I pulled into the parking garage and looked at the clock.
9:34 am.
"Man... it's too early," I said to myself.
Parking was a breeze on this morning... the digital sign outside the garage entrance said there were 524 available parking spots on the first floor.
I guess even the degenerates take Sunday mornings off.
I squinted from the bright sun as I made my way to the main entrance. When I got to the door, it opened for me on cue and I was immediately hit by the overwhelming stench of stale cigarette smoke.
See, in Vegas, they attempt to cover up the smell of smoke with scented cleaners and disinfectants.
Not in Temecula.
Normally, when I make the long walk from the garage to the poker room, I keep my eyes on the ground in front of me, pumping Metallica loudly from my iPod and try to ignore the sad sight of people gambling money they cannot afford to lose.
But today would be different.
As I stepped into the dimly lit casino, I took a look around. First, to my left I saw an old Hispanic couple sitting side-by-side at a couple of quarter slot machines. They looked like they had been there all night. The old man was wearing a t-shirt that looked like it should have been destroyed fifteen years ago, and the old woman had a cigarette dangling from her lip that almost fell out of her mouth on numerous occasions as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
To my right, people were seated at the bar sipping on alcoholic beverages... at 9:30 in the morning.
I walked past scores of people that were heading to the exit. Most looked depressed... and some, downright upset. These were not people that had just lost a $40 pot when their pocket aces were cracked... these were people that had fed their last dollar into a slot machine in hopes of "getting lucky" and were going home broke. Again. And payday is 12 days away.
The reason I was here... in a casino at 9:30 am on a Sunday... was because I woke up craving a cappuccino.
And those world famous Pechanga cappuccinos are good. Damn good.
When I got up to the poker room, I headed to the registration line for the tournament. I was standing behind a middle-aged guy already wearing his wrap-around sunglasses and two women. I knew that these would be my table-mates and I smiled.
When I got to my seat, I scanned the table. I am not exaggerating when I say that it was by far the weakest group of poker players I have ever had the privilege of playing with.
They were all horrible.
Every one of them.
I put my ear buds in, selected my Lagwagon tunes and sat down. I had a good feeling about today.
Before I was even dealt my first hand, the food service lady walked by and placed my order for that cappuccino.
For the first 4 orbits, I couldn't pick up a hand to save my life. I watched as the two ladies at the table would call raises and re-raises with baby pocket pairs and have the other donkeys bluff all their chips off to them. At one point, in the second orbit with blinds at 50/100 (starting stacks of 2500), one lady had over 12,000 in chips already.
I licked my lips and kept telling myself to play patient.
In the fourth orbit, with blinds at 50/100, I picked up K-10 on the button with one limper ahead of me. I called, as did both blinds and we saw the flop 4 handed.
A-10-5 rainbow.
It's checked around, and I fire out a small bet for about 1/3rd of the pot. The small blind calls and every body else folds.
The turn is another 5. I check and the small blind bets the pot. I fold and I'm down to under 2,000.
An orbit later, back on the button with blinds at 100/200, I pick up A-K. This time there is 3 limpers and I push for my remaining 1800. It's folded around to one of the ladies who, after asking for assistance with the math, puts out the call. She tables Q-J and we're off to the flop.
I flop my king and scoop the pot. After that hand, I had 4300 chips.
A couple hands later in mid position, I pick up 8-8 and make a standard raise to 600. Everybody folds and I take the blinds.
Right before the first break, I'm in the big blind with A-4. Two limpers and the small blind calls, and off to the flop we go.
Flop comes down 3-6-7 all spades. I quickly check back at my cards and discover I am holding the ace of spades. I fire out a bet of about half the pot and announce that I "can't afford to have somebody suck out on me." I get one caller... the lady that doubled me up earlier.
The turn brings a red 10. I look over to her and check. She reaches for her chips.
I say, "Ohhhhh no you don't want to bet here..." and I flash her the Ace of spades. She bets anyway for 1,000 leaving only 1,500 behind. There's over 6,000 in the pot and I've got the nut flush draw, a gutshot straight draw and an overcard.
I call.
The river is the King of spades. I tell her sorry and push all-in.
Now, I wasn't kidding about how bad these players were. I had already exposed the ace of spades on a board with 3 spades, the river brings the 4th spade, the board isn't paired, and I move all-in.
And she calls.
With Q-10! NO SPADE!
I take the pot down and now I'm sitting comfortably with over 10,000 in chips.
After the break, I go card-dead again. Every time it's my big blind, some schmuck raises like 6 and 8 times the big blind and I have to fold.
The announcement is made that the tournament drew almost 300 players and they would be paying out the top 2 tables (20 players).
I look around the room and count about 8 tables left. With the terrible blinds schedule, I knew we'd be down to 2 tables within 90 minutes.
Time goes by, and I watch as the donkeys at my table proceed to put all their chips in the middle with hands like 33 preflop and bottom pair on the river.
My chip stack eventually dwindles down to under 4,000 and the table breaks. I'm moved to a new table with new donkeys and have only 4 times the big blind. I know I'm going to have to get lucky and double up a couple times quickly to stand any chance of cashing.
With one limper ahead of me, I look down at K-9 in the cutoff and quickly push all my chips in. It's folded back to the limper and he calls. He shows A-8.
The flop brings my King, and I avoid the Ace, and double up.
30 minutes pass, and we're down 5 tables when I get dealt K-5 in my big blind, facing a pre-flop raise for all my chips.
I'm still severely short stacked and decide to call, hoping for two live cards. When I call, he tables K-9 and I'm dominated.
The flop comes A-2-4 and I pick up additional outs.
I start calling out loud for a 3 or a 5.
The turn brings a 10.
The river brings another 2.
Damn. I shake hands with the guy next to me and head for the door. It's then that I hear,
"Chop chop!"
I turn around and jog back to the table. Holy shit. His 9 doesn't play and we chop.
The very next hand I get dealt A-J in the small blind and face a raise and a call. I push for my remaining chips and both call.
The original raiser shows A-10 and the caller shows K-10.
Wow. I'm ahead.
The flop brings my Jack... but also 2 clubs.
I have no clubs.
I scan the other cards and the K-10 guy is suited... with clubs.
So now I have to dodge a King and any club with two cards to come.
The turn is a low red card, and the river is a low spade.
Whew. My hand holds and I'm up to over 30,000 just like that.
When we're down to 22 players, we begin hand-for-hand play. Blinds are 2,000/4,000 and I start picking on the shorter stacks. I pick up a couple of blinds uncontested and we're down to 21.
Blinds increase to 3,000/6,000 and I pick up K-J spades under the gun. I decide to limp here, hoping a short stack will make a move and I can call. Instead, a medium stack player in seat one pushes for another 15,000. It's folded around to me and I call.
He tables A-Q off-suit.
I have two live cards and I'm suited. I like my chances.
The flop is a dream flop: K-K-10 with two clubs giving me 3 Kings and leaving him drawing very thin. If the Jack comes to give him his straight, I fill up. He's dead to running Aces, Queens, or clubs.
The turn brings a 5 of clubs. The turn is a 4 of clubs and he scoops the pot with the flush. I'm devastated, as I lose half my chips with 21 players remaining.
We go on break, and I call Stewman to half-brag and half-bitch about the last hand. Without giving me any advice, he offers some words of encouragement and I hang up.
When we come back, the other players at the table are talking about a guy at another table who only has two chips left and he's in the small blind. He gets knocked out on the first hand back from the break, and I'm in the money.
When we re-draw seating assignments, everybody starts talking about a chop. A 20-way chop would give everybody $270. Since everybody is about even in chips, there really isn't any vocal opposition. We take a vote and 1 kid doesn't want to chop. He has more chips than the average guy, but he's well short of the big stack.
He explains that there's 2 extremely short stacks on the other table and he doesn't want to agree to a chop until those guys are gone. It's agreed and we play on.
Blinds are now at 5,000/10,000 and I have 25,000 in chips.
I fold the first couple of hands, and when I get to UTG I look down at K-Q offsuit. I ask for time and look around the table. At this point, I don't think anybody will want to race with a small pair, so I push all my chips in. It's folded around to the big blind and he asks for a count. It's only 15,000 more to him and I get worried.
"You don't HAVE to call, ya know," I say.
He explains that he just can't see laying his hand down for only 15,000 more. It's then that I expose my two hole cards (on purpose of course) but pretend that I thought he said he was going to fold. I figure if he has an ace or any pair, he's calling no matter what, but if I can get him to lay down his weak King or Queen, I win 15,000 chips without a call.
I apologize to the table, stammering on about how I thought he folded, yadda yadda.
He calls.
He tables KQ.
We chop it up, and I live to fight another day.
A couple hands later, the small stacks are both knocked out, we take another vote and this time, all 18 remaining players agree to an even chop. We each get $300 which is just short of 5th place prize money.
Overall, I'm happy with my play. I managed to avoid getting unlucky for the majority of the tournament, and when the guy did suck-out, I had enough chips to weather the storm.
If I win that hand, I have almost 80,000 in chips going into the final table and there's no way I agree to an even chop. Oh well.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thoughts on Poker and amazing bad beat jackpot story
So been a little while since my last post. A lot has happened in the poker world and I have some thoughts I will share for all my loyal readers out there who I know hang on every word I say. First though, updates on my play.
1. Still not over my WSOP event and probably never will be.
2. AZ State Poker Championships quest has ended. Never really got going. Played 3 satellites and finished 5th in all 3. First one as previously mentioned I was a card rack but one bad hand and then a sick beat and I was out. Next 2 I literally played 4 or 5 hands total. Never got anything going. So done trying.
3. Ring games at Casino AZ were very profitable at first. Won over $500 in about 3.5-4 hours of play in a week. Put $330 of that back in for the satellites and then went back with the final $200 and lost that. Lost $100 relatively fast (key hand, flopped middle set of jacks, lady flopped top set of queens but thankfully she was shortstacked and only lost 6 bets to her...knew she had it to but had to pay off.) Did win very small side pot with donkey who turned top pair and had open ended str8 draw. Then bought in for my last $100 and quickly won my $100 back and built up a $80 profit and then in the next 4 hours won 1 small pot and that was it and lost it all. So done with live poker till I visit NBA and we hit up Pechanga...
4. Which is a great segway into the WSOP ME. Jery Yang of Temecula won the WSOP ME and $8.5 million. He won his seat at Pechanga for $225. He claims the lord helped him which is great and leads me to believe that if I prayed at the table, that dam ace wouldn't have hit to knock me out...told you I'm not over it.
5. I'm a stickler for poker etiquette and had another slow roll happen to me this time in live action at casino AZ. I raised utg with A10 and get reraised by SB to 12. I call and we see a flop with A high. I check call him all the way down and immediately turn over my A10. He stares at my cards and the board (No str8 or flush possibilities)for at least 10 seconds then tables his AA for top set. I didn't say anything because I had heard stories about this guys temper and just left it at that. He left soon after and the lady and guy next to me both immediately commented about his slow roll. Nobody was sad to see this guy leave. I hate when people do this. He had the nuts and took way too long to show his hand. I'm not upset I lost the hand, just upset by his actions. I just don't understand people like this!!
6. So time for amazing bad beat jackpot story. The same table (4-8 table) in the span of 5 hours hit the bad beat jackpot twice at Casino AZ. First time was for over 19k and the hand was AA vs. KK and the flop cam Akk. Second hand not sure but that jackpot was for 7500 which is the default beginning at Casino AZ. What are the odds the same table within 5 hours hits the jackpot. BTW, qualifying hands I think is at least Aces over 10's beaten by quads or better.
7. Good news, I can still deposit through Wells Fargo onto PokerStars. Bad news, I dropped $200 in one day like a donkey. JJ kept failing me every time. I should stop playing that hand.
1. Still not over my WSOP event and probably never will be.
2. AZ State Poker Championships quest has ended. Never really got going. Played 3 satellites and finished 5th in all 3. First one as previously mentioned I was a card rack but one bad hand and then a sick beat and I was out. Next 2 I literally played 4 or 5 hands total. Never got anything going. So done trying.
3. Ring games at Casino AZ were very profitable at first. Won over $500 in about 3.5-4 hours of play in a week. Put $330 of that back in for the satellites and then went back with the final $200 and lost that. Lost $100 relatively fast (key hand, flopped middle set of jacks, lady flopped top set of queens but thankfully she was shortstacked and only lost 6 bets to her...knew she had it to but had to pay off.) Did win very small side pot with donkey who turned top pair and had open ended str8 draw. Then bought in for my last $100 and quickly won my $100 back and built up a $80 profit and then in the next 4 hours won 1 small pot and that was it and lost it all. So done with live poker till I visit NBA and we hit up Pechanga...
4. Which is a great segway into the WSOP ME. Jery Yang of Temecula won the WSOP ME and $8.5 million. He won his seat at Pechanga for $225. He claims the lord helped him which is great and leads me to believe that if I prayed at the table, that dam ace wouldn't have hit to knock me out...told you I'm not over it.
5. I'm a stickler for poker etiquette and had another slow roll happen to me this time in live action at casino AZ. I raised utg with A10 and get reraised by SB to 12. I call and we see a flop with A high. I check call him all the way down and immediately turn over my A10. He stares at my cards and the board (No str8 or flush possibilities)for at least 10 seconds then tables his AA for top set. I didn't say anything because I had heard stories about this guys temper and just left it at that. He left soon after and the lady and guy next to me both immediately commented about his slow roll. Nobody was sad to see this guy leave. I hate when people do this. He had the nuts and took way too long to show his hand. I'm not upset I lost the hand, just upset by his actions. I just don't understand people like this!!
6. So time for amazing bad beat jackpot story. The same table (4-8 table) in the span of 5 hours hit the bad beat jackpot twice at Casino AZ. First time was for over 19k and the hand was AA vs. KK and the flop cam Akk. Second hand not sure but that jackpot was for 7500 which is the default beginning at Casino AZ. What are the odds the same table within 5 hours hits the jackpot. BTW, qualifying hands I think is at least Aces over 10's beaten by quads or better.
7. Good news, I can still deposit through Wells Fargo onto PokerStars. Bad news, I dropped $200 in one day like a donkey. JJ kept failing me every time. I should stop playing that hand.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
AZ State Poker Championship Quest
So my quest to play in the AZ State Poker Championship began yesterday at Casino AZ. I took part of my 4-8kill winnings from Friday and played in 2 $110 satellites. Winner gets a seat. First satellite was full of donkey's and a complete maniac. This guy kept raising big or coming over the top all in. He re-raised all in once, a short stack decided to go all in and the original raiser folds. Maniac turns over 34, short stack J10 and he hits a 3 on the river.
We started with 1500 in chips and I didn't have much through the first level. Raised once with AQ and maniac moved all in and I folded. I then proceeded to pick up QQ KK, AQ and AK twice over the next 2 levels busting 2 people and becoming 2nd in chips with 5 people left. That is when it went downhill. I got pushed off a hand by the maniac and then made a button move with 98 and the table short stack goes all in and I'm pot committed. She had KK and even though I flopped top pair, I couldn't catch up. That knocked me back down to 2050. A few hands later, I thought I was first to act and went to put all my chips in when the dealer tells me to wait. I was actually second to act. The maniac was first and he asks me how much I have. I tell him 2050 and he bets that much. I call all-in with QQ and everyone folds. Maniac turns over 88 and grimaces. He yells out 8 ball and the door card is an 8. I'm out and headed to the board to sign up for another satellite. If I won that pot, I would have been 2nd again in chips.
2nd satellite I was completely card dead. I literally played 2 pots (That's how card dead I was) and the 2nd was my all in blind vs blind. I was blinded down to 775 and in SB for 150. Folds to me and I have A2 (4th best hand I saw the whole satellite) and the BB calls me with K7 and of course flops top pair. So $220 pissed away. I might play one more satellite but no more than that. It is 1k buy-in with a cap of 450 players and a $500k prize pool. Winner gets $250k, 2nd $100k and top 45 paid.
After seeing the quality of play in the few tourneys I have played there, I so want to play but can't drop $1k so one last satellite is my only chance.
The 4-8kill game is so juicy there. I sat down for about 45 minutes before the sat's and was up about $80 at my peak and left up $24. One guy at my table played every single hand, called 2 or 3 bets pre flop and always called a flop bet. One hand was ridonkulous. He of course calls and flop comes J42 with 2 spades. Guy bets and he calls with a few others. Turn comes another spade and SB leads out representing flush. Guy calls, everyone folds. River an 8 and the SB bets again and the guy calls again and the SB says good call flipping over Ace high. The guy who played every hand tables Q8 and his pair of 8's is good. He had the Q of spades. The table is amazed and he says I had the Q of spades and I said yeah but you had nothing on the on flop. He says "well I'm playing kamikaze poker. You have a flopped set of aces rivered by a flush and see how you play." I kept my mouth shut just wanting this guy to keep buying in. In the 45 minutes I was there he had dropped $150.
Might go back Thursday to play one more satellite.
We started with 1500 in chips and I didn't have much through the first level. Raised once with AQ and maniac moved all in and I folded. I then proceeded to pick up QQ KK, AQ and AK twice over the next 2 levels busting 2 people and becoming 2nd in chips with 5 people left. That is when it went downhill. I got pushed off a hand by the maniac and then made a button move with 98 and the table short stack goes all in and I'm pot committed. She had KK and even though I flopped top pair, I couldn't catch up. That knocked me back down to 2050. A few hands later, I thought I was first to act and went to put all my chips in when the dealer tells me to wait. I was actually second to act. The maniac was first and he asks me how much I have. I tell him 2050 and he bets that much. I call all-in with QQ and everyone folds. Maniac turns over 88 and grimaces. He yells out 8 ball and the door card is an 8. I'm out and headed to the board to sign up for another satellite. If I won that pot, I would have been 2nd again in chips.
2nd satellite I was completely card dead. I literally played 2 pots (That's how card dead I was) and the 2nd was my all in blind vs blind. I was blinded down to 775 and in SB for 150. Folds to me and I have A2 (4th best hand I saw the whole satellite) and the BB calls me with K7 and of course flops top pair. So $220 pissed away. I might play one more satellite but no more than that. It is 1k buy-in with a cap of 450 players and a $500k prize pool. Winner gets $250k, 2nd $100k and top 45 paid.
After seeing the quality of play in the few tourneys I have played there, I so want to play but can't drop $1k so one last satellite is my only chance.
The 4-8kill game is so juicy there. I sat down for about 45 minutes before the sat's and was up about $80 at my peak and left up $24. One guy at my table played every single hand, called 2 or 3 bets pre flop and always called a flop bet. One hand was ridonkulous. He of course calls and flop comes J42 with 2 spades. Guy bets and he calls with a few others. Turn comes another spade and SB leads out representing flush. Guy calls, everyone folds. River an 8 and the SB bets again and the guy calls again and the SB says good call flipping over Ace high. The guy who played every hand tables Q8 and his pair of 8's is good. He had the Q of spades. The table is amazed and he says I had the Q of spades and I said yeah but you had nothing on the on flop. He says "well I'm playing kamikaze poker. You have a flopped set of aces rivered by a flush and see how you play." I kept my mouth shut just wanting this guy to keep buying in. In the 45 minutes I was there he had dropped $150.
Might go back Thursday to play one more satellite.
Friday, July 06, 2007
I almost forgot...
An homage to Dr. Pauly...
Stella Count at the Tilted Kilt
1
and...
Last 2 Pros that watched me play Virtual-Tennis:
1) Juha Helpi
2) Thomas Wahlroos
Stella Count at the Tilted Kilt
1
and...
Last 2 Pros that watched me play Virtual-Tennis:
1) Juha Helpi
2) Thomas Wahlroos
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
WSOP Trip = Donkdown
Well, you may have guessed by now that I didn't do well in my first WSOP event.
I lasted a little more than 3 hours and I'm pretty disappointed with my overall play.
I was seated at table #104 in the infamous "poker sauna". When I arrived to the table and took my seat, I didn't recognize anybody at my table, but did see Bill Chen sitting at the table in front of me and Michael Binger sitting at the table to my left. Eventually, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson would be moved to the table directly behind my seat.
My table started out pretty slow and pretty quiet. I didn't play many hands in the first few orbits, and even folded my button twice in hands folded to me.
With blinds at 25/50, I picked up 10-10 in EP, raised to 200 and everybody folded. That was my first scooped pot of my WSOP career.
Once, in the big blind, I folded 4-4 to an early raiser with one caller. The flop brought a 4 and I kicked myself mentally for the next hour.
In the big blind with 3 limpers ahead of me, I looked down at JJ. I bumped it to 4 times the big blind, hoping to get just one caller, but everybody folded, and I was happy to win that hand without having to see a flop.
With blinds at 25/50, and in mid-position, I looked down at KK. I made a standard raise to 150 and got one caller. The flop came Ace high, and I fired out 250 into a pot of 375.
He called.
The turn brought a blank, and I fired another bet, this time for 500 (hoping that if he flopped a weak ace, he would fold it).
He called.
The turn brought another harmless non-King and I checked and he checked behind.
I announced, "If you have the Ace, you win" and showed my KK.
He paused and said, "I have Ace-Jack."
"Ooookay," I thought to myself. "I didn't ask you what your kicker was dumbass... I thought I made it pretty clear that ANY ace was good..."
Whatever.
Before that hand, I was up to about 5,500 in chips (starting chip stacks were 4,000). I took a hit, but was still above the original 4,000 in chips although I was now below average.
I told myself that I was going to pick my spots and get that money back from that calling station. My chance would come sooner than I thought.
About 12 hands later with blinds at 50/100, I was in mid position with 6-7 of clubs. A limper ahead of me was already in the pot, so I limped behind him.
The donkey calling station was in the big blind and made it 300 to go. The original limper called, and I was holding exactly the hand I wanted to have in a 3-way raised pot.
The flop came down 5-6-8 rainbow with 1 club.
The original limper checked, as did I, and the raiser bet only 300 into a pot with almost 1,000 in it, and the original limper folded.
That bet told me he was either REALLY strong or REALLY weak.
I was holding mid-pair with an open-ended straight draw and faced my first real tough decision of the tournament. I only have two moves at this point... Raise or fold. I can't just call here.
I knew if I raised, I would have to bet out at the turn no matter what it brought.
As I stared at the bet, I thought to myself, "Why only 300?" He did raise two limpers in position, so AK or AQ was a real possibility here.
I announced, "Raise" and put out another 500 to make it 800 straight.
With little hesitation, he called. In hindsight, that bet was WAAAY to small for a check-raise. I should have put out a minimum 1000, maybe even 1200.
The turn brought a beautiful 4 hit giving me the straight. I wanted to represent a hand that he still had outs on, so instead of value betting here, I fired out 1500 which was more than half my stack. He contemplated, and after about 30 seconds, he called.
The river brought the next best card. An Ace. I almost giggled it was so perfect. His AK or AQ would almost guarantee a call!
I pushed my remaining stack into the middle and stared ahead at the felt with the brim of my hat tucked way low so nobody at the table could see my eyes.
I had never hoped so badly for a call.
After about a minute, with over 6000 in the pot and only 1600 behind him, he folded.
I let out a sigh, disguising it as relief.
There was a guy sitting in seat 6 who seemed to know what he was doing... he was your typical "Euro" player, complete with tight white shirt and Prada sunglasses. He had his name embroidered on his shirt and that scared me...
"Age Spets?" I asked as I butchered his name...
He corrected me, pronouncing his name, "Ug-yah Savets".
"So you're from Detroit, right?" I joked.
He was fairly loose-aggressive from what I could tell. He liked to play pots, and would almost always open for a raise in middle or late position if it was folded to him. His button would be my UTG, his cut-off, my big blind... but I was happy that I was sitting to his left.
He won a lot of little pots early on while other players were still trying to figure each other out. Pokernews update teams would occasionally gaze at his chipstack and write figures down and no less than three different photogs stopped by and snapped his picture.
Apparently, the dude is a pretty decent European poker player and is actually on Norway's version of Team Poker Stars. His biggest state-side cash came in last year's WSOP $1500 buy-in event where he took 4th for more than $178,000.
Anyways, as we chatted, I noticed that if he limped into a pot from EP, nobody wanted to raise his blind. So, I would often limp behind him with mediocre hands, suited cards, etc... just hoping to see a flop for cheap.
He took a couple of hits from the guy in seat 1 (a weak-tight player with goofy rap-around shades who's hands would shake even when he posted his blinds).
UTG, Spets limped for 2o0.
By this time, I had over 8000 in chips and looked down at J-10 suited. I called and so did both blinds. The flop came down J-2-2 with 1 heart.
Both blinds checked.
Spets checked.
I bet out 500.
Both blinds fold.
Spets looks back at his cards and says, "Do you have a jack?" and calls.
The turn brings a 4 which was also the second heart, now giving me a heart draw to go with top pair.
He checks again.
I bet another 500 saying, "We've probably got the same hand."
Oops.
He reaches for his chips and says, "I'm going to put you to the test" and raises it another 1000.
Did he really flop a 2 from EP?
It's 1000 more to me and there's almost 4000 in the pot. Sure, I have top pair, but I'm not crazy about my kicker... but I do have the hearts draw.
"I'll call."
The turn brings a King of diamonds.
Believe it or not, that card actually helped me. Now my 10 kicker doesn't play and if he did have JQ, I just improved.
He has only 1400 more and pushes. Immediately after he pushes his chips in the middle, he reaches for his Prada sunglasses.
I think for a moment. I have Jacks and Deuces with a King kicker.
He limped and check-raised the turn and pushed on the river.
"Do you want a call?" I ask him as I flash him my Jack.
No response.
"Okay, well... I call."
All I hear is, "yes I wanted a call" and I see him flip over two black aces.
The guy limps with aces UTG and the donkey who couldn't get away from top pair fell right into it.
I congratulate him on a nice hand and tell him how brilliantly he played the hand. He explains to me that he needed to take a chance and double-up and I agree.
I tell myself that I am to stay out of pots with Spets for the rest of the day.
... That didn't last.
About half an hour later with blinds now at 100/200, I pick up J-Q of diamonds on the button.
Spets raises to 600 and I'm the only caller. The flop comes down 7-8-9. He checks and I gladly check behind.
The turn brings a 3. Spets leads out this time for 1200 and I make a loose call with a gutshot straight draw and two overs.
The river brings the Jack, giving me top pair. He pushes and I ask for a count just to make it look like I'm actually going to call.
He has me way outchipped, and after only 5 seconds of counting down, the dealer tells me, "he's got you."
I show the Jack and throw my hand into the muck. He asks me if I want to see one card and he places them both on the table. I point to the card closest to me and he flips it over showing the 10 for the straight.
"Wow" I said.
"I flopped it" he says back.
"Stupid Jack-Ten... I hate that hand" I chuckle.
I was down to under 4000 and blinds were about to go up to 100/200 with a 25 ante. I would lose 500 chips every 10 hands at this rate. I decided I was going to either slowplay a monster pocket pair like KK or AA and try to double up or I was going to push with any ace in order to pick up the blinds and antes and give me some breathing room.
On the very first hand of the new blind level, a guy in EP who had been crippled a few hands earlier pushed his remaining 700 chips into the pot. Unfortunately, Spets called behind him. It was folded to me and I looked down at A-7.
I thought that if the original raiser had a big ace or big king, Spets would call with any pair. If he had a mid-pair like 88 or 99 I hoped that a re-raise here would get him off of it. Hell, there's no way he could call with just an Ace right?
I push and it's another 2400 to call. It's folded to Spets and he says, "I just don't see how I can fold here." I hate that line.
He calls.
The original raiser shows 8-6 off suit.
Spets shows...
A-Q.
I'm dominated.
I joke to him that he's ahead... for now.
The flop comes Jack high with no 7.
All I can think about is how badly I played this hand. "Call the pre-flop bet and push the turn, dummy" I tell myself.
The turn brings an ace.
Dammit.
"Well, at least I'm going to go out with top pair" I think to myself.
I have 3 outs with 1 card to come. If indeed, this is my destiny as Stewman had told me before the trip, I know what's coming...
... but it's not my destiny, and while the river brings another Jack, giving me two pair, the Jack also gave Spets two pair and his Queen kicker played. I stand from the table and he extends his hand to me. I shook it and smiled.
I was out of my first World Series of Poker event. And I was knocked out by a pro.
Disappointed, I walk out the door and keep my eyes on the floor the whole way. I call Stewman and tell him the bad news. He tells me he's up over 9,000 and I'm happy for him.
The walk of shame is a long one at the WSOP. Seriously, the hall leading from the Amazon Ballroom to the parking lot is like a quarter of a mile.
When I get back to the MGM, I decide to play a little 1-2 no-limit to clear my mind.
Bad mistake.
In a little under an hour, my KK loses to 55, I flop trip Jacks and lose the kicker race to the big blind, and my all-in for over $50 with A-J preflop is called by K-Q and he flops a King. So for those of you keeping score at home, that's - $2000 from the tournament, and - $600 in cash game buy-ins... all in under 6 hours.
I figure my luck can't get much worse and I tell Stewman I'm heading back to the Rio to meet him for dinner. When I get there, I see the satellite line is in full-effect so I head over there first. I have about an hour until the dinner break, so to kill time, I'll play another satellite and hopefully make up for the rest of the day.
I get called for a $325 and sit down in seat 8.
I love seat 8.
After about an hour, we're down to 6.
And then I see Stewman.
I didn't hear them announce the dinner break yet.
Shit.
He has his backpack on and he looks... well... he doesn't look good.
"I'm out" he tells me.
I stand up from the table and chat with him for a moment. He tells me what happened and excuses himself. I head back to the table and the first hand I'm dealt when I get back is JJ in the big blind.
The UTG player in seat 10 raises it up. The player on the button in seat 7 then re-pops it.
Shit.
I can't just call here. Can I?
It's going to be about half my stack to call the re-raise and there is still a player to act after me. If I'm holding AA, I probably call, but any other hand is a fold or a push.
Right?
Have I ever folded JJ preflop?
If I call, I know that I am committing the rest of my chips on the flop no matter what hits the board. If I raise, I'm pretty sure the re-raiser is calling, but I have no idea what the UTG guy will do. I do not want to see a 3-way flop with JJ. No way.
So I fold...
... And so does the UTG raiser.
Dammit.
I tell the re-raiser on the button that I folded JJ for him. He seems uninterested to me, which leads me to believe that I was ahead.
Oh well. If it's a cash game and I can re-load, I might call.
Not here. Not now.
We get down to 4 handed and I'm second in chips. Stewman comes back and I tell him I can't wait until the next guy goes out because I want to chop 3 ways.
The next guy doesn't go out for another 20 minutes. By then, I'm the short stack at the table.
When we're down to 3, I ask if the other two guys want to chop. Nope.
To make a short story even shorter, I push with K-8 and the chipleader wakes up with QQ. I hit my 8 on the flop, but no more help comes on the turn or the river and I'm out in 3rd for no money.
Before I can even stand up from the table, the chipleader is offering to chop with the other guy.
Ugh. That pisses me off.
I'll write about my Venetian Deep Stacks Extravaganza II Tournament in my next post.
I lasted a little more than 3 hours and I'm pretty disappointed with my overall play.
I was seated at table #104 in the infamous "poker sauna". When I arrived to the table and took my seat, I didn't recognize anybody at my table, but did see Bill Chen sitting at the table in front of me and Michael Binger sitting at the table to my left. Eventually, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson would be moved to the table directly behind my seat.
My table started out pretty slow and pretty quiet. I didn't play many hands in the first few orbits, and even folded my button twice in hands folded to me.
With blinds at 25/50, I picked up 10-10 in EP, raised to 200 and everybody folded. That was my first scooped pot of my WSOP career.
Once, in the big blind, I folded 4-4 to an early raiser with one caller. The flop brought a 4 and I kicked myself mentally for the next hour.
In the big blind with 3 limpers ahead of me, I looked down at JJ. I bumped it to 4 times the big blind, hoping to get just one caller, but everybody folded, and I was happy to win that hand without having to see a flop.
With blinds at 25/50, and in mid-position, I looked down at KK. I made a standard raise to 150 and got one caller. The flop came Ace high, and I fired out 250 into a pot of 375.
He called.
The turn brought a blank, and I fired another bet, this time for 500 (hoping that if he flopped a weak ace, he would fold it).
He called.
The turn brought another harmless non-King and I checked and he checked behind.
I announced, "If you have the Ace, you win" and showed my KK.
He paused and said, "I have Ace-Jack."
"Ooookay," I thought to myself. "I didn't ask you what your kicker was dumbass... I thought I made it pretty clear that ANY ace was good..."
Whatever.
Before that hand, I was up to about 5,500 in chips (starting chip stacks were 4,000). I took a hit, but was still above the original 4,000 in chips although I was now below average.
I told myself that I was going to pick my spots and get that money back from that calling station. My chance would come sooner than I thought.
About 12 hands later with blinds at 50/100, I was in mid position with 6-7 of clubs. A limper ahead of me was already in the pot, so I limped behind him.
The donkey calling station was in the big blind and made it 300 to go. The original limper called, and I was holding exactly the hand I wanted to have in a 3-way raised pot.
The flop came down 5-6-8 rainbow with 1 club.
The original limper checked, as did I, and the raiser bet only 300 into a pot with almost 1,000 in it, and the original limper folded.
That bet told me he was either REALLY strong or REALLY weak.
I was holding mid-pair with an open-ended straight draw and faced my first real tough decision of the tournament. I only have two moves at this point... Raise or fold. I can't just call here.
I knew if I raised, I would have to bet out at the turn no matter what it brought.
As I stared at the bet, I thought to myself, "Why only 300?" He did raise two limpers in position, so AK or AQ was a real possibility here.
I announced, "Raise" and put out another 500 to make it 800 straight.
With little hesitation, he called. In hindsight, that bet was WAAAY to small for a check-raise. I should have put out a minimum 1000, maybe even 1200.
The turn brought a beautiful 4 hit giving me the straight. I wanted to represent a hand that he still had outs on, so instead of value betting here, I fired out 1500 which was more than half my stack. He contemplated, and after about 30 seconds, he called.
The river brought the next best card. An Ace. I almost giggled it was so perfect. His AK or AQ would almost guarantee a call!
I pushed my remaining stack into the middle and stared ahead at the felt with the brim of my hat tucked way low so nobody at the table could see my eyes.
I had never hoped so badly for a call.
After about a minute, with over 6000 in the pot and only 1600 behind him, he folded.
I let out a sigh, disguising it as relief.
There was a guy sitting in seat 6 who seemed to know what he was doing... he was your typical "Euro" player, complete with tight white shirt and Prada sunglasses. He had his name embroidered on his shirt and that scared me...
"Age Spets?" I asked as I butchered his name...
He corrected me, pronouncing his name, "Ug-yah Savets".
"So you're from Detroit, right?" I joked.
He was fairly loose-aggressive from what I could tell. He liked to play pots, and would almost always open for a raise in middle or late position if it was folded to him. His button would be my UTG, his cut-off, my big blind... but I was happy that I was sitting to his left.
He won a lot of little pots early on while other players were still trying to figure each other out. Pokernews update teams would occasionally gaze at his chipstack and write figures down and no less than three different photogs stopped by and snapped his picture.
Apparently, the dude is a pretty decent European poker player and is actually on Norway's version of Team Poker Stars. His biggest state-side cash came in last year's WSOP $1500 buy-in event where he took 4th for more than $178,000.
Anyways, as we chatted, I noticed that if he limped into a pot from EP, nobody wanted to raise his blind. So, I would often limp behind him with mediocre hands, suited cards, etc... just hoping to see a flop for cheap.
He took a couple of hits from the guy in seat 1 (a weak-tight player with goofy rap-around shades who's hands would shake even when he posted his blinds).
UTG, Spets limped for 2o0.
By this time, I had over 8000 in chips and looked down at J-10 suited. I called and so did both blinds. The flop came down J-2-2 with 1 heart.
Both blinds checked.
Spets checked.
I bet out 500.
Both blinds fold.
Spets looks back at his cards and says, "Do you have a jack?" and calls.
The turn brings a 4 which was also the second heart, now giving me a heart draw to go with top pair.
He checks again.
I bet another 500 saying, "We've probably got the same hand."
Oops.
He reaches for his chips and says, "I'm going to put you to the test" and raises it another 1000.
Did he really flop a 2 from EP?
It's 1000 more to me and there's almost 4000 in the pot. Sure, I have top pair, but I'm not crazy about my kicker... but I do have the hearts draw.
"I'll call."
The turn brings a King of diamonds.
Believe it or not, that card actually helped me. Now my 10 kicker doesn't play and if he did have JQ, I just improved.
He has only 1400 more and pushes. Immediately after he pushes his chips in the middle, he reaches for his Prada sunglasses.
I think for a moment. I have Jacks and Deuces with a King kicker.
He limped and check-raised the turn and pushed on the river.
"Do you want a call?" I ask him as I flash him my Jack.
No response.
"Okay, well... I call."
All I hear is, "yes I wanted a call" and I see him flip over two black aces.
The guy limps with aces UTG and the donkey who couldn't get away from top pair fell right into it.
I congratulate him on a nice hand and tell him how brilliantly he played the hand. He explains to me that he needed to take a chance and double-up and I agree.
I tell myself that I am to stay out of pots with Spets for the rest of the day.
... That didn't last.
About half an hour later with blinds now at 100/200, I pick up J-Q of diamonds on the button.
Spets raises to 600 and I'm the only caller. The flop comes down 7-8-9. He checks and I gladly check behind.
The turn brings a 3. Spets leads out this time for 1200 and I make a loose call with a gutshot straight draw and two overs.
The river brings the Jack, giving me top pair. He pushes and I ask for a count just to make it look like I'm actually going to call.
He has me way outchipped, and after only 5 seconds of counting down, the dealer tells me, "he's got you."
I show the Jack and throw my hand into the muck. He asks me if I want to see one card and he places them both on the table. I point to the card closest to me and he flips it over showing the 10 for the straight.
"Wow" I said.
"I flopped it" he says back.
"Stupid Jack-Ten... I hate that hand" I chuckle.
I was down to under 4000 and blinds were about to go up to 100/200 with a 25 ante. I would lose 500 chips every 10 hands at this rate. I decided I was going to either slowplay a monster pocket pair like KK or AA and try to double up or I was going to push with any ace in order to pick up the blinds and antes and give me some breathing room.
On the very first hand of the new blind level, a guy in EP who had been crippled a few hands earlier pushed his remaining 700 chips into the pot. Unfortunately, Spets called behind him. It was folded to me and I looked down at A-7.
I thought that if the original raiser had a big ace or big king, Spets would call with any pair. If he had a mid-pair like 88 or 99 I hoped that a re-raise here would get him off of it. Hell, there's no way he could call with just an Ace right?
I push and it's another 2400 to call. It's folded to Spets and he says, "I just don't see how I can fold here." I hate that line.
He calls.
The original raiser shows 8-6 off suit.
Spets shows...
A-Q.
I'm dominated.
I joke to him that he's ahead... for now.
The flop comes Jack high with no 7.
All I can think about is how badly I played this hand. "Call the pre-flop bet and push the turn, dummy" I tell myself.
The turn brings an ace.
Dammit.
"Well, at least I'm going to go out with top pair" I think to myself.
I have 3 outs with 1 card to come. If indeed, this is my destiny as Stewman had told me before the trip, I know what's coming...
... but it's not my destiny, and while the river brings another Jack, giving me two pair, the Jack also gave Spets two pair and his Queen kicker played. I stand from the table and he extends his hand to me. I shook it and smiled.
I was out of my first World Series of Poker event. And I was knocked out by a pro.
Disappointed, I walk out the door and keep my eyes on the floor the whole way. I call Stewman and tell him the bad news. He tells me he's up over 9,000 and I'm happy for him.
The walk of shame is a long one at the WSOP. Seriously, the hall leading from the Amazon Ballroom to the parking lot is like a quarter of a mile.
When I get back to the MGM, I decide to play a little 1-2 no-limit to clear my mind.
Bad mistake.
In a little under an hour, my KK loses to 55, I flop trip Jacks and lose the kicker race to the big blind, and my all-in for over $50 with A-J preflop is called by K-Q and he flops a King. So for those of you keeping score at home, that's - $2000 from the tournament, and - $600 in cash game buy-ins... all in under 6 hours.
I figure my luck can't get much worse and I tell Stewman I'm heading back to the Rio to meet him for dinner. When I get there, I see the satellite line is in full-effect so I head over there first. I have about an hour until the dinner break, so to kill time, I'll play another satellite and hopefully make up for the rest of the day.
I get called for a $325 and sit down in seat 8.
I love seat 8.
After about an hour, we're down to 6.
And then I see Stewman.
I didn't hear them announce the dinner break yet.
Shit.
He has his backpack on and he looks... well... he doesn't look good.
"I'm out" he tells me.
I stand up from the table and chat with him for a moment. He tells me what happened and excuses himself. I head back to the table and the first hand I'm dealt when I get back is JJ in the big blind.
The UTG player in seat 10 raises it up. The player on the button in seat 7 then re-pops it.
Shit.
I can't just call here. Can I?
It's going to be about half my stack to call the re-raise and there is still a player to act after me. If I'm holding AA, I probably call, but any other hand is a fold or a push.
Right?
Have I ever folded JJ preflop?
If I call, I know that I am committing the rest of my chips on the flop no matter what hits the board. If I raise, I'm pretty sure the re-raiser is calling, but I have no idea what the UTG guy will do. I do not want to see a 3-way flop with JJ. No way.
So I fold...
... And so does the UTG raiser.
Dammit.
I tell the re-raiser on the button that I folded JJ for him. He seems uninterested to me, which leads me to believe that I was ahead.
Oh well. If it's a cash game and I can re-load, I might call.
Not here. Not now.
We get down to 4 handed and I'm second in chips. Stewman comes back and I tell him I can't wait until the next guy goes out because I want to chop 3 ways.
The next guy doesn't go out for another 20 minutes. By then, I'm the short stack at the table.
When we're down to 3, I ask if the other two guys want to chop. Nope.
To make a short story even shorter, I push with K-8 and the chipleader wakes up with QQ. I hit my 8 on the flop, but no more help comes on the turn or the river and I'm out in 3rd for no money.
Before I can even stand up from the table, the chipleader is offering to chop with the other guy.
Ugh. That pisses me off.
I'll write about my Venetian Deep Stacks Extravaganza II Tournament in my next post.
Monday, July 02, 2007
A Tale of Two Tournaments...
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. In respect to Charles Dickens that is how I would describe the past weekend in Las Vegas. I started out on Thursday the 28th which is my birthday and go to the MGM about 10:30. Headed straight to the poker room and waited to sit in on 1-2NL game. Sat down and bought in for $100 and eventually doubled up when I flopped 2 pair and got called by a self-described donkey. He flopped bottom pair and was open-ended. NBA then showed up and we headed to the Rio.
I bought into my first SNG satellite for $225. Winner gets 2000 in tourney chips and $120 in cash. I dominated my table flopping a full house, the nut flush, making quads and another full house. I am then heads up in the lead with 7100 to 2900. I offer my opponent a deal paying in $250 + the $120 and give me 2k in chips. He declined. I then offered him 1 chip ($500) and then I get 3 chips and the $120. He declined and said lets play for it. We started playing and he soon took a chip lead of about 6500-3500. He wanted to make a deal then and I said no. I then doubled up with AK vs. A4 and we were back to where we started. We got back down close to even (I'm up 5300-4600) and he says you want to chop it evenly. I said fine you take 2 chips and I 2 chips and the $120 in cash. Since I was up I should get something. He said no and the very next hand he goes all in from the SB. I look down and see AJ and immediately call him. He has K7. The flop comes AKx and I hold on to win. I then register for the 2k event and am stoked that I basically got in for $105.
Friday comes and I take my seat at table 37 seat Seat #1 which I hate. Directly across from me in seat 4 is David Singer coming off his 2nd consecutive 50k horse final table. He was very nice and we chatted it up for the first few hours we were together. During the first level, I became short stack after flopping a straight with 109 (board 876) only for the turn and the river to bring 66. I had to fold to a crazy Asian lady (CAL) who went all in. I am now down to 1600 of my original 4k starting chips. Then it is folded to me and I raise in LP with KJo. CAL calls me from SB and we see a flop of QJx with 2 diamonds. I have 1300 and make a mistake of just betting 500 (NBA was right in saying just should have pushed all in). CAL quickly puts me in and after a few seconds I call mainly because I was frustrated, not because I necessarily thought I was ahead (Bad thing to do and I need to work on that) and she flips over 75 of diamonds. I hold up and double up. I then play a pot heads up with Singer and he takes about 700 from me. About an orbit later I again am in LP and raise with A9. CAL once again calls from SB and I decide that if an Ace hits, I will check raise the CAL because I know she will bet. Ace hits the flop and I check. She instantly goes all in and I instantly think because she did it so fast she doesn't have an ace. I have the dealer count out the chips and I have her out chipped by 900. I call and she flips over 1010. I double up to 7k and am now for the first time above starting stack. I then move to a new table with no known pros. A few guys are long time grinders but everyone else looks very green to me.
At this time, I quickly figure out the donkeys and build up a solid image. About an hour at that table a pro moves there and he is really good. I try to stay away from him as much as possible but we did end up in some pots because I always seem to pick up hands in his blind. At about 6:00 a young Asian kid comes to my table. I will refer to him as the Aggro Asian Kid (AAK). He has a ton of chips and seems very aggressive. Not playing many pots but when he does he plays them fast. He check raised me and the pro off of one pot where I'm sure he flopped trip 8's when I flopped top pair. I soon build up my stack to a peak of 17.5k and then down to around 16k when this hand happens. I look down UTG with JJ. Blinds at 300-600 with 75 ante and I make it 2100 to go. AAK raises to 5k and it folds to me and I know he has a big ace. I decide to call to see a flop. There is 11675 in the pot. I decide if no paint, I'm pushing all in. Flop comes 9 high and I go all in for 11.5k. AAK grimaces and I know I have the best hand. He ponders for almost 2 minutes and then turns to me and says "I'm going to try and get lucky on you" and says "I call." He turns over AJ and he is down to 3 outs. Turn is a blank and the river is an ACE. The table lets out an audible gasp and I turn and briefly walk away in disbelief. I come back and 3 guys come up to me and shake my hand and the table praises my play. The pro who I know by face but not by name says I played really solid which meant a lot because I really respected his game.
I left sicked to my stomach and go to meet NBA who had busted out earlier and was playing a satellite. I have taken many bad beats and had bad luck but this one hurt, still hurts and always will hurt. If the guy was a donkey and made the call I'd be like ok you are an idiot but this kid was solid and I just don't get his call. If I won that pot, I would have had over 34k in chips, top 10% in chips and a definite cash barring something drastic. I finished somewhere between 480-485 out of 2038 players. Top 198 got paid. That river card cost me a minimum of 4k. I was playing the best poker of my life and to exit like that just makes me sick.
Next morning I wake up not wanting anything to do with poker as I wasn't over the beat. We had planned to play the Venetian Deep Stack tourney. I wasn't in the mood to play but agreed to go. I played in a $120 satellite and finished 10th when my AK lost to a river flush. I then bought in directly for $540 and started the tourney with 10k in chips. I was out 30-35 minutes into tourney when I knew I was beat and continued playing a pot with a guy I knew had AA or KK. For whatever reason I went all in with JJ on the turn and he called and had KK. I don't know why I did what I did but was never feeling it at that tourney and never should have played.
That evening after winning and losing some prop bets to NBA at GameWorks, I went to MGM for some live 1-2NL. I bought in for $200 and was up to about $275 after the first hour. I was then down to $235 when this hand happened. I limped in MP with J10. The SB (A solid player) make sit $12 to go. I call the $10 and we see a flop of J103. He leads out for $20 and I min raise to $40. He then goes all in for all his chips and has me easily out chipped. I call thinking he has AA, KK, or QQ and he turns over JJ for top set. About a $500 pot I lost. That was the last poker I played. JJ did me no good this past weekend.
Still a great time hanging with NBA and playing in the WSOP. I felt like I could hang with the people in that tournament. Granted a lot of donkeys but I did play with some top talent and held my own.
Finally I pay tribute to Tao of Poker himself Dr. Pauly with my segment of Last Pro I Pissed Next To...
1. Joe Seebok
I bought into my first SNG satellite for $225. Winner gets 2000 in tourney chips and $120 in cash. I dominated my table flopping a full house, the nut flush, making quads and another full house. I am then heads up in the lead with 7100 to 2900. I offer my opponent a deal paying in $250 + the $120 and give me 2k in chips. He declined. I then offered him 1 chip ($500) and then I get 3 chips and the $120. He declined and said lets play for it. We started playing and he soon took a chip lead of about 6500-3500. He wanted to make a deal then and I said no. I then doubled up with AK vs. A4 and we were back to where we started. We got back down close to even (I'm up 5300-4600) and he says you want to chop it evenly. I said fine you take 2 chips and I 2 chips and the $120 in cash. Since I was up I should get something. He said no and the very next hand he goes all in from the SB. I look down and see AJ and immediately call him. He has K7. The flop comes AKx and I hold on to win. I then register for the 2k event and am stoked that I basically got in for $105.
Friday comes and I take my seat at table 37 seat Seat #1 which I hate. Directly across from me in seat 4 is David Singer coming off his 2nd consecutive 50k horse final table. He was very nice and we chatted it up for the first few hours we were together. During the first level, I became short stack after flopping a straight with 109 (board 876) only for the turn and the river to bring 66. I had to fold to a crazy Asian lady (CAL) who went all in. I am now down to 1600 of my original 4k starting chips. Then it is folded to me and I raise in LP with KJo. CAL calls me from SB and we see a flop of QJx with 2 diamonds. I have 1300 and make a mistake of just betting 500 (NBA was right in saying just should have pushed all in). CAL quickly puts me in and after a few seconds I call mainly because I was frustrated, not because I necessarily thought I was ahead (Bad thing to do and I need to work on that) and she flips over 75 of diamonds. I hold up and double up. I then play a pot heads up with Singer and he takes about 700 from me. About an orbit later I again am in LP and raise with A9. CAL once again calls from SB and I decide that if an Ace hits, I will check raise the CAL because I know she will bet. Ace hits the flop and I check. She instantly goes all in and I instantly think because she did it so fast she doesn't have an ace. I have the dealer count out the chips and I have her out chipped by 900. I call and she flips over 1010. I double up to 7k and am now for the first time above starting stack. I then move to a new table with no known pros. A few guys are long time grinders but everyone else looks very green to me.
At this time, I quickly figure out the donkeys and build up a solid image. About an hour at that table a pro moves there and he is really good. I try to stay away from him as much as possible but we did end up in some pots because I always seem to pick up hands in his blind. At about 6:00 a young Asian kid comes to my table. I will refer to him as the Aggro Asian Kid (AAK). He has a ton of chips and seems very aggressive. Not playing many pots but when he does he plays them fast. He check raised me and the pro off of one pot where I'm sure he flopped trip 8's when I flopped top pair. I soon build up my stack to a peak of 17.5k and then down to around 16k when this hand happens. I look down UTG with JJ. Blinds at 300-600 with 75 ante and I make it 2100 to go. AAK raises to 5k and it folds to me and I know he has a big ace. I decide to call to see a flop. There is 11675 in the pot. I decide if no paint, I'm pushing all in. Flop comes 9 high and I go all in for 11.5k. AAK grimaces and I know I have the best hand. He ponders for almost 2 minutes and then turns to me and says "I'm going to try and get lucky on you" and says "I call." He turns over AJ and he is down to 3 outs. Turn is a blank and the river is an ACE. The table lets out an audible gasp and I turn and briefly walk away in disbelief. I come back and 3 guys come up to me and shake my hand and the table praises my play. The pro who I know by face but not by name says I played really solid which meant a lot because I really respected his game.
I left sicked to my stomach and go to meet NBA who had busted out earlier and was playing a satellite. I have taken many bad beats and had bad luck but this one hurt, still hurts and always will hurt. If the guy was a donkey and made the call I'd be like ok you are an idiot but this kid was solid and I just don't get his call. If I won that pot, I would have had over 34k in chips, top 10% in chips and a definite cash barring something drastic. I finished somewhere between 480-485 out of 2038 players. Top 198 got paid. That river card cost me a minimum of 4k. I was playing the best poker of my life and to exit like that just makes me sick.
Next morning I wake up not wanting anything to do with poker as I wasn't over the beat. We had planned to play the Venetian Deep Stack tourney. I wasn't in the mood to play but agreed to go. I played in a $120 satellite and finished 10th when my AK lost to a river flush. I then bought in directly for $540 and started the tourney with 10k in chips. I was out 30-35 minutes into tourney when I knew I was beat and continued playing a pot with a guy I knew had AA or KK. For whatever reason I went all in with JJ on the turn and he called and had KK. I don't know why I did what I did but was never feeling it at that tourney and never should have played.
That evening after winning and losing some prop bets to NBA at GameWorks, I went to MGM for some live 1-2NL. I bought in for $200 and was up to about $275 after the first hour. I was then down to $235 when this hand happened. I limped in MP with J10. The SB (A solid player) make sit $12 to go. I call the $10 and we see a flop of J103. He leads out for $20 and I min raise to $40. He then goes all in for all his chips and has me easily out chipped. I call thinking he has AA, KK, or QQ and he turns over JJ for top set. About a $500 pot I lost. That was the last poker I played. JJ did me no good this past weekend.
Still a great time hanging with NBA and playing in the WSOP. I felt like I could hang with the people in that tournament. Granted a lot of donkeys but I did play with some top talent and held my own.
Finally I pay tribute to Tao of Poker himself Dr. Pauly with my segment of Last Pro I Pissed Next To...
1. Joe Seebok
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