I'm back to writing! The WSOP has ended so time to catch up on my tournament updates. I will do my best to remember details and specifics - and being the poker junkie that I am I suspect I will remember quite a bit - but some of the information, especially bet and pot sizes, will be off a bit for my next few posts. I'm also going to write my hands under categories of topics that came up that I think are important. Here we go...
THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAYING THE FIRST TWO LEVELS
My satellite ended in plenty of time to get some food and head over to the Palazzo to take my seat for the Friday $1100 Venetian Deep Stack tournament. We started with 15,000 chips and one hour levels. Unlike Thursday, when I decided not to enter the tournament because I missed the first two levels of the tournament (my satellite ran long), on this day I was there for every hand. In my opinion it's really important to play these levels as bad players will make big mistakes when deep stacked; today we were the recipient of a couple of these.
Hand 1: A player in seat 6 raised from the hijack position, and I re-raised from the cutoff with AQ. (Circumstances were such that I had been three betting quite a bit so far this tourney; in fact this was the third time I had 3 bet this particular player.) The small blind called, S6 called and the flop came AJ6 with two diamonds. Both players checked, I bet about half the pot, and after the small blind folded S6 check-raised all in. His bet represented a large portion of my stack but he had just lost a big pot to a bad player; could he be on tilt? More importantly, what can beat me? He most likely doesn't have AK because he re-raises with that pre-flop; AJ beats me but not much else. Players with sets try to milk you for all they can so they aren't going to check-raise all in and try to get you to fold. My best guess is he has a flush draw which means we're ahead, so we call. He turns over Ad4c! I would have never guessed that one!! The turn gave him a flush draw but he missed the river and we won a big pot. A good player would never call out of position with a bad AX hand and his chip stack; he would also never check-raise all in on the flop because if his bet gets called he is crushed. A gift for us.
Hand 2: A little later with the blinds 100/200 I raised to 450 with 88. The next player in S8 called, and S9 rr 1500. S9 was a very poor player and if I hit my set I could crack him for all his chips. I didn't know much about S8 at the time as he was just moved to our table. I chose to call (I may have the best hand if I am up against AK) and S8 called as well. The pot was now 4800. The flop came K84 - KABOOM! We are first to act; what should we do? We can check here, but it is so likely we are up against AK that I think leading out is better. If we bet and he raises us he will have a lot of chips committed to the pot and will find folding pretty tough. If we check-raise the flop the bad player will have only put one bet into the pot and might find a way to fold. If the flop came 982 I would check as I would want my opponents to hopefully catch up on the turn. I chose to bet 2200. S8 called and unfortunately S9 folded. (Later he claimed TT which makes sense.) The pot is now 9200. The turn was a J and this time I led 4500, leaving myself an all in bet behind. My goal is to slowly attach my opponent to the pot so by the river he will have so much invested he will make a crying call. My opponent however moved all in! I have an easy call and assume I am up against 44. He turns over KJs for top two pair. He misses the river and we are up to over 30,000 chips early in the tournament. Again, I considered this a gift from a poorer player as losing your entire stack with KJ early on is not what you will find a good player doing.
PLAYING A BIG STARTING HAND AGAINST ANOTHER DEEP STACKED OPPONENT
I had been opening and 3 betting a lot of hands so far, and at this level (probably 100/200/25 or somewhere around here) I raised utg with QQ. The button 3 bet me. We both had well over 100bb in front of us. This was also the third time he had three bet me on the button. I can certainly re-raise him here, but if I somehow find a way to get all the chips in pre-flop I doubt QQ is ever the best hand when we are both this deep. Also, given he has 3 bet me for the third time I think there's a decent chance his hand isn't that strong, and as such, I want to give him a chance to bluff some chips to me. I just call his 3bet and the flop comes 332. I check and call a 1/2 pot bet by him. For the same reasoning as before the flop, I chose not to check-raise him here. The turn came the dreaded A, and after I checked, he deliberated and checked behind. The river was also an A, and I check called a 2/5 pot bet to see he beat me with AK. The result wasn't desirable but I am fine with how I played the hand, other than calling the river. When he was thinking on the turn I sure thought he was deciding what to do with his top pair he just made. Unfortunately when the A came on the river the math major in me told me it's less likely he had an A in his hand since two were on the board and I paid him off. I wasn't very proud of my river call but with the line I took in the hand I think it is an ok call.
PLAYING THE BAD PLAYER CORRECTLY
In level 3 or 4 a player from middle position raised and there was one caller. I was in the small blind with JTc. This certainly was a good spot to squeeze and fire out a 3bet, but I decided after the 5bet fold at the end of level two (see below) I would make my next 3bet with a big hand as I was unlikely to get much respect. The bb in S9 called and we saw a flop of AhKh9. We all checked. The turn was an 8, giving me a two way straight draw. I bet about 2/5 of the pot, hoping to win it right now, but also building a pot in case I hit on the river. It is very credible for me to have AX here; I would check the flop trying to control the size of the pot and now I would bet to protect or get value for my hand. The poor player in S9 raised me. The others folded and now it was on me. I think he has some kind of value hand (top pair, two pair, etc.) as he had shown a proclivity to bet big with a draw. Since he checked the flop I don't think he has a flush draw. I have a lot of chips and I could use my stack to push him off his hand. This is a bad play against a poor player. One thing that makes a player bad is that he/she cannot fold value hands. The much better play here is to call his raise and hope to hit the river. If I hit I am going to check to him and then check raise him big and get most if not all of his stack. Unfortunately I bricked the river and check folded when he bet. He showed me the As after I folded. When I sent a text out about this hand Will (former golfer, WSOP bracelet winner and now my poker consultant - who has never beat me heads up and I have a signed True Romance DVD as proof, but I digress...) sent me back a note "setting up the check-raise bluff on the river when a third heart hits, I love it!" This is why I love to send out texts of my hands, because I get back great feedback that I can use later in the tournament. Now, this play wouldn't have worked, because if a third heart did hit, S9 would have immediately checked behind me. That's another trait of a bad player; they miss a lot of value bets. However, the important point is that Will was thinking about a plan for the hand other than hitting your card. I admit I had no such plan. Shame on me! Given that I felt he was not on a flush draw because of his river check, I should have been thinking about a plan on the turn for a river heart. My plan should have been to lead out and fire BIG if a heart hit, and to check raise if my straight cards came in. Will's point about having a plan for the flush was absolutely spot on. Guess that's why he has a bracelet!?
NOTE: Later on S5 went bust when he check raised S9 all in with a board of 97d73d. S9 IMMEDIATELY called with AA and S5 showed a flush draw that missed. It might seem like you have fold equity with a big check raise on a draw, but against the bad players you don't. S5 should have check called the turn and hammered in a big bet if he hit his river flush. He would have been paid off handsomely. He busted himself here for no reason. You have to play each hand against the particular player in the pot at that time.
HOW BEING THE AGGRESSOR PAYS OFF (OR DOES IT?)
As it turned out I was raising and three betting a lot of hands early on. Early on I 3bet from the cutoff with A4d. Calling with this hand and then check-folding on the flop when it whiffed just seemed so unappealing! Instead, the raiser called my 3bet and folded on the flop when we both whiffed but I bet. Shortly thereafter I 3bet in position again, this time with AA. Unfortunately I got no action as everyone folded! I 3bet with AJ, with another weak hand I don't remember, then the AQ hand I wrote about above. At the end of the 2nd level a young player in S5 raised. I 3bet with T8s. He 4bet me, and I chose to 5bet him to around 3000. This bet represented about 20% of his stack and if he were to continue with the hand he would be putting his entire stack at risk. He moved all in and I released my hand pretty quickly. I definitely could have just called pre-flop and played this hand in position, hoping to hit something big. But for only 3000 chips (less than 10% of my stack) I added to the aggressive profile I was creating and hopefully it would pay off many times over later on. (It's important to note my hoping he folds is optimistic at best; it is only level 2 so he shouldn't be 4bet bluffing with a lot of hands, although he certainly was the right type to do so - he was young! I would never try this type of play at this stage without my chip stack nor without the correct opponent.) When we got back from break I sent Derrick a text and told him my next 3bet would be with the goods. I passed on a 3bet opportunity with JTc (see above) but later a hand came up where S5 raised, S6 (a new player to the table) flat called, and I 3bet with J8d. S1 in the bb 4 bet, and after S5 folded, S6 moved all in! I folded and S1 instantly folded. I think they were all waiting for me there!! The next time around S5 again raised and this time I 3bet with JJ in the cutoff. It folded to S1 and he looked at me and just laughed and mucked his hand. S5 called and the flop came KhJ9h. He check folded to my small bet.
Finally, the payoff comes. Or does it? S1 raised to 600 from utg (blinds 150/300/25). I got the goods - AA - and 3bet to 1500. This was so perfect because a 3bet from the button is such a stealing spot. Combine this with my aggression factor this tourney and this could be the spot we've worked this entire tournament to get. He called and the pot was about 3700. He had 11,000 left in his stack so the stack to pot ratio (spr) was under 3:1. This is a glorious spot for AA and my goal now is to figure out how to get his entire stack into the pot. The flop came J84. He check called a 1500 bet from me. The turn was a T and now he led out 3200 chips! I'm not sure how this card helped him but I ain't folding, so I put him all in and he instantly called with 97h! OH NO!!! He hit a miracle four outer on the turn and took a big chunk of chips from me. It's important to point out that S1 was a very good player and he had a plan for this hand besides just hitting a four outer. He absolutely was going to check raise me all in on the turn if he missed, figuring he had enough fold equity given the amount I was three betting. It really sucks in poker when your plan comes together only to have the deck throw it all back in your face. Derrick lost a monster pot in an earlier WSOP event when he had the opponent all in with his AKd vs his KQc. His play during the tournament set up this situation, only to see a Q flop and save his opponent who had played his hand so poorly.
THE END
That big loss knocked me down to where I had to be much tighter and wait for a good spot. A great spot came up when I got it all in with QQ vs AQ, but an A on the flop knocked me out.
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