Hello there. First of all, I owe all of you an explanation regarding my lack of blog entries. During the World Series of Poker I needed all my time and focus to be sure I gave it my best shot.

Unfortunately things went from bad to worse. I never had the feeling I was even close to a final table, let alone a bracelet. Then directly after the WSOP I felt I needed to clear my head and take a break and go on holiday.

The day I returned from my short break I got sick and that took me another two weeks to recover from. That is basically the reason for the lack of regular blogs.

I first want to tell all of you how the last part of my WSOP adventures ended: nothing but early exits. I only managed to make it to the dinner break in the Deuce-to-Seven tournament.

I played a lot of relatively "small" buy-in Hold'em tournaments and to be honest, I don't really like them. Besides, I consider the skill factor in games other than No-Limit Hold'em much greater - or at least my edge is probably bigger in those games.

Rob Hollink: First-ever WSOP bracelet winner from the Netherlands.

Like I told you in my previous blog, though, there is no longer a battle to become the first-ever Dutch bracelet winner. Rob Hollink won the $10k Limit Hold'em Championship event (congrats again Rob!!!) and that took away some pressure.

This may sound strange, but the Main Event is (in my opinion) the only event with a structure that is WSOP-worthy. Levels last long enough, intervals are very well calculated, etc. etc. My WSOP Main Event, though, ended on Day 2.

I moved in on the turn with K-8, holding a flush draw plus an inside straight draw to go with it. I was called by A-Q offsuit (neither of us paired; he basically called my considerably big raise with just ace-high), so I had a ton of outs: any of the three eights, three kings, plus four gut-shot cards and the flush outs.

That makes 18 outs in total, but unfortunately for me, a blank came on the river and I was eliminated.

The only thing that leaves a good memory of this past WSOP is that my buddy Scotty Nguyen took the title, bracelet and the money in the $50k H.O.R.S.E. Championship Event. He also was the first winner of the Chip Reese trophy.

Chip Reese Memorial Trophy.

This trophy is 21 inches tall, weighs no less than 60 pounds and has two parts. The bottom is a solid marble base where the name of the winner is inscribed. The top section consists of the five cards (A7744) that Chip held when he won the first $50k H.O.R.S.E. event.

The trophy also features an engraved quote from Chip: "Standing the test of time."

As you can imagine, I was not happy this year with the turn of events, so for next year I am planning on playing just a few carefully selected events.

So no more $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em events next year. I will focus on the big-buy-in ($5,000 or more) tournaments. I will also make sure that I check the blind structures of each and every tournament.

For example, the structure of the $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em event is a whole lot better than the $10k buy-in Pot-Limit Hold'em event. So that is what I am focusing on next year.

Regards,

-- Steve Wong (Steve@888.com)

Catch up with Steve on his home site, Pacific Poker, Pacific Poker.

More blogs from Pacific Poker pro Steve Wong:

• My 2008 WSOP So Far
• Egg-Shaped Losers Driving Women From Poker
• WPT Championship Part 2: Soul-Reading Kid Poker
• WPT Championship Part 1: Something to Prove