Poker Articles

I had a bizarre and crazy week in Vegas.  Rather than regale you with stories about how my Flip Cup team beat Harvard Business School’s Flip Cup team, or how I ate the entire Peking Duck for Two at Tao by myself, or how SamENole and I burned down the Rio craps table (true; true; not entirely true), I will jump right into the poker.

WSOP $2500.  I played the Monday (June 11) $2500 buy-in.  I don’t remember many of the early hands, but I played lights out and had $18k by around 6 pm.  Average was more like $15k, so we were in great shape.  One hand I remember was where I had KJ, a really aggressive player pushed on a flop of K-9-x with two diamonds, and I called.  He had QdTd and I faded everything.  Then came the following two hands, which were totally nasty.

With blinds still at 200-400, UTG limped.  I was in MP holding AsTs, and I limped along, as did the button.  Flop came Ac Ah 7d.  UTG checked, I checked, button bet like 800.  UTG asked, “how much is that?” and I for some reason immediately put him on 77.  Total “Blink” moment – it was like he showed me his hand.  Blinds folded, UTG called, I called. 

Turn was 9c.  UTG checked.  For some reason, I decided to bet 2000.  Button mucked, UTG called.  River was a red two.  UTG bet 2500.  I looked at him and I said, “I know you have 77.”  He seemed to turn red, and I was like 92% sure.  If I was 92% sure the guy had 77, I should  have either folded or pushed.  He couldn't call a push (I had about the same stack as him) if he really believed that I really believed he had 77.  But I had only been at the table for like 20 minutes, and I did not know if the guy could fold a full house there, so I made the weakest choice and called.  He had 77 and raked the very large pot.  I hated every second of this hand.  Shoving and getting him to fold sevens full would have been uber-sicko, but actually, I think the best way to play the hand would have probably been: bet the flop, check the turn, call the river.  What a hack job.

Moments later I got AA in the hijack.  I made it 1175 to go and the button smooth called, as did the BB.  Flop was Kh 8h 9c.  I bet like 2800, button pushed, I called, 88 good.  Time for that vodka and red bull, tyvm.

WSOP $1500 Shootout.  I played the shootout the next day and drew a weak table.  I had an above average stack pretty much the whole way.  Three handed, we were basically even and it was me, a guy from Hawaii (great guy but absolutely terrible at poker) and a guy named Tom (I think) who was solid but not that imaginative.  The Hawaiian guy was a total calling station – by the time I figured out that it would take a grenade launcher to get him off a hand, I had lost 1/3 of my stack, and he had taken most of Tom’s stack as well just by catching and calling.  At one point, Hawaii had 21k, I had 7k, and Tom had 2k.  But within about 10 minutes, literally every one of the Hawaiian guy’s chips migrated to Tom.  The saddest part is that I almost got Tom to call off his remaining stack against me with AK on a board of JTxx when I held JJ.  Nonetheless, he had me 4 to 1 or so heads up, and I basically got run over.  The last hand was my Qs3s vs. his A9 – I decided to stop and go and got a flop of 2s 3h 9d, picked up the flush draw but whiffed, and shook hands.  Waiter!

Bellagio 1k.  I played golf (Bali Hai, Reflection Bay, shot like 86 and 90+ because I putt like I have Parkinson’s) and hung out with my honeybunny until Thursday night, when I decided to try one of the Bellagio nightly 1ks.  I was able to build up a substantial stack without playing a lot of big pots – the players were pretty soft overall.  When we got down to about 15 players, I was moved to a table that included a guy who looked familiar.  I quickly identified him as the best player at the table, so I prodded and found out it was Imper1um.  Great guy, and I love his game.  Love it.  He’s plays like me, except he’s good.  Anyway, Imper1um lost like five hands in a row where he got it in good to very good, including A7 against K9 for a huge pot.  He finally pushed against my AK with QQ, and I won the race.  I was rolling really nicely, and with Imp out I was pretty sure I was going to win. This is how bad they were:

• The guy to my left actually got down to one big blind at least three times and kept catching big hands all in – he may have been the tightest and worst player I have seen at a final table since the Clinton Administration.

• Another guy raised it heads up in the blinds, the BB (aggressive, strong player) shoved a smaller stack, and the SB folded TT.

• Another guy smooth called Imper1um’s button raise from the SB with AJo, the flop came like Axx, and he check-folded his short stack.

Anyhoo, I lost a couple small pots, and then we were 7 handed when I picked up AQ in the SB.  Button raised, I shoved, and the rock INSTACALLED all in from the BB.  AA good, sir.  I was short and ended up pushing 77, lost a race to AT, and I was out (7th place, paid like $2400 something).  Those Bellagio MTTs have a lot of play, but they are really plodding – it was 5 a.m. when I got knocked out.  Bring an ipod and a case of Red Bull.

WSOP $1500.  This was the Saturday (June 16) $1500 with 2,300+ players.  Tables were everywhere – hallways, restaurants, bathrooms, parking lots, on the roof – you name it.  Anyway, I was totally focused and had it going from very early on.  My two big early hands were: As3s in BB, I checked option SB vs. BB and flop came like 9s 8s 2d.  It went check-check.  Turn was Ad and SB bets 300.  I made it 800, he reraised to like 2200 and I shoved.  He had about what I thought he had – Kd8d – and the river was the 3c.  My next double up was a hand where I called an EP raise + one caller with JJ, flop came Td 5d 4c and it went check-check-check to me, I bet a little less than the pot, the BB shoved (had me covered) and I called.  He had AdQd and I faded everything.  Turns out I was in worse shape than I thought, but this fellow had checked a set twice earlier on and I was almost sure I was ahead in the hand, so it was a tough but fairly clear call in my mind.

One of the hands I liked was one where I reraised from the BB with AdKd and the raiser called.  Flop was Jxx and it went check-check.  Turn was a rag and I checked again, he bet, and I raised like 3x more.  He folded.  At that point I was feeling pretty bulletproof and had like 60k when average was more like 20k.  I cooled off by the end of Day 1 and had two very tough hands at the end that still torture me.

This cat named Raymond Davis was two to my right.  He was very loose preflop but disciplined and aggressive post-flop.  He only made one big bet post-flop, and he had two pair.  He limped from the hijack and I limped along with Ad5d.  I had already taken one away from him in a spot just like that, so I didn’t think raising was a good idea there, in case he was setting me up.

The flop came Ac 8s 5s and the big blind (the guy who doubled me when he had AdQd earlier) bet 2500.  Davis called, and I raised to 7700.  In retrospect, I kind of hate this raise.  I should have declared my commitment by making it like 12k or something, given the stacks (I had both opponents covered).  BB folded and Davis shoved.  It was just under 20k to call, and I really tanked.  I was almost positive he would not jam there with less than AsXs, and he would definitely limp with that hand.  I was not sure he would limp in with 88 but it was certainly possible, and of course he could have A5 or A8 as well.  If he had something like As9s, I was a slight dog but that would have been a good gamble and I was still ok if I lost the hand, though I would have been seriously wounded.  So I probably should have called, but I folded after my longest tank ever and he tabled As9s, which was the most likely holding.  I doubt I could have faded yet another big draw, but I wish I had run it.  Would have been fun to play from a 100k stack...

Shortly after that I made my only betting/concentration error of the week, at a very bad time.  It was 1:30 a.m. and I was wiped out.  The guy to my right was a terrible, tight, ABC-type player and he min-raised UTG to 4k.  I meant to raise to 12k with my QQ but I must have thought I put the 4k out first after I declared reraise, and I pushed in 8k total.  Oops.  No big deal, I just wanted to isolate anyway.  Well, the best laid (and most poorly executed) plans sometimes kick you in the crotch; the button reraised all in.  Now, I thought it was odd that he pushed – if he had KK or AA, you would think he might reraise and not push.  I had a lot of chips behind, like 45k.  OTOH, he had shown down one hand: AA.  There was quite a bit in the pot already, and he might have been going up a level on me, figuring I would think he would not push AA or KK.  One last factor: I was pretty sure UTG had AJ or AQ based on past raising patterns, so that accounted for an ace.  Finally, I decided the button had to have KK, and I laid it down.  The button said something later that made me think I had him, or at least that I had a flip, but we’ll never know.

Nothing good happened the rest of the night, and I came back for Day 2 with a mediocre 40k.  Day 2 was kind of disappointing.  I made some aggressive resteals and stayed alive, but never got above 60k, and then went totally card dead.  I got as low as 22k, at which point I blind-shoved from the hijack with 39o, and luckily all folded.  I then restole with 55 and got back to about 55k.  At 2k-4k, I felt like I had enough to try a standard steal, so I raised to 12k with QT and it went push-push behind me, so that put me right back into shove mode.  I couldn’t find a spot to get it in and with 500 antes and I was getting desperate, so I pushed AJ with no fold equity on a weakish-looking 3.5x raise.  Sure enough he had 77, but I missed everything and was out in 70th place. 

Considering I never really had an easy hand, like a set against an overpair or AA vs. QQ or something, I guess I should be pleased with the finish.  It’s funny but everyone in the lounge waiting for their money was depressed (I was) – all I could think about was what I could have done differently.  Any joy I felt was very muted.  But it was nice to cash in the WSOP, and I still had time to shoot craps with SamE and make my flight. 

Congrats to all the P5ers who have been mashing this series.  I am not surprised at all.