WSOP Event 2 Summary - How to get 138th with very few big hands

[John Hurst]

$1500 NL Hold 'em

Early rounds - Played tight and let the action come to me

Key Hand 1 - Started with 1500 and got up to 2300 when my JJ stayed an overpair to the board. Nothing interesting -
lone opponent folded on the turn.

Key Hand 2 - Lost 800 when my JJ was an overpair but opponent had QQ. Bet the whole way because off flush draw on board. Should have checked the river, but probably wouldn't have saved myself any chips.

Key Hand 3 - Limped with 33 in MP behind EP limper. Button and both blinds limped. Flop came AJ8 rainbow. No set, no bet right? Wrong, after 3 checks to me I decide "hey maybe nobody has an Ace! - genius" and bet half the size of the pot 100. Button calls. Turn is Ace of hearts. Why quit the stupidity now? I bet another 175 and button calls again. River is the 9 of hearts completing the flush. I completely give up and check. The button checks and I assume he has a jack except he doesn't turn his hand over. I say pair of 3's in a dejected tone. He says their good. Sweet. He must have had KQ. Whatever.

Key Hand 4 - I double up with AQ v. 1010. I raised, late position pushed and I called. Villain had been pushing often and I had him barely covered. Up to 3,500 chips.

Key Hand 5 - Moved to another table and am up to 5,000 quickly. UTG min raises the 200 BB to 400 and I reraise to 1500 UTG+1 with AK. MP3 asks me if I want him to go allin and I say yes. Asks me if I want to gamble and I say yes. He then flips KK face up on table and says fold(UTG was yet to act). I would have been forced to call by the amount in the pot and my stack size. This really boosted my confidence. I mean when does this ever happen? What a break!

Key Hand 6 - I call a small stack allin with 77 from the button. I really think this was a mistake because the guy had been playing pretty tight. He had JJ and I lost.

Key Hand 7 - Blinds 150/300 Ante 50. I open-raise to 1000 with Q10o and 3,300 chips from the button. SB pushes allin(he has me covered). I understand the pot odds argument but don't want to go out with Q10 so I fold. I felt like this was a marginal decision and decided not to call off all my chips.

Key Hand 8 - After moving to another table I quickly go on a run with a blind steal with KQ, another with A10, and a double-up with QQ when the following hand comes up. I'm in the BB with KQ and check behind an EP limper and the SM completes. Flop comes Q Q 10. As I am contemplating how to maximize this pot the small blind goes allin. I insta-call and SB flips Q8 and he fails to improve. At this point I'm up to 10,000.

Key Hand 9 - Blinds 300/600 Ante 75. Villain has been playing really weakly and limping into lots of pots. I have not seen him limp with a monster hand. He again limps in middle position and I decide to raise out of the Small Blind with any 2. Folded to me and I raise to 3,000 with 34o. Big blind folds and villain calls. Uh oh. Flop comes Q 2 5. About as good as I could hope for, I go allin and villain folds. I felt this was a key hand as it was a variation play from my SNG play.

At this point we are at about 230 out of 2,305 with 200 being paid. From this point I executed a few blind steals. I got caught once raising with A4 and had to call the opponents allin because of the pot odds. I semi-bluffed Cyndy Violette in a SB v. BB pot with an open ended straight draw on 5 6 8 board with K7. That pot easily got me into the money. I got no hands once we reached the money and had very few steal opportunities. Eventually went out with JJ v. AA and KJ. The KJ was allin for the big blind but I cringed when I saw his hand. I had 1 out to hit. Overall I think I played well except for calling the allin with 77. I was trying to "play to win" but the fact that the opponent had been playing tight overruled this concept. I hope this is interesting. Please post any questions.