WSOP Hands

I had put up a different post last night stating reasons why I would make a good FTP pro but after sleeping on it decided to take it down, mostly because it sounded like I was bragging and it seemed a little tacky. Anyway I've been so busy w/ the WSOP that I haven't had much time to get in front of my computer. I haven't been able to grind online nor blog or do anything else on my computer. I've played in 13 events so far and have cashed in 2 of'em. Not a bad ratio but my cashes have been small....for a total of $9k. I am heading into day 2 of the nl $1k and am a favorite to cash in that as well. I have 14,600 in chips and blinds will be 400-800. We are down to 15% of the field and 10% cashes so it may be close. So far every day 2 has been terrible. When I got in the money nothing went right, so hopefully it changes on Monday.

Anyway I'll discuss some WSOP hands. My 1st cash wasn't exciting...just pretty much lost a few small pots when we were in the money and shoved for 16 bbs w AQ lp and lost to JJ. My 2nd cash was via winning my 1st table in the $1500 shootout. Basically a shootout are a series of sit n go's. I won my table on day 1 relatively easy. I played this interesting hand that day...I have about 14k, we're 4 handed playing 150-300, I opr w JJ utg, button who is tight solid just flats w/ a 4k stack which sends all kinds of alarm bells off in my head as he should be shoving w/ just about his entire range here, so I put him on KK or AA. The chipleader in the sb rer to 2800, I tank and fold. Here are the reasons why...besides the button probably slowplaying KK or AA, I assumed the chipleader knew this as well and knowing that the button was going to go w/ his hand, the chipleader should have a big hand himself. He was an internet kid that seemed like he knew what he was doing so I just assumed all this. Anyway button snapshoves, chipleader calls, I tell button "you must have aces", he nods, chipleader to my surprise just shows 33. AA holds (would've beat my JJ as well) but a little later the chipleader busts the other 2 and we get hu w/ him having a 3-1 lead on me. I get even w/ A4 vs A7 aipf by binking a 4 and pretty much handle him w/ ease the rest of the way.

Anyway the next day we start all over w/ a new table w/ everyone getting equal stacks. So if I win this table we're down to 14 players and playing for a bracelet (14 players started at 7 and 7 for those interested). I didn't mind my table but found out later it was a pretty tough table. It included Roothlus and Cre8tive, a couple of successful internet mtt players, Isabelle Mercier, Peter Costa, and Chau Giang. Actually I didn't mind the well known players like Mercier, Costa, and Giang...I think the internet kids are better than those 3 at nl. Anyway I lose a mid sized pot when I opr utg w A8s, get called by Costa and Giang and decide to 3barrel on a 22365 board. I would 3barrel here w/ pretty much all my overpairs+. Costa called me down w/ 99 which was about the range of hands I put him on. I thought I could get him off of it w/ a riv bet, guessed wrong.

Anyway I still had plenty of chips then play this pot...I opr w AhJd to 700 ep, Giang calls from the bb, flop comes JT7 all clubs, he chks, I bet 1k, he calls, turn J, he chks, something tells me to chk it back because I could be beat here and would hate to face a raise but feel like I have to bet to protect my hand and for value. Anyway I bet 2k, he shoves which means I have to call 23k more for my tournament life. I go through his range of hands, which I think are all flushes, boats, Jx's, KQ w/ a club, and decide to call and he turns over Q3 of clubs and I don't improve and bust. I also don't mind my call because 10th to 2nd get paid the same since this is a shootout w/ the winner of the table moving on. Some guy I've never heard of ended up winning our table, so it shows that on any given day, anyone can luckbox a tournament.

Also I played the $3k horse which I really enjoy playing. I'd rather play mix games over hold'em any day but focus mostly on hold'em since I make the most money in that game. That tournament was frustrating as hell. I was dealt very few playable hands through the 1st 4 levels. Limit games, especially mix games which include om8, razz, stud, stud8, require you to get some hands and catch cards to do well. Finally at level 5 I get dealt KK5 in stud hi and a 9 completes it, a Q calls, I rer, call, call, 4th street 9 catches J, Q a brick, and I catch a 7. I bet, xx9J calls, xxQx folds, fifth goes xx9cJsTs and KK573 for me, I bet, he raises and this is where I need to decide if I'm gonna go w/ my hand or fold. Fifth street is usually the most important street in stud (3rd street is important as well) because bets double. I'm sure that he knows that I have a big pocket pair the way the hands played out. Anyway I know that 2 Qs are dead, 2 Ks are out (in my hand), so it's unlikely that he has KQ in the hole. Also I don't think he'd bring it in w 789 mp so I sorta rule out a J hi str8 as well. His hand looks like 3 Ts, 2 pair, or a pair w/ an oesd so I decide to go w/ it knowing that I'm still ahead or have plenty of outs vs most of his range. Anyway on 6th I catch a brick, he catches an ace which I think is irrelevant, he bets, I call, riv he bets blind w/o looking at his card which leads me to believe that I think he's just got a pair (that doesn't beat my big pocket pair) w/ a draw hoping he doesn't get called but if he does he's gonna sweat his riv card. I brick and decide to call based on my read and he sheepishly turns over 966 in the hole for a rivered 2 pair thinking I would only call w/ better. Well I called w/ 1 pair and it was the best til the riv and my read turned out to be spot on, although he didn't even have the oesd and was just trying to rep a big hand (when in fact it's hard to do w/ all the cards out). Anyway that hand cripples me because at that stage the limits were pretty big and if you lose one hand to the riv, you lose a lot. Anyway I stay patient and pick up AJ63 in om8 in the bb, co opr, I call, flop A58, I chk, he bets, I chkr all in (prob. better to just lead), he calls and shows me A24K which has me beat both ways which I was shocked to see. Anyway the board bricks out and I bust.

Anyway I played the $1500 nl yesterday and played all day til I busted at end of level 9 which was tilting as well. Played well and ran AKs into AA at level 9 and got short then busted 99 vs AT aipf. This was the 3rd time I busted when we were almost done for the day, which also means we were very close to the money. I could easily have 5 cashes and going for my 6th if I win a couple of flips or don't run into coolers. That's tournaments for ya.

I also played a couple sessions of live games. I played a sesh of $75-150 om8 where I lost about $2k, which isn't a bad loss in that game. I also played an interesting session of $50-100 mix the other day. The mix of games were baduci, badaci, om8, and 2-7 triple draw. Baduci and badaci are split pot games where the pot is rewarded to the best badugi hand and best 2-7 hand in baduci, and best badugi hand and best A-5 hand in badaci. Badugi is basically a game where the purpose is to try to get the best low 4 card poker hand of different suits where ace counts as low, so the nuts is A234 rainbow.

Anyway I play this hand in duece (2-7), I opr in co, bb calls, I make a wheel, the nuts, 23457 after the 1st draw and bet, bb calls and draws, then he bets, I raise, he 3bets, I call (I don't want him to draw w/ a draw left so I elected to call ip then raise the river). We both stay pat, he bets riv, I raise, he 3bets, I 4bet, he 5 bets, I roll my eyes and think must be a chop. A reg comments enough is enough, assuming we both have a wheel. Anyway I call expecting to see a wheel and he says nut nut and turns over A2345 of different suits! Turns out he thought we were still playing badacie. Anyway he moans and groans and I moan and whine about how I stopped the raising war. He would've kept raising til all his money was in..he had another $1k behind and I had him covered. Anyway he gets up and leaves disgustingly while I continue to hit myself on the head for stopping the betting. I do admit I showed bad sportsmanship by whining about ending the action and regret that...the guy must've felt worse. I don't have much experience playing live mix games so I wasn't familiar w/ the etiquette. A couple of my friends that play these games regularly said I should've given the last bet back while a few others I talked to said no way and to take all his money because they never return your money when you make that mistake. I can see both sides but wish I had kept raising and maybe given him his last 2-3 bets back. Oh well.

Anyway I play a little longer and it happens again! I make #2 in 2-7, which is the 2nd nuts 23467 and raise the riv vs a different opponent and he calls and shows some hand w/ an ace in it, which is bad because we're playing 2-7 where ace is the worst card in your hand. Anyway he thought we were playing badacie as well. It was funny because he was there when it happened earlier to the other guy. Anyway he gets up and leaves cursing his mistake. I ended up winning $2300 w/ half of that as a result of those 2 hands.

In other news, it sucked seeing USA lose their elimination game today. I was a the Rio playing the $1k while the game was going on and broadcast on tvs in the tournament room. People were cheering when we tied the score and moaning when Ghana took the lead and held on for the win. It was funny to hear a tournament director announce that there really was 1 person (among 4k or so in the room) rooting for Ghana and to hear that lone voice cheer when the room went silent after US lost. At least the 2 teams I have in my $500 buyin pool are still in it..Uruguay who beat S. Korea, which is kinda bittersweet since they are my home country (even though I am a US citizen), and Argentina who have looked great so far.

Also I took my kid and nephew to "Toy Story 3" the other day. It was a really good movie and probably the best of the Toy Story movies. I really enjoyed it even though I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch it since it was geared towards kids mostly.