Campfire Stories

Bellagio WPT $25k World Championship: MY End of Day 3

That sure was fun while it lasted... Well, I'm obviously very disappointed that I did not go further, especially when I found myself top 15 in chips with 570k when the bubble burst and then busto 60 minutes later. I played incredibly though and am very happy with how I played and honestly believe that I did not make a single mistake day three. I saw that most of the hands that got me to 570k were covered on some reporting site or another, but nobody caught how the wheels fell off from there.

First big hand I played was on the button. Blinds were 3k-6k/500, UTG goes all-in for $35k, Can Kim Hua flat calls, and I make it 100k to go with Q Q . CK thinks for a while, makes it 300k total, and after some thought I throw my queens into the muck. UTG had KJ and CK had AA. I felt very good about that, and was thrilled that I only lost 20% of my stack on the hand.

Six hands later I opened to 22k UTG with A Q and was called only by the button. 67k in the pot, flop is 3 3 5 . I continue for 42k, and he goes all-in for somewhere between 70-80k more. I think for a long time, finally pick up a read, make the call and turn up my ace high first.

"I'm pretty sure this is good." It was. He turned over A 9 . I stood up and said, "Yeah! What a sick call!" My emotions were quickly deflated though when the 9 peeled off on the turn, and I was dropped to well below average, somewhere around 330k. So sick that the biggest pot I play of the tournament is with ace high on the flop when all the money goes in, and I'm still an 86% favorite. Gawd I was playing well.

After that I lost a few small pots, and then about two orbits later with 260k in my stack, blinds 4k-8k/1k, I open in middle position with 9 T and am called by my opponent to my left. Flop 9 7 3 , and I make my usual 42k bet, and I get called. Turn 8 , and I bet 80k, leaving myself with 120k, and get called. I would have put it all-in if my opponent shoved there. River 5 , I checked, he shoved, I mucked, and he showed me his flopped set. Won the minimum and almost lost the maximum there buddy... thanks!

I played through my blinds, and then found myself on the button with 103k holding the A 2 , folded to me, so I stuffed it all-in. The BB woke up with kings, I got no help, and GG me.

That night as I was unwinding with Katie Porrello and John Friedberg we talked about how few hands I really had. In the entire three days I never saw aces, only saw kings twice, and queens three times... once they had to go into the muck pre-flop! I never made a flush or better, I made two straights, and then got no further action on the flopped one when it turned a four-straight. I made trips three times, once in the first level and twice day 2. I only made one set. I had less than ten two pairs. My biggest pot of the tournament was with Ace high and I was an 86% favorite when all the money went in. I sucked out once when I called a small all-in bet with ATo and beat KK. The pot was less than 50k.

So... I'm thrilled with my performance. It was very fun while it lasted. But, I'm back on the horse tomorrow as I am playing the $1500 NLHE circuit event at Caesars!

Thank you all so much for the phone calls, texts, e-mails, and comments of support. They have meant so much to me!

Peace and good luck,

Devo

posted by Devo @ 4:02 PM |