$1500 No Limit Hold'em (event 53 or so)

First, i'm out in level 4. Second, Wes is still alive and Andrew's got over 50k as of dinner so there is hope for us yet.
That being said I worked the starting stack of $4500 to just under $28,000k ! in 4 hours only to take a string of ridiculousness that knocked me out before dinner.
Again, without sounding redundant, the strength of these fields is embarassingly low and although I welcome it, I curse it when it cuts me up like it did today.
It's also worth pointing out that though 'blogging' about poker is in a why, cathartic, it's also frustrating in that I don't go in depth enough for poker minds and I go too in depth for the friends and family who don't play. So for the later category, I ran bad and I'm out. I played just fine I felt, maybe thought too deeply about hands again but whatever, on the rail, cheering like hell for Andrew and Wes now. Our friend Bahador Ahmed (jeff/baha if you know him by nickname), steam-rolled a final table to win a bracelet yesterday, congratulations to him, couldn't have happened to a better guy.

So today, I steal and aggress without showing a hand down in the first level up to around 12k. Then, this old wierd-playing dude limps utg, this crazy aggressive kid that i've been trying to pound on all day limps behind, another limper, I have the 57 here. Usually this is a raise to 1000 and play a pot in position but two of the three limping stacks were really deep with me (read GOOD ! here) but the last was short and I thought that that combined with running into a hand from another short stack behind said call>fold>isolation in this spot. Pot 1200, flop 752. So with top two I raised this aggressive kid's 500 lead. He thinks for a minute then shoves 3k, i call he has T7, he spikes a T on the turn (12% to lose that hand). So back to like 7500, i get back to around 13k, then play another pot vs. this kid (i three bet him preflop and folded my airball to his flop check/raise bluff). Then, in my big blind, he isolates the old guy who has limped the cut off, I min-3bet him with JJ and he sends 12k more on me with A4dd, i hold, up to 25k. I win another pot and all of a sudden I have 28k playing 150-300 in the 4th level. Then the wheels FLY off. I flat an old tight guy's open middle-late position with KK, the BB calls as well, pot is 3250. Flop is Kd 9d 6d. Now first of all, I fold out everything but JJ,QQ,KK,AA,AK if I 3bet this old tight guy before the flop. By flatting I've disguised my hand and also allowed other monkeys to jam all in behind if they feel we're weak. Anyways, bb checks, original raiser checks, I fire 2000 into 2500, BB check raises to 3200 total, I call, he has Ad Jh, he monkey's off a diamond on the turn and I can't fill up, down to 22k. Then two hands later I open to 750 with KK (I picked up a lot of hands today but lost almost all of them, won all the chips with weird hands in weird spots). The table folds, this fishy kid defends his bb, he has 14k'ish. 6c 6h 4c. He checks, I bet 1250 into like 2000, he calls. I think he's got a lot of pairs in his hand here, 22-88, flush draws, ace high's he's going to turn into bluffs and whatever, two bare overs? (He's been erratic today, limping a lot, bluffing a big, just weird, never actually played with someone with his mix of strange plays). Turn is a Qd. I rap pat behind. I'm doing this for a few reasons, pot control, intending to call almost all river cards (8c is particularly bad thought) and I hope he's going to turn a missed draw/airball into a bluff that would have otherwise c/folded the turn. River is an offsuit 4 (466Q4). He bets 3750 into 4800, i call he shows me 67offsuit. Defending big blinds with any two cards is a tough way to win in this game. Good for him, I'm down to 18k. The second next hand I have 99 utg+1, I open to 750, this kid who's been at the table for 3 laps 3bets me to 2000 with 12k total stack. Everyone else folds. A few hands before I opened the button on his BB, he 3bet, I shoved 33 on him and he folded. I noticed he's weak when he acts fast so I picked up that pot with 33 pretty easy, pretty risk free. Now I've lost two tough hands in a row, it looks like I'm steaming, he's 3bet and utg raiser and done so quickly. I don't think he's got enough here to call me, plus 99 is the bottom of my range but I expect to fold out AQ/maybe TT, smaller pairs, airballs. Anyways, I send my stack in and he snap calls with AQoffsuit and wins the 24k flip. I'm crippled to 3k and get it in before the blinds him me, A7 vs. 77 and I'm out.
First off, 3bet/calling it off with AQ in this spot is damn near brain damaged, his hand plays HORRIBLY vs. my 4bet/shoving range utg (88+AK), he's got 32% equity here and of course he dinks it.
Yeah, I lose flips, yeah I run bad, and yes, he can have TT/JJ/QQ here and I'm the one that has 18% but I really felt, given the dynamic and how fast he acted and his whole demeanor, that 99 played well against him in this spot and I'm very unlucky to have had these 3 big hands all cut down in less than one orbit. I'll try to run a bit hotter in stud8 tomorrow.

really quick is right....

So I just barely cash today in 66th spot. I'm extremely frustrated with today's outcome so if I come across a little harsh, it's because I'm feeling extremely harsh. I get up to about 65k before the bubble starts. On the STONE bubble I lose an 85k pot. I open KK25 double suited because the table is super tight and the BB is just holding on for a min cash. I get flatted in the middle of the table by a weak player (shown some nonsense already), he has 45k or so. 14k in the pot. Jd 9d 6h flops. I only have KK here but look at the situation. He can't have AA, he most likely can't have the other case KK here, QQ is a really tough call. Can't have JJ/99 because the only combinations playable should be in the muck in this spot but whatever, he flopped a set than I lose. He can have diamond draws, if he does, I'm flipping with him unless he's got a combination wrap. Anyways, I decide if I check, I'm check/folding, if I bet small, i'm bet/folding, if I lead for pot, I'm obviously bet calling it off. What does my hand look like here if I lead for pot. I'm never full potting/folding so it's never a bluff. My hand looks like AAxx here and with his hand (we eventually see this noble prize winner has AQT4 no diamonds) he's a small dog BUT if i have any combination of diamond draw he's worse than 40% here. Say I had KK w diamonds, he's got close to 35%. Anyways, I full pot, he ships, I call, he binks an 8 right away and I can't counterfeit with a backdoor low on the river. His play is terrible here for a multitude of reasons. He should know I'm committed to showdown, in that case if he's up vs. diamonds, he's getting in bad, if he's up against a dominated draw like QKTA or something like that, he's a huge dog, blah blah blah, calling off your tournament here with no flush draw is terrible. I don't want to give you the I run bad speech, just have to stop losing the most critical pots of the tournament vs. non-thinking players. This is just the way tournament poker has gone for me this summer, loose the key pots at the worst times. I min-cashed then got the last 10bb in bad vs. the same player, my 40% didn't pull through. I guess mine's worse, I knew I was putting in the last of my small stack with the 40%'er and vs. me for the big pot he was damn lucky to have 44%, he's getting it in sometimes with like 20% there vs. the hands I'll lead/call off.

Extreme frustration will continue in tomorrow's $1500 event 51. Three min cashes, three pseudo day 2 bubbles, 2 slight illness's and 1 really stuck house. World Series of Poker, priceless.

real quick...

Event #42: Pot-Limit Omaha 8/Better High Low Split.
761 players, 87 left. 72 Money. I have an above average stack of $48,800 to end day one (start with 4500). I think the blinds start back at 800-1600 (open full pot is 5200). Bottom line, good day, played well, avoided two spots where I could have conceivably slept well at night if I busted although I was making good decisions and avoided eliminations both times. I really like this event and feel like there is a TON of value in that the play has been so weak thus far. By and large, the field is riddled with players that come from a limit background and just don't adapt to running hands all in preflop and in big bet situations. The equity disparities of some of these hand ranges have made for some really bad play but like any other tournament, you just need to HOLD ON ! when you're all in. Anyways, I'm feeling good, I'm excited, hopefully a deep run materializes tomorrow.

not really a bubble.

The mixed event got off to a good start yesterday. I had a very espn'y table. Robert Williamson, Layne Flack, Justin Bonomo, Tuan Le, Jeffrey Lisandro, Esther Rossi, some Euro Kid. Table was very serious, as these 'professional' tables usually are. They left it up to Robert Williamson and I to try to have a good time (seems to be a very nice guy). Anyways, I pucker the few bets I have left and take some shots in Razz, lose, get 1/2 stacked, win a stud pot, double up in No Limit Hold'em, then Lisandro opens the puck in PLO and re-pot out of the big blind with Ah6hKcTc, he gets in with me with something in the order of AKQ4 no suits. I win with a flush, up to 18k, then eliminate bonomo with JT78 vs. AQQ5, all of a sudden, up to 25k in the first two levels. Predictabley, run bad in triple draw when my 2 shots at a 2345x go down in flames (1500-3000 betting limits). I open and then give up in a few omaha 8 hands, get real short again through the anting off stud rounds (card dead on a table that plays pretty well is not a good winning formula) then put in the last few bets around 18 off the money in limit holdem. Busto around 4 hours in.

I really don't know if more could be done in any spots that day. I felt I was pretty patient and didn't steam off unnecessarily in spots that you just can't win pots, doubled up fortunately in some of the big bet games, drew generally poorly in triple draw and went card dead in stud. All in all, another non-cash/non-deep run. As far as other good news, there isn't all that much, I took a small piece of a 200-400 heads-up horse session last night where we got banged up for 35k. The player we had was very poor and it's very frustrating to come out on the losing end of it. Examples of his play include, 4bet capping preflop in O8 with 79TQ double suited vs. AA24, have 6T vs. our A6 in limit hold'em on a A6T flop, Kturn, Qriver... sort of thing, capping flop and turn.. Just a very poor run over the last few weeks. Anyways, no use focusing on that. Andrew's got the 10k Pot-Limit Hold'em today, cross your fingers for the kid, in two days I'm going to be writing, it's about damn time :)

Event 42: $2500 8-Game Mixed Event.

On to day two with an incredibly short stack ($7300 or so, started the day with $7500). I lose almost every hand I played in all the games except for a huge quadruple-up in Omaha 8 (Ah2hQcJc on a 4h5hQs Js Jd board). Then a few all-in no limit hands. I had a shot to be up to $15k but my AQo couldn't live against Andy Bloch's QTss. For the record I'm 0-3 vs. Andy Bloch in lifetime wsop hands (and yes I'm keeping track). The table was fun for the most part, a few fish, a few big poker stars like Brian 'the icon' Micon, JC Tran and Andy Bloch. I thought I played ok today, made a few mistakes in 2-7 triple draw when I think some blind aggression could've won a few hands instead of playing/drawing for value...stud games went well the I seemed to pull very poorly in Razz. NLHE and PLO both were fine but I lose $3k in a plo bluff spot that I think should have worked enough for the play to have been right. Anyways, time to run hot on day two. I believe we start at 2pm with Triple Draw, playing 800-1600 so I have a few bets left. Whatever, couldn't do anything differently today really, I'm happy I didn't give up when I was short, now I hope the life I left myself can make some moves.

On a good note, before the event started I was playing a main event satellite online with my roomate Wes, which we won, so I'm free-rolling the main. It solves that problem, the living problems (they put us up at the palms) and yeah, nice to not have to pay $10k usd. Maybe things are starting to turn for us??? :) Andrew's back tomorrow, watch for the Clockwyze attack in the 10k PLH.

$1500 (event 39) No Limit Hold'em

Well, no good today. I played 7 hours of this hold'em event, grinded $4500 into around $17,000 at it's high point, then, with an extremely aggressive table image (surrounded by older nits who didn't really like the cut of my jibb) ran QQ into KK and effectively busted. I was loaded with cards today, felt I made the most out of the situations I put myself in but had to release a whole lot of hands because of so many 3bets. It's an increasingly frequent occurrence in these events, 3betting my light opens. Right when I tell myself, okay, this time I'm 4betting my AQ or 77 or whatever marginal hand I've found at the time, they'll show me AK or JJ or something and it'll re-assure the image they've convinced me of. Anyways. I don't think there is too many interesting things to talk about, the bust out hand is pretty standard. Older semi-tightish opens to 2.5x utg+1, the button who's a weird old semi-spewer 3bets the button fast (weak), I cold 4bet QQ from sb, the original raiser shoves just over my open, button turbo folds.....I can't find a Queen. I don't think there are too many other ways to play the hand. I hate flatting there because I'm out of position and I lose all value from AK(s) that would lose a flip vs. me or the JJ that may decide my image warrants a look-up. I don't know, if the standard range of calling off for a stack vs. a cold 4bet by these players is their top 3% (AA,KK,QQ,JJ,AKo/s) than QQ does a little worse that 48% equity in a vacuum. If you expand their calling range to 88+ and the AQs than the QQ's do little better than 60% equity in a vacuum. Bottom line is !!! to get deep/win these huge field tournaments, you can't have the coolers go against you, you need the flips to hold and the coolers go your way. So not today sadly enough. The grind continues tomorrow with the $2500 8-game mixed event (one I'm somehow very amped for).

I've had a somewhat relaxed week. My mom was in town with her husband, celebrating a birthday so I spent a ton of time with them. She had never met my poker crew, Andrew, Wes and Gibb so it was nice to get everyone together. My roommate from home's up too so I guess it's turned into a bit of a hiatus of the wsop but the push is on now until the end. More soon ! off to the 8-game.

hmmm, maybe i spoke too soon

Well, start the day at average chips and 57 out from money and I miss the cash :)
Great table as always in this event, steal two rounds of blinds early, flat an utg+2 open with KQss, Kh7c2c flop, he bets ultra fast for full pot, I call the 5k, turn Js he instantly fires 20k into 15k. I think for like maybe 1.5 minutes and then he calls a clock. 1. clocks in 2min+, here, slightly uncalled for, especially given the pending bubble, 2. two insta bets, the second being way over pot, 3. the way he acted, hard to describe but it just cried weakness. Anyways, the floor is counting down, 3-2-1, I called all in, he shows AK.
Blah blah, nice hand, come on 3 outter, miss.
Sort of a cooler, can argue to fold preflop in these conditions, I think it's too tight though. The post-flop action makes this hand somewhat of a cooler I think. You don't have to play this flop, and I was prepared to fold to a second barrel but the action just swung me to showdown. Being over 300 from any serious money means I guess I shouldn't worry too much, just sucks to bubble in a spot where I didn't have to.
Horse $1500 starts in two hours. Can't bust in one hand, guess that's a positive!