Again ive just spent the day chilling out in the room or by the pool. Ive just got back from the Venetian which seems like a nice casino where i left the others playing a $200 tournament. Had a nice expensive italian meal there to treat myself of fresh seafood ravioli and grilled vegetables. Every mouthful was fantastic , i must eat out at these places more often !
Key hands on day 2 were as follows:
3 or 4 hands in i raise the 600 bb from late middle position with JJ to 2000. Button who has more than my 42k reraises to 6k. Whilst im deciding what to do the BB has moved 10k allin. I pass and the button calls with 1010 only to get beat by the BBs AA. Thank you button reraiser for saving me 8k more, a lucky escape methinks.
Got moved to another table soon after and easily had my best table of the tournament so far. Key hand that spurred me on was JJ utg which i flat called 600 with. Several callers then the BB moves allin for 12k , i know from earlier play that the only hand he can have me beaten with is QQ although obviously he can have 2 overcards. I go allin 40k to shut the others out and he shows 99. I hold up and im up to about 55k.
There are no real key hands after that as such, i played flops, players and position and also got some easy reads on a few players at the table. I steadily climbed to 106k without any more preflop allins then the worst thing happened. I moved table with 2 hours left to play and instead of being joint chip leader my stack was dominated by 2 or 3 other stacks at the table as well as there being no real short stacks below 40k. Without going into detail i missed a couple of flops and got raised (and shown when i folded) and i also got reraised by AK when i had raised with Q10off to take a weak flat callers chips. The hole cards at this table were huge and some big pots were exchanged by most at the table. Anyway as ive said before im on 81,800 chips when play resumes. I have no real strategy at this point, its easy to think i want to survive the bubble for the £8500ish for 873rd or above but i know once im at the table i probably will want to be agressive around the bubble as its in my nature and i certainly wont be afraid to stick all my chips in if i think i sense weakness from another player. To put it into context i need 83rd or above to beat my biggest poker win to date so ill certainly be thinking about that target more than the bubble tommorrow so that i remain positive and agressive, not timid and passive.
Pokergods please be kind to me :)
Friday, August 04, 2006
Thursday, August 03, 2006
End of Day 2B
81,800 chips left .....average is probably about 75,000 but i have a nasty table stackwise when i return on Friday. Only 3 stacks lower than me and lowest has over 30k.
Pleased to have made day 3 with above average chips but very pissed off about losing about 25k on the table i got moved to with 2 hours of the day left, jesus there were some big hands on that table and was a complete contrast to the best table ive had in the event before i moved.
More detail to follow tomorrow i guess but ive had 4 cans of beer since i got back to the room less than an hour ago so i cant be assed with detail.
Think there is under 1200 players left and payout is to 873 so about 300 will need to drop before i get any money and knowing my aggressive i dont give a shit about the bubble style i could be one of them. Day 3 could be interesting to say the least !!!
Pleased to have made day 3 with above average chips but very pissed off about losing about 25k on the table i got moved to with 2 hours of the day left, jesus there were some big hands on that table and was a complete contrast to the best table ive had in the event before i moved.
More detail to follow tomorrow i guess but ive had 4 cans of beer since i got back to the room less than an hour ago so i cant be assed with detail.
Think there is under 1200 players left and payout is to 873 so about 300 will need to drop before i get any money and knowing my aggressive i dont give a shit about the bubble style i could be one of them. Day 3 could be interesting to say the least !!!
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Mental Preparation (Part 2)
Im pleased to say i've recovered fully from Day 1A and i actually feel fresher this morning than i did on Day 1A. Basically just slept and chilled out yesterday and i feel ready for the onslaught.
Its just over 3.5 hours before play resumes, i know stackwise i have a good table as we had to move to our new drawn table with our bagged up chips before we left the room on Day 1A. It didnt appear there are many if any much above my stack which would be nice because the table i finished on had 2 x 80k stacks as well as 3 or 4 others on 25k + . Saying that im on table 160 and if i last it will break into other tables within a few hours.
Strategy is pretty much as follows, use the first 30 mins to an hour to watch the table trying not to do anything silly but still looking for good opportunites to steal the blinds with position. After an hour or 2 , take a note of stack and the sort of cards im getting and decide whether to up a gear by making a few plays or not where possible. The one thing i dont wanna do is blind down without playing many hands now i have spare chips above the average stack i must use them to try and at least sustain my chip stack regardless of the cards im getting dealt.
Day 2A played yesterday and players dropped like flies so assuming we play the same number of levels (which i think is almost a dead cert for fairness) its a much shorter day (if i last the whole day :) ). There were only 570 left from the 1637 players that started yesterday. They only played 4.5 levels in the end so thats only 9 hours of poker compared to the 12 hours on Day 1A. Obviously that doesnt include breaks but if i last the whole day we should finish about midnight. I would expect the average stack at the end of play to be around 75000 so this is an obvious target i would like to exceed if i survive, as ive said all along making the following day is not a target for me, making the money with an above average stack and giving myself a chance to go deep into the money is.
Its just over 3.5 hours before play resumes, i know stackwise i have a good table as we had to move to our new drawn table with our bagged up chips before we left the room on Day 1A. It didnt appear there are many if any much above my stack which would be nice because the table i finished on had 2 x 80k stacks as well as 3 or 4 others on 25k + . Saying that im on table 160 and if i last it will break into other tables within a few hours.
Strategy is pretty much as follows, use the first 30 mins to an hour to watch the table trying not to do anything silly but still looking for good opportunites to steal the blinds with position. After an hour or 2 , take a note of stack and the sort of cards im getting and decide whether to up a gear by making a few plays or not where possible. The one thing i dont wanna do is blind down without playing many hands now i have spare chips above the average stack i must use them to try and at least sustain my chip stack regardless of the cards im getting dealt.
Day 2A played yesterday and players dropped like flies so assuming we play the same number of levels (which i think is almost a dead cert for fairness) its a much shorter day (if i last the whole day :) ). There were only 570 left from the 1637 players that started yesterday. They only played 4.5 levels in the end so thats only 9 hours of poker compared to the 12 hours on Day 1A. Obviously that doesnt include breaks but if i last the whole day we should finish about midnight. I would expect the average stack at the end of play to be around 75000 so this is an obvious target i would like to exceed if i survive, as ive said all along making the following day is not a target for me, making the money with an above average stack and giving myself a chance to go deep into the money is.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Animal Instincts
OK i think i couldnt be much happier with my game overall for the day, key hands are as follows:
Had called off a bit of my stack (10,000 starting stack) down to almost 8000 when i got my first big flop (blinds 25,50)
Serial raiser in about 40% of hands made it 125 from mid position. SB (small blind) called and i called in the BB (big blind) with 7h5h.
Flop was 468 and i know raiser will keep betting if i call so it goes chk chk , he bets 300ish ,sb folds and i call. turn = Q (so i still have the nuts). Chk he bets 1000 and i raise to 3000ish hoping he has trips and doesnt put me on the straight. He folds and ive almost got back to my 10k starting stack.
My stack varied from 7500 to 10,000 in the first 2 levels and i got involved a bit more in the 2nd level playing some ace rags and KQs agressively by raising after there had been a caller(s) before me as most of the table were very tight. Didnt hit too many big flops at this stage , just enough to sustain me but i felt i played better in level 2 after settling down a bit.
I moved tables and tightened up at first to try and get a feel for what type of players were at the table. After just over an hours and only playing about 4-5hands i made whats probably my biggest and best live poker play to date.
It was the final hand before the dinner break (6 hours in) and this was even a factor in my play as i knew my opponent was good enough to think i wouldnt put my whole tournament on the line at this point.
blinds 100,200 ( I have 10-11k) and QhJh in the BB
Fairly agressive good player makes it 600 from early to middle position, easy player next to him calls and i call.
Flop is Kh8h-x (x means low meaningless card to u readers that havent seen that b4)
I bet 1200 into the 1900 pot. Raiser flat calls and other guy folds.
Turn is the Qs giving me 2nd pair and the flush draw. I check almost sure that this guy has the king and wanting a cheap card but i also wanted to see how much he bet with such a big drawing hand of mine.
He bets 3000 very quickly and i immediately think he only has the king , not trips or KQ and im confident i can push him off it as a check raise on the turn looks very strong to a good player after ive led out on the flop.
I count out 3000 and see how much i have left ( a further 6500-7000) then stack it up and push it in.
He goes into the think tank for over a minute before folding and showing me a king ( i did not show but commented "nice fold" ).
Boy was the adrenaline pumping after that hand and i now had 16k going into the dinner break on a table that wasnt too bad to play on as well, so was really looking forward to coming back.
After the break i hit some nice cards against 2 simple players to bust them (1 drawing dead on the turn when i moved all in, and the other drawing to only 2 outs on the turn also when the chips went in) and before i knew it i was up in the 30-34k stack range which i knew was double the average stack at the time.
I had my luckiest hand of the night beat wise when i raised in late position to 1100 (blinds 150,300) with AJoff and the table tight short stack lady (she had played 2 hands maybe in over 2 hours) flat called me leaving herself with only 2400 left, i immediately thought shit she probably has a small pocket pair and dont wanna risk whole stack on it and if she checks the flop im allin regardless on the board as the pot is 2800 (with antes as well). The flop is 2s3c3s which i know cant have helped her and she moves allin. I go into the think tank as im getting about 33% pot odds but im thinking im most likely between 25 and 33% favourite. After a couple of minutes im happy to gamble ,the chance she was on a flush draw with a hand like KsQs helping me to decide the marginal pot odds call in the end. Turned out it was a bad call as she held AcKc but i spiked a jack on the turn for the 8k pot. This was pretty much my only bad big decision of the day as far i was concerned and i know im due some luck after st kitts and deauville so it was nice to see it even out for once. Obviously my stack was biggish at this time so my tournament was not on the line as i would have had about 26k left if i had lost that hand but instead i was up to my peak of 34k.
We hit the last level of the day 200,400 (50 ante) and i was on my third table having moved before the hand i described above again. It was an ok table with a good selection of stack sizes to play against and i felt comfortable soon after sitting down as most of the table appeared passive as there was a table bully (who fortunately was about 4 seats to my left so we didnt clash too much) dominating most of them. Several busted and some big stacks got moved to the table so my plan to steal a lot in the last level was revised and i actually only got involved with fairly good cards when raising.
I managed to escape without too much damage against a couple of flopped trips against me.
As ive said before i like to gamble a bit with some bluffs at this stage when i have chips to spare and there are 2 key hands that pushed my stack up to the 42,450 i finished on. If i can play on instinct in a pot i will regardless of my cards.
Middle position makes it 1200 i call on the button with KdJd and the BB calls also. Flop is QdQx7x, i decide to represent the queen by flat calling the initial raisers continue bet and BB folds. Turn = 7d giving me the flush draw but also slowing up my bluff as a lot of people wouldnt bet here if they had the queen (i might btw depends on my mood ! and player against me) and it goes chk chk. River is the 10d giving me the flush and he chks so i know im good for the hand. Now because this isnt a bluff now i only bet 4k rather than the 8-10k i was gonna bet with the queen. He calls instantly and looks disgusted so obviously had a pocket pair, maybe even a big one !
Finally and by far the second best play i made of the day was an AK i had in 2nd position. i made it 1500 to go and the chap next to me instantly reraised me to 4k. i have had a few friendly discussions with this guy and he also made this move earlier with AK against the guy to my right who laid down JJ. I put him on AK or QQ but with only 30 minutes to go until the end of play im confident i can push him off his hand preflop. Key thing here is i think he would have took time with AA or KK to reraise. Out stacks before this hand are approximately 35k me and he has about 25k which is obviously key as well to my move. I take a reasonable time to try and make it look strong before making it 13500 in total to go knowing im committing to an allin if he moves on me but my bet looks huge as though im holding KK or AA (neither of which i had all day btw) . He doesnt take long and folds showing AK to the table, i show AK also and get quite a reaction from the table, SWEET. In excess of 40k after that and remained there.
Right i must go and eat as much carbohydrates as my body allows , it is so mentally exhausting playing and i want to be in good shape for tommorrow.
Had called off a bit of my stack (10,000 starting stack) down to almost 8000 when i got my first big flop (blinds 25,50)
Serial raiser in about 40% of hands made it 125 from mid position. SB (small blind) called and i called in the BB (big blind) with 7h5h.
Flop was 468 and i know raiser will keep betting if i call so it goes chk chk , he bets 300ish ,sb folds and i call. turn = Q (so i still have the nuts). Chk he bets 1000 and i raise to 3000ish hoping he has trips and doesnt put me on the straight. He folds and ive almost got back to my 10k starting stack.
My stack varied from 7500 to 10,000 in the first 2 levels and i got involved a bit more in the 2nd level playing some ace rags and KQs agressively by raising after there had been a caller(s) before me as most of the table were very tight. Didnt hit too many big flops at this stage , just enough to sustain me but i felt i played better in level 2 after settling down a bit.
I moved tables and tightened up at first to try and get a feel for what type of players were at the table. After just over an hours and only playing about 4-5hands i made whats probably my biggest and best live poker play to date.
It was the final hand before the dinner break (6 hours in) and this was even a factor in my play as i knew my opponent was good enough to think i wouldnt put my whole tournament on the line at this point.
blinds 100,200 ( I have 10-11k) and QhJh in the BB
Fairly agressive good player makes it 600 from early to middle position, easy player next to him calls and i call.
Flop is Kh8h-x (x means low meaningless card to u readers that havent seen that b4)
I bet 1200 into the 1900 pot. Raiser flat calls and other guy folds.
Turn is the Qs giving me 2nd pair and the flush draw. I check almost sure that this guy has the king and wanting a cheap card but i also wanted to see how much he bet with such a big drawing hand of mine.
He bets 3000 very quickly and i immediately think he only has the king , not trips or KQ and im confident i can push him off it as a check raise on the turn looks very strong to a good player after ive led out on the flop.
I count out 3000 and see how much i have left ( a further 6500-7000) then stack it up and push it in.
He goes into the think tank for over a minute before folding and showing me a king ( i did not show but commented "nice fold" ).
Boy was the adrenaline pumping after that hand and i now had 16k going into the dinner break on a table that wasnt too bad to play on as well, so was really looking forward to coming back.
After the break i hit some nice cards against 2 simple players to bust them (1 drawing dead on the turn when i moved all in, and the other drawing to only 2 outs on the turn also when the chips went in) and before i knew it i was up in the 30-34k stack range which i knew was double the average stack at the time.
I had my luckiest hand of the night beat wise when i raised in late position to 1100 (blinds 150,300) with AJoff and the table tight short stack lady (she had played 2 hands maybe in over 2 hours) flat called me leaving herself with only 2400 left, i immediately thought shit she probably has a small pocket pair and dont wanna risk whole stack on it and if she checks the flop im allin regardless on the board as the pot is 2800 (with antes as well). The flop is 2s3c3s which i know cant have helped her and she moves allin. I go into the think tank as im getting about 33% pot odds but im thinking im most likely between 25 and 33% favourite. After a couple of minutes im happy to gamble ,the chance she was on a flush draw with a hand like KsQs helping me to decide the marginal pot odds call in the end. Turned out it was a bad call as she held AcKc but i spiked a jack on the turn for the 8k pot. This was pretty much my only bad big decision of the day as far i was concerned and i know im due some luck after st kitts and deauville so it was nice to see it even out for once. Obviously my stack was biggish at this time so my tournament was not on the line as i would have had about 26k left if i had lost that hand but instead i was up to my peak of 34k.
We hit the last level of the day 200,400 (50 ante) and i was on my third table having moved before the hand i described above again. It was an ok table with a good selection of stack sizes to play against and i felt comfortable soon after sitting down as most of the table appeared passive as there was a table bully (who fortunately was about 4 seats to my left so we didnt clash too much) dominating most of them. Several busted and some big stacks got moved to the table so my plan to steal a lot in the last level was revised and i actually only got involved with fairly good cards when raising.
I managed to escape without too much damage against a couple of flopped trips against me.
As ive said before i like to gamble a bit with some bluffs at this stage when i have chips to spare and there are 2 key hands that pushed my stack up to the 42,450 i finished on. If i can play on instinct in a pot i will regardless of my cards.
Middle position makes it 1200 i call on the button with KdJd and the BB calls also. Flop is QdQx7x, i decide to represent the queen by flat calling the initial raisers continue bet and BB folds. Turn = 7d giving me the flush draw but also slowing up my bluff as a lot of people wouldnt bet here if they had the queen (i might btw depends on my mood ! and player against me) and it goes chk chk. River is the 10d giving me the flush and he chks so i know im good for the hand. Now because this isnt a bluff now i only bet 4k rather than the 8-10k i was gonna bet with the queen. He calls instantly and looks disgusted so obviously had a pocket pair, maybe even a big one !
Finally and by far the second best play i made of the day was an AK i had in 2nd position. i made it 1500 to go and the chap next to me instantly reraised me to 4k. i have had a few friendly discussions with this guy and he also made this move earlier with AK against the guy to my right who laid down JJ. I put him on AK or QQ but with only 30 minutes to go until the end of play im confident i can push him off his hand preflop. Key thing here is i think he would have took time with AA or KK to reraise. Out stacks before this hand are approximately 35k me and he has about 25k which is obviously key as well to my move. I take a reasonable time to try and make it look strong before making it 13500 in total to go knowing im committing to an allin if he moves on me but my bet looks huge as though im holding KK or AA (neither of which i had all day btw) . He doesnt take long and folds showing AK to the table, i show AK also and get quite a reaction from the table, SWEET. In excess of 40k after that and remained there.
Right i must go and eat as much carbohydrates as my body allows , it is so mentally exhausting playing and i want to be in good shape for tommorrow.
End of WSOP Day 1D
My Chip Count = 42,450. Average stack = approximately 25000.
Too tired for hand details, time for bed, will almost certainly post more detail tommorrow.
Day off tommorrow , play for me resumes on Wednesday.
Too tired for hand details, time for bed, will almost certainly post more detail tommorrow.
Day off tommorrow , play for me resumes on Wednesday.
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