pretty much bubbled the main event
started day 2 with 94.5k and had redrawn to a pretty soft table tbh, had a deepstacked laggy american two to my left and some capable players directly on my right but the other 4 were fish. i steadily built through the first level upto 120k, then level 2 i think started badly by me doubling up the shortstacks twice in flips. after that though i didnt really have any problems increasing my stack. by level 3 i think i had ~180k which was around double avg.
the laggy american busted and his empty seat stayed that for a while until annette obrestad got moved into it with a 200k stack sighhh. she played really tight to begin but i was expecting to get leaned on any time i opened on her button so i deliberately didn't for a while. then i found
too pretty from the hijack, so i opened to 4.7k @ 1k/2k and sure enough she 3bet the button to 12.5k lol. i mean i could just fold but i don't like that option much so i made it 27k she gave me a staredown before folding. i think it worked because she pretty much left me alone bar a couple instances. she did defend her bb to my button raise tho and beat me out of 2 decent sized pots like that.
the guy on annette's left was this spewy danish guy who wanted to play pots with me. had an interesting hand vs him which could of been way bigger where i open
and he c/r big on
. i called and he checked the
turn. i checked it back and the river brick also went check check. he was forced to open his hand and he showed
. i shipped a 40k pot here but the turn is such a huge card for both our hands that i can only imagine he would c/r all in had i bet, and i would of been bet/calling not bet/folding had i bet.
i chipped down towards the end of the level, including a double barrel bluff vs this guy who i was sure had 88-QQ on a K7543 board. i would of bet money on him having one of these pairs and i fired a big bet on the turn which he took a good 3-4 minutes to call sighhhh. when he checked river i gave up and snap checked behind and he opened
! i was more than surprised and he was pretty angry at me not barrelling river too. at the dinner break i had ~120k and a tournament official came over to tell us we were chosen as the feature table and had to move upto the studio! i knew that the studio had around 7 tables and just assumed we would be on one of these outer tables but then found out we were on the main table lol. i went and had dinner with toby and somehow won the flip! unfortunately this run good did not continue with the cards
i arrived at the studio with the official announcing shuffle and deal so i had to run upto the table and quickly get miked up. i sat down all flustered and nervous, the bright lights making me sweat and the guy on my direct right opens in front of me. i look down at KK and immediately 3bet. it must of looked so redic strong lol and everyone folds. other things were bothering me like the holecard camera being over to the left of my chair so i couldn't look at my cards like i naturally would, and the dealer stacked my chips for me in a random assortment of stacks all over the place. i just felt like such a twat lol. i won a decent pot off of annette the very next hand and as i raked in the chips i decided i really had to do something with my stack lol. so i took a couple minutes to tidy my chips and this really helped me chill out. its weird but i felt fine with everything after i'd done this and now i could settle down and play poker. i think i played pretty good and i just hope that when the show is aired that they show a fair representation of the dynamic going on. having said that i do anticipate alot of my hands probably won't get shown because they will have alot of footage from other tables throughout the tournament, and the vast majority of my hands which weren't all in showdowns were preflop 3bets and squeezes which is obv not typical tv stuff.
a hand that i suspect probably will make the final show unfortuantely went against me:
a ftp qualifier in seat 2 opens utg+1 to 5800 @ 1200/2400/400, seat 3 is this solid young american guy who flats out of a ~70k stack. im in seat 4 and i look down at 33, the initial opener is playing about 180k which is roughly the same as my stack so i call. the guy in seat 5 is this really fishy australian guy who i think i've seen on tv before. as i call he says "i hope i pick up aces now" then looks at his cards and says "oh why did i have to pick up this hand?!" then calls. im pretty sure this gives away his hand as something like 99-QQ or AQ/AK. annette then also overcalls on the button and the blinds fold. we're now 5 handed to a flop and a ~35k pot. the flop comes
mbn i know. seat 2 checks, seat 3 bets 11k. i raise to 25k, it folds back round to seat 3 who shrugs his shoulders and shoves. i call and see
. it's not ideal and i'd rather see an overpair obv but im still a healthy favourite. the
turn card kills his clubs but the ten on the river is pretty sickening. the guy on my left makes me feel better by saying he passed TT on the flop lol.
i still have around 100k after the hand and i try not to let it bother me. there's a hand immediately after this where i open ATo and the spewy danish guy 3bets the button out of a 30bb stack. given our history, my image, his spewy tendancies, some physical tells and the general situation, he is getting this is his eye. however the bb tank moves in for 13bb. i cant put my money in now and as soon as the dane hesitates i know he is light. he shakes his head and counts his chips for the next 5 minutes then finally makes the call with
. the bb has 55 and holds. i dont like to be results orientated but this hand is annoying on two levels for me. first, if the bb folds i 4bet shove my hand and win a nice pot there. second, if the dane doesn't 3bet me im assuming the bb would shove on me, which i would of called and been in a reasonable position in another nice pot (incidentally the flop came TTxxx). i actually double the spewy guy up when he jams 12bb utg and i call with ATo on the button. toby said afterwards he thought it was pretty close to a fold but i think thats probably too nitty vs this guy who should be shoving super wide and he is pretty spewy anyway. given he had to showdown
i don't think he shoves any two but it's probably all broadway, all aces, all pairs and good sc's. with the blinds + antes providing a nice bit of dead money i think the call with ATo is fine and i'd probably call A8o too. he actually had 88 and despite me picking up a flush draw on the turn it fades everything.
i play some really aggro poker to build some chips back, i mean i've played aggro all day but on this feature table my image is really laggy but im pushing the right people around imo. i think i can still push the ftp qualifier some more because he seems super nervous and very fit or fold but im sensing one guy in particular is right on the edge vs me. the situation really couldn't be any better when he opens utg to 7500 @ 3000/1500/500 and i look down at
in mid pos. we are playing 100k effective and altho an oversized 3bet would probably work well vs this opponent in particular, i have annette on the button behind me so its important to balance my bet sizing so that annette is not able to pick up any tells (even if the others are incapable of doing so anyway) and might 3bet squeeze the button. she doesn't as it folds round to utg but he is instantly giving me the filthy looks and i can sense he is not going to fold this time after i make it 20k. he eventually calls and checks the flop of
. i quickly bet 25k and he goes into the tank for about 5 minutes before saying all in. i snap and flip up my hand and he slams down
. he has what feels like the entire rail shouting for him as it comes
and im out in around 90th place 20 minutes from the end of the day. 72 got paid and plenty of guys made it to the money with less than 100k in chips which is tilting in itself. i shook everyones hand and a couple were very complimentary about my play but im so disappointed about the results. this game can be so cruel and altho those hands aren't 1 outers or anything super sick im kinda depressed about how many times im having to shake people's hands and get the compliments without getting the big bucks or the win at the end of a live donkament. its happened in the vegas main event, the emop in slovenia, the gukpt champion of champions and the ukipt in galway to name a few.
this post has gotten way to long and probably personal lol. the tourney was a really big deal and im sorry for having a whinge im just disappointed
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