WPT Bellagio 12/05

[Blair]

I never cease to be amazed. Most players were guessing around 400-450 for the final, they get 555. Where does all the money come from? Internet sites mostly. These big tournaments are the tip of that very deep iceberg.

So with all these players, many of them unknown and relatively inexperienced, who do I draw at the first table? I’m in the one, 2-Scotty Nugyen, 3-(Marcel Luske protégée and European star) Noah Boeken, 4-Internet star Br Savage, 5- Mark Gregorich, 6-unknown, 7- Robert Williamsom, 8- Mike Gracz., and 9 and 10 were unknown to me. Table draws are very important in tournaments. By the second day most of the dead money is in the stacks of better players, so you need to get it while you can. However, with this table survival was more of a priority.

That being said, I wasn’t overly unhappy. For one thing, for the first time during the whole Five Diamond Classic I drew a comfortable seat. The poker tables they have there are an abomination. The only comfortable seats are the ones right next to the dealer. The posts that hold up the tables are the wrong kind, and are in the wrong spot. Players on the ends can’t get close to the table without bending over because the posts are in the way of their legs. Players in the middle seats are jammed in because of the posts, and my other pet peeve—that they insist on making us play 10-handed. This is extremely uncomfortable, especially when you have to sit there for 10 plus hours a day. My back and neck have been hurting all month. Even worse, playing 10-handed changes the nature of the game. The fewer the players, the more skill is a factor. This is why I love the 7-handed structure at the UPC at the Plaza. Someday, maybe someday, tournament organizers will consider the welfare of the players rather than just how much money they can extract from them. Or maybe we’ll have an organization that will have the power to make certain demands.

The other reason I was upbeat was that I like playing with good players. It’s fun! I’ve known and played against Scotty and Robert and Mark for years, and consider them friendly adversaries. I don’t know Mike Gracz very well, but he seems like a nice guy, very down-to-earth, focused and eager to improve. I’ve been doing this for too long, and I sometimes get bored. These guys would keep me on my toes, so I was focused and pumped.

I was getting a lot of playable hands for the early level. My range of hands at the first levels is pretty wide. I was definitely playing more hands than anyone else at the table. In the long run, playing the way I do versus playing tighter, waiting for real hands and hoping to trap somebody who gets out of line would probably work out about the same. I’ll be in there with more opportunities to trap, but I’ll burn some chips attempting to do so. If I get on a rush, however, I could get a hold of some chips. But, mostly, I like the challenge and excitement of being involved in hands, so I’ll stick to my method.

Things were cruising along. I was sticking to my plan of playing aggressively and attacking the unknown players to my right. I picked up a few thousand over the 30k starting stack, still at the 50-100 level. Then it got a little strange. I made three big laydowns in a space of about 10 hands. In the first, Noah limped in the 2-hole, everyone folded to the small blind who called, and I checked AhQs in the BB. The flop came Ks-Js-Ts. The SB bet 200 into a 300 pot. I raised to 700, and both Noah and the SB called. Hmmm. The turn was a red 5. The SB checked, I bet 1650, Noah called and the SB called. What’s going on here? I gave the SB perhaps J9 or AQ, or maybe the ace of spades with or without a pair. The only thing I can give Noah is a small flush or possibly he limped with a big pair and flopped a set. The river was a red six. The SB checked. I considered making a defensive bet of about 3000, but decided to check. Noah surprised me by betting 5500 into a pot of 7350. I couldn’t see him betting a set there, so I had to put him on a small flush. I may have been wrong, but I gave it up.

Three hands later I raised to 300 with the hand I wish I’d had in the previous example, Qs9s. Noah called from the SB, and Br Savage from the BB. The flop came Jc-4s-3c. It was checked to me, and I checked. The turn was the As. Noah bet 550, Br called, and I called. I was about a 4-1 dog to hit the flush, and was getting about 3.6-1 to call. However, the implied odds made it a close call. The turn came the 3s. Noah bet 2000, and Br quickly raised to 5000. Damn. I know I’m beat in this one. I fold, Noah calls and Br shows A3. Noah had a small flush, so if the flush card hadn’t paired the board, I’d have won a nice pot.

A few hands later I was in the small blind. Noah limped, and the six seated limped behind him. I hadn’t seen anything from him that lead me to believe he was capable of getting tricky. I called from the SB with 33. The flop came 3-7-9 rainbow. I bet 600 into an 800 pot. Scotty raised to 1700. So far, so good. Noah folded, and then the six seat, with about 23k, raised to 6600 in a manner that gave me pause. My subconscious sent out the alarm. I couldn’t believe I was thinking about laying this one down, but I couldn’t find a way around it. I was sure that he would have put in a raise pre-flop with a pair bigger than 9’s. I also was sure he wasn’t making this play with a draw. That left 97,99,or 77. I thought that he might have raised pre-flop with 9’s, and I felt he acted too quickly to have 9-7. He seemed absolutely unafraid, so I had to put him on a set of 7’s. I had about 30k, had little invested in the pot and it was early in the tournament. I folded. Scotty showed me A-9 and folded also. I asked the player if he had three sevens, but he hadn’t said a word at the table and didn’t start now. Br Savage said he would have folded bottom set. Mark told me later that he thought I was right. Others told me I’m crazy. Guess I’ll never know, but you’ve got to live with your reads.

More later.

Thanks for posting the hands, definitely some tough decisions. I don't think I could have laid down a set there, but hey, what do i know. You said you wished you woulda raised w/ the AQ in hand 1. Why? Do you think it woulda got Noah to fold preflop or just to have more information later in the hand?

[Ulysses]

Blair,

Very interesting read.

[johnnybeef]

I don't tend to kiss peoples asses very often, but it has been a pleasure reading your trip reports as of late. It is my hope that you don't get scared away by the trolls that frequent this sight (like many other top live players), as you are a welcomed and valuable member of this forum.

Looking forward to more,
Johnny

thanks for the post. very interesting to hear insight into these events.

[Blair]

Actually I didn't say that. I don't like raising with AQ in that spot when we all have huge stacks. If he calls, I've created a big pot out of position against a player who could have limped with anything, including a big hand. I like to keep pots small and manageable at that stage.

ahh, i read over "the hand" and interpreted as i wish i'd raised 300 in the previous hand... ok, so what kinda hands are you looking to raise w/ in the situation of being out of position? Just premium holdings like TT+,AK or medium pairs and suited connectors etc..?

[Blair]

Honestly, early on in big starting stack events, I'll probably raise with QQ,KK,AA, and limp with other hands, including AK, hoping to flop a big hand and trap. I'll also raise occasionally with small connectors as a change of pace. At that stage I'm looking to call raises with trap hands against players who can't get away from big pairs. If I get big pairs, I'm happy to win a small/medium-sized pot with them rather than creating big pots pre-flop.

Thanks for the input... two last things, when you say trap hands u referring to connectors and pairs (hoping to flop sets etc or strong draws etc...) or you talking about the "trap" hands like AJ,KQ. And by not building big pots preflop with big pairs, you'll even cold call raises w/ AA and KK just to keep the pot small early on. Thanks for your responses.

[Lloyd]

Thanks for the past. I'm certainly glad they're showing up in MTT and not WPT so we can talk more strategy and tactics versus most of the other discussion points in WPT. If you have a really good and interesting hand to discuss and would like it to be part of our "Play a Hand with the Masters" series just shoot me a PM.