A little over one year ago, I posted a
entry in Moon's blog about my run at the 2005 WSOP in the $2,500 Short-handed NL event. It was the only event I played, and I mainly did it for the experience and because it was something I always wanted to do. I ended up making the money and took home a small prize. I always knew I would come back this year to play in the same event again because I had such a good time the previous year.
Even though the Wolf and Wayner were out there doing it up Vegas style, I had to focus Thursday night and at least get
some sleep so I could be fresh in the morning. Wolf and Wayner were nice enough to let me stay with them in their suite at the Venetian (it was probably the second nicest room I have ever stayed at in Vegas), and so I tried to be as quiet as possible getting ready since it was obvious they had a long night. It turns out that the Wolf was so drunk the night before he brushed his teeth with Preparation H. Sick. I cabbed it over to the Rio and found my seat and table. Table 40, Seat 3.
Last year the event had about 600 people. This year it had grown to 824. The event had a real good blind structure, allowing for some creativity with play. And because it is short-handed, you can play and raise a lot more hands. Each player starts with 2,500 in chips, and the first level of blinds was 25-25. Levels last 1 hour.
My starting table didn't really have any big names (complete opposite of last year). There was an Israeli kid named Raffi and at one point online player Neverwin and Annon Filipi showed up. Other than that, no one I recognized was there. Here are some key hands from the early part of the tournament:
* Blinds are in parentheses and may not be accurate.- (25-25) I accidentally throw in a 100 chip UTG with two black aces meaning to raise. It only counted as a call because I didn't verbalize "raise." Button limps, blinds check. Flop comes A83 with two hearts (A8). I bet out 200. Button calls. Blinds fold. Turn is the 9h. I bet 200 again, and the button raises to 750. He had been pretty aggressive to this point, but also had made it clear he didn't want to go broke. My weak lead made it harder for me to get info, but then I started thinking... How would I play like AhTh or KhQh? Maybe similar. If he had a flush, it had to be low because he would have raised the button with two high hearts. I had 1900 chips left (1100+ behind after the call). His range was pretty large, and he had enough left to lay down if he thought I had him beat. It basically seemed like the perfect spot to bluff because there is no way I could be bluffing. Even if he made the brave call, I still had board-pairing outs. I move in and he thinks for two minutes or so. He finally folds and shows 3h4h. I show one black A and take the pot.
- (25-50) I limp UTG with 22. Button calls and BB (short stack) makes it 150 total. Weak. I would have folded to a larger raise. I call hoping the button calls. He folds. Flop comes 864 two spades, and he quickly goes allin for 600 into the pot of 400. I think for a bit, put him on AK and call. He shows AQ. But a Q on the turn doubled him up.
- (25-50) I had lost some chips and got a little below 1500. I raise on the button with 8c5c. The solid SB calls. The flop comes 872, two hearts. He checks, I bet 200, he calls. I have about 1k left at this point. Turn is the 9c. He checks, I check. The river is the Ts. He bets 525 into me. Crap. The bet really screamed a bluff to me. I knew that was all I could beat. I eventually called, and he showed 55 and I took it down.
I had about 3k at the first break.
- (50-100) UTG+1 raises to 300. I look down at AdKd. The button has a semi-short stack (1200 or so). I decide to limp hoping he perceives all the extra money out there and will go allin with a weaker hand. He moves in. Perfect. But then the SB moves in for about what I have. Then the original raiser moves allin. What?!?. I have to fold. Button has QQ, SB has TT, raiser has QQ. A T hits the flop.
I then move tables to a spot a little warmer in the convention center. I was freezing. Back on the AA hand mentioned above, my opponent commented that I was shaking before he mucked. I do shake sometimes playing poker but this time it was because I was so cold. I guess it worked out to my advantage. There still wasn't anyone uber-famous at my new table. WPT finalist Bruce Kater was there, but that was really all. I made some brave calls and took a lot of small pots uncontested and bulldozed my way up to 10k at the next break. After the break, Johnny Chan and Gavin Griffin both arrived at my table. I was doing fine, hanging around, taking small pots until this debacle.
- (150-300:25) I raise with the BEAST (T8-in spades) UTG+1 and Gavin Griffin calls in the BB. The flop comes Jc9c6s. He checks and I bet 1500 of my remaining 6.5k. He pretty quickly takes a big stack of pinks (10k) and puts it in. Crap. This was the only time so far I had absolutely no idea what to do. I did not want to end up losing to something like a K high. I couldn't semi-bluff because he put me all in. I reluctantly folded, maybe thinking I should have checked the flop if I wasn't ready to call an allin, knowing he was capable of that play.
Some more hands from the middles stages...
- (200-400:75) I raise UTG+1 with J7s and Gavin Griffin reraises me big in the BB. I fold. A round later I raise in the same position with TT and he reraises big in the BB. I think he may have a hand this time. I think for a bit and fold. He shows KK.
- (200-400:75) I raise UTG with Ad3d and Johnny Chan calls in the BB. The flop comes JT5 with two diamonds. He checks, I bet normally, he calls. The turn is another J. He checks, I check. The river is a 3. He bets small (1/4 the pot) into me like I'm some fucking tourist. I couldn't really picture him value betting with a T. He would play a J this way, but also he is Johnny Chan. He could have anything. Part of me thought I was good but part of me also wanted to make an insane call on Johnny Chan. If I was wrong, I could just muck. I call and he shows KT and the A3 hits the muck. Damn you Chan.
At this point we were on the bubble. I had about 10k still going to dinner. I needed a double up. I was in a very similar position to last year. This was the hand that doubled me up:
- (300-600:100) Bruce Kater limps in from the cutoff and I call on the button with A8s. The blinds enter the pot as well. The flop comes AQ5 with two hearts. The blinds check and Kater bets out a sizeable amount. I call, blinds fold. The turn is the 3d. He bets out again (this time a little smaller), I call. The river is a 5c. He puts me allin (about a pot size bet). The river made me split the pot with a lot more hands, but how could this guy have AK? Limp in the cutoff? Come on. I thought for a while and called. He insta-mucked and was down to less than 1k in chips and was out soon after.
I cruised into the money with a good sized stack. Then I caught a bunch of hands to get a large stack. Freddy Deeb had sat down in Bruce Kater's seat. His annoying entourage followed him on the rail.
- (600-1200:200) Freddy Deeb raises to 4500 from UTG+1 and I call with KdJd in MP. Blinds both fold. The flop comes AhQd3d. He bets out, I call. The turn is the 5d. He bets out again and I quickly go all in. He thinks for a while and folds.
- (600-1200:200) Freddy Deeb raises to 4500 from the cutoff-1. I look down at T9s and play with my chips a little, contemplating a raise. I decide I have already screwed up the timing and fold. The very next hand I look down at 33. He again raises to 4500 and I again play with my chips. He makes some comment like "Are you gonna waste time, play with your chips and fold again?" I insta-call. The flop comes 932 with two spades. He bets 5k into me and I insta-allin (he had about 13k behind). He is visibly frustrated. He thinks for probably 3 min and folds.
- (600-1200:200) An EP player raises and I call on the button with As9s. The BB calls as well. The flop comes AT9 with two hearts. The BB immediately shoves allin with an overbet of the pot. The EP raiser folds. This is clearly a draw and I of course call. He flips over QJ and my A9 holds up.
John "World" Hennigan joins the action with a short stack. He isn't there long:
- (600-1200:200) It folds to me on the button and I raise to 3k with 99. World in the BB quickly moves allin for 14.5k more. At this point I have a decision. I don't think he'd play AA, KK, QQ, even JJ like this. He is short and needs to make more of a greedy play. Most likely this is Ax, a low pair, or complete shit. Thus, at worst I am 50/50. After working this out in my head, I call. He shows a pathetic 34o and the QQ48J board seals the deal.
I finish Day 2 with 76k, tied for 8th out of the remaining 39 players.
- Day 2 -
Throughout Day 2 I moved around a ton. It is hard to piece together the order of some of these hands or who was at the table at the time, but I will do my best. I couldn't really get anything going for the first level. I finished Level 1 with about 70k. Then I moved tables and caught fire.
- (1k-2k:300) The very first hand at the new table. The cutoff raises to 7k. I call on the button with A7s. The BB calls as well The flop comes AT5, two clubs. BB checks and the cutoff bets 6.5k (simple continuation bet). I call, waiting to see what happens on the turn. The BB folds. The turn is an offsuit 3. He checks. I decide I probably have the best hand but don't want to get bluffed off of it and think maybe he'll bluff a river. The river is an offsuit 5. He checks. Ok, now I am certain I have the best hand. I decide to try and get some value out of it and bet 8k. He thinks for a little bit and check-raises to 20k total. WTF? How could this be a hand? Also, how could this be a bluff? I read a Strassa post on 2+2 about bluffing in spots and with amounts where there is almost no way you could be bluffing. The problem is, there is like 70k in the pot. I only have to be correct 1/5 times to make this call. Still, I don't want to siphon off precious chips. I decide that it is either quad 5's or nothing. I call, he flips over K4o leaving himself with 19k. Man what would I do if he went allin?
- (1k-2k:300) Two hands later the same guy goes allin in the cutoff for 19k. I call on the button with 99 and he shows A4 and my hand holds up.
- (1k-2k:300) A little while later the button raises to 7k. I raise 15k more in the SB with QQ and he thinks for a bit and goes allin for 36k more. I think for a bit and call. He has 99 and my QQ eliminates him.
I had taken over the chip lead for a little bit. I was at almost 200k at one point. Joseph Hachem then joins my table, with somewhat of a short stack. He gave me a ton of problems. His play forced me to pick up hands and I couldn't raise preflop with crap because he would just go all in in the blinds. I then got card dead for a while and sat around 120k while we went from 27 players to 12. I moved tables probably 3 or 4 times, playing with Daniel Negreanu, Dutch Boyd, and Richard Brodie at various points. We played a full level, only eliminating one player. Then the roller coaster started:
- (2k-4k:500) Dutch Boyd, after raising two hands in a row raises to 12k from EP. I reraise 25k more with AKo. He thinks momentarily and goes allin for 130k more. Wow. I have him covered. Wouldn't AA or KK maybe smooth call? I guess it's possible KK wouldn't, not wanting to see an A high flop. AK is just so powerful 5-handed. I called and he had KK. A K on the flop sealed the deal and I was down to 60k.
- (2k-4k:500) Daniel Negreanu raises on the button to 12k. I go allin with KK in the BB and he calls with 66. My hand holds up and I am at 120k. Negreanu was being a giant dick about how slowly I counted my chips (which was not really slow, but probably slower than he does it, but I don't play every event under the sun). I just ignored the comments.
- (2k-4k:500) UTG raises to 12k. I have AA in the BB and make it 25k more. He goes allin and I call. He has TT and my AA holds up.
We played down to 11 and then it was time for a dinner break. I made some phone calls and then went to grab a bite to eat at the sports bar in the Rio. Jeff Knight, a player still in the tournament was sitting there alone. I introduced myself and he asked if I wanted to sit down. His friend joined us and he ended up buying me dinner, which was very nice. I told him I'd buy him a drink once we made the final table. I returned from break and was card dead for like 45 minutes. I had to make some moves to keep myself afloat. We eliminated one player and were down to 10. Then my demise:
- (2500-5000:500) Dutch Boyd oddly limps on the button (usually this was weak). I check my option with 9h6h. The flop comes 977 and I check. He bets 10k. Of course this could be any two cards. I have about 60k left and move allin. He calls with JJ and I am hurting. I get no help and am out in 10th place, earning $31,200 for my efforts. A real nice pay day.
It is really cool to have made two deep runs in the two WSOP events I have played. The biggest thing about this tournament was that I was lucky to never get unlucky. My 80/20s all held up. That 22 vs AQ and a AT vs A9 for a small pot allin preflop were the only two beats I had. I also never bad-beat anyone else. We all can't be Daniel Negreanu. The event was a blast and I definitely plan on playing again next year, this time the goal will be final 3.
