Option 1 - Get busy early, see flops and gamble and try and mass chips
Option 2 - Play tight and start making moves when the blinds are worth stealing.
Overall, at the WSOP, nearly all the top players try to get chips early or bust out, so that can control their tables. Maybe this is reflective of their poker bankrolls, or their sponsorship deals. Consequently, Option 1 must be the optimal choice of strategy?
I was doing pretty well after 2 hours play, I had increased my stack to 6000, but played few pots. This was not intentional, just that I had 3 aggressive players to my right so when I was in late position, the pot had already been raised. These were players that would always bet the flop whether they missed or not, and put in a second bullet on the turn for good measure, so calling raises with marginal hands was not profitable. Ie. If you don't hit the flop big, the aggressive player bets you out of it even though you may be ahead with bottom pair. One interesting pot I played and should have got paid more on was:
Hand 1 - QJs in the BB
Blinds 50-100. Daniel Alayie raised my BB, this guy is super aggressive and has a great playing style. He rarely enters a pot without raising or re-raising and will try and outplay you on the flop. He is also a player than can lay down a hand as well. This is the second time I have played against him in the WSOP. Anyway, back to the hand, everyone folds to me on the BB and I look down to see QhJh, a nice hand to see a flop with, and a hand you can still get away from if you hit only a Q or a J. I call his raise of 300 and there is 650 in the pot. The flop comes KdTs6c, I have an up and down straight draw. I don't really betting draws out of position because if you miss, you feel obliged to bet the turn and river aswell! So I decide to check call, as Daniel will bet the flop whatever is on there. He bets out 500, I call, and the turn comes an As, giving me the NUTS. I am in a perfect situation, I am in pot with an aggressive player betting into me on a rainbow board with the NUTS. I check, and Daniel bets out 1000, now I need to decide whether to slow play, or try and get the chips in now. On a board of KT6A it is very possible he has 2 pair, in which case he will call an all-in now, but if a scare card like a J,Q comes on the river, or the board pairs up, he may not pay me off. I decide to move-in for 4000 chips, on the basis that calling 1000 (25% of my stack) would actually represent more strength than moving all-in, to a top player. He gives me the staredown, I try to look like I do not want a call, whatever this expression looks like, he counts and re-counts his chips, I am thinking, Call, please call, 10,000 pot coming my way.., and then to my dismay he MUCKS his hand in disgust and gives me a knowing look. I shrugged my shoulders, but inside I was disappointed, he made a good laydown.
JC Tran was getting on my nerves, everytime he raised he put at least 10X the BB, until the hand when he knocked me out.
Hand 2 - Pocket Kings on the Button
With the blinds 50-100, I have 6000 chips. JC Tran raised incorrectly 150, now we had been playing this level for 50 minutes and it was an obviously a moody. He had a big hand and was trying it on. I put him on QQ minimum, some of these guys will pull any stroke in the book to get an advantage. The dealer makes him raise 200 (the minimum) and he starts to moan than he only wants to call now, but the raise stands. Everyone passes to me on the button, I look down to see the cowboys, KK. However, because of Tran's moody, I am worried he has AA. I decide to put in a disproportionate raise, and if he moves-all in I will pass, yes, pass KK pre-flop!!!. This may seem strange, as KK is the second best hand in the pack, but his moody made it so obvious that he was holding a big pair. I have seen him play AK, he raises 15 x the BB!! So, I re-raise 1200, 6 times his raise. This raise is saying to him, I have a very big hand, and if you have AA there is no need to slow play it, as I will put all of my chips in with you pre-flop now (for me, its actually saying the opposite, as I have already agreed to pass if he moves all-in with AA). But this raise seems to slow him down, he thinks for a minute and then just flat calls, and I realistically discount AA as a possible hand for him. The flop comes Q 6 4 rainbow, he checks, I bet without thinking 1500, leaving me only 3000 chips (I think I spent so much time analysing pre-flop, that I felt my KK was good, and had lost my inhibitions). He calls the 1500, which is alarm bells for me, 2 hands I am losing to, QQ or AA. I just know he had QQ now, so when he checks the harmless 9d on the turn, I check as well. Top players never let you off the hook, and he bets $3000 on the river when another rag 2c falls. The way my thought process have gone, how can I be winning in this hand, He has done a massive pre-flop moody, then called a pre-flop raise of 6 times his original raise, he has check called me for 1500 on the flop, but how can I pass KK on this board? I can't pass, I am not good enough to lay down this hand, I call like any lemon does, and he shows one queens, pauses and casually flips over the second queen. I don't feel bad as I expected it, I knew the only hand he could call such a big pre-flop raise with, but did not dare go all-in with was QQ. This is how Trans thought processes went:
Do a moody and attract someone holding an AQ type of hand to re-raise him.
I tell him that I have KK or AA with my huge pre-flop raise.
He knows he needs to hit a set on the flop, 10-1 shot, but if he does, he gets all my chips.
He makes an implied odds call to win all of my chips + the pot which (total of $6300).
But Tran is a gambler, happy to put up $1000 in to win $6300, a 6-1 hot, on a 10-1 shot.
Also, if he doubles up he has the opportunity to dominate the table.
I have no problem with how he played the hand, okay he got lucky to hit the set, but if I truly had faith in my analysis, I must put him on QQ and should pass my KK. Interesting hand though.
I saw Simon Nowab in the smoking area 5 minutes afterwards, he rushed back to his table to find KK in the BB. A raise, then a re-raise, he moves all-in, AQ calls him and the flop comes QQ2, game over. Pocket King's no good today!!!!!
Nick The Shrew Whiten played the $3000. He is nicknamed The Shrew due to his very tight play, because Phil Helmuth calls a tight player a Mouse in his latest book, therefore a Shrew must be even tighter!). He moved-all in for $7000 chips on an up and down straight draw which is well outside of his normal style of play, must be the jetlag or personal problems!!!!!
In an effort to get my $3000 buy-in back I have had a bet with Simon Chubby Nowab. On September 31st 2005, is he weights less than 11st10 (my weight) I will pay him $6000, if he weighs more, he pays me $3000. He is currently 14st and wants to shed the Chubby nickname and replace it with The Love Machine (which is the nickname he gives himself). I still think my $3000 a banker though, and we've agreed to use my scales!
