Ansky
10-14-2006, 05:59 PM
Aruba 2006, Trip Report.
Early Tuesday morning, around 4 am I went over to my friend AJ’s house to meet up for a cab to the airport. He is Thaaj2004 online, a high stakes nl guy mostly. It was a very odd experience. I left my building, and it was a cool damp night, with a full moon. I kept thinking that it felt like Rocky or something, except instead of a fighter I was a gambler. I had on my Ipod and was listening to the most pump-up music I could find. There were no cars in the street so I walked in the middle of the road, watching my shadow bounce up and down in front of me. I was so ecstatic for the whole experience ahead of me, and at the same time kept thinking about the lunacy of it all. On a whim the week before, I decided to drop 5200 dollars to buy in for this tournament, plus travel expenses, and miss 4 days of class to fly off to a tropical paradise. All my friends thought I was borderline insane, and at the same time their jealousy was no secret. They were to stay in the [censored] rainy weather in Montreal, while I would be playing high stakes poker and sipping margaritas on the beach.
Our flight was from Montreal to Newark, then Newark to Aruba direct. When we got to Newark, there were several poker players on the same flight. Walking through the terminal, AJ and I met up with Genius28, Roman (Empire2000), and ZappyB. I met all of them at Turning Stone in the summer for the Turning Stone classic tournament series or whatever it was called.
After we all sat down, we saw a bunch of 20 ish year olds sitting near us in the terminal, all on laptops and laughing it up. We said to eachother, “these guys are definitely poker players…” I figured there was a good chance I knew one of them at least, from 2+2 or from playing w/ them, so I went over to introduce myself. Turns out they were none other than the Ship It Holla Ballas! Apathy, Good2cu, TheUsher, and deuce2high. They were just coming back from EPT Barcelona, and were continuing their world tour of high stakes poker.
The plane landed some time on Tuesday afternoon, and I arrived in the Occidental hotel lobby to meet Ariel (FoxwoodsFiend). The people at the desk were incompetent morons, and so we had to hassle them for a while to get things cleared up and so we could get our room. We were staying in the Occidental, a rather nice luxury all inclusive type thing. The place itself was very nice, although the staff seemed to be a bunch of bumbling idiots.
I had never met Ariel before, only talked on AIM and 2+2, so it was nice to meet up in real life. We went down to the bar on the beach at around 5 and got ourselves some fruity drinks with umbrellas, and discussed poker and Ariel’s gambling habits. At some point, we talk to Whitelime (Emil) and agree to meet for dinner, with a bunch of other poker players—ZeeJustin, Green Plastic, dlpnyc21, Ezra (don’t know your 2+2 name), Muddywater, and a few I didn’t know. I already wrote what happened next in an NVG post, so I’ll just quote it verbatim and plagiarize myself:
“First night I'm there, myself, Foxwoodsfiend, whitelime and ZeeJustin are walking to GreenPlastic's room because we were supposed to go out for dinner to some place with him and his crew. As we are walking to the elevator, Ariel (fwf) is telling us about his reckless habits in the pit, and how he plays blackjack way too much. We get in the elevator, and right when I turn around, I see Phil Hellmuth and two of his friends walk in the elevator. Coincidentally, he is talking about blackjack as well. He is saying in his real gay Phil Hellmuth voice:
"I'm telling you, blackjack is a great game! I swear to you, it will catch on in America, I can promise you that. Blackjack is a great game"
We get to our floor and as we are walking out, Ariel turns to Phil and says right to his face "Blackjack is for morons." We all crack up and walk out of the elevator, as Phil is standing there look very awkward and speachless.”
After this we all meet up to go to this Argentine grill or something, on the other side of the island (Aruba is tiny, it was only a cab ride away). Across from me at the dinner table is a rather attractive, very tanned girl, who seems to know a thing or two about poker. It was very odd to see a normal looking girl, talking about poker like a fellow degenerate. A few people keep saying something about her dad, and I don’t really understand why. At some point I just say “wait a second, who are you?” She laughs and responds “Freddy Deeb’s daughter!” Now it all made sense.
I got a 28 ounce porterhouse stake which was [censored] delicious. There was a mariachi band walking around, singing some random classic songs. At some point they go up next to the group next to us and start singing “Sweet Caroline.” To my dismay, MULTIPLE people at our table did not know this [censored] amazing classic. I will not mention names, as I don’t want to ruin their reputation and scar them for life. After the meal we call cab it back, and a bunch of us meet up in the poker room. After arguing with the floor guy in the poker room for a while, he agrees to set up a private table for us, where we were going to play uncapped 5/5 no limit Omaha! That’s right, no limit Omaha. We all agree to buy in for 1k, ZeeJustin, Bugstud, Raptor517 (holla), FoxwoodsFiend, Whitelime, Ezra, dlp, etc etc whoever else I can’t remember. Originally, Green Plastic was going to sit down, but he got up and I sort of got the impression he didn’t want to goof around, and was going to play some real poker. However he just ended up playing 5/5 at the table next to us.
There was some wild action preflop. Very first hand FoxwoodsFiend open shoves all in from middle position with some random 4 cards that I can’t remember, and Whitelime calls behind. After some point, I was only playing like 50% of my hands, so Raptor starts chanting “Nitsky, Nitsky, Nitsky!” So I reply by getting 1.5k all in preflop with A533 suited… to the 5. I get all in absolutely dominated by 2 other hands… like AAKJ and QQJT or something like that, but I flop a naked 5 high flush draw. Both of them have like sets and wraps and [censored]. River… heart for the 5 high flush… ship it. I play a bunch of other random pots, and get all in with QQ23ds for about a 5k pot and lose. At some point ZJ loses his 5th buy in in a row or something gross like that, after he gets all in with bottom set and loses to a gutshot w/ a mid flush draw. He actually looked a little pissed and walked off.
We end the rambunctious scene around 2, and we all go off to bed to prep for the tournament in the morning. I finished down around a few hundred dollars, despite leaving w/ about a 3k stack.
Day 1 of the Main Event:
I played the Turning Stone tournaments this summer, but this was my first real live event. I was at table 1, seat 5. I liked the idea of being at table 1 because I wanted to play with the same players as long as possible, because in general I assume that I will get a better read on them than they will on me. I get to my table about 10 minutes early and I am the first player there. After a few minutes the player to my right sits down and puts his registration receipt on the table next to me. I take a peak at the name, and it’s Bryan Micon, and I look at him and he’s wearing his Neverwin.com gear. I had played quite a few tournaments with him online, and I had a good idea of how he would play. Fairly tight, and not especially tricky or crazy. After a few more minutes more people start sitting down, Including a rather large Venezuelan guy with a bright yellow shirt to my left. I thought at first that it might have been Twin-Caracas, but I wasn’t sure. Just before the tournament starts, Antonio Esfandiari climbs over the rail and sits 2 to my left.
Great.
He immediately starts chatting up the table, and especially the guy to my left, who he refers to as Twin, so I figure out that it is indeed Twin-Caracas. I like when Twin is at my table in general, but he’s definitely not a great player to have to your left in a tournament, and could present some problems. We get the dealing started, and I open fold in emp w/ A7o.
Next hand, I open to 175 with AT of spades in early-ish position, and everyone folds. Hey, this game is easy.
Next hand someone limps, I limp behind with 22 and fold to a flop bet 6 way on a 346 board.
A few hands later I have QQ in early-middle position and raise to 175. Folds around to the BB who is a guy that I don’t have much of a read on yet, who calls. Flop is 7h 6h 2x. He check/calls 250. Turn is a Tx, he check calls 700. River is a 3h, he leads for 1700. I think for about 30 seconds and fold. After a few minutes I find out he’s Swedish, and make a joke “oh you’re Swedish, then I definitely should have called you on that river…” Turns out he’s on team UB or whatever, and came 3rd place last year.
Overall I’m playing as many pots as I can without being crazy, and really trying to pound on the few weak spots at the table. It really doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out if someone is a donk just by looking at them sometimes. I do my best to be super aggressive against the people who are likely satellite winners, and I try to be a little more passive and controlled against Twin-Caracas, and Esfandiari and such. One hand for example, folds around to a nit in lp who raises to 200, I raise to 800 in the bb with J6s. He calls, flop is 359, I bet 1200 and he folds. I do this several times to late position raises, and take down a number of uncontested pots and get to 14k w/ no showdown. At some point, after raising in late position for 3 hands straight, (thus sort of taking the move away from Twin, unless he decides to repop me, which he never did) Twin says to Antonio “This kid is playing every pot! Someone needs to teach him a lesson right?” Or something like that. Antonio says he’s taken notice or some [censored] like that.
One rather interesting spot happened towards the end of level 1. Twin opens utg to 225, gets about 3 callers including aggro-swede in LP, and I call in bb with 22. Flop is 245r. This is actually not such a great spot for me this deep. Even a player like Twin is capable of folding an overpair here to enough pressure, and given that I’m OOP, it is VERY hard to mask the strength of my hand. If I check raise into so many players, or if I check call a bet and a raise, or anything like that it becomes very easy to play against me. There is a rather huge difference between my hand now vs if I had say… 55. 44 and 55 are definitely in everyones range preflop, and so is A3 and maybe even 63. I decide however that the best thing I can do here is lead, although I am definitely not sure about this. I lead for 900. Twin thinks for about 20 seconds than says “this is the last time I [censored] fold to you kid” and folds. Folds around to aggro Swede in lp who thinks for quite a while before folding what he claims was JJ.
[censored].
Blinds are up to 50/100, and I spew myself down to about 12k on a few kinda annoying hands. Not really bad beats or coolers or anything, just spots where I cbet and get raised, or I have AK, 1 player raises, I reraise and get 3 callers, and have to check fold the QJJ flop. Overall this was a pretty uneventful level, and I don’t play any real big pots until 100/200. The end of 50/100 was the first break. 15 minutes.
I went upstairs to the lobby area to see how everyone was doing. Ariel already was up to 27k or something like that. I have no idea how he does it, but he really builds stacks like a machine. ZeeJustin was up to like 25k he said, after a nice little gift. In a 7 way limped pot or something like that, he got all in w/ bottom set on a super dry board versus a guy who limped first in w/ aces (then got 200 bb in on a dry board after a bet and a raise). Raptor was all but out, and a few others I don’t remember. I take a piss and head back down, where we continued play at 100/200
Fairly bad Canadian player open limps in the hijack, Micon folds, and I raise to 800 w/ A8o on the button. Twin once again says some [censored] about how I’m annoying him and folds, and so does Antonio. Canadian calls, as I was expecting him to. Flop is 345r, and he check/calls 1200. Turn is an Ace. He checks after a long hesitation and I take the easy free card, intending on folding to a river bet because I really felt that the ace helped him.
River is an 8, and he bets 2200. I come really close to folding, because for whatever reason his body expression and the way he bet just yelled at me to fold. He was a pretty passive and bad player, so I knew he could never have just 1 pair here I didn’t think, and I eventually convinced myself that I had to call because he could have A5 A4 A3… etc, and so I finally call. He has 22. [censored] me.
A round later I open raise ATo in mp to 600, Twin tosses in the chips and gives me a quick stare down. Antonio looks at both of us and our stacks for a few seconds and reraises to 2400. Folds back to me. I have about 8400 or something like that when the hand started, and I really consider just shoving it in now. The whole while at the table Antonio had definitely taken notice of my loose-aggressiveness, and started calling me Robin Hood. After a while the whole table caught on and started calling me that as well. It was definitely not an insult—just the opposite. Antonio apparently thought “I had a lot of talent” as he said it. I thought about all this, and thought there was a very good chance that he was full of [censored]. I think about his range though and eventually I decide that there was too good a chance he was gonna have like AJo or something and snap call my shove cause I had the worst image ever. Finally I fold and Twin folds. Antonio tables 75c and I verbally abuse myself in my head and call myself a sloppy pussy, and that if I ever go against my gut ever again I am going to slam my nuts into the corner of a table as punishment.
At some point, Twin limps utg, sb limps, and I check in the bb w/ 53c. Flop is Ac 4d 8d. Checked to Twin who overbets 750. SB folds, and I raise to 2200. Twin thinks for a few seconds and calls in a very forceful way (pounds the chips in the middle). I take this as a sign of weakness. Turn is a 7h. I think for about 20 seconds and count down my stack. After a few more seconds I shove for 6600. Twin tanks and tanks, and finally folds and I breath again. He then says “ok ok, now you show me right? Either a flush draw or 84?” I table the 53 and he says “I knew it, I knew it.” He then puts his shades back on and puts his Ipod headphones back on and basically goes into a shell.
I do my standard spewing and then fold for a while, and then I open raise to 600 w/ JTc in MP. Antonio then repops to 2k. I have about 7800 total, and I decide this time that I can’t let him push me around again, and he was likely full of [censored] again so I shove. He tanks for a while and does his whole read my soul type of thing. Once he didn’t snap call I was relieved, because I really thought that meant he was definitely folding. Why? Well I thought his raise was either a hand that he was raising to get me all in w/, or pure air/[censored] and was going to fold if I shoved anyway. There is a very small chance that a player like Antonio was raising like 77 with the intention of making a decision IF I push. Eventually he folds after asking me a million questions which I ignore. He says to the table “I folded jacks that hand. Robin Hood could you beat jacks?” I raise my brow a bit and ponder showing my hand, but decide to muck it.
Some guy in the 9 seat then starts telling the table that I definitely had AA, he has a tell on me. He leans forward and says to me, “hey Robin Hood, Antonio made the right fold right? I know what you had, I know your tell.” Uhhh right sir, good read.
A few rounds later at 150/300 I open raise to 800 in MP and seat 9 calls in the bb. I have 22. Flop comes 359 w/ 2 hearts, and he check/calls 1300. Turn is an offsuit 4, we both check. River is an offsuit ace, and he checks. I ponder the situation for a while, and realize that I have basically no showdown value, and this is a real good spot to try to make him fold a middle pair type hand, so I bet 3000 representing the ace. Unfortunately he had the one hand I was hoping he wouldn’t have, ATh for the ace high flush draw on the flop. He quickly called and the table gave me the old stare down like I was a thief or something.
So I’m back down again. I don’t recall exactly how my stack fluctuated, but it did… a lot. w/ about 6000 I open in emp to 800 w/ KQh, Antonio calls behind me and the rest fold. Flop comes something disgusting like 789 all diamonds so I check fold to his bet. A few rounds later, Micon opens the button, and I shove 22 and he folds.
The blinds get up to 200/400 (25 ante) when I almost bust. Aggro swede opens to 1100 in late position, and I shove for about 6000 in the sb w/ AJo. Twin then insta pushes his stack into the middle and I think I’m gone. Swede folds and Twin slams AK on the table. [censored]…
Oh but wait, JACK IN THE DOOR, BOOM, SHIP IT, HOLLA, ETC. The J holds and Twin starts cursing in Spanish, and I sort of hope he doesn’t rip my head off right then and there. Luckily, he never rips my head off. He is super short after this and busts a few hands later.
A few rounds later, I have AQ on the button. Folds around to Micon who opens to 1200, with about 5 or 6000 behind I think. I reraise to 3000, so that just in case someone behind me shoves I can fold, but at the same time I commit myself against Micon. He thinks for a while and says “ok, im all in” I obviously call and he has TT. Flop is 246 all spades, giving Micon a flush draw, and me 4 outs. Boom offsuit Queen turns and I’m ahead. But oh no, spade rivers and he wins. So I’m short again.
Blinds are up to 300/600 when I have AJc in earlyish position with about 6k total. I shove and it folds around to a huge nit in the SB who barely played any hands. He calls off for his last 3k or so, and I actually think I’m crushed. He has 99 though and I win the flip.
Then, Aggro swede opens to 1500 or so in EP, I shove for 9k ish in mp w/ AA, and a pretty tight good player in lp then reshoves. Turns out later hes a 2+2er, “GTL.” Everyone else folds and he has JJ, and I win. Alright, chips again! Wrong, I lose a lot again.
I try to boss the table around a bit, and get manhandled. I open to 1500 in emp w/ 52h and the Swedish dude calls in the bb. Flop is T36 he check/ shoves over my 2200 bet and flashes a ten when I snap fold.
Then I open to 1500 a round later in mp w/ 99. Some super aggro guy w/ like 50k who took Twin’s seat repops to 6000 (I was definitely intending on shoving over this), then some other bigish stack shoves for like 30k. I fold and the reraiser quickly folds as well.
Then a few rounds later Micon opens in the sb to 1800, and I put him all in for 5 or 6k or whatever with QTs. He snap calls w/ 88 and I lose the flip. Then the blinds are up to 400/800 and I am down to 11000. I raise in mp w/ AJ, intending on calling a shove if someone puts me in, but once again it gets raised and reraised to I have to fold. I have to get up and walk around because at this point I really felt like should have had all the chips at my table. Twin and Antonio were both gone at this point and the guy to my left was a [censored] ticking time bomb that I was so desperately waiting to own. But every time something ruined it. The guy to his left, who replaced Antonio was also a time bomb. His first hand at the table was at 300/600 and he open raised to 3600 w/ 50000 behind from utg. So I am visibly frustrated at how I can’t get into the right spot or groove and I walk away from the table and pace around for a few seconds. Then the next hand gets dealt and I look down at KK in mp. I have like 9 and change and I just open shove because I want it to look like a tilt push. Then I get up and start walking around a little cause im still a little annoyed and cause I want ppl to start figuring out ways why they should call me light. Eventually it gets folded to the BB (the 9 seat who has a ‘tell’ on me) who looks at me and says “hey kid you got AJ again? I stare blankly at him for a few seconds before he says “ok I call,” and tables AA. You slowrolling piece of [censored] [censored] [censored]. It’s ok though, karma is a bitch. K in the door and I’m rolling again.
I lose a smallish flip w/ AK to a shortstacks 33 and I’m back down to 14000 ish. Then I open JJ to 2000 when the ticking time bomb repops like I was expecting him to, to 6000 right behind me. Folds back to me and I waste no time shoving. He insta calls w/ 77 and I hold. Then when I’m in the bb the slowrolling 9 seat shoves for 5k and it folds to Micon in the sb who asks the dealer “what is the minimum raise I can make sir?” he then min raises to 9200, w/ about 20k behind after that. I look down and see QQ and shove. Micon tanks for at least 5 full minutes before folding what was obviously AK. Flop is QTT. And I bust the short stacks J9.
The ticking time bomb then busts at some point, and is replaced by JJ Lieu. She has like 70k and is raising like every pot.
One hand, 600/1200 blinds, she opens to 3000 in EP, folds around to a huge nit in the sb who raises to 10k. She had been at the table for a few rounds, and this player had played 0 pots in that time. He has about 20k behind the 10k, and despite him obviously having a monster JJ brilliantly shoves 77 and gets snap called by QQ and loses.
I finish the day around 45k and wrap up my chips and go for a few drinks w/ the ShipIt ballas. ZeeJustin was still in around 50k, apathy had around 60k, good2cu had around 35k I believe, and a few others that I can’t remember.
I had a few drinks but didn’t get drunk cause I wanted to be fresh for the tournament in the morning. We ended up playing flip cup for 100 dollars a person. Me and ‘Electric’ got owned by raptor and apathy though.
Day II
New table draw, woohoo.
To my direct left is CasinoCasino, WiscoMurray or something like that is across from me, and there are a few other ppl who I prob should have recognized. Overall there weren’t many big stacks.
First hand someone raises and I fold. Next hand I open 98o in mp to 4000 (800/1600 blinds) and an old guy w/ 50k ish calls. Flop is K73. I bet 6500 and he raises to 15k and I fold. Great [censored] start.
A few hands later in bb, sb opens to 4.5k I shove and he folds. I had AQo
A few hands later I raise to 4k in lp, casino shoves, and I fold. I had some random [censored]. Then I do it again with some other random [censored] and he shoves again and I fold. Then I have like 24k in the BB. EP raises to 4500, mp calls, I have JQh in a perfect spot for a squeeze and I shove. EP TANKS it and finally calls w/ 99. I win.
Eventually it gets to 1000/2000 and I have around 50k. I open limp 74d on the button so that casino won’t resteal my ass, but then he shoves for like 24k in the sb and I fold. Then the next hand I open raise to 5500 w/ KQo in the CO and casino shoves AGAIN from the button for about 28k. I tank and call because it’s the right call. He has AJo. I lose. If I win that I am in such a good position, motherfuckshit I hate tournaments.
I play v tight for a few rounds and then shove in mp w/ 99 for 16k or so. Everyone folds.
Next hand I have 44 and push in what I think was a close decision. MP calls w/ 99 and I lose.
GG me 
After this I go back to my hotel and bang my head against the wall till it starts bleeding and I pass out. I wake up in a hospital. Jk obv that never happened but it should have.
That night I was in such a raging tilt mode, that I decided to play the 1k nightly tournament.
This [censored] was fun.
One weird hand happened early in level 1. 25/50 blinds to start, 40 minute levels, and 5000 chips to start.
About 5 limpers to me in the sb and I complete 88. The bb is tilting and raises to 400 w/ like 2000 behind. Folds to the button who calls and I shove. BB snap calls, button folds and my 88 beats his KJo.
I’m playing almost every pot and being pretty wild and insane. I build my stack up to 10000 with basically 0 showdowns when one of the sickest hands I have EVER played happens. 3 limpers to me on the button at 50/100 and I call as well w/ A3c.
5 to the flop, JJ5, rainbow. It gets checked to the CO who bets 300. He was a nice British guy who I was talking a decent amount. I raise to 1000. Folds back to him and he almost min raises to 1800 w/ just 2000 more behind. At first I sort of just assume I have to fold, but then I think about it for a while. To me the small reraise there REALLY felt like either a 1) cheap bluff, cause he prob didn’t think I had the J. or 2) a stupid raise for information gag. Either way, I feel confident enough that he is full of [censored] so I put him all in. Yeah 4 bet bluff w/ air woo. He thinks for about 10 seconds then folds. I obviously table my A3 and the whole table looks at me like I’m possessed.
The was a lot of boring [censored] in this tournament, so I’ll just skip to the hand that crippled me. I have 17k at 200/400, w/ like 40 players left (120 started). EP solid player who thinks im a LAGtard idiot raises to 1400. I cold call in the sb w/ TT and so does the bb w/ like 8k behind. Flop is TJ2 w/ 2 clubs. I lead for 3800, bb tanks and folds. EP shoves and I snap call and I lose to his KQo. 9 on the turn 
Then I go to the poker room and get myself on the list for 10/20 nl.
I sit down w/ 6k when they call my name. The guy who slowrolled me from the tournament was in the game and was overall actually a pretty nice guy. He obviously kept calling me Robin Hood so now everyone else in the game kept calling me that as well.
A few interesting hands:
1 limper utg, GTL makes it 120 or 140 w/ a pretty deep stack in ep, folds around to me and I call w/ AQs on the button, ep guy calls. Flop is 27Q. ck, GTL bets 300 I call, ep folds. Turn is a 8 I think, GTL check/calls 500 or whatever it was. River is a 3 or something dumb completing a backdoor flush draw, and he leads out for 900 I think, leaving himself about 2200. To me this bet really smelled like either AQ, or maybe KK/ AA. I almost immediately folded but then I thought about shoving. It would be a hell of a tough spot if he had anything but a set, but I was almost sure he couldn’t have a set. I tanked it for a while, but then thought he prob thought I was a loose lunatic and would call w/ AA or something so I folded. He tabled AA.
A huge Venezuelan fish open limps utg, 1 other MEGA fish limps (he never folds pf, ever), I raise to 120 w/ QQ and the utg limer makes it 500 w/ like 1000 behind. I’m never folding here vs a fish, and especially not after the other limper then cold called 480 more w/ like 2k behind. I shove, they both call. UTG had AA and mp had 99. Somehow I lose to both and finish the hand in 3rd place.
After a while the game gets shorthanded. 4 handed w/ some American Jewish guy who looks like he goes to an ivy league school and a Venezuelan kid and a generic older guy. None played terrible but I had a massive edge 4 handed, cause I suck full ring and basically only am v good when shorthanded. We were all pretty deep and I open to 75 utg w/ 53o. Ivy league calls in the sb. Flop is AK6, he checks, I bet 150, he raises to 450 and I call. Turn is a T he checks, I bet 750 and he folds. I was absolutely running over the table so I was pretty sure he was either full of [censored] on the flop or the type of player bad enough to raise for information there (so so bad in that spot). The ten was a perfect card to bluff at for obvious reasons. There is a 0% chance he had AK, A2 was v unlikely, and if he had 22 well then that was the only hand I couldn’t make him fold. If he had AQ or something like that, well then I was sure I could blow him off of it by the river.
I make back a few k when we are short, but eventually 2 people leave and the Venezuelan won’t play me HU.
Next day I jerk around until after dinner, where I play the 1k again. This time I go down to register with Ariel, so we end up right next to each other at the same table. He has position on me. This should be fun I thought. At the table ends up being Traheho, Brainwash, and 1 other pretty solid internet guy. 3rd hand or so I open the button to 150 w/ 65o, bb calls. Flop is 533, he checks, I bet 200, he makes it 600 and I call. Turn is a 5, he bets 300 (wtf?) I make it 1200, and he shoved for 4000 or whatever. I insta call, he turns over 97o. Oh, uhm, ok? He doesn’t hit his 0 outer and I win. A little while later at 50/100 a young kid raises to 350, I make it 1100 in the sb w/ AA, he shoves for 6k and I call and beat his 22. Then a few hands go by and a horrible Venezuelan fish makes it 400 in mp and I call w/ 88. Flop is TJ2, he checks, I bet 600 and he calls. Turn is a ten, we both check. River is a 4, he checks, I bet 1300 for value and he tanks and calls with 66. Just as I turn over my hand, Ariel yells out “YOU GOT NINES!” pretty close. Bunch of people at the table tap the felt and say “nice bet.”
At 100/200 25, I open to 600 in lp w/ KK, Ariel shoves for like 4k and change w/ A7d and I win. So I have a lot of chips.
I move tables and it all comes crashing down. I open K3s in mp to 1100 at 200/400, 2 callers. Flop is 2s 9s Jx, bb checks, I bet 2000, lp folds, bb shoves for like 8k or some [censored]. I do the math and call. He has 99 so my odds are really hurtin here, I miss and lose a lot of chips. Then I open A3o on the button a few rounds later. Some old lady calls in the bb. She check calls my bet on 457, then does 2 2x bb donk bets on the A turn and A river and I call both and lose to AQ. More chips gone.
Then I open AJs in mp, 1 caller another shoves and I fold. This was the story of the tournament, as I bled down to a shortstack. Finally someone opens my blind, and I call w/ JTd intending on stop and going. Flop is AK2 I shove and he snap calls w/ 88. Nice call sir? I miss and lose.
Then I head to the poker room.
I look around and there are 2 full 25/50 nl games going, and I get on the list for that and sit in 10/20 while I wait. While I am sitting 10/20 I drop about 4000 dollars in 40 minutes. I really don’t recall any interesting hands, probably just me being an idiot.
25/50 was fun though. Directly to my right when I sit down is a bald guy who looks familiar. After a few rounds I think it’s Lee Markholt, some guy on TV for a circuit event and some other [censored] or something. Turns out it is. I have about 15k on the table, Lee covers. 5 handed 2 Venezuelans limp, Lee completes and I check KTc in the bb. Flop is 567, 2 clubs, Lee bets 200, I call, Venezuelans fold. Turn is an offsuit ace. Lee check/calls 400. River is an offsuit 10. I consider betting for value, but check figuring he wouldn’t call w/ a 86 78 type hand. I checked and he had 78, and told me later that he was calling any bet.
At some point, the player 2 to my right is talking to someone else and mentions his online name. I recognize the name immediately, as it is a guy that I took about 12k off of HU on UB at 10/25, several weeks earlier. In addition, the player relentlessly berated me in the chatbox, and at some point I said something like “oh yeah well ill see u in Aruba” or some [censored] like that.
Anyway, table is 4 or 5 handed, I open raise Q9 from utg+1 to 200, folds to bb who calls. He has 10k I cover. Flop is T45, he checks, I bet 300 he calls. Turn is a 7, he checks I bet 800 he calls. River is an ace he checks I bet 2100 and he snap calls. 2 pair > q high. Just as I made the river bet, ActionJeff walked by, and I make a joke to him “hey jeff, OBVIOUSLY the only hand you see me play is me 3 barrel bluffing w/ queen high right?” he replies “Isn’t that every hand w/ you?” hmmm touché sir. Anyway, he came in to give me the utterly terrible news that the anti gambling bill passed, and both of our lives have been ruined.
Next interesting hand, 4 handed I open 96c utg to 200, sb (Batera) cold calls, and it’s HU to the flop. Flop is 69J, he checks, I bet 400, he calls. Turn is a 2, he checks, I bet 1000, and he raises all in for about 3600 more. I think for a bit and finally call. He has KJ and fails to improve. Finally I win a big pot.
At some point the game breaks up and around this time, ZeeJustin, Whitelime, Ezra, and a couple others make their way back into the poker room. They had gone out somewhere to some place, and were drunk out of their minds. We all sit around and get into a 10/20 horse game. At some point (as tubasteve has already let everyone know) I was talking to Whitelime while in a hand, and ZJ yells out, “Hey Jamie Gold, one person to a hand!!” So I reply “Hey ZeeJustin, one account to a player!!!” The whole table got a laugh, including Justin.
We played some wild hands and such, but I got too drunk to remember any details, so that’s basically it for my Aruba story. Going to the airport was rather depressing, all the poker players were in mourning over the anti-gambling bill, and the Aruba airport is terribly run so it just made it worse.
Overall it was a very fun trip, aside from losing a sizable amount of money. It was cool to meet all the 2+2ers and poker people that I hadn’t met before. I also feel a lot more confident about playing live, and now I can’t [censored] wait for Niagara, where I will own.
Early Tuesday morning, around 4 am I went over to my friend AJ’s house to meet up for a cab to the airport. He is Thaaj2004 online, a high stakes nl guy mostly. It was a very odd experience. I left my building, and it was a cool damp night, with a full moon. I kept thinking that it felt like Rocky or something, except instead of a fighter I was a gambler. I had on my Ipod and was listening to the most pump-up music I could find. There were no cars in the street so I walked in the middle of the road, watching my shadow bounce up and down in front of me. I was so ecstatic for the whole experience ahead of me, and at the same time kept thinking about the lunacy of it all. On a whim the week before, I decided to drop 5200 dollars to buy in for this tournament, plus travel expenses, and miss 4 days of class to fly off to a tropical paradise. All my friends thought I was borderline insane, and at the same time their jealousy was no secret. They were to stay in the [censored] rainy weather in Montreal, while I would be playing high stakes poker and sipping margaritas on the beach.
Our flight was from Montreal to Newark, then Newark to Aruba direct. When we got to Newark, there were several poker players on the same flight. Walking through the terminal, AJ and I met up with Genius28, Roman (Empire2000), and ZappyB. I met all of them at Turning Stone in the summer for the Turning Stone classic tournament series or whatever it was called.
After we all sat down, we saw a bunch of 20 ish year olds sitting near us in the terminal, all on laptops and laughing it up. We said to eachother, “these guys are definitely poker players…” I figured there was a good chance I knew one of them at least, from 2+2 or from playing w/ them, so I went over to introduce myself. Turns out they were none other than the Ship It Holla Ballas! Apathy, Good2cu, TheUsher, and deuce2high. They were just coming back from EPT Barcelona, and were continuing their world tour of high stakes poker.
The plane landed some time on Tuesday afternoon, and I arrived in the Occidental hotel lobby to meet Ariel (FoxwoodsFiend). The people at the desk were incompetent morons, and so we had to hassle them for a while to get things cleared up and so we could get our room. We were staying in the Occidental, a rather nice luxury all inclusive type thing. The place itself was very nice, although the staff seemed to be a bunch of bumbling idiots.
I had never met Ariel before, only talked on AIM and 2+2, so it was nice to meet up in real life. We went down to the bar on the beach at around 5 and got ourselves some fruity drinks with umbrellas, and discussed poker and Ariel’s gambling habits. At some point, we talk to Whitelime (Emil) and agree to meet for dinner, with a bunch of other poker players—ZeeJustin, Green Plastic, dlpnyc21, Ezra (don’t know your 2+2 name), Muddywater, and a few I didn’t know. I already wrote what happened next in an NVG post, so I’ll just quote it verbatim and plagiarize myself:
“First night I'm there, myself, Foxwoodsfiend, whitelime and ZeeJustin are walking to GreenPlastic's room because we were supposed to go out for dinner to some place with him and his crew. As we are walking to the elevator, Ariel (fwf) is telling us about his reckless habits in the pit, and how he plays blackjack way too much. We get in the elevator, and right when I turn around, I see Phil Hellmuth and two of his friends walk in the elevator. Coincidentally, he is talking about blackjack as well. He is saying in his real gay Phil Hellmuth voice:
"I'm telling you, blackjack is a great game! I swear to you, it will catch on in America, I can promise you that. Blackjack is a great game"
We get to our floor and as we are walking out, Ariel turns to Phil and says right to his face "Blackjack is for morons." We all crack up and walk out of the elevator, as Phil is standing there look very awkward and speachless.”
After this we all meet up to go to this Argentine grill or something, on the other side of the island (Aruba is tiny, it was only a cab ride away). Across from me at the dinner table is a rather attractive, very tanned girl, who seems to know a thing or two about poker. It was very odd to see a normal looking girl, talking about poker like a fellow degenerate. A few people keep saying something about her dad, and I don’t really understand why. At some point I just say “wait a second, who are you?” She laughs and responds “Freddy Deeb’s daughter!” Now it all made sense.
I got a 28 ounce porterhouse stake which was [censored] delicious. There was a mariachi band walking around, singing some random classic songs. At some point they go up next to the group next to us and start singing “Sweet Caroline.” To my dismay, MULTIPLE people at our table did not know this [censored] amazing classic. I will not mention names, as I don’t want to ruin their reputation and scar them for life. After the meal we call cab it back, and a bunch of us meet up in the poker room. After arguing with the floor guy in the poker room for a while, he agrees to set up a private table for us, where we were going to play uncapped 5/5 no limit Omaha! That’s right, no limit Omaha. We all agree to buy in for 1k, ZeeJustin, Bugstud, Raptor517 (holla), FoxwoodsFiend, Whitelime, Ezra, dlp, etc etc whoever else I can’t remember. Originally, Green Plastic was going to sit down, but he got up and I sort of got the impression he didn’t want to goof around, and was going to play some real poker. However he just ended up playing 5/5 at the table next to us.
There was some wild action preflop. Very first hand FoxwoodsFiend open shoves all in from middle position with some random 4 cards that I can’t remember, and Whitelime calls behind. After some point, I was only playing like 50% of my hands, so Raptor starts chanting “Nitsky, Nitsky, Nitsky!” So I reply by getting 1.5k all in preflop with A533 suited… to the 5. I get all in absolutely dominated by 2 other hands… like AAKJ and QQJT or something like that, but I flop a naked 5 high flush draw. Both of them have like sets and wraps and [censored]. River… heart for the 5 high flush… ship it. I play a bunch of other random pots, and get all in with QQ23ds for about a 5k pot and lose. At some point ZJ loses his 5th buy in in a row or something gross like that, after he gets all in with bottom set and loses to a gutshot w/ a mid flush draw. He actually looked a little pissed and walked off.
We end the rambunctious scene around 2, and we all go off to bed to prep for the tournament in the morning. I finished down around a few hundred dollars, despite leaving w/ about a 3k stack.
Day 1 of the Main Event:
I played the Turning Stone tournaments this summer, but this was my first real live event. I was at table 1, seat 5. I liked the idea of being at table 1 because I wanted to play with the same players as long as possible, because in general I assume that I will get a better read on them than they will on me. I get to my table about 10 minutes early and I am the first player there. After a few minutes the player to my right sits down and puts his registration receipt on the table next to me. I take a peak at the name, and it’s Bryan Micon, and I look at him and he’s wearing his Neverwin.com gear. I had played quite a few tournaments with him online, and I had a good idea of how he would play. Fairly tight, and not especially tricky or crazy. After a few more minutes more people start sitting down, Including a rather large Venezuelan guy with a bright yellow shirt to my left. I thought at first that it might have been Twin-Caracas, but I wasn’t sure. Just before the tournament starts, Antonio Esfandiari climbs over the rail and sits 2 to my left.
Great.
He immediately starts chatting up the table, and especially the guy to my left, who he refers to as Twin, so I figure out that it is indeed Twin-Caracas. I like when Twin is at my table in general, but he’s definitely not a great player to have to your left in a tournament, and could present some problems. We get the dealing started, and I open fold in emp w/ A7o.
Next hand, I open to 175 with AT of spades in early-ish position, and everyone folds. Hey, this game is easy.
Next hand someone limps, I limp behind with 22 and fold to a flop bet 6 way on a 346 board.
A few hands later I have QQ in early-middle position and raise to 175. Folds around to the BB who is a guy that I don’t have much of a read on yet, who calls. Flop is 7h 6h 2x. He check/calls 250. Turn is a Tx, he check calls 700. River is a 3h, he leads for 1700. I think for about 30 seconds and fold. After a few minutes I find out he’s Swedish, and make a joke “oh you’re Swedish, then I definitely should have called you on that river…” Turns out he’s on team UB or whatever, and came 3rd place last year.
Overall I’m playing as many pots as I can without being crazy, and really trying to pound on the few weak spots at the table. It really doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out if someone is a donk just by looking at them sometimes. I do my best to be super aggressive against the people who are likely satellite winners, and I try to be a little more passive and controlled against Twin-Caracas, and Esfandiari and such. One hand for example, folds around to a nit in lp who raises to 200, I raise to 800 in the bb with J6s. He calls, flop is 359, I bet 1200 and he folds. I do this several times to late position raises, and take down a number of uncontested pots and get to 14k w/ no showdown. At some point, after raising in late position for 3 hands straight, (thus sort of taking the move away from Twin, unless he decides to repop me, which he never did) Twin says to Antonio “This kid is playing every pot! Someone needs to teach him a lesson right?” Or something like that. Antonio says he’s taken notice or some [censored] like that.
One rather interesting spot happened towards the end of level 1. Twin opens utg to 225, gets about 3 callers including aggro-swede in LP, and I call in bb with 22. Flop is 245r. This is actually not such a great spot for me this deep. Even a player like Twin is capable of folding an overpair here to enough pressure, and given that I’m OOP, it is VERY hard to mask the strength of my hand. If I check raise into so many players, or if I check call a bet and a raise, or anything like that it becomes very easy to play against me. There is a rather huge difference between my hand now vs if I had say… 55. 44 and 55 are definitely in everyones range preflop, and so is A3 and maybe even 63. I decide however that the best thing I can do here is lead, although I am definitely not sure about this. I lead for 900. Twin thinks for about 20 seconds than says “this is the last time I [censored] fold to you kid” and folds. Folds around to aggro Swede in lp who thinks for quite a while before folding what he claims was JJ.
[censored].
Blinds are up to 50/100, and I spew myself down to about 12k on a few kinda annoying hands. Not really bad beats or coolers or anything, just spots where I cbet and get raised, or I have AK, 1 player raises, I reraise and get 3 callers, and have to check fold the QJJ flop. Overall this was a pretty uneventful level, and I don’t play any real big pots until 100/200. The end of 50/100 was the first break. 15 minutes.
I went upstairs to the lobby area to see how everyone was doing. Ariel already was up to 27k or something like that. I have no idea how he does it, but he really builds stacks like a machine. ZeeJustin was up to like 25k he said, after a nice little gift. In a 7 way limped pot or something like that, he got all in w/ bottom set on a super dry board versus a guy who limped first in w/ aces (then got 200 bb in on a dry board after a bet and a raise). Raptor was all but out, and a few others I don’t remember. I take a piss and head back down, where we continued play at 100/200
Fairly bad Canadian player open limps in the hijack, Micon folds, and I raise to 800 w/ A8o on the button. Twin once again says some [censored] about how I’m annoying him and folds, and so does Antonio. Canadian calls, as I was expecting him to. Flop is 345r, and he check/calls 1200. Turn is an Ace. He checks after a long hesitation and I take the easy free card, intending on folding to a river bet because I really felt that the ace helped him.
River is an 8, and he bets 2200. I come really close to folding, because for whatever reason his body expression and the way he bet just yelled at me to fold. He was a pretty passive and bad player, so I knew he could never have just 1 pair here I didn’t think, and I eventually convinced myself that I had to call because he could have A5 A4 A3… etc, and so I finally call. He has 22. [censored] me.
A round later I open raise ATo in mp to 600, Twin tosses in the chips and gives me a quick stare down. Antonio looks at both of us and our stacks for a few seconds and reraises to 2400. Folds back to me. I have about 8400 or something like that when the hand started, and I really consider just shoving it in now. The whole while at the table Antonio had definitely taken notice of my loose-aggressiveness, and started calling me Robin Hood. After a while the whole table caught on and started calling me that as well. It was definitely not an insult—just the opposite. Antonio apparently thought “I had a lot of talent” as he said it. I thought about all this, and thought there was a very good chance that he was full of [censored]. I think about his range though and eventually I decide that there was too good a chance he was gonna have like AJo or something and snap call my shove cause I had the worst image ever. Finally I fold and Twin folds. Antonio tables 75c and I verbally abuse myself in my head and call myself a sloppy pussy, and that if I ever go against my gut ever again I am going to slam my nuts into the corner of a table as punishment.
At some point, Twin limps utg, sb limps, and I check in the bb w/ 53c. Flop is Ac 4d 8d. Checked to Twin who overbets 750. SB folds, and I raise to 2200. Twin thinks for a few seconds and calls in a very forceful way (pounds the chips in the middle). I take this as a sign of weakness. Turn is a 7h. I think for about 20 seconds and count down my stack. After a few more seconds I shove for 6600. Twin tanks and tanks, and finally folds and I breath again. He then says “ok ok, now you show me right? Either a flush draw or 84?” I table the 53 and he says “I knew it, I knew it.” He then puts his shades back on and puts his Ipod headphones back on and basically goes into a shell.
I do my standard spewing and then fold for a while, and then I open raise to 600 w/ JTc in MP. Antonio then repops to 2k. I have about 7800 total, and I decide this time that I can’t let him push me around again, and he was likely full of [censored] again so I shove. He tanks for a while and does his whole read my soul type of thing. Once he didn’t snap call I was relieved, because I really thought that meant he was definitely folding. Why? Well I thought his raise was either a hand that he was raising to get me all in w/, or pure air/[censored] and was going to fold if I shoved anyway. There is a very small chance that a player like Antonio was raising like 77 with the intention of making a decision IF I push. Eventually he folds after asking me a million questions which I ignore. He says to the table “I folded jacks that hand. Robin Hood could you beat jacks?” I raise my brow a bit and ponder showing my hand, but decide to muck it.
Some guy in the 9 seat then starts telling the table that I definitely had AA, he has a tell on me. He leans forward and says to me, “hey Robin Hood, Antonio made the right fold right? I know what you had, I know your tell.” Uhhh right sir, good read.
A few rounds later at 150/300 I open raise to 800 in MP and seat 9 calls in the bb. I have 22. Flop comes 359 w/ 2 hearts, and he check/calls 1300. Turn is an offsuit 4, we both check. River is an offsuit ace, and he checks. I ponder the situation for a while, and realize that I have basically no showdown value, and this is a real good spot to try to make him fold a middle pair type hand, so I bet 3000 representing the ace. Unfortunately he had the one hand I was hoping he wouldn’t have, ATh for the ace high flush draw on the flop. He quickly called and the table gave me the old stare down like I was a thief or something.
So I’m back down again. I don’t recall exactly how my stack fluctuated, but it did… a lot. w/ about 6000 I open in emp to 800 w/ KQh, Antonio calls behind me and the rest fold. Flop comes something disgusting like 789 all diamonds so I check fold to his bet. A few rounds later, Micon opens the button, and I shove 22 and he folds.
The blinds get up to 200/400 (25 ante) when I almost bust. Aggro swede opens to 1100 in late position, and I shove for about 6000 in the sb w/ AJo. Twin then insta pushes his stack into the middle and I think I’m gone. Swede folds and Twin slams AK on the table. [censored]…
Oh but wait, JACK IN THE DOOR, BOOM, SHIP IT, HOLLA, ETC. The J holds and Twin starts cursing in Spanish, and I sort of hope he doesn’t rip my head off right then and there. Luckily, he never rips my head off. He is super short after this and busts a few hands later.
A few rounds later, I have AQ on the button. Folds around to Micon who opens to 1200, with about 5 or 6000 behind I think. I reraise to 3000, so that just in case someone behind me shoves I can fold, but at the same time I commit myself against Micon. He thinks for a while and says “ok, im all in” I obviously call and he has TT. Flop is 246 all spades, giving Micon a flush draw, and me 4 outs. Boom offsuit Queen turns and I’m ahead. But oh no, spade rivers and he wins. So I’m short again.
Blinds are up to 300/600 when I have AJc in earlyish position with about 6k total. I shove and it folds around to a huge nit in the SB who barely played any hands. He calls off for his last 3k or so, and I actually think I’m crushed. He has 99 though and I win the flip.
Then, Aggro swede opens to 1500 or so in EP, I shove for 9k ish in mp w/ AA, and a pretty tight good player in lp then reshoves. Turns out later hes a 2+2er, “GTL.” Everyone else folds and he has JJ, and I win. Alright, chips again! Wrong, I lose a lot again.
I try to boss the table around a bit, and get manhandled. I open to 1500 in emp w/ 52h and the Swedish dude calls in the bb. Flop is T36 he check/ shoves over my 2200 bet and flashes a ten when I snap fold.
Then I open to 1500 a round later in mp w/ 99. Some super aggro guy w/ like 50k who took Twin’s seat repops to 6000 (I was definitely intending on shoving over this), then some other bigish stack shoves for like 30k. I fold and the reraiser quickly folds as well.
Then a few rounds later Micon opens in the sb to 1800, and I put him all in for 5 or 6k or whatever with QTs. He snap calls w/ 88 and I lose the flip. Then the blinds are up to 400/800 and I am down to 11000. I raise in mp w/ AJ, intending on calling a shove if someone puts me in, but once again it gets raised and reraised to I have to fold. I have to get up and walk around because at this point I really felt like should have had all the chips at my table. Twin and Antonio were both gone at this point and the guy to my left was a [censored] ticking time bomb that I was so desperately waiting to own. But every time something ruined it. The guy to his left, who replaced Antonio was also a time bomb. His first hand at the table was at 300/600 and he open raised to 3600 w/ 50000 behind from utg. So I am visibly frustrated at how I can’t get into the right spot or groove and I walk away from the table and pace around for a few seconds. Then the next hand gets dealt and I look down at KK in mp. I have like 9 and change and I just open shove because I want it to look like a tilt push. Then I get up and start walking around a little cause im still a little annoyed and cause I want ppl to start figuring out ways why they should call me light. Eventually it gets folded to the BB (the 9 seat who has a ‘tell’ on me) who looks at me and says “hey kid you got AJ again? I stare blankly at him for a few seconds before he says “ok I call,” and tables AA. You slowrolling piece of [censored] [censored] [censored]. It’s ok though, karma is a bitch. K in the door and I’m rolling again.
I lose a smallish flip w/ AK to a shortstacks 33 and I’m back down to 14000 ish. Then I open JJ to 2000 when the ticking time bomb repops like I was expecting him to, to 6000 right behind me. Folds back to me and I waste no time shoving. He insta calls w/ 77 and I hold. Then when I’m in the bb the slowrolling 9 seat shoves for 5k and it folds to Micon in the sb who asks the dealer “what is the minimum raise I can make sir?” he then min raises to 9200, w/ about 20k behind after that. I look down and see QQ and shove. Micon tanks for at least 5 full minutes before folding what was obviously AK. Flop is QTT. And I bust the short stacks J9.
The ticking time bomb then busts at some point, and is replaced by JJ Lieu. She has like 70k and is raising like every pot.
One hand, 600/1200 blinds, she opens to 3000 in EP, folds around to a huge nit in the sb who raises to 10k. She had been at the table for a few rounds, and this player had played 0 pots in that time. He has about 20k behind the 10k, and despite him obviously having a monster JJ brilliantly shoves 77 and gets snap called by QQ and loses.
I finish the day around 45k and wrap up my chips and go for a few drinks w/ the ShipIt ballas. ZeeJustin was still in around 50k, apathy had around 60k, good2cu had around 35k I believe, and a few others that I can’t remember.
I had a few drinks but didn’t get drunk cause I wanted to be fresh for the tournament in the morning. We ended up playing flip cup for 100 dollars a person. Me and ‘Electric’ got owned by raptor and apathy though.
Day II
New table draw, woohoo.
To my direct left is CasinoCasino, WiscoMurray or something like that is across from me, and there are a few other ppl who I prob should have recognized. Overall there weren’t many big stacks.
First hand someone raises and I fold. Next hand I open 98o in mp to 4000 (800/1600 blinds) and an old guy w/ 50k ish calls. Flop is K73. I bet 6500 and he raises to 15k and I fold. Great [censored] start.
A few hands later in bb, sb opens to 4.5k I shove and he folds. I had AQo
A few hands later I raise to 4k in lp, casino shoves, and I fold. I had some random [censored]. Then I do it again with some other random [censored] and he shoves again and I fold. Then I have like 24k in the BB. EP raises to 4500, mp calls, I have JQh in a perfect spot for a squeeze and I shove. EP TANKS it and finally calls w/ 99. I win.
Eventually it gets to 1000/2000 and I have around 50k. I open limp 74d on the button so that casino won’t resteal my ass, but then he shoves for like 24k in the sb and I fold. Then the next hand I open raise to 5500 w/ KQo in the CO and casino shoves AGAIN from the button for about 28k. I tank and call because it’s the right call. He has AJo. I lose. If I win that I am in such a good position, motherfuckshit I hate tournaments.
I play v tight for a few rounds and then shove in mp w/ 99 for 16k or so. Everyone folds.
Next hand I have 44 and push in what I think was a close decision. MP calls w/ 99 and I lose.
GG me 
After this I go back to my hotel and bang my head against the wall till it starts bleeding and I pass out. I wake up in a hospital. Jk obv that never happened but it should have.
That night I was in such a raging tilt mode, that I decided to play the 1k nightly tournament.
This [censored] was fun.
One weird hand happened early in level 1. 25/50 blinds to start, 40 minute levels, and 5000 chips to start.
About 5 limpers to me in the sb and I complete 88. The bb is tilting and raises to 400 w/ like 2000 behind. Folds to the button who calls and I shove. BB snap calls, button folds and my 88 beats his KJo.
I’m playing almost every pot and being pretty wild and insane. I build my stack up to 10000 with basically 0 showdowns when one of the sickest hands I have EVER played happens. 3 limpers to me on the button at 50/100 and I call as well w/ A3c.
5 to the flop, JJ5, rainbow. It gets checked to the CO who bets 300. He was a nice British guy who I was talking a decent amount. I raise to 1000. Folds back to him and he almost min raises to 1800 w/ just 2000 more behind. At first I sort of just assume I have to fold, but then I think about it for a while. To me the small reraise there REALLY felt like either a 1) cheap bluff, cause he prob didn’t think I had the J. or 2) a stupid raise for information gag. Either way, I feel confident enough that he is full of [censored] so I put him all in. Yeah 4 bet bluff w/ air woo. He thinks for about 10 seconds then folds. I obviously table my A3 and the whole table looks at me like I’m possessed.
The was a lot of boring [censored] in this tournament, so I’ll just skip to the hand that crippled me. I have 17k at 200/400, w/ like 40 players left (120 started). EP solid player who thinks im a LAGtard idiot raises to 1400. I cold call in the sb w/ TT and so does the bb w/ like 8k behind. Flop is TJ2 w/ 2 clubs. I lead for 3800, bb tanks and folds. EP shoves and I snap call and I lose to his KQo. 9 on the turn 
Then I go to the poker room and get myself on the list for 10/20 nl.
I sit down w/ 6k when they call my name. The guy who slowrolled me from the tournament was in the game and was overall actually a pretty nice guy. He obviously kept calling me Robin Hood so now everyone else in the game kept calling me that as well.
A few interesting hands:
1 limper utg, GTL makes it 120 or 140 w/ a pretty deep stack in ep, folds around to me and I call w/ AQs on the button, ep guy calls. Flop is 27Q. ck, GTL bets 300 I call, ep folds. Turn is a 8 I think, GTL check/calls 500 or whatever it was. River is a 3 or something dumb completing a backdoor flush draw, and he leads out for 900 I think, leaving himself about 2200. To me this bet really smelled like either AQ, or maybe KK/ AA. I almost immediately folded but then I thought about shoving. It would be a hell of a tough spot if he had anything but a set, but I was almost sure he couldn’t have a set. I tanked it for a while, but then thought he prob thought I was a loose lunatic and would call w/ AA or something so I folded. He tabled AA.
A huge Venezuelan fish open limps utg, 1 other MEGA fish limps (he never folds pf, ever), I raise to 120 w/ QQ and the utg limer makes it 500 w/ like 1000 behind. I’m never folding here vs a fish, and especially not after the other limper then cold called 480 more w/ like 2k behind. I shove, they both call. UTG had AA and mp had 99. Somehow I lose to both and finish the hand in 3rd place.
After a while the game gets shorthanded. 4 handed w/ some American Jewish guy who looks like he goes to an ivy league school and a Venezuelan kid and a generic older guy. None played terrible but I had a massive edge 4 handed, cause I suck full ring and basically only am v good when shorthanded. We were all pretty deep and I open to 75 utg w/ 53o. Ivy league calls in the sb. Flop is AK6, he checks, I bet 150, he raises to 450 and I call. Turn is a T he checks, I bet 750 and he folds. I was absolutely running over the table so I was pretty sure he was either full of [censored] on the flop or the type of player bad enough to raise for information there (so so bad in that spot). The ten was a perfect card to bluff at for obvious reasons. There is a 0% chance he had AK, A2 was v unlikely, and if he had 22 well then that was the only hand I couldn’t make him fold. If he had AQ or something like that, well then I was sure I could blow him off of it by the river.
I make back a few k when we are short, but eventually 2 people leave and the Venezuelan won’t play me HU.
Next day I jerk around until after dinner, where I play the 1k again. This time I go down to register with Ariel, so we end up right next to each other at the same table. He has position on me. This should be fun I thought. At the table ends up being Traheho, Brainwash, and 1 other pretty solid internet guy. 3rd hand or so I open the button to 150 w/ 65o, bb calls. Flop is 533, he checks, I bet 200, he makes it 600 and I call. Turn is a 5, he bets 300 (wtf?) I make it 1200, and he shoved for 4000 or whatever. I insta call, he turns over 97o. Oh, uhm, ok? He doesn’t hit his 0 outer and I win. A little while later at 50/100 a young kid raises to 350, I make it 1100 in the sb w/ AA, he shoves for 6k and I call and beat his 22. Then a few hands go by and a horrible Venezuelan fish makes it 400 in mp and I call w/ 88. Flop is TJ2, he checks, I bet 600 and he calls. Turn is a ten, we both check. River is a 4, he checks, I bet 1300 for value and he tanks and calls with 66. Just as I turn over my hand, Ariel yells out “YOU GOT NINES!” pretty close. Bunch of people at the table tap the felt and say “nice bet.”
At 100/200 25, I open to 600 in lp w/ KK, Ariel shoves for like 4k and change w/ A7d and I win. So I have a lot of chips.
I move tables and it all comes crashing down. I open K3s in mp to 1100 at 200/400, 2 callers. Flop is 2s 9s Jx, bb checks, I bet 2000, lp folds, bb shoves for like 8k or some [censored]. I do the math and call. He has 99 so my odds are really hurtin here, I miss and lose a lot of chips. Then I open A3o on the button a few rounds later. Some old lady calls in the bb. She check calls my bet on 457, then does 2 2x bb donk bets on the A turn and A river and I call both and lose to AQ. More chips gone.
Then I open AJs in mp, 1 caller another shoves and I fold. This was the story of the tournament, as I bled down to a shortstack. Finally someone opens my blind, and I call w/ JTd intending on stop and going. Flop is AK2 I shove and he snap calls w/ 88. Nice call sir? I miss and lose.
Then I head to the poker room.
I look around and there are 2 full 25/50 nl games going, and I get on the list for that and sit in 10/20 while I wait. While I am sitting 10/20 I drop about 4000 dollars in 40 minutes. I really don’t recall any interesting hands, probably just me being an idiot.
25/50 was fun though. Directly to my right when I sit down is a bald guy who looks familiar. After a few rounds I think it’s Lee Markholt, some guy on TV for a circuit event and some other [censored] or something. Turns out it is. I have about 15k on the table, Lee covers. 5 handed 2 Venezuelans limp, Lee completes and I check KTc in the bb. Flop is 567, 2 clubs, Lee bets 200, I call, Venezuelans fold. Turn is an offsuit ace. Lee check/calls 400. River is an offsuit 10. I consider betting for value, but check figuring he wouldn’t call w/ a 86 78 type hand. I checked and he had 78, and told me later that he was calling any bet.
At some point, the player 2 to my right is talking to someone else and mentions his online name. I recognize the name immediately, as it is a guy that I took about 12k off of HU on UB at 10/25, several weeks earlier. In addition, the player relentlessly berated me in the chatbox, and at some point I said something like “oh yeah well ill see u in Aruba” or some [censored] like that.
Anyway, table is 4 or 5 handed, I open raise Q9 from utg+1 to 200, folds to bb who calls. He has 10k I cover. Flop is T45, he checks, I bet 300 he calls. Turn is a 7, he checks I bet 800 he calls. River is an ace he checks I bet 2100 and he snap calls. 2 pair > q high. Just as I made the river bet, ActionJeff walked by, and I make a joke to him “hey jeff, OBVIOUSLY the only hand you see me play is me 3 barrel bluffing w/ queen high right?” he replies “Isn’t that every hand w/ you?” hmmm touché sir. Anyway, he came in to give me the utterly terrible news that the anti gambling bill passed, and both of our lives have been ruined.
Next interesting hand, 4 handed I open 96c utg to 200, sb (Batera) cold calls, and it’s HU to the flop. Flop is 69J, he checks, I bet 400, he calls. Turn is a 2, he checks, I bet 1000, and he raises all in for about 3600 more. I think for a bit and finally call. He has KJ and fails to improve. Finally I win a big pot.
At some point the game breaks up and around this time, ZeeJustin, Whitelime, Ezra, and a couple others make their way back into the poker room. They had gone out somewhere to some place, and were drunk out of their minds. We all sit around and get into a 10/20 horse game. At some point (as tubasteve has already let everyone know) I was talking to Whitelime while in a hand, and ZJ yells out, “Hey Jamie Gold, one person to a hand!!” So I reply “Hey ZeeJustin, one account to a player!!!” The whole table got a laugh, including Justin.
We played some wild hands and such, but I got too drunk to remember any details, so that’s basically it for my Aruba story. Going to the airport was rather depressing, all the poker players were in mourning over the anti-gambling bill, and the Aruba airport is terribly run so it just made it worse.
Overall it was a very fun trip, aside from losing a sizable amount of money. It was cool to meet all the 2+2ers and poker people that I hadn’t met before. I also feel a lot more confident about playing live, and now I can’t [censored] wait for Niagara, where I will own.