WSOP APAC (Melbourne, Australia) package, starting Weds 8th October, at 1.075

[easypickings]

Got knocked out just as the 2200 six max nlhe started, and so after a bit of getting over disappointment, have now jumped in

[easypickings]

Thursday 9th October, $2200 no limit six max

This was unfortunately a swift, simple and brutal end.

level two, 50/100
It was quite a nice table with a very recreational player two to my left. Utg opens to 225 off 7k, I have  and 7300 and decide to flat the button with the rec in the big blind. He goes to call, but fumbles and accidentally puts in an extra 1k chip. The dealer gets it right (far from a guarantee) and makes him raise to 1225. The pessimistic side of me fears exactly what then unfolds, but obviously I have to go with the opportunity that it now presented to me. Utg makes the move and 4bets to 2700. I move in for 7k effective. Obviously I would like him to fold his decision range, as I am sometimes dominating but often 50/50 or 60/40. He says something about gambling and calls all in with  . Board comes  .

I am down to 300 and get back to 900 but bust at the start of the 75/150 level three with a9<33.

Obviously this kind of bizarre spot is just another type of hidden cooler, but it feels slightly frustrating to have the tournament all hang on that.

Tomorrow is the 5k eight game mix which should be a great one

[easypickings]

Friday 10th October, $5,000 eight game mix, day 1

I am out of the eight game mix, at the start of level nine. Is is gutting, as it felt decent value in the field, and obviously was a chance to go deep in a short field.

I don't think I did too much wrong, but started badly, and did not get more than a smidgen above starting stack all day. I got bashed up in a number of limit holdem rounds, which feels a shame in the one game in which there are no real edges.

These were most interesting pots of the day:

Stud hi, level 5, 400-800(100/100)

I raised  ( ) three off the bring in,  as the high card, and Antonio Estfandiari defended (xx) . The boards ran out ( ) , and (xx) . I bet 4th and 5th, and checked called 800 on the nasty sixth with two pair. I was unimproved on the river, and he quickly bet  after I checked. Every hand that he gets to sixth with must have some kind of straight draw, and so the only hope was to catch him having called down with Ace high on sixth. I knew it was possible he would turn one pair of sixes into a bluff, but to have a six in the hole without a straight, he would have to have a 3 or 4 to justify his early street calls, and thus have two pair. Two small pair is a hand he would check down on the river surely, and so it seemed only an ace that was a possibility. I thought for an unusually long time for stud on the river, and took something from the speed with which he had bet, and the inevitable suspicion I was stealing on 3rd street, and thought he could have ace high enough to justify a call. I called, and he showed AJ6543x, and so I imagine had called with AJ high on 4th, and improved to a gut shot on 5th. That was a nice pot, taking me from 8k back up to 11.5k, and back into it.

Level six, deuce to seven triple draw, 200-400[/b]

I was 87632 pat on the button and raised, and the small blind flat-called. He was a young Kiwi, who I did not recognise, but who had played well. He drew two, and I stood pat. He check called after the first draw, and drew 1. On the second draw, he check-raised. It of course could be a break attempt, based on the fact that I may be prepared to pat a bit wider on the button. However, I am definitely not going to pat a 98, and alot of my 97s I will decide to draw with. It felt that he certainly was not going to be genuinely check-raising with a worse pat hand. Given the slim odds of me improving should I decide to break and the possibility of my more vulnerable pat range, I decided to call and stand pat.

He did indeed draw one, meaning it had been a break attempt. Having done that, he unfortunately bet the river. This is of course terrible news for my hand. I decided to fold. In this spot, there is such a factor for the opponent of having been caught once, that you see almost all of the time that people will give up. As well of course, my range is not necessarily capped. Whilst I might not trap a 7, I could be freezing with a strong 8. With the addition that he will expect me to call having "caught" him once, it seemed very unlikely for him to bluff, and so I decided to fold, unfortunately thus surrendering a big pot.

My downfall came about in a 4-bet pre three-way triple draw hand with Lisandro and Madsen, where we all drew one from the start. I drew to 7632, and missed three times, making a ten on the river where I was all in, with a small side-pot. Therefore, as soon as there was a  bet and a call, I was dead, and indeed Madsen had a 87632.

The $10,000 main event is the remaining event, and I will decide on Sunday morning based on how I feel whether to play it on Sunday or Monday. I think the great likelyhood is that I will play Sunday.

[easypickings]

$10000 Main event, day 1

31,000 going into the last level of a very uneventful day!

[easypickings]

Sunday 12th October, $10,000 WSOP Australia Main Event

Well, that was definitely one of the most unspectacular days of poker I've ever played.

At the end of it, I bagged up 27,600 chips, which is quite pleasing in the circumstances. I had only   and     pre-flop as hands of any strength at all in nine hours of play. Whilst I didn't VPIP very much pre-flop, I did win a small number of chips that I shouldn't have quite regularly, which I needed to avert the blind and ante slide.

This was my one mistake of the day:

Level 5, 250-500(50)

Joe Hachem's son (who played alot like the man himself) opened the button to 1,200, and I flatted the small blind with   .  The flop came   rainbow, and I check called 1,500. The turn was   ,  and he quickly checked behind. The river was   and I bet 3,400 into 6,050. I obviously have a lot of licence to bluff having called such a dry flop. I felt that he might not be good enough to know that my small blind range is concentrated with more ace highs than a  big blind call would be, as I am flatting fewer random hands. This bet definitely makes even QQ into a bluff-catcher, and he should know he can only beat a float, or an ace high turned into a bluff. He thought for a long time, and eventually called with   .

 I should possibly just 3-bet pre. It just felt that he would get sticky, and I am better having a hand to catch bluffs on an ace high flop by leaving him with the momentum, than I am playing ace high alot out of position on the flop.

Three-bet the last two hands of the night with quite a clean image, and now looking forward to taking 27,600 to Tuesday after tomorrow's break day.

[easypickings]

WSOP APAC $10,000 Main Event, day 2, Tuesday 14th October

I went back today with just less than a starting stack (27,600), with the average stack at 49,000.

It was a day where I couldn't win a hand at all, and ended at the end of the 400/800 (100) level 7.

Level 6, 300-600 (75)

i) I raised with  , got 3 callers, and check-folded on 

ii) I defended  with 22,000  against a cut-off open to 1,500, and flopped the nuts on  . I thought about leading three streets given the stack sizes were awkward to check raise, but with a decent chance he might bluff once, and some chance that he might bluff twice, I decided to check. He bet 2,200. I think check-raising is awkward here given the stack sizes, and with only 6 cards (the queens and jacks) to stop him betting most of his two pairs and sets on the turn, I decided to flat with the plan of check raising the river if he checked the turn behind for possible pot control.

The turn was    . I thought it likely (incorrectly) that he would bet every trip aces, and checked. He checked behind. The river was  . With almost no chance he would call with worse than a straight if I bet, I checked to control against possible full houses. I checked, he bet 4k, I called, and he had  for a chop.

I guess I might actually have won the hand had I check-raised the flop, but that is of course irrelevant.

iii) I raised  to 1,300 off 17k from UTG +1, and had a caller from mid position. The flop was  , I bet 1,900, and he fairly quickly called. The turn was  . There was 7,400 in the middle and 15,100 left. I did not think a turn bet of 4,600 had much leverage, as he would call rather than move in with anything weaker than AT. It felt like the classic one shot or three situation, and with him having some traps and some ATs in his range, I decided to give up and not fire three shots. It was checked to the   river, where he made a small, tanked bet, and I folded.

Level 7, 400-800 (100)

I was down to 13,800, had  , and there was an open with hesitation from UTG+2. I thought I had some kind of read on the hesitation, as this player had twice raised immediately and had JJ and AK, and once raised hesitantly, and check-folded the flop. The player on the button flatted, and though he was good, he had flatted a ton in position. I wasn't sure, but it felt like a good spot to move in to try to pick up the 5k in dead money. I moved in, the original raiser quickly folded, but the button flatter quickly called with  . It was over on a  flop. I still feel unsure about the move, but I think I just hit the unfortunate upper end of his wide flatting range.

Really gutted to brick the four event package, had some bad luck in the first two, and then just nothing go for me in the latter two, big ones.

[Numpty Dumpty]

Unlucky Stu, sorry to hear it was no good.

Let me know when you are getting home!

[cambridgealex]

Unlucky Stu.

[Redbull]

Unlucky Stu.

Enjoying the WSOP coverage btw  Very tilting guy you had to endure lol

[DMorgan]

ul stu, wp

[easypickings]

Cheers guys, thanks for the support, better luck us next time. Have come back a bit disappointed- a 23 hour flight on your own gives you time to think- but I don't think there are too many hands across the events that I would have changed.

Tommy- when are you at EPT til? Vaguely thinking about coming down Friday for the £1k ten game.

Yeah, the Curtis/Kyle situation was very interesting! Although Curtis was ultimately out of line with his rubdown after the epic hand, I'm actually surprised, and a bit disappointed, that they came down far more on the Kyle side than the Curtis one.

I love Curtis (he actually has kept in touch about the coverage), and whilst he would be really annoying to get stuck next to on a train journey, I could not believe at the time that Kyle titled so much at him. For a professional to get that angry seemed inexplicable. The crucial thing, not highlighted by the coverage, is that before the argument started, Curtis had not directed anything, not even a joke, at Kyle. It should have been the easiest thing in the world for Kyle to take in the fact he was chip leader with 100 left, and let the big recreational player have a bit of fun. I guess the TV coverage needs their character to cast as a villain, and Curtis just about lost that flip to Kyle.