My First World Series

Do you remember your first World Series?  For me, the first World Series I happened to watch was the 1988 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics.  The big story of the series going into the first game was the injury to Kirk Gibson and everyone assumed that he would not play.

I was laying down in my bedroom and watching a small black and white TV and going into the bottom of the ninth it looked as if Oakland was going to take the game.  As Gibson was batting with a runner on second, NBC posted a graphic saying that Dennis Eckersley had not given up a home since sometime in July. 

With a 3-2 count, Gibson deposited a backdoor slider into the bleachers in what was possibly one of the greatest World Series moments of all time.  That moment quite possibly is the reason that I remained a baseball fan for life.

Fast forward in my life about 18 years and I was about to have my first World Series experience yet again, but this time it was the World Series of Poker.  I chose to play in an event at the 2006 WSOP to see if I could hold my own with the best in the game.

Taking my seat in the massive poker room at the Rio in Las Vegas was very much like stepping up in the batters box.  I happened to be seated with Erik Seidel, one of the game's best, almost on par with having to face Miguel Cabrera if you were a pitcher.

One by one the players fell in the event and I remained in contention in the event.  As night fell, the tension rose as I had a legitimate chance to make the money in the event and take a shot at winning a bracelet.

The money bubble burst and I was guaranteed to cash in the event.  I felt a sense of great accomplishment in my feat but my chips were so short that I needed some luck in order to make a comeback and win the event.

Unfortunately, I was not able to pull off a miracle performance like Gibson in 1988 and did not even make the final table.  However, I did outlast several hundred players and performed very well for my first World Series event.

While the World Series of Poker is not the same as baseball's World Series, it was still my personal attempt to become a world champion and prove myself against the best in poker.  I didn't win the event, but I can still go through the rest of my life saying that I played in the World Series and played well, even if it was in poker.

- Daniel