Having discovered that “Lightning Poker” was real Texas Hold’em played on an electronic table, I heard that cash games would also be spread. The game was to be $1/2 NLH. Good news indeed after the horror of $5/10 Limit on last year’s cruise.
However, the players didn’t really like the machine and whenever I popped in at the casino in the next few days, it lay silent and empty. I started to doubt I would get my cash game.
Then I bumped into the poker manager (well, the floorman who seemed to deal with poker) and asked about the Sit-n-Go scheduled for the next sea day. “Might not go ahead” he told me. The machine was broken and needed specialist repair. But possibly they would revert to playing with a real dealer.
Next day, not only was the dealer-dealt tournament a “go” but the players were playing cash before the tourney. Apparently these games had been going on for days but since they were running on a blackjack table in the corner of the room, I had not noticed !
Bad beat ? Maybe, although it did mean that my wife was not a poker widow until the latter part of the cruise.
As soon as I sat in this game, I experienced a bit of epiphany. I was genuinely better than most of the other players!
I was running OK, which helped, but the fact was that it seemed I couldn’t lose.
I knew some of the players from the SnGs. None of the payers seemed to be really strong, but there were definitely two groups. The more experienced players played OK, but rather predictably and without sufficient aggression in my opinion.
The others were of a type that I rarely come across at The International. Those were the weak-tight players. They were totally incapable of any moves, it seemed, and completely oblivious to tournament strategy (especially short stacked).
For example, one of these players playing an 8BB stack raised the button for more than half his chips with KQs then genuinely agonised over the call when the BB put him all in for about 3BB more.
This player actually went on to chop the tournament with one equally clueless individual and one of the experienced players. This tells you how soft it was. Mind you, I finished 11th of 12 in this SnG so maybe I shouldn’t comment !
Both types were playing in the cash games along with the occasional passer-by. Those poker newbies mainly played an extreme weak-passive game that was absolutely guaranteed to be a losing proposition.
I am not a strong cash player. Although I do think I am above average in the universe of all cash players, I am not far enough ahead to overcome the rake and poor discipline and come out a consistent winner.
In this game, however, I felt like a pro !
I was still playing my very loose style but instead of just leaking chips, I found I was able to play a lot of flops and generally get paid later in the hands. I found that I could read the players easily.
I did not make the very most of this good situation, but I was making FAR fewer errors than the other players and as we know, poker is a game of the fewest mistakes. Never have I made so many easy and winning calls with Ace-high.
I turned $200 into $650 and then in the 2nd session, $650 into $1,300. Unfortunately the casino threw us out at 2:30am. I would have loved to play all night ! Mind you, the “last few hands” did provoke some crazy plays so I was able to take advantage.
For example, Alan was one of the experienced but predictable players. He was pretty tight pre-flop, but very easy to play on the flop. If he missed, he check-folded or folded to c-bets essentially 100% of the time. Meanwhile if he hit, he would put a lot of money in with a modest made hand like TPGK.
In my opinion he played too passively and somewhat weakly, but his tight hand selection was still enough to make him a generally winning player in this game.
Occasionally, however, he would go mad with a hand. He would put in huge bets preflop with semi-premium hands but not AA/KK. Very exploitable.
And here was another example of his occasional mad plays. I over-limped with Kc9c, and Alan raised to $13 from the button. He announced that he was going all in on the flop no matter what (for about $200 more).
I believed him, so it made it an easy pre-flop call to fit-or-fold. He dispelled any doubt that he would go through with the flop push, by putting it in blind.
When the flop came King high I gladly called the push. Unfortunately he hit running 2pair with his AJ-suited, but I was happy with the decision.
The only problem with the game was that it started late (not till about midnight) and finished early (by about 2:30am). I would have liked to play this game 24/7 !
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Sunday, 9 August 2009
Lightning Strikes Once
Last year I wrote about my painful cruise-ship introduction to limit poker. I played on the “only game in town” principle until I could no longer bear it and resorted to playing blackjack (a game that I barely understand – as several gutshotters can attest to).
Based on last year’s disappointment, my expectations for meaningful poker on this year’s cruise were close to zero. I didn’t even look into it before we set off for Southampton.
My wife (knowing that I would want to play if possible) did check it out, and her web search revealed that “Lightning Poker” would be played aboard ship.
This news barely raised my hopes as my experience is that “poker” games with names that differ from standard nomenclature always turn out to be, in fact, various forms of house games.
They are as close to “proper poker” as video poker, or poker slots. Best case, I thought, Lightning Poker could be an abbreviated form of the game: maybe betting pre-flop followed by dealing all three streets at once (say). I tried to imagine what game I would come up with if I was told it was to be sensibly called “Lightning Poker”.
Still, once at sea, I was pleased to see a Texas Hold’em Sit-n-Go announced and I turned up for that with reasonable expectation that it would actually be poker.
And so it was, and the mystery was solved. “Lightning Poker” turned out to be one of those electronic tables for live-play with no dealer. I have never played such a game before but apparently they were using it for these SnGs and also for a $1/2 No Limit cash game.
Good news!
After a considerable software glitch caused a delayed start, the machine finally powered up and I was quite impressed with the nice solid feel of it all. A big screen in the centre of the felt displayed all the action and the software for betting etc was easy and sensible. The only minor gripe I had was the lack of a slider for bets but I’d easily give it a 9/10 for the interface.
On to the game – it was a 9-man $50 SnG playing 2 places 70/30 after the hefty $10 rake. 3,000 chips starting at 25/50 on a 12-minute clock. With this live/electronic hybrid game it was fairly turbo clock but nothing to complain about really.
What of the other players ? Well the fact is you don’t get novices turning up to these things – you might think that out of 3,600 passengers you would find plenty of poker players but in fact they did not fill the 9 seats and we went off 8-handed.
All the participants were clearly somewhat regular players to seek out the game but after a while it became clear they pretty much all played that very passive game that you often see among less experienced players. I am never completely sure how to counter this but I really like to play aggressively so I decided to really focus on position. I was very tight in early position but on the button I was raising pretty aggressively with any playable holding and then post-flop was able to benefit from the passive and rather predictable play.
This worked out rather well when I re-raised a min-raise from middle position with 86o. The original raiser called the re-raise and the other cold-callers let go. The flop was Q75 rainbow.
The pre-flop “aggressor” bet 250 into 2,250. I called and the turn brought the helpful 4. I raised the next 250 bet (I didn’t dare raise to more than 750). The Queen on the river was helpful as I was not remotely afraid of a house and I was able to get all my money in against his QJ.
By now I was clear that none of the other players was a big threat but of course the 12minute levels go fairly quickly without the rapid play you see online (I am not sure if there was a time limit on players’ actions, but it wasn’t uncommon for a player to not realise it was their go).
The game was very friendly and no one was taking it too seriously (I wasn’t either, except that I was determined to win, especially against this field !). One player who needed to make a trip to the toilet actually asked another eliminated player to take over his cards on the bubble!
Definitely not allowed, but it didn’t seem worth pointing it out. I just put the substitute all-in every hand, confident he couldn’t call under the circumstances.The bubble broke and I found myself in-the-money with a 5-3 chip disadvantage. I immediately squashed talk of a chop (although some of you may say that an even chop in that spot is a +EV proposition). It didn’t last long. First hand, I raised and called his shove with AT. He had a small pair and I hit, to take the lead.
In the next pot, he limped and I checked with the mighty 4-3o. Flop T32 with two clubs. He dwelled a bit then shoved. I called feeling my pair was probably ahead now. So it was, but with 7c5c his play was pretty automatic.
However, a 3 on the turn reduced his outs, and a few moments later my record for electronic tournaments became P1, W1. Hurrah !
Based on last year’s disappointment, my expectations for meaningful poker on this year’s cruise were close to zero. I didn’t even look into it before we set off for Southampton.
My wife (knowing that I would want to play if possible) did check it out, and her web search revealed that “Lightning Poker” would be played aboard ship.
This news barely raised my hopes as my experience is that “poker” games with names that differ from standard nomenclature always turn out to be, in fact, various forms of house games.
They are as close to “proper poker” as video poker, or poker slots. Best case, I thought, Lightning Poker could be an abbreviated form of the game: maybe betting pre-flop followed by dealing all three streets at once (say). I tried to imagine what game I would come up with if I was told it was to be sensibly called “Lightning Poker”.
Still, once at sea, I was pleased to see a Texas Hold’em Sit-n-Go announced and I turned up for that with reasonable expectation that it would actually be poker.
And so it was, and the mystery was solved. “Lightning Poker” turned out to be one of those electronic tables for live-play with no dealer. I have never played such a game before but apparently they were using it for these SnGs and also for a $1/2 No Limit cash game.
Good news!
After a considerable software glitch caused a delayed start, the machine finally powered up and I was quite impressed with the nice solid feel of it all. A big screen in the centre of the felt displayed all the action and the software for betting etc was easy and sensible. The only minor gripe I had was the lack of a slider for bets but I’d easily give it a 9/10 for the interface.
On to the game – it was a 9-man $50 SnG playing 2 places 70/30 after the hefty $10 rake. 3,000 chips starting at 25/50 on a 12-minute clock. With this live/electronic hybrid game it was fairly turbo clock but nothing to complain about really.
What of the other players ? Well the fact is you don’t get novices turning up to these things – you might think that out of 3,600 passengers you would find plenty of poker players but in fact they did not fill the 9 seats and we went off 8-handed.
All the participants were clearly somewhat regular players to seek out the game but after a while it became clear they pretty much all played that very passive game that you often see among less experienced players. I am never completely sure how to counter this but I really like to play aggressively so I decided to really focus on position. I was very tight in early position but on the button I was raising pretty aggressively with any playable holding and then post-flop was able to benefit from the passive and rather predictable play.
This worked out rather well when I re-raised a min-raise from middle position with 86o. The original raiser called the re-raise and the other cold-callers let go. The flop was Q75 rainbow.
The pre-flop “aggressor” bet 250 into 2,250. I called and the turn brought the helpful 4. I raised the next 250 bet (I didn’t dare raise to more than 750). The Queen on the river was helpful as I was not remotely afraid of a house and I was able to get all my money in against his QJ.
By now I was clear that none of the other players was a big threat but of course the 12minute levels go fairly quickly without the rapid play you see online (I am not sure if there was a time limit on players’ actions, but it wasn’t uncommon for a player to not realise it was their go).
The game was very friendly and no one was taking it too seriously (I wasn’t either, except that I was determined to win, especially against this field !). One player who needed to make a trip to the toilet actually asked another eliminated player to take over his cards on the bubble!
Definitely not allowed, but it didn’t seem worth pointing it out. I just put the substitute all-in every hand, confident he couldn’t call under the circumstances.The bubble broke and I found myself in-the-money with a 5-3 chip disadvantage. I immediately squashed talk of a chop (although some of you may say that an even chop in that spot is a +EV proposition). It didn’t last long. First hand, I raised and called his shove with AT. He had a small pair and I hit, to take the lead.
In the next pot, he limped and I checked with the mighty 4-3o. Flop T32 with two clubs. He dwelled a bit then shoved. I called feeling my pair was probably ahead now. So it was, but with 7c5c his play was pretty automatic.
However, a 3 on the turn reduced his outs, and a few moments later my record for electronic tournaments became P1, W1. Hurrah !
Monday, 27 July 2009
HORSE Riding
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 !
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, 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 ....
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