Two Plus Two Older Archives - Foxwoods 10K trip report (part 1 , long)

1. Preface
I’ve been an online player for about 3 years now. My biggest tournaments I usually play in are 150 dollars. I played in casinos rarely and just ring games. Winning entry into a 10K event is quite a leap for me. I have no illusions about my chances. I know that I am missing LIVE tournament experience.

But this trip gets me to be on the other side of the looking glass. I have watched all the tournaments that have been on TV in the last few years and to just be able to meet some of these players and have a chance to play at the same table would be fabulous. The only time I can remember meeting a TV star was when I was 5 and saw Ray Rainer in a restaurant. And these poker players are TV stars to me...

2. Flight out (November 12)
My Wife (Martha) and I fly out of O’Hare on the 9pm flight. We took a late flight so the Mother-in-Law won’t have to baby-sit as long with are two kids. The flight is uneventful until we see the SNOW on landing. I guess Hartford has got over two inches of snow and its still coming down. We get to drive across Connecticut in a Blizzard!! After much stress we make it to our Hotel around 3am. I’m think to myself; “Yep, I guess these means I’m going to be playing today for sure!”

3. Day 1 (Saturday, November 13)
Got to casino around 10:10 to check in. I find out I’m playing on Sunday! Woo Hoo! Later that evening I have found out I have beaten out ~230 people just by the flip of a coin. Can’t come in dead last now!
As I’m turning around from the registration desk, right behind me 5 feet away is TJ Cloutier! I start pointing and telling Martha what I see. She tells me to calm down. “Didn’t you say you expected to see these guys at this tournament?” I nod in agreement but the reality of it makes it too exciting for me. So we leave to go back to the car and figure out what to do with the rest of the day. As we are leaving, Phil Helmuth passes us by. I start to freak out again! My wife and I decide its OK for me to be this way and we head downstairs to the ballroom where the event will start in about an hour so I can continue to gawk at some of the pros getting ready to play today.

So I proceed to see/identify Humberto Brenes, Doyle Bruson, Shawn Rice, TJ and Phil again and Amarillo Slim. I get up the guts to go shake hands with Doyle Brunson and TJ. Later Tomorrow I will continue this idol worship. Please excuse me if this bothers you, but this makes this trip worth it to me.

When the tourney started, my wife and I went sightseeing in the town of Mystic and then went out for a dinner and movie. The Big day will soon arrive!

(OK here is where I start to talk about poker; I might not have all the hands exactly as they were, but it is as close as I can remember and the ones that stand out in my memory)

4. Day 2 (Level 1 - Blinds 25/50)
I take my seat about 15 minutes early and so far have had no more “famous people” sightings. Maybe I’m playing in the online player half of the tourney. The players start to fill in and play begins. Hmmm.. Seat 1 and Seat 9 both look very familiar. The sign in sheet is still out. I surreptitiously look at it and confirm my suspicions. Seat 1 is Mike Laing and Seat 9 is Joe Awada (with his bracelet right there on his wrist). Most people would be thinking “Seat Change Please!” but this is what I want. LIVE THE DREAM! Side note: I was also debating whether I wanted to wear sunglasses while I played. Once I saw Joe right across from me, those sunglasses flew to my face.

So the lineup looks like:
Seat 1: Mike Laing (ML)
Seat 2: See every flop guy (SEFG)
Seat 3 and 4: Young Sunglasses TAGS (YS1 and YS2)
Seat 5: Paul - Local Guy (Weak Tite)
Seat 6: Me
Seat 7: Troy - Young Aggressive with cool shirt “May the flop be with you”.
Seat 8: Unlucky Guy (UG)
Seat 9: Joe Awada (JA)

Notable hands:

In the first 15 minutes: I get AA in SB. There are 5 callers. I raise to 600. I do not want to go out this early! I want everyone out! And out they go.

UTG + 1 I Limp with A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. There is a raise by UG and then a reraise by SEFG. I judiciously fold as it gets reraised by UG. UG wins it showing Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and I am glad I was not caught in the middle.

A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]9 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 1 off the button. Steal raise to take the blinds. Yes that’s right! I just stole Joe Awada’s big blind. I’m the man!

I’m in the small blind and SEFG calls and I complete with A3o. Mike Laing later commented that SEFG saw the first 24 out of 25 hands of the tournament. He is already down to less that 5K but I don’t like his limp here. (I think he is looking for action). The Flop comes Ah3sXh. I check and Troy checks and SEFG checks. The turn is heart. Dang! It’s checked all around again. The river comes another heart! And I don’t have any. SEFG mini-bets and is called by Troy who wins it with the 6 or hearts. I played that hand very badly.

10 minutes left in the first round and I get J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] in middle late position. It’s folded around to me and I raise to 150. Joe calls on the button and SEFG who is in the BB pushes all in! Its only ~2200 to me. I think for a bit and immediately know I don’t want Joe in this hand. I reraise to 4400. This is a large chunk of my stack. I pray Joe folds! He does and SEFG turns over Ako. It’s a coin flip. The cards are all under 10 and bust my first player out! WHOO-HOO. After the hand Joes says, “If you just call, I go all in”. He says he had 77 and if I would have let him in he would have filled an inside straight! Whew…

Ended the level at 11.6K

(To be continued…)