WSOP day 3 - poker, hollywood, twoplustwo reunions, and more poker

[Scooterdoo]

Hi, guys. It's late but I'll try to make this interesting. In summary the day was not what I expected, but it was fun and pretty profitable in the end. I also had fun at a table with James Woods, finally spent some time with Greg, had a twoplustwo bad beat, had AA lose to both TT and AK in the same hand (anyone want to calculate the chances of that?) and played some good poker -- and some bad poker. Let's start:

Was registered for the 12pm pot-limit tourney so decided to get over to the Rio by 10am so I can play some more sats and hopefully keep up my good string of money finishes in these. I run into Cardsharp so we decide to play together. He's across from me -- I'm in about the 8 seat and he's in the 3 seat or so. On my first 3 bb he raises every time from across the way and I fold every time. I'm 100% sure he had hands, but it was pretty funny. Anyway on the 4th time through he does it again -- I think blinds were 50/100, and he raises to 300 (I think). I'm short stacked and only have 600-700 and look down at AT. I push and he calls with A9. He flops a 9 and I'm out. I was happy to see him win it. I think he did a 70/30ish split of the 1620 prize.

On to the tournament. I see a few flops in the first level with AK, AQ and TT type hands (all 3x raises) and have to eventually release all 3 so am down to 1200 or so from the initial 1500. About 30 minutes into the tourney I'm in the BB with 44... 2 limpers + SB check (25/25 blinds), I check. Flop comes 479 with two diamonds. Two of the players are very aggressive and I just don't see everyone checking so I decide to check and go from there. EP players makes it 100 and one player calls. I think about check-raising but decide that if the 3rd flush card doesn't come on the turn I'll check raise all-in so I call (perhaps a mistake, but I'm feel it's a close call, but feel free to comment). The turn is an 8s. There are two potential made straights now, but I'm not that concerned and if it has happened, so be it. I check ready for the check-raise. Sure enough the EP player bets 250, next guy calls and I push. They both call. I'm now hoping for the board to pair (careful what you wish for!). A second 8 comes on the river with no flush possibility. They bet and call and the early position player shows down 89 for a bigger full house. I didn't see the other guy's hand but based on the way he reacted I think he had two pair also. I'm our to a 4 outer. Oh, well.

Sat 2: I come in 3rd in the first sat after my bust-out, but did a save so break even.

I take a break and watch the second day of the NL 1500 tourney. I see Greg bust out around 80th but don't see the hand. Around 20 minutes later I run into him and we spend some time together. He's a great guy. Many people come over and ask for a picture and he's very nice about it. I'm sure cardplayer has details of his bust-out hand, but here's what he said (it's been a long day so I'll do my best). He has around 25-27k with 1-2k blinds if I recall correctly. An young internet player makes a min-raise to 4k and Greg looks down at TT. He raises to around 7k and the guy calls. Greg has no idea where he is. The flop comes something like 688. I forget if Greg has position or not, but he decides he has the best of it and pushes since his remaining chips are close to the pot. The guy goes into the tank. After a while Greg is sure the guy doesn't have the 8 or an overpair so he really wants a call. He says something like 88 is his favorite hand from the last year's world series and suggests that maybe he has it now. The starts insisting that Greg doesn't have anything and finally calls with AQ! Of course he hits a Q on the turn and Greg is out. This is approximately how it went down but I might have left some of the details out.

Sat 3: I play a $175 sat and get heads up with another guy and we split it 810/810. Okay, back on a role.

Sat 4: They start to run more $525 sats today. The advantage is that you start with $2k in chips and the rounds are 20 minutes (versus $1k in chips and 15 minute rounds for the $175's). They also accept the $500 tournament chips and I have now won 7 in sats so decide to play in one. James Woods plays with us and the competition seems a bit tougher than the $175's, but still not at the normal pro caliber that I see before the normal pro events at the Commerce/Bike/Bellagio. I was reading Cardplayer the night before and in a column by Thomas Keller he mentions how much fun James is to play with and that he told the table a great joke about a Gernan Dermatologist. He goes on to say that he can't do the joke justice so if you run into James ask him to tell you the joke. Of course I asked him to tell us and he was happy to do so. It really was funny and James did a great job of telling it which wasn't a surprise. Anyway he was a great guy to play with.

This was probably my best poker playing by far. Of course I had some great hands, but I made great reads and built a large stack and used it to maximum advantage. When we got to 3 way action I had 8k and 2nd player had 8k and a third had 4k. We decided to do a save where the me and the other big stacked were guaranteed two $500 chips and the 3rd guy was guaranteed 1 $500 chip -- so I had locked up $1k and was playing for $2,620 more (10 $500 chips and $120 cash less the saves). I dominated action and go heads up with a huge lead -- about 15k - 5k or a bit more. We played heads up for a while and then blinds went to 400-800. I pushed with A6, he called with A4 and we split the pot when two pair hit. On the next hand he raised and I pushed again with A6. He called and turned over A6. At this point he suggested that he would go away for one more $500 chip. This seemed reasonable to me given that I would now be guarenteed $2120 more. Sure I probably would win, but he doesn't have to catch that many breaks to take the lead with blinds so high so it seemed like a good deal and I took it.

I had dinner with my father-in-law and then watched some action from the NL tournament. There were about 15 left. Phil Hellmuth had busted about an hour before -- don't know the details. The only players I recognized were Scott Fishman, Devilfish and Alan Cunningham. Fishman had the monster stack on the one table I could see. One hand deserves mention... Early position player makes a pretty large bet. Fishman is in last position and thinks for at least a minute and decides to call. On the flop the raiser checks, and Fishman again takes a long time making it look like he's going to raise (he has many, many, many times as much chips as the other player) but checks. The turn card is a blank (I forget the board, but it doesn't matter) and the raiser thinks for a few seconds and then checks. It's so clear that he is afraid to bet. Fishman's slow manner and big stack appear to have scared the pants off this guy. Fishman again delays and then pushes in a huge stack of $5k chips which has the guy covered. The guy climbs back into his shell and folds. I'm convinced that Fishman never had a hand was always planning on using his position to do just what he did. Very well played and cool to watch.

BACK TO POT LIMIT. There are about 150 players left and I spot Cardsharp. He's still alive. He is fairly short for his table, but he's not in desperate shape yet. He wins two pots (no callers to his raises) when I'm there. We chat for a while and I wish him luck and tell him I'll check back in a bit.

Sat 5: Another $525 sat. One of the first hands I limp with A5 with two other limpers. Flop is 24To. EP check, I check from MP, late player makes it 75. EP calls and I call with gut shot and overcard. Turn is a 8. Check, check, check. River is a 9 now there's a straight possibility. EP check, I check, LP makes it 200. EP folds. I have nothing of course but am convinced that LP is making a move. Why? I never played with him, but if he had a hand I figure he wouldn't figure we would call 200 so he would just bet 100 or so. Also he is an asian player and perhaps I made the stereotype of a typical aggressive Asian player. I make it 500 (300 more to him). He does take some time, but calls with AT. Oh, well, just bluffed off 500. A while later I'm in SB with AKo and make it 150 (25/50 blinds). BB calls. Flop comes small cards. We both check. Turn another small card, BB makes it 200. Of course I should fold, but for some reason I think he has high cards and has missed. I spend time on the decision but decide to call. The river is another small card so I check again hoping that he gives up the bluff. Instead he bets 300. I decide that since I already made the read on the turn that I need to stick with it and assume he is taking one more shot. I couldn't be more wrong when he shows 88 and a flopped set! I just threw away 1k in two hands with nothing. Great playing.

Anyway, I lose another 500 on hands that are good, but not improved and am down to 500. The push with A5 and get called by A4. Believe it or not a 2 and 3 come on the board and we don't split the pot. I now am back in business. A while later I double up again as a big favorite. Did I mention there was a $100 last longer with 5 players and there are only two of us left? He has me out chipped by about 20% but I'm feeling good. There are 5 players left in total. I get blinded down from 1.9kish to 1.4k when in the SB a MP player makes it 600 to go (100/200 blinds). I see two red aces and push for another 600-700. To my surprise the BB now pushes (he's the guy I need to outlast for the last longer) and the mp player who has 1 chip less than the BB calls --oh, yeah, happy days!

It gets better when the BB turns over TT and the MP turns over AK. Flop comes TJx (oh, well), turn is a blank and the river is... you guessed it... a Q. The MP player takes it. Anyone know what the odds of my AA losing to both players?

Anyway, given that I am still up about $1k for the day, it didn't hurt too bad.

Bad news: I go back to the Pot limit tournament to watch Cardsharp for a while (they are now around 100 players and in the money) but I don't see him. I hope I just missed him (his table was broken up so it's possible).

Next stop... $1.5k limit tournament tomorrow. I've only played one limit tournament and did pretty well (1k players on Party and finished in the money) but this isn't a specialty for me. We'll see. If I didn't have all these $500 chips and the day to kill I would probably wait for the NL tournaments in a few days.

Until next time...

[Logik]

equity (%) win (%) / tie (%)

Hand 1: 75.2287 % [ 00.75 00.01 ] { AA }
Hand 2: 05.0960 % [ 00.05 00.01 ] { AKo }
Hand 3: 19.6754 % [ 00.20 00.00 ] { TT }



Sounds like you're not doing too bad... good luck on the future games and keep us updated.

[bcotton]

I enjoyed the read, thanks

[Chief911]

Scot,

As always, alot of fun to read. Wish I was out there!

Nick

[Scooterdoo]

Thanks, Logik, but I did know how much of a favorite I was. My question actually was what is the probably that my hand loses to both of the other hands. That was the really weird part. Of course a four flush would be another way for it to happen.