Wow
 

This isnt a trip report. That may or may not come later depending upon how im feeling. Thanks for all your support guys. I really appreciated the posts. This tournament was a fantastic 3 days. Unlike the other time I went deep in a big tournament (the 2005 PCA) I felt very much in control. While I played well at the PCA I pretty much got caught on a good rush of cards early that didnt stop until the bubble, when i was able to bully people. This time I had to work for my chips by winning pots where I didn't have the best hand, making tough calls with marginal hands, and getting my strong hands paid off by weak holdings. I didnt ever really encounter that dream scenario of getting the nuts vs. the second nuts, nor was I ever in that shortstack all-in or nothing mode (except for two hands about 45 mins before the bubble). I finished day 1 with 75k in chips despite having my KK cracked by KJ, having to fold 2 pair 3 times and folding an overpair in an 80k 3 way pot where it would have been the best hand. Day 2 began fantastically with me getting up over 100k in the first level, and then things unravelled. I plumetted to 45k just before hand for hand started. Then I won 4 out of 5 hands to recover, then 20 mins later doubled up with AK against K10 on a K high flop. Then I absolutely ran over the bubble to get to 250k when it burst. After ther I busted two short stacks to get to 375k at the end of day 2. I was on fire the first half of day 3 and just felt like I couldnt lose a pot. I made hands at the right times, made small bluffs to pick up pots at the right time, it just felt great. Then in one hand it all fell apart. Im still not opposed to how I decided to play it (although there are obviously all sorts of things I could do differently like you know, not play K5o) but the hand cost me good chip position, and despite winning a coinflip 3 hands later to knock a player out, I could never really recover. Eventually, I got owned by Erick Lindgren, although again, i am not unhappy with how I played the hand. Nordberg was at my table for much of today and he played truly fantastic short stack poker. He waited patiently, picked his spots and never forced the action at unwarranted moments (as im sure i would have). what happened to him on the tv table bubble was absolutely brutal. To sum up, Id just like to say, I've now played 5 wpt events, and the wsop main event once, and in those 6 tournaments ive made the final 18 twice. Also in those 6 tournaments ive made the dinner break twice.

Re: Wow
 

nh

Re: Wow
 

Congrats again mike, you deserve all the success you are having!
~Justin

Re: Wow
 

Congrats man !!!!
Awesome performance.
It's just a matter of time. You'll be there, no doubt about that.

Re: Wow
 

GG. Sorry it didn't work out, but it sounds like you played great. A trip report would be really cool if you have the time.

Re: Wow
 

Sir, you are a monster.

Re: Wow
 

Congrats, and ya a trip report would be really appreciated if you ever get the time.

Re: Wow
 

Congrats, Mike. Sounds like you played great. Would love to see some intersting hands. Welcome back.

Re: Wow
 

Nice job big guy. Way to represent.

Re: Wow
 

Awesome man, just awesome.

-g

Re: Wow
 

Very nice job MLG. Congrats.

[ QUOTE ]
Also in those 6 tournaments ive made the dinner break twice.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think winning the "dinner break" thing should be somehow also calculated into one's ROI. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Re: Wow
 

Great run and congrats again. I hope you feel up to it your trip reports are always great.

Re: Wow
 

Congrats.
Your day will come!
Why do you feel you got owned by EL?, because he held over on you?

Re: Wow
 

Seeing you do well convinces me that there really is some justice in this brutal, brutal game. You dissect hands and think through situations as well as anyone I've seen, and I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that I'd love to hear you talk about some of the plays you're proud of from the Borg.

Congratulations.

Re: Wow
 

Congratulations, Mike. One of these times...

Re: Wow
 

Great job MLG!

What amazes me is that there is a bubble in these things. You'd think that folks in a $10k event know better than to sneak into the money.

Re: Wow
 

Great job and congrats. Would love to see a trip report if possible, I'd love to see your thought process on some key hands.

Re: Wow
 

[ QUOTE ]
Great job MLG!

What amazes me is that there is a bubble in these things. You'd think that folks in a $10k event know better than to sneak into the money.

[/ QUOTE ]

That amazes you? You think everyone has the bankroll Mizrachi does? or even MLG does? sneaking into the bubble could be huge for someone that satelited into the event.


But yes. Great job Mike, kinda lame the payouts were so gay, but we'll be seeing you on tv soon enouogh i'm sure.

Re: Wow
 

if I ever play a 10k event, I will absolutely be trying to sneak into the bubble. But that's because it will almost definitely be waaaay above my bankroll.

Re: Wow
 

Dude you are on the way to becoming something great. One small thing you need to consider adding to your game is paragraphs.

Re: Wow
 

[ QUOTE ]
GG. Sorry it didn't work out, but it sounds like you played great. A trip report would be really cool if you have the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I second that.

Re: Wow
 

so what was the bottom line?

Re: Wow
 

congrats man. you're an inspiration to us all. definitely makes me think about a little rededication to the finer points of my game whenever i read that someone has done well. good job. we'll see you win one of these soon, I'm sure.

Re: Wow
 

you should give yourself more credit. you've made the final 14 twice right?

Re: Wow
 

here's why EDOG owned me. I have about 480k and make it 45k with 88 he makes it 175k from the CO. I call intending to push a lot of flops (in retrospect while calling/raising/folding are all close in this situation, i think stop n going is meh). So I push on a 10107 flop. EDOG looks at me and says "you have to have 88 or 99 man. Ive got you beat buddy. I call." He flips over JJ, and I am fairly impressed.

Re: Wow
 

[ QUOTE ]
What amazes me is that there is a bubble in these things.

[/ QUOTE ]

77 left, 75 pay, blinds at 1200/2400 a200 and it folds to the small blind. He started the hand with 4400, and has put 1200 in for the small blind. He completes leaving himself with 2k behind. The BB puts him all-in. He thinks for a very long time (the camera is on him) and he shows the camera QQ and then FOLDS leaving himself 4 hands worth of ante. He didnt make the money. If anything the bubble is more pronounced in these live events than online.

Re: Wow
 

now THAT is ridiculous.

Re: Wow
 

[ QUOTE ]
here's why EDOG owned me. I have about 480k and make it 45k with 88 he makes it 175k from the CO. I call intending to push a lot of flops (in retrospect while calling/raising/folding are all close in this situation, i think stop n going is meh). So I push on a 10107 flop. EDOG looks at me and says "you have to have 88 or 99 man. Ive got you beat buddy. I call." He flips over JJ, and I am fairly impressed.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been thinking about this hand a bit since I read about it. What was his image of you do you think? Had you been pretty aggressive? I imagine you had been. Had you called many PF reraises? How often had he been pressuring an open-raise?

From his perspective, he probably rules out AA-QQ, AK since you'd probably push with those hands (QQ may be borderline). You probably fold AJ/KQ type of hands to that sort of raise, and anything weaker as well. That leaves TT-88 or so that you'd possibly just call with there, maybe AQ. So given the flop, it's at least feasible when you push to read you for something like 99 or 88. Not sure how he's ruling out QQ, or AQ, so implicitly though.

As an aside, what made you decide on a stop and go? I don't really like that move when you still have a large amount of chips left, I like it more when you're more of a middling stack. Any thoughts on that in hindsight?

Great results in the tourney though, and great stories. Especially the bubble story.

Re: Wow
 

[ QUOTE ]
here's why EDOG owned me...So I push on a 10107 flop. EDOG looks at me and says "you have to have 88 or 99 man. Ive got you beat buddy. I call."

[/ QUOTE ]

I found myself similarly impressed playing with Mike Grazc. Every hand he was in he was making sick reads, commenting on what his opponent had right before the showdown and almost always being right. He ended up donking off his chips w/a pair and flush draw on 678 board against a very deep stack check-REraiser, but other than that one hand it was very impressive to see a player consistently making great reads even against terrible players who to me seemed like unreadable random number generators. While this was my first big live tournament, I have extensive live cash game experience and have never seen somebody consistently be so spot-on.

Re: Wow
 

[ QUOTE ]
here's why EDOG owned me. I have about 480k and make it 45k with 88 he makes it 175k from the CO. I call intending to push a lot of flops (in retrospect while calling/raising/folding are all close in this situation, i think stop n going is meh). So I push on a 10107 flop. EDOG looks at me and says "you have to have 88 or 99 man. Ive got you beat buddy. I call." He flips over JJ, and I am fairly impressed.

[/ QUOTE ]

What do you think of folding 88 there to his raise? Too weak or a possibility given how he'd been playing?

-g

Re: Wow
 

I think folding was the right play....but not by much.

Re: Wow
 

great job mike

Re: Wow
 

Wow! has to be one of the all time understatements here.

Awesome results!

Serves to illustrate what is possible!

Congrats and continued good fortune!

Re: Wow
 

[ QUOTE ]
Wow! has to be one of the all time understatements here.

Awesome results!

Serves to illustrate what is possible!

Congrats and continued good fortune!



[/ QUOTE ]

As I was reading, I was composing an eloquent long winded congratulations as MLG is one of my favorite posters, but then I read the above. Says it all! Thanks Spee and thanks MLG for having a truly positive affect on this forum, its members, and most of all... me.

Re: Wow
 

Congrats bro.

Re: Wow
 

How accurate was the Cardplayer description of this hand?

"Mike Goodman raised from early position only to have Erick Lindgren make a big reraise to $170K. Goodman thought for a couple minutes before calling. The flop came 10-10-7 and Goodman immediately said "all in". It didn't take Lindgren long to call with his J-J. Goodman shows 8-8 and must catch an eight or running cards to make a straight. The turn is a blank and the river is another jack giving Lindgren a full boat."

Did you say this immediately, and in retrospect do you think that's what tipped Erick off? How would you play it differently?

Thanks, and Congrats!

Re: Wow
 

I raised from MP and he repopped from the CO. I thought for about 10 seconds before I said all-in on the flop. I intentionally waited a couple of beats. I think the action is what tipped him off, not my speed on the flop.

Re: Wow
 

Edog just wasn't re-raising often - in fact, maybe that was the first time he had re-raised someone preflop at that table?

I was going to be terribly impressed when you check-raised all in (or check/called all in) and showed aces but when you pushed the flop 88 and 99 seemed pretty logical to me also. It was the first hand that you played where I had a decent feel for where you were...

Re: Wow
 

yeah nord, i know. I do think his reraising range for me there isnt tight though. I think it certainly includes AQ and maybe AJ. i really should have just folded anyway in retrospect and started restealing like a mofo. I think the line I took narrows my hand down pretty tight, which of course doesnt matter if he has AK/AQ and i win the pot there, but all things considered that means when I call pre I need a good flop and him to have overs. not a great gamble.

Re: Wow
 

Mike, hate to bump this and bring up (potentially) painful memories but I didn't see this the first time around.


If his range is JJ-AA, AQ and AK isn't checking the flop almost certainly correct? Your hand was obviously transparent and allowed him to play perfect poker. Hell, I wasn't watching for all that long when this hand came up, and I had a good idea of what you had.

But, if you check here do you think he puts you in regardless or takes the free card? I know EDog's got an aggressive reputation but I also saw him make some nice checks. Was that what made you decide you had to push? Or did you plan to stop and go and went with it?

Also: never trust someone doing Sudoku at the poker table.