WSOP 2010 Main Event
Day 1A
Amazon Blue 262, for those of you who want to run straight to the photo store and get a picture of me looking fairly bored. Not sure why I look that was as this was easily the best Day 1 table draw I’ve ever had. I recognized no one (a first) and I convinced myself I was the best player at the table. The breaking order wasn’t established until the first break, but Chris Spears seemed to think we wouldn’t be breaking that day. Awesome. Seat 1 was a stars qualifier about my age. I was in 2. Seat 3 was a real life cowboy. He had a rectangular metal card protector that looked kinda like a small belt buckle and it had a horseshoe sticking out of it. The rest of the table was a mix of internet qualifiers and meek older guys. We started with 30k in chips at 50-100.
I was able to do a lot of the same stuff that I did in Australia—won a lot of orphan pots, 3bet when appropriate, and generally won more than my share of pots. Just before the first break I picked up T7s in the BB and see a flop 5 handed. I flop bottom two pair with A-T-7. Nice. I lead and get called by seat 4. Turn is 6. Not the greatest card, but I keep the lead and then get min-raised. Hmmmm. Kinda gross. Decide that I’ll see what the river brings and try to make a blocking bet to get to showdown. River 7. Nice. Grab one of each color—6625 and what is now a value bet gets paid off by the guy who turned a str8 with 89o. Nice river. I go to break with 47k.
Play a lot of small pots for the next level winning many of them that I really shouldn’t win. I love my table and get up to 56k.
Then we break.
Ugh.
Its really not that bad, its just that the first table was so good. The average age dropped by 8 years at least, and there is a complete maniac who raises every pot and I later learn is Owen Crowe. He beats me basically every hand I play with him. Except one—I get tired of him raising my blinds and I 3bet with 54s. Flop 3-6-7. I bet he calls. Turn 8. I bet, he raises a shitload, I shove, he folds. Big hand.
There is an Irish guy to my left. He seems pretty snug. At 150-300 the button open-limps. I raise AQs in the SB to 1050, and then the Irish guy makes it 3750. Yuck. I fold and he shows me KK.
In any event, this is the last hand before dinner break. Hero has about 60k, villain about 42k or so. He raises from MP to 775 at 150-300, hero calls on button with AQs
Flop: (Pot 2000) Q78
Villain bets 1200
Hero calls.
Turn: (Pot 4400) T
Villain bets 2500
Hero raises to 7000
Villain calls
River: (Pot 18,400) 6
Villain bets 13,000 (leaving about 20k behind)
And then I tank/fold. After making him call the clock on me as it was cutting into dinner break.
This left me with 45k heading to dinner.
After dinner wasn’t much better. At one point I flop bottom set with 33 on a 8-6-3 two-tone flop. I lead two streets and then bet/fold to a river shove when there is a flush and 4-card str8 on the board. Yuck yuck.
I end the day with under 20k. Pretty miserable considering. Still, its 50 big blinds and a lot of poker to play.
Fly to Reno on the 6th, work all afternoon, and then work Weds and Thursday morning and fly back to Vegas on the 8th.
Day 2A
This table doesn’t look too bad. Two girls to my right. Player to my left is 888.com scandi who is solid. In fact, he has a very good day- going from about 30k to start the day to well over 120k to end it.
In seat 9 is this guy nicknamed “Snake” who is annoying. He took 7th in the seniors event some years ago. He has a custom jacket with a giant cobra on the back and “Snake” scripted on the front. He has a bag full of custom made mini-snake sculptures that he uses to top his chip stacks. At times he brings out these custom engraved signs that say things like “WARNING: Attempting to steal a snake’s blinds can be fatal to your chipstack” He must have half a dozen of these signs. He hangs around awhile but when he calls a pleasant Spanish guy’s 5 bet and runs Kings into Aces the table is greatly relieved to see that we have a mongoose present.
I am horribly card dead and any spots I can find don’t pan out. At one point I have roughly 24k and with blinds at 200-400 I think I have enough for one 3bet that won’t pot commit me. 2+2er Steve O’Dwyer (Mr.TimCaum) opens late, I 3bet to 4k and he tank-shoves. I believe I had JTs and snap-fold and he shows me TT.
I chip down and find myself with about 14k. I raise with AK and get shoved on by a guy who fairly easily covers. I call, he turns over KQ and proceeds to catch a Queen in the door. Ugh. Ace on the river keeps me in the tournament back up to 28k.
I pick up KK and raise EP only to have 4 people see an Ace-high flop. It gets checked around and I basically bet into an orphan pot on the turn and pick it up.
Prior to dinner the guy from the KQ hand raises UTG+2, tight girl flats in LP and I 3bet with a really awkward stack in the SB with JJ. Everyone I’ve mentioned this hand to says I have to flat in this spot and after thinking about it they are all right. The KQ guy calls and the girl folds. Flop comes A-6-4 two diamonds. I have 19k left, he has maybe 23k, and there is 12k in the pot. Sheesh. This is why my 3bet is so bad. I can c-bet 4-5k here I guess but I sure don’t like the way my stack will look if he shoves on me. I can check-fold but that seems entirely weaksauce also. Bloated pot out of position- sigh- position is to poker what air is to breathing (or something like that says Tommy Angelo.) I check. He checks behind. Hmmmm. So now I basically soulread the guy and “know” he doesn’t have an ace in his hand. He could have QQ but given how he’s played I really doubt he has anything like AQ+ or TT+ as he would have likely 4bet shoved preflop. The turn comes another 6. Sooooooo…. I shove. He calls pretty quickly and now I’m doubting my soulread. I table my jacks and he flips over……. Pocket 8’s!!?!??!! What the fuck did he think he was ahead of here? Zomg horribad play, arguably by both players but the guy with the 52k chipstack gets to laugh last.
After dinner the guy shoves over my open with 99, I have AK and bink a King on the river to send him home.
The rest of the day is decent and I end up with 60,600 going into day 3.
I fly home again and play volleyball and drink beer at Lake Tahoe....
Day 3
Don’t really like this table draw. Two seats to my left is Dan Carter, and the two guys to my right are JP Kelly and Barney Boatman. These three brits all know each other and have played a ton of hands together. I chipped up to 70k at one point after playing a hand against Barney. He raised from the button and I called with K8 from the BB. I check-called the flop, we both checked the turn, and then I led the river to take down the pot. Reverse float- great when it works.
My demise began against Carter when I played another hand way behind and out of position. When am I gonna learn to give this crap up??? He raises UTG+1 and I call in the BB with T9cc. (bad) Flop is A-7-4 one club. I check, and because I’m not going to check-fold here I call. (worse) Turn is an off-suit 8, giving me the open-ender. Now I decide to stab at it—he min-raises—now my pot odds are outrageous and I call. (super questionable here as well) So my only hope in this bloated pot holding Ten-high is to hit the straight. The river pairs the 8. I’ve dug a pretty big hole here. No sense just laying down in it and dying, right? Of course not! I mean, I’m playing against a crazy young brit who has 32o here sometimes. Probably not this time, but sometimes. I cover him anyway. He must fear that I have a monster! So I fire out 16k, which is about ¾ of the pot. He tanks a little. I have an earbud in and I hear someone say “all in” and for a brief moment I think its from the table behind me. Fuck. It isn’t. I’m screwed. I ask for a face-saving count and then sheepishly muck. Really awful hand that got worse on every street and I bluff off about half of my stack. Idiot.
Eventually I get down to about 22k and become a short stack ninja. I shove TT and hold against AK. I chip down, shove again and double back up. I’m at about 35k when I shove 99 into AK and finally lose a flip x-x-x-x-A, and now I’m super short. Next hand I get 77 UTG, shove, and everyone folds. Next hand I have AQ in the BB and shove over a late raiser who calls me with A9 and I hold and double.
Everytime I try to play some poker I get worked. My opens get 3bet, my cbets get raised, and I can’t hit a flop. I do work one squeeze with 55 and both players fold. I chip down again. I shove TT, get called by AJ and win another flip. Back to 45k. But that’s not a lot when the blinds are 1000-2000/300.
I get down to a CSI of 4, per the “Kill Everyone” terminology. M of 4 if you read Harrington. About 23,000 chips. It gets folded to me in the SB. I’m supposed to shove about 70% of hands here, and unfortunately I’m supposed to get called by about 50% of them also. I have the mighty T7o and get my chips in against KJ. Villain binks a Jack and my WSOP is over. 7319 entries, I bust out with about 1600 left, about 850 spots from the money.
I keep advancing one day each year I play this, so only another 7 years or so and I will obviously win.
