Update #3 - Friday morning part two
Level 5 Blinds $150-300 Ante $25 My stack $13375
****After the K-3 hand I was up to 17,000 but lost a little in a hand in which I laid down 7-7 which was an overpair to the board against a new player at the table.
****The supper break was between level 4 and level 5. I noted that at the beginning on this level it was about 8 PM and I was suddenly feeling REALLY tired.
HAND #8: I defend my BB against a late aggressive player and a caller with 5-5. The flop was Q-2-2. I bet out and they both fold. This hand, and several others, were important in a later confrontation that I had with a player on my right. I was, commonly, willing to make little bets at highly bluffable flops. I did it a lot. And, he was starting to notice.
HAND #9: Raise in cutoff with 9-2o. This was out of character for me. Only rarely did I take a shot at the blinds with COMPLETE crap like this. Button calls. Flop A-7-3. I bet, he folds. Whew.
****I saw Bill Shalloob from North Dakota playing. Go Bill go!
HAND #10: I limp in UTG with A-2s. Button calls. This is the player described in hand #4. I have A LOT of trouble figuring him out. I do know that he calls too much with too little. The BB raises. The BB is a solid young player who has impressed me. Looks like a good time, to me, to represent slow played A-A so I re-raise. Button calls (oops) but, as I hoped, the BB folds (I heard him tell his neighbor that he folded A-K). Flop 9-8-2 with two clubs, not my suit. OK. I like this flop. I think I have the best hand. I bet. Mr unreadable calls. Oops. Maybe not. At this point I think he probably has a flush draw, but I don’t know. Turn card is a beautiful ace. Woohoo. OK, now I have the best, I am sure. I bet, he calls. River card is the magical 2 of clubs completing the flush but giving me a full house. I bet, he calls and shows J-J. Whew. Got away from another one.
HAND #11: My favorite hand of the day. When I have my “A†game I see the opportunities. This was an opportunity that I didn’t miss. One limper to me on the button. I limp with 8-7. SB calls. BB raises. Same player that had earlier made this move and I thought he might be doing it again. The UTG limper calls. Without that call, I probably muck, but I figure that I was getting excellent implied odds. I call. SB calls This was a big pot. Flop is 5-4-T with two spades. SB checks. BB makes a pot size bet. UTG folds. A little bell rang. I am going to take this pot, on the turn. I call. SB folds. Turn is 2 of spades. PERFECT. My draw that I didn’t have made it. He gives off the “Was that a spade in my hand?†tell and double checks his cards. He checks (nope, he has overpair and no spade), I bet, he tanks, and folds. Whew. This move was available to me because this player had, back in level one, when narrating a hand at a neighboring table to us announced “You can’t win this event if you can’t fold an overpair.â€
****At this point I had about $30K. I was going through to Sunday barring disaster. I promised myself to “go into lockdown†and get through the day. I didn’t of course. But, I tried to promise myself.
****With 40 minutes left in this level there are 118 table left. We have lost about 1/3 of the field.
****10:13 PM when I catch my first overwhelming whiff of poker stink from a neighboring table. Phew. Someone is under a lot of stress.
****Luck matters. In a hand that I folded on the flop the most dangerous player at the table lost A LOT of chips to another player who was not, I didn’t think, quite as dangerous. I do a little dance inside when I see this happen. It’s always good to move chips from tough players. This tough player, who had been chatting and having a good time, now went very quiet. 45 minutes earlier he was seeing himself at the final table and now he was back to mortal stack status. I know the feeling, and it’s not good.
Level 6 Blinds $200-400 Ante $50 My stack $31,000
****In the break prior to this level I cut out 5 minutes early. I needed a mental break. I needed to beat the crowd and get to my room and wash my face and hands and brush my teeth. Once I got to my room I also noted that I was overheating. A lot. 11 hours in an 8 yard wool kilt, blazer, shirt, and time was enough. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt. I still had four hours to play and I was fatiguing badly.
****At the Rio I am in the “Impanema Tower†which has the annoying effect of causing me to sing “The Girl From Impanema†every time I go to my room.
TALL AND TAN AND YOUNG AND LOVELY
THE GIRL FROM IMPANEMA GOES WALKING
AND WHEN SHE PASSES EACH ONE SHE PASSES GOES AHHHH
HAND #12: Button raises my small blind. This was a player that I had rarely tangled with. I have him my BB a lot. He was a frequent raising and I figured him for being frequently out of line, but I never had anything to fight him with. In this hand he raises, I re-raise in the BB with K-To hoping to take it right there. Flop of J-T-x, I bet, he raises, I re-raise and win. Whew. He went the tank to my re-raise. Then he puts his hands on his chips to move them all-in, but at the last second can’t pull the trigger on his bluff and he folds.
HAND #13: Here is a fun hand. Two limper and the same late position player as the previous hand raises. I call with A-9s. Both limpers call. 5300 in the pot. Board finishes K-Q-J-3-2 and my A-9 is good! Early limper with A-6. Mid limper with 8-7. Button raiser with A-7. I roll my hand over. There is a lot of belly aching and nobody is really showing there hand resulting in my very annoying habit of announcing, “Money to David. Money to David, baby. If they don’t want to show it must be money to David.†I have to kick this habit, but I only do it when I get slow rolled by guys with losing hand.
****At this point we were ALL getting sloppy. I noticed that I was starting to peek at my cards before the action got to me. A player on my right, a very methodical player, was starting to telegraph his action before the action reached him. Fatigue was setting in.
HAND #14 #15 #16: Three consecutive hands. Button raises, I re-raise from SB with AQ and take it down. I show him the hand. This is another that is building to a coming showdown. Next hand on the button I raise with T-9. BB calls. Flop is A-A-x. Check check. On a flop like this I like to check and take it on the turn. My calls screams “I have aces†and it takes the wind out of the sails of a guy who is thinking about bluffing. He checks the turn, I bet and take it down. Next hand in the cutoff I raise with A-Q and take the blinds. I show my A-Q and announce “Wow, I had A-Q three hands in a row. What are the chances of that?â€
Level 7 Blinds $250-500 Ante $50 My stack $46,000
****There are 850 players left. We have to lose 200 more players before we quit. We might get it done in level 7 but I think we will need to play some portion of level 8.
****All night long the “message waiting†light has been blinking on my phone. Every time I get to my room, there it is – blink, blink, blink. Because I cut out 10 minutes early, I FINALLY check my message. It’s a ad for a Chris Ferguson poker seminar! Sheesh. Not Chris’s doing, the Rio is using the message service for advertising. That’s obnoxious.
****I left my voice machine in my room for levels 7 and eight. So, this is from memory.
HAND #17: I steal raise with 9-2. Button calls. Flop is K-J-2. I bet, he calls. Turn check and check. I put him on flush draw. River misses, I bet, he calls. Frack. $10,000 chips gone on a STUPID overly fatugued, I am an idiot play.
HAND #18: Small raise with KQ. K on flop. I lose another $15,000 to the same player when he calls me all the way with AK. AAARRGGHHH. I am down to $20,000 chips and feeling a little bummed.
HAND #19: Folded to SB who raises my BB. I have had A LOT of confrontations with him through the day. I have frequently re-raised his steals and, overall, I think he was getting sick of it. Just a few minutes before this there was a hand in which button limp, SB limp, I check BB with J-4o Flop T-T-2. I bet. Button folds. SB says to me: “That’s a pretty standard play for you.†“Yes it is,†I say. “Although, in fairness to me, I don’t usually bluff at a paired board. Usually it’s a board like K-7-3 rainbow.†He wants to move, but can’t and eventually folds. He says “Show me something.†So, I show him my jack high and ask him if I was beat? This is all by way of history to the showdown of HAND #19. Folded to his SB and he raises. I see 6-6. Ugh. I think he might be stealing but we are both around $20K and there is a real risk that all of the money might wind up. I decided to raise and he, immediately, announces “I am all in.†This was significant. I know that he knows that I am often out of line. I know that he is sick of me. And, he has given my a HUGE “strong is weak†tell. He was, all along, a very studious and thoughtful player. Moving in fast was completely out of character. I decided to gamble. I called. He showed A-J and my 6-6 held up.
HAND #20 and #21: We knew we were within minutes of stopping for the day. It was even better than being on the bubble. I stole $20,000 chips in the last twenty minutes.
So, I am 79th. Extrapolating I am 240th out of 2,000. That is just fine. If I can get my stack to 100,000 I will make the money. That $100K number is the goal for Sunday (although we will not make the money on Sunday). But, will not push.
For the rest of the day today… I trip to Fry’s to buy a monopod and other cool electronic stuff. Supper at New York New York with Lou Gazzola. A nap. A trip to the spa to run and sit in the whirlpool. And, that’s it.
Tomorrow I have dedicated to relaxation. I think I am going to go and see “Blue Man Group.â€
Sorry for any typos. This has been four hours of work as it is and I need to get on with my day here in Vegas. Future days (touch wood) won’t be as long but I have lots of time on my hands right now.
****After the K-3 hand I was up to 17,000 but lost a little in a hand in which I laid down 7-7 which was an overpair to the board against a new player at the table.
****The supper break was between level 4 and level 5. I noted that at the beginning on this level it was about 8 PM and I was suddenly feeling REALLY tired.
HAND #8: I defend my BB against a late aggressive player and a caller with 5-5. The flop was Q-2-2. I bet out and they both fold. This hand, and several others, were important in a later confrontation that I had with a player on my right. I was, commonly, willing to make little bets at highly bluffable flops. I did it a lot. And, he was starting to notice.
HAND #9: Raise in cutoff with 9-2o. This was out of character for me. Only rarely did I take a shot at the blinds with COMPLETE crap like this. Button calls. Flop A-7-3. I bet, he folds. Whew.
****I saw Bill Shalloob from North Dakota playing. Go Bill go!
HAND #10: I limp in UTG with A-2s. Button calls. This is the player described in hand #4. I have A LOT of trouble figuring him out. I do know that he calls too much with too little. The BB raises. The BB is a solid young player who has impressed me. Looks like a good time, to me, to represent slow played A-A so I re-raise. Button calls (oops) but, as I hoped, the BB folds (I heard him tell his neighbor that he folded A-K). Flop 9-8-2 with two clubs, not my suit. OK. I like this flop. I think I have the best hand. I bet. Mr unreadable calls. Oops. Maybe not. At this point I think he probably has a flush draw, but I don’t know. Turn card is a beautiful ace. Woohoo. OK, now I have the best, I am sure. I bet, he calls. River card is the magical 2 of clubs completing the flush but giving me a full house. I bet, he calls and shows J-J. Whew. Got away from another one.
HAND #11: My favorite hand of the day. When I have my “A†game I see the opportunities. This was an opportunity that I didn’t miss. One limper to me on the button. I limp with 8-7. SB calls. BB raises. Same player that had earlier made this move and I thought he might be doing it again. The UTG limper calls. Without that call, I probably muck, but I figure that I was getting excellent implied odds. I call. SB calls This was a big pot. Flop is 5-4-T with two spades. SB checks. BB makes a pot size bet. UTG folds. A little bell rang. I am going to take this pot, on the turn. I call. SB folds. Turn is 2 of spades. PERFECT. My draw that I didn’t have made it. He gives off the “Was that a spade in my hand?†tell and double checks his cards. He checks (nope, he has overpair and no spade), I bet, he tanks, and folds. Whew. This move was available to me because this player had, back in level one, when narrating a hand at a neighboring table to us announced “You can’t win this event if you can’t fold an overpair.â€
****At this point I had about $30K. I was going through to Sunday barring disaster. I promised myself to “go into lockdown†and get through the day. I didn’t of course. But, I tried to promise myself.
****With 40 minutes left in this level there are 118 table left. We have lost about 1/3 of the field.
****10:13 PM when I catch my first overwhelming whiff of poker stink from a neighboring table. Phew. Someone is under a lot of stress.
****Luck matters. In a hand that I folded on the flop the most dangerous player at the table lost A LOT of chips to another player who was not, I didn’t think, quite as dangerous. I do a little dance inside when I see this happen. It’s always good to move chips from tough players. This tough player, who had been chatting and having a good time, now went very quiet. 45 minutes earlier he was seeing himself at the final table and now he was back to mortal stack status. I know the feeling, and it’s not good.
Level 6 Blinds $200-400 Ante $50 My stack $31,000
****In the break prior to this level I cut out 5 minutes early. I needed a mental break. I needed to beat the crowd and get to my room and wash my face and hands and brush my teeth. Once I got to my room I also noted that I was overheating. A lot. 11 hours in an 8 yard wool kilt, blazer, shirt, and time was enough. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt. I still had four hours to play and I was fatiguing badly.
****At the Rio I am in the “Impanema Tower†which has the annoying effect of causing me to sing “The Girl From Impanema†every time I go to my room.
TALL AND TAN AND YOUNG AND LOVELY
THE GIRL FROM IMPANEMA GOES WALKING
AND WHEN SHE PASSES EACH ONE SHE PASSES GOES AHHHH
HAND #12: Button raises my small blind. This was a player that I had rarely tangled with. I have him my BB a lot. He was a frequent raising and I figured him for being frequently out of line, but I never had anything to fight him with. In this hand he raises, I re-raise in the BB with K-To hoping to take it right there. Flop of J-T-x, I bet, he raises, I re-raise and win. Whew. He went the tank to my re-raise. Then he puts his hands on his chips to move them all-in, but at the last second can’t pull the trigger on his bluff and he folds.
HAND #13: Here is a fun hand. Two limper and the same late position player as the previous hand raises. I call with A-9s. Both limpers call. 5300 in the pot. Board finishes K-Q-J-3-2 and my A-9 is good! Early limper with A-6. Mid limper with 8-7. Button raiser with A-7. I roll my hand over. There is a lot of belly aching and nobody is really showing there hand resulting in my very annoying habit of announcing, “Money to David. Money to David, baby. If they don’t want to show it must be money to David.†I have to kick this habit, but I only do it when I get slow rolled by guys with losing hand.
****At this point we were ALL getting sloppy. I noticed that I was starting to peek at my cards before the action got to me. A player on my right, a very methodical player, was starting to telegraph his action before the action reached him. Fatigue was setting in.
HAND #14 #15 #16: Three consecutive hands. Button raises, I re-raise from SB with AQ and take it down. I show him the hand. This is another that is building to a coming showdown. Next hand on the button I raise with T-9. BB calls. Flop is A-A-x. Check check. On a flop like this I like to check and take it on the turn. My calls screams “I have aces†and it takes the wind out of the sails of a guy who is thinking about bluffing. He checks the turn, I bet and take it down. Next hand in the cutoff I raise with A-Q and take the blinds. I show my A-Q and announce “Wow, I had A-Q three hands in a row. What are the chances of that?â€
Level 7 Blinds $250-500 Ante $50 My stack $46,000
****There are 850 players left. We have to lose 200 more players before we quit. We might get it done in level 7 but I think we will need to play some portion of level 8.
****All night long the “message waiting†light has been blinking on my phone. Every time I get to my room, there it is – blink, blink, blink. Because I cut out 10 minutes early, I FINALLY check my message. It’s a ad for a Chris Ferguson poker seminar! Sheesh. Not Chris’s doing, the Rio is using the message service for advertising. That’s obnoxious.
****I left my voice machine in my room for levels 7 and eight. So, this is from memory.
HAND #17: I steal raise with 9-2. Button calls. Flop is K-J-2. I bet, he calls. Turn check and check. I put him on flush draw. River misses, I bet, he calls. Frack. $10,000 chips gone on a STUPID overly fatugued, I am an idiot play.
HAND #18: Small raise with KQ. K on flop. I lose another $15,000 to the same player when he calls me all the way with AK. AAARRGGHHH. I am down to $20,000 chips and feeling a little bummed.
HAND #19: Folded to SB who raises my BB. I have had A LOT of confrontations with him through the day. I have frequently re-raised his steals and, overall, I think he was getting sick of it. Just a few minutes before this there was a hand in which button limp, SB limp, I check BB with J-4o Flop T-T-2. I bet. Button folds. SB says to me: “That’s a pretty standard play for you.†“Yes it is,†I say. “Although, in fairness to me, I don’t usually bluff at a paired board. Usually it’s a board like K-7-3 rainbow.†He wants to move, but can’t and eventually folds. He says “Show me something.†So, I show him my jack high and ask him if I was beat? This is all by way of history to the showdown of HAND #19. Folded to his SB and he raises. I see 6-6. Ugh. I think he might be stealing but we are both around $20K and there is a real risk that all of the money might wind up. I decided to raise and he, immediately, announces “I am all in.†This was significant. I know that he knows that I am often out of line. I know that he is sick of me. And, he has given my a HUGE “strong is weak†tell. He was, all along, a very studious and thoughtful player. Moving in fast was completely out of character. I decided to gamble. I called. He showed A-J and my 6-6 held up.
HAND #20 and #21: We knew we were within minutes of stopping for the day. It was even better than being on the bubble. I stole $20,000 chips in the last twenty minutes.
So, I am 79th. Extrapolating I am 240th out of 2,000. That is just fine. If I can get my stack to 100,000 I will make the money. That $100K number is the goal for Sunday (although we will not make the money on Sunday). But, will not push.
For the rest of the day today… I trip to Fry’s to buy a monopod and other cool electronic stuff. Supper at New York New York with Lou Gazzola. A nap. A trip to the spa to run and sit in the whirlpool. And, that’s it.
Tomorrow I have dedicated to relaxation. I think I am going to go and see “Blue Man Group.â€
Sorry for any typos. This has been four hours of work as it is and I need to get on with my day here in Vegas. Future days (touch wood) won’t be as long but I have lots of time on my hands right now.
Comments
Hand 11: awesome.
Thanks for the lengthy reports Dave... definitely worth the wait.
Just curious, you mentioned a few times about your voice recorder and I was wondering how you did this? We're you taking notes about your own play at the table or on breaks during your "jog" back your room.
Are you seeing many players keeping logs of their playing?
After this Day 1 report, I can't fathom the poor souls that will be playing on Day 1c. Ugh.
Gotta Love it. Very impressive, Keep it up.
Wader
I'm glad I wasn't playing at your table when you said this. I think I would have peed my pants.
Or kilt.
ScottyZ
Best of luck from 'Toon Town!
RADD
Why did you decide to gamble with 66??? You put your tourney on the line on a coin flip (at best). You mentioned a "strong is weak tell" but how weak were you hoping him to be?
How did you feel when he turned over his overcards?
In retrospect, do you think fatigue played a major part in your decision here - in other words, in hindsight, do you think this was a good gamble? Would you do it again if you were in the same position again or did you say to yourself later "whew, that was a lucky one"?
Thanks for your insight and keep up the good work! We are all pulling for the beaver
NH
Don't forget that there was already some action if the form of a raise and re-raise prior to the all-in decision.
The sizes of the raise and re-raise matter a great deal. Specifically, we would need to know what pot odds Dave was getting on the final all-in call.
The standard poker wisdom states that you may want to pass on decisions where both your win odds and pot odds are roughly 1-1. However, receiving 2-1 from the pot (for example), you'd rarely want to pass on a hand where you figured you had about a 50-50 chance of winning the pot.
ScottyZ
I think fatigue played a part in his play. I think my read was dead on. When I looked at the 6-6 hand I was not happy. I felt that I should either fold or I would play for all his chips (almost all mine). I decided that I was willing to do that. I STILL might not have called, but I thought I had a HUGE tell that said I was ahead. I'm not always right, but this time I was.
I am going to write more on the rythmn of the game in tomorrow's blog. But, in the rythmn of the game I felt, strongly, that I has this player set up to move on me. 6-6 wasn't the ideal situation, to pick off the move, but I thought it was good enough.
I thought... bwahahaha. I got you. Not ideal, but once I decide to raise pre-flop I was almost completely committed to calling.
Would I do it the same again? Hmmm... maybe not. But, probably. Folding OK. Calling, not as good. Unless I hit a 6 I am going to have A LOT of trouble with the flop play since he will probably auto-bet and I have him on "almost anything" it will be very hard to call. Raising? Dangerous, but all I can say is that the hand played out exactly as I thought it would. I had a chance to get my chips in with the best of it and take a big stack into day two, so I did.
Hope this situation does NOT come up on Sunday. You don't want too many of these, that's for sure.
I hope I don't come across as critical here. I have a great deal of admiration for your game. I'm just trying to get some perspective on this hand.
I have a couple of other questions relating to this hand. Suppose you were the small blind and you were facing yourself in the big blind. How would you have played AJ? I only ask because I probably would have played the hand the same way he did. Man, I would hate to have to try and steal blinds from you.
Finally, suppose you don't have as good a read as you did in this hand and you think that there's a decent chance your opponent has AQ or AJ but also a decent chance he has TT, 99 or 88. What odds would need to be getting to call?
OK, so I try and take advantage of his gap with a re-raise. Oops, he moves in. No, I a was not happy, but at that point the call is a no-brainer. I felt certain that he had approximately the hand he did (I didn't think about it specifically, I felt it).
I should also note that I could have been wrong and I would have been sad. There were some hands I was wrong on, to be sure. KQ v AK when I thought I was best cost me 15K. And, 99 that I thought was best against 10K cost me some too. So, I could have been wrong and if I had been I would have been pretty upset with myself.
Should I have moved in? Would it have added fold equity? Yes, he would have folded A-J, but I didn't know what he had, yet. I tripled his bet, that has fold equity. I wasn't certain about his hand UNTIL he moved in on me. His first raise told me a little bit, my standard re-raise told him very little, and then his re-raise told me a lot. Then, I felt I knew that I was the favourite, albeit a small one. He wanted me off my hand. He did not want a call. And, he thought I had a big gap which I did not.
Yes, I agree with "pass on small edges" when you can. In this case, I didn't seek out the confrontation for all my chips, but I would up having no choice pre-flop once I choose to put in the initial raise. Note also that it is never a disaster to get your money all in with an edge. It's nice if you can find a big edge, but a small edge is OK ... at least it's an edge.
I should add, however, that I have NO problem with confrontation. I will gamble a lot of chips on my instinct when my instinct scream at me. This hand, they did. In my experience, when I have an overwhelming feeling, I am about 90%. Sometimes I know suspect I know, in which case I am much more prone to fold.
And, yes, you would hate to steal my blinds. I defend my blinds A LOT more often than most players do. The re-steal move is very profitable. And, call and bet works well too. If you have a loose aggressive player who is always trying to pick up your blinds then you have, I think, a great opportunity to pick up a lot of his chips. It's high variance, to be sure, but I am a variance monkey.
I sure hope I don't get any coin flips on Sunday. Yuck. But, this hand wasn't a coin flip UNTIL I was being offered 2-1 in which case, it is no longer a coin flip, it's automatic.
I think that the two ways to play this hand were to (1) fold or (2) play it the way I did. I think it's about 50/50 which way to go. If you routinely lay down 6-6 to a steal raise you will get raped for too many chips.
I am also fairly certain that the player in question is telling those who will listen that I am a fool to call for that many chips. Well, what he perhaps doesn't know is that sometime I do lay down that 6-6. I am capably of folding. I folded A-K twice pre-flop yesterday and J-J once in situations that were not as difficult at this one.
And... I am a lucky player. A powerful winning force surrounds me.
ILMFAO and it hurts, i have tears and my stomach hurts and it all started with the "Wow, I was I dealt A-Q three hands in a row" hahahahahhaha,bwaaahahahahahaha
God I wish I was there, you must be having the time of your life.