Spewing chips @ Final Table

Played a few tournaments on Monday and Tuesday evening. Not a lot happened exciting on Monday though I did have a few cashes (nothing huge).

Tuesday night I made the final table of an Omaha Hi-Lo event. Was a small tournament with less than 100 players. But first place paid roughly $900 so a win would be good. In fact with 6 players left I had nearly 50% of the chips in play. Unfortunately a combination of bad cards and horrible play by yours truly led to a spewing of chips of epic proportions.

Calling big raises from short stacks then folding. Raising marginal hands then having to fold to reraises. Being indecisive on the rare occassions when I did hit the flop. All of these strategies were a part of my chip bleeding. Just couldn't seem to get in the flow at all and continued to lose a lot of chips. Finally I was the short stack when we were 3 handed and pushed on the button with KQQ8 only to get reraised from the small blind. Knew I was behind but at that point I was pot committed with 60% of my chips in the pot. Called all in and SB sbowed AAxx and it held. Ended up 3rd for $300+. I played very well for the three hours or so until the final table but totally botched that table.

Also had a decent stack in the Stars $25k guarantee ($27.50 entry) with about 400 left. I had about 12k in chips (abt 20% more than avg stack size) when I opened raised to 600 with 99 from middle position(100/200/25 blind level). I got one call from 2 behind me and flop came 9TJ with 2 clubs giving me a set of 9s. I lead into the pot for 1250 and other player instantly shoves all in for ~6200. I thought about this for a while and actually used up my time bank. His range here is pretty wide and includes all of the following (I hadn't been involved in any pots with this player but had seem him mixing it up a bit):

• AJ, KJ, QJ for top pair big kicker (this is possible but would be an overplay on his part obv)
• AT, KT of clubs or two other random clubs (I convinced my self that this was the most likely holding given the insta-overshove)
• KQ or 78 (these are in his range with the KQ more likely than the 78)
• JT for 2 pair (pretty likely holding)
• I think JJ or TT reraises me preflop the way the table was going. I had gotten my chips when I had raised in late position with KK and button shoved all-in with TT and I called obv and my hand held up. A lot of overvaluing of pocket pairs pre flop at this level.

So as I said I used my bank and decided to call as I am ahead of all of these holding except 78-KQ for the made str8. He flips KQ obv and I am down to 4.5k. I think I call in that spot again. In these huge tournaments you have to get a lot of chips to go deep and this was a spot to get a lot of chips. Even if I am behind I have 5 outs twice to boat up and take down the huge pot. Couple of orbits later I three bet a late position raiser with 9T diamonds. He shoved me all-in and I called as I was pot committed. He flipped AK which is abt the best I could hope for but I whiffed all the way and was out.

Did play a nice .50/1.00 PLO session of abt 600 hands and won 2 buy ins over that period. Sometimes I wonder why I play tournaments at all with my cash game stats. But the lure of the big score keeps me and everybody else coming back I guess.

Online Badbeats

Well the name of this blog is appropriate. I took a few bad beats over the last two nights deep in a few tournaments turning what could have been nice cashes into min cashes. Sucks when this happens over and over again but at least I am getting pretty deep in a few events. Here they are:

1. Lose AA5T double suited all in preflop when we are down to 18 in the Full Tilt $4,000 PLO (24+2 buy in). Lose to another players AA37 single suited and of course his suit hits for a flush. I am crippled and bow out in 13th for a whopping $83 when top 3 all make $600+
2. Thursday night in the FTP $32,000 No Limit Hold Em ($24+2). 1300 players and we are down to 80 (inside the money) I get it all in preflop with QQ and lose to 9T for a 40k chip pot. Win that and I am top 10 in chips with 80ish left. As is I am crippled and limp along finishing 43rd for a whopping $90 when first pays $7,000 (top 3 all make $3,500+)
3. Thursday night in the Full Tilt $4,000 PLO (24+2) we are down to 25 or so from starting field of ~200 (18 players cash). Limp in to the flop with 89JQ. Flop comes 67T giving me a monster. Made str8 with a redraw to a bigger str8. I pot for 4,800 folds to the button who repots all-in for ~17,500. I call obv and he flips T6 for 2 pair. Well played sir!! Of course FT rewards the donkey with a T on the river for a full house. I am able to hang around and finish 19 when I shove over this same donkey with 5678 and he calls with AAxx. Flop comes 583 to put me ahead with 2 pair but turn is a 3 so his 2 pair wins. GG ME

Fortunately I am running much better in cash games and actually had a good $1/$2 PLO session where I was up 2.5 buy ins over ~800 hands. But that is just running well and can't expect those numbers to last forever.

Pot Limit Mixed Event Recap from Day 1 (Long) and Day 2 (Very Short)

So here is a quick rundown of the $2,500 WSOP Pot Limit split event I played in Thursday (and VERY briefly Friday). I was quite tired on Thursday and wasn’t sure I was going to play. The event, however, started at 5 p.m. and by about 4:30 I was thinking I should give it a go. So I said WTF this is my last tournament lets give it a shot.

I signed up and took my seat. They advised us that we would be the first table broken so we wouldn’t be there very long. In fact, after only 3 hands they broke our table and off we went to our respective new tables. I ended up at a table of older guys which meant that I could play pretty aggressively as they are not typically as aggressive and reckless as the younger internet players. Not a lot happened and my original stack hovered around the original starting stack of 5,000 chips. Then I seemed to be involved in a lot of big pots for the next 30 mins or so. First I won a pot with AK vs TT in the Holdem portion when an A flopped and took me up to around 8.5k in chips.

Then a really interesting spot popped up again shortly after in the Holdem portion. I raised from late position to 350 with 66 and got a call from the BB and a previous limper. Flop came A93 and it checked around. I almost bet but didn’t want to be checkraised. Then the gorgeous 6 of hearts came on the flop. BB then pops up and bets 800 into the 1050 or so in the pot. Strange bet. The other person in the hand folded and I thought about my options. I could raise here but that might scare off a weak A hand. But he could have A9 or A3 in which case he is going nowhere with his 2 pair. Finally, I think raising is best here so I raise to 3k. He thinks for a long while and calls. So now I have a hard time putting him on a hand. I think A9 or A3 or 99 gets us all in there. I am guessing something like AJ, AT, A8 is most likely but I am really not sure. I guess he could also have like 9T suited or J9, Q9 or K9. River is another A. This is either really good or really bad for me. If he has A9 or A3 he just made a bigger full house than me. But if he has a 9 with no Ace it now gives him top 2 pair and he will almost certainly not fold to any bet and I will double up. Well he fires out a bet of 7k which puts me all in for my 5k or so. I stand up and ask him if he has A9 or 99? At that point he looks back at the board. That is often a good tell that the player is trying to figure out what I have that beats him now. Once he does this I immediately call and he shows K9 so my full house wins. I double up to around 17k. Then I raise in late position with AK and shortstack reraises all in. I call obviously and he tables 77 and we are off to the races. Neither of us improves and I lose about 5k in chips.

Then we move on to the Omaha portion and a classic Omaha hand comes up. I have AKJT with the AJ of hearts and KT of spades. BIG BIG hand. Big stack on my right calls and I elect to just call from the button as do both the blinds. Flop comes TQ3 with 2 hearts. This gives me a 13 card wrap str8 draw along with the nut flush draw. So I win with 20 cards in the deck (any heart, A, K, J or T). So we ain’t folding here ever. Blinds check and the guy to my right bets the pot. I want to double up here so I repot to 2k and the blinds fold. Guy on my right instantly repots and I repot all in. He tables TTxx and we are actually pretty even with 2 cards to come. Turn is a blank but river is a J and I fill in my str8 and double up to ~25k in chips. Then I lose another AK hand to TT all in preflop and drift down to about 20k.

Then one of the poorer hands I played came up I called in late position with 9T of clubs and we had 4 to the flop. Flop came 9JQ giving me bottom pair with an open ended str8 draw. 2 people check to me and I fire out a pot sized bet of 800. The button thinks for a long time (same old guy I beat with 66). He seems very hesitant but finally repots to 3200. Which is almost all of his stack. I put him all in for an additional 600 or so and he tables QT-one of the worst possible hands for me to see (other thank KT or 8T for the made str8). Now I only have 2 outs for the win and the other 8 cards (K or 8) that make my str8 also make him the same str8. So he is almost freerolling me which is never a good thing. So the board bricks and I double him up and my stack is down to about 15k. I screwed that hand up. Once he raised me I think I should be folding there. But he could also have AQ or KQ there and have a chance to get all his chips. If he had more chips I probably fold there.

Then I get moved. My new seat is a real beauty. I end up with Erik Siedel directly to my left and Chris "Jesus" Ferguson two to my left. Nice table draw Bri-Bri. But all I can do is play my hand and see what happens. I open raise a few pots and take them down so my stack more or less goes sideways. Then I open raise in late position with 88 to 1800 at the 300/600 blind level. BB ships his whole stack in for 4200 and I have to call purely on the pot odds. I am hoping he has AK but no he has AA and I don't improve. Couple hands later a wild hand comes up. The guy to my right was clearly very nervous. He announces to the table that he will only play AA or KK in the Holdem portion because he is trying to make it into the money...ok pal whatever. He is also peppering Jesus with questions about pot odds and this and that. So he is in the small blind and I am the BB. Folds around to him and he makes the call. I look down at A9suited and raise it up. He thinks and looks at me and then folds QQ face up...no shit. Never seen anything like it. He folds the 3rd best starting hand in Hold Em preflop.

Move onto the Omaha and a really good hand comes up with Erik Siedel. He is in the BB and I am in the SB. There are 2 limpers and I call the bet with AQT4 with the A suited up. Erik checks and we see a flop of QQA. HELLO! Now how do you play this with one of the greatest players in poker? I decided to make a weakish stab at the pot so I bet 800 into the 1600 pot. He reraises to 2k and the two limpers fold. My options here are 2: I can call and disguise the strength of my hand or I can reraise and possibly lose him. I elect to just call. Turn is a J and I check. He checks behind. Now at this point I doubt he puts me on the full house Queens full of Aces so I can probably get something out of him on the river. My guess is he has KQxx in this spot. River is a rag and I bet 3k into the pot. He calls and I was right he had KQxx. So I scoop a nice pot and think I got the most out of him I could.

Little while later in the Omaha still I made a really good play. I had about 11k in chips and was dealt AKJT double suited in the small blind. Erik is in the BB. Blinds are 300/600 and it folds to the guy who said he will only play AA and he calls. Now this is interesting; I want to get all my chips in the pot preflop here and want to get as much of their chips in as well. But if I raise, Erik is only calling with a monster. If I just call there is a good chance Erik will think I am weak (he already knows the other guy is weak) and raise, then I can raise the pot on him and get almost my whole stack in. Well he does as I hoped and raises to 2k and as an added bonus Mr. Weak Tight comes along and calls the 2k. I instantly tell the dealer I raise the pot and make it 8k to go. Erik instantly mucks as does the other dude. So I picked up an extra 3k in chips by looking weak and letting the pro seize on that "opportunity" to punish the perceived weaker players.

At this point I went card dead for a while. I raised a few pots preflop and took down the blinds but other than that not much happened. About 20 mins before the end of day 1 I called the big blind with 3456 then Max Pescatori reraised the pot from the button. BB called and it came to me. I thought about this one for a while and really wanted to see a flop but I didn't really like the situation. The problem with a rundown hand like 3456 is that I could be completely dominated by a hand like 4567 or 5678. If my stack was a little deeper I would have called but as it was I was stagnant still around 17k in chips and putting in 3k+/- and then folding post flop is just very spewy. So I folded. Flop came 8TJ and Max and other guy got into a raising war. Max tabled 789T for the str8 and other guy had JJxx for the top set. Good fold by me preflop.

So they announced that this would be the last hand of Day 1 and I have ~13.5k in chips when the avg stack is 22.5 or so. I am in late position and wake up with AKQT double suited. Oh boy here we go again on the last hand of the night. I raise from the button to 1600, big blind repots and I repot all in. He tables KKT9 double suited and we are off. Flop comes AQ4 and now I am ahead. If I can dodge a K (making him trips) or a J (making us both a str8) I can scoop a nice pot and be up around 28k in chips. Turn is a blank and river is a J...yuck. Chop it up. Basically we split the small blind. A lot of excitement for nothing.

So we bagged our chips and off we go to bed. I wake up around 10:30 and just chill. Watch some US Open, go down to the pool and get ready to play. We are scheduled to play at 3:00. SO around 2:50 I get down to the tournament room and it is empty. OK WTF. I ask a few people and no one has any clue. Now I get that bad feeling that maybe I heard wrong and we started earlier. Fortunately a bunch of other players start showing up with the same looks on their face. Finally we are told that the tournament has been moved to another room.

My strategy here is to play premium hands only in the Holdem portion and then mix it up in the Omaha portion where I think my game is better. Well third hand of Holdem I am dealt AQ offsuit on the button. Guy to my right, Jordan Morgan, is a very aggressive successful young player and he raises the 400-800 blinds to 2400. I think and think and just call. Big mistake by me. Jordan's raising a lot of different hands here and with my short stack I should be reraising here to isolate on him. In all likelihood he folds and I scoop the pot. As played, however, my call gives the BB the correct pot odds to call with any 2 cards. He indeed calls and flop comes KT8 with 2 spades. BB checks, Jordan checks and I check. In my head I decide that neither of these guys has a K or they would have bet with that board. That board is pretty draw heavy and a spade now makes a flush and any 7, 9, J, Q or K makes a potential str8. So I was locked in on that. Mistake number 2 in a hand. You should never lock in on one possible hand holding. I should have been looking at a range of possible holdings for both player particularly the BB. Turn is a Q of hearts and BB leads out for 4200. As stated I am convinced that BB does not have a a K and I am now ahead. But if I had thought about it a little more I would have come up with the following possible hands for the BB when he just called preflop

1) Pair-22-JJ; QQ-AA he is probably raising preflop since he is out of position after the flop and has two players in the pot so I can likely discount them.
2) Suited connected cards like JT, QJ, J9, KQ, KJ, AQ or maybe even AJ. He is likely raising AK for the same reason he is raising AA, KK, QQ.

• So when he bets the turn I have to look at what I am beating now. I am beating pairs 22-77, 99, or JJ. The only hand of these that is even remotely possible is JJ. He is not leading into the pot with 2 other players with the other pairs. I am ahead of JJ.
• JT doesn't bet this board I don't think. QJ might and I am ahead of that hand. KQ bets here as does KJ, J9, TT, AJ or 88. All five of those hands beat me.
  

So in hindsight the only hand I can beat here is JJ or QJ or a str8 bluff. All other logical hands are beating me and I should fold. However, I was so locked in on him not checking a K on a draw heavy board that I didn't think it through and repotted. Mistake #3 He thought for a few mins and called and tabled KQ and I am out. I played that hand horribly and as soon as I stood up form the table I realized it. If I reraise preflop I add 2400+400+800 to my stack and with only ~14k in my stack that is what I need to do. Oh well lesson learned.

So I got the hell out of there, found a flight and got out of dodge as quickly as possible. It was a good trip that was slightly profitable but could have been extremely profitable with a little more luck and a little better play by yours truly. Already looking forward to WSOP 2009!

Fairly Deep in the Pot Limit Omaha/Pot Limit Holdem Mixed Tournament

Just wrapped up for the night in the $2,500 Pot Limit Holdem/Pot Limit Omaha Mixed tournament. The average chip stack is approx. 22k and I have ~14k but am in pretty good shape. I played very well today even though I had a BRUTAL table draw. On my immediate left most of the day was Erik Siedel who is arguably one of the top 5 poker tournament players of all time and owns 8 WSOP bracelets and directly to his left was Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. Chris is out now but he was a really nice guy to talk to and he is obviously one of the best tournament players in the world right now. Then directly to Chris's left was Max Pescatori a very accomplished Italian profoessional player. There is no question that I had the toughest seat in the room today and think I acquitted myself pretty well.

I will run through some interesting hands/spots tomorrow morning. Top 45 cash so still have sme work to do.

Yesterday's PLO

So as promised here is a summary of yesterday's PLO tournament.

For those of you that don't play alot of poker PLO is an action game where each player is dealt 4 cards and is played exactly like Texas Holdem. The one big difference is that you must use exactly 2 of the 4 cards in your hand and exactly 3 on the board to make your best 5 card hand. Because of all of the combinations of hands Omaha can create it is very much an action game.

So I was very much looking forward to this specific tournament as PLO is probably my best game. This tournament attracted 750ish players and had a first prize of 225k. In fact everyone at the final table would earn over 20k.

My strategy early in PLO tournaments is to see a lot of flops cheaply and try to flop big hands and get paid off. Unfortunately that is not what happened. I gradually lost chips as I was hitting no hands. Unlike Holdem bluffing in PLO is much less prevelant especially early in a tournament. So by the 4th level I was all the way down to 1500 chips from the original 3k. I basically needed to find a hand I liked and ship my chips in.

Well I was completely card dead and my table was VERY VERY aggressive. That meant stealing pots just wasn't happening. Finally I was down to 900 chips or so when this hand came up. I was dealt A spades-2 spades-4 clubs and 5 clubs. (Great Hi-Lo hand but we aren't playing Hi-Lo). Folds around to me and I make it 600 to go. BB puts me all in and I call. He flips 2345 so i have him crushed. Flop comes A79 with 2 spades which is beatiful for me and turn and river brick off so I double up to ~2k. Couple hands later I get AATJ (pretty big PLO hand) and it is raised in front of me and I repop all in. He calls with KKxx and my hand holds up and now I have ~4.5k. I slowly chip up and get to around 8k in chips then go card dead again until this beauty comes up.

Blinds are 200-400. i am in late position with 89TJ single suited (another big PLO hand) and I bet the pot (1400). The button is a VERY VERY aggressive asian dude (AAD for later) and he repots (meaning he bets the maximum which is a full pot sized bet) to 4800. Even if he has AAxx i am willing to gamble here and as he is not that far ahead of me. Unlike Holdem hands are much closer in value to each other in PLO preflop. There is no situation like in Hold Em where a player can get it in with AA and be 80% to win over an opponents KK. So anyway I am going down with this hand and I repot all in. He calls with AAxx (as he obv should) and board comes 29J and now I am WAY, WAY ahead. He basically needs to hit one of the 2 remaining A to win at this point and hope I don't hit a 7,8,T or Q to make a str8. The turn and river brick and I have like 16k. I lose a few hands with not much invested and slowly drift down to abt 12k. Then this happens the last hands before dinner break.

I start with ~11k in chips and am in the cuttoff seat (the seat in front of the button). Blinds are 200-400 and 3 players limp in front of me so I call with 5567 with the 56 of hearts. Button and SB call and BB checks and there are 7 to the flop. Flop comes AJ3 with 2 hearts. It checks around. Turn is a 9 of hearts giving me a flush (albeit a very weak 6 high flush). In PLO this is not a very strong hand particularly with 7 players in the pot. But it checks around to me so the other players prob do not have a flush either or a bet would have popped up at this point. So I bet 2k into the 2.8k pot. AAD instantly repots to 8.8k. This makes no sense to me. If he had a big flush draw or better on the flop and it gets checked to him on the button he is betting that flop without question. I am 99% sure he is making a play at me and is trying to bully. It folds back to me and I have already decided that I am shipping it in. So I repot all in. When he doesn't instantly call me I know I am good and now am hoping he will call me with 2 pair or trips. So he only has to call another 2k into a pot of nearly 23k and he folds. Good read for Bri-Bri and nice pot.

We are off to dinner break. At this point there are only about 120 players left which is incredible considering we started with over 750. Top 72 cash so the cash bubble will be reached in the next 2 or 3 levels (each level lasts 1 hour).

I kind of hang around after the break and don't really do a lot. I lose to a short stack when he repots my pot bet and my AAxx gets cracked. That pushes me down to about 18k in chips. then I have to fold after I raise with KKxx and get reraised essentially all in by a very tight player. His hand screams AA so I fold. Then the most important hand for me comes up.

Big stack to my right pots at the 400-800 level. We are down to 77 or so players and people are really tightening up their play since we are so close to cashing. But I am playing to go deep in the tournament so I will play the hands that I would always play. I look down at AKQQ with the AQ of clubs. I elect to call in case he has AA already. Flop comes AJ2 all hearts. At this point he still could have AA and I would be in trouble. He bets out for 4k and I choose to call. I don't really know if I am ahead at this point but there is a good chance I am. I am planning to try to steal the pot on the turn if the proper opportunity comes up. The turn is another A. So now I know he doesn't have AA but he could have AJ for a full house, some sort of hand like 89TJ with 2 hearts, or I guess JJ (though that is the least likely since he raised preflop and JJ isn't a raising hand in PLO from early position). he checks which surprised me. i think for a minute and the check doesn't make sense. So I ship it all in. I am still not positive that I am ahead but I'm not folding here so lets get it all in. I might get him to fold AKxx (which ties me) or get him to fold a weak flush (like a 9 or T high flush). He tanks for a good 10 mins and asks if I want a call. At this point I think I am ahead and he has like AQxx so i do want a call. Finally he calls and shows AQxx and the river bricks so I win a monster and am up to about 35k in chips (finally more than the average chip stack).

The cash bubble bursts and I get moved to a new table with a total aggressive maniac two to my left (not a good table draw). In general you would prefer to have the aggressive players on your right so you can see what they do before you act. Well b4 I realized how agressive he is I raise to 3500 in late position with 679T all unsuited. He reraise me the pot to to 11k and I have to fold. Too ealy to stack off there and calling to see a flop is out of the question. I am not putting in 1/3 of my stack then folding after the flop ever. So it is either repot by me to gamble or fold and find a better spot...I elect to fold. I then lose to the short stack at the table for a 6k loss. He raises in late position to 3500 (he only has 5.8k or so total). I reraise to 8k to discourage either of the blinds from calling and they both fold. Short stack calls and shows A55T. I have KKJ9 with one of the K suited. Flop comes with a 5 then I pick up a flush draw on the turn but miss on the river. That puts me back down to around 22k. I lose a few other smallish pots and start getting blinded down. Finally I am down to around 14.5k and this beauty comes up.

This is the LAST hand of the night and I would love to double up and get some ammunition before day 2. Blinds are 800-1600. First to act pots to 5600. Next player repots to like 18k or whatever it works out to (second player is a total aggessive maniac and I know he doesn't have a big hand but is gambling b4 the end of the day here). I look down at KKQ9 with K9 spades KQ hearts. I am never folding this hand in this spot. Short stacked, chance to triple up, knowing I am ahead of the 2nd guy in the pot. So I ship it all in right there. The original raiser then thinks for a few mins and says out loud "I just can't fold". Now I know he probably has a "weak" AA. This means that he has AA but his cards probably aren't suited and probably aren't together. In other words a hand like AAJT is WAY WAY better than a hand like AA94 because the TJ can help make str8s or whatever. So finally he calls and shows AA82 and we are off. As I suspected 2nd guy has garbage like 3679 or something. Now it gets wild. This is the last hand of the night so everyone left in the tournament has already finished their last hands and all of the people watching the tournament are milling around when the dealer yells "3 people all in". A mass of people now come over to the table and are looking when the deal flops QJ5. ALL SPADES!!! I am now way out in front with the K high flush. The table goes crazy and it is insane. Turn is a J giving the AA additional outs. Now he can win with one of the 2 remaing J to make Jacks full of Aces (to beat my Jacks full of Kings)or the 2 remaing A to make a full house (Aces full of Jacks) but I am still 92% to win this hand. River is a J and the table erupts again. What a kick in the balls. His JJJAA beats my JJJKK. So phucking sick I could puke. Only saving grace is that he did get it in ahead of me but nevertheless still painful to get busted out like that. If I win that hand I have ~45k in chips and can make a real run at getting to the final table where the real cash is.

As it was I am out with $3,500+ and a crazy crazy story to tell. Oh well. I was exhausted and crashed last night (well maybe I tossed and turned a little :)

Today i am just chilling out and may play in a tournamnet tonight or try and satellite into tomorrows 2k no-Limit Hold Em event. Will let you know how that goes later.

Out in 48th in the Pot Limit Omaha

Crazy, crazy hand on the last hand of the night. I busted out of the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) on the final hand of the night in 48th (out of 750ish). Nice to cash in my first WSOP but if the final hand holds up for me I have a big stack and come back tomorrow top 15 or so in chips with a chance to go deep in the tournament where the real money is.

I will give a better blow by blow tomorrow after some sleep.

Out of Venetian Deep Stack

Played the noon $500 Venetian Deep Stack event. 280ish players showed up to generate a prize pool of abt 140k with first being 45,000 or so. Great event with really good starting stacks and 40 min blind levels. Start with 15,000 in tournament chips so plenty of room for play. Here a few of the interesting hands:

2nd level. I started the hand with about 18k in chips. Active late position player raised the pot to 300 (50/100 blinds). I chose to just call on the button with KK. Flop comes 459. He leads at the pot for 550 and I just call. Turn is a Q. He checks and I bet 1000. He thinks for a while and makes it 2800. Bet makes no sense unless he flopped trips. Could be AQ suited too I guess. I just call. River is a blank (6 I think) and he checks. I think there is no real value in betting there and check behind (He only calls with a hand that beats me and probably doesn't put anymore money in with AQ-KQ. He shows KQ and I scoop a nice pot.

I lose a few pots with raises and continuation bets and my stack drifts down to about 22k. I then lose a decent pot with QQ on the following action. I raise to 450 at 50/100 with one limper in front of me. Button calls (big stack) and big blind re-raises to 1500. BB has been very aggressive preflop and very weak after the flop. So I call of course. Button calls as well. Flop comes J45 with 45 of clubs. BB bets 2500 into the pot and I pretty sure I am ahead of him. I reraise to 6000. Button shoves all-in. BB then thinks for a good 5 mins and folds (now I know I was behind him too as he prob had AA or KK...oops good read Bri-Bri). I think and think and put the button on either trips or a hand like AJ of clubs. Finally I fold since I will still have plenty of chips and figure at best I am a slight favorite over AJ clubs and at worst I am crushed by 444, 555 or JJJ. He shows AJ of clubs. Of course if I knew that I would have called but good play by him.

My stack hovered between 14k and 18k for the next 2 levels when I completely misplayed a hand. Blinds are 100/200 with a 25 ante. I catch 55 (hearts and spades) in the cuttoff (position before the button) and raise to 575. BB calls. Flop comes A24 with the 24 of spades. He bets 1,000 and I call hoping to take away the pot later and/or hit my hand. At this point he probably has a bigger pair, an A or nothing. Turn is a 3 of spades giving me the A-5 str8 and an up and down str8 flush draw. He checks which is fishy and I check behind. River is a K spades putting a 4 flush on the board. Bad card for me but I figure I can't win if I don't bet. He checks and I fire out 2k. He insta raises me all in and I have to fold. He shows me AQ of spades for a monster. Stack down to 10k or so. I really just played that hand poorly.

I dwindle down to abt 7.5k in chips when the final hand comes up. I am in small blind and blinds are 300/600 with 50 ante. 3 people limp and I complete the bet with 34 hearts. I almost shoved all in preflop with all the dead money in there but I wussed out. BB checks and flop comes 853 unsuited (rainbow). Not a terrible flop for me as it is unlikely to have hit anyone. I check though and checks all the way around. Turn is a 5 putting the second heart on the board. Good card for me to represent. I fire 2500 into the 3200ish pot. Only the button calls. River is A diamonds. So she could have missed her flush and I have to go with it at this point and fire at the pot representing that 5. I bet 3800 of my remaining 4400 in chips trying to look like I want a call. She goes in the tank for nearly 10 mins and finally calls with T8clubs. Huh? WTF?? I can't decide if she made a sick call or was just a calling station. Next hand I am out when I go all in blind with q6 offsuit and miss all 5 cards. Oh well.

Cash games tonight!

BRW

FINALLY made it to Vegas

What a trip it was yesterday. Getting here was a complete nightmare. Because of the delays, etc. I did not make it for last night's Omaha Hi-Lo event. Here is a quick review of my travels:

• Flew from Baltimore to Columbus, OH. No real trouble there.

Then it all began....

• We sat on the runway at Columbus for 45 mins or so..


• I was stuck next to old guy who would pepper me with questions every time I took my earphones off. He also hogged the armrests, took off his shoes to reveal his smelly, dirty socks and leaned over me to carry on a conversation with the mouth breather in the other aisle..


• We then had to re-route the plane to go around some storms which added approximately 1.5 hours of airtime. And of course as the airlines always do they announced that it would ONLY add 15-20 mins of flying, then revised that to 40 mins, an hour, hour and 15 and finally the freaking truth 1.5 extra hours..


• Got off and decided I would save $10 and take the shuttle to the hotel rather than a cab. Good idea Bri. 1 hour and 20 mins later I was finally out of the shuttle with some random person's bag. The driver had given her my bag and me hers. After multiple phone calls we determined the other person was at the Bellagio and the shuttle company would send someone to make the swap. 90 mins later I have the proper bags..

So that was the day for me. I hope that is not a bad omen.

I did get some cash game play in. Playing $2/$5 No-Limit Hold Em. Nothing really exciting but I ended up approx $250 for the session. I really only played one meaningful hand in about 2 hours of play. I held AQ offsuit UTG (under the gun which means I was first to act before the flop-just to the left of the blinds). I raised to $15 as I hadn't played a hand in a while and figured my raise from early position would get a little respect. 4 callers go the flop which is A99. We checked around. I am either way ahead now or way behind if someone holds a 9 so there really is no value in betting there in my opinion. I know noone has AK (the only other hand that beats me at this point) as they would have reraised me preflop. Turn is a 2. BB checks and I bet $50 into the $75 pot. At this point noone has shownany interest so I am virtually certain I am best and want to get called by hands like AT, AJ, maybe A5, 6, 7 or 8. Everyone folds to BB who calls. Now I know he has a weaker A or a hand like 88, 77, 66 and doesn't believe I have an A. River is a blank (I think a 5). He checks again so now I am sure he has a weak A and I fire another bet of $60 into the pot. He calls and shows A8. I scoop the pot. Other than that just a few small pots and nothing really exciting. Overall the level of play was pretty weak so hopefully that will be good for me.

Anyway, enough for now. I am playing in an event today at Noon so I will report on that later this evening or early tomorrow.

BRW

Leave for Vegas

I leave today for the WSOP today in Vegas. I am very psyched and ready to get rolling. I have been playing extremely well of late and if my hands hold up, I feel I could do extremely well. Following is the schedule I intend to play:

Sunday night $2,000 WSOP Omaha Hi/LO
Monday $540 Venetian Deep Stack (No Limit Hold Em)
Tuesday $1,500 WSOP Pot Limit Omaha (PLO)
Wednesday $330 Venetian Deep Stack (NLHE)
Thursday $2,000 WSOP NLHE

All of the WSOP events are 3 day events so obviously if I make it deep into an event this schedule will adjust accordingly.

In addition to these events, I will be playing a lot of cash games and multiple single table satellites. I will update this site daily with my results so please come back and see how I progress.

Brian