chrisjp Main Event Day 2 report

[chrisjp]

This won't take too long unfortunately. My table draw was, on paper, quite a tough one. I won't go into any details about the players since our table was the second one to break out of 270 tables; we broke after about 20 minutes. It was good to get off of there. I went into the level, 250/500A50, with about 15K, so while I was less than half average I still had a reasonable M of over 10. But still you can't play your full game with that M, you need to double.

In the first orbit I am dealt 87s in middle position. I raise. All fold to BB who calls. Flop is a distasteful KQx rainbow, but I c/b and take it down.

I'm UTG with 55 and 17K. I fold. Perhaps I should have limped? I've changed my mind a bit on stacks of this size. I think I need to loosen up a bit and go for the double much more quickly than I have in the past. That is the topic for another thread.

My table breaks. Great! I call nside and tell him that I'm at Red10 now, and opposition research goes into full mode. You guys are great. I move into Seat 6. I quickly discover that the vacant Seat 8 was previously occupied by John Juanda. But no more. Good news!

TP comes by to rail and says, "That's Steve Davis in Seat 2." Hmmm, means nothing to me. I'm a clueless American. Anyway he a super famous snooker player and a very good poker player to boot.

He is the only quality player at the table I think, although the player to my immediate left seems good too. But this table is soft. Fairly loose play too. A player limps on the button with Kh5h after two limpers. Flop gives him a flush draw. Turns the flush on a Qh3h2dTh board. He raises, and villain calls. River is Jh. Villain donk bets and he calls. Villain shows 9h8h for the straight flush. That'll teach you to play K5s OTB.

Key hand comes up in the first orbit. I raise in MP to 1600 with AKo. BB calls. Flop is a very dry Q75 rainbow. He checks, I bet 2100, he calls. Now it seemed to me that he called reluctantly, but I really don't know anything about the players at this table yet. Turn is a low blank. He checks. OK there are two options here.

One is check behind.

The other is to fire a second barrel, and get set to fire all in on the river regardless. I have the perfect stack to do this with. I can bet about 4.5K into this pot and then bet my last 8.5K into the 17K pot or so on the river. This will put maximum pressure on him. What can he have? Unless he flopped a set or began with AA and is trapping, he will be feeling the pressure. If he had a pocket pair <77 he would probably fold to my bet on the flop. So he probably has a vulnerable Q, or TT, 99, 88, maybe JJ, or like 87s or A7s something like that. But I'm new to the table, he has no read on me (I will appear tight after a while, I'm sure, but not yet) and I have no read on him.

I elect to check behind. River a blank. We both check and he wins with 99.

In retrospect I think this was a big mistake, and a weakness in my game. I'm thinking at the time, "No need to get involved here, you still have an M>10, and you have no idea really how he plays. Just a feeling that he isn't strong. Take a free card, you might hit on the river. This is OK."

I should be thinking, "You've got to double and get back into full stack mode. Sure you are not desperate with your M=10, but you are hampered. You need chips so you can build a stack. Remember Chris, you have to win every chip in this room, and all the chips from yesterday. Don't take the safe route!" I picked up Arnold Snyder's Book 2 yesterday. It talks about this. I look forward to reading it.

I think back to a hand in the Seniors Event. I raised in the SB and a solid/tight player called in the BB. I had a big stack he had a medium one. I checked the 987 flop, he bet, I raised. You could almost see him start to sweat. He called fairly quickly though. Turn was a 5. I push. He's in agony. He's in more agony. He reluctantly folds. Big Stack Poker! Just bulldoze them! But you can't bulldoze them without a stack. I need a stack!

I've moved my game to a higher level, but I've continued to be a bit cautious. No more. Next time I'm firing 3 barrels here. I thought the guy was a nit. Turned out he was. I'll go with my impression next time even though I haven't confirmed it. There is a hand in the Rizen section of the Matthew's new book Winning Poker Tournaments. Rizen had the middle pair in that hand. He talked about how much pressure villain put on him with one overcard on the board and how he should have folded. Villain bet flop, turn and river in that one putting on maximum pressure on Rizen.

Live and learn.

Shortly after. I have 11K in the BB. Fold to SB; SB raises. I have A5o. I could push here but don't. I felt it was too early. I fold. Yes my M=10 there, but that's a push. It's marginal but it's the proper attitude. I think TP would have pushed. I played too passive here. And not because it was the Main Event. It felt like just another tournament, but I was just too passively with my lousy cards.

OK back to the matter at hand. The poker gods seem to want to punish me for my AK play. I go completely card dead. For an hour I get nothing. There is some bizarre play going on at the table. A raise to 1500. A reraise to 90K. Another: Steve Davis completes in the SB. BB raises to 4K. Steve Davis pushes for 40K. BB has slightly less. BB goes into the tank. BB finally calls for his life with AJs. Davis wins a huge pot with AKo.

And I'm just sitting here like a dummy. Melting away like a wicked witch. Nothing nothing. It's agony. OK I'm going to resteal with almost anything. But just garbage. I'm going to resteal in the blinds on the next orbit. I'm in the BB. I get 32. I fold. I'm in the SB. I get 32. I fold. Wow

I'm down to about 7K. I have the tightest image obviously. Except for the AK hand which they never saw I haven't played a hand. I'm back in the SB. The CO, a loose player, raises. BTN calls. I have A3o. This is a lousy hand. I mean if one of them has me outkicked and the other a pair then I have to hit trips to win this. Yuck! But, if I squeeze here one of them is likely to fold and there will be dead money in the pot. I need chips! They can be weak. I push for my last 7K. CO looks sad, goes into the tank, reluctantly calls. BTN is not happy. He goes into the tank and ultimately folds.

Here we go. ATo for CO. Dominated. Board gives me some hope.

772Q...lots of outs to tie. River 4. I'm out. I'm jealous of Paul's Main Event. He went out going for big stack as a 5-3 favorite. Next time I'll be there...I hope.

Not the ending I'd hoped for. But it was nevertheless a memorable experience. I'll definitely be playing in 2009....rest assured.

Thanks everyone for all your support.

Chris

[PauliF]

gg fella and terrific report again

bring on next year ey?


you come over to London for the WSOPE?

[jrspm]

Great report Chris.

WSOPE sounds like a great shout. We should try to get you guys to come to us for a change.