I slept relatively well last night, only to wake up to the constant text message tones again. This time everyone waited until 7am LV time, so I was happy about that. I do appreciate the support everyone has shown, I just get pissy in the morning. I try to stick to the same routine that I have been...breakfast, hot tub, get dressed to music and generally get myself mentally prepared. I'm not nervous this morning, but I am very excited. I know I've put myself in a position that if I'm able to double up today, I'll be in a great spot.
Pulling in to the Rio, the same song comes on as Day 1 and it's a reminder to not be nervous. I have every idea what I'm doing here, I just need to play my game and move forward. I've had some luck, good and bad, but I'm feeling as confident as I ever have. The players I've faced and the spots I've been in and gotten out of have me very tuned in to the game. Being only a part time player, and not playing a ton online, I usually don't get to this level of play. Sometimes I'm on, sometimes I'm off, but playing consistantly like this has made my game infinitely better and I feel like I can beat anyone. My reading ability is always strong, but I feel like I can almost see my opponents hands at this point. I feel great about today.
Walking up the red carpet on Day 2 is an even better feeling than Day 1. I'm excited, but starting to get really focused. I ignore everything going on around me on the way in and try to make a B line for the UB pro room. On my way to the room though, I physically bump into Scotty Nguyen. Not enamored by his celebrity, I take this moment to apologize for almost knocking him over, but then to ask if he really gave "Shooter" (the guy from my 1st DSE) his nickname. I tell Scotty the story "Shooter" told me, but he has no recollection of it (he looked like he was really thinking hard). I tell him not to worry about it, I was just wondering. Could be that he was drunk and doesn't remember (the story is that Scotty hated "Shooter" until he started buying rounds of shooters at the table for the two of them), or that "Shooter" is a BS'er...either way I don't really care. I work my way through the maze of spectators and players to the pro room. I'm able to sit down and collect my thoughts without a bunch of craziness around me, which is a huge help. I grab a water and head out to find my table with 10 minutes to go until we start.
I find my table (318) and talk to the dealer. His name was Walter and I remember him because on Day 1 when they did the national anthem, he was at the table next to me absolutely belting it out. I asked him if he would do it again today and that I was stoked to be at his table. I look down and someone is in my seat...Walter tells me they had to switch 316 and 318. I have a hard time finding 316 until someone points to the table on the media stage. I'm apparently at the 3rd feature table. I ask a couple more people and they confirm that yes, I am seated there. The 3rd feature table is in the corner of the Amazon Room opposite the "real" feature tables. It is on a small stage, with the press rows built around it. There are no hole cameras, but there is an overhead camera so everyone can see the community cards. It's kind of a weird place to be, as you're away from the cluster f that is the rest of the room, it almost makes for a home game feel...like you're the only table there. Once seated, I spot two pros, Jonathan Aguiar and Craig Gray. There is supposed to be a third, "Miami" John Cernuto, but he is apparently sick and had to go home. He will just be blinded out throughout the day...a very strange situation that generates some buzz throughout the day. I take some flack from JA for wearing UB stuff. This is because all around the room are gigantic posters of the past winners of the Main Event, and hanging over me is the one of Russ Hamilton, with a black tarp over his picture. The situation sucks a little and I laugh it off, because again, not really being an online player I don't care about the UB situation (if you don't know what any of this is about, you can look it up). I'm really hoping the cameras come to the table so I can get paid and freeroll this thing!
Play gets under way and all the BS is gone. JA is the table chip leader with 78k, I have 60k and am in second; everyone else is pretty close to 40k, with 2 guys around 20k. With no one having a huge stack, I immediately decide I'm going to take advantage and continue to play more aggressively than I normally would, trying to stay out of JA and CG's way if possible. We'll start today at the 200/400 level for another hour. Almost immediately I get involved with AK off from late position, facing a raise to 1k with 4 callers in front. I decide to play sneaky and just flat, another 2 callers behind. A39 flops and the original raiser bets another 1k, a weak bet here. Folds to me, where I make it 7k, everyone folds. I'm quickly pushing the 70k mark for the first time. I don't have an opportunity to play anything memorable until the first break, which is only an hour after we start.
During the first break, I ask UB about the bonus for the 3rd feature table, only to find out there isn't one. I then ask if there's a bonus for wearing their patch while the posterboy for cheating is hanging directly over my shoulder (there isn't). I sit down and reflect for a moment, trying to decide where to go from here and thinking about the play of those at my table. While I'm doing this, Annie Duke says her shoulders are killing her, and Tiffany Michelle winds up giving her a massage right in front of me. I'm not a huge fan of either, but I didn't mind this at all. When Tiffany finished up, I told her I was next. She said, "Ha! You can't afford me, but I do like your shirt". I then tell her she may not be able to afford ME, and we make our way back to our tables.
We're heading to the next level of play, and this is where things start to go terribly wrong. Continuing with my aggressive play, I open raise a number of hands pretty light in comparison to my usual range. Right out of the gate I find myself leading with A10 off, K9 off, J10 off, only to be raised and re raised in each instance. Frustrated, I 3x raise a 3bet lead from the short stack with K9suited, only to be shoved upon. I fold again and am quickly back down to 60k. This will be the last time I see that number again today. In the next hour, I open with A10 off 5 more times, to be raised and reraised by tight or solid player EVERY time. I'm a big non believer in A10 off in general, and I'm certainly not calling a re re raised pot without it being suited. I would've lost every single pot. I look at KQ in position with another raise/reraise in front and fold. I've become very passive in a hurry. I'm comfortable laying these hands down, as I don't really believe I'm being pushed around, just running into better hands. I still start feeling less confident about how the day is shaping up and need to do something about it. I'm down to around 50k by the time the next break hits and I feel terrible. All the momentum I had coming into today is gone. I'm going to have to play a hand to completion soon, or I'm going to look weaker than I already do.
Out of the next break, I get my nemesis hand for the day, K9 suited, and raise under the gun to get 2 callers, the button and BB. K106 flops and I lead out for about 1/2 the pot and get the BB to come along. Turn is a 7 and the BB immediately fires out a huge bet. He's a tight player and his jugular vein is almost hitting me in the face it's beating so hard, so I lay it down...under 40k now. A few hands later in late position, I raise with AQ off. AK9 flops and I check/call. The turn is another K, and I lead out with a substantial bet to his call. River is a blank, and I don't think he has a K here, so I bet and he calls with KJ. I'm now down to about 30k and couldn't be sinking faster. I still have over 50BB at this point, so I'm by no means in shove/fold mode, but my range and aggressiveness has closed up significantly.
A bit of hoopla happens when one of the floormen comes over and tell us our entire table is to be moved to another table. There is a ton of confusion over this as 1.) Being a feature table, we're not supposed to be moved, and 2.) We are about to be moved to a break table and as a feature table, we're not to be broken. JA leads the table in a livid rant to the floorman, who is apologetic, but offers no answers. JA demands that Jack Effel come to our table and explain why we're going to be put into a situation that we were never supposed to be put in. Needless to say, this never happens. A very tall British pro named Richard (very familiar, but can't place his last name) had just been moved to our table and was seated next to me and was cordial about everything. He was short as well, but didn't seem too stressed about it. We're eventually moved to a table in the Pavillion, where it is about 40 degrees colder and somehow windy. Another 40 minutes or so at this table and we're broken. So we had a break, then took 10 minutes to bag our chips and walk to a new table, then had to bag our chips and walk to another table. This is common in an event as big as the ME, but it sucked when you don't think you'll be moved all day...and you're short stacked. Word around the campfire at the time was that ESPN wanted to move someone with more "status" to our table, so we got bumped. I never found out who that player was, and don't really care, it was just a weird situation. It turns out that this was not the worst move in the world for me as I was moved to a relatively soft table, and two seats to my left was Lacey Jones...not too shabby. I'm only at this table for a couple of minutes as the dinner break hits. I'm at 30,100...exactly half of what I started the day with and more than a little dejected heading to dinner.
I head outside to make some calls and try to figure out what the hell just happened. I learn that the chip average is somewhere around 75k, so I'm still not going to shove anything, but I don't want to go into Day 3 this short...something has to be done, or I'm done. I go to the UB room to enjoy some dinner and just chill out. There are a couple of friendly people in there and we talk. I then have to endure Billy Kopp's arrogant rants for a few minutes before he takes off somewhere. With about a half hour Tiffany Michelle comes back to the room and hangs out; there are only about 10 of us in the room at this point. I point to my shoulders and tell her I'm definitely ready for that massage, and she laughs again. She then says, "I'm not going to massage someone when I don't even know their name! I'm Tiffany". I tell her I know, and formally introduce myself. We laugh, and trade stories of short stack poker. She had had a rollercoaster day, where I had just gone from the top of the hill to the bottom. She hangs for a few more minutes before leaving with her hot friend. With only 9 players in the room, someone from UB decides to give away 2 ipods in a raffle. We each got a ticket and they drew out of a hat. In typical fashion for the day, I didn't win one. This gives me an even worse feeling headed to the final hours of Day 2.
Coming out of the dinner break, the blinds are 400/800 100a for an hour, then we'll play 500/1000 100a for an hour to close out the day. Again, very strange the way all these breaks are timed. I made this comment a few times, and I'll say it here. If you can't grind for 16 hours a day, you shouldn't be playing the Main Event. Why we need a 20 minute break, play for an hour, 90 minute dinner break, then play for 2 hours and go home is beyond me...why not finish the level? Either way, we're back to the action. I immediately pick up 99 and raise to 5k, whereupon I'm immediately put all in. I tank for a while, the guy had been playing pretty solid in the short time I'd been at this table, and I fold face up. I didn't get a read on him after I folded, and the hand lingered for a minute in my brain. I know conventional wisdom says to shove there, but I didn't like it...I haven't played for almost 3 days to put my tournament life on the line with a mid pair and a bad read. I'm now down to 23k and hurting terribly. Just as I'm sulking internally, Lacey Jones loses a big hand and there must be 100 people around our table. This wakes me up a little bit and gets me out of my funk and I try to stay focused on moving forward. Just then I get a text from my playing partner that says, "I remember the event this winter in AC when you had nothing at the bubble but played your game and finished 18th." I text back, "I remember, but what do I do here? Try to hold on for Monday, or just say F*** it?" I realize what I just texted and decided right then that I will never give up, I still have over 20BB and I'll do whatever I can to continue. I pick up my favorite hand right when I hit the send button, 44. I shove to no callers. I pick up my nemesis hand in mid position, AJ off, and open shove again to no callers. Now at 500/1000 100a, I've let the stack shrink again. With about 30 minutes left in the day and a stack of about 18k, I'm facing a raise from mid position to 2400. I look down at KK, tank for show, then shove. He was sitting on about 90k, but folds. I'm now up to a still short 24k. With about 10 minutes to go, I'm in the hijack AJ off and face a raise of 2200. Mistake or not, I flat call and completely whiff the flop. Player couldn't shove fast enough and I fold. I end Day 2 at 20,200 chips and couldn't feel worse. I'm pretty sure I was supposed to be out of this thing by now with the hands I've had, but I'm not. I don't necessarily think this is a great thing. I now have to wait the whole weekend to seal my fate. Oh well, another weekend in Vegas...it could be worse. I stare at Lacey for another second after bagging my chips and head out the door. (On a side note, as we were bagging the chips, the guy that shoved on my 99 earlier said, "Man, you shouldn't be here. I had you crushed when you raised with those 9's". That made me feel a little better at least.)
I had "planned" on leaving tomorrow, so I extend my stay until Tuesday and call the airline to change my flight home for Tuesday morning. This really sucks, when I extended everything after Day 1, I was sure I'd still be here this weekend and knew I'd be doing all this again. This time, I'm not so sure. Monday morning looms over me as my D Day unless I find a way to survive. Chip is getting off of work just as I'm finishing my day and we meet up to tie one on. He drills me over and over about shoving the KK at the end of the session. I tell him with 18k, in the BB, and the stack in front of the other guy, I shove 100/100 times. He disagrees and thinks I should've bumped it to 10k to get some action. I say there's no way I'd put myself in a position to see an A on the flop and be stuck. We nearly fist fight over this argument, but it's all in fun (not so much for me). We hang/drink for a while and he heads out.
I don't know what I'll do tomorrow other than try to not sulk and enjoy what will probably be my last weekend in Vegas...
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Thursday Day Off
I wake up around noon feeling like crap from the night before. The combination of draft beer, Captain Morgan, and a burger at 530am has me feeling a little less than 100%. I'm dreading walking outside in the 110 degree heat. Dry as it may be, it's hot as hell hungover. I take my time before emerging out of the dark, cold cave that is my room. I get some writing done, answer many phone/texts about yesterday, and stand in the shower for about an hour. I've been trying to get a haircut for a while, but no one seems to know of a place off the Strip, and I'm not paying $100 to get a trim. I'm pretty sure I tried to bribe the doorman of the IP to get his friend to come cut my hair last night, but I'm not sure. I don't think he's coming anyway. Someone else suggested I go to Chinatown, but I'm not in the mood to go out there. I need to make another underwear run, so I head west on Flamingo (away from the Rio) to Target. The Flamingo and Maryland Ave intersection is strip malls for as far as you can see, so I figure there has to be a reputable place to get a haircut. I drive around for about an hour before finally just walking into the mall and getting it done. While walking into the mall, I realize that I'm having some nervous ticks that I've never had before. I can't help myself from snapping with my left hand when it swings, along with a couple others. I can't figure out if this is the stress of the situation (although I feel good and confident), being alone for as much as I have, or just me somehow developing Turette's in the middle of the WSOP...that probably wouldn't be good at all. Maybe it's just that I'm drinking too much and my body isn't used to it. Either way I've got to get a handle on them, I just don't know how.
Fresh, I head over to the Rio to find the UB.com Pro Room, where I'm to meet John and the representative from UB. He's not there, so I tool around for a little while. He's still not there when I come back, but I explain that I was here to talk about signing a deal for the remainder of the WSOP and they asked what kind of chips I had. When I told them I had 60k, two guys jumped up and introduced themselves to me. They said they had to take me outside to the UB RV, because they weren't allowed to hand out any sponsorship gear on the premisis (don't know why). We had to wait a few minutes for the RV to get back, so I waited in the Pro Room. It's pretty awesome. There's a full bar set up, a food station, table full of every candy you can imagine, a private dressing room, couches, loungers, tables, chairs, pillows, and models everywhere. While waiting, Annie Duke was conducting an interview with her husband. Her kids came over to play and she unloaded on them so she could finish the interview. Mental note...do not bother Annie Duke. We finally head out to the RV, where we discuss what we're doing. If I sign with UB for the WSOP, I won't get paid unless I'm at a feature TV table, make the final table, and/or win. We discuss the money, all of which is good. A big selling point with UB was the fact that they are trying to be different in the clothes/gear they provide. I'm not a big online player, so who I advertise really doesn't mean that much to me. I just don't want to look like all the other players out there. Everyone wears the same stuff and no one is really distinguishable. I talk to one of the reps, Flavio, who tells me about UB's passion to make their clothes stand out from the rest. I explain to him that I wear a hot pink dress shirt, and like the way my hair looks, so I don't really have a desire to wear a black sweatshirt and black and red ballcap like everyone else. He agrees and shows me all the stuff they're giving me. They give me an awesome laptop bag and stuff it with shirts and hats and such. They show me the shirts and they're way different than the rest of the poker company gear. You really wouldn't even know it's poker wear unless you're looking for the logo. Happy with what goes down, I sign the contract and tell them I'll see them tomorrow. Now signed, I also have unlimited access to the Pro Room while I'm in the tournament, which will prove to be a gigantic perk. Happy, I leave the Rio to figure out the rest of my off day.
I decide to sweat out a little more alcohol at the pool for a couple hours, then finish up the day with dinner at Nora's with Chip. He tells me they are a great, old school italian restaurant. They turn out to have good food, but they didn't give us what we ordered, so we left a little disappointed. We came to the conclusion that we'd eat at Batista's Hole in the Wall if I make it past Monday (Day 3). It looks like the kind of spot I love...an old, dark Italian restaurant with undoubtedly huge portions and delicious comfort food.
Chip and I go over some strategy for Day 2 and say our goodbyes. I decide to try to catch up on some writing/work and plan out the next day. I iron a new pink dress shirt that hopefully will bring as much luck as the other has. It's going to be tough to sleep tonight...
Fresh, I head over to the Rio to find the UB.com Pro Room, where I'm to meet John and the representative from UB. He's not there, so I tool around for a little while. He's still not there when I come back, but I explain that I was here to talk about signing a deal for the remainder of the WSOP and they asked what kind of chips I had. When I told them I had 60k, two guys jumped up and introduced themselves to me. They said they had to take me outside to the UB RV, because they weren't allowed to hand out any sponsorship gear on the premisis (don't know why). We had to wait a few minutes for the RV to get back, so I waited in the Pro Room. It's pretty awesome. There's a full bar set up, a food station, table full of every candy you can imagine, a private dressing room, couches, loungers, tables, chairs, pillows, and models everywhere. While waiting, Annie Duke was conducting an interview with her husband. Her kids came over to play and she unloaded on them so she could finish the interview. Mental note...do not bother Annie Duke. We finally head out to the RV, where we discuss what we're doing. If I sign with UB for the WSOP, I won't get paid unless I'm at a feature TV table, make the final table, and/or win. We discuss the money, all of which is good. A big selling point with UB was the fact that they are trying to be different in the clothes/gear they provide. I'm not a big online player, so who I advertise really doesn't mean that much to me. I just don't want to look like all the other players out there. Everyone wears the same stuff and no one is really distinguishable. I talk to one of the reps, Flavio, who tells me about UB's passion to make their clothes stand out from the rest. I explain to him that I wear a hot pink dress shirt, and like the way my hair looks, so I don't really have a desire to wear a black sweatshirt and black and red ballcap like everyone else. He agrees and shows me all the stuff they're giving me. They give me an awesome laptop bag and stuff it with shirts and hats and such. They show me the shirts and they're way different than the rest of the poker company gear. You really wouldn't even know it's poker wear unless you're looking for the logo. Happy with what goes down, I sign the contract and tell them I'll see them tomorrow. Now signed, I also have unlimited access to the Pro Room while I'm in the tournament, which will prove to be a gigantic perk. Happy, I leave the Rio to figure out the rest of my off day.
I decide to sweat out a little more alcohol at the pool for a couple hours, then finish up the day with dinner at Nora's with Chip. He tells me they are a great, old school italian restaurant. They turn out to have good food, but they didn't give us what we ordered, so we left a little disappointed. We came to the conclusion that we'd eat at Batista's Hole in the Wall if I make it past Monday (Day 3). It looks like the kind of spot I love...an old, dark Italian restaurant with undoubtedly huge portions and delicious comfort food.
Chip and I go over some strategy for Day 2 and say our goodbyes. I decide to try to catch up on some writing/work and plan out the next day. I iron a new pink dress shirt that hopefully will bring as much luck as the other has. It's going to be tough to sleep tonight...
Thursday, July 15, 2010
WSOP Main Event Day 1C
I wake up to my phone ringing at 5am. "WTF??!!" is all I can say out loud as I don't answer. 10 minutes later, a text comes through, then another. The phone rings again, then the voicemail tone. I fall back to sleep...and the phone rings again, then another text. Seriously??? I know everyone is trying to wish me well, but doing it at 5am is not the time to do it!!! I need some sleep. After a couple of 20 minute naps between rings, I decide to just say screw it and get my day started...I'm too excited to really sleep anyway. I head downstairs to get my usual gameday breakfast of a croissant and a yogurt/granola parfait from the deli. My room is on the 6th floor, and as the elevator approaches the 3rd floor, you can start to hear the singing. By the 2nd floor it's louder, until the doors open and I'm blasted by the sounds of a Charo impersonator. It's not always Charo. Some mornings it's Elvis, Tony Orlando, Beyonce', Joan Jett, Carrie Underwood, Billy Joel, or Mariah Carey. This rotation of celebrity impersonators is what I wake up to every day. It's surreal and almost inexplicable how it feels after almost 2 weeks. You hear it the first couple days, then you can tune it out for a couple days, but by day 10 it's unavoidable. On an almost every morning basis, I have to stop and consider my choice in taking this trip. The smack of "reality" that is the Dealertainers at the IP can really make a person hate this town. Every time Chip comes to visit he laughs at these performers, and really cracks up when I ask him to imagine waking up to this every day. It's like living in an alternate universe. After breakfast I iron my "lucky" hot pink dress shirt and head down to the pool to sit in the hot tub to relax before I leave. Sitting in the hot tub with a large gentleman all decked out in poker gear, we strike up a conversation. His name is John from Dallas and he tells me he's also playing the Main, and will be playing tomorrow. He won his seat through UB.com and has been to a bunch of their parties, which he tells me about. I proceed to tell him that I'm playing the Main in about an hour. We wish each other luck and I'm off. Getting ready I crank up the music and am getting really fired up for the first day of play. Barring some unforseen incident, I should make through Day 1 (I'll actually be devastated if I don't).
Driving up Flamingo again, the butterflies are at a near fervor. Today starts my hopefully long journey to becoming a World Champion, but it could also mean the end of this trip. As I'm driving, "Won't Back Down" comes on the Sirius and I turn it up. It's a reminder that as patient a player I am, I still need to play a way more aggressive game than I normally would (I actually tell myself this a few times throughout the tournament, as I'm throwing 50% of my stack into the pot Cbetting with nothing just because of my read on an opponent). Sitting in the parking lot of the Rio, I take a minute to gather my thoughts and look at some pictures my wife sent. I remember the words of my late grandfather "patience, patience" and put my game face on.
Walking into the Main, dressed for battle is pretty exciting. Let's be honest here, playing/watching poker can be one of the most boring things in the world for anyone. That's not to say I don't love it, because I do, but it's boring. As much as I love to play tournaments, I usually dread the grind that's in front of me, but when you walk up the stairs to the WSOP Pavillion, with the red carpet, media and fans everywhere, it's a whole different experience. It makes you very aware of what you're about to get into. As predicted, I didn't notice much in the halls, although it was packed with activity. I find my seat and get settled in. I have a routine I follow for just about every tournament I play. I make an FRS drink to sip throughout the day, I get my phone out (because I know I'll be texting the whole time), I get the ipod out and untangled in case I feel the need to throw it on, and I pop some gum. I look to the table in front of me, there's Mike Sexton. At the table to my right, Annie Duke. I find later that Johnny Chan is pretty close to my table just running over everyone. At my table are two well-known young pros Jason Somerville and Jonathan Tamayo. Although aware of both of their reputations, I'm afraid of neither and intend to establish dominance over all.
Settling into the table, this is the same as any other tournament. Sure, there are a ton more people than I've played against before, slightly more cameras and celebrities than normal tournaments, but once the first card flies out of the dealers hand, all of this goes away. The only thing that matters right now is paying attention and collecting chips. I love the starting stack, time levels, and the structure of the Main, so I'm excited to get underway. I've been preparing specifically for this moment for 6 months.
Almost immediately I pick AA in early position. I put in a 3x raise, to 2 callers. An A hits the flop, and I check, hoping to trap someone as there isn't a straight or flush draw out there. It checks around and another blank hits the turn. I bet just to see if I'm going to get some value, to all folds. I hope not getting paid on big hands isn't a sign of things to come, but at the same time I hate playing big hands this early in a tourney, so I'm happy with an easy scoop of the pot. Just as this happens, an ESPN cameraman nearly sprints behind my chair to film Annie Duke. His video camera drills me in the shoulderblade on the way by and it hurt like hell! Everyone at the table is laughing at me as I fake berate him. While everyone is laughing, I decide to use my newly won chips in a creative way. I raise 3x with 810 diamonds, still in early position. I get 3 callers this time, and see a 479, 79 of diamonds flop. This gives me the super draw, so I bet. I get raised by one, to which I just flat. A tidy 6 peels off the turn and I check to the raiser. He obliges my internal request to bet, to which I flat again. He definitely has me on a flush draw at this point. The river is nothing and I check again, letting him lead. He of course does, and I raise his bet, to which he folds. This immediately puts me up to around 40k, we start with 30k...a great start. The next few hands give the feeling that A. this could be my tournament, or B. I'm in big trouble. I say this because I proceed to get JJ and QQ in back to back hands. These are power hands, but ones that must be played carefully post flop. In each case, I raise preflop with 2 callers (It actually sucks that no one has seen my hands yet, so I'm going to start to get callers like this unless I prove what I'm betting/raising). In each case an A and a K hit the flop. I Cbetted both times to an above average raise from someone and I folded each time. In both instances the winner showed their hand and proved me correct in folding. I then play a hand that will tell a story for the rest of the day and earn me a bunch of chips. Having realized pretty quickly that Somerville always wants to be in charge by raising 80% of the time preflop, I decide to try to take some of his aggression away by playing back at him. With AKoff in early position, I 3x raise. He is the only caller. Total rainbow lowball flop makes me lead out with a reasonable bet, to his call. I immediately spot that he doesn't have anything and determine I'm going to bet this all the way through. Turn is another blank, produces no draw, so I lead again to his call. The river is a 6, and I throw out another sizable bet. He pines for a minute, finally making the call. He shows a 6 to pick up the pot. Having been taken down last week on almost the exact same hand in the DSE, I'm not happy about the call, but smile and say, "Mr. Somerville, that was an old man call right there." He smiles, and Jonathan Tamayo agrees with me and says he can't believe he called that (but being the really nice kid he is, apologizes to any old men around that may have heard us). I lose about 8k on this pot, and I ask myself if I've learned my lesson...I've now squandered a significant portion of two tournament stacks on the exact same scenario. I determine that Somerville will try to run all over me/everyone the rest of the day if I let down now, so I conclude that I must keep the foot on the pedal if I want to amass chips today. The rest of the table is just too weak for me to let him take all the dead money without putting up some opposition. About two hands later, I raise in late position with 65suited. I get a caller out of the BB, and the flop hits 665. The BB bets, and I flat call, hoping he hits his draw, or is sitting on an overpair. The turn is a blank, and he checks. I bet out a reasonable amount, but he immediately folds. I pick up a couple thousand from this, but maybe should've checked the turn behind and tried to let him lead the river...oh well, moving forward is moving forward in a tourney. Just then, the announcer comes over the PA to tell all spectators and fans to leave the pavillion because the players will be going on break in less than 10 minutes. A couple of hands later, I get 1010 in late position. As is the norm, JS fires out a min to 3x raise from any position. I flat call, as I don't like a reraise in this spot yet. I'm looking to spike/trap and let him use his aggression against himself. A semi perfect flop hits with an A106, two clubs. JS leads out as expected, to my call. Turn is a blank and he throws out a "I'm trying to get you off your hand" sizable bet, to which I take my time and just flat call again. The river is a club, which I'm not even remotely afraid of. JS surprisingly checks, and I immediately fire out a good bet. He pines for a while, trying to piece together what just happened. "That club doesn't scare you?" He asks. "No, but it would scare me if I were you" is my reply. This coaxes him to call the bet and I table my set. He tells me he didn't exactly see that coming. I smile and stack myself up to 44k at the first break.
Leaving the pavillion for break is nothing short of a disaster. Having not spent much time at the Rio in the weeks prior, I have no idea where anything is. There are two poker pavillions set up across the hall from eachother in seperate convention rooms, so it gets confusing when you leave your pavillion, especially since you can leave in any direction you please, and there are players/fans/media everywhere. I follow a herd to the restroom and stand in line. This is how breaks are spent, standing in line for the bathroom/food/whatever. Jesus, I'm glad I don't smoke anymore, I can't imagine having to choose between a cigarette and using the bathroom...those guys will bust out today because they undoubtedly won't go to the bathroom, they'll smoke instead. It's standing in the halls that I remember that I'm in playing in the Main Event. Goosebumps again. Exiting the bathroom and walking back to the Amazon pavillion, I notice a lot of women staring at me in a very pleasant way (eye f'ing me if you will). I think, "Damn, I know the pink shirt is hot and all, but wow!" Feeling great about myself, I turn to my left and realize Patrick Antonius is walking with me back to the pavillion. "You dick, I thought all those girls were looking at me" I say to him with a smile. He just looks at me, shrugs, and says, "What?" We both laugh and I get the hell away from him so my confidence as a man and poker player won't both be destroyed before we even start the second level of play. Heading back into the room, I hear Steve Begleigter explain how he got sent to the rail already...no back to back final tables for him. I head back to my table and the excitement subsides again as I prepare to own the next level of play.
Almost immediately I get AQoff in mid position. I raise and of course, the only caller is JS. I hit the flop with a Q57 board and lead out, JS calls behind. The turn is an A, which could be a great card for me, as I think he may have an A. I lead, he raises, I call. The river is a blank, and I lead out a good bet again. JS pines, finally saying, "If you've got it, good for you" and makes the call. I table my top two and he mucks. This hand is really where that AK hand from earlier pays off. I don't think he calls me down unless he thinks I'm on a play, and I've already proven that I'm not afraid to ride a play to the end. I'm now well over 50k in chips and riding high. The next couple of hours prove to be a back and forth battle between mostly JS and myself. He was able to double up through someone, so he always had about what I had in chips, and it gave him the ability to continue his bulldozer ways. He continued to minraise, 3bet, or call weak raises preflop and try to outplay the weaker players postflop. I'm well-versed in this strategy and watched for patterns for a bit. I have enough chips that I don't need to tangle with the other big stack unless I think I can beat him with my hand or with bets. He picks on the weak all afternoon, scooping small pot after small pot. Any time he's not involved, I do the same. I send a text to a friend back home that's been following all the action at my table, "Jason Somerville and I are on a collision course, and we both know it." Just before the dinner break, I'm at about 63k in chips, way over chip average. I get AJ suited and call a preflop raise from a very tight, mostly cash game player to my right. J54 is the flop. He checks, I bet around half the pot, really just hoping to pick it up there, but he comes over the top with a substantial raise. He looks very anxious and I decide to lay it down after tanking for a minute or two. He was a little short and was committed to the hand, so I didn't want to shove here. It may be that I just hate AJ, but I don't think I'm good. He later tells me that he really wanted a call and would've been doubling up if I did...I believe him. This doesn't damage me too much, and we're just about to head to the dinner break.
With 5 minutes before the break, I ask Main Event vet Jonathan Tamayo where I should go for dinner. I had tried to get Chip to pick me up and we'd go somewhere, but he couldn't. JT asks if I've made reservations anywhere in the Rio, and I tell him I don't even know any of the restaurants, so no I haven't. He says, "Well you better start running. With your chip stack you should've left 10 minutes ago." I ask if he's serious, and he assures me he is. I ask where he is going and he says he's got friends picking him up so they can go eat...in my face. I determine that the BB won't hit me before the break, so I just leave. Not knowing where to go, I just start walking. I find the Poker Kitchen again and see that there's no one in there. I am hungry, but there aren't a ton of great options here, plus I didn't have time to wash my hands. I figure I'll just get food here and take a seat before the mob comes. With a 90 minute break, I can eat and go chill out for a while before the next level. I decide on some chicken fingers because I can eat them with a fork. I grab a table just as hundreds of people come storming into the place. I can hear all the bad beat stories already...man I hate them. While I'm eating, trying not to listen to anyone, one of the hundreds of massage therapists asks if she can sit with me. I tell her of course and am happy to not have to talk poker to anyone at this point. As much as I've loved talking poker and discussing strategy and such since I've been in town, now is not when I want to talk about it. I feel great and am on a great run, so I'm just going to use this time to reflect on my own game and figure out what to do from here...I do not want to listen to other peoples' plights. On a side note...what a racket the massage company has! There are literally hundreds of massage therapists that come in for the WSOP, and each has to pay a $50 fee to the company to let them work. Then the company gets half of everything the MTs make ($2/minute)! I should've gotten into running a massage company instead of poker. Although seedier, I would definitely make more money. I finish up with dinner, and take a walk outside. It's after 7pm, but it's still over 100 degrees outside, as usual. I call a few people and give updates on my progress. If only I can double what I have now, I may be in phenominal position going into Day 2.
I'm getting text updates, and there's a rumble to the crowd that Chan is destroying everything in his path. He's about two tables away and there's a lot of activity always. As well as I thought I was doing, he's somewhere around 180k...how the hell does that happen?? He doesn't even play poker anymore!!
The next level of play proves to be fruitless. I go in reverse the whole level. Low to mid pocket pairs a few times, I'd raise preflop, a huge board would hit and I'd either get led into or raised if I lead...all which led to me folding. After two hours of this, I'm down to around 50k again. We come back from our last break and we'll be playing a half level before calling it a day. Coming out of the break, JS hits a huge, paid off boat to get to around 70k. One of the poker reporters that had been around our table all day notices his new stack, having seen it earlier when he was short. She mentions that it's just like a previous tourney of his where she wrote that his short stack must've been good fortune because he came all the way back to get 4th and an almost 400k payday. He says he's been up and down all day, but now that he's at 70k, he'll drop down to 50k, then get it back to 100k before the end of the day. I tell him it's going to be me that'll take that 20k off of him, but there's no way he gets to 100k from me. We both give a little uneasy smile, as I think he knows I'm not kidding. Right in stride, about 15 minutes later, we're involved in what will be our final major hand of the day against each other. Having Cbetted the flop and turn to his fold a couple times after the AQ hand, he's back to believing I may just be pushing him around, so when I raise with K10clubs, he obliges one more time with a call. The flop come out with 2 clubs, so I bet. He raises and I call. He gets a confused look on his face, as the board is trash, except for the clubs. The 3rd club hit the turn and I've made my flush. I check the turn, as does he behind. The river is another trash card so I bet, and he folds. This was huge because I don't think he knew I hit the flush, but he realized one last time that I was not backing down to him like the rest of the table...this would come in handy if we meet again in this or any other tournament. JS winds up donking off about 25k to JT with about 20 minutes to go in the day. I pick up JJ with 10 minutes to go...not a spot I really want to be in, but here we go. I raise preflop and get a call out of JT. The flop is rainbow rags and I lead out, to a call from JT. The turn is another garbage card and I feel good so I throw out a reasonable bet, to which JT raises. I look him over, and knowing how solid he is, I show him my hand as I lay it down. He shows me AA and I've made another big laydown to close out the day. This hand, along with a couple others gives JT the table chip lead for the day. He has around 62.5k, I have 60.2k to close out the day. We bag up our chips and wish each other luck. I have a feeling I'm going to run into at least one of these guys again.
Before the last break, I noticed at the table behind me was the guy I met in the hot tub earlier this morning. Confused, I ask why in the hell would he lie about playing today. He says he made a terrible mistake and thought he was playing tomorrow, and wound up showing up an hour and a half late for today's tournament. I can't imagine how I'd be if I waited all this time for the Main to start, only to show up an hour and a half late...it'd be a nightmare turn reality! I feel bad for giving him shit, so I offer him a ride back to the IP. During this time, we talk about our day. Obviously mine turned out way better than his, but he's still sitting on 34k, not a bad start at all. We get back to the IP, and he wants to have a beer. Feeling good about my day, I agree but have to get my room extended until Saturday. I'm only checked in until the morning after each day I'd play, so hopefully I'll be doing this often. IP comps me another couple of nights and I'm even happier! I saddle up to the bar with John from Dallas, who proceeds to tell me stories of college wrestling at North Texas, then professionally for the Von Erichs at the Sportatorium, and his many meetings with Mean Joe Green. He's a nice guy who then tells me a little more about UB.com. He tells me through all the parties and such that he's attended with them, that he can introduce me to the guys that do the signing. He says he can't promise any money, but I might be able to get a free shirt or something out of it. John tells me with my stack where it is, they'll definitely want to talk to me. I agree to meet with them tomorrow afternoon and see where it leads. For now, I'm enjoying tonight as tomorrow is a day off. I proceed to get plastered until about 5am, when I make the walk down to the Flamingo for what I heard is one of the best burgers in town, and it's only like $1. The hammered, 2 block walk down the Strip at 5am is sketchy at best. I keep my head up and make blurry eye contact with everyone walking towards me, as I make it clear I won't be an unsuspecting victim of any type of crime this morning. I take a seat at the empty bar and order the burger special and a beer. Burger was awful, but I don't really remember. I do however remember the fries being spectacular. I was happy to leave the Flamingo, as the coconut smell they pump through the air is nothing like the sweet smell of Summer Seduction; it kind of makes me want to puke. I make the drunken, depressing walk through the IP at 6am and pass out in my room. I know everyone will be calling in the next couple of minutes to see how today went. I should really turn my phone off...
Driving up Flamingo again, the butterflies are at a near fervor. Today starts my hopefully long journey to becoming a World Champion, but it could also mean the end of this trip. As I'm driving, "Won't Back Down" comes on the Sirius and I turn it up. It's a reminder that as patient a player I am, I still need to play a way more aggressive game than I normally would (I actually tell myself this a few times throughout the tournament, as I'm throwing 50% of my stack into the pot Cbetting with nothing just because of my read on an opponent). Sitting in the parking lot of the Rio, I take a minute to gather my thoughts and look at some pictures my wife sent. I remember the words of my late grandfather "patience, patience" and put my game face on.
Walking into the Main, dressed for battle is pretty exciting. Let's be honest here, playing/watching poker can be one of the most boring things in the world for anyone. That's not to say I don't love it, because I do, but it's boring. As much as I love to play tournaments, I usually dread the grind that's in front of me, but when you walk up the stairs to the WSOP Pavillion, with the red carpet, media and fans everywhere, it's a whole different experience. It makes you very aware of what you're about to get into. As predicted, I didn't notice much in the halls, although it was packed with activity. I find my seat and get settled in. I have a routine I follow for just about every tournament I play. I make an FRS drink to sip throughout the day, I get my phone out (because I know I'll be texting the whole time), I get the ipod out and untangled in case I feel the need to throw it on, and I pop some gum. I look to the table in front of me, there's Mike Sexton. At the table to my right, Annie Duke. I find later that Johnny Chan is pretty close to my table just running over everyone. At my table are two well-known young pros Jason Somerville and Jonathan Tamayo. Although aware of both of their reputations, I'm afraid of neither and intend to establish dominance over all.
Settling into the table, this is the same as any other tournament. Sure, there are a ton more people than I've played against before, slightly more cameras and celebrities than normal tournaments, but once the first card flies out of the dealers hand, all of this goes away. The only thing that matters right now is paying attention and collecting chips. I love the starting stack, time levels, and the structure of the Main, so I'm excited to get underway. I've been preparing specifically for this moment for 6 months.
Almost immediately I pick AA in early position. I put in a 3x raise, to 2 callers. An A hits the flop, and I check, hoping to trap someone as there isn't a straight or flush draw out there. It checks around and another blank hits the turn. I bet just to see if I'm going to get some value, to all folds. I hope not getting paid on big hands isn't a sign of things to come, but at the same time I hate playing big hands this early in a tourney, so I'm happy with an easy scoop of the pot. Just as this happens, an ESPN cameraman nearly sprints behind my chair to film Annie Duke. His video camera drills me in the shoulderblade on the way by and it hurt like hell! Everyone at the table is laughing at me as I fake berate him. While everyone is laughing, I decide to use my newly won chips in a creative way. I raise 3x with 810 diamonds, still in early position. I get 3 callers this time, and see a 479, 79 of diamonds flop. This gives me the super draw, so I bet. I get raised by one, to which I just flat. A tidy 6 peels off the turn and I check to the raiser. He obliges my internal request to bet, to which I flat again. He definitely has me on a flush draw at this point. The river is nothing and I check again, letting him lead. He of course does, and I raise his bet, to which he folds. This immediately puts me up to around 40k, we start with 30k...a great start. The next few hands give the feeling that A. this could be my tournament, or B. I'm in big trouble. I say this because I proceed to get JJ and QQ in back to back hands. These are power hands, but ones that must be played carefully post flop. In each case, I raise preflop with 2 callers (It actually sucks that no one has seen my hands yet, so I'm going to start to get callers like this unless I prove what I'm betting/raising). In each case an A and a K hit the flop. I Cbetted both times to an above average raise from someone and I folded each time. In both instances the winner showed their hand and proved me correct in folding. I then play a hand that will tell a story for the rest of the day and earn me a bunch of chips. Having realized pretty quickly that Somerville always wants to be in charge by raising 80% of the time preflop, I decide to try to take some of his aggression away by playing back at him. With AKoff in early position, I 3x raise. He is the only caller. Total rainbow lowball flop makes me lead out with a reasonable bet, to his call. I immediately spot that he doesn't have anything and determine I'm going to bet this all the way through. Turn is another blank, produces no draw, so I lead again to his call. The river is a 6, and I throw out another sizable bet. He pines for a minute, finally making the call. He shows a 6 to pick up the pot. Having been taken down last week on almost the exact same hand in the DSE, I'm not happy about the call, but smile and say, "Mr. Somerville, that was an old man call right there." He smiles, and Jonathan Tamayo agrees with me and says he can't believe he called that (but being the really nice kid he is, apologizes to any old men around that may have heard us). I lose about 8k on this pot, and I ask myself if I've learned my lesson...I've now squandered a significant portion of two tournament stacks on the exact same scenario. I determine that Somerville will try to run all over me/everyone the rest of the day if I let down now, so I conclude that I must keep the foot on the pedal if I want to amass chips today. The rest of the table is just too weak for me to let him take all the dead money without putting up some opposition. About two hands later, I raise in late position with 65suited. I get a caller out of the BB, and the flop hits 665. The BB bets, and I flat call, hoping he hits his draw, or is sitting on an overpair. The turn is a blank, and he checks. I bet out a reasonable amount, but he immediately folds. I pick up a couple thousand from this, but maybe should've checked the turn behind and tried to let him lead the river...oh well, moving forward is moving forward in a tourney. Just then, the announcer comes over the PA to tell all spectators and fans to leave the pavillion because the players will be going on break in less than 10 minutes. A couple of hands later, I get 1010 in late position. As is the norm, JS fires out a min to 3x raise from any position. I flat call, as I don't like a reraise in this spot yet. I'm looking to spike/trap and let him use his aggression against himself. A semi perfect flop hits with an A106, two clubs. JS leads out as expected, to my call. Turn is a blank and he throws out a "I'm trying to get you off your hand" sizable bet, to which I take my time and just flat call again. The river is a club, which I'm not even remotely afraid of. JS surprisingly checks, and I immediately fire out a good bet. He pines for a while, trying to piece together what just happened. "That club doesn't scare you?" He asks. "No, but it would scare me if I were you" is my reply. This coaxes him to call the bet and I table my set. He tells me he didn't exactly see that coming. I smile and stack myself up to 44k at the first break.
Leaving the pavillion for break is nothing short of a disaster. Having not spent much time at the Rio in the weeks prior, I have no idea where anything is. There are two poker pavillions set up across the hall from eachother in seperate convention rooms, so it gets confusing when you leave your pavillion, especially since you can leave in any direction you please, and there are players/fans/media everywhere. I follow a herd to the restroom and stand in line. This is how breaks are spent, standing in line for the bathroom/food/whatever. Jesus, I'm glad I don't smoke anymore, I can't imagine having to choose between a cigarette and using the bathroom...those guys will bust out today because they undoubtedly won't go to the bathroom, they'll smoke instead. It's standing in the halls that I remember that I'm in playing in the Main Event. Goosebumps again. Exiting the bathroom and walking back to the Amazon pavillion, I notice a lot of women staring at me in a very pleasant way (eye f'ing me if you will). I think, "Damn, I know the pink shirt is hot and all, but wow!" Feeling great about myself, I turn to my left and realize Patrick Antonius is walking with me back to the pavillion. "You dick, I thought all those girls were looking at me" I say to him with a smile. He just looks at me, shrugs, and says, "What?" We both laugh and I get the hell away from him so my confidence as a man and poker player won't both be destroyed before we even start the second level of play. Heading back into the room, I hear Steve Begleigter explain how he got sent to the rail already...no back to back final tables for him. I head back to my table and the excitement subsides again as I prepare to own the next level of play.
Almost immediately I get AQoff in mid position. I raise and of course, the only caller is JS. I hit the flop with a Q57 board and lead out, JS calls behind. The turn is an A, which could be a great card for me, as I think he may have an A. I lead, he raises, I call. The river is a blank, and I lead out a good bet again. JS pines, finally saying, "If you've got it, good for you" and makes the call. I table my top two and he mucks. This hand is really where that AK hand from earlier pays off. I don't think he calls me down unless he thinks I'm on a play, and I've already proven that I'm not afraid to ride a play to the end. I'm now well over 50k in chips and riding high. The next couple of hours prove to be a back and forth battle between mostly JS and myself. He was able to double up through someone, so he always had about what I had in chips, and it gave him the ability to continue his bulldozer ways. He continued to minraise, 3bet, or call weak raises preflop and try to outplay the weaker players postflop. I'm well-versed in this strategy and watched for patterns for a bit. I have enough chips that I don't need to tangle with the other big stack unless I think I can beat him with my hand or with bets. He picks on the weak all afternoon, scooping small pot after small pot. Any time he's not involved, I do the same. I send a text to a friend back home that's been following all the action at my table, "Jason Somerville and I are on a collision course, and we both know it." Just before the dinner break, I'm at about 63k in chips, way over chip average. I get AJ suited and call a preflop raise from a very tight, mostly cash game player to my right. J54 is the flop. He checks, I bet around half the pot, really just hoping to pick it up there, but he comes over the top with a substantial raise. He looks very anxious and I decide to lay it down after tanking for a minute or two. He was a little short and was committed to the hand, so I didn't want to shove here. It may be that I just hate AJ, but I don't think I'm good. He later tells me that he really wanted a call and would've been doubling up if I did...I believe him. This doesn't damage me too much, and we're just about to head to the dinner break.
With 5 minutes before the break, I ask Main Event vet Jonathan Tamayo where I should go for dinner. I had tried to get Chip to pick me up and we'd go somewhere, but he couldn't. JT asks if I've made reservations anywhere in the Rio, and I tell him I don't even know any of the restaurants, so no I haven't. He says, "Well you better start running. With your chip stack you should've left 10 minutes ago." I ask if he's serious, and he assures me he is. I ask where he is going and he says he's got friends picking him up so they can go eat...in my face. I determine that the BB won't hit me before the break, so I just leave. Not knowing where to go, I just start walking. I find the Poker Kitchen again and see that there's no one in there. I am hungry, but there aren't a ton of great options here, plus I didn't have time to wash my hands. I figure I'll just get food here and take a seat before the mob comes. With a 90 minute break, I can eat and go chill out for a while before the next level. I decide on some chicken fingers because I can eat them with a fork. I grab a table just as hundreds of people come storming into the place. I can hear all the bad beat stories already...man I hate them. While I'm eating, trying not to listen to anyone, one of the hundreds of massage therapists asks if she can sit with me. I tell her of course and am happy to not have to talk poker to anyone at this point. As much as I've loved talking poker and discussing strategy and such since I've been in town, now is not when I want to talk about it. I feel great and am on a great run, so I'm just going to use this time to reflect on my own game and figure out what to do from here...I do not want to listen to other peoples' plights. On a side note...what a racket the massage company has! There are literally hundreds of massage therapists that come in for the WSOP, and each has to pay a $50 fee to the company to let them work. Then the company gets half of everything the MTs make ($2/minute)! I should've gotten into running a massage company instead of poker. Although seedier, I would definitely make more money. I finish up with dinner, and take a walk outside. It's after 7pm, but it's still over 100 degrees outside, as usual. I call a few people and give updates on my progress. If only I can double what I have now, I may be in phenominal position going into Day 2.
I'm getting text updates, and there's a rumble to the crowd that Chan is destroying everything in his path. He's about two tables away and there's a lot of activity always. As well as I thought I was doing, he's somewhere around 180k...how the hell does that happen?? He doesn't even play poker anymore!!
The next level of play proves to be fruitless. I go in reverse the whole level. Low to mid pocket pairs a few times, I'd raise preflop, a huge board would hit and I'd either get led into or raised if I lead...all which led to me folding. After two hours of this, I'm down to around 50k again. We come back from our last break and we'll be playing a half level before calling it a day. Coming out of the break, JS hits a huge, paid off boat to get to around 70k. One of the poker reporters that had been around our table all day notices his new stack, having seen it earlier when he was short. She mentions that it's just like a previous tourney of his where she wrote that his short stack must've been good fortune because he came all the way back to get 4th and an almost 400k payday. He says he's been up and down all day, but now that he's at 70k, he'll drop down to 50k, then get it back to 100k before the end of the day. I tell him it's going to be me that'll take that 20k off of him, but there's no way he gets to 100k from me. We both give a little uneasy smile, as I think he knows I'm not kidding. Right in stride, about 15 minutes later, we're involved in what will be our final major hand of the day against each other. Having Cbetted the flop and turn to his fold a couple times after the AQ hand, he's back to believing I may just be pushing him around, so when I raise with K10clubs, he obliges one more time with a call. The flop come out with 2 clubs, so I bet. He raises and I call. He gets a confused look on his face, as the board is trash, except for the clubs. The 3rd club hit the turn and I've made my flush. I check the turn, as does he behind. The river is another trash card so I bet, and he folds. This was huge because I don't think he knew I hit the flush, but he realized one last time that I was not backing down to him like the rest of the table...this would come in handy if we meet again in this or any other tournament. JS winds up donking off about 25k to JT with about 20 minutes to go in the day. I pick up JJ with 10 minutes to go...not a spot I really want to be in, but here we go. I raise preflop and get a call out of JT. The flop is rainbow rags and I lead out, to a call from JT. The turn is another garbage card and I feel good so I throw out a reasonable bet, to which JT raises. I look him over, and knowing how solid he is, I show him my hand as I lay it down. He shows me AA and I've made another big laydown to close out the day. This hand, along with a couple others gives JT the table chip lead for the day. He has around 62.5k, I have 60.2k to close out the day. We bag up our chips and wish each other luck. I have a feeling I'm going to run into at least one of these guys again.
Before the last break, I noticed at the table behind me was the guy I met in the hot tub earlier this morning. Confused, I ask why in the hell would he lie about playing today. He says he made a terrible mistake and thought he was playing tomorrow, and wound up showing up an hour and a half late for today's tournament. I can't imagine how I'd be if I waited all this time for the Main to start, only to show up an hour and a half late...it'd be a nightmare turn reality! I feel bad for giving him shit, so I offer him a ride back to the IP. During this time, we talk about our day. Obviously mine turned out way better than his, but he's still sitting on 34k, not a bad start at all. We get back to the IP, and he wants to have a beer. Feeling good about my day, I agree but have to get my room extended until Saturday. I'm only checked in until the morning after each day I'd play, so hopefully I'll be doing this often. IP comps me another couple of nights and I'm even happier! I saddle up to the bar with John from Dallas, who proceeds to tell me stories of college wrestling at North Texas, then professionally for the Von Erichs at the Sportatorium, and his many meetings with Mean Joe Green. He's a nice guy who then tells me a little more about UB.com. He tells me through all the parties and such that he's attended with them, that he can introduce me to the guys that do the signing. He says he can't promise any money, but I might be able to get a free shirt or something out of it. John tells me with my stack where it is, they'll definitely want to talk to me. I agree to meet with them tomorrow afternoon and see where it leads. For now, I'm enjoying tonight as tomorrow is a day off. I proceed to get plastered until about 5am, when I make the walk down to the Flamingo for what I heard is one of the best burgers in town, and it's only like $1. The hammered, 2 block walk down the Strip at 5am is sketchy at best. I keep my head up and make blurry eye contact with everyone walking towards me, as I make it clear I won't be an unsuspecting victim of any type of crime this morning. I take a seat at the empty bar and order the burger special and a beer. Burger was awful, but I don't really remember. I do however remember the fries being spectacular. I was happy to leave the Flamingo, as the coconut smell they pump through the air is nothing like the sweet smell of Summer Seduction; it kind of makes me want to puke. I make the drunken, depressing walk through the IP at 6am and pass out in my room. I know everyone will be calling in the next couple of minutes to see how today went. I should really turn my phone off...
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Shipping 10k?
I woke up today in a terrible mood. I still have no idea what I'm going to do. I talk to my wife, some friends, and my father. All gave great input, but ultimately this decision is up to me. Although warranted, I didn't really care that a lot of people would be mad that I came out to Vegas for all this time and didn't even play the Main Event. Those that would be mad are the ones that don't have a clue what this trip is about for me, so I could deal with them. All the great poker I've played and terrible luck I've had the last 10 days has me very apprehensive about playing the Main, but at the same time, I do have the game to sidestep some disasters and maybe make a run at cashing or better. Even a cash would be a good score, and maybe springboard me to more big tournaments. Winning or cashing a bunch of smaller tournaments could do the same though, and I certainly would get more play for my money. Undecided, I throw my stack of 100 $100 bills in the bottom pocket of my cargo shorts and leave, deciding to at least go over to the Rio to check out the series...and maybe register.
Not terribly hungover but not exactly right either, I head out for the day. Lately I've been driving from my hotel to the V (it's literally 2 properties away) instead of walking because I can't deal with the people and the Strip. I walk out the rear entrance, then drive right out the back door to Koval and drive around the corner to the back entrance of the V. It only takes a couple minutes and I have a parking spot in both garages that are there every time. Today I made the mistake of jumping on the strip instead of out the back door...disaster. I had just about forgotten about all the people, everywhere, waddling into the street and crosswalks. It was a stiff reminder of where I was and the environment I was in. As I sat in endless traffic, I watched these people, and wondered how many have taken a 10k chance, and would they if they could? The "Strip People" generally come out here for the experience of Vegas...Giant 5 foot bong contraptions of frozen beverages, going to clubs, sight seeing, and maybe do a little gambling in the process. Myself and the people I've been around most of the time are here for the exact opposite. We're here for the gambling, and maybe do a little partying on the side. It's two completely different universes...F 'em. They look like cattle (some literally) shuffling along the too narrow sidewalk. Being in this mess is not helping my attitude.
It's similar to the way I feel about the Main. It is the biggest, hardest tournament in the world, but there are so many that just come for the "experience" of playing in it, so they can say they did. These people have no concept of how to win a tournament, have no strategy whatsoever, they are just hoping that maybe it's their lucky day and will get the cards to carry them to victory. Even though all the best pros from around the world come to play, more than 70% of the players in the Main fall into the "hope I get lucky" category. Not that everyone doesn't need to get lucky to win the main, it's just that the overall lack of skill in the tourney makes it difficult to navigate.
I run some errands, tool around the Miracle Mile for a bit, and finally eat. I have every imaginable conversation with myself trying to talk myself out of driving to the Rio and handing the big stack of cash over. One more drive down Flamingo and none of this will matter. As I approach the Rio, I'm close to vomiting...again, not from being hungover, just the thought of entering the Main. If I had just another cash or two these past couple of weeks, if I hadn't been so unlucky over this stretch, I really wouldn't have a problem with what I'm about to do. But with so much of my bankroll about to to tied to one tournament, it adds a ton of pressure to the situation.
Walking into the WSOP Pavillion area during the Main is a much different scene than during the other events. Tons of media, fans, groupies (poker groupies are ridiculous, but real), top pros pack the halls and two playing rooms. There's an electricity in the air that clearly wasn't present when I'd been here previously in the week. I get more excited/nervous as I approach the tournament registration room. Armed guards patrol the room as about 100 people like myself are handing over a bunch of cash for hopefully the golden ticket. I'm texting my wife as I'm standing in line, telling her I'm about to throw up on the guy in front of me and I still don't think I want to do this. While in line I see and talk to a few guys I've been playing with at various points of the week. I don't know why, but seeing familiar faces made it easier to walk to the window and register. When I handed over the brick, the cashier left it there for about 10 minutes while she completed all the appropriate paperwork with me. At one point I told her, "Please take that or I'm going to puke all over it". She took a step back and didn't get it. I told her I was kidding (half) and that she was just putting it in my face by leaving the money on the counter all this time.
Now registered, I figured F it, I'm here, I'm in the Main like it or not, so I might as well enjoy it. I walked through the Pavillion and Amazon room, hoping to get acclimated with the circus that is the Main Event. After finding my seat assignment for the next day, I walk to the stage where they're handing out the last 2 bracelets won. I only watch because one of the guys is from Maryland so I cheer him on. While there, I got to meet and take a picture with Doyle Brunson, the man who literally wrote the book on modern poker. Again, I'm usually not a fanboy and wouldn't normally take pictures with poker "celebs", but this is different. Doyle is the man, and was very friendly and gracious in taking the pic with me. After this, I walk over to the feature table to see who's playing. It's at this time, I realize there's a very familiar guy standing next to me, it's last years 2nd place finisher, Darvin Moon. No one recognized him, as he's much smaller than he looks on TV. I immediately ask him, "Are you going to represent Maryland in a big way again this year, Mr. Moon?" He says he hopes so and asks if I'm from Maryland, as I'm wearing an O's shirt. I tell him I am, and that I'm playing the Main as well tomorrow. He gives me the very basic advice of, "Make sure you get it in good, and that it holds up when you do. That's the only way I got as far as I did last year...my hands held up." I thank him for the advice and wish him well. He asks my seat assignment for tomorrow and says he'll try to stop by and sweat me for a while. I don't believe him, but it was nice of him to ask. I walk around a bit more, being a fan and taking it all in. Tomorrow will be different, I'll be one of the players, trying to avoid the crowds and everything associated with it. I won't see any of this, focused only on the task at hand. I leave the Rio feeling a little better than I did earlier. It was done now, nothing I can do but play the best poker of my life and try to become the next World Champion.
The rest of the afternoon is spent catching up on the blog and generally relaxing. I decide to strap on the ipod and go for a walk on the Strip in a different direction. I figured I hadn't been to MGM and needed to expel some nervous energy/get some excercise, so I took the 2 mile hike. Weaving in and out of the cattle, walking way faster than a tourist, zipping past the card-smacking girl hawkers, I determine that this is exactly how I need to play the Main. I need to be aggressive, but have the wherewithall to sidestep the sightseers. I need to take each step carefully, but always progress and move forward. It's easy to get stuck behind a crowd, and I can't let that happen...on the strip or in the Main. After arriving at MGM, I decide to cross the street and check out New York, New York. I figure if the roller coaster is running, I can ride it to really shake out the nerves...and I love roller coasters. I find my way to the Coney Island part of the property and pay the $14 to ride the coaster. Yes, $14 for one ride. While standing in line for the front car with my headphones on, I realize I look like a GD pedophile. Damn, I hope I'm not that creepy old guy parents warn their kids about! Anyway, once seated in the front car, I take my phone out, deciding it would be a great idea to take a picture of the Strip from the top of the hill. Just as we're departing the terminal, the attendant yells, "Hey! You're going to lose that phone, put it in your pocket!" I basically tell him to F off, I've ridden a roller coaster before. This was a bad idea. As we reach the top of the hill and I get a couple quick snaps, I realize with the way the safety bar is positioned, I can't get my phone back in my pocket anyway. "Shit!", I say to the kid next to me, "I AM going to lose my phone. That guy was right!" The kid giggles and we rocket down the first hill. Vegas looks awesome from up here, just as on an airplane, you can't see all the crowds and traffic...it's very pretty. As I think this we hit the loop section of the coaster and my sunglasses fly off. I'm able to miraculously grab them with my pinky, just as my ipod comes out of my pocket! We're upside down and I see it hanging in front of me by the headphone cord. I somehow grab the ipod in the same hand that my sunglasses are hanging from when we get jerked around a corner and it jars my phone loose. In a move reminiscent of the Matrix, I pin the phone mid air to my elbow with my opposite wrist. The kid next to me thinks I'm screwing around and doing all this on purpose and he's cracking up. Luckily, the 3 things I need most (other than sleep) for tomorrow are secured as we pull back into the terminal. "That was close!" I say to the kid. "That was awesome!!!!" He screams back at me. "Only a little, that was a near disaster for me." Thankfully, he didn't run and tell his parents that some weird guy was talking to him on the roller coaster. Walking back to the hotel, I feel good. That really did get some of the nerves out, just not the way I had expected.
I go to Spago at Caesars for dinner. I had a Lamb Chorizo pizza that was pretty good, but not phenominal. I write for a while, read for a while, but can't really get tired. Chip comes over around 1am to talk about the next day, and what my strategy will be. I tell him I really just want to stay out of the way on Day 1, as the donkeys will let chips fly recklessly. I hope I don't have to play Ivey, as he may be the only player I'd realistically be intimidated by. We'll see what happens in the morning...
Not terribly hungover but not exactly right either, I head out for the day. Lately I've been driving from my hotel to the V (it's literally 2 properties away) instead of walking because I can't deal with the people and the Strip. I walk out the rear entrance, then drive right out the back door to Koval and drive around the corner to the back entrance of the V. It only takes a couple minutes and I have a parking spot in both garages that are there every time. Today I made the mistake of jumping on the strip instead of out the back door...disaster. I had just about forgotten about all the people, everywhere, waddling into the street and crosswalks. It was a stiff reminder of where I was and the environment I was in. As I sat in endless traffic, I watched these people, and wondered how many have taken a 10k chance, and would they if they could? The "Strip People" generally come out here for the experience of Vegas...Giant 5 foot bong contraptions of frozen beverages, going to clubs, sight seeing, and maybe do a little gambling in the process. Myself and the people I've been around most of the time are here for the exact opposite. We're here for the gambling, and maybe do a little partying on the side. It's two completely different universes...F 'em. They look like cattle (some literally) shuffling along the too narrow sidewalk. Being in this mess is not helping my attitude.
It's similar to the way I feel about the Main. It is the biggest, hardest tournament in the world, but there are so many that just come for the "experience" of playing in it, so they can say they did. These people have no concept of how to win a tournament, have no strategy whatsoever, they are just hoping that maybe it's their lucky day and will get the cards to carry them to victory. Even though all the best pros from around the world come to play, more than 70% of the players in the Main fall into the "hope I get lucky" category. Not that everyone doesn't need to get lucky to win the main, it's just that the overall lack of skill in the tourney makes it difficult to navigate.
I run some errands, tool around the Miracle Mile for a bit, and finally eat. I have every imaginable conversation with myself trying to talk myself out of driving to the Rio and handing the big stack of cash over. One more drive down Flamingo and none of this will matter. As I approach the Rio, I'm close to vomiting...again, not from being hungover, just the thought of entering the Main. If I had just another cash or two these past couple of weeks, if I hadn't been so unlucky over this stretch, I really wouldn't have a problem with what I'm about to do. But with so much of my bankroll about to to tied to one tournament, it adds a ton of pressure to the situation.
Walking into the WSOP Pavillion area during the Main is a much different scene than during the other events. Tons of media, fans, groupies (poker groupies are ridiculous, but real), top pros pack the halls and two playing rooms. There's an electricity in the air that clearly wasn't present when I'd been here previously in the week. I get more excited/nervous as I approach the tournament registration room. Armed guards patrol the room as about 100 people like myself are handing over a bunch of cash for hopefully the golden ticket. I'm texting my wife as I'm standing in line, telling her I'm about to throw up on the guy in front of me and I still don't think I want to do this. While in line I see and talk to a few guys I've been playing with at various points of the week. I don't know why, but seeing familiar faces made it easier to walk to the window and register. When I handed over the brick, the cashier left it there for about 10 minutes while she completed all the appropriate paperwork with me. At one point I told her, "Please take that or I'm going to puke all over it". She took a step back and didn't get it. I told her I was kidding (half) and that she was just putting it in my face by leaving the money on the counter all this time.
Now registered, I figured F it, I'm here, I'm in the Main like it or not, so I might as well enjoy it. I walked through the Pavillion and Amazon room, hoping to get acclimated with the circus that is the Main Event. After finding my seat assignment for the next day, I walk to the stage where they're handing out the last 2 bracelets won. I only watch because one of the guys is from Maryland so I cheer him on. While there, I got to meet and take a picture with Doyle Brunson, the man who literally wrote the book on modern poker. Again, I'm usually not a fanboy and wouldn't normally take pictures with poker "celebs", but this is different. Doyle is the man, and was very friendly and gracious in taking the pic with me. After this, I walk over to the feature table to see who's playing. It's at this time, I realize there's a very familiar guy standing next to me, it's last years 2nd place finisher, Darvin Moon. No one recognized him, as he's much smaller than he looks on TV. I immediately ask him, "Are you going to represent Maryland in a big way again this year, Mr. Moon?" He says he hopes so and asks if I'm from Maryland, as I'm wearing an O's shirt. I tell him I am, and that I'm playing the Main as well tomorrow. He gives me the very basic advice of, "Make sure you get it in good, and that it holds up when you do. That's the only way I got as far as I did last year...my hands held up." I thank him for the advice and wish him well. He asks my seat assignment for tomorrow and says he'll try to stop by and sweat me for a while. I don't believe him, but it was nice of him to ask. I walk around a bit more, being a fan and taking it all in. Tomorrow will be different, I'll be one of the players, trying to avoid the crowds and everything associated with it. I won't see any of this, focused only on the task at hand. I leave the Rio feeling a little better than I did earlier. It was done now, nothing I can do but play the best poker of my life and try to become the next World Champion.
The rest of the afternoon is spent catching up on the blog and generally relaxing. I decide to strap on the ipod and go for a walk on the Strip in a different direction. I figured I hadn't been to MGM and needed to expel some nervous energy/get some excercise, so I took the 2 mile hike. Weaving in and out of the cattle, walking way faster than a tourist, zipping past the card-smacking girl hawkers, I determine that this is exactly how I need to play the Main. I need to be aggressive, but have the wherewithall to sidestep the sightseers. I need to take each step carefully, but always progress and move forward. It's easy to get stuck behind a crowd, and I can't let that happen...on the strip or in the Main. After arriving at MGM, I decide to cross the street and check out New York, New York. I figure if the roller coaster is running, I can ride it to really shake out the nerves...and I love roller coasters. I find my way to the Coney Island part of the property and pay the $14 to ride the coaster. Yes, $14 for one ride. While standing in line for the front car with my headphones on, I realize I look like a GD pedophile. Damn, I hope I'm not that creepy old guy parents warn their kids about! Anyway, once seated in the front car, I take my phone out, deciding it would be a great idea to take a picture of the Strip from the top of the hill. Just as we're departing the terminal, the attendant yells, "Hey! You're going to lose that phone, put it in your pocket!" I basically tell him to F off, I've ridden a roller coaster before. This was a bad idea. As we reach the top of the hill and I get a couple quick snaps, I realize with the way the safety bar is positioned, I can't get my phone back in my pocket anyway. "Shit!", I say to the kid next to me, "I AM going to lose my phone. That guy was right!" The kid giggles and we rocket down the first hill. Vegas looks awesome from up here, just as on an airplane, you can't see all the crowds and traffic...it's very pretty. As I think this we hit the loop section of the coaster and my sunglasses fly off. I'm able to miraculously grab them with my pinky, just as my ipod comes out of my pocket! We're upside down and I see it hanging in front of me by the headphone cord. I somehow grab the ipod in the same hand that my sunglasses are hanging from when we get jerked around a corner and it jars my phone loose. In a move reminiscent of the Matrix, I pin the phone mid air to my elbow with my opposite wrist. The kid next to me thinks I'm screwing around and doing all this on purpose and he's cracking up. Luckily, the 3 things I need most (other than sleep) for tomorrow are secured as we pull back into the terminal. "That was close!" I say to the kid. "That was awesome!!!!" He screams back at me. "Only a little, that was a near disaster for me." Thankfully, he didn't run and tell his parents that some weird guy was talking to him on the roller coaster. Walking back to the hotel, I feel good. That really did get some of the nerves out, just not the way I had expected.
I go to Spago at Caesars for dinner. I had a Lamb Chorizo pizza that was pretty good, but not phenominal. I write for a while, read for a while, but can't really get tired. Chip comes over around 1am to talk about the next day, and what my strategy will be. I tell him I really just want to stay out of the way on Day 1, as the donkeys will let chips fly recklessly. I hope I don't have to play Ivey, as he may be the only player I'd realistically be intimidated by. We'll see what happens in the morning...
Monday Accusations of Cheating!!!
Almost got to bed by 7am last night, but not quite, so I woke up just before noon. I jump out of bed, shower, and head to the V for the next DSE event....
Now the rumor around town has been that once the WSOP Main Event starts, they will have to cancel their daily 1pm $200 Deepstack tournaments because dealers have been quitting at a pace that Harrah's hasn't been able to keep up with. So naturally when I walk up to the registration window an hour late (you can register up to 2 hours in) for the tourney at the V and saw a huge line, I assumed the Rio had, in fact, cancelled their tournament. This was not the case, it was just a giant field of over 800 players, with a top prize of $60k to the winner. I was anxious to get under way when over half the people in line didn't even have a V players card yet, which you need to enter the tournaments. This meant it was going to be a big, soft field...if only this could be the time I get the donkeys to ship their chips to me early and give me a stack to play with. Long story short, it was not the time. I played my brand of tight, anti-aggressive poker to chug along at a slow pace. I took a couple shots and missed, and picked up a bunch of dead money as well. I was always just below chip average, but moving along.
About 3 hours into the tournament, I was still at my original table and I had become friendly with the player to my left, a gentleman of about 60 that had a very respectable tournament resume. I was half using my ipod, and half conversing with this man. He showed me a lot of his hands and told me what he was doing to people across from us, and I'd give him a read or two on somebody to be friendly. At one point, I had my headphones on, and we are the blinds, I SB and he BB. Everyone folds around to us and I tell him I'm just going to be friendly and limp in (I have AJ off here). I half hear him say, "well, we can't be that friendly this time", and throws out a sizable raise of 5x BB. AJ being my nemisis, and knowing what he plays and what he would raise me with, I'm folding here easy. I laugh, and as I'm folding, hold the cards up so he can see what I'm folding, I realize that whole table needs to see them once I show him, so I table my fold. The V has some very specific rules for their tournaments, and one is if you show your cards in anything other than the act of folding, you will receive a penalty of one orbit. I still have my headphones in and am just giggling to the man when I hear the dealer yell for the floor. I don't even realize she's calling it on me until I hear her say I tried an angleshoot by showing my cards and should be penalized. I ripped my headphones out and say, "are you talking about me? What are you talking about? I laughed and was CLEARLY folding when I tabled my hand." The dealer says I held my cards up and paused enough to elicit a response out of the BB. I tell her and the floorman, that the only reason I paused was that I forgot I had to show everyone, not just him and when I realized it, tabled my hand for everyone. The dealer really wanted me to get a penaly, even as the BB is telling her he was 100% sure I was folding, and that I really wasn't even looking at him when I did it. The dealer pleads one more time with the floor supervisor, when I tell him how much time I've spent there and how many tournaments I've played in the last couple of weeks...I definitely know the rules. Supervisor rules in my favor and the dealer looks pissed. I still don't know what that was all about. The situation almost tilted me.
After this incident, we only remain as a table until just after the dinner break. I'm moved to my next table deep into the corner of the poker room. I like it back here, but am a little short on chips, so I have to be careful who I tangle with and when. I'm able to comfortably steal a couple blinds and antes, but don't get any hands that I want to get involved with. Just before our next break, Vanessa Selbst is moved to our table, only to be moved again before she is even dealt a hand. It took me about two days to remember where I knew her from, and I don't think anyone at our table recognized her at all. I successfully double up when I try a blind/ante steal from mid position with 66. I get called by QQ on the button. I start packing up my stuff as the guy has me covered by about $100. I tell the gigantic Mexican dealer that he's sexy and spikes a 6 on the river for me right in stride. I feel a little bad, as I saw this same guy take a bad beat a few nights ago, but it's about time I win from behind. This gives me enough chips to hang around a good bit longer. At 12 hours into the tournament, we're getting down to the payline, meaning if a few more people are knocked out, I'll be in the money. I was running low on chips again, as short stacks were shoving left and right and I had no hands to call with. This meant I was being slowly chopped down again. With the blinds at 2000/4000 200 ante, it was meaningful to pick up blinds and antes if given a chance. I took such a chance when everyone had folded to me, on the button. I shove with A6 clubs and get insta-called by the SB, a huge stack. He flipps over AK to have me dominated, and subsequently sent to the rail a mere few spots out of the money. 12 hours of solid play, so close to the money, and then it's all over in a flash with nothing to show for it. I'm glad I'm off tomorrow because I'll need it to get over the disappointment.
It's at this point the doubt in playing the Main Event is in full effect. I really, truly do not want to play in it right now. I feel with my play as solid as it is and my reading ability being fine tuned with every new tournament I play, I should keep firing away at the smaller ones. I'm going to have to tell everyone tomorrow that I'm not playing, or I'm going to have to go to the Rio and hand them a stack of $100's to the tune of $10k. I'm 60/40 at this point in favor of not playing.
I head over to Cut and talk to Chip about my play. He completely agrees with me in not wanting to play the Main. He's closing soon and I'm hungry, so I tell him to meet me at B&B when he's done. I knew the bartender, Eric from Long Island, so I took a seat at the bar to eat. His fiance is sitting next to me with her sister, and a Dutch guy named Iain. He was 33 as well, with long hair that he kept flinging around. Annoying and pretentious as he was, he told a lot of ridiculous stories and kept us entertained as I ate and they drank. Draped over the sister, he epitimized Eurotrash for the moment. I've met a ton of Europeans while here, and for the most part they've been extremely friendly and great to talk to. Iain was the opposite. He was a poker player here for the series as well, but I told him I didn't want to hear any bad beat stories...I was over poker for the day. I can summarize his attitude when out of nowhere he asked what the pink bracelet I was wearing stood for. The sisters answered for me, as they thought it was common knowledge when he cut them off and said, "well mine are better. They stand for..." and I have no idea what he said. I told him as serious as I could that I was very proud of him and ate my goat cheese tortellini, which was incredible. Chip arrived for a drink and we closed the place down, eventually all of us going to another bar in the V, where Iain bought us a bottle of champagne inexplicably...it felt like he did this every night. After chugging our glass, Chip and I said our goodbyes and wished Eric luck with "Thor".
Up way too late, drunker than I should be, I take solice in the fact that tomorrow is an off day. I've been putting in long days with no results and it's wearing me down. I lay awake for hours thinking about tomorrow. Am I really going to register? I just don't want to. Everyone's going to be pissed...
Now the rumor around town has been that once the WSOP Main Event starts, they will have to cancel their daily 1pm $200 Deepstack tournaments because dealers have been quitting at a pace that Harrah's hasn't been able to keep up with. So naturally when I walk up to the registration window an hour late (you can register up to 2 hours in) for the tourney at the V and saw a huge line, I assumed the Rio had, in fact, cancelled their tournament. This was not the case, it was just a giant field of over 800 players, with a top prize of $60k to the winner. I was anxious to get under way when over half the people in line didn't even have a V players card yet, which you need to enter the tournaments. This meant it was going to be a big, soft field...if only this could be the time I get the donkeys to ship their chips to me early and give me a stack to play with. Long story short, it was not the time. I played my brand of tight, anti-aggressive poker to chug along at a slow pace. I took a couple shots and missed, and picked up a bunch of dead money as well. I was always just below chip average, but moving along.
About 3 hours into the tournament, I was still at my original table and I had become friendly with the player to my left, a gentleman of about 60 that had a very respectable tournament resume. I was half using my ipod, and half conversing with this man. He showed me a lot of his hands and told me what he was doing to people across from us, and I'd give him a read or two on somebody to be friendly. At one point, I had my headphones on, and we are the blinds, I SB and he BB. Everyone folds around to us and I tell him I'm just going to be friendly and limp in (I have AJ off here). I half hear him say, "well, we can't be that friendly this time", and throws out a sizable raise of 5x BB. AJ being my nemisis, and knowing what he plays and what he would raise me with, I'm folding here easy. I laugh, and as I'm folding, hold the cards up so he can see what I'm folding, I realize that whole table needs to see them once I show him, so I table my fold. The V has some very specific rules for their tournaments, and one is if you show your cards in anything other than the act of folding, you will receive a penalty of one orbit. I still have my headphones in and am just giggling to the man when I hear the dealer yell for the floor. I don't even realize she's calling it on me until I hear her say I tried an angleshoot by showing my cards and should be penalized. I ripped my headphones out and say, "are you talking about me? What are you talking about? I laughed and was CLEARLY folding when I tabled my hand." The dealer says I held my cards up and paused enough to elicit a response out of the BB. I tell her and the floorman, that the only reason I paused was that I forgot I had to show everyone, not just him and when I realized it, tabled my hand for everyone. The dealer really wanted me to get a penaly, even as the BB is telling her he was 100% sure I was folding, and that I really wasn't even looking at him when I did it. The dealer pleads one more time with the floor supervisor, when I tell him how much time I've spent there and how many tournaments I've played in the last couple of weeks...I definitely know the rules. Supervisor rules in my favor and the dealer looks pissed. I still don't know what that was all about. The situation almost tilted me.
After this incident, we only remain as a table until just after the dinner break. I'm moved to my next table deep into the corner of the poker room. I like it back here, but am a little short on chips, so I have to be careful who I tangle with and when. I'm able to comfortably steal a couple blinds and antes, but don't get any hands that I want to get involved with. Just before our next break, Vanessa Selbst is moved to our table, only to be moved again before she is even dealt a hand. It took me about two days to remember where I knew her from, and I don't think anyone at our table recognized her at all. I successfully double up when I try a blind/ante steal from mid position with 66. I get called by QQ on the button. I start packing up my stuff as the guy has me covered by about $100. I tell the gigantic Mexican dealer that he's sexy and spikes a 6 on the river for me right in stride. I feel a little bad, as I saw this same guy take a bad beat a few nights ago, but it's about time I win from behind. This gives me enough chips to hang around a good bit longer. At 12 hours into the tournament, we're getting down to the payline, meaning if a few more people are knocked out, I'll be in the money. I was running low on chips again, as short stacks were shoving left and right and I had no hands to call with. This meant I was being slowly chopped down again. With the blinds at 2000/4000 200 ante, it was meaningful to pick up blinds and antes if given a chance. I took such a chance when everyone had folded to me, on the button. I shove with A6 clubs and get insta-called by the SB, a huge stack. He flipps over AK to have me dominated, and subsequently sent to the rail a mere few spots out of the money. 12 hours of solid play, so close to the money, and then it's all over in a flash with nothing to show for it. I'm glad I'm off tomorrow because I'll need it to get over the disappointment.
It's at this point the doubt in playing the Main Event is in full effect. I really, truly do not want to play in it right now. I feel with my play as solid as it is and my reading ability being fine tuned with every new tournament I play, I should keep firing away at the smaller ones. I'm going to have to tell everyone tomorrow that I'm not playing, or I'm going to have to go to the Rio and hand them a stack of $100's to the tune of $10k. I'm 60/40 at this point in favor of not playing.
I head over to Cut and talk to Chip about my play. He completely agrees with me in not wanting to play the Main. He's closing soon and I'm hungry, so I tell him to meet me at B&B when he's done. I knew the bartender, Eric from Long Island, so I took a seat at the bar to eat. His fiance is sitting next to me with her sister, and a Dutch guy named Iain. He was 33 as well, with long hair that he kept flinging around. Annoying and pretentious as he was, he told a lot of ridiculous stories and kept us entertained as I ate and they drank. Draped over the sister, he epitimized Eurotrash for the moment. I've met a ton of Europeans while here, and for the most part they've been extremely friendly and great to talk to. Iain was the opposite. He was a poker player here for the series as well, but I told him I didn't want to hear any bad beat stories...I was over poker for the day. I can summarize his attitude when out of nowhere he asked what the pink bracelet I was wearing stood for. The sisters answered for me, as they thought it was common knowledge when he cut them off and said, "well mine are better. They stand for..." and I have no idea what he said. I told him as serious as I could that I was very proud of him and ate my goat cheese tortellini, which was incredible. Chip arrived for a drink and we closed the place down, eventually all of us going to another bar in the V, where Iain bought us a bottle of champagne inexplicably...it felt like he did this every night. After chugging our glass, Chip and I said our goodbyes and wished Eric luck with "Thor".
Up way too late, drunker than I should be, I take solice in the fact that tomorrow is an off day. I've been putting in long days with no results and it's wearing me down. I lay awake for hours thinking about tomorrow. Am I really going to register? I just don't want to. Everyone's going to be pissed...
Thursday, July 8, 2010
4th of July Fireworks
It's Sunday morning, and I prepare myself for another DSE event at the V. I'm not really thinking about much else other than poker at this point. I try to shake off yesterday's poor performance and head to the V...
I was pretty quiet for the first couple rounds of the tourney, not accumulating or picking up any kind of hand at all until I got put in the same spot as last night, only to better results. I'm in the BB with Q5 off again, and am allowed to limp. The flop comes Q58 this time, I lead out for a small "trying to steal the pot on the cheap" bet, and the Button shoves for his remaining 5k. I insta-call and send him to the rail. It's so weird that I just congratulated Pete on being able to lay down a hand like that and not overplay the Q to the point that you're out of chips, and this guy does it 12 hours later! After this hand, I literally just got whittled down again. No hands for a long time, and people raising ahead of me in spots I was going to use to steal mean I'm just losing my chips a little at a time again.
I finally get moved to a new table about 2 hours in. There's an older man sitting across from me with a pretty big stack, along with a few other big stacks. No one had been put out at my table except for the guy I put out, so no one had a ton of chips at my previous table. This was a completely different table and I quickly realized that if I didn't gain chips soon I would be in trouble. I get AK off in mid position and toss out a standard raise. I get called by the big stack old man from the BB. 689 with 2 spades flops. I Cbet, he calls. J spades hits the turn, meaning there's a possible straight and flush out there, so I bet the turn and he calls again. I'm a little concerned at this point, but my read says he no way has a straight or flush. The river is a blank and I fire a sizable bet at the pot. He thinks for a minute, and calls. I tell him, "I'm a liar, sir. You've got me." He says, "you don't have a flush?", and turns over a 6. "Six???!!! You have a 6, sir?" I ask. He replies, "Yeah, a 6. I thought you had the flush." I'm livid at this point, and ask why he would call if he thought I had a flush and he has bottom pair. He doesn't have an answer. This only infuriates me more as it is one of the rules of poker I've learned over the years. Older men will call down a weak pair all day. I know this, any player that plays even a remotely sophisticated game knows this, yet I still tried to move on him. This cost me my chips as it destroyed my stack and had me in shove/fold mode. Two hands later, I pick up K9 spades. 1010Q with 2 spades hits the flop and I shove. It's only me and the old man again, and he calls, showing J10 for a set of 10's. I don't improve and I'm making my quickest exit in a DSE event.
Instead of doing what I did yesterday, I decide to stop playing and take my time on my next move. I go find an In N Out burger and crush a 2x2 animal style. Man, it's been a while since one of these...and they're every bit as delicious as I remember. I run some errands and decide to go back to the room for a quick nap, then play the 11pm $100 at the Rio. I hadn't been to the Rio since a week prior in the WSOP 1k event, and I wanted to start getting my bearings for the Main Event. I decide I'm going to play the tourney for as long as possible, then grind out cash games until morning. I was going to take off Monday, as I had originally planned to enter the Main Event on Tuesday.
It's about 9pm, and I've literally just hit sleep, when BOOM!!!! A crash so loud I thought someone had broken through my sliding glass door. I shot out of bed confused as shit and see tons of lights bounce off the building behind me. I'm so disoriented, I have no idea what is going on. I completely forgot it was 4th of July! I throw a t shirt and jeans on and race downstairs to watch the show. The fireworks on the strip were set off right across the street at Ceasars, so I had a great view of an amazing fireworks display. The crowd that was out watching was special, to say the least. Two old man fights almost broke out over where people were standing. We were all standing on the sidewalk and in the street...what a disaster. The funniest part about watching the Independence Day fireworks in Las Vegas, was that the crowd was probably 70% foreign. They didn't care it was the 4th, they were just watching fireworks...pretty odd (ironic?).
Not being able to sleep I get myself together and head over to the Rio. Once I start getting close to the Rio, driving down Flamingo, I get butterflies. It dawns on me that the Main Event is starting tomorrow morning. Not for me, but it's starting. The whole reason I'm here is approaching and I'm not sure I want it to. I'm nervous and a little overwhelmed. The Rio is gorgeous at nightime. It definitely has the most lights of all the casinos and it pretty much stands alone, so it is an imposing structure. I register for the 11pm and ask about registering for the Main Event. I had realized that if I play my Day 1 on Tuesday, my Day 2 wouldn't be until Saturday. If I wait until Wednesday, my Day 2 would be Friday. Not that I'm looking to get busted, but I'm not looking to hang around if I do and I have a flight booked for Saturday. The woman at registration tells me I couldn't register for Wednesday or Thursday even if I wanted to, because they're trying to balance the field out...meaning everyone is trying to register for Weds and Thurs. I decide then that I will play Weds and register on Tuesday after the tourney started. This will also give me one more shot at a DSE event on Monday. I can play all day and take off Tuesday if I get busted, or if I'm running really good and wind up playing the second day I can always play the Main on Thursday. This choice definitely leaves me the most options with the ability to have an off day before I start the Main.
I'll be honest, I don't remember a ton of hands from the Rio tourney. It was mostly uneventful. I do know that I played the hands dealt to the best of my ability and didn't come out of it feeling bad at all. I think I finished somewhere like 45th out of 156...ok I guess. I did play 1/3 no limit as soon as I finished the tourney. It was about 2am, and there weren't a ton of tables going; I was able to sit right away at a 7 handed table. I pick up AA about 3 hands in and bump it to $11. I get 4 callers at this amount...not usually good news. An A hits the flop and I'm in great shape. I bet $20 out of position, again to look like a pot stealing move. Most would put me on an underpair here, because why would I bet the A? I get one caller and the turn shows a blank. I fire $35 at him to pretty quick call. I'm not really worried at all here. The river is another blank and I instantly bet $65 to a fold. I would've liked to gotten paid on that, but still a good opening hand, and I don't have to show what I had. About an orbit later, I'm able to limp into a 6 handed pot with Q10off. JK7 with 2 spades hits the flop. I bet $15 at the pot with an open ended straight draw and get one caller, a friendly but good Greek player. The 9 of spades hits the turn to make my straight. I bet $35 to a fairly quick call. A blank hits the river and I throw out $65 again. The Greek pined for a while, but finally calls and turns over Q9 spades to make his flush. This is a mistake on my part, as I really wasn't concerned about the flush at all. I knew it was a possibility, but I didn't put him on it. This put me down a couple of dollars, but pretty close to even. I pretty much played even poker for the next few hours, as the room was dying and tables were becoming short handed and tight. I leave at 5am, meeting Chip for dinner, as he was just off of work. We had chicken parm from Grande Lux in the V. I'm a chicken parm guy, and this was exceptional. The chicken breast is pounded thin to the size of a frisbee, then crusted with parmesean cheese...fantastic.
The thought really starts to creep in tonight that I may not want to play the Main Event. I've come all this way, and even though I don't have a ton of results, I'm definitely playing poker at a very high level right now. There have been a ton of instances where I just don't get hands early in a tournament and I'm forced to play short stack poker the whole way through and it's hard. I can't help but think that if I keep firing away in volume in smaller tournaments I'm bound to catch hands early and hopefully be able to cruise to a cash/victory. The money earned from a good cash or win in a smaller DSE or similar event would be significant as well. Why take one giant shot when I have a chance to take a ton of smaller shots and build my bankroll to even higher than it is now? I don't know, we'll see what happens tomorrow.
If I get to bed by 7, I'll be able to make Monday's DSE event...
I was pretty quiet for the first couple rounds of the tourney, not accumulating or picking up any kind of hand at all until I got put in the same spot as last night, only to better results. I'm in the BB with Q5 off again, and am allowed to limp. The flop comes Q58 this time, I lead out for a small "trying to steal the pot on the cheap" bet, and the Button shoves for his remaining 5k. I insta-call and send him to the rail. It's so weird that I just congratulated Pete on being able to lay down a hand like that and not overplay the Q to the point that you're out of chips, and this guy does it 12 hours later! After this hand, I literally just got whittled down again. No hands for a long time, and people raising ahead of me in spots I was going to use to steal mean I'm just losing my chips a little at a time again.
I finally get moved to a new table about 2 hours in. There's an older man sitting across from me with a pretty big stack, along with a few other big stacks. No one had been put out at my table except for the guy I put out, so no one had a ton of chips at my previous table. This was a completely different table and I quickly realized that if I didn't gain chips soon I would be in trouble. I get AK off in mid position and toss out a standard raise. I get called by the big stack old man from the BB. 689 with 2 spades flops. I Cbet, he calls. J spades hits the turn, meaning there's a possible straight and flush out there, so I bet the turn and he calls again. I'm a little concerned at this point, but my read says he no way has a straight or flush. The river is a blank and I fire a sizable bet at the pot. He thinks for a minute, and calls. I tell him, "I'm a liar, sir. You've got me." He says, "you don't have a flush?", and turns over a 6. "Six???!!! You have a 6, sir?" I ask. He replies, "Yeah, a 6. I thought you had the flush." I'm livid at this point, and ask why he would call if he thought I had a flush and he has bottom pair. He doesn't have an answer. This only infuriates me more as it is one of the rules of poker I've learned over the years. Older men will call down a weak pair all day. I know this, any player that plays even a remotely sophisticated game knows this, yet I still tried to move on him. This cost me my chips as it destroyed my stack and had me in shove/fold mode. Two hands later, I pick up K9 spades. 1010Q with 2 spades hits the flop and I shove. It's only me and the old man again, and he calls, showing J10 for a set of 10's. I don't improve and I'm making my quickest exit in a DSE event.
Instead of doing what I did yesterday, I decide to stop playing and take my time on my next move. I go find an In N Out burger and crush a 2x2 animal style. Man, it's been a while since one of these...and they're every bit as delicious as I remember. I run some errands and decide to go back to the room for a quick nap, then play the 11pm $100 at the Rio. I hadn't been to the Rio since a week prior in the WSOP 1k event, and I wanted to start getting my bearings for the Main Event. I decide I'm going to play the tourney for as long as possible, then grind out cash games until morning. I was going to take off Monday, as I had originally planned to enter the Main Event on Tuesday.
It's about 9pm, and I've literally just hit sleep, when BOOM!!!! A crash so loud I thought someone had broken through my sliding glass door. I shot out of bed confused as shit and see tons of lights bounce off the building behind me. I'm so disoriented, I have no idea what is going on. I completely forgot it was 4th of July! I throw a t shirt and jeans on and race downstairs to watch the show. The fireworks on the strip were set off right across the street at Ceasars, so I had a great view of an amazing fireworks display. The crowd that was out watching was special, to say the least. Two old man fights almost broke out over where people were standing. We were all standing on the sidewalk and in the street...what a disaster. The funniest part about watching the Independence Day fireworks in Las Vegas, was that the crowd was probably 70% foreign. They didn't care it was the 4th, they were just watching fireworks...pretty odd (ironic?).
Not being able to sleep I get myself together and head over to the Rio. Once I start getting close to the Rio, driving down Flamingo, I get butterflies. It dawns on me that the Main Event is starting tomorrow morning. Not for me, but it's starting. The whole reason I'm here is approaching and I'm not sure I want it to. I'm nervous and a little overwhelmed. The Rio is gorgeous at nightime. It definitely has the most lights of all the casinos and it pretty much stands alone, so it is an imposing structure. I register for the 11pm and ask about registering for the Main Event. I had realized that if I play my Day 1 on Tuesday, my Day 2 wouldn't be until Saturday. If I wait until Wednesday, my Day 2 would be Friday. Not that I'm looking to get busted, but I'm not looking to hang around if I do and I have a flight booked for Saturday. The woman at registration tells me I couldn't register for Wednesday or Thursday even if I wanted to, because they're trying to balance the field out...meaning everyone is trying to register for Weds and Thurs. I decide then that I will play Weds and register on Tuesday after the tourney started. This will also give me one more shot at a DSE event on Monday. I can play all day and take off Tuesday if I get busted, or if I'm running really good and wind up playing the second day I can always play the Main on Thursday. This choice definitely leaves me the most options with the ability to have an off day before I start the Main.
I'll be honest, I don't remember a ton of hands from the Rio tourney. It was mostly uneventful. I do know that I played the hands dealt to the best of my ability and didn't come out of it feeling bad at all. I think I finished somewhere like 45th out of 156...ok I guess. I did play 1/3 no limit as soon as I finished the tourney. It was about 2am, and there weren't a ton of tables going; I was able to sit right away at a 7 handed table. I pick up AA about 3 hands in and bump it to $11. I get 4 callers at this amount...not usually good news. An A hits the flop and I'm in great shape. I bet $20 out of position, again to look like a pot stealing move. Most would put me on an underpair here, because why would I bet the A? I get one caller and the turn shows a blank. I fire $35 at him to pretty quick call. I'm not really worried at all here. The river is another blank and I instantly bet $65 to a fold. I would've liked to gotten paid on that, but still a good opening hand, and I don't have to show what I had. About an orbit later, I'm able to limp into a 6 handed pot with Q10off. JK7 with 2 spades hits the flop. I bet $15 at the pot with an open ended straight draw and get one caller, a friendly but good Greek player. The 9 of spades hits the turn to make my straight. I bet $35 to a fairly quick call. A blank hits the river and I throw out $65 again. The Greek pined for a while, but finally calls and turns over Q9 spades to make his flush. This is a mistake on my part, as I really wasn't concerned about the flush at all. I knew it was a possibility, but I didn't put him on it. This put me down a couple of dollars, but pretty close to even. I pretty much played even poker for the next few hours, as the room was dying and tables were becoming short handed and tight. I leave at 5am, meeting Chip for dinner, as he was just off of work. We had chicken parm from Grande Lux in the V. I'm a chicken parm guy, and this was exceptional. The chicken breast is pounded thin to the size of a frisbee, then crusted with parmesean cheese...fantastic.
The thought really starts to creep in tonight that I may not want to play the Main Event. I've come all this way, and even though I don't have a ton of results, I'm definitely playing poker at a very high level right now. There have been a ton of instances where I just don't get hands early in a tournament and I'm forced to play short stack poker the whole way through and it's hard. I can't help but think that if I keep firing away in volume in smaller tournaments I'm bound to catch hands early and hopefully be able to cruise to a cash/victory. The money earned from a good cash or win in a smaller DSE or similar event would be significant as well. Why take one giant shot when I have a chance to take a ton of smaller shots and build my bankroll to even higher than it is now? I don't know, we'll see what happens tomorrow.
If I get to bed by 7, I'll be able to make Monday's DSE event...
Saturday Triple Header
I get out of bed on Saturday, happy to be playing another DSE event at the V, and especially for free. I was still a little annoyed with my play from Friday, but I felt ready to move on and take down a DSE title.
The tournament started as pretty much all have this week, not really getting any hands to start the day. Generally this isn't terrible, as I don't like to get too involved early...but watching another parade of donkeys throw their chips away with marginal hands and me not able to do anything about it is getting frustrating. I got enough small to mid pocket pairs to call preflop raises with, but just never spiked anything. This slowly but surely decimated my stack over time. There weren't really any memorable hands the whole tournament; I was just kind of chopped down over the course of 7 hours. I bust out right before the 7pm dinner break and immediately sign up for the nightly 7pm $120 tourney. In retrospect, I think I should've taken a break and played a later tourney, if at all, but I took my seat in the 7pm within minutes of busting out of the DSE. I again watch players throw their chips away, get frustrated, make a move, and promptly bust out in the 4th or 5th level. This leads to me cussing at myself all the way back to my room early, wondering what to do next. I decide the only thing that will shake the bad mojo off of me is...another tournament.
I walk across the street to Ceasars Palace. I hadn't been in there all week and I wanted to see it anyway, but they also have a nice little $80 tourney at 10pm. I was able to get in around 10:45, not missing much. I take my seat and hear, "What the hell you doing here, man?" in a British accent. It's my new young London friend, Michael. He asks why I'm slumming the $80 tourney and I tell him I needed something to do after getting smacked around all day at the V. Besides, it's something like 3k to win and it's not a strong field. Most of my table were novice players, and looked a bit intimidated, so I kept trying to lighten the mood with jokes and messing with the dealer. It's not working...these poor guys are playing this thing like their lives depend on it, and they're not really sure what they're doing. After about an hour of attempting to lighten everyone up and have a good time, I decide to just strap on the ipod. A couple minutes later, Michael starts asking about the Main Event, and when I'm playing and such. He and his friends want to come sweat me for a while if they'll be there when I'm playing. This really tightens the table up, as hearing this scared the crap out of more than a few of them. As before I was trying to stay loose and have a good time, now I decide to use this fear against them and become an aggressive player. I had intended to wait and let someone overplay a pair and trap them to accumulate chips, but now I have a ton of respect and I just start running over the table with preflop raises and Cbets all the way through. I was putting them to the decision for their chips and relenquishing a ton of small pots.
Michael's friend Pete was sitting across from me all night, and made a particularly good laydown against me. I was allowed to limp in the BB with Q5 offsuit. Q59 flops me two pair. I lead out a small bet, and he fires almost half his chips at the pot in a raise. I pine for a minute and shove, putting his chips at risk. He goes in the tank for a while, trying to figure out what just happened to him, but eventually lays the hand down. I told Michael I know he taught him how to lay that hand down, and I showed him that he made the correct decision. Pete never did get over the initial raise, and kind of lost his head and got put out a couple hands later, but he's young and will figure it out if he can make those kinds of laydowns. Most players will see how much they committed to the pot and insta-call, but he took his time and made the right move.
Once we were down to about 50 players out of 168, I was moved to another table. I had a reasonable stack, but not overwhelming. Almost immediately a girl to my left shoves under the gun. It folds around to me in the BB, holding AJ suited...again. To call would cost me about 30-35% of my stack, and I say I'm not happy making this call because I know she has a big pair. She flips over KK and I don't catch up. A kid across from me asks if I really think that was a bad call and I explained to him that I was sure she had a pair, or maybe even AK or AQ, all in which case I'm screwed....there's not much outside of suits or a J that I can win with. I go completely card dead right in stride with this move and am eventually forced to shove A6 suited against AK. I go out around 40th. I wasn't terribly upset with the way I played and left for the night.
Three tournaments in one and not a single good result...this has been a crappy day. It makes me wonder how I could do this professionally if I can't even cash 1 tourney out of 3, all at progressively lower levels. Maybe I need to take a break. No, there's a DSE event at the V at noon, and I'm now pretty focused on taking one of these down...
The tournament started as pretty much all have this week, not really getting any hands to start the day. Generally this isn't terrible, as I don't like to get too involved early...but watching another parade of donkeys throw their chips away with marginal hands and me not able to do anything about it is getting frustrating. I got enough small to mid pocket pairs to call preflop raises with, but just never spiked anything. This slowly but surely decimated my stack over time. There weren't really any memorable hands the whole tournament; I was just kind of chopped down over the course of 7 hours. I bust out right before the 7pm dinner break and immediately sign up for the nightly 7pm $120 tourney. In retrospect, I think I should've taken a break and played a later tourney, if at all, but I took my seat in the 7pm within minutes of busting out of the DSE. I again watch players throw their chips away, get frustrated, make a move, and promptly bust out in the 4th or 5th level. This leads to me cussing at myself all the way back to my room early, wondering what to do next. I decide the only thing that will shake the bad mojo off of me is...another tournament.
I walk across the street to Ceasars Palace. I hadn't been in there all week and I wanted to see it anyway, but they also have a nice little $80 tourney at 10pm. I was able to get in around 10:45, not missing much. I take my seat and hear, "What the hell you doing here, man?" in a British accent. It's my new young London friend, Michael. He asks why I'm slumming the $80 tourney and I tell him I needed something to do after getting smacked around all day at the V. Besides, it's something like 3k to win and it's not a strong field. Most of my table were novice players, and looked a bit intimidated, so I kept trying to lighten the mood with jokes and messing with the dealer. It's not working...these poor guys are playing this thing like their lives depend on it, and they're not really sure what they're doing. After about an hour of attempting to lighten everyone up and have a good time, I decide to just strap on the ipod. A couple minutes later, Michael starts asking about the Main Event, and when I'm playing and such. He and his friends want to come sweat me for a while if they'll be there when I'm playing. This really tightens the table up, as hearing this scared the crap out of more than a few of them. As before I was trying to stay loose and have a good time, now I decide to use this fear against them and become an aggressive player. I had intended to wait and let someone overplay a pair and trap them to accumulate chips, but now I have a ton of respect and I just start running over the table with preflop raises and Cbets all the way through. I was putting them to the decision for their chips and relenquishing a ton of small pots.
Michael's friend Pete was sitting across from me all night, and made a particularly good laydown against me. I was allowed to limp in the BB with Q5 offsuit. Q59 flops me two pair. I lead out a small bet, and he fires almost half his chips at the pot in a raise. I pine for a minute and shove, putting his chips at risk. He goes in the tank for a while, trying to figure out what just happened to him, but eventually lays the hand down. I told Michael I know he taught him how to lay that hand down, and I showed him that he made the correct decision. Pete never did get over the initial raise, and kind of lost his head and got put out a couple hands later, but he's young and will figure it out if he can make those kinds of laydowns. Most players will see how much they committed to the pot and insta-call, but he took his time and made the right move.
Once we were down to about 50 players out of 168, I was moved to another table. I had a reasonable stack, but not overwhelming. Almost immediately a girl to my left shoves under the gun. It folds around to me in the BB, holding AJ suited...again. To call would cost me about 30-35% of my stack, and I say I'm not happy making this call because I know she has a big pair. She flips over KK and I don't catch up. A kid across from me asks if I really think that was a bad call and I explained to him that I was sure she had a pair, or maybe even AK or AQ, all in which case I'm screwed....there's not much outside of suits or a J that I can win with. I go completely card dead right in stride with this move and am eventually forced to shove A6 suited against AK. I go out around 40th. I wasn't terribly upset with the way I played and left for the night.
Three tournaments in one and not a single good result...this has been a crappy day. It makes me wonder how I could do this professionally if I can't even cash 1 tourney out of 3, all at progressively lower levels. Maybe I need to take a break. No, there's a DSE event at the V at noon, and I'm now pretty focused on taking one of these down...
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Friday Shenanigans
Waking up in the early afternoon, still drained and disappointed from the day before, and a little hungover, Chip and I decide to go downtown to the Golden Nugget and check out their tournament series, which fortunately for us starts a little later than the others.
We get to the GN, where they've just started their $150 afternoon tournament. There were 67 players. I had no desire to play an all day, small field tourney for no money. We decided to play the nightly $120 at the Venetian instead. This left us with all afternoon to screw around. I had stayed downtown my only other visit to Vegas, but hadn't been there on this trip yet. Chip hadn't been there in years, so we decided to hang around. We had a sausage and peppers sub and a beer from a street vendor...delicious. We checked out the pool at the GN, which if you haven't seen, is awesome! There's an aquarium built into the pool, so you look like you're swimming with sharks and fish...the waterslide even goes through the tank. Very cool. We tooled around for a bit, drinking pina coladas and generally being very touristy....we even stopped by the Pawn Stars pawn shop. There is literally a line to get in the place now, unbelievable. It's on a pretty much unused part of Las Vegas Blvd, between downtown and "the strip", right next to a peep show, and across the street from a head shop, called Weedz, yet people are lined up on the sidewalk to catch a glimpse of Chum Lee...pretty funny.
After just chilling the rest of the day, it was time for the nightly tourney at the V. Right out of the gate, I start playing super aggressive poker, getting tangled up with an Italian pro in more than a few hands. He and I were clearly the only real players at a very soft table and I shouldn't have been playing against him, but I was tired of what had transpired from the start. He had just about 5x'd up right away from idiots going all in with nothing premium in the first couple levels of the tournament. I've said it before, this play is just inexplicable...and terrible. I was getting mad, because I see this in almost every tourney I play in, and I'm NEVER the recipient of this great fortune. I have to watch as player after player dumps their chips, but not to me because I can't pick up a hand in this spot. I start trying to take some his unearned chips and it's backfiring on me as he continues picking up hands. I finally get really low on chips and make a move on a guy with nothing, but betting a flop that says I do. Here's another situation where instead of the donkey kicking their chips to me, they're calling me down with 3rd-bottom pair with the world on the board...this will be a recurring theme. Unlike last night in the DSE tourney, where I don't put all my chips in on the river card to take down the pot, this time I do, and I get called with 3rd pair. Furious at this play, I just get up and walk away...I may not have even been covered but I didn't care.
Out of this tourney in about an hour, I decide to play another $130 Sit n Go to get into Saturday's DeepStack Extravaganza tourney. All 10 of us agree to put up another $20/man for a last man standing bet, which means not only would you get $500 in tourney entries, and $70, you'd get at least half the $200 prize. We quickly get down to 4 guys and decide to chop the $200 right away, so everyone is now only in for $100. I take out the 4th guy with AQ against QJ. At this point, me and another guy were clearly chip leaders over the 3rd. The short stack raises all in with 88, I call with AK, and the other chip leader folds A3 suited. The 88 holds up, and they are now the 2 chip leaders. If the other guy would've called with his A3, he would've hit a straight and knocked us both out, but top 2 get paid, so I would've automatically won because I had the 3rd guy covered in chips. Before the next hand, the guy that beat me asks if we just want to chop the prize 3 ways instead of 2, which is a very classy move. We agree and each receive $300 in tourney entries and $80 cash. This means I get to play Saturday's DSE for free, an awesome move! The move was extra classy considering who it was. During Monday night's tourney, I had been sitting next to a 50ish woman. Her husband came up while we were playing and said he was going home. He had just lost with quads to a straight flush in a 2/5 NL game. Excited, I say, "That's great sir! What was the bad beat?", not realizing there really aren't many bad beat jackpots in Vegas. He just says, "I'll see you at home" to his wife and takes off. I quickly realize what I've done and apologize to the woman for my comment, I really thought he was excited, not pissed. This was the same guy that offered up the chop. Thank you sir.
Saturday will prove to be a very long day...
We get to the GN, where they've just started their $150 afternoon tournament. There were 67 players. I had no desire to play an all day, small field tourney for no money. We decided to play the nightly $120 at the Venetian instead. This left us with all afternoon to screw around. I had stayed downtown my only other visit to Vegas, but hadn't been there on this trip yet. Chip hadn't been there in years, so we decided to hang around. We had a sausage and peppers sub and a beer from a street vendor...delicious. We checked out the pool at the GN, which if you haven't seen, is awesome! There's an aquarium built into the pool, so you look like you're swimming with sharks and fish...the waterslide even goes through the tank. Very cool. We tooled around for a bit, drinking pina coladas and generally being very touristy....we even stopped by the Pawn Stars pawn shop. There is literally a line to get in the place now, unbelievable. It's on a pretty much unused part of Las Vegas Blvd, between downtown and "the strip", right next to a peep show, and across the street from a head shop, called Weedz, yet people are lined up on the sidewalk to catch a glimpse of Chum Lee...pretty funny.
After just chilling the rest of the day, it was time for the nightly tourney at the V. Right out of the gate, I start playing super aggressive poker, getting tangled up with an Italian pro in more than a few hands. He and I were clearly the only real players at a very soft table and I shouldn't have been playing against him, but I was tired of what had transpired from the start. He had just about 5x'd up right away from idiots going all in with nothing premium in the first couple levels of the tournament. I've said it before, this play is just inexplicable...and terrible. I was getting mad, because I see this in almost every tourney I play in, and I'm NEVER the recipient of this great fortune. I have to watch as player after player dumps their chips, but not to me because I can't pick up a hand in this spot. I start trying to take some his unearned chips and it's backfiring on me as he continues picking up hands. I finally get really low on chips and make a move on a guy with nothing, but betting a flop that says I do. Here's another situation where instead of the donkey kicking their chips to me, they're calling me down with 3rd-bottom pair with the world on the board...this will be a recurring theme. Unlike last night in the DSE tourney, where I don't put all my chips in on the river card to take down the pot, this time I do, and I get called with 3rd pair. Furious at this play, I just get up and walk away...I may not have even been covered but I didn't care.
Out of this tourney in about an hour, I decide to play another $130 Sit n Go to get into Saturday's DeepStack Extravaganza tourney. All 10 of us agree to put up another $20/man for a last man standing bet, which means not only would you get $500 in tourney entries, and $70, you'd get at least half the $200 prize. We quickly get down to 4 guys and decide to chop the $200 right away, so everyone is now only in for $100. I take out the 4th guy with AQ against QJ. At this point, me and another guy were clearly chip leaders over the 3rd. The short stack raises all in with 88, I call with AK, and the other chip leader folds A3 suited. The 88 holds up, and they are now the 2 chip leaders. If the other guy would've called with his A3, he would've hit a straight and knocked us both out, but top 2 get paid, so I would've automatically won because I had the 3rd guy covered in chips. Before the next hand, the guy that beat me asks if we just want to chop the prize 3 ways instead of 2, which is a very classy move. We agree and each receive $300 in tourney entries and $80 cash. This means I get to play Saturday's DSE for free, an awesome move! The move was extra classy considering who it was. During Monday night's tourney, I had been sitting next to a 50ish woman. Her husband came up while we were playing and said he was going home. He had just lost with quads to a straight flush in a 2/5 NL game. Excited, I say, "That's great sir! What was the bad beat?", not realizing there really aren't many bad beat jackpots in Vegas. He just says, "I'll see you at home" to his wife and takes off. I quickly realize what I've done and apologize to the woman for my comment, I really thought he was excited, not pissed. This was the same guy that offered up the chop. Thank you sir.
Saturday will prove to be a very long day...
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
First Venetian DeepStack Event (Thursday)
I'm going to try to update the last few days as best I can. Everything has kind of run together, and I had little opportunity to write...
The Venetian DeepStack series is a well-known, very solid alternative to the WSOP events. Many professionals and otherwise solid poker players frequent these events because of the organization by the Venetian staff, the relatively low cost with big payouts, and quality of play. With only 2500 and higher events going on at the WSOP, I had decided long ago that I was going to give one of these tournaments a try and if I like it, compete in multiple events. Having played at the Venetian for the last few days, I was sure this was going to be the circuit for me. This particular event had about 700 players, with the top 67 getting paid. It was a $350 event with the winner receiving about 50k. You start with 12k in chips, 40 minute blinds.
I arrive at my table at noon, and we're ready to get under way. I sit at the 9 seat, which on the huge Venetian tables is a good seat for me, as I can pretty much see all the action. I brought my ipod to this event, as I had determined it was going to be my practice run using it while playing. I haven't listened to music while playing live before but I want to try, as I've heard it helps you stay focused while not becoming bored. I soon realize I am not going to need it at all. To my left, sits a guy in a snakeskin cowboy hat, an "indie" sweatsuit (dark pocketed sweatpants, and multiple t shirts of different lengths), a bunch of jewelry, and a $3000 pair of sunglasses. I soon find out that this guy is called "Shooter", a name given to him by Scotty Nguyen at the Commerce Casino in LA, and he's an actor/poker player/bullshitter?/horse breeder. He apparently was a child actor, in the Sopranos, and had a bunch of other small roles that made/make him a lot of money, just not a ton of money. He talked about his friends (Scott Baio, Jose Canseco, Axl Rose, Ricki Lake, ect...) and what they've been up to, his new Navigator with a Ferrari engine, and basically story after story after story. He never stopped talking, but not in an annoying way. I tried to work my way in to hanging out with him and the gang for the 4th by saying, "I know you need a quiet, good looking white guy in your clan for the 4th", but he wasn't having it. He said he was only in Vegas to play poker, not tear it up...that's for other times. I understood this to be a blow off, but I would soon exact my revenge for his slight. Being friendly, he showed my his cards for the first 4 hours of play, which was huge because he was a big stack (having quadrupled up in the first 30 min) and played a good bit of pots. I watched his chips start to dwindle, and he getting anxious about it. He was obviously an action player, and they just do not have the patience to sit on a big stack and play aggressive strategic poker, they'd rather get involved in big pots and put themselves at risk. I watched him literally push his stack with Q10, K9, and J8 off in horrible position. I had been patiently waiting for my moment, and it finally came when I was in the BB, the levels at about 200/400 25 ante. He pushes under the gun, and it folds around to me, holding AK suited. I pine for a minute, being as calling my chips down with AK this early in a tournament is something I generally will not do. I'll shove them, but generally won't call in this spot. I recognized the actors move as a play though, and called. He flipped over Q10 off again, and I get a huge double up when an A hits the board. He's out of the tournament pretty quickly after that, as his loss of chips was so devastating to him that he had to just donk the rest off in a hurry.
From here, 4 new players arrive at my table over the course of an hour. First, a late 30's, Vancouver Asian named James was sat to my right. When he got to the table, he was automatic chip leader, with about 60k in chips. Soon after, a murderers row was established across the table from us with 2 guys getting sat with over 100k, and a 3rd, very solid player, sits with about 80k. The problem with these 3 new players was that they were aggressive, but not without reason. They all had a good concept of how to play the big stack, and you had to be very careful if you're going to tangle with them. You better have a premium hand against them or you'll be on the rail. James and I talked strategy for hours while trying to avoid them, and eachother. This ended when I was allowed to limp in the BB with an A. I flop AA3 and check/call. The turn is a blank 6, and I lead out this time to a call from James. The river is another A for quads. James checks, I pine for a minute, and finally put out the exact amount he has to call if he has ANYTHING. He does, holding a 3, and knowing that I hit quads. He says it, puts his money in the pot, and isn't at all surprised when I flip over the 4th A. I told him I think it was obvious I had it, but mathematically he has to call there with a boat...he's getting way too much on his money not to. James stews over this play all the way to the dinner break, where we eat together at Asia Noodle and I introduce him to the Dan Dan noodle over more poker strategy. We're both sitting at about 40k at the break; there's about 150-200 people left. We've both been lucky, in that neither of us has been put in a tough spot against the huge stacks at our table, but we're also both sitting pretty short for the tournament. The blinds are about to be 1/2k 300 ante, so some moves are going to have to be made.
We come back from the hour long dinner break, and I'm able to tread water for a while until our table breaks. I get to my new table still with about 40-45k in chips and the blinds up to 1500/3k. As soon as I sit down, I decide to make a play about 10 hands in. I had just layed down AQ suited when another short stack shoved. I pined for a minute, and think I should've called. I wasn't on tilt though when I tried the following play. With a weak A, I raise preflop and decide I'm going to represent the whole way pending the flop. KK6 is the flop, and this is a perfect spot to Cbet. I don't put him on a K, so I bet, but he calls. The turn is trash, and I fire again, to him calling. This is not good, no matter what the river is aside from an A, I'm going to have to risk all my chips with nothing and that puts me in a tough spot. I check the river and he checks behind, winning with a 6. This brings me down to about 25k in chips and in dire straights. We're at just about 100 players left and I had been stealing blinds and antes when I can to stay afloat. I finally get 88 in early position and shove. The button is short on chips also and thinks for literally 5 minutes, until finally calling and flipping over QQ. "What in the world were you thinking about, sir?" I ask. He doesn't say anything as I'm sent to the rail, finishing somewhere in the 90's (could be a better finish as the board isn't in real time). 11.5 hours of really good, grinding, short stack poker to finish just outside the bubble is pretty disheartening. I played great all day, my reads were spot on again (except for that 6), and I did the best I could with the cards dealt to me, it just wasn't my day I guess. Maybe it was laying down that AQ, I don't know.
Drained, but needing to talk about it, I go out with Chip and some of his friends to Town Square, which is set up like a neighborhood, with different streets and everything, except it's a restaurant/shopping park. It seemed like mostly restaurants and bars at 1am, and after realizing the Yardhouse wasn't serving food, we went to the Cadillac Ranch. We all hung there for a while before heading home for the night. It was great to be off the strip hanging with non poker players for a little while...although it would've been cool if Scott Baio was there.
The Venetian DeepStack series is a well-known, very solid alternative to the WSOP events. Many professionals and otherwise solid poker players frequent these events because of the organization by the Venetian staff, the relatively low cost with big payouts, and quality of play. With only 2500 and higher events going on at the WSOP, I had decided long ago that I was going to give one of these tournaments a try and if I like it, compete in multiple events. Having played at the Venetian for the last few days, I was sure this was going to be the circuit for me. This particular event had about 700 players, with the top 67 getting paid. It was a $350 event with the winner receiving about 50k. You start with 12k in chips, 40 minute blinds.
I arrive at my table at noon, and we're ready to get under way. I sit at the 9 seat, which on the huge Venetian tables is a good seat for me, as I can pretty much see all the action. I brought my ipod to this event, as I had determined it was going to be my practice run using it while playing. I haven't listened to music while playing live before but I want to try, as I've heard it helps you stay focused while not becoming bored. I soon realize I am not going to need it at all. To my left, sits a guy in a snakeskin cowboy hat, an "indie" sweatsuit (dark pocketed sweatpants, and multiple t shirts of different lengths), a bunch of jewelry, and a $3000 pair of sunglasses. I soon find out that this guy is called "Shooter", a name given to him by Scotty Nguyen at the Commerce Casino in LA, and he's an actor/poker player/bullshitter?/horse breeder. He apparently was a child actor, in the Sopranos, and had a bunch of other small roles that made/make him a lot of money, just not a ton of money. He talked about his friends (Scott Baio, Jose Canseco, Axl Rose, Ricki Lake, ect...) and what they've been up to, his new Navigator with a Ferrari engine, and basically story after story after story. He never stopped talking, but not in an annoying way. I tried to work my way in to hanging out with him and the gang for the 4th by saying, "I know you need a quiet, good looking white guy in your clan for the 4th", but he wasn't having it. He said he was only in Vegas to play poker, not tear it up...that's for other times. I understood this to be a blow off, but I would soon exact my revenge for his slight. Being friendly, he showed my his cards for the first 4 hours of play, which was huge because he was a big stack (having quadrupled up in the first 30 min) and played a good bit of pots. I watched his chips start to dwindle, and he getting anxious about it. He was obviously an action player, and they just do not have the patience to sit on a big stack and play aggressive strategic poker, they'd rather get involved in big pots and put themselves at risk. I watched him literally push his stack with Q10, K9, and J8 off in horrible position. I had been patiently waiting for my moment, and it finally came when I was in the BB, the levels at about 200/400 25 ante. He pushes under the gun, and it folds around to me, holding AK suited. I pine for a minute, being as calling my chips down with AK this early in a tournament is something I generally will not do. I'll shove them, but generally won't call in this spot. I recognized the actors move as a play though, and called. He flipped over Q10 off again, and I get a huge double up when an A hits the board. He's out of the tournament pretty quickly after that, as his loss of chips was so devastating to him that he had to just donk the rest off in a hurry.
From here, 4 new players arrive at my table over the course of an hour. First, a late 30's, Vancouver Asian named James was sat to my right. When he got to the table, he was automatic chip leader, with about 60k in chips. Soon after, a murderers row was established across the table from us with 2 guys getting sat with over 100k, and a 3rd, very solid player, sits with about 80k. The problem with these 3 new players was that they were aggressive, but not without reason. They all had a good concept of how to play the big stack, and you had to be very careful if you're going to tangle with them. You better have a premium hand against them or you'll be on the rail. James and I talked strategy for hours while trying to avoid them, and eachother. This ended when I was allowed to limp in the BB with an A. I flop AA3 and check/call. The turn is a blank 6, and I lead out this time to a call from James. The river is another A for quads. James checks, I pine for a minute, and finally put out the exact amount he has to call if he has ANYTHING. He does, holding a 3, and knowing that I hit quads. He says it, puts his money in the pot, and isn't at all surprised when I flip over the 4th A. I told him I think it was obvious I had it, but mathematically he has to call there with a boat...he's getting way too much on his money not to. James stews over this play all the way to the dinner break, where we eat together at Asia Noodle and I introduce him to the Dan Dan noodle over more poker strategy. We're both sitting at about 40k at the break; there's about 150-200 people left. We've both been lucky, in that neither of us has been put in a tough spot against the huge stacks at our table, but we're also both sitting pretty short for the tournament. The blinds are about to be 1/2k 300 ante, so some moves are going to have to be made.
We come back from the hour long dinner break, and I'm able to tread water for a while until our table breaks. I get to my new table still with about 40-45k in chips and the blinds up to 1500/3k. As soon as I sit down, I decide to make a play about 10 hands in. I had just layed down AQ suited when another short stack shoved. I pined for a minute, and think I should've called. I wasn't on tilt though when I tried the following play. With a weak A, I raise preflop and decide I'm going to represent the whole way pending the flop. KK6 is the flop, and this is a perfect spot to Cbet. I don't put him on a K, so I bet, but he calls. The turn is trash, and I fire again, to him calling. This is not good, no matter what the river is aside from an A, I'm going to have to risk all my chips with nothing and that puts me in a tough spot. I check the river and he checks behind, winning with a 6. This brings me down to about 25k in chips and in dire straights. We're at just about 100 players left and I had been stealing blinds and antes when I can to stay afloat. I finally get 88 in early position and shove. The button is short on chips also and thinks for literally 5 minutes, until finally calling and flipping over QQ. "What in the world were you thinking about, sir?" I ask. He doesn't say anything as I'm sent to the rail, finishing somewhere in the 90's (could be a better finish as the board isn't in real time). 11.5 hours of really good, grinding, short stack poker to finish just outside the bubble is pretty disheartening. I played great all day, my reads were spot on again (except for that 6), and I did the best I could with the cards dealt to me, it just wasn't my day I guess. Maybe it was laying down that AQ, I don't know.
Drained, but needing to talk about it, I go out with Chip and some of his friends to Town Square, which is set up like a neighborhood, with different streets and everything, except it's a restaurant/shopping park. It seemed like mostly restaurants and bars at 1am, and after realizing the Yardhouse wasn't serving food, we went to the Cadillac Ranch. We all hung there for a while before heading home for the night. It was great to be off the strip hanging with non poker players for a little while...although it would've been cool if Scott Baio was there.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Proven Fact, Winning Helps You Sleep...
Writing this one right away, as I have an early day with the Venetian DSE event on Thurday.
Finally, 7 hours of sleep consecutively!!!! I literally forgot what this feels like. After my 3am dinner with Chip, I came back, turned on the music, and fell right to sleep. I still haven't turned the TV on once, and I've actually spent a good deal of time in my room (I can only imagine it goes: O's lose, ESPN reports that Lebron is scheming with Greece to bring he and MJ over there to play on the same team and somehow stimulate their economy, O's lose, Captain Phil (R.I.P) is probably dead now on his show, O's lose, Stephen Strasburg is first pitcher to stike out 20 and hit for the cycle, and O's lose). When I woke at 11am, I was a completely different person. I don't know at this point if it's a transformation back to myself, or a Vegas poker player. I'm not sure which one I want it to be. I am totally refreshed regardless. I got to talk to my wife, who I miss a ton, my dad, my grandmom, and a lot of friends. I took another 2.5 hike, but walked it this time (I actually walked 2.5 miles up the strip and had to take a taxi back to IP, because it 4pm and about 316 degrees out).
I'm still feeling good about last nights play, and really can't wait to get back to the Venetian. It's a very nice property without the pretentiousness that usually comes with a place as nice as it is. I even like the weird smell they pump throughout the place...I think Chip told me it was called "Summer Seduction" or something of the sort. I left the $1K chip they gave me the night before in my room. I'm going to use the hundred and a little cash and try to bring home more chips and build up my home stack(The V pays tournament winnings in Casino chips, not cash...shocker). I confidently walk to the tournament registration table and tell the guy, "please don't give me the 1 or the 10 and I'll be ok today sir". He takes the slip and hands it to me. "Sorry Mr. Cook. It's the computer, not me" as he hands me the 10 seat. The 1 and 10 seats have the dealer in between them and as a relatively small person, it eliminates just about 2 people from my peripheral and I have a tendency to lose track of them. It's really hard to get a read or detect a pattern on someone you can't see. I walk to find my table thinking that the evening may not go my way. I get nothing for the first couple of levels....nothing. Not even an option to make one of my plays because people were shoving preflop for no reason, just picking up 25/50 blinds...stupid in other words.
A funny thing did happen during the second level. A woman (who when she was coming to the table I was 90% sure was Kim Catrell...until she sat at the table) had been calling out of turn and just shoving inexplicably, had accidentally called an All In from the guy next to her. She's forced to put her chips in and beats him, having him covered. She's so excited she screams, turns to him and grabs his arm with both hands and says, "Oh my God! I'm so glad I called you!" I led, and everyone at the table began cracking up. The poor guy was trying to leave after being accidentally sent to the rail, and she was trying to celebrate her victory with him...I may have called her a busted Kim Catrell if it were me. She never did realize why we were all laughing.
Anyway to the first break, and I only have about 5700 in chips. Not terrible, but it's been a slow start. Other than fake KC, there was an old Asian lady that was more of a wild card than Charlie from Alway Sunny. I tend to shutter up in those situations because it's not poker, you and sometimes they, have no idea what they have, so how can you beat them? I let other people tangle with them unless I'm super premium and able to get it in preflop. With the blinds at 200/400 25 ante, I pick up AA in the BB (hey-O), and a very strong player on the button min raises to 800. I try to make it seen like "I'm not going to just roll over the BB for a min raise because I'm short and haven't played a bit", and throw out a raise to 2K. He considers shoving, but flat calls instead. Flop is A103, with 2 diamonds. I fake pine for a second and finally shove. In this spot, I think he can put me on a mid pair, but I don't believe he has an A type of situation. I'm committed after his call really if I have anything, so he doesn't know what I have. He pines for a long time, then folds. He put me on QQ and can't understand why I would bet an Ace flop. Just then the director comes over and racks us to break the table. I wanted him know what I did in case we met later, and I quietly told him AA. He again couldn't believe I would bet the flop with top set. I said I knew he didn't put me on an A or AA, so it really could've just been a Cbet. Also, in case he calls with a suited connecter and position, I'd be screwed if he hits the turn or river. If my money is in good, that's all I can ask for, but I don't want to get caught betting or calling a tun/river drawing dead. He agrees and we move onto new tables. I'm up to about 8-8.5K at the new table. Across from me is the guy that was in the 1 seat at my other table...which means I never really saw him. Blinds are 400/800 50a at this point. About four hands in I pick up 910 suited. Former seat 1 raises in mid position to 2200, button calls, so I decide to flat call and represent on the flop if it misses or I'm on a draw. Flop comes KJ3, no hearts. I lead out for 2600, raiser calls, button folds. Turn is the Q to make my straight. I'm positive I'm good here and I'm already committed any way, so when I shove he insta-calls with JJ, for a set. Just as I'm saying, "don't pair the b....", the dealer drops a 3 on the river for the old 10 percenter on me. Disgusted, I smack the table and walk away. I'm generally a very good sport about losing in this game, but those hurt. I make a great play that actually pays off for me, only to smack me in the sack on the way to the rail. If I win that hand, I'm about to go the break with what I had at the same point yesterday, and that's already proven to be enough to cash. That'll teach me to get out of my game and try to be tricky...maybe.
Something odd that happened tonight during this tournament. A guy that was at the final table with me last night watched me play at three different tables tonight. He wasn't playing, never said anything to me, but stood across from me at each table. It wasn't creepy or intimidating or anything, I just didn't know what he was doing. A lot of people knew him and would talk to him, but he watched me all the way until I was busted. Chip seems to think he was scouting me, or was going to kill me. I can't imagine why he would be doing that; I never even talked to him at any point. Maybe more on this later...unless I'm dead or he hits on me. Perhaps we'll see tomorrow when the pink shirt comes out for a big event.
Not content with what just happened, and loving the opportunity of playing tomorrow's tourney on the cheap. I decide to play a $130, 10 person sit and go. Start with 2K, 15 min blinds. Top 2 each get a $500 tournament voucher and $70 cash. I ask around and a couple people said they've been chopping at 3 people. That's good to know, as I don't really have to be a chip leader to finish 3rd. One guy out pretty quickly. I pick up QQ in mid position and shove. Two callers behind me, I have them both covered, but one only be a little. First caller shows KK, the other A9. Blank flop and turn, Q on the river...I'm a little luckbox and knock out 2 players. With 5 players, I make a gigantic mistake that (spoiler alert) cost me the tournament. I'm on the button with AK off. There's a mid position shove that is easily a pair, and the hijack calls, probably a big A also. I insta fold, as I don't want to be behind in a race preflop. I make that laydown 99 times out of 100 in a big field tourney, but with 5 guys left in a SNG, that's an easy call. First guy has 1010, next has AQ...my read is dead on and I'm happy with myself. Flop is a Q, blank turn, river K. I would've eliminated two players, and one of the 3 guys left was super short. I do get down to the final 3, where I ask if we're chopping. I have about 5K, they have 15 between them, it's not like I was overwhelmingly dominated, but they offer me the $140 cash....no chance I'm taking that deal, I'm not here to win $10. It's a shove/fold fest between the 3 of us for about 10 minutes until I shove with KJ from the SB with the blinds at 400/800 and still about 5K in chips. I get called by the BB with A8 off. He hits an unnecessary 8 on the turn and I'm out. Now I'm into the Deepstack tourney tomorrow for $450, and I have to do well. That's the risk you take with SNG's if you don't suceed. Terrible mistake I think. I really have to reevaluate my SNG play before I do that again. I can't make snap folds in that situation. I don't really think SNG's are good for my game right now anyway, as I am in big field mentality, not single table play.
Some things I haven't been writing about but need to be said...
I haven't eaten a ton, but Hash House A Go Go is the stone cold nipples around these parts. Think Ms. Shirley's if they gave you, no joke, about 5 times more food. It's ridiculous. I've had an Ahi Tuna Melt over biscuits and a salad, Grilled Salmon Salad, and some Chorizo Scrambler and I bet I ate 25-30% of the total meals. Everything is about 12 bucks.
Asian Noodle in the V is an awesome casual noodle place and it is legit. Open air bistro kitchen shows the cooks constantly churning out delicious Japanese, Chinese, and Thai dishes. Their Dan Dan noodle is insanely delicious. You get a ton, it'll be ready in about 3 minutes, and again, it's about 12 bucks. Think an Asian spicy bolognese.
I've basically just been listening to music while in my room and when i write. I'm giving the new LCD Soundsystem a second rotation now that it's been out for a month or so and it's every bit as great as when I first listened to it. Steetsweeper with Mos Def, off the new Gorillaz album is a nasty song. Another sleeper that has been getting a lot of Play is the Little Joy debut. I've listened to it a lot in general over the last year or so, but for some reason the beauty of that album has really struck me out here. One, by Mic Geronimo is a hot track. I don't know anything about him, but I dig that song. A good friend recommended The High Road by Broken Bells. I hate the Shins, and don't really care for Danger Mouse, but this is in fact a primo tune. Eminem stopped rapping like Triumph the Insult Dog on his new album, and I think it's hot as well. As always recently, Los Campesinos!, Fleet Foxes, and Bob Marley are in heavy rotation also.
Hopefully there won't be an update tomorrow as I'll be on a deep run in the DSE...
Finally, 7 hours of sleep consecutively!!!! I literally forgot what this feels like. After my 3am dinner with Chip, I came back, turned on the music, and fell right to sleep. I still haven't turned the TV on once, and I've actually spent a good deal of time in my room (I can only imagine it goes: O's lose, ESPN reports that Lebron is scheming with Greece to bring he and MJ over there to play on the same team and somehow stimulate their economy, O's lose, Captain Phil (R.I.P) is probably dead now on his show, O's lose, Stephen Strasburg is first pitcher to stike out 20 and hit for the cycle, and O's lose). When I woke at 11am, I was a completely different person. I don't know at this point if it's a transformation back to myself, or a Vegas poker player. I'm not sure which one I want it to be. I am totally refreshed regardless. I got to talk to my wife, who I miss a ton, my dad, my grandmom, and a lot of friends. I took another 2.5 hike, but walked it this time (I actually walked 2.5 miles up the strip and had to take a taxi back to IP, because it 4pm and about 316 degrees out).
I'm still feeling good about last nights play, and really can't wait to get back to the Venetian. It's a very nice property without the pretentiousness that usually comes with a place as nice as it is. I even like the weird smell they pump throughout the place...I think Chip told me it was called "Summer Seduction" or something of the sort. I left the $1K chip they gave me the night before in my room. I'm going to use the hundred and a little cash and try to bring home more chips and build up my home stack(The V pays tournament winnings in Casino chips, not cash...shocker). I confidently walk to the tournament registration table and tell the guy, "please don't give me the 1 or the 10 and I'll be ok today sir". He takes the slip and hands it to me. "Sorry Mr. Cook. It's the computer, not me" as he hands me the 10 seat. The 1 and 10 seats have the dealer in between them and as a relatively small person, it eliminates just about 2 people from my peripheral and I have a tendency to lose track of them. It's really hard to get a read or detect a pattern on someone you can't see. I walk to find my table thinking that the evening may not go my way. I get nothing for the first couple of levels....nothing. Not even an option to make one of my plays because people were shoving preflop for no reason, just picking up 25/50 blinds...stupid in other words.
A funny thing did happen during the second level. A woman (who when she was coming to the table I was 90% sure was Kim Catrell...until she sat at the table) had been calling out of turn and just shoving inexplicably, had accidentally called an All In from the guy next to her. She's forced to put her chips in and beats him, having him covered. She's so excited she screams, turns to him and grabs his arm with both hands and says, "Oh my God! I'm so glad I called you!" I led, and everyone at the table began cracking up. The poor guy was trying to leave after being accidentally sent to the rail, and she was trying to celebrate her victory with him...I may have called her a busted Kim Catrell if it were me. She never did realize why we were all laughing.
Anyway to the first break, and I only have about 5700 in chips. Not terrible, but it's been a slow start. Other than fake KC, there was an old Asian lady that was more of a wild card than Charlie from Alway Sunny. I tend to shutter up in those situations because it's not poker, you and sometimes they, have no idea what they have, so how can you beat them? I let other people tangle with them unless I'm super premium and able to get it in preflop. With the blinds at 200/400 25 ante, I pick up AA in the BB (hey-O), and a very strong player on the button min raises to 800. I try to make it seen like "I'm not going to just roll over the BB for a min raise because I'm short and haven't played a bit", and throw out a raise to 2K. He considers shoving, but flat calls instead. Flop is A103, with 2 diamonds. I fake pine for a second and finally shove. In this spot, I think he can put me on a mid pair, but I don't believe he has an A type of situation. I'm committed after his call really if I have anything, so he doesn't know what I have. He pines for a long time, then folds. He put me on QQ and can't understand why I would bet an Ace flop. Just then the director comes over and racks us to break the table. I wanted him know what I did in case we met later, and I quietly told him AA. He again couldn't believe I would bet the flop with top set. I said I knew he didn't put me on an A or AA, so it really could've just been a Cbet. Also, in case he calls with a suited connecter and position, I'd be screwed if he hits the turn or river. If my money is in good, that's all I can ask for, but I don't want to get caught betting or calling a tun/river drawing dead. He agrees and we move onto new tables. I'm up to about 8-8.5K at the new table. Across from me is the guy that was in the 1 seat at my other table...which means I never really saw him. Blinds are 400/800 50a at this point. About four hands in I pick up 910 suited. Former seat 1 raises in mid position to 2200, button calls, so I decide to flat call and represent on the flop if it misses or I'm on a draw. Flop comes KJ3, no hearts. I lead out for 2600, raiser calls, button folds. Turn is the Q to make my straight. I'm positive I'm good here and I'm already committed any way, so when I shove he insta-calls with JJ, for a set. Just as I'm saying, "don't pair the b....", the dealer drops a 3 on the river for the old 10 percenter on me. Disgusted, I smack the table and walk away. I'm generally a very good sport about losing in this game, but those hurt. I make a great play that actually pays off for me, only to smack me in the sack on the way to the rail. If I win that hand, I'm about to go the break with what I had at the same point yesterday, and that's already proven to be enough to cash. That'll teach me to get out of my game and try to be tricky...maybe.
Something odd that happened tonight during this tournament. A guy that was at the final table with me last night watched me play at three different tables tonight. He wasn't playing, never said anything to me, but stood across from me at each table. It wasn't creepy or intimidating or anything, I just didn't know what he was doing. A lot of people knew him and would talk to him, but he watched me all the way until I was busted. Chip seems to think he was scouting me, or was going to kill me. I can't imagine why he would be doing that; I never even talked to him at any point. Maybe more on this later...unless I'm dead or he hits on me. Perhaps we'll see tomorrow when the pink shirt comes out for a big event.
Not content with what just happened, and loving the opportunity of playing tomorrow's tourney on the cheap. I decide to play a $130, 10 person sit and go. Start with 2K, 15 min blinds. Top 2 each get a $500 tournament voucher and $70 cash. I ask around and a couple people said they've been chopping at 3 people. That's good to know, as I don't really have to be a chip leader to finish 3rd. One guy out pretty quickly. I pick up QQ in mid position and shove. Two callers behind me, I have them both covered, but one only be a little. First caller shows KK, the other A9. Blank flop and turn, Q on the river...I'm a little luckbox and knock out 2 players. With 5 players, I make a gigantic mistake that (spoiler alert) cost me the tournament. I'm on the button with AK off. There's a mid position shove that is easily a pair, and the hijack calls, probably a big A also. I insta fold, as I don't want to be behind in a race preflop. I make that laydown 99 times out of 100 in a big field tourney, but with 5 guys left in a SNG, that's an easy call. First guy has 1010, next has AQ...my read is dead on and I'm happy with myself. Flop is a Q, blank turn, river K. I would've eliminated two players, and one of the 3 guys left was super short. I do get down to the final 3, where I ask if we're chopping. I have about 5K, they have 15 between them, it's not like I was overwhelmingly dominated, but they offer me the $140 cash....no chance I'm taking that deal, I'm not here to win $10. It's a shove/fold fest between the 3 of us for about 10 minutes until I shove with KJ from the SB with the blinds at 400/800 and still about 5K in chips. I get called by the BB with A8 off. He hits an unnecessary 8 on the turn and I'm out. Now I'm into the Deepstack tourney tomorrow for $450, and I have to do well. That's the risk you take with SNG's if you don't suceed. Terrible mistake I think. I really have to reevaluate my SNG play before I do that again. I can't make snap folds in that situation. I don't really think SNG's are good for my game right now anyway, as I am in big field mentality, not single table play.
Some things I haven't been writing about but need to be said...
I haven't eaten a ton, but Hash House A Go Go is the stone cold nipples around these parts. Think Ms. Shirley's if they gave you, no joke, about 5 times more food. It's ridiculous. I've had an Ahi Tuna Melt over biscuits and a salad, Grilled Salmon Salad, and some Chorizo Scrambler and I bet I ate 25-30% of the total meals. Everything is about 12 bucks.
Asian Noodle in the V is an awesome casual noodle place and it is legit. Open air bistro kitchen shows the cooks constantly churning out delicious Japanese, Chinese, and Thai dishes. Their Dan Dan noodle is insanely delicious. You get a ton, it'll be ready in about 3 minutes, and again, it's about 12 bucks. Think an Asian spicy bolognese.
I've basically just been listening to music while in my room and when i write. I'm giving the new LCD Soundsystem a second rotation now that it's been out for a month or so and it's every bit as great as when I first listened to it. Steetsweeper with Mos Def, off the new Gorillaz album is a nasty song. Another sleeper that has been getting a lot of Play is the Little Joy debut. I've listened to it a lot in general over the last year or so, but for some reason the beauty of that album has really struck me out here. One, by Mic Geronimo is a hot track. I don't know anything about him, but I dig that song. A good friend recommended The High Road by Broken Bells. I hate the Shins, and don't really care for Danger Mouse, but this is in fact a primo tune. Eminem stopped rapping like Triumph the Insult Dog on his new album, and I think it's hot as well. As always recently, Los Campesinos!, Fleet Foxes, and Bob Marley are in heavy rotation also.
Hopefully there won't be an update tomorrow as I'll be on a deep run in the DSE...
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