It just continues…

Binions $200 today was another cakewalk.  I chipped up early again and was above tourney average for the first 6 levels.  190+ runners and with 70 or so to go, I became a madman and started stealing every pot in play.  I was in that special “zone” that we all look for.  Then a guy raised and I looked down at AA and reraised.  He shoved with Kings.  He flopped a king… That pot was nearly 2x the average stack.  I’m back down to a bit above an average stack.  The next hand a guy shoves for 10x and I call with A,T s00ted.  His 8s hold up and I’m down to 9 BBs.  A few hands later, I shove with A,4 s00ted and A,Q wakes up in the blinds to cripple me.  Fancy that.

To make things worse, I had swapped action with Ozone and if the other got to the final table (10-handed) that person pays the other their buy-in back.  Top 3 paid more.

Ozone finished 11th…

This has been the summer of heartbreak.

The 1k stimulus special played out simple as expected.  The players were awful and loved to spew.  These tournaments are so lucrative if you just watch your opponents aggressive tendencies and knowing who will go all the way with one pair.   These are the perfect guys to just flat-call with monster pairs knowing they’ll ship it all in for you.  I attempted this 4 times and my JJ found AA TWICE.  My QQ found an A,K,x flop in a multiway pot.  My AA got a board of 5,9,9,5,Q.  Not cool.  Other than that, the tournament played out pretty normal.  Early on I had AK run into KK and JJ run into AA (the first time) and due to my very small ball style of playing these deep tourneys, I had only lost 1150 of my 3k starting stack.  I just play slow and careful and do not like committing chips in big pots until I’ve got a solid read on the situation.  The first real test came in the following hand, in level 2.

Stacks are ~3500
Blinds are 25/50

I’m the Hijack
Villain in Cutoff

Folds to Yappy who raises to 150 with Q8
Villain (CO) calls

Flop (Pot = 375)
8 6 3

Yappy bets 225
Villain calls

Turn (Pot = 825)
10

Yappy checks
Villain bets 600
Yappy calls

River (Pot = 2025)
J

Yappy checks
Villain bets 1000
Yappy calls

Villain shows AKo

As soon as he called the flop bet, my radar went straight into the air.  His range instantly dropped to just pocket pairs that didn’t connect with the flop or a club flush draw.  If he hit two pair or a set, I really doubt he’d just flat call the flop because of the multidraw on the board.  If he had 9s or better, I really think he’d have raised preflop or on the flop.  That takes me down to a pair under my 8s or a club draw.  When the turn comes, it’s scary looking card, but doesn’t change anything.  I figure I must check to induce a bet from a hand that thinks I’ve got AK and he’s ahead.  It works.  The river, once again looks scary, but really isn’t.  When I check, his 1k bet is just weird.  Why?  How can you possibly bet this card?  Only a back door draw got there on the river.  Some visual tells included a very fast call on the flop and fast bet on the turn.  He thought for about 15 seconds on the river.  Fast calls usually indicate draws and fast bets usually indicate bluffs, as the opponent is not considering how the card changed the landscape of the hand.  (See Patrik Antonius’ call on Phil Laak on HSP Season 5 for an example of this.)  I just simply think he has air here and make the hero call for a good portion of my chips.  This pot took me up to over 5k and I used that hand as intimidation against opponents until our table broke.  I chipped up to around 8k by level 3 by continuing to play small ball.

I got moved to a new table and they seemed much more likely to gamble.  Then a new (big stack) sat down and starting a massive card rush that couldn’t be stopped.  He picked up hand after hand and bulldozed everybody.  I truly felt helpless when my hands were just never good enough.  I caught a case of 2nd best and couldn’t get rid of it.  It went all the way through my stack and finished me off when my 77 ran into 99 all in pre flop for my tournament life (first time, and during level 5.)  I got up from my chair, and started walking away to see him fill up by the river.

I headed to TI for their HH tourney.  It was maniacal with players calling with any two cards preflop.  Normally, I’d just play TAG, but this is a bounty tourney, thus one must get into the pots.  I got one bounty before making some pretty loose decisions and busting out to Ozone in level 3.  I got into a cash game and ran $400 into $800 and left.

Yesterday (Monday) was my day off for the week.

Today (Tuesday) is the Binions $200 NL HE starting at 2 PM and tomorrow is WSOP $1.5k 6-Max.

246 runners showed for the $200 Binions tourney today.  $6k in chips played much better than the $5k in chips given to a $150 buy in.  Early on I suffered a few beats and was down to less than $5k when it folded to my button and I made it $150 to go with T,5.  The BB called and the flop came T,5,3.  Villain checked and I bet $175.  She raised me to $500 and I flatted.  The turn brought a 2 and she lead for $1,600.  This looked like the time to shove and I pushed in for $2525 more.  She called with QQ and bricked the river.

An orbit or so later it limped to my button and I oddly called with 7,3.  Normally I’d raise or fold this hand, but decided to be gentle with my button.  The flop brought 7,4,3 and before I knew it I was all in against 5,6.  Thank goodness it was the shortstack who only had $2k.

My stack was around $7-8k for the next hour.  Nothing was happening, but I did notice one player loved to blast preflop.  These kind of players tend to never be able to fold a big hand.  I limped with 2,2 and two others limped before this guy made it 1,100 to go.  In a cash game, this is a fold due to the lack of correct odds with only 7k total in chips.  In a tournament, you’ve got to chip up somehow and this seemed like a good shot to take.  Nobody else came along.  The flop came T,9,2 rainbow.  I called his $1,500 bet.  the turn brought a somewhat nerving jack and he checked.  Here’s hoping I didn’t just get slapped on the turn… all in for ~4k.  He takes little time calling with his A,Q and I fill on the river 9.  From this point forward, the tournament was mine.

I got moved to a new table and in the first hand picked up KK.  4 called my raise and the BB shoved with TT.  I shoved over the top and flopped a king to end his life.  At this point I was the chipleader in the tournament and we went to our first break.  I had 4x the average stack, but that proved to be awful because my table was in push/fold mode and I could not use my stack for bullying.

Eventually they started catching up in chips, allowing me to change gears on them and I became hyper-aggro.  This worked for the last 20 minutes before the table broke and I got moved to a new table.  I 3 and 4 bet a few pots and never got called, chipping up to an impressive stack without ever showing down a hand.  I amassed a stack of $50k which was certainly top 5 with 50 players left when the following hand took place.

A 30k stack was in the BB and was a pretty creative player.  UTG raised the 800/1600/200 blinds to 3500 for the second hand in a row.  It folded to me in the cutoff and I flatted with A,J.  The button shoved for 5200 more and it folded back to the original raiser who called, leaving himself with about 15-20k behind.  I knew I should have shoved over the top here and just had this odd feeling that he had AK or AQ and I’d regret it for the rest of the tourney.  I called, too.  Flop came K,J,x  He led 5k into the dry side pot and I angrily folded.  He shows K,Q and button shows A,9.  Turn 9.  River Ace.  I’m so incredibly pissed at this point that I played it so poorly and lost out on a pot the size of an average stack.  I played it horribly.  Within the next orbit, I had AQ lose to AK and a whiff with KJ against a guy calling my raise and leading into me on a 10 high flop.  This took me down to 23k at the dinner break with 41 players left and the money being top 20.

I didn’t get a chance to shove for two orbits and finally got it folded to my button and I shoved my final 13.8k blind and both blinds folded.  I looked afterwards to find 8,2 off.  The next hand folded to my cutoff and I tried again (dark, of course.) for 18.8k.  It folds to the BB who calls and shows A,K.  That’s about the worst hand I’m going to see other than the monster pairs.  I find Q,7.  The flop brought 3 clubs and jack high.  Villain had the K of clubs.  Turn was the miracle offsuit queen and he rivered a king and I busted 36th for another frustrating deep run gone AWOL.

I look back to that single A,J hand to be the absolute turning point in the tournament.  I play that hand correctly and I’m cruising into the money and probably the final table.  Wow, how one mistake can kill you in this game.

This morning, the stimulus special sold out at 6,000 players! Unreal! Imagine how big it’d be if uncapped. The thought that they want to be at the final table after day 2 is ludicrous.

I’m headed to Binions shortly to play in their $200 tourney.

The TI Head Hunters is just a great live tourney for $125 buy in.  Despite $25 of it going to the house, $50 goes to your head and $50 to the prize pool.  Most players do not adjust for the inflated prize when busting somebody and often let that half of the prizepool slip between their fingers.

Not tonight.

Not only was I the 25th most aggressive of the 35 entries, but the table was full of either ultra-aggros or ultra-calling stations.  I’m not sure if anybody else (besides me) was playing the fiddle in the middle.  Problem was, I couldn’t win a hand for my life.  I busted in 14 hands, having flopped a pair in NINE of them, splitting one pot and losing eight.  It was sickening.  I rebought and it was more of the same.  I rebought for a third and final time and pushed my stack to around 20 BBs for the next 2 hours.  I just couldn’t chip up.  One guy at the table would limp with EVERY hand.  I never once saw him raise preflop all tournament.  It was so incredibly hard to put him on a hand because of this.  It made him rather easy to beat postflop, but he was likely to call you down with top pair just as much as he was with overcards.  Imagine playing against a guy like that.  I made it to the final table and busted 10th without claiming a single bounty.

5 straight tourneys have had me simply card dead or flop dead.  It’s really irritating me.

Binions $200 is Saturday and Stimulus Special Day 1b is on Sunday.

I stopped by the Rio today only to find the setup for the WSOP to be nearly identical to last year.  The tournament registration has been moved to the chaotic intersection where you sign up for a player’s card.  All rooms were the same.

I signed up for the Stimulus Special Day 1b (I start Sunday) and found that I’ll be playing in the Brasilia room (which is used for overflow.)

It took no more than 10 minutes into this tourney to realize how bad the play continues to be in these fields at Binions.  Just downright atrocious.  How do you beat these tourneys?  Playing ABC is too difficult.  Don’t play even AB… just… A.

I love this tournament series.  The only drawback is a quick structure that requires you to chip up or get out.  My opening tournament for the schedule accomplished both “chip up” and “get out” over and over.  I’d get above average and double up a shorty.  Rinse and repeat.  By the time my tournament ended, I had lost 7 of 8 hands when having an opponent all-in.  This just won’t get the job done in trying to win a tournament.  I finished in 85th of 210 and fell when AK lost to QQ all in preflop and bringing a KQx flop.  I wasn’t upset at all with my play and felt I handled the incredibly bad field quite well; I just neglected to win races.  Oh well.  Treasure Island Head Hunters is tomorrow night.  Hopefully that runs better.

Greetings to all!

I am excited to be a part of the PokerTips team this summer and participate in the Las Vegas poker tournament scene.

A brief bit of information about my poker career starts with joining a dormitory game with Ozone in the fall of 2003.  Small tournaments were the norm and an enjoyable escape from the academic demands of college.  This soon expanded to playing online and specializing in 1-table sit-n-gos on Party Poker, which quickly built up my bankroll.  I have no idea how I got started with Stud/8, but it soon became my specialist game, playing in the biggest game Party Poker had to offer on a daily basis.  After graduating in 2006, I moved to Las Vegas to pursue a double desire to play poker professionally and attend UNLV for graduate work in music conducting.  After taking a year off from school, I moved poker to part-time while I began a graduate assistantship, which took most of my time during the school year.  Over the past year, I have become a specialist in the Treasure Island HeadHunters tournament, which is a $125 bounty tournament.  The bounties account for $50 and $50 goes to the prize pool.

My past two summers have been daunting as I set a goal to achieve a $10k buy-in to the WSOP Main Event during the month prior to the event.  This was to be obtained playing small buy in tournaments and cash games no bigger than $2-$5.  In 2007, success was immanent as I had built up a $9k profit in the first three weeks (thanks to 4 consecutive cashes at the Binions Classic) and then took a wicked heap of setbacks, which led me falling short of the goal.  I bought in for half and was staked for half and played in the Main Event.  In level 2, I found my QQ up against KK on a KQ4 flop and my doom was spelled out when the turn brought a 3 and all the chips went in.

The summer of 2008 proved to be a whole different group of challenges as I was crushed in the cash games, yet took third place three times in just seven tournaments at the Golden Nugget Summer Series.   I fell short of the goal again, but due to supportive backers, I found my way into the Main Event backed for 100% of the buy-in.  A very good opening table draw allowed me to exploit weaknesses early on and I built up a top 10 stack on day 1 before taking an 80-20 beat with 10 minutes left in the day to pull me back to the top 200 going into Day 2.  I was seated with Brandon Cantu and we battled the entire day.  In a day that saw me flopping better than a pair just one time, I had to run every play and bluff in my book just to stay afloat.  With 5 minutes left in day 2, Cantu took one final swing at me, calling a reraise out of position with 4,5 off and flopped T,4,4 against my queens to send me packing.  It was interesting that I played all day with 2 players who happened to make the top 20 in the tournament (the other being Nicolas Sliwinski.)

The influence of Brandon Cantu on my poker game has been greater than any poker book and I fused aspects of his game into mine.  This combined method led to 31 live tournament wins since the Main Event last year.  I’m sure this can explain my anticipation for this being the biggest month of poker thus far in my life.

I will be playing a vigorous tournament schedule throughout June and will play in as many WSOP events as I can get backed.  A good start will lead to larger tournaments and more WSOP events.  The following is my tentative schedule for the next six weeks.

May 28 – Binions $150

May 29 – TI HeadHunters $125 

May 30 – Binions $200 (TI HH $125 if out by 7 PM) 

May 31 – WSOP $1k (Day 1b) (TI HH $125 if out by 7 PM)

June 1 – (Day 2 of WSOP $1k) or off

June 2 – WSOP $1500 or Binions $200

June 3 – WSOP $1500 (6-Max)

June 4 – WSOP $2000 or off

June 5 – WSOP $2500 or TI HH $125

June 6 – Golden Nugget $225 (TI HH $125 if out by 7 PM)

June 7 – Binions $150 (TI HH $125 if out by 7 PM)

June 8 – WSOP $2500 (6-Max) or Caesars $330

June 9 – (Moving Day, unlikely to play) Golden Nugget $230

June 10 – Off

June 11 – WSOP $1500

June 12 – Golden Nugget $225 (TI HH $125 if out by 7 PM)

June 13 – AVP tourney (@ Ballys)

June 14 – (Editing Day) Caesars $540 or Binions $150 (TI HH $125 if out by 7 PM)

June 15 – (Editing Day) Binions $150

June 16 – (Editing Day) Golden Nugget $225

June 17 – (Editing Day) Off

June 18 – (Editing Day) Binions $150

June 19 – (Editing Day) TI HH $125

June 20 – (Editing Day) TI HH $125

June 21 – (Editing Day) TI HH $125

June 22 – Golden Nugget $225

June 23 – Binions $150

June 24 – Golden Nugget $225

June 25 – Caesars $540 or off

June 26 – Binions (6-Max) $200 (TI HH $125 if out by 7 PM)

June 27 – WSOP $1500 or Caesars $330 or Binions $200 (TI HH $125 if out by 7 PM)

June 28 – Caesars $540 or Binions $150 (TI HH $125 if out by 7 PM)

June 29 – WSOP $1500 or Caesars $330

June 30 – Venetian $330 or Caesars $540

July 1 – Caesars $330 or Binions $200

July 2 – Binions $500 or Golden Nugget $225

July 3 – Golden Nugget $225 or Caesars $540 or Binions $150 (TI HH $125 if out by 7 PM)

July 4 – Golden Nugget $1080 or Binions $200 (TI HH $125 if out by 7 PM)

July 5 – Caesars $330 or Binions $150 or TI HH $125

July 6 – WSOP Main Event Day D $10,000

July 7 – Binions Main Event $1000

(Editing Days) are tentative days where I’m fulfilling work with UNLV on their CD release.

I look forward to sharing my hand analysis and tournament stories with Pokertips.org readers, as well as the readers coming over from allvegaspoker.com which hosted my blog and $10k Challenges for the past two years.

“Yappy” Dave Irish