WSOP Day 22

Event 35, $5k PLO, Day 2:  Went into the day really short on chips with about 20k with blinds 600/1200 with the average around 70k, but got it in with QQ65 double suited against some AAxx hand, hit a 5 on the flop and a 5 on the turn to double up to like 46k.  A few hands later I triple barrel bluffed with the bare ace on a flush board and he finally folded on the river, and I got my stack to around 80k with like 80 people left when I get this hand.  I open under the gun with AhKhQx6x to 3200 at 800/1600, Tom Dwan calls next to act, and the big blind calls.  Flop comes Ad3h4h, big blind checks to me, I bet 6500, Dwan calls after thinking a bit, big blind folds.  Turn comes 7h and I lead out for 13,500 and after thinking for a while Dwan raises to about 29,500 and I immediately see the possible straight flush but I don't feel like I'm deep enough to fold and folding is probably pretty bad against someone like him anyway.  So anyway I shove for like 40k more and he snap calls and I know I'm screwed before I even see his hand.

Event 36, $2500 NLHE:  Late reg'd for this after busting the PLO, only lasted like a half hour, got it in with top pair against a set in what may very well have been an ambitious spot, but I mean we were only like 35bb deep at that point, hit 2 pair on the turn to pick up 4 outs but missed the river.

Event 37, $10k HORSE:  Ran really bad for the first 6 levels of this and my stack was below 15k at one point from the starting stack of 30k and it looked like I might be able to pull off the trifecta of bustouts for today, but then I picked up some hands including being rolled up on 2 consecutive hands in stud and winning pretty good pots on both hands.  Also had fun in a razz round where I went all 8 hands without looking at my hole cards on any of the hands, folding 6 of them because I had a big card and raising the other 2 and stealing the antes because it was folded to me with a small card.  Razz is such a silly game really.  Anyway I ended the day with 34k which is probably close to average.

$1500 NLHE at noon tomorrow and $2500 PLH/PLO at 5pm, will play either one depending on if/when I bust from the HORSE.

WSOP Day 21

Event 35, $5k PLO:  Ran really good at the beginning including getting it in in a huge 3 way pot with AA and making a flush to scoop the pot.  Got up to 62k by dinner which was probably close to the chip leaders.  After dinner I got switched to a much harder table and also was pretty card dead and basically slowly spewed chips for 4 hours and ended the day with just over 20k chips, with the average stack being 70k.  About 110 people left with 48 spots paid.  Restart at 2:30.

Gonna play the $10k horse tomorrow if I bust the PLO, really looking forward to this event as I feel I don't have any weak games in HORSE and the mix game events really suit me well.

WSOP Day 20

Event 33, $10k Stud8, Day 2:  blah blah lost every hand i played and busted in like 20 minutes, no fun.

Event 34, $1k NLHE:  Got my stack over 10k and actually made a dinner break finally in a noon event, but busted on the 2nd hand after dinner when i ran QQ into AK.

Hilarious hand from the $1k today, on the river David Bach bets all in for his last 800 or so into a pot that had at least 6k in it already, the board is AQ9J8 with no flush possibility, his opponent tanks for at least a minute and asks David "Do you have the ace?" while it looks like he's mulling over a call with a pretty weak hand, finally he calls and David flips over AJ obviously thinking he's going to win, and the other guy flips over QT for the straight.  It was pretty ambiguous as to whether he was intentionally trying to slowroll or was just really not very smart, but the whole hand was pretty funny.  Even David laughed at how silly the whole situation was as he was walking away.  If any pro did that they'd probably get scorned at the very least but really all you can do is laugh when an amateur does something like that.

WSOP Day 19

Event 33, $10k Stud8:  Really weird day, I had a very passive table and the pots were really small all day.  My stack was between about 24-30k all day and I ended the day with 24,700.  We restart at 3pm.

Sorry about the little rant a couple days ago, I really don't feel bad or sad or whatever, but you guys get the worst of me on these updates sometimes because I'm usually blogging right after I busted from something.  I consider myself very lucky to even be in a position where I can play all of these events every year and I really do enjoy it even during the bad stretches.

I think the biggest frustration for me this year is that after my 2nd place finish I had a great shot at winning player of the year if I could just get a few decent cashes to go along with it, but I haven't really gotten anything going in any other tournaments.  I was in 8th place in POTY standings I think after my cash and now I'm in 19th.  I definitely still have a shot at it but I would need to run pretty good in the next couple weeks to get there.  I actually have no idea what the player of the year wins but I do know it would be really neat to win it.

WSOP Day 18

Event 31, $3k PLO:  I feel like PLO is about my 10th best game if I were playing against good players, but these PLO fields at the WSOP are always so ridiculously juicy.  I chipped up from 9k to about 14k in the first few levels, then got it in with KQJ9 against T876 on a T97 board.  Without running it I'd guess I'm about 50/50 here, he might be a very slight favorite since he has 4 full house outs.  I hit a jack on the turn to make a higher straight but his full house outs came into play when the 7 came on the river and I was down to about 2k chips.  A few hands later I get it in with JT97 on a T95 flop in a 3 way pot, I'm up against another guy with T9xx and the other guy has 55xx, so basically I have 4 win outs and 2 chop outs, plus other backdoor straight and flush draws.  Unfortunately he hit a 5 on the turn to end all suspense.

$1500 NLHE tomorrow which I don't know whether I'll play yet, because I definitely want to play the $10k stud8 at 5pm, an event I got 10th in last year.

WSOP Day 17

Event 29, $2500 10-game:  I ended up skipping the $1500 NLHE to make sure I could play this, as I think this event is probably one of the best values for me.  Really never got much going, kept losing my chips in limit games then doubled up twice in plo, but just kept making second-best hands over and over in spots where I have to pay off, and ended up busting in level 7.

The grind is definitely starting to get to me a little, I have only 1 cash in 19 events so far.  I know obviously the one cash was a really good one, so who am I to complain really, but it's funny how poker screws with your head.  I haven't gotten even remotely deep in anything in the last week or so.  Was really looking forward to quite a few of the events this week and I didn't do anything in any of them.  I mean I feel like I'm playing fine still and that's all I can do.  I really have no idea how people play tournaments all year round without going insane.

3k PLO at 5pm tomorrow.

WSOP Day 16

Event 26, $2500 6-max NLHE:  Busted pretty quickly in this one, called a guy down with JJ on a KKxxx board, thought he could be bluffing, he wasn't.

Event 27, $10k Limit Holdem:  Ran really good in the first 4 levels, picking up tons of big pairs and a few sets and I turned 30k into 58k by dinner which was probably one of the top stacks.  After dinner was a different story, I doubt I won more than like 3 pots in the next 4 hours and busted with about 15 minutes left in the day.

$1500 NLHE at noon but I might skip this to make sure I can play the $2500 10-game at 5pm, not sure yet, I'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow.