My WSOP story

Here we go. I've forgotten most of it, but I'll write down a few key hands.


Day 1 - I start at table 31, seat 2, downstairs where they play the super-satellites. To my immediate right is Barney Boatman of the Hendon Mob. He plays well and pretty tight, much tighter than I had expected. Seat 5 is Randy Hudson (an rgp-er), 7 is Susie Isaacs, 8 is Nani Dollison, and 9 is Ken Flaton.


I remember almost no hands from this table. I got to 11,050 chips in the first level, 10,900 in the second, and 12,675 in the third. During the 4th level they move us upstairs, and soon after that they break us. I go to table 53, seat 4 for the rest of the night. Nobody who's name or face I know here except for Gus Echevarria in seat 1, who was kind enough to buy some fossils the other day.


The only memorable hand here is almost the last one of the night. Gus has over 30K, and has told the table that he doesn't want to play and lose any big pots, because he has a big stack and wants to go to bed happy. So, when he raises to 1000 to go in early position, I reraise to 3000, expecting him to fold anything but AA or KK. He calls, so I know he has KK. The flop fortunately brings an A for me, and Gus checks. I bet and he folds. I knew he would fold, but decided to bet anyway. I figured with the A out there, he wasn't going to put any more money in the pot unless a K hit the board, so there was no point in giving him a free card. Even if I check twice and he thinks I've got an underpair, he still isn't going to bet, IMO. I make a quick 3K+ on that hand, and go to bed with T14,150.


Day 2 I get table 52, seat 2. In order (and skipping my seat), the other players are Donald Stoner, Thomas McKeone, James McManus, Rafael Perry (the same Ralph Perry who made the final table), Asher Derei, Minh Nguyen, Donald Burchell, and Rameen Sai. I've never played with any of these guys before, but most seem either above average or even very good. Very early in the day I play a hand where I reraise an opening raise by Donald Stoner, and he raises again to put me all-in. I call with KK, and beat his AQs to double up. He goes out this hand, as he and I started the day with exactly identical chip counts. He is replaced with Howard Lederer and ~T19,000. Table breaks during the first level, and I'm moved to table 42, seat 5. At the end of the level I have T44,525.


During the next level I make a big move to T80,775, but cannot recall any hands, nor any names at my new table. I do remember that for the most part I didn't know anybody. The next level is a disaster. We are losing players, and some of the new ones who come in include Marcus Golser in seat 4 (the bubble boy), John Shipley in seat 8, Humberto Brenes in seat 7 (who arrives short-stacked and later busts out), and Phil Hellmuth in seat 2. On one hand Phil made two very good calls against me. In an unraised pot I limped in late position. Everybody checks the flop of small cards with 2 hearts. I bet the turn and Phil calls. I bet the river and Phil calls. I say "good call, you probably win", and he shows A7o. His A high is good, so I muck my hand. He then jumps up from the table and claps his hands together, saying something like "Yeah baby, I just won $15,000 with A high. Who's the best?" A couple of hands later he apologizes for his outburst, saying that he was just happy with himself, and was not trying to insult me or anything. I didn't take it personally at the time, and thanked him for apologizing.


I blew off a wasted 25K against Marcus one hand where he raised preflop, and I reraised. There was about 8-9K in the pot preflop, and he went all-in for 25K on the flop of QJJ. I put him on a delayed steal. What I mean is, I felt that he had a pretty weak hand, but instead of raising again preflop, he decided to bet the flop no matter what, knowing that if I missed the flop I couldn't call. So, I called. He had AJo, and I did not catch a lucky T. I finish the level with only T24,100.


I pick up some chips in the last level of the day, and finish with a decent and almost average stack of T45,600.


Day 3 I get table 78, seat 5. I hate sitting in the middle like this. The other seats are Jeffery Yoak, Jack Fox (an attorney and great player from Reno), Minh Thoaily (the Minh Ly from the final table), Farzad (Freddy) Bonyadi (a great player by reputation, but I had never seen him before), Sokrat Bega, Julius Manno, Crews Johnston, and seat 9 was empty.


On about the 3rd or 4th hand, I raise to T3500 first in from the cutoff seat with 9c8c, and get called by the button only. I'm ready to shut down now, as I know nothing about this guy at all. Instead, the flop comes 7TJ with one club, and I'm ready to play. I check, and he bets T8K. I check-raise to T20K, and he calls. I bet the rest of my stack on the turn, and he calls. He has AJ and I double up right away. I finish the level at T125,400, my absolute highest point for the tourney.


I make a mistake the next level. Blinds are 800, 1600 with a 300 ante. Jack Fox limps in early position, and I limp in with QT. Blinds call. Flop is KJ8, and about 9K in pot. Jack bets 15K and has about 45-50K left. I do not put him on a big hand with such a big bet and a limp preflop. KQ is my best guess. As such, I'm pretty sure he'll throw it away if I raise, so I go all-in. The blinds quickly fold and Jack just as quickly calls. He has a set of Jacks, and I don't catch my open-ender. My stack is cut in half just like that.


They break our table, and I'm moved to seat 2 at the table behind us. Tony D is in seat 4. I play a few hands at this table, and then the following.


I raise in late position with AsKs. This is the 4th hadn in a row that I've raised preflop. I successfully stole the blinds the last three times. I wasn't going to raise a 4th time without a big hand, but they don't know that. I'm gaining T5100 with each raise, and raising to only T5000 to do so. The player behind me folds, but the button in seat 3 reraises to T10,000. I'm ready to come over the top all-in, but a wrench gets thrown in. Tony D in the small blind re-reraises to 25K. I think now for about 2 minutes, and then fold. The button quickly folds. I say to Tony "nice pickup there with nothing". He gives me a quick grin. Even before I said anything, I was pretty sure he was restealing with nothing, but had chosen to fold rather than take the risk. I'm pretty sure he now pegs me as a big thief who plays weak-tight whenever somebody plays back at me.


Just a few hands later and I'm the big blind. Tony D makes a baby raise to T4000. I think for a minute or 2 and add 11,000 to my blind, a total of T12,600 to go. Tony instantly says "All-in!" I think for a few minutes again, and am better than 90% sure that Tony is full of shit with this bet. I just know it's a bluff. Finally, I say "I call, I just can't lay down the best hand", and table my AhQh. Tony flips over T4o.


So, unlike Andy Glazer reported, Tony D did not call with T4, he raised with it, which means it is not necessarily a mistake on his part, as he had a chance to win without a showdown. However, since I called it was a mistake that turned to gold for him. The flop was:


J98


With a Q on the turn to seal my fate, as the river was a harmless 6 (a T was my only out, and that for a split pot).


It was fun, but I sure wish it hadn't ended so ugly, nor so early.


I want to thank everybody who gave me support, especially Vince Lepore, who had nothing but nice things to say both before and after I busted out.


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

Good report.


Too bad about that QT hand. And of course a rough way to end it losing to a t4.


It was fun cheering on someone I know from afar. Next year I am hoping to go to Vegas for a few satelites and maybe we will be at the final table together /images/smile.gif


Ken Poklitar

ohKanada@hotmail.com

,.,.,.,.

"Just a few hands later and I'm the big blind. Tony D makes a baby raise to T4000. I think for a minute or 2 and add 11,000 to my blind, a total of T12,600 to go. Tony instantly says "All-in!" I think for a few minutes again, and am better than 90% sure that Tony is full of shit with this bet. I just know it's a bluff. Finally, I say "I call, I just can't lay down the best hand", and table my AhQh. Tony flips over T4o".


IMO your thought proccess was not the key element in this hand. The fact that you acted on your thinking was. Tony knew you did not have a big pair and you are right, he thought you would just lay your hand down otherwise his moving in was senseless. His read on you was right and he also acted out on it. I'm sure he felt like crawling under the table when you called.


I'm just curious why you didn't consider moving in on his baby raise? I think I would have at least pondered the thought. You didn't mention that in your thought process. Did you not think he was that weak until he moved in?


Too bad the hand didn't turn out like it should have. Most do not have what it takes to make that call. You got game Greg.


Thanks for the report and good showing in the main event.


How'd you do in the side games? I thought they were great!


KC50

I made a pot-sized raise of his baby raise, because I just don't like moving in for much more than a pot-sized raise. While it is correct in a few spots, it is usually a mistake, as it enables your opponent to play just about perfectly, in that they'll throw away losers but still call with AA, KK. Only if they throw away QQ or AK when they're ahead does it work out for you. Basically, I didn't want to risk 65K to win about 9K when usually 12K will do.


Of course, if I knew in advance that he was going to reraise and I would fold, then my raise is just terrible. However, I thought he would fold his steal hands to my pot-sized raise. It was the speed of his raise as much as anything else that convinced me he was bluffing. He saw me take time and assumed I had a marginal hand (which AQ often is), and decided before I even raised to reraise if I did. His biggest mistake is that I would also have taken my time with AA or KK, not just AQs.


Side games and satellites were fine, and surely profitable in the long run, but I did horrible. I took a series of bad beats the entire trip, in every side game, tourney, and satellite I entered. A couple of mistakes here and there, but almost every time I lost a big pot I put my money in with the best of it. That's poker.


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

"but almost every time I lost a big pot I put my money in with the best of it. That's poker."


That's also profit in the long haul.


I saw you a couple of times during the main event but didn't see you during the breaks. Maybe if I ever get to FW we'll hook up.


KC50

If you would comment on my recent post in the PL/NL section, I'd appreciate it.


Thanks,


KC50

Greg,


Nice report. But, I think there are some alternatives for the AK hand. Considering the fact that you are percived as a thief. Would you consider limping in with AK?


Here's a few possibilities. First it would look suspicious, like you were looking for action. Maybe, the button would only call, and then Tony D would raise. In this case you could come over the top of both of them. Another, possibility is that they could both check and you get to see the flop for a call. The third possibility is that the button could raise and Tony would reraise. Then you could get away from it. With the third possibility, I think Tony would have to have a real hand that he thought was not only better than the buttons, but better than yours.


Anyway, I was glad I had a chance to run into you when you were playing the $3000 No Limit event. That evening they were even spreading a pot limit game at the Bellagio. So, how was the high limit side action at Binions?


Good Luck


Mark

I don't know why your entering a pot with Q10 when you had 140k was it? You have plenty of chips and are just asking for trouble entering the pot with such a marginal hand. Was it suited and you were just playing it for a big flop? Now on the flop why not just lay the hand down? He has made a big bet. To bet $15,000 he must have a pretty good hand. If he was gonna bluff i think he would risk less. You lost way too much on this hand. If i had that good of chips i would avoid major confrontations, steal blinds, and wait for big hands.


The AK hand on the QQJ board is a tough spot. But i think your opponent has to have you beat most of the time to put 25k in on the flop of only 8k or 9k. Only hand maybe k10. A few possible others but more hands beat you its not worth risking 25k.


Good read on Tony. How much was the all-in raise for? How much did you have? How many players left in the tourney?

This was one of my mistakes. Calling Marcus when he bet all-in on the QJJ flop was a big mistake, and dogging the AK against Tony D was a mistake (albeit a lesser one).


If I move in there, the button obviously folds, and I suspect Tony does also. If not, it's highly unlikely I'm against AA or KK, so I'm either the favorite or a coin-toss.


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)