World Poker Tour - Battle for the Season Pass II, Part 6
I woke up around 8:30 this morning and went to breakfast. Donna had decided that she was going to go to the Straw Market and do some Christmas shopping while I was playing the tournament. I decided that I wanted to take notes while at the table, I went to the business center and bought some paper. Donna left and I got settled into my seat and started to get into the zone. (I’m really not trying to avoid watching him play, Bob and I discussed it and we think he wouldn’t be as distracted if I wasn’t there — so, I just HAD to go shopping! :) )
Blinds went up pretty slowly, and the levels lasted 60 minutes. We each started with T20,000 chips. This is my kind of tournament. It is a typical WPT main-event structure: Deep Stack and Long levels. This allows skill to shine.
Once we started, I recognized three people. One was a guy named Gary who I have played against in previous boot camps. The second was a gal named Tracy. Tracy actually won her way in into this event by winning the $50,000 freeroll that Donna and I came to play in during September. The last person was, of course, Vanessa Rousso. After the cards got in the air, I studied my opponents intently.
After about an hour, I had a good take on the whole table.
Seat 1 (Tracy) and Seat 2 (an older woman): Both bad players. We had to constantly remind them that it was their turn and what they had to put in for blinds (how annoying).
Seat 3: A guy that lives in a town in Pennsylvania near where I grew up. He was extremely tight and very weak. He had a whole horde of facial tells. You could tell what he had by what his face said.
Seat 4: Vanessa Rousso - who is obviously a great player
Seat 5: Gary - who I have played against at other boot camps
Seat 6: Tuan Phan - a guy who I played against in the SNG the previous night. He was a fairly tight player, and somewhat weak. He would raise standard amounts and follow through with continuation bets. I pushed him early on and he would fold his continuation bets he he did not connect.
Seat 7: A guy names Donovan. Donovan liked to make big bets. Once Vanessa Rousso bet T600 and he came over the top for T10,600 (what the heck?). He made massive overbets and raises several times.
Seat 8: A guy who was tight-weak. He would fold to pressure.
Seat 9: A very nice lady who was pretty solid.
Seat 10: Me!
Overall, the table was fairly solid (besides seat 1 and 2) and it was moderately tough - but leaning on the weak side. Seat 3 was funny. He was a stickler for details. Several times, he tried to enforce proper ettiquitte. He was on tilt from the beginning because seat 1 and seat 2 were not up to speed. It was funny. At one point, he walked away and Vanessa asked the table if it was just her or whether anybody else thought he was in a bad mood. We all laughed and said that we was on tilt for no reason (he had not played a hand).
During level 2, with blinds of 50/100, this hand played out:
From a early position I had:
and I popped it to 300. Seat 6 re-raised to $900, which I called. The flop came:
I wanted to test him. I figured that if I checked, he would lead out with a continuation bet. I checked, and just like planned, he led out for $800. I raised to $2400, and he folded. This was valuable information. I now know that he will continuation-bet and then fold if he misses.
At first break (end of level 2) I had T21,475. There were 209 of the original 214 players left. Ironically, the first person out was John-Robert Bellande - a pro. He was out after 20 minutes.
I was moved from my table during level 3. This kind of stunk because I had a great read on my table, plus I thought I could beat it. I had to start over with my reads. My new table was more aggressive and had more good players. I got tangled up in two hands during level 3. The first one was like this:
Blinds: 400/800 + 75 ante.
UTG: Raises to 2400.
I peek down at:
Wow! This was nice. I thought about what I should do. Since I was in UTG + 1, I needed to raise. I do not want anybody else coming into the pot. I want to be heads-up, but at the same time, I want UTG to call a raise. Instead of raising 3x to 7500, I decide to raise 2.5x to 6,000. Everybody folds back to UTG who declares all-in! VERY COOL! I insta-call and show my Aces proudly. He laughs and shows:
When 4 suited cards did not show up on the board, we split the pot. Ugh!
The next hand went like this:
Everybody folds to the big blind who raises to 2400. Small blind folds. I am in the big-blind and peer down at:
This hand is kind of weak AND I am out of position, but I have 800 in the big blind. The button is on the short stack with 9500 (I have about 18,000). I decide to call. The flop comes:
This was a pretty good flop for me. If the Big blind wants to make a continuation bet, I will come over the top and take the pot away. The only thing that he could beat me with here is QQ, KK, or AA. If he hit the Jack, then I should split at worst. I check and he bets another 2500. I reraise all-in. He things for a second and calls and shows:
The turn and river are:
Giving him the flush. I swear under my breath and tell him nice hand. I lost about T10,000 on that hand and I am now crippled and have only about T7000. I clawed my way back to about T12,000 before I was moved to yet another table. On my first hand in middle position, I get:
Blinds were 400/800, so I pop it to 2400. It is folded to an online qualifer from Sweeden who raised to T25,000. Huh? A 25,000 bet into a 3000 pot. That really makes sense. I fold and ask him that the heck he was thinking. He said he was suspicious of my bet because it was so large. I told him that my raise was 3x the BB. What an idiot. I really was having a hard time recovering from the bad beat on the AJ earlier.
From here on, I was so card cold. I finished this level (400/800) and the next one (600/1200) with no cards. Remember that the levels are 60 minutes long, so that is a long time to post blinds and antes with nothing. I am whittled down to 7050 when I get:
This really is not a hand that I want to go all in with, especially under the gun. However, I was going to be in the blind next hand, so I needed to move. It is weak, but above-average, so I push all in. I am called by a guy who had AK and the AK held up. I was out in 109th place.
I was definitely disappointed in my finish, but I did the best I could with the cards I had. Now, I am looking forward to the “Bust Out” tournament tomorrow. That one starts at 2:45pm. Donna and I are going to go take advantage of the free morning and we are going to go Parasailing!
December 6th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Too bad Bob, we were rooting for you.
You didn’t have much to work with and that split pot with AA was really unlucky. Personally, I wouldn’t have raised 3x with 33. New to the table, I’d either be all-in or fold. With 10x the total of the blinds you were at an inflection point that would have made all-in a reasonable play, especially because you were new and no one had a read on you. No one would call without a big hand.
Sounds like you had fun though.