Nice Score in the Party 40k

Last night I won the Party 40k for $18,424. There were 784 players with a buyin of $109. This was the same tourney that I took 3rd in last month. Last night's path to the FT (Final Table) was quite different though. I spent a lot of time in this tourney as the short stack. I was down to 6500 chips on the bubble when the BB was 1200. At that point I was just hoping to limp into the first payout of ~$160. Once the bubble broke I got a couple of double-ups with AA & then I had a stack that I could actually use.
I went into the FT 6th in chips, but was quickly down into a virtual tie for shortstack. I was somehow able to make it up to chipleader with only 1 small showdown (my AK vs AT on a 6 high board and postflop action of check/check, bet/call, check/check). Once we got it to heads up I was outchipped 1,625,000 to 726,000 w/ blinds at 20k/40k. I was able to chip away a bit, then I won a big pot by calling down with 3rd pair (83o on a board of 7J8Q6). For the record, a couple of hands earlier I had folded 2nd pair (Q7o on a board of 6QA8T). The action on that hand seemed to indicate I was beat, but on the 83o hand I really felt like my opponent had nothing (I was right, he had 4 high).
I want to go through my hand history later. Maybe I'll try to post some of the more interesting hands.

$900 in 9 minutes

Not bad. I started up 2 tables of $600 NL and made straights or 2 pair with what seemed like every other hand. After 9 minutes I decided I was tired and quit. Of course this just gets me back to even from the night before when I lost $900 @ $600 NL.

I played 1 tourney tonight. . . the Party $109 @ 7:00. I was doing decent, with an average chipstack when I made a loose call that I'm still not sure about.
I had been at the table for only 4 hands, so I didn't have a read on anyone. Big stack at the table opens from EP to 900 (blinds are 200/400), I call w/ JJ in the CO & about 8k total in chips and SB shortstack calls leaving himself ~2300 behind. Flop comes 7 high & SB pushes. Then the bigstack pushes over the top. I thought for a while & figured he could do this with 88-AA & took my chances that my JJ might be good. It wasn't. Shorty had trash, but big stack had KK & I'm busto. I'm still mulling this one over. It's hard considering I had just arrived at the new table & I didn't know how bigstack played at all.

On my way home

In the airport now waiting for my flight to board. Hey, airports have wifi. . . cool. I checked out of my room at noon and spent the rest of the day at 2/5 NL in the Rio. Made $145 in a pretty boring session. I got to hear them make the announcements when Hachem (last year's winner) & Negreanu got eliminated. Everyone in the room stopped and applauded for both of them.

and I'm out. . .

Well. . . I'm out. Wasn't a whole lot I could do today. I knew I wasn't going to be able to fold into the money, so I had to try to accumulate chips. That didn't go so well. I didn't make it into the first break. Here's the hands i played:

I open from the button w/ J2o to 4k. SB makes it 12k. I fold.

Very next hand I open from CO with QJo, SB calls. Flop is AQ4r. SB checks, I bet 6k. SB makes it 12k, I fold.

Very next hand I open from HJ, to 5k ww/ QQ. Everyone folds.

Next orbit I open from MP w/ 99, 1 caller. Flop is KcQc4s we check. Turn is Jc, we check. River is 5c. I check he bets 6k, I fold.

Down to 12600 it folds to me in the CO with Kc2c. I push, Button calls with TT & I'm out.


Like I said before . . . it was a very tough position to be in, as I was the shortest stack at the table. If I waited around for a big hand I would have been ground away to nothing.

All in all it was a great experience. I really felt like I was one of the stronger players out of everyone I sat with. I also feel like I learned a lot. Even though I've played 100's of tournaments already, everything here just seemed so much more intense. It felt like 100 tournaments worth of learning condensed into 1. I greatly look forward to next year. I'd like to try to satellite my way into some of the other 10k events before that too.


After I busted out of the tourney, I headed over to the Wynn to play in their $500 3:00 tourney. Well. . . I got there at around 2:00 only to find out that the tourney is at 12:00. Blah. Oh well. . . I played some 2/5 NL & made $426.

The Mirage

Went to the Mirage tonight to see Cirque du Soleil. I got there around 8:30 and the show started at 10:30, so I had a little time to check out their poker room. Another very nice room. Foxwoods dominates these Vegas poker rooms in size, but both the Bellagio & the Mirage are much nicer rooms. I played 2/5 NL for about 1 1/2 hours and was able to recoup the $150 ticket price plus a little extra. . . $192 total.

The Cirque du Soleil show was phenomenal. It was the Beatles one. . . called Love. I've always been a big Beatles fan and it was well worth the $150 I thought. Seeing that show makes me want to see some of the others, but I don't think I'll have time to.

WSOP Day 2

Well. . . I'm through Day 2, but I'm not in good shape. I ended the day at 36,200. I think the average chipstack is now somewhere around 75k. There's about 1150ish players left all together. Blinds are currently at 600/1200 w/ 200 ante. The top 873 get paid, with first payout being $14,597. Here's all the payouts: payouts
I won't be able to cruise into the money. I'll almost definitely be putting my whole stack on the line at least once. So far I've only had to do it twice, both times as an 80% favorite. Everyone has tomorrow (Thursday) off & we resume play Friday at noon.

Here's today's hands worth mentioning:

Level 7 250/500 w/ 50 ante

My new table is a bunch of short stacks w/ one pretty good stack of 50k. My 25300 is good for second at the table. The big stack was trying to use this to his advantage by raising often preflop. I noticed though, that he wasn't too tricky post flop.
BigStack was Danish, so I'll call him DBS.

DBS opens on the button to 1700. SB folds & I defend with 97o in the BB. Flop comes 7h8sTh. We both check. Turn is a 4c and I lead for 2000, DBS calls. River is a 6c, giving me the straight. I bet 5000, hoping it would look like Iwas trying to bluff, but he folds.


Shortstack limps in middle position (MP), another shortstack completes from the SB & I check w/ 7s5s from the BB. Flop is 6d8c9c. SB checks & I check, hoping the shorty will put the rest of his stack in. He bets 3k, leaving himself about 4k behind. SB folds & I reraise enough to put shorty all in. He instacalls & flips over AA. J on the turn seals the deal & I'm up to 34400 at the first break.


Level 8 300/600 w/ 75 ante

This hand was one of my favorites because everything was so clear to me. I raise from first position (or under the gun (UTG)) to 2000 w/ KQo. DBS calls on the button and the blinds fold. Flop comes 6c6h2h. I lead for 3500 & DBS raises to 8000. I knew he had a pair higher than the board, but lower that QQ. I also knew he wouldn't put almost all of his stack in with that hand for fear that I might have AA-QQ. I think for a while & reraise another 10k, leaving myself about 14k behind. Now with that reraise, DBS knows that if I have AA-QQ I'm pushing the rest of my stack in on the turn. He thinks for what had to be a solid 4 minutes and finally folds. That brings me up to 46k.

I end the level at 43500.

Level 9 400/800 w/ 100 ante

Our table breaks early in the level & I end up on a table with much larger stacks & more aggressive play. After a couple of orbits, an aggressive asian player open min-raises on the button to 1600. This is the second time I've seen him do this. I call from the BB w/ 73o. The flop comes QcQh7c. I check and button bets 3500. I think and call. The turn is the 5h and we both check. The river is the 3d. I think my 7 is good here & I bet 4400. Button now raises me another 10k on top. Now I thought this through hard. . . & I couldn't see him check behind on the turn with 2 diff flush draws out there if he had a Q. A hand like 33, 77 or 55 did make sense though. It was either that or a complete bluff. I didn't think a bluff was likely since in his eyes, I could very easily have a Q there & missed a turn checkraise. I thought he thought I had a Q. I folded & he showed As4s. Blah. . . the more I think about it I should of just check/called the river. That brings me down to 30k.
I end the level at 29k & I'm the shortstack at the table.

Level 10 500/1000 w/ 200 ante

Aggressive asian guy from the previous hand limps UTG, as does the loose big stack to my right. I raise to 5k with QQ in MP. Button pushes all in for 34000. I have only 19k behind & I have to make the call. Button tables 99 & my QQ holds. This was the 2nd time I've had my tournament life on the line. This brings me to 52k.

I openraise on the button w/ Jc8s & BB calls. The flop comes QcTs7c and BB leads for 6k. I don't think he has anything & I think about raising. I decide to just call & try to take it away on the turn. The turn is a good card for me, the As. BB checks & I bet 10k, he folds. Up to 62k now.

There are now 2 big stacks of 120k+. First bigstack (Lawrence) opens from MP to 3k. The other bigstack is directly to my right and is very loose. His name is Flip & he calls. I call with 8c7c in the BB. Flop comes 8TQ with 2 hearts. It's checked to Lawrence who bets 5500. Flip folds & I call with bottom pair. Turn is a 9 which puts 4 to the straight on the board. We both check. River is a rag and I bet 10k hoping to get a Q or T to fold. Lawrence thinks for a bit & folds. Up to 72k now & I'm a little better than average at this point.


Next hand I make a bad call because of earlier hands I had seen this player make. This is the same guy who reraised me allin when I had QQ & he had the surprising 99. I've also seen him reraise all in with 22 & A7o. It folds to him in late position & he pushes his whole stack of 19k in. It folds to me in the BB & I look down to see AJo. Normally this is such an instafold. . . but I kept thinking of the hands I saw this guy push with. I also thought that he really didn't want a call. I think for a long time & finally call. He says "bah. . . why'd you have to call?" and flips over QQ. I instantly hate myself. I don't suck out & am down to 48k when we end the level.

Level 11 600/1200 w/ 200 ante

I open raise to 4k with JTo from MP. SB calls. Flop comes A25, SB checks & I bet 6k. SB has about 15k chips total & agonizes for 5 solid minutes, saying that he really screwed up this hand. He finally folds KK. Very next hand is the last hand of the night. I open raise again to 4k with AdKd. Same guy as last hand pushes all in from the button for another 11k. I make the easy call & lose the race against 55. That hurts. I end the night at 36200.

We bag up our chips again & get our new seat assignments. Flip, sitting right next to me, takes a while to get his 206k worth of chips into the bag. Luckily I only have 36k & that's really easy to bag. We go to our new tables & it looks like I'm the bigtime shortstack there.

I really wanted to have a comfortable stack going into Day 3. Being a shortstack on the bubble is like the worst thing in the world. I will be drilled relentlessly and I won't be able to put any elimination pressure on other players. That's a bad spot to be on the bubble. Oh well, maybe I can actually get some big hands. . . 1 double up should bring me back to average. At this point I'll be happy to just make the first payout of 14k+.

Bellagio

I played some $2/$5 No Limit at the Bellagio today. Wow. . . the Bellagio poker room is beautiful. Very classy. I had a decent day. . . made $963. The players were pretty bad when I first sat down, but by the time I left, the table had become pretty decent. I was down about $400 early on a semibluff gone bad. . . so I was happy to make it out of there with a decent profit.
I was sitting next to a guy who had put up his own 10k to get into the Main Event only to have his flopped quad 5s get beat by runner runner straight flush. Ouch. He said "Go online and you can read about it. . . I'm all over the F'ing internet." Heh. . . I'd feel bad for him, but he won the $1000 tourney at the Bellagio yesterday for 100-something thousand. Good guy.

I got to take a look at the famous high limit room. Looked like easy money in there. . . I recognized Brunson, Men the Master, Barry Greenstein & I think Gus Hansen.


I always wonder how the top players make money against other top players. Where is the edge?



I play tomorrow at 12:00. Looks like they're almost done with Day 2A. They're playing down to 600. Glad to know I won't have to play until 3:00am again.

Day 1 recap

Made it through Day 1. I'm at 25300 in chips. Average chip count for my group was 25351, so I'm right at average. When day 2 starts we'll be at 250/500 blinds with 50 ante, so with over 50 big blinds in my stack I'll have plenty of room to operate.

Here's some of the memorable hands I played, I tried to write them down when we would go on breaks so I could remember them.

Level 1: 25/50

1st big hand I played:
UTG & MP limp, I limp from the CO w/ 6c5c, blinds call. Flop comes 8c3s4s, UTG bets 200. I call, everyone else folds. Turn brings the Jd. UTG bets 300, I call again hoping to either hit my straight or get a spade so I can bluff him off his hand. River brings the 2nd best option. . . the 8s. That has to be a very scary card for him since it completes the flush draw & could possibly give me trips. He bets 600 and I now raise to 1800. He thinks for a long time & reraises me to 3800. I instamuck & curse myself for bluffing into a full house.

When we hit the first break I'm down to 7500.

Level 2: 50/100

Guy in the 6th seat who looks a lot like Bill Gates (but he wasn't, he was from Norway & had an accent) raises to 400. He was being pretty active & raising often. I call w/ 99 and the button calls behind while the blinds fold. Flop comes T high, BGL (Bill Gates Lookalike) makes a continuation bet like he has every hand he's raised with. I reraise & win the pot.

That hand kind of sets up this hand: I again call a 300 raise from BGL w/ 44 in the SB. Just us 2 to the flop of Jd2d4c. I check & BGL bets 500, I checkraise him to 1200. He calls quickly & I'm pretty confident that he thinks I'm bluffing. The turn brings the Qs & I check, hoping he bets, but now I'm slightly worried about QQ & I don't really want to call an allin with bottom set. He bets 1500, I think & call. River brings the 8d and we both check. I show my set of fours & he mucks disgustedly. I'm now up to 12500.

This next hand I think I played kind of poorly. I'm in the BB w/ Kh4h. It folds to the button & he raises to 300. I know he doesn't need much of a hand to open raise from the button, so SB folds & I call. Flop is Qh9c8h. I check & call his bet of 500. A lot of times this situation plays out with the button giving up his steal on the turn & folding to a river bet & that's what I was hoping for if I missed my flush. Turn brings the 3d. I check and the button bets 1200. Now this is where I should have just folded. . . he obviously had a hand & was trying to price out the draw (which he did). I call anyways and the river is the Jd. Now I know the only way I win here is to bet and the button is going to have a real hard time calling a big bet without a T. So I think for a bit & bet 2500. Button thinks for a solid 2 minutes & finally folds AQ face up. That brings me to 14500.

Level 3: 100/200

This level wasn't fun for me.

First hand of the level. . . EP player raises to 600, I call from the button w/ KhQh. Everyone else folds. Flop is K62 w/ 1 spade, no hearts. EP bets 1100, I call & hope he doesn't have AK. Turn is Ks and EP checks. . . I check behind hoping to induce a bluff on the river & also potentially avoiding a trap from AK. River is a low spade, puttin 3 spades out there. EP checks & I now feel like I'm good here and EP prolly has QQ or JJ. I make a relatively small value bet of 1200 and EP calls w/ AK. . . blah. At least I didn't lose as much as I could of there.

After that I had a couple of continuation bets raised on flops that I missed w/ AQ & AJ. I went card dead for a while & just gave away blinds the rest of the level. I went into the dinner break with 6800.

Dinner break was kind of tough. . . they let 2000 people out of the tourney area all at once & everyone has to eat & be back in 1 1/2 hours. Well combine that with the fact that it's like 7:00 and every restaurant had a wait. I finally sit down with 40 minutes left on break & woof down some food before hustling back to the tourney area.

Level 4: 100/200 w/ 25 ante

The only meaningful hand I played this level was when I got KK all in against QQ preflop and doubled up. This was also the first and so far, only time that I've had to put my tournament life on the line. That put me at 13500. After paying some antes & blinds I end the level at 10500.

Level 5: 150/300 w/ 25 ante

The blinds and antes are starting to really become something worth stealing. There's 700 in the pot before a card is dealt. The play at the table has changed now too. We're not seeing a lot of flops, and hardly anyone limps in.

I get Ad5d & it's folded to me. I raise to 800 & the BB, who was a pretty good player, calls. Flop is 9TJ w/ 1 diamond. BB checks & I check behind. Turn is the 4d, giving me a flush draw. BB checks again, as do I. I didn't want to bet here because after checking the flop, the 4 doesn't look like a card that would of helped me & I didn't want to get raised off my flush draw. The River is the lovely Qd, giving me the nuts & also giving the BB a straight to the K. He leads out for 1500 and I try to think of how much he'd be willing to call if he has the K. another 2000 sounds about right & I make it 3500. He thinks for a bit and unhappily calls and I win a nice pot.

A couple of orbits later I have Ad5d. It's folded to me in the CO & I raise to 800. The BB was new to the table & he had a big stack of 30k+. He calls & we see a flop of 8dKs4d. He checks, I check. Turn brings a 7d, again giving me the diamond flush. BB leads out for 1200. I thought about raising here, but thought I'd be better off trying to get him to bet at the river too, so I just call. River is an offsuit 8, which I'm not crazy about since it pairs the board & I no longer have the nuts. . . but BB checks. I'm sure my hand is good here & I bet 2000, which BB calls. I show my flush & he mucks.

I go into the break w/ 19450, while the average is 19600. I'm happy to have come back from the 6800 I had a few hours ago. I am really tired though. It's about 1am PST which my body thinks is 4am since I'm still not completely adjusted to the time change. I get a Mountain Dew & a Red Bull and that does the trick. We now have 1 more level to play for the night.

Level 6: 200/400 w/ 50 ante

I get blinded down a bit without any real chances to steal. Finally I get T4o & when it's folded to me in the CO I decide to try to pick up some chips. I raise to 1200 & the same big stack BB from the last hand calls & says to me "do you have Ace-something of diamonds again?" with a smile. I tell him I wish I had cards that good this time and we see a flop of KcTs8s. He checks & I bet 2100. BB calls. . . darn. Turn is the 6s and we both check. The river brings another K. BB checks & I check, hoping that my pair of tens is good. He flips over A8 and I am forced to show my lowly T4o. The table doesn't seem to take much notice though & I happily rake in a nice pot.

With about 20 minutes left for the night, it's folded to a short stack with 10k who opens for 3k. Now that's a heck of a raise when the BB is 400. I'm in the SB & look down at AKo. Now I think about it for a bit. . . I really think he won't call for his stack here with only 20 minutes left unless he has AA or KK. I don't think he would raise to 3k with AA or KK, so at worst I'll be a coinflip if he calls. I make it 10k, BB folds and shortstack talks himself into a fold after some deliberation. As he mucks he says "I know you have either Aces or Kings". I liked the guy, so I flipped over my top card, without looking to see which one it was. It was the K. He says "I knew it".

A few hands later & the Tournament Director announces that we are done for the night & everyone applauds. We then spend the next 30 minutes bagging our chips & waiting for our new seat assignments. I have 25300 and the average is 25351. We started the day with ~2200 players and are now down to 861. By the time I get back to my room it is almost 4am.



I play again on Wednesday. My new table looks like this:

Rasmus Carstensen $50,850
Neil Chapralis $25,300
Aaron Baltzell $20,700
Crew Mittelsteadt $20,300
Michael Lee $16,575
Monty Dwelr $16,225
Ron Ware $8,700
Daniel Schleisner-Meyer $3,650

So I'm 2nd in chips and there are no pros whose names I recognize. That's good news.