3
#455 – WSOP Notebook #28 – Mixed [Up] Hold ‘Em, Part IV – My Own Mixed Up Tournament
[from the notebooks of June 3]
I made it to Day 2 of the Mixed Hold ‘Em but missed the first several hands. I arrived early and was told the time had been pushed back from 3 PM to 3:30. Then I was told the tables had changed. It turned out the tables had changed but not the time. So I started, like Day 1, late and disoriented.
By 3:40, I wished I had missed more hands. I started the day with 30,800, which was below average but not seriously short. Now I have 15,300.
Just after 5 PM, we take our first break. I have just 7,500 chips. There are 72 players left and the average stack is about 50,000. The first level of limit hold ‘em after the break will have 1,300-2,500 blinds and betting limits of 2,500-5,000.
I’m not picky about getting great cards but I’m worried about even getting something to make a stand with. In the last two hands before the break, in the big and small blinds, I got 7-2o. Obviously, I had to fold to raises. In the first two hands after the break, in the button and the cut-off, I get 2-9o both hands.
But I don’t give up. By 5:40 PM, I’m up to 18,500 after reraising with J-J. At 6 PM, I am up to 45,000. I’m getting some cards but no one wants to play, and thank goodness for it. I’m picking up blinds and, whether or not I hit the flop, I’m betting and getting the pot. At 6:30, with 2 minutes left in this level of NLHE, I have 51,800 chips, not average but my highest total for the tournament. There are 50 players left, 14 to the money, and the average is about 60,000.
7:11 PM – 44,500.
7:30 PM – 35,800. Break time. 43 left. 7 from the money. Just after we restart at 7:50 PM, Phil Laak busts Bill Chen at my table. Laak raised with 3-3 and Chen, with K-K reraised. Laak called and hit a three on the flop.
8:06 PM – 38 left, 2 off the money. But we’re playing LHE with blinds of 2,000-4,000 and I have just 10,800 left.
8:11 PM – I double up to 21,100 going all-in with 9-9 against A-6.
8:26 PM – The hands are going very slowly players are walking among the four tables to see who’s short and, who’s short who’s in a hand. The number of spectators have increased dramatically and, as the shortest stack, a lot of the attention – and not positive attention – is focused on me. I get 5-5 and re-raise. Even though there are overcards on the flop, this is it for me. The other player bets out and I re-raise and get all-in. He has A-T and I’m ahead. He has Ac-Ts, though it looked to me for a moment like he had As-Ts and the two spades on the flop gave him a flush draw. All the spectators and media are crowded around our table, along with most of the players from the other three tables. The turn is a spade and I think I’m eliminated for a moment, but I’m not. The other player, however, now has a flush draw, two overcards, and four to a straight.
Amazingly, he misses everything on the river and I’m still alive. I can feel the disappointment of the spectators and other players, that feeling of being the one guy who, if he can be made unhappy, makes everyone else happy.
Just as our hand ends, someone else busts, so there are 37 left and we go hand-for-hand, continuing to play LHE until the bubble bursts. This is really harsh for the short stacks like me because the blinds are double in the LHE rounds.
8:37 PM – The bubble bursts. I have 35,300 and am assured of making at least $10,923. I pick up a few chips in NLHE, 40,500, but when we return to LHE at 9:07, I run out of cards and options. Blinds are 2,500-5,000 with limits of 5,000-10,000. By 9:25, I am down to 10,400. I’ve just paid the big blind, but then they break out table. On the positive side, that means we are down to 27 and I’ve earned another $1,500. On the negative, they move me back into the big blind at my new table.
At my new table, in the big blind, I get 7-3o and there are two raises before me. I fold, giving up half my chips. Patrik Antonius, almost as short as me, goes out in 27th. In my next hand, in the small blind, I pick up Q-8o and raise all-in, running into Ah-4h in the big blind. I don’t hit anything, and the big blind picks up a flush on the turn. I go out in 26th, earning $12,483.
