It's funny to think that exactly a year ago, I was in Las Vegas. With Emily, vk, Wendy and Rahul, for Memorial Day weekend. I was one week away from leaving my job to spend the summer playing poker full time and studying to prepare for entering my PhD program. I had WSOP seat in hand, and roughly a $10k bankroll.
Today, I'm not in Vegas, I have no WSOP seat, and I have about $1k in the "bankroll." Not even much of a roll at all. I did make a good amount through the summer, but I ended up spending way more than expected to cripple the roll, plus took a nasty downswing in December. I remember... at Mike's New Years party, we had a discussion involving how to rebuild from a $500 bankroll. yeah. So at least I've made some progress since then.
I haven't made much of a push for winning a seat this year. School has been taking way too much time. I've played one WSOP satellite so far, actually a satellite into another $500 satellite. I didn't win.
Mostly these days I am playing $10-30 single table tournaments. I ran from $200 up to like $880 in less than a week, but then it came crashing down. In there was a session of PLO where I dropped $160, getting stacked 3 times, once as a dog on the turn and twice as a favorite on the flop or turn. I don't really know how to play that game anyways though, so I probably shouldn't have been playing that while I'm still rebuilding.
My first year exam for my PhD program is on June 12th, so I plan to step up the poker after that. Full Tilt is running a huge WSOP 100 seat guarantee tournament on June 17th. What this means is that at least the top 100 will get a seat in the WSOP Main Event. Of course it's going to be huge, so there might not even be any overlay. The buy-in is $500, and this is the tournament I was trying to satellite into. I fully plan to play in this. The problem is that since it's just 5 days after my exam, that only gives me that much time to make a big push for it. Until then, I can only play satellites here and there... or maybe not even any until after the exam.
Full Tilt also has satellites into the smaller WSOP events. I'm going to try and win one of these too, although last year that didn't go so well; ironically I spent more money on that, with no succcess, than I did on winning a Main Event seat.
We are going to Vegas on June 29th. There is a $1500 NL event on June 30th that I would like to play in. Rahul plans to play in it as well, and it sounded like he was going to buy in directly. baller.
I'm toying with the idea of becoming a regular at Tulalip Casino this summer. They've got a 3/5 NL game with $300 max buy-in. So it's quite shallow, but I think I can beat it. I played in it a few weeks ago and pulled down about $400. Granted I was getting sick cards, but as much as I could objectively evaluate the play of the others while on my rush, it seemed to be beatable. We'll see. The main problem is that I'm nowhere near rolled for it with just $1000. But maybe I'll run hot to start out. That would be pretty sweet.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
WSOP 2006: MAIN EVENT DAY 2
Before I get started on talking about Day 2 (which unfortunately won't take very long anyways), I should pause and give an update on our Michigan vs Ohio State last longer bet. In the end, we had 3 Wolverines vs. 4 Buckeyes, each of us putting down $100 and the winning team distributing the prize. I was hoping it would be easy to determine who the winning side was, i.e. that it would be fairly obvious who lasted longer and I wouldn't have to deal with splitting hairs down to the hour or anything. But I figured I'd cross that bridge when I got to it, if necessary.
Anyways, as a result of this bet, I got a nice shoutout on ESPN.com (scroll to the very bottom). And in case you can't find it, here's a screenshot:
Woooooo! so yeah, pretty sweet. And to fill in the gaps of knowledge, there were in fact two Buckeyes and two Wolverines heading into Day 2. So this bet was still way up for grabs.
We start play on Day 2 at Level 7, blinds at 250/500 with 50 ante. So with my 12,050 I'm certainly short-stacked but not in any critical range yet (my M is still above 10, for those of you who think about such things). And there were a couple guys at my table with about my same stack, and one guy with about 4000. Of course there were a couple of huge stacks too.
I went into the day knowing I'd need to make some moves early on, but I may have pushed it a little too hard. In one hand, I raised from UTG with KQo. I already talked in a previous post about this problem. There's really no point in raising from early position with this kind of hand, particularly with a stack the size of mine. Anyways, when I did this, the short stack moved all-in. It folded back to me, and it was about 2500 for me to call. I was getting almost 2:1 on my money, so if he's got a pocket pair, then I should definitely call. But if he's got AK/AQ then clearly I'm in big trouble. In retrospect, in guessing his range I think I should've put a lot more weight on those two hands since he's almost certainly pushing with them, and that should lean me towards a fold. However, I really put him on a pocket pair so I made the call. It turns out that I was right this time, he had JJ. So after my dubious pre-flop raise, the call here was mathematically correct to race getting odds. Unfortunately I got no help and he doubled through me. And I still think that I wouldn't be right often enough in this spot; I'm gonna see AK/AQ quite a lot here. Also, I should consider that 2500 represents more than 20% of my stack, which maybe should weigh in more than the straight pot odds here.
So that took me down to about 8k. A few hands later I get KK on the button. It folds to me, and I steal the blinds. sweet.
Next orbit I'm in the button and it again folds to me. This time I try to steal, the SB moves all-in. Of course, this time I have 32 offsuit. argh. Why didn't he do this last time?? Well, bye-bye chips.
Now I'm down to about 5k and again it folds to me. Well it's really go time now, my M is like 5. I'm pushing just about anything now. Next hand I get J9o one off the button, I push. Folds to BB, who thinks forever. It really looked like he was going to fold. So when he finally called, I was really surprised to see a hand as good as he had. He flips over TT. Come on 3-outer!! Well flop comes Q-high, no help. Turn comes T, which looks bad at first but wait, now I have 8 outs!! Unfortunately none came on the river, and I'm out the door in ~3000th place.
Of all these hands, the only one I'd change is raising from UTG with KQo. The hand I busted on was automatic with a stack that low, and the steal attempt with 32o was also standard, unless I have some kind of read on either blind, like I feel that they're itching to play back at me or something.
But what a ride. I dreamed of playing in the World Series of Poker ever since I got serious about the game, back in my first year at Hopkins. I never imagined it would happen so soon. I really do feel like I was well above the average player in this tournament though. Many were way too weak-tight. Some were too aggressive. Some over-played their marginal hands. I don't want to downplay the field too much -- it was certainly full of great players, no matter what Norman Chad or Lon Mcheron may say on tv. But I definitely want to take another shot at it; with a little luck and some more practice and studying, I think I can make something happen there.
Anyways, as a result of this bet, I got a nice shoutout on ESPN.com (scroll to the very bottom). And in case you can't find it, here's a screenshot:
Woooooo! so yeah, pretty sweet. And to fill in the gaps of knowledge, there were in fact two Buckeyes and two Wolverines heading into Day 2. So this bet was still way up for grabs.
We start play on Day 2 at Level 7, blinds at 250/500 with 50 ante. So with my 12,050 I'm certainly short-stacked but not in any critical range yet (my M is still above 10, for those of you who think about such things). And there were a couple guys at my table with about my same stack, and one guy with about 4000. Of course there were a couple of huge stacks too.
I went into the day knowing I'd need to make some moves early on, but I may have pushed it a little too hard. In one hand, I raised from UTG with KQo. I already talked in a previous post about this problem. There's really no point in raising from early position with this kind of hand, particularly with a stack the size of mine. Anyways, when I did this, the short stack moved all-in. It folded back to me, and it was about 2500 for me to call. I was getting almost 2:1 on my money, so if he's got a pocket pair, then I should definitely call. But if he's got AK/AQ then clearly I'm in big trouble. In retrospect, in guessing his range I think I should've put a lot more weight on those two hands since he's almost certainly pushing with them, and that should lean me towards a fold. However, I really put him on a pocket pair so I made the call. It turns out that I was right this time, he had JJ. So after my dubious pre-flop raise, the call here was mathematically correct to race getting odds. Unfortunately I got no help and he doubled through me. And I still think that I wouldn't be right often enough in this spot; I'm gonna see AK/AQ quite a lot here. Also, I should consider that 2500 represents more than 20% of my stack, which maybe should weigh in more than the straight pot odds here.
So that took me down to about 8k. A few hands later I get KK on the button. It folds to me, and I steal the blinds. sweet.
Next orbit I'm in the button and it again folds to me. This time I try to steal, the SB moves all-in. Of course, this time I have 32 offsuit. argh. Why didn't he do this last time?? Well, bye-bye chips.
Now I'm down to about 5k and again it folds to me. Well it's really go time now, my M is like 5. I'm pushing just about anything now. Next hand I get J9o one off the button, I push. Folds to BB, who thinks forever. It really looked like he was going to fold. So when he finally called, I was really surprised to see a hand as good as he had. He flips over TT. Come on 3-outer!! Well flop comes Q-high, no help. Turn comes T, which looks bad at first but wait, now I have 8 outs!! Unfortunately none came on the river, and I'm out the door in ~3000th place.
Of all these hands, the only one I'd change is raising from UTG with KQo. The hand I busted on was automatic with a stack that low, and the steal attempt with 32o was also standard, unless I have some kind of read on either blind, like I feel that they're itching to play back at me or something.
But what a ride. I dreamed of playing in the World Series of Poker ever since I got serious about the game, back in my first year at Hopkins. I never imagined it would happen so soon. I really do feel like I was well above the average player in this tournament though. Many were way too weak-tight. Some were too aggressive. Some over-played their marginal hands. I don't want to downplay the field too much -- it was certainly full of great players, no matter what Norman Chad or Lon Mcheron may say on tv. But I definitely want to take another shot at it; with a little luck and some more practice and studying, I think I can make something happen there.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
WSOP 2006: MAIN EVENT DAY 1 continued
In my last post, I described the first part of my Day 1 in the Main Event. I had run up to about 20,000 chips, and was feeling in pretty good control of my first table. Just before dinner break, I got moved to a new table, where I immediately felt that things were going to be a bit more difficult.
Anyways. So at 7:30pm, we start play again. Word on the street was that we'd likely be playing until 2 or 3am. So, I sat down to my 20,000 chips, prepared for another long haul. We started after the dinner break at level 4, which seemed to go by without too much happening either way from my standpoint. I did manage to steal some small pots, but nothing major. Just enough to keep around 20k.
As I mentioned before, this table was a lot different from my first one. Lots of aggression, and lots of bigger stacks. One guy had a HUGE mountain of chips, probably around 70k when I got there and definitely got well over 100k. I managed to get myself in a confrontation with him, too.
This came in Level 5, blinds at 150/300 with 25 ante. In this hand, he opened from UTG+1 for 1000. It folds to me in the SB, I look down at AKh. I have 18k right now and I re-raise to 3000. He thinks for a good minute, and finally calls. Flop comes down 789 with two spades. Not a great flop for me but I make a standard continuation bet of 4500. He instantly moves all-in. AUGH. Of course I have to lay it down. This hand haunts me for the rest of the night though, as I just lost almost half my stack right there and I keep dwelling on how I could've played it differently. Maybe I didn't have to re-raise pre-flop. Maybe I didn't even have to make the continuation bet. I don't know. He had been really active so I knew his pre-flop raise meant very little and that AK is well ahead of his range. So I think I have to re-raise there. Maybe I should've re-raised more to make it clear that I'm playing for my stack with this hand, and to give him no room to outplay me. I don't know. All I do know is that this has re-enforced my belief that AK is really hard to play with deep stacks. It has no implied odds if you do hit, and it's just begging for you to lose a big pot with it if you misplay it.
And who was this guy that I lost all these chips to? That would be this guy. Yeah I didn't know who he was at the time; I just knew he had a mountain of chips. Note that he won the Bellagio Cup just after the WSOP Main Event, and also I have since seen him on tv at some WPT tournament.
We got a 90 minute dinner break. Anne graciously picked up a sandwich for me beforehand so I wouldn't have to fight the lines, and we went back up to our room there in the Rio so I could chill out for a bit. The others relayed some news to me about who they had seen, gotten pictures with, etc. Brownpa got a picture with Annie Duke, and Emily got a picture with Phil Hellmuth. eww. Well here they are:
Anyways. So at 7:30pm, we start play again. Word on the street was that we'd likely be playing until 2 or 3am. So, I sat down to my 20,000 chips, prepared for another long haul. We started after the dinner break at level 4, which seemed to go by without too much happening either way from my standpoint. I did manage to steal some small pots, but nothing major. Just enough to keep around 20k.
As I mentioned before, this table was a lot different from my first one. Lots of aggression, and lots of bigger stacks. One guy had a HUGE mountain of chips, probably around 70k when I got there and definitely got well over 100k. I managed to get myself in a confrontation with him, too.
This came in Level 5, blinds at 150/300 with 25 ante. In this hand, he opened from UTG+1 for 1000. It folds to me in the SB, I look down at AKh. I have 18k right now and I re-raise to 3000. He thinks for a good minute, and finally calls. Flop comes down 789 with two spades. Not a great flop for me but I make a standard continuation bet of 4500. He instantly moves all-in. AUGH. Of course I have to lay it down. This hand haunts me for the rest of the night though, as I just lost almost half my stack right there and I keep dwelling on how I could've played it differently. Maybe I didn't have to re-raise pre-flop. Maybe I didn't even have to make the continuation bet. I don't know. He had been really active so I knew his pre-flop raise meant very little and that AK is well ahead of his range. So I think I have to re-raise there. Maybe I should've re-raised more to make it clear that I'm playing for my stack with this hand, and to give him no room to outplay me. I don't know. All I do know is that this has re-enforced my belief that AK is really hard to play with deep stacks. It has no implied odds if you do hit, and it's just begging for you to lose a big pot with it if you misplay it.
And who was this guy that I lost all these chips to? That would be this guy. Yeah I didn't know who he was at the time; I just knew he had a mountain of chips. Note that he won the Bellagio Cup just after the WSOP Main Event, and also I have since seen him on tv at some WPT tournament.
Anyways. So that hand sucked. And a few more hands sucked too, and I then found myself down near about 5,000 chips. uh oh. Things were looking quite grim. In another hand, I managed to get myself all-in on a bluff. I made a standard open from late position, the BB called me. Flop came down 346 all hearts. He checked to me and I moved all-in for about 4k. Oh right what did I have? umm JT offsuit. haha. Fortunately he folded, though he did take a while to think about it.
Then, in another hand UTG opens for 900. Folds to me in the SB, I look down at 99. I thought about just shoving right there, but I thought I'd just see a flop with this guy. He had been a bit reckless, so in retropect maybe I should've just played it safe and move in to save the guess-work, especially with how short I was. But I thought maybe I could play a flop with him and get the best of it there, so I just called. BB folded and we saw a flop of 35Q. Not the greatest flop for me but not horrible either. I checked to see what he would do. He bet out 4000. WOW. I had just over 5k so basically I'm playing for my stack here if I go with it. I tanked forever. I stared at him to try and get some kind of read... and my read was, he doesn't like this flop. But, he could still hate this flop with TT or JJ. Then again, that's two very specific hands, and there's a much wider range that he probably has. As I'm thinking, Shannon Shorr calls time (which means a floorman comes over to start a 1 minute countdown for me to act on my hand or else it's dead). But no matter, by this point I had basically made my decision and as soon as he called time, I said "ok I'm all-in." My opponent is forced to call the extra 1k or so with his 78o, no pair no draw. YES. Turn comes a 7 and I'm like NO PLEASE DEALER DON'T DO IT but then river comes a 9 for an unnecessary set and I double up. This was definitely the most difficult decision I had to make in this whole tournament, to play for my whole stack here, and I felt really happy to have made the right move in this spot.
A little later, I get QQ in late position and bust the guy who gave me that difficult hand there. Now I'm back up to about 20k or so.
I dwindle back down a little bit though in Level 6, blinds at 200/400 with 50 ante. I get JJ in mid position and facing a raise in front to 1300. I think about re-raising but decide to just call. Flop comes down A-high and he bets out 2200, almost the size of the pot. Augh that looks weak but I don't know if I wanna play a big pot right here. I think briefly about raising or calling, but decide to just get out of his way and lay it down. I'm not happy about it though.
Then towards the very end of the night, I get 99 again, this time in mid-late position. Here's a hand that I brutally misplayed. Two people limp in front. I limp along. Two more limp behind me and we go 6-way to the flop, which is K42r. It checks to me and I bet about 1500. A guy behind me raises to 5000, it folds back to me and of course I have to fold. So ok there's a number of different ways I could've played this. I could have just shoved pre-flop with those two limpers in front of me and just picked up those chips. Or, I could have just NOT BET when the flop wasn't so good for me and I had a million other people in the hand. yeah. dumb dumb. oh well.
Anyways, I do make it through the whole night, with $12,050 chips to go into Day 2. Not great, but still alive. Here is proof:
After we finished play that night, my crew and I went to a restaurant/bar in the Rio to celebrate my survival through Day 1. I had my first beer in a few days. And even though the night could've ended a little better, I was still on a pretty big high just from being at the World Series of Poker and getting to play in Day 2.
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