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!