WPT Championship - Day 1

I took my seat on Day 1 in the Bellagio Poker Room, and the first face I recognized, two seats to my left, was Dan Harrington. I actually liked this, because I had watched him play before and I knew he was a very tight player and I could pick on his blinds without too much trouble. Also, I later found out that the player across the table from me was Jeff Madsen. After an orbit or two, I could see that Jeff was pretty reckless, splashing around in big pots with very mediocre hands in the first level. And I thought I was loose, lol. Dan was playing as tight as he usually does, and the rest of the table was pretty straightforward. I spent the first level establishing my image, showing a couple of bluffs here and there, and then waiting for a big hand to get paid off. I ended the level with $48,000 of the original $50,000 starting chips, without much excitement.

Early on in level 2, our table broke, which was unfortunate because now I had to start over and build a new image at my next table. My new table also had a couple of recognizable faces, Josh Arieh and the owner of the EPT, John Duthie. I picked up a few small pots early on and was up to $53,000. The blinds were $100/$200, when it folded around to me in the cutoff and I looked down at A3 of clubs. I raised it up to $350, the button folded, Josh Arieh called from the small blind, and John Duthie called from the big blind. The flop was 952 with 2 clubs, giving me the nut flush draw and a gut-shot straight draw. Josh checked, John bet $800, I made it $2200, Josh folded, and John called. The turn was an off-suit King. John bet out $3000, and I just called. The river was an off-suit 8. John checked, and I thought about betting, but I figured John had a hand when he led out the turn, and I just checked. He showed KT of clubs for a pair of Kings. I just said "Wow", and I showed my A3 of clubs. I felt sick after this hand, as I would have had over $100,000 if a club had come.

I was now down to around $45,000, and nothing else interesting happened in the level and I finished with $47,000. The blinds were at $100/$200 with a $25 ante for the third level. I won 2 decent pots with 53 early on. One time I flopped a pair + straight draw, and the one pair was good enough. The second time I hit 2 pair with it and was paid off on the river. Then came the key hand of the tournament for me. UTG raises to $1000, the cutoff calls, and I look down at Aces on the button. I make it $4000 to go, and the players have just seen me show down 53 in 2 big pots so they know I am capable of having any 2 cards here. They both call, $12,500 in the pot. The flop comes K72 with 2 diamonds. UTG leads out for $9000, and he has been involved in quite a few pots. Cutoff folds, and I go into the tank. UTG has around $28,000 more behind, with me covering him by around $7000. After a minute or so, I decided to shove all-in, and to my dismay, he insta-calls me with 77. In retrospect, I don't see how I could have gotten away from the hand. My opponents shows up with a King or a flush draw at least half of the time in this situation. I lose the pot and I'm down to $7000.

I now go into short-stack mode, and I come over top of a few raises and take down some pots to bring me back up to $18,000 at the break without a showdown. After the break, the blinds were $200/$400, and I was in the big blind with 86. A really bad late position raiser made it $1400 to go, and I called the extra $1000. The flop was Q84 with 2 diamonds. I checked, and he bet $3000 with a shaky hand, just like the last time he was caught bluffing. I pushed all-in, and he went into the tank for several minutes. He eventually folds, and says he mucked two black Kings. I said, "Yeah, right" in a sarcastic voice, and I showed my 86. He says, "How could you think I had nothing?". I responded, "I've played with you long enough. Your hand shakes when you bluff." That really rattled him. I normally don't tell anyone what their tells are, but this was one that he couldn't control anyways.

Two hands later, I'm at $22,000 and I have the button. It folds to the cutoff -1 and he raises it to $2500. I look down at a pair of Queens. Now I have a decision to make. Calling or folding are not options here, so it's either a raise to $7000, or just push all-in. I decide since I just showed a big bluff, and the raiser has around $70,000, I can get a very thin call here with even 88 or 77 if I just shove. I do it, and it comes back around to him, and he thinks for around 10 seconds. Finally, he says, "Call". I triumphantly flip over my Queens, and he shows Aces! I say "Why did you take so long to call?". He stutters a bit and then says "Oh, I thought there was someone else left to act". Yeah, right. Anyways, I get up and put my jacket on, the board comes 456, 3, 8. Almost. I would have been back up to nearly $50,000 if I had won that hand.

Looking back, I would have played all 3 of those big hands the same way if I came across the same situations again. If I could have just won 1 of them, and they would have been $100,000, $85,000, and $50,000 pots, I would have been in good position to make my way into Day 2. I would have loved to go deep in this tournament, but sometimes the cards just don't go your way. All you can do is make the right decisions, and wait for the odds to even out. I don't think I'll be playing any more big tournaments until the WSOP starts in June. I'll be spending the next month and a half warming up for the World Series by playing a lot of online tournaments.

Also, I had my biggest ever win in a live cash game last night playing $50/$100 NL. I'll post the details in the next update.