I haven't played any live poker since I returned from Las Vegas. In general, my plan is to play a bit less of random sessions of poker but to plan ahead for some of the larger live events for the rest of the year and make a concerted effort to play in those (and in some cases, satellite in due to the high buy-ins of - for example - EPT London).
Online, I have dabbled a bit. Again my plan is probably to play less, but with more focus (eg on qualifying to high value events, or to making a good run in the Sunday majors).
I decided not to play the big-ticket Sunday tournaments but I did register for a clutch of the large-field low-entry events on pokerstars - getting nowhere, basically.
At the same time (I always like to have at least 3 or 4 events going) I fired up the $3,000 Guarantee $33 HORSE tournament on pokerstars.
I have a bit of a soft spot for HORSE ever since playing in one of the first ever such events to be held at The International. I hope to be able to play another live event. In the meantime, there are a few such events online (obviously far fewer than NLH events, but still enough).
I first played such tournaments when I was practising for the event at the International - I managed to bust after only a few minutes (an achievement at limit poker) and to come dead last the first two times I played.
I have since realised that you really cannot splash around in this format in the early stages.
In last night's comp, I registered late (pokerstars are now allowing registration up to 1hr late - I approve of that very much. In fact Cake/Gutshot used to have that feature until recently they curtailed the late signups periods somewhat).
This late entry really does not matter one jot as in the first few levels of a limit tournament, no one goes out. I think the average chips had advanced from 3,000 to 3,029 - meaning just 3 out of the 300ish field had gone bust.
Recently, I actually have a decent record in these HORSE games.
I advanced pretty steadily - to 5,000 chips in Level 8 then 11,000 in Level 10. I remained solidly above average all this time.
Then, I took some big hits. Ironically, in limit, the pots can easily get big relative to the stacks - especially in the stud rounds. You can also find yourself having to give up a hand having invested a lot whereas in NLH you would have been all in at an earlier stage and either gone bust, or doubled up. In Limit (especially stud games), you can often end up in a situation where you know they're not bluffing, and you simply MUST fold.
After some hands that did not work out (especially in Razz - it's always Razz !) I found my stack dwindling to 4,000 (now well behind average) and then finally after losing pot to a short stack I had just 406 chips left playing Limit Hold'em with blinds of 250 and 500 !
From there, however, things looked up. I folded a couple of hands before picking up pocket Aces and earning a triple-up. Soon after I tripled up again with QJ facing AK and A9. I then went on a absolute heater during the next Omaha Hi-Lo round, picking up superb starting hands and scooping multiple large pots.
20 hands after being down to 400 chips, I had 40,000 !
I continued to play the fairly straightforward style that I play in HORSE: tight pre-flop hand selection, followed by just betting my made hands hard for value.
Eventually, with about 15 left, I hit the chip lead and it looked like I would make my first ever pokerstars final table. Despite falling away a bit, I duly made the final in 6th/8 position.
Blinds and antes were very big now so it was a lot about picking up hands, although pre-flop aggression was also worthwhile - picking up the dead money (especially in ante games) was very valuable indeed.
It all had a happy ending. I had a good Omaha-8 round again, then finally Razz was NOT my un-doing, as I made a 7-low to take out both the other players for my first pokerstars MTT win.
Very happy with the win. Like my last MTT win (live at the Rio) it came from a position of an extreme short stack at one stage (in this case, about as short as you can be). I will have little trouble believing in "chip and a chair" in the future.
I hope I can follow it up with a first MTT win at The International tonight !
Monday 27 July 2009
Monday 20 July 2009
November Nine
Well, Steve Begleiter made it through to the final table ($1.2Million guaranteed - and all to play for !)
He's still third in chips and Betfair have him at 13/2 to take down the title (roughly in correspondence with his chipcount).
James Akenhead obviously is still the one I would like to see take the title for the Brits and with his Gutshot pedigree. He is the short-stack on 6.8Million chips (average = 22MM approx) but one double up would put him in 4th or 5th spot and then anything is possible.
Obviously he will need some good luck, especially at the start, but it could happen.
He's 18-1 or so on Betfair which rates him at a 50% premium to his pure chipcount. Most of the other runners are trading at less than their chip equity with Phil Ivey being the clear exception: he is at a 150% premium !
I have not actually seen any good analysis of how chip stack should translate into % chance of winning. Most articles I have seen start with the assumption that the two are equivalent. We know this is true at the limits but somehow I would naturally tend to think that the curve may be a bit "flatter". i.e. 10% of chips is more than a 10% chance of winning and 80% of chips is less than an 80% lock.
The odds do remind me of the difficulties I had running a book on the BSPT events. These prices always generated a lot of discussion (and a lot of trading) and one key focus was always the "skew" which in this case had to do with how much more likely the skillful/experienced players were to win.
The outcome routinely suggested that the advantage enjoyed by the better players was rather modest. Even allowing for the fact that luck obviously plays a big part in a fast structure, we were still constantly surprised at the levelling effect of the cards on the night.
Ivey at 2.5x his Chip% - this seems probably too much. I don't think many would take issue with him being the best player left in, and the structure still leaves plenty of play. But, is he 2.5x as good as the field ? Doubtful.
Having said that, if he doubles up then he will be 3rd or 4th in chips and with 60bb he may be hard to stop.
I have never been a big fan of this July-November hiatus but this year I certainly will be paying attention come November !
He's still third in chips and Betfair have him at 13/2 to take down the title (roughly in correspondence with his chipcount).
James Akenhead obviously is still the one I would like to see take the title for the Brits and with his Gutshot pedigree. He is the short-stack on 6.8Million chips (average = 22MM approx) but one double up would put him in 4th or 5th spot and then anything is possible.
Obviously he will need some good luck, especially at the start, but it could happen.
He's 18-1 or so on Betfair which rates him at a 50% premium to his pure chipcount. Most of the other runners are trading at less than their chip equity with Phil Ivey being the clear exception: he is at a 150% premium !
I have not actually seen any good analysis of how chip stack should translate into % chance of winning. Most articles I have seen start with the assumption that the two are equivalent. We know this is true at the limits but somehow I would naturally tend to think that the curve may be a bit "flatter". i.e. 10% of chips is more than a 10% chance of winning and 80% of chips is less than an 80% lock.
The odds do remind me of the difficulties I had running a book on the BSPT events. These prices always generated a lot of discussion (and a lot of trading) and one key focus was always the "skew" which in this case had to do with how much more likely the skillful/experienced players were to win.
The outcome routinely suggested that the advantage enjoyed by the better players was rather modest. Even allowing for the fact that luck obviously plays a big part in a fast structure, we were still constantly surprised at the levelling effect of the cards on the night.
Ivey at 2.5x his Chip% - this seems probably too much. I don't think many would take issue with him being the best player left in, and the structure still leaves plenty of play. But, is he 2.5x as good as the field ? Doubtful.
Having said that, if he doubles up then he will be 3rd or 4th in chips and with 60bb he may be hard to stop.
I have never been a big fan of this July-November hiatus but this year I certainly will be paying attention come November !
Wednesday 15 July 2009
Bear Poker - btw !
At the same time as 80 of us were having a poker-centric reunion, Bear alumnus Steve Begleiter was riding high in the main event of the world series.
Steve was at Bear for 24 years and I certainly knew him (although he likely did not know me). I recognised his name in pokernews coverage in the past few days but I did not know until today that it was actually him rather than a namesake.
At the time of writing, he is 3rd in chips with 18 left. $500k is guaranteed and he must have a decent shot of making the final table ($1million guaranteed) and, who knows, the title and $8.5 Million for first place. What an incredible run for an amateur player. Nearly 6,500 players started.
Good luck Steve, although I would still ideally like to see James Akenhead (formerly a regular player at the Gutshot) come through and take the bracelet. James was runner up in a NLH bracelet event last year, exiting in cruel fashion in the last hand (all in pre flop with AK facing T4. Flop: T-T-4).
Steve was at Bear for 24 years and I certainly knew him (although he likely did not know me). I recognised his name in pokernews coverage in the past few days but I did not know until today that it was actually him rather than a namesake.
At the time of writing, he is 3rd in chips with 18 left. $500k is guaranteed and he must have a decent shot of making the final table ($1million guaranteed) and, who knows, the title and $8.5 Million for first place. What an incredible run for an amateur player. Nearly 6,500 players started.
Good luck Steve, although I would still ideally like to see James Akenhead (formerly a regular player at the Gutshot) come through and take the bracelet. James was runner up in a NLH bracelet event last year, exiting in cruel fashion in the last hand (all in pre flop with AK facing T4. Flop: T-T-4).
Bear Poker Reunion
Monday 13th July was BSPT10 - the 10th Bear Poker event, and the 2nd in the reunion series (BRPT2).
Numbers were somewhat lower than anticipated, but we still had nearly 80 players including a large number of first-time players. I managed to track down a lot of faces from the past 15 years. Not all of them were able to come, but it was great to see some of them from way back !
I really wanted to win this time. In the early days of BSPT, people expected me to win and indeed I did have an incredible winning run at the beginning. Now, I have not won (or even been on the final table) since 2006 !
This time, I bubbled again (3rd time I have bubbled the final table) although I did come back from 3BB to be in 3rd place with 2 tables left. I did have some luck on my way back up so I can't complain too much at my exit. I pushed from the SB with KT facing one limper (who was limping a lot).
The SB (playing tight pre flop) then called so I knew I was in trouble, and the limper over-called. I was facing AJ and A8 so I wasn't in terrible shape. If I win this pot, I fancy my chances from 3rd or 4th in chips at the final table.
Ah well, next time ....
There are photos: http://www.johnchukwuma.com/poker20090713/ and I have the report in pdf form. Most people who are interested in the report will already have received it but send me an email if you want to see it.
Numbers were somewhat lower than anticipated, but we still had nearly 80 players including a large number of first-time players. I managed to track down a lot of faces from the past 15 years. Not all of them were able to come, but it was great to see some of them from way back !
I really wanted to win this time. In the early days of BSPT, people expected me to win and indeed I did have an incredible winning run at the beginning. Now, I have not won (or even been on the final table) since 2006 !
This time, I bubbled again (3rd time I have bubbled the final table) although I did come back from 3BB to be in 3rd place with 2 tables left. I did have some luck on my way back up so I can't complain too much at my exit. I pushed from the SB with KT facing one limper (who was limping a lot).
The SB (playing tight pre flop) then called so I knew I was in trouble, and the limper over-called. I was facing AJ and A8 so I wasn't in terrible shape. If I win this pot, I fancy my chances from 3rd or 4th in chips at the final table.
Ah well, next time ....
There are photos: http://www.johnchukwuma.com/poker20090713/ and I have the report in pdf form. Most people who are interested in the report will already have received it but send me an email if you want to see it.
Monday 6 July 2009
Live by the Bomb, Die by the Bomb: Main Event Report
$10,000 World Championship of No Limit Hold’em
Split Loyalties
Sunday 5th July. One week since I arrived in Las Vegas for the longest trip I have ever made here. I originally planned to come just for a week in the middle of the WSOP. However, when I won a seat in the main event via a quadruple shootout on Full Tilt, I rescheduled. My itinerary also included a start in Event #54 as well, where I was delighted to achieve my first ever Day2 and a first ever WSOP (or any major) cash.
Following that up with a crazy run to 3rd in the Venetian nightly and then an outright win in the Rio $340 nightly, I was in confident form and had earned two new nicknames for the week : “Run Good” and “Golden”.
I was finally adjusting somewhat to the Las Vegas timezone but even so I was running a little late as I made my way down Convention Way towards the Amazon room. Normally I would wear a Team Gutshot shirt in any large tournament just to show where my loyalties are, but today I am incognito – the H-Bomb decked out in Full Tilt colours.
I thought about wearing both, but the terms of the Full Tilt package do (naturally) require you just to wear their logos if one is to qualify for various bonuses (eg: $10 Million for winning the Main Event).
It seemed very unlikely indeed that this would come to matter, but I know from 20 years in the markets that it is a bad idea to sell deep out-of-the-money options for free. So on display it was all Full Tilt, although I had a Gutshot cap on hand for emergencies and of course a supply of Gutshot-styled H-Bomb cards.
Run Good Continues
The night before, I had made a note of the location of my table (Orange 92) so I could find it quickly on the day. It doesn’t matter, as such, if you are late but it’s the Main Event and I wanted to play and enjoy every minute.
However, Table 92 seemed to be impossible to find. The tables are laid out in a basically orderly fashion but in place of where #92 should have been was #58.
The reason became apparent, however.
“Are you on Table Orange 92 sir?”
“ Follow me, you’ve been moved to the feature table”.
OMG. I’ve seen the ESPN TV table before on many visits to The Rio, and I have occasionally stopped for a few moments to peer in. But, safe to say, I had never imagined I would be taking part.
It was a bit surreal but, yes, a few minutes later I was being fitted with a mic and being shown where to place my cards to show to the hole-cam and so on.
Does this mean we’re really going to be on TV ? Apparently, yes !
In due course the other players arrived and settled in. The reason for our selection was soon apparent in the person of Daniel Negreanu. I asked Daniel if he’d ever visited the Gutshot (apparently not) and as he did not seem to know who I was, I handed him an H-bomb card.
Wearing Different Hats
The other remarkable thing that happened before the start was that Rich from Full Tilt Events came up to me and explained hats to me. This was just fairytale stuff.
Apparently, so long as I appear in one hand on televised coverage then Full Tilt will pay me $10k if I wear their hat. I am already wearing their shirt, of course, although they actually put an extra-big-for-TV badge on top of the one that is embroidered, and they have to tape over the logo on the back of the shirt in order to comply with the logo rules.
Back to hats. To get the $10k, I have to appear in the TV coverage (not too much I can do to influence that) and I have to wear the baseball cap backwards (that offers superior coverage apparently). It’s $7k if I wear it regular way and since I am wearing the Full Tilt shirt I can have $5k without a hat at all.
Now, you are going to tell me that for an extra $3k you’d wear anything. Well, I am 41 years old and I do not wear baseball caps backwards. I give it some thought and I conclude that since the whole thing is a freeroll then it is better for me to feel comfortable and be able to play my way than to “sell out” for the extra $3k.
Completing the table are two other Full Tilt logo’d players, one Party Poker, one SNAI (Italian poker/gaming company), Jeff Bryan (pokerstars), and two un-logo’d players (although one – Jeffrey Alan – acquired Ultimate Bet colours during a break before this was ruled out of order according to the rules that prevent sponsor-churning).
I was in the big blind for the first hand. It is uncanny hearing the whole action on commentary. There must have been three hundred people in the seating area around the table, of which 299 were supporting Daniel.
Daniel , 4 seats to my left, raised the first hand to 200 (blinds 50/100). As we would discover, he in fact raised EVERY hand pre-flop by the minimum. I had pretty much decided that there was no way he was taking my big blind on the first hand and as it happened I looked down at AT-offsuit so that was an easy decision to make up the raise. Any worse, and I might have reraised immediately.
As it was, I check-raised his continuation on the 9-8-2ss flop and took down the first pot. I usually like to get the check-raise bluff in early whilst there are still enough chips for me to put in a 3rd bluff reraise and still get away if necessary.
I did not receive a round of applause for successfully bluffing with the best hand ...
Good for TV
After a while it became apparent that Daniel was easily the most active player. He literally min-raised every hand that was folded to him, from any position, prompting me to ask “You do know it’s No-limit before the flop ?”.
The three players on his immediate right were very tight so often he was first to raise. When I acted before him, I often raised and in that case he called 100% of the time.
I was certainly the 2nd most active player. I suppose in hindsight, I found the TV-table made me want to play even more H-bomb au-naturel . The signature element of the H-bomb style is the bluff-raise in position. I played a lot of hands especially the pretty looking suited and/or connected small cards.
Of course I wanted to play the powerhouse, but I was only dealt it once and faced a raise and a re-raise to me. I decided to let it go although when the flop came T43 (all spades) I would have flopped an open-ender. It was probably a good thing I was not in the hand as action was very strong on this board, with the Ace of spades being shown.
In the absence of 5-2o, I had to make my big play with 6-3o.
It has been raised to 300 by a tight player and called by another tight player. In late position I felt it was clear to call. The button called and Daniel Negreanu obviously called from the Big blind.
1,550 in the pot. The flop As8s8c. Daniel led for 700 and the next two players folded. Well, imo a weak bet like this needs to be raised, especially in position. I make it 2,600.
What is supposed to happen now is that I pick up the pot. However, the button called and Daniel, indeed, folded.
Hmm. Presumably I am supposed to give up now ? You will probably say that the over-caller is representing a big hand. I’m not one for really giving up.
The turn brought the 9c and I bet 6,000 at the pot. The button seems to dwell up a bit before calling. He’s hiding very effectively under his cap.
The river is the 3c. I guess I could really give up now (although I have improved to a pair of 3s now ! ) but the natural H-bomb tookover and I fire a last 8,000 bullet.
There is much riffling and stacking of chips. Am I going to get this through finally ? That would be sweet ! No. The button comes out with a raise of 14,000 more.
Oh .... So not only did he have a good part of that flop, he actually had a monster. Now I have to Hollywood it a bit and eventually let my hand go. I am congratulated on my tough fold.
I think to myself “if that doesn’t get me on TV, nothing will”. I spoke to the player later when our table broke up. I usually do not ask players at the time what they had (what is the point?) but I think that if you ask at a point when it no longer matters then there is a decent chance you get the truth.
He told me he actually had the quad 8s. We may indeed get to see it on TV. A 3-barrel into quads with 6-high – signature H-bombing right there.
Outlasting Kid Poker
I’m down to 14k or so. I lose some more chips when I raise DN out of the small blind. He calls. I check-fold the 987 flop and he shows me Kings.
Daniel in fact is playing a style where his preflop action reveals NOTHING about his hand. He reasons, with merit no doubt, that he can outplay everyone on later streets.
However, he’s not getting quite the results he wants. He pays off overpairs a couple of times (although he also made a correct laydown with Aces on a double-paired board). His stack is even more volatile than mine.
I am not too concerned about losing half my chips (obviously I would have preferred not to) because I still have 75BB even as we come into the second level but I took a second hit in the following hand.
I raised to 600 with K8o. I didn’t mean to raise, but reflex took over. Two callers from pretty quiet players – Maurizio from Rome and Nicholas (the Quad-8s) on my immediate left.
Flop 974-all hearts. Checked-around. The 6c on the turn gave me an open ended straight draw. I bet 1,600 and both players called.
The river, 5d, made me the straight. I am losing to T8 for a better straight and to a flopped flush but overall I think there has to be a decent chance I have the best hand.
I contemplate the check-call; perhaps a missed flush will take a stab ? I decided to value-bet instead and put out 2,400. Maurizio min-raises me to 5,000 and Nicholas folds after some time (he folded 8d7d he says).
Hmm. I don’t like it but I am getting 5.5:1 on the call. I am sure some of you will say that makes it an easy fold. However, I think there must be SOME chance he has a set of 5s, say (especially with the 5h). I hope I might be splitting even. I call and get shown KhQh for the flopped flush.
Down to 7k. I will need some help to recover from here !
The only player struggling more than me is Negreanu ! He’s not quite as aggressive (in a raising sense) as I expected and he seems prepared to get quite deep in a hand calling down. I guess when those hands work out, he adds quickly to his stack but in actual play he ended up getting quite short.
As reported on pokernews, he lost his last 8k in a pot with pocket 3s on the button. He called a cut-off raise and a SB re-raise, then called all-in when the SB fired the TT7 flop. He had a considerable dwell before calling. He apologised to the table.
“Take as long as you like” I said, “This is my best chance to make day2”.
He eventually called the clock on himself . I think he thought the SB had him beaten, but in the end decided to go for hope over belief and find the SB with AK. The player had Queens, which held.
With Daniel out, the TV cameras were soon given a rest. At the end of Level 2, therefore, our table broke and I had 7,250 chips to take to my new table.
Out of the Frying Pan ....
I arrive at table Orange 73 in the midst of a huge pot where none other than 2005 Champion Joe Hachem finally put in a 4th raise all-in on the turn which read AA3Q. His opponent made a gut-wrenching fold.
What have I got myself into here ?!
Joe Hachem 3 seats to my left, Brazilian pokerstars team pro Maria Mayrinck on my right.
It’s another friendly table, which is great. I ask Joe if he remembers visiting us in Clerkenwell, which he says he does. He places my H-bomb card just behind his chip stack, so you may get a glimpse of that on TV as well.
Actually, the very first hand I actually play I get dealt the Hachem Hand (7-3o) in the big blind.
I almost play it just for karma value. There are several limpers until finally Maria Mayrinck does put in a sold raise from the SB to take me off the hand.
This is such a shame as the board eventually read 6-4-3-7-7 and the action was checked on the flop. Hachem called a bet on the turn then bet when checked to on the river.
Maria called after some thought with AK-high, which was good. At this point I would have had 7s full of 3s ! This hand was actually the basis of the “slow roll” comments that were reported on pokernews and it was a running joke for the next few hours.
Back in the H-Zone
I was pretty short now especially after giving up two small pots to re-raises. I entered my comfort zone: shove time. My first shove with AQ was met with all folds.
When I finally picked up a hand – pocket Kings – I was so short that I opted for the limp. No action at all behind. Joe Hachem made up the SB and I picked up a small pot on the flop.
Joe, like Daniel, was opening nearly every pot. He typically opened for 800 at 150/300. In one such pot, my Main Event life was finally at risk for the first time. Joe made it 800, the player to his left called. Folded to me in the SB with AJo. I figure to be ahead of Joe, and his LHO has not shown strength. I push for 5k or so. Joe folds and the other player calls pretty quickly.
Joe said “he has Kings” but in fact I was shown AJ-suited.
This is déjà-vu. Last year I went out shoving AQ and being called by AQ-suited.
This year, the flop brought us BOTH a backdoor flush. Last year the backdoor completed for my opponent, but this year I survived to chop although our dealer seemed unable to split the pot correctly. I nearly ended up losing chips in this coup until we finally got the floor over to make it right.
Was this the start of a run-good ? Could be, because Joe says he folded pocket deuces.
Apparently not, as I made a new chip-low. In the BB with 43o in an unraised pot vs the button I bet the turn with bottom 2pair. My opponent called with middle pair and when the river counterfeited me, I check-called a small bet to be on only 4,025.
Any Two Cards
I fold a couple of hands and eye my diminished stack as if to will it to grow. Joe asks me “What are you waiting for ?”
I perk up. “Good question” , I answer. “ Any two cards, I guess. I heard any two cards can win.”
It’s folded to me so it seems the right thing to throw it all in: “4,000 all-in”.
All fold, and I show the 4 of spades. “Four thousand for a four. I was hoping for a quadruple up”.
Next up, a glimpse of light. In the Big blind with AJ again. The cut-off raises and I shove. She announces “it’s a bad call if I am dominated” and makes the call. I fear AQ, but am shown QJ-spades. It all comes safe. In fact by the river she needs only a red Queen as I pick up a backdoor club draw.
Up to over 8k. I miss one good opportunity to shove with pocket 7s and I also decide not to commit my chips with KJ on a J98 all club board. A huge amount of chips go in on the turn in that hand so although we don’t see a hand, I suppose KJ was losing there.
I make it to the dinner break on 7,500 chips. This is 25BB so it is not all over.
I want to stick around partly just for the Joe Hachem show. It could happen.
Ace-King No Good
The crucial hand comes about 1hr into level 4. I find AK in early position and make a raise to 700. Joe Hachem re-raises to 2,100. He hasn’t RE-raised a lot (whereas his open-raise range is enormous) so he must have some hand. However, with 25BB and only crushed by AA and KK, I think my move is automatic here. I 4-bet shove for a total of 7,800.
Joe has a little think. He had been a bit late back after dinner because Jonny M and Louise had accosted him and told him to go easy on the H-bomb.
Joe still hadn’t called after a minute or so. This was good news. “I know you hate a slow-roll Joe, so I feel good about the hand now”.
“I feel I owe you a double up”, he says.
I reply: “It’s win-win for me. In fact, it’s win-win-win. If you fold I win, or I can hold and win, or I get knocked out by Joe Hachem”.
He calls.
For the second time this WSOP I am all-in with AK vs pocket 9s. “That’s a slow roll !” cries Maria Maryicnk. Joe says he thought the small raise-shove could mean he was crushed. In the end he probably reasoned that with 5-2 a bit part of my range and AJ seemingly my favourite hand on the evidence to date, that he has to call.
In fact, getting 2-1 I don’t imagine he is ever folding pocket 9s to my stack.
I hit a King on the turn, but not before a 9 on the flop leaves me drawing dead.
A shake of the hand later, and an H-bomb card to the circling reporters, and it’s the end of the road for me.
Looking back on the event today, I did not play a style appropriate to the huge stacks. But, unlike most other times when I have come out of a deep-stack feeling that I blew it, I was actually pretty comfortable with my approach today. It was very high risk, and it did not work out, but it was my natural game.
If it had worked, it would have been an amazing story. In fact, it was one amazing story.
If I look back at me “TREAD carefully” plan I see that I scored very well on E and A. I did not feel nervous at the TV table. It was tremendous fun playing with Negreanu and Hachem. I managed to spread the H-bomb legend a little wider (Hachem to Maryinck: ”You haven’t heard of the H-bomb?”; Maryinck to Hachem: “I’m from Brazil. We don’t have even have electricity. I came to the WSOP on my donkey”).
Not so well on T, R and D. Obviously bluffing 6 high into quads for half your stack isn’t ideal. I was, in hindsight, a little too quick to get involved. But even now I cannot bring myself to regret any of it. You can’t run good forever, but it is better to have H-bombed and lost than never to have H-bombed at all.
Next year ....
Split Loyalties
Sunday 5th July. One week since I arrived in Las Vegas for the longest trip I have ever made here. I originally planned to come just for a week in the middle of the WSOP. However, when I won a seat in the main event via a quadruple shootout on Full Tilt, I rescheduled. My itinerary also included a start in Event #54 as well, where I was delighted to achieve my first ever Day2 and a first ever WSOP (or any major) cash.
Following that up with a crazy run to 3rd in the Venetian nightly and then an outright win in the Rio $340 nightly, I was in confident form and had earned two new nicknames for the week : “Run Good” and “Golden”.
I was finally adjusting somewhat to the Las Vegas timezone but even so I was running a little late as I made my way down Convention Way towards the Amazon room. Normally I would wear a Team Gutshot shirt in any large tournament just to show where my loyalties are, but today I am incognito – the H-Bomb decked out in Full Tilt colours.
I thought about wearing both, but the terms of the Full Tilt package do (naturally) require you just to wear their logos if one is to qualify for various bonuses (eg: $10 Million for winning the Main Event).
It seemed very unlikely indeed that this would come to matter, but I know from 20 years in the markets that it is a bad idea to sell deep out-of-the-money options for free. So on display it was all Full Tilt, although I had a Gutshot cap on hand for emergencies and of course a supply of Gutshot-styled H-Bomb cards.
Run Good Continues
The night before, I had made a note of the location of my table (Orange 92) so I could find it quickly on the day. It doesn’t matter, as such, if you are late but it’s the Main Event and I wanted to play and enjoy every minute.
However, Table 92 seemed to be impossible to find. The tables are laid out in a basically orderly fashion but in place of where #92 should have been was #58.
The reason became apparent, however.
“Are you on Table Orange 92 sir?”
“ Follow me, you’ve been moved to the feature table”.
OMG. I’ve seen the ESPN TV table before on many visits to The Rio, and I have occasionally stopped for a few moments to peer in. But, safe to say, I had never imagined I would be taking part.
It was a bit surreal but, yes, a few minutes later I was being fitted with a mic and being shown where to place my cards to show to the hole-cam and so on.
Does this mean we’re really going to be on TV ? Apparently, yes !
In due course the other players arrived and settled in. The reason for our selection was soon apparent in the person of Daniel Negreanu. I asked Daniel if he’d ever visited the Gutshot (apparently not) and as he did not seem to know who I was, I handed him an H-bomb card.
Wearing Different Hats
The other remarkable thing that happened before the start was that Rich from Full Tilt Events came up to me and explained hats to me. This was just fairytale stuff.
Apparently, so long as I appear in one hand on televised coverage then Full Tilt will pay me $10k if I wear their hat. I am already wearing their shirt, of course, although they actually put an extra-big-for-TV badge on top of the one that is embroidered, and they have to tape over the logo on the back of the shirt in order to comply with the logo rules.
Back to hats. To get the $10k, I have to appear in the TV coverage (not too much I can do to influence that) and I have to wear the baseball cap backwards (that offers superior coverage apparently). It’s $7k if I wear it regular way and since I am wearing the Full Tilt shirt I can have $5k without a hat at all.
Now, you are going to tell me that for an extra $3k you’d wear anything. Well, I am 41 years old and I do not wear baseball caps backwards. I give it some thought and I conclude that since the whole thing is a freeroll then it is better for me to feel comfortable and be able to play my way than to “sell out” for the extra $3k.
Completing the table are two other Full Tilt logo’d players, one Party Poker, one SNAI (Italian poker/gaming company), Jeff Bryan (pokerstars), and two un-logo’d players (although one – Jeffrey Alan – acquired Ultimate Bet colours during a break before this was ruled out of order according to the rules that prevent sponsor-churning).
I was in the big blind for the first hand. It is uncanny hearing the whole action on commentary. There must have been three hundred people in the seating area around the table, of which 299 were supporting Daniel.
Daniel , 4 seats to my left, raised the first hand to 200 (blinds 50/100). As we would discover, he in fact raised EVERY hand pre-flop by the minimum. I had pretty much decided that there was no way he was taking my big blind on the first hand and as it happened I looked down at AT-offsuit so that was an easy decision to make up the raise. Any worse, and I might have reraised immediately.
As it was, I check-raised his continuation on the 9-8-2ss flop and took down the first pot. I usually like to get the check-raise bluff in early whilst there are still enough chips for me to put in a 3rd bluff reraise and still get away if necessary.
I did not receive a round of applause for successfully bluffing with the best hand ...
Good for TV
After a while it became apparent that Daniel was easily the most active player. He literally min-raised every hand that was folded to him, from any position, prompting me to ask “You do know it’s No-limit before the flop ?”.
The three players on his immediate right were very tight so often he was first to raise. When I acted before him, I often raised and in that case he called 100% of the time.
I was certainly the 2nd most active player. I suppose in hindsight, I found the TV-table made me want to play even more H-bomb au-naturel . The signature element of the H-bomb style is the bluff-raise in position. I played a lot of hands especially the pretty looking suited and/or connected small cards.
Of course I wanted to play the powerhouse, but I was only dealt it once and faced a raise and a re-raise to me. I decided to let it go although when the flop came T43 (all spades) I would have flopped an open-ender. It was probably a good thing I was not in the hand as action was very strong on this board, with the Ace of spades being shown.
In the absence of 5-2o, I had to make my big play with 6-3o.
It has been raised to 300 by a tight player and called by another tight player. In late position I felt it was clear to call. The button called and Daniel Negreanu obviously called from the Big blind.
1,550 in the pot. The flop As8s8c. Daniel led for 700 and the next two players folded. Well, imo a weak bet like this needs to be raised, especially in position. I make it 2,600.
What is supposed to happen now is that I pick up the pot. However, the button called and Daniel, indeed, folded.
Hmm. Presumably I am supposed to give up now ? You will probably say that the over-caller is representing a big hand. I’m not one for really giving up.
The turn brought the 9c and I bet 6,000 at the pot. The button seems to dwell up a bit before calling. He’s hiding very effectively under his cap.
The river is the 3c. I guess I could really give up now (although I have improved to a pair of 3s now ! ) but the natural H-bomb tookover and I fire a last 8,000 bullet.
There is much riffling and stacking of chips. Am I going to get this through finally ? That would be sweet ! No. The button comes out with a raise of 14,000 more.
Oh .... So not only did he have a good part of that flop, he actually had a monster. Now I have to Hollywood it a bit and eventually let my hand go. I am congratulated on my tough fold.
I think to myself “if that doesn’t get me on TV, nothing will”. I spoke to the player later when our table broke up. I usually do not ask players at the time what they had (what is the point?) but I think that if you ask at a point when it no longer matters then there is a decent chance you get the truth.
He told me he actually had the quad 8s. We may indeed get to see it on TV. A 3-barrel into quads with 6-high – signature H-bombing right there.
Outlasting Kid Poker
I’m down to 14k or so. I lose some more chips when I raise DN out of the small blind. He calls. I check-fold the 987 flop and he shows me Kings.
Daniel in fact is playing a style where his preflop action reveals NOTHING about his hand. He reasons, with merit no doubt, that he can outplay everyone on later streets.
However, he’s not getting quite the results he wants. He pays off overpairs a couple of times (although he also made a correct laydown with Aces on a double-paired board). His stack is even more volatile than mine.
I am not too concerned about losing half my chips (obviously I would have preferred not to) because I still have 75BB even as we come into the second level but I took a second hit in the following hand.
I raised to 600 with K8o. I didn’t mean to raise, but reflex took over. Two callers from pretty quiet players – Maurizio from Rome and Nicholas (the Quad-8s) on my immediate left.
Flop 974-all hearts. Checked-around. The 6c on the turn gave me an open ended straight draw. I bet 1,600 and both players called.
The river, 5d, made me the straight. I am losing to T8 for a better straight and to a flopped flush but overall I think there has to be a decent chance I have the best hand.
I contemplate the check-call; perhaps a missed flush will take a stab ? I decided to value-bet instead and put out 2,400. Maurizio min-raises me to 5,000 and Nicholas folds after some time (he folded 8d7d he says).
Hmm. I don’t like it but I am getting 5.5:1 on the call. I am sure some of you will say that makes it an easy fold. However, I think there must be SOME chance he has a set of 5s, say (especially with the 5h). I hope I might be splitting even. I call and get shown KhQh for the flopped flush.
Down to 7k. I will need some help to recover from here !
The only player struggling more than me is Negreanu ! He’s not quite as aggressive (in a raising sense) as I expected and he seems prepared to get quite deep in a hand calling down. I guess when those hands work out, he adds quickly to his stack but in actual play he ended up getting quite short.
As reported on pokernews, he lost his last 8k in a pot with pocket 3s on the button. He called a cut-off raise and a SB re-raise, then called all-in when the SB fired the TT7 flop. He had a considerable dwell before calling. He apologised to the table.
“Take as long as you like” I said, “This is my best chance to make day2”.
He eventually called the clock on himself . I think he thought the SB had him beaten, but in the end decided to go for hope over belief and find the SB with AK. The player had Queens, which held.
With Daniel out, the TV cameras were soon given a rest. At the end of Level 2, therefore, our table broke and I had 7,250 chips to take to my new table.
Out of the Frying Pan ....
I arrive at table Orange 73 in the midst of a huge pot where none other than 2005 Champion Joe Hachem finally put in a 4th raise all-in on the turn which read AA3Q. His opponent made a gut-wrenching fold.
What have I got myself into here ?!
Joe Hachem 3 seats to my left, Brazilian pokerstars team pro Maria Mayrinck on my right.
It’s another friendly table, which is great. I ask Joe if he remembers visiting us in Clerkenwell, which he says he does. He places my H-bomb card just behind his chip stack, so you may get a glimpse of that on TV as well.
Actually, the very first hand I actually play I get dealt the Hachem Hand (7-3o) in the big blind.
I almost play it just for karma value. There are several limpers until finally Maria Mayrinck does put in a sold raise from the SB to take me off the hand.
This is such a shame as the board eventually read 6-4-3-7-7 and the action was checked on the flop. Hachem called a bet on the turn then bet when checked to on the river.
Maria called after some thought with AK-high, which was good. At this point I would have had 7s full of 3s ! This hand was actually the basis of the “slow roll” comments that were reported on pokernews and it was a running joke for the next few hours.
Back in the H-Zone
I was pretty short now especially after giving up two small pots to re-raises. I entered my comfort zone: shove time. My first shove with AQ was met with all folds.
When I finally picked up a hand – pocket Kings – I was so short that I opted for the limp. No action at all behind. Joe Hachem made up the SB and I picked up a small pot on the flop.
Joe, like Daniel, was opening nearly every pot. He typically opened for 800 at 150/300. In one such pot, my Main Event life was finally at risk for the first time. Joe made it 800, the player to his left called. Folded to me in the SB with AJo. I figure to be ahead of Joe, and his LHO has not shown strength. I push for 5k or so. Joe folds and the other player calls pretty quickly.
Joe said “he has Kings” but in fact I was shown AJ-suited.
This is déjà-vu. Last year I went out shoving AQ and being called by AQ-suited.
This year, the flop brought us BOTH a backdoor flush. Last year the backdoor completed for my opponent, but this year I survived to chop although our dealer seemed unable to split the pot correctly. I nearly ended up losing chips in this coup until we finally got the floor over to make it right.
Was this the start of a run-good ? Could be, because Joe says he folded pocket deuces.
Apparently not, as I made a new chip-low. In the BB with 43o in an unraised pot vs the button I bet the turn with bottom 2pair. My opponent called with middle pair and when the river counterfeited me, I check-called a small bet to be on only 4,025.
Any Two Cards
I fold a couple of hands and eye my diminished stack as if to will it to grow. Joe asks me “What are you waiting for ?”
I perk up. “Good question” , I answer. “ Any two cards, I guess. I heard any two cards can win.”
It’s folded to me so it seems the right thing to throw it all in: “4,000 all-in”.
All fold, and I show the 4 of spades. “Four thousand for a four. I was hoping for a quadruple up”.
Next up, a glimpse of light. In the Big blind with AJ again. The cut-off raises and I shove. She announces “it’s a bad call if I am dominated” and makes the call. I fear AQ, but am shown QJ-spades. It all comes safe. In fact by the river she needs only a red Queen as I pick up a backdoor club draw.
Up to over 8k. I miss one good opportunity to shove with pocket 7s and I also decide not to commit my chips with KJ on a J98 all club board. A huge amount of chips go in on the turn in that hand so although we don’t see a hand, I suppose KJ was losing there.
I make it to the dinner break on 7,500 chips. This is 25BB so it is not all over.
I want to stick around partly just for the Joe Hachem show. It could happen.
Ace-King No Good
The crucial hand comes about 1hr into level 4. I find AK in early position and make a raise to 700. Joe Hachem re-raises to 2,100. He hasn’t RE-raised a lot (whereas his open-raise range is enormous) so he must have some hand. However, with 25BB and only crushed by AA and KK, I think my move is automatic here. I 4-bet shove for a total of 7,800.
Joe has a little think. He had been a bit late back after dinner because Jonny M and Louise had accosted him and told him to go easy on the H-bomb.
Joe still hadn’t called after a minute or so. This was good news. “I know you hate a slow-roll Joe, so I feel good about the hand now”.
“I feel I owe you a double up”, he says.
I reply: “It’s win-win for me. In fact, it’s win-win-win. If you fold I win, or I can hold and win, or I get knocked out by Joe Hachem”.
He calls.
For the second time this WSOP I am all-in with AK vs pocket 9s. “That’s a slow roll !” cries Maria Maryicnk. Joe says he thought the small raise-shove could mean he was crushed. In the end he probably reasoned that with 5-2 a bit part of my range and AJ seemingly my favourite hand on the evidence to date, that he has to call.
In fact, getting 2-1 I don’t imagine he is ever folding pocket 9s to my stack.
I hit a King on the turn, but not before a 9 on the flop leaves me drawing dead.
A shake of the hand later, and an H-bomb card to the circling reporters, and it’s the end of the road for me.
Looking back on the event today, I did not play a style appropriate to the huge stacks. But, unlike most other times when I have come out of a deep-stack feeling that I blew it, I was actually pretty comfortable with my approach today. It was very high risk, and it did not work out, but it was my natural game.
If it had worked, it would have been an amazing story. In fact, it was one amazing story.
If I look back at me “TREAD carefully” plan I see that I scored very well on E and A. I did not feel nervous at the TV table. It was tremendous fun playing with Negreanu and Hachem. I managed to spread the H-bomb legend a little wider (Hachem to Maryinck: ”You haven’t heard of the H-bomb?”; Maryinck to Hachem: “I’m from Brazil. We don’t have even have electricity. I came to the WSOP on my donkey”).
Not so well on T, R and D. Obviously bluffing 6 high into quads for half your stack isn’t ideal. I was, in hindsight, a little too quick to get involved. But even now I cannot bring myself to regret any of it. You can’t run good forever, but it is better to have H-bombed and lost than never to have H-bombed at all.
Next year ....
Oh, What a Bloggable Day
Just finished for the day in the Main Event Day 1C and you just cannot believe the amount of bloggability that was squeezed into one day.
You couldn't make it up.
I will write it up as soon as I can but just a few teasers in the meantime:
... TV
... Negreanu
... Hachem
Coming soon ....
You couldn't make it up.
I will write it up as soon as I can but just a few teasers in the meantime:
... TV
... Negreanu
... Hachem
Coming soon ....
Sunday 5 July 2009
Plan for today: TREAD carefully
In about an hour I will be sitting down in the Amazon Room to play day 1C of the $10,000 World Championship of No Limit Hold'em. Event #57 of the 2009 World Series of Poker.
I'm running good, as we know, so my confidence is up. Plan for today ? TREAD carefully:
T: Think. What has served me well so far is to constantly be appraising the tournament situation and what the current status of the stacks (mine and theirs) and the blinds and payout structure mean in terms of the approach we will take when we look at our cards. By constantly thinking, I hope to avoid getting into situations that will lead to a lot of regret.
R: Read. It is so, so important to read the table. This is one thing I have learnt over time. I am not an expert at reading individual players in individual hands but it is possible and vital to categorise the players as soon as possible and then to refine that evaluation as the game goes on. The corollary is that we need to be careful after moving tables, and when new players arrive.
E: Enjoy the event. It is a game, remember !
A: Aggression. I do think I have played a stronger game this year. Of course I have been very lucky (especially in terms of not getting UNlucky), but I have also played my game and played to my strengths. One of these is aggression. I must not put this away just because it's the main event.
D: Don't go broke. Well, as my win at the Rio shows, as long as you are still in, you are in with a chance. We have to be prepared to go out on any hand but let's try not to go broke with 1pair 200bb deep and so on. If we are going broke, let's do it raising rather than calling.
With 30,000 chips this year, and playing only 4 x 2hr levels (for some reason) the chances are I should be able to make day2 but I need to play with a view to playing several days.
Wish me luck and good luck to all other Gutshotters in action.
I'm running good, as we know, so my confidence is up. Plan for today ? TREAD carefully:
T: Think. What has served me well so far is to constantly be appraising the tournament situation and what the current status of the stacks (mine and theirs) and the blinds and payout structure mean in terms of the approach we will take when we look at our cards. By constantly thinking, I hope to avoid getting into situations that will lead to a lot of regret.
R: Read. It is so, so important to read the table. This is one thing I have learnt over time. I am not an expert at reading individual players in individual hands but it is possible and vital to categorise the players as soon as possible and then to refine that evaluation as the game goes on. The corollary is that we need to be careful after moving tables, and when new players arrive.
E: Enjoy the event. It is a game, remember !
A: Aggression. I do think I have played a stronger game this year. Of course I have been very lucky (especially in terms of not getting UNlucky), but I have also played my game and played to my strengths. One of these is aggression. I must not put this away just because it's the main event.
D: Don't go broke. Well, as my win at the Rio shows, as long as you are still in, you are in with a chance. We have to be prepared to go out on any hand but let's try not to go broke with 1pair 200bb deep and so on. If we are going broke, let's do it raising rather than calling.
With 30,000 chips this year, and playing only 4 x 2hr levels (for some reason) the chances are I should be able to make day2 but I need to play with a view to playing several days.
Wish me luck and good luck to all other Gutshotters in action.
Saturday 4 July 2009
Chip 'n' a chair
Never truer, especially when you're running super hot.
In the $340 Nightly at The Rio, I had a very volatile stack in early running before going through a card drought as we approached the money bubble. I was unable to make any moves (no cards, no situations) with 2 large stacks behind me.
It came to the point where I determined my only viable strategy was literally to fold to the money (sound familiar) and then it came to the absolute bubble (19 left, 18 pay). I am in the big blind with 2k of my 8k in the blind (1k/2k/300 ante).
One of the big stacks raised to 6k from UTG and I look down at AK. Well, I have to go for it, and more than treble up that hand vs AT. Meanwhile a player busts at the other table so we are all in the money.
I have 50% of average chips with that bit of good timing and double up with QQ>AK. Up to average.
A combination of good cards, holding when ahead, winning races and picking up a LOT of blinds and antes eventually led to me winning the thing for $10k (no chop).
My biggest concern now is I am using up my run-good allowance for years to come and especially for the Main Event.
This year I have entered 4 MTTs and cashed in 3 (including a 3rd and a 1st). In a previous 5 trips to Vegas I did not cash once, even for minimum cash.
Meanwhile, much better players here (Ed, Andy) are getting the other end of variance. Go figure.
I shall enjoy it whilst it lasts. And hopefully things will turn around for Ed and Andy and they will get the last laugh on the poker Gods in the big one.
In the $340 Nightly at The Rio, I had a very volatile stack in early running before going through a card drought as we approached the money bubble. I was unable to make any moves (no cards, no situations) with 2 large stacks behind me.
It came to the point where I determined my only viable strategy was literally to fold to the money (sound familiar) and then it came to the absolute bubble (19 left, 18 pay). I am in the big blind with 2k of my 8k in the blind (1k/2k/300 ante).
One of the big stacks raised to 6k from UTG and I look down at AK. Well, I have to go for it, and more than treble up that hand vs AT. Meanwhile a player busts at the other table so we are all in the money.
I have 50% of average chips with that bit of good timing and double up with QQ>AK. Up to average.
A combination of good cards, holding when ahead, winning races and picking up a LOT of blinds and antes eventually led to me winning the thing for $10k (no chop).
My biggest concern now is I am using up my run-good allowance for years to come and especially for the Main Event.
This year I have entered 4 MTTs and cashed in 3 (including a 3rd and a 1st). In a previous 5 trips to Vegas I did not cash once, even for minimum cash.
Meanwhile, much better players here (Ed, Andy) are getting the other end of variance. Go figure.
I shall enjoy it whilst it lasts. And hopefully things will turn around for Ed and Andy and they will get the last laugh on the poker Gods in the big one.
Thursday 2 July 2009
Cash is King
Having just cashed in the WSOP Event 54, I was more delighted to tick off a poker goal than I was disappointed in exiting when I might have hoped to go further.
I was pretty tired having played for 13 hours in the event the previous day, and then having hard almost no sleep overnight.
But I felt an urge to play real H-bomb poker and a $120 MTT at The Venetian seemed just the thing. The tourney had 7,500 chips at 25/50 starting blinds. But with 20minute clocks and an aggressive structure with anted from level 4, it soon switches from deep to steep.
I started out pretty wild with the super-deep chips at level 1, lots of moves at pots to see who’s who.
The first key pot arose at level 3 (100/200) when Swiss Miss in early position made it 600. I decided that 65s was plenty to call to bluff from the big blind. The flop 6-2-2 was no help to the raiser, and gave me a little something. I check-called 600 on the flop. This indicated to me that she probably wasn’t super strong.
The turn was an offsuit 9. My plan was to check-raise a weak continuation. She made a bigger bet than I expected (1,300) and I selected a 3,300 check-raise hoping this would be strong enough to take it down. However, this elicited a reluctant call. Only one move left now. She clearly has an overpair to the board so I have 2 outs.
The river is a 5, which changes nothing. I move in for about 4,500. I just cover her and it seems like this is the decisive factor as she folds Jacks.
I have a stack now, and this starts an amazing rush: next up I call a raise 3way in the SB with JJ and on the Ten high flop I get all the chips from the button who started with AT.
AQ on a Q44 flop is good for another pot. Not all the pots go my way, however, as I am a spectator post flop which comes 9-3-3. Eventually, all the chips go in on the flush-card river.
One player had 99 for top house. The other player had 33 for flopped quads !
However, I am back in action very soon. I have been opening a lot of pots now that antes are in play but I decide to limp J9cc under-the-gun hoping to get a free flop with a little speech play.
Now a player who seems to specialise in min-bets raises to 2,100 which offers me 7/3 odds to call.
Flop is J9x. I check and the villain makes it very easy for me by shoving for 8k. I snap-call and he’s drawing thin with QQ. Next, my A5 takes out a short-stack 99 with a straight. Even the times I fold I would have hit. After raising with 66, I face a shove from a moderate stack which I am calling but before I can, the quad-3 player moves in and he has me approximately covered. I fold and we see AQ from the first shover vs AA for the over-shove. Door-card is a 6 ....
However, this is a short pause. I pick up KK in the small blind and face a raise. I re-raise and the raiser shoves. Call. Aces for the initial raiser ! Cooler.
Yes indeed ... Flop KKJ !
Next hand I am on the button. The cut-off pushes with AJs, I over-push with QQ. I am knocking players out so fast that we have to keep waiting for new fodder and the floor stations a supervisor at our table to direct incoming traffic. I have 50,000 chips at 300/60/50.
I fold KT in a pot vs AQ and 64. Board 9QJA7. See, I should play EVERY pot !
I make a raise now with A7-suited and my left hand opponent, short stacked, calls. Another player also calls but I do not notice.
The flop come KT9 and I decide to put the short stack to a decision and shove. He folds and I go to muck, but the other player calls with KJ and has a decent chunk (15k). Damn ! This is what happens when you don’t pay attention.
However, when you are running hot, help is always at hand. Running clubs see me flush out our unlucky villain. I am up to almost 70k chips before I barrel off 20k in two pots and I now realise that I need to calm down and concentrate on winning this thing.
About 70 of the 290 starters remain. With about 48k I still have a decent stack but the steepness of the structure really kicks in here and the field typically has 10-15bb with the leaders on 20-25 max, sometimes less. I play very aggressively, always as the initial raiser (i.e. shover).
We make the money but it is an extremely flat payout structure in the first 10places. It’s virtually money back for the first cash and even 8th place is only $500. Meanwhile, 1st place is > $8k.
As we reach the final table bubble, I have 253k with blinds of 10k/20k/antes of 4,000. I am above average in chips with this 12BB stack.
Here’s an interesting hand as we play the bubble. We are playing 5 handed and 6 handed and a player is all in at the other table. At our table, the shortest stack has 51k total and has 20k of it in play as the BB. The chipleader at our table on 320k makes it 45k from under the gun.
I think a shove here should buy the pot. I figure that the UTG player has to credit me with a hand especially as the BB has to call. My only hesitation is that the UTG player is apparently a real hero-caller. My plan works out even better as a player goes out on the other table mid-play. The BB now folds leaving himself just a couple of blinds – he realy wants to be on the FT (he already told us that before the hand).
The chipleader now starts to dwell. TBH I can’t see how he can even think of calling. Eventually he folds an Ace. This means I go to the final table with 316k which is roughly the same as the 2 other big stacks.
I get off to a bad start when I lose the first pot and on 170k after paying some blinds, I am getting quite short-stacked already as we are playing 30k/15k/5k. But I pick up KK on the button. UTG raises to 90k. I wonder whether to flat call given how short I am but I decide not to be greedy and push for my 170k to just take it headsup. The BB folds with some pain and then unbelievably the initial raiser also folds for less than a minimum raise !
This starts a rush, anyway. I take out the button who raise with AT into my KK Again then I take out a player with AT > A9 and another with AQ>A9.
With 5 left I have half the chips but still I only have 20BB as we are up to 40k/20k/5k.
When we come to 3-handed we have been playing for 8 hours and are very equal-stacked. We briefly discuss a deal but really none of us is interested. I am not too keen as I always want to play to win. The other experienced player has the same attitude as me and the third player is delighted to have some this far and is also willing to see what happens.
What we do agree is to flatten out the extremely steep payout structure so that the money is 7,150/5,100/4,000 instead of 8,500/5,000/2,750.
As it turns out, I go out 3rd. I made it into the chip lead with one of the stacks somewhat short. The short stack pushed and I called with K8. She was in trouble with K4 but 2 fours on board put all three stacks pretty equal.
I lost another clip and so was actually in a close 3rd place when I shoved from the BB with QT facing a standard raise from the SB. He called with K3 off and a King on the flop pretty much ended it.
So, a slightly disappointing 3rd place but overall to cash twice in Vegas in one day when I had not cashed in 4 previous trips was a pretty amazing run. To Janey and Peter: it was nice playing with you.
I was pretty tired having played for 13 hours in the event the previous day, and then having hard almost no sleep overnight.
But I felt an urge to play real H-bomb poker and a $120 MTT at The Venetian seemed just the thing. The tourney had 7,500 chips at 25/50 starting blinds. But with 20minute clocks and an aggressive structure with anted from level 4, it soon switches from deep to steep.
I started out pretty wild with the super-deep chips at level 1, lots of moves at pots to see who’s who.
The first key pot arose at level 3 (100/200) when Swiss Miss in early position made it 600. I decided that 65s was plenty to call to bluff from the big blind. The flop 6-2-2 was no help to the raiser, and gave me a little something. I check-called 600 on the flop. This indicated to me that she probably wasn’t super strong.
The turn was an offsuit 9. My plan was to check-raise a weak continuation. She made a bigger bet than I expected (1,300) and I selected a 3,300 check-raise hoping this would be strong enough to take it down. However, this elicited a reluctant call. Only one move left now. She clearly has an overpair to the board so I have 2 outs.
The river is a 5, which changes nothing. I move in for about 4,500. I just cover her and it seems like this is the decisive factor as she folds Jacks.
I have a stack now, and this starts an amazing rush: next up I call a raise 3way in the SB with JJ and on the Ten high flop I get all the chips from the button who started with AT.
AQ on a Q44 flop is good for another pot. Not all the pots go my way, however, as I am a spectator post flop which comes 9-3-3. Eventually, all the chips go in on the flush-card river.
One player had 99 for top house. The other player had 33 for flopped quads !
However, I am back in action very soon. I have been opening a lot of pots now that antes are in play but I decide to limp J9cc under-the-gun hoping to get a free flop with a little speech play.
Now a player who seems to specialise in min-bets raises to 2,100 which offers me 7/3 odds to call.
Flop is J9x. I check and the villain makes it very easy for me by shoving for 8k. I snap-call and he’s drawing thin with QQ. Next, my A5 takes out a short-stack 99 with a straight. Even the times I fold I would have hit. After raising with 66, I face a shove from a moderate stack which I am calling but before I can, the quad-3 player moves in and he has me approximately covered. I fold and we see AQ from the first shover vs AA for the over-shove. Door-card is a 6 ....
However, this is a short pause. I pick up KK in the small blind and face a raise. I re-raise and the raiser shoves. Call. Aces for the initial raiser ! Cooler.
Yes indeed ... Flop KKJ !
Next hand I am on the button. The cut-off pushes with AJs, I over-push with QQ. I am knocking players out so fast that we have to keep waiting for new fodder and the floor stations a supervisor at our table to direct incoming traffic. I have 50,000 chips at 300/60/50.
I fold KT in a pot vs AQ and 64. Board 9QJA7. See, I should play EVERY pot !
I make a raise now with A7-suited and my left hand opponent, short stacked, calls. Another player also calls but I do not notice.
The flop come KT9 and I decide to put the short stack to a decision and shove. He folds and I go to muck, but the other player calls with KJ and has a decent chunk (15k). Damn ! This is what happens when you don’t pay attention.
However, when you are running hot, help is always at hand. Running clubs see me flush out our unlucky villain. I am up to almost 70k chips before I barrel off 20k in two pots and I now realise that I need to calm down and concentrate on winning this thing.
About 70 of the 290 starters remain. With about 48k I still have a decent stack but the steepness of the structure really kicks in here and the field typically has 10-15bb with the leaders on 20-25 max, sometimes less. I play very aggressively, always as the initial raiser (i.e. shover).
We make the money but it is an extremely flat payout structure in the first 10places. It’s virtually money back for the first cash and even 8th place is only $500. Meanwhile, 1st place is > $8k.
As we reach the final table bubble, I have 253k with blinds of 10k/20k/antes of 4,000. I am above average in chips with this 12BB stack.
Here’s an interesting hand as we play the bubble. We are playing 5 handed and 6 handed and a player is all in at the other table. At our table, the shortest stack has 51k total and has 20k of it in play as the BB. The chipleader at our table on 320k makes it 45k from under the gun.
I think a shove here should buy the pot. I figure that the UTG player has to credit me with a hand especially as the BB has to call. My only hesitation is that the UTG player is apparently a real hero-caller. My plan works out even better as a player goes out on the other table mid-play. The BB now folds leaving himself just a couple of blinds – he realy wants to be on the FT (he already told us that before the hand).
The chipleader now starts to dwell. TBH I can’t see how he can even think of calling. Eventually he folds an Ace. This means I go to the final table with 316k which is roughly the same as the 2 other big stacks.
I get off to a bad start when I lose the first pot and on 170k after paying some blinds, I am getting quite short-stacked already as we are playing 30k/15k/5k. But I pick up KK on the button. UTG raises to 90k. I wonder whether to flat call given how short I am but I decide not to be greedy and push for my 170k to just take it headsup. The BB folds with some pain and then unbelievably the initial raiser also folds for less than a minimum raise !
This starts a rush, anyway. I take out the button who raise with AT into my KK Again then I take out a player with AT > A9 and another with AQ>A9.
With 5 left I have half the chips but still I only have 20BB as we are up to 40k/20k/5k.
When we come to 3-handed we have been playing for 8 hours and are very equal-stacked. We briefly discuss a deal but really none of us is interested. I am not too keen as I always want to play to win. The other experienced player has the same attitude as me and the third player is delighted to have some this far and is also willing to see what happens.
What we do agree is to flatten out the extremely steep payout structure so that the money is 7,150/5,100/4,000 instead of 8,500/5,000/2,750.
As it turns out, I go out 3rd. I made it into the chip lead with one of the stacks somewhat short. The short stack pushed and I called with K8. She was in trouble with K4 but 2 fours on board put all three stacks pretty equal.
I lost another clip and so was actually in a close 3rd place when I shoved from the BB with QT facing a standard raise from the SB. He called with K3 off and a King on the flop pretty much ended it.
So, a slightly disappointing 3rd place but overall to cash twice in Vegas in one day when I had not cashed in 4 previous trips was a pretty amazing run. To Janey and Peter: it was nice playing with you.
Event #54 Report - Part 4 (of 4)
After the pivotal H-bomb moment with the 9s8s, I have 50,000 chips half way through level 9. We are playing 10 levels on day 1 and average chips are less than 30,000. I have 60 big blinds. It is absolutely obvious that I should make day2 and probably the money.
I’m feeling pretty good, and make a river call with Ace-high (winning) to move to 55,000 which turns out to be my high point. I am reluctant to get involved at this late stage on day1. Perhaps in future events I will feel that I can take advantage of this reluctance in others, but for today I am happy to be the one playing lock-down poker now that I have got a stack.
Level 10. 500/1000/100. 48,300 chips. 461 players left.
I move to Table 43 where there are some large stacks and some better players (it seems to me). One is pokerstars team pro Raymond Rahme. There are also 3 or 4 local Vegas pros. I resolve to be very cautious. I do play pocket 8s and take down a small pot on an Ace-high flop, and I win a small pot with 54o blind on blind vs a very tight player.
But, to be clear, I am basically counting down the minutes and hoping no kind of cooler situation develops. With 10 minutes left, they draw for the number of hands left and it’s four more. “I’m only playing Aces” I announce and I pretty much mean it.
The poker gods toy with me, dealing me respectable hands: first QcJc (I open-fold), then KhJd (I open fold), then 5c5s (open fold) and then on the very last hand of the night AcKc. I am under the gun. I really, seriously, consider open-folding but opt to limp in case I can see a flop.
The button who has 90k chips make a raise to 3,600 and I fold. He shows me AdQh. Yes it’s a weak play on my part, but I really did not want to have to blog how I got to the very last hand of the day and no further.
So this is a completely new experience for me. I have never made day2 of a multiday event of any kind. This includes a half-dozen or so WSOP Event, a GUKPT, WSOPE and several GSOP etc main events.
We bag up our chips (something new for me). I write my name as Howard “H-bomb” Smith hoping they will report it as such on pokernews, but they go for the more straightforward “Howard Smith, Bedford, United Kingdom”.
I discover that on 49,300 I have about 50% more than average and am lying in 76th place out of 376 left. I am only a triple up away from the chip lead in fact. What will day 2 bring ?
Level 11 (day2). 600/1,200/100. 48,300 chips. 376 players left.
We restart at 2pm the next day. My new table (there has been a full redraw) is quite logo-heavy but these are all qualifier logos so there is still a shortage of known players. The one exception is James Keys (Blackbelt pro and “internet whizzkid”) in seat 1. I am in seat4 and am 3rd in chips at my table behind James in 2nd and another player on 89k.
I realise I have to play carefully to make the money and avoid the heartache of missing out now (when I am in a good position). My cards make it pretty easy to stay out of trouble and I play no hands for the first half an hour as the number of players drifts down to 350 and below.
Then, I witness a massive pot between James Keys and the player who was on a respectable 30k chips at the beginning of the hand. Action folds to Tom Jones in the small blind, who just calls. James raises 2,000. Jones now limp-raises 4,000 more and James instantly moves all in and is quickly called.
For James: 7c6c
For Jones: AdJd
Flop: Td7d5h – James is ahead but needs to avoid any Ace, Jack, diamond or running cards. The turn and river miss the other player and James moves on to about 140k.
The very next hand, James is in the small blind and I pick up red Tens in under-the-gun+1. This is the first real hand I have had, and I think I should raise. I make it 2,800 which is standard at the table.
From here, the hand is a story of mistakes and tricky decisions.
Folds to James who is stacking his monster pot from the previous hand still. He re-raises me to 9,600.
Now, at the time, I did not notice that James had stopped stacking in order to play this hand with a re-raise. We discussed it afterwards and he pointed it out to me.
In the heat of the moment I thought “aggressive internet player”, “I have a big hand”, “I have position”, “I am getting >2:1”.
What I should have thought was “good player is raising an apparently tight EP raiser out of the blinds”. My tens are probably way behind or slightly ahead. I will have position but I already see the stacks are going to be awkward. At the time I also miscalculated the odds and thought I was getting better odds than I was. Also, I now realise, the chip-stacking was a tell.
In post-match analysis I am clear that I should fold now.
“Ten-high please” I think. Unfortunately it is not to be although the 8-high flop is possibly not so bad. 8-6-5 rainbow. James carefully bets 11,000. My problem is that I cannot tell if this is a continuation with a missed AK, or a continuation with a pair that beats me. Of course 3 other pairs now beat me so I am only beating 9s now and even that hand has a gutshot.
I think for a bit. My first instinct is to raise all-in. However, I think about what James will think, and what he will do. If he has QQ+ then he will call. I appear not to have KK or AA. He might think that I flatted AA but he will stay “pay off”. I think he will also call with QQ. Possibly he may fold JJ but he has so many chips that I am doubtful. He will probably fold 99 and presumably he now folds AK, AQ that I am already beating. The advantage of moving in if I am winning is that it stops him bluffing me off on the following streets.
I decided to call in the hope that (a) I am winning, and (b) that he will let me see a showdown although I must say that I fear he will see that this is what I want and keep the pressure on.
In the end, I decide that if I cannot see the showdown I will still have enough chips to survive and make the call, swelling the pot to 42,900 and leaving me with 25,800 behind.
The turn is the Ace of hearts (it’s a full rainbow board I recall). James asks for a count. He doesn’t actually look like he is pleased to see an Ace, but neither am I really ! It means that I am now beating nothing. The only good thing is that perhaps it will slow him down and let me see showdown.
James gets the dealer to count out my stack and I am quite sure he did not really need this done to know how many I had. Presumably he wants to get a read on me. I suspect that he can pin my range pretty closely. Would I really call the flop with Ace-King/Ace-Queen ?
I actually am acting pretty confident on this turn, and the reason is that I know that if he bets again I will fold. I am not going to have to dwell or think. I don’t think he has an Ace but I know that if he bets I cannot push and get him to fold a big pair. I suppose I could call and probably get a free showdown on the river but then I would be short. I am not prepared to do that.
More interesting will be if he checks. If we were in the money and he checks, I think I will move in. I wonder to myself if I am prepared to do that here but I know the answer.
In the end, James carefully selects 12,800. I pass quickly. He tells me later that he had Queens and I 80%+ believe him.
I am disappointed about this hand. Calling the pre-flop raise was a mistake and it puts my WSOP-cash in danger.
What I had not realised, but what I would know in future, is how quickly the required 80 players get knocked out. I was expecting a painful bubble process (my mega-sat experience from last year is on my mind, but that is such a different scenario) but instead the numbers are falling steadily. We are down to 325 or so when this hand plays out.
I don’t completely shut-down from here but my focus is now single-mindedly on making the bubble. I was happy with a couple of decisions I made.
Here is one more key hand where I might have conspired to fail at the last hurdle. It is a couple of orbits after the 10s. We are playing 800/1600/200 so there is 4,400 in the pot before betting.
Folded to mega-stack James Keys in the cut-off. Behind him the button is uber-tight (played one hand in 80mins), the SB is short on 11k and I am on 25k having lost that pot to James but shoved from the button with AK and AQ once each (I am not so tight that I will not shove AK from late position but I probably would not call with AK).
James bets 4,000. I put him on a wide range in this position. The button folds as expected but the SB shrugs and throws in his 11k stack.
I am in the Big Blind with pocket 9s. Now, I am thinking I am in OK shape vs the SBs range with all the money in the pot. I am definitely ahead of James’ range. If I push then I can hopefully get rid of him and play a pot with 30k in it against the SB heads-up and still be on 14k if I lose.
It seems the right move. Again, if we are in the money I think I must shove here. I look at James – hard to tell where he’s at. If I make this play and win I am back on 44k and in good shape.
I look up at the clock. There are 306 players left.
I pick up the chips from on top of my cards and straighten up my stack.
I prepare to move in. It’s a great spot.
I fold.
James snap calls with Kings. Bullet dodged.
The clock counts down... 303, 302, 299, 298. The TDs go through a slightly comical procedure to count heads to make sure we are indeed at the very bubble. Hand for Hand. I have 16,500 now but it is absolutely apparent that I am 100% to make the money by folding.
Would I folds Aces now ? My right-hand opponent (who survived a shove vs James that was quite similar to mine except he had JJ to James’s 99 instead of 99 vs KK) says he is folding Aces now, and seems to mean it.
Hand for Hand lasts, in fact, just one hand. We have done it !
As expected, after this, the fallers are thick and fast. Our table breaks immediately and at my next table I am waiting for a spot to shove.
Level 13. 1000/2000/300. Chips 15,800. Players left 296 or less.
At my new table, the player on my left has 140k and to his left there is a stack of 90k or so. I am going to have trouble shoving into these guys with no hand.
I fold everything for a period (the scenarios are just no good) until I get pocket deuces in the small blind and it is folded to me. I see the end is nigh. I order a Corona from the waitress and push my last 13,100 into the pot. It’s 10,800 for the Big Stack/Big Blind to call.
He calls with JT. The boards runs all low and suddenly I have 28,900. Maybe, just maybe ?
My Corona arrives just in time for the next hand. A player in UTG+2 (who had just raised with KQ and folded to a shove) makes it 5,000 to go again.
It is folded to me on the button. I look down at AcKh. Reflex takes over and I put it all in. The EP raiser has 40k total and makes the call with black 9s.
Now, if I can win this race I will suddenly have 64k and be back above average ! However, it isn’t to be although QT on the flop and turn give me ten outs on the river.
Obviously it is right to shove with AK here but I regret insta-shoving. By doing this, I announce to the raiser that I have AK and so he can call knowing he is ahead. If I dwell and push then he may think I have an overpair some of the time and perhaps he can fold. Most likely it is the same result whatever I do, but if there even a small edge to dwell-pushing then I should have done so.
244th place, $2,923
Of course I am disappointed about what might have been, but actually this is one case where overall I am actually slightly more delighted at making one of my key objectives than I am upset at not having gone even further.
I’m feeling pretty good, and make a river call with Ace-high (winning) to move to 55,000 which turns out to be my high point. I am reluctant to get involved at this late stage on day1. Perhaps in future events I will feel that I can take advantage of this reluctance in others, but for today I am happy to be the one playing lock-down poker now that I have got a stack.
Level 10. 500/1000/100. 48,300 chips. 461 players left.
I move to Table 43 where there are some large stacks and some better players (it seems to me). One is pokerstars team pro Raymond Rahme. There are also 3 or 4 local Vegas pros. I resolve to be very cautious. I do play pocket 8s and take down a small pot on an Ace-high flop, and I win a small pot with 54o blind on blind vs a very tight player.
But, to be clear, I am basically counting down the minutes and hoping no kind of cooler situation develops. With 10 minutes left, they draw for the number of hands left and it’s four more. “I’m only playing Aces” I announce and I pretty much mean it.
The poker gods toy with me, dealing me respectable hands: first QcJc (I open-fold), then KhJd (I open fold), then 5c5s (open fold) and then on the very last hand of the night AcKc. I am under the gun. I really, seriously, consider open-folding but opt to limp in case I can see a flop.
The button who has 90k chips make a raise to 3,600 and I fold. He shows me AdQh. Yes it’s a weak play on my part, but I really did not want to have to blog how I got to the very last hand of the day and no further.
So this is a completely new experience for me. I have never made day2 of a multiday event of any kind. This includes a half-dozen or so WSOP Event, a GUKPT, WSOPE and several GSOP etc main events.
We bag up our chips (something new for me). I write my name as Howard “H-bomb” Smith hoping they will report it as such on pokernews, but they go for the more straightforward “Howard Smith, Bedford, United Kingdom”.
I discover that on 49,300 I have about 50% more than average and am lying in 76th place out of 376 left. I am only a triple up away from the chip lead in fact. What will day 2 bring ?
Level 11 (day2). 600/1,200/100. 48,300 chips. 376 players left.
We restart at 2pm the next day. My new table (there has been a full redraw) is quite logo-heavy but these are all qualifier logos so there is still a shortage of known players. The one exception is James Keys (Blackbelt pro and “internet whizzkid”) in seat 1. I am in seat4 and am 3rd in chips at my table behind James in 2nd and another player on 89k.
I realise I have to play carefully to make the money and avoid the heartache of missing out now (when I am in a good position). My cards make it pretty easy to stay out of trouble and I play no hands for the first half an hour as the number of players drifts down to 350 and below.
Then, I witness a massive pot between James Keys and the player who was on a respectable 30k chips at the beginning of the hand. Action folds to Tom Jones in the small blind, who just calls. James raises 2,000. Jones now limp-raises 4,000 more and James instantly moves all in and is quickly called.
For James: 7c6c
For Jones: AdJd
Flop: Td7d5h – James is ahead but needs to avoid any Ace, Jack, diamond or running cards. The turn and river miss the other player and James moves on to about 140k.
The very next hand, James is in the small blind and I pick up red Tens in under-the-gun+1. This is the first real hand I have had, and I think I should raise. I make it 2,800 which is standard at the table.
From here, the hand is a story of mistakes and tricky decisions.
Folds to James who is stacking his monster pot from the previous hand still. He re-raises me to 9,600.
Now, at the time, I did not notice that James had stopped stacking in order to play this hand with a re-raise. We discussed it afterwards and he pointed it out to me.
In the heat of the moment I thought “aggressive internet player”, “I have a big hand”, “I have position”, “I am getting >2:1”.
What I should have thought was “good player is raising an apparently tight EP raiser out of the blinds”. My tens are probably way behind or slightly ahead. I will have position but I already see the stacks are going to be awkward. At the time I also miscalculated the odds and thought I was getting better odds than I was. Also, I now realise, the chip-stacking was a tell.
In post-match analysis I am clear that I should fold now.
“Ten-high please” I think. Unfortunately it is not to be although the 8-high flop is possibly not so bad. 8-6-5 rainbow. James carefully bets 11,000. My problem is that I cannot tell if this is a continuation with a missed AK, or a continuation with a pair that beats me. Of course 3 other pairs now beat me so I am only beating 9s now and even that hand has a gutshot.
I think for a bit. My first instinct is to raise all-in. However, I think about what James will think, and what he will do. If he has QQ+ then he will call. I appear not to have KK or AA. He might think that I flatted AA but he will stay “pay off”. I think he will also call with QQ. Possibly he may fold JJ but he has so many chips that I am doubtful. He will probably fold 99 and presumably he now folds AK, AQ that I am already beating. The advantage of moving in if I am winning is that it stops him bluffing me off on the following streets.
I decided to call in the hope that (a) I am winning, and (b) that he will let me see a showdown although I must say that I fear he will see that this is what I want and keep the pressure on.
In the end, I decide that if I cannot see the showdown I will still have enough chips to survive and make the call, swelling the pot to 42,900 and leaving me with 25,800 behind.
The turn is the Ace of hearts (it’s a full rainbow board I recall). James asks for a count. He doesn’t actually look like he is pleased to see an Ace, but neither am I really ! It means that I am now beating nothing. The only good thing is that perhaps it will slow him down and let me see showdown.
James gets the dealer to count out my stack and I am quite sure he did not really need this done to know how many I had. Presumably he wants to get a read on me. I suspect that he can pin my range pretty closely. Would I really call the flop with Ace-King/Ace-Queen ?
I actually am acting pretty confident on this turn, and the reason is that I know that if he bets again I will fold. I am not going to have to dwell or think. I don’t think he has an Ace but I know that if he bets I cannot push and get him to fold a big pair. I suppose I could call and probably get a free showdown on the river but then I would be short. I am not prepared to do that.
More interesting will be if he checks. If we were in the money and he checks, I think I will move in. I wonder to myself if I am prepared to do that here but I know the answer.
In the end, James carefully selects 12,800. I pass quickly. He tells me later that he had Queens and I 80%+ believe him.
I am disappointed about this hand. Calling the pre-flop raise was a mistake and it puts my WSOP-cash in danger.
What I had not realised, but what I would know in future, is how quickly the required 80 players get knocked out. I was expecting a painful bubble process (my mega-sat experience from last year is on my mind, but that is such a different scenario) but instead the numbers are falling steadily. We are down to 325 or so when this hand plays out.
I don’t completely shut-down from here but my focus is now single-mindedly on making the bubble. I was happy with a couple of decisions I made.
Here is one more key hand where I might have conspired to fail at the last hurdle. It is a couple of orbits after the 10s. We are playing 800/1600/200 so there is 4,400 in the pot before betting.
Folded to mega-stack James Keys in the cut-off. Behind him the button is uber-tight (played one hand in 80mins), the SB is short on 11k and I am on 25k having lost that pot to James but shoved from the button with AK and AQ once each (I am not so tight that I will not shove AK from late position but I probably would not call with AK).
James bets 4,000. I put him on a wide range in this position. The button folds as expected but the SB shrugs and throws in his 11k stack.
I am in the Big Blind with pocket 9s. Now, I am thinking I am in OK shape vs the SBs range with all the money in the pot. I am definitely ahead of James’ range. If I push then I can hopefully get rid of him and play a pot with 30k in it against the SB heads-up and still be on 14k if I lose.
It seems the right move. Again, if we are in the money I think I must shove here. I look at James – hard to tell where he’s at. If I make this play and win I am back on 44k and in good shape.
I look up at the clock. There are 306 players left.
I pick up the chips from on top of my cards and straighten up my stack.
I prepare to move in. It’s a great spot.
I fold.
James snap calls with Kings. Bullet dodged.
The clock counts down... 303, 302, 299, 298. The TDs go through a slightly comical procedure to count heads to make sure we are indeed at the very bubble. Hand for Hand. I have 16,500 now but it is absolutely apparent that I am 100% to make the money by folding.
Would I folds Aces now ? My right-hand opponent (who survived a shove vs James that was quite similar to mine except he had JJ to James’s 99 instead of 99 vs KK) says he is folding Aces now, and seems to mean it.
Hand for Hand lasts, in fact, just one hand. We have done it !
As expected, after this, the fallers are thick and fast. Our table breaks immediately and at my next table I am waiting for a spot to shove.
Level 13. 1000/2000/300. Chips 15,800. Players left 296 or less.
At my new table, the player on my left has 140k and to his left there is a stack of 90k or so. I am going to have trouble shoving into these guys with no hand.
I fold everything for a period (the scenarios are just no good) until I get pocket deuces in the small blind and it is folded to me. I see the end is nigh. I order a Corona from the waitress and push my last 13,100 into the pot. It’s 10,800 for the Big Stack/Big Blind to call.
He calls with JT. The boards runs all low and suddenly I have 28,900. Maybe, just maybe ?
My Corona arrives just in time for the next hand. A player in UTG+2 (who had just raised with KQ and folded to a shove) makes it 5,000 to go again.
It is folded to me on the button. I look down at AcKh. Reflex takes over and I put it all in. The EP raiser has 40k total and makes the call with black 9s.
Now, if I can win this race I will suddenly have 64k and be back above average ! However, it isn’t to be although QT on the flop and turn give me ten outs on the river.
Obviously it is right to shove with AK here but I regret insta-shoving. By doing this, I announce to the raiser that I have AK and so he can call knowing he is ahead. If I dwell and push then he may think I have an overpair some of the time and perhaps he can fold. Most likely it is the same result whatever I do, but if there even a small edge to dwell-pushing then I should have done so.
244th place, $2,923
Of course I am disappointed about what might have been, but actually this is one case where overall I am actually slightly more delighted at making one of my key objectives than I am upset at not having gone even further.
Event #54 Report - Part 3 (Boom!)
As we come towards the end of Level 6, here is another interesting hand. Under the gun makes it 700 to play (150/300/25) still. I decide to see a flop (hopefully) with QT-suited. We do see a flop heads-up.
In fact, the UTG player thought everyone had folded and went to muck his cards. I make sure to tell him to take them back. Some of the other players seemed to think I could force him to muck and claim the pot. I do not know if this would have been a correct ruling, but in any case I have zero interest in doing that. It is just wrong, imo, $4 Million prizepool or not.
So, we see a flop AQ2r. He checks and I think my Queen is probably good – I bet 1,300, which is called. The turn is another Queen ! It puts 2 clubs on board but I suppose it is unlikely he has a flush draw (which is a shame). It is very unlikely I am not ahead now. He checks and I bet 3,300 which in hidsight was too much when, really, I have the nuts and he may have 2 outs. He folds. Missed opportunity to get more out of him ?
Level 7. 200/400/25. 19,825 chips. 921 players left
I am moved to “Blue 50” and announce my presence by shoving from the button with 98o. The short-stacked SB calls me with ATo and wins. The BB was even shorter, hence my shove. I also lose a little when a 2BB stack pushes into my BB. I call without looking obviously and am not in great shape with J6.
Level 8. 300/600/75. 15,300 chips. 760 players left.
My stack is only as high now as six hours ago and therefore I am starting to have a stack that allows few moves. I also fall below average chips for the first time since I hit the set of 5s vs Mike Eise.
I fall to 13,375 at the low but a couple of shoves and re-shoves with AQ, AK advance me to 24,900 at the end of this break, when we colour up the 25-chips. I am the player who buys up the chips and I stay for the whole colour up. Now that I have a fair amount of tournament experience, I do like to be the one doing this – partly just doing my bit, partly so I can be 100% they don’t mess it up. Last year in the Mega-sat I nearly lost 5k chips during a colour up.
Level 9. 400/800/100. 22,900 chips. 583 players left.
Strangely, when I get back from the break, my 24,900 stack has become 22,900. This is confusing. I have to assume I miscounted before the break.
Key hand #2. Here comes the H-bomb .. this is it. Here is the swing hand of the whole tournament, effectively.
A good player opens for 2,100 in UTG+1. He is opening quite a few pots; not a ridiculous amount, but he will be opening a wider range than just super-premium, because he should. The next player thinks and calls. He presumably has some hand. It is folded to me on the button and here is a big decision.
The call is almost exactly 10% of my stack which is the outer limit of what I call with a speculative holding. On the other hand, I am getting 3:1 and probably close the action here as the blinds are very tight. I will have position. I have 9s8s – a pretty hand with which to possibly win a huge pot.
I call. Pot is 3x2,100+9x100+400+800=8,400.
The flop falls Js6s5c. The preflop raiser leads out for 4,000, just less than half the pot. I guess he will continue on a lot of flops. The other caller dwells. I imagine he maybe had something like pocket 7s. Whilst he is dwelling I get a chance to consider what I will do.
I guess my options will be:
Fold – I have 9high
Call – I have a gutshot straight draw, a 9high flush draw and two live cards.
Raise – the pot will contain 16,200 after my call and I will have 16,900 left so my all-in raise would be a pot sized raise. So, if I raise it has to be all-in really.
I am never flat calling here. And, let’s face it, I did not come here to call with 98-suited and fold on this flop. I only have to decide how long to appear to dwell once the other player folds.
I manage to wait about 5 seconds before announcing the all-in. The other player immediately calls. I must admit I thought he might shows a set of Jacks.
In fact, he has Queens. I am near to 50/50. I am 100% comfortable with the move. He will lay down some hands that are beating me (pocket 9s. Ace-Queen etc) and when he calls I have at least 42%.
Turn ... Jc. River .. BOOOOOOOOOOOOM Ks. I am on 50k !! Now I can seriously think of making day 2 and the money. I am ecstatic. The fella with Queens is not happy. He has me well covered (and went on to cash easily), but he has been well and truly H-bombed.
In fact, the UTG player thought everyone had folded and went to muck his cards. I make sure to tell him to take them back. Some of the other players seemed to think I could force him to muck and claim the pot. I do not know if this would have been a correct ruling, but in any case I have zero interest in doing that. It is just wrong, imo, $4 Million prizepool or not.
So, we see a flop AQ2r. He checks and I think my Queen is probably good – I bet 1,300, which is called. The turn is another Queen ! It puts 2 clubs on board but I suppose it is unlikely he has a flush draw (which is a shame). It is very unlikely I am not ahead now. He checks and I bet 3,300 which in hidsight was too much when, really, I have the nuts and he may have 2 outs. He folds. Missed opportunity to get more out of him ?
Level 7. 200/400/25. 19,825 chips. 921 players left
I am moved to “Blue 50” and announce my presence by shoving from the button with 98o. The short-stacked SB calls me with ATo and wins. The BB was even shorter, hence my shove. I also lose a little when a 2BB stack pushes into my BB. I call without looking obviously and am not in great shape with J6.
Level 8. 300/600/75. 15,300 chips. 760 players left.
My stack is only as high now as six hours ago and therefore I am starting to have a stack that allows few moves. I also fall below average chips for the first time since I hit the set of 5s vs Mike Eise.
I fall to 13,375 at the low but a couple of shoves and re-shoves with AQ, AK advance me to 24,900 at the end of this break, when we colour up the 25-chips. I am the player who buys up the chips and I stay for the whole colour up. Now that I have a fair amount of tournament experience, I do like to be the one doing this – partly just doing my bit, partly so I can be 100% they don’t mess it up. Last year in the Mega-sat I nearly lost 5k chips during a colour up.
Level 9. 400/800/100. 22,900 chips. 583 players left.
Strangely, when I get back from the break, my 24,900 stack has become 22,900. This is confusing. I have to assume I miscounted before the break.
Key hand #2. Here comes the H-bomb .. this is it. Here is the swing hand of the whole tournament, effectively.
A good player opens for 2,100 in UTG+1. He is opening quite a few pots; not a ridiculous amount, but he will be opening a wider range than just super-premium, because he should. The next player thinks and calls. He presumably has some hand. It is folded to me on the button and here is a big decision.
The call is almost exactly 10% of my stack which is the outer limit of what I call with a speculative holding. On the other hand, I am getting 3:1 and probably close the action here as the blinds are very tight. I will have position. I have 9s8s – a pretty hand with which to possibly win a huge pot.
I call. Pot is 3x2,100+9x100+400+800=8,400.
The flop falls Js6s5c. The preflop raiser leads out for 4,000, just less than half the pot. I guess he will continue on a lot of flops. The other caller dwells. I imagine he maybe had something like pocket 7s. Whilst he is dwelling I get a chance to consider what I will do.
I guess my options will be:
Fold – I have 9high
Call – I have a gutshot straight draw, a 9high flush draw and two live cards.
Raise – the pot will contain 16,200 after my call and I will have 16,900 left so my all-in raise would be a pot sized raise. So, if I raise it has to be all-in really.
I am never flat calling here. And, let’s face it, I did not come here to call with 98-suited and fold on this flop. I only have to decide how long to appear to dwell once the other player folds.
I manage to wait about 5 seconds before announcing the all-in. The other player immediately calls. I must admit I thought he might shows a set of Jacks.
In fact, he has Queens. I am near to 50/50. I am 100% comfortable with the move. He will lay down some hands that are beating me (pocket 9s. Ace-Queen etc) and when he calls I have at least 42%.
Turn ... Jc. River .. BOOOOOOOOOOOOM Ks. I am on 50k !! Now I can seriously think of making day 2 and the money. I am ecstatic. The fella with Queens is not happy. He has me well covered (and went on to cash easily), but he has been well and truly H-bombed.
Event #54 Report - Part 2:
In part 1 we saw how I leapt to over 10,000 chips in early play. I had to give up on the turn to “moustache” with top pair, top kicker on a Jack high board, but out of position to a raise on the flop and a bet on the turn, I think I am beaten. Next ... I have exactly 9,000 as we start Level 2.
Level 2 50/100. 9,000 chips. 2,500 players estimated.
Now, lest you think that the real H-bomb has been lost in translation, and should you be allowing yourself to think that I only play Aces, Queens and sets, consider this play at 50/100:
Nike makes it 225 from early position. Now, I don’t think that near-minimum raises are the way to play level 2. I have the button and the perfect re-raising hand: 8c3s. I make it 800. Degenerate Gambler, as he is wont to do, calls from the blinds. Nike sees the game is up and passes.
The flop is pretty good for black 83o: 9d5d4d. DG checks and I fire out 1,100 to take it down.
I think we can agree this is so standard that even Louise would play it like this ?
I pick up Aces for the second time and face the same 225 from Nike. This time, however, I am in the Small Blind. Nike has about the same chips as me: 11k or so. I have no interest in letting him see a cheap flop. If he has a big hand, let’s get it in now or play a 3 or 4 bet pot. I make it 1,225 and he passes.
Level 3 75/150. 11,000 chips. 2,100 players estimated.
Interesting hand: California bets 350 from under-the-gun. He has started to raise more hands preflop but is not making strong action post-flop. I have pocket Tens in early middle position and decide to flat call with so many players behind. California is not that deep: he has about 3,000. Obviously I can “afford” to double him up if need be but I am necessarily keen to jam in so many chips immediately.
The flop is 964 rainbow. Now, I guess for the most part I am now way ahead or way behind ? If he started with Jacks or better I am still losing and drawing to 2 outs. I am also now losing to 9s. Obviously if he has AK, AQ then he’s way behind now.
A lot of people will say I should just bet this flop but I am thinking that if I am ahead then he has only 6 outs and that if he check-raises me then I probably cannot get away even though I know I am losing. I check behind.
Turn is another 6 and presumably helps no one. He bets 500 into 850. I call for the same reasons as the flop.
The river is another 6 and he bets another 500 with perhaps 1,800 behind.
Now, I just call and he shows 44 ! So, as it turns out, I rivered him to counterfeit his flopped set/turned house. If I had bet the flop then we get it in and I runner-runner him. I probably should raise the river on the basis that JJ – AA bet harder on flop and turn. I am not worried about him having a 6 obviously. On the actual hand he may find a pass if I raise as he now is losing to 55+ and any 6 or 9. But, he may have sighed and paid me off at least a min raise ?
Level 4 100/200. 15,000 chips. 1,800 players estimated.
I find pocket 7s when it is folded to me in the cut-off. Degenerate gambler is quite short now, and I limp hoping to snap his shove from the SB. However, another LatAm player who has come into Adam’s seat makes it just 500 (?). LatAm2 has just taken out Mike Eise with slow-played Kings.
DG passes but moustache makes a contemplated call. I assume this puts him a small pair or two high cards or other kinds of pretty starting combos. OK, plan A did not work but I do not give either of the active players a big hand so I make it 1,800 to go. LatAm passes and now moustache apparently has a decision. “Call, you may hit your set” I say. He calls.
Flop: 765 all red. Gin. Unfortunately he doesn’t look like he hit it. Still, I don’t want to give him a free card and more to the point, if a free card could hurt me then he may be prepared to pay to see a card. I bet 2,000 (in hindsight I think I might try less). He passes quickly so I guess he had black JT or something like that. Why couldn’t he have hit a set of 6s !
Oh well. Our table finally breaks. As I take my new seat I try to remember all those times I went broke after a table move and hope I can avoid doing this again.
Andy and “I Pity The Fool, Sucka” join me on the rail and get to see me misplay AQ: I pick up this hand on the small blind and face two early/mid limpers. Well, people shouldn’t limp and I want to raise them off their hands. I don’t want to play a flop o.o.p with this hand so I decide on a big raise to 1,200 which gets rid of the first player easily but the second player (who covers me by about 3/2) calls fairly quickly.
Flop is 345hh. I have overcards, a gutshot and a backdoor queen-flush. Not great. I could check and see what happens but checking is not my thing. I fire 2,000 and face a small raise to 4,600.
Hmm. Andy reckons this bet asks “do you really have Aces” and thinks a reraise may take it down here. I agree that the pot may be for sale and my gut says the guy is using position to steal the pot BUT he could have flopped big and I do not want to go broke with AQ in the small blind.
In hindsight, a smaller pre-flop raise was probably the move but I decide to fight another battle having thrown away 3,100 chips.
Level 5. 100/200/25 13,000 chips. 1,650 players left
Not much to report
Level 6. 150/300/25 15,000 chips. 1,100 players left
Under-the gun I make it 700 with AT. UTG+1 insta-calls. The Small blind calls. Flop is KJx rainbow. I can maybe fire at this but opt to check my gutshot ace-high. Checked to the Qc turn.
Nuts ! I bet 1,600 called by the UTG+1 and the SB folds with some apparent reluctance.
No club please ... the river is another King. OK .... so a set housed up. Quite obviously he did not have a set on the turn. It is possible that he has KQ or KJ and I may be going home here. I hope he has a hand he can call with... I bet 4,000. He calls .. with AT ! Oh well. Would I fold if he jams the river he asks. We will never know, but I think not.
The SB says he folded T9 for the low straight but actually speaking to him later when he cashed in 243rd I think that was a lie.
Ed Roger walks by. I say “walks” but actually he steamed by – just knocked out by a 3-outer with the money going in on the turn. Sick. I feel lucky to be the last gutshotter still standing especially since the ones who have hit the rail are all better players than me by a distance.
Level 2 50/100. 9,000 chips. 2,500 players estimated.
Now, lest you think that the real H-bomb has been lost in translation, and should you be allowing yourself to think that I only play Aces, Queens and sets, consider this play at 50/100:
Nike makes it 225 from early position. Now, I don’t think that near-minimum raises are the way to play level 2. I have the button and the perfect re-raising hand: 8c3s. I make it 800. Degenerate Gambler, as he is wont to do, calls from the blinds. Nike sees the game is up and passes.
The flop is pretty good for black 83o: 9d5d4d. DG checks and I fire out 1,100 to take it down.
I think we can agree this is so standard that even Louise would play it like this ?
I pick up Aces for the second time and face the same 225 from Nike. This time, however, I am in the Small Blind. Nike has about the same chips as me: 11k or so. I have no interest in letting him see a cheap flop. If he has a big hand, let’s get it in now or play a 3 or 4 bet pot. I make it 1,225 and he passes.
Level 3 75/150. 11,000 chips. 2,100 players estimated.
Interesting hand: California bets 350 from under-the-gun. He has started to raise more hands preflop but is not making strong action post-flop. I have pocket Tens in early middle position and decide to flat call with so many players behind. California is not that deep: he has about 3,000. Obviously I can “afford” to double him up if need be but I am necessarily keen to jam in so many chips immediately.
The flop is 964 rainbow. Now, I guess for the most part I am now way ahead or way behind ? If he started with Jacks or better I am still losing and drawing to 2 outs. I am also now losing to 9s. Obviously if he has AK, AQ then he’s way behind now.
A lot of people will say I should just bet this flop but I am thinking that if I am ahead then he has only 6 outs and that if he check-raises me then I probably cannot get away even though I know I am losing. I check behind.
Turn is another 6 and presumably helps no one. He bets 500 into 850. I call for the same reasons as the flop.
The river is another 6 and he bets another 500 with perhaps 1,800 behind.
Now, I just call and he shows 44 ! So, as it turns out, I rivered him to counterfeit his flopped set/turned house. If I had bet the flop then we get it in and I runner-runner him. I probably should raise the river on the basis that JJ – AA bet harder on flop and turn. I am not worried about him having a 6 obviously. On the actual hand he may find a pass if I raise as he now is losing to 55+ and any 6 or 9. But, he may have sighed and paid me off at least a min raise ?
Level 4 100/200. 15,000 chips. 1,800 players estimated.
I find pocket 7s when it is folded to me in the cut-off. Degenerate gambler is quite short now, and I limp hoping to snap his shove from the SB. However, another LatAm player who has come into Adam’s seat makes it just 500 (?). LatAm2 has just taken out Mike Eise with slow-played Kings.
DG passes but moustache makes a contemplated call. I assume this puts him a small pair or two high cards or other kinds of pretty starting combos. OK, plan A did not work but I do not give either of the active players a big hand so I make it 1,800 to go. LatAm passes and now moustache apparently has a decision. “Call, you may hit your set” I say. He calls.
Flop: 765 all red. Gin. Unfortunately he doesn’t look like he hit it. Still, I don’t want to give him a free card and more to the point, if a free card could hurt me then he may be prepared to pay to see a card. I bet 2,000 (in hindsight I think I might try less). He passes quickly so I guess he had black JT or something like that. Why couldn’t he have hit a set of 6s !
Oh well. Our table finally breaks. As I take my new seat I try to remember all those times I went broke after a table move and hope I can avoid doing this again.
Andy and “I Pity The Fool, Sucka” join me on the rail and get to see me misplay AQ: I pick up this hand on the small blind and face two early/mid limpers. Well, people shouldn’t limp and I want to raise them off their hands. I don’t want to play a flop o.o.p with this hand so I decide on a big raise to 1,200 which gets rid of the first player easily but the second player (who covers me by about 3/2) calls fairly quickly.
Flop is 345hh. I have overcards, a gutshot and a backdoor queen-flush. Not great. I could check and see what happens but checking is not my thing. I fire 2,000 and face a small raise to 4,600.
Hmm. Andy reckons this bet asks “do you really have Aces” and thinks a reraise may take it down here. I agree that the pot may be for sale and my gut says the guy is using position to steal the pot BUT he could have flopped big and I do not want to go broke with AQ in the small blind.
In hindsight, a smaller pre-flop raise was probably the move but I decide to fight another battle having thrown away 3,100 chips.
Level 5. 100/200/25 13,000 chips. 1,650 players left
Not much to report
Level 6. 150/300/25 15,000 chips. 1,100 players left
Under-the gun I make it 700 with AT. UTG+1 insta-calls. The Small blind calls. Flop is KJx rainbow. I can maybe fire at this but opt to check my gutshot ace-high. Checked to the Qc turn.
Nuts ! I bet 1,600 called by the UTG+1 and the SB folds with some apparent reluctance.
No club please ... the river is another King. OK .... so a set housed up. Quite obviously he did not have a set on the turn. It is possible that he has KQ or KJ and I may be going home here. I hope he has a hand he can call with... I bet 4,000. He calls .. with AT ! Oh well. Would I fold if he jams the river he asks. We will never know, but I think not.
The SB says he folded T9 for the low straight but actually speaking to him later when he cashed in 243rd I think that was a lie.
Ed Roger walks by. I say “walks” but actually he steamed by – just knocked out by a 3-outer with the money going in on the turn. Sick. I feel lucky to be the last gutshotter still standing especially since the ones who have hit the rail are all better players than me by a distance.
Event #54 Report - part 1
I am writing up this blog from my notes and I see it is going to be a LONG report, and possibly very boring. Well, you don't have to read it.
You may also find it is better to read it on the Gutshot forum blog where I will post the same content but there the page is wider and I can use card icons to make it easier to read.
http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/blog.php?u=13218
Anyway, here goes. You may already know the ending of course.
________________________________________________
WSOP 2009 Event #54, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em. 3 Day Event, 29th June 2009
I come into this event with a 0/6 record in WSOP bracelet events that I have played in the last 4 years. I have been somewhat deep before – late in the first day – but never threatened to make the money. I am sure that I am better player than when I first played in 2005 and exited in level 1 after flopping the second nuts, but am I good enough or lucky enough to break my duck ?
Things start well when I actually get into the event unlike dozens (maybe hundreds) who attempt to buy in after the event sells out at 10pm on the day before. I assume there would have been over 3,000 runners if the event were not capped at 2,818 runners. 2,800 was the official cap and I can only assume the last 18 were at the TD’s last-minute discretion.
I start the event in confident mood. It is hard to put your finger on exactly what experience of a WSOP event buys you over a player with the same skill, but playing his first event. But there is something there, for sure, and one factor is that it’s not quite a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so we have the willingness to put our tournament on the line. Against that, I am still trying to get a result so I am obviously not wanting to donk out.
I do feel confident, though, and confidence is important. Let’s go !
I play tight, obviously, in the very early running. I make a conscious effort to try to profile the table. I still remember Richard Gryko’s advice on the topic on the forum. I cannot begin to approach his skill at immediately getting a take on the players but who do we have:
Seat1: Adam – recognises my Gutshot logo and asks about the club. I tell him to check out the Spirit of Gutshot at The International. He’s obviously not a very experienced live player or else he would know that the Clerkenwell club had to close, even if he never played there. But he looks fairly comfortable so I rate him as a somewhat solid opponent. Unfortunately I am often only able to classify people as “somewhat solid”. I guess it is better than nothing.
Seat2: is wearing sunglasses-with-headphones combo and wearing a “degenerate gambler” shirt. As play goes on I see that he doesn’t play position that well.
Seat3: American with grey hair and moustache. Call it stereotyping, but I find these players to play predictable holdings and to be rather passive. Their play on late streets is very readable.
Seat4: Mike Eise, winner of this year’s Event #28. He is not a professional (lack of logos, and just his table demeanour). His play does not seem fearsome, but I credit him with being a good player. In my opinion, notwithstanding the luck element, you do not win a 3,000-runner event over 3 days without being a decent player. I did not immediately recognise him, but the bracelet on his wrist was a giveaway and I asked him at the break which event it was (that is a polite way of asking “who the heck are you?”. I looked up his name later).
Seat 5: Showed up late, Latin American with a “Toronto” cap. Looked hungover. Not a threat.
Seat6: “Nike” and sunglasses. Seemed tight-aggressive and a smart bettor. Decent player. Play him in position only.
Seat7: "California". Lots of mixed logos on the hat and shirt but definitely "customer bought". Talked about his WSOP and WPT events of the past. Clearly a regular attendee of these kinds on events but no talk of great success. Seemed as time went on to play somewhat weakly (in the sense of not applying maximum pressure).
Seats 8 & 9. Very obviously tight.
Seat 10: Lunatic, wearing team gutshot logos, foreign accent, has his own “H-Bomb cards”. Doesn’t look like he will last long.
First Level 25/50. 4,500 starting chips. 2,818 runners
We started with 4,500 chips so the fact is we are deep-stacked in Level One. I fold for a whole orbit, then raise Nike (who limped UTG) with 8h7d. I flop a pair on the Q74ss board, but decide to check one street. I call 300 when the Qs falls but give up when he fires the river as well.
I am back to 3,825 when the first key hand occurs. I limp with 5h5c and then, when Mike Eise raises to 200 out of the small blind, I call with set odds and position.
The flop comes 865, all red. OK. Bottom set. Am I prepared to go broke on this hand ? Yes is the answer. Mike Eise leads for a slightly more than the pot: 600 is the bet.
I have 3,625 left at this point and the pot is currently 1,100 before my action. I can’t be too worried about the flush or straight draw, as such, but I think the key is that I may represent a draw myself and I don't want scare cards to kill the action. I am only thinking about how best to get all the money in.
I opt for the raise to 1,600 leaving 2,025 behind. Mike Eise sets me in and I SNAP, obviously.
He has black Queens and misses his two outs. Boom #1. With nearly 8,000 chips after 30 minutes I am clearly making a good start.
A short while later, I am in the big blind when short-stacked Mike Eise limps from middle position. The tight small blind reluctantly puts in an extra 25. I look down at two black Aces. “With 250”. Mike shrugs and puts in his whole stack of 850, SB folds and I show him the bad news.
He needs help with pocket 8s and help comes in the shape of a flopped 8. Well, as far as having Aces cracked goes, I’ll take a loss of 850 chips. Mike ends up surviving a few more hours although he will eventually fall in level 4.
Still in Level 1, it is folded to me with Queens on the button. I make it 200 and now soon-to-be-international player Adam makes it 650. I have him about 2-1 covered. I make my plan. He may have Aces or Kings, of course, but I decide I will pay him off on a low flop as I cannot be eliminated. I call planning to probably fold to overcards.
The flop brings T96cc. Adam leads for 1,000. He has just over 2,000 left. I set him in. When he doesn’t instant-call I know where we’re at. But, with a resigned look he makes the call with Jacks. Ace and Queen complete the board and we lose our first player.
I have over 10,000 after 45 minutes. Now this is what I’m talking about !
You may also find it is better to read it on the Gutshot forum blog where I will post the same content but there the page is wider and I can use card icons to make it easier to read.
http://www.gutshot.com/bforum/blog.php?u=13218
Anyway, here goes. You may already know the ending of course.
________________________________________________
WSOP 2009 Event #54, $1,500 No Limit Hold’em. 3 Day Event, 29th June 2009
I come into this event with a 0/6 record in WSOP bracelet events that I have played in the last 4 years. I have been somewhat deep before – late in the first day – but never threatened to make the money. I am sure that I am better player than when I first played in 2005 and exited in level 1 after flopping the second nuts, but am I good enough or lucky enough to break my duck ?
Things start well when I actually get into the event unlike dozens (maybe hundreds) who attempt to buy in after the event sells out at 10pm on the day before. I assume there would have been over 3,000 runners if the event were not capped at 2,818 runners. 2,800 was the official cap and I can only assume the last 18 were at the TD’s last-minute discretion.
I start the event in confident mood. It is hard to put your finger on exactly what experience of a WSOP event buys you over a player with the same skill, but playing his first event. But there is something there, for sure, and one factor is that it’s not quite a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so we have the willingness to put our tournament on the line. Against that, I am still trying to get a result so I am obviously not wanting to donk out.
I do feel confident, though, and confidence is important. Let’s go !
I play tight, obviously, in the very early running. I make a conscious effort to try to profile the table. I still remember Richard Gryko’s advice on the topic on the forum. I cannot begin to approach his skill at immediately getting a take on the players but who do we have:
Seat1: Adam – recognises my Gutshot logo and asks about the club. I tell him to check out the Spirit of Gutshot at The International. He’s obviously not a very experienced live player or else he would know that the Clerkenwell club had to close, even if he never played there. But he looks fairly comfortable so I rate him as a somewhat solid opponent. Unfortunately I am often only able to classify people as “somewhat solid”. I guess it is better than nothing.
Seat2: is wearing sunglasses-with-headphones combo and wearing a “degenerate gambler” shirt. As play goes on I see that he doesn’t play position that well.
Seat3: American with grey hair and moustache. Call it stereotyping, but I find these players to play predictable holdings and to be rather passive. Their play on late streets is very readable.
Seat4: Mike Eise, winner of this year’s Event #28. He is not a professional (lack of logos, and just his table demeanour). His play does not seem fearsome, but I credit him with being a good player. In my opinion, notwithstanding the luck element, you do not win a 3,000-runner event over 3 days without being a decent player. I did not immediately recognise him, but the bracelet on his wrist was a giveaway and I asked him at the break which event it was (that is a polite way of asking “who the heck are you?”. I looked up his name later).
Seat 5: Showed up late, Latin American with a “Toronto” cap. Looked hungover. Not a threat.
Seat6: “Nike” and sunglasses. Seemed tight-aggressive and a smart bettor. Decent player. Play him in position only.
Seat7: "California". Lots of mixed logos on the hat and shirt but definitely "customer bought". Talked about his WSOP and WPT events of the past. Clearly a regular attendee of these kinds on events but no talk of great success. Seemed as time went on to play somewhat weakly (in the sense of not applying maximum pressure).
Seats 8 & 9. Very obviously tight.
Seat 10: Lunatic, wearing team gutshot logos, foreign accent, has his own “H-Bomb cards”. Doesn’t look like he will last long.
First Level 25/50. 4,500 starting chips. 2,818 runners
We started with 4,500 chips so the fact is we are deep-stacked in Level One. I fold for a whole orbit, then raise Nike (who limped UTG) with 8h7d. I flop a pair on the Q74ss board, but decide to check one street. I call 300 when the Qs falls but give up when he fires the river as well.
I am back to 3,825 when the first key hand occurs. I limp with 5h5c and then, when Mike Eise raises to 200 out of the small blind, I call with set odds and position.
The flop comes 865, all red. OK. Bottom set. Am I prepared to go broke on this hand ? Yes is the answer. Mike Eise leads for a slightly more than the pot: 600 is the bet.
I have 3,625 left at this point and the pot is currently 1,100 before my action. I can’t be too worried about the flush or straight draw, as such, but I think the key is that I may represent a draw myself and I don't want scare cards to kill the action. I am only thinking about how best to get all the money in.
I opt for the raise to 1,600 leaving 2,025 behind. Mike Eise sets me in and I SNAP, obviously.
He has black Queens and misses his two outs. Boom #1. With nearly 8,000 chips after 30 minutes I am clearly making a good start.
A short while later, I am in the big blind when short-stacked Mike Eise limps from middle position. The tight small blind reluctantly puts in an extra 25. I look down at two black Aces. “With 250”. Mike shrugs and puts in his whole stack of 850, SB folds and I show him the bad news.
He needs help with pocket 8s and help comes in the shape of a flopped 8. Well, as far as having Aces cracked goes, I’ll take a loss of 850 chips. Mike ends up surviving a few more hours although he will eventually fall in level 4.
Still in Level 1, it is folded to me with Queens on the button. I make it 200 and now soon-to-be-international player Adam makes it 650. I have him about 2-1 covered. I make my plan. He may have Aces or Kings, of course, but I decide I will pay him off on a low flop as I cannot be eliminated. I call planning to probably fold to overcards.
The flop brings T96cc. Adam leads for 1,000. He has just over 2,000 left. I set him in. When he doesn’t instant-call I know where we’re at. But, with a resigned look he makes the call with Jacks. Ace and Queen complete the board and we lose our first player.
I have over 10,000 after 45 minutes. Now this is what I’m talking about !
Comfortably Numb
Got a modicum of sleep this morning after returning from the Venetian in the late early hours. Enough sleep to stop me from wanting to sleep again before I play a little this evening, but still not enough to leave me anything other than pretty knackered by normal standards.
Bit too tired to actually go very far so took the option of getting myself organized here. Spent a good long time tidying up the room and was pleased to find I haven't lost my passport or my plane tickets or any one of a number of things that I had kind of lost track of.
I also was able to account for my money to the last $$ and this was a great delight - partly because I have quite a bit more than I started with, and also because I do take quite a bit of satisfaction in knowing that I have managed to track my bankroll with 100% accuracy so far. In fact, everything was accounted for down to the last banana.
I mention the banana because (a) it seemed amusing and (b) it gives me pleasant memories of the day2 table I was at in the Event #54.
One of the other players (Jansen) had a banana in playand every time he moved in (he was quite short, so it was all in or fold each time for him), his action was to place the banana on top (he had his stacks arranged in a more or less linear fashion with a slight banana-shape curve) and announce all in.
Because of the banana, it was not deemed necessary for him to move any stacks to confirm the all in - the floor ruled on this.
Anyway, I found that all my money and possessions, brought and bought, were all present and correct and this has put me in a very good mood.
I have eaten the banana now, however.
No more tidying up to do here so I shall get to work on the WSOP and Venetian blogs.
Bit too tired to actually go very far so took the option of getting myself organized here. Spent a good long time tidying up the room and was pleased to find I haven't lost my passport or my plane tickets or any one of a number of things that I had kind of lost track of.
I also was able to account for my money to the last $$ and this was a great delight - partly because I have quite a bit more than I started with, and also because I do take quite a bit of satisfaction in knowing that I have managed to track my bankroll with 100% accuracy so far. In fact, everything was accounted for down to the last banana.
I mention the banana because (a) it seemed amusing and (b) it gives me pleasant memories of the day2 table I was at in the Event #54.
One of the other players (Jansen) had a banana in playand every time he moved in (he was quite short, so it was all in or fold each time for him), his action was to place the banana on top (he had his stacks arranged in a more or less linear fashion with a slight banana-shape curve) and announce all in.
Because of the banana, it was not deemed necessary for him to move any stacks to confirm the all in - the floor ruled on this.
Anyway, I found that all my money and possessions, brought and bought, were all present and correct and this has put me in a very good mood.
I have eaten the banana now, however.
No more tidying up to do here so I shall get to work on the WSOP and Venetian blogs.
Wednesday 1 July 2009
H-Bombing at The Venetian 2009 Edition
Last year's episode of "H-bombing at the Venetian" was big on fun, shots and the seven-deuce game, but ultimately rather short on the actual winning the H-bomb way.
After the disappointment of the exit from the $1,500 at the WSOP (admittedly, disappointment of the still-making-my-first-ever-WSOP-cash-which-will-be-on-the-record-forever-and-taking-home-$3k kind of disappointment) I still hadn't had any sleep for about 60 hours but didn't think I could sleep. A conundrum.
Louise said that a few gutshotters were going downtown for drinks and dice which seemed a good option, but something drew me to the conclusion that the best wind-down from an intense poker tournament would be .... a poker tournament. The $120 nightly at the Venetian to be exact. (That "something" begins with "s" and ends with "ickness" I suppose).
After 16hours of folding AQ to a single raise and that kind of thing, I felt that I would be able to unleash my style without fear in this comp. 7,500 chips but a 20minute clock with antes from level 4 -- a true deep & steep. Or deep and vertical really. Ideal, tbh.
Well .... blog to follow as soon as I can muster the energy.
I must say I was blown away by the Venetian itself and remember I already thought the Venetian was the best poker room in Vegas. As to the comp itself, a few people in the game asked me what "H bomb" meant.
It's always hard to put into exact words, of course, but this was a demonstration of H-bombing. I'm going to have to dig deep in the thesaurus to try to articulate just the enormity of the H-firestorm that went down at certain phases of this comp.
If I had played (and ran ... I think running like nuclear fusion is a key element of H-bombing) like that in the WSOP then they probably would have red-flagged the event, awarded me the bracelet and played on for second :)
After the disappointment of the exit from the $1,500 at the WSOP (admittedly, disappointment of the still-making-my-first-ever-WSOP-cash-which-will-be-on-the-record-forever-and-taking-home-$3k kind of disappointment) I still hadn't had any sleep for about 60 hours but didn't think I could sleep. A conundrum.
Louise said that a few gutshotters were going downtown for drinks and dice which seemed a good option, but something drew me to the conclusion that the best wind-down from an intense poker tournament would be .... a poker tournament. The $120 nightly at the Venetian to be exact. (That "something" begins with "s" and ends with "ickness" I suppose).
After 16hours of folding AQ to a single raise and that kind of thing, I felt that I would be able to unleash my style without fear in this comp. 7,500 chips but a 20minute clock with antes from level 4 -- a true deep & steep. Or deep and vertical really. Ideal, tbh.
Well .... blog to follow as soon as I can muster the energy.
I must say I was blown away by the Venetian itself and remember I already thought the Venetian was the best poker room in Vegas. As to the comp itself, a few people in the game asked me what "H bomb" meant.
It's always hard to put into exact words, of course, but this was a demonstration of H-bombing. I'm going to have to dig deep in the thesaurus to try to articulate just the enormity of the H-firestorm that went down at certain phases of this comp.
If I had played (and ran ... I think running like nuclear fusion is a key element of H-bombing) like that in the WSOP then they probably would have red-flagged the event, awarded me the bracelet and played on for second :)
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