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#189 – WSOP #38 – Mixed Nuts
This is a continuation of my notes from the $1,500 Mixed Hold ‘Em event, where I finished 7th out of (as alternately announced and reported) 619 0r 620. It’s a continuation of the notes and observations contained in entries ## 183, 184, and 188. As I mentioned at the end of #188, I ended Day 1 with 22,700 in chips, about 50% above the average but substantially below my highest levels.
My notes on Day 2, as I got deeper into the tournament, became more dull, mostly listing times, players left, and chip counts. But there’s a little more in here than I initially thought, so I’ll pass it along, as part of my task of giving you a feeling what it’s like participating in the Series. (I’m going to do another entry geared specifically to that matter, probably my next entry.)
3:06 PM – Restart. LHE 400-800 blinds, 800-1600 bets. Our table is about to break.
3:27 PM – 29,600. AK v. AQ on a board of 5-8-J-A-J. Then moved to Table 64, seat 6. Game is now NLHE, 300-600 blinds.
4:07 PM – The P.A. announces in the “old folks event” (to boos) 1,882 players, paying 153. Bottom-dollar is $2,226. First place is almost $350,000.
4:08 PM – 27,700. LHE 500-1,000 blinds.
4:26 PM – 33,500 – Kh-Qh. Flopped flush. Paid off by big stack in BB.
4:30 PM – 78 left. I’m definitely feeling that the blinds are getting bigger. Even with a good stack, I don’t feel comfortable playing a lot of pots.
4:52 PM – 32,000. After 15 minute break, we’re starting NLHE with 400-800 blinds. There’s a lot more play in the NLHE levels than in LHE. 75 players left, average stack 24.7k.
5:12 PM – With 400-800 blinds, someone raised to 2,500. For some reason, a bunch of players have treated that as a reasonable amount and are aping it. That’s a HUGE raise with no antes. Why? I think because of the stack sizes, everyone is afraid to play after the flop. 74 left.
5:19 PM – 30,800. 69 left, average is 27k. 5 minutes left this level.
5:37 PM – 33,100. 65 left and they pay 63. Hand for hand. 15 minutes left in LHE, 800-1,500 blinds, 1,500-3,000 bets.
5:48 PM – 38,400. Cashed in on stock Howard Lederer LHE strategy from the book. I raised with J-Ts. The big blind called and bet out on a jack-high flop. I raised and he folded. You have to keep the betting lead, especially with position. The extra 1,500 of my raise (I obviously wasn’t going to fold with top pair) got him to fold, which is great, but if he called, it would have saved me 3,000 if I was behind because he would likely check the turn. Free cards – the guiding principle of limit hold ‘em.
6 PM – Still hand for hand. Roxci Rhodes is sitting to my right. She’s a very nice woman who stops talking only to pause for breath. But she’s not very happy now. She had a decent stack and was in the small blind when the button raised near the end of the last LHE level. She 3-bet and I folded my big blind. The flop came 4-6-9. She check-raised and was reraised. The turn and river were bet and maybe there was even another raise. She had K-K. The button raiser had 6-9o. She was furious, though in a low-key way, referring to the play as “retarded.” This put her on a very short stack and she was having trouble letting it go.
In the meantime, they have filled some of the vacated tables in our area with tables of players from the Seniors Event. So I’ve got Roxci on my right, mightily pissed off but only for my benefit. And this guy one table to my left bitching out the floorman. “We’ve been eight-handed for the last two hours. What’s the matter with you that you can’t bring another player in? Why should we have to pay our blinds faster than anyone else? This is ludicrous.”
So Roxci says to me, “You want to know what’s ludicrous. A returned raise and call with 6-9o and busting pocket kings. When you have that happen to you, THEN you have something to complain about.” Mind you, she’s not saying this to they guy on her left or the geyser complaining one table over. She’s saying this to ME, in a stage whisper.
(A word about the “geysers.” I saw the mass of players in the event talk out on break and thought, These guys don’t look that old. Translation = I’m in this event way sooner than I want to be, in 2008.)
6:15 PM – 52,600. Still hand for hand. I bust out David, a nice guy sitting to my left, in 65th. It was checked around to me in the small blind. He was low on chips, about 8,000, so I raised to 3,500 (blinds were 500-1,000) with 8-9o. As tight as everyone has been playing, I was sure he’d fold just about anything.
An unknown bit of advanced poker strategy is that if you don’t play a hand right, try to make an even number of errors, on the chance that they’ll cancel each other out. I figured his fold would be automatic, so I didn’t take into account the possibility that I’d have to call any re-raise, unless I was CERTAIN he had a huge hand.
He called and moved all-in for 5,700 more. I knew generally the size of his stack but I admit that I didn’t think about how I priced myself in to what was potentially a blockbuster starting hand. I had to pay 5,700 to win a pot with a total value (including my call) of 12,700. Against an overpair, I’m not getting the right odds, and my initial instinct was that he’d fold just about anything.
But now I had doubts. So I tossed away my first instinct, and my first instinct is usually pretty good. I just thought, pot odds.
I called and it was as good as I could expect. He had 6-6. I hit an 8 on the flop and he busted.
6:21 PM – Roxci apologizes for the “retarded” comment to the guy on her right. He says “apology accepted” and they end up buddies. He even says he wasn’t even listening but I’m sure that’s not true. Maybe he wasn’t listening the first eleven times she said it, but it had to resonate at some point. It was 25-30 minutes until her apology and I loudly chastised Roxci for apologizing after keeping the guy on the hook for so long.
6:30 PM – 58,000. Still hand for hand.
6:35 PM – End of hand for hand. Roxci and another player busted on the same hand (she lost QQ to AA) and they share bottom-dollar.
6:52 PM – Our table broke at the end of hand for hand. I’ve got Jeffrey Lisandro on my right. Jeffrey, who has a bracelet and a second-place this year, has to finish fourth in this event to break event. Yesterday entered the $50,000 HORSE and was, I heard, the first player eliminated. He tossed in $1,500 for this one and was near the chip lead for a long time. He doesn’t have that many chips now. I’m glad for that, and even more glad to be on his left. I get pocket kings and hit a king on the turn in LHE, so I’m now up to 66,200.
7 PM – 84,000. I just won two huge hands in LHE.
7:32 PM – NLHE, 1,000-1,500 blinds. Adam from the Canadian radio show/podcast on which I’ve appeared is in Seat 6.
7:55 PM – 83,500. 48 left. Average is 38k.
8:08 PM – 104,500. I just won a couple nice pots in LHE and threw away Ah-Qh on the button after two raises. (We’re playing LHE, 1,500-3,000 blinds, 3,000-6,000 bets.)
8:20 PM – 112,000. 45 left at 5 tables. Adam is wearing an old-style Vancouver Canucks jersey, which I asked him about. At least I didn’t offend the nation of Canada by saying something like, “And that’s in WHAT sport?” The jersey is green, blue, and white and is very cool looking, though the logo on the front looks like a Pac-Man.
We’re actually getting a rail behind us. But I think it’s mostly friends and family. I haven’t heard the “no flash photography” warning yet.
8:26 PM – 98,500. I’m actually throwing away quality hands pretty frequently. Apart from the AQs, I threw away KsJs after a Lisandro late position raise. Am I getting too conservative? Playing scared? I suppose it’s arguable. I honestly don’t think Lisandro has been playing very many hands. I’m trying to distance myself from the fight-or-flight reflex that kicks in when I’m at a table with a pro, to automatically assume he’s making a move or pushing me around. And I threw away Ad9d after an early position raise. I have a bunch of chips, but no stack is safe at these levels.
9:01 PM – 91,500. 33 left. 2 minutes left in NLHE. I see some guy walking back to his seat in the Seniors Event, coming back from the dinner break, carrying a neck-strap margarita.
They announce our dinner break will be at 9:30. A bunch of players complain. So they immediately change it to 9 PM, so a bunch of OTHER players complain. One guy states emphatically, “You told us the break would be at nine-thirty. Some of us have contacted friends and family and made specific reservations for 9:30. Now you pull the rug out from under us and change it.” When a floorperson explains that a lot of players asked for the change (in the two or so minutes since she announced it and this guy supposedly made his “plans”), he says, “Can we get together and lower the blinds then?”
10:55 PM – 93,000. 26 left. We redraw for the three tables.
11:05 PM – 132,500. AA holds up in a pot totalling 70,000. I got paid off on every street (LHE) and felt a little better when an ace hit on the river. Ya know, just in case.
11:18 PM – I folded ATo in my big blind to a raise from J.C. Tran. We’ve been at the same table for 20 minutes and it’s the first hand he’s played, so I’m trying to give him credit for a hand, even though I want to shove in some chips. 23 left.
11:30 PM – 19 left. Average stack is 97k.
11:55 PM – Adam busted in 19th and we redraw for two tables. I’m at Table 61, seat 1. Except for a guy named Karlo, all the bigger stacks than mine, I think, are at the other table. At this table, Phil Gordon, on a short stack, is to my immediate left. J.C. Tran, whose stack looks like mine, is to his left. Jeffrey Lissandro, with a stack between theirs in size, is across the table. The other table got the bigger stacks, we got the more experienced players.
12:30 AM – NLHE 2,000-4,000 blinds. I lost a pretty big pot to J.C. Tran. He raised in early posiiton. I had KK on the button and just called. I thought there was a chance Phil Gordon might take that as an invitation to push in with his short stack, or a chance to get more out of Tran on the flop. I tell myself that I’ll fold if an ace hits.
An ace doesn’t hit but it’s 3 low clubs. I DON’T have the king of clubs. Tran bets and I call. I’m not happy with my original call, though I felt I had a decent reason to make it. I’m not so happy with this call and I take a long time making it. A fourth club comes on the turn and he bets big. I think about it for awhile, but just to remind myself that this isn’t online, where they have another tournament every 15 minutes and guys can do stupid things and you can call them if it turns out they really have it and enter another tournament. This is the big leagues and you blew it. Walk away.
I fold. Neither of us shows but it’s pretty clear he had AcKc or AcQc. I mention I had kings.
Phil Gordon: “You had KINGS? KINGS? Give me a call in a couple days and we’ll talk about it.” I know what he’s going to say. That the stacks just aren’t big enough to slowplay. I wouldn’t play it the same way next time but I honestly don’t think it was that bad a move. If he hit his hand in the “conventional” way – ace on the flop – I told myself I would take my medicine and fold, and I think I would. I just got stuck because he hit that 1% hand (flopping a flush) and I had to discount for the possibility he was drawing with an ace of clubs or merely making a continuation bet.
1:17 AM – Restart after break. 15 left. Average is 123,000. I have 102,000. This is the first time since the tournament was five minutes old that I’ve been below average. Be cool.
1:45 AM – 171,000. I won a good pot from J.C. Tran, picking up most of what I lost on the kings fiasco. In fact, I had more than this but lost a decent sized pot against Rene, who was all-in with a short stack with A-6 when I called with A-J and he drew out. [Rene finished second in the event, punctuating his winning pots by stomping around the table and screaming, like he’s Freddy Blassie or something.
Phil Gordon is out in 15th. He pushes in with J-9 and is called by A-X. He stands up and solemnly says, “Phil Gordon is 39% to win.” He hits a jack on the flop but the other player hits an ace on the turn.
The P.A. says, “We had 2,000 payout sheets in the Seniors Event and every one of them are gone.”
1:53 AM – J.C. Tran busts in 14th place. My nemesis, Rene, raised his blind and Tran moved all in. Rene called. Tran had Jh3h. Rene had AA. The last three to bust at this table were Lisandro, Gordon, and Tran. I didn’t bust any of them, but have managed to chip up to 182,000.
2:03 AM – 12 left.
2:31 AM – 10 left. We play 10 handed until one more busts and the remaining 9 come back tomorrow to play the final table. I have 241,000, despite busting out none of the players who went out from 18th to 10th. I got KK again and played it fast, winning a smaller pot but at least WINNING it.
2:41 AM – Karlo Lopez, who was the chip leader, has taken a couple hits. I may be the chip leader now, though the stacks are pretty close.
2:47 AM – 296,000. My button.
2:51 AM – 321,000. There are opportunities to take chips here. No one wants to go.
2:52 AM – I spoke too soon. 271,000. I raised with 99 and was called all-in by short-stack with KJ. He drew out.
2:58 AM – 251,000. Lost 70,000 in 2 hands. Just raised with ATs and was reraised by Rene.
3:02 AM – 223,000 after the blinds.
3:17 AM – 259,000 after the blinds.
3:21 AM – 271,000. Starting new level of LHE. 8,000-15,000 blinds. 15,000-30,000 bets.
3:45 AM – 339,000.
3:58 AM – 357,000. Just blew 60,000. I had 66 in late position and didn’t see that a short stack had already raised in early position. With the blinds on the other side of me from the dealer, I thought his bet was one of the blinds. So instead of folding, I’m in for a reraise to 45,000. On an ace-high flop, I bet 15,000 (this is limit) hoping he puts me on an ace and doesn’t have one. He calls, so we check it down and he shows A-J.
Karlo is in a bad way. He claims to have had QQ when he raised my blind. When we played together earlier, he raised my blind about 400 times, so it was an easy call for me with QhTd. After a ten-high flop with two hearts, I normally would have check-raised but I just called. The guy played so aggresively earlier that I would expect him to reraise me whether he had something or not. I feel a little vulnerable with top pair/so-so kicker. Another heart came on the turn, giving me a flush draw, so I called again. The fourth heart on the river made me a flush. We checked down and he was apoplectic when he saw my hand.
What am I going to do? If I made any mistake, it was in not betting MORE on the flop. I couldn’t put him on that big a hand and I wasn’t going to fold top pair (or top pair/flush draw).
4:05 AM – 312,000. New level: NLHE 6,000-12,000 blinds.
4:21 AM – We’re done. 338,000, which is second biggest. We start the final table at 3 PM.
