Hot off the press, this one, it includes last night's (this morning's) Omaha Rebuy.
"......Day 8 June 10th.
Well finally I was beginning to feel a little better. Todays $2,000 No Limit Hold em also perked up my spirits: I started to pick some hands up and built an early stack. The joy was short lived though. The one guy on the table who had more chips than me, had got them by re-raising all-in with AJ twice. Twice he had hit his Jack and knocked opponents out. I let these hands blur my vision when he made a massive re-raise against me. I called with AK suited but was shown a pair of Aces by my opponent. Exit stage left, with my tail between my legs.
Day 9 June 11th.
Although I got off to a bad start in the $2,000 Limit Hold em, I soon recovered. In the first level, I managed to flop a straight and lose to a flush, and then get aces cracked. The advantage of Limit is that it is difficult to go bust in the first level though. Soon afterwards, the deck began to hit me in the face. I had Aces again. This time against Kings and won a big pot. After 7 or 8 levels I was amongst the chip leaders with 18,000 chips. There were only a 100 players left and I was going to make a final table this time.
Wrong! The poker gods were just teasing me again. After losing a couple of small pots in the blinds, I decided to tighten up until we got close to the money at 54 players. That was until I looked down at pocket rockets. Alas, I lost a huge pot with Aces against Kings (again) when this time my opponent turned a King for a set. All of a sudden I was below average.
I then picked up A10 in the Big Blind and called a raiser from late position. I liked a flop of 10,2,2 and checked. My opponent bet as I expected, and I called. The turn was a 5 and I checked and called. The river was an innocent looking 6 and I checked and called again. Unfortunately, this 6 had matched the pocket
of my opponent.
I played the hand this way for several reasons. If the opponent has a strong hand, such as an overpair, it keeps the pot (and my loss) to a minimum. If my opponent has a weak hand it gives him opportunity to bluff. In this case, where my opponent has a mediocre hand, feigning weakness encourages him to bet believing he has the best of it. As it happens, I should have protected my hand by betting the turn, or check raising the turn. In either scenario, I would probably have scared him off..
Day 10 June 12th.
Ok. I think its fair to say that I am now officially running bad. In todays $2,000 Pot Limit Hold em, on only the second level I called a small pre-flop raise with a pair of
. I loved a flop of 7,K,Q because it would be ideal if my opponent had raised with AK, Unfortunately, he had raised with two Aces, and another Ace popped up on the turn. At least the cold has almost cleared up.
This diary is now becoming a bit of a boring bad beat disaster story. Tomorrow though is Pot Limit Omaha. Things WILL change. Patience, patience, patience.
Day 11 June 13th.
The WSOP Omaha rebuy competitions are the most unfair poker competitions I play anywhere. You can rebuy if you have equal or less than your starting stack. So the correct strategy is to immediately do so. At the end of the rebuy period, you can then take a double add-on, which means you can buy twice the starting stack. The correct strategy of course is to do so. I feel this is unfair because it puts those with the most money at a huge advantage. Personally, I believe all competitions should be based on a level playing field, especially at the World Series of Poker.
However, as I cant change the rules, I have to make the best use of them. So I spent $8,000 in a $2000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament and this got me off to a good start. Unfortunately this was short lived and I was soon a short stack. I then probably played one of the best days poker of my life, surviving for 6 hours of play without actually going all-in (and risking an exit). As the 212 whittled its way down towards the money, I eventually caught a few flops and got paid. I ended the day in the middle of the 18 remaining players with 59,500 chips. At last, I had a money finish, and who knows, tomorrow I might just land the first prize of $388,000....."
So what with David, Irish Denis, Rob Yong, we are getting a few Vegas stories through now. Keep watching for more, & if any of our guys are already there, we need MORE please. Great stuff. Not everyone is lucky enough to be there, so it's good to get first hand accounts.
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