[theGorn]

WPT Legends Trip Report 5K NL event– DAY 2/3

4. The long Intermission
Day 1 players learned that the field has been broken up into 2 days. The excess ~350 players will play on Sunday. It’s a free day for me. After the Day ended (~2:30am) it took a while to unwind. I hung out with Mark G for a while and got to bed around 4:30am. Good I get to sleep in. I really need it. When I next wake up the clock says 6:30am. WHAT! No way. I force myself to stay in bed till 7:30am then start my day. I head out for breakfast and then the Bike to see the results. Find out I am in the bottom 3rd of the standings. I run into Mark G and the rest of his crew. (Steve W, and Luong T – Chip Leader from day 1!). We head out for lunch and do some Male Bonding/Poker talk for a large part of the afternoon.

End up playing some 100 NL buy-in ring with Mark G in the afternoon. Clear about 100 when I hit a few hands. I went back to room for dinner/rest. I hook up with the gang again later in the evening. We decide to check up on the Day 2 play. Get to bed around 2:30am. I wake up around 6:00am. Ok, this is getting ridiculous. A whole 1 ½ days off
and I can’t sleep! Have another morning/afternoon to kill and end up Playing Omaha Hi/Low with Mark G with a bunch or regulars. This is not my game but I need to unwind and I do after dropping around 100 bucks.


5. Digging out of a hole (rounds 7 – 9)
We hear we are playing another 6 rounds or till the money (top 72), whichever comes first. I really need to hit some hands or I am going to be gone. My table is outside the main room with about 4 other tables. I now feel I am already out the door. I figure I can wait one round before I will be forced to play with weaker cards.

Blinds/Antes for rounds 7-13
7 200-400, 50 antes
8 300-600, 75 antes
9 400-800, 100 antes
10 600-1200 , 200 antes
11 800-1600 , 200 antes
12 1000-2000 . 300 antes
13 1500-3000 , 400 antes

Only known player at my table is Aaron Kantor who made the final table at this year’s main event. He has a healthy stack. I am in seat 2. (Finally a little away from the horrid 1 seat!). Seat 3 is a dentist (This makes me think he is weak/tight – Don’t ask me why). There are some small stacks at my table so the table is going to have some fast turnover.

First hand I play is 33 in the SB. The button raises and I already planned to raise before he did this because he has raised the last 2 out of 4 hands. He thinks for a little bit and folds and then shows 8s. Whew!

Short stack (!5K) limps in UTG and Middle position raises. I have 77 in the small blind. I know middle guys has nothing but I can’t push because I feel UTG has a BIG hand. So I call and UTG pushes all in. Middle position comes over the top all in to push me out and I still know he has nothing. I decide not to risk it and fold. UTG turns over AA and middle guys shows J7o. AA wins but I could have won the side pot. (But not much I think). I survive round 7 with around 12K.

Next level I make a few moves and am up to around 17K. The table loses a few people and gets broken up. Were moving to the main room! Its do or die time!

I finally get some hands that get paid off. I get AA and raise 2k and big stack calls and very short stack (~7 K) goes all in and I stop. I really want the big stack to call so I decide to put on a show. I count my chips, pull off my sunglasses and look back and forth at both players. After an eternity I push all in. The big stack doesn’t take the bait and folds instantly! The short stack has AQ and gets no help and is gone. The big stack laughs and says “That was the best acting job he has ever seen”! That was just the epitome of “weak is strong”. I raise 1600 in middle position with AQ and the BB (call him NR) calls. Flop is rags and I make a continuation bet and he folds. I finally have a workable stack at ~27 K and try and loosen up with it.

Later on I raise 2k three hands in a row. The first two are with weak holdings (ATo and KQo) and get called by two players. I have to give them both up when the flop doesn’t help. The third raise is with AKs. The short stack (NR) in the SB goes all in for another 12K. Uh oh! I have not seen him play any hand so I think he is pretty tight. He also might think I am on some kind of mini-tilt since I raised three times in a row. I will be crippled if I call but after much debate I make the call. NR turns over A4h and I win. I’m up to ~40k. The level bumps up to level 9 and we color up the $25 chips. Halfway through the level I am moved to another table.

6. Mr Kotter gives me a spanking (rounds 9 –12)
As I approach my seat (seat 8), Gabe Kaplan will be sitting right next to me in seat 9. Holy Moley! He must have over 100K in front of him. Player Matt Elsby is in seat 3 with a pretty big stack too. Less than 5 minutes after I sat down they are all in against each other on the flop with Trip tens for Gabe and AA for Matt. Of course the turn is an A and Gabe is left with around 45K and Matt is now around 120K. Now Mr, Kotter is ticked off. And I think I’m going to be the one that pays for it. (Gulp!)

One of the first hands I get on the button is AKs. I make a 3x raise and Gabe and BB fold. Gabe then comments “You better stop stealing”. I try and respond that I had a hand but he isn’t having any of it.

Later on it gets folded to me in the SB with 7s. I raise and of course Gabe calls. The flop comes Ace high and I make a continuation bet. Before I even get my money out there, Gabe says “raise!” and puts out a big raise. I fold and comment that “I can’t fool you” then he proceeds to show me 8To for a complete bluff! Ouch! He is a very good player and telling me he isn’t going to take any of it. Lesson noted.

I did start to hit 3 or 4 hand in a row built my stack up to ~90 K before one of the breaks. The last hand of this mini-rush was A4o on the button. It gets folded to me and I make a 5K raise. The BB goes all in for another 6K. I call and he has 9’s. I catch an Ace on the river and he is gone. Gabe then chastises me for that play saying I should know that the BB was tight and that was a weak holding against him. I respond “I was on a rush!”.

After the break I must have given at least 30K back to Gabe. I don’t remember the exact hands, but almost every hand I was in, Gabe was right there and took it away from me. He definitely had my number. Up his nose with a rubber hose!

Here are a few hands I got some of it back:

There are a couple of limpers and I limp in the SB with 89o. Gabe checks and the flop comes 5c6d7c. I check and it gets checked around. The turn is a Jd. I bet 3K and Gabe calls and everyone else folds. The river is Kd completing the flush. I bet 10K and Gabe thinks a little while and folds. I show him my cards to prove to him I had a hand and he shakes his head and mumbles “he flopped the straight”.

I limp UTG with 33. Gabe of course calls and one other caller. The flop comes 3sJc5d. I bet and Gabe calls and rest fold. The turn is a Qc. I bet again and Gabe calls. The river is a 10s. That is a scary card but I push all in! Gabe folds and then says “Trip Jacks huh?”. He’s close and once again I can’t extract the kind of money I would like. Actually, I imagine Gabe is a really nice guy but after that bad beat I saw he was mad and a fearsome to play against on my right.

7. Folding to the money (rounds 12- 13)
The table dynamic finally changes late in the day when Tim Phan shows up at the table. I believe a small truck backed up to the table and unloaded his chips. He is in seat 5 and immediately takes control of the table. I have huge respect for his play. He moves his chips exceedingly well and has a very personable table image. I liked playing with him a lot. The two chip leaders at the table are Matt Elsby and Tim Phan. The rest of the night consists basically one of them taking down the blinds and the rest of us folding. Any other action on the table would consist of one of them calling and then getting the money either on the flop or turn. Of course the whole reason for this is we were near bubble. (7.5K for 72 place!).

My friend Luong T shows up at my table and grinds along with me.
It took till 3:30am in the morning but we finally made it to the money! Both my friends Mark G and Luong T made the money too! It was a good day.
I bag up around ~58K. The average stack is around 100K. Oh look! I’m still a short stack.


To be continued….