SSNL POKER [cheese] thread JULY PT 2

[Isura]

xpost from my blog. My main event TR. Enjoy!



I leave the house around 11:30am with Rob (bobbofitos on 2p2). We are both a little nervous, and pass the time by talking about non-poker stuff. We arrive at the Rio just as they begin letting the players in. The convention center during the WSOP is really a sight to see. The room is massive, and is filled with row after row of poker tables. I check my registration card, and look around for table 78. And would you have known it, it turns out I will be at one of the ESPN feature tables!! The players are required to fill out a bio sheet so that Norman Chad can say something witty about our haircut or occupation. Dude then clips on my mic, and reminds us not to cover the hole card cam with our chips.

I am in seat 4. Seat 1 is Michael Graves, young guy who won the $1k rebuy event this year, and incidentally we met a few days earlier at durrrr’s place. Seat 2 is 30ish looking latin american. Seat 3 is middle aged white dude. Seat 5 and 6 are young white dudes. Seat 7 is empty when we start, but this person is the reason we are on TV in the first place. Seat 8 is young bald asian dude. Seat 9 is an older looking white dude with long hair, reminds me of 80’s heavy metal. Seat 10 is big brown dude.

The main event has one of the best tournament structures, with 20k starting stacks at 50/100 blinds. Play starts out more loose and aggressive than I expect. I soon realize that seat 2 is donkish, and seat 8 is a huge donkey. The rest seem tight so I decide to play tight myself and stay out of trouble. But about 1 orbit in I see a spot to pick up chips. Young guy in seat 6 opens, about 3 or 4 people call. I decide to squeeze to 1500 with J6s from the big blind. All fold except donkey in seat 8. Flop is A53 or something, and I c-bet 1500 and take it down. Good start. Orbit or two later I open AQs from the small blind. Big blind calls and flop is J high with a flush draw. I usually c-bet, but decide to check. He bets 500 or so and I checkraise to 1700. He reluctantly folds and I have a few more chips. I decide to slow down a bit after these hands. Next interesting hand is when I have KK on the button. I have about 22k and cover both. Seat 1 limps in late middle, seat 2 overlimps, and I have black KK on the button. I throw out a 500 chip meaning to raise, but it turns out that you have to verbally state raise when throwing a single high denomination chip in. Uggh.. So I’m stuck in a 4 way limped pot with KK and 200bb, but at least I have botton. Flop comes J98 with a flush draw. Graves bets out 300, latin guy calls, I raise to 1500. Not sure about this raise. That is a crappy flop for KK in a limped pot, and perhaps waiting for a blank turn might be better. But I wanted to charge the draws and take down the pot now. I was planning on folding to a 3-bet. They both call, and turn is a 7. Terrible card, so I check behind. River is a blank, and Graves bets 3000. This looks really like a valuebet, but I can’t put him on a T and the flush draw missed, so I make the call. He shows J9 and is good.

So down to about 18k at the first break. After the break seat 7 finally arrives. It is no other than 11 time bracelet winner Phill Hellmuth Jr. He arrives with a crew of beautiful girls, and is wearing a race car outfit plus helmet. He shakes everyone’s hands and then gets down to business. Not much happens for me in the second session. But Phil gets into plenty of pots. He is the definition of a tourney donk. He sometimes minraises, open limps a ton, and generally plays his hands face up. He also loves to trap. One hand he apparently calls on the button with 99 to trap, and then ends up folding to a turn second barrel. The guy who bluffs shows T8 for the open ended straight draw, and Phil starts to tilt. He lost a fwe more big pots with AK, once he folded to a river shove and the other one someone flopped trips with QJ and he berated them for calling a raise with QJo. I finally get a hand close to the break. Seat 3 is playing pretty aggro preflop. he opens in middle position, and I call behind with 88. Loosish asian guy (new to table) calls in the small blind. Opener bets out 2500 on 973 flop with two hearts. I call, and asian guy also calls. Turn is a 9, and asian guy quickly shoves. So its to me 5k more into an 11k pot. I can’t put him on a 9, and think I’m doing well against two big hearts or 78. I wish I took more time with this decision though. I didn’t consider too much that he was risking his tourney life. I called and he had A9, ugh. So that and the KK were the two hands I misplayed. I play one hand vs Phil. I open KTs in MP3, Phil calls on button. Flop is Q73 rainbow, and I bet 1100 into 1600. He SNAP calls and I decide to give up. Turn is checked and he bets 2600 on river, I think a bit about a bluff c/r but decide that he is definitely value betting and won’t fold. I fold and he proudly shows 77 for the flopped set. People congratulate me on a big fold, lol.

Third session I don’t get much hands until the last 20 minutes. I am down to about 9k at 200/400 blinds when same asian guy opens UTG for 3k WTF. I have TT on button, and decide that I won’t have many better spots. I shove, and asian guy folds?!?! But alas, Hellmuth has blinded down to his last 450, so has to call. He flips AQ to my TT. He sucks out on turn with a Q, but I resuck on river with a club! You’ll definitely see this hand on TV. Phil shakes my hand and walks off. I win a flurry of pots in the last 20 minutes. Everyone is tightening up close to the dinner break. I get KQ once and win with a flop c-bet HU. I get AA and no action. And then I call with TT on button, and take it down with a flop raise in the laste hand before dinner. So I chip up back to about 18.k at the dinner break and feel good.

After dinner the blinds are 200/400 but with 50 ante. Antes really change the dynamics of a tournament. It was plainly obvious that most of the table didn’t understand how to adjust. Unfortunately I don’t get any hands and there are a few big stacks, so I can’t steal much. I get blinded down to 14k when I get my bustout hand. Very loose guy limps utg, and Kush Patel (big brown guy, turns out he is high stakes limit player) raises to 2000. I have 88 in the CO. This is a very close spot. His range is probably AQ-AK, 99+ so I guess I should fold. But I thought he’d be doing this with a wider range because of loose UTG (hopefully AJ/KQ that will fold if I raise). I shove for 14k, and he calls with AK. Flop is AKx and I’m out about one hour after dinner. The main event was a great experience, and I learned a lot about live tournies. I plan to play a lot more events next year, and also swap my action with some other good players. Hope you enjoyed this. Good luck at the tables.

[viciouspenguin]

i call here everytime to find random [censored] like 88, KJ, and A9. im pretty suer instacalling here is very +EV

[Marwan]

good read Isura, can't wait to play a live event of some kind.. if only I wasn't such a satellite nit.. seems like a great experience.. did you play any of the smaller events?

[cbloom]

Anyone who posts giant pictures in the cheese thread and screws up the formatting - go ban yourself!

[carrotsnake]

insta call AQo.

Isura, the KK hand is something I learned the hard way in a cash game, and from then on whenever I used a higher denomination chip, I threw another 25 or whatever with it just in case

[cbloom]

[ QUOTE ]
insta call AQo.

Isura, the KK hand is something I learned the hard way in a cash game, and from then on whenever I used a higher denomination chip, I threw another 25 or whatever with it just in case

[/ QUOTE ]

I made that exact same mistake with KK in the first live tourney with name pros I played. It got me so flustered and pissed off that I spewed off my stack in that pot when I flopped an overpair [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[orange]

crazy lag is OWNING me right now haychaycahcyacha

[gimmetheloot]

Does this sound like what im looking for?

This is by far the best computer for your money right now, but it expires tomorrow. For $459 gets you this high end computer with a 1.8Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 processor, FREE upgrade to 2GB of dual channel DDR2 SDRAM (160 value), FREE upgrade to 160GB S-ATA 7200RPM hard drive ($40 value), 16x DVD-ROM, 256MB nVidia Geforce 7300LE TurboCache video, integrated 7.1 channel audio, 10/100/100 networking, Windows Vista Home Basic, and a 1 year warranty.

8tabling 100NL w/ PT/PAHUD.
Will that thing handle it and run the web at the asme time w/ no lag?

[Marwan]

yes that should be fine and then some

[gimmetheloot]

ok thanks.