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+.