Vegas June 2013 (WSOP)

Day 3 - World Series of Poker

Last Updated: 2013-06-03 08:26:05

What a day!

Started out a little early, we weren't up too late Saturday night and we stuck with our plan to hit the Bellagio Buffet for breakfast. Still the best buffet I've ever eaten at. Great food, can't get out with less than three desserts and I still want to know what they know about how to make soft serve ice cream that apparently nobody else on the planet knows.

Back to the room for Joann to take a little nap to sleep off the...well...lets say more than two glasses of champagne. While she was napping I went out and filled the gas tank and tried to head over to Rio to check out the action but the big tournament in the Amazon Room (where all the day 2 and final tables also are) were locked for the break and only the Pavilion room was open for $1k buyin that had started a couple of hours earlier.

So back to the room, hung out a while and headed over to Rio with about half an hour to spare. We get to the Amazon room and something very odd happens. There's another tournament going on where this tournament is supposed to be. They moved us, I'm supposed to subtract 250 from my table number and go to the Pavilion room.

The official rotation was: Razz, Pot Limit Omaha, Limit Hold'Em, Stud 8/b, 2-7 Triple Draw, No-Limit Hold'Em, Stud and Limit Omaha 8/b. The order is pre-set, they randomly draw which game we start with and then follow the order from there.

I decided to try and record every hand I played in the tournament because a lot of pros recommend taking notes and reviewing how you played. I probably got all but 10-20 of the 250 or so hands I played written in a spreadsheet, who knows maybe at some point I'll do an "every hand revealed" BLOG entry. Here are some highlights:

Won the first pot I contested, I had 29KK in PLO with K-9 of clubs on the button so I decide to raise and try and steal but get two callers. Flop comes A-Q-rag two clubs, someone bets out 300, we both call. Turn gives me nut flush, I bet, no action, win my first pot.

Little while later in limit hold'em a bunch of limpers on my BB let me see a flop w/ 6-2 of hearts. Flop comes 5-5-2 with 5h, check around. turn 3h giving me a gutshot straight flush draw, I bet, get raised, I call. River is Qh, I bet, called, show flush, he shows A-5 and I win.

Then a nasty hand, playing 2-7 I start w/ 3487, call a preflop raise out of curiosity and draw one to an 8 low while he draws three. Got him, I think! Well he caught the nuts drawing three and I paid him on every street after making what i thought would be a winning low on river. Ouch!

If you read my BLOG yesterday, I'm going to show you the proper way to play stud 8/b now. 7-A-5 w/ all spades. I call, someone completes w/ face card, I call. pick up an open pair of 5s on 4th, I check, he bets another face card, I call. 5th I get 3s, now I bet, he calls. 6th I get a 2 giving me made low, with a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw against 4 high straightish looking cards. I bet, he cringes and folds, I win the whole pot with no real high hand yet.

Oh the "he" in this case is one David Levi who has won a few bucks playing poker...

Levi later became my sugar daddy. Up in the 80s in hands played, playing limit hold'em on back-to-back hands I had JJ hold up against an all-low board bet on every street; then A-J flopped an A on another mostly low board and even got in a check-raise before he eventually folded on river.

Then later back-to-back 2-7 hands I drew one w/2-3-5-6-X and caught the 7 and got paid on every street, then drew one to an 8-7 (which is really not smart, in hindsight, but I was feeling it) and caught on the first draw and got paid (tho i checked the river with the 8-7, it becomes a "you will only get called if you're beat" thing).

Then my only really dumb decision of the night. Playing stud and having just cracked a guys hand with a spade flush I called a preflop raise again with three to a flush. Well when he paired his king I seriously should have had him on at least 2 pr but more likely 3ks drawing to a boat. Well I catch my flush on 6th, he checks dark on 7th and I bet like a dumbass. He comments on me being a dumbass and raises me and shows his boat...ugh...dumbass...

We're at about 100 hands in at that point. Not much happened for the next 50 or so, then in 2-7 I got drawn out on when I raised out with 3-5-6-8-9 and position. He drew two, math says I should win the pot so I just stand pat, check, bet, call. draws 2 again, check, bet, call (mathematically a very poor call with the double bet), he draws one and spikes an 8 low on the river. Ouch.

But then the pot of the night for me. This one was huge. I have A-2-K-Q with I think a suit but unsuited Ace of spades. Raise/reraises and 5 players see flop of K-6-7 w/ Ks. A good flop for me. Bet, raise before it even gets to me, everyone calls. Turn is 3s, now there's bet, raise, reraise into me and I have nut low and top pair so I call. Still 4 handed! River is Queen of Spades.

Now understand I've shown two strong tendancies to this point. I play very tight, when I bet I almost always have it, and I'm willing to draw to flushes. So check/check to me, I look at the "dry ace" (it's an omaha thing, everyone is so fearful of nut flushes that having the ace is almost as powerful as actually having the flush) and decide that if I can represent the flush, maybe I can get a better high only hand to fold. Sure enough, it goes call-call-fold, I say "nut low, two pair", there's a gasp from the folder (oh he's NOT happy) and the other two callers show nothing but nut lows. I get 2/3 of a monster pot (half for high, 1/3 of 1/2 for low chop). That put me at 14,000 chips, my peak for the night.

Same bastard from the last 2-7 hand got more from me about 25 hands later in Razz where I tried to buy a pot with a 5 showing and 9-4 under, he called me down with a KING showing and ended up drawing out on me with a 7 low on the river (I ended up w/ an 8 low).

Then a long stretch with not much more than some small pots and blind/ante steals to maintain the stack. Also my table breaks, and I get moved so no more reputation to rely on. Down to late in the last round of the night, three more hands to talk about...

Playing Omaha 8/b I have A-3-5-K double suited (A-3 and K-5 I think) in my BB, raise into me, I call. Flop 6-7-K, i check, he bets, I call. Turn is a J, check, check. River is another Jack. I decide to try and represent a big hand and bet, he reluctantly calls, I show my King, everyone looks to him to show a real hand...he mucks and I scoop. He was at the other end of the table, my end of the table (including me) can't imagine what the hell he called with that I could beat!

Razz hand I start with 3-4-5 and raise, catch nothing but bricks and have to give it up.

Then we hear those magic words...

Dealers finish the hand you are on, deal three more hands and then stand up!

So I walk over to Joann and say "I should just stay here next to you for the next three hands". I go back to my seat.

Nothing the first two, we switch to PLO for the last hand. And all I have to do is just fold the hand and I get to come back and play poker tomorrow (well, ok, later today).

Folds around to me and I look down at A-A-J-9 with a suit.

Seriously???

I bet pot. What else can I do? I get one caller.

Flop 8-A-8. Other guy has about 2100 chips left. Check, check. Turn Qh, check, check. River a rag heart. He actually bets out 800 of his 2100. I shove and he frowns and instantly mucks to keep 1300 chips.

WOW.

So for the third straight year I will be playing in day 2. My chip stack isn't huge (12475 from 7500 start) but I have more than last year.

Quick meal at Cafe Vettro back at the hotel (at 2:30am) and up to the room to try and calm down so I can get some sleep.

So here's the deal:

164 remaining out of 388 entries.

40 places being paid

I'm 107th in chips, but I still have 20 big blinds so I'm not in bad shape at all.

I'll be at Amazon 407 seat 2 about 8.5 hrs from now (2pm local) and I will be 5th in chips at my table, not terrible.

Chip leader at my table will be one Josh Arieh followed by Eric Buchman in second. I've played with Arieh before briefly, he busted out of my first PLO/PLH table very quickly two years ago. Also at the table is another guy with a million plus in career cashes...hmmm...

So three straight years making it to Day 2!!! And folks these tournaments are STACKED. Every table has big names.

Wish me luck!