Once again there's good news and bad news. The bad news is I went broke in the Omaha finishing 887th of 1,232. The good news is I busted before I got a chance to do the add on so I was only in for $415.
I got off to a great start running my starting stack of 4,000 (after I did the one rebuy) up to about 8,000. But then I dropped off slowly but steadily. I kept getting a ton of marginal but playable hands and catching a piece, but not all of it.
In the final hand I got all of my chips in with a flush draw vs two players neither of whom had a set or any cards of the suit I needed. On the turn I even picked up an open ended straight, but the river was a brick and that was it.
I did win my first match in the $215 Second Chance HU Matches (which started with 252 players). It took a little luck on the end and 88 hands to dispatch my opponent. On the final hand I put all my chips in with second pair and ran into top pair. But I made trips on the end and am now awaiting my next opponent. Two more wins is worth $504.
Friday, September 12, 2008
2008 WCOOP Event #15 ($320 HU Matches) Recap
Well, I lost my first match. Crap! It lasted 46 minutes and 136 hands which is pretty long for one of these. I got paired against another supernova. I know he was a supernova because a few days ago they made it so you can display your VIP status right on your icon! Those of you who have been watching me may have wondered about the 5 stars under my picture. If I had 4 stars it would mean I was platinum, 3 for gold, 2 for sliver and 1 for bronze.
Despite being supernova this guy totally sucked! He was one of the most predictable opponents I've every played. When he bet big he had it and when he bet small it was a bluff. The only problem I had was trusting my read (and the fact that I made very few real hands). The people I normally play against are very crafty and it threw me off to play against someone so straightforward. I just couldn't believe that he would keep acting that way! Actually towards the end he did shift gears a little, but I still think I could have beaten him 8 times out of 10.
Maybe I'll have better luck in the $215 Heads Up Matches second chance!
Despite being supernova this guy totally sucked! He was one of the most predictable opponents I've every played. When he bet big he had it and when he bet small it was a bluff. The only problem I had was trusting my read (and the fact that I made very few real hands). The people I normally play against are very crafty and it threw me off to play against someone so straightforward. I just couldn't believe that he would keep acting that way! Actually towards the end he did shift gears a little, but I still think I could have beaten him 8 times out of 10.
Maybe I'll have better luck in the $215 Heads Up Matches second chance!
A Big Thanks!
Thanks to everyone who stayed up late to watch last night. Also thanks to E.B. for driving out here at about 1 a.m. to root me on in person and give me someone to high five after Jen went to sleep!
2008 WCOOP Events #15 & #16 Preview
Event #15 is $320 Heads Up Matches. The way it works is you play against one player and whoever wins moves on. If you win you have to wait until all of the other matches are done before being paired with a new opponent. If you win 3 matches you're in the money.
Event #16 is $215 Pot Limit Omaha with 1 rebuy and 1 add on. This is a tournament that wasn't on my original schedule, but since I'm now flush with cash and I did so well in the other PLO that I played I figured why not.
Also I want to give myself as many chances to cash as possible. There are only about 75 players who have 3 or more cashes, 25 who have 4 or more, 6 who have 5, one who has 6, and one with 7. While it would be tough for me to contend for most cashes, I might be able to get into the top ten by the time it's all over. I do have 4 cashes in the second chance tournaments in 6 tries, but that doesn't count for anything except the money won of course (and a little satisfaction!).
This Omaha tournament will be 9 handed and unlike yesterdays rebuy tournament where you could rebuy as many times as you wanted during the first hour (assuming you had under 2,000 chips), in this one you can only rebuy once. At the end of the first hour you can add more chips with the add on. Basically the max commitment in this one is $615.
Event #16 is $215 Pot Limit Omaha with 1 rebuy and 1 add on. This is a tournament that wasn't on my original schedule, but since I'm now flush with cash and I did so well in the other PLO that I played I figured why not.
Also I want to give myself as many chances to cash as possible. There are only about 75 players who have 3 or more cashes, 25 who have 4 or more, 6 who have 5, one who has 6, and one with 7. While it would be tough for me to contend for most cashes, I might be able to get into the top ten by the time it's all over. I do have 4 cashes in the second chance tournaments in 6 tries, but that doesn't count for anything except the money won of course (and a little satisfaction!).
This Omaha tournament will be 9 handed and unlike yesterdays rebuy tournament where you could rebuy as many times as you wanted during the first hour (assuming you had under 2,000 chips), in this one you can only rebuy once. At the end of the first hour you can add more chips with the add on. Basically the max commitment in this one is $615.
2008 WCOOP Event #13 ($215 with rebuys) Recap
At this point much of yesterday's tournament has blended together so the details aren't going to be as sharp as most of my posts. And while I'm trying to get myself to just feel good about it I can't help but have mixed feelings.
When I last left off I had about 90,000 chips with 88 players left. Soon after a very aggressive player moved all in from the cutoff and I called with 77. He turned over J9s, but I flopped a 7 and moved up to over 200,000.
The great thing about this tournament is I was stuck at between a third and half of average for hours and hours, but I still had plenty of chips in relation to the blinds. This allowed me to stay patient and wait for good hands which I got plenty of.
Specifically I kept getting AQ! I must have had it 10 times after we got down to less than 100 players. And I won with it every time! Usually it was by blowing all in against an initial raiser who every time but one folded. I got called one time by 88, but managed to hit an ace and double up.
With less than 25 players left I had by far my favorite hand of the tournament (although that one with K9 suited is second). I wish I could remember all the precise details, but I think it went something like this. With blinds of 6,000/12,000 a player raised on the button to 30,000 and I made it 110,000 to go with 99 (I had something like 600,000 when the hand started). My opponent called and the flop came down QJ9 with two hearts giving me a set! I bet out about 150,000, my opponent who had about the same number of chips I did, made it 320,000 and I moved all in. I was hoping to see hand like AA or AQ, but instead my opponent showed KJ of hearts giving him a straight and a flush draw. In other words he was 39% to win while with AA he would have only ben 11% and with AQ it would have been 5%!
But then the turn came down...and it was a 9! QUADS BABY! 1,000,000 chips baby!
This was the first time I was in really good shape chip wise and it looked like I had a great chance to make the final table. For a long time I was telling myself that if I could just make it to 18th or better I'd be happy. All of the pay jumps were around $150 every time we'd lose another 9 players, but while 19th-27th paid $2,685 16th-18th paid $5,114. This was enough that I would feel like this tournament was a real success. We crossed that pay line and then quickly made the next pay jump. 13th to 15th paid $7,671. Before I knew it we were down to 12 which paid $10,228.
We played with 10 players for a good while and it seemed like we'd never make it down to the final table. Then I got a total gift. The blinds were 15,000/30,000 and the shortest stack had about 440,000. He was in the small blind and made a bold move with J8 moving all in. I woke up with QQ in the big blind and took him out!
Then I totally blew it! At one point at the final table I had over 2,000,000 chips, but with about 1,600,000 left I flushed my whole stack on one hand. With blinds of 20,000/40,000 I raised to 120,000 with KJ and got called by the big blind. The flop came down J T 7 and after my opponent checked I bet out 240,000. He just called and the turn came an 8. This was truly a terrible card since now any 9 made a straight. Again my opponent checked which is exactly what I should have done. Instead thought "There's no reason he should have a 9 is there?" And then I moved all in. I got snap called by T9 and that was it.
9th place paid $14,192. I won't remind you what the other places paid, because it sucks to think about what if. So officially I'm going to stop moping and try this again!
9th PLACE PAID $14,192! WCOOP FINAL TABLE BABY! This was a real marathon. I played for over 15 hours which is the longest I've ever played in any poker tournament.
The best part is now the WCOOP is guaranteed to show a profit! That right all of you backers, you'll all be getting a check from me when this is all done. For how much remains to be seen.
Right now my starting bankroll of $10,000 had ballooned to $23,723!
When I last left off I had about 90,000 chips with 88 players left. Soon after a very aggressive player moved all in from the cutoff and I called with 77. He turned over J9s, but I flopped a 7 and moved up to over 200,000.
The great thing about this tournament is I was stuck at between a third and half of average for hours and hours, but I still had plenty of chips in relation to the blinds. This allowed me to stay patient and wait for good hands which I got plenty of.
Specifically I kept getting AQ! I must have had it 10 times after we got down to less than 100 players. And I won with it every time! Usually it was by blowing all in against an initial raiser who every time but one folded. I got called one time by 88, but managed to hit an ace and double up.
With less than 25 players left I had by far my favorite hand of the tournament (although that one with K9 suited is second). I wish I could remember all the precise details, but I think it went something like this. With blinds of 6,000/12,000 a player raised on the button to 30,000 and I made it 110,000 to go with 99 (I had something like 600,000 when the hand started). My opponent called and the flop came down QJ9 with two hearts giving me a set! I bet out about 150,000, my opponent who had about the same number of chips I did, made it 320,000 and I moved all in. I was hoping to see hand like AA or AQ, but instead my opponent showed KJ of hearts giving him a straight and a flush draw. In other words he was 39% to win while with AA he would have only ben 11% and with AQ it would have been 5%!
But then the turn came down...and it was a 9! QUADS BABY! 1,000,000 chips baby!
This was the first time I was in really good shape chip wise and it looked like I had a great chance to make the final table. For a long time I was telling myself that if I could just make it to 18th or better I'd be happy. All of the pay jumps were around $150 every time we'd lose another 9 players, but while 19th-27th paid $2,685 16th-18th paid $5,114. This was enough that I would feel like this tournament was a real success. We crossed that pay line and then quickly made the next pay jump. 13th to 15th paid $7,671. Before I knew it we were down to 12 which paid $10,228.
We played with 10 players for a good while and it seemed like we'd never make it down to the final table. Then I got a total gift. The blinds were 15,000/30,000 and the shortest stack had about 440,000. He was in the small blind and made a bold move with J8 moving all in. I woke up with QQ in the big blind and took him out!
Then I totally blew it! At one point at the final table I had over 2,000,000 chips, but with about 1,600,000 left I flushed my whole stack on one hand. With blinds of 20,000/40,000 I raised to 120,000 with KJ and got called by the big blind. The flop came down J T 7 and after my opponent checked I bet out 240,000. He just called and the turn came an 8. This was truly a terrible card since now any 9 made a straight. Again my opponent checked which is exactly what I should have done. Instead thought "There's no reason he should have a 9 is there?" And then I moved all in. I got snap called by T9 and that was it.
9th place paid $14,192. I won't remind you what the other places paid, because it sucks to think about what if. So officially I'm going to stop moping and try this again!
9th PLACE PAID $14,192! WCOOP FINAL TABLE BABY! This was a real marathon. I played for over 15 hours which is the longest I've ever played in any poker tournament.
The best part is now the WCOOP is guaranteed to show a profit! That right all of you backers, you'll all be getting a check from me when this is all done. For how much remains to be seen.
Right now my starting bankroll of $10,000 had ballooned to $23,723!
Still in it!
I think everyone who has big interest in this tournament is either watching live or asleep. I'm still in it late enough that London Dave is probably on his lunch break by now. Since it's so late and this is looking like a pretty nice finish I'm going to wait until morning for the full write up of results and stories.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
WCOOP Update
When we last left out hero, I was at about 31,000. With about 35,000 I picked up KK and was facing an all in of about 18,000 in front of me. Yay! Kings should be good right? Wrong! He had AA and I was down under 20,000.
A few hands later I moved all in from 1st position with KQ. I got called by AJ, but I flopped 2 kings and was up to 30,000.
A few hands later I picked up 66. The player to my right who happened to be the same guy who had the AA and the AJ moved all in for 10,000. I decided to gamble and moved all in over the top. When the next player to act moved all in too I knew I was in trouble. The first guy had A9 and the second guy had KK, but I nailed a 6 on the flop and was up over 70,000!
Since then I've been in maintain mode and have about 90,000. We're down to 88 which pays $1,918 gross and I'm in 62nd.
I also finished 5th in the $215 Stud second chance which paid $512.
A few hands later I moved all in from 1st position with KQ. I got called by AJ, but I flopped 2 kings and was up to 30,000.
A few hands later I picked up 66. The player to my right who happened to be the same guy who had the AA and the AJ moved all in for 10,000. I decided to gamble and moved all in over the top. When the next player to act moved all in too I knew I was in trouble. The first guy had A9 and the second guy had KK, but I nailed a 6 on the flop and was up over 70,000!
Since then I've been in maintain mode and have about 90,000. We're down to 88 which pays $1,918 gross and I'm in 62nd.
I also finished 5th in the $215 Stud second chance which paid $512.
Heavy Action!
After my last post I went up to 50,000 chips by winning three pots. On the first I raised with QJ, and got one caller in the big blind. The flop came Q high and my opponent check called a good sized bet. The turn was a brick and I decided if this was it then oh well. After he checked the turn I moved all in and he folded.
A few hands later with blinds at 600/1,200 a player who'd been raising very often made his standard 3,000 bet and I just called with KJ on the button. The small blind came along too and the flop came down A Q T all spades. The original raiser made it 7,200 I instantly moved all in and took down the pot.
Then I went back down to about 30,000. And then all the way back up to 70,000 when the following hand came up. I raised from the button with Q9s and got reraised by the big blind. I called and the flop came down JT9. He made a good sized bet and I moved all in. After some thought he folded and I was up to over 90,000.
Then I got totally jobbed. With blinds of 800/1,600 a player made it 3,935 to go from middle position (Really!). I decided to see a flop with 78 from the big blind. The flop came down 5 6 J and I was going to check raise semibluff, but my opponent checked behind me. The turn was a 9 which was a total bingo card making me the nut straight. I check raised him all in and he showed 69 for two pair. To my shock on horror the river was a 9 making him a full house and costing me 85,000 chips. SHIT!
I'm back to 31,000 now in 164th of 199, but still in it.
A few hands later with blinds at 600/1,200 a player who'd been raising very often made his standard 3,000 bet and I just called with KJ on the button. The small blind came along too and the flop came down A Q T all spades. The original raiser made it 7,200 I instantly moved all in and took down the pot.
Then I went back down to about 30,000. And then all the way back up to 70,000 when the following hand came up. I raised from the button with Q9s and got reraised by the big blind. I called and the flop came down JT9. He made a good sized bet and I moved all in. After some thought he folded and I was up to over 90,000.
Then I got totally jobbed. With blinds of 800/1,600 a player made it 3,935 to go from middle position (Really!). I decided to see a flop with 78 from the big blind. The flop came down 5 6 J and I was going to check raise semibluff, but my opponent checked behind me. The turn was a 9 which was a total bingo card making me the nut straight. I check raised him all in and he showed 69 for two pair. To my shock on horror the river was a 9 making him a full house and costing me 85,000 chips. SHIT!
I'm back to 31,000 now in 164th of 199, but still in it.
In the Money!
We made it to the money in the $215 with rebuys! Right now I'm in 235th of 318. Anything could happen from here on out. I'll post again if I get elminated or make it over 50,000 chips.
Event #13 Update
After 5 hours and 30 mintues of play I'm still in the $215 with rebuys. I have about 19,000 chips which puts me at a little more than half of average and in 342nd place out of the 460 players left. 324 make the money which is over $1,000.
The good news is the blinds are still small relative my (and everyone else's) chip stack. When we come back from break we're looking at 400/800 blinds with a 75 chips ante so I'm a long way from all in or fold mode. I feel like I need one more big hand to get me there. Hopefully I'll have one just fall in my lap!
I'm also still in the $215 stud second chance. This one went off with a whopping 32 players! If I'd noticed that it was going to be such a small field before it was too late to unregister I wouldn't have played. First is $2,500+ which is nothing to sneeze at and now that I'm in I'm going to give it everything I've got.
This is amazing! While writing this post I just got the big hand I wanted! HA! I was in the big blind with K9 of clubs and a player open raised to 2,400. He got called in one spot and I decided to take a small gamble hoping to hit the flop hard. The risky aspect of taking a flop with a hand like this is not so much the 1,600 extra chips invested, it's the possiblilty of hitting a K or a 9 and running into a better K or 9 or an overpair.
But I hit the flop pretty hard. It came down K 7 4 with two clubs! While I thought I might be behind, there was no way in hell I was folding top pair and a flush draw! My worst nightmare was checking, having both other players check and having a non club ace drop on the turn. Of course that scenario was extremely unlikely, but nonetheless that's what I was thinking about when I decided to go for the check raise.
The original raiser bet out 4,000 and I moved all in for 16,000 and he snap called me. I was sure it must be a big hand since he spent less time that it takes to blink your eye to think this one over. I was SHOCKED to see him turn over 67! To my absolute horror the turn was a 7 giving him the best hand, but luckily the river was the deuce of clubs and I took down a 40,000 chip pot! Right now I'm in 170th of 412.
The good news is the blinds are still small relative my (and everyone else's) chip stack. When we come back from break we're looking at 400/800 blinds with a 75 chips ante so I'm a long way from all in or fold mode. I feel like I need one more big hand to get me there. Hopefully I'll have one just fall in my lap!
I'm also still in the $215 stud second chance. This one went off with a whopping 32 players! If I'd noticed that it was going to be such a small field before it was too late to unregister I wouldn't have played. First is $2,500+ which is nothing to sneeze at and now that I'm in I'm going to give it everything I've got.
This is amazing! While writing this post I just got the big hand I wanted! HA! I was in the big blind with K9 of clubs and a player open raised to 2,400. He got called in one spot and I decided to take a small gamble hoping to hit the flop hard. The risky aspect of taking a flop with a hand like this is not so much the 1,600 extra chips invested, it's the possiblilty of hitting a K or a 9 and running into a better K or 9 or an overpair.
But I hit the flop pretty hard. It came down K 7 4 with two clubs! While I thought I might be behind, there was no way in hell I was folding top pair and a flush draw! My worst nightmare was checking, having both other players check and having a non club ace drop on the turn. Of course that scenario was extremely unlikely, but nonetheless that's what I was thinking about when I decided to go for the check raise.
The original raiser bet out 4,000 and I moved all in for 16,000 and he snap called me. I was sure it must be a big hand since he spent less time that it takes to blink your eye to think this one over. I was SHOCKED to see him turn over 67! To my absolute horror the turn was a 7 giving him the best hand, but luckily the river was the deuce of clubs and I took down a 40,000 chip pot! Right now I'm in 170th of 412.
2008 WCOOP Event #14 ($320 Stud) Recap
I finished 425th out of 627 in today's stud tournament. My chip stack bounced around between 2,000 and 5,000 for the three hours that I lasted. I feel like I played well, I just ran into a bunch of full houses. I also had a slew of hands where going into the river I'd have one pair and so would my opponent, but I was always catching a brick while they were finding just enough to call my river bet.
In other news I started out really strong in the $162 second chance with rebuys and had more than twice average at the end of the rebuy period. Then I got involved in a few hands where I faced some tough decisions. In one my opponent either played a hand very weakly to induce a bluff or because he was really scared of going broke. Whatever it was it worked for him and I blew off about a third of my stack.
A while later I was down to about 7,000 chips from my peak of 17,000 when I called a small raise out of the big blind with 67 vs three opponents. The flop came down 865 giving me middle pair and a straight draw. This seemed like the perfect situation to use the good old check raise semibluff. I checked and the last player to act made a standard bet and I moved all in. He quickly called with TT and I missed. At the time the money went in I was 44% to win and if I'd hit I'd have been back to the good side of average.
In other news I started out really strong in the $162 second chance with rebuys and had more than twice average at the end of the rebuy period. Then I got involved in a few hands where I faced some tough decisions. In one my opponent either played a hand very weakly to induce a bluff or because he was really scared of going broke. Whatever it was it worked for him and I blew off about a third of my stack.
A while later I was down to about 7,000 chips from my peak of 17,000 when I called a small raise out of the big blind with 67 vs three opponents. The flop came down 865 giving me middle pair and a straight draw. This seemed like the perfect situation to use the good old check raise semibluff. I checked and the last player to act made a standard bet and I moved all in. He quickly called with TT and I missed. At the time the money went in I was 44% to win and if I'd hit I'd have been back to the good side of average.
Event #14 Underway!
We stared today's $320 Stud tournament with 627 players. After an hour of play only one unlucky bastard has gone broke. I briefly had my starting stack of 4,000 up to about 6,000, but have since come back down to 4,300. 96 spots pay with the edge of the money returning $451. 8th place pays $3,292 and 1st place is $33,388.
I'm still doing fine in the $215 with rebuys. I was in bad shape for a moment. After not winning a pot other than a few blind steals for about an hour and a half (close to 100 hands) and losing a few moderate pots I was down to around 5,500.
Then I picked up 99 and raised to 600. I felt a little nervous when I saw this hand because I knew it was enough to go with if I got challenged given my stack size, but It wasn't enough to feel good about it. I had a feeling I might end up all in vs AK or AQ hoping to survive. Instead I got called by one player and flopped a full house!!
With 977 on the board I decided to check. While it's very suspicious to raise and then check, the player I was up against seemed pretty inexperienced and I thought he might fall right into my trap. Even if he checked behind me he might pick up something on the turn that would generate some action for me.
After my check he bet 600 into the 1,500 pot which looked like a tester to me. I just called and the turn came a king. This was a great card since I thought he might have called me with something like KQ. I checked again and he bet 600 again. I just called again and the river came a 5. I was torn about betting or checking here, and against a good player I'd certainly bet. But against this guy I decided to check. He bet out 600 for a third time and this time I dropped the all in bomb! He thought for about ten seconds and called with KT.
After one or two other small pots I'm up to 13,400 which is just shy of average with 1,125 players left.
The $162 second chance rebuy tournament is also underway with 330 entrants although the prizes won't be displayed until after the rebuy period.
I'm still doing fine in the $215 with rebuys. I was in bad shape for a moment. After not winning a pot other than a few blind steals for about an hour and a half (close to 100 hands) and losing a few moderate pots I was down to around 5,500.
Then I picked up 99 and raised to 600. I felt a little nervous when I saw this hand because I knew it was enough to go with if I got challenged given my stack size, but It wasn't enough to feel good about it. I had a feeling I might end up all in vs AK or AQ hoping to survive. Instead I got called by one player and flopped a full house!!
With 977 on the board I decided to check. While it's very suspicious to raise and then check, the player I was up against seemed pretty inexperienced and I thought he might fall right into my trap. Even if he checked behind me he might pick up something on the turn that would generate some action for me.
After my check he bet 600 into the 1,500 pot which looked like a tester to me. I just called and the turn came a king. This was a great card since I thought he might have called me with something like KQ. I checked again and he bet 600 again. I just called again and the river came a 5. I was torn about betting or checking here, and against a good player I'd certainly bet. But against this guy I decided to check. He bet out 600 for a third time and this time I dropped the all in bomb! He thought for about ten seconds and called with KT.
After one or two other small pots I'm up to 13,400 which is just shy of average with 1,125 players left.
The $162 second chance rebuy tournament is also underway with 330 entrants although the prizes won't be displayed until after the rebuy period.
Event #13 Underway!
We started today's $215 with rebuys event with 2,234 entrants. Those entrants were responsible for 2,234 buy ins (obviously), 2,635 rebuys and 1,524 add ons for a total prize pool of $1,278,600.
Unfortunately I had to do one more rebuy than I wanted. About 30 minutes into the tournament I picked up QQ, raised and got two callers. The flop came 7 3 2 with two diamonds. I bet about the pot and got called. The turn was a bad card - the king of diamonds. I checked and my opponent made a fair sized bet. At this point there was about 1,000 in the pot and my opponent had about 1,500 left. I thought if I put him all in there were three good things that could happen: 1) he could fold and I'd win the pot right there, 2) he could call with a worse hand like 88, 99 or a bare ace of diamonds, 3) he could call with a better hand and I could hit a diamond or a Q and win the pot that way. Of course he could call with a better hand and win or a worse hand and hit to beat me, but I thought it was an easy decision to go for it especially since I could replace those lost chips for $200. Unfortunately he turned over 97 of diamonds, I missed and had to do one extra rebuy.
So the total cost on getting into this tournament was $815. But after about an hour and a half I'm in good shape with 10,700 chips which puts me about 2,000 above average and in 464th place out of 1,832 remaining players.
324th place is the edge of the money and pays $1,023, to net $1,000 I need to make it to 90th, to net about $2,000 I need to make it to 27th, 18th pays $5,114, 12th pays $10,228, 6th is $48,586 and 1st is $207,772! Big bucks baby!
If I do well in this one London Dave will be back from work by the time it's over! I've got 10,000+ chips and the blinds are only at 25/50! It's going to take 5 hours of play for them to get to 300/600 and will probably be 7 or 8 hours into the tournament before we make the money. This is definitely one to sit back and wait for good cards.
In other micro good news I won my initial $215 entry into this one in a $55 satellite. With everything on my schedule today it doesn't seem like much, but another $160 on the WCOOP pile isn't insignificant.
Stud starts in a half hour and I'll let you know how it's all going around 3 pm pacific.
Unfortunately I had to do one more rebuy than I wanted. About 30 minutes into the tournament I picked up QQ, raised and got two callers. The flop came 7 3 2 with two diamonds. I bet about the pot and got called. The turn was a bad card - the king of diamonds. I checked and my opponent made a fair sized bet. At this point there was about 1,000 in the pot and my opponent had about 1,500 left. I thought if I put him all in there were three good things that could happen: 1) he could fold and I'd win the pot right there, 2) he could call with a worse hand like 88, 99 or a bare ace of diamonds, 3) he could call with a better hand and I could hit a diamond or a Q and win the pot that way. Of course he could call with a better hand and win or a worse hand and hit to beat me, but I thought it was an easy decision to go for it especially since I could replace those lost chips for $200. Unfortunately he turned over 97 of diamonds, I missed and had to do one extra rebuy.
So the total cost on getting into this tournament was $815. But after about an hour and a half I'm in good shape with 10,700 chips which puts me about 2,000 above average and in 464th place out of 1,832 remaining players.
324th place is the edge of the money and pays $1,023, to net $1,000 I need to make it to 90th, to net about $2,000 I need to make it to 27th, 18th pays $5,114, 12th pays $10,228, 6th is $48,586 and 1st is $207,772! Big bucks baby!
If I do well in this one London Dave will be back from work by the time it's over! I've got 10,000+ chips and the blinds are only at 25/50! It's going to take 5 hours of play for them to get to 300/600 and will probably be 7 or 8 hours into the tournament before we make the money. This is definitely one to sit back and wait for good cards.
In other micro good news I won my initial $215 entry into this one in a $55 satellite. With everything on my schedule today it doesn't seem like much, but another $160 on the WCOOP pile isn't insignificant.
Stud starts in a half hour and I'll let you know how it's all going around 3 pm pacific.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
2008 WCOOP Events #13 & #14 Preview
Those of you who have noticed the conspicuous lack of a post about the mixed hold'em second chance will most likely have guessed that I came up short. I had my starting stack of 4,000 up to 14,000 at one point, but two big missed draws and an AK losing to KJ after flopping a K did me in. I guess I'll have to live with being 3 for 5 in the second chance tournaments!
My starting bankroll of $10,000 currently stands at $10,671 after some satellite success and some main event duds.
Event #13 is $215 NL Hold'em with Rebuys. For those of you who aren't familiar with rebuy tournaments the way they work is whenever you have below a certain number of chips you can buy more during the rebuy period. The idea is if you go broke you can just buy more chips and try again! For example, in tomorrow's tournament the $215 entry fee will get you 2,000 chips. Any time you have 2,000 chips or less you can buy more for $200 (There is no house fee on the rebuys!).
Those of you who are very astute will have asked yourselves "If you can buy more chips anytime you have 2,000 or less, can't you buy more right away?" The answer is yes! And that is exactly what I'll be doing as soon as I sit down. So while it's technically a $215 buy in tournament, I'll be in for $415 right away.
But there's more! After the first hour of play you can do a special rebuy called an add on. Everyone can buy more chips at this point regardless of the number of chips in their stack. And to encourage this addition you get more bang for you buck. Specifically, in tomorrow's tournament you can buy 4,000 extra chips for $200 on the first break (after an hour).
So this means for someone like me who wants every chance to go deep it's going to cost AT LEAST $615 to play this tournament. Of course there's a fair chance it might cost $815, $1,015 or even more if I run bad during the first hour.
The benefit is the house is taking their cut as if it were a $215 tournament (only $15) while in practice it's going to have the prize pool of a $600-$1,000 tournament. While this might not seem like a big deal, if you play a great deal of rebuy tournaments this small difference really adds up.
More importantly for this one specific occasion, because of the rebuys we'll all be starting with a HUGE chip stack relative to the blinds. More chips means more play, and more play means more time for the skill/luck balance to swing more in the direction of skill (a big advantage for me of course).
Event #14 is $320 7-Card Stud. You know who play stud these days? NOBODY! That's why this is the only 7-Card Stud event in the entire WCOOP! Hell there are two 2-7 lowball events and only one 7-Card Stud event! What's that all about? No one would have seen this coming 20 years ago when stud was the most popular poker game in the world!
Anyway I got a pretty good amount of experience playing stud when I was prop player at the Oaks club. I've played one stud event at the WSOP and a few WCOOP events in stud with no cashes. But that's not going to stop me here!
I think it's great that everyday I write these previews and it's something different. It's not just $215 NL hold'em, and $320 NL hold em, and $530 NL hold'em. It's really great for someone like me who knows how to do it all, but rarely gets the chance to. As a pro you have to follow the money and if that means playing nothing but NL hold'em tournaments that's what I'll do, but it's nice once a year to get a chance to play all of these other games for some real money. Even better is the fact that since it's something special I get to play against weak players!
I might fire up a satellite or two in the morning and expect to play both second chance tournaments so it's going to be a busy day. Also given the stakes of the rebuy tournament and the fact that the second chance rebuy is $162 with rebuys (a minimum $450 commitment) it's going to be my biggest day so far dollar wise. If I can do anything in the $215 with rebuys it's going to be thousands not hundreds in profit!
I'll keep you posted.
My starting bankroll of $10,000 currently stands at $10,671 after some satellite success and some main event duds.
Event #13 is $215 NL Hold'em with Rebuys. For those of you who aren't familiar with rebuy tournaments the way they work is whenever you have below a certain number of chips you can buy more during the rebuy period. The idea is if you go broke you can just buy more chips and try again! For example, in tomorrow's tournament the $215 entry fee will get you 2,000 chips. Any time you have 2,000 chips or less you can buy more for $200 (There is no house fee on the rebuys!).
Those of you who are very astute will have asked yourselves "If you can buy more chips anytime you have 2,000 or less, can't you buy more right away?" The answer is yes! And that is exactly what I'll be doing as soon as I sit down. So while it's technically a $215 buy in tournament, I'll be in for $415 right away.
But there's more! After the first hour of play you can do a special rebuy called an add on. Everyone can buy more chips at this point regardless of the number of chips in their stack. And to encourage this addition you get more bang for you buck. Specifically, in tomorrow's tournament you can buy 4,000 extra chips for $200 on the first break (after an hour).
So this means for someone like me who wants every chance to go deep it's going to cost AT LEAST $615 to play this tournament. Of course there's a fair chance it might cost $815, $1,015 or even more if I run bad during the first hour.
The benefit is the house is taking their cut as if it were a $215 tournament (only $15) while in practice it's going to have the prize pool of a $600-$1,000 tournament. While this might not seem like a big deal, if you play a great deal of rebuy tournaments this small difference really adds up.
More importantly for this one specific occasion, because of the rebuys we'll all be starting with a HUGE chip stack relative to the blinds. More chips means more play, and more play means more time for the skill/luck balance to swing more in the direction of skill (a big advantage for me of course).
Event #14 is $320 7-Card Stud. You know who play stud these days? NOBODY! That's why this is the only 7-Card Stud event in the entire WCOOP! Hell there are two 2-7 lowball events and only one 7-Card Stud event! What's that all about? No one would have seen this coming 20 years ago when stud was the most popular poker game in the world!
Anyway I got a pretty good amount of experience playing stud when I was prop player at the Oaks club. I've played one stud event at the WSOP and a few WCOOP events in stud with no cashes. But that's not going to stop me here!
I think it's great that everyday I write these previews and it's something different. It's not just $215 NL hold'em, and $320 NL hold em, and $530 NL hold'em. It's really great for someone like me who knows how to do it all, but rarely gets the chance to. As a pro you have to follow the money and if that means playing nothing but NL hold'em tournaments that's what I'll do, but it's nice once a year to get a chance to play all of these other games for some real money. Even better is the fact that since it's something special I get to play against weak players!
I might fire up a satellite or two in the morning and expect to play both second chance tournaments so it's going to be a busy day. Also given the stakes of the rebuy tournament and the fact that the second chance rebuy is $162 with rebuys (a minimum $450 commitment) it's going to be my biggest day so far dollar wise. If I can do anything in the $215 with rebuys it's going to be thousands not hundreds in profit!
I'll keep you posted.
Massive Satisfaction!
I had a very satisfying set of hands come up at the beginning of the $215 Mixed Hold'em Second Chance. After playing 10 minutes of limit poker, we switched to no limit and I got dealt AQ suited in the big blind. Everyone folded to the small blind who made the minimum raise to 40. I made it 120 to go and he quickly made it 420. This seemed a little goofy to me and I decided to just call. The flop came down KQ5. This put me in a tough spot with second pair, and I decided to just call when my opponent bet out 500. The turn was a 7 and now my opponent moved all in for 3,500. We started the hand about even and this would have put me all in as well. Something seemed off, but since I really didn't have a good read on my opponent I decided to fold and look for a better spot to get my money in.
Three hands later the same guy open raised to 60 and I just called him with AT. The flop came down JT6 and my opponent bet 80. My hand figured to be the best so I raised to 240. After a little though my opponent moved all in. CRAP! This time I felt more confident that I had the best hand. There were two spades on board and it just felt like my he had something like KQ or a flush draw. I also thought there was a chance that he was just trying to exploit what he perceived as my weak play. After some thought I again figured I could find a better spot to get my money in and folded. I was getting a little irritated, but I told myself that if I just hung in there and stayed patient I'd eventually nail this guy.
On the very next hand I got dealt JJ, was the first one to act and made it 60 to go. The villain was in the big blind and I was praying he'd call and make a second best hand or try a big bluff. He called and the flop came J 7 2. WOW! Now all I needed was a repeat of the previous hands. He checked and I bet out 80, to my EXTREME delight he moved all in! I had the total nuts and stopped for a count of 2 to just enjoy the moment. I called and he showed 72! He'd called my raise with the worst possible hand and flopped two pair! Adding to the goodness the turn was the 4th jack!
On the VERY NEXT hand another player made it 80, the villain made it 240 and I made a bold move (translation: a bad play that worked out) by going all in with 77. I figured the villain was on tilt, could have just about anything and I'd pick up a few hundred chips without a fight. I thought he might even call me with a smaller pair. Instead he called me with AQ, missed, and was done! HA! Take that sucker! It was so satisfying.
Anyway we started with 226 players and with 179 left I'm in 11th place with 9,600 chips. 36th is the edge of the money and pays $316.
Three hands later the same guy open raised to 60 and I just called him with AT. The flop came down JT6 and my opponent bet 80. My hand figured to be the best so I raised to 240. After a little though my opponent moved all in. CRAP! This time I felt more confident that I had the best hand. There were two spades on board and it just felt like my he had something like KQ or a flush draw. I also thought there was a chance that he was just trying to exploit what he perceived as my weak play. After some thought I again figured I could find a better spot to get my money in and folded. I was getting a little irritated, but I told myself that if I just hung in there and stayed patient I'd eventually nail this guy.
On the very next hand I got dealt JJ, was the first one to act and made it 60 to go. The villain was in the big blind and I was praying he'd call and make a second best hand or try a big bluff. He called and the flop came J 7 2. WOW! Now all I needed was a repeat of the previous hands. He checked and I bet out 80, to my EXTREME delight he moved all in! I had the total nuts and stopped for a count of 2 to just enjoy the moment. I called and he showed 72! He'd called my raise with the worst possible hand and flopped two pair! Adding to the goodness the turn was the 4th jack!
On the VERY NEXT hand another player made it 80, the villain made it 240 and I made a bold move (translation: a bad play that worked out) by going all in with 77. I figured the villain was on tilt, could have just about anything and I'd pick up a few hundred chips without a fight. I thought he might even call me with a smaller pair. Instead he called me with AQ, missed, and was done! HA! Take that sucker! It was so satisfying.
Anyway we started with 226 players and with 179 left I'm in 11th place with 9,600 chips. 36th is the edge of the money and pays $316.
A Comment Response
Mike left this comment a few days ago regarding my deep finish and monumental collapse in the $215 Limit Event:
Tough one Dave. Do you have notes on the final rounds of the tourney? How many hands did you play in between 3rd place and elimination? Were there hands you should have played differently or did you just run into a buzzsaw? I'd be interested in sharing in the madness (you were in 3rd when I went to sleep, so I want to know what I missed, even though it's ugly).I think that simply playing for 11 hours in a row is an often overlooked element in terms of the difficulty of winning a tournament. I think it gets a lot harder to focus and especially when you are among the chip leaders in a limit tournament it becomes surprisingly easy to lose a bunch of your stack. Anyway, hope you can shake it off and proceed to triumphant glory in the coming tourneys. Good luck!
At the time I put up my last post regarding this tournament it was late and I'd been playing for almost 15 hours straight that day so I didn't really go into too much detail. I've requested a hand history which will give me the exact details of all of the over 800 hands I played in that tournament. When the WCOOP is over or perhaps on a day when I don't have any tournaments I'll do a write up where I talk about all of the hands that went bad in the last 50 or so hands and try to objectively analyze if I did it right. To be honest I'm sure there are plenty of things I could have done differently and it will be interesting for me to look back.
Tough one Dave. Do you have notes on the final rounds of the tourney? How many hands did you play in between 3rd place and elimination? Were there hands you should have played differently or did you just run into a buzzsaw? I'd be interested in sharing in the madness (you were in 3rd when I went to sleep, so I want to know what I missed, even though it's ugly).I think that simply playing for 11 hours in a row is an often overlooked element in terms of the difficulty of winning a tournament. I think it gets a lot harder to focus and especially when you are among the chip leaders in a limit tournament it becomes surprisingly easy to lose a bunch of your stack. Anyway, hope you can shake it off and proceed to triumphant glory in the coming tourneys. Good luck!
At the time I put up my last post regarding this tournament it was late and I'd been playing for almost 15 hours straight that day so I didn't really go into too much detail. I've requested a hand history which will give me the exact details of all of the over 800 hands I played in that tournament. When the WCOOP is over or perhaps on a day when I don't have any tournaments I'll do a write up where I talk about all of the hands that went bad in the last 50 or so hands and try to objectively analyze if I did it right. To be honest I'm sure there are plenty of things I could have done differently and it will be interesting for me to look back.
2008 WCOOP Event #12 ($320 Mixed Hold'em) Recap
Another super early exit for me today. I finished in 1,299th out of 1,496 entrants in today's mixed hold'em event. There was one big hand and one medium hand that did me in.
In the big hand we were playing no limit (a little over an hour into the tournament) and I raised with TT. I got called by a guy who I knew was nuts. I knew he was nuts because not only was he playing a ton of hands, but I had a slew of notes on him from past occasions that we'd played confirming my impressions (on pokerstars you can make notes on other players and then when you encounter them again there is a little icon on their picture letting you know you have a saved note).
So I raised with TT, he called and the flop game down A Q 5. YUCK! I bet out 2/3 of the pot anyway and he just called. The turn was a blank and I decided to give up. I checked and he made a VERY small bet. This game me hope that maybe I did have the best hand, and it gave me a cheap look at the last card. When the river came it was a ten! BINGO! I checked hoping my opponent would bet again and to my extreme delight he moved all in. Of course I instantly called, but was shocked and disappointed to see my him turn over KJ for a straight! ACK!
This left me with about 1,000 of my original 4,000 chip starting stack. A few hands into the limit I picket up JJ and ran into KK. The board came with all cards below ten the whole way and when the hand was over I was broke.
On the bright side because of my satellite play earlier I essentially got into both of today's $320 tournaments for a total of $117. I have the $215 mixed hold'em second chance in about an hour and a half so there's a little action left on the docket today.
In the big hand we were playing no limit (a little over an hour into the tournament) and I raised with TT. I got called by a guy who I knew was nuts. I knew he was nuts because not only was he playing a ton of hands, but I had a slew of notes on him from past occasions that we'd played confirming my impressions (on pokerstars you can make notes on other players and then when you encounter them again there is a little icon on their picture letting you know you have a saved note).
So I raised with TT, he called and the flop game down A Q 5. YUCK! I bet out 2/3 of the pot anyway and he just called. The turn was a blank and I decided to give up. I checked and he made a VERY small bet. This game me hope that maybe I did have the best hand, and it gave me a cheap look at the last card. When the river came it was a ten! BINGO! I checked hoping my opponent would bet again and to my extreme delight he moved all in. Of course I instantly called, but was shocked and disappointed to see my him turn over KJ for a straight! ACK!
This left me with about 1,000 of my original 4,000 chip starting stack. A few hands into the limit I picket up JJ and ran into KK. The board came with all cards below ten the whole way and when the hand was over I was broke.
On the bright side because of my satellite play earlier I essentially got into both of today's $320 tournaments for a total of $117. I have the $215 mixed hold'em second chance in about an hour and a half so there's a little action left on the docket today.
2008 WCOOP Event #11 ($320 PL PLO8) Recap
I've got bad news, bad news and good news. I'll start with bad #1. I decided to play in the $320 pot limit Omaha Hi-Lo tournament today and I finished in 1,535th out of 1,733. Not much of a story to go with this one. Just a check raise bluff on the river that didn't work out.
The other bad news is I spent the whole morning playing like a total fool. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I did some of the stupidest shit I can ever remember doing. The one thing that stands out like a Beacon of Stupidity is I finished in 6th place in a satellite that paid 5 spots after coming to the top 6 in second place! Total moronitude (not a real word, but apt none the less) of a grand scale is the only explanation for this result. The final hand of that one was perhaps the worst play I've made in the past several years and is too embarrassing to even mention.
Now the good news! Despite my horrific play I did managed to win two satellites! I woke up and saw that today's mixed hold'em event was in fact played 6 handed! Jackpot baby! I don't know why it's not called "Mixed Hold'em 6-Max," but I'm fired up about it. Once I discovered this fact I decided I should play in all of the remaining satellites (except the hyperturbo ones that have SUPER short limits) which turned out to be 4. My total outlay ended up being $117 and I returned $640 in tournament entries (which are transferable between all the WCOOP tournaments).
So even though I got busted early in the Omaha and I played like a total mook, I'm still ahead a few bucks for the morning. I've got 45 minutes to take a nice break and get my head straight before the hold'em starts.
The other bad news is I spent the whole morning playing like a total fool. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I did some of the stupidest shit I can ever remember doing. The one thing that stands out like a Beacon of Stupidity is I finished in 6th place in a satellite that paid 5 spots after coming to the top 6 in second place! Total moronitude (not a real word, but apt none the less) of a grand scale is the only explanation for this result. The final hand of that one was perhaps the worst play I've made in the past several years and is too embarrassing to even mention.
Now the good news! Despite my horrific play I did managed to win two satellites! I woke up and saw that today's mixed hold'em event was in fact played 6 handed! Jackpot baby! I don't know why it's not called "Mixed Hold'em 6-Max," but I'm fired up about it. Once I discovered this fact I decided I should play in all of the remaining satellites (except the hyperturbo ones that have SUPER short limits) which turned out to be 4. My total outlay ended up being $117 and I returned $640 in tournament entries (which are transferable between all the WCOOP tournaments).
So even though I got busted early in the Omaha and I played like a total mook, I'm still ahead a few bucks for the morning. I've got 45 minutes to take a nice break and get my head straight before the hold'em starts.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Razz Second Chance Recap
I finished 54th of 128 in the Razz second chance. I was doing just fine with about 8,000 chips (a little above average) with 60 or so players left. Then I had two big hands go against me.
On one I was up against a player who ended up all in on 5th street and one other player. Basically they both had very marginal hands and I had 4 cards 6 and lower. All I needed to win was a card 9 or below that didn't pair me. Instead I got three straight jacks!
On the next hand I knew the player I was up against had a weak hand. I put on the big heat on with a pretty crappy hand on 5th, 6th and 7th streets and he called me with Q9732! This is a total shit hand to showdown. I know it was a big pot, but this was still a surprising call. My best 5 cards were QT974 and after I missed out on that one I was down to 2,000 chips. I was out pretty soon after that.
My starting $10,000 bankroll is now at $11,003. When it comes down to it these $162, $215, and $320 tournaments are probably not going to determine my overall fate in the WCOOP. When I start getting to the $1,050 tournaments and the $500 with rebuys later in the series that's when we'll know what's what. Of course it doesn't suck to be up thousand bucks at this stage.
On one I was up against a player who ended up all in on 5th street and one other player. Basically they both had very marginal hands and I had 4 cards 6 and lower. All I needed to win was a card 9 or below that didn't pair me. Instead I got three straight jacks!
On the next hand I knew the player I was up against had a weak hand. I put on the big heat on with a pretty crappy hand on 5th, 6th and 7th streets and he called me with Q9732! This is a total shit hand to showdown. I know it was a big pot, but this was still a surprising call. My best 5 cards were QT974 and after I missed out on that one I was down to 2,000 chips. I was out pretty soon after that.
My starting $10,000 bankroll is now at $11,003. When it comes down to it these $162, $215, and $320 tournaments are probably not going to determine my overall fate in the WCOOP. When I start getting to the $1,050 tournaments and the $500 with rebuys later in the series that's when we'll know what's what. Of course it doesn't suck to be up thousand bucks at this stage.
2008 WCOOP Events #11 & #12 Preview
Event #11 is one that wasn't on my original schedule and I'm still not sure I'm going to play. It's $320 Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split.
I was in the midst of trying to explain Omaha Hi-Lo for those of you who don't know much about it and I decided it best to just direct you to this link if you want to learn more. Also you'll notice all the other games listed on the left if you'd like to read more about them.
I have a fair amount of experience playing this game limit and not much playing it pot limit. I expect to make a game time decision and right now I think there's about a 75% chance that I'll play.
Event #12 is $320 Mixed Hold'em. Basically it's half limit and half no limit hold'em switching back and forth every half hour. I'm hoping that at least some of my competition will be much worse at limit than they are at no limit (or perhaps vice versa in fewer cases). This is the first year they've had this event and I love that they're always coming up with new ways to spice things up!
I was in the midst of trying to explain Omaha Hi-Lo for those of you who don't know much about it and I decided it best to just direct you to this link if you want to learn more. Also you'll notice all the other games listed on the left if you'd like to read more about them.
I have a fair amount of experience playing this game limit and not much playing it pot limit. I expect to make a game time decision and right now I think there's about a 75% chance that I'll play.
Event #12 is $320 Mixed Hold'em. Basically it's half limit and half no limit hold'em switching back and forth every half hour. I'm hoping that at least some of my competition will be much worse at limit than they are at no limit (or perhaps vice versa in fewer cases). This is the first year they've had this event and I love that they're always coming up with new ways to spice things up!
2008 WCOOP Event #10 ($215 Razz)
I finished 650th out of 1288 in today's Razz event. I'm a little dissapointed since I had high hopes for this tournament. But it just didn't come together. At one point I had my starting stack of 3,000 up to 6,700, but it was a quick downhill run to zero soon after.
In still in the $162 Razz second chance which started with 128 players and a first place prize of $4,416. We're still in the early stages, but I'll let you know what happens when I'm done.
In still in the $162 Razz second chance which started with 128 players and a first place prize of $4,416. We're still in the early stages, but I'll let you know what happens when I'm done.
Event #10 underway
We kicked off the $215 Razz (7 card stud where the worst hand wins) with 1,288 entrants. After an hour only 10 people have busted out. The stakes have been so small during the first two levels that it's really felt like warm up. I have my starting stack of 3,000 up to 3,330, which is of course better than being down 330, but not too exciting.
I've decided to skip the 4 handed second chance. I think it's just a bit too much of a crapshoot and it requires a great deal of attention and concentration. I will however be giving it my best in the $162 Razz second chance which starts in 2 hours.
Also I wanted to make sure no one missed these comments:
From Kristen:
Is it weird that I consider the WCOOP one of my favorite times of the year? As though it's some awesome holiday!? haha! Well, my point is..it is so fun watching and cheering you on. Even more fun when I've got a piece of the action! Regardless of my own personal gain, I am always excited for you to win because it seems like you just keep getting better and better which makes it more and more exciting! Not to mention that I most definitely have a cooler brother in law than anyone else I know! hahaha!!
From London Dave
Right you've tickled the belly the belly of Bracelet and got a whiff of the Mega pay day, I can feel it in my water ! the big one is coming, keep it up Dave, It WILL happen, I just hope I'm around to see it, Most of the games start around 7-8pm UK time hence my 3am stay ups, Sigh... up for work at 5:30am ! roll on the WCOOP!
Census T0m I think you've fallen to #3 on my list of super fans! I'd also like all of you (except Damian) to acknowledge that all of your bothers in law are no match for me in the coolness department!
I've decided to skip the 4 handed second chance. I think it's just a bit too much of a crapshoot and it requires a great deal of attention and concentration. I will however be giving it my best in the $162 Razz second chance which starts in 2 hours.
Also I wanted to make sure no one missed these comments:
From Kristen:
Is it weird that I consider the WCOOP one of my favorite times of the year? As though it's some awesome holiday!? haha! Well, my point is..it is so fun watching and cheering you on. Even more fun when I've got a piece of the action! Regardless of my own personal gain, I am always excited for you to win because it seems like you just keep getting better and better which makes it more and more exciting! Not to mention that I most definitely have a cooler brother in law than anyone else I know! hahaha!!
From London Dave
Right you've tickled the belly the belly of Bracelet and got a whiff of the Mega pay day, I can feel it in my water ! the big one is coming, keep it up Dave, It WILL happen, I just hope I'm around to see it, Most of the games start around 7-8pm UK time hence my 3am stay ups, Sigh... up for work at 5:30am ! roll on the WCOOP!
Census T0m I think you've fallen to #3 on my list of super fans! I'd also like all of you (except Damian) to acknowledge that all of your bothers in law are no match for me in the coolness department!
WCOOP Event #9 (NL 4-max) Underway...and over.
I finished 2,761 of 3,290. This one lasted all of 36 minutes. Amazingly I started by running my starting stack of 3,000 up to 7,000 by making some hands and putting major pressure on my opponents. Then I crashed head first into a slew of made hands and that was it. Such is the nature of 4 handed play.
Hopefully I'll have better luck with the Razz.
Hopefully I'll have better luck with the Razz.
Monday, September 08, 2008
2008 WCOOP Event #9 & 10 Preview
Event #9 is $215 4 handed NL hold'em. This is a tournament that might last 8 minutes or 8 hours for me. 4 handed play is full of confrontations and you just have to go for it. In the words of many great poker players "In order to live, you have to be willing to die." Playing so short you just have man up and get your chips in there!
Event #10 is $215 Razz. I've been playing a fair amout of Razz lately and since there are already almost 700 people signed up for this tournament I expect a large turnout. Guess what? There are about 100 people that play Razz with any kind of regularity on pokerstars. I don't know who these people are who think they're going to do anything in this tournament when they never play Razz, but I'd pay $430 to get into this one even if everyone else was paying $215.
I expect to play a few satellites to these tournaments as well. I'll let you know how it goes.
Event #10 is $215 Razz. I've been playing a fair amout of Razz lately and since there are already almost 700 people signed up for this tournament I expect a large turnout. Guess what? There are about 100 people that play Razz with any kind of regularity on pokerstars. I don't know who these people are who think they're going to do anything in this tournament when they never play Razz, but I'd pay $430 to get into this one even if everyone else was paying $215.
I expect to play a few satellites to these tournaments as well. I'll let you know how it goes.
8-game Second Chance Recap
I finished 8th out of 108 in the 8-game second chance. I'm going to be brief since I've been playing for 12 straight hours and I've got a similar day on tap tomorrow. I got paid $745 for 8th which means I had a net profit in WCOOP today of $1,588 and my starting $10,000 bankroll is up to $11,595.
Even though I haven't hit a home run in this years WCOOP (Yet!), I have to be happy with my play. If I keep going deep, everything is going to come together sooner or later.
Thanks to everyone who has posted comments. Clearly I've spent some effort writing this blog and it's great to know that people are reading it. Keep up the comments!
Even though I haven't hit a home run in this years WCOOP (Yet!), I have to be happy with my play. If I keep going deep, everything is going to come together sooner or later.
Thanks to everyone who has posted comments. Clearly I've spent some effort writing this blog and it's great to know that people are reading it. Keep up the comments!
6-max PLO Second Chance Recap
I finished 8th of 318 in the PLO second chance. On the hand I got eliminated I made a questionable play (ok a bad play) and then got outplayed on top of it!
With blinds of 800/1,600 I was on the button with 78,000 chips and made it 4,800 to go with A997 with A7 of spades. I got called by the small blind and the flop came 886 with one spade. My opponent checked and I bet 8,000 and he made it 35,000. This is the point where I should have folded. I had plenty of chips to just let this one go, but after some thought and then an instant of lack of thought I called. I thought if I made a straight or hit a 9 I'd be good.
The turn was a ten and my opponent checked. BINGO! I'd made my straight and was sure I'd be taking down the pot with a bet. I moved all in and my opponent snap called me. I knew I was done before he even turned his hand over. He had JTT8 and I was drawing totally dead.
8th place paid $1,192 which doesn't suck. Also to not only make the money, but go pretty deep into the money in both the main WCOOP event and the second chance feels pretty good.
Also since my last post I've turboed up in the 8-game second chance. I've run my starting stack of 4,000 up to 30,500 and find myself in 2nd place with 32 of the original 108 players left.
The money comes at 16th and is $432 gross. I'll let you know if I make it!
With blinds of 800/1,600 I was on the button with 78,000 chips and made it 4,800 to go with A997 with A7 of spades. I got called by the small blind and the flop came 886 with one spade. My opponent checked and I bet 8,000 and he made it 35,000. This is the point where I should have folded. I had plenty of chips to just let this one go, but after some thought and then an instant of lack of thought I called. I thought if I made a straight or hit a 9 I'd be good.
The turn was a ten and my opponent checked. BINGO! I'd made my straight and was sure I'd be taking down the pot with a bet. I moved all in and my opponent snap called me. I knew I was done before he even turned his hand over. He had JTT8 and I was drawing totally dead.
8th place paid $1,192 which doesn't suck. Also to not only make the money, but go pretty deep into the money in both the main WCOOP event and the second chance feels pretty good.
Also since my last post I've turboed up in the 8-game second chance. I've run my starting stack of 4,000 up to 30,500 and find myself in 2nd place with 32 of the original 108 players left.
The money comes at 16th and is $432 gross. I'll let you know if I make it!
Second Chance Update
We're down to 14 in the PLO second chance. I'm in 7th, but still not in great shape chips wise since there are 3 or 4 guys with TONS of chips. If I'm going to make the final table (which is only 6 players) I'm going to have to made some progress while contending with players who have 5 times as many chips as I do and can apply major pressure.
I've been all in a few time and survived recently so no matter what happens I'll feel good. If I can hang on for a little while 10th-12th pays $715, and 7th-9th pays $1,192.
I'm also still in the 8-game second chance. There are 62 of the original 108 entrants left after 2.5 hours. I'm in 39th which is great because I had one foot in the grave about 10 minutes ago.
I've been all in a few time and survived recently so no matter what happens I'll feel good. If I can hang on for a little while 10th-12th pays $715, and 7th-9th pays $1,192.
I'm also still in the 8-game second chance. There are 62 of the original 108 entrants left after 2.5 hours. I'm in 39th which is great because I had one foot in the grave about 10 minutes ago.
2008 WCOOP Event #7 ($215 6-max PLO) Recap
I finished 146th out of 2,457 in the pot limit Omaha today which paid $688. This was a great result for a tournament that I almost didn't play and in which I had fairly low expectations.
Right after we made the money I won a huge pot and foundmyself with 47,000 chips which was about twice average. But then I made a few questionable plays, had a few good bluffs not work out, missed a few draws and before I knew it I was out.
I feel great about this result. It's an odd contrast between the Limit Hold'em where I finished 33rd and felt super pissed.
In other good news I've made the money in the WCOOP $162 PLO 6-max second chance! We're down to 36 from a starting field of 318. I'm in 11th place right now and have guarenteed a gross payout of $334. 9th pays $1,192 and first pays $8,824 so while it's not going to be time to pur champagne over my head if I win, there are still some solid bucks to be had.
I'm also in the $215 8 game second chance, but it's in the early stages.
Right after we made the money I won a huge pot and foundmyself with 47,000 chips which was about twice average. But then I made a few questionable plays, had a few good bluffs not work out, missed a few draws and before I knew it I was out.
I feel great about this result. It's an odd contrast between the Limit Hold'em where I finished 33rd and felt super pissed.
In other good news I've made the money in the WCOOP $162 PLO 6-max second chance! We're down to 36 from a starting field of 318. I'm in 11th place right now and have guarenteed a gross payout of $334. 9th pays $1,192 and first pays $8,824 so while it's not going to be time to pur champagne over my head if I win, there are still some solid bucks to be had.
I'm also in the $215 8 game second chance, but it's in the early stages.
2008 WCOOP Event #8 (8-game) Recap
I finished 935th in the 8-games event. I can't remember any major hands that did me in. It's was just a gradual erosion. Actually Razz really did me in the second time we played it. I started with 3 cards below 5 three times (about as good as it gets in Razz), got heavy action and didn't make anything. Oh well.
Event #7 update
We're in the money in the Omaha! I'm in 110 0f 342 with 23,700 chips. I need to make it to 96th place which pays $933 to show a sure profit for the day. Of course I'm still in the $320 8 game, the $162 PLO, the $215 PLO and the $215 8 game so really I haven't lost anything and could make the money in other tournaments as well. But if I make it to 96th I'll be guaranteed a profit no matter what.
WCOOP Event #8 Underway!
We started the $320 8 game mix bananas nutso tournament with 1,128 players. I forgot to mention in my preview that this is also a six handed table event which I think adds to my advantage. An hour and a half in we're down to 1,037 and I'm still sitting on my starting stack of 4,000. A long way to go before this one gets interesting. 168th is the money and pays $507, 30th would net me $1,000+ and first is $56,174.
I've also decided to play the $162 WCOOP PLO 6 handed second chance. Hopefully that will go as well as my other Omaha tournament is going!
I've also decided to play the $162 WCOOP PLO 6 handed second chance. Hopefully that will go as well as my other Omaha tournament is going!
Laying the Omaha Smack Down!
I have been playing some great Omaha!...I think. While I've played a reasonable amount of limit Omaha Hi-Lo Split, today might mark the first time that I've ever played pot limit Omaha 6 handed. I feel pretty comfortable which is a sign that I know what I'm doing, but there is some chance that I've just been running crazy hot.
The first key hand came with blinds of 40/80. I got dealt AJT3 with the JT of clubs and I raised to 240 from the button. The big blind called and the flop came down 5 8 9 with two clubs. I had an open ended straight draw and a flush draw. The big blind had flopped top set and had a smaller flush draw, and a worse straight draw with 9966 (crazy how much you can have going on when you have 4 cards huh?). He checked and I bet the pot which was 520, and he raised the pot making it a little over 2,000 to go. I moved all in for about 3,500 and he called. The turn was a 7 the river was a 3 and I was in business.
The next big hand came when I got dealt. AJT7 with the A7 of clubs and the JT of spades. The blinds were 50/100, I raised to 300 from the cutoff and got called by the button. The flop came down K J 8 with two spades and one club giving me all kinds of marginal shit, but no real monster draws. I checked and my opponent bet the pot which was 750. On the turn I made my flush when the 7 of spades dropped, but I wasn't sure it was the best hand and I didn't want to get all of my chips in the pot if I could avoid it. We both checked the turn which I thought meant my hand was good for sure. But the river paired the king which was about the worst card in the world. Now if my opponent had a set or kings up he just made a full house and if I did have him beat I couldn't bet and get paid off. I checked and my opponent immediately bet the pot. The bullshit alarm starting ringing at maximum volume in my head. I thought there was no way he'd bet the whole pot (which was now over 2,000) with a full house so I instantly called. He turned over A993 (a real garbage hand) and showed that he's also made a flush on the turn but his was with the 93 of spades.
After that hand I was up to over 15,000 (I'd won a few mid sized pots between the hands I mentioned. but I faded back down to about 11,000 by the time the next big hand came up. With blinds at 100/200 I raised with AKT3 with the AK of spades to 600. I got called by the button and the big blind and got one of the best possible flops QJ9 with three different suits (one being a spade)! I had the nuts and barring a board pair or two running cards of the same suit I'd have the nuts on the turn and the river. I bet out 2/3 of the pot and got called by the big blind. The turn was another beauty - the 2 of spades! Now I had a flush draw too. Again I bet 2/3 of the pot and got called. The river was the ace of clubs and and I bet all of my remaining chips (about 6,700) into the 16,000 chip pot. My opponent thought for a long time and finally called me with T874 for a lower straight! BOOM!
I've dropped back 1,000 chips, but I'm at 21,700 and in 114th place with 459 players left. 360 is the money and pays $343. I'll post more about the prizes when I make the money.
The first key hand came with blinds of 40/80. I got dealt AJT3 with the JT of clubs and I raised to 240 from the button. The big blind called and the flop came down 5 8 9 with two clubs. I had an open ended straight draw and a flush draw. The big blind had flopped top set and had a smaller flush draw, and a worse straight draw with 9966 (crazy how much you can have going on when you have 4 cards huh?). He checked and I bet the pot which was 520, and he raised the pot making it a little over 2,000 to go. I moved all in for about 3,500 and he called. The turn was a 7 the river was a 3 and I was in business.
The next big hand came when I got dealt. AJT7 with the A7 of clubs and the JT of spades. The blinds were 50/100, I raised to 300 from the cutoff and got called by the button. The flop came down K J 8 with two spades and one club giving me all kinds of marginal shit, but no real monster draws. I checked and my opponent bet the pot which was 750. On the turn I made my flush when the 7 of spades dropped, but I wasn't sure it was the best hand and I didn't want to get all of my chips in the pot if I could avoid it. We both checked the turn which I thought meant my hand was good for sure. But the river paired the king which was about the worst card in the world. Now if my opponent had a set or kings up he just made a full house and if I did have him beat I couldn't bet and get paid off. I checked and my opponent immediately bet the pot. The bullshit alarm starting ringing at maximum volume in my head. I thought there was no way he'd bet the whole pot (which was now over 2,000) with a full house so I instantly called. He turned over A993 (a real garbage hand) and showed that he's also made a flush on the turn but his was with the 93 of spades.
After that hand I was up to over 15,000 (I'd won a few mid sized pots between the hands I mentioned. but I faded back down to about 11,000 by the time the next big hand came up. With blinds at 100/200 I raised with AKT3 with the AK of spades to 600. I got called by the button and the big blind and got one of the best possible flops QJ9 with three different suits (one being a spade)! I had the nuts and barring a board pair or two running cards of the same suit I'd have the nuts on the turn and the river. I bet out 2/3 of the pot and got called by the big blind. The turn was another beauty - the 2 of spades! Now I had a flush draw too. Again I bet 2/3 of the pot and got called. The river was the ace of clubs and and I bet all of my remaining chips (about 6,700) into the 16,000 chip pot. My opponent thought for a long time and finally called me with T874 for a lower straight! BOOM!
I've dropped back 1,000 chips, but I'm at 21,700 and in 114th place with 459 players left. 360 is the money and pays $343. I'll post more about the prizes when I make the money.
2008 Event #7 ($215 6-Max PLO) Underway
We started today's $215 buy in 6 handed pot limit Omaha tournament with 2,457 players (a few more than I expected). I played a $55 satellite to this tournament earlier with no luck, but it was still a good warm up.
After an hour of play we're down to 1,535 players! That is a ton of bust outs for the first hour of a tournament where everyone starts with such deep stacks. I guess it's the nature of 6 handed play that you have many more major confrontations than you do at a full table. I also suspect it has something to do with most of these players having no clue what they're doing.
I'm doing OK. I had my starting stack of 3,000 chips up to about 4,000 then I dropped down to 2,000 when I made the second nuts against the nuts (something that happens much more in Omaha than in hold'em). But I've wiggled back up to about 2,700.
For those of you who know nothing about Omaha I'll give you a brief description. It works just like hold'em except instead of 2 cards everyone is dealt 4 cards. You then use EXACTLY 2 of those four cards along with the 5 community board cards to make your best 5 card poker hand. So for example if your hand is AAAK and the flop is A K 2, you don't have four of a kind or even a full house. The best hand you can make is three of a kind using two aces from your hand and one on the board. Also if your hand is the ace of hearts and 3 small clubs and the board comes with four hearts on it, you don't have a flush. You have to use exatly two cards from your hand and three from the board.
I'll post again in a few hours.
After an hour of play we're down to 1,535 players! That is a ton of bust outs for the first hour of a tournament where everyone starts with such deep stacks. I guess it's the nature of 6 handed play that you have many more major confrontations than you do at a full table. I also suspect it has something to do with most of these players having no clue what they're doing.
I'm doing OK. I had my starting stack of 3,000 chips up to about 4,000 then I dropped down to 2,000 when I made the second nuts against the nuts (something that happens much more in Omaha than in hold'em). But I've wiggled back up to about 2,700.
For those of you who know nothing about Omaha I'll give you a brief description. It works just like hold'em except instead of 2 cards everyone is dealt 4 cards. You then use EXACTLY 2 of those four cards along with the 5 community board cards to make your best 5 card poker hand. So for example if your hand is AAAK and the flop is A K 2, you don't have four of a kind or even a full house. The best hand you can make is three of a kind using two aces from your hand and one on the board. Also if your hand is the ace of hearts and 3 small clubs and the board comes with four hearts on it, you don't have a flush. You have to use exatly two cards from your hand and three from the board.
I'll post again in a few hours.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
2008 WCOOP Event #7 & Event #8 Preview
After a good 24 hours of angry sulking I've moved passed my collapse in Event #3 and now feel pretty good about finishing 33rd in a field of 2,200+ players.
I'm going pretty far off the beaten path with events 7 and 8. Event 7 is $215 6 handed Pot Limit Omaha. Those of you who are regular blog readers (thanks for the recent comment Davis) will know that I haven't mentioned anything about pot limit Omaha since the 2006 WCOOP (I think).
This isn't exactly my bread and butter, but in either 2005 or 2006 I did have a cash is a pot limit Omaha event in the WCOOP so this isn't just a waste of $215. Also when it comes down to it a lot of tournament poker is making moves based on your stack and your opponents stacks not what cards you have. Many skills that I have from my vast tournament experience are going to transfer here.
Also there are going to be 1,000-2,000 people in this tournament and only about 200 of them are going to know a damn thing about pot limit Omaha. If you put out a $215 WCOOP tournament everyone is going to want to play no matter what it is and I should be way better than those slugs.
I'll be playing a $55 satellite in the morning to get warmed up and with some luck I'll be able to make some noise.
Event #8 is one where I will be much more at home...at least compared to the other players. Event $8 is $320 8-game mixed (I guess that's the best name they could come up with). As you might have guessed it's a mix of 8 different forms of poker.
Specifically it is a rotation of these 8 games: Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Low Ball (a game I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned on the blog and maybe the form of poker at which I am worst...period), Limit Hold 'em, Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, Limit Razz, Limit 7 Card Stud, Limit Stud Hi-Lo, No Limit Hold 'em and Pot Limit Omaha. Pretty nuts huh?
This is essentially HORSE with three more games added and I expect that the same reasons that I've been killing the HORSE tournaments are going to lead to a good showing here.
For those of you who are wondering what in the hell "Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Low Ball" is I will try to explain. There are blinds just like in hold 'em, but instead of getting two cards, each player gets five cards all of which are concealed. There is a round of betting and then players get to throw away some of their cards and draw news ones just like in the classic poker variation five card draw. The BIG difference between this game and five card draw is players draw new cards THREE times with a round of betting between each draw - hence the name "Triple Draw." Of course you can fold before the first draw, or after, or after the second or third draw if there's a bet and you don't like your hand.
The "Low Ball" part of the name means that instead of trying to make the best hand you can, you're trying to make the WORST hand you can. Lastly the "2-7" part of the name means that straights and flushes count against you and aces are the highest rank. In regular Low Ball (and other games played for low like Razz) the best hand is A2345, but in 2-7 Low Ball the best possible hand is 2 3 4 5 7 with at least two suits represented. Anyway it might sound like some wacky shit, but it's a game that's been part of the WSOP for years and is one of those games that's either played for very low stakes or supercrazyhighthousandsofdollarsflyingaroundlikenickels (a very technical term) stakes.
I'll be playing a $55 satellite to this one too and there will be a second chance tournament for each event as well (probably with buy ins of $162 and $215) although I might skip the Omaha second chance. I'll keep you posted on all of my results.
I'm going pretty far off the beaten path with events 7 and 8. Event 7 is $215 6 handed Pot Limit Omaha. Those of you who are regular blog readers (thanks for the recent comment Davis) will know that I haven't mentioned anything about pot limit Omaha since the 2006 WCOOP (I think).
This isn't exactly my bread and butter, but in either 2005 or 2006 I did have a cash is a pot limit Omaha event in the WCOOP so this isn't just a waste of $215. Also when it comes down to it a lot of tournament poker is making moves based on your stack and your opponents stacks not what cards you have. Many skills that I have from my vast tournament experience are going to transfer here.
Also there are going to be 1,000-2,000 people in this tournament and only about 200 of them are going to know a damn thing about pot limit Omaha. If you put out a $215 WCOOP tournament everyone is going to want to play no matter what it is and I should be way better than those slugs.
I'll be playing a $55 satellite in the morning to get warmed up and with some luck I'll be able to make some noise.
Event #8 is one where I will be much more at home...at least compared to the other players. Event $8 is $320 8-game mixed (I guess that's the best name they could come up with). As you might have guessed it's a mix of 8 different forms of poker.
Specifically it is a rotation of these 8 games: Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Low Ball (a game I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned on the blog and maybe the form of poker at which I am worst...period), Limit Hold 'em, Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, Limit Razz, Limit 7 Card Stud, Limit Stud Hi-Lo, No Limit Hold 'em and Pot Limit Omaha. Pretty nuts huh?
This is essentially HORSE with three more games added and I expect that the same reasons that I've been killing the HORSE tournaments are going to lead to a good showing here.
For those of you who are wondering what in the hell "Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Low Ball" is I will try to explain. There are blinds just like in hold 'em, but instead of getting two cards, each player gets five cards all of which are concealed. There is a round of betting and then players get to throw away some of their cards and draw news ones just like in the classic poker variation five card draw. The BIG difference between this game and five card draw is players draw new cards THREE times with a round of betting between each draw - hence the name "Triple Draw." Of course you can fold before the first draw, or after, or after the second or third draw if there's a bet and you don't like your hand.
The "Low Ball" part of the name means that instead of trying to make the best hand you can, you're trying to make the WORST hand you can. Lastly the "2-7" part of the name means that straights and flushes count against you and aces are the highest rank. In regular Low Ball (and other games played for low like Razz) the best hand is A2345, but in 2-7 Low Ball the best possible hand is 2 3 4 5 7 with at least two suits represented. Anyway it might sound like some wacky shit, but it's a game that's been part of the WSOP for years and is one of those games that's either played for very low stakes or supercrazyhighthousandsofdollarsflyingaroundlikenickels (a very technical term) stakes.
I'll be playing a $55 satellite to this one too and there will be a second chance tournament for each event as well (probably with buy ins of $162 and $215) although I might skip the Omaha second chance. I'll keep you posted on all of my results.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
One in a Hundred?
I finished 33rd...How the hell did that happen? I blew through all of my chips in about a half an hour. In the span of 34 hands I lost with A8s, A7s, AQ THREE TIMES, pocket queens, KQ suited, and AJ twice. In 34 f-ing hands I got dealt all of those hands and lost them all!!!
I was in third place with 36 players left and finished 33rd. I can hardly believe it. If you put me in that spot with 36 players left I would finish 33rd or worse AT MOST 1 time in 100. It might be more like 1 in 1,000. In order to lose all those hands not only do I have to miss, but my opponents have to hit something! Late in a tournament like this there are so many times when you raise, get called, bet and your opponent folds. But these slugs managed to hit time after time. And I couldn't make a damn thing.
33rd place paid $858. It just so happens that this was almost exactly enough to get me even for the WCOOP. My starting bankroll of $10,000 is all the way up to $10,007.
I hate wasted opportunities. I know after 5 years of doing this that these situations don't come along that often and to totally blow this one is crushing. To play 12 hours and be knocking on the door of a solid five figure pay day and end up with bullshit $858 just sucks.
I'm going to a wedding tomorrow so no WCOOP until Monday. I'll put up a preview sometime soon.
I was in third place with 36 players left and finished 33rd. I can hardly believe it. If you put me in that spot with 36 players left I would finish 33rd or worse AT MOST 1 time in 100. It might be more like 1 in 1,000. In order to lose all those hands not only do I have to miss, but my opponents have to hit something! Late in a tournament like this there are so many times when you raise, get called, bet and your opponent folds. But these slugs managed to hit time after time. And I couldn't make a damn thing.
33rd place paid $858. It just so happens that this was almost exactly enough to get me even for the WCOOP. My starting bankroll of $10,000 is all the way up to $10,007.
I hate wasted opportunities. I know after 5 years of doing this that these situations don't come along that often and to totally blow this one is crushing. To play 12 hours and be knocking on the door of a solid five figure pay day and end up with bullshit $858 just sucks.
I'm going to a wedding tomorrow so no WCOOP until Monday. I'll put up a preview sometime soon.
More Progress
Down to 36 players after 11 hours and 20 minutes of play. I dropped down to about 125,000 (about average) after a few tough hands, but then just like in previous sections of this tournament I came back!
I'm up to over 350,000 which has me in 3rd. The big money jumps start at 18 and that's when I'm going to start getting excited.
I'm up to over 350,000 which has me in 3rd. The big money jumps start at 18 and that's when I'm going to start getting excited.
A GREAT Hour!
In the last hour I've won a ton of pots. I made two more sets - one against top pair and one against another set!
I also had a great hand a moment ago where I snapped off a bluff. I raised with AQ and got called by the small blind. The flop came down 789, my opponent check raised me and I called. The turn was another 9, he bet and I called. The river was a 4 and he bet again. If he had anything but a bluff I was dead, but I figured that if he had a pocket pair above 9 he would have three bet before the flop and it just didn't make sense for him to call a raise with a mid range cards. I thought maybe he had AT so I called. It turned out he had QJ and I took down a 30,000 chip pot.
I forgot to post the above and took a quick shower on my 5 minute break. After my shower I made two more sets! I have NEVER made so many sets in one tournament. The first came with TT in a 3 way preflop capped pot. The flop came down KJ5 which pretty much meant I was dead, but since there was 28,000 in the pot and it only cost me 2,000 to see another card, I decided to gamble. The turn was a ten! BOOM! My opponent had AK and paid me off after I check raised him on the turn and bet the river.
I'm up to 240,000 and in 1st place with 81 players left!! The player in second has 40,000 less than me and average is about 84,000. This could be some good shit!
I also had a great hand a moment ago where I snapped off a bluff. I raised with AQ and got called by the small blind. The flop came down 789, my opponent check raised me and I called. The turn was another 9, he bet and I called. The river was a 4 and he bet again. If he had anything but a bluff I was dead, but I figured that if he had a pocket pair above 9 he would have three bet before the flop and it just didn't make sense for him to call a raise with a mid range cards. I thought maybe he had AT so I called. It turned out he had QJ and I took down a 30,000 chip pot.
I forgot to post the above and took a quick shower on my 5 minute break. After my shower I made two more sets! I have NEVER made so many sets in one tournament. The first came with TT in a 3 way preflop capped pot. The flop came down KJ5 which pretty much meant I was dead, but since there was 28,000 in the pot and it only cost me 2,000 to see another card, I decided to gamble. The turn was a ten! BOOM! My opponent had AK and paid me off after I check raised him on the turn and bet the river.
I'm up to 240,000 and in 1st place with 81 players left!! The player in second has 40,000 less than me and average is about 84,000. This could be some good shit!
A turbulent few rounds
After my last post I immediately ran my stack up to 75,000 was in 5th place. Then I had an equally quick melt down. I started making a bunch of second best hands. If it was no limit I would have gone broke three times at least in the past two hours. One hand in particular that was interesting was with the limits at 1,200/2,400 I open raised with QQ and got three bet. I capped the betting at 4,800 and the flop came down KJT all spades. I had the queen of spades so we capped it again on the flop. The turn was a jack which given the fact that I thought my opponent had either AA, KK, JJ or TT meant I was probably in bad shape. The river brought no help and my opponent dragged the pot with KK.
A few hands later I lost another big pot with AK vs QQ. I flopped a flush draw and bet it hard. But I missed it and lost another big one.
Just after that I had KQ vs AJ. There was heavy raising preflop, one bet on the flop and when I turned a king I figured I had the best hand. But the river game my opponent a flush.
I lost a few more pots and all of a sudden I was down to about 15,000 wondering what the hell happened.
But then I had a big turn around. I raised under the gun with 88 ended up flopping a set and got so much action from top pair that I was actually all in. Happily I won and had myself back up to 30,000.
I chopped out a few small ones and got back to 40,000. Then I made another set and got up to 50,000. Two marginal hands that I raised hit top pair and after getting some action on both I now find myself with 75,000 chips. Right was I was before.
We're down to 124 and I'm in 21st.
Also I made the money in the $162 second chance and then quickly went broke. My finish in 26th of 144 paid $216 which is only a profit of $54. Not too exciting, but cashes are always good for morale!
A few hands later I lost another big pot with AK vs QQ. I flopped a flush draw and bet it hard. But I missed it and lost another big one.
Just after that I had KQ vs AJ. There was heavy raising preflop, one bet on the flop and when I turned a king I figured I had the best hand. But the river game my opponent a flush.
I lost a few more pots and all of a sudden I was down to about 15,000 wondering what the hell happened.
But then I had a big turn around. I raised under the gun with 88 ended up flopping a set and got so much action from top pair that I was actually all in. Happily I won and had myself back up to 30,000.
I chopped out a few small ones and got back to 40,000. Then I made another set and got up to 50,000. Two marginal hands that I raised hit top pair and after getting some action on both I now find myself with 75,000 chips. Right was I was before.
We're down to 124 and I'm in 21st.
Also I made the money in the $162 second chance and then quickly went broke. My finish in 26th of 144 paid $216 which is only a profit of $54. Not too exciting, but cashes are always good for morale!
In the Money in Event #3!
We dropped under 324 players a little more than 6 hours into play in today's limit hold'em event. I am still doing really well. Right now average is just over 20,000. I was up to 40,000 and then fell back to about 17,000. But after snapping off a major bluff, and hitting more than one very favorable turn card I turboed all the way up to 50,000 chips which has me in 19th place.
I'm also doing well in the $162 WCOOP second chance tournament. We started that one with 144 players (WAY fewer than I would have expected - I would have guessed we'd get about 500) and are down to 34. I'm in 14th and it pays 27 spots. In that one I need to make it to 5th to net $1,000 and 1st is $4,644.
I'll put up another post in a few hours or if I go broke in either tournament.
If you want to watch the action live you can go to www.pokerstars.com and download the software. Once you do that you can click on "Requests" at the top center of the software, and then select "Find a player" and then type in acesedai. It will give you a list of the tables I'm on and if you double click on them it will take you to the table or the tournament lobby. If it takes you to the tournament lobby you can look for acesedai in the list of players on the right and double click on my name and it will tell you my table number. If you want to watch more than one table at once I think you need to create and account and log in (a fairly easy task). PLEASE let me know if you want to watch, but are having trouble getting set up. I'm happy to help.
I'm also doing well in the $162 WCOOP second chance tournament. We started that one with 144 players (WAY fewer than I would have expected - I would have guessed we'd get about 500) and are down to 34. I'm in 14th and it pays 27 spots. In that one I need to make it to 5th to net $1,000 and 1st is $4,644.
I'll put up another post in a few hours or if I go broke in either tournament.
If you want to watch the action live you can go to www.pokerstars.com and download the software. Once you do that you can click on "Requests" at the top center of the software, and then select "Find a player" and then type in acesedai. It will give you a list of the tables I'm on and if you double click on them it will take you to the table or the tournament lobby. If it takes you to the tournament lobby you can look for acesedai in the list of players on the right and double click on my name and it will tell you my table number. If you want to watch more than one table at once I think you need to create and account and log in (a fairly easy task). PLEASE let me know if you want to watch, but are having trouble getting set up. I'm happy to help.
Event #3 further update
We're about 3 hours and 40 minutes into Event #3. We've played about 225 hands and I'm still doing very well. We're down to 840 players and the average stack is just about 8,000 chips. I have 20,300 and right now I'm in 12th place.
I've been playing well, but I have to say that I've been getting great cards. I've had AA three times and KK twice. More importantly I've been making all of my draws. I've made at least three straights and two flushes and have gotten paid off to the river on all of them.
I've taken 3 or 4 hits along the way where I had a very strong hand and lost. But it seems like as soon as I drop some chips I make a big hand right afterwards and get them all back.
Also forgot to mention that earlier I won a $55 satellite to today's $215 event. I did drop $22.50, and $25 on two other satellites, but between the three I put a little $112.50 dent in the WCOOP losses so far.
If I don't make the money in this limit tournament with all the chips I have I'm going to be super pissed! I'll put up a post when I make the money.
I've been playing well, but I have to say that I've been getting great cards. I've had AA three times and KK twice. More importantly I've been making all of my draws. I've made at least three straights and two flushes and have gotten paid off to the river on all of them.
I've taken 3 or 4 hits along the way where I had a very strong hand and lost. But it seems like as soon as I drop some chips I make a big hand right afterwards and get them all back.
Also forgot to mention that earlier I won a $55 satellite to today's $215 event. I did drop $22.50, and $25 on two other satellites, but between the three I put a little $112.50 dent in the WCOOP losses so far.
If I don't make the money in this limit tournament with all the chips I have I'm going to be super pissed! I'll put up a post when I make the money.
Event #3 Underway!
We started today's $215 Limit Hold'em event with 2,258 entrants. The tournament pays 324 spots with 324th paying $361 gross. To net $500 I need to make it to 72nd, 18th pays $1,806, 9th is 5,012 and 1st place is $73,385.
After an hour of play I've been dealt 63 hands and I've won 11 pots. I've got my starting stack of 3,000 up to 5,150 and I'm feeling good about my chances. I'll put up a brief update after the third break 2 hours from now.
After an hour of play I've been dealt 63 hands and I've won 11 pots. I've got my starting stack of 3,000 up to 5,150 and I'm feeling good about my chances. I'll put up a brief update after the third break 2 hours from now.
Friday, September 05, 2008
2008 WCOOP Event #3 Preview
Event #3 at this years WCOOP is $215 limit hold'em. Last year this was event #7, had 2,059 entries and a first place prize of $67,933.
Limit hold'em tournaments can feel like they are taking forever since the pots in the first few levels are very small compared to the players chips stacks, but I like them.
You heard it here first - If I get down to 6 players I'm going to win!
Limit hold'em tournaments can feel like they are taking forever since the pots in the first few levels are very small compared to the players chips stacks, but I like them.
You heard it here first - If I get down to 6 players I'm going to win!
Event #1 ($215 NL 6-Max) Recap
I was doing pretty well for a while in this one, but came up short. I had my stack up to over 8,000 when average was 6,000. The biggest problem was I had a very active table and never really got any cards. I had AA early and got some action which was how I got a good chunk of the chips I had, but other than that it felt like 200 hands of garbage.
While I spent most of my time folding when I did get in there I was flopping draws and missing them which is very costly. In the end that last hand I played was ATs. I was down to about 2,500 chips and after the first player to act raised to 400 I moved all in. He had AK, I missed and that was it. I finished in 1,910th place.
I'm amazed how close I got to the money in this one given that I was so card dead. If I'd gotten any breaks at all I would have made it.
Unfortunately I also dropped another $128 in satellites, meaning the total damage so far is -$803.
While I spent most of my time folding when I did get in there I was flopping draws and missing them which is very costly. In the end that last hand I played was ATs. I was down to about 2,500 chips and after the first player to act raised to 400 I moved all in. He had AK, I missed and that was it. I finished in 1,910th place.
I'm amazed how close I got to the money in this one given that I was so card dead. If I'd gotten any breaks at all I would have made it.
Unfortunately I also dropped another $128 in satellites, meaning the total damage so far is -$803.
WCOOP Event# 1 update
We started todays $215 NL 6 handed tournament with a whopping 7,217 players! That is a major increase from last years opening event. The tournament pays 1080 spots with 1,080th paying $303 (gross). To show a $1,000 profit I have to make it to 168th or better, to show $3,000 in profit I have to make it to 36th, 9th pays $9,021, 6th pays $23,686 and 1st is $212,179.
As of now we've played for 2 hours and I have my starting stack of 3,000 chips up to 5,500. We're down to 3,344 right now so plenty of peole have dropped, but when we come back from break the blinds will be 75/150 and with 30 minute limts there's still a long way to go.
As of now we've played for 2 hours and I have my starting stack of 3,000 chips up to 5,500. We're down to 3,344 right now so plenty of peole have dropped, but when we come back from break the blinds will be 75/150 and with 30 minute limts there's still a long way to go.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
WCOOP Event #1 Preview
I played 9 small WCOOP satellite tournaments today with extremely poor results. For those of you who don't know a satellite tournament is a tournament where instead of cash prizes the top finishers get an entry (or a seat as we often call it) into a tournament with a larger buy it. This allows players who normally couldn't afford the larger buy in a chance to win their way into big tournaments.
For example if you had 150 players enter a normal $55 tournament, the $7,500 in the prize pool would get split amongst the top 18 finishers with 1st place paying something like $2,500 and 18th paying something like $75 with everyone in between getting varying payouts. Instead let's say they same group played a $55 satellite to a $500 tournament. Now instead of 18 players getting various amounts of money everyone who finishes in the top 15 gets an entry into that $500 tournament. Once you're down to 15 the tournament is over. It doesn't matter if you have 1 chip or 100,000 chips, you all get the same prize.
I got close in one such tournament today where the top two spots won a $530 seat. Instead I finished 4th and got back $18. That was the highlight of the 9 tournaments. BLAH! The total damage was -$460.
WCOOP Event #1 starts at 11:30 PT tomorrow. It's a $215 NL Hold'em 6 handed tournament. Some of you may recall that my one cash at the 2008 WSOP was in 6 handed NL hold'em and since most of what I do is play six handed these days, I'm looking forward to this tournament.
Last year there were 4,610 entrants and a first place prize of $155,561. I expect there will be at least that many this year. Hopefully I can get off to a strong start. Of course I'll post details when I'm done or along the way if things are going really well.
For example if you had 150 players enter a normal $55 tournament, the $7,500 in the prize pool would get split amongst the top 18 finishers with 1st place paying something like $2,500 and 18th paying something like $75 with everyone in between getting varying payouts. Instead let's say they same group played a $55 satellite to a $500 tournament. Now instead of 18 players getting various amounts of money everyone who finishes in the top 15 gets an entry into that $500 tournament. Once you're down to 15 the tournament is over. It doesn't matter if you have 1 chip or 100,000 chips, you all get the same prize.
I got close in one such tournament today where the top two spots won a $530 seat. Instead I finished 4th and got back $18. That was the highlight of the 9 tournaments. BLAH! The total damage was -$460.
WCOOP Event #1 starts at 11:30 PT tomorrow. It's a $215 NL Hold'em 6 handed tournament. Some of you may recall that my one cash at the 2008 WSOP was in 6 handed NL hold'em and since most of what I do is play six handed these days, I'm looking forward to this tournament.
Last year there were 4,610 entrants and a first place prize of $155,561. I expect there will be at least that many this year. Hopefully I can get off to a strong start. Of course I'll post details when I'm done or along the way if things are going really well.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
WCOOP 2008 Preview!
Here is the full schedule of events for this years WCOOP:
Note that the guarantees are for the total prize pool not first place.
Here are the tournaments that I plan to play in:
| EVENT No | DATE | DAY | TIME | BUY-IN | EVENT | GUARANTEE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5-Sep | Fri | 14:30 | $215 | NL Hold'em [6-max] | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | 5-Sep | Fri | 16:30 | $215 | PL 5-Card Draw | $100,000 |
| 3 | 6-Sep | Sat | 14:30 | $215 | Limit Hold'em | $300,000 |
| 4 | 6-Sep | Sat | 16:30 | $215 | 2-7 Triple Draw | $100,000 |
| 5 | 7-Sep | Sun | 14:30 | $10,300 | High-Roller NL Hold'em | $2,000,000 |
| 6 | 7-Sep | Sun | 16:30 | $530 | NL Hold'em* | $3,000,000 |
| 7 | 8-Sep | Mon | 14:30 | $215 | PL Omaha [6-max] | $300,000 |
| 8 | 8-Sep | Mon | 16:30 | $320 | 8-game Mixed Event | $200,000 |
| 9 | 9-Sep | Tue | 14:30 | $215 | NL Hold'em [4-max] | $400,000 |
| 10 | 9-Sep | Tue | 16:30 | $215 | Razz | $100,000 |
| 11 | 10-Sep | Wed | 14:30 | $320 | PL Omaha Hi/Lo | $300,000 |
| 12 | 10-Sep | Wed | 16:30 | $320 | Mixed Hold'em [6-max] | $300,000 |
| 13 | 11-Sep | Thu | 14:30 | $215 | NL Hold'em w/Rebuys | $1,000,000 |
| 14 | 11-Sep | Thu | 16:30 | $320 | 7-Card Stud | $100,000 |
| 15 | 12-Sep | Fri | 14:30 | $320 | NL Hold'em [Heads-Up] | $500,000 |
| 16 | 12-Sep | Fri | 16:30 | $215 | PL Omaha [1R1A] | $300,000 |
| 17 | 13-Sep | Sat | 14:30 | $530 | PL Hold'em [6-max] | $400,000 |
| 18 | 13-Sep | Sat | 16:30 | $215 | HORSE | $300,000 |
| 19 | 14-Sep | Sun | 14:30 | $25,500 | High-Roller HU NL Hold'em | $1,600,000 |
| 20 | 14-Sep | Sun | 16:30 | $1,050 | NL Hold'em* | $3,000,000 |
| 21 | 15-Sep | Mon | 14:30 | $530 | 7-Card Stud Hi/Lo | $200,000 |
| 22 | 15-Sep | Mon | 16:30 | $530 | Mixed Omaha Hi/Lo [6-max] | $200,000 |
| 23 | 16-Sep | Tue | 14:30 | $530 | NL Hold'em [1R1A] | $500,000 |
| 24 | 16-Sep | Tue | 16:30 | $530 | NL 2-7 Single Draw | $200,000 |
| 25 | 17-Sep | Wed | 14:30 | $320 | PL Omaha w/rebuys | $500,000 |
| 26 | 17-Sep | Wed | 16:30 | $320 | NL Hold'em [6-max] | $500,000 |
| 27 | 18-Sep | Thu | 14:30 | $530 | NL Hold'em Triple Shootout | $300,000 |
| 28 | 18-Sep | Thu | 16:30 | $530 | Limit Omaha Hi/Lo | $400,000 |
| 29 | 19-Sep | Fri | 14:30 | $530 | NLHE w/Rebuys [6-max] | $400,000 |
| 30 | 19-Sep | Fri | 16:30 | $1,050 | PL Omaha | $500,000 |
| 31 | 20-Sep | Sat | 14:30 | $1,050 | Limit Hold'em [6-max] | $500,000 |
| 32 | 20-Sep | Sat | 16:30 | $10,300 | HORSE | $500,000 |
| 33 | 21-Sep | Sun | 16:30 | $5,200 | NL Hold'em Main Event* | $10,000,00 |
Note that the guarantees are for the total prize pool not first place.
Here are the tournaments that I plan to play in:
9/5 $215 NL Hold'em 6 handed
9/6 $215 Limit Hold 'em
9/8 $215 Pot Limit Omaha 6 handed
9/8 $320 8-game mixed games
9/9 $215 Nl Hold 'em 4 handed
9/9 $215 Razz
9/10 $320 Mixed Hold em (half NL and half limit)
9/11 $215 NL Hold 'em with rebuys
9/11 $320 7-Card Stud
9/12 $320 Heads up NL Hold 'em matches
9/13 $530 Pot Limit Hold 'em 6 handed
9/13 $215 HORSE
9/14 $1,050 NL Hold 'em
9/16 $530 NL Hold'em with 1 rebuy and 1 add on
9/17 $320 NL Hold 'em 6 handed
9/18 $530 NL Hold 'em triple shootout
9/18 $530 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo
9/20 $1,050 Limit Hold 'em 6 handed
That's $8,725 in tournaments (assuming 1 rebuy and 1 add on for the rebuy tournaments). If they do it like last year every day they'll be offering a $215 second chance tournaments in the same games as the days events a few hours after the WCOOP tournaments go off so everyone who went broke early can take another shot. I play to play in some of those as well and while they won't have six figure pay days at the top there will still be some serious money up for grabs. I expect that I'll also be playing quite a few satellites.
I've given myself a starting bankroll of an even $10,000 for the 2008 WCOOP and I've sold a little bit of my action to a group of about 10 investors.
My goals are to have at least 4 cashes in the main WCOOP events and make it to one final table. If I can make it to any final table (with the exception of one or two like the $215 Razz) it should be enough to make the whole venture a financial success.
While I'm confident in all of the events (if I didn't think they were all smart bets, I wouldn't be risking my money on them!) I think my best chance should come in the very last tournament which is $1050 6 handed limit hold'em. So no matter what happens early there will be that last chance to win big looming at the end.
I'm starting Satellite play tonight and the first event kicks off tomorrow morning!
I've given myself a starting bankroll of an even $10,000 for the 2008 WCOOP and I've sold a little bit of my action to a group of about 10 investors.
My goals are to have at least 4 cashes in the main WCOOP events and make it to one final table. If I can make it to any final table (with the exception of one or two like the $215 Razz) it should be enough to make the whole venture a financial success.
While I'm confident in all of the events (if I didn't think they were all smart bets, I wouldn't be risking my money on them!) I think my best chance should come in the very last tournament which is $1050 6 handed limit hold'em. So no matter what happens early there will be that last chance to win big looming at the end.
I'm starting Satellite play tonight and the first event kicks off tomorrow morning!
A Little Note from Pokerstars
I got this e-mail from pokerstars today:
Hello PokerStars largest players,
If you are getting this email you are one of our top 100 players, Congratulations! The Blog Team has asked me to email you with a question. We want to cover some people playing the WCOOP over the next 3 weeks. If you make it deep may we say you're a Supernova Elite or one of our largest Supernova VIPs?
Thank you for playing on PokerStars!
I think it's interesting to note that pokerstars had 9 million members and I'm in the top 100 in terms of point generation. What I'd really like to know is how many players out there are making more money than me. Hopefully I'll do something noteworth enough for them to mention me on the Pokerstars blog or even better, cardplayer magazine.
For those of you who are wondering about my points quest I'm currently at 612,000 points for the year. This is about 60,000 behind pace, but I have a plan! Specifically I'm going to go bananas in September and October and get myself either on or ahead of pace. I still have dreams of finishing this thing off a few weeks early and doing nothing for a while.
Why do I think I can make up so much ground? Well I made 5,700 points today in one day and it wasn't too bad. If I do that 21 days a month for two months all of a sudden I'm 20,000 points ahead of pace.
The past few days I've been playing a combo of two $109 SNG's and four $10/$20 games. This set up generates points at an insane rate. In fact I can make about $45 an hour in FPPs alone for breaking even with that set up of games! Of course if things go really bad I could lose $2,000 in an hour which is why there aren't tons of people out there making $45 an hour in FPPs.
I'm planning to put up a WCOOP event #1 preview and a brief WCOOP general preview with my goals and expectations for this years WCOOP sometime soon.
Hello PokerStars largest players,
If you are getting this email you are one of our top 100 players, Congratulations! The Blog Team has asked me to email you with a question. We want to cover some people playing the WCOOP over the next 3 weeks. If you make it deep may we say you're a Supernova Elite or one of our largest Supernova VIPs?
Thank you for playing on PokerStars!
I think it's interesting to note that pokerstars had 9 million members and I'm in the top 100 in terms of point generation. What I'd really like to know is how many players out there are making more money than me. Hopefully I'll do something noteworth enough for them to mention me on the Pokerstars blog or even better, cardplayer magazine.
For those of you who are wondering about my points quest I'm currently at 612,000 points for the year. This is about 60,000 behind pace, but I have a plan! Specifically I'm going to go bananas in September and October and get myself either on or ahead of pace. I still have dreams of finishing this thing off a few weeks early and doing nothing for a while.
Why do I think I can make up so much ground? Well I made 5,700 points today in one day and it wasn't too bad. If I do that 21 days a month for two months all of a sudden I'm 20,000 points ahead of pace.
The past few days I've been playing a combo of two $109 SNG's and four $10/$20 games. This set up generates points at an insane rate. In fact I can make about $45 an hour in FPPs alone for breaking even with that set up of games! Of course if things go really bad I could lose $2,000 in an hour which is why there aren't tons of people out there making $45 an hour in FPPs.
I'm planning to put up a WCOOP event #1 preview and a brief WCOOP general preview with my goals and expectations for this years WCOOP sometime soon.
Friday, August 29, 2008
The Full Details of Matt's WSOP main event
I know many of you followed the exploits of my good friend Matt Lessinger at this years WSOP main event. For those of you who are interested here is a very long, very detailed recap of how it all went down straight from the horse's mouth.
2008 WSOP Main Event Recap
By Matt Lessinger
This is compiled from the notes that I took during my five days in the Main Event. My thoughts will be in italics, some from the time of the tournament, some from after the fact. Suits will be denoted in lowercase; for example, Js is the Jacks of spades, 9h is the nine of hearts. 2x means a two, where the suit was irrelevant. After each hand will come my approximate chip count at the time. We started with 20,000.
Some of the notations:
SB – small blind
BB – big blind
UTG – under-the-gun, i.e. the player immediately after the blinds
VNH – very next hand, i.e. I was involved in two hands consecutively.
Day One, Level One: 50-100 blinds
-I’m in Seat One, which is good with all other things being equal. I can get a good look at the opponents to my left, whereas the ones to my right can’t see me too well.
-There are no name players at my table. In fact, it doesn’t seem as if there are any players at all. The whole table seems pretty soft.
-I win my first confrontation. One limper, I call on button w/Ks-Js, blinds call. Flop As-Jx-3s. Checked to limper, who bets 125. I make it 525, he calls. Turn 10x. I bet 800, he mucks. Up to 20,800.
-Brute aggression is clearly the way to go against this group, not finesse.
-I steal some pots here and there. Then 1.5 hours in, I pick up my first A-A. I make it 300, one caller. Flop K-4-3. I bet 600, he mucks. Up to 23K.
-A raise to 325, I call in BB w/2-2. Flop Qc-9c-2s. He bets 300, I check-raise to 900, he calls. Turn 5d. I bet 1,500, he makes it 3,000, I call. River 2x! I bet 2,000, he quickly calls (i.e. I clearly did not need the 4th deuce). Up to 29K. I never saw his hand, but it was clearly either A-A or K-K, with a slight chance of A-Q. On the turn I thought there was a decent chance I was up against a higher set, but I also thought if that was the case, he would let me off cheap because he wanted to ensure getting paid off. I did not want to reraise and risk going broke, especially when I considered it relatively easy to amass chips at this table, even if I lost a few thousand with a set. On the river, I thought the 2K bet was just right. If he had a set and filled up, I was going to get his stack anyway. And if he had only an overpair (as was the case) then the bet was small enough to get paid off. Perhaps I could have bet a little more and still gotten called.
-End of Level One: 28,925
Level Two: 100-200 blinds
-Button raises to 600, I call in BB w/J-10. Flop 10-8-7 rainbow. I bet 1,200, he calls. Turn 2. I bet 1,600, he calls. River 4, I check. Bad check here. I should have bet about 2,000. He checks and shows 9-9. Up to 32,600.
-Winning a bunch of small pots. I’m up over 35K without any hands of note.
-I encounter my first setback. Given that this was three hours into the tournament, I had no complaints. Two limpers, I make it 900 from SB w/As-6s. This was pushing it a little, but I wanted to see how much I could get away with. BB calls and limpers call, which is obviously not what I was hoping for. Flop 9d-9s-6d. I bet 2,200. BB folds, first limper makes it 5,200 to go. No one has raised on a draw yet, and I didn’t think he was doing it now. I fold, down to 31,800.
-SB limps. I make it 600 from BB w/Qd-Qh, he calls. He is by far the tightest player at the table. One of the reasons I accumulated chips so easily is that when everyone folded to him in the SB, I almost always won uncontested, either before or after the flop. This is the first time he’s called one of my pre-flop BB raises. Flop Jd-9d-4x. I bet 800, he calls. Turn Kd, we both check. River Ad! I bet 1,600 with the nut flush but he mucks. Up to 34,600.
-VNH UTG limps, next player raises to 850, I make it 2,500 from SB w/A-K. UTG folds A-K and raiser folds Ah-Qh. Cool. Up to 36,100.
-End of Level Two: 36,325
Level Three: 150-300 blinds
-UTG limps. I call in SB with Q-10. Flop Q-J-9. I bet 800, he calls. Turn an 8. I bet 1,600, he makes it 6,100. I call. River a 5. I check, he says, “I was just tryin to make a play at you, I’m sorry,” and shows A-J. I said, “You don’t have to apologize, I’ll take it!” as I show my straight. Up to 43,100. In reality, he wasn’t purposely making a move on me. What happened was that he thought he was calling my 1,600, but instead of a 500 chip he grabbed a 5,000 one, thus the 4,500 raise. In the back of my mind I thought he might be making an elaborate move on me, plus there was really nothing to be gained by re-raising, because he presumably couldn’t call without a straight, thus I chose to just call him down. I would have been happy with half the pot, since I was definitely afraid of K-10, but of course it was a bonus to find out I won the whole pot.
-Made standard raises with 7-7 and 9-9 but got reraised both times and was forced to muck. Down to 40,600. They probably had me beat, but this was also the first two times I got played back at preflop, and it took five hours for that to happen. I now had to worry that my image, (which was fantastic after the quad deuces hand), was now getting a little worse, since they were now seeing me lay down to preflop reraises.
-A-A for 2nd time, but everyone folded to me in SB. I make it 700 but BB mucks. Grr.
-I go 900 with A-K. One caller, then a reraise to 4K. I muck and they go all-in, Q-Q vs. 10-10. At that moment I was not happy I folded, but the final board came jack-high so I saved a good chunk of money. Still, down to 40,100.
-I go 900 in cutoff with 6d-5d, BB calls. Flop 5-4-2. I bet 1,200, he check-raises to 3,200, I call. Turn Q. He bets 4,500, I muck. Down to 34,800.
-I go 900 w/9h-9d, 2 callers. Flop As-Jx-8s. We all check. Turn Js. I bet 1,600, one caller. River Ks. We check, he shows Qc-Jc to win. Down to 32,700. Bad play on my part. I knew he either had a spade draw or a jack, and I should have bet to find out. If I bet the river he probably can’t call. Of course, he could have just as easily had K-J, which was part of what made me lean towards checking.
-End of Level Three: 32,475
Level Four: 150-300 blinds, 25 ante
I limp with 10-10 UTG, we get seven-way action! Flop A-A-4, we all check. Turn 7. SB bets 800, I call, everyone else mucks. River K. He bets 1,100, I call, he shows J-7. Up to 36,100. This was the beginning of the end for the SB in seat Eight. Four of the next five hands I will describe were against him.
-A-A for 3rd time. This is much better than 2006, when I went 14 hours without A-A or K-K! Cutoff in Seat Eight makes it 1K. I make it 3K from the SB, he calls. Flop 2-3-4, I bet 6K, he mucks. Up to 40,500.
-VNH he limps, and I limp from the button with A-Q. I had a strange feeling that if I raised him again, he would get frustrated and push all-in, and I didn’t want to be faced with that decision. Flop A-10-2. He bets 1K, I call, blinds muck. Turn J. He bets 1,500, I call. River 4. He bets 2,200. I groan and call. He shows A-9. I announce to the table that I played the hand like a giant pussy (and I throw in the hand signal for good measure) while I rake in the pot. Up to 46,800.
-Next round I go 900 on button with A-7, BB calls. Flop A-K-8. He bets 1,600, I make it 4,600, he mucks. Up to 50,400.
-I make it 900 UTG with Q-Q. One caller, then the SB (Seat Eight) makes it 3,000 to go. I make it 9K, which is enough to put him all-in. The player between us mucks, he calls and shows A-K, but the flop comes queen high. Booyah! He goes from 20,000 to zero in four hands against me, and I am up to 59,200.
-I make it 900 with 8-8, the button calls. Flop A-Q-6. I bet 2K, he calls. Turn 4. I bet 3,500, he calls. River Q. I put him all-in for a little more than 8K. He deliberates for about three minutes, then finally calls and shows A-K. Down to 45,600. At a table of tight players he was one of the tightest, and given his reluctance to raise on the flop or turn, I didn’t think he would have enough confidence to call all-in on the river. I actually thought he had A-J, in which case he would have had to consider the possibility that I had A-K. If I knew he had A-K I would have never done it, but even then it still almost worked, as he kept getting distracted by the river queen. “A-Q?” he asked. “K-Q? That would be sick…” Once he said that I knew he had A-K, but at that point it was too late. Thankfully I had built my stack up enough that this bad bluff only cost me 1/4th of my chips.
-Almost immediately after that hand our table broke. Double fuck! Not only will I miss getting to continue playing against this group, but if the table had broken a couple of hands earlier, I could be going to a new table with 60K instead of 45K.
-End of Level Four: 45,600
Level Five: 200-400 blinds, 50 ante
-There is much more action at my new table. In the very first hand one player got KOed and another got crippled.
-I picked up absolutely nothing for the first hour and a half. Blinded down to 42K.
-After 1:45 I stole only one set of blinds with 9-9. Then with ten minutes to go, UTG makes it 1,200, there is one caller, then I make it 5K on button with 10-10. Raiser folds, caller deliberates for like 3 minutes before turning up 6-6 and folding. Up to 45,900. He took so long that I really thought he had me beat. When he finally turned up 6-6 I had to laugh out loud. Apparently I was giving him too much credit.
-End of Level Five, End of Day One: 44,775
Day Two, Level Six: 250-500 blinds, 50 ante
-Again I start the day in Seat One, a nice advantage. It also seems like another good table draw. There are a few short stacks, and the table chip leader has only 66K.
-40 minutes in, I make it 1,600 w/Ah-Qh. Button calls, BB calls. Flop 8h-7x-5h. I bet 4K, they muck. Up to 46,800.
-UTG calls, another calls, I check in BB w/Kh-3d. Flop Ah-Jh-10h. UTG bets 2K out of turn. I call. Turn 2x. Again he bets out of turn, this time 4K. I muck, down to 43,800. He was a very inexperienced player, and I knew that he wasn’t making a move on me. I also figured that there was little or no chance of semibluffing him, therefore it didn’t seem like the right time to try anything tricky.
-I make it 1,600 w/As-Qs, one caller. Flop A-2-4 all diamonds. I bet 2,500, he calls. Turn 5s. I check. I probably should have made a small bet instead. He bets 10K, I fold. Down to 38,600.
-A-A for 4th time in tournament. I make it 1,600, button calls. Flop K-J-8 rainbow. I bet 2K, he makes it 6K, I reraise to 16K, he mucks. Up to 47K.
-I make it 1,600 UTG w/A-K. One caller. Flop A-9-3 rainbow. I check, he bets 1,700. I check-raise to 3,500, he calls. Turn 4. I bet 5K, he goes 15K, I go all-in, he mucks. Up to 66K. This was the same opponent who bet me off of As-Qs on an Ad-2d-4d-5s board. He had been fairly aggressive, and I thought I would use that against him. The check-raise on the flop was textbook. On the turn he put me to a decision, but in the end I decided that if he had me beat so be it. He had played enough hands and been aggressive enough that I could not lay down top pair/top kicker to him after having put over 10K into the pot. He claimed he laid down A-K. I give that about a 25% chance of being truthful.
-A raise to 1,200, I call w/Ah-10h. Flop 9x-8h-7h. He bets 3K, I make it 8K, he goes all-in for 11K total, I call. He shows 6-5 offsuit. Ridiculous hand, but I still have a ton of outs. Unfortunately the turn is the 4s and the river the 5c. Down to 54K. This elicited a very loud, “What the fuck??” from me, but it was highly justified. This player had played about 2 hands over the course of 2 hours, and I almost laid down my hand preflop, in light of how tight he had been playing. What made me decide to play was that I figured I could pounce on him postflop if he showed weakness. I couldn’t believe that he had folded so many hands and then decided to take a stand short-stacked with 6-5 offsuit. I guess I could be thankful that he was short-stacked, because I was going to be all-in on that flop no matter how deep he was.
-End of Level Six: 52,425
Level Seven: 300-600 blinds, 75 ante
-UTG raises to 1,600. I call with 7-7. Another caller, then the button makes it 3K to go. It was a very strange sequence. Anyway, I call, but muck after a flop of Q-J-3. Down to 49K.
-That’s the only hand I played for the entire first hour. Not even a blind steal. Down to 44,500.
-Button makes it 1,600, SB calls, I make it 6K from BB with 8-7 offsuit. Button folds immediately. SB deliberates a bit, but eventually mucks. Up to 47K. The probability that the button was stealing, combined with the fact that I hadn’t played a hand for an hour, made it necessary for me to make a play like this.
-A raise to 1,600, I make it 4,100 with J-J, he mucks. Up to 48K.
-End of Level Seven: 47,600
Level Eight: 400-800 blinds, 100 ante
-I make it 2,400 with 9-9, one caller. I bet 4K at K-6-5 flop and he mucks. VNH I pick up my 5th A-A but no action. Up to 52K.
-A raise to 2,300. I make it 6,300 from SB with Ad-Qd, he mucks. Up to 55K.
-Same guy raises to 2,300. I flat call with A-K offsuit, blinds also call. Flop 10c-9x-8c, and I muck to a 5K bet. Turns out he had 9-9. Good play, bad flop. Down to 52K.
-I make it 2,400 with Ac-Js, one caller. Flop Qx-8x-8c, we check. Turn 4c. I bet 3,500, he calls. River 6c. I bet 8K, he calls and shows 10c-9c for a flush. Down to 38K. Bad read on my part. I figured him for a pocket pair, not a club draw, especially given that I had the Ac. Given that read, I thought I could push him off of whatever he had, but obviously he was calling.
-A raise to 2,200, one caller, I call in BB with Qd-Jd, and fold to a bet after the flop comes 10-6-3. Down to 36K
-A totally dismal final hour and a half. No hands whatsoever, Didn’t play a single one.
-End of Level Eight: 29,900
Level Nine: 500-1,000 blinds, 100 ante
-Five minutes in I get moved to a new table. I am easily the shortest stack here.
-I make it 3,200 with 10-10. Three callers! Flop 9-8-3, I bet 10K, and thankfully they muck. Up to 40K.
-I make it 3,200 with 2-2, one caller. Flop K-8-6. I bet 6K, he mucks. Up to 42K.
-UTG makes it 3K, one caller, I call in BB with 7d-6d, but flop of A-Q-2 is no help. Down to 40K.
-I’ve been at this table for an hour, and I’m realizing that this table is the strongest group I’ve ever played against. I know it doesn’t seem that way from the hands I’ve played, but hardly any pot goes uncontested. People are betting correctly, folding correctly, and bluffing frequently. There are two non-players. The other six are all business. At this point in time, my thinking is that I want to break even for the rest of the day, and try my luck in Day Three at a new table, because it’s got to be easier than this one.
-Pocket aces for 6th time. Someone raises to 2,800, I choose to flat-call, hoping that the table’s aggressiveness will work in my favor. We get one other caller. Flop comes Kc-10c-6c. Raiser checks to me, I bet 8K, they both muck. I look back and see that I had the Ac. Perhaps I should have bet less. Up to 45K.
-Two limpers, I call in SB with Js-6s. Flop As-9x-2s. Button bets 2,500, I call, rest muck. Turn 4x, we check. River 5x, we check. He has 10h-6h! Up to 50K. This was a sick win. He inexplicably gave up on this hand, even though it seemed pretty likely that I could be on a draw. Again, I know it seems strange for me to say how tough this table was, when I was allowed to win a hand like this one, but I consider it dumb luck more than anything else.
-End of Level Nine: 49,800.
Level Ten: 600-1,200 blinds, 200 ante
-I make it 3,800 with 7-7, BB calls. Flop K-6-5, I bet 7K, he mucks. Up to 54K.
-VNH there is a raise to 3K. I make it 9K with 9-9. He thinks for at least a minute, then makes it 25K. I muck, and am back down to 45K.
-BOOM. A-A for 7th time in tournament. Black ones. There is a raise to 3,200. I make it 8,000, he calls. Flop K-Q-3 all diamonds. He checks. I bet 12K. I am not happy about the all-diamond flop, but I am committing myself to this hand, and I am betting an amount that shows I am committed. I refuse to be bet or raised off my aces by a hand containing the Ad, for example. He thinks for almost two minutes. He looks frustrated, and I’m nearly certain it is not an act. Finally he says, “OK, I’m all-in.” I shrug and call. The hand I am expecting to see is A-K with the ace of diamonds, but right before he turns his hand up, I think to myself that he would not have looked so frustrated with a hand that good. He turns up A-K with the ace of hearts. I have him drawing dead to two kings. The turn pairs the three, and the river is the five of diamonds, (i.e. if he had held any diamonds, I would have been eliminated). Instead I’m up to 89K. For what it’s worth, he was not one of the strong players. He had come to our table about a half hour earlier, and was chatting nonstop. It made me believe that he wasn’t as focused as he should have been, and that came out in this pivotal hand. After a flop like that, if I’m not bluffing, then there’s nothing he can beat. He has no business calling, let alone going all-in. I just got lucky to get so much action.
-Went the final 45 minutes without playing a hand, so…
-End of Level Ten, End of Day Two: 82,000
Day Three, Level Eleven: 800-1,600 blinds, 200 ante
-Seems like a decent table draw. I’m in Seat Two, which is favorable. The only name player is Alex Kravchenko (4th place finisher from last year) and he is in Seat Nine, so I’ve got position on him. Plus there are at least three short stacks.
-After a few minutes I realize there are only three guys who are real players, and they are all to my right, so I have no complaints or excuses.
-BOOYAH. A-A for 8th time. A player makes it 4K, I make it 11K from SB, he calls. Flop 8-7-5. I bet 16K, he makes it 40K. I take a few seconds to make sure I’m going with this hand, and of course I know that I am. So I stand up Kravchenko style, put my palms behind my chips, and push them all forward. I expect him to call, since he’s only got another 25K or so left, but he mucks. I’m up to 132K. I look at Kravchenko and say, “I saw that work for you all of last year. I guess that’s what I need to do.” He didn’t seem amused. J
-I make it 4,800 with 6-6. A tight player calls from the button, and I decide to check-fold once the flop comes A-10-8. Down to 127K.
-I pick up numerous small pots over the next hour, keeping me moving steadily forward. I’m feeling very comfortable at this table. I’m getting undue respect, plus I am close to being the table chip leader, even though my stack is only slightly above average.
-There is a raise to 4,600. One player calls, and I call from the BB with J-J. Flop comes Q-10-9. I check. Raiser bets 9K Caller folds. I make it 25K. He thinks for a long time, and it is not an act, (i.e. it became clear to me that I was beat at that point), but finally he lays it down. Up to 156K. I’m pretty sure he had A-Q, with an outside chance of A-A. That might seem like a huge laydown, but if my raise is legitimate on a flop like that, there’s not many hands he can beat. Plus, he knows I’ll probably put him all-in on the turn if he calls the flop, so he has to decide if he’s willing to risk his tournament life with one pair. Clearly he wasn’t.
-After that hand, the kid to my right says, “How do you do it? How do you win all those chips without showing a single hand? You are ballin’, man!” That last line cracked me up, although he had a point. I had gone from 82K to 156K, and never had to show a single hand.
-End of Level Eleven: 156,900
Level Twelve: 1K-2K blinds, 300 ante
-SICK hand. One player limps, then another makes it 7K to go. I have Ac-Qc in the BB. I make it 18K to go. He pushes all-in for 36K total, I call, he has A-A. But flop comes K-J-10! Turn 3, river the case ace. SICK. Up to 192K. I was genuinely torn about what to do preflop. My first instinct was to fold, and I truly have no idea why I ignored that instinct. I thought his raise to 7K, after a player had limped for 2K, was inviting action. But then I decided that I had been getting way too much respect, so I should try to use that. But I don’t know what I was thinking. I put him on a big hand, and if that was the case, then all the respect in the world wouldn’t make him fold. If I had flat-called, then the hand would have worked out the same way, but calling was honestly not on my mind. I was prepared to fold, and then I was like, “Fuck that. No one has called my raises yet, so I’m raising.” This was obviously my luckiest hand of the tournament. It would not have broken me to lose it, but I would have been down below 120K, instead of up to 192K.
-There is a raise to 6K I call with 7-7. Flop A-3-5. He checks, I bet 12K, he mucks. Up to 206K.
-Folded to SB, he limps. I raise 5K from BB with 9-2, he calls. Flop J-J-7. He checks, I bet 8K, he makes it 21K, I muck. Turns out he was slowplaying K-K. Whoops. Down to 189K. This was a very unnecessary play, but given my table image of aggressive and lucky, I saw no reason to leave any pot uncontested. Once he called, my initial thought was, “OK, I’m done.” Then of course the flop came and I told myself I had to take one shot at it, and of course that was a waste of 8K. I knew it even as I was making the bet. J Sometimes you just have that feeling.
-One limper, SB limps, I check 9h-8h in BB. Flop 9-4-3. Checked to limper, he bets 6K, I call. Queen on turn, we check. Ten on river, we check again, he has A-9. Down to 178K.
-I go an hour without playing a hand, and just as the level is almost over I get moved to a new table. New and much shittier. Instead of being one of the two chip leaders, I am now one of the three shortest stacks. I am hardly a short stack, but everyone has at least 120K in chips, with several players over 300K. I am in Seat Two, and I have Brandon Cantu to deal with in Seat Eight. Without question, this table change sucked.
-End of Level Twelve: 171,400
Level Thirteen: 1,200-2,400 blinds, 300 ante
-I make it 7,500 with J-J. I get re-raised to 23K and I let it go. Down to 157K.
-I make it 7K with 7-7, SB calls. Flop 10-5-2. He leads out for 12K and I muck. Down to 145K. Last two hands are examples of how the money pressure might have been getting to me a little. We were getting close to being in the money, and I was not in the mood to take chances. Normally I would raise the flop 3 out of 4 times in this situation. But here, I really didn’t want to take unnecessary chances.
-They just moved Hassan Habib to Seat Four with about 250K, as if this table wasn’t hard enough.
-Those were literally the only two hands I played. I could not even steal the blinds.
-End of Level Thirteen: 126,000
Level Fourteen: 1,500-3,000 blinds, 400 ante
-At the start of this level, my mindset was that we would probably be in the money by the end of the level, so I could just pay my blinds and make the money, but I would also be leaving myself too short stacked to do much more than that. So far my image at this table was tight but weak, so that was not in my favor. Plus Brandon was literally playing over 50% of his hands, so there was no room to breathe. I pretty much decided that I would be at the mercy of my cards for the next two hours. If I picked up a premium hand, (A-A, K-K, Q-Q, or A-K) I would take my chances with it to some extent. Anything less and I was probably folding, other than possibly taking one shot at the blinds.
-WOW. A-A for 9th time. One player limps. Brandon makes it 13K. I make it 60K. The limper goes all-in! Brandon mucks, I call, he has K-K, and the aces hold. Up to 256K. This demonstrates, of course, the total luck factor of a tournament like this. If we reverse the hands and give me the K-K, I’m the one that’s out just short of the money. Instead I end up lasting another day and a half, and the player with K-K ends up getting eliminated a few hands later, about 20 spots short of $21,000 in real money. I like his limp preflop. He was counting on Brandon to raise on his left, and that was a pretty safe bet. I just happened to wake up with the nuts.
-I make it 9K with K-J. The BB calls and then leads out for 12K on an 8-5-2 flop. I muck. Down to 248K.
-Soon afterwards we are playing hand for hand, which goes on for about an hour. Brandon raises literally every pot during that time. I do the opposite and fold every hand like a wuss. Still, we made the money by the end of the level, so we were able to get back to normal.
-End of Level Fourteen: 234,500
Level Fifteen: 2K-4K blinds, 500 ante
-I make it 12K on button with 2-2. SB goes all-in for 36K. I’m going to call, except Habib comes over the top from the BB, and I muck. Habib has Q-Q, SB has A-5 but flops an ace to survive. Turns out I saved money, but still down to 212K.
-I pick up A-A for the 10th time, but no action this time. I can’t complain.
-I make it 12K with A-Q, get reraised to 36K and muck. Down to 202K.
-Cantu makes it 13K in Seat Eight. Seat Nine calls, then Seat One goes all-in for 125K. I’m in Seat Two, in the SB with A-K offsuit. I decide to muck. Cantu calls with 4-4. The all-in player has A-10, and the flop comes with a king. Instead of being up to over 350K, I’m holding steady at around 180K. I don’t regret this laydown. I mean, I obviously regret it from the way it played out, but I was really surprised that Seat One had only A-10. He had been playing pretty tight, and I understood that people were going to play looser once we made the money, but that was looser than I expected. If I had called, Cantu just might have been wacky enough to overcall with his pocket fours (he certainly had the chips to overcall) in which case I would have been a slight dog, but would have flopped a king to end up with almost 500K. Still, I feel like that is playing results. I could just as easily have been up against K-K or A-A, or even a smaller pair, but with one or more of my cards being dead.
-I make it 14K UTG with Q-Q. I get called by a tightish player in middle position, and Cantu on the button. The flop comes K-8-3. I check. Middle position player bets 30K. Cantu folds. I check-raise all-in. He looks shocked. He then starts saying, “I think we have the same hand … I think we have the same hand.” Now I know he has A-K, and I’m basically ready to leave. But remarkably, he shows his hand and lays it down, saying I must have A-A. I could not believe it. Up to 235K. This was easily my worst play of the entire tournament. On the flop, my plan was to check-raise Cantu, because I was sure he would have reraised preflop with A-K and probably even K-Q, and I was equally sure he would bet the flop if we checked to him, regardless of his hand. I was not ready for the other player to come out betting. As I said, he was relatively tight, so for him to call preflop, and for him to bet such a non-drawing-hand flop, he absolutely had to have at least a big king, possibly even a set. All I can say is that I was fed up with having laid down A-K the previous round, and for laying down hands at this table for the past six hours. I had created the tightest image possible, and with only twenty minutes before the night ended and our table broke, I was desperate for an opportunity to take advantage of the tight image I had created by folding 95% of my hands. As soon as I made the all-in raise I regretted it, but I desperately tried to keep a confident face, and somehow my opponent laid down a hand he shouldn’t have laid down in a million years. His laydown eventually equated to an extra $20,000 in prize money for me.
-Last hand of the night, there is a raise to 17K, I call in SB with 10-10 and the BB calls. Flop A-8-5, we all check. Turn a five. I bet 25K. BB folds, raiser shows 9-9 and folds. Up to 268K.
-End of Level Fifteen, End of Day Three: 268,000
Day Four, Level Sixteen: 2,500-5,000 blinds, 500 ante
-Only name player at my table is Shawn Sheikhan in Seat Eight with over 700K. Chris Bjorin is in Seat Two, but with less than 40K. I’m in Seat Four, which is fine. It’s a nice mix of players, definitely not one of the tougher tables remaining.
-Sheiky make it 16K, another player makes it 50K, and I muck A-K in the BB. Sheiky mucked as well, so we’ll never know. I wasn’t going to take unnecessary chances until I knew my opponents a little better.
-VNH the reraiser from the previous hand makes it 16K. I make it 51K from the SB with A-K, he calls. Flop 10-5-3, I move all-in and he mucks. Up to 330K. So much for not taking chances. Basically, I wasn’t going to give him credit for two big hands in a row. This was a case of Peter Costa in my head, asking, “Do you need the chips?” And I simply needed the chips, thus the all-in. This hand added over 20% to my stack.
-SB limps, I check 10-2 in BB. Flop K-10-10. He calls 6K on flop and 12K on turn but folds to 30K bet on river Up to 340K. In retrospect he was the weakest player at the table. I have no idea what he had, but it could have been as weak as a gutshot straight draw.
-There is a raise to 16K. I make it 51K with Ah-Kh. He reraises another 100K. I consider for a while, but muck. Down to 280K. Maybe I should have taken a stand with one of these A-K hands, but I felt I had enough chips that I didn’t need to risk my tournament life on A-K. Plus, this player’s raise really reeked of strength, much more so than the first A-K I laid down.
-VNH I make it 15K with Kc-Qc, BB calls. Flop Ax-9c-6c. I bet 18K, he folds. Up to 310K.
-Pocket aces for 11th time. Someone raises to 20K, I make it 50K and he mucks. Up to 330K.
-I make it 16K with 9-9, both blinds call. Flop As-6s-5x, we all check. Qx on turn. Shieky bets 40K, I call, other player mucks. River 4s. We check, and he has A-K. Down to 260K. I thought there was enough of a chance that he was trying to buy the pot, hence my call on the turn. On the other hand, I knew that a big ace was a definite possibility as well.
-2 limpers, I limp in SB with K-9. Flop 8s-7s-5h, we all check. Turn 7h. I bet 22K, one caller. River Kh. We both check, and I’m pretty sure I rivered him, but then he shows A-7! Whoops. Down to 220K. This was the French player in Seat Two that was clearly the tightest player at the table. He plays a pivotal role in a later hand.
-There is a raise to 16K, I call on button with A-Q. Flop A-K-Q with two clubs. He checks, I bet 25K, he calls. Turn 8x, we both check. River 9x. He bets 40K, I call, and he mucks instantly. Nice. Up to 315K. He later said he had a club draw, but I’m not sure he even had that much.
-I make it 15K on button with Ad-10d, SB calls. Flop 2-3-6. I bet 22K, he folds. Up to 340K.
-End of Level Sixteen: 326,000
Level Seventeen: 3K-6K blinds, 1K ante
-UTG raises to 16K, I call on button with Jc-10c, BB calls. Flop Q-8-6 all hearts. We all check. Turn 7h. They check to me, I bet 25K, they both call. Whoops. River a blank, and we check around. UTG had As-Kh, but SB had 10h-9h for a straight flush! Big whoops. Down to 290K. He played his hand so slow he was almost moving backwards.
-There is a raise to 20K and two callers. I call in BB with 4-4, but the flop comes 9-8-8 and I fold to a 40K bet. Down to 250K.
-I make it 18K from cutoff with J-4, BB calls. Flop J-8-8, we both check. Turn a queen. He bets 27K, I call. River a jack! He checks, I bet 60K, and he folds. Up to 305K. As soon as I bet, I realized I had bet too much. If he had anything with which to call, it was either a weak queen or ace high or something like that. I should have sucked him in with something smaller, possibly even induced a check-raise bluff.
-I make it 18K with A-7, one caller. Flop A-J-8. I check-call 35K. We check 10 on turn and 9 on river, and my straight is good. I highly doubt that I needed it. Up to 400K.
-There is a raise to 25K. I call in BB with Ac-Qc. Flop comes A-A-10. I lead out for 20K. He thinks, says, “Excellent bet,” and folds. Damn, if he folded I guess it wasn’t so excellent. Anyway, up to 425K.
-Pocket aces for 12th(!) time. There is a raise to 25K, I make it 60K and he mucks. Up to 460K.
-I steal the blinds with A-K. Then VNH, I make it 21K with 9-9. There’s a raise to 61K and a reraise to 261K. Obviously I muck, and re-raiser shows A-A. Still at 460K.
-End of Level Seventeen: 468,000
As it turns out, this was my high mark for the tournament. At the time, we were down to about 350 players, and I was a good 100K-150K above average. I really felt good, and thought that if I stayed at the same table for the rest of the day, one million in chips would be an achievable goal. Of course, it didn’t take long to bring me back down to earth.
-Level Eighteen: 4K-8K blinds, 1K ante
-UTG limps and I limp with 10-10, then there is a raise to 42K. I call, but then the flop comes K-Q-8 and I muck to a 65K bet. Down to 370K.
-Sheiky makes it 22K, I call from BB with J-J. Flop comes A-Q-2. I lead out for 20K and he mucks. Up to 405K.
-The sick hand of the tournament. UTG raises to 20K. Three players call. I make it 140K from the SB with Q-Q. Blinds fold, then the UTG player almost immediately goes all-in. The next two players fold. Frenchman in Seat Two reluctantly calls with a relatively short stack. I just can’t imagine my hand being any good. As soon as I muck, UTG says to Frenchman, “I think you have me beat,” and produces K-Q. Frenchman has A-K, and the final board comes nine-high. Frenchman doubles up, and I’m down to 240K. This hand was totally fucked, but at least it was fucked enough for me to produce a Card Player article out of it. J My raise was an attempt to signify that I was pot-committed, but deep down I knew that I could get away from the hand if I had to. 240K was still enough to work with. I was really convinced the UTG player had aces, but still, he had to figure that there was a decent chance I would call, just because so many of my chips were already in the pot. Although I shouldn’t do it, what bothers me the most is when I play the “what if?” game. If he had folded like he was supposed to, I’m going to get the A-K player all-in, and when the board comes nine-high, I’m going to be up over 750K. That would have been HUGE. Instead, I had to nurse a below-average stack for the remainder of my time in the tournament.
-There is a raise to 25K. I go all-in with A-Q and he mucks. Up to 280K. At this point I can’t fuck around anymore.
-I make it 24K with A-Q, BB calls. Flop K-10-3. He checks, I bet 35K and he mucks. Up to 290K.
-VNH SB makes it 22K, I call in BB with Qc-10c. Flop K-9-3, we check. Turn a five. He checks, I bet 30K and he mucks. Up to 320K.
-VNH UTG makes it 20K, I call in SB with 9-9. Flop K-7-6. I bet out 20K, he makes it 60K and I muck. Back down to 280K. That 20K lead bet had been causing opponents to fold, or at least hesitate, so I figured I’d keep doing it until someone took a stand. Here was that stand.
-End of Level Eighteen: 268,000
Level Nineteen: 5K-10K blinds, 1K ante
-I make it 32K with A-K. Sheiky calls, then someone reraises to 110K. I go all-in, Sheiky folds A-K, other guy calls with A-K! We split. Up to 280K.
-There is a raise to 35K. SB calls, and I call in BB with 4-4. Flop J-4-3 all hearts. I bet 100K, they fold. Up to 330K.
-We are ending Day Four at 11 PM, with 189 players remaining and 40 minutes left in Level Nineteen. I have 308K.
Start of Day Five
-I’m at a new table. There’s not a single name player, but everyone except for one player has more chips than me. Que lastima.
-I didn’t play a single hand for the remainder of the level, so…
-End of Level Nineteen: 263,000
Level Twenty: 6K-12K blinds, 2K ante
-Nothing even close to a playable hand for the first hour. Blinded down to 190K.
-After an hour and a half, the cutoff makes it 35K, and I go all-in from the button with 3-3. He folds A-8. “Up” to 190K.
-I make it 38K with J-10. I get reraised all-in, and I muck. Down to 140K.
-I go all-in on button with A-5. BB calls with A-Q, but flop comes 6-5-4. Nice! Turn and river blanks. Up to 260K. Obviously I got lucky this hand, but I was also unlucky to have gone almost three hours without anything remotely playable. There’s never a good time to go card dead at the WSOP, and Day Five is definitely no exception.
-End of Level Twenty: 260,000
Level Twenty-One: 8K-16K blinds, 2K ante
-Only got to play one hand. The button raises to 35K. I go all-in from BB with 10-10. He thinks for a long while, then calls with K-J. Flop comes A-J-9. Turn is a queen, giving me some faint hope, but the river is a four. I’m eliminated in 144th place. Losing to this player was really painful. In an earlier hand, he put in a fourth raise preflop with J-J against a player who clearly had him beat. The other guy beat him into the pot with A-A, then the guy flops quad jacks. In this hand, he should have had an easy laydown with his K-J, When he thought as long as he did, I really hoped I had him dominated. I thought he might have a smaller pocket pair, or a hand like A-9. When he called, I was sure I was happy with the call, but I really thought I’d be happier. Instead it was a coin flip and I lost. Oh well.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. And if you had a piece of my action, you’re welcome. J
2008 WSOP Main Event Recap
By Matt Lessinger
This is compiled from the notes that I took during my five days in the Main Event. My thoughts will be in italics, some from the time of the tournament, some from after the fact. Suits will be denoted in lowercase; for example, Js is the Jacks of spades, 9h is the nine of hearts. 2x means a two, where the suit was irrelevant. After each hand will come my approximate chip count at the time. We started with 20,000.
Some of the notations:
SB – small blind
BB – big blind
UTG – under-the-gun, i.e. the player immediately after the blinds
VNH – very next hand, i.e. I was involved in two hands consecutively.
Day One, Level One: 50-100 blinds
-I’m in Seat One, which is good with all other things being equal. I can get a good look at the opponents to my left, whereas the ones to my right can’t see me too well.
-There are no name players at my table. In fact, it doesn’t seem as if there are any players at all. The whole table seems pretty soft.
-I win my first confrontation. One limper, I call on button w/Ks-Js, blinds call. Flop As-Jx-3s. Checked to limper, who bets 125. I make it 525, he calls. Turn 10x. I bet 800, he mucks. Up to 20,800.
-Brute aggression is clearly the way to go against this group, not finesse.
-I steal some pots here and there. Then 1.5 hours in, I pick up my first A-A. I make it 300, one caller. Flop K-4-3. I bet 600, he mucks. Up to 23K.
-A raise to 325, I call in BB w/2-2. Flop Qc-9c-2s. He bets 300, I check-raise to 900, he calls. Turn 5d. I bet 1,500, he makes it 3,000, I call. River 2x! I bet 2,000, he quickly calls (i.e. I clearly did not need the 4th deuce). Up to 29K. I never saw his hand, but it was clearly either A-A or K-K, with a slight chance of A-Q. On the turn I thought there was a decent chance I was up against a higher set, but I also thought if that was the case, he would let me off cheap because he wanted to ensure getting paid off. I did not want to reraise and risk going broke, especially when I considered it relatively easy to amass chips at this table, even if I lost a few thousand with a set. On the river, I thought the 2K bet was just right. If he had a set and filled up, I was going to get his stack anyway. And if he had only an overpair (as was the case) then the bet was small enough to get paid off. Perhaps I could have bet a little more and still gotten called.
-End of Level One: 28,925
Level Two: 100-200 blinds
-Button raises to 600, I call in BB w/J-10. Flop 10-8-7 rainbow. I bet 1,200, he calls. Turn 2. I bet 1,600, he calls. River 4, I check. Bad check here. I should have bet about 2,000. He checks and shows 9-9. Up to 32,600.
-Winning a bunch of small pots. I’m up over 35K without any hands of note.
-I encounter my first setback. Given that this was three hours into the tournament, I had no complaints. Two limpers, I make it 900 from SB w/As-6s. This was pushing it a little, but I wanted to see how much I could get away with. BB calls and limpers call, which is obviously not what I was hoping for. Flop 9d-9s-6d. I bet 2,200. BB folds, first limper makes it 5,200 to go. No one has raised on a draw yet, and I didn’t think he was doing it now. I fold, down to 31,800.
-SB limps. I make it 600 from BB w/Qd-Qh, he calls. He is by far the tightest player at the table. One of the reasons I accumulated chips so easily is that when everyone folded to him in the SB, I almost always won uncontested, either before or after the flop. This is the first time he’s called one of my pre-flop BB raises. Flop Jd-9d-4x. I bet 800, he calls. Turn Kd, we both check. River Ad! I bet 1,600 with the nut flush but he mucks. Up to 34,600.
-VNH UTG limps, next player raises to 850, I make it 2,500 from SB w/A-K. UTG folds A-K and raiser folds Ah-Qh. Cool. Up to 36,100.
-End of Level Two: 36,325
Level Three: 150-300 blinds
-UTG limps. I call in SB with Q-10. Flop Q-J-9. I bet 800, he calls. Turn an 8. I bet 1,600, he makes it 6,100. I call. River a 5. I check, he says, “I was just tryin to make a play at you, I’m sorry,” and shows A-J. I said, “You don’t have to apologize, I’ll take it!” as I show my straight. Up to 43,100. In reality, he wasn’t purposely making a move on me. What happened was that he thought he was calling my 1,600, but instead of a 500 chip he grabbed a 5,000 one, thus the 4,500 raise. In the back of my mind I thought he might be making an elaborate move on me, plus there was really nothing to be gained by re-raising, because he presumably couldn’t call without a straight, thus I chose to just call him down. I would have been happy with half the pot, since I was definitely afraid of K-10, but of course it was a bonus to find out I won the whole pot.
-Made standard raises with 7-7 and 9-9 but got reraised both times and was forced to muck. Down to 40,600. They probably had me beat, but this was also the first two times I got played back at preflop, and it took five hours for that to happen. I now had to worry that my image, (which was fantastic after the quad deuces hand), was now getting a little worse, since they were now seeing me lay down to preflop reraises.
-A-A for 2nd time, but everyone folded to me in SB. I make it 700 but BB mucks. Grr.
-I go 900 with A-K. One caller, then a reraise to 4K. I muck and they go all-in, Q-Q vs. 10-10. At that moment I was not happy I folded, but the final board came jack-high so I saved a good chunk of money. Still, down to 40,100.
-I go 900 in cutoff with 6d-5d, BB calls. Flop 5-4-2. I bet 1,200, he check-raises to 3,200, I call. Turn Q. He bets 4,500, I muck. Down to 34,800.
-I go 900 w/9h-9d, 2 callers. Flop As-Jx-8s. We all check. Turn Js. I bet 1,600, one caller. River Ks. We check, he shows Qc-Jc to win. Down to 32,700. Bad play on my part. I knew he either had a spade draw or a jack, and I should have bet to find out. If I bet the river he probably can’t call. Of course, he could have just as easily had K-J, which was part of what made me lean towards checking.
-End of Level Three: 32,475
Level Four: 150-300 blinds, 25 ante
I limp with 10-10 UTG, we get seven-way action! Flop A-A-4, we all check. Turn 7. SB bets 800, I call, everyone else mucks. River K. He bets 1,100, I call, he shows J-7. Up to 36,100. This was the beginning of the end for the SB in seat Eight. Four of the next five hands I will describe were against him.
-A-A for 3rd time. This is much better than 2006, when I went 14 hours without A-A or K-K! Cutoff in Seat Eight makes it 1K. I make it 3K from the SB, he calls. Flop 2-3-4, I bet 6K, he mucks. Up to 40,500.
-VNH he limps, and I limp from the button with A-Q. I had a strange feeling that if I raised him again, he would get frustrated and push all-in, and I didn’t want to be faced with that decision. Flop A-10-2. He bets 1K, I call, blinds muck. Turn J. He bets 1,500, I call. River 4. He bets 2,200. I groan and call. He shows A-9. I announce to the table that I played the hand like a giant pussy (and I throw in the hand signal for good measure) while I rake in the pot. Up to 46,800.
-Next round I go 900 on button with A-7, BB calls. Flop A-K-8. He bets 1,600, I make it 4,600, he mucks. Up to 50,400.
-I make it 900 UTG with Q-Q. One caller, then the SB (Seat Eight) makes it 3,000 to go. I make it 9K, which is enough to put him all-in. The player between us mucks, he calls and shows A-K, but the flop comes queen high. Booyah! He goes from 20,000 to zero in four hands against me, and I am up to 59,200.
-I make it 900 with 8-8, the button calls. Flop A-Q-6. I bet 2K, he calls. Turn 4. I bet 3,500, he calls. River Q. I put him all-in for a little more than 8K. He deliberates for about three minutes, then finally calls and shows A-K. Down to 45,600. At a table of tight players he was one of the tightest, and given his reluctance to raise on the flop or turn, I didn’t think he would have enough confidence to call all-in on the river. I actually thought he had A-J, in which case he would have had to consider the possibility that I had A-K. If I knew he had A-K I would have never done it, but even then it still almost worked, as he kept getting distracted by the river queen. “A-Q?” he asked. “K-Q? That would be sick…” Once he said that I knew he had A-K, but at that point it was too late. Thankfully I had built my stack up enough that this bad bluff only cost me 1/4th of my chips.
-Almost immediately after that hand our table broke. Double fuck! Not only will I miss getting to continue playing against this group, but if the table had broken a couple of hands earlier, I could be going to a new table with 60K instead of 45K.
-End of Level Four: 45,600
Level Five: 200-400 blinds, 50 ante
-There is much more action at my new table. In the very first hand one player got KOed and another got crippled.
-I picked up absolutely nothing for the first hour and a half. Blinded down to 42K.
-After 1:45 I stole only one set of blinds with 9-9. Then with ten minutes to go, UTG makes it 1,200, there is one caller, then I make it 5K on button with 10-10. Raiser folds, caller deliberates for like 3 minutes before turning up 6-6 and folding. Up to 45,900. He took so long that I really thought he had me beat. When he finally turned up 6-6 I had to laugh out loud. Apparently I was giving him too much credit.
-End of Level Five, End of Day One: 44,775
Day Two, Level Six: 250-500 blinds, 50 ante
-Again I start the day in Seat One, a nice advantage. It also seems like another good table draw. There are a few short stacks, and the table chip leader has only 66K.
-40 minutes in, I make it 1,600 w/Ah-Qh. Button calls, BB calls. Flop 8h-7x-5h. I bet 4K, they muck. Up to 46,800.
-UTG calls, another calls, I check in BB w/Kh-3d. Flop Ah-Jh-10h. UTG bets 2K out of turn. I call. Turn 2x. Again he bets out of turn, this time 4K. I muck, down to 43,800. He was a very inexperienced player, and I knew that he wasn’t making a move on me. I also figured that there was little or no chance of semibluffing him, therefore it didn’t seem like the right time to try anything tricky.
-I make it 1,600 w/As-Qs, one caller. Flop A-2-4 all diamonds. I bet 2,500, he calls. Turn 5s. I check. I probably should have made a small bet instead. He bets 10K, I fold. Down to 38,600.
-A-A for 4th time in tournament. I make it 1,600, button calls. Flop K-J-8 rainbow. I bet 2K, he makes it 6K, I reraise to 16K, he mucks. Up to 47K.
-I make it 1,600 UTG w/A-K. One caller. Flop A-9-3 rainbow. I check, he bets 1,700. I check-raise to 3,500, he calls. Turn 4. I bet 5K, he goes 15K, I go all-in, he mucks. Up to 66K. This was the same opponent who bet me off of As-Qs on an Ad-2d-4d-5s board. He had been fairly aggressive, and I thought I would use that against him. The check-raise on the flop was textbook. On the turn he put me to a decision, but in the end I decided that if he had me beat so be it. He had played enough hands and been aggressive enough that I could not lay down top pair/top kicker to him after having put over 10K into the pot. He claimed he laid down A-K. I give that about a 25% chance of being truthful.
-A raise to 1,200, I call w/Ah-10h. Flop 9x-8h-7h. He bets 3K, I make it 8K, he goes all-in for 11K total, I call. He shows 6-5 offsuit. Ridiculous hand, but I still have a ton of outs. Unfortunately the turn is the 4s and the river the 5c. Down to 54K. This elicited a very loud, “What the fuck??” from me, but it was highly justified. This player had played about 2 hands over the course of 2 hours, and I almost laid down my hand preflop, in light of how tight he had been playing. What made me decide to play was that I figured I could pounce on him postflop if he showed weakness. I couldn’t believe that he had folded so many hands and then decided to take a stand short-stacked with 6-5 offsuit. I guess I could be thankful that he was short-stacked, because I was going to be all-in on that flop no matter how deep he was.
-End of Level Six: 52,425
Level Seven: 300-600 blinds, 75 ante
-UTG raises to 1,600. I call with 7-7. Another caller, then the button makes it 3K to go. It was a very strange sequence. Anyway, I call, but muck after a flop of Q-J-3. Down to 49K.
-That’s the only hand I played for the entire first hour. Not even a blind steal. Down to 44,500.
-Button makes it 1,600, SB calls, I make it 6K from BB with 8-7 offsuit. Button folds immediately. SB deliberates a bit, but eventually mucks. Up to 47K. The probability that the button was stealing, combined with the fact that I hadn’t played a hand for an hour, made it necessary for me to make a play like this.
-A raise to 1,600, I make it 4,100 with J-J, he mucks. Up to 48K.
-End of Level Seven: 47,600
Level Eight: 400-800 blinds, 100 ante
-I make it 2,400 with 9-9, one caller. I bet 4K at K-6-5 flop and he mucks. VNH I pick up my 5th A-A but no action. Up to 52K.
-A raise to 2,300. I make it 6,300 from SB with Ad-Qd, he mucks. Up to 55K.
-Same guy raises to 2,300. I flat call with A-K offsuit, blinds also call. Flop 10c-9x-8c, and I muck to a 5K bet. Turns out he had 9-9. Good play, bad flop. Down to 52K.
-I make it 2,400 with Ac-Js, one caller. Flop Qx-8x-8c, we check. Turn 4c. I bet 3,500, he calls. River 6c. I bet 8K, he calls and shows 10c-9c for a flush. Down to 38K. Bad read on my part. I figured him for a pocket pair, not a club draw, especially given that I had the Ac. Given that read, I thought I could push him off of whatever he had, but obviously he was calling.
-A raise to 2,200, one caller, I call in BB with Qd-Jd, and fold to a bet after the flop comes 10-6-3. Down to 36K
-A totally dismal final hour and a half. No hands whatsoever, Didn’t play a single one.
-End of Level Eight: 29,900
Level Nine: 500-1,000 blinds, 100 ante
-Five minutes in I get moved to a new table. I am easily the shortest stack here.
-I make it 3,200 with 10-10. Three callers! Flop 9-8-3, I bet 10K, and thankfully they muck. Up to 40K.
-I make it 3,200 with 2-2, one caller. Flop K-8-6. I bet 6K, he mucks. Up to 42K.
-UTG makes it 3K, one caller, I call in BB with 7d-6d, but flop of A-Q-2 is no help. Down to 40K.
-I’ve been at this table for an hour, and I’m realizing that this table is the strongest group I’ve ever played against. I know it doesn’t seem that way from the hands I’ve played, but hardly any pot goes uncontested. People are betting correctly, folding correctly, and bluffing frequently. There are two non-players. The other six are all business. At this point in time, my thinking is that I want to break even for the rest of the day, and try my luck in Day Three at a new table, because it’s got to be easier than this one.
-Pocket aces for 6th time. Someone raises to 2,800, I choose to flat-call, hoping that the table’s aggressiveness will work in my favor. We get one other caller. Flop comes Kc-10c-6c. Raiser checks to me, I bet 8K, they both muck. I look back and see that I had the Ac. Perhaps I should have bet less. Up to 45K.
-Two limpers, I call in SB with Js-6s. Flop As-9x-2s. Button bets 2,500, I call, rest muck. Turn 4x, we check. River 5x, we check. He has 10h-6h! Up to 50K. This was a sick win. He inexplicably gave up on this hand, even though it seemed pretty likely that I could be on a draw. Again, I know it seems strange for me to say how tough this table was, when I was allowed to win a hand like this one, but I consider it dumb luck more than anything else.
-End of Level Nine: 49,800.
Level Ten: 600-1,200 blinds, 200 ante
-I make it 3,800 with 7-7, BB calls. Flop K-6-5, I bet 7K, he mucks. Up to 54K.
-VNH there is a raise to 3K. I make it 9K with 9-9. He thinks for at least a minute, then makes it 25K. I muck, and am back down to 45K.
-BOOM. A-A for 7th time in tournament. Black ones. There is a raise to 3,200. I make it 8,000, he calls. Flop K-Q-3 all diamonds. He checks. I bet 12K. I am not happy about the all-diamond flop, but I am committing myself to this hand, and I am betting an amount that shows I am committed. I refuse to be bet or raised off my aces by a hand containing the Ad, for example. He thinks for almost two minutes. He looks frustrated, and I’m nearly certain it is not an act. Finally he says, “OK, I’m all-in.” I shrug and call. The hand I am expecting to see is A-K with the ace of diamonds, but right before he turns his hand up, I think to myself that he would not have looked so frustrated with a hand that good. He turns up A-K with the ace of hearts. I have him drawing dead to two kings. The turn pairs the three, and the river is the five of diamonds, (i.e. if he had held any diamonds, I would have been eliminated). Instead I’m up to 89K. For what it’s worth, he was not one of the strong players. He had come to our table about a half hour earlier, and was chatting nonstop. It made me believe that he wasn’t as focused as he should have been, and that came out in this pivotal hand. After a flop like that, if I’m not bluffing, then there’s nothing he can beat. He has no business calling, let alone going all-in. I just got lucky to get so much action.
-Went the final 45 minutes without playing a hand, so…
-End of Level Ten, End of Day Two: 82,000
Day Three, Level Eleven: 800-1,600 blinds, 200 ante
-Seems like a decent table draw. I’m in Seat Two, which is favorable. The only name player is Alex Kravchenko (4th place finisher from last year) and he is in Seat Nine, so I’ve got position on him. Plus there are at least three short stacks.
-After a few minutes I realize there are only three guys who are real players, and they are all to my right, so I have no complaints or excuses.
-BOOYAH. A-A for 8th time. A player makes it 4K, I make it 11K from SB, he calls. Flop 8-7-5. I bet 16K, he makes it 40K. I take a few seconds to make sure I’m going with this hand, and of course I know that I am. So I stand up Kravchenko style, put my palms behind my chips, and push them all forward. I expect him to call, since he’s only got another 25K or so left, but he mucks. I’m up to 132K. I look at Kravchenko and say, “I saw that work for you all of last year. I guess that’s what I need to do.” He didn’t seem amused. J
-I make it 4,800 with 6-6. A tight player calls from the button, and I decide to check-fold once the flop comes A-10-8. Down to 127K.
-I pick up numerous small pots over the next hour, keeping me moving steadily forward. I’m feeling very comfortable at this table. I’m getting undue respect, plus I am close to being the table chip leader, even though my stack is only slightly above average.
-There is a raise to 4,600. One player calls, and I call from the BB with J-J. Flop comes Q-10-9. I check. Raiser bets 9K Caller folds. I make it 25K. He thinks for a long time, and it is not an act, (i.e. it became clear to me that I was beat at that point), but finally he lays it down. Up to 156K. I’m pretty sure he had A-Q, with an outside chance of A-A. That might seem like a huge laydown, but if my raise is legitimate on a flop like that, there’s not many hands he can beat. Plus, he knows I’ll probably put him all-in on the turn if he calls the flop, so he has to decide if he’s willing to risk his tournament life with one pair. Clearly he wasn’t.
-After that hand, the kid to my right says, “How do you do it? How do you win all those chips without showing a single hand? You are ballin’, man!” That last line cracked me up, although he had a point. I had gone from 82K to 156K, and never had to show a single hand.
-End of Level Eleven: 156,900
Level Twelve: 1K-2K blinds, 300 ante
-SICK hand. One player limps, then another makes it 7K to go. I have Ac-Qc in the BB. I make it 18K to go. He pushes all-in for 36K total, I call, he has A-A. But flop comes K-J-10! Turn 3, river the case ace. SICK. Up to 192K. I was genuinely torn about what to do preflop. My first instinct was to fold, and I truly have no idea why I ignored that instinct. I thought his raise to 7K, after a player had limped for 2K, was inviting action. But then I decided that I had been getting way too much respect, so I should try to use that. But I don’t know what I was thinking. I put him on a big hand, and if that was the case, then all the respect in the world wouldn’t make him fold. If I had flat-called, then the hand would have worked out the same way, but calling was honestly not on my mind. I was prepared to fold, and then I was like, “Fuck that. No one has called my raises yet, so I’m raising.” This was obviously my luckiest hand of the tournament. It would not have broken me to lose it, but I would have been down below 120K, instead of up to 192K.
-There is a raise to 6K I call with 7-7. Flop A-3-5. He checks, I bet 12K, he mucks. Up to 206K.
-Folded to SB, he limps. I raise 5K from BB with 9-2, he calls. Flop J-J-7. He checks, I bet 8K, he makes it 21K, I muck. Turns out he was slowplaying K-K. Whoops. Down to 189K. This was a very unnecessary play, but given my table image of aggressive and lucky, I saw no reason to leave any pot uncontested. Once he called, my initial thought was, “OK, I’m done.” Then of course the flop came and I told myself I had to take one shot at it, and of course that was a waste of 8K. I knew it even as I was making the bet. J Sometimes you just have that feeling.
-One limper, SB limps, I check 9h-8h in BB. Flop 9-4-3. Checked to limper, he bets 6K, I call. Queen on turn, we check. Ten on river, we check again, he has A-9. Down to 178K.
-I go an hour without playing a hand, and just as the level is almost over I get moved to a new table. New and much shittier. Instead of being one of the two chip leaders, I am now one of the three shortest stacks. I am hardly a short stack, but everyone has at least 120K in chips, with several players over 300K. I am in Seat Two, and I have Brandon Cantu to deal with in Seat Eight. Without question, this table change sucked.
-End of Level Twelve: 171,400
Level Thirteen: 1,200-2,400 blinds, 300 ante
-I make it 7,500 with J-J. I get re-raised to 23K and I let it go. Down to 157K.
-I make it 7K with 7-7, SB calls. Flop 10-5-2. He leads out for 12K and I muck. Down to 145K. Last two hands are examples of how the money pressure might have been getting to me a little. We were getting close to being in the money, and I was not in the mood to take chances. Normally I would raise the flop 3 out of 4 times in this situation. But here, I really didn’t want to take unnecessary chances.
-They just moved Hassan Habib to Seat Four with about 250K, as if this table wasn’t hard enough.
-Those were literally the only two hands I played. I could not even steal the blinds.
-End of Level Thirteen: 126,000
Level Fourteen: 1,500-3,000 blinds, 400 ante
-At the start of this level, my mindset was that we would probably be in the money by the end of the level, so I could just pay my blinds and make the money, but I would also be leaving myself too short stacked to do much more than that. So far my image at this table was tight but weak, so that was not in my favor. Plus Brandon was literally playing over 50% of his hands, so there was no room to breathe. I pretty much decided that I would be at the mercy of my cards for the next two hours. If I picked up a premium hand, (A-A, K-K, Q-Q, or A-K) I would take my chances with it to some extent. Anything less and I was probably folding, other than possibly taking one shot at the blinds.
-WOW. A-A for 9th time. One player limps. Brandon makes it 13K. I make it 60K. The limper goes all-in! Brandon mucks, I call, he has K-K, and the aces hold. Up to 256K. This demonstrates, of course, the total luck factor of a tournament like this. If we reverse the hands and give me the K-K, I’m the one that’s out just short of the money. Instead I end up lasting another day and a half, and the player with K-K ends up getting eliminated a few hands later, about 20 spots short of $21,000 in real money. I like his limp preflop. He was counting on Brandon to raise on his left, and that was a pretty safe bet. I just happened to wake up with the nuts.
-I make it 9K with K-J. The BB calls and then leads out for 12K on an 8-5-2 flop. I muck. Down to 248K.
-Soon afterwards we are playing hand for hand, which goes on for about an hour. Brandon raises literally every pot during that time. I do the opposite and fold every hand like a wuss. Still, we made the money by the end of the level, so we were able to get back to normal.
-End of Level Fourteen: 234,500
Level Fifteen: 2K-4K blinds, 500 ante
-I make it 12K on button with 2-2. SB goes all-in for 36K. I’m going to call, except Habib comes over the top from the BB, and I muck. Habib has Q-Q, SB has A-5 but flops an ace to survive. Turns out I saved money, but still down to 212K.
-I pick up A-A for the 10th time, but no action this time. I can’t complain.
-I make it 12K with A-Q, get reraised to 36K and muck. Down to 202K.
-Cantu makes it 13K in Seat Eight. Seat Nine calls, then Seat One goes all-in for 125K. I’m in Seat Two, in the SB with A-K offsuit. I decide to muck. Cantu calls with 4-4. The all-in player has A-10, and the flop comes with a king. Instead of being up to over 350K, I’m holding steady at around 180K. I don’t regret this laydown. I mean, I obviously regret it from the way it played out, but I was really surprised that Seat One had only A-10. He had been playing pretty tight, and I understood that people were going to play looser once we made the money, but that was looser than I expected. If I had called, Cantu just might have been wacky enough to overcall with his pocket fours (he certainly had the chips to overcall) in which case I would have been a slight dog, but would have flopped a king to end up with almost 500K. Still, I feel like that is playing results. I could just as easily have been up against K-K or A-A, or even a smaller pair, but with one or more of my cards being dead.
-I make it 14K UTG with Q-Q. I get called by a tightish player in middle position, and Cantu on the button. The flop comes K-8-3. I check. Middle position player bets 30K. Cantu folds. I check-raise all-in. He looks shocked. He then starts saying, “I think we have the same hand … I think we have the same hand.” Now I know he has A-K, and I’m basically ready to leave. But remarkably, he shows his hand and lays it down, saying I must have A-A. I could not believe it. Up to 235K. This was easily my worst play of the entire tournament. On the flop, my plan was to check-raise Cantu, because I was sure he would have reraised preflop with A-K and probably even K-Q, and I was equally sure he would bet the flop if we checked to him, regardless of his hand. I was not ready for the other player to come out betting. As I said, he was relatively tight, so for him to call preflop, and for him to bet such a non-drawing-hand flop, he absolutely had to have at least a big king, possibly even a set. All I can say is that I was fed up with having laid down A-K the previous round, and for laying down hands at this table for the past six hours. I had created the tightest image possible, and with only twenty minutes before the night ended and our table broke, I was desperate for an opportunity to take advantage of the tight image I had created by folding 95% of my hands. As soon as I made the all-in raise I regretted it, but I desperately tried to keep a confident face, and somehow my opponent laid down a hand he shouldn’t have laid down in a million years. His laydown eventually equated to an extra $20,000 in prize money for me.
-Last hand of the night, there is a raise to 17K, I call in SB with 10-10 and the BB calls. Flop A-8-5, we all check. Turn a five. I bet 25K. BB folds, raiser shows 9-9 and folds. Up to 268K.
-End of Level Fifteen, End of Day Three: 268,000
Day Four, Level Sixteen: 2,500-5,000 blinds, 500 ante
-Only name player at my table is Shawn Sheikhan in Seat Eight with over 700K. Chris Bjorin is in Seat Two, but with less than 40K. I’m in Seat Four, which is fine. It’s a nice mix of players, definitely not one of the tougher tables remaining.
-Sheiky make it 16K, another player makes it 50K, and I muck A-K in the BB. Sheiky mucked as well, so we’ll never know. I wasn’t going to take unnecessary chances until I knew my opponents a little better.
-VNH the reraiser from the previous hand makes it 16K. I make it 51K from the SB with A-K, he calls. Flop 10-5-3, I move all-in and he mucks. Up to 330K. So much for not taking chances. Basically, I wasn’t going to give him credit for two big hands in a row. This was a case of Peter Costa in my head, asking, “Do you need the chips?” And I simply needed the chips, thus the all-in. This hand added over 20% to my stack.
-SB limps, I check 10-2 in BB. Flop K-10-10. He calls 6K on flop and 12K on turn but folds to 30K bet on river Up to 340K. In retrospect he was the weakest player at the table. I have no idea what he had, but it could have been as weak as a gutshot straight draw.
-There is a raise to 16K. I make it 51K with Ah-Kh. He reraises another 100K. I consider for a while, but muck. Down to 280K. Maybe I should have taken a stand with one of these A-K hands, but I felt I had enough chips that I didn’t need to risk my tournament life on A-K. Plus, this player’s raise really reeked of strength, much more so than the first A-K I laid down.
-VNH I make it 15K with Kc-Qc, BB calls. Flop Ax-9c-6c. I bet 18K, he folds. Up to 310K.
-Pocket aces for 11th time. Someone raises to 20K, I make it 50K and he mucks. Up to 330K.
-I make it 16K with 9-9, both blinds call. Flop As-6s-5x, we all check. Qx on turn. Shieky bets 40K, I call, other player mucks. River 4s. We check, and he has A-K. Down to 260K. I thought there was enough of a chance that he was trying to buy the pot, hence my call on the turn. On the other hand, I knew that a big ace was a definite possibility as well.
-2 limpers, I limp in SB with K-9. Flop 8s-7s-5h, we all check. Turn 7h. I bet 22K, one caller. River Kh. We both check, and I’m pretty sure I rivered him, but then he shows A-7! Whoops. Down to 220K. This was the French player in Seat Two that was clearly the tightest player at the table. He plays a pivotal role in a later hand.
-There is a raise to 16K, I call on button with A-Q. Flop A-K-Q with two clubs. He checks, I bet 25K, he calls. Turn 8x, we both check. River 9x. He bets 40K, I call, and he mucks instantly. Nice. Up to 315K. He later said he had a club draw, but I’m not sure he even had that much.
-I make it 15K on button with Ad-10d, SB calls. Flop 2-3-6. I bet 22K, he folds. Up to 340K.
-End of Level Sixteen: 326,000
Level Seventeen: 3K-6K blinds, 1K ante
-UTG raises to 16K, I call on button with Jc-10c, BB calls. Flop Q-8-6 all hearts. We all check. Turn 7h. They check to me, I bet 25K, they both call. Whoops. River a blank, and we check around. UTG had As-Kh, but SB had 10h-9h for a straight flush! Big whoops. Down to 290K. He played his hand so slow he was almost moving backwards.
-There is a raise to 20K and two callers. I call in BB with 4-4, but the flop comes 9-8-8 and I fold to a 40K bet. Down to 250K.
-I make it 18K from cutoff with J-4, BB calls. Flop J-8-8, we both check. Turn a queen. He bets 27K, I call. River a jack! He checks, I bet 60K, and he folds. Up to 305K. As soon as I bet, I realized I had bet too much. If he had anything with which to call, it was either a weak queen or ace high or something like that. I should have sucked him in with something smaller, possibly even induced a check-raise bluff.
-I make it 18K with A-7, one caller. Flop A-J-8. I check-call 35K. We check 10 on turn and 9 on river, and my straight is good. I highly doubt that I needed it. Up to 400K.
-There is a raise to 25K. I call in BB with Ac-Qc. Flop comes A-A-10. I lead out for 20K. He thinks, says, “Excellent bet,” and folds. Damn, if he folded I guess it wasn’t so excellent. Anyway, up to 425K.
-Pocket aces for 12th(!) time. There is a raise to 25K, I make it 60K and he mucks. Up to 460K.
-I steal the blinds with A-K. Then VNH, I make it 21K with 9-9. There’s a raise to 61K and a reraise to 261K. Obviously I muck, and re-raiser shows A-A. Still at 460K.
-End of Level Seventeen: 468,000
As it turns out, this was my high mark for the tournament. At the time, we were down to about 350 players, and I was a good 100K-150K above average. I really felt good, and thought that if I stayed at the same table for the rest of the day, one million in chips would be an achievable goal. Of course, it didn’t take long to bring me back down to earth.
-Level Eighteen: 4K-8K blinds, 1K ante
-UTG limps and I limp with 10-10, then there is a raise to 42K. I call, but then the flop comes K-Q-8 and I muck to a 65K bet. Down to 370K.
-Sheiky makes it 22K, I call from BB with J-J. Flop comes A-Q-2. I lead out for 20K and he mucks. Up to 405K.
-The sick hand of the tournament. UTG raises to 20K. Three players call. I make it 140K from the SB with Q-Q. Blinds fold, then the UTG player almost immediately goes all-in. The next two players fold. Frenchman in Seat Two reluctantly calls with a relatively short stack. I just can’t imagine my hand being any good. As soon as I muck, UTG says to Frenchman, “I think you have me beat,” and produces K-Q. Frenchman has A-K, and the final board comes nine-high. Frenchman doubles up, and I’m down to 240K. This hand was totally fucked, but at least it was fucked enough for me to produce a Card Player article out of it. J My raise was an attempt to signify that I was pot-committed, but deep down I knew that I could get away from the hand if I had to. 240K was still enough to work with. I was really convinced the UTG player had aces, but still, he had to figure that there was a decent chance I would call, just because so many of my chips were already in the pot. Although I shouldn’t do it, what bothers me the most is when I play the “what if?” game. If he had folded like he was supposed to, I’m going to get the A-K player all-in, and when the board comes nine-high, I’m going to be up over 750K. That would have been HUGE. Instead, I had to nurse a below-average stack for the remainder of my time in the tournament.
-There is a raise to 25K. I go all-in with A-Q and he mucks. Up to 280K. At this point I can’t fuck around anymore.
-I make it 24K with A-Q, BB calls. Flop K-10-3. He checks, I bet 35K and he mucks. Up to 290K.
-VNH SB makes it 22K, I call in BB with Qc-10c. Flop K-9-3, we check. Turn a five. He checks, I bet 30K and he mucks. Up to 320K.
-VNH UTG makes it 20K, I call in SB with 9-9. Flop K-7-6. I bet out 20K, he makes it 60K and I muck. Back down to 280K. That 20K lead bet had been causing opponents to fold, or at least hesitate, so I figured I’d keep doing it until someone took a stand. Here was that stand.
-End of Level Eighteen: 268,000
Level Nineteen: 5K-10K blinds, 1K ante
-I make it 32K with A-K. Sheiky calls, then someone reraises to 110K. I go all-in, Sheiky folds A-K, other guy calls with A-K! We split. Up to 280K.
-There is a raise to 35K. SB calls, and I call in BB with 4-4. Flop J-4-3 all hearts. I bet 100K, they fold. Up to 330K.
-We are ending Day Four at 11 PM, with 189 players remaining and 40 minutes left in Level Nineteen. I have 308K.
Start of Day Five
-I’m at a new table. There’s not a single name player, but everyone except for one player has more chips than me. Que lastima.
-I didn’t play a single hand for the remainder of the level, so…
-End of Level Nineteen: 263,000
Level Twenty: 6K-12K blinds, 2K ante
-Nothing even close to a playable hand for the first hour. Blinded down to 190K.
-After an hour and a half, the cutoff makes it 35K, and I go all-in from the button with 3-3. He folds A-8. “Up” to 190K.
-I make it 38K with J-10. I get reraised all-in, and I muck. Down to 140K.
-I go all-in on button with A-5. BB calls with A-Q, but flop comes 6-5-4. Nice! Turn and river blanks. Up to 260K. Obviously I got lucky this hand, but I was also unlucky to have gone almost three hours without anything remotely playable. There’s never a good time to go card dead at the WSOP, and Day Five is definitely no exception.
-End of Level Twenty: 260,000
Level Twenty-One: 8K-16K blinds, 2K ante
-Only got to play one hand. The button raises to 35K. I go all-in from BB with 10-10. He thinks for a long while, then calls with K-J. Flop comes A-J-9. Turn is a queen, giving me some faint hope, but the river is a four. I’m eliminated in 144th place. Losing to this player was really painful. In an earlier hand, he put in a fourth raise preflop with J-J against a player who clearly had him beat. The other guy beat him into the pot with A-A, then the guy flops quad jacks. In this hand, he should have had an easy laydown with his K-J, When he thought as long as he did, I really hoped I had him dominated. I thought he might have a smaller pocket pair, or a hand like A-9. When he called, I was sure I was happy with the call, but I really thought I’d be happier. Instead it was a coin flip and I lost. Oh well.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. And if you had a piece of my action, you’re welcome. J
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My WSOP 2023 Plans and Missions
After four and a half years working for StubHub I wrapped up my time there in March. I've been at the poker tables 3-4 days a week since...
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After four and a half years working for StubHub I wrapped up my time there in March. I've been at the poker tables 3-4 days a week since...
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