ThePokerResource.net: A Rounder’s blog

WSOP 2008 Main Event, Day 2 – starting chip stack: $57,575

What a day…what almost was a smooth ride from start to finish ended with a huge debacle with 5 mins left in the night. Bottom line is I end the day with 90k in chips, probably a tad below average. The blinds tomorrow will be 800-1600 with a 200 ante so I still have a lot of play.

250-500 antes of 50

I scan my table and there are no big names or huge stacks. I smooth call a raise from this European kid of 1500 with K7d. I wanted to make a statement b/c generally young Euros are very aggressive and I didn’t want him to run over the table just yet. The BB calls and the flop rolls off 1062 with 2 diamonds. The kid bets 2300 which I call, and the BB folds. The turn brings gin, the Ad, and he checks. I quickly bet 5k which he calls. The river brings a black 7 and now he decides to lead for 11k (yum, yum). I raise to 33k total and he folds after a minute. Quickly up to 75k and feeling good.

I’ve been very active and I open with the 109h in the cutoff. This old man calls on the button and so does another old man from the BB. The flop comes off 556 with 2 clubs, the BB checks, so I lead for 3500 b/c it’s a good bluff flop. Only the BB calls. The turn brings a 6d and the BB checks. I decide to put some pressure on him and bet 7k. He deliberates and then moves in on me for 20k or so. I obviously fold and am not happy about dumping pretty close to all my profit from the first level.

I end the level with about 60k.

300-600 antes of 75

This Spanish kid takes an empty seat with a 120k or so. This guy is absolute animal. Probably the most aggressive player I’ve ever played with. Mainly b/c he’s fearless after the flop, putting max pressure, not just betting but moving in. So I just play real tight hoping to trap. Russell Rosenbloom takes an empty seat and I just smooth call his raise with KK. We see the flop 4 handed and it comes off J74. It is checked to me so I bet 3500 into an 8k pot and only a tight Euro on the button calls. The turn is a nice card, the 2d, I lead for 7k and he folds after about a minute. Nothing major happens the rest of this level and I end with about 70k or so.

400-800 with a 100 ante

The dynamic of this game has changed dramatically. The Spaniard loses a real sick pot after opening like 5 out of the first 7 hands. He raises to 2100 and the old man (who over raises every time he plays) makes it 16k and the Spaniard chips for 100k. After about a minute the old man calls off his last 50k and turns over AKc, but the Spaniard has the two red aces. The flop comes off KQJ all hearts but the turn is the Ks and the Spaniard loses a 120k pot. Now this guy is completely steamed up and I can feel the wheels spinning. I’m praying to catch a hand to double and win a huge pot from him. The Euro kid raises to 2k on the button and the Spaniard makes it 8k from the BB. Then the kid reraises to 12k more and the Spaniard ships for 60k total. The kid calls with KK the Spaniard 97h. The flop is sick, Q107 with 2 hearts, the turn a 3h and the river a 7. The Spaniard busts the kid. This table is so sick! I play real tight now and fold the rest of the level.

Brad Booth comes to the table with a bout 80k all in small denomination chips. This can only mean 1 or 2 things. He either is stealing a lot or he had lost a few huge pots and had to pay out with the big chips. He plays super aggressive but people just keep coming over the top of him and he loses a big pot to the Spaniard who moves in on him on the turn. (He had no idea how sick this Spaniard is). Anyways he gets all the way down to 16k in chips 1 hr at this table and the old man raises to 6k from the cutoff. Brad calls the 6k with a 15k effective stack from the BB. The flop is Q98 and after a minute brad shoves his last 9k and the old man calls him. K10s for Brad and 99 for the old man. The board bricks off and Brad is out. Seriously, this is one of the worst played hands I’ve seen from a big name pro in a long time. The old man opened for 7.5 BBs and he called with K10…unreal. I play real tight the rest of the level and go into the dinner break with about 80k.

500-1000 antes of 100

I’m still playing real tight b/c the table is pretty ridiculous. The Spaniard raises to 2500, I smooth call w/AQs and Mike Wattel (high stakes player) calls from the BB. The flop comes J75, all clubs. They both check to me so I take a stab, bet 6500 and they both fold….whew. I smooth call the Spaniard with 65s and we see the flop heads up. 1082 rainbow, he checks, I bet 5500 and he folds. He is giving me respect and I have become a little “buddy buddy” with him in hopes to play smaller pots. I’m glad I have position on him.

I somehow end the level with 100k. I don’t really remember any significant hands at all.

600-1200 antes of 100

Now the antes and blinds are finally at a good ratio. In other words, it costs 3600 a round and the opening raise is about that. I have really played tight and since the Spaniard has slowed down I want to open up my game a lot. I limp early with A9s, everyone folds and I see a flop with Russell l. It comes off K54, he checks and I bet 1500 to take it down. No one has limped at all for the last 3 hours and I want to see more flops so I’m going to limp more often. Shortly after, I limp in middle position with 78s and see the flop with both blinds. Flop comes off KK5 with 2 diamonds. The SB checks but the BB bets 3500. After about 20 seconds I decide to float him and smooth call. The turn brings a 2h and he bets 7k. I make it 20k total and after about 30 seconds he folds. I know he has to respect me, and now we have played about 8 hours of poker together today. I never got out of line and never raised anyone. I chip up to about 120k. I reraise this new kid who is pretty active with AQ and he folds. This is my first reraise preflop all day.

About a half hour later, I open on the button to 3k with the J8d and only the BB calls. The flop comes off A105 with 2 clubs and the BB (tight Euro) leads for 3300. After about 30 seconds I make it 9k with nothing. Earlier in the day he did the same thing and I folded pretty quickly b/c I had nothing. After about a minute he folds.

I raise with AQ off and the sb calls. The flop comes Q62 with 2 hearts. He checks, I bet 4k and then he makes it 15k total leaving him 40k left. WOW, what a tough spot for me. I’m really burning here. Top pair top kicker (TPTK) is most certainly good here but who knows, this player hasn’t gotten out of line all day. I deliberate for a minute and call. I probably should have just moved in but would feel so stupid if he shows me a set of 6s. Anyways, the turn is the Kd and he checks and I quickly check. At this point all I keep thinking is “NO HEART, NO HEART, NO HEART”. So what comes on the river, the 4 of hearts. I’m disgusted and ready to give up on the hand. To my surprise, he checks, I quickly check and he turns over AJ off for a stone bluff. Wow, I guess I passed the first test but he didn’t pull through on his bluff. (Thank god it wasn’t the Spaniard).

I’m up to my peak at 135k and think to myself, I haven’t played a pot over 50k the whole day and I’m almost up to 150k. I guess I spoke too soon. Now the cooler happens, with about 5 minutes left in the day the Spaniard opens on the button to 3500 and I smooth call with AdQs out of the small blind. Normally, this is a clear reraise but the Spaniard makes huge calls preflop to reraises and I’ve been calling his raises only. I don’t want to play a huge pot here but with AQ, I can’t just fold either. Anyways, the flop comes off QJ5 all diamonds, what a flop for me. TPTK with the nut flush draw. I check and he bets 4k which I quickly call. I don’t want to play a huge pot here and there aren’t that many bad cards so I don’t mind checking to him on all streets. The turn is a 6s. I check and now he fires out 12….whoa, that’s a pretty big bet there. After about 30 seconds I call. I’m not happy about this b/c he’s probably going to fire huge on the river. The river is a 8s and I check and now he bets 33k. DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is not much I can do here. My hand is very big and the last time he bet 40k he showed the old man 8 high for a stone bluff. I don’t think I can fold here so I finally call. I feel like it’s 50/50 he has a huge hand or nothing. He turns over 96d for a flush and scoops this 100k pot leaving me down to 83k. I’m completely demoralized and deflated.

Literally, the last hand of the night the young kid opens for 3100 and I reraise to 11500 with AK off. He takes about a minute and I know he’s thinking of reraising mainly b/c he thinks I’m steaming. I already decided if he does I’m moving in here for my whole 80k. I start thinking about how much of a disaster this could be to bust on the last hand of the night so I finally tell him, “I got it man, I’ll show”. I know, I know, kind of a copout, but seriously. The last hand of the night, people were clapping and everything, tables were bagging chips and I can’t help but think of this disaster about to happen. Finally, he folds and I table AK as promised and he says “nice hand.” I asked him if he was gonna reraise and he said he thought about it for awhile. I knew it. I should have let him so I can gobble up another 20k to my stack. Boo.

Overall, I’m really happy about my play. Had KK once and a few big aces and that’s it. I adjusted to my table and really tried to apply the small ball approach to the game. Sometimes there is nothing you can do when you have a big hand and a cannon has a bigger hand. I got really unlucky with the AQ at the end but poker can be such an unforgiving game. In retrospect, if I reraise with AQ and the Spaniard calls a big reraise I would have busted out. The pot would have been so big that I would have had to bet like 20k and if he decides to raise and with TPTK and the nut flush draw, it’s all in for me and all out. So I guess there is something to be grateful about. Anyways, it’s already 3 am and I start back up at 12 noon.

KK