2nd WSOP event

Today was the $1500 nl event and I busted in level 3. Before delving into my play I'm gonna talk about something that happened at a table next to mine. My buddy Dave (who won a $1500 nl bracelet 2 yrs ago) was sitting at the table and got involved in a hand that had some unfortunate behavior...by Tom McEvoy of all people. Hijack opr, co calls, Dave w/ JJ 3bets to 1k, hijack shoves for 2500 more, caller folds, Dave's got 3k left and reads the guy as really strong and contemplates his move, leaning toward folding, and starts talking w/ his opponent...and after 30 seconds of talking and thinking Tom McEvoy who was on his table but not in the hand calls the clock on Dave! Really Tom, really? Dave tells Tom that he has a tough decision and Tom responds by saying it's all Hollywood on Dave's part and no need to do that (good read Tom).

Now I talked w/ Dave about it and we think the reasons Tom called the clock on Dave are for a couple of reasons (none of them warranting the clock)..1) Dave is in his late 20's but looks younger and Tom probably assumed he was some internet kid that was squeezing light there and was saving face or hollywooding to pretend he had a real decision and 2) Tom probably thinks that's an easy call or fold spot because how can you fold a good hand after putting in 1k for 2500 more. I questioned Dave's decision on not knowing what to do there after 3betting to 1k, saying he should know ahead of time whether to stack off if he was going to 3bet (just good fundamental poker) but he defended his play by saying the 3bet was alright because if he got the initial raiser off, the caller may call w/ worse because he had a lot of chips and was playing a lot of hands and that he would evaluate later if anything else happened. Also Dave is only a live player, mostly tournaments, w/ a lot of success (his real name is Dave Daneshgar and he's got over $2.3 mil in live mtt winnings, link below

http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=27377 )

and told me he goes on live reads to base a decision even when it goes against the grain of good fundamental poker (I can't argue w/ that based on his enormous live success ). Anyway as you can see Tom was clearly out of line here calling the clock after 30 seconds for what was essentially Dave's tournament life. Also Dave ended up calling even though he felt his opponent was very strong and lost to a bigger pp, partially because he wanted to show Tom he had a tough decision and wasn't hollywooding. A little bit later Dave busted.

So I really feel Tom was way out of line here because 30 secs is not much time to think about a big decision for one's tournament life. It's a $1500 buyin and that's a lot of money, and for some it is their main event. On Saturday I talked about a hand between the Russian and Sam Stein where the Russian tanked for at least 5 mins and finally called. No one on the table said a word because we know how important decisions like that are. I always thought Tom was a good ambassador for poker because he seemed like he had integrity and repped the poker world well, esp. as a former champion but after today I lost some respect for him.

Anyway as for my day it ended early. Started w/ 4500 and I chipped up to 7500 then played this hand right before break. I opr to 250 w QQ, lp call, bb call, flop TT4r, chk, I bet 350, fold, bb chkr to 900, I call (not happy but have to call once), turn 8, chk, chk, riv 4, bb bets 1k, I call and he shows 88. After break chip up to 5500 then play this hand... butt opr my 150 bb to 400, sb folds, I rer w/ QQ to 1100, he calls, flop JhTh3d, I bet 1300, he shoves I snap call (w/ fistpumping going on in my head because I just read him as behind, but also obv. I have to call w/ the odds I'm getting), he shows KsJs, turn J, I'm out the door. Would've given me 11k which would've been way above avg. at that pt. but whatever. Anyway it's a nice day and I'm about to head to the pool w/ my kid so life isn't that bad.