WSOP 2005 Day 3
I shouldn't have played in the second-chance tournament the night before. 25th place meant I was up really late, with nothing to show for it, leaving me tired at the start of the $1500 buy-in PLHE event. It drew approx. 1400 players.
I have very few notes for this one, probably because there were very few noteworthy hands. My stack dwindled after I had to fold AK twice and 99 once. At 25/50, I had about 750 left. I picked up ATo in MP, and raised it the max to 175 after it was folded to me. LP called. The flop was K92 rainbow. I bet the max again (almost my entire remaining stack) and he quickly folded. He told me that he had pocket jacks and I believed him. I told him he made a very good laydown.
Later in the same level, I had about 700 left. I was the BB with 77. MP raised to 175 and I called. The flop was AAQ and we both checked. So, he had an ace, no doubt in my mind. The turn, however, was a seven. I checked, he bet 250, I moved in, he called with AK, no help for him on the river, and I doubled up.
BTW, at some point in this or some other tournament, the thought occured to me that if someone shows strength preflop, and then checks an AAx flop, his opponent becomes convinced that he has an ace and is trying to slowplay it. So, I played a hand where I was trying to steal preflop, got called, checked behind on an AAx flop that missed me completely, and picked up the pot with a bet on the turn.
Back to the PLHE event. I was moved to a table right next to Ralph's, which was nice, because he was able to watch me bust out. The two of us were the only TCP members remaining.
At 50/100, it was folded around to a player who I'd determined was bad, who made it 300 from the button. I reraised it as much as I could (I think to 900) with AJo, certain that I had the best hand. I had 350 left after that raise, and the little mouse that was running the little wheel inside the guy's head made him call the 600 more, and set me all-in on top of that. I called of course, and he had A7o.
We all know what happened after that. If I'd won the hand, I wouldn't be harbouring so much hostility towards the idiot, his mouse, and its wheel.
Needing to get back to my roots, I went to Quebec. Actually, I played in a $175 winner-take-all sit and go instead. We lost 6 players by the end of level two. Tight game. With 3 of us left I took my worst beat of the trip. It's OK, I don't want to hear about it either.
One interesting thing about that SNG, though: I was sitting next to a big, older guy who got busted out of the PLHE event by David Williams (last year's WSOP Main Event runner-up, IIRC)Â He told me how he went out of the tournament, and it was something like this:
Hero limped for 100 with Ac8c. David made it 250 from the SB with QQ, and Hero called. Flop: AK9 rainbow. David bet 200, and Hero called. Turn: 4. David checked, Hero bet 400, David went all-in over the top, and Hero -- because he'd seen David do this same thing on a bluff before -- called the all-in bet.
Of course, the river was a queen, busting Hero. David stood up and yelled to a buddy: "MAN some of these guys play bad in this tournament". Hero gave him what-for about class, and etiquette, and David didn't say a word.
If that's true, it is truly sad that a big win can turn the wrong kind of person into a dickhead.
After the sit and go, me and Ralph walked over to the Palms to meet Dave, and to register for a $200 + $20 multi table tournament, with one optional $200 rebuy allowed. A note about walking anywhere in Vegas: if something is "right across the street", you should give yourself at least half an hour to get there. Some of the streets are so wide they take up 5 minutes alone to cross. We walked through the area that seemed to have been designated as the place where people are allowed to throw beer bottles out of car windows at night. During the day, it's quite a sight.
We met Dave, and ate a great Mexican dinner. We agreed to swap 10% with each other. Then we played a Pai-Gow tournament. We each sat at an open Pai-Gow table, and bought in for $100. None of us had any idea about how to play Pai-Gow, so the dealer taught us. Dave would look at his cards, and if he had a Pai-Gow, he would yell it out in celebration. Some odd looks from the fellow at the table next to us confirmed the fact that having a Pai-Gow is a bad thing, but that didn't stop Dave. In fact, I think it made him yell a little louder.
I lost the Pai-Gow tournament, despite making some nice raises during the betting stage, before we received our cards, and despite the fact that we were playing against the house, not each other. Raising someone at Pai-Gow is like raising someone at blackjack: it doesn't matter. There is no danger of me losing my bankroll to Pai-Gow. I hate the game.
The tournament had an even softer field than event #2 of the WSOP, except for TJ Cloutier. One guy at my table couldn't play, and the rest couldn't either, except for the guy on my left. On the first hand a guy CALLED all-in with AQ preflop. He wasn't committed to the hand at all, and he beat KK. It's not like there were multiple rebuys, either. Just one, and no add-on. This guy is clearly one of those players who has a roster of hands he will always be all-in with preflop despite the circumstances, and AQ was one of them.Â
As an aside, throughout the tournament it kept occurring to me that, unlike online, I am a very good, mellow loser in a live game. Online, I admit I can get a bit irritated, as any of you who have ever watched me play can attest.
After approx. 2 and a half hours, I busted after losing 2 coinflips to short-ish stacks, and then I moved in with AQ and was called by AK. Goodnight, and thank-you.
In general, if any of you are planning to head to the WSOP this year and your big tournaments go something like how mine had gone up to this point, you should check out the Palms. They have a great tournament series running alongside the WSOP schedule, it's a beautiful, quiet, clean room, and the field is very very soft.
I then managed to rope Bob and Dave into playing a $200 sit and go at the Palms with me. I had stagefright playing with them though, and didn't do very well. In an early hand, I limped with KQo after a couple of limpers. The flop came K35 with 2 diamonds, I bet, Bob check-raised me from the SB, and I folded because I was terrified of him. He showed me the 4 of diamonds, of all cards.
Bob took third place in the sit and go, winning third place prize money and $100 from each of me and Dave. This was, to that point, the first Team Canuck Poker win of ANYTHING at the WSOP. Much celebration... I was worried that we were going to have to change our name to "Team CaSUCK Poker".
On the way out of the Palms, Dave went to the washroom, and Bob went to the cashier to trade his chips for cash. My job was to wait by the cashier so I could take Bob to where Dave would be. I sat at a slot machine, and my attention wandered over to all of the flashing lights and noises coming from the screen in front of me. When I looked up, Bob was gone, nowhere to be seen. Thank God for cell phones.
Scotty Nguyen came strutting into the Palms with a bimbo in one hand and a beer in the other.Â
I went back to my room at the Orleans, and the hallway smelled like weed.
I have very few notes for this one, probably because there were very few noteworthy hands. My stack dwindled after I had to fold AK twice and 99 once. At 25/50, I had about 750 left. I picked up ATo in MP, and raised it the max to 175 after it was folded to me. LP called. The flop was K92 rainbow. I bet the max again (almost my entire remaining stack) and he quickly folded. He told me that he had pocket jacks and I believed him. I told him he made a very good laydown.
Later in the same level, I had about 700 left. I was the BB with 77. MP raised to 175 and I called. The flop was AAQ and we both checked. So, he had an ace, no doubt in my mind. The turn, however, was a seven. I checked, he bet 250, I moved in, he called with AK, no help for him on the river, and I doubled up.
BTW, at some point in this or some other tournament, the thought occured to me that if someone shows strength preflop, and then checks an AAx flop, his opponent becomes convinced that he has an ace and is trying to slowplay it. So, I played a hand where I was trying to steal preflop, got called, checked behind on an AAx flop that missed me completely, and picked up the pot with a bet on the turn.
Back to the PLHE event. I was moved to a table right next to Ralph's, which was nice, because he was able to watch me bust out. The two of us were the only TCP members remaining.
At 50/100, it was folded around to a player who I'd determined was bad, who made it 300 from the button. I reraised it as much as I could (I think to 900) with AJo, certain that I had the best hand. I had 350 left after that raise, and the little mouse that was running the little wheel inside the guy's head made him call the 600 more, and set me all-in on top of that. I called of course, and he had A7o.
We all know what happened after that. If I'd won the hand, I wouldn't be harbouring so much hostility towards the idiot, his mouse, and its wheel.
Needing to get back to my roots, I went to Quebec. Actually, I played in a $175 winner-take-all sit and go instead. We lost 6 players by the end of level two. Tight game. With 3 of us left I took my worst beat of the trip. It's OK, I don't want to hear about it either.
One interesting thing about that SNG, though: I was sitting next to a big, older guy who got busted out of the PLHE event by David Williams (last year's WSOP Main Event runner-up, IIRC)Â He told me how he went out of the tournament, and it was something like this:
Hero limped for 100 with Ac8c. David made it 250 from the SB with QQ, and Hero called. Flop: AK9 rainbow. David bet 200, and Hero called. Turn: 4. David checked, Hero bet 400, David went all-in over the top, and Hero -- because he'd seen David do this same thing on a bluff before -- called the all-in bet.
Of course, the river was a queen, busting Hero. David stood up and yelled to a buddy: "MAN some of these guys play bad in this tournament". Hero gave him what-for about class, and etiquette, and David didn't say a word.
If that's true, it is truly sad that a big win can turn the wrong kind of person into a dickhead.
After the sit and go, me and Ralph walked over to the Palms to meet Dave, and to register for a $200 + $20 multi table tournament, with one optional $200 rebuy allowed. A note about walking anywhere in Vegas: if something is "right across the street", you should give yourself at least half an hour to get there. Some of the streets are so wide they take up 5 minutes alone to cross. We walked through the area that seemed to have been designated as the place where people are allowed to throw beer bottles out of car windows at night. During the day, it's quite a sight.
We met Dave, and ate a great Mexican dinner. We agreed to swap 10% with each other. Then we played a Pai-Gow tournament. We each sat at an open Pai-Gow table, and bought in for $100. None of us had any idea about how to play Pai-Gow, so the dealer taught us. Dave would look at his cards, and if he had a Pai-Gow, he would yell it out in celebration. Some odd looks from the fellow at the table next to us confirmed the fact that having a Pai-Gow is a bad thing, but that didn't stop Dave. In fact, I think it made him yell a little louder.
I lost the Pai-Gow tournament, despite making some nice raises during the betting stage, before we received our cards, and despite the fact that we were playing against the house, not each other. Raising someone at Pai-Gow is like raising someone at blackjack: it doesn't matter. There is no danger of me losing my bankroll to Pai-Gow. I hate the game.
The tournament had an even softer field than event #2 of the WSOP, except for TJ Cloutier. One guy at my table couldn't play, and the rest couldn't either, except for the guy on my left. On the first hand a guy CALLED all-in with AQ preflop. He wasn't committed to the hand at all, and he beat KK. It's not like there were multiple rebuys, either. Just one, and no add-on. This guy is clearly one of those players who has a roster of hands he will always be all-in with preflop despite the circumstances, and AQ was one of them.Â
As an aside, throughout the tournament it kept occurring to me that, unlike online, I am a very good, mellow loser in a live game. Online, I admit I can get a bit irritated, as any of you who have ever watched me play can attest.
After approx. 2 and a half hours, I busted after losing 2 coinflips to short-ish stacks, and then I moved in with AQ and was called by AK. Goodnight, and thank-you.
In general, if any of you are planning to head to the WSOP this year and your big tournaments go something like how mine had gone up to this point, you should check out the Palms. They have a great tournament series running alongside the WSOP schedule, it's a beautiful, quiet, clean room, and the field is very very soft.
I then managed to rope Bob and Dave into playing a $200 sit and go at the Palms with me. I had stagefright playing with them though, and didn't do very well. In an early hand, I limped with KQo after a couple of limpers. The flop came K35 with 2 diamonds, I bet, Bob check-raised me from the SB, and I folded because I was terrified of him. He showed me the 4 of diamonds, of all cards.
Bob took third place in the sit and go, winning third place prize money and $100 from each of me and Dave. This was, to that point, the first Team Canuck Poker win of ANYTHING at the WSOP. Much celebration... I was worried that we were going to have to change our name to "Team CaSUCK Poker".
On the way out of the Palms, Dave went to the washroom, and Bob went to the cashier to trade his chips for cash. My job was to wait by the cashier so I could take Bob to where Dave would be. I sat at a slot machine, and my attention wandered over to all of the flashing lights and noises coming from the screen in front of me. When I looked up, Bob was gone, nowhere to be seen. Thank God for cell phones.
Scotty Nguyen came strutting into the Palms with a bimbo in one hand and a beer in the other.Â
I went back to my room at the Orleans, and the hallway smelled like weed.
Comments
I have a pirate that lives in my head. The pirate made me do it. Usually, I am a very quiet and reserved sort of a person.
Oh yeah... my kilt should ship tomorrow so that I can wear it for the main event. I was saving it for the final table, but I am thinking about wearing it throughout.
Any thoughts on how you felt when you read the 20 plus pages of your exploits at the final few table?
Rob.
That, and maybe the photocopy I got of the cheque.
And maybe the beaver card capper too. Dave let me keep it.
And the picture of me and Hellmuth.
Holy lord that had me laughing picturing that. Reminds me of when a friend and I were wishing folks a happy Yom Kappur (sp?)which we found was the same as wishing someone a "happy rememberance day".
That, and maybe the photocopy I got of the cheque."
That should be your signature dude.
Don't you love when little insights like that happen. I've tried and found some success against 'better' players who will think out your actions, with bets like you made on the turn.
great read ... on to the next day