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Busto
Saturday, July 29, 2006 Despite losing two big showdowns, I had 20,100 at the dinner break. I then proceeded to lose every showdown after the dinner break as well, and busted in level 5. I don't really feel like detailing too many hands now, but suffice to say, it was an extremely frustrating 13 hours. I felt like every time I had a good hand I won as much as I possibly could, and every time I was second-best, I lost as little as possible. Also after dinner, I ran into AA or KK three times (that I know about), and I flopped top pair with a gutshot blind-on-blind vs. Shaniac's flopped straight. On top of all this, I'm 80% sure I got a guy to lay down KK on a JT8x board when I had QQ. I really feel like I did a ton of things right today, and just got unlucky a million times. It's time to go home. I've been here way too long. I'll write up detailed reports about some of the hands in a few days. Good luck to everyone who's still in the Big One. Thoughts on the Eve of the Big One Thursday, July 27, 2006 The Big One used to be called The Big One because it was the only five-figure buy-in event of the year. Nowadays there are five-figure buy-in tournaments all the time, but The Big One is still The Big One because it has eight or nine times as many players as any other five-figure buy-in event. The show starts tomorrow, and I've been relaxing for two days, playing some golf, taking in some baseball, and seeing friends. Now it's time to lock in to poker (at least for one day, after which I'll have three days off again regardless of my day one performance). Here are some things running through my head. - You know the Main Event is approaching when the hallway leading to the poker room, a hallway you've walked down a million times over the last two weeks, suddenly has a stock car in it. - I've never played with Jeff Madsen, but based on his results this year it is a virtual certainty that he is a very strong player. Assuming he keeps playing, we'll be seeing his name for a while. - I didn't think about the fact that most non-professional players would choose a starting day of Saturday or Sunday so that they wouldn't have to miss work. I hope I didn't handicap myself too severely by choosing Friday. - They've promised us two-hour levels in each of the past two years, and each year they failed to deliver. Strangely, I'm somewhat optimistic that this year we'll actually get the two-hour levels that we've been promised. - Judging by who's out here, I expect to see a young final table. If I'm lucky enough to make the final table, I bet I'll be above the median age. - Harrah's is going to make close to $5 million on this tournament just from the juice. Wow. - I have a strange feeling I'm going to get a known player at my first table, in part because of that whole "not selecting the weekend" thing. But I'm very optimistic about my chances tomorrow, no matter who's at my table. Let's shuffle up and deal! Day Thirteen: $1,500 Limit Hold 'Em Shootout Tuesday, July 25, 2006 No luck in this thing either. After slightly increasing my stack over the first two levels, I didn't win a hand after the break and I was the third person knocked out at my table. I lost three big pots in that fateful level three, in all of which I had the best hand at some point. Oh well. I'm not playing the $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em tomorrow, as I'm going to LA on Wednesday, and frankly I'm tired of these short-stack events anyway. I'm going to spend the next three days playing a few satellites, having some fun, and mentally preparing for the main event, which begins for me on Friday. Tomorrow: $500 Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament. I'm looking for redemption after my pitiful display in last year's event. Hah! Day Twelve: Playing Online Monday, July 24, 2006 My golf plans got ruined when Chris had to go and make Day Two of the Razz event. He ended up finishing 11th, which of course was disappointing, but is still quite an accomplishment in what is essentially a foreign game to him. So instead, I played the online tournaments. I busted like an idiot on Party, semibluffing into a guy I was almost sure would call me. That's what happens when you pay halfhearted attention to what you're doing--you play bad. My Stars bustout, however, was much more fun: PokerStars Game #5657332644: Tournament #27706165, $200+$15 Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2006/07/23 - 18:08:08 (ET) Table '27706165 429' 9-max Seat #2 is the button Seat 1: beck_AA (1135 in chips) Seat 2: jacksup (4995 in chips) Seat 3: l2ek (7924 in chips) Seat 4: RATE615 (12318 in chips) Seat 5: GodPanix (7078 in chips) Seat 6: ruthan (5250 in chips) Seat 7: KiNgPiMp33 (5135 in chips) Seat 8: Bilbo69 (6695 in chips) Seat 9: hess&ness (4160 in chips) Everyone antes 10 l2ek: posts small blind 100 RATE615: posts big blind 200 *** HOLE CARDS *** Dealt to jacksup [2c 2s] Six players fold jacksup: raises 440 to 640 l2ek: calls 540 RATE615: folds *** FLOP *** [2d 8h 8c] l2ek: checks jacksup: checks *** TURN *** [2d 8h 8c] [6c] l2ek: checks jacksup: bets 850 l2ek: calls 850 *** RIVER *** [2d 8h 8c 6c] [Qc] l2ek: checks jacksup: bets 3495 and is all-in l2ek: calls 3495 *** SHOW DOWN *** jacksup: shows [2c 2s] (a full house, Deuces full of Eights) l2ek: shows [8d 8s] (four of a kind, Eights) Nice! Since I've been blogging about my own exploits, I've been neglecting to congratulate some of my friends who've done well at this WSOP. Congrats to the following players on their final tables: Carl Olson, No Limit Hold 'Em Spiro M. (he has a long last name), Pot Limit Omaha Jordan Morgan, No Limit Hold 'Em Cliff Josephy, Razz Cliff is playing his final table as I write this. At the start of the tournament, he asked a floorman what the nuts are in Razz, and the floorman told him 75432. Only the best and brightest work here at the WSOP. (For those who don't know, A2345 is the nuts in Razz.) This misinformation doesn't seem to have phased Cliff, however, and neither has his inexperience in the game, as he's currently the chip leader with five players left. Last year, Cliff won a Stud bracelet having never played the game before. If he wins a Razz bracelet this year having never played the game before, I'm quitting poker. For the rest of the night anyway. Tomorrow: $1,500 Limit Hold 'Em Shootout. I'm actually excited for this one! Day Eleven: $1,500 Razz Sunday, July 23, 2006 I made it five hours in this thing. I probably played too tight, but I definitely opened up as I got a better feel for the game, and by the time I busted I was pretty accurately predicting how the action would go based on the board cards and prior observation of the players. I think this was a good long-term investment. And on the hand where I lost most of my chips, I had the best hand on sixth street (not that that means anything in Razz). I've played poker every day since I've been out here, so I've decided that tomorrow I'm playing golf. I'll be relaxed and ready to go for the $1,500 Limit Hold 'Em Shootout on Monday, which is an ideal tournament for me. Tomorrow: Golf Day Ten: $2,000 No Limit Hold 'Em, and a Razz satellite Saturday, July 22, 2006 I doubled my starting stack for the fifth consecutive tournament in today $2,000 NLHE event. Unfortunately, I busted in another hand-over-hand situation when I raised on the button with A6, the big blind called with 87s, the flop came 665, and the turn came four. The money was in by the river (I could tell you how it went in, but trust me, it's really uninteresting) which failed to improve my hand. Blah. After dinner I played a satellite for tomorrow's Razz event, just as I did last year. It's fun to play new games. I think I'll try to study up on some Razz tonight and get ready to play tomorrow. Yeah! Tomorrow: $1,500 Razz Day Nine: Another Small Cash Friday, July 21, 2006 Ran queens into kings in the PLHE event to finish in 34th place. I guess I improved on my 35th place finish in the Limit Hold 'Em event. Oh well, at least I busted with a real hand for once. Do I get anything for that? Since failing to double up in my first event, I've increased my starting stack by a factor of at least SEVEN in each of my next four events. All I have to show for this is two cashes and a overall loss in WSOP events of $3,211. If anyone ever doubted that striving to sneak into the money was a bad idea, doubt no more. I didn't play any more poker after I busted, as I was feeling a little burnout from logging 23 hours in tournaments over the previous two days. I'll be back at it tomorrow, though. Tomorrow: $2,000 No Limit Hold 'Em Day Eight: $2,500 Pot Limit Hold 'Em Thursday, July 20, 2006 This thing started at 2 p.m. for some unknown reason, so it took us until almost 2 a.m. to hit the money. I caught some cards (though I did lose two pretty big pots) and sit with 42,200 in chips. I'm in 11th place with 40 players remaining. Average is 35,125. There are many other good players remaining (just check out the list ), but I'm going to try my damnedest to get a bunch more chips tomorrow and give myself a chance to win this sucker. Day Seven: $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em Wednesday, July 19, 2006 I doubled up for the first time in this event when I got it in with QJ vs. J9 on a jack-high flop. I doubled up for the second time over the course of a few orbits. I never showed a hand. I doubled up for the third time when I got it in with KQ against AA on a king-high board and sucked out. Despite these three double-ups, I still had only ten orbits of chips in the post-dinner portion of the tournament. I called a late position raise with 66, and the big blind also called. They checked to me on the Q55 flop and I took a swing. The big blind check-raised and I mucked. That cost me 40 percent of my chips. Then I got 3500 in with 99 against AJs and lost. I blinded down from 2700 to 1700 by folding for one orbit. I finally called all-in getting 2-1 with J5s. I had 40% equity against the A7o I was up against, but I couldn't win the showdown. I ended up finishing in about 300th place out of the more-than-2,000 entrants. Oh well, we all knew it was a crapshoot going in, and I'm certainly not changing that opinion now. Tomorrow: $2,500 Pot Limit Hold 'Em Day Six: Eating, Writing, and Sweating Tuesday, July 18, 2006 At some point this morning, the Rio bowed to pressure and honored their original schedule and made today's Pot Limit Omaha tournament a No Rebuy event. Unfortunately I, like most of the rest of the poker world, was sound asleep when they made this decision and missed the tournament anyway. Without even trying to find them, I learned of two other people who missed the tournament for the same reason, so I'm sure there are many, many others out there. Nice work, Harrah's. For some reason (to save face in some convoluted way?) they also added a PLO rebuy tournament at 4 p.m., and made it a brand-new bracelet event that was never on the schedule. Oh by the way, they're taking juice on the rebuys. The point of this story is that the people running the show here have done a very poor job, although they do seem to be trying to make as much money off the players as possible. You can go to many other blogs for further verification of this. The problems have been numerous, and I'm considering going home if the situation doesn't improve. For now, however, I'm going to hope the management is listening to the players' complaints and turns around their performance quickly. Instead of playing poker today, I had lunch with the only multiple-bracelet winner of this WSOP, Dr. Bill Chen. A few great quotes from Bill during this trip (all of which are funnier if you know him, but should be somewhat amusing in any case). Bill Chen said: "This is cool." ...about twenty minutes after winning his second bracelet of the year. "I moved in with ace-king with the the ace of diamonds on a three diamond flop, and the guy folded jacks face-up. He said I looked way too happy about my hand. Of course I was happy, I had two overcards and a flush draw!" "I just like to play pots" ...on why he called many raises with weak hands during the Shorthanded NLHE event that he won. After lunch I went back to my room and wrote for a few hours. When I was done I went back downstairs to sweat my friend Jerrod Ankenman at the $3,000 Limit Hold 'Em final table. Jerrod took second, which is an awesome result. Congrats Jerrod! Congrats also to the winner Ian Johns, who I played with for a few hours on day one, and he seemed like a good guy, and a good player. I left the poker room and had dinner with PokerStove author Andrew Prock. One of the best things about this year's (and last year's) WSOP for me, is that I get to talk a lot of strategy (among other things) with players who I respect. It's always enjoyable to get a few different perspectives on things from intelligent players, and it seems doubly cool when I get them all thrown at me at once during the WSOP. Tomorrow: Back to the tables for the $1,500 NLHE. Not a lot of chips in this thing, gonna have to get some early. Day Five: Seven Bets Gone in One Orbit Sunday, July 16, 2006 Here's how my $3,000 Limit Hold 'Em tournament ended. I defended a big blind with T9o, check-called the flop with overcards, and check-folded to the ace on the turn. I three-bet a cutoff raiser from the button with KsTs, got check-raised on the queen-high two hearts flop, and folded on the turn when the third heart came. I opened for half my stack with KJo, got called by the big blind, bet the 887 flop, put the rest in when a 2 hit the turn, got shown 76s, and missed on the river. The end. I really never had cards in this entire thing, and it's a miracle I cashed at all. I went back to my room and played the FTP monster WSOP super, where I lost a bunch of showdowns and didn't win. I also played some $10-$20 PLO on PokerStars to warm up for tomorrow's tournament. PLO with deep stacks is a lot of fun. Here's hoping I get enough chips tomorrow so that I can play with a big stack at some point. Oh, and by the way, I've been busy blogging about my own stuff, but a super congratulations goes out to Dr. Bill Chen, who yesterday won his SECOND bracelet of the 2006 WSOP. And let's not forget Andy Bloch, who finished second at an almost impossibly tough final table in the HORSE event and took home more than a million dollars. To top this off, Bill's co-author Jerrod Ankenman is busy tearing up the tournament I busted out of earlier. He's not quite at the final table yet, but I have every confidence he'll get there before the day is out. This truly is the Year of the Math Guy. I hope to join the fun with more than just a measley cash soon. Tomorrow: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Update: The Rio randomly decided to make tomorrow's tournament a rebuy event, and as a result I've decided not to play it. On the one hand, this is disappointing to me, but on the other hand I'm glad I'm going to be paying them a bunch less juice as a result of their whimsy. Maybe I'll just spend tomorrow sweating Jerrod at the final table (and yes, he HAS made the final table--go Jerrod!). Day Four: $3,000 Limit Hold 'Em Sunday, July 16, 2006 After 13 hours of play in this thing, we hit the money at 1 a.m. I have 20,000 in chips, and the average is 29,229. I had almost no preflop starting hands all day. I can't remember every playing Limit Hold 'Em for so long and entering so few pots. And I don't mean I never got aces (although I didn't), I had AK three times in 13 hours, AQ twice, KQ never, etc. I got most of my chips through either fluky, typical Limit hands, or the few big hands I did get. Seriously, I don't know how I'm still in this thing. But I am. And if I get any kind of improvement in my cards tomorrow, you better believe I'm going to make a run. Day Three: $2,000 No Limit Hold 'Em Saturday, July 15, 2006 I played much better today, thank God. I felt much more focused and in control all day. I doubled up early when I made a good call with QQ on a KK79 two spades board. (My opponent called my reraise preflop, check-raised the flop, and moved in on the turn for 1000 into the 1800 pot. I sensed weakness and called. He had AsJs and missed.) Nothing much interesting happened the rest of the day. I got most of my chips with QQ all-in against a big stack with AK and two shorties who both had KJ. The board came QTxxT. My high-water mark was about 14,000. But I went really card dead for the last four hours and ended up busting in about 250th place (out of 1,579). On my last hand, I moved in on the World's Tightest Player's big blind with Th7h, only to have the cutoff wake up with JJ. The flop came jack-high with two hearts, but I didn't improve. So in two World Series events I've busted with 97o and T7s. The mark of a champion. Tomorrow: $3,000 Limit Hold 'Em. I may sleep a little late for this one, as the first hour of a limit tournament is almost entirely meaningless. P.S. Andy Bloch and Bill Chen have each made their second final table of this WSOP, Bill in the Shorthanded NLHE, and Andy in the ultra-prestigious $50,000 buy-in HORSE event. These guys rock. You think maybe there's something to this game theory stuff? Day Two: Playing Lousy Friday, July 14, 2006 Noon was the $2,500 shorthanded NLHE event. As I get my stack up to 3200 without getting too involved, I'm wondering if can really play my A-game after a three-month layoff from brick-and-mortar poker. Then I lose 725 with AJ on an ace-high board. I put in a bunch of chips and then fold on the river (the board has become A55xQ) after I read the guy for strength. We'll never know I was right. On the last hand before the first break, the blinds are 25-50 and I'm in the hijack. The big blind is a horrific player--the worst kind of bad. He frequently called preflop, and frequently folded on the flop. When he called on the flop, he frequently folded at some later point in the hand. I am dealt 9h7s. Normally this is a fold for me from this seat, but I had a strong desire to play pots with the big blind, so I convince myself to open for 125. Jennifer Tilly calls in the small blind, and of course the big blind calls. The flop comes 863 with two hearts. Jennifer leads out for 200, and the big blind calls. I have 2125 in my stack, Jennifer has about 1300 behind, and the big blind has a lot of chips. What's my play? I like a raise here, as Jennifer's bet really looks like she's testing the waters, and the big blind can have almost anything, which means there are a lot of hands he will fold to a raise. So how much do I raise? If I move all-in, I stand the best chance of picking up the 775 in the middle right away. If I make it, say, 900, I still have a pretty good chance of picking up the 775 in the middle, and even if I don't, the big blind could easily call and then fold for 1225 on the turn. That's the way he rolled. I decide to make it 900. Jennifer folds pretty quickly, the big blind calls pretty quickly. I think his likely hands were a flush draw, top pair, or middle pair, in that order. The turn brings the queen of hearts. The big blind checks. If he had the flush draw he got there, but I may still have outs even then. If he had anything else he's likely to fold to an all-in, and even if he doesn't I certainly have a bunch of outs. I thought there was a pretty good chance he had the flush, but I just couldn't see leaving the 2375 pot out there without taking another stab at it. I move in, and he calls instantly, which makes me certain he has a flush. I wait for him to roll over his hand, praying he'll show me the 5h4h, or 7h5h, or 7h4h, or 2h5h, or some other baby flush. Instead it's the Kh2h and I'm drawing dead. We'll never know if he would've mucked his draw on the turn if he'd missed, or if he would've mucked the flop if I'd moved in then and there. I guess sometimes you engage with the players you want to engage with, and you end up drawing dead. A couple hours later I played the second chance tournament and busted in ten minutes. That was kind of funny. Blinds 25-25, two limpers, I check from the SB with 8c2c. The big blind makes it 100 total, and both limpers fold?!? I throw in 75 more, as I'm getting a good price and I have a decent read on this guy. The flop comes 863 with two hearts. I check. The big blind bets 125 in a way that makes me about 80% sure I have the best hand. I make it 400. He calls instantly. I'm now 90% sure I have the best hand. The turn is an offsuit 5. I move all-in for 700 (remember, this is a second chance tournament and we start with almost no chips). When he goes into the tank, I'm 95% sure I have the best hand. He finally calls with the 64o. Six on the river and I'm left with 75. I bust the next hand. The second chance bustout was neither here nor there, but after my somewhat questionable bustout from the WSOP event, I'm thinking I only have about my B-game right now. After dinner, I decide to play a $1000 one-table satellite. Even though this was the first event of any kind where I doubled my starting stack, it was in this event that I realized I pretty much only have my C-game. Two errors, one major, one minor. First error. It folds to me on the button and I open for 1200 with JdTd. The big blind, a tight-straightforward player, calls. Before the flop comes he checks dark. The flop comes K87 rainbow. I bet 1500, he calls. He checks the turn dark. The turn brings a queen. In my mind, I'm too deep to make a bet and I don't want to fold to a raise, so I check it back. This is clearly correct with a deep stack. I am, however, not nearly as deep in reality as I am in my head. There was 5600 in the pot and I had about 6800 in my stack. It was about the most obvious all-in imaginable. The river pairs the queen, and my opponent goes into a deep think. Finally he checks. I know I can't win now and check it back. He has Ac7c. He tells me, "once you checked the turn, I knew I was good--I was calling you if you pushed the river." Yeah, tell me about it. Huge mistake. Second error. It folds to me on the button and I have 11.5 big blinds in my stack. I've come to realize in recent months that this is pretty clearly a jam-or-fold situation. Instead, I convince myself that the two players in the blinds are so tight that I'd be better off opening for 3x and then folding to a jam with my QJo. So I open for 3x, the small blind jams, and I fold getting 1.88-1. I hate doing that. From now on, no attempts at exploitive play when I'm a short stack. Just move or muck, for Pete's sake. I end up busting from the one-table when I lose a coin flip. That's fine, I definitely didn't deserve to win that sucker. I played lousy today, but I acknowledge the mistakes I made, and now they're out of my system. With the rust gone, I plan on getting 'em back tomorrow, and every other day I'm out here. Tomorrow: $2,000 No Limit Hold 'Em. Day One: Joining the Party Thursday, July 13, 2006 I finally landed in Vegas today, to become a part of what Shane Schleger has so aptly dubbed, "summer camp for degenerates." I hadn't played any brick-and-mortar poker in three months, so I decided to play a little $325 satellite tonight just to get my feet wet, even though I was pretty jet-lagged and the juice was steep. I'm definitely glad I put the time in, as I had clearly gotten too used to online play. The pace is much slower in real life, and I caught myself giving a way a tell or two before it finally dawned on me that I wasn't in front of my computer anymore. It's strange, but I really do feel much more ready for tomorrow after just playing against a bunch of truly terrible players for an hour in a WSOP satellite. My brain is in the right mode. And of course, I've already experienced first-hand the cardboard cutouts that pass for official WSOP playing cards. In case you've missed it, the poor quality of the cards has caused quite a stir in the HORSE event. To no one's surprise, my friend Andy Bloch is the one sticking up for the players, and he's already got himself a penalty for his efforts. What a great game we play, huh? Time to sleep. Tomorrow: $2,500 Shorthanded No Limit Hold 'Em Who We're Rooting For, $1,000 NLHE w/rebuys Monday, July 10, 2006 Andy Bloch Andy is a model for every poker player in that he is highly principled, highly motivated, and highly intelligent. When Andy sees something wrong in the poker world, he is more than happy to speak up, and he backs up his speech with actions. He also plays the game the way HE thinks it's supposed to be played, even if hardly anyone else agrees with him. I respect Andy as much as any other player on the circuit, and it's great to see him make his first WSOP final table of 2006. He's a little short on chips, but I still think he'll make a run. Good luck, Mr. Bloch. Incidentally, with Italy winning the World Cup to boot, this will surely be the greatest day of Max Pescatori's life. Congrats, Max. And congrats Azzurri. Who We're Rooting For, $2,500 No Limit Hold 'Em Sunday, July 09, 2006 Terrence Chan. Terrence goes back to the days of RGP when there was a ton of meaningful content on there. I first met him online six years ago, and in person a couple of ATLARGEs back. He's the former head of PokerStars support, who left that job to play poker professionally. He's one of those brave souls who will take on the ultra-high limits if the game is right. Terrence and I have both embarrassed ourselves singing karaoke at ARGE events, so I feel I have no choice but to root for him. He's second in chips at a tough final table. Good luck, my man! Three days til I show up in Vegas myself... Who We're Rooting For, $1,500 Seven-Card Stud Friday, July 07, 2006 Matt Hawrilenko. Bill Chen's protege, and known in my world as Matt #2 (thankfully, I'm Matt #1), Hawrilenko is an extremely smart, extremely successful player who wrote this fantastic tribute to Bill's performance the other day. It would just be way too cool if Matt could follow that up with a bracelet of his own. I believe this is his second WSOP final table. I was one of his opponents at his first one. Matt's quite short on chips at the moment, but that's never stopped him before. Good luck, Matt! P.S. I leave for Vegas on Wednesday, starting to really look forward to it. The Doctor Is In Wednesday, July 05, 2006 Bill Chen has won his bracelet in the $3,000 Limit Hold 'Em event. Sometimes nice guys finish first. Congratulations, Doc. Who We're Rooting For, $3k Limit Hold 'Em Tuesday, July 04, 2006 Dr. Bill Chen. As far as I know, this is Bill's first WSOP final table, though he has won events at major tournaments before. Bill is one of the smartest people I know, and, as remarkable as it may sound, also one of the kindest people I know. His understanding of Limit Hold 'Em goes far beyond that of almost anyone else. So even though he's one of the shorter stacks, I like his chances at the final table tomorrow. Good luck Doc! P.S. MLG ended up finishing 4th the other day. Good show, my man. Keep it up the rest of the Series. Three Words: MLG Sunday, July 02, 2006 My first shoutout to a friend at a WSOP final table is one I'm even more-than-typically excited to make, as fellow New Yorker Mike "MLG" Goodman sits second in chips at the final table of the $2,500 No Limit Hold 'Em Shorthanded event. Mike is a great guy, and a great player, and he has an excellent shot at a bracelet. He just needs to get by chip leader Dutch Boyd (yes, that Dutch Boyd), and current world champion Joe Hachem, who sits third in chips. No problem! Good luck, Mike. New York is rooting for you.  September 2004 | October 2004 | December 2004 | January 2005 | February 2005 | March 2005 | April 2005 | May 2005 | June 2005 | July 2005 | August 2005 | September 2005 | October 2005 | November 2005 | December 2005 | January 2006 | February 2006 | March 2006 | April 2006 | May 2006 | June 2006 | July 2006 | August 2006 | September 2006 | October 2006 | December 2006 | January 2007 | April 2007 | May 2007 | June 2007 | July 2007 | October 2007 | January 2008 | |
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