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.
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