Double Event Recap!

Sorry for all the massive delays on my blogging. I really did have a tough time with the Internet once I left the Rio.

I am currently sitting in the airport waiting for my delayed flight out of Vegas. Given that fact I'm guessing you can figure out how my last tournament went. But for those of you who are still interested even though the drama is now over I'll give you a brief recap.

Let me start with the $1,500 shootout. This event was limited to exactly 1,000 players who all started 10 to a table. Each group of 10 played amongst themselves until only 1 remained. The 100 players who won their first table were then put at 10 tables of 10 where they repeated the same process. The final 10 players then came back the next day to play for the title. Winning your initial table was worth about $5,500 and that was my goal when I sat down.

I got stuck with a tough table. It was clear that 4 of the players at my table other than myself were poker pros who were in town to play a slew of tournaments. Luckily 3 of those players were the first three out!

I managed a quick double up and once most of the tough players were gone I was feeling pretty good about my chances. But then I lost a few all ins against short stacks and found myself back to about even.

About two and a half hours into the tournament I made a bold play that didn't work out. There were 6 of us left, the blinds were 100/200 and a player who had been raising very frequently raised to 500. I was in the big blind with about 3,000 chips and decided to put in another 300 to call with 67 of hearts.

The flop came down T 8 7 with one heart. I checked and my opponent bet 325 into the 1,100 chip pot. I thought for about 10 seconds and then moved all in for 2,500 expecting to win the 1,425 in the pot without a call. I was hoping he had big cards or even a pocket pair below 7 since I would be way ahead against both and would almost certainly win the pot right there. I'd been thinking about check raising all in no matter how much he bet and I thought that the 325 bet looked very weak. Also even if I was up against a hand like AT I'd have almost a 40% chance to win by making two pair, a straight or a flush.

Sadly my opponent had JJ and instantly called. This was a bad hand for me to be up against since a 9 (the one card I was almost sure would make me the best hand) would no longer make me a winner. I couldn't find a 6 or a 7 and I was out.

Now on to the $2,000 limit event! I started this tournament feeling extremely confident. All I've been doing for the past 6 months is playing limit hold 'em and my game felt really sharp. Another reason why I felt good was I knew no one hand early on would be then end of me and I'd have a chance to see plenty of hands before my fate was decided.

I started off at a GREAT table. No one there could play at all! I couldn't believe it. It was a weird combination of people that flat out hand no clue and a few others who I suspected were probably no limit players and were having trouble adjusting to the structured betting. Or maybe they were just all morons. Even though I got terrible cards for the first few hours I did make a flush and a top two pair and got crazy action on both.

At my best I was up to about 7,000 from my 4,000 chip starting stack. Around that time (about 3 hours into play) I got moved to a new table and discovered I was sitting right next to Phil Hellmuth!

Phil is arguably the most successful person in WSOP history. In addition to being the youngest world champ ever (he won the main event in 1989 at the age of 24) He has the most bracelets (11), the most money finishes (over 60) and the most final tables (an astounding over 40). This means that of all the WSOP events that have ever been played (a little over 600) he's made the money in 10% of them made the final table in about 7% of them and won about 1 in 60 of them. That is totally insane. He didn't even start playing until at least 14 years after the WSOP started and can't have played more than half since then!

Anyway while you never want to see skilled players at your table it's cool to play against one of the worlds best and see how he does things close up. I beat him out of one small pot, but other than that I never really got involved in a pot with him.

As soon as I got moved to that table I went totally card dead. I only saw one flop in 2 hours (about 70 hands)and I didn't fold anything that was even close.

About 5 hours into play I got moved again and found myself back to my 4,000 chip starting stack. The blinds were up to 150/300 and I finally found an hand. The button raised and I made it 900 to go with AQ in the small blind. The big blind folded and the flop came down 7 5 3. I bet and my opponent called. The turn was a 9 and I bet again. My opponent called again and the river was a J. I checked and he bet. I didn't have anything, but there was so much in the pot and it was only costing me 600 to call so I hand to do just that to police a bluff. My opponent flipped over A9 and took the pot.

If anything but a 9 comes on the turn I almost certainly win right there and there was only a 1 in 15 shot of a 9 coming on the turn. I waited 3 hours patiently to get my money in with the best of it and I feel like I succeeded even though I didn't win the pot.

After losing that one and going through the blinds again I was down to about 1,500 when I picked up AJ of diamonds on the button. The player to my right just called (a weird play), I raised and the small blind three bet. The first player just called and thinking I was pretty much committed I decided to make it 1,200 to go. Of course they both called and the flop came down 4 5 6 with two spades. The small blind checked, the other player bet, I went all in for my last 300, and the small blind called. The turn was an 8 and the action went check, call. The river was a ten and the action went check, bet, fold. My one remaining opponent turned over T7 of spades for a straight and I was out.

I have no idea why you would just call with T7 suited at this stage of the tournament and then call after a raise and a reraise. It made no sense. I don't know what the other player had and there's a good chance I would have lost all of my chips anyway, but it still sucks to lose to someone who has no clue.

I feel like if I played this tournament 100 times I'd have at least 30 finishes in the top 10%. I might have to focus on hitting some more limit tournaments in the near future.

Of course there was some other Vegas drama on the 3 days between tournaments. I'll fill you all in on that in my next post which should be sometime tomorrow or the next day. I'll also include a general recap of this years WSOP and give some final thoughts.

For my backers I'll send you an e-mail letting you know exactly how much money you're getting back in the next day or two. I lost $4,135 playing poker and I certainly used my $1,000 allotted for expenses so you'll all be getting back 60.5% (That's $7,865 which is what I had left of my $13,000 bankroll plus expenses divided by $13,000) of your investment. Not great, but better than zero. Thanks again for taking a chance on me!