Vegas April 2009 (WSOP Circuit)

Day One

Last Updated: 2009-04-16 14:07:23

This will probably be a short entry for me because right now I'm going on 25 hrs awake time and frankly it's all a bit of a blur.

First let me say that Cody and Leon both go into the money today. Cody finished 12th in the Circuit event cashing for over a grand. Great job. The only hand I saw was the one he busted out on, and he got his chips in a small favorite and it just didn't work out. Leon took 8th in the 7:00 "second chance" cashing for a little over $600, also a great job by him.

So the five of us (Leon, Paul, Rich, Cody and myself) all managed to be at different tables to start the circuit event and we never once sat together during the course of it. I got some hands early on, I believe I had A-K or A-Q four times in the first 10 hands and we were playing just 5 handed because of late arrivals. So I quickly built a bit of a stack. I was generally staying above average and I felt like I had a good feel for my table. One of the biggest hands of the day for me happened at this first table.

The set up is that because of my early hands, none of which I showed, there was one guy at the table who called my preflop raises 100% of the time. Not "almost all the time". Every time. Now anyone who plays poker with me knows I'm a fairly tight player and I'm not raising with junk hands, but this guy obviously thought I was a very loose player. Well, with A-Q the guy called my preflop raise of course, then called my continuation bet on an all small flop, and eventually I had to give up the hand having taken a hit to my stack.

So now I'm a somewhat short stack for the first time in the tournament and we're about 4 hrs into it. I'm in the big blind with 5-6 and half the table limps in. Flop comes 8-6-5 with two diamonds. I bet out, one over the top all-in and then another over the top all-in. I decide I have to hope they're on draws, they both have less chips than me so it's reasonable to think they might be. I call. First all-in has 2-3 of diamonds for worst possible flush draw, other guy has 9-7 for a made straight. 6 on the turn and i about triple up. Whew.

To this point I had literally not had a single wired pair and never won a hand with more than hitting a single pair. But I managed to stay above average stack making the most of what I had and was rather happy with going into the dinner break above average with over 2/3 of the field gone. I did finally get some pairs in the 5th and 6th rounds before the dinner break but they were all middle or small pairs. I managed to win some pots but also lose some. When I finally got kings I got no action, of course.

So into the dinner break and back, and for some reason post dinner break in these us ususally ugly for me. This was no exception. Basically I got moved to a table where I thought I had a read on a player and tried to bluff reraise him and ended up getting called. I just had two overs to his wired 7s and it didn't work out. I'm kind of torn on the play because I was an above average stack, I didn't have to try and steal. But trusting my reads got me to that point (and a little luck!) and that's a mistake I'll hopefully learn from. The thing that will nag at me is that the guy could afford to call my bluff, and I should have been more aware of stack sizes.

So I was the last of the Colorado Springs contingent to bust out, just in time to join Leon and Paul in the 7:00 second chance tournament.

And what a start for me. Very early on I had pocket aces and raised out. Got one caller. Flop 9-K-A. I check, other person bets 200. I call. Turn is an Ace. Quads. I check, he bets 200, I call. River is a 5. I check one more time, now he bets 1000. I decide that maybe he has a K and if I make a min raise maybe he'll call. So I make it 2000. He thinks for a while and then goes over the top all in. I can't say "call" fast enough. Not much later I pick up a straight and get paid somewhat and in a blink I'm almost tripled up.

Unfortunatly, in the 12K-20K range is pretty much where I stay for the next 5 hours. I just couldn't another big hand for a long time and it seemed like I'd get my chips in with the best hand and lose, then be short stacked, then get all in with the worst hand and suck out. But I grind it out, as does Leon, and somehow the two of us end up at the final table. They go to final table at 10 players but they're only paying 9. Leon is probably the short stack and I don't have much more.

A collection is made, $20 from each person for whoever bubbles so that person gets their money back. Leon and I are so short I'm pretty much all in with any ace. And at some point I got an A-7 suited and push...unfortunately for me Leon woke up with A-Q and I was out on the bubble. Damn what a frustrating day.

But at least I'm up almost $100 at the craps table!

I don't know what I'm going to do Tuesday. Probably sleep past lunch time, get a bite to eat and hang out to take another shot at the 7:00 tourney.