MY FIRST WSOP - BY ROB YONG

[Robert HM]

Rob, a great series of posts, enjoy each and every one, but got to say the truth hurts in that last couple of sentences.

As for going into a cash game after bombing out of a Comp, some say it needs a different mind set and there should be at least a few hours wait before going from one into another.... comments? (Maybe a new thread)

[Shaa]

Rob Absolutely fantastic read and certainly makes a change from some other reports.  Anyway best of luck in the rest of your tournaments and keep those posts coming.

Cheers

Scotty

[RED-DOG]

Every post from Rob gives us a fresh insight into the game and the people who play it, for me these reports are the next best thing to being there.

Thanks Rob

[DTD-Nick.W]

You ow me $100 as im one of the few that cant win a button /tiddly wink on the internet thanks mate

[tikay]

Or in Live play either.......

[robyong]

I managed to play 2 hands before I was out today (which is twice as many as I played in the main event in Luton last month). Ironic really, as I had passed Lucky Steve Lui on the way to the arena at 12.05pm as he had busted out in 5 minutes with a straight flush draw, that I should be busted out soon after.  The problem with these smaller events is that you simply do not get enough chips to play one pot to the river and still be in reasonable shape. Example, blinds 25-25, one raise of 100, 3 callers, raiser bets 400 on flop and to call costs you 25% of your starting stack. To re-raise him 1200 with your top pair will cost you over 60%, so you have to win your first major pot, and by the river, you are all-in. The best strategy seems to be to not play any pots early on and look for a double up when the blinds reach 50-100, where you could still have over 1500 chips at your disposal if you did not play a hand. This was going to be my strategy today, until I got involved in 2 pots when I was in the big blind.

Hand 1: Passive play with a pair and a flush draw
1 middle position raise of 100, one caller, I am on the BB with 6c3c. There is 250 in the pot and it costs me 50 to call, I am getting pot odds of 4-1, so even if one person has AA, its correct to call, never mind implied odds. The flop comes down . I have a pair and a flush draw. I check and the original bettor bets 200, the other player folds. I am out of position so don't want to re-raise and have to bluff the turn, so I just call, hoping for a 6, a 3 or any club, although I am almost sure my I am ahead. Next card comes , I check and the raiser checks. River , I have missed but am still beating AK, AQ, AJ, I check and he best 300, I call and he turns over QT off suit, my hesitancy to get involved has cost me 25% of my stack, if I had check-raised on the flop, or bet the turn, I would have won, its not like me to play so weakly, but when you have been missing draws all week, you don't want to go all-in on one in the first 5 minutes of the tourney.  Down to 1500 chips.

Hand 2: Aggressive play with a pair and a flush draw
I am on the BB with 7h2h and there are 4 limpers, making 150 in the pot including the SB who calls. The flops comes down , , . I again have a pair and a flush draw, although an A7 or 87 or 67 is likely to among the limpers. I lead out betting 150, limper 1 and 2 pass, limper 3 re-raises to 400, I guess with A7 or maybe 88, 99. Limper 3 calls the 400 and the SB passes. What is going on? I analyse the situation and come to the conclusion that limper 2 had a hand that is beating mine, but will not call an all-in from the BB, as I could have anything. However, limper 2 has 44, 55 or 68, and is slow playing. I do not believe either have flush draws as 400 is 20% of there stack, calling to hit 1 card is not really a play, as if the heart comes, you probably won't get paid. Now, to stay in the tournamant here I should fold my hand, I still have 1300 chips, however, there is now 1100 in the pot. I know the second caller will call with his trips or straight (I think the nut straight is most likely) so if I go all-in for 1300, he will put another 1050, making 2100 in the pot, so I am getting 7-4 on my money if only he calls, and 7/2 if caller one also calls (I am 2-1 to make the flush). However, if one of them has 6h8h I am drawing dead. I move my 1300 chips in the middle, caller1 passes and caller 2 calls. He has the nut straight 6d8s and I am drawing to 9 outs twice. Turn comes giving me trips, meaning any 2,4, 5,7 or heart wins me the pot (19 outs, 43% of the deck)a rotten hit the river and I am out, having played 2 hands 63 and 72!

I put my chips in on a draw knowing I would get at least one caller, which not recommended play, however I did justify it with Pot Odds. If I had not played the 63s so weakly in the first hand, I may have passed the 72s on the flop. The whole thing is a bit comical really, but I guess not many players can say they moved all-in on 2 opponents with 72 after a re-raise and a flat call at the WSOP. In fact, I wonder if it has ever happened before! Minutes before my exit, Simon Nowab got knocked out with his KK v AA on the next table, all in pre-flop, the flop came 678, turn T, Simon was heard shouting for a 9 to make a split pot, which we had a laugh about afterwards. I lot of people went out early today due to the lack of chips in relation to the betting, I'm just trying to find someone who went out with 72 to make me feel remotely normal. I'm going to give Dan Harrington his books back and ask him for $59 rebate, as he does not have a section titled How not to get involved in stupid plays on your BB! Tomorrow is the $5000 NL 6 handed tourney, which will be great to play, as 6 handed forces action.

On a honest note, and I want my journal to be truthful, so when I look back on it is an accurate reflection, I'm feeling a bit fed up now, I've had 15 days here, only cashed once and not really had the rub of the green, although I agree than some of my play has been questionable, I like to call it unorthodox. The real reason is that I also know that I am an average player here at best, which hurts. The standard here is high, and I find myself thinking about the famous poker saying, if after 15 minutes you can't spot the sucker at the tableget up and leave cause its you. I hope people reading this do not find this negative, as I am really enjoying speaking to new people and learning more about poker, I'm just being a realist, to get a result here I have to get very very lucky, as my play alone is just not good enough to compete with the quality of these fields. Some players will believe this attitude is self-defeatist, but I actually think you need to know where you are, to get where you want in life, and kidding yourself does you no good in the long term. So, lets get very lucky tomorrow and bust out the better players!

[ariston]

Rob your unorthodox style will trouble the "players" once you catch a break and get hold of a stack. At the minute all the plays seem to be going by the book, the majority of your bust outs seem to have been to players not outplaying you just you missing a draw. Dont know why you are thinking they are better than you and I do think you could do with getting your head together before the next event. If you are going in thinking you need to get lucky to progress you may as well not bother. There is very little difference between "them" and you, no disrespect but 12 months ago John was playing 10 comps at salford/blackpool and look at him now. Chubbs has gone through the same transformation- are you saying they are far better players than you? Ok Titles aside I dont think you would shrink away from playing them would you? Stop beating yourself up and go and have some fun and win something for gods sake, you know the play you would normally make with the 36 clubs so if the situation arises again tomorrow make the play you feel the most comfortable with. Play your own game not the one which is misconceived to be the correct way to play.

[redsimon]

Good luck Rob, don't fall into the trap of waiting for AA KK etc, its too boring and you can still get outdrawn!

Have you been playing single table sats or cash at all?

[DTD-Nick.W]

Ditto Ariston!!!

You took the words out of me key board

if 63c is a playable hand in your book you got to be prepared to think its AA

Just because your missing dont let it affect your normal (unauthodox) game.

Good luck on the 6 handed

[DTD-Nick.W]

Thanks TK
nearly missed that
sounds like a chirp to me

[RED-DOG]

Thanks again for the great report Rob, Im trying hard to learn from your experiences, they certainly make me think

ps, I dont have to remind myself that Im not good enough, tikay does it for me

[snoopy1239]

Would it be worth making this thread a sticky?

Don't want the newbies missing out on a great read. 

[tikay]

It "sticky's" itself snoopy, simply because Rob posts every few days, & that in itself generates feedback for days and days. But if it's in danger of slipping off the leader board, so to speak, I will sticky it. I have promised Game for Life that they can stay at the top for a few days, but we will certainly sticky Rob if we need to. His posts have been a revelation.

How lucky are we on blonde to have Vegas diaries from Rob Yong and El Blondie, and even Simon Trumper gives us a few Diary Entries. Can't be bad, eh?

And whisper it quietly, but if I can persuade them, I may even get Smokin Steve (on behalf of him and Xuyen), & Thewy to post a few entries from Vegas during the WSOP. The Dream Team!

[robyong]

Went for breakfast with Willy Tan this morning hoping for some good advice. We were joined by a friend of Willy's whose theory of poker was very simply, he told me that I should only bet with the nuts and call with the nuts, that way I won't lose chips (he actually meant it!). After breakfast I went back to the room and re-read Dan Harrington's chapter on short-handed play. On my table that day was a young lady who I had busted out of a the $1000 final at the Bellagio last year, she informed me that she had turned professional shortly after that and was going to knock me out of this event. I also had a really nice guy who I had busted out of the $2000 PL earlier on in the WSOP, and 2 other players who I had also played with in previous touramants. This meant that I had playing experience with 4 out of 5 of my opponents, so I was very happy with my table. After one guy got knocked out early, Peter Costa came to our table which meant I knew 100% of the table. I got up to 8000 chips from my starting stack of 5000 within 3 hours of play without having to showdown many hands, all was going well until me and Peter clashed in the following hand:

Hand 1: Slow play No.1
Peter raised on the button making it 600 to go, blinds 100-200. I have KK and smooth called, the BB folds. Flop comes 678 rainbow, I check, Peter checks. Turn Q, I check, Peter best 1000. Now, I decide to try and extract some chips from Peter and just call and raise a further 1000 to keep him in, Peter calls the 1000 making 5400 in the pot. I think he may have a Queen or maybe a straight draw. When the river comes another Q I suspect he was on a draw (maybe A9) and has missed, so I check, as a better hand can only call me if I bet. Peter bets out 2000, and I call him immediately with my KK, he turns over QT, he had made runner runner Q. Peter told me that I should have re-raised 3000 or gone all in on the turn, and he would have passed. He also says if he had missed his 9, T, or Q (his 9 outs) he would not have paid me a penny more, even with top pair. I understand where is he coming from, as I gave him pot odds of 4.4-1 on a 5-1 shot and the implied odds make it a reasonable call, but I wanted him in so I took the risk. This pot really damaged me and put me back down to 3000 chips, and I felt I had been unlucky.

Hand 2: Slow play No. 2
I managed to build my way back to 6000 chips, again without having to show down a hand, playing aggressively and stealing chips. This included moving in on with 4 spades on the board with no spade in my hand after my opponent had tried to steal on the river, moving in with on a flush draw and moving in with KJ off suit on a QQA flop (he passed his Ace). I still felt I was feeling the table well and my timing was getting back in line. However, when I picked up K9 off suit on the SB and the BB put in a raise of 800. I decied to call the raise, as I had played with this guy and know I could move him off a hand if he missed the flop, so I called. The flop came , I have flopped top 2 pair. I check, he checks, turn , I check again, and he still checks. I am praying for an ace to hit and a seemingly harmless comes on the river. I looks like I cannot get paid much so I bet 500 into a 2000 pot looking like I am on a total steal, hoping that he could have something, he re-raises me 3000. What the hell is going on, has he been slow playing me with a set? Surely he could not runner runnered a flush? I decide to just call rather then move in and he turns over AsQs, he has hit the miracle backdoor flush, and I gave him the all the free cards to do it. I slow playing works, you are a hero, if not, you look an absolute XXXX, at least I just called instead of moving in.

Hand 3:
Those 2 hands have crippled me and I am felling rough. I am down to 2000 chips with 100-200 blind and 25 antes, and I move all-in on the young lady that said she was going to knock me out. I hope she has A2 - A6. She turns over 77, which is actually worse than her having KK or QQ for me! Never mind I thought, I get 5 cards to hit and Ace (30% chance), first card out, the case 7,making her trips! Out 100th out of 360 players.




Chubby and supported me all day today, and we have just finished a mini 3-way tournament in my room for 25 pound a person. I hit a straight flush, trips 5 times, the nut flush, 4 other flushes, 3 straights and 2 full houses. I had the best run off cards for the last 2 weeks, every slow play worked, and all my draws hit.  Typical.

I only have the $3000 NL, the $1000 Buy-In NL and the $10K Main event left to play. I've done by best in all the events so far, learnt a hell of a lot, and been able to get a benchmark of what my poker play is like compared world-class players.  The fact that I believe (and said in my previous journal entry) there is a gulf between myself and some of these players is a very positive thing as it gives me something to aspire to. If I came to the WSOP and my conclusion was that only luck separated us, what would be the point of continuing playing? I'm very pleased that coming here has convinced me that poker is ultimately a game of skill, timing, perception and thought deduction. This conculsion is backed up by Phil Ivey's gold bracelet yesterday in the Omaha, Look at the list of winners this year so far, most of them are considered the best players in the world. The hands I have described to you have been the big pots I have played, I have not selectively left out the pots where I have outdrawn people. The simple analysis of my play so far is that I have made ill-timed semi-bluffs when I am not at least 50% sure my opponents will pass, and I have not hit. Coupled with this bad timing, I have not had the run of the cards over the last 2 weeks, but overall, my results correlate directly to my ability in comparison the other players, and I need at least 18 months of table experience to compete. This is what I came here to do, watch, learn, and adjust, and you must pay for your lessons in this life. I know one day I will look back at this journal and cringe at some of the plays I have made, but that's the great thing about poker, as I said in one of very first posts, if you are willing to put up the entry fees, you can play at the highest level. Again, I really appreciate the comments about my journal, I have had 4 people who I have never met come up to today and said that they have read it and really enjoyed it, which really makes me feel better after the last couple of weeks.

[robyong]

Carlo Citrone and Laurance Gosney have made the final table of the $2000 No Limit. It will be played at 3pm tomorrow.  It would mean so much to them to both get a Bracelet so good luck to them both and hopefully they will stay out of each others way until they get heads-up.