I spent the weekend winning satellites to big buyin online tourneys that I didn't cash in. So, I lost, but I guess I didn't lose as much as I would have had I bought into all of them...
This week I've played some 20/40 on party, usually 6 tabling. I'm getting more and more comfortable even though it seems like I am making some monster hands but often end up being second best. I've had about 10 sets cracked this week alone and have been on the wrong end of set over set a bunch of times. So, it hasn't been a very good week or month but I'm ok with it because I feel like my game is improving. I'd rather have a really bad Decemember and a great January anyway as that means I owe less come April 15.
My last day of work is Friday, Dec 30, I am so pumped up to play poker full time. I hope to play a lot online in January and may make a trip to Tunica and or the Borgata at the end of the month. Happy holidays to my readers.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Day 2 disaster again
Again, in a big tournament, I do very well on the first day and get crushed during the second day.
Day 1 I drew a table with Jan Boubli and Kido Pham. Amazingly, I managed to get all 300 bb's of my stack in in the first level, along with two other players! We had all flopped the nuts with 54. My 54 was the 54 of hearts and the board had two clubs and one spade. Unfortunately one of the players had two spades and one had a club, so when the turn came a club both Kido Pham and I faced elimination, but the river was a blank and we survived.
My biggest hand of the day was a hand I probably grossly misplayed. I opened for 3xBB (600) UTG with AsKs and had four callers when it got to Kido Pham in the BB. He re-raised to 6000. I had 30k left if I called the raise and he had me well covered. I think Kido is perfectly capable of making a play here as well as holding very strong cards. I gave it some thought and figured him for a pair like 99-JJ. If I had had about 16k after my initial raise the decision would be pretty easy to just go all-in. But since I still had 150 big blinds, I decided to just call. I figure his range to be larger than normal here, I figure he is going to be ANY flop, and if I move in his calling range will be quite small. (And often I would be in bad shape). So I went ahead and decided to just call and then vowed to flop the nuts. The flop came QJT two clubs and Kido bet 10k. I had 30k left, and I was even more certain now that he had JJ or TT and would call if I moved in, so I did, and to my surprise he folded. This meant that before the flop there was a very good chance he did not have a premium hand.
This put me above 50k - during the 200/400 level my table broke and I got moved to the Fontana Lounge. To my direct left were Bruno Fotoussi and Erik Sagstrom (you know, Erik "$10mil playing poker before I was 21" Sagstrom), both with large stacks. In fact I was the 5th largest stack at the table. I avoided confrontations, one a nice pot with pocket kings and finished the day around $68k.
I really liked my day 2 draw. Jen Harman was to my left and John Esposito to my right, but they both had very small stacks. There was only one other player that I recognized at my table and that was Eskimo Clark. Just like what happened at the Stars event and the World Series, I never got above my starting chips on day 2. Eskimo got off to a really good start and I was impressed with his play. Jen and John both busted pretty quickly and soon Mark Seif came to the table. Mark is quite an active player and he was pretty impressive as well. I ended the first level of the day with 60k but the second level was a disaster...
I actually won two pots early, one when I raised with AQ and got no callers and the second in a blind vs blind with Mark Seif. But then I got frisky with a tightish player and re-raised him without a hand and he jammed on me and I was forced to fold. I then splashed around a bit when the following hand came up. A player opened for only 2xBB , Seif called, I called with 5d4d and the blinds called. The flop was 36T two clubs leaving me open ended. The preflop raiser bet small, around 6.6k, which was only about 60% of the pot, so I decided to call. I think in retrospect it was a pretty bad call because I was risking one of the blinds to wake up with a big hand, which one of them did. The small blind raised all in, the preflop raiser folded (what he later said was aces). Now there is $54k in the pot, I have to call $21k. If I call and lose I'm down to about 17k, but if I call and win I'd have almost $100k. I think it was very close, the small blind either had a set, a pair and a flush draw, or just a flush draw. I decided to make the call and he flipped over 66 for a set and it held up and I was in dire straights.
I survived the level with 16k but when we came back the blinds would be 600/1200/200. I sat idle for two orbits, once calling a small raise in the BB (in a three way pot) with 33 and missing the board completely. Soon I was down below 10000. During this time the 1 seat busted and Mark Seif also busted and they decided to bring us Doyle Brunson. I only played with him a few hands but it was pretty darn cool. In the same time I managed to go from 68k to 10k he went from 12k to 240k (in a little over two levels). Soon I was at 7300 and pushed with QJ and got no callers, winning the blinds and antes to go over 10k. On the very next hand, I saw JT and decided to push again but the button called me with AJ and the board gave me no help and I was sent packing again.
Pretty card dead the second day. I saw AQ twice, once I saw the blinds and once I called in a multiway pot and flopped nothing. I saw AJ once and raised Seif's open limp, got cold called by the button and then the BB decided to re-raise and everyone mucked. I held pocket 9's once in the BB but missed my set in a three way pot and gave it up on the flop.
I missed out on the Bahamas this year which is just fine. A bit tired of travelling but I am fairly sure I will be going to Tunica and or Atlantic City in January.
Day 1 I drew a table with Jan Boubli and Kido Pham. Amazingly, I managed to get all 300 bb's of my stack in in the first level, along with two other players! We had all flopped the nuts with 54. My 54 was the 54 of hearts and the board had two clubs and one spade. Unfortunately one of the players had two spades and one had a club, so when the turn came a club both Kido Pham and I faced elimination, but the river was a blank and we survived.
My biggest hand of the day was a hand I probably grossly misplayed. I opened for 3xBB (600) UTG with AsKs and had four callers when it got to Kido Pham in the BB. He re-raised to 6000. I had 30k left if I called the raise and he had me well covered. I think Kido is perfectly capable of making a play here as well as holding very strong cards. I gave it some thought and figured him for a pair like 99-JJ. If I had had about 16k after my initial raise the decision would be pretty easy to just go all-in. But since I still had 150 big blinds, I decided to just call. I figure his range to be larger than normal here, I figure he is going to be ANY flop, and if I move in his calling range will be quite small. (And often I would be in bad shape). So I went ahead and decided to just call and then vowed to flop the nuts. The flop came QJT two clubs and Kido bet 10k. I had 30k left, and I was even more certain now that he had JJ or TT and would call if I moved in, so I did, and to my surprise he folded. This meant that before the flop there was a very good chance he did not have a premium hand.
This put me above 50k - during the 200/400 level my table broke and I got moved to the Fontana Lounge. To my direct left were Bruno Fotoussi and Erik Sagstrom (you know, Erik "$10mil playing poker before I was 21" Sagstrom), both with large stacks. In fact I was the 5th largest stack at the table. I avoided confrontations, one a nice pot with pocket kings and finished the day around $68k.
I really liked my day 2 draw. Jen Harman was to my left and John Esposito to my right, but they both had very small stacks. There was only one other player that I recognized at my table and that was Eskimo Clark. Just like what happened at the Stars event and the World Series, I never got above my starting chips on day 2. Eskimo got off to a really good start and I was impressed with his play. Jen and John both busted pretty quickly and soon Mark Seif came to the table. Mark is quite an active player and he was pretty impressive as well. I ended the first level of the day with 60k but the second level was a disaster...
I actually won two pots early, one when I raised with AQ and got no callers and the second in a blind vs blind with Mark Seif. But then I got frisky with a tightish player and re-raised him without a hand and he jammed on me and I was forced to fold. I then splashed around a bit when the following hand came up. A player opened for only 2xBB , Seif called, I called with 5d4d and the blinds called. The flop was 36T two clubs leaving me open ended. The preflop raiser bet small, around 6.6k, which was only about 60% of the pot, so I decided to call. I think in retrospect it was a pretty bad call because I was risking one of the blinds to wake up with a big hand, which one of them did. The small blind raised all in, the preflop raiser folded (what he later said was aces). Now there is $54k in the pot, I have to call $21k. If I call and lose I'm down to about 17k, but if I call and win I'd have almost $100k. I think it was very close, the small blind either had a set, a pair and a flush draw, or just a flush draw. I decided to make the call and he flipped over 66 for a set and it held up and I was in dire straights.
I survived the level with 16k but when we came back the blinds would be 600/1200/200. I sat idle for two orbits, once calling a small raise in the BB (in a three way pot) with 33 and missing the board completely. Soon I was down below 10000. During this time the 1 seat busted and Mark Seif also busted and they decided to bring us Doyle Brunson. I only played with him a few hands but it was pretty darn cool. In the same time I managed to go from 68k to 10k he went from 12k to 240k (in a little over two levels). Soon I was at 7300 and pushed with QJ and got no callers, winning the blinds and antes to go over 10k. On the very next hand, I saw JT and decided to push again but the button called me with AJ and the board gave me no help and I was sent packing again.
Pretty card dead the second day. I saw AQ twice, once I saw the blinds and once I called in a multiway pot and flopped nothing. I saw AJ once and raised Seif's open limp, got cold called by the button and then the BB decided to re-raise and everyone mucked. I held pocket 9's once in the BB but missed my set in a three way pot and gave it up on the flop.
I missed out on the Bahamas this year which is just fine. A bit tired of travelling but I am fairly sure I will be going to Tunica and or Atlantic City in January.
Friday, December 9, 2005
Bellagio $15k
I'm off to Vegas again today. The $15k starts on Monday but I will be out a few days early. I may play the nightly $500 at the Bellagio one or both of the nights over the weekend, but I'll also be playing online some, so we'll see.
I qualified through Pokerroom for this tournament... and they have a blog setup for the 34 people that qualified through their site. The blog address is : http://www.pokerroom.com/blog/5-Diamond-Classic - my username on that site is grebdron. We have at least three very good players on Team Pokerroom that have a very good shot of going deep, SamENole, brsavage and colson10. I'm sure there are a lot of other good players on the team, I just don't know them.
I'm excited and happy to be getting out of the snow. Take care folks.
I qualified through Pokerroom for this tournament... and they have a blog setup for the 34 people that qualified through their site. The blog address is : http://www.pokerroom.com/blog/5-Diamond-Classic - my username on that site is grebdron. We have at least three very good players on Team Pokerroom that have a very good shot of going deep, SamENole, brsavage and colson10. I'm sure there are a lot of other good players on the team, I just don't know them.
I'm excited and happy to be getting out of the snow. Take care folks.
Bubbles...
On Tuesday I bubbled for the WSOP on UB. I got the chip lead with about 35 left, played for an idiot for 45 minutes, then started jamming and got to the final table. They gave away three seats with fourth getting $1,000. Down to four, in fourth place, with about 12 bb's I jam from the SB into the short stack BB (has me covered by maybe 2 BB's) with AT. He calls with AQ. Flop is T82, but the Q comes on the turn and I bubble. That's the worst. I had a 2005 seat hinging on dodging 8 outs on the river and lost ($0 for second place) and now a 2006 seat if I can dodge three outs twice. (Of course, I did get it in with the worst hand!)
Also played a DS for Atlantis and made the final table again but got fourth. In a third qualifier I ended up 14th of about 200 on Dise for a Bay 101 seat (3 seats). I made one very bad call that cost me most of my stack and then lost on a coin flip to bust.
Last night I played a $25 rebuy for the $650 super. This one had a comical ending in my favor. There were two short stacks and two large stacks with 3 seats given out (4th received $175). Amazingly, the short stacks watch as 1st place busts 2nd place with set over set! wow.
*********** # 1 **************
PokerStars Game #3281621508: Tournament #15886064, Hold'em No Limit - Level XI (600/1200) - 2005/12/09 - 00:24:53 (ET)
Table '15886064 2' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 2: murphstahoe (56873 in chips)
Seat 3: Nordberg (17193 in chips)
Seat 4: giangi73 (16343 in chips)
Seat 9: donjuan_Corn (45591 in chips)
murphstahoe: posts the ante 75
Nordberg: posts the ante 75
giangi73: posts the ante 75
donjuan_Corn: posts the ante 75
giangi73: posts small blind 600
donjuan_Corn: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [Kc 7h]
murphstahoe: raises 2400 to 3600
Nordberg: folds
giangi73: folds
donjuan_Corn: calls 2400
*** FLOP *** [5d 2h Ad]
donjuan_Corn: bets 7200
murphstahoe: raises 7200 to 14400
donjuan_Corn: calls 7200
*** TURN *** [5d 2h Ad] [7d]
donjuan_Corn: bets 1200
murphstahoe: calls 1200
*** RIVER *** [5d 2h Ad 7d] [7c]
donjuan_Corn: bets 3600
murphstahoe: raises 33998 to 37598 and is all-in
donjuan_Corn: calls 22716 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
murphstahoe: shows [5h 5c] (a full house, Fives full of Sevens)
donjuan_Corn: shows [2d 2c] (a full house, Deuces full of Sevens)
murphstahoe collected 91932 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 91932 | Rake 0
Board [5d 2h Ad 7d 7c]
Seat 2: murphstahoe showed [5h 5c] and won (91932) with a full house, Fives full of Sevens
Seat 3: Nordberg (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: giangi73 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: donjuan_Corn (big blind) showed [2d 2c] and lost with a full house, Deuces full of Sevens
Also played a DS for Atlantis and made the final table again but got fourth. In a third qualifier I ended up 14th of about 200 on Dise for a Bay 101 seat (3 seats). I made one very bad call that cost me most of my stack and then lost on a coin flip to bust.
Last night I played a $25 rebuy for the $650 super. This one had a comical ending in my favor. There were two short stacks and two large stacks with 3 seats given out (4th received $175). Amazingly, the short stacks watch as 1st place busts 2nd place with set over set! wow.
*********** # 1 **************
PokerStars Game #3281621508: Tournament #15886064, Hold'em No Limit - Level XI (600/1200) - 2005/12/09 - 00:24:53 (ET)
Table '15886064 2' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 2: murphstahoe (56873 in chips)
Seat 3: Nordberg (17193 in chips)
Seat 4: giangi73 (16343 in chips)
Seat 9: donjuan_Corn (45591 in chips)
murphstahoe: posts the ante 75
Nordberg: posts the ante 75
giangi73: posts the ante 75
donjuan_Corn: posts the ante 75
giangi73: posts small blind 600
donjuan_Corn: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Nordberg [Kc 7h]
murphstahoe: raises 2400 to 3600
Nordberg: folds
giangi73: folds
donjuan_Corn: calls 2400
*** FLOP *** [5d 2h Ad]
donjuan_Corn: bets 7200
murphstahoe: raises 7200 to 14400
donjuan_Corn: calls 7200
*** TURN *** [5d 2h Ad] [7d]
donjuan_Corn: bets 1200
murphstahoe: calls 1200
*** RIVER *** [5d 2h Ad 7d] [7c]
donjuan_Corn: bets 3600
murphstahoe: raises 33998 to 37598 and is all-in
donjuan_Corn: calls 22716 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
murphstahoe: shows [5h 5c] (a full house, Fives full of Sevens)
donjuan_Corn: shows [2d 2c] (a full house, Deuces full of Sevens)
murphstahoe collected 91932 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 91932 | Rake 0
Board [5d 2h Ad 7d 7c]
Seat 2: murphstahoe showed [5h 5c] and won (91932) with a full house, Fives full of Sevens
Seat 3: Nordberg (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: giangi73 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: donjuan_Corn (big blind) showed [2d 2c] and lost with a full house, Deuces full of Sevens
Monday, December 5, 2005
Sunday...
Quick summary of the Sunday tourneys.
Bodog, bust AA early on to get above 6000, then proceed to lose a lot of small pots. Finally down to about 2800 I get it in with QQ vs AQ and lose.
Paradise $30r, in for $240 with minimum chips I get it in with KT vs A9 on a K high flop and lose.
Pokerroom $300. I love this tourney for some reason but never do well in it. Lose 2500 of my 3700 with AQ vs QJ on a QT85 board with the 9 on the river. Proceed to jam with A7 on the button vs an utg limper. Of course he has AT and I lose. (Not blaming him, don't like my push)
Interpoker $200, UTG raises to 120 (4xbb), I make it 400 with AA, flop comes Q high all clubs, I have Ac, I am check raised all in, pretty much resigned to being shown queens. I am in fact shown queens and miss my flush draw/set.
Dise $200. I won the first pot I played for once and felt great sitting at 1700. From there I got snapped off trying to pick up a pot and get it in with QQ vs 55 on an 865 flop for about 20 bbs.
Party $200. Had a bunch of big pairs early but no action. Fall for the ole limp-re-raise with TT vs QQ to get down to 1000. Get the rest of the chips in with KK vs AQ and lose.
Stars $200. Had some chips and lost them. Didn't play particularly well. Busted with Q8 vs A6 in the blinds.
Full Tilt $200. This was embarrassing. One pair does not beat a set, I have to write that on my hand or something as a reminder.
That's a big fat zero for the second week in a row. Oh, I played a UB WSOP qualifer also and lost small pots for 90 minutes, doubled up , and then ran KQ into AA. I played really solid and took all the deck gave me and then try one move and find AA.
Oh, and I played the Stars rebuy for my buddy Kevin. I was in for $101 with 7k at the break. Nice hour for me. Kevin was late getting to the computer to play so I played for the next hour or so. Somehow, I get it to 17k, hand it off, and Kevin finds KK no good against AJ and "we" bust like 800 million spots from the money.
If that all sounds like a lot of poker I also played 1000 hands of 20/40 and booked a small win. At one point I was up enough to book a profit for the day and it slowly went away after that.
Bodog, bust AA early on to get above 6000, then proceed to lose a lot of small pots. Finally down to about 2800 I get it in with QQ vs AQ and lose.
Paradise $30r, in for $240 with minimum chips I get it in with KT vs A9 on a K high flop and lose.
Pokerroom $300. I love this tourney for some reason but never do well in it. Lose 2500 of my 3700 with AQ vs QJ on a QT85 board with the 9 on the river. Proceed to jam with A7 on the button vs an utg limper. Of course he has AT and I lose. (Not blaming him, don't like my push)
Interpoker $200, UTG raises to 120 (4xbb), I make it 400 with AA, flop comes Q high all clubs, I have Ac, I am check raised all in, pretty much resigned to being shown queens. I am in fact shown queens and miss my flush draw/set.
Dise $200. I won the first pot I played for once and felt great sitting at 1700. From there I got snapped off trying to pick up a pot and get it in with QQ vs 55 on an 865 flop for about 20 bbs.
Party $200. Had a bunch of big pairs early but no action. Fall for the ole limp-re-raise with TT vs QQ to get down to 1000. Get the rest of the chips in with KK vs AQ and lose.
Stars $200. Had some chips and lost them. Didn't play particularly well. Busted with Q8 vs A6 in the blinds.
Full Tilt $200. This was embarrassing. One pair does not beat a set, I have to write that on my hand or something as a reminder.
That's a big fat zero for the second week in a row. Oh, I played a UB WSOP qualifer also and lost small pots for 90 minutes, doubled up , and then ran KQ into AA. I played really solid and took all the deck gave me and then try one move and find AA.
Oh, and I played the Stars rebuy for my buddy Kevin. I was in for $101 with 7k at the break. Nice hour for me. Kevin was late getting to the computer to play so I played for the next hour or so. Somehow, I get it to 17k, hand it off, and Kevin finds KK no good against AJ and "we" bust like 800 million spots from the money.
If that all sounds like a lot of poker I also played 1000 hands of 20/40 and booked a small win. At one point I was up enough to book a profit for the day and it slowly went away after that.
Sunday, December 4, 2005
Bellagio $5k
Yesterday I played the Bellagio 5k. (Hour levels, start with 10k)
I got into town Friday night and played a one table satellite. I think I really played well - I never really had a big showdown until we were three handed. I had maybe 11k in the BB, SB had 9.5k and the button had the rest of the 50k in play. Folded to the SB who made it 1600 (blinds 300/600), I called with 86o in the BB, the flop came 6 high and my opp moved in. I really thought he had two big cards, so I called, and he had AK and the board came 65342 so we chopped. I had a diamond draw so I was a big favorite going into the river. I ended up getting heads up but I was down 10k to 40k with blinds 500-1000. On the very first hand my opp limped on the button and I found KK in the BB. I made it 3000 and he called. The flop was Q77 and we got it all in and I was surprised to be behind his T7, it held up and I was sent packing in 2nd.
I decided to buy in the next day anyway. The field had 200 runners. At my starting table I recognized colson10 and introduced myself (having played against him a bunch online). I was in the 2 seat and he was in the 7 seat. WPT winner Arnold Spee was in the 8 seat, Scotty Nguyen in the 5 seat and eventually Max Pescatori filled in the 3 seat. The first thing that shocked me was how big of a dick Arnold Spee was. He started arguing with the dealer before the first hand was dealt, that's a new one. We actually had the floor come to the table during the first hand to settle the all important "you washed the cards before you were told" argument. Spee played well early, getting his stack to 13k when he got involved with the 4 seat. The 4 seat limp called, the flop came T54 two spades and the 4 seat check raised big on the flop. Arnold immediately re-raised and they get it all in, 6s4s for the 4 seat, QQ for Arnold. A 4 comes on the turn and Spee went pretty nuts, calling the guy adonk, saying it was ridiculous, etc. I was shocked at how fast he played the queens myself. The very next hand the 4 seat limps with AA and gets Spee to inexplicably put his last 3000 in (60 big blinds!) with KJo and he busts.
My first big hand would come with the 4 seat. I was down to 9000 when I found AK in the BB. I raised the 4 seat (he was the only limper) to 300 and we saw a flop of K72 all hearts. I couldn't remember if I had the Ah, but I bet anyway and the 4 seat called. On the turn, a 9s came off, and I finally had to look at my cards (and didn't find the Ah) and checked. I was practically turning my hand over that I didn't have a big heart, and when the 4 seat bet 1200 I had a decision to make. He could easily be limp calling with any two here. It certainly felt like a semi bluff, but he could easily have turned two pair, has a set or even flopped a flush. I decided to call the 1200 and check call the river if the fourth heart didn't show. The river was a blank and I checked again. My opponent bet 2600 fairly quickly. Now I was a bit sick because if I called and lost I'd be down to 4500 or so. But I went with my read and called and my opponent showed 89 no heart, MHIG and I am up to 13000 or so.
I didn't play an interesting pot for a lonnnnnnng time. Colson10 had lost a few tough pots and was down to 4500 or so but he was hanging in there. Eventually Max in seat 3 busts, Scotty in seat 4 busts and Rene Angelil takes seat 3 and Harry Demetriou takes seat 5. Colson finally gets his double up when we opens for 1200 (blinds 200-400) with only about 4000 behind and the BB calls. The flop is all rags and the BB jams with 9hTh, no pair no draw (ok, there was one heart) and Colson calls with QQ (turn comes a heart but Colson dodges the river). I have chipped up to about 16k at this point where I hang out for a long time. I'm paying a lot of blinds/antes but winning enough on preflop raises to stay steady. Colson picks up another big hand when Harry raises on the button to 2000 , SB jams for about 6000 and Colson jams for about 10000 out of the BB. Harry calls them both with TT and SB has 66 and Colson has AA. The board reads AT986 for set>set>set, don't see that too often but Colson now moves above 20k. I recommend to myself to get aces and get two way action.
I pick up TT and make it 1200 from early position and the 4 seat jams overtop. I had to call 5k, I didn't think he had a big hand, but I remember doing the math and I wasn't getting 2:1. If I called and lost I would be at about 9000, but if I won I'd be up around 25k. I called and my opp rolled over A8o and he made aces full to squash my TT. I must say, that is a really annoying thing. I played really well up until now and then lose one showdown when I'm a substantial fav. I don't let it bother me though... Later Paul Darden shows up in seat 3 and Barry Greenstein in seat 6. Paul has a decent stack but Barry is short. Paul loses a big pot to seat 4 all in preflop with AQ against JT (the guy that beat my TT sucks out again and has a decent stack now) and then this pot comes up. Seat 1 is pretty much a donkey with a huge stack. A hand comes up where seat 1 raises and Paul smooth calls for a big % of his chips. I put him on a pretty big hand preflop. The flop comes J92 and seat 1 bets 4500 and Paul instantly calls. Now I'm pretty sure he has a set because he has already put about 40% of his stack in. The turn is a blank, JJ is still the nuts and seat 1 says, "I guess you are pretty pot committed here" and then proceeds to jam. Paul insta calls with JJ. Seat 1 flips up KT and the Q comes on the river. One of the most bizarre hands ever. Nothing but saying your opp is pot committed and then jamming with a gutshot when your opp has shown enormous strength.
So I'm down to 6200 in the SB on the first hand of the 300/600 level. Folds to me in the SB and its pretty much jam with anything decent here. I find Q7o and jam and the BB hems and haws over T4o and folds, saying he would have called if they were suited (bad beat for me that he wasn't suited I guess). I pick up the blinds and then the 7 seat limps into the pot and I find AA on the button. I decide to just jam again, hoping it will look like I'm stealing... the SB thinks for a bit and calls , limper folds, 99 for the SB. Flop is 9 high, A on the turn and the 8d comes on the river (sure looked like the 9 at the time!). MHIG and I'm up above 16k again.
Fast forward to my bustout hand, I still have about 16k, blinds 400/800, 66 people left, avg stack 30k. Big stack seat 1 open limps in LP. He has pretty much never done this but just raised the hand before and I think he is taking the pedal off a bit but still has a hand he wants to play. I find QJo and call behind. Jimmy Tran now occupies the 4 seat and he calls on the button. The blinds come along and we have a rare limped pot. The flop is Q96 and its checked to the big stack who bets 4k. Two people have shown no strength, so he could be taking a shot at the pot here. He could also be betting a semi-strong hand like 77, JT, J9, etc. I decide to call the bet, hoping everyone else folds and I can re-evaluate on the turn. Everyone else does fold, the turn is a T giving me an open ender also. The big stack jams on me, I have about 10k and there is about 22.5k in the pot. I really think at this point he has KQ, JT, J9, QT or QJ. I am getting over 2:1, and I decided to call. Unfortunately he had KQ, which leaves me with only 7 outs and I miss them and I'm gone.
I thought I played just fine really, not too happy about the bustout hand but so it goes.
December has already been brutal for me, I'm down about 10k already and if I dont' cash next week that will be another 15k loss! Back home on Sunday, Vegas again next Friday...woohooo.
Edit : Congrats Colson10 on getting third place for over $100k. Damn nice job coming back from some tough going early on. VN sir.
I got into town Friday night and played a one table satellite. I think I really played well - I never really had a big showdown until we were three handed. I had maybe 11k in the BB, SB had 9.5k and the button had the rest of the 50k in play. Folded to the SB who made it 1600 (blinds 300/600), I called with 86o in the BB, the flop came 6 high and my opp moved in. I really thought he had two big cards, so I called, and he had AK and the board came 65342 so we chopped. I had a diamond draw so I was a big favorite going into the river. I ended up getting heads up but I was down 10k to 40k with blinds 500-1000. On the very first hand my opp limped on the button and I found KK in the BB. I made it 3000 and he called. The flop was Q77 and we got it all in and I was surprised to be behind his T7, it held up and I was sent packing in 2nd.
I decided to buy in the next day anyway. The field had 200 runners. At my starting table I recognized colson10 and introduced myself (having played against him a bunch online). I was in the 2 seat and he was in the 7 seat. WPT winner Arnold Spee was in the 8 seat, Scotty Nguyen in the 5 seat and eventually Max Pescatori filled in the 3 seat. The first thing that shocked me was how big of a dick Arnold Spee was. He started arguing with the dealer before the first hand was dealt, that's a new one. We actually had the floor come to the table during the first hand to settle the all important "you washed the cards before you were told" argument. Spee played well early, getting his stack to 13k when he got involved with the 4 seat. The 4 seat limp called, the flop came T54 two spades and the 4 seat check raised big on the flop. Arnold immediately re-raised and they get it all in, 6s4s for the 4 seat, QQ for Arnold. A 4 comes on the turn and Spee went pretty nuts, calling the guy adonk, saying it was ridiculous, etc. I was shocked at how fast he played the queens myself. The very next hand the 4 seat limps with AA and gets Spee to inexplicably put his last 3000 in (60 big blinds!) with KJo and he busts.
My first big hand would come with the 4 seat. I was down to 9000 when I found AK in the BB. I raised the 4 seat (he was the only limper) to 300 and we saw a flop of K72 all hearts. I couldn't remember if I had the Ah, but I bet anyway and the 4 seat called. On the turn, a 9s came off, and I finally had to look at my cards (and didn't find the Ah) and checked. I was practically turning my hand over that I didn't have a big heart, and when the 4 seat bet 1200 I had a decision to make. He could easily be limp calling with any two here. It certainly felt like a semi bluff, but he could easily have turned two pair, has a set or even flopped a flush. I decided to call the 1200 and check call the river if the fourth heart didn't show. The river was a blank and I checked again. My opponent bet 2600 fairly quickly. Now I was a bit sick because if I called and lost I'd be down to 4500 or so. But I went with my read and called and my opponent showed 89 no heart, MHIG and I am up to 13000 or so.
I didn't play an interesting pot for a lonnnnnnng time. Colson10 had lost a few tough pots and was down to 4500 or so but he was hanging in there. Eventually Max in seat 3 busts, Scotty in seat 4 busts and Rene Angelil takes seat 3 and Harry Demetriou takes seat 5. Colson finally gets his double up when we opens for 1200 (blinds 200-400) with only about 4000 behind and the BB calls. The flop is all rags and the BB jams with 9hTh, no pair no draw (ok, there was one heart) and Colson calls with QQ (turn comes a heart but Colson dodges the river). I have chipped up to about 16k at this point where I hang out for a long time. I'm paying a lot of blinds/antes but winning enough on preflop raises to stay steady. Colson picks up another big hand when Harry raises on the button to 2000 , SB jams for about 6000 and Colson jams for about 10000 out of the BB. Harry calls them both with TT and SB has 66 and Colson has AA. The board reads AT986 for set>set>set, don't see that too often but Colson now moves above 20k. I recommend to myself to get aces and get two way action.
I pick up TT and make it 1200 from early position and the 4 seat jams overtop. I had to call 5k, I didn't think he had a big hand, but I remember doing the math and I wasn't getting 2:1. If I called and lost I would be at about 9000, but if I won I'd be up around 25k. I called and my opp rolled over A8o and he made aces full to squash my TT. I must say, that is a really annoying thing. I played really well up until now and then lose one showdown when I'm a substantial fav. I don't let it bother me though... Later Paul Darden shows up in seat 3 and Barry Greenstein in seat 6. Paul has a decent stack but Barry is short. Paul loses a big pot to seat 4 all in preflop with AQ against JT (the guy that beat my TT sucks out again and has a decent stack now) and then this pot comes up. Seat 1 is pretty much a donkey with a huge stack. A hand comes up where seat 1 raises and Paul smooth calls for a big % of his chips. I put him on a pretty big hand preflop. The flop comes J92 and seat 1 bets 4500 and Paul instantly calls. Now I'm pretty sure he has a set because he has already put about 40% of his stack in. The turn is a blank, JJ is still the nuts and seat 1 says, "I guess you are pretty pot committed here" and then proceeds to jam. Paul insta calls with JJ. Seat 1 flips up KT and the Q comes on the river. One of the most bizarre hands ever. Nothing but saying your opp is pot committed and then jamming with a gutshot when your opp has shown enormous strength.
So I'm down to 6200 in the SB on the first hand of the 300/600 level. Folds to me in the SB and its pretty much jam with anything decent here. I find Q7o and jam and the BB hems and haws over T4o and folds, saying he would have called if they were suited (bad beat for me that he wasn't suited I guess). I pick up the blinds and then the 7 seat limps into the pot and I find AA on the button. I decide to just jam again, hoping it will look like I'm stealing... the SB thinks for a bit and calls , limper folds, 99 for the SB. Flop is 9 high, A on the turn and the 8d comes on the river (sure looked like the 9 at the time!). MHIG and I'm up above 16k again.
Fast forward to my bustout hand, I still have about 16k, blinds 400/800, 66 people left, avg stack 30k. Big stack seat 1 open limps in LP. He has pretty much never done this but just raised the hand before and I think he is taking the pedal off a bit but still has a hand he wants to play. I find QJo and call behind. Jimmy Tran now occupies the 4 seat and he calls on the button. The blinds come along and we have a rare limped pot. The flop is Q96 and its checked to the big stack who bets 4k. Two people have shown no strength, so he could be taking a shot at the pot here. He could also be betting a semi-strong hand like 77, JT, J9, etc. I decide to call the bet, hoping everyone else folds and I can re-evaluate on the turn. Everyone else does fold, the turn is a T giving me an open ender also. The big stack jams on me, I have about 10k and there is about 22.5k in the pot. I really think at this point he has KQ, JT, J9, QT or QJ. I am getting over 2:1, and I decided to call. Unfortunately he had KQ, which leaves me with only 7 outs and I miss them and I'm gone.
I thought I played just fine really, not too happy about the bustout hand but so it goes.
December has already been brutal for me, I'm down about 10k already and if I dont' cash next week that will be another 15k loss! Back home on Sunday, Vegas again next Friday...woohooo.
Edit : Congrats Colson10 on getting third place for over $100k. Damn nice job coming back from some tough going early on. VN sir.
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