DAY 2 AT THE MAIN EVENT – FINALLY A GOOD TABLE
As I opened my bag of chips and wished I had more to stack
I looked around the table and it sure seemed like a much easier table. No one looked like a professional and there
certainly seemed to be a few recreational players seated. If I could get some good fortune early this
might be a good opportunity for me. I
immediately looked at the chip stacks around the table and noticed that the
player in S1 (I was in S9 so he was to my left with the dealer seated between
us) had 5000 chips or so. This equated
to 10bb and thus I could not open a pot unless I was prepared to call his all
in bet.) On the second hand I was dealt
99 and I raised to 1200. After a short
deliberation S1 moved all in. Everyone
else folded and I immediately called as described. He turned over 77 and we had a few more chips!
A couple hands later I opened to
1200 with AJ and the table chip leader called from the button. The flop came 4h5h6. This is not a great flop for me on many levels:
- This flop isn’t likely to hit me
- This flop could much easier connect with the player that called as his range of calling hands would include these cards much more so than my raising hands would
- Even if he didn’t connect with this flop he could apply maximum pressure on me with his chip stack and I would be hard pressed to play for all my chips even with an over pair.
For these reasons I checked and
folded to his bet. He voluntarily
turned over 77 to show me he wasn’t bluffing.
When a player shows his hand like this often times he’s telling you that
he had a real hand and doesn’t want any confrontation in future hands. The best players won’t show you their cards
and will keep you guessing. I wasn’t
impressed that he showed in this spot and it further validated my suspicion
that these were not world class players at the table.
The very next hand I opened utg
to 1200 with AK. The next player
called, and we were heads up to see a flop of Q44. This flop is much different than the previous flop. It is very possible I could connect with the
Q and it is much less likely my opponent hit this flop. I continued with a bet of ½ pot and he
called. The turn was a 6. I really felt like there was a good chance
he was “floating me” on the flop. To
float means to call a bet and see what you are going to do on the next
action. With my limited chips I
couldn’t really afford to fire again without a hand, but given that I knew he
knew this I put out a bet of 3200 and he quickly mucked his hand. It’s very possible I had the best hand
anyways with AK but I couldn’t afford to check and let him fire a bet. That would leave me guessing and in a pretty
tough spot. I also knew he saw me check
and fold on the previous flop so for me to fire the flop and turn in this case
had to look very strong to him and might even get him to fold a pair under the
Q. A win for the good guys!
And wouldn’t you know it. My fifteen minutes of glory with an easy
table came to an end. A tournament
director came over and broke our table and sent us off to a new seat. (As players get eliminated from the
tournament, their seats are randomly filled with players that come from tables
that get broken. The order that tables
break is something that is pre-determined prior to the start of the
event.) And my new seat would be….
JC TRAN, BARRY GREENSTEIN, AND
THE TOURNAMNET CHIP LEADER
Nothing like getting moved to an easy table! Two of the best players in the world and an
unknown player with well over 200k chips on my right were awaiting my arrival. No problem. I was ready to battle! It was interesting observing JC Tran play. He opened a lot of pots, and if he ever
opened a pot and was three bet he would call and see a flop, even if out of
position. He never gave up his chips
easily. He also flopped a set of 44
against an amateur who held AK and doubled up on a board of 48A6T board. It must be nice to be a pro…. but I will say this: JC really knows what he's doing. Before the hand where he doubled up he definitely was on the tighter side when he didn't have as many chips; as soon as he doubled up he started playing more hands. That is exactly how you are supposed to play. I would love to have seen the quality of his starting hands; he must have been opening pots with plenty of weaker hands. However, I also saw him make plenty of big hands as well. He flopped trips, top two pair, top pair many times; I don't care how skilled you are you need to make hands to get chips to win tournaments. The following are most of the fun/key hands I played while at this table:
I was in S1; the chip leader was in S9 and was quite active. On one hand it folded to him in the sb and he raised it to 1300 at 250/500. It is VERY standard practice for the sb to raise when folded to him and this guy had a ton of chips so why wouldn't he?! I looked down at T5h and rr to 3000. He took a little while and then folded. I thought it was important to let him (and the table) know that I wasn't going to be a pushover. (Note: if I looked at T5 off suit I probably would have folded it. I know there's not much difference between the two hands but a suited hand does hold some good flop potential and it's always good to have at least a little back up when putting your chips out there!)
JC raised from early position and I called from the bb with KJs. There's no chance I can fold that hand given the activity level of JC; in fact you could probably argue for a three bet but calling was just fine. The flop came 8 high with two spades. We both checked. The turn was a K. I thought this was a good chance to represent a K and fire a bet in case he didn't have anything. I checked, he bet 1500 and I called. The river was a spade and I led out for 3000. He took a long time and finally called. I showed my hand and he flashed me a K as he mucked. (After the hand he told me at the table he almost mucked it on the river and on break he told me in private that my KJ was good without the flush.)
JC raised from early position (surprise surprise!), Barry G called from S8 and I called on the button with Q9h. I have position and a hand that's plenty good enough to play against JC's opening range. The flop came KJT! Yes, I had to take a double look but I definitely liked what I saw!! JC checked, BG bet 1/2 the pot and I called. JC folded. (JC played it very well; he knew those big cards could easily hit one of us so a continuation bet would have just been a waste of chips. He let us take control of the hand, then made an easy decision to fold. If he was heads up he might have taken a shot at the pot.) The turn was a 4s putting a 2nd spade on the board. BG checked, I bet maybe 1/2 pot and he check-raised me all in. I instantly got my chips in the pot and he said "I can't have the best hand". He showed KQ and I doubled up after the river. Note: I wasn't a big fan of how BG played the hand; I don't know what hand he would expect me to bet/fold the turn that he could beat, especially with my chip count. Also, I made the easy decision when the flop came out that if someone held AQ then I was going to be eliminated on this hand.
Before this hand came up JC had told Barry that I was a golf coach and the table chatter was on after that. Barry couldn't stop talking about golf! Turns out he was an outstanding junior player and still can rip it. A good 20-30 minutes of golf chatter came to a screeching halt after my Q9h hand...
Once I got chips I got to work on making more. It was folded to me in the cutoff and I raised 1400 (300/600) with T8. JC called from the bb. The flop came 7d4d2. JC checked, I bet 1700 and he called. The turn was a 3 and we both checked. The river was a 7. He checked again, and my first instinct was to give up. However.....
Later S9 opened from middle position to 1400. I looked down at KQs and the following thoughts came to my head:
OFF TO A NEW TABLE OF....
Seven young American and foreign aggressive professional poker players, one fish and me at my new table. Seriously. It's not enough I haven't flopped a set in four Main Events now; it's not enough I've been card dead (except for running AK into AA); now I have another brutal table?! Where the hell are all the soft tables!! Before I wrap up the final details of my 2012 Main Event, I need to talk about
MAYBE THE FUNNIEST HAND I"VE EVER WITNESSED
Seat 5 was a guy that had gone up to Derrick on break and said hello. By coincidence he was seated at this table. (I was in S8). I texted Derrick to ask about his play. His response "fish". You are about to get a first hand look at Derrick's spot on analysis! S9 opened with a raise from early position. There were a couple calls and S5 called from the blind. S5 had about 100,000 in his stack and S9 had him covered. The flop came down KdQdJ. S5 checked, S9 bet 2000, the others folded and S5 IMMEDIATELY check-raised 6000. S9 called. The turn was 5h. They both checked quickly. The river was another small non-diamond card. S5 led out with a bet of 13,000. S9 thought for awhile and raised to 30,000. The action came back to S5 who went deep into the tank. He looked really stressed while he was thinking. I was following the action of the hand and was wondering if there was any way possible S9 was running a river bluff. Finally, after long thought, S5 moved all in! Here's where it got hilarious. S9 IMMEDIATELY CALLED and before he got a chance to turn his hand over S5 asked the dealer with an incredulous look on his face "He called!?" And when the dealer confirmed this he took his hand and tossed it up in the air and into the muck BEFORE S9 EVER TABLED HIS HAND! HA!! I don't care what he had you are now out of the tournament. You have to turn your hand over! S9 showed the nuts AT. S5 left the table and I really wonder what poker story he told all his buddies as to how he busted from the Main Event! For the next 20 minutes the table couldn't stop talking about what they had just witnessed. When I came back from dinner break the table was again talking about that hand! An instant classic. Thank you Seat 5 for a memorable moment.
Back to the tourney, I arrived with about 23-25bb and it was really tough to get into a pot. There was raising and 3 betting galore, and I never received a hand with which to battle. On one hand it folded to me on the button and I raised with J3, figuring I had to get in there and get the blinds and antes. The sb (recipient of the gift above) flat called, and we saw a flop where I completely whiffed and fired a c-bet. He called. We both checked the turn. He bet the river and after I mucked he showed me KK. Must be nice... When I was down to around 17bb I raised on the button with AK. The sb tossed out a single 5000 chip to raise, but he didn't announce raise so by rule it was just a call. I REALLY wanted the raise to stand so I could move all in but it was just a call. The flop came QT9. He bet around 1/2 the pot and I called. The turn was a blank. He bet again and I mucked my hand. He showed me JJ. Must be nice.... later on I was down to 12bb and moved all in on consecutive hands with QTh and AQ. Those won the blinds but nothing more.
The cards were so bad that I got into a nice discussion about whether I should have moved all in pre-flop with 14.8bb and J9d. The consensus was to let it go and wait one more round. I did fold it. One thing I did NOT consider - which I should have - was the difficulty of my table. Given that there were just not any weak links at the table I think I would go ahead and ship it next time and buy myself another round. If I got called at least I have cards that should not be dominated and have a reasonable chance of winning and getting me a much needed double up.
I was down to the 11-12 bb range and a couple times folded A7 and A5 to an opening raise. I bring these hands up because my main concern when moving all in with a marginal hand is I want to have fold equity. If I can win the hand when everyone else folds then it more than makes up for the times I get called and am in bad shape. However, I suspect there was a good enough chance my A7 and A5 hands might have been best at that table against those opponents, and even though I didn't have fold equity in three betting a 12bb stack into a player that opened with 300,000 chips, next time I will make a much stronger consideration of getting it in the middle if I think I MIGHT be ahead.
Finally, down to around 6-7 bb a player in late position opened. I looked at 64s in the bb and was willing to gamble with live cards. I didn't have any fold equity left and who knows if I would see such a good hand again! haha He showed AQ and the board ran 8s22s X X and my 2012 Main Event was over. I grabbed my back pack, walked over to wish Derrick luck as he was still playing, and walked out of the Rio. I got in the taxi where the cab driver was cranking 80's rock and headed back to the Venetian. Very happy; no regrets. I battled my ass off and never gave up. One of these years things are going to go well and we're going to do great things! I learned a lot and will do a quick recap in my next post.
I was in S1; the chip leader was in S9 and was quite active. On one hand it folded to him in the sb and he raised it to 1300 at 250/500. It is VERY standard practice for the sb to raise when folded to him and this guy had a ton of chips so why wouldn't he?! I looked down at T5h and rr to 3000. He took a little while and then folded. I thought it was important to let him (and the table) know that I wasn't going to be a pushover. (Note: if I looked at T5 off suit I probably would have folded it. I know there's not much difference between the two hands but a suited hand does hold some good flop potential and it's always good to have at least a little back up when putting your chips out there!)
JC raised from early position and I called from the bb with KJs. There's no chance I can fold that hand given the activity level of JC; in fact you could probably argue for a three bet but calling was just fine. The flop came 8 high with two spades. We both checked. The turn was a K. I thought this was a good chance to represent a K and fire a bet in case he didn't have anything. I checked, he bet 1500 and I called. The river was a spade and I led out for 3000. He took a long time and finally called. I showed my hand and he flashed me a K as he mucked. (After the hand he told me at the table he almost mucked it on the river and on break he told me in private that my KJ was good without the flush.)
JC raised from early position (surprise surprise!), Barry G called from S8 and I called on the button with Q9h. I have position and a hand that's plenty good enough to play against JC's opening range. The flop came KJT! Yes, I had to take a double look but I definitely liked what I saw!! JC checked, BG bet 1/2 the pot and I called. JC folded. (JC played it very well; he knew those big cards could easily hit one of us so a continuation bet would have just been a waste of chips. He let us take control of the hand, then made an easy decision to fold. If he was heads up he might have taken a shot at the pot.) The turn was a 4s putting a 2nd spade on the board. BG checked, I bet maybe 1/2 pot and he check-raised me all in. I instantly got my chips in the pot and he said "I can't have the best hand". He showed KQ and I doubled up after the river. Note: I wasn't a big fan of how BG played the hand; I don't know what hand he would expect me to bet/fold the turn that he could beat, especially with my chip count. Also, I made the easy decision when the flop came out that if someone held AQ then I was going to be eliminated on this hand.
Before this hand came up JC had told Barry that I was a golf coach and the table chatter was on after that. Barry couldn't stop talking about golf! Turns out he was an outstanding junior player and still can rip it. A good 20-30 minutes of golf chatter came to a screeching halt after my Q9h hand...
Once I got chips I got to work on making more. It was folded to me in the cutoff and I raised 1400 (300/600) with T8. JC called from the bb. The flop came 7d4d2. JC checked, I bet 1700 and he called. The turn was a 3 and we both checked. The river was a 7. He checked again, and my first instinct was to give up. However.....
- clearly my hand wasn't strong enough to win a showdown
- I would play 55/66/88/99 etc the same way and value bet the river
- in our previous hand I bet double the previous bet and showed the nuts.
Later S9 opened from middle position to 1400. I looked down at KQs and the following thoughts came to my head:
- He is opening a lot of pots so KQs is very likely the best hand, so make him pay
- If he does have a hand that dominates me I can find out with a re-raise right now for cheap
- My stack size was such that I didn't want to call him, flop a pair, then get stuck calling at least two bets. Let's say I call and the flop comes Q95. He bets I call. Turn is whatever. He bets bigger I call. River is whatever. He puts me all in. My stack size was such that this is about how the betting would have gone. I certainly didn't want to get in this spot. If I was super deep and could afford three bets then a pre-flop call is pretty easy.
- KQ is a shit hand to call with!
- I had been playing very tight and should get enough respect with a 3 bet to find out if my hand was good
OFF TO A NEW TABLE OF....
Seven young American and foreign aggressive professional poker players, one fish and me at my new table. Seriously. It's not enough I haven't flopped a set in four Main Events now; it's not enough I've been card dead (except for running AK into AA); now I have another brutal table?! Where the hell are all the soft tables!! Before I wrap up the final details of my 2012 Main Event, I need to talk about
MAYBE THE FUNNIEST HAND I"VE EVER WITNESSED
Seat 5 was a guy that had gone up to Derrick on break and said hello. By coincidence he was seated at this table. (I was in S8). I texted Derrick to ask about his play. His response "fish". You are about to get a first hand look at Derrick's spot on analysis! S9 opened with a raise from early position. There were a couple calls and S5 called from the blind. S5 had about 100,000 in his stack and S9 had him covered. The flop came down KdQdJ. S5 checked, S9 bet 2000, the others folded and S5 IMMEDIATELY check-raised 6000. S9 called. The turn was 5h. They both checked quickly. The river was another small non-diamond card. S5 led out with a bet of 13,000. S9 thought for awhile and raised to 30,000. The action came back to S5 who went deep into the tank. He looked really stressed while he was thinking. I was following the action of the hand and was wondering if there was any way possible S9 was running a river bluff. Finally, after long thought, S5 moved all in! Here's where it got hilarious. S9 IMMEDIATELY CALLED and before he got a chance to turn his hand over S5 asked the dealer with an incredulous look on his face "He called!?" And when the dealer confirmed this he took his hand and tossed it up in the air and into the muck BEFORE S9 EVER TABLED HIS HAND! HA!! I don't care what he had you are now out of the tournament. You have to turn your hand over! S9 showed the nuts AT. S5 left the table and I really wonder what poker story he told all his buddies as to how he busted from the Main Event! For the next 20 minutes the table couldn't stop talking about what they had just witnessed. When I came back from dinner break the table was again talking about that hand! An instant classic. Thank you Seat 5 for a memorable moment.
Back to the tourney, I arrived with about 23-25bb and it was really tough to get into a pot. There was raising and 3 betting galore, and I never received a hand with which to battle. On one hand it folded to me on the button and I raised with J3, figuring I had to get in there and get the blinds and antes. The sb (recipient of the gift above) flat called, and we saw a flop where I completely whiffed and fired a c-bet. He called. We both checked the turn. He bet the river and after I mucked he showed me KK. Must be nice... When I was down to around 17bb I raised on the button with AK. The sb tossed out a single 5000 chip to raise, but he didn't announce raise so by rule it was just a call. I REALLY wanted the raise to stand so I could move all in but it was just a call. The flop came QT9. He bet around 1/2 the pot and I called. The turn was a blank. He bet again and I mucked my hand. He showed me JJ. Must be nice.... later on I was down to 12bb and moved all in on consecutive hands with QTh and AQ. Those won the blinds but nothing more.
The cards were so bad that I got into a nice discussion about whether I should have moved all in pre-flop with 14.8bb and J9d. The consensus was to let it go and wait one more round. I did fold it. One thing I did NOT consider - which I should have - was the difficulty of my table. Given that there were just not any weak links at the table I think I would go ahead and ship it next time and buy myself another round. If I got called at least I have cards that should not be dominated and have a reasonable chance of winning and getting me a much needed double up.
I was down to the 11-12 bb range and a couple times folded A7 and A5 to an opening raise. I bring these hands up because my main concern when moving all in with a marginal hand is I want to have fold equity. If I can win the hand when everyone else folds then it more than makes up for the times I get called and am in bad shape. However, I suspect there was a good enough chance my A7 and A5 hands might have been best at that table against those opponents, and even though I didn't have fold equity in three betting a 12bb stack into a player that opened with 300,000 chips, next time I will make a much stronger consideration of getting it in the middle if I think I MIGHT be ahead.
Finally, down to around 6-7 bb a player in late position opened. I looked at 64s in the bb and was willing to gamble with live cards. I didn't have any fold equity left and who knows if I would see such a good hand again! haha He showed AQ and the board ran 8s22s X X and my 2012 Main Event was over. I grabbed my back pack, walked over to wish Derrick luck as he was still playing, and walked out of the Rio. I got in the taxi where the cab driver was cranking 80's rock and headed back to the Venetian. Very happy; no regrets. I battled my ass off and never gave up. One of these years things are going to go well and we're going to do great things! I learned a lot and will do a quick recap in my next post.
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