Worldseriesofgolf's Weblog

A great story from Russell Warye (3 time player in the WSG). This is kind of part 2 from Russell (see previous blogs…)

How did I find out about the World Series of Golf?

I think I received one of the original invitations sent out by the Mirage.  It arrived in November of 2006.  I still have the invitation. The first page said “The skill of golf, the savvy of poker, the characters in the tournament.  Who will wear the crown?”

I think I read the entire invitation and immediately called my host and said, “I’m in!  Just tell me where and when!”  Then I interviewed with Tom and that was it.  I was in.

The first year I was super charged and thought I was going to dominate after playing well in a couple of practice rounds.  When tournament time came I stepped up to the first tee with a ton of confidence.  I literally bet on every single shot until I got eliminated on the 9th hole.  I called an all in bet and I watched as my opponent stuck a wedge to about 3 feet. He made his putt.  My birdie putt lipped out.  That was my tournament.  I didn’t even get a chance to try for a hole in one on the par 3 10th for the Mustang… I was done.

My brother Shane, who is a Master Sergeant in the Air Force, was my caddie/financial advisor that year.  He had just served a tour of duty in Iraq.  So we were both super excited to play in the event together.  It was unfortunate we made such an early exit. But I learned a valuable lesson that first year. There was no need to be so aggressive and spend all that energy trying to knock everyone out so early in the round.  The antes are too small.  This event is won on the back nine.  I vowed to change my strategy for next year.

The opening round of the 2008 World Series of Golf, I was paired with 4 Full Tilt Poker pros.  I knew there was going to be some crazy betting, so my plan was to take it easy, relax and wait for my opportunities.  Only it didn’t start out that way.  I drew the ace and had the honor on the first tee, stepped up and smoked my drive right down the middle to within 60 yards of the green.  My competitors all drove it in the fairway too… and that’s when the craziness started.  I had the button and about a 50 yard advantage off the tee so I decided to test the waters and lead out with a bet of $1000.  The croupier walked back to share my bet with the others.  I couldn’t hear what they were saying because of the wind, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Phil Ivey make a move with his arms like he was pushing a huge chip stack.  Sure enough, our croupier comes back and tells me that Mr. Ivey has raised me “All-in”, and the others have folded.  The bet was to me.  Now the others are laughing… and waiting to see what happens next… was I going to risk losing my $10,000 buy in on the very first hole of the tournament?? Was I going to be the first guy ever to get knocked out on the first hole on the first day at the World Series of Golf? NO WAY!  My caddie and I took about 2 seconds to talk it over and I called that crazy bet.  We won the hole, doubled up and breathed one huge sigh of relief.  One less competitor and a whole lot more chips.

After that, I went back to the original plan and played pretty conservative the rest of the day.  My caddie last year was Sally, and I have to admit she did a great job of keeping me grounded.  We only made moves when I had an advantage.  We finished the day victorious and advanced to the second round without too much trouble.

On day two of the tournament I was paired with a bunch of celebrities.  We were mic’ed up and the cameras were rolling… the wind was blowing hard again, and I was struggling to find my game early.  I barely hung in there on the front nine all the while doling off chips to Ray Romano and Allen Cunningham.  At one point, I had an “All-in” opportunity against Ray Romano to take the outright chip lead, and proceeded to 3 putt the hole for a tie.  All I needed to do was 2 putt and I would have eliminated Ray and taken a huge chip lead.  He’s such a nice guy I guess I lost my killer instinct.  Either that or I choked – Ha! Probably the latter.

Anyway, I was the short stack going into the back nine.  Looking for some inspiration, I stopped the cart girl and ordered a couple of Coronas.  Here’s a tip for all you first timers…it’s very important to stay hydrated out there!  The pit stop worked, my swing loosened up, and sure enough my game started to heat up on the back nine.  By the time we reached the par 5, 17^th, I was second in chips and looking to make a move.  My tee shot was about 60 yards ahead of the others, and I had the button, so I moved all in.  I was hoping someone would call, as I wanted to end the match right there.  The others were in a do-or-die position because of the size of the antes, so they pretty much all had to call, and they did.

Needless to say, your video trailers for this years event tell the whole story….I had to watch it in the lobby, on the shuttle rides, and even on the video loop running on the TV’s in the room.  I’m pretty sure everyone saw Allen Cunningham make that 20′ screaming downhill putt for birdie.

Check back on Wednesday for part 3 of Russell’s story…