The Nevada State Medical Association was kind enough to schedule their annual dog and pony show at the same time as the WSOP Circuit was in Vegas. Nice. I showed up a day early to play a Venetian $300 Deep Stack event. The Venetian has great tourneys. Their room is spacious, the service excellent, and the structures can't be beat. We had 6000 starting chips with 40 minute levels, and very slowly moving blinds. The tourney I played had about 190 players and I busted out 28th, paying 18. I played very erratic. Some excellent plays and some very bad ones, and I got my money in both bad and good.
Some hands:
I raise UTG with AKs and then 4-bet all in when I get repopped by a fairly aggro player who has me covered. He tanks forever and finally folds. I tangle with him again later when my stack isn't great and I 3-bet him with 99. He eventually calls with AT, which is pretty lame, but given that he folded the earlier hand I sort of expected he wanted to see what I was doing. An ace came in the door and I stood up, only to be saved by a 9 on the turn.
Later that same player raises all-in, and a tight player to my right just calls. The bet is about 5000 or so and the two of us probably have another 10-15K each behind. I have KK and figure pushing here looks like I'm just trying to isolate and he might bite. He tanks and then folds, later telling me he had AK.
I lose all my mojo against the AK player from above-- a shorty limps UTG, it gets folded to the SB who raises. Now, he's been pretty tight I suppose, but the range for this play should be very wide. I have JJ in the BB and I repop. Unfortunately, the SB pushes, and the pot size demands a call-- he had QQ. Meh.
After this hand I got really really short. In fact, I was down to an M of around 2 at one point, open shoving only to have the blinds fold, which was just horrible. Somehow I managed to win quite a few pots and got my stack healthy again. I then 3-bet a guy who really didn't want to fold but managed to. The next hand he raises again and I have JJ and 3-bet him again. This time he pushes. Such a weird spot, given the table dynamics. I just made a play on him the hand before, now I actually have a hand and he defends. Meh. Well, I call and he shows me QQ-- then derides me for "not being able to fold Jacks."
I'm down quite a bit again, and I'm not interested in limping into the money- I want to get healthy and have a real shot at winning. A guy shorter than me in MP opens for 5X the BB, which looks to be about 40% of his stack or so. Its folded to me in the BB with 33, and I think I'm good. He's just too invested at this point to fold though. I call, planning to move in on the flop. The flop comes Ac-5c-5d, and I move in. He calls me with Kc Jc-- (a good call I suppose if he knows my hand) and he catches his flush. Oh well. I bust shortly after.
OK...
The $2080 buy in event had 191 entries, 6000 chips, and 1 hour levels. I draw a table with David Pham to my right. He doesn't play many pots at all for the first level. The table is pretty tight overall, and I chip up playing small pots. I float a lot in position and manage to snag a bunch of chips on the river several times. Nice. First hand when the blinds go to 25-50, I raise in the CO with KTo and get called by the button. Flop comes KcQdTc. I bet 300, he makes it 900. Hmmm. That's pretty yucky. I really should fold with that board but I manage to call. The turn is the Jc. I check-fold to his 600 bet and he shows the AQc for the royal. The table breaks.
I get moved to a table where I don't know anyone, and I win a lot of pots. I don't make any big hands, and I don't really get in any major confrontations-- but I do manage to rake in some key spots. I win about 3000 chips on a hand holding JT on a Q4JTK board, with the villain calling with Q7. I have A9hh and call a raise to see a flop of 679, one heart. The Jh comes on the turn and I reraise all in with a good read and win another 4000 or so. At the end of 4 levels I'm sitting well above average with about 18000 chips and I like my table.
Back from break, I find that my table has been broken. Bummer. I get moved with Men the Master on my left, Chainsaw Kessler on my right, JJ Lieu to his right, Dutch Boyd 3 to my left. Ugh. Dutch busts Kessler with AK>QQ.
With blinds at 100-200/25, I pick up TT UTG and make it 600 to go. I get two callers, with JJ Lieu calling on the button. I flop golden: T-7-4 rainbow. Wow. This is my dream hand. I decide to lead at it and bet 1600. They both call. The turn brings a low club, putting a flush draw out there. I tank a little, and then fire out 5500. The MP player folds, but JJ tanks. She's playing with her chips. The bet will basically commit her as she only has another 2000 or so. I don't look at her. I actually feel like my hand is face up. I mean, I have top set, and its the nuts for now. She must be able to see that. I can see out of the corner of my eye that she's staring at me. I don't look. I look at all the pictures of the pros on the walls of the poker room. Men the master is up there, and there's some women- Annie Duke, Cindy Violette, Jenn Harmon- I don't see JJ up there. Eventually she calls, and groans when she sees my hand. She tables 97cc for middle pair and a flush draw. the river is another 7 and I fill up and bust her. Sweeeeeeeet.
I set mine once against Men. I raise with 33 to 600 and he repops to 1600. Its folded back to me. He's got a big hand here, and if I hit a 3 I'm pretty sure I will stack him. I call. I miss. I check-fold and he flashes me bullets. Its a good play.
Before dinner, Dutch and this young guy get involved in a pot. I don't remember the preflop action, but the flop comes 9-9-3 and Dutch checks. Kid bets 2000. Dutch tanks, starring aimlessly forward in a trancelike state, and then methodically calls. The turn is another 9 and Dutch checks again. The scene repeats as the kid bets 4000 and the same show is displayed as Dutch tanks, trances, and calls. The river was a 7 and now Dutch tanks, trances, and pushes. Wow. From my seat it looks like a value bet. The kid thinks so also and mucks, later telling me he had Jacks. We go to dinner and Dutch is behind me in the food line. "What did you do in that last hand with those 9's out there?-- check-call, check-call, push??" "Yeah, pretty tricky, huh?"
After dinner, Dutch limps UTG and the kid limps behind him. There is then a raise from a small stack and Men calls the raise. Dutch then pushes. Kid then pushes. Shorty folds. Men shows JJ and folds. Dutch has AK and has trapped himself behind the kids KK. The Kings hold up and Dutch is out. The kid does a little fist pump-- for some reason this looks mandatory when you trap and then bust Dutch Boyd. nh sir.
I get up to about 28000 and get moved. I go card dead. Bleh. I then make "the big mistake", which results in me losing my mojo and is the turning point in the tourney. With blinds at 200-400/50 I'm in the BB with 8h8s. It get folded to the cutoff, a player named Richard who I shared a cash game table with the night before. (Edit: It turns out that I google him and he is the CEO of the exotic car dealership in the Caesars forum shops- what a frickin phat gig) He knows what he's doing. He raises to 1200. I have about 20000 or so at this point. It seems like a good spot to 3-bet, so I make it 4000. He thinks just a little and calls. Bad result. The flop is OK: T-6-7 with 2 diamonds. I don't see how I can I check here. I bet 5000. He calls. Damn. So now I'm in for about half my stack, out of position with a marginal hand against a good player showing strength. How great is that. On top of that, even if I hit my set now I might not be good to a flush or str8. Its just plain ugly. The turn is the Jd and I can't find the strength to donk-push another barrel. I check and he checks behind. The river comes the Kd, putting 4d on the board. Fuck. I have to take a look at my hand again. Nope, no diamond. So there are now a million hands that beat me, he has enough chips to call a "value" bet from me here-- even if I push he's getting almost 3-1 on the call. Just frickin miserable. I check. He checks. I turn over my hand and say "there is no way these can be good" and he tables black ATo for TPTK on the flop. Men the Master is at this table also now and he remarks "there is no way he thought he was good either" True that, and maybe a turn or river push would have taken it down. I don't know, but now I'm short.
I get moved again- this time to the left of Shannon Shorr. Jon Little joins the table a little later. Shannon is really short- he's nursing a stack of about 3K. I have about 8K, and blinds are 300-600/75. I win a couple pots when I repop with AK and don't get called. I repop later with JJ and a guy lays down 99. Dang- that would have been a good spot to double up. Blinds go to 400-800/100 and I get moved again. Tim West at my table. Richard from before as well. Some huge stacks. I'm floating between 9-12 BB's for the most part. I feel like I have a great resteal stack, but the three guys to my right are all probably 2+2er's or P5er's and will see that for what it is. So I need a hand. I get AK, open push and pick up the blinds and antes. It helps. We are down to 37 players, 18 get paid, first place is $102K. I get JJ utg and ponder my options. I raise to 2500 and plan on calling a reraise. It gets folded to the BB who ponders and puts me in. OK, I call. He shows 44 which is just awesome. Until he flops a set and my day is over.
Standard.
