How do you make it through the first two days of a poker tournament?
"By only seeing four flops," Leif Force revealed.
Force, heading into the second-to-last day with $2.2 million in chips, has been one of the most conservative players in the entire field and as he admitted, he only played four hands past the flop to lead him out of Day 2 and get him to the final 27.
Primarily a cash game player online under the name "JungleBoy" in the $10/$20 no-limit game, Force uses a strategy of playing premium hands to his advantage. Of course, the occasional blind steal allows him to pick up chips at certain times, but when he gets involved in a hand, he usually gets paid off.
I've been watching his table for three days now and can honestly say that he's played at most 10 hands during that time. Force admitted to laying down kings, queens, jacks and 10s simply because he didn't want to get involved in hands where he felt there might be a chance he was behind. He also said he would play suited connectors, but just hadn't picked up those type of hands.
So what had he played?
"I would say I've had four or five big hands," Force said.
"Queens versus aces," when Force rivered a queen.
"Ace-king suited versus pocket queens," when Force rivered a straight.
"I picked up aces in the big blind when two other players moved all-in ahead of me," and Force hit a set on the flop and tripled up.
"And jack-five off-suit."
Wait. Wait. Wait. Jack-five offsuit? A guy who is tighter than the entire field played jack-five off-suit?
"I was in the small blind. I limped. The flop came J-4-Q. The turn was a five. He had K-10 and reraised me all-in. I called and doubled up."
That's using the Force.
Force, a 23-year-old student at Florida State, first approached me to tell me that "SportsCenter" needs to have more ultimate frisbee highlights, then told me about a personal highlight with Annie Duke.
"Annie was in my small blind when I was in the big blind," he said. "I told her, 'Limp in so that I can play a hand against you. We'll check it down.' She didn't go for that, but it was great playing at her table."
At this point of the interview, Johnny Chan stopped by and overheard our conversation. Chan chimed in on Force's strategy by asking if he goes all-in preflop to avoid getting called.
"Going all-in? That's just crazy," Force said.
With only 27 players left and an unbelievable table image, it's time for Force to make some moves and prove he's got the unpredictability at the table that he needs to win.
----------------------------------
Chan had more to say on his good friend Jamie Gold, who has a commanding chip lead heading into the final 27.
"He's in great shape," Chan said of Gold. "He'll keep on picking on the short stacks and putting them all-in because when a big stack pushes you all-in, you'll really need a hand to call."
Chan was also taking Gold and his mother out for dinner last night to talk strategy. I couldn't imagine there would be anyone better to learn from in preparation for the final two days, but the real question would be: Who's paying for dinner?
----------------------------------
Quote of the day:
"Do you think that players like Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson not being around has helped you get this far?" -- Bluff Radio asking Gold his opinion on the amateurs and if the absence of big names helped his chances. The look on Gold's face was priceless and the answer: "Yes!"
----------------------------------
Small blinds: The day ended quickly as the plan was to play from 45 to 27. Players had half a night off to rest up and prepare for a long day on Tuesday. ... There will be a day off from play Wednesday so the final nine players can come back rested and ready for the biggest day of their lives. ... Hellmuth was disappointed that he will lose the player of the year title to 21-year-old Jeff Madsen. However, Hellmuth, who has cashed seven times in the WSOP, has nothing to be upset about. ... Have a question for any of the final table players? Send them in and I'll ask them during the press conference after each of them is eliminated. ... The ESPN crew built a VIP box to host some invited guests during tomorrow's final table. What's next? A skybox right above the action? ... There are so many chips in play that coloring up has almost been negligible. There are $100,000 chips now in play, but when there are $87 million in chips on the table, how are the players going to even look at their cards? Hey Harrah's -- next year, break out the $1 million chip.