Take my seat and thirty minutes to evaluate the table. Being up by 1K and table to my liking, the two factors combine to create the ideal situation for “funny” play. Three to my right is Ian Woodley again (that’s four in row we have been on the same table). He is first to smile at my announcement that I would be limping blind if no one raises. The table is accommodating as we all get to see some cheap flops. Within the first level, my 14K is leading the table- reminiscent of the first day last year! Miss big draw and back to 12K - not like last year! If fact, today was never going to be like last year at all!
Change tables by third level and soon down to 9K. Oops - this was not the plan. Hit top pair with gutshot and happily call a bet. Turn puts three to the flush and unhappily pass. Down to 6k and sliding. F**k, have to pull the reins completely. Can’t call, can’t limp, can’t play. Raise after raise and my suited connectors can’t see a flop- miss everything anyway. Need to get lucky. Finally, utg limps. I Limp with
-9s and must hold breath that limp is catching. Like a virus, it hits half the table. Flop is K-9-9 but I doubt my own eyes. Check the flop to make sure and check again to trap. No need as action develops from the K-Q and continues to another trapper with 9-T. Both trappers succeed as the turn comes a Q to improve the K-Q. This time though, the 9-T raises. I hope that by just calling, the Q-K does not escape - he does. I lead after the harmless river and get called for most of my stack. Up to 16K and rising.
First hand after the break and blinds of 100-200 with 25 ante - utg goes all-in for just 425. I re-raise from the sb and put our friend out of his misery. Next hand and call a small raise of 500 from utg. He leads out with a small bet on a flop of A-8-A.Great, quads are out of the question. Small re-raise sets a up a chain reaction and he is all-in on the flop. A-K must have looked very good on that flop. But my eight’s full of aces is ahead. 23K and finally making real progress. But somehow, today was not being very helpful. Each time the cards looked to push me to the next level, the opposite occurred. With blinds of 150-300, three A-K’s and a busted flush-draw in five hands have sent me tumbling back to 12K. But that didn’t stop the cards from coming….
Utg limps 300, next player on my right also limps. My raise of 1800 is respected except for the second limper. The flop of J-J-T is checked by him and bet by me. He calls the 2000 and panic sets in, no more bets from me. .His check after a blank turn is assuring. His bet of 4K on a blank river confusing. Why bet so much? I have just over 8K, if he is milking, then I can’t call that much - he knows that! With no logic to the play, a bluff seems more than likely. The call was crucial, either way. Luckily, his failed bluff was very much needed. Next hand and the same player now is an utg limper. I over-raise the 300 to 2300. Probably still steaming from the last hand, he calls. The flop of
-8d-4d, is to my licking and I bet a big 4K. Steaming for sure, he calls. The
on the turn gives me options to trap by checking my As-Ks. But with the flush-draw on board, I take the opposite route and push all-in. He so wants to call to hit the now obvious draw, but logic finally overcomes steam. Up to 30K but nothing of note for a while. When my stack goes down to 25K - it’s time to stop the slide.
Seat two was playing very tight, almost as tight as me. Therefore, when he raised my bb, and even though it was from an early position, I decide to play back. After all, having allowed them to take my blinds for long periods, respect would be assured. As I thought, he was simply stealing the blinds and quickly mucks. But when he turns over his Q-Q, I could have fallen off my chair. The fact that I had A-J in this hand is irrelevant. I was never going to play the hand if he pushed all-in. Perhaps my tight image is even tighter than I thought. Shame that this table breaks after tonight!
Meanwhile, two to my right, a young and obviously talented kid named Chris was the scourge of the table. With an hour to go, he was chip leader at my table with over 40K in stolen chips. In fact, he showed bluff after bluff as he gathered every green chip on the table. I liked his style. In fact, it reminded me of a $1000 event at the Commerce in which I played like that all day - eventually making the next day‘s final as massive chip leader. Anyhow, back to the kid…
The problem with this style of playing more hands and stealing a lot of pots, is that players will make you a target. Therefore, sooner or later, they will make plays at you. When this happens, you can easily second guess yourself as to what they are holding. The outcome is that it creates uncertainty as to what you should be doing in certain spots. As it happens, this is exactly what happened to our friend. Although the first hand was simply walking into A-A with his Q-Q, and escaping with the minimum loss, the rest of his plays showed how second guessing caused him to lose sight of what was very obvious to the whole table. Example:
His is on the big blind and two late limpers ensure that we see a flop. Our other tight player (the guy who mucked Q-Q), has limped on the button. The flop of 9-9-6 is checked by all except the button. The kid calls and then checks the turn which is a J. The button bets again and the kid calls. The Q on the river does not seem to help the kid and brings another check. With a pot of well over 11K, the button bets again. Bearing in mind that these three bets have come from a very tight player, the kid looks in danger here. Facing a bet of 5K, it’s no wonder to see him taking plenty of time. However, he eventually calls but can’t even beat T-9. Does make you wonder what he called with. Two similar plays later and the kid is busted 30 minutes before the end. The kid had played extremely well, but it seems that his own style of play caused him to call bets that he would probably not have made. Anyway, I’m sure he will live and learn.
As for myself, I could not have been any happier than to finish with 29K. Having had very few chances during the day, the final figure could only exceed expectation.
Having finished the day at 3.am, it was closer to 4.am before I stood outside at the taxi rank. However, with a line of 100 players and no taxis in sight, I decided to join an acquainting and walk to the Bellagio to take a taxi home. Can’t tell how much I love this place in the early hours before the sun rises.
I eventually crashed out at 6.am an woke at 1.pm for my appointment for a home massage. Can’t tell you how this weekly ritual has probably saved my life. In fact, my friendship with this incredible masseuse, led me to watch her two daughters of seven and nine, playing soccer. During one of these trips, I had a chance to kick a ball with them for just a few minutes. The fact that I couldn’t take more than a few minutes, shocked me into an exercise routine. That was six months ago. I now I play a whole game on Sundays with kids half my age - inspiration indeed!
As to my second day - that begins on Wednesday. With no thoughts as to how I will play, my day off focused entirely on a chilling out and watching TV - my favorite part of being a poker player.
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