I decided to change starting days from 1b to 1a I was too I'll the day before to go to the player party and I was up fresh and early and combined with a high roller the day before I felt the field would be softer.
My starting table was David yan on my right with a fish on his rights right reg on his right and mark McLaughlins girlfriend in his. Both kf the stacks on my left were sat out so I got 3 buttons and nobody to defend when I opened from late position :p
I played kinda tight early because I was card dead. I lost a decent sizes pot with 97 on 982k9 where he c/c twice then lead the river, too many draws and a decent desperation bluff card but he had a9. He called the turn 3 way which seems perhaps a tad ambitious but nevermind.
The first very interesting hand I played was when I opened utg with 99 and got 4/5 callers including David Yan in the big blind who had chipped down to 6k earlyish.
I Cbet 552 and everybody folded except David who called pretty quickly. The turn was another 5 and I decided to check back I felt like it was too thin to go for three streets and potentially he would value bet worse or bluff worse on certain rivers and if he checked some rivers I could pot or do something potentially fancy.
The river was a safe looking T and he decided to go all in for about 3x the pot. It was a pretty sick spot as he could just have a 5 and be desperate from a double up hit my range looks so much like ace high or a weak bluff catcher that after about 2 minutes I eventually called and was good.
This have me a little momentum and I chipped up from winning some non showdown pots I was really card dead and didn't really have any spots to go for big value bets, I then played my probably most interesting hand of the tournament.
I limped the button at 100/200/25 with 7s8c sb (world champion chess master or something similar completed and my friend and 2p2 member Rocco palumbo checked the big blind.
The flop was ks ts
they both checked and I bet 300 and they both called without any hesitation.
The turn was the 8x and I bet 3400 Ito around 1600. Right now their continuing range will be 2 pairs, they would likely lead/raise/think more with any 2 pair on the flop and obviously raise kk/Tt pre flop and the fact I have 8 in my hand is great as I severely block their turned 2 pair combos. Sb looks confused and folded and Rocco took maybe 2 minutes and called.
The river was the As which is fantastic as he has to fold all flush draws on the turn and never has qj, I decoded to go all in for his effective stack for almost 2x pot and he takes agggggess before folding. This hVe me some confidence and I felt I was playing pretty good.
I continued to be extremely card dead and I guess my image would have been tight as I folded to every 3bet and didn't take spots to cold 4bet etc.
I then called a button raise at 200/400/50 to 90 from jonas mackoff with Ats after 3 other weaker players called. The flop was 964ssx he Cbet 2k and after everybody folded I made it 4800 and I think this is a really interesting spot. He's Cbet 4 way so should be strong but strong here will often be hands like 9t and other one pair hands that by the river won't be able to call. I also interestingly thing that he won't expect me to raise flush draws but may also expect me to raise hands with one spade in them. Peole generally play very tight on day 1s of epts and it's hard to get a stack unless somebody literally gives you one and on this table that wasn't going to happen as it was very right so taking an aggressive move here with the intention of barreling seemed attractive for me. Also when he has a fd too we can play a potentially really big lot and we're never severely crushed in terms of equity.
Anyway he calls. The turn is a 4x and this is bad as one of the legit combos I would be raising for value would be 44 but similarly I could also be bluffing with A4 or 54 on the flop so it's wte. I take a long time and make it visible I'm consideration stack to pot ratio for the river i.e I'm going to jam the river so make your mind up now bro. He takes a whole and calls, not too long though I felt like he called too quick for him to have aa/kk/99/66/44.
The river is the 4xbrjngkng the 96444 board which nobody ever ever bluffs. The problem was that I just didn't know him well enough or know how he perceives situations for me to gamble and shove here. Vs good thinking players who I know think deeply about hands its a great card to potentially shove but at this time I just didn't know enough about him. I had to give up and because of my earlier work I still had over starting stack so felt ok and that I played the hand well and just ran unlucky with the run out as he had 88 and feel like I have a lot of fold equity on certain run outs and potentially value on others too.
For the next 3 hours I literally just ran come rely card dead, villains to my right weren't folding to 3bets so I count 3bet them particularly light so I just chipped down before winning a couple of small pots to come back with 40k tomorrow.
I didn't have any to pair top kicker vs worse top pairs, sets, flushes or straights all day. I didn't get dealt higher than 99 all day so to finish the day with 40k I feel pretty satisfied and looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully a decent table draw.
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