FULL TILT POKER BLOG

#206 – WSOP #55 – Busted

Posted by Editor | Filed under Uncategorized

I went out at 11:31 PM. I had a lot of chips (over 60,000 at one point) but lost more than 25,000 at 10:20 PM, with J-J against 8-8 where my opponent hit an eight on the flop. I tried to play the hand so not to go broke on an eight-high flop, but it didn’t work. After that, every raise was met by a re-raise, either preflop, on the flop, or on the turn. When I was finally short-stacked, I moved in with J-J in late position and the big blind woke up with A-A.

I’ll look through my notes to see what I can salvage of value from the experience. I think I’m going home for a day or two, then I’ll return to cover the remainder of the Series. Thanks an enormous amount for all your good wishes and interest. I played some great poker this Series, and played a lot of great poker today.

On the fourth hand of the day, I was dealt K-K. It turned out I was against A-A and I lost 4,000 of my starting 20,000. My opponent, after the hand, said, “Congratulations, sir. I think a lot of people would have gone broke there.” From that 16,000, it was a steady upward climb to 60,000. I got some great luck with the cards, but I MADE some of that luck, based on how I used position and betting to get free cards, induce bluffs, and mask the quality of my cards. It wasn’t even like I had a big hand and someone else had a second-best hand. I was wringing the bets out of opponents hand after hand. And I was card-dead for nearly two hours in the middle.

It was going very well until the guy with 8-8 beat my J-J. I was blindsided by him hitting that eight. I didn’t think that was what he had. I lost 11,000 before an ace came on the river, which should have been my chance to get away. He moved in, hoping I was hanging around for an ace. Those last 14,000 that I called will haunt me. It was a terrible call. I convinced myself that he wouldn’t move all-in with an ace, nor would he have bet the flop and turn with ace-high after I flat-called preflop and flop. And then I convinced myself that he wouldn’t have done this with K-K or Q-Q because he’d be worried that I had the ace.

There was about 25,000 in the pot when he moved all-in at the end for his last 14,000. When I called and lost, I had about 35,000 left. It was right before a break and the average was 33,000. I was still in fine shape and I don’t think I’d have played much differently if I folded and had 49,000 ….

But it was like a spell was broken. I told myself all the right things about shrugging it off, not tilting, adapting to the new situation. I even had a 20 minute break in which to do all that. When I came back, everything went wrong. I’d raise and they’d reraise. Or I’d raise and they’d reraise on the flop. Or on the turn. And I just wasn’t hitting anything.

Believe it or not, this process, punctuated by instant messages from my friends Marissa and Katie, is making me feel better.

It’s been a great Series, and mostly a great experience today. It just didn’t end right. And it’s not even over. I’ve got MANY great adventures to share that I’ll finally get some time to put on paper, plus whatever I dig up during the last several days of the Main Event. And maybe I’ll find a poker tournament somewhere and punish a guy who thinks pocket jacks are a good hand.

P.S. – After I busted – and dumped several hundred dollars into a slot machine – I decided I wanted to eat some crappy food. Luckily, the Rio has many places where you can get that kind of food. I stopped in the newsstand by the Masquerade Tower elevators and took a bag of Doritos and a Milky Way bar to the counter. The clerk couldn’t find the price tag on the Doritos, so he proceeded to squeeze the bag as hard as he could from every angle to find it. I got another bag and showed him the tag. He then tried unsuccessfully to scan the price, eventually squeezing and rending THAT bag, too. Then he told me the register was broken so he’d have to write down what I was buying and do it manually. I swear I wrote the STRATEGY GUIDE faster than this guy wrote “Doritos” and “Milky Way” and their prices. It was as if the guy who woke up in the big blind with aces trained the clerk and the guy who made the set with 8-8 designed the cash register.

P.P.S. – Once again, thank you all, and I will try to reward your good wishes and diligent reading with some more great stuff.

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