Philuva
05-27-2004, 10:35 AM
I drew a very favorable first table, as there were no recognizable pros at my table. My table was very tight though and played few hands, which made stealing blinds easier, but since the blinds are relatively low to begin with, not very attractive. Very little limping early either which I prefer.
You start with 10k in chips and the blinds are 25-50. Each level lasts 1 hour and 40 minutes. Then you get a 15 minute break and the blinds increase. We would be playing 6 levels on the first day. You get a 75 minute break after Level 3 for dinner.
We would not lose our first person from my table until Level 4. Meanwhile, the tables around us were losing players left and right. Which meant those players were building big stacks while we were pushing around the same number of chips. Again, you can’t control that so you can’t let it bother you.
No real hands to report in the first level, but I was able to build my stack up to $11,125 just by being fairly aggressive.
Level 2, the blinds increased to 50-100. One fairly interesting hand here. Folded around to me and I am in the small blind. The player in the big blind had been playing fairly tight. So I raise it to $300 with 2s4s. Big blind calls. Oh well. Flop is Kh Jd 3h. I bet $600. He calls again. I think he is probably on a flush draw or a straight draw since he just called. There is $1,800 now in the pot. Turn is 5c. I make a mistake and just check. He checks behind which confirms my draw suspicions. I decide to bet the river as long as no heart, 9 or A comes. Turn is a 8d. I bet $2,000. He thinks for about 3 minutes before deciding to finally call. He has 7h8h. He was on a flush draw, but his 8 on the river to make 3rd pair. He told me he put me on the flush draw as well and figured I had no pair. Ouch. That pot would cost me almost $3,000. I lose a couple of other small pots and finish the Level 2 at $7,400. Again, blinds are fairly small so I just have to be patient.
Level 3 starts with 100-200 blinds. I don’t get any real hands for the first part of this level and am down to about $6,500 in chips. I am in the big blind on this hand. It is folded around to a player in the CO. He raises it to $600. The button calls the $600. The small blind folds. I look down and see JJ. Now the CO has been playing a fair number of hands for raises when it is folded to him, so I think my JJ has a very good chance of being better than his hand. The button has been playing fairly weak-tight IMO. So I think if he had QQ, KK or AA he would have raised, but would probably just call the $600 with AK or AQ. If I were to re-raise, I am sure the button would fold his AK or AQ and since I most likely have a better hand then the CO, I decide to raise. Since I only have $6,300 in chips and there is $1,500 already in the pot, I decide to go all-in for my last $6,500. I was really just hoping to pick up the pot right there as there was $1,500 already in the pot. The CO thought for a long time and decided to call. He had about $12,000 in chips. The button folded as I expected and showed AQ. I showed JJ and was hoping he would have AK as I would be a small favorite. Since he thought for a while I was pretty sure he didn’t have KK or AA, but he could have QQ. Luckily for me, he had TT. He said he thought I was on a bluff. Flop cam KQ2, then another K and then a 5. And my JJ was good, thankfully I was able to push the button player out as he would have won. I had some serious chills going through me when I was all-in. I finished the level at $14,125.
Level 4 remains with 100-200 blinds, but a 50 ante for everyone as well. So each pot has $800 for the taking. Didn’t get much hands here, and my few steal attempts got re-raised. Two interesting hands:
1. I raise with 99 in middle position to $800. Folded to button who makes it $1,800. I call the extra $1,000. Flop comes Q88. He pushes all-in for about $6,000. I have him covered with about $10,000. He was kind of a strange player who appeared to play very weakly. Most over-bets like this I would consider calling as they appear that they dont want a call, but I ended up folding. I don’t know what he had, but I think he had a hand like KQ or AQ.
2. Folded to the CO who raises to $800. I make it $2,500 to go with AdJd on the button. Not a great hand, but the CO had been playing fairly loose with his open raises. He calls the extra $1,700. Damn. Flop comes Q72 with no flush draws. He checks. I bet $3,000. He folds. Nice. When he just called I figured he had 2 big cards maybe a middle pair. With only the Q flopping I figured he would have to lay down AK and he might lay down a hand like 88, 99 or TT.
I finshed level 4 with $12,325 in chips. Not great, but I’ll take it.
Level 5 starts with $150-300 blinds and still a $50 ante. Meaning there is $950 in the pot before the flop. I make a fair number of steals in this level. Then I get JJ and make it $1,000 to go in first position. The same tight player from the 24s hand makes it $3,000. I had been playing a fair number of hands so his raise could mean AK or less b/c he could think I have very little here. I decide to call and see what the flop brings. Flop is 972 and I bet out $4,000. I have about $12,000 left after this bet and planned to fold to an all-in bet from him, but thought the $4,000 would be enough for him to fold AK. He folded.
I finshed level 5 with $24,000. We only lost 2 people from my original table at this point in time which I am sure was probably the fewest of any starting table. Our table was broken up shortly into level 6 and we were all sent to fill in other seats at another table.
Level 6 had 200-400 blinds with the $50 ante still. The table consisted of a lot of short stacks and a stack of about $55k to my immediate right. He was raising over 60% of the hands and I was not picking up anything to come over the top with. One of the short stacks did go all-in for about $2k and it was folded to me in my big blind. I called with AQ. He had A5. My better A held up and I was to about $27k. I was able to steal a few more blinds and was up to about $29k. Then two hands came up. I raised in EP to $1,300 with QQ. Folded around to the small blind who had been playing fairly tightly. He raised it to $5,000. He only had about $10k after his raise. Folded back to me and I folded. I am almost positive he had KK or AA. If he had raised all-in, I think he might have a lower pair.
On the next hand, it was folded around to the aggressive big stack. He made it $1,300 to go. The small blind folded and I called with Ah8h. The big stack was overplaying his bluffs (betting the whole way with no pair or draw) so I thought my hand was too good to throw away. Flop was AK6. I checked, he bet $2,000 and I called. I figured I was either way ahead or way behind and would let him bluff away his chips as he was capable of folding if I re-raised. Turn was a 3. I checked, he bet $3,000. I called again. The river was another K. I checked and he checked behind me. He showed AQ for Aces with a better kicker. I lost $7,300 on two hands. This was about 1:40 am on Saturday so we had been playing for over 12 hours already. I am not sure if I was fatigued or not, but I think I made the right plays, just unfortunate. The big stack was seriously capable of having any hand in this situation and I am very surprised he didn’t bet the river as I would have called. Anyway, level 6 finished at 2am and I had $21,075 in chips. I was a little upset about the last 20 minutes, but just had to forget about it. Fortunately I had Sunday off. So I could just rest and hang out. A friend and I headed to the Palms to celebrate still being alive after the first day. Of the 1,300 that started Saturday, only 580 remained.
I found out on Monday that of the 1,275 who played on Sunday, only 530 made it through on Sunday. So Monday would start with 1,110 players out of the original 2,575. I had outlasted almost 1,500 players already, the bad news was I still have over 1,100 to go. Average stack was about 23k, so I was slightly below avg. but the blinds were relatively small still.
Monday started with Level 7, $250-500 blinds with $50 antes. My table on Monday was completely new players. There were 3 stacks larger than mine and everyone else with smaller stacks. One of the earlier hands, a player under the gun raised it to $2k. A player two to my right went all-in for $3k. I had QQ and made it $8k. It was folded around to the player under the gun and he eventually folded AK face up. The all-in player had AQ and with an A already exposed, I was a 75% favorite to win the hand. Of course an A came on the river and instead of having almost $27k in my stack, I was down to about $18k. I was able to steal a few blinds and build my stack back up to about $21k.
The player under the gun limps, a middle position limps and I call on the button with Ad Jh. Both blinds call. Pot is now $3,000. Flop is 2h 7d Ah. Blinds check. Under the gun player pushes all-in for 30k. Middle position player folds. I thought for about 5 minutes on this hand. (The only other hand I have seen this guy play up until this point is he raised in late position and the blind called. A flop came down 973. He pushed all in on the flop and the blind folded. He flashed A9o for top-pair, top-kicker.) I didn’t think he had 22, 77 or AA as I think he would check-raise all of those hands. He could have AK or AQ, but I didn’t think this player would limp pre-flop with those hands. There were only 4 hands I could put him on that he would play this hand. I think he either had a complete flush draw, which I am 66% favorite against. He could have limped under the gun with a suited connector like 7h 8h or 6h 7h so he would have a pair to go with his flush draw, in which case I was only a 55% favorite. He could also have a hand like A2s or A7s suited in which case he would be a 66% or 80% favorite respectively. Or he could have a weaker A in which case I would be an 82% favorite. I thought about this hand for maybe 5 minutes before I decided to fold. I saw him later in the night after we both had been knocked out at the Bellagio poker room and asked him about the hand and he told me he had 7h8h. So my fold was fine. Level 7 ended and I had about $20k in chips still.
Level 8 started with $300-$600 blinds and a $75 ante. So it would cost $1,650 to play one orbit. I didn’t pick up any hands or any stealing opportunities and was blinded down to about $15k. It was folded to me in middle position and I raised to $2k with Ah5h. Folded to the big blind who called. The flop came 952 with one heart. The big blind bet out $3k. I think he was trying to move me off two big cards and I thought I might even be ahead. I also thought if I went all-in he would think I did have a big pair and could potentially fold a 9. I moved all-in for my last $13k. He showed me a 9 and folded. Nice, I was back up to $19k. Again, I went without any cards for a few hands Then, it was folded around to me and I had AsQs and raised it to $2k. Only the big blind called. There was about $5k in the pot. The flop came KT2. Giving me a gutshot straight draw. The big blind checked and I bet $5k hoping he had a small pair that he would be forced to fold with the two big cards on the flop. He came over the top of me for all-in. He was a fairly tight player and I had to fold. That moved me back down to about $12k.
My final hand came a few orbits later. A player under the gun, just limped. Folded to me in middle position and I had AcKc. I went all-in. There was $2,250 already in the pot and I thought there was a good chance I could win the pot right then. Folded back to the UTG player who thought for a long time and finally called. He only had about $13k in chips. He had 77. Neither an A or a K came and I was knocked out. I finished in about 660th spot.
I did feel really sick after I got knocked out. As Diplomat said in his post, I really felt like I might throw up right on the table.
Thanks,
Phil
You start with 10k in chips and the blinds are 25-50. Each level lasts 1 hour and 40 minutes. Then you get a 15 minute break and the blinds increase. We would be playing 6 levels on the first day. You get a 75 minute break after Level 3 for dinner.
We would not lose our first person from my table until Level 4. Meanwhile, the tables around us were losing players left and right. Which meant those players were building big stacks while we were pushing around the same number of chips. Again, you can’t control that so you can’t let it bother you.
No real hands to report in the first level, but I was able to build my stack up to $11,125 just by being fairly aggressive.
Level 2, the blinds increased to 50-100. One fairly interesting hand here. Folded around to me and I am in the small blind. The player in the big blind had been playing fairly tight. So I raise it to $300 with 2s4s. Big blind calls. Oh well. Flop is Kh Jd 3h. I bet $600. He calls again. I think he is probably on a flush draw or a straight draw since he just called. There is $1,800 now in the pot. Turn is 5c. I make a mistake and just check. He checks behind which confirms my draw suspicions. I decide to bet the river as long as no heart, 9 or A comes. Turn is a 8d. I bet $2,000. He thinks for about 3 minutes before deciding to finally call. He has 7h8h. He was on a flush draw, but his 8 on the river to make 3rd pair. He told me he put me on the flush draw as well and figured I had no pair. Ouch. That pot would cost me almost $3,000. I lose a couple of other small pots and finish the Level 2 at $7,400. Again, blinds are fairly small so I just have to be patient.
Level 3 starts with 100-200 blinds. I don’t get any real hands for the first part of this level and am down to about $6,500 in chips. I am in the big blind on this hand. It is folded around to a player in the CO. He raises it to $600. The button calls the $600. The small blind folds. I look down and see JJ. Now the CO has been playing a fair number of hands for raises when it is folded to him, so I think my JJ has a very good chance of being better than his hand. The button has been playing fairly weak-tight IMO. So I think if he had QQ, KK or AA he would have raised, but would probably just call the $600 with AK or AQ. If I were to re-raise, I am sure the button would fold his AK or AQ and since I most likely have a better hand then the CO, I decide to raise. Since I only have $6,300 in chips and there is $1,500 already in the pot, I decide to go all-in for my last $6,500. I was really just hoping to pick up the pot right there as there was $1,500 already in the pot. The CO thought for a long time and decided to call. He had about $12,000 in chips. The button folded as I expected and showed AQ. I showed JJ and was hoping he would have AK as I would be a small favorite. Since he thought for a while I was pretty sure he didn’t have KK or AA, but he could have QQ. Luckily for me, he had TT. He said he thought I was on a bluff. Flop cam KQ2, then another K and then a 5. And my JJ was good, thankfully I was able to push the button player out as he would have won. I had some serious chills going through me when I was all-in. I finished the level at $14,125.
Level 4 remains with 100-200 blinds, but a 50 ante for everyone as well. So each pot has $800 for the taking. Didn’t get much hands here, and my few steal attempts got re-raised. Two interesting hands:
1. I raise with 99 in middle position to $800. Folded to button who makes it $1,800. I call the extra $1,000. Flop comes Q88. He pushes all-in for about $6,000. I have him covered with about $10,000. He was kind of a strange player who appeared to play very weakly. Most over-bets like this I would consider calling as they appear that they dont want a call, but I ended up folding. I don’t know what he had, but I think he had a hand like KQ or AQ.
2. Folded to the CO who raises to $800. I make it $2,500 to go with AdJd on the button. Not a great hand, but the CO had been playing fairly loose with his open raises. He calls the extra $1,700. Damn. Flop comes Q72 with no flush draws. He checks. I bet $3,000. He folds. Nice. When he just called I figured he had 2 big cards maybe a middle pair. With only the Q flopping I figured he would have to lay down AK and he might lay down a hand like 88, 99 or TT.
I finshed level 4 with $12,325 in chips. Not great, but I’ll take it.
Level 5 starts with $150-300 blinds and still a $50 ante. Meaning there is $950 in the pot before the flop. I make a fair number of steals in this level. Then I get JJ and make it $1,000 to go in first position. The same tight player from the 24s hand makes it $3,000. I had been playing a fair number of hands so his raise could mean AK or less b/c he could think I have very little here. I decide to call and see what the flop brings. Flop is 972 and I bet out $4,000. I have about $12,000 left after this bet and planned to fold to an all-in bet from him, but thought the $4,000 would be enough for him to fold AK. He folded.
I finshed level 5 with $24,000. We only lost 2 people from my original table at this point in time which I am sure was probably the fewest of any starting table. Our table was broken up shortly into level 6 and we were all sent to fill in other seats at another table.
Level 6 had 200-400 blinds with the $50 ante still. The table consisted of a lot of short stacks and a stack of about $55k to my immediate right. He was raising over 60% of the hands and I was not picking up anything to come over the top with. One of the short stacks did go all-in for about $2k and it was folded to me in my big blind. I called with AQ. He had A5. My better A held up and I was to about $27k. I was able to steal a few more blinds and was up to about $29k. Then two hands came up. I raised in EP to $1,300 with QQ. Folded around to the small blind who had been playing fairly tightly. He raised it to $5,000. He only had about $10k after his raise. Folded back to me and I folded. I am almost positive he had KK or AA. If he had raised all-in, I think he might have a lower pair.
On the next hand, it was folded around to the aggressive big stack. He made it $1,300 to go. The small blind folded and I called with Ah8h. The big stack was overplaying his bluffs (betting the whole way with no pair or draw) so I thought my hand was too good to throw away. Flop was AK6. I checked, he bet $2,000 and I called. I figured I was either way ahead or way behind and would let him bluff away his chips as he was capable of folding if I re-raised. Turn was a 3. I checked, he bet $3,000. I called again. The river was another K. I checked and he checked behind me. He showed AQ for Aces with a better kicker. I lost $7,300 on two hands. This was about 1:40 am on Saturday so we had been playing for over 12 hours already. I am not sure if I was fatigued or not, but I think I made the right plays, just unfortunate. The big stack was seriously capable of having any hand in this situation and I am very surprised he didn’t bet the river as I would have called. Anyway, level 6 finished at 2am and I had $21,075 in chips. I was a little upset about the last 20 minutes, but just had to forget about it. Fortunately I had Sunday off. So I could just rest and hang out. A friend and I headed to the Palms to celebrate still being alive after the first day. Of the 1,300 that started Saturday, only 580 remained.
I found out on Monday that of the 1,275 who played on Sunday, only 530 made it through on Sunday. So Monday would start with 1,110 players out of the original 2,575. I had outlasted almost 1,500 players already, the bad news was I still have over 1,100 to go. Average stack was about 23k, so I was slightly below avg. but the blinds were relatively small still.
Monday started with Level 7, $250-500 blinds with $50 antes. My table on Monday was completely new players. There were 3 stacks larger than mine and everyone else with smaller stacks. One of the earlier hands, a player under the gun raised it to $2k. A player two to my right went all-in for $3k. I had QQ and made it $8k. It was folded around to the player under the gun and he eventually folded AK face up. The all-in player had AQ and with an A already exposed, I was a 75% favorite to win the hand. Of course an A came on the river and instead of having almost $27k in my stack, I was down to about $18k. I was able to steal a few blinds and build my stack back up to about $21k.
The player under the gun limps, a middle position limps and I call on the button with Ad Jh. Both blinds call. Pot is now $3,000. Flop is 2h 7d Ah. Blinds check. Under the gun player pushes all-in for 30k. Middle position player folds. I thought for about 5 minutes on this hand. (The only other hand I have seen this guy play up until this point is he raised in late position and the blind called. A flop came down 973. He pushed all in on the flop and the blind folded. He flashed A9o for top-pair, top-kicker.) I didn’t think he had 22, 77 or AA as I think he would check-raise all of those hands. He could have AK or AQ, but I didn’t think this player would limp pre-flop with those hands. There were only 4 hands I could put him on that he would play this hand. I think he either had a complete flush draw, which I am 66% favorite against. He could have limped under the gun with a suited connector like 7h 8h or 6h 7h so he would have a pair to go with his flush draw, in which case I was only a 55% favorite. He could also have a hand like A2s or A7s suited in which case he would be a 66% or 80% favorite respectively. Or he could have a weaker A in which case I would be an 82% favorite. I thought about this hand for maybe 5 minutes before I decided to fold. I saw him later in the night after we both had been knocked out at the Bellagio poker room and asked him about the hand and he told me he had 7h8h. So my fold was fine. Level 7 ended and I had about $20k in chips still.
Level 8 started with $300-$600 blinds and a $75 ante. So it would cost $1,650 to play one orbit. I didn’t pick up any hands or any stealing opportunities and was blinded down to about $15k. It was folded to me in middle position and I raised to $2k with Ah5h. Folded to the big blind who called. The flop came 952 with one heart. The big blind bet out $3k. I think he was trying to move me off two big cards and I thought I might even be ahead. I also thought if I went all-in he would think I did have a big pair and could potentially fold a 9. I moved all-in for my last $13k. He showed me a 9 and folded. Nice, I was back up to $19k. Again, I went without any cards for a few hands Then, it was folded around to me and I had AsQs and raised it to $2k. Only the big blind called. There was about $5k in the pot. The flop came KT2. Giving me a gutshot straight draw. The big blind checked and I bet $5k hoping he had a small pair that he would be forced to fold with the two big cards on the flop. He came over the top of me for all-in. He was a fairly tight player and I had to fold. That moved me back down to about $12k.
My final hand came a few orbits later. A player under the gun, just limped. Folded to me in middle position and I had AcKc. I went all-in. There was $2,250 already in the pot and I thought there was a good chance I could win the pot right then. Folded back to the UTG player who thought for a long time and finally called. He only had about $13k in chips. He had 77. Neither an A or a K came and I was knocked out. I finished in about 660th spot.
I did feel really sick after I got knocked out. As Diplomat said in his post, I really felt like I might throw up right on the table.
Thanks,
Phil