More players check in from the WSOP
Sunday, July 16, 2006
First we heard from Caligard:I went out in my event (#9 5000 NL Holdem) on the last hand before the first break. Blinds 100/200, I have 3800. MP1 raises to 600 I call with 77 on the button, everyone else folds. Flop Q92 Two hearts. MP checks, I check. Turn 7 spades. MP1 bets 1000, I go all-in. He calls with AJ hearts drawing to a flush draw. He hits the K of hearts on the river and I'm out. I had a great time, and I had Noah Boeken (Exclusive online), Barry Schulman (cardplayer CEO) and Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson at my table.
Thanks once again to everyone at Poker.com for their amazing gesture!
Darrin
Then Bill Melvin checked in:
Just arrived home and I'm back in e-mail contact again. I really appreciate Poker.com coming through with the entry fee. That was just incredible. Everything went fine as far as check-in, getting the package with t-shirt and other goodies, etc.
My tournament story isn't so pretty. Maybe you'll find it amusing. Here goes: I folded a few hands to get the hang of things (first live tourney in years). Around the second orbit, I picked up pocket jacks. I had an early position raise in front of me and I didn't want to go broke immediately, so I merely called the raise to see a flop from the blinds (three players). I checked the ace high flop and folded when the pre-flop raiser bet. He moved all-in on the turn and the other guy folded, saying that he probably had the best hand. The pre-flop raiser showed AA and took the pot. If the flop had low cards (or a jack), I very well may have gone broke in the first fifteen minutes. A few hands later I picked up TT on the button. An early position raise and a re-raise made for an easy fold. A raise in front of me and I had KK. Normally I'll re-raise here, but just limped for some reason (too cautious?). Three of us saw the flop. The flop wasn't scary and the pre-flop raiser checked to me. I made a smallish bet (1/3rd of the pot) hoping to get some action, but they both folded. Stole the blinds with 56 off-suit. I'm not a total rock.
Overall, this first table was pretty weak. The best move I saw was a hand with about 6 limpers. The big blind made a sizeable raise and everyone folded. I liked his play and figured him to be the best player. Soon after he was busted on a board of QKxAK. He moved all-in on the river and was called by TJ. I expected a full house, but he mucked. Near the end of the first level, my table broke and I was moved. I had around 2,000 chips (started with 1,500) which was respectable and a good start. My second table wasn't so easy. Directly across from me was Gavin Smith. He had a TON of chips. We started with one pink ($500) chip, eight black ($100) chips, and eight green ($25) chips. Gavin must have had six of the hard-to-get pink chips already. He had impressive mountains of black and green as well. He was probably up to 6,000-8,000 chips within an hour. I stared in amazement as he raised 70% of the pots. Everyone just folded to him. It was eerie. He showed AK one hand. Soon thereafter, someone moved in on him with a board of A K x. Gavin had A K and busted the other guy's A J. This was surely the Gavin Smith show. I mainly folded for a couple of orbits. I made a mental note to play back at Gavin at the first opportunity. His cards could not be as strong as he was playing them. Raise raise raise. This was met by fold fold fold. I didn't see any hands for a while. Early position limper on Gavin's big blind. I found AQ suited and made a hefty raise. All folded. I was back to 2K+.
We were several hands into level 2 and I had only played the one hand at the new table. I looked down and saw 5 8 off-suit in the small blind (blinds of 25-50). Gavin limped this hand which was unusual as a couple of players remarked. With about 5 limpers, I decided the flop was worth an extra green chip, so I completed. The flop came K 7 4 rainbow. I've got a gutshot straight draw, but no other hope. I checked, saw about two checks behind me, and Gavin tossed out his customary post-flop bet. A couple players folded after him. I just KNEW that he didn't have a hand. I grabbed four black chips and check-raised. All folded to Gavin who called (somewhat reluctantly). The turn was a J. Without missing a beat, I tossed out my pink $500 chip expecting Gavin to fold. He called after only slight hesitation. The river was a 4 pairing the board. I quickly moved all-in with 8 high. I had around 980 in chips left. Gavin took his time and said he didn't know what he was going to do. He asked me if I wanted him to call. "Depends on what you have" was my answer. In retrospect, I was probably giving off every tell in the book. I'm sure I was nervous and everything else. Ultimately, he called and I was busted from the tournament. The winning hand? J 8 off-suit. I made a perfect read on the flop, but the random J on the turn gave him enough hope to stick around.
I've replayed the hand a hundred times since. Alternatives include:
1. Folding (without completing preflop).
2. Folding on the flop.
3. Check-fold on the turn (giving up). Sad, as I knew that Gavin would bet any board when checked to.
4. Check-fold on the river. With 2K in the pot, I hoped Gavin would call less than 50% of the time. If so, maybe the bluff wasn't horrible.
5. Bet a smaller amount on the river. Another $500 bet on the river would look as strong (if not stronger) than my all-in bet. It would also leave me with a small amount of chips if called or raised. If I'm going to play the hand aggressively as I attempted, I'm leaning towards this line of play.
I was knocked out after about an hour and a half. I'm not sure if all of the alternates were in the game yet. I remember them announcing around the start of level 2 that over 300 had already been knocked out. The field was large with nearly 3,000 participants. I haven't discovered how Gavin Smith did with my chips. I noticed that he didn't make the final table.
Thanks again for the experience. It was fun!
Bill Melvin
Posted at 9:32 PM Permalink | Talk on the Poker Forum
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home