Playing the One Drop High Roller Money Bubble

The second straight day of the World Series of Poker $111,111 High Roller for One Drop broadcast on PokerGO highlights the giant money bubble pending when action resumes at 2 pm PT. Bertrand Grospellier holds nearly a million-chip lead over field of 23 players.

The top 20 players make the money, with the min-cash comes registering at $166,666, a seat at the final table worth $387,732, seven-figures kicking in at fourth place and the winner earns $3.6 million.

So how do some of the top high stakes players in the world handle such a huge money bubble?

“I don’t like bubbles when you’re at the exact stack I have,” said Phil Galfond. “If I’m any shorter I can get after it and try to build up my stack. If I’m any deeper I can play, but I’m kind of handcuffed with what I have.”

“What’s end up happening is if the bubble drags on, my stack will whittle down or I’ll lose my discipline and playing some hands,” said Galfond. “I’m hoping it doesn’t last too long, but there’s nothing I can do about it. All I can do is play appropriately snug.”

Doug Polk returned with an average stack and said, “I’m going to imagine in a high roller tournament with $166K for the min-cash people are going to want to gamble. No, I’m just kidding – it’s going to take forever.” 

“There’s going to be some tanking, there’s going to be some stalling, there’s going to be hand-for-hand and some people are going to be blinding down,” Polk continued. “There’s probably going to be someone in the big blind with two big blinds wondering what to do – this is going to be poker at its finest. If I’m in the big blind with two big blinds, I’ll be drinking in the stands.”

Jason Les played in the event, but busted on Day 2 and joins the PokerGO commentary team for the day. “With three players off the bubble – I actually don’t think it’s that big of a bubble. Yeah, it’s a lot of money but it’s only 1.5 buy-ins,” said Les. “So, while certain stack sizes should play tighter because of ICM considerations, we shouldn’t see an over-the-top long bubble situation – unless everyone has a huge piece of themselves.”

“I would say we’re in for at least two hours of bubble play,” Les added. “I was here last year on the bubble and it must have taken four or five hours, I think we have a while to go but it won’t be that bad.”

Galfond agreed with Les that stack sizes will dictate Sunday’s action. “In high buy-in, small field events the bubble is usually slow but stacks are relatively short where there’s enough sub-25 big blind stacks that somebody is going to get queens into kings – it’s just going to happen no matter how tight you are – hopefully it’s me with the kings,” said Galfond.

Phil Hellmuth arrived on time and full of confidence after a rough end to Day 2. “Well a lot of the kids are using snap-shove and getting their money in these spots I would never get it in, but they say it’s correct mathematics,” he said. “I think it’s going to be done within in an hour.”

“I’m going on total instincts today – I could finish 23rd. It will be hard since only one person at my table covers me,” Hellmuth continued. “I’ve got a feeling Scott is going to try and outplay me and I’m going to make a great call. I already know, we’ve written the script – watch for it. It’s a shame we’re not at the Feature Table. If we were Scott, would try to outplay me every single hand.”