So, I got invited over to a friends house today and to a couple different poker club tournaments. One went badly, the other went significantly better...
I got to Griff's house at around noon, we went and grabbed some sushi and headed over to a poker club to play in a 200 dollar deepstack event. 10,000 starting stacks, 25/50 blinds. The tournament was basically nothing for me, I missed every single flop, the only 2 flops I hit I got burned on, and without winning a single pot, I was eliminated from the tournament. I actually felt sick, partly because of the way the tournament went(I didn't feel like I played badly, and yet I didn't even manage to win a pot...), and partly because it was insanely hot inside the building. So after we got done, I just wanted to go catch a screening of Rescue Dawn and call it a day. Griff on the other hand insisted we go play this apparantly really juicy game, a 50 dollar 2 rebuy no addon event, 4 tables.
After a little co-ercing I decided to go down and play it with him. We sat down, and the starting stacks were 2000 in chips, only rebuy once you're completely bust, and blinds started at 10/20. The first hand everyone folded around to me in the cut-off with 10d/8d, and I brought it in for a raise to 60. It was quickly re-raised by the button to 240, which seemed kind of fishy to me for some reason(the bet itself makes sense, it was just the way he did it), SB called, and I decided to call and see a flop. Good thing too. 8/8/8 was the flop. SB checked, I checked, button fired out a bet. SB went into the tank for quite a while before folding, and I called behind. Turn was a 4. I checked again and button shoved all-in. I insta-called and he mucked his cards when I turned over the 8, then chastised me for calling, which was fine, it's a rebuy tournament and I kind of liked the image that hand set up real early.
After that, I ran really, really cold for the rest of the first 2 hours until break. Not that I didn't get hands, I had premium starting hands. I just missed every flop or got run down. I actually ended the first 2 hours at 4400, but considering how many times I lost 80/20's and 70/30's, I could have easily had well over 10,000. QQ vs 99, lost. QQ vs 88, lost. AK vs A10, lost. 77 vs 33, lost. It was upsetting.
At the break, both Griff and a friend of his that he introduced me to told me they had gone broke, and were taking off. After spending 2 hours at my table, I told them I thought I was going to win, because had it not been for terrible luck, I'd have been killing the tournament already.
We got back inside and I took a hit right away, putting myself down to a fairly low stack, then I won the next 11 pots I entered, and suddenly found myself the 2nd big stack at the table, behind only the tournament chip leader, and running 3rd in the tournament. The 2 of us ran over the table as new players filed in, and suddenly we found ourselves down to final table.
I got to final table 4th in chips actually thanks to a few huge hands that happened on the other table right before the break. Once there I ran card-dead again for a while, but a few players busted and we found ourselves into the money. After that, I continued grinding since I wasn't getting any hands, and suddenly we were 4 handed, me on the big time short stack. At this point the blinds were probably 200/2000/4000, and I had about 13,500 behind. UTG folded and it was to me on the button, so naturally I shoved with J/8 offsuit given this is my only chance to make people fold and steal much needed blinds and antes. The BB looked at his first card and said "That one's real nice", and I held my breath knowing he had just looked at an ace(frankly, that should have been a call regardless, who cares what the other card is?), but he did take a look and then call and roll over AK. The flop was absolute magic. J/J/8, and I doubled up. The next hand, I eliminated that player when my K/10 held up against his J/9, and I had finally found enough chips to play.
3 handed I was still the short stack but with more play infront of me, but the really big stack was making it tough by raising big amounts every time he was button or SB. Finally, he raised to 20,000 with the blinds at 400/2000/4000, and I re-raised all in with 4/4 to 31,000. He went into the tank, and FOLDED. I couldn't beleive the luck there as I scooped a huge pot. The next hand, he raised from the button, and I came over the top with K/10, he called with Q/J, and my K/10 held. 2 hands after that, he was button, he raised big again, this time to 20,000 as well, but held back 6100 for some reason. I took a race off with him with 4/4 again and shoved, he called this time with As/7s. My 44 held and I had eliminated the big chip leader and taken an absolutely huge lead into heads up play.
When we got to heads up, the chip lead was so substantial that the first hand of heads-up I was faced with a decision. The blinds would in essence nearly double her up, so I could call off any two cards and at least fight, giving her a few more chips if I lost, or I could fold and let her walk it(folding was still an option, she would be pushing 2.5x by BB). She obviously shoved and I called with 7/8 to take a shot. She had AQ and the board of A/K/Q/10 was good for her to win the pot.
She then one two more pots in a row and drew close to even with me, then I started applying alot of pressure to her, figuring now she had worked so hard to get the chips she had finally to play with, she'd be unwilling to call off without a premium hand when we're even. Eventually I padded my lead back a little bit that way, until the last hand.
She limped from the SB, and I checked with 10h/5h. The flop was 10s/6h/4h. I checked hoping to trap, and she bet out 24,000(she had about 60,000 infront of her, I had about 85,000). I shoved. She called and rolled over 10h/8c for actually the best hand, but with that many outs and top pair to boot I'm looking to trap. The turn sealed it, 3h. My flush was good, and I took the 1400 dollar first prize, which was a little ironic since I originally didn't even want to play.
After that, I went back to my friend's place and we watched The Butterfly Effect 2, for a hilariously good viewing experience(who doesn't love watching a truly terrible movie with friends? You can have such fun poking fun at the movie...oh ya, and the Erica Durance sex scene was quite nice).
Overall it was a fairly good day.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Hendon Mob Shootout Event #1
So, as I said, today's the first big tournament I'm playing after the downswings post I wrote up. It still hasn't corrected itself, I'm still on the down streak, but I like the tournament's structure so I decided I'd buy straight in and see what happens.
100+9 buyin, 125,000 guaranteed prize pool. 1221 players started us off. 180 cash. 23,750 for first place.
As usual, I take a rotation off to let the movers do their moving, and see where I think I'm at in regards to the table, then get to it. From late position I raise it with 99, and get re-raised by the big blind. The flop coms 10/3/2, he bets out and I call figuring there's a strong chance I'm still good if he's continuation betting with AK, AQ. Turn is a 9, and now I'm in great shape. He checks, and I check behind hoping to spring a trap. The river is the case 9 giving me quads. He checks and I put out a hammer bet, betting the entire pot, and he comes over the top all-in which I obviously instantly called(he had A/Q).
A few hands later, UTG+1 raises, and I smoothe call the very next seat with AA, a very dangerous play considering there's alot of table to act behind me, but I really wanted to play the hand very ninja-like and try and maximize value. Everyone folds. Beautiful. The flop came J/3/2, he bets out I call. Turn is a 3, he bets again I call. River is a 10, he bets out again and I raise him all-in, he calls with AJ.
My 3000 starting stack is now 8200. A few hands later, I'm in the cut-off with 3c/4c, and I raise it up. The BB re-raises me large, and I call with chips behind figuring I can make alot of plays here on the flop. The flop is actually pretty great, 7/3/2 rainbow. I actually now beleive strongly I'm ahead. He fires out pot, pretty much assuring me that I am, and I slam it back all-in. He tanks for a minute or two before calling with AK. I head into first break with 10,500, good for 12th in chips.
Coming back from the break, I kinda flounder around for a long time, and basically head into the 2nd break an hour later with pretty much the same chip stack, not really playing any real pots.
After that break, I come back and finally spike a set(I had seen lots of mid-pairs but never hit when I got into pots with them), and built a few more chips, to 12,500.
A few hands later I limp into a pot that's been limped several ways with 7/7, and the BB with a below average stack shoves it all in. I figure there's a very wide range of hands he'd do that with, and I doubt I'm beat, but probably racing. So I call off and decide to take a race. He has A/8 offsuit, and my 7's hold. 19,000 in chips. A little more strong fundamental play and I get myself over 25,000 in chips, and hovering around the top 25 in chips.
After that, I hit another reasonably dry spell and dip back under 20,000 in time for the 3rd break, nearing the bubble now for money.
After the break, we come back with around 20 people to go for the bubble, my stack still healthy, and im surely cashing, which is a great feeling after this downstreak, so im already not concerned with that, im ready to play a big pot.
I call on the button after 2 EP limps, with As/10c, and the SB tops up, BB checks. The flop is Q/3/3, it is checked all around. Turn is a 10, and the SB bets out a fairly small bet as compared to the pot(2800 vs 5000 in the pot), so I decide to call off once. River, gin. 10. He fires out 4500, and I raise to 10,000, which he calls(holding a slow played 3), and I scoop a huge pot to put myself right back into the top 20 and in the running to go deep in this tournament with 34,500.
Bubble breaks thank god so we can start playing at a normal pace again, hand for hand in these takes forever.
After that it was a grind, just basically keeping myself afloat, not really picking up hands worth playing big pots with so stealing blinds here and there and keeping the chips right about where they are, as we dipped under 100 players, with me still hovering around 34,000 in chips.
The next big pot I play is kind of sick. We're at the level of 250/1000/2000, and UTG straight raises my BB to 4000, I call with A/6 off, he has 10,200 behind, and the flop is Q/J/6. I fire out at the pot, and he re-raises all in, which sucks, but the pot's laying me 5 to 1 to call at this point, so I call hoping to catch a 2nd pair. Instead? He's holding AA so my ace is a dead card. I have 2 outs. Which apparantly is more than enough outs for me, since a 6 spikes on the river, and suddenly I'm at 48,000 in chips.
I grinded it out for a fairly long time, and eventually found myself getting towards a short stack, I had been under average for a while, 33,000 with the blinds at 300/1200/2400. It was folded around to me with Ah/Jh on the button so I popped it to 6000. SB re-raised me all in. I went into the tank, and called time, eventually deciding his range was too big to fold to that bet, and calling off with AJ. He rolled over A/8 to my excitement, and my AJ held, doubling up to 70,000 in chips, and a spot in the top 20 out of the 56 players left again.
After that I lost a big pot when I had 10/10, raised preflop UTG, and got called by the SB. The flop came Ac/7c/3c, he checked to me so I decided to make one continuation stab, and bet 12,000 into the 16,000 chip pot, and he shoved back at me, forcing me to fold.
After that, and a couple rounds of the puck, I found myself on the short stack again, with 34,000, and blinds really growing with around 40 players left. UTG+2 raised it up preflop, and I shoved over the top with 7/7. He called with A/Q and turned the broadway straight to win the pot.
And that was it, 41st place, 360 dollars earned. Not as good as it might have been, but a good result all the same, and moreso, a real confidence booster considering my last post about the down swing. I'm really happy. Still unsure if I'll play the Pot Limit HA event tomorrow(Hold'Em and Omaha) which is also a Hendon Mob Event or not...I have my new TV being delivered tomorrow so I may not be able to do it, either because I'll still be waiting for the delivery, or I'll be attached to the 61" High Definition display...one of those 2 reasons likely.
100+9 buyin, 125,000 guaranteed prize pool. 1221 players started us off. 180 cash. 23,750 for first place.
As usual, I take a rotation off to let the movers do their moving, and see where I think I'm at in regards to the table, then get to it. From late position I raise it with 99, and get re-raised by the big blind. The flop coms 10/3/2, he bets out and I call figuring there's a strong chance I'm still good if he's continuation betting with AK, AQ. Turn is a 9, and now I'm in great shape. He checks, and I check behind hoping to spring a trap. The river is the case 9 giving me quads. He checks and I put out a hammer bet, betting the entire pot, and he comes over the top all-in which I obviously instantly called(he had A/Q).
A few hands later, UTG+1 raises, and I smoothe call the very next seat with AA, a very dangerous play considering there's alot of table to act behind me, but I really wanted to play the hand very ninja-like and try and maximize value. Everyone folds. Beautiful. The flop came J/3/2, he bets out I call. Turn is a 3, he bets again I call. River is a 10, he bets out again and I raise him all-in, he calls with AJ.
My 3000 starting stack is now 8200. A few hands later, I'm in the cut-off with 3c/4c, and I raise it up. The BB re-raises me large, and I call with chips behind figuring I can make alot of plays here on the flop. The flop is actually pretty great, 7/3/2 rainbow. I actually now beleive strongly I'm ahead. He fires out pot, pretty much assuring me that I am, and I slam it back all-in. He tanks for a minute or two before calling with AK. I head into first break with 10,500, good for 12th in chips.
Coming back from the break, I kinda flounder around for a long time, and basically head into the 2nd break an hour later with pretty much the same chip stack, not really playing any real pots.
After that break, I come back and finally spike a set(I had seen lots of mid-pairs but never hit when I got into pots with them), and built a few more chips, to 12,500.
A few hands later I limp into a pot that's been limped several ways with 7/7, and the BB with a below average stack shoves it all in. I figure there's a very wide range of hands he'd do that with, and I doubt I'm beat, but probably racing. So I call off and decide to take a race. He has A/8 offsuit, and my 7's hold. 19,000 in chips. A little more strong fundamental play and I get myself over 25,000 in chips, and hovering around the top 25 in chips.
After that, I hit another reasonably dry spell and dip back under 20,000 in time for the 3rd break, nearing the bubble now for money.
After the break, we come back with around 20 people to go for the bubble, my stack still healthy, and im surely cashing, which is a great feeling after this downstreak, so im already not concerned with that, im ready to play a big pot.
I call on the button after 2 EP limps, with As/10c, and the SB tops up, BB checks. The flop is Q/3/3, it is checked all around. Turn is a 10, and the SB bets out a fairly small bet as compared to the pot(2800 vs 5000 in the pot), so I decide to call off once. River, gin. 10. He fires out 4500, and I raise to 10,000, which he calls(holding a slow played 3), and I scoop a huge pot to put myself right back into the top 20 and in the running to go deep in this tournament with 34,500.
Bubble breaks thank god so we can start playing at a normal pace again, hand for hand in these takes forever.
After that it was a grind, just basically keeping myself afloat, not really picking up hands worth playing big pots with so stealing blinds here and there and keeping the chips right about where they are, as we dipped under 100 players, with me still hovering around 34,000 in chips.
The next big pot I play is kind of sick. We're at the level of 250/1000/2000, and UTG straight raises my BB to 4000, I call with A/6 off, he has 10,200 behind, and the flop is Q/J/6. I fire out at the pot, and he re-raises all in, which sucks, but the pot's laying me 5 to 1 to call at this point, so I call hoping to catch a 2nd pair. Instead? He's holding AA so my ace is a dead card. I have 2 outs. Which apparantly is more than enough outs for me, since a 6 spikes on the river, and suddenly I'm at 48,000 in chips.
I grinded it out for a fairly long time, and eventually found myself getting towards a short stack, I had been under average for a while, 33,000 with the blinds at 300/1200/2400. It was folded around to me with Ah/Jh on the button so I popped it to 6000. SB re-raised me all in. I went into the tank, and called time, eventually deciding his range was too big to fold to that bet, and calling off with AJ. He rolled over A/8 to my excitement, and my AJ held, doubling up to 70,000 in chips, and a spot in the top 20 out of the 56 players left again.
After that I lost a big pot when I had 10/10, raised preflop UTG, and got called by the SB. The flop came Ac/7c/3c, he checked to me so I decided to make one continuation stab, and bet 12,000 into the 16,000 chip pot, and he shoved back at me, forcing me to fold.
After that, and a couple rounds of the puck, I found myself on the short stack again, with 34,000, and blinds really growing with around 40 players left. UTG+2 raised it up preflop, and I shoved over the top with 7/7. He called with A/Q and turned the broadway straight to win the pot.
And that was it, 41st place, 360 dollars earned. Not as good as it might have been, but a good result all the same, and moreso, a real confidence booster considering my last post about the down swing. I'm really happy. Still unsure if I'll play the Pot Limit HA event tomorrow(Hold'Em and Omaha) which is also a Hendon Mob Event or not...I have my new TV being delivered tomorrow so I may not be able to do it, either because I'll still be waiting for the delivery, or I'll be attached to the 61" High Definition display...one of those 2 reasons likely.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Downswings...the curse of the devil himself.
Poker's a fun game right? I started playing this game 2 and a half years ago in my kitchen, being taught by my friend and his girlfriend, and I was laughing. Having a good time. I was winning too. Weird how things change.
I went through phazes. There was a phaze when I started playing live poker, thankfully it was a free bar league, where I was schooled by people playing way above my level. This was back when 2 face cards meant I was golden, and the idea of laying down AK, or JJ was so alien to me I would literally strike someone for suggesting it.
Suffice it to say, I sucked. But, I learned. I talked to friends, one in particular who ran the free bar league(who is now a poker analyst for Pokerstars...congrats Sonny), and I slowly learned. I got better, and better, and better. I got to the point where folding KK preflop wasn't all that hard for me if given the right situation. I got to the point where my reads were typically correct, and I felt like I was a winning player.
I finally travelled, went to Las Vegas Nevada and played down there for 2 weeks, nearly straight, burned myself out worse than I've ever been before(and I already keep weird sleep schedules, infact I'm writing this at 3:30am). I won though, alot. I came back up a fair bit, including cashing in my first ever WSOP event. I felt like I had proven to myself I could play.
I got home, and put some of that money on Pokerstars. Decided to devote alot of time to online poker. How has that worked out?
Go to www.officialpokerrankings.com and search for "kevvybrown" under Pokerstars game room. Here, I'll save you the time, here's the important number :
My prize money earned since I got back? 25 bucks. My profit? Well, let's say it's not a profit at all. My ROI(Return on Ivestment), is at for those of you who are also big time poker players, a cringe-inducing, -90%. My results? Well in 14 tournaments I've cashed once...for 25 bucks. That's a 7% success rate for cashing. And that was a 7th place finish. The sickest part? I consider myself a better tournament player than cash game player. The last 2 tournaments I played in, I finished on the bubble.
Why do I bring this all up? Well, alot of what I've done on this blog has been talking specifically about my results by actually fundamentally going into details about my sessions. Today's not that at all. I'm not going to relive these tournaments, I'm going to express in my opinions, what a downswing can mean to a poker player, and what can be done to deal with it.
Downswings for someone whose fully competitive about this game can be the sickest feeling in the world. At first you just feel like it's a dry spell coming to get you, and you're getting unlucky. After a while, that goes by the wayside and you start questioning yourself : "How can I be that unlucky? What am I doing wrong? I don't think I'm making mistakes...does that mean I'm just a bad player?"
After a while, you get to the point I've been at, where I'll actually steam. During the event. Because as soon as I lose one pot, I start to despise the entire game of poker again and feel like it's only a matter of time before it strikes me down again. It happened in the Pot Limit event I played last night, I flopped top 2 pair, and this guy called me down with top pair, and backdoored a runner-runner flush to knock me down just below the average chip stack. I absolutely fumed. I typed in a profanity laced swear-a-thon to a friend on MSN about how poker was making me her bitch. I actually doubled up 3 hands later, and still couldn't shake that feeling that poker was still coming to get me. Sure enough, it did in a way, right near the bubble I raised with Ah/Jh, got called, and saw a flop of Jc/7h/3h, a massive flop. I got my money all in, against QQ. And didn't improve. Afterwards, again my mind steemed. "Why did he smoothe call with QQ preflop? If he re-raises I can get rid of the hand maybe. How can I possibly run this badly?"
So, I did what any poker player does, I started reading around. I actually ironically saw a thread on this on jackseven. I saw suggestions for articles on pocketfives, and read them all. I searched out other articles and read them. I kept playing today, but not tournaments, I tried my hand at some cash games, and did very well, turned a big profit today.
What's the driving force behind a downswing. I think it's alot of things. First of all, math is a cruel beast. If mathamatically you're a winning player, and do well on average, there will be times when you run really well(just ask fishbones!), and times you run really badly(just ask me!). Presumably, if you flip a coin an infinite number of times, 50% of the time it'll land heads, 50% tails. But, that's an average, not a finite number. It's not going to go heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, etc. There may be a point where you flip that coin 400 times and it comes up heads every single time. Variance is cruel. What's worse? For a poker player that prides themselves on being "ahead of the curve" or "ahead of the game", variance provides doubt. Suddenly your amazing play and your winning style, hasn't won jack squat in 2 months. Suddenly you're asking yourself if you're really all that good. And suddenly, you start going into poker games prepared to lose, which as anyone reading this can pretty much tell you, means you're going to lose.
So, what can be done. I remember, of all pros I met(alot of which I didn't name in this blog), while I was down in Vegas, the one meeting that sticks the most with me, was Erik Lindgren(E-Dog to the poker world). Erik Lindgren is a near model of consistency in that every year he's reporting million dollar profits. I remember asking him, "How do you keep consistently doing well during a down swing?", and his response was the one thing a pro said to me down there that I'll never forget. "All I can do is play well enough to give myself a chance to get lucky. Keep yourself alive as long as you can in a tournament, and you maximize the chances of you getting lucky, or picking up a big hand."
It brought me back to my own experience in that WSOP Event. 14 hours Day 1, never saw AA, only saw KK once, when a really short stack pushed into me. Never saw QQ. Only saw AK once. Only saw AQ once. Saw JJ a couple times and play most of my biggest pots with that hand.
But yet, 3151 players started, and 184 players remained when I was eliminated. Never made a full-house. Only made the nuts once the entire tournament, and it was my J/10 vs 99 race when I rivered broadway. So, when Erik said that, all that ran through my head, and I just looked at him and thanked him for his time, feeling like he had re-assured my feeling on this subject.
Poker's variance, it's bad beats and tough breaks. You'll give them and you'll take them. All you can do is keep putting yourself in chances to get lucky, or to win hands, and eventually you'll start winning them. Riding a downswing out can be one of the sickest things, I'm still trying to cash again in an online tournament, hopefully that'll be Thursday Night when I play the Hendon Mob Shootout Event #1 on Full Tilt Poker, 100 dollar buyin, 125k guarantee prize pool. Even if it's not, I look back at my old Full Tilt account, and see the numbers. 35% of tournaments cashed in. Profits in the positives. ROI of 53%(231% for Pot Limit and Limit tournaments), 14/41 cashes. Much more along the lines of what I expect, and realize that there'll be a point where my pokerstars account should correct itself, and where I'll start doing well on that site. I've been close a few times, and I've ran into a few bad setups. All I can do, as Erik told me, is keep putting myself in positions to get lucky, and to go deep, and eventually it'll take it's course for me.
Hopefully, for whoever might read this, they find that at least somewhat theraputic, I know I did when writing it, but that might be because I'm writing it and working through some of this. Tonight's cash game session was a big plus, it actually put me back to where I was before the down-swing. All that's left is a few tournament cashes, hopefully sooner than later, but I've found a peace about where I am in this swing that I desperately needed 2 days ago, and for that I thank all the people mentioned(pocket 5's and the jackseven crew) for giving me opinions to read and stories to relate to, and realize that everyone goes through this. In that way, all poker players are the same, we all find ourselves yearning for the days when this was a fun game. And as soon as that big cash finally comes, we'll all realize that the game is still fun...even if it is cruel at times.
I went through phazes. There was a phaze when I started playing live poker, thankfully it was a free bar league, where I was schooled by people playing way above my level. This was back when 2 face cards meant I was golden, and the idea of laying down AK, or JJ was so alien to me I would literally strike someone for suggesting it.
Suffice it to say, I sucked. But, I learned. I talked to friends, one in particular who ran the free bar league(who is now a poker analyst for Pokerstars...congrats Sonny), and I slowly learned. I got better, and better, and better. I got to the point where folding KK preflop wasn't all that hard for me if given the right situation. I got to the point where my reads were typically correct, and I felt like I was a winning player.
I finally travelled, went to Las Vegas Nevada and played down there for 2 weeks, nearly straight, burned myself out worse than I've ever been before(and I already keep weird sleep schedules, infact I'm writing this at 3:30am). I won though, alot. I came back up a fair bit, including cashing in my first ever WSOP event. I felt like I had proven to myself I could play.
I got home, and put some of that money on Pokerstars. Decided to devote alot of time to online poker. How has that worked out?
Go to www.officialpokerrankings.com and search for "kevvybrown" under Pokerstars game room. Here, I'll save you the time, here's the important number :
My prize money earned since I got back? 25 bucks. My profit? Well, let's say it's not a profit at all. My ROI(Return on Ivestment), is at for those of you who are also big time poker players, a cringe-inducing, -90%. My results? Well in 14 tournaments I've cashed once...for 25 bucks. That's a 7% success rate for cashing. And that was a 7th place finish. The sickest part? I consider myself a better tournament player than cash game player. The last 2 tournaments I played in, I finished on the bubble.
Why do I bring this all up? Well, alot of what I've done on this blog has been talking specifically about my results by actually fundamentally going into details about my sessions. Today's not that at all. I'm not going to relive these tournaments, I'm going to express in my opinions, what a downswing can mean to a poker player, and what can be done to deal with it.
Downswings for someone whose fully competitive about this game can be the sickest feeling in the world. At first you just feel like it's a dry spell coming to get you, and you're getting unlucky. After a while, that goes by the wayside and you start questioning yourself : "How can I be that unlucky? What am I doing wrong? I don't think I'm making mistakes...does that mean I'm just a bad player?"
After a while, you get to the point I've been at, where I'll actually steam. During the event. Because as soon as I lose one pot, I start to despise the entire game of poker again and feel like it's only a matter of time before it strikes me down again. It happened in the Pot Limit event I played last night, I flopped top 2 pair, and this guy called me down with top pair, and backdoored a runner-runner flush to knock me down just below the average chip stack. I absolutely fumed. I typed in a profanity laced swear-a-thon to a friend on MSN about how poker was making me her bitch. I actually doubled up 3 hands later, and still couldn't shake that feeling that poker was still coming to get me. Sure enough, it did in a way, right near the bubble I raised with Ah/Jh, got called, and saw a flop of Jc/7h/3h, a massive flop. I got my money all in, against QQ. And didn't improve. Afterwards, again my mind steemed. "Why did he smoothe call with QQ preflop? If he re-raises I can get rid of the hand maybe. How can I possibly run this badly?"
So, I did what any poker player does, I started reading around. I actually ironically saw a thread on this on jackseven. I saw suggestions for articles on pocketfives, and read them all. I searched out other articles and read them. I kept playing today, but not tournaments, I tried my hand at some cash games, and did very well, turned a big profit today.
What's the driving force behind a downswing. I think it's alot of things. First of all, math is a cruel beast. If mathamatically you're a winning player, and do well on average, there will be times when you run really well(just ask fishbones!), and times you run really badly(just ask me!). Presumably, if you flip a coin an infinite number of times, 50% of the time it'll land heads, 50% tails. But, that's an average, not a finite number. It's not going to go heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, tails, etc. There may be a point where you flip that coin 400 times and it comes up heads every single time. Variance is cruel. What's worse? For a poker player that prides themselves on being "ahead of the curve" or "ahead of the game", variance provides doubt. Suddenly your amazing play and your winning style, hasn't won jack squat in 2 months. Suddenly you're asking yourself if you're really all that good. And suddenly, you start going into poker games prepared to lose, which as anyone reading this can pretty much tell you, means you're going to lose.
So, what can be done. I remember, of all pros I met(alot of which I didn't name in this blog), while I was down in Vegas, the one meeting that sticks the most with me, was Erik Lindgren(E-Dog to the poker world). Erik Lindgren is a near model of consistency in that every year he's reporting million dollar profits. I remember asking him, "How do you keep consistently doing well during a down swing?", and his response was the one thing a pro said to me down there that I'll never forget. "All I can do is play well enough to give myself a chance to get lucky. Keep yourself alive as long as you can in a tournament, and you maximize the chances of you getting lucky, or picking up a big hand."
It brought me back to my own experience in that WSOP Event. 14 hours Day 1, never saw AA, only saw KK once, when a really short stack pushed into me. Never saw QQ. Only saw AK once. Only saw AQ once. Saw JJ a couple times and play most of my biggest pots with that hand.
But yet, 3151 players started, and 184 players remained when I was eliminated. Never made a full-house. Only made the nuts once the entire tournament, and it was my J/10 vs 99 race when I rivered broadway. So, when Erik said that, all that ran through my head, and I just looked at him and thanked him for his time, feeling like he had re-assured my feeling on this subject.
Poker's variance, it's bad beats and tough breaks. You'll give them and you'll take them. All you can do is keep putting yourself in chances to get lucky, or to win hands, and eventually you'll start winning them. Riding a downswing out can be one of the sickest things, I'm still trying to cash again in an online tournament, hopefully that'll be Thursday Night when I play the Hendon Mob Shootout Event #1 on Full Tilt Poker, 100 dollar buyin, 125k guarantee prize pool. Even if it's not, I look back at my old Full Tilt account, and see the numbers. 35% of tournaments cashed in. Profits in the positives. ROI of 53%(231% for Pot Limit and Limit tournaments), 14/41 cashes. Much more along the lines of what I expect, and realize that there'll be a point where my pokerstars account should correct itself, and where I'll start doing well on that site. I've been close a few times, and I've ran into a few bad setups. All I can do, as Erik told me, is keep putting myself in positions to get lucky, and to go deep, and eventually it'll take it's course for me.
Hopefully, for whoever might read this, they find that at least somewhat theraputic, I know I did when writing it, but that might be because I'm writing it and working through some of this. Tonight's cash game session was a big plus, it actually put me back to where I was before the down-swing. All that's left is a few tournament cashes, hopefully sooner than later, but I've found a peace about where I am in this swing that I desperately needed 2 days ago, and for that I thank all the people mentioned(pocket 5's and the jackseven crew) for giving me opinions to read and stories to relate to, and realize that everyone goes through this. In that way, all poker players are the same, we all find ourselves yearning for the days when this was a fun game. And as soon as that big cash finally comes, we'll all realize that the game is still fun...even if it is cruel at times.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Casino Niagara, then some online poker...
Been a while since I did one of these, and I got some requests so since I played alot of poker yesterday, I figured I'd write one up.
One of my best friends came back from Calgary for the week as a vacation to visit family, so we decided to make a casino trip down to the old Casino Niagara, along with another close friend of ours. We got there and saw one of the weirdest sights I've seen in that casino, 3 tables open. Now admittedly it's been a long time since I've been there, but I remember their card room being full pretty much any time I ever went there when I used to frequent it.
So eventually I get onto a 1/2 NL table and buyin for 100(Niagara caps their 1/2 games at 100 max buyin which I despise), and pretty much everyone at the table knows everyone, it's rather obvious most of them basically live at the casino. So when I sit down I take the usual approach of taking a rotation off to get a feel for the table, once I feel good about my general idea of the table's play style, I bring it in for a small raise to 7 UTG with 4/4. Now, typically I hate raising in early position with a low pair like that, but I had 2 reasons for it. 1, the table's play was rather weak and tight so I didn't figure a re-raise would be coming without a really premium hand. 2, it builds a pot on the off chance I spike a 4. I pick up 3 callers and we see a flop, Q/9/4 rainbow. I check, and the next player bets 20 bucks. That gets called, and then called again, so being already kinda short, and there being a straight draw out there, I raise it up to 50 straight. There are 2 folds, and then the last caller calls again. The turn is a blank, a 3, and he checks to me. Since I already have 168 in the pot and only hold 45 behind, I just shove that in, and he goes into the tank before folding. After that one of the players asks to buy a reveal from me for a dollar. I haggle him up to 5, knowing full well it's giving him no information since I'd never play 4/4 UTG like that, so eventually I show it after he pays me 5 bucks to see.
Time passes and I pick up alot of dead money and build a healthy stack well over 220, before the next really big hand comes up.
There's a raise to 7 preflop, and about 4 callers, I call behind with Kh/Jh, and we all see a flop of J/9/8 rainbow. There's a 15 dollar bet, and everyone calls to me, so I call as well. The turn is where I know we're getting ready to play a big pot not, 10 of hearts, putting the heart flush draw out there. The initial better fires 30 now, and then there's a quick re-raise all in to 85 and it folds to me. There's 247 in the pot, and I have to call 85 into it, with the opportunity of another 55 coming in behind me if the initial better calls this. I study the initial better and decide he is calling, so I call. He then prompty folds, which makes this a real borderline call. The player turns over KQ for the stone cold nuts, now a Q doesn't even win it just chops for me, all I have is hearts. No heart on the river and I'm back down to 45 dollars or so.
A few hands later I'm in the BB, it folds around to the button who raises to 12, SB folds and I look at AK and shove in the 52 in my posession. He goes into the tank, joking with friends and shows me A/10 and goes, "I'm gonna call you, I think you have mid-pair". I smile and respond with a simple, "Thanks", and roll over the AK, which prompts the 3 players sitting beside him to all announce they folded 10's, meaning he's drawing stone dead to a 4 flush since he's offsuit. My hand obviously holds and I'm back where I started.
The next big pot I could have played, but wound up out of, was kind of dirty. UTG+1 raises to 15, I call with 99, then a late position player(actually my friend from Calgary), shoves in for 37. The SB re-shoves to 150(or somewhere in that range), and the UTG+1 player calls. I laugh and fold the 99 face up. The flop naturally comes Q/9/4, and my 9's would have cracked the AA, AK, AQ for near a 500 dollar pot. Oh well. I was still right, I knew SB had aces and he did.
A short time later I stack off, when I lose a bunch of small pots and find myself down to 40 bucks, and then lose the last of my money when I shove on a flush draw and get called by top pair which holds.
Oh well, we go to a video roulette table and I make the money back, cashing out for 120, so no loss.
I get home and feel like I wanna play some more poker, so I buy in to a 2/4 NL table for 300 on pokerstars, and just grind it for about 30 minutes before I experience a nice card rush.
First hand is AK, I raise, get 2 callers, flop comes A high I bet and everyone folds.
Next hand is AQ, I raise, get 3 callers, flop comes Q high, I bet and everyone folds.
Next hand is QQ, I raise, get 3 callers, flop comes 9 high, I bet and everyone folds.
That's consecutively, so I'm fairly certain that people are going to be tired of that and be looking to fight back if I enter this pot, so with my stack at 370 I could not have been happier to see the hand that they were going to fight back against.
AA.
So, UTG limps, and I raise it up UTG+1, unfortunately, everyone folds, except UTG who still comes along for the ride. I'm praying he's looking to take a stand on this flop.
Flop is 7/7/8.
He checks, and I fire 20 bucks, he raises to 52 dollars, and I call, figuring he might have an 8, or another overpair like 99 or 10/10.
Turn is sickness, an 8.
He fires 58 dollars. Now I go into the tank for a minute because the double paired board is scary. But, in my mind I figured if you thought I was playing agressively or like a maniac, if you spiked a 7 would you raise me on the flop? It'd make more sense to call and check the turn to me, at least in my eyes. As for an 8...why lead now when you have the nuts and again, I am, in their opinion, a maniac whose raising and betting every flop. So, I call.
The river is a 6, kind of a blank although there's a real, real outside chance he has 6/6 or 9/10 and now has me.
He fires 108 dollars at the pot now. I go into the tank for a long time, and finally say in the chat, "I only beat a bluff, but I can't help but think that's what this is", and I call off. He shows Qd/10d for bupkis, and I scoop the 450 dollar pot.
I eventually cash out from that table with 670 dollars, a profit of 370. Not too shabby.
One of my best friends came back from Calgary for the week as a vacation to visit family, so we decided to make a casino trip down to the old Casino Niagara, along with another close friend of ours. We got there and saw one of the weirdest sights I've seen in that casino, 3 tables open. Now admittedly it's been a long time since I've been there, but I remember their card room being full pretty much any time I ever went there when I used to frequent it.
So eventually I get onto a 1/2 NL table and buyin for 100(Niagara caps their 1/2 games at 100 max buyin which I despise), and pretty much everyone at the table knows everyone, it's rather obvious most of them basically live at the casino. So when I sit down I take the usual approach of taking a rotation off to get a feel for the table, once I feel good about my general idea of the table's play style, I bring it in for a small raise to 7 UTG with 4/4. Now, typically I hate raising in early position with a low pair like that, but I had 2 reasons for it. 1, the table's play was rather weak and tight so I didn't figure a re-raise would be coming without a really premium hand. 2, it builds a pot on the off chance I spike a 4. I pick up 3 callers and we see a flop, Q/9/4 rainbow. I check, and the next player bets 20 bucks. That gets called, and then called again, so being already kinda short, and there being a straight draw out there, I raise it up to 50 straight. There are 2 folds, and then the last caller calls again. The turn is a blank, a 3, and he checks to me. Since I already have 168 in the pot and only hold 45 behind, I just shove that in, and he goes into the tank before folding. After that one of the players asks to buy a reveal from me for a dollar. I haggle him up to 5, knowing full well it's giving him no information since I'd never play 4/4 UTG like that, so eventually I show it after he pays me 5 bucks to see.
Time passes and I pick up alot of dead money and build a healthy stack well over 220, before the next really big hand comes up.
There's a raise to 7 preflop, and about 4 callers, I call behind with Kh/Jh, and we all see a flop of J/9/8 rainbow. There's a 15 dollar bet, and everyone calls to me, so I call as well. The turn is where I know we're getting ready to play a big pot not, 10 of hearts, putting the heart flush draw out there. The initial better fires 30 now, and then there's a quick re-raise all in to 85 and it folds to me. There's 247 in the pot, and I have to call 85 into it, with the opportunity of another 55 coming in behind me if the initial better calls this. I study the initial better and decide he is calling, so I call. He then prompty folds, which makes this a real borderline call. The player turns over KQ for the stone cold nuts, now a Q doesn't even win it just chops for me, all I have is hearts. No heart on the river and I'm back down to 45 dollars or so.
A few hands later I'm in the BB, it folds around to the button who raises to 12, SB folds and I look at AK and shove in the 52 in my posession. He goes into the tank, joking with friends and shows me A/10 and goes, "I'm gonna call you, I think you have mid-pair". I smile and respond with a simple, "Thanks", and roll over the AK, which prompts the 3 players sitting beside him to all announce they folded 10's, meaning he's drawing stone dead to a 4 flush since he's offsuit. My hand obviously holds and I'm back where I started.
The next big pot I could have played, but wound up out of, was kind of dirty. UTG+1 raises to 15, I call with 99, then a late position player(actually my friend from Calgary), shoves in for 37. The SB re-shoves to 150(or somewhere in that range), and the UTG+1 player calls. I laugh and fold the 99 face up. The flop naturally comes Q/9/4, and my 9's would have cracked the AA, AK, AQ for near a 500 dollar pot. Oh well. I was still right, I knew SB had aces and he did.
A short time later I stack off, when I lose a bunch of small pots and find myself down to 40 bucks, and then lose the last of my money when I shove on a flush draw and get called by top pair which holds.
Oh well, we go to a video roulette table and I make the money back, cashing out for 120, so no loss.
I get home and feel like I wanna play some more poker, so I buy in to a 2/4 NL table for 300 on pokerstars, and just grind it for about 30 minutes before I experience a nice card rush.
First hand is AK, I raise, get 2 callers, flop comes A high I bet and everyone folds.
Next hand is AQ, I raise, get 3 callers, flop comes Q high, I bet and everyone folds.
Next hand is QQ, I raise, get 3 callers, flop comes 9 high, I bet and everyone folds.
That's consecutively, so I'm fairly certain that people are going to be tired of that and be looking to fight back if I enter this pot, so with my stack at 370 I could not have been happier to see the hand that they were going to fight back against.
AA.
So, UTG limps, and I raise it up UTG+1, unfortunately, everyone folds, except UTG who still comes along for the ride. I'm praying he's looking to take a stand on this flop.
Flop is 7/7/8.
He checks, and I fire 20 bucks, he raises to 52 dollars, and I call, figuring he might have an 8, or another overpair like 99 or 10/10.
Turn is sickness, an 8.
He fires 58 dollars. Now I go into the tank for a minute because the double paired board is scary. But, in my mind I figured if you thought I was playing agressively or like a maniac, if you spiked a 7 would you raise me on the flop? It'd make more sense to call and check the turn to me, at least in my eyes. As for an 8...why lead now when you have the nuts and again, I am, in their opinion, a maniac whose raising and betting every flop. So, I call.
The river is a 6, kind of a blank although there's a real, real outside chance he has 6/6 or 9/10 and now has me.
He fires 108 dollars at the pot now. I go into the tank for a long time, and finally say in the chat, "I only beat a bluff, but I can't help but think that's what this is", and I call off. He shows Qd/10d for bupkis, and I scoop the 450 dollar pot.
I eventually cash out from that table with 670 dollars, a profit of 370. Not too shabby.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
It's been a while, alot's happened, catchup time.
So, it's been a while since I wrote one of these, so I guess I should get some people up to date with what's happened since then.
When I left off, I was ready to play the 2 Binions Poker Classic Main Event's for 500 dollars a peice, so let's start there. The first one went badly in that I couldn't seem to do anything right at all for the first 2 hours and had taken my 10,000 stack and made it 3300. Then at the next break I had grinded my way back to just over 5000. It seemed like any move I made was at the wrong time, and any coin flip I had I lost.
After the 2nd break I got really creative with AA to win a huge pot, limping behind 4 other limpers infront of me. Sonny would have thrown up if he'd have seen this since he firmly beleives in not slow playing AA, but I had to do something. SB and BB topped up and checked and the flop was Q/8/4, and I got a player all in with Q/10 against my ninja-like AA.
A few hands after that, I stacked a guy with JJ against my QQ. And after that I stacked a guy after check-raising top 2 to get him all in with a flush draw. Suddenly my stack was 44,000 and I was in great shape. Then, not so much. I went back to the can't win a race, couldn't make any move at the right time poker from earlier, and eventually I was gone, no cash. Pretty sick, although I didn't think I made a mistake really.
The next day was worse, I only lasted just over 2 hours, after the first break, I ran into the cooler, when my KK ran into AA. It was extra sick because when I shoved and he called he delayed flipping his cards over and asked "Do you have Kings?", which made me breathe a sigh of releif since that meant he had QQ in my eyes, then he rolled over AA anyway.
And that was it for my tournament schedule this year, a profit in tournies of basically 2400 dollars. Cash games were going well, and actually became alot of fun.
I sat at a 4-8 Omaha/Eight Or Better for about 20 minutes one night and made 120 bucks, and then had to walk away because I wanted to punch a guy in the face. The situation was, the board read K/Q/J/9/8 and it went bet-call. The better then said, "Straight", but didn't show his cards, and the other guy turned his straight over as well, then the better mucked his cards to alot of confusion to the table, until he calmly let us know he's just a slimy bag of douche. "I was trying to get you to muck your cards, I didn't have a straight". Okay, I better step away before I strike him.
So, the next day I went to Caesers Palace again, as I said I truly love their card room, and this was extra fun. Don Cheadle was there playing 1-3 NL, so after I got sat at a table, and doubled up quickly, I saw a seat at his table open up so I slipped over there. Nice guy, very outgoing at the table and approachable. I won a pot off him with top pair against what I assume was his flush draw, and I immediately thought of something Bruno and I had seen earlier in the trip and wanted to buy, that I know thought would make a great little joke memento for winning that pot, so I went to go buy a small crystal donkey to use as a card cap. 55 bucks probably horribly spent, but I love it. After that, I ate, came back and ended up at Bruno's table and ran really, really badly, eventually getting stuck 300 plus a tournament buyin. Not ideal but I still profited on the day.
The next day I ran into another big problem. The Plaza, where I was staying, had told me when I arrived that there was a 10 day limit on people staying there, then you had to check out. Which gave me concern but they said it wouldn't be a problem, just to check out and check right back in. And so I went down to do so, and was calmly told they were sold out. So I started to call around and no one really had vacancy(WSOP weekend, and there's a crazy amount of tourism down here right now to get married since today is 7/7/7), so I finally ended up at the MGM Grand, not cheap at all...but nice.
So, I checked in and headed down to their cash games, and ran into my 2nd celebrity run in. Jason Alexander sat down at the table across from me at 1-2 NL while he was waiting to play 2-5 NL. He complimented my crystal donkey when he sat down :) So, on the third handed I decided to pay his kindness back by stacking him. The thing I've started trying is playing hands literally to the point where it's basically wrong, to try and be very sneaky and stack people on good flops. The situation was Jason limped, and MP raised to 15, got called, got called, and it came to me in the SB with JJ and I smoothe called, which is completely wrong especially given the fact that I'm out of position, but I figured if the flop came under or with a J I might stack someone, and even out of position I'm very comfortable playing after the flop. Jason called. The flop was 8/4/2, and I checked, Jason bet 20, the original raiser folded, one player called to me and I just smoothe called again. The turn was another 8. I checked again, Jason bet 20 again, the first guy called again, and I raised to 60. Jason put 12 more all-in, other player folded and I called showing JJ and he showed 99.
Other than those stories, the trip's been kinda record breaking for me, I've made alot of money down here, but I'd never played a 1000 dollar pot in my life in a cash game, I lost a 1160 dollar pot at 1-2 NL(only 200 of it was mine, I had worked that 200 into almost 600), without again making a mistake, the hand just really played itself out. On a flop of Js/3d/6d there are only 2 hands that are going to be willing to shove 600 bucks into the pot, my hand, JJ, and his hand, 4d/5d, he made his flush on the turn. Se la vi.
Sonny met Allen Cunningham at a golf course down here, which naturally has me very jealous since of everyone in poker he's probably the poker player I try and emulate, and I love the way he plays the game.
I got crushed in our first private tourney at the Plaza, and then skipped over to the Bellagio finally, and didn't ever actually sit because the wait was over 2 hours long, although the reason I mention it is on the way out, I met my first poker player I was truly star-struck by. "Amarillo Slim". He was sitting at the bar right outside the Bellagio poker room and I just went over and said hello.
And so that brings me to today, my last day in Las Vegas, the plan is now to go to the Bellagio and see if I can actually get into a game, then head over to the Rio and see if I can spot Marc Karam, and if I can wish him luck in the main event, and after that I have another of our private tournaments, then probably more Bellagio play.
When I left off, I was ready to play the 2 Binions Poker Classic Main Event's for 500 dollars a peice, so let's start there. The first one went badly in that I couldn't seem to do anything right at all for the first 2 hours and had taken my 10,000 stack and made it 3300. Then at the next break I had grinded my way back to just over 5000. It seemed like any move I made was at the wrong time, and any coin flip I had I lost.
After the 2nd break I got really creative with AA to win a huge pot, limping behind 4 other limpers infront of me. Sonny would have thrown up if he'd have seen this since he firmly beleives in not slow playing AA, but I had to do something. SB and BB topped up and checked and the flop was Q/8/4, and I got a player all in with Q/10 against my ninja-like AA.
A few hands after that, I stacked a guy with JJ against my QQ. And after that I stacked a guy after check-raising top 2 to get him all in with a flush draw. Suddenly my stack was 44,000 and I was in great shape. Then, not so much. I went back to the can't win a race, couldn't make any move at the right time poker from earlier, and eventually I was gone, no cash. Pretty sick, although I didn't think I made a mistake really.
The next day was worse, I only lasted just over 2 hours, after the first break, I ran into the cooler, when my KK ran into AA. It was extra sick because when I shoved and he called he delayed flipping his cards over and asked "Do you have Kings?", which made me breathe a sigh of releif since that meant he had QQ in my eyes, then he rolled over AA anyway.
And that was it for my tournament schedule this year, a profit in tournies of basically 2400 dollars. Cash games were going well, and actually became alot of fun.
I sat at a 4-8 Omaha/Eight Or Better for about 20 minutes one night and made 120 bucks, and then had to walk away because I wanted to punch a guy in the face. The situation was, the board read K/Q/J/9/8 and it went bet-call. The better then said, "Straight", but didn't show his cards, and the other guy turned his straight over as well, then the better mucked his cards to alot of confusion to the table, until he calmly let us know he's just a slimy bag of douche. "I was trying to get you to muck your cards, I didn't have a straight". Okay, I better step away before I strike him.
So, the next day I went to Caesers Palace again, as I said I truly love their card room, and this was extra fun. Don Cheadle was there playing 1-3 NL, so after I got sat at a table, and doubled up quickly, I saw a seat at his table open up so I slipped over there. Nice guy, very outgoing at the table and approachable. I won a pot off him with top pair against what I assume was his flush draw, and I immediately thought of something Bruno and I had seen earlier in the trip and wanted to buy, that I know thought would make a great little joke memento for winning that pot, so I went to go buy a small crystal donkey to use as a card cap. 55 bucks probably horribly spent, but I love it. After that, I ate, came back and ended up at Bruno's table and ran really, really badly, eventually getting stuck 300 plus a tournament buyin. Not ideal but I still profited on the day.
The next day I ran into another big problem. The Plaza, where I was staying, had told me when I arrived that there was a 10 day limit on people staying there, then you had to check out. Which gave me concern but they said it wouldn't be a problem, just to check out and check right back in. And so I went down to do so, and was calmly told they were sold out. So I started to call around and no one really had vacancy(WSOP weekend, and there's a crazy amount of tourism down here right now to get married since today is 7/7/7), so I finally ended up at the MGM Grand, not cheap at all...but nice.
So, I checked in and headed down to their cash games, and ran into my 2nd celebrity run in. Jason Alexander sat down at the table across from me at 1-2 NL while he was waiting to play 2-5 NL. He complimented my crystal donkey when he sat down :) So, on the third handed I decided to pay his kindness back by stacking him. The thing I've started trying is playing hands literally to the point where it's basically wrong, to try and be very sneaky and stack people on good flops. The situation was Jason limped, and MP raised to 15, got called, got called, and it came to me in the SB with JJ and I smoothe called, which is completely wrong especially given the fact that I'm out of position, but I figured if the flop came under or with a J I might stack someone, and even out of position I'm very comfortable playing after the flop. Jason called. The flop was 8/4/2, and I checked, Jason bet 20, the original raiser folded, one player called to me and I just smoothe called again. The turn was another 8. I checked again, Jason bet 20 again, the first guy called again, and I raised to 60. Jason put 12 more all-in, other player folded and I called showing JJ and he showed 99.
Other than those stories, the trip's been kinda record breaking for me, I've made alot of money down here, but I'd never played a 1000 dollar pot in my life in a cash game, I lost a 1160 dollar pot at 1-2 NL(only 200 of it was mine, I had worked that 200 into almost 600), without again making a mistake, the hand just really played itself out. On a flop of Js/3d/6d there are only 2 hands that are going to be willing to shove 600 bucks into the pot, my hand, JJ, and his hand, 4d/5d, he made his flush on the turn. Se la vi.
Sonny met Allen Cunningham at a golf course down here, which naturally has me very jealous since of everyone in poker he's probably the poker player I try and emulate, and I love the way he plays the game.
I got crushed in our first private tourney at the Plaza, and then skipped over to the Bellagio finally, and didn't ever actually sit because the wait was over 2 hours long, although the reason I mention it is on the way out, I met my first poker player I was truly star-struck by. "Amarillo Slim". He was sitting at the bar right outside the Bellagio poker room and I just went over and said hello.
And so that brings me to today, my last day in Las Vegas, the plan is now to go to the Bellagio and see if I can actually get into a game, then head over to the Rio and see if I can spot Marc Karam, and if I can wish him luck in the main event, and after that I have another of our private tournaments, then probably more Bellagio play.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Just one MTT break please...pretty please.
Today was kind of an interesting cross-section of my entire trip so far. More on that for a minute, first things first...the most insane Subway experience ever.
Subway meaning the restaraunt chain that delivers delicious sandwiches, not the train. Bruno and I sleep in and meet downstairs at around 2:30pm, and decide to hit up a Subway. There we have the most awkward experience I've ever had in my life. This is the conversation, as they are taking our orders, the two girls making the subs have which either, and I couldn't make this up.
Girl 1 : "I'm sorry you gotta speak up I'm not hearin' so good today"
Girl 2 : "I'm deaf in one ear. Ex-boyfriend. Pop. He punched me in the ear and broke my eardrum"
Girl 1 : "I hope you sent him to jail for that!"
Girl 2 : "Nope, he's dead."
That's where it literally stopped. I actually burst into laughter because I wasn't sure how else to react to that, I actually thought I was on a hidden camera show, because the absurdity of that discussion was mind-blowing, especially leaving it on that note.
In any event, onto the poker. So, as I said, today represented an interesting cross-section of my trip so far. Cash games I'm untouchable right now, MTT's I'm always one break away from really doing well.
We decided after Subway to go to the Golden Nugget on the advice of a friend of mine, Alex. Alex, kudos for that recommendation, today went well, really well. I sat down, and bought in for 400 dollars to a 1/2 table. Bruno sat down with the same. After a while I had built mine up to over 600 infront of me, Bruno was over 700. Then I lost an enormous pot which would have been a lovely way to top the session for starts, I had Kc/3c in a 6 way limped pot so I followed suit. Flop was As/8c/6c, a player bet 10, got a caller, another caller, and I called behind. Turn was the Ace of clubs, making me the nut flush, but pairing the board. Sick spot because I knew I was stuck calling it down, the initial better checked, and next to act fired 60, I called and the other guy called. The turn was a 3h. The other guy checked, the better bet again, 110, I called and the other guy called. The agressor after the turn rolled over 88 for the boat. Meh.
After that, I cashed out, up around 110, and went over to Binions to play a tourney there. I quickly set up a maniac image(Bruno's Ottawa influence is really wearing off on me), and eventually got myself in with the best of it, surprisingly. The pot was limped 4 times to me on the SB, and I raised 6x the BB holding 2/3 offsuit, figuring all the limps were dead money and none would call. I was right, one problem. BB called. Flop was magic though, 7/3/2 rainbow. I shoved and got insta-called by QQ. I rolled it over and the guy laughed, the turn was a 7 and he won it with a higher 2 pair. Oh well, back to the Nugget, it's cash game session time.
As I get back, Bruno's at around 900 now, and I buy in for 400 again. I very, very quickly turn it into 600 making 2 big pots with flushes, then a funny hand occurs.
A live straddle on and 4 limps to me, I call with 4/4, and everyone checks around. As the dealer starts to deal the flop, stealing a move I picked up from Marc Karam, I called out for a duece. The flop was A/K/10 rainbow. Everyone checked and I checked. Turn was a 2. Game on. Everyone checks hesitantly to me. I bet the pot(like 40 dollars), knowing that Bruno whose in the hand, fully intends to call me, so I NEED someone else to step in before it gets to him, or else this fails. Bruno's too smart to fall for this. 2 players call, and force Bruno to fold. The river's a 6 and they check to me again, and I fire out 65 dollars and they both fold. Phew.
2 hands later, I stack a player holding A/8 on an 8 high flop when I'm holding KK, and the next hand I have J9 on the button, flop comes Q/10/6, bet call call to me so I call. Turn is a 9. Bet call call to me so I call. River is a 9, check check check to me and I fire out a big bet and get 2 callers and win that pot.
A few hands after that, I pick up 9s/5s in MP and open for 12 dollars, get 2 callers. Flop comes something like Qd/10h/3s. I check, an old guy bets 10, gets called, and I call intending to steal later. Turn is a 6s. Old guy bets out 10 again, gets a caller and I call now drawing. River is a 2s, they both check and I just grab an handful of chips and throw it in 55 dollars, and they both call.
Suddenly I'm over 1100 dollars infront of me, as is Bruno. Then they break our table hoping to start up a late night tourney. So I buy in. For an hour and a half I play real solid in that I look like a maniac, raising insane hands, getting it all in against some lady with 8/2 offsuit, but at the end of the hour, I'm up from 5000 to about 8500, and I've developed that image so now that the blinds are going to hit us hard, I'll get payed off big time. And it all works to perfection. Except remember what I said about not getting breaks in these MTT's? I get it all in in a huge 3 way all in which would easily have put me in the money if not in serious contention of winning it and the 1200 first prize, with KK vs QQ and A/10, and an ace peels off on the river.
That's my day. Dan Forester and Sonny both cashed that Binions evening tournament I told the story from, they chopped 9 ways for 900 bucks. Tomorrow the itinerary is the Binions Poker Classic, the 500 dollar buyin, 10,000 starting stack event. Blinds go every 40 minutes, looks like a good structure. Hopefully I can finally catch one big break in these MTT's and cash big. Otherwise, another real productive and financially rewarding day in Las Vegas.
Subway meaning the restaraunt chain that delivers delicious sandwiches, not the train. Bruno and I sleep in and meet downstairs at around 2:30pm, and decide to hit up a Subway. There we have the most awkward experience I've ever had in my life. This is the conversation, as they are taking our orders, the two girls making the subs have which either, and I couldn't make this up.
Girl 1 : "I'm sorry you gotta speak up I'm not hearin' so good today"
Girl 2 : "I'm deaf in one ear. Ex-boyfriend. Pop. He punched me in the ear and broke my eardrum"
Girl 1 : "I hope you sent him to jail for that!"
Girl 2 : "Nope, he's dead."
That's where it literally stopped. I actually burst into laughter because I wasn't sure how else to react to that, I actually thought I was on a hidden camera show, because the absurdity of that discussion was mind-blowing, especially leaving it on that note.
In any event, onto the poker. So, as I said, today represented an interesting cross-section of my trip so far. Cash games I'm untouchable right now, MTT's I'm always one break away from really doing well.
We decided after Subway to go to the Golden Nugget on the advice of a friend of mine, Alex. Alex, kudos for that recommendation, today went well, really well. I sat down, and bought in for 400 dollars to a 1/2 table. Bruno sat down with the same. After a while I had built mine up to over 600 infront of me, Bruno was over 700. Then I lost an enormous pot which would have been a lovely way to top the session for starts, I had Kc/3c in a 6 way limped pot so I followed suit. Flop was As/8c/6c, a player bet 10, got a caller, another caller, and I called behind. Turn was the Ace of clubs, making me the nut flush, but pairing the board. Sick spot because I knew I was stuck calling it down, the initial better checked, and next to act fired 60, I called and the other guy called. The turn was a 3h. The other guy checked, the better bet again, 110, I called and the other guy called. The agressor after the turn rolled over 88 for the boat. Meh.
After that, I cashed out, up around 110, and went over to Binions to play a tourney there. I quickly set up a maniac image(Bruno's Ottawa influence is really wearing off on me), and eventually got myself in with the best of it, surprisingly. The pot was limped 4 times to me on the SB, and I raised 6x the BB holding 2/3 offsuit, figuring all the limps were dead money and none would call. I was right, one problem. BB called. Flop was magic though, 7/3/2 rainbow. I shoved and got insta-called by QQ. I rolled it over and the guy laughed, the turn was a 7 and he won it with a higher 2 pair. Oh well, back to the Nugget, it's cash game session time.
As I get back, Bruno's at around 900 now, and I buy in for 400 again. I very, very quickly turn it into 600 making 2 big pots with flushes, then a funny hand occurs.
A live straddle on and 4 limps to me, I call with 4/4, and everyone checks around. As the dealer starts to deal the flop, stealing a move I picked up from Marc Karam, I called out for a duece. The flop was A/K/10 rainbow. Everyone checked and I checked. Turn was a 2. Game on. Everyone checks hesitantly to me. I bet the pot(like 40 dollars), knowing that Bruno whose in the hand, fully intends to call me, so I NEED someone else to step in before it gets to him, or else this fails. Bruno's too smart to fall for this. 2 players call, and force Bruno to fold. The river's a 6 and they check to me again, and I fire out 65 dollars and they both fold. Phew.
2 hands later, I stack a player holding A/8 on an 8 high flop when I'm holding KK, and the next hand I have J9 on the button, flop comes Q/10/6, bet call call to me so I call. Turn is a 9. Bet call call to me so I call. River is a 9, check check check to me and I fire out a big bet and get 2 callers and win that pot.
A few hands after that, I pick up 9s/5s in MP and open for 12 dollars, get 2 callers. Flop comes something like Qd/10h/3s. I check, an old guy bets 10, gets called, and I call intending to steal later. Turn is a 6s. Old guy bets out 10 again, gets a caller and I call now drawing. River is a 2s, they both check and I just grab an handful of chips and throw it in 55 dollars, and they both call.
Suddenly I'm over 1100 dollars infront of me, as is Bruno. Then they break our table hoping to start up a late night tourney. So I buy in. For an hour and a half I play real solid in that I look like a maniac, raising insane hands, getting it all in against some lady with 8/2 offsuit, but at the end of the hour, I'm up from 5000 to about 8500, and I've developed that image so now that the blinds are going to hit us hard, I'll get payed off big time. And it all works to perfection. Except remember what I said about not getting breaks in these MTT's? I get it all in in a huge 3 way all in which would easily have put me in the money if not in serious contention of winning it and the 1200 first prize, with KK vs QQ and A/10, and an ace peels off on the river.
That's my day. Dan Forester and Sonny both cashed that Binions evening tournament I told the story from, they chopped 9 ways for 900 bucks. Tomorrow the itinerary is the Binions Poker Classic, the 500 dollar buyin, 10,000 starting stack event. Blinds go every 40 minutes, looks like a good structure. Hopefully I can finally catch one big break in these MTT's and cash big. Otherwise, another real productive and financially rewarding day in Las Vegas.
Monday, July 2, 2007
WSOP Day 2
That was quick.
It's a sickening feeling when you walk into a tournament area knowing you're on a crazy short stack. I was literally at the point where I thought if I could even manage to get my money in where I was a 40/60 dog, I'd take it. A coin flip would be great. More than that was unlikely.
The first hand I had the button and wanted to shove right there, I didn't even intend on looking, but insanity ensued infront of me as AK and KK got it all in.
My first chance to really open a pot was after my table broke, I had a chance from 3 UTG to open with Ad/5d, and shoved. The only person I actually had covered, called me and showed AQ, and it held, so suddenly by crazy short stack of 16,500 at that point became 9400. I was in serious trouble. I folded one hand UTG+1, and the next hand, UTG I found 2/2 sitting in my hand. Flip it was, I hoped, and shoved it in. The SB raised over the top all in which literally made me sick to my stomach because I thought for sure that was like 8/8 to 10/10 making that play. BB called then. Uh-oh. I actually yelled across the table, "God...please show me AK and AK". And they nearly did, A/10 for the SB, AK for the BB. Not a great spot, but I have them slightly locked up, and I've got my money in with the best of it in a 3 way pot. If it holds I win over 30,000 chips and inherit a nice chip stack. The flop brought an ace and that was it. 194th place, 3,871 dollars. Bruno busted just before me when he got his money into a three way pot also with AQ and was up against AK and KJ. The board came A/K/Q/10/6 ironically. Both of us cashed the same amount, a pretty good day at that point.
We met up with Will and Gina and headed over to Caesers Palace to play. Of every card room I've been in so far, I like Caesers the best. I haven't been to the Bellagio yet, nor do I probably have the money to do it, but with that said, Ceasers has a great card room. So we sat and played some cash game action, which had a bunch of interesting hands. Bruno and I actually sat at the same table today, and we were both playing very agressively, actually so much so we chased almost the entire table away from us. The first considerably sized pot either of us played, was me, limping middle position with Ac/3c and calling a small raise. The flop came Qc/10c/9h. We're all about 200-400 dollars deep, there's 20 in the pot preflop. UTG fires 10 dollars. I raise to 30 dollars straight. Next to act re-raises to 60 dollars. UTG folds, and I call the extra 30. The turn is a brick, 5h. I'm almost positive he has a straight already, there's a slight chance he's overplaying a set, but I'm fairly sure I'm against KJ and drawing to just the club. So my options are simple, there's 150 in the pot, I have 130 behind. There isn't really a fold equity to re-shoving here, so I basically have to check to him, which I do. He bets 60 again. Now I'm in a tough spot with one card to come, and I consider folding here, for a minute, then decide to make the only other move in my eyes, which is actually a re-raise all in. The reason I did that was I thought if I was going to gamble on the flush, I wanted there to be no chance he gets away from his hand. If I call and a club peels on the river, I move in my 70 and allow him a chance to fold. If I shove I commit his entire stack to my gamble. He obviously calls and rolls over the KJ, and the turn is the 6c. Ship it!
We played a bit longer, and Bruno ran into two monster setup hands. One where he raised with 6/8 suited UTG and flopped the nuts, 10/9/7, and got someone all in for a near 900 dollar pot who held 1010 and the turn paired the 7. The other big setup was another near 800 dollar pot where he made an open ended straight flush draw and got all the money in against top 2 pair and failed to improve. After that he was stuck near 1000 without really making a mistake.
We, for everyone Jackseven related, did see Marc Karam playing his event at the Rio when we were there, although our breaks didn't overlap so we couldn't actually say hi.
Tomorrow I'm not really sure what we're doing. we haven't really put in a long session yet for a cash game, which is angering Bruno because he's more of a cash game player, and angering me because I still haven't had a losing session at any cash game I've sat down to. So tomorrow the plan is sleep in, and then grind out a long 12 hour session or something, still haven't decided where. Bellagio or Caesers most likely.
It's a sickening feeling when you walk into a tournament area knowing you're on a crazy short stack. I was literally at the point where I thought if I could even manage to get my money in where I was a 40/60 dog, I'd take it. A coin flip would be great. More than that was unlikely.
The first hand I had the button and wanted to shove right there, I didn't even intend on looking, but insanity ensued infront of me as AK and KK got it all in.
My first chance to really open a pot was after my table broke, I had a chance from 3 UTG to open with Ad/5d, and shoved. The only person I actually had covered, called me and showed AQ, and it held, so suddenly by crazy short stack of 16,500 at that point became 9400. I was in serious trouble. I folded one hand UTG+1, and the next hand, UTG I found 2/2 sitting in my hand. Flip it was, I hoped, and shoved it in. The SB raised over the top all in which literally made me sick to my stomach because I thought for sure that was like 8/8 to 10/10 making that play. BB called then. Uh-oh. I actually yelled across the table, "God...please show me AK and AK". And they nearly did, A/10 for the SB, AK for the BB. Not a great spot, but I have them slightly locked up, and I've got my money in with the best of it in a 3 way pot. If it holds I win over 30,000 chips and inherit a nice chip stack. The flop brought an ace and that was it. 194th place, 3,871 dollars. Bruno busted just before me when he got his money into a three way pot also with AQ and was up against AK and KJ. The board came A/K/Q/10/6 ironically. Both of us cashed the same amount, a pretty good day at that point.
We met up with Will and Gina and headed over to Caesers Palace to play. Of every card room I've been in so far, I like Caesers the best. I haven't been to the Bellagio yet, nor do I probably have the money to do it, but with that said, Ceasers has a great card room. So we sat and played some cash game action, which had a bunch of interesting hands. Bruno and I actually sat at the same table today, and we were both playing very agressively, actually so much so we chased almost the entire table away from us. The first considerably sized pot either of us played, was me, limping middle position with Ac/3c and calling a small raise. The flop came Qc/10c/9h. We're all about 200-400 dollars deep, there's 20 in the pot preflop. UTG fires 10 dollars. I raise to 30 dollars straight. Next to act re-raises to 60 dollars. UTG folds, and I call the extra 30. The turn is a brick, 5h. I'm almost positive he has a straight already, there's a slight chance he's overplaying a set, but I'm fairly sure I'm against KJ and drawing to just the club. So my options are simple, there's 150 in the pot, I have 130 behind. There isn't really a fold equity to re-shoving here, so I basically have to check to him, which I do. He bets 60 again. Now I'm in a tough spot with one card to come, and I consider folding here, for a minute, then decide to make the only other move in my eyes, which is actually a re-raise all in. The reason I did that was I thought if I was going to gamble on the flush, I wanted there to be no chance he gets away from his hand. If I call and a club peels on the river, I move in my 70 and allow him a chance to fold. If I shove I commit his entire stack to my gamble. He obviously calls and rolls over the KJ, and the turn is the 6c. Ship it!
We played a bit longer, and Bruno ran into two monster setup hands. One where he raised with 6/8 suited UTG and flopped the nuts, 10/9/7, and got someone all in for a near 900 dollar pot who held 1010 and the turn paired the 7. The other big setup was another near 800 dollar pot where he made an open ended straight flush draw and got all the money in against top 2 pair and failed to improve. After that he was stuck near 1000 without really making a mistake.
We, for everyone Jackseven related, did see Marc Karam playing his event at the Rio when we were there, although our breaks didn't overlap so we couldn't actually say hi.
Tomorrow I'm not really sure what we're doing. we haven't really put in a long session yet for a cash game, which is angering Bruno because he's more of a cash game player, and angering me because I still haven't had a losing session at any cash game I've sat down to. So tomorrow the plan is sleep in, and then grind out a long 12 hour session or something, still haven't decided where. Bellagio or Caesers most likely.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
WSOP Day 1...what a field...what a day.
Well over 3000 players, the announced attendance was around 3200 but I'm not sure, if any event, it was the largest tournament outside of a main event in history.
For the first 2 hours(2 levels), I really didn't move any chips around at all, I had a goofy table that I was uncomfortable putting chips in against, so I decided to really bide my time. At first break, my starting stack of 3000 had become 4300. Bruno's was already 7000.
As a side note for those who are poker fans, a few names I saw around me, Rene Angelil was on the table to my left, and busted in about 20 minutes. Kenna James was sitting directly behind me, and Phil Gordon was at the table to my right.
After that table broke, I didn't see another pro until I wound up at a table beside Greg "FBT" Mueller's table.
Anyway, that table break was big right before the first break, it set me up at a really nice table. After that break, I went to work, and quickly turned the 4300 into around 7000. The last hand before our second break was an easy score, middle position short stack pushed, I found KK on the button and re-raised all in, and isolated the MP player who held 55. I went into 2nd break at around 10,600. Bruno was at 17,000.
After that break, I went on another mini-tear, and quickly found myself up to 18,000 in chips. Then my table broke(incredibly unfortunately since my table was easy as hell).
I got to the new table and immediately lost a huge pot(16,000 chip pot) when my QQ lost a flip against AK. That stung, it left me at around 10,000 again, and I lost another small pot and found myself suddenly at around 8,000, and blinds were coming to get me.
Come dinner time, my count was 8700. Bruno was over 27,000. At dinner time, we were around 640 players to go, 324 of which cashed, so I was looking at maybe not cashing, and Bruno had double the average stack and was still in great shape.
I'll give you a specific hand andecdote from him, not me, since I didn't really play alot of interesting pots. UTG limped into the pot with blinds at 300/600, Bruno, at UTG+1 limped in also, then 4 more players limped behind, until the button made it 5000 straight to go. It folded around to Bruno who decided the player on the button didn't have anything, and open shoved with 9/10 offsuit, causing the player to lay down pocket Jacks. Gotta love the maniac in you Ottawa kids(Bruno's sporting the Jackseven hat by the way).
So...after the meal break, I again get a mini run, and suddenly we're at around 400 players left in the tournament, and I have 8500 with the blinds at 400/800 with a 100 ante(I think), it folds around to me in the cut-off with Jd/10d. Those of you that play on the tour know I love this hand, but this is a move I don't really advise, the only reason I make the play is I need to steal since I'm not finding big hands to play pots with. My entire game to this point has been theft of blinds and antes, and this is a pretty good spot. So I open shove my entire stack, around 65 players from the bubble, and SB calls instantly and rolls over 9/9. The flop is bad, K/5/4, turn, Q, river, Ace. Beautiful.
After that my game starts to pick up a bit again, I elminate a player whose short stacked and shoves the small blind when I'm BB and I have AJ of diamonds and call, he has A7 of spades and I make the nut flush. A few hands later a MP player shoves, and I find JJ behind him so I shove over the top and my Jacks hold to his eights. Suddenly I'm at around 26,000, and off to another break, where Bruno tells me he's over 50,000.
After that break, we start to get down, and I find a few bad setups, and suddenly find myself short stacked again around 15,000 with the blinds at 800/1600. Once we start going hand for hand on the bubble for money, Bruno comes over to tell me he just lost an 80,000 pot when he got cooler KK vs AA. Once we start playing the bubble, poker apparantly decides it's time to test me. The first hand of hand for hand it folds around to me on the button with KQ, a raising spot, so I don't let it affect me, and do infact raise to 5000. SB shoves. I have to fold, he shows 88. I'm down to around 12,000 and getting concerned about the money(2600 awaits in 4 players). The next hand I find Ad/Kd in the cutoff and open shove all in. SB tanks and eventually folds 22, thank god because if I lost that race as my out on the bubble I'd have snapped.
Anyway, not much more happened for either of us. But suffice it to say, the bubble burst, we're both in, and we're both onto day 2. I beleive there are just over 200 players left in the event, Bruno has 17,900, I have 17,200. Tomorrow we had back at 2pm. Although the stacks are pretty small relative to the blinds, most stacks are pretty short at our tables, so even the big stack at my table(59,000), I represent a third of his chips, so I still have more than enough chips to put people to tough decisions.
Today was gruelling, to anyone who has any doubt how hard a WSOP event is to play, 14 hours of poker is stressful. My back is killing me and I'm dead tired, but I'm guaranteed no less than 3,100 dollars for my effort so far, so I feel great at the same time. This has been alot of fun.
So there you have it, me and Bruno buy in to the largest live tournament outside of a WSOP main event in poker history, and we're both into the top 200 of a field somewhere around 3200 or more. It was alot of fun, and hopefully there's more good to come.
For those keeping track, that's 1 for 1 for both of us cashing at the WSOP.
For the first 2 hours(2 levels), I really didn't move any chips around at all, I had a goofy table that I was uncomfortable putting chips in against, so I decided to really bide my time. At first break, my starting stack of 3000 had become 4300. Bruno's was already 7000.
As a side note for those who are poker fans, a few names I saw around me, Rene Angelil was on the table to my left, and busted in about 20 minutes. Kenna James was sitting directly behind me, and Phil Gordon was at the table to my right.
After that table broke, I didn't see another pro until I wound up at a table beside Greg "FBT" Mueller's table.
Anyway, that table break was big right before the first break, it set me up at a really nice table. After that break, I went to work, and quickly turned the 4300 into around 7000. The last hand before our second break was an easy score, middle position short stack pushed, I found KK on the button and re-raised all in, and isolated the MP player who held 55. I went into 2nd break at around 10,600. Bruno was at 17,000.
After that break, I went on another mini-tear, and quickly found myself up to 18,000 in chips. Then my table broke(incredibly unfortunately since my table was easy as hell).
I got to the new table and immediately lost a huge pot(16,000 chip pot) when my QQ lost a flip against AK. That stung, it left me at around 10,000 again, and I lost another small pot and found myself suddenly at around 8,000, and blinds were coming to get me.
Come dinner time, my count was 8700. Bruno was over 27,000. At dinner time, we were around 640 players to go, 324 of which cashed, so I was looking at maybe not cashing, and Bruno had double the average stack and was still in great shape.
I'll give you a specific hand andecdote from him, not me, since I didn't really play alot of interesting pots. UTG limped into the pot with blinds at 300/600, Bruno, at UTG+1 limped in also, then 4 more players limped behind, until the button made it 5000 straight to go. It folded around to Bruno who decided the player on the button didn't have anything, and open shoved with 9/10 offsuit, causing the player to lay down pocket Jacks. Gotta love the maniac in you Ottawa kids(Bruno's sporting the Jackseven hat by the way).
So...after the meal break, I again get a mini run, and suddenly we're at around 400 players left in the tournament, and I have 8500 with the blinds at 400/800 with a 100 ante(I think), it folds around to me in the cut-off with Jd/10d. Those of you that play on the tour know I love this hand, but this is a move I don't really advise, the only reason I make the play is I need to steal since I'm not finding big hands to play pots with. My entire game to this point has been theft of blinds and antes, and this is a pretty good spot. So I open shove my entire stack, around 65 players from the bubble, and SB calls instantly and rolls over 9/9. The flop is bad, K/5/4, turn, Q, river, Ace. Beautiful.
After that my game starts to pick up a bit again, I elminate a player whose short stacked and shoves the small blind when I'm BB and I have AJ of diamonds and call, he has A7 of spades and I make the nut flush. A few hands later a MP player shoves, and I find JJ behind him so I shove over the top and my Jacks hold to his eights. Suddenly I'm at around 26,000, and off to another break, where Bruno tells me he's over 50,000.
After that break, we start to get down, and I find a few bad setups, and suddenly find myself short stacked again around 15,000 with the blinds at 800/1600. Once we start going hand for hand on the bubble for money, Bruno comes over to tell me he just lost an 80,000 pot when he got cooler KK vs AA. Once we start playing the bubble, poker apparantly decides it's time to test me. The first hand of hand for hand it folds around to me on the button with KQ, a raising spot, so I don't let it affect me, and do infact raise to 5000. SB shoves. I have to fold, he shows 88. I'm down to around 12,000 and getting concerned about the money(2600 awaits in 4 players). The next hand I find Ad/Kd in the cutoff and open shove all in. SB tanks and eventually folds 22, thank god because if I lost that race as my out on the bubble I'd have snapped.
Anyway, not much more happened for either of us. But suffice it to say, the bubble burst, we're both in, and we're both onto day 2. I beleive there are just over 200 players left in the event, Bruno has 17,900, I have 17,200. Tomorrow we had back at 2pm. Although the stacks are pretty small relative to the blinds, most stacks are pretty short at our tables, so even the big stack at my table(59,000), I represent a third of his chips, so I still have more than enough chips to put people to tough decisions.
Today was gruelling, to anyone who has any doubt how hard a WSOP event is to play, 14 hours of poker is stressful. My back is killing me and I'm dead tired, but I'm guaranteed no less than 3,100 dollars for my effort so far, so I feel great at the same time. This has been alot of fun.
So there you have it, me and Bruno buy in to the largest live tournament outside of a WSOP main event in poker history, and we're both into the top 200 of a field somewhere around 3200 or more. It was alot of fun, and hopefully there's more good to come.
For those keeping track, that's 1 for 1 for both of us cashing at the WSOP.
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