ITH Poker Forum

[chrisjp]

And here we go. Yes I played the daily Deepstack and some STT sats earlier in the week. But this is the real deal with a Bracelet up for grabs.

Event 8, $1K NL Holdem.

Last year they got 4300 runners and this year should be comparable. They need two starting days to squeeze everyone in. Day 1A is Saturday June 4. My Day 1B is Sunday the 5th. One hour levels and 3000 starting chips. That’s not many chips but at least they start at 25-25.

We will play the same amount of time as they did yesterday. That is 40 minutes into Level 9. Over 2100 played Saturday and they stopped Saturday night when only 15% remained. I think there were 312 survivors, something like that. That was about 11:30pm. Not too long a day. Good.

We are off and running promptly at noon. I am in the Yellow Section. That is an area that is normally reserved for the STTs so I will be moving soon as people bust. In fact you play ten handed in this tournament but we are only 9-handed. The floor says that’s because we will break quickly. I have drawn and unlucky seat assignment, since you don’t want to move and have to reacquaint yourself with the opponents..

My eight opponents at this first table are a mixed bag. But no Young Guns. Good! I’m in Seat 9. Seat 1 is an old guy, and he is terrible. Two more guys are really poor, Seats 3 and 6. Seat 8, to my right, is a 50ish guy that knows everyone and seems good. To his right, Seat 7, sits a 30ish guy who looks and acts like a pro. Under questioning from Seat 8 he “admits” that he is a pro from Washington State and doesn’t know what he will do after the Series. He’s decent, but he’s not that good really. Nice table, too bad it broke after two Levels.

A couple of amusing hands early.

1) I’m in the small blind and UTG, Mr. Know It All in Seat 2, makes a min raise to 50. There are a couple of callers and it’s only 25 to call so I call with

Flop
It’s checked around

Turn:
Well I’m thinking of betting into this pot. Suddenly Seat 1 bets 300. Oops! Dealer informs him that I am first to act. OK, betting has suddenly become suicidal. I check and Seat 1 bets. Seat 2 calls and the rest of us fold. River is a blank and Seat 1 bets, Seat 2 calls. Seat 1 shows and takes it down. Later, Seat 2 says he flopped a set of Aces. Maybe. If so he’s a lousy player.

2) Three way pot with Seat 2 and Seat 6, the bad player. I raise with some hand at the bottom of my range, Seat 2 reraises, and Seat 6 says, “I guess it’s time to go home.” Then he pushes like 15BBs. It’s back to me but before I act Seat 2 blurts out, “What’d you say?” I fold naturally. Then Seat 2 turns up his hand: . “I’m folding this but only because you said what you said.” Seat 6 kind of looked sheepish.

Note to Seat 2: “You, sir, are an idiot!” Sure it was a good fold, but don't let the fish know why or what you have. Idiot!

Now an intriguing hand develops. I’ll remember this one for a long time. Seat 2, UTG raises to 50, min raise. Bad player calls. I’m in the SB with . I call. BB, the Old Guy in the BB, also calls.

Flop:
It’s checked around. I thought about betting but felt it was better to check.

Turn:
Time to bet. I bet 125 into 200 chip pot. Old guy calls and the rest fold. Now there is 450 in the pot.

River:
Good Lord! Gin!! OK now what to do. I have about 2700 behind and the Old Guy has about that much, maybe just a bit less.

I take my time here. Not a lot of time but I’m thinking quickly. Acting like I’m counting the pot. Oh boy…if he has an Ace he just made a wheel! And if he has a 6 he may think he’s beating my wheel. As Dorfman says, “This is great!”

Plan A. Bet the pot. He’ll call with a wheel for sure and maybe lighter…and may raise with a six.
Plan B. Just flip a $1K yellow chip out there. He’ll probably call with a wheel, but not otherwise.
Plan C. Go for the jugular. “All in!”

Times a wasting. Time to act. I push 425 out there. He says, “I call…you got a six?” I turn over the nuts. Seat 1 is beside himself.

Seat 1 tables . He just smooth called my turn bet with a wheel? And he called preflop with A3o? Hmmmm

But I’m not particularly happy as I stack my chips. I decide I should have opted for Plan B. The Yellow Chip. And now that I’ve thought some more I think it’s clear. Just push. If he has the wheel he’ll likely call…if he has a six he’ll call for sure. Now I’m not saying he should but it’s pretty likely. Got to go for it here, especially against a bad player. I think this is a big mistake, especially when I was considering it. Man, not good by me. But I don’t let it bother me…until today. Just stay in the moment.


I get AA UTG+1 in the Second Level, 25-50, and raise to 150. Seat 2 calls.

Flop
Nice flop! The pot is $325 and I bet $100. He calls.

Turn:
Now what. I bet $200 and he folds, saying he had JJ. I should have checked here but a bet is ok I think to try to win a big pot. Unless he has a Q or AK he isn’t going to lose any more anyway. Well maybe, maybe not. Maybe he’ll hit a set on the river. Next time maybe I’ll check the turn. Still when he calls that scary flop he should have something pretty decent. Guess not. JJ was pretty bad. Too bad he didn’t hit his set.

I had moved up to almost 4000 but drifted back to my starting stack of 3000 by the first break. I meet up with nside, who has <2K and Yankees who is playing the satellites. Nside is down to 20BBs but still not out of it at all. Now I got moved to a new table just before the break. Now I’m in the Green Section—where they run Cash Games, so that will be next to break. Darn it. Oh well.

Level 3. This table has more chips but fortunately no one appears real good. Actually there were two open seats and the 50ish guy that was on my right is now on my left. That’s not good. One young player immediately shows his hand…nope he’s not good. I’m in Seat 2 and Seat 5 is a pleasant and obviously wealthy Spaniard who was recently divorced. How do I know? He was a talking Soap Opera. He left his first wife. His second wife left him. Now he is getting married in August in Vegas because, “By the time you reach #3 you shouldn’t make a big deal of it.” He was pretty funny.

Seat 5 is obviously loosey goosey. He limps in MP1, two more limpers, SB completes, and I am in the BB. I’ve got about 2800 and I raise to 600 hoping to take it down—we’ll see. Mr. Spaniard calls, and the rest fold.

Flop:

Pretty ugly but he likely has missed too. I bet 500. He immediately raises me to 1600. Damn. Well yeah he likely missed, but if he has a small pair will I chase him out on that board? No way. But obviously the flop didn’t miss him. He might even have a set. But it doesn’t matter. I fold. Ugh. Right off the bat down to 1800 at this table. Wonderful.

Mr Spaniard just gives my chips away quickly, with interest. He folds one hand on the river. Then this one comes up. A studious looking player in Seat 10 raises MP. He calls.

Flop:

Studious c-bets and Spaniard calls.

Turn:

Studious now bets again, and Spaniard moves in. It’s a pretty big overbet, but Studious has him covered. Studious goes into the tank and eventually calls, flipping up . What took you so long?

Spaniard starts to turn his cards up and says, “Oh no, I thought I had a flush draw.” He tables . I’m not convinced he thought he had a flush draw. Maybe. The river is a brick and he gracefully exits; handshaking Studious as he departs.

Lo and behold here comes the Director with Seat cards. Another table change. Now I get moved to Black 33. Whoopee. This means I’m here for the duration. Black is the last to break and they break High to Low. About 33 tables will remain at the end of Day 1 so I’m safe. Hope this table is a soft one. I’m in Seat 1 and one player is instantly recognizable. Greg Raymer, aka Fossilman, World Series Main Event Champion 2004 is sitting right there in Seat 5. Big as life. And he’s big, that’s for sure. Man he truly has those Popeye forearms. Amazing. He’s in a hand and contemplating a call on the river. He eventually folds and it leaves him with a little bit less than me. He’s short and in danger too. I start to take my seat….but there’s some ink on it. I rub it a bit and it comes off on my thumb. “Floor….I need a new seat…literally!” As the cards are being dealt I am supplied with a clean chair. That was fast.

Very first hand… UTG in Seat 10 limps. I look down and see . Wow. I raise to 400. We are playing 50-100. It folds to a guy in Seat 7 that is a bit shorter than me. He says, “I’m all in.” Well fancy that. Seat 10 folds without much thought and I call. Seat 7 tables . Sweet. Now I have to win it. Board comes out with no help to him. Cya. Seat 4, a young Asian, says, “Welcome to the table!” He turns out to be a nice guy.

So I’m right back to starting stack--lucky me. Let’s check out this table. Within a couple of orbits I’ve got a good handle on it.
Seat 2 looks just like Sandsstorm. Kinda eerie. I already saw a Hilger clone, now an Albert clone. He later comments on my Suncoast Cap. Suncoast is a locals casino near where I live. Turns out he works in the Valet there. He’s a pretty good player, but has many flaws. Anyway he’s kind of short and playing tight.
So is the older gentlemen in Seat 3. Great—two weak tight players to my left. Perfect!.
Seat 4 seems pretty good, not great but a threat. Then Raymer of course.
Seat 6 is one of these types that raises and folds a lot. Terrific. I mean he looked like he’d be great. 30yo. Tan. Immaculate stubbly beard. Shades. Shuffles the chips perfectly. But he’s terrible lol.
An old guy sits down in Seat 7. He’s got some chips. He’s got to be in his 70s, but he plays quite well.
Seat 8 looks very accomplished. He’s got nice long sleeved dress shirt on, and it’s got a Full Tilt logo pasted to it. It soon becomes apparent that he is a Red Pro there. His name: Martin Kabrhel. He’s one of two Czech Republic Red Pros. I didn’t discover his last name until I did some hunting at Full Tilt after I got home last night. He’s good. He’s really really good. Lots more on him later.
Seats 9 and 10 are another couple of younger guys, but terrible. Took awhile to get a line on them though. But not too long.. They looked like they might be good. Nope.

Off we go.

I’m card dead and blinding away. I got the impression that Raymer would be impatient with 15BBs, but he wasn’t. He sat there like me for a while. Pushed once—no callers.

OK time to stop for the night. Gotta finish this before I go play Venetian Deep Stack tomorrow.

Chris

[chrisjp]

Raymer is a pleasant guy. He's not talking a lot, but he does mention that is a hand that he never loses with, whether ahead or behind. Seat 2 comments, "That's the same hand you won the Main Event with right?" Errr.....yeah.
Raymer briefly talks about SB's calling range v. Raymer's pushing range yada yada. Earlier he talked about how some hand is 64% v. another hand preflop. I would never talk about things like this at the table, but then Raymer has no misguided image to protect that's for sure.

We are just about at the end of Level 3, 50-100, and are going to Level 4, 75-150. I'm in the HJ with 55. Nope, M too big, I fold. SB now makes a raise to 325 and Raymer pushes his 1600. SB in the tank. I don't get it. SB is a decent player and since he didn't put Raymer all in he either has a complete bluff or he's got a good enough hand to call versus Raymer's pushing range. It's got to be an easy call or fold. After about a minute, maybe less, SB calls. It wasn't a huge tank, but still I didn't get it. Have to downgrade SB some.

SB: AJo Wow, should be a snap call.
Raymer: ATo I could tell Raymer was disappointed because after the tank by SB Raymer figured he was ahead

Board comes QQxQx and Raymer is history. However, before he departs he makes a very nice gesture. Raymer, as almost all of you know, uses a fossil as a card protector. He asks SB his name and starts writing on it before he gives it to him: "Ed Smith, you got me! Greg Raymer. Event 8 WSOP 6/5/2011" Very nice of him...good marketing too. I wanted it!!

Raymer is replaced by a younger guy with some chips. He looks good...nope. Not a bad player but too solid. Reminds me of the comment by a very good player on 2+2. "Solid=Shitty". You just can't be predictable against other good players.

Normally I never take notes, but I wanted to write down Raymer's end so I'm jotting something on the back of the Structure Sheet just as nside walks up. Oops, this is not good...he must be busto. Yup, sharkie no more, but he says, "Ah, I've caught you cheating, you're taking notes!" Yup, guilty as charged. In fact through the next 3 hours I jot down 3 hands that Martin played against other players so I'd remember to comment on them. Well not the whole hands but like, "A3dd in the CO". The Czech guy is obviously so advanced in his thinking that I wanted to make sure to remember to analyze them later.

Typically I'll write up a report at the conclusion of a tournament as soon as practical. But inevitably, a few hours later, a hand pops into my head that I'd forgotten about. If it's a good one I'll either revise the original report or just post it in the thread. Kind of a pain, but I like to reread these much later to see if I can get more out of them. These are fun to write, but also helpful for my game. Especially when you guys bring up something I hadn't considered. Anyway, wasn't going to forget Martin's hands.

I'd stolen a couple and 3bet all in against Seat 6 with AK. He folded.

Key hand coming up. I'll label this one....The Golden Mistake. I was close to 3500. We're past the second break and on to Level 5. 100-200 no ante. Folds to me in the CO with . I raise to 525 putting a baby blue ($500) and a green ($25) chip in the pot. The dealer speaks up, "Sir, you have to complete the bet." I look down and see I've put a black ($100) and a green ($25) in the pot. But I recover quickly and try to act like I intended to limp in. I don't know whether or not they bought it...a good player wouldn't...but I actually think they did. I've been such a tight player here.

Anyway the SB completes and the BB, The Fossil Winner, checks.

Flop:
They check to me and I bet 350 into 600. SB folds and FW raises to 800. OK I've watched this guy for a while and he's pretty aggro and stubborn when in pots. He thinks I limped intentionally, I think, and if so he'll never put me on AQ. Ace-rag suited is more like it. So let's go into Rope-A-Dope mode and let him bluff off his chips--or think he's betting the best hand. I call.

Turn:
He makes a pretty big bet leaving me only $1200 behind. I try to act dorky and scared as I call. Subtle dorky. .

River:
He puts me in. I snap call and flip up my hand. He insta mucks. OK Chris, don't snap call next time and wait for him to show. But I was so sure I'd won and so happy about how I played the hand that I got a bit carried away. "Nice hand," said FW. An hour later he commented on this one, saying what a stupid river bet he made. Sounds like a busted flush to me.

I'm up to more than 7000 now! Not a huge stack by any means, but a bit of breathing room.

More later--

[chrisjp]

Yike, gotta rap this up. Playing Deepstack today at Venetian with Yanks. Maybe nside? Maybe he's got a Limit Bracelet Event today. Don't remember. It's fun with all these tournaments going on.

I get AKo in ep and raise. Fossil Winner calls. Flop is three babies. I bet 500 into like 1500. He raises me. Darn, I hate AK on a low flop. Just should have ck/folded against him in particular. That's a lot of chips gone, but nothing I can do about it now.

Martin Kabhrel plays some interesting hands. Now he is a super deliberate player when in a hand. Even more than Matthew. Even more than me and I'm quite deliberate. He thinks a while, cuts out his bet, neatly stacks it, and pushes it just out in front of his chips. As loose and good as he is...well he does have a lot to think about.

Turns out that both Seat 6 and Seat 7 will fold to 3bets. They do it a lot, especially Seat 6 who's pretty active. Kabhrel starts min raising some. Seat 6 raises to 550, a 350 raise. Martin 3bets to 1025. There is discussion about whether that's a legal 3bet. Of course it is.

He gets involved in a pot with FossilWinner. Martin raises UTG. FW calls.
Flop:
Martin c-bets and FW calls.

Turn:
Martin makes a healthy bet of almost the pot. FW calls.

River:
Martin puts FW in. It's a healthy pot of 10K in chips if called. FW quickly calls.

Martin:
FW:

An hour later Martin asks FW if he would have called had he bricked the river. He's says probably. It's obvious he would have. Whether he should is another matter.
Martin loves raising in ep with Ax as long as x is a wheel card and usually suited. I've got to do that more.

Martin raises in MP. Bad passive player two to his left calls.

Flop:
Martin c-bets, BadPlayer calls

Turn: Scary card
Martin bets, BadPlayer calls

River:
Bad Player has just over a pot size bet left. Martin puts him in. He calls. Martin flips
Cya

Martin raises OTB and the new player two to his left, a quiet studious looking guy but he appears tight, calls in the BB
Flop:
BB checks, Martin cbets, BB calls

Turn:
BB checks, Martin bets, BB calls

River:
BB checks, Martin checks
BB doesn't want to show. But he's forced to since he doesn't muck. He shows
It's good!
I thought this one was particularly fascinating. Obviously Martin didn't figure on the guy calling with such a weak hand pre and also calling the flop with a gut shot. When the flush came in on the river, as well as one of the oesd, well the guy had to have at least a pair right? Anyway Martiin thought a third barrel was futile. It wouldn't have been. What do you think Martin had...QJ?

The solid guy in Seat 5 raises. Seat 6 three bets smallish. Martin contemplates and 4bets smallish. Back to Seat 5 who makes a big 5 bet. Seat 6 folds and so does Martin. Martin starts talking about the hand, "King-King, right?" The guy kind of looks sheepish and says, "Yeah." Martin tells him "I had JJ." Who knows, probably true. Now Martin's demeanor was very friendly and relaxed. He wasn't putting the guy down at all or trying to embarrass him. He simply wanted his read confirmed. Mission accomplished.

Despite the fact that Martin has won several hands from Seat 6 by 3-betting him preflop his stack is still about 10K. He makes a point of holding on to the greens and blacks. The small denomination chips. Wants to build the towers.

Seat 9 busts and is replaced by a non-stop chatterbox from Australia. He's a kid and pleasant enough, but quite immature. He wants to know all about this Red Pro he's sitting next to and strikes up a conversation immediately. That's how I found out the Martin was from the Czech Republic. Also that he will be attending the Aussie Millions in January on a "working vacation." Seat 9 is the know-it-all type that constantly talks about his hand.

Martin raises, Seat 9 three bets. Seat 2 now wakes up and moves in. Martin folds of course, and Seat 9 goes into the tank. Yada, yada, "Your range must be AK, JJ+ right?" This is not permitted under the rules but no one says anything. More inane comments and I certainly know he's going to fold. Finally he does. Very annoying.

Martin is down to about 8000. He's SB. UTG, who has like 2000 left, pushes. Seat 2 now has a stack and he calls. Calls? Folds to Martin and he really doesn't play in pace here. Pretty quickly he says, "I'm all in." Folds back to Seat 2 who doesn't think too long. Well it's like 6000 to win well over 12K, but it will dent Seat 2 pretty good. Seat 2 folds.

BB:
Martin

Board comes KJTxA. BB, Happy Birthday! Seat 2 says he had AQ. I absolutely 100% believe him. Why didn't he isolate and push himself? Well, he's not that good a player. Why didn't he call the obvious iso by Martin? Well he's not that good. I do think that Martin gave his weak holding away a bit by pushing so quickly. But maybe not. Maybe that was the thing to do to get Seat 2 off his hand. Had he been deliberate like always maybe Seat 2 would have inferred weakness. Dunno. Nice move by Martin, one that I would have done for sure. It just didn't work this time.

My goodness, Martin and I have the same amount of chips. I've been so card dead it's not funny. But I'm patient. And I still can't get anything. We have been playing 100-200a25 now and are approaching the end of Level 6 and the dinner break. Martin raises and folds to a reraise. Almost dinner now. Martin pushes like 3500. Seat 2 calls. Everyone else folds and turn them up gentlemen:

Martin
Seat 2

Oops, Seat 2 didn't learn from the other one and still didn't isolate. Anyway, it didn't matter this time. The board bricked out and Martin was history. Martin should have folded his hand according to Sheet's tables. But the push was right for two reasons. He doesn't want to come back after the 90 minute dinner break with a measly M of 5. And the players' calling ranges are tighter than they should be, so he can exploit that.

It's dinner time. Ugh. I've got an atrocious stack of 3000. When we come back I'll be in the BB. It will be 150-300a25 or 700 a round. M of barely over 4. Sheesh. But I've been here before and come back. Was so card dead after that AK though, and Martin was so active. Couldn't do a thing.

I head to the Cafeteria and use my $10 voucher to buy the Salad there. It's huge and they put whatever fixings and dressing you want. Really good. OK the price is $12 so it cost me $2. Good deal! I make it to go...all the tables in the Cafeteria are occupied...but that's OK. I'm leaving anyway. I walk the 5 minutes over to the Sports Book and watch the last half of the 4th Quarter of Heat/Mavericks Game 3. Crowd was rooting and chanting for the Mavs. "Defense! Defense!." Anyway it quieted way down when it was over. I have a leisurely dinner and then head back over toward the poker room. Nside, yanks and taarvark are playing the 6pm Daily over in the Amazon Room. They are on break too so I go over and say "hi". Bugs is there too. There is talk of beers. nside asks yanks how many he's had. "Four". nside is very unimpressed. "I've had nine." Mr Nine Beers is doing quite well thank you. He's got a big stack.

Back to my table...gl guys!

Seat 5 had busted out before the break on a big pot--to Seat 2. Seat 2 had called in the blinds with A2s. Flop was A2x and Seat 2 check raised Seat 5 all in. Seat 5s flush draw didn't come in. And he's replaced by Mister Clueless. Total space cadet and only with about 3K in chips. Back to the wars. I need cards fast.

I look down and push TT UTG. Everyone folds. Easy game. I click up to M=5. I get nothing for and orbit and I'm back in to UTG again. I look down and push TT UTG. Everyone folds. Is this Ground Hog Day?

Now I'm in the BB with close to 4000 chips. FossilWinner, who has over 10K, just limps for 300. What? OK, he's pretty predictable and that's almost for sure two broadways or a medium small pair. Maybe, just maybe, some sort of lower suited connectors. No way is it a monster...well almost no way. Now it folds to Seat 5 and he raises to 700.
I swear, I'm pretty sure he didn't even know that FossilWinner had limped. It folds to me. I have what I consider to be a very interesting situation. I will post this hand in a separate MTT thread, and for right now I'm just going to report the facts.

I have I call. FossilWinner goes into the tank for like 45 seconds. Not super long but he's definitely thinking. Then he calls.

Flop:

Pot is 2600. I push my 3200 and FossilWinner calls. Clueless folds and FossilWinner tables

No help for me and I'm out. I finish about 500th just considering today's field of 2000+ There were 4150 or so total and they are paying 432 places. First is over $600K. Oh well. Lots of time left.

I would love people's comments on this last hand. I have given it a lot of thought and think the situation is quite interesting. Yes, I considered pushing/squeezing preflop at the time.... I don't consider calling or pushing to be optimum preflop move now. God no, folding isn't correct either of course.

Next Bracelet Event for me will be the $1K NL next Sunday. See you there!

Chris

[chrisjp]

As they head into Day 3 there are 59 players remaining. Pearljammer, aka Jon Turner, is in the lead! Go PJ!

[nsidestrate]

Yike, gotta rap this up. Playing Deepstack today at Venetian with Yanks. Maybe nside? Maybe he's got a Limit Bracelet Event today. Don't remember. It's fun with all these tournaments going on.

Limit tourney tomorrow. Cash today. Don't want to make day 2 of the DSE and miss my best event.

[chrisjp]

I may have gotten lucky but all in all three of my tables were pretty soft. Well there were some very tough players obviously, but not many. Not as many 21-25yo as last year. That's for sure. My last table kept getting softer, not tougher. That's certainly unusual. Bummer I couldn't get some chips there like Seat 2 did.

Chris

[maf66]

Great report as always Chris. Good luck in your other events.