Event #9 ($1,500 NL Six Handed) Recap

Sorry for the delay in my recap. After I was done playing yesterday I went out for some traditional Vegas style fun with E.B. and didn't make it back to my room until around 5 am. Don't worry I'm not playing any poker today!

Also sorry for any typos in the post I had to put it up quickly before the kick me out of the Rio!

We started with 1,262 players all looking to get their hands on the $370,000+ first place prize and I got off to a great start. In the first half an hour or so I picked up AK, the flop came A high and I managed to get all of the chips of the poor fellow who had A3 and got a little out of line. An early double up is a HUGE advantage. Since everyone else at my table still only around 3,000 chips (which is how much we all started with) and I had close to 6,000 even if I lost a big hand, until someone else managed to accumulate some chips the worst I could end up after even a terrible hand was back where I started.

A few hand later I busted the fellow who came to replace the one who was already out the door. He made a standard raise and I just called with 77. The flop came 8 5 4, he made a big bet and I moved all in. I was figuring that it was unlikely that he hit that flop given that he came in raising in first position and even if he did hit a piece of it I thought it would be tough for him to call all of his chips. He thought for a long time after I put him all in, but he finally called with K8. Luckily the turn was a 6 making me a straight!

I won a few other little pots and was up to about 10,000 chips 90 minutes in, when my next major hand came up. One player just called the 100 chip big blind, I raised to 350 with KK and both the button and the other player just called. The flop came down T 9 5 with two hearts, the first player to act bet 400 and I made it 2,500 to go which was just enough to put him all in. To my dismay the button who had the second most chips on the table moved all in for about 6,000. The first player folded and I had a big decision to make. After about 90 seconds of thought I decided to call and he showed me 99 for three of a kind. The turn put up another 9 and I was back to where I started at around 3,000 chips.

After coming back from break I got very lucky. With the blinds at 100/200 the player on the button just called as did the small blind and with 2,700 in my stack I looked down at 97 suited in the big blind. The two callers were both VERY weak players and I thought to myself "There's no way these guys can call if I move all in." So that's what I did. And the player on the button INSTANTLY called. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! He turned over AK suited which put my at about a 2 to 1 underdog. But the flop came with a 9, no aces or king showed up and I was in business.

On the very next hand a player moved all in for 1,200 with 55, I called him with A8, I flopped and 8 and took him down. Then three or four hand later I got KK again. My buddy who'd made four of a kind the last time I had pocked kings raised, I reraised and he moved all in. This time there was no doubt about what I should do and I instantly called. He turned over two tens and I doubled up again!

I went from 2,700 to 14,000 in just under 10 minutes! That was pretty awesome. The average stack was still less than 5,000 and I was again in great shape.

For the next few hours I waded my way though the tournament with no major memorable pots, but I did make some progress. After about 4 hours of play I got moved to a new table and while I wasn't the big stack at my table any more I was still aggressive. I made a few nice bluffs, won a few small pots, and gradually made it up to 21,000 chips.

Now I was starting to think about making the money. We were down to about 250 players with the top 126 getting paid and I knew that if I could just maintain my stack let alone pick up more chips I'd have 2/3 of average when we made it to the money.

After close to 6 hours of play just before the 90 minute dinner break I had a major hand come up. The blinds were 200/400 and I was first to act. I looked down to see that I had AA! Pocked aces baby! Somebody get crazy! I raised to 1,200 and after some thought the guy to my left moved all in for 10,000!!! This is the kind of stuff you dream about. The thing that's so powerful about AA is NO MATTER WHAT HE HAD he'd be no better than 20% to win.

After everyone else folded I double checked my hand to make sure it wasn't actually A4 and then I called. My opponent let out a big sigh and turned over K9 off suit. King nine? What!? This was a totally insane thing to do, but sometimes people just lose their focus.

The flop came down 9 7 3, the turn was a ten and the river was...a king! AHHHHHHHHHHH! If I'd won that pot I would have had over 35,000 chips and instead I was down to about 12,000. At least I had the whole dinner break to try and forget about that hand.

Jake, Chrissy, and Chrissy's brother James came over from the MGM where they are staying to join me for dinner at Buzio's which is a great seafood restaurant here at the Rio. I had some crab cake and some sea bass and then in was back to business!

When I came back from dinner we were down to 192 players, but I knew I'd needed to make some progress to make it to the top 126. The blinds were 300/600 with a 50 chip ante so if I just sat there every 6 hands would cost me 1,200 and I'd quickly get ground down. But that's just what I did. Again through a series of blind steals and small pots I made it back over 20,000.

Then I started to regress. Getting so close to the money I didn't want to take too many chances and my stack started to slowly erode. By our next break after 8 hours of play and ten and half hours after the first card was dealt I was back down to 12,000. But we were down to 127 players! One short of the money. At that point I knew I had it.

In the hand just before we went on break there was high drama at my table. The player to my right who had about 20,000 chips raised to 2,000 the player to his left (who had 30,000 chips) made it 6,000 to go. The first player counted his chips and thought and then thought some more and then moved all in. The fellow with more chips instantly called and turned over AA. The other guy turned over KK and put his head down on the table in a sign of defeat. The flop brought all small cards, the turn was a blank and the river was...a king! The guy who won screamed "YEEESSSSSSS!" and put his arm up in the air. After the turn card came there was only a 1 in 23 shot of a king coming on the river and instead of being the last one out before the money, that guy made it to day 2.

When we got back from break we lost that last player and I was in the money! Yay! 126th paid about $2,300 but I was hoping to go a little deeper.

I got aggressive and ran my stack back up to 20,000. Then with the blinds at 500/1000 with a 100 chip ante I picked up AK and raised to 3,500. The player two to my left (the guy who'd lost with the AA to KK) moved all in for about 25,000. This was a big decision and if we'd been just short of the money I would have folded. In fact I'd never had my whole stack in the pot since I beat AK with 97 (if you never get your whole stack in there you can never go broke!). I thought it was likely he had a pair like JJ. I was confident that if he'd had AA or KK (which were the only hands I was really worried about) he would have made a smaller reraise and I thought there was some chance he might hand AQ or AJ which would put me at about 70% to win. So I called. He turned over AQ (YES!) and the flop came with a king (double YES!).

All of a sudden I was up to 40,000 and starting to dream big. But I lost back 10,000 on the very next hand with 99 against 33 (he made a straight) and then I went kind of card dead.

5 minutes before the end of Day 1 with about 25,000 left I picked up JJ on the button. I raised, the small blind reraised and I moved all in. He had KK and just like that I was done.

I finished in 76th place and got paid $3,205 which was profit of $1,700. It was a long day (it was about 1 in the morning when I went broke), but a successful one.

Now I'm off to the Bellagio! No tournament today, but I'll be back in the saddle on Saturday. I'll try to put up a preview before the tournament starts.