Vegas June 2017 (WSOP)

Day 7 - WSOP Stud 8/b, Aria

Last Updated: 2017-06-22 10:26:31

We weren't rushed, but we didn't have tons of time either. Baked a little at the pool, had lunch at the Aria buffet and headed over to the Rio.

The very best starting hand you can have in 7-card stud is "rolled up trips", 3-of-a-kind when the first three cards are dealt. Part of the reason they're great is that they're hidden because your opponent only sees one of them.

Of course, you cannot make a low hand in stud 8/b when you have them unless you have trips 8 or lower and manage to catch perfect on every street, but I believe that running into low hands in stud 8/b is less common than in Omaha 8/b so they remain the king of stud poker hands even in this game.

In Texas Hold'Em you will get a pair of Aces only once every 212 hands if I remember correctly. If I'm off I'm not off by much. Rolled up trips of any kind are only one in over 400 hands. They are as rare a starting hand as it gets.

Another critically important part of stud poker is keeping track of cards that are no longer available to you if as the hand progresses because you need to make sure the cards that will improve your hand aren't "dead". A 4-5-6-7 hand is a horrible drawing hand if three 3's and four 8's are gone already since you'd only have one out.

7500 chips to start.

Took almost 20 minutes before I had anything playable. Actually me and the guy to my right, the two of us were just watching the rest of the table push chips around for a long time so it wasn't just me being overly tight.

First hand I played in which I put in any significant amount of chips was when I caught 2-pair on 5th street, Kings and Treys. To that point the majority of hands had been won by one or two pair, at least for high.

I run into a 2-6 straight, which is also good for the low, which included the case 3 since I had two and someone else had one. Of course he had the case three.

7 minutes later I manage 2-pair 6's and 5's with a low draw all the way...but I miss my low and run into a straight that includes a 5 and the case six. Two cards that were completely dead, but he caught them. Naturally.

40 minutes into the tournament 1/3 of my stack was gone.

But I will also say this - stud 8/b pots are usually big. No matter how short your stack is you should always believe you're only a pot or two away from being in good shape again.

I finally win a 1K pot when I start with AA, pick up a third A on 5th street, neither of us have a low so I scoop one.

Later I pick up a premium drawing hand. I start out with the 2 of hearts showing and I believe A-3 hidden but not hearts, my board runs out 5h-Ah-9h. So 4 hearts showing, and dude calls me down with nothing but a gutshot straight draw. I miss both my flush and my low with the 9 above on 6th and a paint card on the river, he naturally hits his straight and all I have is a pair of aces. Dude had high cards showing, no chance of making a low while my board runs out that way. It's actually unbelievable to me that this guy called me down. But...he did...and he won the pot.

Start of the second level I pick up rolled up trip 7s. Monster!

I never improve in spite of my board again running out low, my river card was a high card, other guy drew out a wheel, the nut low of A-2-3-4-5 which is also a straight, and scooped me. I'm down to 3900 chips.

Next hand I play I have 2-pair on 4th street, I think it was aces and fours and no pair on the board so it looks like I'm probably going low. Guy rivers trip sixes, at least he said he did, I don't improve and I'm at 2250 halfway through round 2.

And I'm still sitting here watching pot after pot being pushed to other people with just single pairs and two pairs...

Get drawn out on again, I don't remember the hand, into the break at 1200. Ooof.

Down to 1000 chips left 20 minutes into round three I again pick up rolled up trip 7s. Ultimately all the chips go in on 4th street. Guy has four low cards as we turn them up. We both catch high on 5th street so I cannot make a low but I'm guaranteed high as he can't make a straight. He catches paint again on 6th street...but hits his low on the river. All I get is my chips back plus half the antes.

Can't make it up.

Not long after that I'm all in again, this time with 4-7-6-5-7 against two pair. I'll take it!

I catch my 8 on 6th, a 3 on 7th for good measure and scoop a pot. I'm back up to 2600.

Then I get pulled away from the table to help start up a new table with my meager stack.

But then I start out with hidden AA and a low card showing. Great starting hand! But I catch bad, someone else catches 7s on each of 4th, 5th and 6th streets and I have to go away. Back down to 1500 chips.

I draw out a great straight, 2-3-4-5-6...other guy rivers a flush with me all-in. At least I get half. 2300.

Half hour later I've been a little card dead, again I catch aces up and again someone draws out a flush on me. I'm literally down to one green 25 denomination chip. I don't even have a full ante.

Anted all in I start with hidden 99, catch a 9 on 4th street but he catches a low and I'm only up to 100 chips. You can't make it up.

I actually had both straight and low outs on my final hand, miss everything, done 3 hours in.

That was without question the most brutal three hours of stud 8/b I've ever played.

But I can make the 7pm at Aria, so #OnToTheNextOne.

Couldn't have started out any better! First four hands go like this:

QQ to start. That sounds familiar, had QQ the first hand out Monday night and that didn't go too well for me. In this case I end up winning the pot on a 4-flush board something like 6-2-T-4-6 with four diamonds, all he had was a black 4-2 for a counterfeited two pair vs my better two pair.

A-9 next hand, raise out, remember other guy from previous night, pick off his river bluff when all he had was King high.

AA 3rd hand, get some action but not a big pot.

QJo 4th hand, flop an open ender but miss. I'm in the 18-20K range from my 15K starting stack.

But nothing good came for a while after that. Missed a flush draw and tried to buy the pot on the river. Hand or two later I catch A-K, I get reraised by a guy who I remember as being a loose player from previous trips. I just call preflop, two other players also call including another loose player I know from previous trips.

I miss the flop and go away, turns out the two loose guys had QJ and JT respectively, they had flopped a jack and caught a jack on the turn so JT guy lost most of his stack.

10,600 at break.

Next three rounds didn't have a lot going for me. I survived a couple of all-ins and went into the next break at 13k.

Table breaks and I get moved to a new table that includes a rather loose player who had built up a big chip stack but then blew it all in the Sunday tournament I cashed in. 400/800 blinds and I'm in the small blind. There's a limper and loose guy raises out to 2200. There's one caller, I go over the top all in with AQ suited. Folds back to loose guy, he goes over the top all in to isolate...with J8 suited. What???

I catch an ace on the flop and another on the river for good measure. Suddenly I've got a 30K chip stack! Out of 230 players there are 87 left paying 21. Blinds keep going up, eventually I go all-in with J-9 off and run into A-9 suited. Flop a Jack and I'm at 48K.

Later I get all in with a short stack with AQ vs QT, flop a Ten. "What goes around..." right? It wasn't a huge hit to my stack, but it still hurt a little. 55 left now, 24 from money.

A couple more well timed all-ins get through, then I take out a short stack with AK vs 99 and I'm up to 71K, 23 from money.

One thing I haven't mentioned yet is that as is typical of daily casino tournaments but usually not as typical for this one is that you usually get to a point where even the average stack is below 20 big blinds. When that happens it just becomes and all-in game. That's usually not the case at Aria, but it was on this night. There were very few raises that didn't come with the words "all-in".

As such, I was shoving too. I managed to build my stack from 56K to over 100K without ever seeing a flop. I was one of the bigger stacks but I was still below average.

We get into the money, then I win a 3-way all in with A-J vs A-9 and KQ. 9 came on the flop, not good, but the flop was all diamonds and I had the Ad. You know how that story ends, right?

Now I'm up to 275K with 3-something million chips in play.

I get another takeout, crack $340,000 and well above average stack with AQ vs KJ. He caught a J, but I turned a Q.

We get down to the proverbial "unofficial final table" of 10. My stack has been blinding down a bit and I've had to give up on some other hands. There's a guy who was relentlessly attacking my blinds and others with raises and re-raises.

I look down at AQ suited and raise out to 25K (I'm sure blinds were 5000/10000). He goes over the top for 100K. Seems like the perfect opportunity to push back at this guy.

All the chips go in and he rolls over A-K. Of course he does...

Another Aria 7pm, another cash. Got to bed at 4:00AM or so, up by 8 to start getting ready to go over to Rio for the PLO bracelet event at 11AM. Now as I finish up this BLOG I'm going to start typing up that story! Sorry this one was so late.