The 2024 World Series of Poker attracts some of the best players in the world throughout the seven-week festival, but the WSOP Main Event is an altogether different prospect.
It attracts thousands of recreational players, professional crushers, celebrities, and more every year. It has the curious ability to lure even the most reclusive poker players to Sin City and others who are seldom seen in the tournament streets any more.
Birthday Boy Hoping to Bag
In 2011, Jake Cody became the youngest winner of poker’s Triple Crown after winning EPT Deauville, the WPT London Poker Classic, and the WSOP $25,000 Heads-Up Championship.
Not only was he the youngest, but he was the fastest as well, accomplishing the feat in 1 year, four months, 11 days.
Cody seldom plays tournaments these days, he says, instead concentrating on cash game in Florida and Macau. But took his seat today on the second starting flight of the potentially record-breaking WSOP Main Event,
It’s also Cody’s 36th birthday — but that wasn’t the only reason for playing today.
“It was probably better to get a bit of birthday run good”
“I was actually trying to schedule it around England’s game in the Euros,” said Cody, ahead of England’s quarter-final match with Switzerland on Saturday. “I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t playing on that day, and thought it was probably better to get a bit of birthday run good in the process!”
Cody told PokerNews that he spends most of his time in Macau and Florida playing cash games — a long way from his Triple Crown-winning exploits of the past. Although he still plays a handful of tournaments each year, he says there’s more stability in cash games.
He’s also a keen watcher of poker streams, and especially the booming cash game livestream scene, even tweeting in early 2023 “Wesley > Airball > Berkey”.
“There’s a lot more hype around cash games and streams these days,” said Cody. It’s down to Hustler Casino Live and Live at the Bike.”
Tournament Burnout
One of the most famous final tables in poker history was one in which Cody got a front-row seat. He was playing in it.
The 2013 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final featured Cody, then a member of Team PokerStars Pro, alongside Jason Mercier, Noah Schwartz, Daniel Negreanu, Johnny Lodden.
Eventually, it was Steve O’Dwyer who won the title, defeating Andrew Pantling heads-up to win €1,224,000.
“There’s definitely an audience for watching nine great players play out a tournament, but it’s not a great spectacle. You need a mixture for it to become a good watch.
“I got a bit burnt out from tournaments after doing them for so long, so it’s nice to play them recreationally now, to be honest. I’m still trying to win, of course.
Cody “Comfortable” in The Main Event
Having cashed in the WSOP Main Event on four separate occasions, Cody says there’s a different excitement around the event, even getting to the venue 15 minutes early to experience the buzz around the tournament room.
Cody says he first planned to play the WSOP Main Event in 2009, but it wasn’t plain sailing.
“I knew that I could be the youngest player ever to win. It would be almost impossible to beat.”
“I had planned to come for the full summer, so I got a taxi all the way from the north of England to London to fly out. And no word of a lie, a deer ran out and hit my taxi.
“The taxi spun out, and the windscreen was completely smashed. So I missed the flight and couldn’t help but think that it was an omen, so I was a bit superstitious.”
Eventually, Cody flew out in time to play the Main Event, which began on July 3 that year.
“The second starting flight was on July 4 and was my 21st birthday, so I knew that I could be the youngest player ever to win. It would be almost impossible to beat. I knew I had to give myself a chance to win.”
The eventual winner that year? Joe Cada. The Kid. Who, at 21 years old, became the youngest Main Event winner ever.
“It could have been me!” said Cody.
| Year | Event | Place | Cash |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | $10,000 WSOP Main Event | 1052nd | $15,920 |
| 2015 | $10,000 WSOP Main Event | 113th | $46,890 |
| 2013 | $10,000 WSOP Main Event | 400th | $28,063 |
| 2011 | $10,000 WSOP Main Event | 647th | $19,359 |
Cash Games vs Tournaments
Now with an extensive background in cash games, Cody says he’s feeling “comfortable” in the early stages of the Main Event.
“You’re significantly deep for most of the tournament, so it actually kind of suits cash game players a lot”
“It’s such a different structure to most tournaments. You’re significantly deep for most of the tournament, so it actually kind of suits cash game players a lot. Obviously, it’s going to get short, but you’ll be a lot deeper for a lot longer than most tournaments.
“I feel really comfortable now, but when it gets really shallow, maybe because I haven’t studied that for a while, I won’t know what I’m doing!
And will a deep run over the next two weeks lead to Cody returning to crush tournaments?
“I was actually a bit of a tournament hater for a bit,” admitted Cody. “The last couple of times I’ve played a tournament I didn’t have the best of time. But I played a tournament at Dusk till Dawn a couple of months ago, had a really fun time, and enjoyed it a lot more.
“A part of me doesn’t find them as bad as I thought. I do think everyone would be a bit pissed off, but maybe not surprised, if I came back and played this one tournament and just won it.”
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