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Pete J, Bobby B, CBU, and I ventured westward to participate in Event 4, $1,000 buy-in No Limit Hold’em Stimulus Event, at the World Series of Poker. We arrived Friday, May 29th on different flights but had dinner plans for that evening at the Palm Restaurant in the Forum shops.
After dinner consisting of a tasty 3lb lobster, we returned to the RIO and I entered a 2/5 NL game. This was the softest table I have ever played. I won several small pots right away and am up 100 or so when I get JJ. I raise to 20, small blind calls, and the big blind in seat 10 shoves 600 all-in and covers me by 100. I fold but this could get fun. This was obviously his style of play as he was willing to shove his stack in and was only called once after flopping a full house with 9-7 on a board of 977, 10, J. Later, Seat 10 raised to 20 and I 3-bet to 80 with AA. Seat 6 is an older guy that was splashing around and he shoves all-in, seat 10 folds, and I call. 6 has 77 and catches a 7 on the turn, puke. 5 or 6 hands later I have 9s8s and seat 6 makes it 15 to go, seat 10 calls and I call from the button. Flop is 1073. Seat 6 makes it 45, 10 folds and I call. Turn is 6, Seat 6 shoves all in for 390 and I snap. He has J10 and is drawing dead. I could never get in another hand with seat 10 and after 3 hours was up 720 and called it a night.
Saturday was day 1 for Pete, Bobby, and CBU and mine was Sunday. My plan was to play sit n go’s all day Saturday but did not take into account that this tournament would take over all the tables and the SNG’s would be delayed until 3 or 4 p.m. So instead, went to the mall with the wife, took a nap, and I played some 2/5 again. Played for 3 hours and was up $75. Then that evening, Angele and I went to see “LOVE” at the Mirage. What a great show! After the show we returned to the RIO and checked on CBU who was still alive in Event 4. We went to the VooDoo lounge on the 51st floor for drinks and waited for CBU to finish day 1. He met us there after surviving to day 2 and we all threw back some cocktails. We decided it was smart to sit and play a drunken blackjack session and we blew our brains out.
Sunday I slept in for me in Vegas and was up at 9am and ready for my day 1 in Event 4. I took seat 6 and was ready to play. Kathy Liebert was in seat 2 and an internet kid in Seat 3. The kid’s friend was at the next table and won an event last year and played with Ms. Liebert. Seat 9 was up to 8k in the first 10 hands when he flopped quads with QQ, made the nut straight with J-10, flopped a set with 44 that rivered a boat, and rivered the nut flush.
I attempted a bluff on seat nine that failed. 9 limps and there is one caller and I make it 125 (blinds 25-25) with 8d7d from the button and 9 calls. Flop is 6h6d2s. Checked to me and I C-bet for 225 and 9 calls. Turn is Kd, 9 checks, I check. River is As. 9 checks and I wager 525 and he tanks then calls with 44. Nice hand sir…..
So down to a little below 2k and I have JJ in MP. Internet kid in 3 had been raising and reraising aggressively. I make it 125 with blinds 25-50 and he makes it 400 from the BB. Is he protecting his blind or just making a move? I can’t call here as I would expect an open shove on any flop and our stacks are just so small. So it is fold or shove? I shove and am called by QQ and I am busto in level 2.
I play some 2/5 again and up 35 before dinner. We dined at the VooDoo Steakhouse at the RIO on the 50th floor and it was very good. After dinner another 2/5 session was played and was stuck 400. No memorable hands.
Next day, Monday, I played SNG’s and had some success. CBU started his day 2 on Monday and cashed in 537th place. We decided to go to dinner to celebrate and chose Dos Caminos at the Pallazzo. However, I was involved in a SNG and CBU and Angele were waiting for me to finish. Playing in a 325 SNG I made it down to 4 players. Redneck to my right is chip leader due to sheer luck and the other two players are solid. I am in the BB and the UTG ships it in and I insta call with 99. UTG has 4s4c and the flop is Ad2c3c. Turn is 10c and river is Ac. Nice running clubs to give UTG a flush.
So I leave for dinner on Full Blown Nuclear Monkey Tilt. At Dos Caminos I order a shot of Don Julio Blanco and a Margarita. After dinner we return to the RIO and I chop two SNG’s and one of them gives me 3 500 chips. I did lay two beats on this SNG. Down to 5 I have JJ in the BB and the button raises and I call knowing if under’s flop, I am shoving. Flop is QQ4. I shove and KK calls and a Beautiful Jack-Ball on turn to bust him. Then, 4 handed I beat QQ with A-10 as an Ace is the door card.
Tuesday morning we meet for breakfast and CBU convinces me to enter Event 7, $1,500 NLHE, with my 3 500 tourney chips despite having a 5:15pm flight. Tourney starts at noon and I have a great table draw with all the young aggressive players on my right and the old, tight players on my left. I have AA, flop a set of 6’s, and flop 2 pair to almost double my stack. Our table was one of the first to break but right before we did, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson joined our table as a late registration. He is a very nice man and still remembered the hand he busted Pete out on Saturday in event 4.
At my new table, I am seated two to the left of Jerry Yang, 2007 Main Event Champion. Early on, I have KK and make a standard raise and am shoved on by QQ. I call and hold up increase my stack to 16k. I am in the 9 seat and a new player is moved into the 3 seat. I start to catch some hands raising and winning some pots preflop and a few during seat 3’s blinds. I receive a couple glares from him and on the next orbit in his big blind as the cards are being shuffled I think, “if I receive pocket aces here I bust him.” First card is Ac and the second is Ad. Blinds are 100-200 and I make my standard raise of 550. 10 seat goes all-in for 1800 with AJ and seat 3 shoves all-in with 99 and my rockets hold-up pushing my stack to 24k. Only ended up playing one pot with Mr. Yang and despite what anyone thinks of his poker skills, he is a very nice and polite man.
My table breaks again and I get moved to a table near the stage area and I am two to the right of Doug Lee who has about 45k in chips. The 3rd hand I have KK again and am shoved on by QQ and hold up pushing my stack to 32k. Doug Lee is very aggressive and had a good read on the players. My hope was to trap him. I was in seat 9, Lee in 7 and a red neck in 6. The red neck was really splashing around and tried to play tricky as he limped in with AA and was just trying to be fancy. Lee tried to play every pot with him with what I could only assume was almost any two.
UTG with blinds 100-200 and a 25 ante, I make it 550 with 88. Seat 6 and 7 call with almost 2k in the pot. Flop is Ks8s6c. I lead for 1,750 which I had led into Lee once before on a bluff hoping to induce some action. Well, seat 6 makes it 4,700 to go and Lee insta calls. Wow, I have some options here. Seems obvious 6 has AK and Lee is on some kind of draw. I think my only play here is to push all-in and that is what I did. Redneck in 6 looks like I did a “Carrie Underwood” to his 4-wheel drive and tanks for 3 or 4 minutes but finally folds. Lee goes deep into the tank sliding his chair away from the table. He ponders for 10 minutes or so. After a while I stated “Doug, your hand can’t be that good if it is taking this long” and was not sure if I wanted him to call or not. I am sure he was trying to put me on a hand and I can only assume he had some sort of draw but was afraid I either had a set or a draw better than his and finally folds. During his tank the floor announces our table will break after the hand. After his fold, seat 6 says nice flush draw, I had “AK” and leaves the table. Lee watches him leave and says I knew he had AK as he overplayed every hand. I asked Lee what he had and he would not answer.
My heart was pumping hard after this hand and I sat out a full orbit at my new table with my 44k stack to just calm down. My new table had 4 stacks bigger than mine and 3 micro stacks. An older Asian man in seat 4 was loose and aggressive and put some beats on the short stacks to bust them. I barreled at him unsuccessfully once then made a check raise bluff against him. Only interesting hand was AA in the SB. Seat 5 raised to 1,800 and I made it 3400. He calls and has 12k behind. There is probably not a flop I can fold to considering his stack and decide to plan a check raise. Flop is 865 and I check. He makes it 7k leaving 5k behind which is a queer bet and as I planned, I moved in and he called with 88. Turn was 4 and river was a pretty 7 for a chop….
I made it to the end of level 10 and the end of the night with 22,600 with 338 other players from a starting field of 2791. 297 would get paid. At 1:30 am we bagged our chips and called it a night. As I was walking back through the RIO, Bobby was in the coffee shop and I joined him. I was tired and on edge and relived the day which turned out therapeutic.
Back in my room I slept from 4am to 8:30am and met Bobby for breakfast. Day 2 started at 2pm and I decided to play some sit n go’s but only had time for one and went out in 4th. So for Day 2 of event 7 I was in seat 1 and it was obvious our table would be one of the 1st to break as it was right next to the cash games. Seat 2 showed late missing the first 5 hands and was in the BB to start and me in the SB. I surrendered to a raise but won hands 3 and 4 as I moved in with Ac8c and AK against the big stacks to add about 5k to my stack. I did not play another hand until the bubble burst.
I got moved to a new table with big stacks and mad action. I was surprised at the level of activity 15 or so places from the money. Finally after 8 hands “hand to hand”, we made it to the money! My first WSOP cash in 6 events! My table broke at this time and I was moved to a table with even bigger stacks. Second hand I have KK and after a UTG raiser, I shove my 18k in and take down the pot. I moved in with A10 once without action. The tightest player at the table was in the BB with 50k or so and I move-in from the Hi-Jack with KJ and the Button calls with AK and I bust out in 201st place. With blinds 800-1600 and a 200 ante I just did not have many options. Maybe I could have waited but I thought the spot was good and just ran into a hand.
SO it is 6:30 and a good time for a drink! My salesperson and her friend arrived in town that day coincidently and I told them I would take them to dinner as they are Vegas Newbie’s. I choose BOA as they are staying at the Flamingo. I leave early and decide I will checkout the Caesar’s poker room and sit in a 1/3 NL game while on my 4th cocktail. My big hand is AhKh on a straddle. I raised from the straddle to 25 and have 2 callers. Flop is Qd9d3c. I lead for 80 and have one caller. Ks on turn and I move in and am snap called by AdKd and am being free-rolled. 6d on river is some cruelty. I leave for BOA stuck $400.
I beat the girls to BOA and told the hostess I was waiting on a couple of “cougars”. The cougars arrive 10 minutes later allowing me to finish a martini and start a second. We dined outside with a view towards the south of the strip. My Ahi tuna was excellent. After dinner I suggested they join me at the RIO and so they can see the view from the VooDoo lounge and I think they were impressed.
After they left it was just after midnight and I venture back towards the Amazon room and enter a sit n go. Despite being tired and tipsy I hoover it for two 500 chips and a nice way to finish the day and trip before my 9am flight in the morning.
This is my 3rd WSOP trip and it is amazing how the WSOP is better managed and operated each year. No matter what form of poker one enjoys, it is all available at the World Series of Poker.
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