WSOP Main Event Recap

It’s been over a week now since my 2012 WSOP Main Event so I’ve had plenty of time to reflect.  Most of my key hands were documented in my previous blogs and I am very satisfied with how I played them.  On the hands I “screwed up” I’ve discussed them with poker friends, identified my errors and feel confident I will play them much better when those situations come up in the future.  I think there are a couple of areas that I am looking forward to improving on in future tournaments:

THE LUCK FACTOR

Poker is a game of skill, no doubt about it.  However, within the game there is certainly a factor of luck involved, and I haven’t been getting my fair share of it in the Main Events I’ve played so far!  Your table draw is one factor of luck.  The three tables I played on this ME were loaded with tremendous players.  (I played on a fourth table the beginning of Day 2 and it looked like a very promising table but we only saw about eight hands before our table broke.)  Conversely, both Gregg and Derrick had very easy tables for their Day 1 and were able to find spots to accumulate chips much easier.   Another factor of luck is getting big hands.  This makes the fourth consecutive Main Event where I have not flopped a set. Is that even possible?!  I figure I’ve played 16+16+12+18=62 hours of poker in the Main Event.  I would love to know where I stand on the normal distribution curve with respect to flopping zero sets in 62 hrs of poker!  (Note: flopping a set is not a guaranteed win; I actually folded 44 pre-flop Day 2 this year and would have flopped a set that would have lost to a flush and probably busted me, and Derrick flopped a set of nines late in Day 1, played it perfectly and lost a huge pot to a nasty river card.  But trust me, overall they are big chip-makers!).  I had great players on my Day 1 table but the reality is the players with chips made huge hands.  Seat four, for example, hit a gut shot straight on the turn vs. S5 to win a monster pot with a well hidden hand, and earlier he flopped top two pair against S2 then made a full house with a river card that gave S2 the nut flush.  Additionally, S2 had just won a huge pot with a donation from the table fish and now had the chips to pay off a substantial river bet.  Andrew Brokos, professional poker player who writes a monthly column for Card Player magazine and writes an excellent poker blog, was seated on my right all of Day 1.  Early on he flopped top two pair vs. the fish’s top pair and won a lot of chips.  He had a couple other big hands that gave him a lot of ammunition with which to battle.  You simply need these situations to occur for you during a tournament.  These luck factors are completely random and happen for and against everyone the same amount over time.  So I guess what I’m saying is that I can’t wait for it to happen for me; big things are going to happen in an upcoming Main Event – the Math major in me is sure of this!

THE SKILL FACTOR

This is the most important part of tournament poker and the part where each player should dedicate his or her focus.  Just like I preach to my golfers, I am obsessed with improving my game.  After playing with Andrew Brokos all of Day 1 I sent him an email and asked if he had any feedback or thoughts after watching me play.  Here is what he said: 

“I'm sorry that I didn't get back to you in time to be of any help during this tournament, but to be honest I didn't have a lot to say that would be immediately useful. I don't recall the specifics of any hands that you played, which probably means you didn't do (or show, anyway) anything that I thought was bad. Given that you were on my immediate left, maybe it also means that you didn't do as much to take advantage of your position as you could have. One of my goals as a poker player is for the guy on my right to say "Wow it sucks acting in front of this guy". That means really looking for opportunities to give him tough decisions and looking for excuses to get involved with him pre-flop. Then again when you're short-stacked your options are limited. Without seeing what you folded, I can't say whether you should have shoved in any spots that you didn't. As we discussed at the table I thought the times that you got your stack in were not just good but mandatory."

Reading through his commentary the words that hit home are "looking for excuses to get involved with him pre-flop".  I think I tend to look for excuses why I SHOULDN'T get involved, and this is what I'm going to work on.  This is the second year in a row I’ve been on a very tough aggressive Day 1 table and each time I’ve been on the quieter side. While it is definitely a function of the hands I’m dealt and my chip stack, I think I just have to get in there and battle harder with less than premium hands in future tournaments.  I've already discussed this with Derrick and we are formulating a plan to improve this area of my game.  I'll get a chance to practice in the upcoming Thunder Valley Deep Stack tournament and be ready to go for the Pot of Gold Main Event July 28-29.

 I want to thank everyone for their encouragement and support, and I'm looking forward to continuing to improve.  It's a great game and soon we will all be celebrating a big win together!   

JWB

 

WSOP Main Event Day 2

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:

1. This flop isn’t likely to hit me
2. 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
3. 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.....

1. clearly my hand wasn't strong enough to win a showdown
2. I would play 55/66/88/99 etc the same way and value bet the river
3. in our previous hand I bet double the previous bet and showed the nuts.  

So.... I bet a very ambitious 3200 on the river.  JC took a long long time and finally made a world class call with K5c. He knows I don't value bet A high on the river so his K high is basically the nut no pair.  He thought through the possible hands he could beat and lose to and made an excellent call.  He also could afford it and that always makes a difference.  Looking back at the hand I obviously should have gone with my first instinct.  I like that I tried to win the pot; it just wasn't the best time to do so.  Also note that he floated me on the flop with K high no draw.  There's no doubt if a diamond came or he didn't turn an open ended draw he was going to attempt to take the pot away.  JC is an excellent post flop player and it seems like he likes to represent hands that could match up with scary boards.  I will ask him about this hand the next time we play golf.

Later S9 opened from middle position to 1400.  I looked down at KQs and the following thoughts came to my head:

1. He is opening a lot of pots so KQs is very likely the best hand, so make him pay
2. If he does have a hand that dominates me I can find out with a re-raise right now for cheap
3. 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. 
4. KQ is a shit hand to call with!
5. I had been playing very tight and should get enough respect with a 3 bet to find out if my hand was good

Based on that reasoning I rr to 3000.  It folded back to him,he made it 8000 and I released my hand.  At the break I told JC my hand and his comment was I should just call in position.  Derrick said the same thing.  Finally, Will's feed back was similar:  "Your reasoning and logic is very sound, it just doesn't apply in this situation.  KQs is a hand that flops very well so you need to call and see a flop in position." The bottom line is I violated a very simple poker theorem:  You don't want to raise with a hand that can win but cannot stand a re-raise.  It's not like this was the worst play made in the 2012 WSOP Main Event, but it was a bad play.  My definition of a bad play is one you wouldn't make again in the same situation.  Next time with the same set of circumstances I will call and use my position to see a flop.  Case closed.

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.

WSOP Main Event Day 1B

I awoke Sunday morning surprisingly still a bit miffed from the previous days' events, but an Espressemente mocha did the trick because by 10am I was ready to go!  Derrick came over to the Venetian to pick up me and Gregg and we headed over to the Rio.  There were three different start dates for Day 1 play; I chose to start on Day 1B which was Sunday.  The room was pretty electric as we got ready to start play.  Derrick was seated in the same room as I was (Amazon) and not too far away.  Gregg started play in the Brasilia Room.  The Main Event starts with 30,000 chips at blind levels 50/100 (300 big blinds) and two hour levels, so it is a truly deep stacked event.  In all the tournaments I play my basic strategy is to see as many cheap flops as I can and hope to make some big hands and accumulate chips.  I am really not looking to play big pots early unless I have the nuts and that strategy definitely influenced my decision in a couple of early hands:

I raised 275 utg (S8) with JJ.  The button (S3) 3bet to about 800 and the small blind (S4) 4bet to 2300.  That puts me in a pretty tough spot.  If I call I am basically hoping to flop a set and I still have to worry about the button coming over the top of both of us with another raise in which case I would have to fold and waste 2300 chips without even seeing a flop.  I can 5bet here to about 5100 but now all of a sudden I am playing a really big pot with a very marginal hand.  You might say "how is JJ marginal?  It's the 4th best starting hand in poker." However, after a couple more bets I will have put in 100 bb already and JJ is not beating much when that many chips have been put in the pot.  That is what I mean by a very marginal hand.  The big argument for playing the hand came in the fact that you could already tell S3 and S4 were very aggressive players and there was a legitimate chance my hand was best.  Discretion was the better part of valor in this case and I mucked my hand.

I raised 275 from early position with AQs.  There was a call from a late position player and then a big re-raise from I think S5 in the blind.  For basically the same reasons as the previous hand I chose to let it go rather than starting to play a big pot with a marginal holding.  The big difference in this hand as compared to the previous hand is that AQs could flop really big, where JJ basically has to flop a set to become a strong hand.  I will discuss this hand much more when I give my recap of my Main Event play.

For the next few hours I did my best to make chips without much being dealt to me.  I think I played most hands fine but nothing materialized.  This hand I did not play fine and wish I had back:

It was folded to the button (S6) and with the blinds 100/200 he raised to 500.   He had raised his button when folded to him every time so far, and I was in the bb with 76.  I had let all the other hands go when he did this so I thought I would get some respect when I 3bet him to 1500.  He called and the pot was 3100.  The flop K92 of course missed me completely but could very well have missed him so I lead out with a bet of 2000, about 2/3 pot.  It was the same size bet I made when I won a hand against him earlier after a flop came out.  He called me and now I was toast.  The turn came and I had to check and fold, otherwise this charade was going to cost me a LOT of chips.  This was such a bad play on many levels:

1. You don't bluff the table donkey, especially out of position.  You wait for big hands and let him pay you off like a slot machine (just like S2 did later when S6 went bust to him with a shit hand)  I needed more discipline to either fold pre-flop or call and hope to hit something big.
2. If I was going to attempt to win this pot I think a check-raise on the flop would have been much much stronger.  I don't know if it would have worked or not but I wish I took this line once the flop came out. 
3. I didn't have a whole bunch of chips to waste on a bluff.  If I had chipped up to over 40,000 chips then I think this play might have a little bit of sense to it.

Basically I wasted 3500 chips here I didn't need to.  It's not like it cost me in terms of the tournament but I wouldn't make that play again, thus you can label it a bad play!

In the third level my tournament took a really big swing for the worse.  With the blinds 150/300 it was folded to S5 and he raised to 700.  I looked down at AK in the bb and was ready to go to battle.  S5 was a young and very (overly) aggressive player.  He had about 17,000 chips in front of him; I had about 23,000.  I 3bet him to 2100 and he 4bet me to 4000.  This represented under 25% of his chips so given that I had plenty of fold equity (players are generally committed to the pot once they've put in 30%+ of their stack; under 25% and they can still make an easy fold without a premium hand) and given the range of hands he had played so far I chose to 5bet him, committed to the pot regardless of what he did.  I raised to 11,000 and when he put me all in I knew I ran into a hand and made a disgusted but easy call.  He showed AA and after the board ran out I was down to 6000 chips.  I was truly devastated.  Once again nothing was going right for me and now I was down to 20bb in level three of the Main Event.  I was honestly very sad.  However, there is no time for pity in poker and I had to suck it up and play my current stack size correctly.  In the back of my head however I was wondering if I had played this hand correctly.  As I was folding my 20bb stack, waiting for a good hand to get my chips into the pot with, S7 starting talking with the little old lady that had just sat in S10.  Through their talk it was revealed that S7 was a professional poker player.  I was watching his play during the day and I had actually labeled him a "card rack" when describing players at my table to Will!  He hit a big hand against the donkey in S6 and actually messed up his river bet against him, getting not nearly enough value.  He played very good poker since that hand and it did make sense that he was a pro.  It turned out his name is Andrew Brokos, a famous player in the poker community.  He also writes a monthly column for Card Player magazine.  How the heck do I get stuck at these tables!?  With about 15 minutes before our dinner break I started chatting with him in hopes of getting his honest feedback on how I played my hand.  He was very intelligent and also seemed to be an extremely nice, humble, focused person.  At the break I asked him if I could play my hand any differently.  His response:  "Never.  Against him it was just a cooler.  Maybe against a different opponent you MIGHT be able to get away from it or lose less, but against him you had no choice.  I actually felt sorry for you when the hands got turned over."  That was actually really good to hear.  You can't control the cards but you can control how you play your hands and your chip stack so I went to dinner feeling much better about my bleak situation. 

BATTLING WITH UNDER 20 BIG BLINDS 

After the AK vs AA hand I went to dinner break with under 20 big blinds.  The reason that tournament poker is so much for fascinating than cash game poker is that your situation is always changing in a tournament.  Before my big set back I had enough chips to see flops, try to steal pots, raise if I sensed weakness, and so on.  Now, however, is a different story.  I am fast approaching the danger zone of under 15 big blinds.  Once we fall under this threshold we basically have one move and that is moving all in with a hand that can win.  Thus, when we are around 20 big blinds we cannot waste a chip.  We cannot do any of the things we just talked about.  Simply put, discipline and table awareness becomes of paramount importance.  During the 150/300/25 level I got no hands to play for quite awhile; meanwhile the aggressive players on my right were battling for pots so I just had to sit back and bide my time.  Then the following hands came up:

When I was down to 12-13 bb S3 raised from early position.  I looked down at 99 and this was plenty good to get my chips in.  I moved all in and after a short count of my chips he folded his hand.  This is quite a big mistake for him; he should not be opening any pot unless he’s prepared to call an all in from a player with under 15bb.  The greatest players are aware of all these little facts and don’t waste chips. 

With around 18 big blinds Andrew Brokos opened on my right. I moved all in with AQ and he quickly mucked his hand.

With around 16 bb S4 opened the pot from early position.  I moved all in with ATc and he pretty quickly mucked his hand.  This hand illustrates the change in poker over the last ten years or so.  A decade ago if you three bet with AT you would be considered a lunatic.  Today if you don’t three bet with that hand you are probably missing a prime opportunity to get chips!!

And here was my favorite one of all:  the player in S1 just went bust so we were now seven handed.  The chip leader was going to be in the small blind and the big blind just lost a big pot.  I was going to be second to act and here was a great opportunity to steal the blinds and antes.  Every time you steal the blinds and antes you are essentially buying yourself another round of hands without your chip stack going down. 

• Seven handed means it’s less likely someone else has a big hand, simply because you are up against less hands.  Duh!
• The small blind is the worst place on the table to play from, so there’s a much better chance the chip leader will let this hand go and not attempt to exert any force with his chip stack
• The big blind just lost a lot of chips and typically players are looking to re-group at this point and don’t want to get stuck playing another big pot with a marginal hand.  There’s a much better chance than usual he’ll just give up his big blind without a fight.
• I have been playing very few hands (because of my tournament situation) and I should have a tighter reputation among the players at the table.

As I often do, when a great situation presents itself and the cards are of little importance, I decided to raise as the second player to act (utg+1) without looking at my cards.  It really is a good idea to do this because by not looking down and seeing 72 off suit you can’t give off any physical tells as to the strength of your hand.  Heck, I might have AA!  I raised and watched the table muck their cards super fast.  Before I released my hand I looked down to see what I had – KK!  Come on!! It’s like I was being mocked…

In another hand S4 opened to 900, S5 three bet him to 2000, and I looked down to see my friend KK in the small blind with around 18bb.  I moved in for 6800 chips.  (Note that my other options weren’t very good: flat calling or min raising tells the table that I have an amazingly strong hand; moving all in is consistent with how I’ve been playing the past two plus hours and makes my hand much more of a mystery.)  So the pot contains:

·        Blinds and antes: 200+400+50*8 = 1000

·        Plus first raise to 900 : total is 1900

·        Plus the three bet to 2000:  total is 3900

·        Plus my all in to 6800 (17bb):  total is 10700

S5 now has to call 4800 more to win 10,700.  He is getting well over 2:1 to make the call, he has plenty of chips and yet he still decides to fold.  That shows you just how bad a hand he three bet with.

Those were most of the key hands I played the last four hours of day one, and at the end of the night I bagged up 11,700 chips.  That would mean I would have about 22bb with the blinds going to 250/500/50 heading into Day 2.  While I was going to be pretty short on chips I am really proud of how hard I battled after the massive AK/AA setback hand.  You can just never give up whenever you compete, and if you keep this mindset and focus then eventually great things will happen for you.  What’s pretty interesting to me is that this is the fourth time I’ve played in the WSOP Main Event.  Each year I’ve learned infinitely more from the previous year, and each year I’ve had less chips to end Day 1 than the year prior!  What a silly silly game I play!!

A Trip to the Cave

On Saturday I signup up to play in a mega-satellite.  This is a tournament where everyone puts in $1000 and for every ten entries into the tournament they award a $10,000 prize, in this case a seat in the Main Event.  So for example, if there were 900 entrants they would award 90 $10,000 prizes.  In other words, finishing in 90th place is the same as finishing in 1st place.  This is much different than a regular tournament where 90th place makes the money, but the real money to be made is in the final 5-8 places.  Your goal in this tournament is to make the top 90 obviously, not to win the whole thing.  It definitely changes your strategy as you play.  The first couple levels not much exciting happened. I had earned a few chips and then this spot came up:

GAMBLING WITH A BIG HAND

A player from early position limped, and I looked down at AA in the hijack. The three players directly to my left were very aggressive, and I knew if I limped (to create a trail of limpers) that someone would raise to try and steal the pot.  I could then get heads up against that player and my hand would be in great shape.  I limped for 100, the next player in the cutoff raised to 375, the button called, and the small blind raised to 925!  Talk about a plan falling into place!! The first limper folded and now it was on me.  Here were my options:

1. Fold.  Ha!  I'm not this tight!!
2. Call.  The danger is that I let the players behind me into the pot by calling, and now I am playing against four players.  AA is very vulnerable in this spot.  The upside is my hand is completely hidden and if the small blind is weak, she will have to fire off a continuation bet and I can pick up more chips.  Again, if someone hits something or it's a very scary board there is a good chance I will have to fold or go broke with this hand so early in the tournament. 
3. Min-Raise.  The upside is that this play gets out the players behind me and gives the small blind GREAT odds to call me.  The downside is my hand is now almost face up and I probably don't get much more action unless I'm in big trouble or unless I am up against a donkey, which isn't the case here.
4. Move all in.  This play hides the strength of my hand a bit and might get real hands to call me. The downside is it scares out all the hands that are bluffing and I get no more chips from them. I am guaranteed to get my chips in as a big favorite if called. 

I chose to min raise and after the cutoff and button folded the small blind tanked (took a long time) and claimed to have folded AKs.  I am not so sure.  When I sent this hand to my poker friends everyone agreed on a raise, but Derrick or Will gave some merit for a flat call that I didn't think about at the time:  if I just call the raise either the cutoff or button might shove all in.  Remember, I thought someone would raise the limpers in hopes of picking up the pot; the small blind could very well have been thinking the same with a weak hand and re-raised to steal the raises. The cutoff and button were both good enough and aggressive enough to make this play given that my limp and call looks so weak.  I think next time I'm in this situation I am going to flat call and hope to set up this dynamic, and if that doesn't occur I am still a favorite against everyone and with a good flop and can extract more chips.   These hands come up so infrequently and in a mega-satellite you are never deep stacked so it makes gambling worth while.

NEVER GIVING UP

Later in the tournament I 3bet a player who was opening too often and his raise size was fluctuating.  In this instance I was pretty certain he was weak so I 3bet with 98d hoping to win the pot.  We were not nearly deep enough in chips to call with 98d and hope to hit a big flop.  He called me and the flop came AsJs3. He checked, I bet and he check raised me all in.  Lucky sucker hit this flop somehow!  If he whiffs the flop we win the pot.  If we hit the flop we win the pot.  If we crush the flop we might double up.  Only when he hits and we miss do we lose.... later on he opened and I moved all in with 99.  He sheepishly turned over A9c and we doubled up.  This hand also confirmed to me that my read of him was correct.  Even later most players were short stacked (the blinds and antes go up super fast in this tournament - it is not a deep stacked event) and the player in the hijack moved all in.  I moved all in behind him with AT.  Normally this hand isn't that strong but given what people were moving in with and people's stack sizes I had a hand that could not have even considered folding.  He turned over JJ and we lost and were down to 400 chips - one big blind!  The VERY next hand I looked down to see 44.  However, the player utg raised and the next player rr.  There was no chance my hand was good and I would be praying to hit a set to continue.  I chose to fold and saw that I would have been up against AK and 55.  The next hand I moved all in with A.Q9c and doubled up and doubled up again later to get back to over 7000 chips! I got knocked out a while later when my A4 from the cutoff ran into AK on the button, but I was very proud that I didn't throw in the towel with a pair and one big blind.

THE CAVE AWAITS

Undeterred and happy with my play I went and signed up for a single table satellite.  There are ten players and the winner gets all.  Often times when there are 2-3 players left they will make a deal to split up the prize money.  I sat down and as always started to evaluate the competition.  My basic strategy for a satellite tourney is to play super tight in the beginning when the table is 10 handed.  I will play only big hands and once in a while steal if an opportunity arises.  Also I will try to see cheap flops in position in the hopes of hitting a big hand.  But overall I try not to leak too many chips as they become very valuable as we lose players.  My strategy was going according to plan and I had chipped up a little from our 5000 chip starting stack.  Then the key hand came up:

With the blinds 100/200 the cutoff opened to 450.  I looked down at AA on the button and raised it to 1025.  As I mentioned in the last post it is so huge to get this hand on the button because a 3bet from the button looks like an attempt to steal.  The blinds folded and the cutoff decided to call after some deliberation.  The pot was now 2350 and I had about 4800 left in my stack, so the spr was just over 2:1, putting me in tremendous shape.  I have certainly the best hand, I have position, I have initiative and I have a perfect spr for my hand.  The flop came down 753.  He checked, I bet small (about 1200?) hoping to either attach him to the pot or induce him to bluff.  He called.  The turn came the 8d putting a second diamond on the board, and he moves all in!  That sure seems like good news; if he has 88 than I'm just out of luck.  I call and he turns over 87c!  He's SO bad.  Our stacks aren't nearly deep enough for him to call out of position trying to hit his suited connector.  The river came a 7 just to stick it to me a little more and once again I was busted by a player making horrible decisions just to have the deck bail them out.  It was just too much for me to handle and I was sent to the "dark cave". This is a phrase Derrick termed for the mental state you want to avoid when poker is not nice or fair.  It happens quite often and the best players stay away from the dark cave as much as possible.  I am always very good at understanding a situation for what it is but for the rest of the day I was a very unhappy camper and basically miserable company.  Derrick, Gregg and I went to dinner shortly thereafter but they would have been well advised to leave me home!  I was poor company but it was what it was and there wasn't much I could do about it.  Luckily there was no more poker to be played after dinner and I went back to the hotel to get as much rest as I could and hopefully wake up in a good place.  I better as the Main Event started the next day!

Venetian Deep Stack Friday

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. 

Venetian Satellite Friday Morning

Never one to break up a good routine, I immediately went $8 in the hole for the day but up one large mocha with light whip and headed to the satellite table.  We started a $300 satellite with two winners, and eventually we were down to the final three.  I was in third place in chips, the player on my right had a lot of chips, and the player on my left was in 2nd when this hand came up:

With the blinds 300/600 the player on my left raised to 1600. The small blind folded and I looked at 77 in the big blind.  Here is where "two winner" strategy comes into play.  If their was only one winner, meaning you have to get all the chips on the table to win, I would have re-raised and gotten my stack in and hoped to win the pot as 77 is a VERY strong hand three handed.  However, remember that we only have to have one chip in front of us when the third person is eliminated to win one of the two prizes.  Another huge factor in this hand is the raiser was a very straight forward simple player.  Even though I would be out of position with a very vulnerable hand once the flop came out I would be able to know where I stood in the hand and I could play it correctly.  If the raiser was a very strong aggressive player that could out play me I would have just got the chips in the middle pre-flop as well.  Given the two main factors stated I called.  The flop came KJJ.  I checked and he checked.  The turn was a 9.  I checked again and he fired 2000.  My hand could very well be best here so I called.  My call has to look very scary to him as I am representing KQ, KT.  I know he is not capable of making a lot of plays so if he bets the river I will fold.  The river was a 6 and when I checked he immediately checked back.  I showed my hand and he said he had a smaller two pair (55,44,etc.)   Note that had I pushed all in pre-flop this player probably folds those smaller pairs where a stronger player would be more likely to call as he would know my hand is usually two high cards and he wouldn't be afraid to race with me.

This was a huge pot and it put me in second and him in third and he busted a short time later.  I took the satellite win and went off to sign up for the Venetian $1100 Deep Stack tourney at noon.

I will pause here as I am leaving my room at the Venetian now to go play the Main Event with Gregg and Derrick.  We all start today and I am wishing my friends the best of luck.  (and me too!)  I will be back tomorrow to write about Friday's DS tourney as well as my satellite tournament yesterday.  My goals for today:

• count the pot on EVERY hand.
• pay attention to how often players are opening hands from each position and take advantage of any patterns I notice. 
• play in position whenever possible!
• play solid poker early on.  You start with 30,000 chips and the levels are two hours long so it's easy to get excited and start playing pots.  I will wait for great opportunities.
• Play to win!!!

JWB

Venetian Satellite Thursday Morning

On Thursday I grabbed my Espressmente $7.57 mocha and headed down to the satellite tables to play a $500 satellite with two winners.  To put this in golf terms, if the difficulty level of a regular poker tournament equates to the U.S. Open at Olympic Club, then a Venetian satellite is about as tough as your local miniature golf putt putt course. Most players are simply recreational players that want to take a cheap shot at getting in that day's big tournament.  If you win a satellite you can use your winnings to buy into the expensive regular tournament that day.  Also, players don't understand the strategy of how to play a two winner tournament.  When you combine the two you have a good day at the office upcoming!  The satellite went as planned and I was one of the winners with the added bonus I won the last longer.  A last longer is when everyone puts an agreed on amount of money into the pot and the last person remaining wins that pool of money.  It's a good deal because the poker room doesn't get a cut of this money. The only down side to the morning was that the satellite lasted so long the first two levels of the the Venetian DS that day ($2500 buy in) had passed.  As you will see, you always want to play the first two levels of a tournament.  It is a time where the bad players will make big mistakes and give away a lot of chips.  I played one more satellite on Thursday, watched my AK go down in flames to AQ  (no, you cannot win them all!) and relaxed and got ready for Friday.