Vegas June 2015 (WSOP)

Day 9 - WSOP Daily Deep Stack

Last Updated: 2015-06-15 17:10:34

Sunday went pretty well.

Long time BLOG readers probably remember that I often used to play at the Deep Stack Extravaganza tournaments in the Venetian several years ago. I mostly stopped playing in them for two reasons: They jacked up the buyins higher than I really want to buy in for; second, IMO the fields were particularly tough to get through (both due to size and quality of player).

When I was playing in them, Joann was usually sitting in the sports book and always had to "enjoy" the aroma from the Chinese restaurant right next to the sports book and was always saying how great it smelled. But we never ate there together. A couple of times on solo poker trips I ate there (like the seniors event I played in last fall) but Joann never did.

Well it seems we're starting to have enough of the buffets every day, it does get to be a bit much, so we were trying to come up with something a little different for lunch and decided it was about time Joann got to try Noodle Asia.

It's a little pricey IMHO, but it is pretty good. I guess everywhere you can eat in Vegas is a little pricey...

Since Aria was running a $450 buyin 2-7 Triple Draw tournament instead of the regular daily I decided to hit the WSOP Daily Deep Stack instead. Tempting as 2-7TD is (it is a fun game!) I think I should keep it simple the rest of the trip.

After lunch Joann dropped me off so she could do a little solo shopping while I played. It's a good thing I only brought enough money to buy into the DS tournament because they were starting up a $1K NLH tournament in the WSOP and with the bigger stacks this year and Joann not there to stop me I might have done something I shouldn't have done :-)

Poker is so much more fun when you catch some cards. I can take losing, I just hate not playing.

Like the monster stack the day before, I started out getting a lot of borderline playable hands early so I was splashing some chips around. I like when that happens because anyone who's played with me for any amount of time knows that I'm a poster child for the term "tight-aggressive." If I can build a little bit of a loose image early it usually benefits me later.

I'd have to go back through the BLOGS to see if there's something I'm forgetting but I don't recall flopping a set all trip. I must have at least once, you would think.

Well with my loose image you can imagine my excitement at flopping top set of queens in a pot I raised. But couldn't get anyone to bite when I checked the flop on two loose callers who had position on me and nobody bit on my turn bet. Crud.

Not too long after that I irritated the first of a few people who didn't end up liking me too much :-) Tho this one arguably wasn't really my fault, it was more his than mine.

Basically I flopped middle pair with a gutshot (J-T suited, flop K-T-9), called a flop bet, everyone checked on the turn and I didn't improve on the river. I figured my middle pair was no good so I tried a value bet bluff and someone called. I said "King's good", he turned over his K-Q, I tossed my cards to towards the muck. He said he wanted to see my hand, dealer said I didn't have to show it and mucked them. Dealer made a mistake in that spot (I was the last aggressive action, I should have showed first), however it's fairly common that when someone admits they're beat as I did and the winner turns over their cards first usually the winner just accepts their victory and moves on. It's not the rules, but it is common courtesy IMHO.

Well he was NOT happy that he didn't get to see my hand. What he did know was that I didn't have top pair, I admitted that and obviously I would have shown it if I had top pair, so I was admitting I was trying to buy the pot. And in hindsight I should have known better than to try in a 4-way pot, someone was bound to have top pair and call what looked like a value bet. Not a horrible attempt, but unwise at best. Nobodies perfect. A couple of people suggested I could tell him what I had but I just stared at the dealer (hehe).

Not too much after that I did have one of those "perfect moment" type hands when I raised out with a crappy Q-7 suited and got two callers just trying to steal blinds heading into a break. Everyone seemed to want to leave, it was worth a shot.

One of the callers, the button on this hand, seemed to have won 10-15 straight hands at one point, was playing seemingly any two (tho it was mostly suited connectors, suited one gappers, broadway cards...he wasn't showing total junk) and had built up quite a stack. I flopped a gutshot and two overs (3-4-6), I checked, check, the button led out and we both called. Turn was a beautiful 5, I checked again, check, check. River was an Ace, I decided that the best thing I could do was value bet like I had earlier and sure enough he called and was more than a little unhappy when I rolled over my straight. Another unhappy customer!

Hehe. I was close to double a starting stack after that. That guy went on tilt and blew the rest of his stack within the next round or two after the break.

Image is everything. From that point the table was mostly afraid to play with me. I wasn't playing a lot of hands, I was showing big hands pretty much every time. Twice after that I was able to represent hands much bigger than I actually had in sizeable pots. Both were exactly the same situation.

I raise out with 88, I get reraised by a guy who was a good player. As it turns out his grandfather was an early resident of Arvada where we're building our house, also is best friends with the guy from Westminster who won the WSOP Millionaire Maker this year. But he was also a solid tight-aggressive player who could make a move now and then. I called.

Flop came K-rag-rag. I decided I was going to represent the King and led out. He hated it. He mumbled about how I had to have A-K, no way would I call his reraise with just K-Q (which I assume is what he had, mental note there that he'll go over the top a little light) and he folded. Nice.

An orbit or two later I got a little frisky and decided to make a middle-position raise with just Q-10 offsuit. My buddy who wanted me to show my hand earlier went over the top and I called. Flop came A-Q-rag, all spades.

Again I decide that with my crappy middle pair it's a good time to try and represent the top pair I don't have. He has to fold any pair under an ace, right? So I lead out and he gets irritated, says something about "the 4th time" and folds pocket kings face up. "Go ahead, show me the ace, I know you have it" he says. So I do something I was angry with myself about, I show my hand. I let myself get goaded into it. Not good.

Well he's really not happy with me now. But he was a good natured guy, and after he calmed down he was ribbing me about how he was going to catch me next time...he never caught me tho, I didn't play a lot more pots with him but I don't think I ever lost one to him.

Then came a really big hand for me. A woman with a big stack came over to the table and it quickly became clear she was on the loose side having called a sizable raise with 8-6 suited preflop and caught two-pair to crack kings not long after arriving.

I'm early to act and look down at pocket 5s, I raise out and she calls. Flop 5-6-Q. I lead out, she calls. Nice! At this point I have about 55K chips left in my stack, I don't remember blinds. Turn is another 6. I check, she bets 20K, I call. River is an ace. I check again, she bets almost my entire stack, I put the rest in, she calls and I roll over my boat. I double up!!!

So at this point we're starting to seriously think about money. Unfortunately I go card dead and it's all I can do to maintain my stack as blinds start going up.

But the good news is I'm able to maintain my tight image and when I do make moves to steal blinds I mostly get away with it. Then I get one more pretty big break.

Guy sitting next to me on my right was just not a very good player, but he was winning enough pots to stick around. Way, way too tight. Getting short stacked I saw him several times lead out and then fold (after showing me) or just call down with AK. If he had pushed every time he had them he would have gotten himself out of the short stack easily. And he's grumpy and, ironically, constantly going on about how "badly" the other people are playing. And we're at the point where about half the remaining players are getting in the money.

I'm in the big blind, cards are dealt, I look right away and I see aces. Naturally all these people who couldn't fold anything all fold. It folds all the way to this overly tight guy on my right who had already given me 3 walks. I'm not happy.

But then he raises out 1/3 of his stack! Yes!!! I call.

Flop 9-8-rag, he instantly shoves and I instantly call. He has A8. He's PISSED.

I consider myself an incredibly respectful player. I never cheer taking someone out, quite the opposite when I bust someone I never say a word to them unless they say something to me first. I'm never going to pile on someone, I never cheer my good luck at a table because my good luck is always someone else's misfortune. You'll never see me do a dance when I get lucky and hit some two-outer for example. And obviously since I was ahead all the way I had nothing really to cheer about.

Well he stomps away from the table, he's well out of sight and a conversation starts up about how badly he played. As we're chatting, from about 3 tables away he's back and shouting at me "sure, go ahead and laugh!" "it's real funny, isn't it?". The whole table is just dumbfounded...oh well, I've made another friend.

Over 1200 started the tournament, paying 135 places and we get down to just 3-4 table breaks from the money. I'm sitting around 120, probably around average, and a couple of guys join the table with one just under 200K and another just over. I then saw something absolutely inexplicable.

Smaller of the two stacks leads out preflop, bigger stack repops, shorter stack calls. Flop K-X-X all clubs. Shorter stack leads out, bigger stack shoves, smaller stack calls. Bigger stack has A-K, smaller stack K-J. Nobody has clubs.

WHAT?????

Folks we're 20 or so from money out of 1200+ people! This guy played 7 hours of poker and just throws away a stack that's easily going to get him to the money??? Did he really think K-J was good there? Even if he did, he calls down the only guy at the table who can take him out?

Wow.

Surprisingly folks start dropping like flies. Usually on the bubble things tighten up like crazy but not this time. We lose several players in just a couple of hands. We get to 137 left, blinds are 4000/8000 with a 1000 ante and the poor guy who's in the big blind on the 3rd hand since I sat down is sitting on 13,000 chips. Monster stack to my right raises out, everyone has to fold in that situation including the short stacked big blind. I really feel bad for the guy (tho not bad enough that I wouldn't have raised out if I had cards :-) ).

Someone busts out. We're hand-for-hand. Poor guy pays his ante and can't even make a full small blind.

Well he busts, someone raises out, he has nothing, they each flop a pair and he doesn't improve. But good for him, someone else also busted on the hand and he at least got a few bucks.

In the money!!!

That was pretty much it for me. I get moved again soon after that, at my new table several hands in I get pocket kings under the gun, only second hand I played, I have to lead out, everyone folds. Dammit.

I get one more all-in, no callers with something like A-9, but blinds are going up and my stack is getting blinded down.

I'm under 10 big blinds, I shove because I'm first in a pot with Q-6 off, I get instantly called by A-J off by a bigger stack, but I had 1/3 to 1/2 his stack in chips so I would have thought he would have at least spent a few seconds thinking about it given how tight I had been. He flops an ace and I'm out 73rd of 1200+. Nice!

So Monday is our last day in town, it will be the 1:00 at Aria one last time.