Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 26

Posted by Bond18 | Filed under Bond18

It takes until almost 6AM to feel tired enough to go to sleep. Some people are able to play in a major tournament and sleep like a baby that night; I am not one of those people. I’ve had trouble sleeping for a very long time and the additional pressure of a major tournament, plus the exponential pressure added from trying to stop the descent into failure don’t help.

The room, lacking a clock or any means to tell the time, only increases my paranoia. I find myself waking up several times in a state of near panic wondering what time it is. On top of that, when I fall back asleep I have a strange kind of nightmare where I can’t fall asleep and soon reality is blurring with unconsciousness. I’ve ordered a 2:30PM wake up call (play starts at 3pm) and, upon waking up yet again in a terror over the time, I call downstairs to the front desk and ask for the time:

“It’s 1:50pm sir.”

“Okay. Good night.”

I enjoy my last 40 minutes of sleep as best I can.

When the phone finally rings for the official wake up call I slide out of bed in a haze. A shower helps a little and, by the time I’m out, its 2:40 and I’ve got a 10 minute walk to the casino in front of me. I walk over as quickly as possible and find my seat with a few minutes to spare. Table 16, seat 4, across from Atimos. When he sits down I greet him with

“Bring on more Russians” and a big smile.

Play gets underway with 300/600 blinds. The first four hands of our table see a raise and a three bet and, by the fifth hand, everyone on the table is joking about it. I get my chance to join the fray on the fifth hand:
My stack: ~60K. BB: ~14.6K. Blinds 300/600 with 75 ante. I hold K-K on the CO.

Pre-flop: Folds to me on the CO, I raise to 1,600, button folds. The SB is a young guy who looks about 20 with a short stack. He looks over at me, then re-raises all his chips that aren’t his last two 5,000 chips, a re-raise to 4,600 for about one third of his stack. The BB folds and with a third of his stack in, I can’t imagine a young guy folding. I grab a big stack and slide it into the middle. Ten seconds later the young guy’s hand is in the muck and I remember this is live poker I’m playing.

The very next hand I peek down at K-K yet again and Pete ‘The Beat’ Giordono open raises two on my right to 2,050. The guy between us folds and I make it 6,050, and the table breaks into laughter about the constant three betting. It folds back to Pete and he elects to fold.

Near the end of the first level our table is broken up and I’m moved to what appears to be a softer table. The guy sitting on my left is perhaps 55 years old and I’m fairly certain European. In my first orbit I watch him go all-in for around 45,000 into a pot of 8,000 with no bet to him and watch him massive over bet the pot once more. I decide he must be some psycho spew and to keep an eye on him. The blinds go up to 400/800 and a few hands later I’m involved with the psycho:

My stack: ~70K. Psycho: ~55K. Blinds 400/800 with 100 ante. I hold Ac-5d on the button.

Pre-flop: Folds to me on the button, I raise to 2,200, SB calls, BB folds.

Flop: Q-Q-5 rainbow.

SB checks, I bet 3,000. SB quickly check-raises to 9,000 and I don’t believe him for a second. I call.

Turn: Q

Sweet. SB checks and I check behind.

River: 4

SB grabs two big stack of 1000 denomination chips and jams them into the middle.

“How much is that?”

“Venti mil” he answers. “Twenty thousand” says the dealer.

“Okay, call.”

A sheepish look hits the SB’s face and he taps the table then turns over J-To. When I table A-5o the majority of the table is amazed by my call and taps the table, which is ridiculous if you think about the hand at all and who it’s against. I notice as I’m stacking my chips that my hand is shaking violently.

With 15 minutes left in the 400/800 level the table takes a turn for the worse. The vacant chair in position two has a seat card thrown down in front of it, and I look up to see its new occupant, Patrik Antonious. At least I have position. He is wearing a T-shirt instead of his normal partially unbuttoned dark shirt.

A couple hands after Patrik sits down a player open limps in MP1. It folds to me on the button with A-Ko and I raise it to 3,200. It folds back to him and he shoves for about 11K total. I call and flop an Ace to beat his 7-7. Wow, I just won a flip.

The table is pretty quiet and many of the players don’t seem to speak English. I like having someone to chat with, so I decide to see if Patrik is up for it.

“Hey Patrik, did you play the Tilt 25K heads up thing yesterday?”

“Ah yes.”

“How’d you go?”

“I got into the top 8. I played really bad though. I can’t believe I got through the first three though, I was playing so bad. I’m still mad at myself about it.”

“Damn. Who’d you play in the last round?”

“Andy Bloch. I played this one guy, he was so bad, calling raises with stuff like J-5o and Q-5o out of the big blind, and was just crushing for a while. I played Aeron73 first, he played really well, he was the toughest. I was lucky to get past him.”

“Cool man. Yeah. I wonder if they’ll have that tournament again.”

“I hope so, it was good value. They should have it every week.”

“Heh, Stars tried that with 10K buy-in. Didn’t go so well. Probably every time the FTOPS comes around.”

“I hope so.”

He seems like a pretty cool guy. Patrik has come to the table with about 60,000 and he quickly goes about the business of chipping up and beating up the table. Since I’m two on his right I mostly have the option of getting involved or staying out of his way, and the vast majority of my hands are a very clear decision about one or the other. Overall we play just about zero heads-up pots with each other for quite some time at the table.

While chatting a hand goes down on the other side of the table. One guy goes all-in and the guy on his left who is a 50ish Asian guy calls. The Asian guy looks really familiar. Perhaps I’ve played with him in Melbourne? No, I don’t think so. I can’t figure out, why does he look so familiar (this isn’t a race joke)? Everyone else folds around and the all in player tables his K-Qo. The Asian guy peels over one Ace… then pauses…five seconds go by…then tables another A. What the fuck? The A-A holds and the Asian guy starts stacking up his chips. I decide to find out what his problem is. I turn to him and say confrontationally “Hey man, what’s up with the slow roll!?”

He doesn’t respond, or so much as acknowledge me.

“He doesn’t speak English” says the man on my right. “I wish he lost though, I can’t stand that slow-rolling stuff.”

“The fuck is his problem?”

Nothing happens with me for a while, but I do witness Patrik play a sick hand with the old Asian guy. Up to this point, the Asian Guy has been a major nit, not open raising much at all, and the only thing I’d really see him do was call one shove with A-A and another with T-T. The hand goes down as follows:

Asian guy: ~55K. Patrik: ~100K. Blinds 600/1,200 with 100 ante.

Pre-flop: Folds to Asian guy on the CO, Asian guy raises to 3,200, two folds, Patrik calls in the BB.

Flop: Js-Td-4d

Patrik thinks it over for a while, then leads 6,000. The old guy thinks briefly then calls.

Turn: 6d

Patrik now thinks for quite a while before making any movement. After much thought, he counts out some chips, then fires in 12,000. The Asian guy goes into the tank for quite some time, counts down his stack, then shoves. Patrik only takes a few seconds before he calls, then tables Qs-Jd. Whoa. The Asian guy tables his cards and shows Ad-Qc. How the fuck do you induce old nits into that shit?!

River: Th

“Holy shit, sick call dude” I blurt. Patrik stacks up the massive pot while a crowd gathers to look at the hand.

Two hands later I finally find myself in a hand with Patrik:

My stack: ~100K. Patrik: ~155K. Blinds 600/1,200 with 100 ante. I hold 4d-4c in the BB.

Pre-flop: Folds to MP2, MP2 calls 1,200, folds to Patrik on the button, Patrik calls, SB completes, I check.

Flop: Ac-4s-Jd

SB checks. Often I would lead here, but I have a pretty nitty image and the original limper has done this a few times before and often fires at the A high flop. Plus, I have the advantage of relative position here assuming he does bet. I check. MP2 checks and Patrik fires out 3,500. The SB folds and I think briefly then raise to 12,500. MP2 folds and Patrik thinks for about 15 seconds and then calls.

Turn: 8c

I’m trying to think of the optimal bet size here. When I think back to the Ajunglen vs. Patrik hand, I remember Patrik used an over-bet as a bluff. Will he interpret a big bet as a bluff? Let’s find out. I count out 28,000 and slide it into the pot. Patrik goes into the tank. He looks over at me briefly, then looks away and starts thinking. He tanks. Then he keeps tanking. Then he tanks some more. I cannot remember the last time anyone came close to tanking on me this long. After about 3 or 4 minutes of thought he speaks up.

“Why did you bet so much?”

I say nothing. The whole time I am shuffling the 4 chips I have left in my hand at a slow pace and staring halfway towards the board and halfway towards the dealer behind it. When I do glance over to Patrik he never seems to be looking at me, only lost in his own head. Patrik keeps tanking for what feels like hours. A crowd starts forming around the table, and many players on the table stand up to stretch out. Patrik keeps tanking. After what I think is about six full minutes of thought I decide that’s long enough. I lift my left arm and tap my wrist slowly with my right hand in front of the dealer, then lower my arms back on the table and go into statue mode again.

“I have one minute?” asks Patrik to the dealer. She nods.

Patrik thinks for about another 20 seconds, having counted out the necessary 28,000 and seemingly being ready to call. Finally, he lifts his hand, flashes me the ace of spades, then folds. I slide my cards into the muck.

“You had jacks and fours?” he asks.

I stare straight ahead and say nothing.

“Let me ask you just one question.”

My eyes click back in his direction.

“You bet 28,000 into a pot of like 29 or 30. Did you know how much was in there?”

“I normally count the pot” I say dryly.

After this Patrik is much less talkative.

My stack climbs to around 120,000 and I am way above average. I only play small pots for a while and not long after my big hand with Patrik, online player Djk123 is moved to the table on my direct right. That means I’m forced into a disgusting sandwich situation with Patrik two on my right and Djk on my immediate left, and Djk loves to three bet. This sucks.

I play straight forward for quite some time, then finally pick a spot to get out of line:

My stack: ~120K. HJ: ~60K. SB ~22K. Blinds 600/1,200. I hold 9-7o on the CO.

Pre-flop: Folds around to the HJ, HJ raises to 4,200, I re-raise to 12,200, button folds, SB moves all in for 22K, BB folds, HJ folds. I look over at his stack and realizing it’s only 10K more quickly call and table my hand. He shows Ah-Kh and I’m actually live.

Flop: A-K-7 rainbow

Turn: 4

River: A

Well, there goes my table image.

With a ruined image and a very tough and aggressive table, I mostly stay out of trouble. I drop a few thousand more raising and failing to take the pot with a continuation bet and things stay quiet for the whole of the 800/1,600. I’m not involved again until 1,000/2,000:
My stack: ~90K. SB: ~38K. Blinds 1,000/2,000 I hold J-J in MP1. I open raised last hand.

Pre-flop: Folds to me in MP1, I raise to 5,500, folds to the SB who is a young guy who has been playing a good TAG game, he shoves, the BB folds, I call. SB shows Q-Q and I am screwed.

Flop: 7-7-A

Turn: J

Whoa. I mean, just whoa.

River: T

Wow, I just sucked out in live poker. I can’t believe I did that. For the next half hour I keep saying “I can’t believe I did that” to Djk over and over.

Not long after our table is broken up and I’m moved to seat 1 on table 3. It is by far the most incredibly frustrating seat, because the table has a sink where my stack is going to go and the chips keep sliding down off the table and falling over the second I touch them. This leads to a lot of swearing.

My table seems quite loose aggressive and I stay out of trouble almost the whole time. I finally pick a spot to get out of line when I see a player on the HJ go to raise, then check around the stacks at the table, then toss out his chips with a sort of question mark behind them. On the button with 4-8o I raise his 7,000 bet to 20,500 only to have the SB put a chip on his cards then announce all in for 75,000. The BB folds as does the open raiser, and I’m left swearing at myself. Only two light three bets today, and both times I get cold four-bet shove on. This is some bullshit.

Djk is soon moved over to my table, again, two on my left. He is raising a ton of hands and playing a really wild style. Not long after I’m involved in a blind vs. blind pot with the player on my left, Keith. Keith told me earlier he plays big cash games in Vegas and barely plays tournaments. He seemed to be playing a pretty aggressive, thinking style.

My stack: ~88K. Keith: ~120K. Blinds 1,500/3,000 with 300 ante. I hold Js-4s in the SB.

Pre-flop: Folds to me in the SB, I complete, Keith checks.

Flop: Jh-6h-6d

I bet 4,500, Keith raises to 10,000. Man that is a suspicious raise size. What does it mean from a good thinking player though? From a donk/nit I always assume it’s a big hand or perhaps a flush draw, but I’m not quite sure what it means from him. I call.

Turn: 9h

I check, Keith checks back.

River: 2s

I check, Keith thinks then bets 20,000. Man what the hell? I feel like his small raise range could be a 6, a flush draw, or air. I don’t think he should have J-T+ since it most of those hands raise pre-flop. I would find it odd for him to have a flush and have checked it back on the turn since he can’t ever play for stacks if he does that, and most blind battles result in loose call downs so there’s no need to slow play. I think a lot of his range is a 6 or a bluff, so I make (and it might suck really hard) the call. Keith tables 6-3o and I feel like an idiot.

The very next hand I find A-Qo and shove over an MP1 raise of 8,500. He folds and my stack begins to climb back the right direction.

A couple rounds later the same player opens and I jam A-Jo this time, and again he folds. Djk is playing a ton of hands on my left and I witness a huge pot against Erik Friberg:

Djk: ~200K. Friberg: ~95K. Blinds 1,500/3,000 with 300 ante.

Pre-flop: 2 folds to Djk, Djk raises to 8,100, folds to Friberg in the BB, Friberg calls.

Flop: A-T-7 two clubs

Friberg checks, DJK bets 12,000, Friberg calls.

Turn: 6 off suit

Friberg checks, Djk thinks for a while, then fires 25,000. Friberg thinks for a little bit, then calls. Djk asks how much he has behind and Friberg tells him it’s around 50,000 or 60,000.

River: J

Friberg checks, and Djk fires out 60,000. Friberg shrugs then announces call. Djk tables 6-4o and Friberg shows his A-J.

“This is bullshit” says Djk “Live poker is so fucking stupid. I’m just going to open shove next hand, I don’t care.”

“No Dan, don’t. Chill man, you still got plenty of chips. It’s cool. We’re cool.”

The very next hand there’s one fold to Djk and he moves all in for around 90,000.

“No! GOD NO!”

The table breaks into laughter as I mumble and laugh in my exhausted state. Everyone folds and I break into laughter.

“Oh man, I’m the only one having any fun anymore Dan, just watching you.”

The tournament gets down to 28 players and we play hand for hand for the last 6 hands. I try to open raise once in late position, and of course Djk shoves on me. As much as I’d like to call wide, my K-8o isn’t going to cut it. I fold the rest of the hands of the level and, when it’s all said and done, I’ve got 68,500. At least I made a profit on the day.

We’ll be coming back tomorrow at 3PM with one player to go from the money with 2,000/4,000 blinds. One time live poker?

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