Bond18 - Around the World in 90 Days: Day 57

Posted by Bond18 | Filed under Bond18

The $1,000 rebuy tournaments at the WSOP are some of the toughest fields that come together during the series, and outside the $5,000 short-handed tournament, they’ll certainly be the toughest fields in No-Limit Hold ‘em. I’ve got $8,000 in my pocket just in case things get ugly and, if I need more, Sirwatts is only a few tables away. Thus far in my poker career I have yet to get involved in a truly expensive rebuy tournament, and most of the people who go nuts during the rebuy period are really pushing the equity potential for the tournament.

My starting table seems fairly tough; a tight, a mix of good online players and random nitty live players I’ve never seen before. The cards get in the air with 25/50 blinds and hour levels, starting with 2,000 in chips, which we instantly rebuy up to 4000. Not surprisingly, only the online players at the table take the immediate rebuy. I’m involved almost immediately:

Stacks: ~4,000, blinds 25/50. I hold Q-To on the button.

Pre-flop: Folds to the CO, I raise to 200, folds back to the CO, CO calls.

Flop: 9-7-6 rainbow

CO checks, I bet 300, CO calls.

Turn: K

CO checks. This is a perfect card to represent and bluff, so I fire again for 550. CO calls again.

River: Q

CO checks. I’m almost certainly good here, but I certainly can’t value bet against him very large. I decide to bet 725, not only to get value, but also so he doesn’t get to see I double barreled him. The CO folds.

The table is playing fairly tight weak early, with the online players doing more raising and the live ones doing some limping. An orbit after my last hand, I get involved again against two of the live players:

My stack: ~4,700, SB: ~2,000, UTG+1: ~????, blinds 25/50. I hold As-Qh in MP1.

Pre-flop: UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 200, UTG+2 folds, I call, folds to the SB, SB calls, BB calls.

Flop: Ah-Js-5s

As the SB is considering his options, the UTG+1 player says “check” out of turn. The dealer informs him the action is not yet on him and the SB thinks it over and leads out 500. The BB folds, and UTG+1 calls. What in the hell is going on here? Does UTG+1 have some kind of high pair he’s not happy to give up yet, or some absurd monster he’s slow playing? I think he has 4,000 chips so I decide I’ll make a raise that will commit me to the SB, but not UTG+1 in case he suddenly springs to life. I raise to 1,300 and the SB goes all in for about 1,800 total. Now it’s back to the UTG+1 player and he also goes all-in, but only for about 800 more than the SB. God damn it this is so awkward. Do I have the odds to draw to three outs and a back door flush and straight? Where’s my god damn calculator? I decide it’s a rebuy tournament so who knows? They could be spazzing out with a flush draw and it’s not much more, so I call. Both players table A-J and I look very stupid tabling AQ.

Turn: 8s

River: 4c

As play continues, it becomes very apparent that the player who was the UTG+1 player in that hand is what I call an “aggression nit”. You see these types all the time live, (it kind of describes the problem the majority of live players have). They are fairly loose with calling and limping pre-flop, but when it comes to doing anything aggressive, they always have an extremely tight range. Unfortunately, every time he limp calls my raises, I get some form of awful flop and he starts calling down or check-raising. Yet, every time he gets to showdown against me or someone else, he always has it when he shows any aggression.

About an hour into play, Kenna James turns up to the table. As always, Kenna is his boisterous and extremely talkative self. I once described Kenna as “A super nice guy who is fun to have on the table if you don’t mind the feeling that someone turned a radio to max volume then threw it in the middle of the table to sit there and insisted nobody turn it off,” and the description certainly holds true today. Not long after his arrival, we get involved:

My stack: ~2,900, Kenna: ~4,000, blinds 50/100. I hold 8-9o on the HJ.

Pre-flop: Folds to me on the HJ, I raise to 275, CO calls, button folds, SB calls, BB calls.

Flop: 6h-8c-Ts

SB checks, Kenna leads 650 in the BB, I go all-in, it folds back to Kenna who says something like “alright, let’s start gambling” and calls. I turn over my 8-9o and Kenna winces, then tables his 7h-8h.

Turn: 9c

Shit. That’s really not my card.

River: 3c

I take the double rebuy and, after having spent one earlier from having lost small pots, am now in for $5,000.

Not long after my double rebuy, I’m involved again:

My stack: ~3,700, Peachy: ~8,000, blinds 50/100. I hold Ad-Ts in MP3.

Pre-flop: Folds to MP2, MP2 limps, I raise to 400, Peachy calls on the HJ, folds back to MP2, MP2 folds.

Flop: Tc-5c-2s

I bet 600, Peachy calls.

Turn: Ks

Blegh, that is such an awkward card. Betting at this point is entirely a bluff, but if I check and Peachy bets, I’ll basically be committed. Either way, turning my hand into a bluff seems gross, so I opt to check. Peachy thinks and then fires 1,200. I only have 2,700 in my stack and decide since I’m certainly not folding, I might as well shove in case he bet a draw for some odd reason. Peachy instantly folds when I shove and starts chastising himself for his turn bet.

Not long after the last hand, we hit the break and do the add-ons. I take the double add-on and end up being in to the tournament for $7,000 in total and not having too much better than what would be the starting stack if I just spent $4,000 and didn’t play a hand. Still, the tournament plays quite deep and there’s tons of room to maneuver.

Between hands I’m doing a lot of talking with Kenna. The table is playing incredibly tight with almost every pot being won with someone open raising and nobody calling or re-raising him. Kenna says the table reminds him of playing in 1997 when people would snap fold J-J to open raises and people thought A-Q wasn’t worth an open raise most of the time. The table takes turns making jokes about whoever opens had better have A-A if it really is 1997 we’re reliving, and with an astonishing regularity, the open raiser tables A-A. While we’re talking a new player is seated on the table two on my left. He looks very young and seems European. Peachy starts talking to him and the young guy mentions he’s from Sweden. I immediately make the mental note I apply towards all Scandinavians “Don’t bluff, don’t fold.” Not long into his stay at the table, we’re involved:

My stack: ~9,000, BB: ~12,000, blinds 100/200 with 25 ante. I hold Q-7o on the button. Peachy in the SB is out of his seat taking a call, which is apparently about his being evicted.

Pre-flop: Folds to me on the button, I raise to 600, BB calls.

Flop: 7-9-K rainbow

BB checks, I decide to take a line to induce some bluffs and check back. I think a bet can be fine here too.

Turn: K

BB bets 725, I call.

River: 3

BB checks. I think he would bet any 9 he would defend with here, and would almost always value bet a K since he has no reason to suspect I’ll bet. Therefore, I think he has air or a worse 7, so I should be value betting. I fire 1,525 and the BB calls. I table my Q-7o like it’s the nuts and he turns over a 7 then mucks. The tables’ eyes go wide and Kenna blurts, “Hey! That’s not like in 1997!”

Not long after the hand, I’m involved with a good online tournament player who has recently moved to the table, Allinstevie:

My stack: ~18,000, Stevie: ~13,000, blinds 100/200 with 25 ante. I hold Ah-Js UTG+1.

Pre-flop: 1 fold, I raise to 600, folds to Stevie in MP2, Stevie calls, the rest fold.

Flop: 2s-7h-Qh

I bet 800, Stevie calls.

Turn: 5h

I think this is a great card and spot to fire two barrels, since he’ll have called the flop with any mid pair he called pre with. I bet 1,800, and Stevie thinks it over and folds.

Not long after the hand, I get moved to a table that looks much softer and looser. I play a couple of small pots with no real change to my stack, but establish a fairly aggressive image before anything interesting happens:

My stack: ~15,000, BB: ~16,000, blinds 150/300 with 25 ante. I hold Ts-Td in MP3.

Pre-flop: Folds to me in MP3, I raise to 800, HJ folds, CO calls, folds to the BB. The BB is a young guy who is clearly not an online player, but is still somewhat aggressive. The CO is an older weak guy who has been flat calling quite a few raises. The BB thinks over his options then re-raises to 4,400. His re-raise size pretty much instantly betrays the strength of his hand, since he’ll never make such an enormous raise with the top part of his range, namely Q-Q+. I figure most of his hands are A-Q/A-K/J-J/T-T/9-9 and, occasionally, random spaz squeezes. I shove my 15,000 and the CO folds. The BB calls and tables Ad-Kh and we’re in a 100 BB race.

Flop: Jh-2d-7d

Turn: Qs

River: Ac

“YES!” shouts the BB. I count down my stack and find out I have about 400 chips less than him. I tap the table and wish everyone luck, then walk off.

Today is the last day I’ll be able to play for a while since, in two days time, I need to go home to Wisconsin for my grandmother’s 80^th birthday party. Outside that, I haven’t seen my friends and family in the area of 12-18 months, depending on which we’re talking about. The $5,000 6-Max tournament, which every online player looks forward to like Christmas, starts tomorrow, but if I went deep, I’d be unable to attend the party, so that tournament is out. Even though the $5,000 6-max is the tournament every e-donk gets a hard on for, I don’t mind missing out too much, since that also means it’ll likely have a very tough field. I’ll be taking the next two days off and firing up my grill.

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