I start day two after doing my homework. I didn't have a good table draw anymore. I was going to break relatively quickly, and had 7 regs at the table, including a short stacked (15BB) Main Event 2015 final table player.
The bubble really popped so fast, I didnt even play a significant hand.
Next is a hand where I wish I had more notes. I open in the CO with J9s. The SB (Who was Nathan Tuthill). I completely wiff the Kxx flop, but I can rep the King easily here and I c-bet. He calls. The turn is an blank and it goes check-check. The river is an Ace and here is where I think I can take advantage of my REC image. There is an old saying, "When a Rec bombs the river, he has it". So I decide to play that cars, but I think I bet 60% pot to look less bluffy. Nathan, tanks for about 90 seconds while I just sit still. In the end, he surprises me with a hero call and I muck. If my table draw was better, I could have feasted off the image here for hours. In hindsight, I think the Ace was a POOR bluffing card as a King may just check behind...
Next hand I get 33 and I just chuck it. I have $64k and I am trying to decide what my current ranges should be... Table break.
New table, short stack shoves from the button. I have A6o in the BB and I pause, but call. He has some random two cards and I hold. Back up to $70k
A shorter stack opens and I have 88. I have created some bad spots recently by 3 betting 88, but in this case, I think his shorter stack size really boxed him in. The 3-bet works and I pick up some chippies.
I am not defending my BB well because the LP players have deep stacks.
Someone from MP (deep stack, opening many hands, spewy river calls) min opens (his standard open) and I 3 bet AJ from position. Now he MIN 4 bets? I know that there are guys out there that do this all the time, but I was thinking, "why"? His range is still wide in my eyes, so I call. Flop is Ten high and I have a backdoor flush to go with two overs. I am ready to peel and he him bets the pot. I KNOW the math demands a call here. I KNOW this. But I fold. He was playing this hand differently than he played the others I had seen and I made a bad fold. A small mistake to avoid a perhaps larger one. NOT A good play at all. But I did it. (he later did this to someone else, then bet 2x pot on river.)
MP raises and I defend my BB with AJs. The flop is KJx and I call his c-bet. Turn brings me a flush draw and it goes check-check. River is a total blank, but he checks. I think he has air, but check behind. I dont recall what he had, but my middle pair is good.
In the next hand I had KK. I think I might have been the UtG. I took it down pre-flop with a 3-bet is all my notes say. I recall I opened for 2.5x because I didnt want to limp.
Spewy-LAG player opens and I call very loose with 69s from button just to see a flop in position. BB wakes up with a hand and shoves. LAG calls. Flop is A69. D'oh. Oh well. Had BB not shoved, would have brutalized SLAG.
I have about 40BB at the end of L13.
To start L14, I induce a 3 bet by flatting my AK. A 4-bet squeeze comes and I get to shove and pick up $30k in chips without seeing a flop.
I defend my BB with a raggy ace. Flop is 224. He c-bets and I check raise. He calls. What can I put him on now? Turn is an ACE. It goes check-check. River is a blank and I make a decent sized river bet. He calls and mucks, very upset. Maybe he had like JJ? He was a decent player, although played a very cash game style. I saw him in the final 100 field...
Mentally, at the end of L14, I didnt feel right. I play a decent hand and finish the level at $140k, but really needed the break. I take stock of my position. From this point on, there is little difference between 100th place and 20th place. I need to pick up chips if I am going to avoid a min cash. I mentally prepare myself to not play tight for survival.
I open K9s from Hijack and get two callers. A K flops and I c-bet and both players call. Alarms are ringing and I shut it down.
I make a mental note that I am slightly below average stack for the first time in the tournament.
Japanese? Guy who doesnt speak English? has played just two hands in Day 2. The second time he doubled up with AA. He has about $60k and he shoves UTG. It folds to me in the BB and I have AKo. In other circumstances I could find a fold here, but since I put him on QQ-TT and AK/AQ, I decide that I need to call. He shows two red 6s. the runout sucks and I lose 60% of my stack.
My remaining $47k bleeds down to about $37k until I get KK in the SB. Cutoff opens for $9k. This is an easy shove and he will call. He tables QQ. A queen on the flop send me packing 91st.
If the Kings hold, I would still be below avg at $90k, but would have 30 BB, enough to keep making a run. And so it goes... I was not happy to go out. I was not celebrating my run. I was frustrated and what-not despite knowing that I ran well enough up to that point to not complain.
and now I record all this for some sort of weird posterity.
Thursday, July 07, 2016
Wednesday, July 06, 2016
Full event 56 recap - Day 1 of 2
Started with plenty of recreational players and a low table draw. Lots of time to study my opponents here. No headphones. Tables start 6 handed. $7500 starting chips.
Limper on the first hand. Gez.
KK third hand. Yawn.
Reg sits down on my right in the 1 seat.
I made a frequency based raise with a borderline hand, opponent folds. I dont have details recorded.
L2: Open EP 99, I get a couple of callers. Flop 67A. My C-bet gets called by button. Turn is an 8. Fire second barrel and get check raised. OESD or not, too early to play big pot with 99 here. I am not sure I should fold here, but it was a large bet and I would have to hit my 10 outer to win the pot. I dont have the correct pot odds and I fold.
My AA raises and just the blinds to call. Flop a set. Not going to get action :(
At the end of Level 2, I have $9k. Not a ton, but more than the $7500 I started with...
In L3 we already have a short stack who shoves $2k at the 200/400 level. I decide to call in the blind with KQs. He rolls KK but the run-out give me a flush. Not my greatest moment, but I've never run good in a WSOP event before, so I feel really excited about such a small pickup.
In level 5, I am dealt KK and the flop comes out ThQc8c. I c-bet and he check raises! I dont get why and I dont see the logic of doing that here with a flush draw. I decide I have equity here and I call. The turn comes Jc and I decide to shove (for value I thought with all the redraws, but maybe I turned into KK a bluff. I considered this as a hand in my shove range here in the moment). He folds. (This hand is similar to a much lesser extent, to the monster hand coming...)
I finish level 6 at $16.5k, higher than my highest chip count in all of Event 29, so yeah me.
Most of level 6 I am card dead... I finally get a big hand, but get no action. Not too surprised based on the amount of folding I was doing recently.
Towards the end of L6, I have 99 and I get a position caller. I c-bet and he calls that also. I dont lose anymore money here when he shows the flush. Dont know why he let it get to showdown.
A couple of times, I have decent hands but have to fold them preflop either because of position or too much action. I do manage to scrap together some pots though and end up at $22k at dinner. Just about 18 BB when we return, so not great. I feel at home at the table, I dont have a villain at the table who I feel I cant play head to head with.
L7: After the break and after some more folding, I lost a small pot opening AK. I am worried now about my stack size... I also folded the AK a bit prematurely, so I know my stack size is on my mind.
End of L7 (about): It folds to me on the button and I raise QTs. The SB has 10 BB and shoves. I lost track of his stack size and I am mad at myself, but I cant compound the error by folding. I call. He shows K7s. I hit a T and pick up some chips here. I am now at about $21k going into the 300/600 level.
MONSTER TOURNAMENT HAND - see previous post.
Just a few rotations later, I open with QQ and get 3 bet by the guy who keeps showing up with big hands in the 4 seat. I am worried about how tight his 3 bet range must be, but decide I am not shoving pre. I call. Flop a SET!!! Life is good, poker is easy, etc. He calls a simple c-bet. Turn is a K and I have a perfect reason to check. Tricky I hope, I want him to put me on a marginal pair. He checks behind. On the river I bet $10k into about $15k. He says, "Good bet" while he tanks. In the end he calls and just shakes his head. I dont know what he had. I honestly didnt care at that point. For the first time I got a set paid off at the WSOP and I feel like for once I am the one who will enjoy some "run good".
At the end of L7, mostly from these 2 hands, I am at $65k!
L8: I raise AJ and get a caller. The flop is AKT and again a c-bet gets check raised by the 9 seat. I call. I've seen him play for 2-3 levels now and he is that guy who plays any two suited. He won a bit pot with J5s earlier. The turn is a second Ace. I am no longer afraid of his range. I let it check through. The river is another K and he bombs the river for pot. Big pot already, but I correctly raise anyway and he folds in disgust. (In L9 he takes the same line on someone else, gets call down, but this time he made a flush.)
I finish level 9 with not much further climax, with $79k.
I decide to press a bit. I open a hand with J9s from middle position. I get called by a guy who I think is playing too tight. I flop nothing, but c-bet. When he flats I decide to watch the board for an opportunity to run the Bet-Check-Bet line. We both check the turn. The river 3 flushes the board and I make a 80% pot bet. He hems and haws, but folds while commenting that he thought I was bluffing, but it was too much to find out. Perfect.
I bag $81k at the end of the day. I discover later that I am somewhere around 45th place in chips. Feels just like an online guarantee MTT now...
When I left I saw 305 left, but I'll later discover we'll start the day just 30 from the money.
Limper on the first hand. Gez.
KK third hand. Yawn.
Reg sits down on my right in the 1 seat.
I made a frequency based raise with a borderline hand, opponent folds. I dont have details recorded.
L2: Open EP 99, I get a couple of callers. Flop 67A. My C-bet gets called by button. Turn is an 8. Fire second barrel and get check raised. OESD or not, too early to play big pot with 99 here. I am not sure I should fold here, but it was a large bet and I would have to hit my 10 outer to win the pot. I dont have the correct pot odds and I fold.
My AA raises and just the blinds to call. Flop a set. Not going to get action :(
At the end of Level 2, I have $9k. Not a ton, but more than the $7500 I started with...
In L3 we already have a short stack who shoves $2k at the 200/400 level. I decide to call in the blind with KQs. He rolls KK but the run-out give me a flush. Not my greatest moment, but I've never run good in a WSOP event before, so I feel really excited about such a small pickup.
In level 5, I am dealt KK and the flop comes out ThQc8c. I c-bet and he check raises! I dont get why and I dont see the logic of doing that here with a flush draw. I decide I have equity here and I call. The turn comes Jc and I decide to shove (for value I thought with all the redraws, but maybe I turned into KK a bluff. I considered this as a hand in my shove range here in the moment). He folds. (This hand is similar to a much lesser extent, to the monster hand coming...)
I finish level 6 at $16.5k, higher than my highest chip count in all of Event 29, so yeah me.
Most of level 6 I am card dead... I finally get a big hand, but get no action. Not too surprised based on the amount of folding I was doing recently.
Towards the end of L6, I have 99 and I get a position caller. I c-bet and he calls that also. I dont lose anymore money here when he shows the flush. Dont know why he let it get to showdown.
A couple of times, I have decent hands but have to fold them preflop either because of position or too much action. I do manage to scrap together some pots though and end up at $22k at dinner. Just about 18 BB when we return, so not great. I feel at home at the table, I dont have a villain at the table who I feel I cant play head to head with.
L7: After the break and after some more folding, I lost a small pot opening AK. I am worried now about my stack size... I also folded the AK a bit prematurely, so I know my stack size is on my mind.
End of L7 (about): It folds to me on the button and I raise QTs. The SB has 10 BB and shoves. I lost track of his stack size and I am mad at myself, but I cant compound the error by folding. I call. He shows K7s. I hit a T and pick up some chips here. I am now at about $21k going into the 300/600 level.
MONSTER TOURNAMENT HAND - see previous post.
Just a few rotations later, I open with QQ and get 3 bet by the guy who keeps showing up with big hands in the 4 seat. I am worried about how tight his 3 bet range must be, but decide I am not shoving pre. I call. Flop a SET!!! Life is good, poker is easy, etc. He calls a simple c-bet. Turn is a K and I have a perfect reason to check. Tricky I hope, I want him to put me on a marginal pair. He checks behind. On the river I bet $10k into about $15k. He says, "Good bet" while he tanks. In the end he calls and just shakes his head. I dont know what he had. I honestly didnt care at that point. For the first time I got a set paid off at the WSOP and I feel like for once I am the one who will enjoy some "run good".
At the end of L7, mostly from these 2 hands, I am at $65k!
L8: I raise AJ and get a caller. The flop is AKT and again a c-bet gets check raised by the 9 seat. I call. I've seen him play for 2-3 levels now and he is that guy who plays any two suited. He won a bit pot with J5s earlier. The turn is a second Ace. I am no longer afraid of his range. I let it check through. The river is another K and he bombs the river for pot. Big pot already, but I correctly raise anyway and he folds in disgust. (In L9 he takes the same line on someone else, gets call down, but this time he made a flush.)
I finish level 9 with not much further climax, with $79k.
I decide to press a bit. I open a hand with J9s from middle position. I get called by a guy who I think is playing too tight. I flop nothing, but c-bet. When he flats I decide to watch the board for an opportunity to run the Bet-Check-Bet line. We both check the turn. The river 3 flushes the board and I make a 80% pot bet. He hems and haws, but folds while commenting that he thought I was bluffing, but it was too much to find out. Perfect.
I bag $81k at the end of the day. I discover later that I am somewhere around 45th place in chips. Feels just like an online guarantee MTT now...
When I left I saw 305 left, but I'll later discover we'll start the day just 30 from the money.
Event 56 - The Hand
Ok few readers, here is "the" single hand from Event 56 where I played a huge pot without the benefit of hindsight. Since it was such and important hand in my run (and has been nagging me for 3 days now), I am going to spew it out for your review and possible condemnation.
Setting the stage: I have spent the better half of this year trying to change my game from a "READ" based game to more of an ”Ed Miller” Frequency based game. Despite playing 10 years (or because of it) it has taken a while for "playing against ranges" to sink in... I spent the days before the event re-reading 1% cover to cover, listening to the strategy sections of thinkingpoker for the last 6 months and some coaching from TPE pro DannyN13.
All this leads to event 56, the $1500 NL event.
The Villain: I had a very low table number, so I had the luxury of really studying my opponents. By the time the dinner break comes up, I know Villain (in the 7 seat) is a cash game player, from NY but now lives in Las Vegas. He plays very frequently and is not afraid to fire a turn after betting a flop. He has accumulated the biggest stack at the table, but in the last hour has been a bit spewy, paying off hands in marginal spots. He would also flat which a wide range of suited hands from position.
The Hero: I am in the 2 seat and will be the effective stack at about $21k. (35 BB). Earlier in the day, I played 1 hand very passively against him, raising pre-flop, and then check folding a no-equity flop. I don't like to do this, but it was early, I didn't have a ton of info yet, and I had nothing good to hope for in a turn card. Chips wise, I had $17k a short while ago, but I button raised and the SB shorty shoved his 10 BB and I was “forced” to call with QTs. He tabled K7, but I came out on top. Other than this small opening error, I have been less volatile than most other players, preferring to build my stack slowly.
The Hand: Folds to me Utg+1 and I look down at AA. I take my time and raise to 1500. Folds around to the villain, who flats on the button. Blinds fold. Pot is about 4500 with antes.
Range determination #1: WIDE. He might not be doing this with any two suited, but I certainly expect to see any pairs below JJ, any suited connector (even 23 perhaps), maybe a good number of suited 1 gappers (he won a big hand with 97s in a similar spot earlier in the day), and any 2 Broadway.
Agree?
The Flop: KJT rainbow. I pause to think about what to do here. I briefly consider checking. Villain would bet 95% of the time if I did. I decided I would rather retain control the betting and fired out a C-bet of 1500. (I had not decided yet how big of a pot I wanted to play yet..)
comments?
Villain now Raises to 4500... I start narrowing his range fast. I spend a small amount of time thinking about he might have. Based on the raise, I tend to think he has a Q, but not AQ as I have two blockers (Andrew really hammered this concept home to me).
Range Determination #2: I narrow his range a bit to include sets, hands with Qs (most any but AQ) and maybe 99 turned into a bluff. I drop lower pairs and lower suited connectors from his range now.
commentary before next action?
I feel like I have way too much equity to fold here, so I call.
Pot is now 13500 and the turn is the rainbow 2. I decide that I want to verify my ranges by NOT betting. Let me explain... I am expecting that if he has solid showdown value he will check back. My logic is that he can't know I don't have AQ and just flopped the nuts. I certainly would play AQ just like this up to this point and would sometimes check AQ here to induce a bet.
PAUSE for dramatic effect...
So I do check and he makes a bet of 7500. I tried not to look surprised, but I was ... and at the same time I wasn't. I expected he was used to being the one applying pressure based on his play style all day.
When he bets here, I feel he must have a Q and thus I could narrow his range to 4 hands: KQ, QJ, QT, or Q9. I have about $17500 behind and the pot is 21k.
Agree? Next Action?
Outcome: I found it hard to release this hand here. In hindsight, I see that I could have weighted Q9 stronger, but still wasnt a believer. As I sit there, thoughts swirling in my head about playing with $17k left, all I can think is why isn't Villain afraid of AQ? I am trying hard to play vs. the 4 or so hands I think he can now vs. trying to "guess" an exact hand... and I cant get the lack of concern from Villain out of my mind.
Comments?
After about a minute in the tank, I shove and he calls and tables KJs. But the river is a second 2 and I rake a huge pot.
I can’t help but say to the table, "How do I not put him on KQ there?" Reg in 1 seat says, "I thought he had you beat" so I can’t just assume I didn’t get donk-lucky.
Help me understand how I could have played it better. Was this a fold at any point?
(I dont feel like at any point I was married to the hand just because it was AA.)
Setting the stage: I have spent the better half of this year trying to change my game from a "READ" based game to more of an ”Ed Miller” Frequency based game. Despite playing 10 years (or because of it) it has taken a while for "playing against ranges" to sink in... I spent the days before the event re-reading 1% cover to cover, listening to the strategy sections of thinkingpoker for the last 6 months and some coaching from TPE pro DannyN13.
All this leads to event 56, the $1500 NL event.
The Villain: I had a very low table number, so I had the luxury of really studying my opponents. By the time the dinner break comes up, I know Villain (in the 7 seat) is a cash game player, from NY but now lives in Las Vegas. He plays very frequently and is not afraid to fire a turn after betting a flop. He has accumulated the biggest stack at the table, but in the last hour has been a bit spewy, paying off hands in marginal spots. He would also flat which a wide range of suited hands from position.
The Hero: I am in the 2 seat and will be the effective stack at about $21k. (35 BB). Earlier in the day, I played 1 hand very passively against him, raising pre-flop, and then check folding a no-equity flop. I don't like to do this, but it was early, I didn't have a ton of info yet, and I had nothing good to hope for in a turn card. Chips wise, I had $17k a short while ago, but I button raised and the SB shorty shoved his 10 BB and I was “forced” to call with QTs. He tabled K7, but I came out on top. Other than this small opening error, I have been less volatile than most other players, preferring to build my stack slowly.
The Hand: Folds to me Utg+1 and I look down at AA. I take my time and raise to 1500. Folds around to the villain, who flats on the button. Blinds fold. Pot is about 4500 with antes.
Range determination #1: WIDE. He might not be doing this with any two suited, but I certainly expect to see any pairs below JJ, any suited connector (even 23 perhaps), maybe a good number of suited 1 gappers (he won a big hand with 97s in a similar spot earlier in the day), and any 2 Broadway.
Agree?
The Flop: KJT rainbow. I pause to think about what to do here. I briefly consider checking. Villain would bet 95% of the time if I did. I decided I would rather retain control the betting and fired out a C-bet of 1500. (I had not decided yet how big of a pot I wanted to play yet..)
comments?
Villain now Raises to 4500... I start narrowing his range fast. I spend a small amount of time thinking about he might have. Based on the raise, I tend to think he has a Q, but not AQ as I have two blockers (Andrew really hammered this concept home to me).
Range Determination #2: I narrow his range a bit to include sets, hands with Qs (most any but AQ) and maybe 99 turned into a bluff. I drop lower pairs and lower suited connectors from his range now.
commentary before next action?
I feel like I have way too much equity to fold here, so I call.
Pot is now 13500 and the turn is the rainbow 2. I decide that I want to verify my ranges by NOT betting. Let me explain... I am expecting that if he has solid showdown value he will check back. My logic is that he can't know I don't have AQ and just flopped the nuts. I certainly would play AQ just like this up to this point and would sometimes check AQ here to induce a bet.
PAUSE for dramatic effect...
So I do check and he makes a bet of 7500. I tried not to look surprised, but I was ... and at the same time I wasn't. I expected he was used to being the one applying pressure based on his play style all day.
When he bets here, I feel he must have a Q and thus I could narrow his range to 4 hands: KQ, QJ, QT, or Q9. I have about $17500 behind and the pot is 21k.
Agree? Next Action?
Outcome: I found it hard to release this hand here. In hindsight, I see that I could have weighted Q9 stronger, but still wasnt a believer. As I sit there, thoughts swirling in my head about playing with $17k left, all I can think is why isn't Villain afraid of AQ? I am trying hard to play vs. the 4 or so hands I think he can now vs. trying to "guess" an exact hand... and I cant get the lack of concern from Villain out of my mind.
Comments?
After about a minute in the tank, I shove and he calls and tables KJs. But the river is a second 2 and I rake a huge pot.
I can’t help but say to the table, "How do I not put him on KQ there?" Reg in 1 seat says, "I thought he had you beat" so I can’t just assume I didn’t get donk-lucky.
Help me understand how I could have played it better. Was this a fold at any point?
(I dont feel like at any point I was married to the hand just because it was AA.)
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