Vegas Trip - Day 6

Woke up on Sunday morning and actyper informed me that he already booked a flight flying out that evening as he just didn't feel well, leading to him lacking the concentration required to play decent poker which meant he made the decision to go home early. As my plan was to stay until July 10th, I had to find a few places to crash for a few nights. Considered going back to Watt's place, but decided to quick around for rates before contacting him. Quicked Expedia.ca and found Harrah's for about $50 a night, and actyper mentioned that by staying at a Harrah's property, he has received coupons for free nights once in awhile, so I decided to booked Harrah's for 3 nights as the cab ride to/from Watts' house would be in that price range anyways - except now I'll be dead centre by the strip, and with my plans to play at the Venetian/Caesar's Palace for the last 2 days, both properties were walking distance which allows me to save on cab fare as well.

I spent the late morning/early afternoon wandering around the south end of the strip (Mandalay Bay, Excalibur, Luxor, MGM Grand and New York New York), and proceeded to take the Monorail for the first time up to the north end of the strip (Stratosphere, Sahara, Circus Circus) just to say I've been there as there is really nothing there. Eventually made my way back to the room at Mandalay Bay to pack up my stuff to check-in at Harrah's.

During my check-in, I plannned to attempt the $20 trick* which failed as the front desk attendent was a new hire as she had a supervisor assisting her through the check-in process. Despite my plan being foiled, I left the $20 as a tip as my request for a complimentary upgrade was granted - despite the fact the upgrade was merely from a standard room with no view to a strip view standard room. I passed out on my bed for a couple of hours and was woken up by my growling stomach as I haven't ate anything all day. I decided to walk over to the Bellagio buffet, but to my dismay, the line was beyond long and I settled with going to the buffet at the Rio's (which was also excellent by the way) to use the $10 coupon actyper left for me. On my way out of the Bellagio, it was quite a scenery with lots of eye candy at the theatre entrance to the Cirque du Soleil show "O" - I will have to watch that show on my return trip in the not-too-distant future.

After filling my stomach at the Rio buffet, I headed over to the Venetian to play some poker - try to satellite into the $330 tournament tomorrow and to play some cash game. Sat down at the first available $80 satellite which pays 2 seats into tomorrow's tournament and played exactly 0 hands until my bust out hand.

Down to 5 players and my stack dwindled down to t1200~ with blinds at 75-150.

Preflop: Villain in the CO raised to 450, and I looked down at AJss. With the blinds about to go up to 100-200, I decided to make a stand right here and moved all in for 1200~. I figured I am at worst racing against this villain (unless I get unlucky and he wakes up with a hand) as he has been pretty active since the table got short-handed. He counts out his chips and commented "You haven't played a hand all tournament, but I'm getting too good of a price to call, I hope I'm at least racing" while throwing his chips into the pot and turns over 99.

Flop comes Ks Qx 8s - pretty good flop for my hand now with 2 overcards + flush draw + straight draw

Turn is a Qx which gives me even more outs if the board double pairs.

River was a 9c which gave villain a bit of a scare, but I lose the race and decided to just go to the cash game as I wasn't planning to stay too much longer and it looked like the next satellite won't fill for another 30-45 minutes.

After my bust-out, I proceeded to buy-in to tomorrow's tournament directly, and put my name down for the 1/2NL max 300 game. My name was called shortly after as they simply put my name down as a phone-in while I played the satellite. The 1-2NL cash game table I proceeded to sit in was the most pain I've had playing poker in my life. It was the slowest, most loose passive game I've ever played in, but the players were so bad that I would've killed myself leaving the game while there were so much money on the table for my taking.

About 2 orbits in I play my first interesting hand and win my first big pot.

Hand 1:
2 limpers, and MP raises to $10, 3 callers and I call OTB with A10ss. Blinds call as well as the limpers.

Flop: 10 8 2

Checks original raiser who checks, and the player next to act (MP+1) bet $30 with about $150 behind. CO calls $30 with about $100 behind, and I raise to $200 and MP+1 thinks for a bit and calls, CO also calls unwillingly.

Turn: 8

River: 3

I turn over my hand and MP+1 shows Q10, and CO shows QJ. My stack skyrockets to $800~

Hand 2:
Some history about UTG - he likes limping, alot, even with big hands. Plays a pretty weak, tight, intimidated style. He limped behind with a hand like JJ in LP, and minraises the flop with an overpair, and checked turn and river with a Q hits the turn. With that in mind, on to the hand.

My stack: $800~ UTG's stack: $250~I am in the SB with A6o.

UTG limps, along with 2 others, I complete and BB checks.

Flop: A K 3

I lead for $10, BB folds, UTG calls, others fold

Turn: 6

I bet $25, UTG min-raises to $50, and I thought about just jamming here. But with his tendencies and playing style, I don't think he's raising here with just TP, and his range is really just AK, KK, 33, 66 IMO. My hand was too good to just fold, so I called the $25 and plan to muck if he makes a big bet on the river.

River: 2

I checked intending to fold to a big bet, but he bets $25. I couldn't fold, and pays off his AK

Nothing really happens for the next 2 hours. Players were really loose with calling down, and I simply didn't get any hands where I can extract any type of value from it. I essentially limped 60% of the pot, raised 20% of the pot (was pretty card dead during that time), and folded once in awhile. Any hand with playable value, connector, one-gapper, two-gapper, three-gapper, etc. The only hands I really folded were like J2, Q5, hands that were simply unplayable, and mostly when I was in EP.

2 players sat down to my right during those 2 hours, and they were probably the worst player I've seen live. Granted, I haven't really spent alot of time at the tables live, but most players at least had a slight clue about what they were doing. These two players on the other hand, had no idea. They must've played close to 100% of the pots (they got away with it as this table was so limp happy). A couple of hands to illustrate the point. 2 to my right was the lady (they were a couple), and she limped preflop with 33, hits a set on the flop, and calls a bet of $10 on the flop, $15 on the turn, and checked behind on the river OTB with a very dry board. The second hand involved the guy to my right. Limped preflop with JJ in the HJ, flopped top set, and called a bet of $15 on the flop. Turn was another J to give him quads, and he started breathing really hard. EP leads out for $25 and he min-raised and was called. River was a blank, and EP checked to the HJ who bets $40, EP check-raises to $80 and HJ CALLS(?!?!) with quads! EP turns over a boat and commented "I saw your heavy breathing, but I couldn't lay this down even if you shoved on me".

Sit around some more, limped more hands, missed more flops, and decided to call it at night at about 4am or so. I was sad to leave the table, but I also had to get some rest so I can wake up to play the tournament tomorrow. I was up 1.5x the max buy-in approx. at the end of the session, but it was probably the first time I sat at the table while playing thinking I just want to kill myself. Players routinely took more time than necessary to make the simpliest decision, and half the time players don't even its their turn to act! I've never felt so painful playing this game, not even when I ran bad earlier this trip in tournaments, or the times where I just could't win a hand online. Took the short walk from the Venetian to Harrah's, and almost fell asleep instantenously.

Vegas Trip Day 5 - July 5th

Woke up at around 10-11am with actyper mentioning that he isn't feeling that well. We decided to check out the Chinese restaurant inside the Mandalay Bay. Noodle House had authentic Chinese food in Vegas - but it wasn't cheap. We paid about $45 for a meal that would cost $20 in Toronto! We spent the afternoon at the Mandalay Bay Beach/Pool and it was absolutely gorgeous.



The card was scheduled to start at 5:05pm, so went left the pool area and went back upstairs to bum around until time to head down to the event centre. We ended up finding "I Bet You" with Antonio Esfandari and Phil Laak on TV, so watched a couple of episodes before going down for UFC 86.

WATTS!!!

Before I continue with my trip report...congrats to Mike "SirWatts" Watson for taking down the $15K WPT Bellagio Cup for $1.6 million.

Key Hands

Hand #149 - David Benyamine has the button, he raises to 500,000, Watson raises to 1.5 million, Benyamine moves all in, and Watson immediately calls with AK. Benyamine shows QQ, and it's the classic race, with the tournament or a huge chip lead at stake.

The flop comes 1082, and Benyamine retains the lead with his pocket queens.

The turn card is the 5, and Benyamine retains the lead. Watson's large group of friends starts shouting for an ace, and things like, "One time!"

The river card is -- the A!

Watson doubles up with a pair of aces.

Watson's friends cheer and clap on the rail, but he almost looks sheepish as he walks back to the table. Benyamine goes over to look at his stack to see what kind of damage he's gonna take.

AND the winning hand

Hand #154 - Mike Watson has the button, he moves all in, and Benyamine immediately calls all in for 2,985,000 with K9. Watson shows Q9, and he'll need to improve to win the tournament here.

The flop comes AQ6, and Watson pairs his queen to take the lead.

The turn card is the 9, and Benyamine needs a king on the river to stay alive.

The river card is the 7, and Mike Watson wins the pot -- and the tournament -- with two pair, queens and nines.

David Benyamine finishes as the runner-up in second place, earning $840,295.

Mike Watson wins the WPT Bellagio IV, earning $1,673,770, a WPT bracelet, a Bellagio bracelet, and entry into the Season VII WPT World Championship next April here at Bellagio.

Vegas Trip Day 4 - July 4th

July 4th, Independence Day - the hotel as well as the strip was packed with people. Woke up and went over to Venetian to try to satellite last minute into the $1K event. Woke up pretty early and had a quick breakfast before going to the Venetian. Got in to the last or second last satellite with a $240 buy-in and pays top 2 with seat + a bit of cash. t2000 to start with 25-50 blinds at 15 minutes blind level.

Folded for the first 30 - 45 minutes, and just started push-botting. I only knocked out 1 player with AK > AQ when we were 5 handed, but the eventual other winner was just getting smacked in the face with the deck, and he was winning races from both side, sucking out with hands like A10 > AJ, and winning 40/60. And then I am in playing the $1000 Venetian event.

Started at table 49 seat 6 (I think its 49 anyways). Not my favourite seat as it is in the middle of the table so I have to turn my head alot to observe the table. t15000 stacks to start at 25-50.

Table started pretty loose passive, and I just limped along, or cold-called a couple of raises in LP with suited connectors/PP and stack a player or two. I simply missed everything and bled down a bit but nothing of note happened until halfway into the second level.

My stack: t13000~, Villain's stack: t18000~. Blinds 50-100 I am in the BB with AKss

Preflop: 4 limpers to villain in the CO whom raises to t800, I re-raise to t2800, all the limpers fold and villain insta-calls.

Flop: K J 10

I bet 4000 with my TPTK, and villain thinks for around 30 seconds and announces all-in. I think this hand over and the only hand in his range that I beat is KQ, everything else that he could've called the reraise preflop with beats my AK. I fold and my stack is down to around t7000~. Villain later tells me had flopped a set with JJ.

After that hand I went card dead until the last orbit before the first break.

Blinds 100-200. My stack: t6500~, Button's stack: t18000~, BB's stack: t15500. Hero is UTG+2 with JJ

Preflop: I raise to 600, and is called by the button and BB.

Flop: 9 6c 3c

I bet 1300, button raises to 3500 almost instantly after my put my bet out, and BB goes in the tank. BB thinks for around a minute and announces all-in. This pretty much means my JJ is beat so I fold. Button snap-calls with 66 and BB turns over 98cc

Turn 7

River K

BB is eliminated and hero is getting short.

The blinds get by and with around 5 minutes level to the first break, I get involved again.

Blinds 100-200. My stack: t3950, BB's stack: t20000+. Hero is on the button with AQo

3 limpers to me and I was debating between shoving or raising to something like t1200 and getting it in on any flop. I decide that shoving and even gaining 1000 in chips isn't bad, better than getting a bad flop and getting the rest of my chips in bad.

So I shove for 3950, and BB calls. 3 limpers fold and I'm racing against 1010.

Flop K 9 4

Turn 3

River J

I wish everyone good luck and decided to head over to Caesar's Palace and have a late lunch.

After the buffet, I was deciding what to do for the evening, with fireworks planned at Mandalay Bay, Caesar's Palace and probably the Rio. Sent a few text messages around and it appears I'll be heading to the Sapphire Pool at Rio in the evening, so it was time to play some cash game to kill the afternoon.

Got on the list for 1-3 NL 500 max at Caesar's, and was about 10 names down the list. They were just opening a new table of 4-8 Limit so I planned to play until my name is called for the 1-3. The 4-8 game started running and it felt like I was back at Brantford again. Guys were calling 3, 4 bets preflop with hands like QJ, and each hand were 6-7 players to the flop. There were a couple of players who were involved in close to 100% of the hands preflop, and would call down if they hit any part even if its just bottom pair. The player in seat 10 ran super hot when he ran a $100 buy-in up to close to $400 within 1 hour...K7 beating KQ with he hits a 7 on the river, hitting his flush/gut shot, etc. He proceeded to lose the $400 in the next 2 hours and was busto before dinner. By some sort of miracle, I managed to get the table to agree to play with a half kill and the table loosened up even more. I was called for the 1-3 NL game but I decided that this game was probably a better game anyways so I stayed on this table. Players were playing ATC just to protect their "leg-up", and pots were easily over $150 by showdown. Unfortunately I just couldn't get any of my big hands to hold up - AA went down in flames to AK with K high flop and he went runner runner flush, set loses to flush draw, stuff like that. I'm not telling them like bad beat stories, just simply reporting the stuff that was happening. Somehow I managed to win a pretty big pot with AA vs. KK on the half kill hand to bring me back to about even for the day - first time I've left the table down playing limit for the past 15 sessions or so of BCC play.

During my table play, BlondeFish came by and told me he had an extra invite to Everest's Exclusive Party at Pure, and thus my changing my original plan from the Sapphire Pool to the party at Pure. I mean - catered-meal, open-bar, July-4th on the Pure Patio, what more can you ask for? Props for Everest for putting on this party as it was a blast. One of the bartenders introduced a drink called "Salute" to me, and it was a great drink. Pineapple juice mixed with some other alcohol - it was a perfect drink for a summer night. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find the recipe for the drink yet...and other bartenders at the other night clubs/bars have never even heard of that drink. Anyways, the Everest party was from 7-10, afterward the club was open to us to spend the night. Big thanks to BlondeFish for handing me that invite from Everest, as the line outside Pure that night was crazy.

I went to the Sports Book for a bit in between parties as I wanted to watch the ending of the crazy Colorado Rockies-Florida Marlins game which ended with the final score of 18-17. For those that have never been to Caesar's Palace, Pure nightclub is located between the Sports Book and the Pussycat Dolls lounge, right beside the Poker Room. There is quite a large waiting area that is setup for the evening, and there must've been at least 300-400 patrons waiting in line by 9pm, and the club doesn't even open until 10pm! By the time 1130 came around, the club was full of people with the exception of the VIP areas. Some tables were filled but 2/3 or so were still empty. It wasn't until 1 or so until the party picked up and most/all of the tables were filled. There were many gorgeous ladies at the party, and drinks weren't cheap. Oh wells.

I stumbled back to the hotel at around 2 that night - still early by Vegas standards but I decided to call it a night early as tomorrow is a pretty big day with the UFC Fight.

Day 3 - July 3rd Part 2

Went back to the room to grab actyper, and met up with another guy from 2+2, and made our way down to the Golden Nugget. Obv it was the first time I was downtown, and by the looks of it I will probably hang around the strip for the rest of my trip. Saw adanthar at the buffet line, and formally put some screennames to faces. The buffet was alright, but nothing to write home about. After the buffet, we proceeded downstairs to "The Grand" where they had private tables setup for us. I ended up at a table with 4_2_it (Joe - aka the guy who set this all up), and a bunch other guys. We played 2/4 drunk limit where between myself and Joe (the LAGtards at the table), for the first hour or so of Omaha8, Double-flop omaha, double flop hold'em, whatever we were playing, it would be 3 bet blind after it gets by us. Bought in for $300 and ended up cashing out for $200. With the amount of booze I drank, it was definitely cheaper than going out to a club/bar and buying alcohol.

Briefly played with David Sklansky, Dan Harrington and Ray Zee at one point or another during the night. Ray Zee called me a nit before even sitting down and Sklansky folded the eventual winning hand in double flop omaha. Montel Williams popped by the Nugget and started a $500 SnG...I would've played but didn't carry too much cash on me so I stuck with donking around the 2/4 table. Decided to leave the Nugget at around midnight, and hooked up with another 2p2er while waiting for a cab. While actyper went home, Greg and I went over to a new strip club that he recommended to check it out. Nothing special really and it was off the strip a bit, very small compared to Sapphire and it seemed pretty empty where it appeared that dancers outnumbered clients...wasn't there for long before heading back to Mandalay Bay for the night

Day 3 - July 3rd Part 1

One problem with trying to write a trip report a few days after the actual day, is that you will probably forget some things you did if it wasn't poker related. The writing of this blog post probably will span a couple of hours while I attempt to piece together that event of the day.

Actyper woke up pretty early and headed out to play Day 1 of the Main Event. I wished him luck on his way out and quickly fell back to sleep. I was supposed to play in the Caesar's Mega Stack, but I remember waking up late and was too late for late registration by the time I arrived at Caesar's Palace. I wandered around the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace for some time, and had my first of many gelatos of this trip. With my gelato in hand, I wander through the shops, and as actyper predicted, Pete Rose was again signing autographs at the sports memorabilia shop inside.

Once I got bored of wandering (I had no intentions to buy anything big this trip as I have no luggage space), I decided to head to the Rio to check out the festivities that is Day 1A of the WSOP Main Event - and at the same time to see what the Gaming Life Expo (GLE) is all about. The GLE was a disappointment IMO, with the exception of the 2p2 booth which stoodout, and at the same time was very professional without the aid of models in short shorts and tank tops. I strolled through the expo and preceeded into the Amazon room. Barry Greenstein was playing at one of the tables by the rail, and there were about 20 railbirds at various point watching him play. Scotty Nguyen was playing at the ESPN feature table, so I decided to sit in the audience for a bit. A mid-late 20s female railbird joined me in the stands and she was definitely not a physically unattractive individual by any mean either. We talked for awhile and found out she was here with a couple of friends who are playing in the ME but couldn't locate them so she decided to just sit and watch Scotty for awhile. I ended up watching for about half an hour before deciding that watching was too boring so I went back to Mandalay Bay and shot craps for awhile before the evening 2+2 gathering.

More on the 2+2 gathering in the next post.

Update

I'm done with MTTs in Vegas - went 1/5 (or 6 - something like that), so its good news bad news. Good news is that I had my first ever live MTT cash, bad news was that I missed out on cashing for a big score.

I cashed in the $330 Venetian Deep Stack tournament yesterday (July 7th), but had I won the last pot when I moved in with A6 vs. KQ for about 10BB against an aggressive LP, I would've put myself in good position for possibly the final table (or at least the final 2 tables) but it wasn't meant to be. I'm definitely not complaining about this cash after how bad I ran this week - but still no where close to some guys who are 0 for 20 or so from this year's WSOP.

I'll probably write a detailed report on the flight back or something starting from after day 2.

July 4th, Pure, Fireworks

Just a quick update. Been partying it up quite a bit lately, going to start playing a couple of tournaments after the fight tomorrow evening. Had a blast at Pure tonight with open bar + July 4th fireworks at the hottest club in Vegas. Sweated Watts for a bit and he's pretty huge so far last I was in touch with him with over 100K. Other than that I will have a more detailed TR for day 3 and 4 when I'm sober.

Vegas Trip - Day 2

Day 2 – July 2, 2008
Woke up at 9am or so, and got a message from actyper saying he has an extra bed in his room in Mandalay Bay, so I migrated to his room as a bed and some personal space beats crashing on a couch in the living room no matter how nice of a mansion the couch is in.
The Mandalay Bay buffet seems ok at first, but I will definitely have to rethink that at the conclusion of this trip. Headed out to Caesar’s Palace to play in their Mega Stack Series. Bumped into Buddy (BlondeFish) prior to the beginning of the tournament, and the tournament started pretty much on time with t7500 starting chips and 50 minutes level.
The table makeup is pretty weird, for the most part the table is very loose passive preflop, but occasionally a hand would be 3-betted.

First hand of note (hero was not involved) was also seat 8’s first hand, about 15 minutes into the level.
Effective stacks – t7500
Blinds 25/50, and Seat 7 raises to 225, and seat 8 announces raise and tosses in 2 1000 chips and 1 25 chip. Now note that the 1000 chip and the 100 chip looks somewhat similar, with another player at the table making the similar mistake earlier. Carrying on – seat 7 calls after a minute or so of thought.
Flop comes Q 10 2 rainbow
Seat 7 leads for 2000, and Seat 8 announces all-in almost instantly. Seat 7 thinks about 30 seconds, and calls. Here I was thinking there is AQ vs. KK, or AA vs. QQ, or QQ vs. 1010, but it turns out Seat 8 has a set with 1010, but seat 7 had AJ. Turn came as a 2, which filled up the boat for seat 8, and seat 7 is left with 475. Those chips went in the next hand with 93o and the BB called by K7ss, both players missed the board completely and the player is gone.

The table was super quiet, outside of the initial talk with the dealer despite my effort to start up a conversation with the guy to my right or left.

Next hand comes up with 50/100, and hero stack is t6500~ with villain’s stack t9500~
Hero is on the button with QQ. Villain limped in behind 2 other limpers and hero raises to 600 and was called by villain in MP.
Flop comes K 6 2 with 2 spades
Villain checks to hero and hero bets 900. Villain check-raises to 3000. Hero briefly thought about jamming but decided that villain’s body language doesn’t seem right as he looked very comfortable and confident and decided to fold.
Final hand of the tournament comes about a couple of orbits later towards to the end of the 50/100 level.
Hero t5500~, villain t7000~
Hero raises to 300 in MP with 1010, and player on the button calls and blinds fold. Villain in this hand has been pretty tight for the most part and hasn’t been involved much.
Flop comes Q 10 9 – not a dream flop but can’t complain flopping a set. Hero follows with a bet of 475, which villain raises to to 1500. I decided that this board is draw heavy enough and with the villain’s play so far, he is probably calling a shove so I shove for 5500 or so. Villain thinks, and calls with QJ. Turn was a 6 but river brought a K and hero is now 0/1 in tournaments in Vegas.
Barely getting any sleep the night before, I retreated to the hotel room to nap before the Bluff’s Poker Party at Sapphire while intending to go to the Rio to sweat Watts until he texted saying he was busted so I catch my with the blogging.
Stopped by the Card Runners party at the Rio before headed to Sapphire for the Bluff poker party – it was an open bar and all. Just got back from it and met a few friends and put some faces on online handles. Doyle and Todd Brunson, along with other pros whom are affiliated with Doyle’s Room were also in attendance. Hitting the sack now and will either play the Caesar’s tournament tomorrow or just hang out at the Rio until the 2+2 gathering at the Golden Nugget.

Vegas Trip - Day 1

Day 1 – July 1, 2008

My first trip to Vegas began ironically on Canada Day, and I’ve been anticipating this trip since the plane ticket was booked at the end of May. With all this excitement the last few days leading up to the trip, the first day was big let down. Not that I was expecting to fly first class, picked up by limos and sit beside Maria Sharapova on the flight, but what occurred was a true definition of running bad in life. Things started off when I woke up and left Toronto for Buffalo in the morning, things didn’t get so bad really on the trip across the border, nor did customs take overly long. I was however stuck in a bus with an annoying Chinese woman whom found every single excuse to complain under her breath once we crossed the border to the American side. She got agitated originally due to the apparent “unclear” instructions from the bus driver when someone on the bus did not go through secondary customs with their bag, which resulted in about a 15-minute delay once the mistake was discovered. 15 minutes is really not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but she simply ran with the “driver error” for not giving clear instructions despite the fact that they are not allowed to give any instructions and found every chance to complain, mutter, and curse under her breath.

Upon arrival to the Buffalo International Airport, I immediately checked in to drop off one of my luggage, leaving myself with my sling bag and my laptop case. First flight consisted of a loud baby and his non-stop crying, and second flight consisted of an oversized passenger to my right of window seat with no consideration of legroom and elbowroom.

Landed in Vegas at around 10:30pm, and dropped my bags off Watt’s place and headed out immediately to the Rio to check out the action and start losing money. Here is a some poker content.

Rio $175 satellite – 10 handed.

Pretty awful structure with t1000 starting chips and 15 minutes blinds. However, the competition is so soft that it is +ev for most players who may read this who have a small idea of how to play poker and pushing/calling ranges.

First hand of interest in the satellite came at the 25/50 level.

Hero’s Stack 850, MP’s Stack 1500~, SB’s stack 1200~

MP’s been active raising and taking down pots by opening in position, and again raises to t175 and hero looks down at 88 on the button. I was contemplating between calling and shoving when SB announced all-in. Made my fold easier and it turns out SB has 99 and MP has AJ

Next hand involves the player to my immediate right whom have raised on the button/CO regularly and blinds are now 50/100.

Hero’s stack 850, villain 1200~

Villain raises to t300 and hero jams A10ss and villain thinks for a few seconds and says “I can’t fold even if I’m behind” and calls with AJ.

Flopped was A 3 5, and turn was another 5 to give me a few more chop outs. River was a 6 and I’m quickly down on the trip.

Another satellite was about to begin when I busted out so I decided to drop another $275 down on a satellite where starting stack is increased to t1500 and you get 20 minutes blinds.

Nothing really interesting happens, but 7 of the 10 players (including myself) got in a $20 last longest (started with $100, no one was interested except for one guy, dropped to $50, 4 in total and another guy “do $20 and I’m in” and we got 7 into it) but in general the table seemed like they had a bit of an idea of what they were doing, it consisted of a mix of grinders/regulars, and a couple of tourists. Table played pretty tight from the beginning and I chipped up a bit to t3000 or so when this hand came up.

Blinds 50/100, Hero’s stack 2800~, villain 2100~

Villain limps in MP, and hero raises to 400 on the cutoff with JJ, blinds fold and MP calls.

Flop Q 6 4

Hero makes a continuation bet of 600, and villain ask some questions before announcing all-in which forces hero to fold.

Blinds get to 100/200 and hero shoves QJ in the CO with 1400~, SB reshoves with 1010.

Flop was Q J 9, turn brought a 6 and river brought a K and busto again.

Went to watch the heads up match between Marty Smyth and Peter Jetten – “apathy” online. I thought the heads up match lasted like 15 hands or so, but it turns out it lasted 30 hands. Last hand was a cooler even by PLO terms when both guys flopped the nut straight but Marty had a royal flush draw and a full house draw, freerolling Jetten. Club on the river gives the bracelet to Marty.

Also railed the FT of the $1500 HORSE where Hellmuth was going for his 12^th bracelet. The rail was about 3-4 deep with guys cheering for/against Hellmuth. Nothing interesting to note since I only watched a few hands, but as soon as Hellmuth busted out the crowd thinned and there were about 15 railbirds when it got down to heads up.

Sweated Watts until the completion of play in the limit shootout and saw a hand between him and Kenna James with KK vs. AA. He finished the day with 30500. Ended the night back at his place and met the other guys (LearnedFromTV, adanthar, Bond18 etc).