Bond18 – Around the World in 90 Days: Day 68

Posted by Bond18 | Filed under Bond18

Grafyx and I get to the Bellagio about 15 minutes before the start of the $5,000 preliminary event. We stroll up to the cashier and find a massive line waiting for us, insuring that we’re going to be a few minutes late for the event. Not only is there a line, but I need to take money out which I’ve put on deposit after having won the $3,000, and I know that’s going to take even longer. The biggest problem though is that the lines are full of Internet players (who show up late much, much more than recreational players) and if we register late, it’s almost guaranteed I’ll be jammed on a table with several of them.

By the time I get my money out and get bought in, I’m taken to a new table and the tournament is 10 minutes in. My decision to sleep an extra 20 minutes and risk showing up late turns out to be a terrible one when I face a table line up of Rekrul, ELKY, and lil’hold’em.

I met Lil for the first time the other day at the Bellagio. I wasn’t quite sure how he’d react to me after having read the “MTT fight night” I wrote earlier in this trip and put on pocketfives and 2+2. He never brought it up and we chatted for a while about various live pros and how hilariously awful their stack size leaks are. Overall, he seemed like a pretty chill guy who likely just gets overly excited and agitated while playing online.

Today, Lil is sitting just a few seats to my right and I joke around with him about what a moron I am for showing up late. The majority of the other tables are packed with older guys and clearly recreational players, while ours and the one next to us are crammed with good and thinking online players. It’s not long before action gets underway. The tournament starts us with 15,000 in chips at the 50/100 level with hour levels. It’s an excellent structure that ensures those remaining at the later levels will have a pretty long night.

In the first level, I end up establishing a very aggressive image as a result of having a ton of good starting hands, but never really play a large pot post flop or gain any serious chips. It’s not until the 100/200 with 25 ante that I get involved in my first interesting spot:

My stack: ~16,000, Lil: ~25,000, HJ: ~18,000, blinds 100/200 with 25 ante. I hold Kd-Kc on the button.

Pre-flop: Folds to Lil in MP2, Lil calls, MP3 calls, HJ calls, CO folds, I raise to 1,300, folds back to Lil. Lil asks me to move my hands so he can see my stack then calls, MP3 folds, HJ calls.

Flop: 9-3-2 rainbow

Lil checks, HJ checks, I bet 2,500 (accidentally too small, but its fine), Lil calls, HJ calls. At this point I’m pretty sure I’m in trouble since there is very little out there both of them can be calling with, though I can’t be sure. Either way, it’s my intention to pot control a ton of turns.

Turn: T

Lil checks, HJ checks, I check.

River: Q

Lil leads out 5,600, HJ folds, I go into the tank. I think the hand over and try to put the pieces together. Lil was concerned with my stack size pre, making me think he was considering his implied odds, which kind of makes me think he has a pair and is set mining. He called the flop in a spot where he can’t have a draw, and on a river that got scary, fired into two players. I’m almost positive he has a set here and even if he check-called the flop with a hand like 9-Ts, he got there. The only thing I’m realistically possibly beating here is 4-5s, and it’s pretty questionable whether he calls that pre. After thinking it over for a while (and apologizing to the table for taking so long) I fold and Lil tables 9-9. I tell him my hand and we spend the next 10 minutes discussing the best way for him to get my money in the hand. He’s surprisingly thoughtful in person.

I play some small pots and try to grind my stack back up a little bit, but for the most part nobody on the table is giving up any chips. The tournament has gotten a surprisingly large field of 235 players, making first place over $400,000 thanks to the extremely top heavy Bellagio payout structure. A few orbits later, I get involved with the quiet and tight/weak player on my left:

My stack: ~12,000, UTG+1: ~21,000, blinds 100/200 with a 25 ante. I hold Ad-Kd UTG.

Pre-flop: I raise to 600, UTG+1 calls, everyone else folds.

Flop: K-4-2 rainbow

I bet 800, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: T

I think over my bet, then bet 2,000, UTG+1 calls fairly quickly.

River: A

Pretty bad card for me to get value. I think I need to bet small to have a real chance of getting him to call. I think things over for about 10 seconds, then fire 3,000. UTG+1 quickly calls and I table my top two pair for what is always the best hand here, at least always until UTG+1 tables 4-4 for flopped middle set. Every pair of eyes on the table go wide as the pot is slid to him and I quietly tap the table.

“Why didn’t you raise the river?” someone asks.

“He’s too good, he would have just folded.”

Wow, I guess that K-K fold got in his head in a very weird way.

Not long after the A-K hand our table is broken up and I’m moved to a much softer looking table devoid of known players, outside online player PBdrunks who is sitting on my immediate right. We go on break shortly after my arrival and when we come back, the blinds have increased to 200/400 with a 25 ante. I’m one of the shortest stacks on the table and after paying the blinds, I get involved:

My stack: 5,200, BB: ~6,000, blinds 200/400 with 25 ante. I hold Ad-Td on the button.

Pre-flop: Folds to me on the button, I raise to 1,100, SB folds, BB moves all-in, I call. BB tables Kc-Jc and I need to hold to stay in.

Flop: 7s-7h-4s

Turn: Js

River: 8s

I tap the table, shake hands with PBdrunks, and walk away.

At least I’ve got some time to enjoy the rest of my day while the sun is still out. I get the feeling it’s going to be a very, very long time before I get annoyed or frustrated after having busted a tournament. Winning a live tournament has a way of calming the built up resentment and anger you have toward poker, plus you lose your right to complain for a long ass time without sounding like some insane, variance misunderstanding bitch.

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