AC Trip-Mixed Results

As previously posted I went up Sunday -Tuesday to play the WSOP-C Main Event at AC Harrah's. I was pretty excited to play this as the structure really is good for my playing style. Got there a bit late and was seated at a table with a mix of players about midway through level 1. Not much happened for the first 4 or 5 levels as my stack hovered between about 18k and 25k (started with 20k). Then in about the space of 30 mins I was out basically with 2 hands.

First hand I was on the button. A player limped at 150/300/25a in LP and I squeezed AKdd. I raise to 950. SB was an uber aggressive internety kid showing down hands like 10-5o and K3o. He had spewed off to about 10.5k and I had 22k to start the hand. He promptly 3 bets to 2500. I consider my options and decide to try and induce a stack off by 4b to 5200 (folding in this spot to this player is not an option). He ships and I call to see one of the worst cases-KK. So I lose that and am down to ~11k. After playing a couple of hands and having to fold post-flop I was down to ~9500 when I raised AQdd UTG to 1050 (200/400/50a). Same player on my left 3b to 2700. Now this looks stronger since he is at least aware that I am raising first to act but I think raise folding AQ suited with less than 25BB might be bad??? Actually gonna post this on 2p2 to see what kind of response I get. Anyway, I ship and he snaps with JJ...ok well that is pretty good all things considered. The window is a J and I am drawing dead on the turn and headed out.

Coin flips are a weird thing in tournaments. They are an absolute necessity to win if you are going to go deep. However, ideally defer flips for as long as possible since they add so much variance to your results. For those non-poker players a flip is basically any spot where the money goes in and the hands are basically 50-50 to win (or more generally anything 55-45ish is considered a flip). The most common being a pair vs 2 over cards all in pre flop. However, a flip can also occur when all of the money goes in on the flop as was the case on Monday for me in the $230 event also at Harrah's. The stacks in this event were much shorter as we started with only 6k in chips but the structure was pretty good with the ever popular 25/25 and 50/75 levels. Another uber aggro player raised to 375 at 75/150 and gets 2 callers. I call in BB with KQcc and flop comes ATx with 2 clubs. OK we aren't folding now. I decide to check raise all-in rather than leading. The initial raiser bets 1200 and finds one caller. So now there is 3900 in pot and I have about 8500. I just stick it in and only original raiser calls. He shows AK. Obv I miss since I suck at coin flips at the moment.I have now lost the last 4 big all-in coin-flips I have played in live casino tournaments. All were for pretty significant chip amounts though these two were obviously still relatively early in the tournaments. Oh well maybe I am due for a big score in the Borgata Winter Open at the end of January.

Cash games were WAY better thankfully. I did lose a $1300 pot holding 44 on a 884 flop vs. TT and A8 when we got it in on the flop and the TT player binked a T on the river...sigh. But I bucked up made some nice hands and broke even on my first session. Then in session number 2 I made a great read and followed through.

C/o raised to $20 and I 3b to $65 on the button with QJdd. BB threw $20 in to make the call of the original raise not realizing I had said raise. Once he figured that out he decided to now raise me to $150...huh? The c/o folded and I decided to make the call since we were both relatively deep ~$750. Flop comes AAJ..I can sense he is uncomfortable and when he bets $125 I am pretty sure he doesn't have an A. I just call. Turn is a rag and he bets $175 again looking pretty uncomfortable. I go with my gut and raise to $425 and he insta-mucks. I show the table and the player in the hand is pretty sick. But I actually think I was good the whole way unless he decided to turn QQ or KK into a bluff. But with those 2 hands why would he just flat the original $20 raise? I guess more likely is that he held 99 or TT or just read me for weak pre-flop and tried to make a move. Anyway I finished that session and another one up a bit over $1k.

Well with all my bitching about missing flips here is a hand in PLO8 where I win with A-hi (though I do get it in as a 3:2 favorite):

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter By DeucesCracked Poker Videos

UTG: $305.05
Hero (CO): $100.00
BTN: $105.00
SB: $106.85
BB: $204.05

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with 5 9 A 2
UTG calls $1, Hero raises to $4, BTN calls $4, 1 fold, BB calls $3, UTG calls $3

Flop: ($16.50) 3 J 4 (4 players)
BB checks, UTG folds, Hero checks, BTN bets $15.70, BB folds, Hero raises to $62.80, BTN raises to $101 all in, Hero calls $33.20 all in

Turn: ($208.50) T (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($208.50) J (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $208.50
Hero shows 5 9 A 2 (HI: a pair of Jacks)
BTN shows 5 7 A 8 (HI: a pair of Jacks - lower kicker)
Hero wins $206.50
(Rake: $2.00)

Going to make one last push for SuperNova 200k to get the bonus before YE. I need 40k VPP over the next 2 weeks+ so I will grind for a week and then re-evaluate.