 Vegas June 2009 (WSOP) |
| Day Two - Deep Stack |
| Last Updated: 2009-06-14 11:11:55 |
| Went over to Rio to buy into the WSOP, then had brunch at the buffet there. I'll be at table "Orange 90" for anyone who wants to come watch. I won't speak for Joann but this is my second favorite buffet now. The line was very short as I'd hoped, the woman working there mentioned that usually a LOT of people show up in the last hour to buy in. I bought in for Monday, she said they were expecting something like 2500 for the one later that day.
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| Then it was over to Venetian for the Deep Stack.
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| Things started out slow for me, after I was down about 3k of my 15k starting stack when I had probably my best hand of the day.
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| Loose player raised on the button, I was BB with KQ and decided to call and see what happened. Flop was K-Q-rag with two diamonds giving me two pair and a backdoor flush draw (I had Kd).
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| I decide to just check and give him a chance to make a continuation bet, which he does, and i just call. Turn is the ace of diamonds. Now I have two pair and the nut flush draw, with all kinds of outs if I'm somehow beat at that point. Hoping he has a bad ace I decide to bet 2000, he calls immediately. I'm slightly worried at this point that he could actually have A-K or A-Q, even loose players have hands some times, but he didn't go over the top so I'm back to thinking bad ace.
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| River is 3d. Nut flush. I decide that he can't possibly call any bet if he doesn't have a strong diamond so I check hoping he either has one or he'll make a play. He bets 2k, I put on a little bit of an act and then go over the top for 6k. He hates this, thinks for a while and then makes the call turning over A-J with the jack of diamonds. He had second best flush, I almost double up.
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| From there things take off for me. I get moved to a new table, and sitting two seats to my right is a guy who is a massive chip stack. But it takes me all of two hands to figure out how he got this stack, one of those loose players who will call with almost any hand and is willing to call any bet with any draw and hope to hit. And obviously he was hitting a lot before I sat down.
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| Doesn't take me long to get pocket queens. Someone raise, loose guy calls, I reraise, everyone folds, loose guy calls. Of course. Flop comes 2-3-5 two clubs. Loose guy bets out 5500, I give him no credit for a hand and shove for about 23K total. He thinks for a bit and makes the call turning over 8-4 with the 4 clubs.
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| Turn is a 4th club, which gives him straight draw and a flush draw and my stomach starts to turn...until I realize I have Qc so he actually lost two outs - the flush is good for me. Well the river is a blank and I double up.
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| Loose guy proceeds to give away all his chips trying to catch draws the rest of the way.
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| Meanwhile, I build my stack and after a while I couldn't remember the last time I'd played a hand and didn't end up winning the pot. And I was catching enough cards that I really didn't have to buy any pots.
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| Then the hand where I got lucky. Very lucky.
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| I have A-Q preflop, there is a limper ahead of me and I raise. One caller, then limper goes over the top. My immediate thought is middle pair who decided to try and steal so I think for a while and call. Flop Q-rag-rag. With the size of the pot, any reasonable bet is half his stack so I shove and he immediately calls and turns over pocket aces. Ouch.
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| Queen on the turn, I crack aces with A-Q. Woo hoo.
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| Again, everything goes well for me for a while and I build up a chip stack close to 200k with the average stack below 100k. I'm sitting very pretty. Then came the bad luck...
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| Pocket aces again, I raise, "short stack" goes over the top for about 50k, I call of course. He turns over pocket 9s. Flop 9-9-rag. Oooof.
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| Not long after that I have a a junk ace on the button with a couple of limpers so I call to see what happens. Flop A-2-4. One of the limpers bets, I call. Turn is another ace, and needless to say all the chips went in and she had me outkicked.
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| This was really dumb on my part. She was an obvious weak-tight player and there was almost no chance she'd be betting into me with anything but an ace and my kicker was bad enough that there was almost no hand I could beat that she could reasonably have. So now I'm down below average for the first time since I doubled up with my nut flush early in the day at around 75k. Dammit.
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| So we're about 25 from money at this point, and I'd guess we're about 11 hours into play. Tournament started with 452, we're down around 70 and 45 places are being paid.
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| Blinds are 2000-4000 with a 500 ante. I'm not desperate but I can't wait forever.
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| I get A-Q again, someone raises into me who had been raising a little more often than you would expect but not enough to call him loose so I'm thinking my hand might be good. I shove quickly, it folds around to original raiser and he goes into the tank. My raise is going to hurt him if he calls and loses. He calls and turns over slick. His arms go up in victory...until he sees the Q on the flop and then the Q on the turn. I double up and I'm back in decent shape.
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| I manage to maintain my stack into the money, bottom money is $670 for a $560 buyin. The payout structure is very top heavy with 19th place barely doubling your buyin ($1119 I think) so at this point I'm below average and looking to take a shot to double up.
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| And here's A-Q again. A loose player raises and my first instinct is to go over the top and take the pot down right here. 20-20 hindsight, I should have shoved because I would have taken down here almost certainly...
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| Well flop comes J-rag-rag, he bets, I can't give him credit for anything so I call thinking I might steal on the turn. Turn is a blank, he checks but his body language is now telling me he actually did catch something in there and I decide to just take the free card. Q on the river. Bingo.
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| He bets, I shove, he calls and turns over J-Q off. ARGH. I'm out in 44th place. I don't think I played the hand poorly after the flop, my reads were correct in that he did raise out with a borderline hand and I correctly figured out that he had caught something. That river card was just the worst possible card, literally anything else and I either get away or with an ace I win the pot. Oh well.
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| So overall I'm happy with my showing. 44th out of 452 is worth being happy about and now I'm filled with confidence going into the WSOP having now cashed in back to back tournaments (I chopped final three in Cripple Creek Wednesday).
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| I have no idea what we're doing today. I can't play in anything that's a two day so no deep stack today. I'm thinking a day off from poker tho. I think Joann wants to do some shopping if the blisters on her feet don't bother her too much...we've been doing a lot of walking... |
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