In my first buy-in since the Main Event satellite a week and a half ago, I managed to take 4 bounties in the TI Head Hunters.  This profit of a fledgling $75 marked my first profit in two months in a tournament.  Before the main event started, I had won three straight tourneys.  During the entire duration of the WSOP I failed to net ANYTHING.  Now that it’s gone (excluding the final days of the main event) things seem to be recovering again.

One showdown in over an hour of play.  Nearly doubled my starting stack in that time.  Just. Great. Play.

And then I flop KJ3 with KJ against KJ and 33.  Down to half the starting stack.  I start chipping up again.

Then my 55 flops QJ5 against QQ.

There just is no other way to put how awful the last 5 weeks has gone.  I have nothing left to say other than “Good Luck” to those in the Main Event.

Yesterday was attempt 1 of 2 to Sattie into the main event.  It was all going my way as I was dodging huge hands, playing TAG, and winning the pots I entered.  I had chipped up to 20k from the starting 6k just as level 4 started.  I was cruising.  And then, another player cost me.  You see, he went on tilt.  He got cracked once and lost a post flop race and found himself raising 1100 of his 6400 with A,9 off.  When I made it 5k out of the small blind with JJ, he forgot (or didn’t care) that he had declared I was the tightest player at the table and pushed the rest of his stack in.  He spiked an ace on me and took me from being halfway to the average stack when the bubble burst to being just over the average stack again.  The very next hand I had JJ slapped by 3,3 quadding on me and I was just an average stack.  I hung on for two more hours in push/fold mode before I got it all in with JJ and ANOTHER player called off his whole stack with a raggin ace.  This time it was Ace, 5.  He flopped a lovely 7,5,5 on me and rubbed it in with an ace on the turn AND an ace on the river.  I was crushed to two big blinds and got a chance to more than quadruple up with Q,8 vs. AK and TT but couldn’t manage to win it and busted once again on the first instance I was all-in, called, and covered.  That really was it for me.  That was the one.  Until that ace speared me, I had made two huge folds correctly and dodged two other big time bullets by playing tight and smart.

I am now left with one final attempt.  Today.  1 pm.  All I ask is for one time this entire summer, I play a tournament in which I don’t get coolered or bad beated.  That’s all I ask.

Trash Tuesday Tuesday was no where near the amazing game found last week.  It was a nit-fest and I should have realized there were SEVEN other games going and switched to one of those.  I couldn’t get my money in good.  Slap!

I had a REALLY tight image, so when this hand came up, I was made a move that was quite out of the ordinary.

The game is 2/5 NL with a mandatory button straddle (which acts last even if there is a raise and the blinds act after all non-blinded hands have acted)  I’m UTG and limp with A,T.  Four others join, and all the blinds complete, along with a button check.  The flop brings T,7,3 rainbow.  It checks to me and I bet out $40 of my ~$500.  It folds to the cutoff who flat calls.  The button then looks around, then down at his cards, looks at me, and makes it $140.  It folds to me.

Now this is a REALLY tricky situation.  One thing I’ve noticed from watching cash games on TV (like High Stakes Poker) is that most players miss the first sign of a very bad scenario.  Raise your hand if folding was the first thing that crossed your mind.  **Raises Hand**  Go ahead and call me a fish.  But with all attacks aside, how on Earth can the button raise here without having me crushed?  He sure as hell didn’t check his button with AT or KT when everybody came limping along.  And he’s not raising an early position bettor AND a call with just a ten in his hand.  There’s just no way.  And what’s up with the cutoff smooth calling???  His range includes 9,8 along with some weaker Tens and a flopped set.  Nothing else really fits.  All three of those can call me on the flop.  So with the button seeing all this (and he certainly was an observant player) his raise indicated that he flopped two pair.  His preflop check indicates garbage hands including all those flopping two pair on this T,7,3 flop.  Another thing crossing my mind is the cutoff’s flat call.  If he has a set, I’m doomed.  If he has a weaker Ten, then I’m in all that much worse shape against the button’s very likely two pair holding.

I fold.

Cutoff folds.

I’m left with no knowledge of any turn, river, or other players’ hands.  Now we can just theorize about it.

Wednesday, I begin my two day trek in securing a seat for the main event.  Satellites run at 1 pm and 8 pm for $1060 buy ins.  It’s time to put up or get left out of the Main Event.  Without a doubt, this will be my biggest fight I’ve put up since Day 2 and the Brandon Cantu battles from last year’s Main Event.

In celebration of winning my eighth straight cash session, I wanted to throw some props to The Big Lebowski.  I really like that movie.

Washed out of WSOP $1500 in just 45 minutes yesterday.  I got dinged by a 5-outer in a blind vs. blind battle for about T600, 4-bet raised over my 9,9 3-bet (he told me after I busted he had AA), crippled when I got it all in on the turn with a pair, open ender, AND flush draw against a single opponents BIGGER pair, TOP end of the O.E., and BIGGER flush draw.  I couldn’t peel off my own 5-outer for the 7k pot and was left to hope my QQ could beat a checked-down pot of 1225 vs. AK and 75.  I could not.

I went golfing afterwards to try and get some exercise and blow off some steam from my lingering cashless streak this summer.  It was a new course and had some Par 4s.  Good night for me.  I stand a better chance of cashing in a tournament than hitting a good shot out of the tee box.  It was my first time playing an 18-hole course.  That made me a bit tired.

I met up with some friends at Metro Pizza for dinner (this is a MUST visit for anybody visiting Vegas) and headed to play at TI for about 30-45 minutes before going to a birthday party.  I made a bad call on an all-in (I had my reasons, but still lost) and had to rebuy.  I dodged a 13-outer when it all got in on the turn for a $600+ pot and fought my good fight.  Up $160, I was ready to leave and decided to play one final hand UTG.  It was KK.  I juiced it up and the BB was the only caller.  He happened to be the same guy that I dodged the mega-draw AND hit another hand on him (he got his baby flush counterfeited on river to me when he decided to get cute and check it when he made it and I checked behind.)  The flop came Q,7,2 and he check-raised me.  I put him all in and he snap called with 7,2 off… LOL… I had him playing baaaad.  I was certain he only called with this hand to try and bluff me.  He picked the wrong hand to bluff, but caught the right flop to win it outright.  It took me over an  hour to get my money back and make enough of a profit to be satisfied.

Went to the B-day party at a bar downtown which was playing CD music at a stupidly loud level.  How annoying.

Today’s plans are two fold.  Going to a B-day party at a Cabana at the Golden Nugget and then heading over to play Trash Talk Tuesday at Hard Rock.  TTT was the start of this 8-session win streak.  I hope in marks another undefeated week.

Tomorrow and Thursday are my last shots at playing in the Main Event.  Going to need to win my seat in one of those satellites.

I bought into today’s $1500 WSOP event at 5 pm yesterday, approx. 2 hours before it sold out.  I played in a Rio 2/5 cash game for about 1 1/2 hours and came out a big winner.  I can credit  going on a heater, but one hand stands out from all the others.

About 5 hands into the game (it’s brand new) I make it $15 from UTG with JJ and 5 call including both blinds.  Flop comes J,T,2 rainbow.

Blinds check, I bet $35, next guy makes it $75, all fold to BB who calls.

I have about $275 behind if I just flat call here.  It’s obvious to me that somebody is drawing and somebody is there already.  I weight my options of flatting here, raising about $100, and shoving.  Flatting seems dangerous since any A,K,Q,9,8,7 could complete a straight.  Nearly half the deck is a scare card.  I’m not in the mood to see myself get blown off my hand due to this, so flatting is out.  The small raise creates the same thing, but builds the pot for the turn and pot-commits me.  I think that shoving here is the right move, since whatever made hand (TT, 22, and JT) will call my all-in and the draw should/might fold.

I shove $275 over the top and the raiser actually folds.  The BB CALLS with 2,2.  Wow, he played that slow.  The raiser announced he had KQ and another guy in the hand says the same thing.  Turn is a 9.  YIKES!  River… Jack.  Quadzilla.

I’m playing in the $1500 event today.  At last, I’m in the Amazon room for one of these tournaments.  I really don’t like playing in the Brasilia and Miranda rooms.  Something about it just doesn’t strike me favorably.

I sat in a 2/5 NL game yesterday and felt like I was on a card rush.  In the first ten hands, I flopped top pair, top kicker twice and had Aces.  All three fell to a staight and I rebought for another rack.  Hands were not going my way at showdown, so I elected to just play poker and take down the majority of the unwanted smaller pots.  $40 by $40, my stack built all the way back up when the big hand of the night came.  Having $900 in front of me, villain A has ~$500 and villain B has ~$500.

We are five handed at this point.

Villain A, B both limp, I call with 5,5 from the button, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop comes Ks, 5x, 3s

It checks around.

Turn brings offsuit 9.

Villain A leads for $20, Villain B calls, I raise to $60, both blinds fold, Villain A calls, Villain B raises $110 on top, I move all-in, Villain A folds, Villain B calls.

He shows 3,3 and this time when somebody flopped a set it was YAPPY DAVE who had the bigger set!!  Villain A announces he folded Q,T of spades and the rivered offsuit jack nuts him.  Thank goodness Villain B reraised instead of called, because I’d have lost that pot instead of winning it!

I bought into the HH on the last hand possible and flopped trips, but fell to a turned flush.  A few hands later my top and bottom pair were no good on the flop against top two.

Off to the Rio I go for some 2/5 NL

The end result?  Five straight wins in cash games.  Tack on another four washouts in tournaments in the middle and you have my summer in a handbag.

The last four big pots in cash games were quite something.  All occurred at TI in their 1/3 NL game.

1.  With stacks nearing $400, (cap is $300) A very easy to beat and clueless player raises to $20 from the button after several limpers come in.  I am one of four callers with Qd, 8d.  Flop comes Ad, 4d, 3x.

I’m second to check when a creative young guy who just moved to Vegas to play poker and attend UNLV says, “Let’s bet… this much” and bets $40.  One fold to button who thinks a bit and smooth calls.  Blind folds, and I make it $200.  I figured this bet would not only promise that I’d call an all in but would scream flopped two pair or set and that I’m trying to push out any draws.  Young guy ships it in for his $350 and button folds.  I call.  Board runs our Ax, 9x and he says “I’ve got a pair” and shows Jd, 3d.  Oh how disgustingly sick that is.  Not only were my overs live but I could have even counterfeit him on the river with a 4.  

2. With about $300 in my stack to start the hand, I’m at the table with a guy who raises up about 1/2 of the pots to $12.  I’m pretty sure he uses this raise to build pots, find out where his opponents are preflop for relatively cheap, and trusts his post-flop game.  This pot, though, he makes it $15 from the button when limped to him.  I call from SB with 3,6 suited and two regulars call him, too.  Both of them play a lot of hands, but also respect me and my game.  The flop comes 9,5,4 with a flush draw (not mine.)  We all check to button and he bets $40.  This is a perfect board to continuation bet, but it also is a perfect board to bluff out of the blinds.  After 15-seconds of thought and physically counting down my stack (for show), I move all in for around $275.  The first regular asks how much it is and I about throw up.  Luckily both fold and it’s back to the button.  He slumps back in his chair.  He has about $150 left and I’ve put him to a really tough situation.  After about a minute he decides to call and asks “Did you flop a set?”  I answer no and proceed to hit my straight.  He shows A,9 off… I just don’t get how he can call there when that’s the only hand he has beat.  Oh well… bad call.  Bad beat.

3. I’ve got about $275 to start this hand.  A few limpers and the button makes it $25.  I call with JT suited and another guy comes along.  A late position guy moves all in for $22 more.  All three of us call.  Flop comes T,8,5.  I shove all in, first guy folds, 2nd guy thinks for over a minute and calls.  board runs out Q,A and the short stack shows A,J (gross) but the button shows 9,9 and loses his $200 left.  I’ve been saying this all summer.  On a ten high board an overbet with a bare ten can get called by 99 and 88.  By golly, it happened!

4. This one is special.  Several limpers, LP makes it $15.  I call with 2,2 and three others call.  Flop comes 2,3,Q.  I lead for $20 and it folds to the PF raiser who makes it $60.  I put him all in for his last $100 behind and he calls with AA.  Turn Q, River Q.  I lose.

And THAT is my Summer of 09!

I took a long nap Wednesday afternoon and into the evening.  I woke up around 10:30 PM and elected to go and play 4-8 HORSE at Harrahs.  I took a 2 bill profit and got up once a VERY competent player sat down and played an Omaha/8 hand perfectly while following it up with a correct raise with a q7 on 5th against an opponents T8.  As soon as I saw this, I got up as I knew I was no longer going to have a smooth ride at the table.

I woke up at 1 pm Thursday to find a text from a friend asking about my thoughts on the Nugget and their Stud/8 tourney running that day and if the dealers could be counted on.  I expressed that 1 hour in, I think they’d be fine.  After all, it’s not like PLO or something nasty for a rookie dealer.  I decided to take their very slow structure and head down to play.  Things went pretty well for the most part.  I got my money in good time after time, but once it came time to win big hands, I found guys backdooring into 2 pair bigger than mine on their missed low draws.  After dinner break, I got into a 4-way pot for 2x the average stack where unbelievably my two pair was against THREE hands, of which NONE had a pair on 6th street.  Not just that, but nobody even had a flush draw.  All three were going low and held each others’ outs.  I was dodging just two gutterballs.  Bink.  I get scooped.  My final hand had QQTT on 4th against JJ and he hit a flush on his final 4 cards.  Cute.

I was pretty level-headed about the whole thing since I played the tournament well, but the rivers just did not go my way.  I went to TI to play in their 1/3 game.  I was betting hard and heavy early on.  In the first half hour, I was involved in 6 all ins.  For the record, in all 6, the other stack only had $100 in front of them.  My KJ held against K9 on KQx board.  I flopped middle set against top set (got a picture, too.)  Two hands later my T9 flops AT9 against A9 (another pic.)  I limp shove with 7,7 and lose to AK.  I got it all in on the flop with A,6 on 6,3,3 board against 4,5.  Turn is 7.  I snap off AA with my Q,5 suited on QQ9 flop.  At this point I somehow am only down $150.  I lose a hand on a failed C-bet and am down to about $115.  I limp with 9,7 suited and several others limp.  Flop comes J,9,2.  Checks to me and I lead for $15.  Two callers.  I’m planning on shoving any blank card on the turn.  That blank?  A pretty 7.  All-in.  Pocket 2s sat behind me…

Now lets be open with each other, shall we?  Have you EVER heard of a guy running into so many sets in one month?  EVER?  I have to take pictures to prove it to myself.  I keep calling my friends over to the table to show them these hands because I just feel that my integrity as a blogger would be questioned if I didn’t have proof that this keeps happening.

I rebuy.  I’ve gotten my money in with so many big hands thus far and I know I’m due.  I start chipping up and get up to around $450 when the big one comes.  I raise to $15 with KQ and get 3 callers.  The flop comes J,T,x.  This is a pretty big flop for me (same hand/flop I busted with in the WSOP 6-max earlier this month) so I bet $45 and only one guy called.  Turn is 9.  BINGO!  He checks and I bet $100.  We are both playing $400 behind on the turn.  I’m PRAYING he has a set or two pair or something drawing dead.  ANYTHING!  He thinks for about 2 minutes and folds A,J face up…  FML!  He says I “overbet” the turn.  Idiot.  I bet 2/3rds the pot and am playing for stackies.  Thinking back, I wish I’d have bet $150 to sell a bluff.

An hour later a guy straddles.  The funny thing about this straddle, is I was very talkative at the table and kept asking to button straddle.  This guy decides (on my button) to fulfill my wish of a straddle and does it himself.  Nice.  A couple callers and the guy in front of me shoves for $70.  I find AK and call.  All others fold and he has AJ.  Broadway wins for me. (note that he hit his jack on me)

In the next hand I make what I consider to be the first error of the session.

About 3 hours into the whole thing, the guy to my left hasn’t bluffed once and is a nice guy but knows enough to be considered decent.  He’s careful with his hands, too.

It’s my BB and he open raises to $7.  This is a first for him.  It folds to me and I find AK.  I make it $15, forgetting he raised and didn’t limp.  He flat calls.  This should instantly tell me he doesn’t have AA or KK.  The flop comes Ten high.  I lead for $21 and he thinks about folding and then decides to call.  Clue number two.  He MUST have overcards.  The turn is an ace.  JACKPOT!!!! I lead for $35 and as he’s building his stack for a raise I ask him if he floated me and  hit.  He smiles a bit and makes it $70.  I call here to disguise my hand.  The river pairs the bottom card on the board (4) and I check, fully expecting to call his bet with the best hand.  He checks his AQ behind.  Oops… After thinking about it, I really should have lead the river for $50 since he will certainly call.  I had no plans to check-raise since he’d most certainly fold to that play even with his hand.  He knew the kind of player I was and that I always turned over big hands.  I let him off for a bet.  BAD YAPPY!

Another hour goes by, and I lose a few pots.  I’ve got about $600 in front of me and the guy to my right is hyper-bluff.  He’s on tilt and spewing and has raised my last six BBs when limped to him.  He makes it $12 from the SB and I make it $50 with 8,8.  It folds to him and he shoves for $120.  I call and his tens hold.  Not cool.

A few hands later, it folds to me and I pick up A,J spades and make it $15.  I get 2 callers.  Flop is Q,9,6 with two spades.  A woman leads for $25 of her $150.  I raise to $100.  The guy behind me (same guy as AK vs. AQ hand) moves all in for just under $400.  Woman folds and I slump.  I’m getting right at 2:1 to call and am going to need every bit of those odds since I’m doubting the ace is live.  He very likely has a set (80% of the time) but I’m praying he has two pair or maybe even the mega draw of 7,8 spades.  This sucks.  I consider my double backdoor draw of two different straights and possible counterfeit of two pair (though highly unlikely to be live) and finally call.  I ask him if he flopped a set and he nods.  Pocket 6s.  I turn the nut flush and dodge the river to win the $900 pot.  He was very gracious in the defeat and actually said to me, “You deserved it after earlier tonight.”  I wish I were as classy in defeat.

I cashed out having netted over 3 bills and came away a cash game winner for the third straight day and came ahead overall for the second day out of three.  It’s turning around.

The Trash Talk Tuesday game at Hard Rock was sick.  Stacks were megadeep, button straddles are required and can range from $10-$100.  Many elected for $30-$40.  I played two orbits and ran my $300 up to $1500 and left.  A winning session.  A winning day.  My first in over a month.  Here’s how it happened.

My plan was to buy in short, and limp/shove any great  hand.  It took just a couple hands and I found 99 in middle position.  Two limpers to me, I limp and somebody behind popped it to $50.  3 callers, I pop it to $300.  I get two callers.  Board runs out K,8,4,2,K and I win.

A couple hands later, I’m on the button with QQ and it gets raised to $30 then to $70.  A guy calls.  I look down at QQ.  Fearing I’d get 3-4 callers if I didn’t make it enough, I decided to just shove all in for $1000.  My stack size REALLY hurt me here, as I could have made it $350 or $400 to go, and then tried to dodge whatever my insane opponents were holding.  I just figured the money would get in against any other good hand (better than mine or not) so I might as well just throw it in.  Everybody folded.

Alan Boston is at my table and extremely loose.  A button straddler puts out $30.  Boston raises to $90, I call with AK, another guy calls, too.  Flop is KK3 rainbow.  Boston leads for $150.  I shove all in for $1200.  The point of this is to sell a bluff.  Alan is too smart to fall for a flat call or a small raise.  A big raise commits me, too.  So I figured the only way to get his money in here (hoping he has a hand) is to make it look like a bluff and/or pray somebody has the case king.  No such luck.  All fold.  Oh well.  I leave up big.

I go celebrate my win by drinking it up quite heavily at a friends’ place.  They are great hosts.  So great, that I wasn’t able to drive and crashed until the morning came and I headed home to finish sleeping.  I got up a few hours later and headed to the TI HH.  This was just as short, but not as sweet.  I got there late and entered in level 2.  By level 3, I had two buy-ins and zero pots were pushed my direction.  I had a guy limp with Q,3 offsuit and turn trip 3s against my top pair kings and he finished me off on the last hand of the rebuy period when he limped with Kings and my QT found a ten high flop and I shipped it in.  I got moved a little later to a new table and on the first hand found A,7 in the cutoff.  I raised the unopened pot 3x to 600 and only the SB called.  Flop came 7,3,2 with two clubs (I held ace of clubs.)  He lead for 1200.  I called.  Turn was 8 of clubs.  He lead for 2000, I shoved my 3100 in and he called with his JJ.  I don’t improve and I’m gone in less than an hour.

I head to the Golden Nugget and it takes a mere 3 hands and I’m gone.  The hand was actually quite tough for me and lead to a very long conversation with a friend.  We start with 12k in chips, and it was level 2 at this point.  Nearly every person limps in and I limp from the button with T,7.  The BB is absent from the table.  The SB jacks it up to 850 and two call in front of me.  I take the odds and run with it and call.  The flop comes T,4,3 rainbow.  Now some info on the hand that really influenced my action was the preflop raiser started talking after the first two guys called.  He talked… a LOT.  Why is he talking so much?  90% of the time it indicates a bluff that has gone sour and he’s just going to give up or take a stab and give up.

He then looks into the pot, verbally counts the number of pink (500) chips and bets 2100.  Both of the other guys insta-fold and I shove all-in for about 11k total.  Now one can view this as a bit crazy.  But after thinking about it, what other move did I really have?  I can’t fold.  No way am I calling preflop with this hand to fold top pair on the flop.  I could call, but risk letting overcards catch up.  Calling also saves me from stacking off if I’m beat.  Any raise commits me to the pot, so if I’m raising, it should just be all in.  I took the most logical decision in my mind and shoved and was snap called by KK.  I don’t improve and I’m gone in three hands.

A summary of today.  Flopped top pair 4 times and all the money went in each time with me losing all 4 (3 of them running into over pairs.)  All of this happening in about 70 minutes of play.

I think I’m done with tournaments.