i'm in my second week out here in the desert. its been a bowl of mixed nuts so far in terms of ups and downs. i make the final table of the first tourney i played out here... only to lose a coinflip and bust in 9th place only minutes into the second day of the event. i've been going to the gym and eating well some days... but boozing it up and eating in-and-out burger at 3am on some others. i've gotten cinderella sleep some nights... but have also woken up on the hallway floor in a weird off the stip hotel curled up in a ball next to a soda machine some (well, one) other days. i made day 2 of two non wsop events... but lasted a combined 31 minutes in the two wsop events i played. i made the final table in 2 out of events i've played... but have placed in 9th and 10th place for 2 ham sandwiches and am up less than 1k for the trip.
i'm happy with the way i have played in every event but today's venetian 560. i played my stank ass off in a venetian 340 buyin event a few days ago. i got big chips early but stagnated after the dinner break, and basically hung on with a 10-20 bb stack to get into the money and get through the first day. the event had a record field for the venetian with 870 runners. first place was $65k. i came back for the second day with a 17bb stack and 51 players remaining.
i never got close to an average stack until there were 17 players remaining. at that point i was able to more than double up when a shortstack shoved 185k at 15-30k blinds from utg. as the action folded around i peeked at one hole card which was a 6. another woman in late position decided to push for her last 150k as well. i had 335k in my stack and told myself that if i found another 6 i would call as i was getting the chance to more than double up while only risking approximately half of my stack. it felt like both the other players had big cards and were likely sharing an ace. sure enough i found another 6 and made the call. my read was spot-on as the utg shover showed aq and the woman showed aj. the flop was kjx. i felt strangely confident i was still winning the pot for some reason. that reason became clear when a 6 rolled of the deck on the turn. the river was not a 10, and suddenly i had over 700k and an above average stack for the first time since moses sported a finely trimmed goatee.
unfortunately for muggins i didn't get to keep my freshly baked biscuits for long. an orbit later i was in the big blind when it folded around to the button. i had seen this player shove very light in late position and the blinds when he had a shortish stack at the previous table. the blinds were still 15-30k and they were going to 20-40 within a few minutes. my 700+k stack was ok with 15 players left, but i definitely need to pick up some more chips to be able to play my game at the final table. anyway, the button shoved 345k and i looked down at AT off. i quickly made the call and the button showed me J9. the flop was clean, the turn was clean, the river was one that cocksucker the J. i was back to being crippled (well hobbled anyway) with about 10 big blinds. the blinds promptly went up to 40k and with about 350k, it was looking bleak for our hero.
i hung in however, and shoved about 3 times every 2 orbits at the short-handed table and was never called. eventually the guy who doubled through me with the J9 lost a big race and we were down to the final 10. we were at the final table. well physically anyway. most poker tournaments have a flat payout structure between 10th and 12th place. so even though we were down to 1 table, the pay-jumps would not start until the 10th player busted.
i brought just over 400k to the final table. the dealer high-carded for the button and i was unlucky enough to start as the big blind. the first hand of the FT was dealt and it was folded around to one of the chipleaders in the cutoff. he opened to 110k. i looked down at A8o in the bb and decided to go with it. i shoved my 400k. amazingly, he tanked and folded even though he had about 1.5 million and was getting a disgusting price. nice. i was up to 500k and change. the next hand is folded around to a bad player in late position who also opened for 110k. he seemed weak, so i decided to shove from the sb with Ah9h. he tanked and foolishly called off the additional 400k from his approx. 1.2 million stack. i tabled my hand and his shoulders slumped as he tabled A8o. the dealer spread the flop and it was 865 with one heart. i got outflopped but had some outs. unfortunately those little bastards didn't come through for me and i was out in 10th place. $2770 for 10th place stung like a ball-peen hammer blow to the left nut when 1st was going to be paid $65k. if i won my final hand i would have been right in the middle of the pack in chips and in outstanding shape to chop the tourney for $25k or more.
anyway, i've got to hit the rollaway sack as there are battles to be fought again tomorrow. i'll try to get another blog up in a day or two.
btw... congratulations to two of my friends named Steven who made WSOP final tables this week. steve burkholder (UFman2, PiKappRaider) took 2nd in the $1500 PLO event for close to $200k and steve karp took 2nd in the $1500 NLHE for over $440k. well played sirs.
