Bond18 - Around the World in 90 Days: Day 46

Posted by Bond18 | Filed under Bond18

By far, the least enjoyable tournaments during the WSOP are the $1,500 No-Limit Hold ‘em ones, of which there are an infinite amount. If the word donkament was created to describe a single type of tournament, these are the ones. The fields are enormous and the Rio is crammed with people that, during the break, make the hallways so packed you can barely move. The tournaments only start you with 60 BBs and if you don’t increase that by the third level, you’re sitting with just 15. Although it’s encouraging to see so many new and bad players in the field, sitting there while they Hollywood with the nuts or legitimately think about folding with 90% of their stack in pre-flop does reach a point where incompetence becomes bothersome. Navigating another one of these tournaments is my task for the day, except this time I don’t show up 90 minutes late. I’m early in fact.

I’m seated in the Brasilia room, a new room this year that has another roughly 75 tables. Adding the large room this year was a great idea, as it’s helped to reduce crowding and restart delays. I find my seat and am greeted by a table of unknown faces. We start with 3,000 chips at 25/50 blinds. My first hand comes after a couple rounds of folding garbage:

Stacks: ~3,000, blinds 25/50. I hold Ac-9d on the HJ.

Pre-flop: Folds to MP3, MP3 limps, I raise to 200, folds back to MP3, MP3 calls.

Flop: As-Qc-9c

MP3 checks, I bet 300, MP3 calls.

Turn: Qs

MP3 checks. Holy god that card is awful for me. His worse Aces now chop, if he peeled with a Q he sucked out, and if he limp/called A-T or A-J (which is very possible) he now beats me. I decide to check behind and if he checks the river go for some value.

River: 7c

Blegh. MP3 fires 425 and after thinking it over I fold my hand. I’m basically calling for a chop there and his bet is just begging for a call.

When the blinds go up to 50/100 not long after that, my stack size forces me into nit mode. I do little but fold for a solid hour (remember, that’s only 30 hands) before my next hand comes up:

My stack: 2,100, MP1: 2,000, blinds 50/100. I hold A-Ko in the SB.

Pre-flop: Folds to MP1, MP1 raises to 325, folds to me in the SB, I raise to 900. I think 3 betting a nominal amount in a weak live tournament is much better than shoving here. Live players take all-ins to be a very tight range and he won’t call wide enough. However, he will call 575 very wide and I’ll be able to shove every flop I miss with major fold equity and check the ones I hit hard and let him bluff. The BB folds and MP1 calls.

Flop: 4-6-8 rainbow

I move all-in, MP1 folds.

After that, I win another small pot where I take it down with a continuation bet and win a small blind vs. blind pot to get my stack over 4,000. The blinds increase to 100/200 and with a slightly more aggressive image, I get involved again:

My stack: 4,275, MP2: ~5,200, blinds 100/200. I hold Ah-Kc in the BB.

Pre-flop: Folds to MP2, MP2 raises to 525, folds to me in the BB, I re-raise to 1,500 (same idea, 3 betting here is much better than shoving even though it’d be insane to do so online), MP2 thinks briefly, then moves all-in. I call. MP2 shows As-Qs.

Flop: 7s-8s-Td

Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Holding on on this board is the impossible dream.

Turn: Kd

River: 3h

Wow. That is a totally absurd hold. With that, my stack increases to over 8,500 and makes me one of the largest on the table. Half an orbit later I’m involved again:

My stack: ~8,400, UTG+1: 1,600, blinds 100/200. I hold Js-Jh in MP2.

Pre-flop: UTG folds, UTG+1 limps, folds to me in MP2, I raise to 800, folds back to UTG+1, UTG+1 shoves, I call. UTG+1 shows 9-9 and the player on the CO tells me he folded the other two nines to my raise. I like my chances here.

Flop: 7-T-Q rainbow

Turn: Q

River: 4

I’m spending most of my time between hands chatting to the online player on my left and he seems to be playing a pretty good aggressive game. We get involved in a hand together an orbit after the last hand:

My stack: ~11,000, CO: ~9,000, blinds 100/200. I hold A-7o on the HJ.

Pre-flop: Folds to me, I raise to 550, CO calls, button folds, blinds fold.

Flop: 2c-3s-6c

I fire 700, CO calls.

Turn: Kh

I bet 1,500, CO folds. I think firing a second barrel here is absolutely mandatory with that card and these stack sizes.

Our table plays through the 100/200 with 25 ante without much incident. A little ways into the 150/300 level our table gets broke and I’m moved back into the main room. Again I don’t know anyone at my new table, though the line up does appear a bit softer than the previous one. For most of the 150/300 level I’m stuck just watching the action as I’m fairly card dead. It’s not until the increase to 200/400 that I get involved again:

My stack: ~11,500, SB: ~18,000, blinds 200/400 with 50 ante. I hold Kd-Qd in the BB. SB is a man of perhaps 50 who is a little looser than a nit, but not by much.

Pre-flop: Folds to the SB, SB raises to 1,700. I debate between shoving and calling, but re-stealing against older guys who are 4x raising seems like a bad idea, so I call with the intention to semi-bluff pretty wide on the flop since stacks will be very good for it.

Flop: 2h-Ks-6h

SB bets 2,000. I call.

Turn: 4h

SB checks. I count down my stack and realize I only have about a ball park pot-sized bet left, and letting it check through and coming a heart is pretty disastrous. I move all-in and the SB quickly folds.

Only a few hands later I’m involved again:

My stack: ~16,000, UTG+2: 2,425, CO: ~17,000. Blinds 200/400 with 50 ante. I hold Th-Td on the HJ.

Pre-flop: 2 folds, UTG+2 moves all in for 2,425, folds to me on the HJ. There are two stacks behind me that cover me, and both have nits behind them. I decide to call since neither player will ever isolation shove without a better hand than T-T (seriously, that’s how these things play.) The CO thinks over his options and calls as well. Everyone else folds.

Flop: 4c-Ts-6c

Sweet. I check, CO bets 4,000, I think it over and call.

Turn: 6s

No reason to stop checking on that card. I check, but the CO ruins my plans by checking behind.

River: 9s

It seems close between betting something absurd like 5,000 here and just shoving my remaining 9,000ish. I decide, given how much is in the pot and the fact that he almost always has a pair to fire that flop, I should shove. I move all in and the CO goes into the tank for a long time. He sits in silence for a while then starts mumbling to himself "Pocket tens you got? God….you played this hand so weird," he pauses for a while. He’s talking to himself more than he is to me.

"Tens? Maybe? Hmm….I don’t know. Could be tens."

I sit in silence and give him all the time in the world to think things over. After several minutes of thought he regretfully announces call.

"Tens full" I instantly reply.

He mucks and the all in player shows his A-A before he throws them in the muck. Figures nobody in a $1,500 would open all in pre-flop without KK+. My stack climbs to a massive 36,000 and I’m one of the leaders of the tournament.

Not long after the big hand our table gets broken again. For a very long time nothing interesting happens. I play a lot of small pots pre-flop and I’m able to slowly increase my stack little by little from taking down blinds and antes. I go through the 300/600 and 400/800 levels this way, and many people get short stacked, which makes the action more automatic. We begin approaching the bubble at the 500/1000 level, which is the next time I’m actually involved again:

My stack: ~39,000, UTG+1: ~40,000, UTG+2: 80,000. Blinds 500/1000 with 100 ante. I hold Ah-Jh UTG. UTG+1 is a very straight forward middle aged guy who tells me this is his first WSOP event. UTG+2 is a young and quiet European who is running good and winning some big pots.

Pre-flop: I raise to 2,700, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 calls, the rest fold.

Flop: 8c-8h-7c

I often wouldn’t continuation bet here, but with the bubble factor and how straight forward UTG+1 is, I think it pushes it toward a bet. Also, UTG+2 is a smart player who probably thinks I won’t bet this flop having raised UTG into two players without a big pair. I lead out 5,400, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 folds.

Turn: Ac

This is an interesting card. Because of the player involved, I think the best move is to bet small enough to protect my hand and get value from draws, but leave myself room to fold since this particular player is never shoving without a flush or full house. I bet 8,500 and UTG+1 shows me 9h-9c and folds.

By the time we reach 600/1,200, we are only three players from the money and play has reached the hand for hand stage. My next hand comes up against a player in seat 3 who is perhaps 30 years old and somewhat aggressive. I’m almost positive he’s not online, but he’s not a full on live donk either. From the way he’s talking, I think he cares about cashing a fair bit, but not to the point he’s about to lay down K-K pre-flop or anything insane like that. We haven’t played any pots together yet when our hand comes up:

My stack: ~52,000, CO: ~35,000, blinds 600/1200 with 100 ante. I hold 9h-Th in the BB.

Pre-flop: Folds to the CO, Co raises 4,400, folds to me in the BB. In almost every circumstance but a bubble situation this is a fold. But I think with the extra potential for fold equity created by the bubble, it may be playable. However, I think he’s a little too shallow to 3 bet since, if he shoves, I’ll be getting an excellent price (I should maybe just 3 bet to something like 11,400 anyway since he’ll probably have a very tight shoving range) so I elect to call with the intention of check shoving a very wide range of flops.

Flop: Tc-4s-6c

This flop is awkward. I don’t think it’s the type he’ll ever fold J-J+ on and I’ve now sucked out all his over-cards. I check and he fires 7,000. I call expecting him to never fire the second barrel without an over-pair.

Turn: Kd

Shit! Jesus that card sucks so fucking bad. I check and the CO declares all-in. Oh God I’m such a donk. I fold and feel like a total retard.

Not long after that we reach the money, more or less without incident on our table. The table was not a good one to pull any bubble crushing moves on, and the one I did try, raising J-9o UTG, resulted in getting called in two spots then shoved on by the BB. One of the first hands in the money the young Euro guy plays a huge pot with the guy in seat 10 and ends up getting top two pair in vs. bottom set on the turn. He rivers the over full and is still stacking a massive pot leading into the next hand. The player on my left is the first-time player who is a nit, and the BB has been nothing but straight forward. With those reads I get involved:

My stack: ~42,000, BB: ~55,000, blinds 600/1200 with 100 ante. I hold Qc-7c on the CO.

Pre-flop: Folds to me on the CO, I raise to 3,200, folds to the BB, BB calls.

Flop: 3c-Js-8d

BB checks,I bet 4,400, BB calls.

Turn: Th

BB checks, I check.

River: Ks

BB checks. Against a straight forward opponent, I think bluffing that card is pretty necessary since he can decide I have a K or something like A-Q. I fire out 8,500 and the BB thinks for a couple seconds then declares all-in. I let out a sigh and say "You must have two pair. You win" and muck my cards. The BB turns over T-8o and says "Man that river sure got me worried, I thought I might have got trapped while trapping. Really thought you might have sucked me out there." I decide not to blow his mind by asking why he shoved if the card scared him so bad and tell him nice hand.

An orbit later I’m involved with the same player in the same positions, except I’m the HJ this time because a player has been moved in between us. The hand begins with only a couple minutes left on the clock for the day of play:

My stack: ~21,000, BB: ~70,000, blinds 600/1,200 with 100 ante. I hold Ac-9s on the HJ.

Pre-flop: Folds to me, I raise to 3,200, folds to the BB, BB calls.

Flop: Ts-7h-8s

BB thinks it over then leads 6,000, I move all in. BB thinks briefly then calls, showing 9c-7c.

Turn: 5s

River: 3d

Shit. I look up at the clock and see I’ve busted with about 30 seconds left on the day. I decide to go register for tomorrow’s $3,000 No-Limit event and then ask online player and fellow Wisconsinite ‘basebaldy’ if he wants to get some food. I introduce him and ’scarface79′ to the Korean BBQ place behind the Wynn. Afterwards, baldy gives me a ride home and I get through my door at about 3AM. Now I just need to get up in eight hours and do it all over again. Everyone in the house is staying home to play Sunday, so I’ll be heading off alone. It never fails to amaze me how many online players go to the WSOP, but still play Sundays with enormous regularity no matter what event is up, though I guess it’s a good thing since the field should be softer. I haven’t touched online poker since getting into Vegas, but I can see how some would want to spend some time away from the Rio and all its weirdness and mania. More live donks for me.

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