the most exciting part, he said. Keeping in mind, the largest entry fee I have ever paid was $60, having to give more than $2,000 was both exciting, and nerve-racking at the same time.
Once at his table, McDonald was even more star-struck to find European poker pro Marcel Luske sitting beside him.
I just wanted to last until Day 2, he said. My strategy was to wait for good, playable hands, and play those hands aggressively picking up small pots regularly.
McDonald and Luske provided him with his highlight of the tournament.
I was in a hand with Marcel Luske. I was holding pocket Jacks and the flop came 2, Ace, Jack, McDonald recalled. Marcel checked to me. I bet $1,000, next player folded. Marcel came over the top with a raise to $2,500. I sat and thought through, what he might have and what I thought he had. After about five minutes, I folded my set of jacks.
After the hand Luske asked if he folded two pair. McDonald flipped over his cards to show him his set of jacks. He told me it was a strong fold and showed his pockets aces.
Luske asked him how long he had been playing and if he had over played online. I told him, no but that I played in a free tavern poker league at home about once or twice a week for the last two years, McDonald said He patted me on the back and said, Really nice laydown. I felt like a king at that point.
McDonald managed to play for 41/2hours before busting out of the tournament. Despite the early exit for a three-day tournament, he was happy with the his play.
Unfortunately, we had five players go out within the first five hands at my table, so that really frustrated my slower-play style, he said. I didn t feel bad, because so many pros went out before I did.
Regardless, McDonald said this tournament was a great experience for him.
I learned that I m a very cautious player, and to compete with the big boys, I need to learn to loosen up my game, he said. Playing with the pros was exciting, but also playing with others, whom I had never met before, and needed to access their playing style quickly, kept me on my toes.
McDonald is eager to get back to the World Series. There are several other events that cost less to enter, and provide the same intensity, he said. I m looking at at World Poker Tour event in New Orleans next year that looks promising from the fact that it s less expensive to enter. And both my wife Laura and I just love New Orleans.
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