Monday, April 23, 2007

Bellagio WPT $25k World Championship: End of Day 1B

Not exactly what I had in mind...

Today at the end of level five I wrote my name and chip count on my bag and then dropped eight chips into that bag.

That's the bad news though. Four of them are 10k chips and the other four are 100 chips.

Today pretty much felt like going to class for nine hours straight. Long, boring, nothing too exciting, and plenty of annoyances. I only voluntarily saw one flop in the entire fifth and final level, and never saw beyond the flop nor was I pushed a chip the entire level. Here's a little tally of my made hands today:

Straight or better: 0
Sets: 0
Trips: 1, first level, got paid off on river.
Two pair: 1, Mark Seif folded turn when I made 2 pair.
Flush or straight draws: 0
Blinds stolen: 1
AA, KK: 0
QQ: once in level 2, had to re-raise a raiser+3 callers big to protect myself, no flop seen.
JJ, TT: 0
99: 1
88: 2
77: 2
66-22: a bunch.
AK: 0
AQ: 2, one won my biggest pot of day.
AJ: 2

Needless to say, I'm pretty thrilled to still have 40,400 of my original 50k. I played very well all day and only made one mistake which may or may not have made me an additional 7k, which we will talk about later. My table was pretty tough, but I had position on the two worst players on the table and was in prime position to take all their chips... if I ever made a hand!

I got 5 outed in a 10k pot on the river, but it came with the 2 out side that cost me an additional 2500 when I could have escaped if the 3 outs came. This was the other interesting hand that I got rivered on:

I see a flop from the button for 1200 each in the 200-400/50 level with the T 9 behind the fish (original raiser) and Ian Johns in the cutoff. We checked the 7 4 3 flop. The 9 peeled off on the turn and the fish checked, Ian bet 3k. I was 98% sure that Ian was on a flush draw with over(s), T9, or 98. I popped it to 7k for several reasons, mostly because I wanted to goad Ian into a mistake. He knew his bet on the turn looked suspect, and he knew that I knew that, and he knew that I was capable of a bluff raise, and I knew that a small raise would looked suspect, and I knew that he knew that I could very likely be full of it, and I knew that Ian was capable of bluff/semi-bluff re-raising.

Catch all that?

If Ian re-raised I was calling for sure and possibly stuffing depending on how much he re-raised. Anyways he just called.

The 2 peeled off on the river, Ian checked, and I didn't even think for a second of betting. If we were chopping we were chopping, but I kinda thought that I was getting shipped the pot because he did not bet the river (meaning no completed flush). After I checked he snapped his fingers, said "Awwww..." and rolled over A T . It actually started a pretty interesting discussion after I said, "You're nuts if you think I'm going to bet that card!" Ian knew that I knew he would lead the river with a made flush 98% of the time to try and get value and thus there was more value in going to "value-check-town" cause he knew I could not call a river bet unless I also made a flush, in which case I would be betting the river also! Good thinking Ian!

The other interesting hand was reported on pokerpages. Here's the entry:

With two limpers, Bryan Devonshire popped it from the button to 1K. Both limpers called. The flop came A 5 7 . Seat 6 checked, Seat 7 bet 1.5K, Bryan raised to 4.5K, Seat 6 folded, Seat 7 called. The turn was the K and Seat 6 led out again, this time for 7K. Bryan raised again to 14K and got called again. Both players checked the 9 river. Seat 6 showed A T but Bryan had A Q for the better kicker and scooped the pot.
Interesting hand here. Wanna hear a little secret? I screwed up on the turn. I wanted to put in 21k, but when firing one of the 10k chips slipped out of my hand and I only fired 11k into the pot, committing myself to a 14k raise. My opponent quickly called as I expected because I had him read for exactly where he was at: a pair and a flush draw, most likely with the A , but also possibly the 6 8 . He was making a blocking bet on the turn and I wanted to charge him the maximum. He said he would've folded for 14k more but not for 7k more, but I'm not really sure if I believe that or not. If so, my mistake made me an additional 7k in the short turm, but could've cost me quite a large pot.

So, my low point was 36k today, my high point was 58k, and I could just never get anything going. Oh well... I still have 18 m's ready to rock tomorrow and plenty of run good stored up from today! I'm still in high spirits and stoked to be a part of the most prestigeous NLHE tournament of the year.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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