First Experience with WSOP.com

As I mentioned recently, this current Vegas visit will be the longest I’ve ever stayed in Sin City continuously—the good lord willing and the river don’t rise.

In anticipating it, I realized that I would finally have enough time to do something I’ve been thinking about doing for some time.  Play some poker online at WSOP.com.

Surely there would be a day or two when I just had enough of live poker and wanted to stay in and just fool around on the laptop with some virtual—but real money—poker.

In anticipation of the trip, I went ahead and put some money on my heretofore dormant WSOP.com account.  Although you can only play while you are physically located in Nevada, you can put money on your account from anywhere.  At least in theory.

My first attempt at funding my account was unsuccessful.  I tried to do a transfer from my checking account.  My bank refused to transfer the funds.  Apparently they wouldn’t authorize a transfer to a gambling account.  Even though it is perfectly legal in Nevada, where the account was and where the money was going.  Oh well, I didn’t bother to complain to my bank or ask them why they have such a stupid policy.  My bank is located only in California, and has no presence in Nevada, so I guess they are just playing it totally safe by not authorizing any money going to such an account, even if it is in Nevada.  My next attempt was to fund it with a credit card, and that went through, no problem.

So a few nights ago, after several rather brutal live sessions here in Vegas, I decided to stay in and give this WSOP.com thing a try.

Now of course, I’ve played online poker before.  But honestly, not that much.  Before Black Friday, I played some to help me learn the game.  But I never fell in love with it.  It was useful for learning the game, the rules, the etiquette and of course the strategy, but it was just too cold, too impersonal for me.  Even before Black Friday hit, I was hardly every playing online any more.

So this was my first time ever playing poker online that was, without any doubt whatsoever, 100% legitimate, government sanctioned, approved, and blessed.

I didn’t have that much time when I loaded up the software to give it a spin, so I just went with a one table Sit-N-Go.  Entry fee: $5.  Yeah, this was going to be some serious, big-time poker.

My assumption was that a 9 handed tournament for five bucks was going to be a shove fest almost from the first minute.  I assumed that—even if I won the damn thing—it would be over in less than 30 minutes.  At least, that’s what I remember from my old online days.

Boy was I surprised.  Almost everyone played really tight.  Seriously, this was like playing in a 2/4 limit game at the Orleans.  With one possible exception, I was the biggest aggro at the table.

And so, it went on and on and on.  There were five minute breaks scheduled every hour.  To my amazement, we actually had two breaks.

I don’t know if I played good poker, but I had some nice luck.  I got pocket Aces twice fairly early, and they held both times.  Same thing with the dreaded pocket Kings—got them twice and won both times.  None of those hands went to showdown or resulted in huge pots, but they helped me build a nice stack.  The one time I got pocket Queens, it was late in the tournament and no one called my preflop raise. 

After a few players had finally been knocked out, I found myself with a nice chip lead.  But then the third biggest stack won a huge all-in against the second biggest, and suddenly had more chips than I did.  The lead went back and forth a few times, but when it was three or four handed, and I was in second place, I shoved with King-Jack offsuit.  By this time, it was long past time when I was ready for dinner, and I was shoving as much to bust out and get some dinner as I was to win the tournament.

The chip leader called me with Ace-Jack.  Oops.  There was a ten and a Queen on the flop. So when an Ace hit the turn, giving Villain top pair, it also gave me Broadway.  Heh heh.  I never relinquished the chip lead after that.

It took me an excruciatingly long time to finish off my opponent.  Finally, I raised with pocket 9’s and my opponent shoved.  I figured with stack sizes, Villain’s raise could be with any Ace, any pocket pair, even any two broadway cards.  I called.  I would have been the short stack if I lost.

The computer showed the Villian had pocket 6’s.  The board missed both of us and I had won my very first Sit-N-Go on WSOP.  My reward?  A whopping $20.17.  So, $15 profit.

Actually, it was a fairly boring experience.  I like playing live, being in a place where there are live people around you, even if they are annoying. Of course, if I want more excitement, more action, I can always try multi-tabling.  We’ll see if I try that in the future.

But you know, I’m kind of thinking of retiring right now from WSOP.com.  Undefeated.

Credit Card Scare

So I’m sitting in my hotel room here in Vegas a few days ago, working, when an email shows up, apparently from American Express.

The subject of the email was “Fraud Protection Alert” and it said that they recently refused to authorize a charge on my AmEx card, as they suspected fraud.  They asked me to confirm that I had recently attempted to make a purchase from “Stone Mountain Park Silver Dollar.”  It was a small charge, only $12.50.

I never heard of Stone Mountain Park Silver Dollar.  Clearly, this wasn’t me.  I started to access the website included in the email to dispute it, but then stopped myself.  I knew that it there are nefarious people out there sending out “phishing” emails to steal your identity and your credit card numbers.  It looked like it was from American Express.  But the crookes are really good at making it look like their scam emails are official.

In fact, I almost fell for one a few months back.  I got something that looked like it came from PayPal, telling me my account would be deactivated if I didn’t click the link they provided and update some of my personal information.  I actually started to log onto the site when I suspected something phishy.  I called the PayPal folks and was told they had sent me no such email.  Phew.  Just to be safe, I changed my password.

So rather than use the link provided, I got my AmEx card and started calling the number on the back.  Before I finished dialing, I got a call, took it, and it was a recorded announcement, presumably from AmEx, asking me about a charge.  Now I was pretty sure it was legit, but to be safe, I hung up and called AmEx directly.

Well, indeed, they had just declined two attempts to charge something from Stony Mountain Park Silver Dollar.  Since I had my credit card with me—and there’s only one card in my name—they had somehow gotten my card number.  I wonder how?

I also wondered why they suspected that it was not me using the card. My account is in good order and they rejected it not because I was over my credit limit, but because they suspected something was wrong.  I didn’t get an answer for that, but I think the source attempting to charge my card is somewhat suspect.

But...good job, AmEx, for catching this before it resulted in a massive headache for me.

Anyway, there was no alternative but to immediately cancel my card and send me a replacement with a new card number.  Fortunately, I have other credit cards I could use until the replacement card arrived.

Of course, I won’t be home for awhile, so I had them FedEx the replacement card to the hotel where I’m staying.  And in fact, it arrived here yesterday, and I’m good to go.

Still, it’s scary, and let this be a warning to all of you.

Kunovic Wears Many Hats at Caesars’ New Poker Room

My latest Ante Up column is online and can be found here.


Should be available in your local poker room now.