So on Saturday I went into the Rio to play the $1500NL. I didnt get a great deal of sleep but felt good.
I looked at my table, everyone appeared bad, but one guy distinguished himself as being able to play. I missed about 15 sets and bled to 3500 pretty quick before completing K7dd in the sb and finding a 743dd flop. I CRAI over a bet and a raise, didnt get called but was back up to about 5k.
I then limped along A9ss OTB on 50/100 and saw flop of A42. CO bets, I call. Turn Q, he bets again, i put him in for fuck-all more, he folds.
So I have 7500 or so by the last hand before the break when i decide to tangle with the only other person who could play. I figured him for exactly what he had, just figured he'd fold, but he didn't.
I resume session two with about 5000 and chip up to 6k or so before flatting a raise of 375 with pocket fives. Saw a 4-way flop of 522hh. OR leads 1050 I flat, another guy flats. Turn Qh, OR checks, I bet 1350, other guy folds, OR jams 3100 I snap he has A9hh gg him.
I float between 10k and 13k before winning a hand off a guy who was running super hot. Sadly for him he had obvious live-tard tells. I raise AQss UTG, he flats UTG+2, flop is 772. I lead, he makes the same hand gesture and disappointed shrug and sigh as the last two times he had the stone nuts. I figure him for 22 or 77 pretty immediately when he flats. The turn is the magic card for me, the third seven. The only 7's in his range is 77, and he can't have that obv. So I figure him for 22 or outside chance he is getting stubborn with a 88-99 type hand. I bet again and he flats after a few seconds. I realise I have to fire a third barrel; the river 4 presents no change to the situation, and I fire 2100 out of my remaining 8500. He stands up from the table and tells everyone how "sick" this is. He says that he thinks he has to pay me off. I curse the fact that I have chosen one of those "nice hand, I call" guys. He eventually folds 22 face-up.
I lose two 10k flips just before dinner and go to the break with 12k. Watts and I have a decent meal at the buffet-type joint.
I return to the table and begin to ramp up the aggression. No one plays back at me which is a refreshing change; usually everyone has QQ+ when I raise at WSOP. I chip up to 17k by the final break of the night, and further to around 21k halfway through the 400/800-100 level. I lose a flip to a shortstack, then lose another flip to a shortstack, and have 14k again. I open 99 OTB, and the guy with 22 from before 3bets to 5000. I snap-jam and he eventually folds TT face up, which pleases me.
I sit around 17k until a shortstack jams 4500 UTG and I look down at AK. I move in, and just as quick, the tightest player on the table (and possibly in the world) sitting on m left says "Oh, I'm all in too". I wish the table the best of luck and walk off.
Played online today, played pretty good, ran deep in the FTP $75k but obv the guy raising 60% of hands has the AK when I 3ball AJ.
$1500NL tomorrow; last WSOP event before the Main. I have decided to play day 1C of the main event, which is this Sunday (Monday 5am AEST).
Special shout-out to CE who shipped the Stars Second Chance today for the best part of 50 parsecs. Overdue IMO.
Hope all is well back home.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
Give the bully an extra point...
Yeh so the last couple days have been good. I am in good health again (not quite what I would term "robust health" just yet, but close enough).
Wednesday I played online in the afternoon, failed for the most part except for the UB $130 deepstack, which I was 1/26 in and came 22nd :( and the Stars Wed $250k:
I said to Dean prior to the tournament that the following would happen (as it happens every week in that particular tournament): I would;
*have starting stack after an hour
*double up twice quickly once blinds get to 100/200
*stick around the 12-14k stack level until 300/600 or 400/800
*double up twice quickly and have a big stack approaching the bubble
*lose a giant 70/30 or get coolered for the chip lead around the money bubble (just in or out thereof).
I was proven correct, unsurprisingly, on all fronts.
Thursday I woke up late, Steve and I continued our quest to play as many top-tier courses as possible, and went to play at TPC Las Vegas. Part of our motivation for playing was that Tony had invited the entire poker community to our house for a BBQ/Party that afternoon, and the thought of talking to 30 obnoxious americans while watching them drink our beer would only have served to enrage us I guess.
TPC was the most difficult course we had played to date, which made me all the happier about the way I played. I opened with a poor drive on the short par-4 1st, followed by a poor approach 30yards short of the green. I hit a poor pitch shot to about 45 feet but drained the putt for par. Good times. I bogeyed the long par-3 2nd, but got it back with birdie at #4 after sticking my approach shot to a foot.
I made the turn in 38 (+2), which delighted me and conditions were quite windy, the course is long, and you need only be a couple of yards off the fairway and you're in the desert and dropping another ball. Perhaps the thought of shooting a low score got to me a little as I jumped on the bogey train on the back nine. I figured my chances of a seventy-something had vanished when I drove into the hazard left of the 15th fairway; the 600-yard hole probably encouraged me to overswing at my drive, which I never used to do back in the day. I recovered with a good pitch to the green and made bogey.
Standing on the 18th tee needing par for a 79 I was discouraged at how narrow the fairway was, but resolved to just bomb one down there anyway. Hit my best drive of the day to set up a 6-iron approach to the green. The green was narrower still, at most 30 feet across, with water grabbing anything that goes even a foot to the left. I hit my 6-iron fairly well but it began drawing left at an alarming rate. I cursed all the gods that came to mind, which appeared to work as my ball came to rest around one inch from the water line. I two-putted for par and 79 and walked off with a sense of great accomplishment.
This is more than enough encouragement to get back into golf full-time once I get home; the way I'm driving the ball should ensure I am able to get down into low numbers the instant my short game catches up.
Woke today ready to play the $1k event at Caesar's Palace. At 11am I was informed that such an event did not exist. I joined Berky and Steve in going to the Rio nonetheless, if only to register for the $1500NL tomorrow. I did so, and proceeded to the Palms to catch up with Punty/Puzz. They have a fairly modern apartment and their building is close to the Rio (although nothing in Veags is close enough to walk to). We went from there to the Venetian to grab some lunch and catch up with Grant who was playing the $2k event. We ate at an upscale cafe-type joint upstairs at Palazzo, then Punty went home to sleep while Puzz and I went to the outlet mall.
I bought more Polo stuff. I think I have a problem.
$1500NL tomorrow, online stuff on Sunday if I'm out of that, then another $1500NL on Monday, then prepare for the Main Event.
Hope all is well back home.
Wednesday I played online in the afternoon, failed for the most part except for the UB $130 deepstack, which I was 1/26 in and came 22nd :( and the Stars Wed $250k:
I said to Dean prior to the tournament that the following would happen (as it happens every week in that particular tournament): I would;
*have starting stack after an hour
*double up twice quickly once blinds get to 100/200
*stick around the 12-14k stack level until 300/600 or 400/800
*double up twice quickly and have a big stack approaching the bubble
*lose a giant 70/30 or get coolered for the chip lead around the money bubble (just in or out thereof).
I was proven correct, unsurprisingly, on all fronts.
Thursday I woke up late, Steve and I continued our quest to play as many top-tier courses as possible, and went to play at TPC Las Vegas. Part of our motivation for playing was that Tony had invited the entire poker community to our house for a BBQ/Party that afternoon, and the thought of talking to 30 obnoxious americans while watching them drink our beer would only have served to enrage us I guess.
TPC was the most difficult course we had played to date, which made me all the happier about the way I played. I opened with a poor drive on the short par-4 1st, followed by a poor approach 30yards short of the green. I hit a poor pitch shot to about 45 feet but drained the putt for par. Good times. I bogeyed the long par-3 2nd, but got it back with birdie at #4 after sticking my approach shot to a foot.
I made the turn in 38 (+2), which delighted me and conditions were quite windy, the course is long, and you need only be a couple of yards off the fairway and you're in the desert and dropping another ball. Perhaps the thought of shooting a low score got to me a little as I jumped on the bogey train on the back nine. I figured my chances of a seventy-something had vanished when I drove into the hazard left of the 15th fairway; the 600-yard hole probably encouraged me to overswing at my drive, which I never used to do back in the day. I recovered with a good pitch to the green and made bogey.
Standing on the 18th tee needing par for a 79 I was discouraged at how narrow the fairway was, but resolved to just bomb one down there anyway. Hit my best drive of the day to set up a 6-iron approach to the green. The green was narrower still, at most 30 feet across, with water grabbing anything that goes even a foot to the left. I hit my 6-iron fairly well but it began drawing left at an alarming rate. I cursed all the gods that came to mind, which appeared to work as my ball came to rest around one inch from the water line. I two-putted for par and 79 and walked off with a sense of great accomplishment.
This is more than enough encouragement to get back into golf full-time once I get home; the way I'm driving the ball should ensure I am able to get down into low numbers the instant my short game catches up.
Woke today ready to play the $1k event at Caesar's Palace. At 11am I was informed that such an event did not exist. I joined Berky and Steve in going to the Rio nonetheless, if only to register for the $1500NL tomorrow. I did so, and proceeded to the Palms to catch up with Punty/Puzz. They have a fairly modern apartment and their building is close to the Rio (although nothing in Veags is close enough to walk to). We went from there to the Venetian to grab some lunch and catch up with Grant who was playing the $2k event. We ate at an upscale cafe-type joint upstairs at Palazzo, then Punty went home to sleep while Puzz and I went to the outlet mall.
I bought more Polo stuff. I think I have a problem.
$1500NL tomorrow, online stuff on Sunday if I'm out of that, then another $1500NL on Monday, then prepare for the Main Event.
Hope all is well back home.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
I'm in Vegas and I haven't had a beer in a week.
Pretty depressing. Guess I should have thought about that before I decided to get sick.
Played golf at Reflection Bay yesterday with Steve, Berky, and Kristian. Reflection Bay is an aesthetically beautiful Jack Nicklaus designed course which is situated about 35min from where we are in Vegas (just past Henderson County). It is part of a mega-resort that contains a few courses and thousands of homes/villas worth of planned living. All of the surroundings were beautiful, the course was in excellent condition, and the weather was fantastic. The heat kinda got to us around holes 4-9 as we teed off just before 4pm.
I'll probably post some pictures here once Kristian uploads them.
I started my round solidly enough I guess, +2 thru 4, before being +6 thru 7 after some poor putting. I was incensed that the greens appeared to be very two-paced. It was either that or I putted badly; and I practically never putt badly.
The four of us decided to gamble it up a little this round, in "WOLF" format. I had never playd this format before, and it appeared on face value to be quite retarded to me when the guys explained it. Nonetheless I agreed. As we approached the 8th hole we were at x5 Jackpot (the previous four holes had been squared). The 8th is a picturesque par-3 of 185 yards, which played dead into the wind. I decided I couldn't get a 4-iron there and elected to hit a 3-iron. I made sweet contact, landed on the green and ran over the back. Made par and Steve and I took the 5x bonus.
I made the turn in 44 (+8) after 3-putting the ninth (curse the two-paced greens again). Berky appears to have caught (quite foolishly I believe) a similar sickness to that which I have hopefully defeated, and sat out the back nine. In fairness it was around 45 degrees still at this point. Water comes into play at Reflection bay on 9 holes, more if you try really hard, but I managed to avoid it for the entire round. My game lifted significantly on the back nine, the highlight being birdie at the 15th. Had a few other good birdie chances but capitalised on none. I finished the back nine in 38 (+2) which included a ball out of bounds. All up, 82 (+10) on a fairly difficult layout in the heat, I'm delighted.
My health has restored to a comfortable level, that is to say I do not fear immediate death, but sickness lingers still.
Going to play online today and hopefully catch up with Grant tonight as he is in town. It appears we are having a house party tomorrow afternoon/night, so hopefully my health has restored to full capacity so I can bury some noobs.
Hope all is well back home.
Played golf at Reflection Bay yesterday with Steve, Berky, and Kristian. Reflection Bay is an aesthetically beautiful Jack Nicklaus designed course which is situated about 35min from where we are in Vegas (just past Henderson County). It is part of a mega-resort that contains a few courses and thousands of homes/villas worth of planned living. All of the surroundings were beautiful, the course was in excellent condition, and the weather was fantastic. The heat kinda got to us around holes 4-9 as we teed off just before 4pm.
I'll probably post some pictures here once Kristian uploads them.
I started my round solidly enough I guess, +2 thru 4, before being +6 thru 7 after some poor putting. I was incensed that the greens appeared to be very two-paced. It was either that or I putted badly; and I practically never putt badly.
The four of us decided to gamble it up a little this round, in "WOLF" format. I had never playd this format before, and it appeared on face value to be quite retarded to me when the guys explained it. Nonetheless I agreed. As we approached the 8th hole we were at x5 Jackpot (the previous four holes had been squared). The 8th is a picturesque par-3 of 185 yards, which played dead into the wind. I decided I couldn't get a 4-iron there and elected to hit a 3-iron. I made sweet contact, landed on the green and ran over the back. Made par and Steve and I took the 5x bonus.
I made the turn in 44 (+8) after 3-putting the ninth (curse the two-paced greens again). Berky appears to have caught (quite foolishly I believe) a similar sickness to that which I have hopefully defeated, and sat out the back nine. In fairness it was around 45 degrees still at this point. Water comes into play at Reflection bay on 9 holes, more if you try really hard, but I managed to avoid it for the entire round. My game lifted significantly on the back nine, the highlight being birdie at the 15th. Had a few other good birdie chances but capitalised on none. I finished the back nine in 38 (+2) which included a ball out of bounds. All up, 82 (+10) on a fairly difficult layout in the heat, I'm delighted.
My health has restored to a comfortable level, that is to say I do not fear immediate death, but sickness lingers still.
Going to play online today and hopefully catch up with Grant tonight as he is in town. It appears we are having a house party tomorrow afternoon/night, so hopefully my health has restored to full capacity so I can bury some noobs.
Hope all is well back home.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Catch up...
So I havent posted for a while. Much of my energy has gone towards staving off death in the past four days. I guess my assumption that the worst of it had passed was quite a ways from the mark. There has been little room for blogging. Now that I can breathe/see properly, I suppose I better go over the last few days.
Thursday I played the $2000NL despite being quite sick. I didn't think it would affect my decisions though, and I was pleased that it did not. I got myself involved in a pot early with Theo Tran, an old nit, and "some guy" who was wearing an Ed Hardy shirt and mirrored sunglasses. I called out of the big blind with 4c2c (75 more into pot of 500) and saw a flop of KcTd5c. I checked it over to Theo who bet 375, and Mr. Ed Hardy called. I had already CR'd Theo earlier (with T7cc on 864cc flop) so I figured to just flat. Turn came the 3c and I checked again. Not sure whether checking is good or not, I kinda expected Theo to bet again but he checked and Mr. Ed Hardy insta bet 900. The way he bet it didnt make me think he was strong at all, it was like when you cbet and check the turn, the other guy goes "a-ha, got nothing ey, I'll bet!". I was pretty certain I had the best hand, the only question was to get it in then or not. I decided to flat and let him give me more chips on the river; he seemed like an ego-type guy would wouldnt give up on a bluff. I didnt think he would call a third bet with anything I beat except a turned set. I ran the risk of my flush being counterfeited, but thought the risk was worth it. Effective stacks on the river were about 4400 and the pot was around 3k-3.2k I guess. The river bricked; I expected to get another 1500 or so out of him, so I was quite surprised when he moved in after I checked to him. It caught me a little off guard, and I considered for a while whether I had misplayed my hand. I began to be a live pro and look for tells. He was sitting back in his seat with his arms folded and appeared to be staring me down from behind his mirrored glasses. He was breathing rather heavily, which in noobs can mean "omg i have a flush please call!" or "omg im bluffing pls dont call!". I engaged him by telling him he seemed uncomfortable. He did not react. I asked him if he was certain about his bet, he nodded slowly, and continued to stare me down.
I called, he said "nice call, I have queen-high", I informed him that it was no good and raked in the pot.
Then Andrew "adgee" Jeffreys sat down at my table, flipped like god to everyone's surprise, and I was out 5 hours in.
Friday I was still quite sick but starting to feel a little better, but still stayed in bed for the majority of the day, until Jay suggested we go to Il Mulino at Caesar's. Feeling like I should probly eat something I went along. If any of you have the chance to visit this restaurant I suggest that you do. The service was magnificent, the food was delicious, and everything about the restaurant's ambience and decor was fitting of an upscale Italian restaurant.
The others went out to drink up a storm while I went home to sleep off my first decent meal in a while. I slept for about two hours before waking up very ill. About ten hours later I got into a cab to go to the doctor. The GP system here is fairly similar to home, but appears to run a little better. My key concern was that my travel insurance would cover the consultation. Upon handing my insurance card to the congenial young lady behind the desk I was relieved to see she appeared to be familiar with it and begun processing something or other into her computer. I sat back down and began to tune out the informercials blaring out 192dB when she called me back over to the desk. I ambled over in time to hear her tell me that whilst technically my insurance does cover the consultation, it doesn't cover it upfront; ie. I have to claim it back when I get home. Sigh. I am already envisioning the shitfight in getting the money back at home, my chances are slim to nil.
I also regret not becoming a doctor, in Las Vegas; $175 per consult is pretty sweet.
Anyway, my surprisingly hot doctor told me I have Bronchitis, gave me antibiotics and told me to drink a heap of water.
The rest of saturday was spent trying to not die.
Sunday I played an abbreviated schedule online, and failed. It is kinda getting to me how bad I'm running on this trip, I'm down a shitload of coin and I have played fairly well. I was prepared for the high-variance nature of a trip like this, but it still sucks to be constantly on the arse end of every coinflip.
Last night I finally got a good sleep, 11hrs straight in fact, and awoke to see that the golf tee time I booked had long gone. Dean and I decided to go shopping (again) and cabbed it to a different outlet mall. We ate at an IHOP, as we had planned to do for some time, and proceeded to the mall. My disgust levels rose from 0 to well in excess of infinity when I saw that they did not have a Polo Ralph Lauren store. I decided since it was the first time in a week I didn't feel sick from standing up that I wouldn't let this ruin my day. We hit Hilfiger and I picked up a few more things, Dean out-bought me easily and is close to catching up for the trip. We're thinking about ways to send stuff home as there is seriously no chance of getting it all back in our suitcases.
We arrived home and Dean decided to fleece me in a game of UNO (only $0.50 a point as I am rusty, thankfully); then Aleks and Steve brought us home food - from FatBurger. O, M, G. pretty sure I can't ever eat from there again but I'm glad I did it once. I had the 2XL+bacon and regret nothing.
Going to play golf tomorrow and Thursday. Going to play online on Wednesday and probably play some live satellites on Friday while the others play the Venetian $2100. Hopefully Friday/Saturday night we'll hit the Hofbrauhaus.
Next WSOP event is Saturday, $1500NL, followed by the $3000NL on Sunday.
Hope all is well back home.
Thursday I played the $2000NL despite being quite sick. I didn't think it would affect my decisions though, and I was pleased that it did not. I got myself involved in a pot early with Theo Tran, an old nit, and "some guy" who was wearing an Ed Hardy shirt and mirrored sunglasses. I called out of the big blind with 4c2c (75 more into pot of 500) and saw a flop of KcTd5c. I checked it over to Theo who bet 375, and Mr. Ed Hardy called. I had already CR'd Theo earlier (with T7cc on 864cc flop) so I figured to just flat. Turn came the 3c and I checked again. Not sure whether checking is good or not, I kinda expected Theo to bet again but he checked and Mr. Ed Hardy insta bet 900. The way he bet it didnt make me think he was strong at all, it was like when you cbet and check the turn, the other guy goes "a-ha, got nothing ey, I'll bet!". I was pretty certain I had the best hand, the only question was to get it in then or not. I decided to flat and let him give me more chips on the river; he seemed like an ego-type guy would wouldnt give up on a bluff. I didnt think he would call a third bet with anything I beat except a turned set. I ran the risk of my flush being counterfeited, but thought the risk was worth it. Effective stacks on the river were about 4400 and the pot was around 3k-3.2k I guess. The river bricked; I expected to get another 1500 or so out of him, so I was quite surprised when he moved in after I checked to him. It caught me a little off guard, and I considered for a while whether I had misplayed my hand. I began to be a live pro and look for tells. He was sitting back in his seat with his arms folded and appeared to be staring me down from behind his mirrored glasses. He was breathing rather heavily, which in noobs can mean "omg i have a flush please call!" or "omg im bluffing pls dont call!". I engaged him by telling him he seemed uncomfortable. He did not react. I asked him if he was certain about his bet, he nodded slowly, and continued to stare me down.
I called, he said "nice call, I have queen-high", I informed him that it was no good and raked in the pot.
Then Andrew "adgee" Jeffreys sat down at my table, flipped like god to everyone's surprise, and I was out 5 hours in.
Friday I was still quite sick but starting to feel a little better, but still stayed in bed for the majority of the day, until Jay suggested we go to Il Mulino at Caesar's. Feeling like I should probly eat something I went along. If any of you have the chance to visit this restaurant I suggest that you do. The service was magnificent, the food was delicious, and everything about the restaurant's ambience and decor was fitting of an upscale Italian restaurant.
The others went out to drink up a storm while I went home to sleep off my first decent meal in a while. I slept for about two hours before waking up very ill. About ten hours later I got into a cab to go to the doctor. The GP system here is fairly similar to home, but appears to run a little better. My key concern was that my travel insurance would cover the consultation. Upon handing my insurance card to the congenial young lady behind the desk I was relieved to see she appeared to be familiar with it and begun processing something or other into her computer. I sat back down and began to tune out the informercials blaring out 192dB when she called me back over to the desk. I ambled over in time to hear her tell me that whilst technically my insurance does cover the consultation, it doesn't cover it upfront; ie. I have to claim it back when I get home. Sigh. I am already envisioning the shitfight in getting the money back at home, my chances are slim to nil.
I also regret not becoming a doctor, in Las Vegas; $175 per consult is pretty sweet.
Anyway, my surprisingly hot doctor told me I have Bronchitis, gave me antibiotics and told me to drink a heap of water.
The rest of saturday was spent trying to not die.
Sunday I played an abbreviated schedule online, and failed. It is kinda getting to me how bad I'm running on this trip, I'm down a shitload of coin and I have played fairly well. I was prepared for the high-variance nature of a trip like this, but it still sucks to be constantly on the arse end of every coinflip.
Last night I finally got a good sleep, 11hrs straight in fact, and awoke to see that the golf tee time I booked had long gone. Dean and I decided to go shopping (again) and cabbed it to a different outlet mall. We ate at an IHOP, as we had planned to do for some time, and proceeded to the mall. My disgust levels rose from 0 to well in excess of infinity when I saw that they did not have a Polo Ralph Lauren store. I decided since it was the first time in a week I didn't feel sick from standing up that I wouldn't let this ruin my day. We hit Hilfiger and I picked up a few more things, Dean out-bought me easily and is close to catching up for the trip. We're thinking about ways to send stuff home as there is seriously no chance of getting it all back in our suitcases.
We arrived home and Dean decided to fleece me in a game of UNO (only $0.50 a point as I am rusty, thankfully); then Aleks and Steve brought us home food - from FatBurger. O, M, G. pretty sure I can't ever eat from there again but I'm glad I did it once. I had the 2XL+bacon and regret nothing.
Going to play golf tomorrow and Thursday. Going to play online on Wednesday and probably play some live satellites on Friday while the others play the Venetian $2100. Hopefully Friday/Saturday night we'll hit the Hofbrauhaus.
Next WSOP event is Saturday, $1500NL, followed by the $3000NL on Sunday.
Hope all is well back home.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Still sick :(
It's not all doom and gloom, the worst of the flu has passed, thanks chiefly to my rock-solid immune system. I expect to be well again in the next 18-30 hours; just in time to see everyone else in the house develop the flu.
I have tried my hardest to not pass on the flu to them all, ie. I have pretty much not left my room since I got sick, but these things have a way of happening.
The house is back down to the regulation number of participants, 8, with any luck this remains the case for a while. That said, Grant still might turn up for the $10,000 PLO on Saturday which would be pretty ballin'.
The guys went shopping again after seeing how successful my adventures were, but didn't buy as much as I thought they might, perhaps saving their money for another visit to Sapphire's, it's hard to say.
In my solitude I have reflected on my WSOP so far and come to the damning realisation that I have only played my A-Game in 4/8 events so far; It's not that I have played poorly in the others by any means; just that there were things I could have done better. The main thing that has let me down so far is calling my way into pots in the first two levels or so with speculative holdings when I really didn't need to be doing so. Whilst this itself against bad players isn't too bad at all, I havent been taking enough of the orphaned pots down when my holdings (invariably) miss the board. I think my attitude at times has been that the players here are so bad (and they are) that I can break a few rules and get away with it. When the opposite really is the case; the reason I'm better than the majority of people here is that I am able to not break the rules. Not sure if that will make sense to anyone reading, but I get it.
As such, I am looking to repeat the manner in which I played the last $2000NL with the upcoming $2000NL which starts tomorrow.
Hopefully by the time that comes around (11hrs time) my flu symptoms will have receded to the point by which they will not impair my concentration.
Looking forward to playing more golf too, little disappointed to have not played more so far, and I know Steve has been itching to hit the course more. Definitely get a round in on Friday in the unlikely event that we don't make day two of the $2000NL. Might play Reflection Bay; looks nice.
In other news: nothing.
Hope all is well at home.
I have tried my hardest to not pass on the flu to them all, ie. I have pretty much not left my room since I got sick, but these things have a way of happening.
The house is back down to the regulation number of participants, 8, with any luck this remains the case for a while. That said, Grant still might turn up for the $10,000 PLO on Saturday which would be pretty ballin'.
The guys went shopping again after seeing how successful my adventures were, but didn't buy as much as I thought they might, perhaps saving their money for another visit to Sapphire's, it's hard to say.
In my solitude I have reflected on my WSOP so far and come to the damning realisation that I have only played my A-Game in 4/8 events so far; It's not that I have played poorly in the others by any means; just that there were things I could have done better. The main thing that has let me down so far is calling my way into pots in the first two levels or so with speculative holdings when I really didn't need to be doing so. Whilst this itself against bad players isn't too bad at all, I havent been taking enough of the orphaned pots down when my holdings (invariably) miss the board. I think my attitude at times has been that the players here are so bad (and they are) that I can break a few rules and get away with it. When the opposite really is the case; the reason I'm better than the majority of people here is that I am able to not break the rules. Not sure if that will make sense to anyone reading, but I get it.
As such, I am looking to repeat the manner in which I played the last $2000NL with the upcoming $2000NL which starts tomorrow.
Hopefully by the time that comes around (11hrs time) my flu symptoms will have receded to the point by which they will not impair my concentration.
Looking forward to playing more golf too, little disappointed to have not played more so far, and I know Steve has been itching to hit the course more. Definitely get a round in on Friday in the unlikely event that we don't make day two of the $2000NL. Might play Reflection Bay; looks nice.
In other news: nothing.
Hope all is well at home.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Day 2 - Have Swine Flu etc
So I go back into the Rio and take my seat for day two. Steal some blinds, then get it in with AQo against QJo and lose.
And I have swine flu.
And I have swine flu.
$2000NL Monday
So after failing another Sunday I go to the Rio this morning to play the $2000NL event. I was looking forward to playing as I need to break my cashless streak and actually shave (note, no shaving til I cash something; I haven't shaved in like 16 days and it's fucking annoying me).
My first table appeared pretty competent apart from an asian dude raising pretty much every hand. I fold for three orbits or so before flatting the SB with JTcc after Asia opened in EP and the button flatted. The flop hit AJ9r (one club), and was checked around. Turn was my gin card pretty much, the Qc. I check it over to Aisa who bets 600 or something. Button folds, I call. River is an offsuit T, for final baord of AJ9QT. I check it over to him and he bet 1500. I couldnt find many K's in his range really, and I didnt really think he would be value betting a better two pair etc, so I called and he mucked quietly.
Later I do the old live-tard c/c, c/r trick on a guy I identified as being a thinking player and he folded, so I go to the first break with 10,000.
Mike Matusow gets moved to my table and it is good times until we break and I move over to a table with Svetlana Gromenkova, ocrowe, and BParis.
Not a whole lot happens, I chip up steadily until the following hand:
Jan von Halle opens from the HJ seat, I 3bet AKo from the button, BParis cold 4bet shoves from the BB. I call and he sheepishly turns over T6cc. The flop is the incredibly uninteresting 9c 8c 7c - and he makes the straight flush to take it down. I am left with 4500 chips and shove/re-shove my way back to around 8400, when the following hand takes place:
5 limpers to me on the button, I limp KThh for 300 with 8500 stack. SB completes, BB checks. Flop TT9. Action is checked to me, I bet out something small like 800, BParis raises from the BB to like 4000. I shove he calls and says apologetically, sory dude I have a weak Ten. I respond with "I have a strong Ten" and we see a turn card: the repeat 9. Chop it up.
Could easily have had a bazillion chips but I run bad.
From there I double by busting Svetlana Gromenkova, AJ>33 on KQxxT board.
I re-shove a whole bunch then guys start shipping over my opens. I bust a shortstack AT>QJ and finish the day with 23,600.
Blinds re-commence at 600/1200-200 tomorrow so with any luck I can run a little better than I did today.
Played my A-Game today; pretty happy.
Hope all is well back home.
My first table appeared pretty competent apart from an asian dude raising pretty much every hand. I fold for three orbits or so before flatting the SB with JTcc after Asia opened in EP and the button flatted. The flop hit AJ9r (one club), and was checked around. Turn was my gin card pretty much, the Qc. I check it over to Aisa who bets 600 or something. Button folds, I call. River is an offsuit T, for final baord of AJ9QT. I check it over to him and he bet 1500. I couldnt find many K's in his range really, and I didnt really think he would be value betting a better two pair etc, so I called and he mucked quietly.
Later I do the old live-tard c/c, c/r trick on a guy I identified as being a thinking player and he folded, so I go to the first break with 10,000.
Mike Matusow gets moved to my table and it is good times until we break and I move over to a table with Svetlana Gromenkova, ocrowe, and BParis.
Not a whole lot happens, I chip up steadily until the following hand:
Jan von Halle opens from the HJ seat, I 3bet AKo from the button, BParis cold 4bet shoves from the BB. I call and he sheepishly turns over T6cc. The flop is the incredibly uninteresting 9c 8c 7c - and he makes the straight flush to take it down. I am left with 4500 chips and shove/re-shove my way back to around 8400, when the following hand takes place:
5 limpers to me on the button, I limp KThh for 300 with 8500 stack. SB completes, BB checks. Flop TT9. Action is checked to me, I bet out something small like 800, BParis raises from the BB to like 4000. I shove he calls and says apologetically, sory dude I have a weak Ten. I respond with "I have a strong Ten" and we see a turn card: the repeat 9. Chop it up.
Could easily have had a bazillion chips but I run bad.
From there I double by busting Svetlana Gromenkova, AJ>33 on KQxxT board.
I re-shove a whole bunch then guys start shipping over my opens. I bust a shortstack AT>QJ and finish the day with 23,600.
Blinds re-commence at 600/1200-200 tomorrow so with any luck I can run a little better than I did today.
Played my A-Game today; pretty happy.
Hope all is well back home.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Another Lazy Dog-Danglin' afternoon...
Yeh did nothing today...
Oh wait, I played a World Series event and busted real early.
Basically nothing happened for the first 45min then i raise 54hh from the CO, button flats, BB flats. Flop 6h4d3h. BB leads bit over pot, I raise, he jams, I call, he has a skilfully-played KK, I brick out like it ain't no thang.
Our house is a little crowded at the moment, I think we have somewhere between 22 and 24 people staying with us at present; that number looks like increasing exponentially. Guess I'll go find a hotel after majors tomorrow.
Hope I bink something online tomorrow, makeup is spiralling (which I anticipated) so it would be nice to put together a solid session.
$2000NL on Monday is my next live event.
Corker of a blog entry huh?
Oh wait, I played a World Series event and busted real early.
Basically nothing happened for the first 45min then i raise 54hh from the CO, button flats, BB flats. Flop 6h4d3h. BB leads bit over pot, I raise, he jams, I call, he has a skilfully-played KK, I brick out like it ain't no thang.
Our house is a little crowded at the moment, I think we have somewhere between 22 and 24 people staying with us at present; that number looks like increasing exponentially. Guess I'll go find a hotel after majors tomorrow.
Hope I bink something online tomorrow, makeup is spiralling (which I anticipated) so it would be nice to put together a solid session.
$2000NL on Monday is my next live event.
Corker of a blog entry huh?
Friday: Shoppin' + Chillin.........
Yeh,
So Dean and I decided to do some shopping today, Dean was obviously encouraged by my earlier visit to Polo Ralph Lauren etc and had made up his mind to buy a fair bit of gear. I have never been one to turn down quality garments and participated heartily in the buying frenzy. The old black guy behind the counter (straight out of The Jerk) must have been cursing the fact that he did not work on commission (I guess, amongst other things) as we quickly racked up nearly a g-ball worth of gear.
Not yet satisfied, Dean insisted that we move the party on to the Tommy Hilfiger store, where I realised that I am actually only an XL (kudos to Tommy for revealing this information to me; shame on all other clothes retailer's for withholding it from me), and I decided to celebrate this by buying some more stuff.
We had planned on going to some other stores (Adidas, Nike etc) but were already carrying too much shit so we'll have to go back again, which could be my financial undoing. I'll prob post photos of all the stuff I've bought if I don't in the meantime decide that doing so is too homo-riffic.
Later on in the afternoon we went to chill at Roy/12er's joint about two miles from ours; and I met Kara, Sikwitit, and Xaston for the first time. We played some rotation of NLHE, PLO, O8, NL 2-7SD, 2-7TD - and I proceed to lose like 2 buyins in NLHE while picking up 1.5 buyins in the other games.
We then ordered food from the first place I've been able to find that actually delivers decent stuff in Vegas; so we'll be putting their kids thru college in the next 5 weeks.
Roy then insisted we play Big 2, and whilst I was hazy on the rules I'm pretty sure I won some. Good time had by all, was good to meet a few of these guys and catch up with Nick/Roy again.
Tomorrow brings another $1500NL tournament which I'm looking forward to crushing some noobs in.
Hope all is well back home.
So Dean and I decided to do some shopping today, Dean was obviously encouraged by my earlier visit to Polo Ralph Lauren etc and had made up his mind to buy a fair bit of gear. I have never been one to turn down quality garments and participated heartily in the buying frenzy. The old black guy behind the counter (straight out of The Jerk) must have been cursing the fact that he did not work on commission (I guess, amongst other things) as we quickly racked up nearly a g-ball worth of gear.
Not yet satisfied, Dean insisted that we move the party on to the Tommy Hilfiger store, where I realised that I am actually only an XL (kudos to Tommy for revealing this information to me; shame on all other clothes retailer's for withholding it from me), and I decided to celebrate this by buying some more stuff.
We had planned on going to some other stores (Adidas, Nike etc) but were already carrying too much shit so we'll have to go back again, which could be my financial undoing. I'll prob post photos of all the stuff I've bought if I don't in the meantime decide that doing so is too homo-riffic.
Later on in the afternoon we went to chill at Roy/12er's joint about two miles from ours; and I met Kara, Sikwitit, and Xaston for the first time. We played some rotation of NLHE, PLO, O8, NL 2-7SD, 2-7TD - and I proceed to lose like 2 buyins in NLHE while picking up 1.5 buyins in the other games.
We then ordered food from the first place I've been able to find that actually delivers decent stuff in Vegas; so we'll be putting their kids thru college in the next 5 weeks.
Roy then insisted we play Big 2, and whilst I was hazy on the rules I'm pretty sure I won some. Good time had by all, was good to meet a few of these guys and catch up with Nick/Roy again.
Tomorrow brings another $1500NL tournament which I'm looking forward to crushing some noobs in.
Hope all is well back home.
Thursday Night Shenanigans
We arrived to the $1500NL in time for me to actually be present for the first hand, which was a nice change I guess.
I went like 0/101283718726347 hitting sets in the first 75min or so and bled down to around 3500 before I defended with J9hh against a noob and flopped 876r, planned a CR but he checked it back. Turn is 4h giving me the FD, i lead he flats. River repeats the 6, I pretty much have to bet again here I think, and he calls quickly; I muck, and he turns over his cards revealing 33. He was actually more surprised to see a pair of threes there as I was as he claimed to have thought he had 55.
I then get in a hand with AK vs KQ and 99, and the flop comes AJT and the 13k gets shipped the way of some genius. I get my last 2k in with A3dd against 99 and brick out.
Disheartened, I found Kristian and Berky and we resolved to walk up and down the strip for the afternoon, seeing what we might find.
We hit up Burger King and I left before I could finish my gallon of Dr. Pepper; and after walking around in disgust at Caesar's (as we could not find anywhere to sit and drink) we finally found a bar and had a few beers and I quickly mastered Jacks or Better Video Poker. From there they made me walk to Bellagio, which did not please me at all.
Bellagio did have a really cool sports bar at which we drank for a while watching the Lakers game, before the smart-mouthed bartender gave me the shits and we left.
We watched the Bellagio fountain display which actually did impress me quite a bit. Surprising also was the size of the lake in front of the Bellagio; not sure my pictures are any good but again, apertures etc are robbing me of my chance to deliver a memorable photographic experience:
Across the strip to Planet Hollywood, where we chilled at a sports bar again and moved onto vodka redbulls. We were joined by Aleks' mate Justin and decided soon after that there was little option but to head to a strip club.
We decided on going to the largest gentleman's club on the planet, Sapphire's. This place was, funnily enough, enormous. We pretty much got hustled by the experienced young ladies working there, and after having to go to the ATM and seeing that the fee for a withdrawal was $30.00USD, I decided to call it an evening. Kristian had, unbeknownst to me, spent a small fortune and was ready to leave. Berky was not quite as ready to leave so we pretty much had to leave him. He called me later to ask for even more money, but alas we had already left.
I guess we got it out of our systems early on.
Berky was fairly ridiculously smashed and he and Kristian woke up worse for wear. I regret having so much cash on me when we arrived. Amateurish.
I went like 0/101283718726347 hitting sets in the first 75min or so and bled down to around 3500 before I defended with J9hh against a noob and flopped 876r, planned a CR but he checked it back. Turn is 4h giving me the FD, i lead he flats. River repeats the 6, I pretty much have to bet again here I think, and he calls quickly; I muck, and he turns over his cards revealing 33. He was actually more surprised to see a pair of threes there as I was as he claimed to have thought he had 55.
I then get in a hand with AK vs KQ and 99, and the flop comes AJT and the 13k gets shipped the way of some genius. I get my last 2k in with A3dd against 99 and brick out.
Disheartened, I found Kristian and Berky and we resolved to walk up and down the strip for the afternoon, seeing what we might find.
We hit up Burger King and I left before I could finish my gallon of Dr. Pepper; and after walking around in disgust at Caesar's (as we could not find anywhere to sit and drink) we finally found a bar and had a few beers and I quickly mastered Jacks or Better Video Poker. From there they made me walk to Bellagio, which did not please me at all.
Bellagio did have a really cool sports bar at which we drank for a while watching the Lakers game, before the smart-mouthed bartender gave me the shits and we left.
We watched the Bellagio fountain display which actually did impress me quite a bit. Surprising also was the size of the lake in front of the Bellagio; not sure my pictures are any good but again, apertures etc are robbing me of my chance to deliver a memorable photographic experience:
Across the strip to Planet Hollywood, where we chilled at a sports bar again and moved onto vodka redbulls. We were joined by Aleks' mate Justin and decided soon after that there was little option but to head to a strip club.
We decided on going to the largest gentleman's club on the planet, Sapphire's. This place was, funnily enough, enormous. We pretty much got hustled by the experienced young ladies working there, and after having to go to the ATM and seeing that the fee for a withdrawal was $30.00USD, I decided to call it an evening. Kristian had, unbeknownst to me, spent a small fortune and was ready to leave. Berky was not quite as ready to leave so we pretty much had to leave him. He called me later to ask for even more money, but alas we had already left.
I guess we got it out of our systems early on.
Berky was fairly ridiculously smashed and he and Kristian woke up worse for wear. I regret having so much cash on me when we arrived. Amateurish.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
$1500NL Triple Shootout
So I arrive early to the Rio and sit at my $1500 3x S/O table and see an online guy already there, then Alex Kostritsyn sits down on my right, then Eric Froelich sits on my left, and I'm thinking "why did i have to get people who can actually play on either side of me". I recognise another couple of faces and we begin.
I quickly bluff off 1k of my 4500 starting stack repping an A on an AAx flop to a guy who had Ax, which did not go terribly well. I berated myself for my foolishness and played solidly for the next hour. About 15min into the 50/100 level UTG raises, I flat KK from MP1 and we go to the flop. QcTs7c comes down, UTG leads, I can't really play this slowly at all, and he folds to my raise, bringing me back to starting stack.
Same guy from the above hand is 3betting a lot, and busts people in back-to-back hands before I raise his BB with TT. Folds to him, he 3bets, I ship them all in and he snap calls with AKo. Flop Kxx, stop the fight.
Pretty lame.
I then go to rail Jay who was down to the last 11 players in the $2500 6max and he has already busted in 9th. Lame.
I go home and find that Berky and Dean have arrived, and Jay returns shortly after.
We contemplate a few options for the afternoon before resolving to go to the Venetian for late lunch.
Along the way, rather than taking a direct route, we decide to drive through the slums of Vegas to get back in touch with the people. Quickly we realise this was a mistake as virtually everyone looks threatening; alas, we are, for some time, unable to find our way out of the slums (ironically like its residents) and about half an hour later we escape to a main road that leads to the Venetian.
The restaurant Jay picked was pretty nice, the female maitre'd was nicer, and the chick behind the bar was nicer still. I indulged in a German beer I had not previously tried called "Reutburger", and was impressed. Not so impressive however was me losing credit card roulette. Not sure when the game became "second last one drawn out pays", but I guess I had to cop this one.
The Venetian is a little nicer than the one in Macau, but nowhere near as big. Not sure the atria in Macau were as enchanting as here though:
From here we went to the Rio to register for tomorrow's $1500NL event, then to an electronics store where the guys bought an xBox and Berky bought a monitor. I bought myself a PC game to wile away the hours they're playing xBox so I'm pretty set.
Grocery shopping here is a little retarded. You either have to go to Wal-Mart, where you can get like everything except decent food; or you go to "Whole-Foods", where you can get a suprisingly excellent range of quality food, but they don't sell Coke. America, pull your socks up, make an EVEN BIGGER store so people don't have to go to two places in the same week.
Kristian arrives tomorrow and I'm looking forward to maybe, maybe, ONE TIME, winning a flip or two in the $1500NL event.
I quickly bluff off 1k of my 4500 starting stack repping an A on an AAx flop to a guy who had Ax, which did not go terribly well. I berated myself for my foolishness and played solidly for the next hour. About 15min into the 50/100 level UTG raises, I flat KK from MP1 and we go to the flop. QcTs7c comes down, UTG leads, I can't really play this slowly at all, and he folds to my raise, bringing me back to starting stack.
Same guy from the above hand is 3betting a lot, and busts people in back-to-back hands before I raise his BB with TT. Folds to him, he 3bets, I ship them all in and he snap calls with AKo. Flop Kxx, stop the fight.
Pretty lame.
I then go to rail Jay who was down to the last 11 players in the $2500 6max and he has already busted in 9th. Lame.
I go home and find that Berky and Dean have arrived, and Jay returns shortly after.
We contemplate a few options for the afternoon before resolving to go to the Venetian for late lunch.
Along the way, rather than taking a direct route, we decide to drive through the slums of Vegas to get back in touch with the people. Quickly we realise this was a mistake as virtually everyone looks threatening; alas, we are, for some time, unable to find our way out of the slums (ironically like its residents) and about half an hour later we escape to a main road that leads to the Venetian.
The restaurant Jay picked was pretty nice, the female maitre'd was nicer, and the chick behind the bar was nicer still. I indulged in a German beer I had not previously tried called "Reutburger", and was impressed. Not so impressive however was me losing credit card roulette. Not sure when the game became "second last one drawn out pays", but I guess I had to cop this one.
The Venetian is a little nicer than the one in Macau, but nowhere near as big. Not sure the atria in Macau were as enchanting as here though:
From here we went to the Rio to register for tomorrow's $1500NL event, then to an electronics store where the guys bought an xBox and Berky bought a monitor. I bought myself a PC game to wile away the hours they're playing xBox so I'm pretty set.
Grocery shopping here is a little retarded. You either have to go to Wal-Mart, where you can get like everything except decent food; or you go to "Whole-Foods", where you can get a suprisingly excellent range of quality food, but they don't sell Coke. America, pull your socks up, make an EVEN BIGGER store so people don't have to go to two places in the same week.
Kristian arrives tomorrow and I'm looking forward to maybe, maybe, ONE TIME, winning a flip or two in the $1500NL event.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Tuesday = Golf
So I stayed up til like 6am listening to Matt Clark, King, and Emma doing prank calls to 2SM last night and was not entirely ready for the 1045am wakeup call from Watts; but he meant well. We had decided to get a round of golf in before he plays the $3000 HORSE at 5pm.
Watts ended up having to go and drop Tony at the Rio and pick up his dry cleaning, and after the jokes about his subservitude had ceased, we booked a tee time at Royal Links for 120pm.
Royal Links is a Nicklaus designed course which puts together his favourite 18 holes from the entire rotation of British Open golf courses. The clubhouse seemed to fit the theme:
All of the surroundings were re-created faithfully, and I was surprised at how many features I recalled from years of Open telecasts. I regret not having taken a photo of the stone bridge that crosses the creek (famous shot of Greg Norman etc) but meh; I'll get them to send me a postcard if I decide that I really require the memento.
The day started very poorly on the practice range, I dont recall hitting a single clean shot, so I can only suggest that the spirit of Open champions in the past were with me on the first tee, as I crushed my drive right down the centre. I made par and took a good outlook to the rest of the front nine, which I traversed in +3.
The back nine starts with the famed "Road Hole" from St. Andrews. Below is a very poor photograph of it, which I am certain will give virtually no perspective as to the re-creation of the hole. I personally blame the weather and the quality of my camera for this, as I am certain that I rival Ansell Adams in terms of raw photographical flair.
I was delighted to have made par there and on the 11th, however my round became unstuck at the 12th with a poor second shot from 210yds leading to a double. This was compounded with more bogeys in the following holes and missing a 4-footer on 17 scrapped any chance I had of breaking 80. I was a little miffed that after hitting Driver, 3-iron to the Par-5 18th green my ball rolled over the back and I took 5 for a final score of 81 (+9).
All in all delighted with the day, shot a good score in difficult conditions and got to play a superb course.
We dropped Watts off at the rio so he could crush some fools in the $3000 HORSE and I registered for tomorrow's $1500NL Triple Shootout. We then passed Jay's table in the $2500NL 6max and saw that he was well-placed with 50 or so left in the tournament. Hopefully he continues on this run and actually cashes in something for the house as we're all failing at the moment.
Hope all is well back home.
Watts ended up having to go and drop Tony at the Rio and pick up his dry cleaning, and after the jokes about his subservitude had ceased, we booked a tee time at Royal Links for 120pm.
Royal Links is a Nicklaus designed course which puts together his favourite 18 holes from the entire rotation of British Open golf courses. The clubhouse seemed to fit the theme:
All of the surroundings were re-created faithfully, and I was surprised at how many features I recalled from years of Open telecasts. I regret not having taken a photo of the stone bridge that crosses the creek (famous shot of Greg Norman etc) but meh; I'll get them to send me a postcard if I decide that I really require the memento.
The day started very poorly on the practice range, I dont recall hitting a single clean shot, so I can only suggest that the spirit of Open champions in the past were with me on the first tee, as I crushed my drive right down the centre. I made par and took a good outlook to the rest of the front nine, which I traversed in +3.
The back nine starts with the famed "Road Hole" from St. Andrews. Below is a very poor photograph of it, which I am certain will give virtually no perspective as to the re-creation of the hole. I personally blame the weather and the quality of my camera for this, as I am certain that I rival Ansell Adams in terms of raw photographical flair.
I was delighted to have made par there and on the 11th, however my round became unstuck at the 12th with a poor second shot from 210yds leading to a double. This was compounded with more bogeys in the following holes and missing a 4-footer on 17 scrapped any chance I had of breaking 80. I was a little miffed that after hitting Driver, 3-iron to the Par-5 18th green my ball rolled over the back and I took 5 for a final score of 81 (+9).
All in all delighted with the day, shot a good score in difficult conditions and got to play a superb course.
We dropped Watts off at the rio so he could crush some fools in the $3000 HORSE and I registered for tomorrow's $1500NL Triple Shootout. We then passed Jay's table in the $2500NL 6max and saw that he was well-placed with 50 or so left in the tournament. Hopefully he continues on this run and actually cashes in something for the house as we're all failing at the moment.
Hope all is well back home.
Day off Monday
So while the ballers were all playing the $2500NL 6-max I decided to have some time to myself. I got out of bed at 1155am and took my laptop out to the table to have it turn itself on etc while I made breakfast.
I quickly remembered that I can't actually cook anything and realised that we had no food that was in a ready-to-eat state, so I grabbed a powerade to rehydrate myself from the walk out to the kitchen, and sat down at my computer to watch the final stages of it booting up.
At 1210pm, Jay walks downstairs and enquires as to the location of the rest of the guys in the house. I look at the clock to make sure I hadnt woken up early and inform him that it was indeed 10min after the scheduled start of his tournament, and that I imagined the others had left some time ago. To his credit, he did not seem to be all that perturbed by this, and proceeded to call a cab and off he went.
So I'm contemplating an afternoon session of playing online and neglecting the chores I had set for myself (wash clothes, have shower) when I decide I wasn't particularly in the mood to grind online stuff so I went and put the washing in, then found myself bored when I came back, so I fired up some tournaments.
Played the $55 Turbo H/U on FTP for the first time, got a bye Rd1, crushed some guy Rd2, then ran into a guy who ran hotter than the sun in Rd3 and busted.
The FTP turbo $216 was 6max today, which I dont usually play, but decided to break one little rule during my stay in Vegas and fired it up. Instantly jusmped out to a nice stack and carried that through to being chip leader with 30 left where I made what was probly a pretty bad reship with A7s vs a cutoff raiser; then lost the rest on the bubble QQ
Then the FTP $59KO SuperTurbo - my favourite all time tournament. I doubled early and doubled again shortly after. I doubled several more times and found myself the chip leader. I ran hotter in this tournament than I have in my life, winning every race, every 70/30, every 30/70, and having imbeciles shove 25bb UTG into my AA. I had more than double the second stack for quite a while. I then play a hand where I raise up AA, a guy shoves like 22bb next to me, I call, he has the AQ. Flop KJT, turn Q, river X, chop it up. From there on, it was all downhill. I lost a pot for like 1/3 of the chips in play 15-handed with JJ against TT and AT, the AT getting there and leaving me with about 20bb. With 13 left an aggro guy opens, I ship A9 and he snaps with the AA and I lose.
It's good to know that I've already won every flip I'm likely to win in Vegas and it won me $263.48
After showering (ticks off chore list) I decide to go shopping to pass the time before the ballers get home. I discover how truly difficult it is to simply order a taxi here. I wondered how Jay had made it look so easy, and the thought of all of Las Vegas consipiring against me stayed in my head for more than a moment. Not being one to back down from a challenge, I (90min later) jump in a cab and set off for the outlet mall at the top of the strip.
This place was pretty neat. Had all the brands you would expect, although I was pretty much only interested in the Polo Ralph Lauren store. I was surprised to find that it was not the absolute furthest store from my position at the head of the cab rank, and after a quick walk I was greeted by a flamboyantly homosexual hispanic man at the door, welcoming me to the store and asking me my name. He went on to enquire "So Clarence, what are you looking for today?", and was surprisingly cordial when I told him in my deepest possible voice that nothing other than a quiet browse through the entirety of the store would do.
We in Australia are kept in the Polo Ralph Lauren dark. There were many styles I had not seen before, so to peruse the entire store took me some time. The other bonus of shopping in America is, everybody here is fat so they actually have a decent range of stuff in my size. I ended up getting 2 T-shirts, 3 pairs of shorts, and 7 Polo shirts.
Unsurprisingly, when it was my turn to be called down from the checkout line to the register, rather than drawing the hot looking chick in the purple top and tights, I drew my new raging homosexual hispanic acquaintance. After I had skilfully kept conversation to a minimum he informs me that if I was to spend another $90 at the store, I would receive a $100 discount voucher.
His notion intrigued me, and I was led to ask him whether I could apply said voucher to my current purchases, or whether it was simply a hollow scam to get me to come back to the store another time, and invariably spend a butt-load more coin. He giggled heartily at my insinuation and assured me that the voucher could be insta-redeemed. I quickly picked out a perfume/aftershave pack, a pair of jeans, and another T-shirt and thanked him for his help and scuttled out.
I decided that very instant that I required some new golf shoes; and walked down to the Nike factory. On the way, I passed a charming young hispanic lady outside a tobacconist concession who had left her post to stride right up to me and ask me if I smoked. Unable to think of anything wittier than "uh, not really, no", I was relieved when she opened the door to the conversation again by following up with "Are you sure?". Wow, what a question. I remember wondering to myself how many people hit straight back with "you got me, I smoke like a fucken chimney - in fact I'M SMOKING RIGHT NOW HA HA" before remembering that I'm in America and people here don't have the smarts for that kinda thing. I guess I must have mumbled something that made her laugh (or it was her slowest day on record and she needed to sell another lighter before she could leave; either are possible) but I didnt have time to capitalise as out of the corner of my eye I see a group of large Hispanic men eye-balling me which prompts me to wish young *insert stereotypical female hispanic name here* a good evening and walk away as swiftly as my poorly-fitting thongs would take me.
The Nike factory had a good range of shoes and I was home in no time, to find that Watts and Tony had busted the 6max event. Steve followed soon after and we were lucky enough to have Tony grill us up some food before everyone kinda decided to sleep.
Golf in the morning then off to Roy/12er's house to catch up with those guys. Tony is playing the $1500PLHE, and I assume Jay will too. Steve will likely grind online and ship something to restore a bit of dignity to the house.
Next event is the $1500NLHE 3x shootout which should be fun.
Hope all is well back home.
I quickly remembered that I can't actually cook anything and realised that we had no food that was in a ready-to-eat state, so I grabbed a powerade to rehydrate myself from the walk out to the kitchen, and sat down at my computer to watch the final stages of it booting up.
At 1210pm, Jay walks downstairs and enquires as to the location of the rest of the guys in the house. I look at the clock to make sure I hadnt woken up early and inform him that it was indeed 10min after the scheduled start of his tournament, and that I imagined the others had left some time ago. To his credit, he did not seem to be all that perturbed by this, and proceeded to call a cab and off he went.
So I'm contemplating an afternoon session of playing online and neglecting the chores I had set for myself (wash clothes, have shower) when I decide I wasn't particularly in the mood to grind online stuff so I went and put the washing in, then found myself bored when I came back, so I fired up some tournaments.
Played the $55 Turbo H/U on FTP for the first time, got a bye Rd1, crushed some guy Rd2, then ran into a guy who ran hotter than the sun in Rd3 and busted.
The FTP turbo $216 was 6max today, which I dont usually play, but decided to break one little rule during my stay in Vegas and fired it up. Instantly jusmped out to a nice stack and carried that through to being chip leader with 30 left where I made what was probly a pretty bad reship with A7s vs a cutoff raiser; then lost the rest on the bubble QQ
Then the FTP $59KO SuperTurbo - my favourite all time tournament. I doubled early and doubled again shortly after. I doubled several more times and found myself the chip leader. I ran hotter in this tournament than I have in my life, winning every race, every 70/30, every 30/70, and having imbeciles shove 25bb UTG into my AA. I had more than double the second stack for quite a while. I then play a hand where I raise up AA, a guy shoves like 22bb next to me, I call, he has the AQ. Flop KJT, turn Q, river X, chop it up. From there on, it was all downhill. I lost a pot for like 1/3 of the chips in play 15-handed with JJ against TT and AT, the AT getting there and leaving me with about 20bb. With 13 left an aggro guy opens, I ship A9 and he snaps with the AA and I lose.
It's good to know that I've already won every flip I'm likely to win in Vegas and it won me $263.48
After showering (ticks off chore list) I decide to go shopping to pass the time before the ballers get home. I discover how truly difficult it is to simply order a taxi here. I wondered how Jay had made it look so easy, and the thought of all of Las Vegas consipiring against me stayed in my head for more than a moment. Not being one to back down from a challenge, I (90min later) jump in a cab and set off for the outlet mall at the top of the strip.
This place was pretty neat. Had all the brands you would expect, although I was pretty much only interested in the Polo Ralph Lauren store. I was surprised to find that it was not the absolute furthest store from my position at the head of the cab rank, and after a quick walk I was greeted by a flamboyantly homosexual hispanic man at the door, welcoming me to the store and asking me my name. He went on to enquire "So Clarence, what are you looking for today?", and was surprisingly cordial when I told him in my deepest possible voice that nothing other than a quiet browse through the entirety of the store would do.
We in Australia are kept in the Polo Ralph Lauren dark. There were many styles I had not seen before, so to peruse the entire store took me some time. The other bonus of shopping in America is, everybody here is fat so they actually have a decent range of stuff in my size. I ended up getting 2 T-shirts, 3 pairs of shorts, and 7 Polo shirts.
Unsurprisingly, when it was my turn to be called down from the checkout line to the register, rather than drawing the hot looking chick in the purple top and tights, I drew my new raging homosexual hispanic acquaintance. After I had skilfully kept conversation to a minimum he informs me that if I was to spend another $90 at the store, I would receive a $100 discount voucher.
His notion intrigued me, and I was led to ask him whether I could apply said voucher to my current purchases, or whether it was simply a hollow scam to get me to come back to the store another time, and invariably spend a butt-load more coin. He giggled heartily at my insinuation and assured me that the voucher could be insta-redeemed. I quickly picked out a perfume/aftershave pack, a pair of jeans, and another T-shirt and thanked him for his help and scuttled out.
I decided that very instant that I required some new golf shoes; and walked down to the Nike factory. On the way, I passed a charming young hispanic lady outside a tobacconist concession who had left her post to stride right up to me and ask me if I smoked. Unable to think of anything wittier than "uh, not really, no", I was relieved when she opened the door to the conversation again by following up with "Are you sure?". Wow, what a question. I remember wondering to myself how many people hit straight back with "you got me, I smoke like a fucken chimney - in fact I'M SMOKING RIGHT NOW HA HA" before remembering that I'm in America and people here don't have the smarts for that kinda thing. I guess I must have mumbled something that made her laugh (or it was her slowest day on record and she needed to sell another lighter before she could leave; either are possible) but I didnt have time to capitalise as out of the corner of my eye I see a group of large Hispanic men eye-balling me which prompts me to wish young *insert stereotypical female hispanic name here* a good evening and walk away as swiftly as my poorly-fitting thongs would take me.
The Nike factory had a good range of shoes and I was home in no time, to find that Watts and Tony had busted the 6max event. Steve followed soon after and we were lucky enough to have Tony grill us up some food before everyone kinda decided to sleep.
Golf in the morning then off to Roy/12er's house to catch up with those guys. Tony is playing the $1500PLHE, and I assume Jay will too. Steve will likely grind online and ship something to restore a bit of dignity to the house.
Next event is the $1500NLHE 3x shootout which should be fun.
Hope all is well back home.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Mornings don't appear to exist here.
I'm finding that whilst my intentions are good, I never get around to actually doing anything in the morning here, as I invariably wake up between 1150am and 1205pm irrespective of what time I go to sleep.
If anyone has any actual suggestions as to how to get around this besides "wake up earlier" they would be greatly appreciated.
Probably just going to be boring and do laundry etc today and play a few of the more fun tournies online, nothing too serious. Good chance I'll go to the outlet stores later unless the ballers all fail and we go out somewhere.
If anyone has any actual suggestions as to how to get around this besides "wake up earlier" they would be greatly appreciated.
Probably just going to be boring and do laundry etc today and play a few of the more fun tournies online, nothing too serious. Good chance I'll go to the outlet stores later unless the ballers all fail and we go out somewhere.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Sunday Drudgery
After sleeping til like 630pm on Saturday night I didnt really have an ideal preparation for the Sunday Majors today. Slight consolation being that I got 5th in the FTP $117 Superturbo last night for $2k to make me feel about 1% better about having lost so much of Uncle Steve's money so far. Managed about 3 hours sleep before beginning my session.
Played 25 tourneys in all, 5 cashes for -$2k. No super deep runs but had good shots at the $59KO and Cake Major.
Was much more patient today, I was concerned after Wednesday that I was getting a little shove-happy.
Not sure what I'll do tomorrow while everyone else is playing the $2500NL 6max. Probly go shopping or something I dunno, or play some live satellites. Prob end up doing both. My next live event will be the $1500NL Triple Shootout which I am looking forward to immensely.
Played 25 tourneys in all, 5 cashes for -$2k. No super deep runs but had good shots at the $59KO and Cake Major.
Was much more patient today, I was concerned after Wednesday that I was getting a little shove-happy.
Not sure what I'll do tomorrow while everyone else is playing the $2500NL 6max. Probly go shopping or something I dunno, or play some live satellites. Prob end up doing both. My next live event will be the $1500NL Triple Shootout which I am looking forward to immensely.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Friday Night
So after busting the $2500NL I was sitting around at home doing very little when a couple of Tony's mates came round to our joint. They were going to some bar called the YardHouse, and convinced me that the beer selection there would be adequate so off I went.
They weren't lying.
Apparently 60-something different beers on tap, incl Hofbrauhaus Original, which pleased me greatly. The place was quite large with an indoor and outdoor area.
So these guys went off and systematically did their pick-up thang on the unsuspecting (read: suspecting) young ladies from varying parts of the bar, and I got to see how it was done. Tony appeared to be doing well with two girls in a booth but then that became 5 girls in a booth and apparently that's a fail. The other two guys failed pretty hard with what we assumed afterwards HAD to be lesbians at the bar. We left that joint to go to the Rio.
ND's Fuego at the Rio is a brand new club that was supposed to be pretty hot. One of Tony's friends was apparently able to get us in; this sadly did not quite eventuate. I grew weary of standing around and found a blackjack table. My first bet won, and not wanting to ruin my one-in-a-row streak, I doubled my bet for hand #2. I was dealt 15 against an Ace. Tony yelled out that they had managed to get in, so, assuming I had lost anyway over I walked to the front of the line, where after seeing and hearing more of the club I decided that blackjack was by far the superior option (that and the fact that Tony+Co were already walking inside, apparently having forgotten about me in the intervening 4 seconds, and Virgil the bouncer didnt believe my "I'm with them" story).
So back I go to my blackjack table where I find that the dealer has pushed me some money. Never being one to upset the applecart, I wagered it quickly on the next hand, winning with 20. The young lady playing box two informs me that in my absence, the house actually hit 15 for me, drawing to 17, and that the dealer's Ace improved to 17, so I got my money back. This pleased me greatly, and I celebrated by buying a complimentary round of drinks from the fairly unnatractive but pleasant cocktail waitress.
I conitnue playing good blackjack while "Pete" our dealer from the philippines continue to draw T+ in the door. This is only 2-deck blackjack however and my counting was pretty spot on so I guess that made up for the fact that blackjack only paid out 6:5.
So the young lady next to me tells me she is a lawyer, which I didnt really believe so I enquired further as to the nature of her visit to Vegas (she was from New Jersey iirc); her response was the predictable "I can't really say". Eventually I extracted from her that she was staying at the Rio, until mid-july. This information, coupled with the fact that she continually used expressions like "god i run so bad" and "fuck my life", led me to the conclusion that she was in fact a poker player. Later I found out that she is/was actually a lawyer also.
We played about 2hrs worth of blackjack before Tony+Co returned from the club to tell me how much it sucked and that they were going to Korean BBQ. I was (strangely enough) hungry at the time (it now being on the later side of 230am or so I guess) and decided to join them. It became apparent that there was not enough room in the car for everyone, so after offering to get a cab to the restaurant I, again, decided more blackjack was in order. We are joined by a young filipino lady named "Wilma", who proceeds to tell us that despite her risque attire she is actually a training cardiologist. "Wilma" had a very good handle on basic blackjack strategy (I can only assume this is taught early on in Cardiology) and proceeded to help us run good to a small but acceptable profit.
Myself, Lana (from the blackjack table) and Wilma then moved to the hooker bar at the Rio (at least, that's what Wilma the Cardiologist referred to it as) and pounded down a few more beers before we were joined by Al from Connecticut? and Wilma's friend whose name escapes me, but I'm sure she was an aspiring opthamologist or hyperbolic topologist's assistant or something. Later, Liv Boeree + friends joined us, and I talked to Yuvee04 about his sick FTOPS achievement earlier this year. He seemed to appreciate the parallels I drew between him and Halfrek, and I was virtually certain his stunning girlfriend wanted to me whisk her away to Sydney once she found out that's where I was from. Perhaps sensing this also, Yuvee ended the night, and by 6am we decided the only logical thing to do was take our remaining cash to the craps table.
I failed in looking like a seasoned craps player when all the amounts I placed out for the croupier were wrong and I got yelled at for not having my hands back while the dice were in motion. This had detrimental effects on my psyche, and we left at about 630am with $0.00 in returns.
I got in a cab and immediately begun to intently listen to the Vietnamese driver's aspirations to have children asap with his new wife. McDonalds breakfast here is superior to back home; the sausage on the S+E McM actually kinda takes like sausage which was pretty good.
Nursing hangover now, ate leftover pizza Watts was nice enough to not eat, and trying to rehydrate before sleeping a little bit in time for majors tomoro.
Hope all is well back home.
They weren't lying.
Apparently 60-something different beers on tap, incl Hofbrauhaus Original, which pleased me greatly. The place was quite large with an indoor and outdoor area.
So these guys went off and systematically did their pick-up thang on the unsuspecting (read: suspecting) young ladies from varying parts of the bar, and I got to see how it was done. Tony appeared to be doing well with two girls in a booth but then that became 5 girls in a booth and apparently that's a fail. The other two guys failed pretty hard with what we assumed afterwards HAD to be lesbians at the bar. We left that joint to go to the Rio.
ND's Fuego at the Rio is a brand new club that was supposed to be pretty hot. One of Tony's friends was apparently able to get us in; this sadly did not quite eventuate. I grew weary of standing around and found a blackjack table. My first bet won, and not wanting to ruin my one-in-a-row streak, I doubled my bet for hand #2. I was dealt 15 against an Ace. Tony yelled out that they had managed to get in, so, assuming I had lost anyway over I walked to the front of the line, where after seeing and hearing more of the club I decided that blackjack was by far the superior option (that and the fact that Tony+Co were already walking inside, apparently having forgotten about me in the intervening 4 seconds, and Virgil the bouncer didnt believe my "I'm with them" story).
So back I go to my blackjack table where I find that the dealer has pushed me some money. Never being one to upset the applecart, I wagered it quickly on the next hand, winning with 20. The young lady playing box two informs me that in my absence, the house actually hit 15 for me, drawing to 17, and that the dealer's Ace improved to 17, so I got my money back. This pleased me greatly, and I celebrated by buying a complimentary round of drinks from the fairly unnatractive but pleasant cocktail waitress.
I conitnue playing good blackjack while "Pete" our dealer from the philippines continue to draw T+ in the door. This is only 2-deck blackjack however and my counting was pretty spot on so I guess that made up for the fact that blackjack only paid out 6:5.
So the young lady next to me tells me she is a lawyer, which I didnt really believe so I enquired further as to the nature of her visit to Vegas (she was from New Jersey iirc); her response was the predictable "I can't really say". Eventually I extracted from her that she was staying at the Rio, until mid-july. This information, coupled with the fact that she continually used expressions like "god i run so bad" and "fuck my life", led me to the conclusion that she was in fact a poker player. Later I found out that she is/was actually a lawyer also.
We played about 2hrs worth of blackjack before Tony+Co returned from the club to tell me how much it sucked and that they were going to Korean BBQ. I was (strangely enough) hungry at the time (it now being on the later side of 230am or so I guess) and decided to join them. It became apparent that there was not enough room in the car for everyone, so after offering to get a cab to the restaurant I, again, decided more blackjack was in order. We are joined by a young filipino lady named "Wilma", who proceeds to tell us that despite her risque attire she is actually a training cardiologist. "Wilma" had a very good handle on basic blackjack strategy (I can only assume this is taught early on in Cardiology) and proceeded to help us run good to a small but acceptable profit.
Myself, Lana (from the blackjack table) and Wilma then moved to the hooker bar at the Rio (at least, that's what Wilma the Cardiologist referred to it as) and pounded down a few more beers before we were joined by Al from Connecticut? and Wilma's friend whose name escapes me, but I'm sure she was an aspiring opthamologist or hyperbolic topologist's assistant or something. Later, Liv Boeree + friends joined us, and I talked to Yuvee04 about his sick FTOPS achievement earlier this year. He seemed to appreciate the parallels I drew between him and Halfrek, and I was virtually certain his stunning girlfriend wanted to me whisk her away to Sydney once she found out that's where I was from. Perhaps sensing this also, Yuvee ended the night, and by 6am we decided the only logical thing to do was take our remaining cash to the craps table.
I failed in looking like a seasoned craps player when all the amounts I placed out for the croupier were wrong and I got yelled at for not having my hands back while the dice were in motion. This had detrimental effects on my psyche, and we left at about 630am with $0.00 in returns.
I got in a cab and immediately begun to intently listen to the Vietnamese driver's aspirations to have children asap with his new wife. McDonalds breakfast here is superior to back home; the sausage on the S+E McM actually kinda takes like sausage which was pretty good.
Nursing hangover now, ate leftover pizza Watts was nice enough to not eat, and trying to rehydrate before sleeping a little bit in time for majors tomoro.
Hope all is well back home.
Friday, June 5, 2009
$2500NL Friday
Yeah so I arrive late to the $2500NL and survey my table. Appears to be a few internet kids and I recognise the guy on my left, pretty sure he is Joe Brady or Matt Brady or something. Also Svetlana Gromenkova is on his left.
I play pretty snug until I see "some guy" playing about 50/35 and taking down a bunch of small pots, and anything that goes to the flop he has CR'd or raised c-bets and taken down. I raise 44 UTG to 150 and get three callers, on of them being "some guy" on the button. The flop is an unhelpful AJJr but i'm not entirely horrified by it. I lead for 425 and it folds to "some guy" who makes it 1125. We're sitting about 7.8k deep and I decide a 3b/fold is prob not a horrible option and make it 2425. He chuckles and mucks his cards.
Soon after, in the 50/100 level, Brady opens UTG to 225, S Gromenkova calls, spastic on her left calls, button calls, SB calls, and I call for 125 more on the button with A4ss. The flop is a relatively interesting J44r. SB checks, I check, UTG checks, Gromenkova bets 600, spastic insta-pops it to 2000. Folds to me, I ship in 8000, they both muck instantly. WP guys.
So I'm sitting on around 11500 when this horrible Asian guy makes it 400 on 75/150; all his raises to date had been 4x+, so after a call in front, i call on th button with 54hh. We see a flop of 654r. Asia bets out like 1500, guy in the middle folds, I make it 4400, Asia beats me into the pot with his AA. I survive and move to around 22,000.
I bleed a few chips and play a hand poorly after betting too small on a flop which costs me around 3000 total. This disappointed me considerably, however I still had around 18,000 chips to ease the pain.
I finally, FINALLY, get dealt the AA (AdAs) late in the 100/200 level, (first time @ WSOP in any event), and rizzle to 500. Brady and Gromenkova both call and we see a flop of QT6ss. I'm first to speak and lead 1450. Brady insta raises to 4450, Gromenkova folds, I play all of my chips, Brady snap calls and revals 98ss. So, yet another giant coinflip for the chiplead. The turn is the Jh giving him his straight, and I miss my K-ball redraw. I congratulate him on his 45/5 style of play finally paying off for him, and resolve to put my remaining 5500 chips to good use.
I raise AQ twice and see two Kxx flops into which I am lead both times and give up with some frustration. I then get moved to another table with Nam Le and like 7 internet guys. I'm not entirely disappointed though as my shoving ranges have been pretty good lately. I obviously pick up NO hands and bleed to like 2600 at which point a guy raises the button and I ship KJo from the bb. He asks for a count; it's like 1850 more for him, and he is sitting on around 14k. He says to me "well you must be pleased that I haven't snap-called". The table erupts with laughter --> lol_americans. He says "I'm pretty sure I'm a 3:1 dog", to which I respond "lucky you raised pre to find out where you're at sir". He eventually calls, showing AJss. WTF? - I congratulate him on a well executed slowroll, to which he apologises profusely. I refrain from informing him that he is either a slowroller or a moron, and exit the Convention Centre.
Golf tomorrow morning then the Venetian $550 while the ballers play the $5000NL.
I play pretty snug until I see "some guy" playing about 50/35 and taking down a bunch of small pots, and anything that goes to the flop he has CR'd or raised c-bets and taken down. I raise 44 UTG to 150 and get three callers, on of them being "some guy" on the button. The flop is an unhelpful AJJr but i'm not entirely horrified by it. I lead for 425 and it folds to "some guy" who makes it 1125. We're sitting about 7.8k deep and I decide a 3b/fold is prob not a horrible option and make it 2425. He chuckles and mucks his cards.
Soon after, in the 50/100 level, Brady opens UTG to 225, S Gromenkova calls, spastic on her left calls, button calls, SB calls, and I call for 125 more on the button with A4ss. The flop is a relatively interesting J44r. SB checks, I check, UTG checks, Gromenkova bets 600, spastic insta-pops it to 2000. Folds to me, I ship in 8000, they both muck instantly. WP guys.
So I'm sitting on around 11500 when this horrible Asian guy makes it 400 on 75/150; all his raises to date had been 4x+, so after a call in front, i call on th button with 54hh. We see a flop of 654r. Asia bets out like 1500, guy in the middle folds, I make it 4400, Asia beats me into the pot with his AA. I survive and move to around 22,000.
I bleed a few chips and play a hand poorly after betting too small on a flop which costs me around 3000 total. This disappointed me considerably, however I still had around 18,000 chips to ease the pain.
I finally, FINALLY, get dealt the AA (AdAs) late in the 100/200 level, (first time @ WSOP in any event), and rizzle to 500. Brady and Gromenkova both call and we see a flop of QT6ss. I'm first to speak and lead 1450. Brady insta raises to 4450, Gromenkova folds, I play all of my chips, Brady snap calls and revals 98ss. So, yet another giant coinflip for the chiplead. The turn is the Jh giving him his straight, and I miss my K-ball redraw. I congratulate him on his 45/5 style of play finally paying off for him, and resolve to put my remaining 5500 chips to good use.
I raise AQ twice and see two Kxx flops into which I am lead both times and give up with some frustration. I then get moved to another table with Nam Le and like 7 internet guys. I'm not entirely disappointed though as my shoving ranges have been pretty good lately. I obviously pick up NO hands and bleed to like 2600 at which point a guy raises the button and I ship KJo from the bb. He asks for a count; it's like 1850 more for him, and he is sitting on around 14k. He says to me "well you must be pleased that I haven't snap-called". The table erupts with laughter --> lol_americans. He says "I'm pretty sure I'm a 3:1 dog", to which I respond "lucky you raised pre to find out where you're at sir". He eventually calls, showing AJss. WTF? - I congratulate him on a well executed slowroll, to which he apologises profusely. I refrain from informing him that he is either a slowroller or a moron, and exit the Convention Centre.
Golf tomorrow morning then the Venetian $550 while the ballers play the $5000NL.
Photos of Vegas House
Some ppl asked for photos, so I took a few. I may take more.
I'm not really sure why I thought a picture of the jacuzzi, taken after midnight, would come out well. Chalk it up to inexperience.
None of us are quite sure what these objects are. My theory on the near object being some sort of butter-churning device is probably leading.
My room, downstairs. I'm surprised I actually hung stuff up in the wardrobe.
Main loungeroom.
Nigga pleeeez!
Can't quite see it from this photo but there's like 4 boxes of Klondike bars in the freezer as well.
Picture this but full. My years of playing tetris allowed us to get a staggering amount of shit refrigerated. God I love Dr. Pepper; not sure what the red and green things towards the bottom are.
This is the kitchen table where Stevo grinds the online stuff. He was frustrated at lack of screen space so he bought a monitor. Unsure of his plans for it in 5 weeks time.
The maid comes tomorrow. At least we all hope she does.
Not sure if this is close up enough, but that's pretty much all we bought for food outside of the night Tony barbecued.
Yeh this level of mess took us like 4 hours to achieve. We have just been piling shit up elsewhere since.
Staircase. Fortunately for me, my room is downstairs and I never have to face its peril.
(Pictured above: Three sets of golf clubs).
The pool table is the good american kind like on TV, but pub-size.
That's pretty much only downstairs as ppl are asleep upstairs etc...
Soak it up.
I'm not really sure why I thought a picture of the jacuzzi, taken after midnight, would come out well. Chalk it up to inexperience.
None of us are quite sure what these objects are. My theory on the near object being some sort of butter-churning device is probably leading.
My room, downstairs. I'm surprised I actually hung stuff up in the wardrobe.
Main loungeroom.
Nigga pleeeez!
Can't quite see it from this photo but there's like 4 boxes of Klondike bars in the freezer as well.
Picture this but full. My years of playing tetris allowed us to get a staggering amount of shit refrigerated. God I love Dr. Pepper; not sure what the red and green things towards the bottom are.
This is the kitchen table where Stevo grinds the online stuff. He was frustrated at lack of screen space so he bought a monitor. Unsure of his plans for it in 5 weeks time.
The maid comes tomorrow. At least we all hope she does.
Not sure if this is close up enough, but that's pretty much all we bought for food outside of the night Tony barbecued.
Yeh this level of mess took us like 4 hours to achieve. We have just been piling shit up elsewhere since.
Staircase. Fortunately for me, my room is downstairs and I never have to face its peril.
(Pictured above: Three sets of golf clubs).
The pool table is the good american kind like on TV, but pub-size.
That's pretty much only downstairs as ppl are asleep upstairs etc...
Soak it up.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Vegas ---> Foul Temptress?
It dawned on me that writing a blog is easier than individually telling people how I'm going.
As such:
(warning, extremely long as I have a week worth of stuff to go through - and if you are at all sensitive on any subject matter, prob best to not read)
Arrived in Vegas last Friday. Flight from SYD-LAX was completely full which was pretty tilting. I didnt plan on sleeping much anyway to avoid impending jetlag and be able to play the $1000NL the next day. V Australia have pretty ballin' in-flight entertainment so I was able to watch a few movies that I had already seen and liked (this was preferable to watching something new, that I might not have liked at all). I had a window seat luckily, and years of sitting around doing nothing at school, in accounting, and playing poker, had conditioned my posterior to the rigor of 12hrs 35min of not standing up so that was no problem.
LAX was not as painful as I thought it would be; except for the walk from the plane to immigration, which was probably 1km by the time we lined up. I had a very helpful hispanic gentleman at immigration who took me thru the complicated process of handing him my passport and a form. When he noticed that my ongoing flight was to Las Vegas, he immediately enquired as to whether I was participating in the World Series. I confirmed this; he was a little confused though after asking me how much cash I had on me, and hearing the reply "about eighty bucks". Poor Raymond Ruiz, it took ninety seconds for him to grasp the concept that I didnt actually need to carry all of the money I required on my person.
Got through the baggage transfer lounge (which I now know was flagrant false advertising); and was greeted by a large black woman outside the terminal exit. Her name was Candice; she was smartly dressed in two airport uniforms sewn together, and she asked me how I was "doin today!!!". I questioned whether I had been wrong about black people all this time, before I could come to any conclusion she had already taken my itinerary out of my hand and directed me to the terminal for my connecting flight. "Wow" I said, "Thankyou very much". Silly of me I guess; as she then got out a clipboard (I'm still not sure of it's location prior to this point) and started telling me about the plight of inner-city street kids and I saw "suggested donation $20.00" on a pink piece of paper. I figured the odds of me getting another helpful person in all of America were slim to nil if I didnt comply, so I fumbled through my wallet past rows of clearly visible USD and offered her an AUD $5 with my best wishes.
I got the emergency exit row on the United flight to Vegas; not that it is of any advantage to me, but it did humour me to see a man of at least 6'10" a few rows in front. I immediately had visions of that super-tall guy in the VW beetle on The Simpsons. I had just finished chuckling when we landed.
The cab rank at LV airport was a sight to behold. If only I knew my iPhone had a camera at the time; I may not have had to have made such vivid mental notes. The line doubled over on itself 7 or 8 times, with each length being allegedly well over 100 yards. I remember thinking how convenient it was that my golf bag was about 3inches too long to fit horizontally walking along the line, so I basically crabbed for like half an hour. My spirits were raised when I heard a whistle blow and some feverish shouting. It appeared that a man who had already progressed through the queue to the second last lap decided that now was a good time to cut perhaps 40yards off the fast moving line. Potentially he may have saved around 90 seconds. Instead, the rank attendant told him that he would not be put in a cab at that point, nor at any point that night, and he was ordered to proceed to the public transport terminal. I love this aspect of America.
The $1000NL was sold out by the time I got to the registration desk at the Rio, so Jay and I went over to the Bellagio to grab a bite. I had a fairly awesome lobster omelette and a mediocre bacon-cheese burger, having not eaten since "breakfast" on the SYD-LAX flight.
Unpacked all my stuff in the house (ie, positioned it on the spare bed in my room) the next morning, and when I awoke Stevo had arrived and decided that a the couch was the best place to crash, rather than any of the 6 free bedrooms.
Saturday we took care of some housekeeping:
Got a cab to the Airport Rent-a-Car centre in the afternoon; this place was pretty slick to be honest. Much to our chagrin, no one would waive the "under-25" administration fee. I had to laugh at the guy from Thrifty, who we got to flat out admit that the fee does not constitute any service from the company, ie, because we were already insured, they stood to lose nothing more in our instance than in any other instance. After letting him know how I felt about this administration fee being of a greater expense than the car rental itself, we went to some dodgy joint across the road and got a minivan on the cheap. Really swindled the poor kid who was working there without the manager for the first time.
Grocery shopping was pretty amazing, we went to a Super-Walmart. Remarkably our three trolleys (carts for you Americans) worth of shit cost us < $100 a head which baffled me initially; until I realised that virtually every price tag in the store was "2-for $x" - I love this aspect of America.
Played the majors on sunday; everyone failed. Think I went like 2/26 to lose $3k; had some big stacks in a lot of things too which gave me the shits. I don't feel like going into any more detail than this.
Monday we played golf at Bali Hai Golf Club (http://www.balihaigolfclub.com/bali-hai-photo-gallery.asp). The course was every bit as beautiful as the photos suggest. I had an awesome breakfast burrito that needed to be of a high standard given I woke up at 505am to make our tee time. I regret not taking photos of the surroundings, but it is likely that we will play there again before we leave. The chick in the drinks cart didn't have to work very hard to sell us a few beers etc, and I noticed that they were selling miniature bottles of jagermeister, and marvelled at how far man has come.
Later that day came my WSOP debut: the $1500 PLO event. Not surprisingly, I arrived late and had to wait longer still for Jay to arrive with the BoS funds. (BoS = Bank of Stevo). I sat down and quickly surmised that everyone on my table was bad. I didnt get dealt much in the first session, but took down a couple pots when people missed and didnt contest.
Shortly after resuming in session two my table broke and I got moved to the other side of the room. I sat down with a strong pro on my right, and a few very aggressive guys on my left. Again I ran pretty card dead thru session two but managed to turn the nut straight against a shortstack who decided one pair no draw was good enough to go with and I maintained virtually an average stack.
I can't think of too many interesting hands until the blinds got a little higher; but pretty much all thru the 150/300 level and 200/400 level i waited patiently for cards, picked up a hand shoved a favourable flop, ran into a monster, and managed to win anyway. This pleased me greatly.
With blinds at 300/600 I was dealt QTsT8h on the button, and an aggressive player raised from the HJ seat, he had around 17000 and I had him just covered. I called his raise as did the big blind. The flop hit Jh9d3h. the BB checked, the aggro player bet close to pot, I shipped them all in, the BB folded, and the aggro guy didnt hesitate in calling with his KKJx. At the time i figured I was a smallish favourite; upon review i was a 67% shot; which made me happier still about my shove. The turn bricked then I rivered the K-ball for the nut straight. My opponent unhappily headed to the rail, mumbling in what I can only assume was a language associated with failure.
Shortly after, the chip leader (the good pro on my right) raised from the CO seat, I looked down and squeezed 7s6c4c... and thought to myself "one time can i have the 5 of spades with these..." ding ding ding, 5 of spades. I pop it to 6000, the blinds get out of the way, and after a quick count of my chips, he calls. The flop brought 9s8c3s. He checked to me, I considered checking back as any board with a 98 on it hits the range someone will flat a 3ball with fairly well, but eventually decided that I was happy enough to get it in should he CR me. I bet 10,000 - he instantly moved out 30,000 chips. I shrugged and moved the rest of my chips in, and he announced a call and turned over JdTd8s6d. I was a little surprised that he had such a low value starting hand; but it gave him a fairly easy CRAI spot on that flop. I figured i was around 60% to take the hand down, later I see that I am closer to 56%, but meh. The turn is the deuce of clubs. Could I have any more outs? (possibly...) - now, despite being behind his lowly one pair, I'm a 5/8 shot to win the hand, having 25 outs. I neglected to take into account though, that I was up against Jason Mercier, the guy who has run better than anyone in the world in the past 18 months, and obviously the river was the brick Kd. Jason went on to win the bracelet; that pot was for the chip lead with around 140 players left.
I trudged home somewhat dejected; but not unhappy with how I played.
Tuesday brought the $1500NL event, which Stevo, Tony and myself all played. Jay was busy sleeping and Watts decided to play the $2500 NL 2-7 SD later that afternoon.
My first table had Yevgeniy "Atimos" Timoshenko (winner of the WPT Grand Final this year, good for like $2.4mUSD) and Eric Mizrachi (the untalented brother of the untalented Michael "the grinder" Mizrachi). Luckily I had position on Atimos and the rest of the table appeared soft/weak. Unsurprisingly i was dealt virtually nothing playable but decided to float a guy I had identified as a mediocre internet player, that both boosted my confidence and kept me around starting stack after a couple of set mine attempts yielded nothing.
I noticed that our table was next to break, so decided to take advantage of the solid image I had built over the past two hours, and raised any two from the button and CO, winning both pots uncontested. Then I was dealt QQ in the HJ seat and raised the same amount. This time, Eric Mizrachi made a stand and flatted from the big blind. The flop was a boring T64r. He c/c my 60% pot bet. The turn brought an arguably more insignificant offsuit deuce; on which Mizrachi pounced, betting close to full pot. I laughed audibly at his play and moved my stack in, to which he insta-mucked.
Our table broke and I got moved to Scott "SCTrojans" Freeman's table over in Amazon Blue. The good part about being me is, he has no idea who I am, yet I know who he is and have a good insight into how he plays. Immediately upon sitting down I notice one gentleman has 3 full stacks of green $25 chips. This (for the non poker-savvy) indicates that he was taking down a large number of small pots. Instantly the CO raises, this gentleman flats from the button, and I look down at AJo in the BB. I call and we see a flop of 632r. I figure this missed my opponents (as indeed it had missed me), and that I would see quickly whether the CO had an overpair etc. I donk lead 700 into the pot of 1275. Pretty sure this is an ok bet size. The CO folds, but the aforementioned gentleman comes along. The turn is a repeat 6. I liked this card as there aren't many 6's in his range, and I have a 6 repped somewhat already. I bet again, 1200 or so from memory. He calls quite quickly. I am not delighted at this point as it appears he is being stubborn with a 77-88 type hand, or perhaps a pair+gutshot type hand and I was no longer sure if I had the ammunition to get him off it. Just as I was cursing the hastiness with which I had decided to make a move at a new table; the river peeled a 4. Final board reading 63264. My stack at this point is now approx 4400, and the pot is of a similar size. Basically I had to bet this card, continuing to try and sell the story I had been selling since the beginning of the hand. I figured the strongest looking play would be a small value bet rather than a shove (he had me well covered); so I bet 1600. He took around four minutes to finally fold, asking me many questions I could not hear given that I was listening to music. I decided the time was right to show him my hand; which is something I've been doing a lot less of lately, but I figured this guy would blow up and become volatile if I did so. I was proven right as he did not last a great deal longer, distributing his chips fairly evenly across the rest of the table.
Shortly before dinner, my table became interesting. Within around 20min of eachother, moorman1, petie_bigstacks, JoseBarbero, and ICuRaRook all came to the table. I did not expect to be the 6th best player at a table of 10 in a $1500NL event at WSOP (although, after the next few hours I could probly argue that 6th is quite conservative).
I busted moorman1 when he shoved his shortstack in from the SB with J9s and I called off with KTo. Sadly he looks nothing like his P5's picture otherwise I would have really given it to him (not so much for the hand as it was standard, but because I needle him online constantly and it would have livened up my evening).
I later raise UTG with AJss, to which JoseBarbero flatcalls (which i found odd as he had been 3betting a lot; but I guess my image was very snug). The flop brings 965dd. I'm not interested in making the pot any larger than it has to be, as Jose appeared to be a very tricky player capable of raising a flop like that against me with nothing. I check it over to him and he bets 2200, which was just shy of 2/3 pot. I call, being the calling station that I am, and we see a turn of 4s. I check the action over to him again, and realise that I'm not in an excellent spot in the hand, however my plan was to raise any bet he decided to make, as this would leave him little option but to fold pretty much everything but sets. He checks it back, and we see the Jd river. This is somewhat of a relief as I now have something more solid than Ace-High to show down (lol), but given his trickiness I'm not crazy about opening the betting and decide to just check and call should he bet. He checks and shows 88, and is disgusted when I show the AJ. Some heated chat ensued that I guess I got the better of and he busted shortly after with no hand. Better luck next time I guess Jose.
Later, SCTrojans plays two of the most unusual hands I've seen played by a pro. The first involves him check/3betting KJcc on a 9s4c3s flop against a super nit who CR the flop. After waving goodbye to most of his stack and flipping it back, he plays a hand against a tight old guy where he CRAI the turn with T8hh on a 7632 board. WP Scott, GG etc.
I got my stack to around 36,000 before losing two big flips, JJ losing to AK and JJ losing to AQ, and petie_bigstacks got the rest of it A6s losing to ATo bvb.
That night i finally got a good night's sleep and woke up refreshed on Wednesday at lunchtime, ready to grind the online schedule. Playing online is such a delight over here. Instead of 4am starts it's 11am starts. I love this aspect of America.
I pretty much failed all day on Wednesday, going 7/16 and losing $1k somehow.
Today was the $2000NL event. We arrived late and I sat at a table of what I had to assume were soft/weak players. I was not proven wrong as the next hour or so baffled me with it's ineptitude and inanity. Shortly into the 50/100 level the bald asian guy on my right raises the SB, i defend KTss in the BB. Flop K43r. He fires 500 into 600; where am I going? - the turn brings the 2s; I now have a spade draw to go with my top pair. Johnny Asia fires 600 into what is now 1600. I consider a raise given the small size of his bet but decide it would not really achieve much and elect to call again. The river is the 9d and he goes into the tank (starts thinking intently for a long period of time). His hands are visibly shaking as he eventually bets out like 1300 or 1600 or something... I call pretty quickly I guess and he shows me AA. Nice hand Asia. I'm pretty disappointed I didnt fold the river I guess, not because he happened to have AA, but I really only beat bluffs after he goes for 3 streets of value there, I guess if I had not noticed the physical tells I would have folded. Curses.
I came home after getting a charger for my phone and played a few tournies online. Soon into the session I realise I'm not in the mood to play and decide to either build a stack in my 3 remaining tournaments or bust trying. The Cake $109 busts easily enough with AK losing to KK, the Party 4109 was not as easy to bust, but I eventually got it in with A6hh on a 953hh board and bricked out. then the Stars $109 proved to be harder still. I got it in with AT against KK and won. Then I bluffed successfully what seemed to be 50 times, then I beat KK with AT again. At this point I realised that I was 4th in chips with 100 left ($10kUSD for 1st). I move tables to the immediate left of the chip leader, and shortly after my entire stack is in preflop with AK against his AK. I make a four card flush and by default have a giant stack (circa 58k on 150/300). I then get up to like 90k on 500/1000 when the poker gods decide to punish me for running good for a few minutes, and i endure A8 losing to JT, A4 losing to JT, AK losing to 77, then a guy stevo's me (flats KK-AA pre) but I lose the min, then same guy flats 76o from the sb when I raise QQ and looks like a genius when he stacks me on the 764r flop. WP SIR.
Then I started writing this blog.
Tomorrow is the $2500NL which I am looking forward to. With any luck I'll still be in that on Saturday otherwise I'll have to play the $550 at the Venetian as I'm not playing the $5000NL. Then again, maybe I'll just go to hooters and talk politics/religion.
Updates to follow etc.
Hope all is well wherever you are.
JD.
As such:
(warning, extremely long as I have a week worth of stuff to go through - and if you are at all sensitive on any subject matter, prob best to not read)
Arrived in Vegas last Friday. Flight from SYD-LAX was completely full which was pretty tilting. I didnt plan on sleeping much anyway to avoid impending jetlag and be able to play the $1000NL the next day. V Australia have pretty ballin' in-flight entertainment so I was able to watch a few movies that I had already seen and liked (this was preferable to watching something new, that I might not have liked at all). I had a window seat luckily, and years of sitting around doing nothing at school, in accounting, and playing poker, had conditioned my posterior to the rigor of 12hrs 35min of not standing up so that was no problem.
LAX was not as painful as I thought it would be; except for the walk from the plane to immigration, which was probably 1km by the time we lined up. I had a very helpful hispanic gentleman at immigration who took me thru the complicated process of handing him my passport and a form. When he noticed that my ongoing flight was to Las Vegas, he immediately enquired as to whether I was participating in the World Series. I confirmed this; he was a little confused though after asking me how much cash I had on me, and hearing the reply "about eighty bucks". Poor Raymond Ruiz, it took ninety seconds for him to grasp the concept that I didnt actually need to carry all of the money I required on my person.
Got through the baggage transfer lounge (which I now know was flagrant false advertising); and was greeted by a large black woman outside the terminal exit. Her name was Candice; she was smartly dressed in two airport uniforms sewn together, and she asked me how I was "doin today!!!". I questioned whether I had been wrong about black people all this time, before I could come to any conclusion she had already taken my itinerary out of my hand and directed me to the terminal for my connecting flight. "Wow" I said, "Thankyou very much". Silly of me I guess; as she then got out a clipboard (I'm still not sure of it's location prior to this point) and started telling me about the plight of inner-city street kids and I saw "suggested donation $20.00" on a pink piece of paper. I figured the odds of me getting another helpful person in all of America were slim to nil if I didnt comply, so I fumbled through my wallet past rows of clearly visible USD and offered her an AUD $5 with my best wishes.
I got the emergency exit row on the United flight to Vegas; not that it is of any advantage to me, but it did humour me to see a man of at least 6'10" a few rows in front. I immediately had visions of that super-tall guy in the VW beetle on The Simpsons. I had just finished chuckling when we landed.
The cab rank at LV airport was a sight to behold. If only I knew my iPhone had a camera at the time; I may not have had to have made such vivid mental notes. The line doubled over on itself 7 or 8 times, with each length being allegedly well over 100 yards. I remember thinking how convenient it was that my golf bag was about 3inches too long to fit horizontally walking along the line, so I basically crabbed for like half an hour. My spirits were raised when I heard a whistle blow and some feverish shouting. It appeared that a man who had already progressed through the queue to the second last lap decided that now was a good time to cut perhaps 40yards off the fast moving line. Potentially he may have saved around 90 seconds. Instead, the rank attendant told him that he would not be put in a cab at that point, nor at any point that night, and he was ordered to proceed to the public transport terminal. I love this aspect of America.
The $1000NL was sold out by the time I got to the registration desk at the Rio, so Jay and I went over to the Bellagio to grab a bite. I had a fairly awesome lobster omelette and a mediocre bacon-cheese burger, having not eaten since "breakfast" on the SYD-LAX flight.
Unpacked all my stuff in the house (ie, positioned it on the spare bed in my room) the next morning, and when I awoke Stevo had arrived and decided that a the couch was the best place to crash, rather than any of the 6 free bedrooms.
Saturday we took care of some housekeeping:
Got a cab to the Airport Rent-a-Car centre in the afternoon; this place was pretty slick to be honest. Much to our chagrin, no one would waive the "under-25" administration fee. I had to laugh at the guy from Thrifty, who we got to flat out admit that the fee does not constitute any service from the company, ie, because we were already insured, they stood to lose nothing more in our instance than in any other instance. After letting him know how I felt about this administration fee being of a greater expense than the car rental itself, we went to some dodgy joint across the road and got a minivan on the cheap. Really swindled the poor kid who was working there without the manager for the first time.
Grocery shopping was pretty amazing, we went to a Super-Walmart. Remarkably our three trolleys (carts for you Americans) worth of shit cost us < $100 a head which baffled me initially; until I realised that virtually every price tag in the store was "2-for $x" - I love this aspect of America.
Played the majors on sunday; everyone failed. Think I went like 2/26 to lose $3k; had some big stacks in a lot of things too which gave me the shits. I don't feel like going into any more detail than this.
Monday we played golf at Bali Hai Golf Club (http://www.balihaigolfclub.com/bali-hai-photo-gallery.asp). The course was every bit as beautiful as the photos suggest. I had an awesome breakfast burrito that needed to be of a high standard given I woke up at 505am to make our tee time. I regret not taking photos of the surroundings, but it is likely that we will play there again before we leave. The chick in the drinks cart didn't have to work very hard to sell us a few beers etc, and I noticed that they were selling miniature bottles of jagermeister, and marvelled at how far man has come.
Later that day came my WSOP debut: the $1500 PLO event. Not surprisingly, I arrived late and had to wait longer still for Jay to arrive with the BoS funds. (BoS = Bank of Stevo). I sat down and quickly surmised that everyone on my table was bad. I didnt get dealt much in the first session, but took down a couple pots when people missed and didnt contest.
Shortly after resuming in session two my table broke and I got moved to the other side of the room. I sat down with a strong pro on my right, and a few very aggressive guys on my left. Again I ran pretty card dead thru session two but managed to turn the nut straight against a shortstack who decided one pair no draw was good enough to go with and I maintained virtually an average stack.
I can't think of too many interesting hands until the blinds got a little higher; but pretty much all thru the 150/300 level and 200/400 level i waited patiently for cards, picked up a hand shoved a favourable flop, ran into a monster, and managed to win anyway. This pleased me greatly.
With blinds at 300/600 I was dealt QTsT8h on the button, and an aggressive player raised from the HJ seat, he had around 17000 and I had him just covered. I called his raise as did the big blind. The flop hit Jh9d3h. the BB checked, the aggro player bet close to pot, I shipped them all in, the BB folded, and the aggro guy didnt hesitate in calling with his KKJx. At the time i figured I was a smallish favourite; upon review i was a 67% shot; which made me happier still about my shove. The turn bricked then I rivered the K-ball for the nut straight. My opponent unhappily headed to the rail, mumbling in what I can only assume was a language associated with failure.
Shortly after, the chip leader (the good pro on my right) raised from the CO seat, I looked down and squeezed 7s6c4c... and thought to myself "one time can i have the 5 of spades with these..." ding ding ding, 5 of spades. I pop it to 6000, the blinds get out of the way, and after a quick count of my chips, he calls. The flop brought 9s8c3s. He checked to me, I considered checking back as any board with a 98 on it hits the range someone will flat a 3ball with fairly well, but eventually decided that I was happy enough to get it in should he CR me. I bet 10,000 - he instantly moved out 30,000 chips. I shrugged and moved the rest of my chips in, and he announced a call and turned over JdTd8s6d. I was a little surprised that he had such a low value starting hand; but it gave him a fairly easy CRAI spot on that flop. I figured i was around 60% to take the hand down, later I see that I am closer to 56%, but meh. The turn is the deuce of clubs. Could I have any more outs? (possibly...) - now, despite being behind his lowly one pair, I'm a 5/8 shot to win the hand, having 25 outs. I neglected to take into account though, that I was up against Jason Mercier, the guy who has run better than anyone in the world in the past 18 months, and obviously the river was the brick Kd. Jason went on to win the bracelet; that pot was for the chip lead with around 140 players left.
I trudged home somewhat dejected; but not unhappy with how I played.
Tuesday brought the $1500NL event, which Stevo, Tony and myself all played. Jay was busy sleeping and Watts decided to play the $2500 NL 2-7 SD later that afternoon.
My first table had Yevgeniy "Atimos" Timoshenko (winner of the WPT Grand Final this year, good for like $2.4mUSD) and Eric Mizrachi (the untalented brother of the untalented Michael "the grinder" Mizrachi). Luckily I had position on Atimos and the rest of the table appeared soft/weak. Unsurprisingly i was dealt virtually nothing playable but decided to float a guy I had identified as a mediocre internet player, that both boosted my confidence and kept me around starting stack after a couple of set mine attempts yielded nothing.
I noticed that our table was next to break, so decided to take advantage of the solid image I had built over the past two hours, and raised any two from the button and CO, winning both pots uncontested. Then I was dealt QQ in the HJ seat and raised the same amount. This time, Eric Mizrachi made a stand and flatted from the big blind. The flop was a boring T64r. He c/c my 60% pot bet. The turn brought an arguably more insignificant offsuit deuce; on which Mizrachi pounced, betting close to full pot. I laughed audibly at his play and moved my stack in, to which he insta-mucked.
Our table broke and I got moved to Scott "SCTrojans" Freeman's table over in Amazon Blue. The good part about being me is, he has no idea who I am, yet I know who he is and have a good insight into how he plays. Immediately upon sitting down I notice one gentleman has 3 full stacks of green $25 chips. This (for the non poker-savvy) indicates that he was taking down a large number of small pots. Instantly the CO raises, this gentleman flats from the button, and I look down at AJo in the BB. I call and we see a flop of 632r. I figure this missed my opponents (as indeed it had missed me), and that I would see quickly whether the CO had an overpair etc. I donk lead 700 into the pot of 1275. Pretty sure this is an ok bet size. The CO folds, but the aforementioned gentleman comes along. The turn is a repeat 6. I liked this card as there aren't many 6's in his range, and I have a 6 repped somewhat already. I bet again, 1200 or so from memory. He calls quite quickly. I am not delighted at this point as it appears he is being stubborn with a 77-88 type hand, or perhaps a pair+gutshot type hand and I was no longer sure if I had the ammunition to get him off it. Just as I was cursing the hastiness with which I had decided to make a move at a new table; the river peeled a 4. Final board reading 63264. My stack at this point is now approx 4400, and the pot is of a similar size. Basically I had to bet this card, continuing to try and sell the story I had been selling since the beginning of the hand. I figured the strongest looking play would be a small value bet rather than a shove (he had me well covered); so I bet 1600. He took around four minutes to finally fold, asking me many questions I could not hear given that I was listening to music. I decided the time was right to show him my hand; which is something I've been doing a lot less of lately, but I figured this guy would blow up and become volatile if I did so. I was proven right as he did not last a great deal longer, distributing his chips fairly evenly across the rest of the table.
Shortly before dinner, my table became interesting. Within around 20min of eachother, moorman1, petie_bigstacks, JoseBarbero, and ICuRaRook all came to the table. I did not expect to be the 6th best player at a table of 10 in a $1500NL event at WSOP (although, after the next few hours I could probly argue that 6th is quite conservative).
I busted moorman1 when he shoved his shortstack in from the SB with J9s and I called off with KTo. Sadly he looks nothing like his P5's picture otherwise I would have really given it to him (not so much for the hand as it was standard, but because I needle him online constantly and it would have livened up my evening).
I later raise UTG with AJss, to which JoseBarbero flatcalls (which i found odd as he had been 3betting a lot; but I guess my image was very snug). The flop brings 965dd. I'm not interested in making the pot any larger than it has to be, as Jose appeared to be a very tricky player capable of raising a flop like that against me with nothing. I check it over to him and he bets 2200, which was just shy of 2/3 pot. I call, being the calling station that I am, and we see a turn of 4s. I check the action over to him again, and realise that I'm not in an excellent spot in the hand, however my plan was to raise any bet he decided to make, as this would leave him little option but to fold pretty much everything but sets. He checks it back, and we see the Jd river. This is somewhat of a relief as I now have something more solid than Ace-High to show down (lol), but given his trickiness I'm not crazy about opening the betting and decide to just check and call should he bet. He checks and shows 88, and is disgusted when I show the AJ. Some heated chat ensued that I guess I got the better of and he busted shortly after with no hand. Better luck next time I guess Jose.
Later, SCTrojans plays two of the most unusual hands I've seen played by a pro. The first involves him check/3betting KJcc on a 9s4c3s flop against a super nit who CR the flop. After waving goodbye to most of his stack and flipping it back, he plays a hand against a tight old guy where he CRAI the turn with T8hh on a 7632 board. WP Scott, GG etc.
I got my stack to around 36,000 before losing two big flips, JJ losing to AK and JJ losing to AQ, and petie_bigstacks got the rest of it A6s losing to ATo bvb.
That night i finally got a good night's sleep and woke up refreshed on Wednesday at lunchtime, ready to grind the online schedule. Playing online is such a delight over here. Instead of 4am starts it's 11am starts. I love this aspect of America.
I pretty much failed all day on Wednesday, going 7/16 and losing $1k somehow.
Today was the $2000NL event. We arrived late and I sat at a table of what I had to assume were soft/weak players. I was not proven wrong as the next hour or so baffled me with it's ineptitude and inanity. Shortly into the 50/100 level the bald asian guy on my right raises the SB, i defend KTss in the BB. Flop K43r. He fires 500 into 600; where am I going? - the turn brings the 2s; I now have a spade draw to go with my top pair. Johnny Asia fires 600 into what is now 1600. I consider a raise given the small size of his bet but decide it would not really achieve much and elect to call again. The river is the 9d and he goes into the tank (starts thinking intently for a long period of time). His hands are visibly shaking as he eventually bets out like 1300 or 1600 or something... I call pretty quickly I guess and he shows me AA. Nice hand Asia. I'm pretty disappointed I didnt fold the river I guess, not because he happened to have AA, but I really only beat bluffs after he goes for 3 streets of value there, I guess if I had not noticed the physical tells I would have folded. Curses.
I came home after getting a charger for my phone and played a few tournies online. Soon into the session I realise I'm not in the mood to play and decide to either build a stack in my 3 remaining tournaments or bust trying. The Cake $109 busts easily enough with AK losing to KK, the Party 4109 was not as easy to bust, but I eventually got it in with A6hh on a 953hh board and bricked out. then the Stars $109 proved to be harder still. I got it in with AT against KK and won. Then I bluffed successfully what seemed to be 50 times, then I beat KK with AT again. At this point I realised that I was 4th in chips with 100 left ($10kUSD for 1st). I move tables to the immediate left of the chip leader, and shortly after my entire stack is in preflop with AK against his AK. I make a four card flush and by default have a giant stack (circa 58k on 150/300). I then get up to like 90k on 500/1000 when the poker gods decide to punish me for running good for a few minutes, and i endure A8 losing to JT, A4 losing to JT, AK losing to 77, then a guy stevo's me (flats KK-AA pre) but I lose the min, then same guy flats 76o from the sb when I raise QQ and looks like a genius when he stacks me on the 764r flop. WP SIR.
Then I started writing this blog.
Tomorrow is the $2500NL which I am looking forward to. With any luck I'll still be in that on Saturday otherwise I'll have to play the $550 at the Venetian as I'm not playing the $5000NL. Then again, maybe I'll just go to hooters and talk politics/religion.
Updates to follow etc.
Hope all is well wherever you are.
JD.
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