O-Poker

I was planning on posting this on Monday, but work had other plans. I got tied up in meetings (VTCs with California and Hawaii) all day Monday from until 7 PM EST. I was pretty tired and didn't feel like playing much poker but decided to play the MATH anyway, which turned out to be a good decision.

I don't know how much poker I will get in this week because I am tied up in video teleconference meetings every night until 5 PM PST (8 PM EST - my time).

Anyway, on to the disappointing weekend recap

Hard Rock Tampa $1k MTT

I headed over to the Hard Rock in Tampa early Friday morning and was feeling pretty good about my game. The night before the tourney, I got a PM from Cory! on Pocketfives saying that he was going to be at my table. He pretty much destroys the rebuy tourneys on pokerstars, so he knows how to play deep stack poker. I decided to try not to play too many big pots against him unless I had a monster. Things didn't work out quite as planned.

A few key hands

Hand 1

I was in the 6 seat. Early on, the guy in the 8 seat was a major calling station and almost always bet at any sign of weakness (any time it was checked to him). I was dealt QQ on the button, Cory raised, I decided to get a little tricky and just call, Seat 8 (BB) also called. The flop came J38r. It check to me and I made a pretty good size bet. Seat 8 called. Cory folded. The turn brought a 2. Seat 8 checked to me and I bet about 1500. Seat 8 insta-raised to like 4k (I only had 6.5k left). I wasn't sure if he had AJ or 2 pair. I asked him if he could beat AJ. He looked confident and said, "If you had AJ you would have already put the money in." It was obvious to me at that point that I was beat. I folded my Queens face up and he showed his Jack-freaking-2!!!! Well played.

Hand 2

Shortly after the 1st break. I was down to 5,800 of my starting 10k. I raise to 600 utg with AA!!! UTG+1 (a pretty tight competent older guy) raises to 1,200. It folds to me. I felt like he had a really big hand, but didn't want to scare him away by shoving since he was fairly tight. I thought for about a minute and just called. The flop came all low cards. I check. He insta-shoved with QQ and I insta-called. Weeeeeee. Back up to 11k

Hand 3

I get Ah4h otb and call after 5 or 6 people have already limped into the pot. The flop come 4J7 with 2 hearts. I have a pair and a flush draw. Seat 1 (MP) bets about 600. It folds to me. I call. Everyone else folds. Turn is an offsuit Q. Seat 1 bets 1,700. I call. The river brings a heart. Bingo. He digustingly checks to me. I bet 3,500 and he thinks and says something like, "You wouldn't have called 1,700 with a flush draw. You have a jack right." He finally called and didn't show his hand. I'm guessing he had AJ or KJ based on how he played. Up to 23k chips. He went on and on about me calling with just a flush draw. I guess he missed the pair. :)

Hand 4

Cory was short and shoved all-in for 3,300 just after the 2nd break. I had AQ otb and felt like his shoving range was A10+, KQ, any pair. I decided to call and his AK held up.

Hand 5

Blinds 200/400 and Seat 1 raises to 1,800 utg. I had AKs and opted for just flat calling from MP. I didn't want to raise and get shoved on. The flop came all low cards and he bet out 3,500. I folded. Down to about 12k.

Hand 6

I doubled up with AA vs KK and was up to around 22k chips again.

Hand 7

I have around 22k chips when the following hand happens. Blinds 200/400 plus antes. I raise to 1,200 preflop in early position with KK. Seat 8 (calling station calls) and Cory calls from the BB. Flop comes J82. Cory checks. I bet 3,400. Seat 8 folds. Cory shoves for 5,800 more. I really felt like he had a set, but I have to call 5,800 into around a 13k pot. I am pretty sure that I am beat, but I think that I have to call in that spot. He had a set of 8s. I'm down to 11k in chips.

Hand 8

Blinds are 400/800 with 100 ante and I have about 6k chips. I am push or fold mode. I have shoved enough times to maintain my stack, but it seems like every time that I have a shoving hand there is a raise before it gets to me and the hand isn't strong enough with no fold equity. I finally shoved A3s and ran into pocket Aces. What was worse is that the guy was trying to draw other people in so he thought for about 3 minutes before just calling with his pocket Aces. At least it allowed enough time for my beer to get there.

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Met a reader

The break right before I busted was about to end when someone walked up to me and asked if I was Mitch. The guy was little bit older than me but looked familiar. At first I thought he was one of my Dad's friends. Then, he told me he reads the blog all the time. Pretty cool! It was nice meeting you Lex. Sorry, I didn't get a chance to talk to much but I was really short and was going to be the BB with a short stack after the break. I looked for you (and the Gator visor) after I busted out but couldn't seem to find you. How did you wind up doing? Drop a comment and let me know. Go GATORS!!!

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WSOP Step 6 on Pokerstars

LOL - Uggggh!!! Yuk!!!

I finished in 9th place (out of 9) in the WSOP Step 6 Friday night after I got home from busting out the Hard Rock tourney. I try to stay away from the bad beat stories, but I had A7s in late position and lost a monster pot early on a 7s8s7 flop against 9s10s after the turn was a 9 and the river was a 9. I lost the rest of my chips on a coordinated draw heavy board with KK vs a flopped set.

It really sucks to have worked my way up from Step 1 to Step 6 and have nothing to show for it, but that's pooooooooooooooker.

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So many more things spinning through my head while I sit through all day (and them some) long meetings, but I have to stop before this turns into an even longer ramble.

Weeeeeeeeeeee. I'm so glad I had a TOC seat!!!!!!!!!! I was really starting to think that I'd be a BBT3 bridesmaid.