A late main event summary
So as I wrote in the last post, I was planning to play the main event for the World Series of Poker. Forking up the $10,000 in white $500 chips, twenty of them to be exact, and watching the cashier take the money and hand me back a paper slip in exchange felt kind of bizzarre, putting up the single entry-chip I won for my first 10k event in New Orleans somehow felt easier. Strange indeed.
I was fairly nervous and antsy about it right as I had bought in. The night before the main event I figured I would be a total wreck and completely unable to get any sleep, but to my surprise, it was quite the opposite. I was eager to play, but I didn't feel as nervous as I would expect. I fell asleep fairly easily (falling asleep is usually a task in itself for me) and I woke up the morning of the main event feeling very eager to play. I just wanted to get to the table, play with my chips and settle in asap.
I walked up to the table I drew, I didn't really notice anybody I recognized immediately. I saw a Pokerstars Supernova VIP player (so his shirt said!) in seat 1, and I am always more fearful of talented online players than I am most live tournament grinders. I found out later he was Rainkhan and that I'm pretty sure I've played Starcraft with him several years ago, anyway, he would end up giving me a lot of grief.
Then there was my fellow swedish countryman Martin De Knijff sitting two seats to my left, which I didn't like either, good players having position on me cripples me of course. I was scanning around for any other familiar faces when the guy on my left covered in a hoodie looks at me, then looks back, then takes a doubletake and goes "Swede?!"
It was a cool guy I got introduced to last year at the World Series named Greg Hopkins, I had actually talked to him the night before the main event and congratulated him on his new piece of wristwear. He won a bracelet in the 2007 WSOP in a $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em tournament. I've been told before he's a very good tournament player and he's on my immediate left so I figured this is gonna blow balls. Greg and De Knijff both on my left. Oh well.
The structure was pretty good, two hour levels, 20k start chips and 50/100 starting blinds. So
I decided early I wasn't going to get out of line but sit out the first couple of orbits and just see what develops. Well, as usual with every other grand plan I have, this went out the window the very first hand.
I look down at 99, I raise and take it down. The very next hand 88, I raise get a caller, get raised and I have to fold. Third hand I have 66... I come in for a raise again, this time I get raised on the flop and have to fold again. Fourth hand I pick up yet another pair and I'm almost hoping I'll stop getting pairs so I don't ruin my image right out the gate and end up looking completely loose/weak as I'm not ready to play big pots with underpairs so I end up folding a lot when the flop misses me.
In the first 10 hands, I'm involved in 8 of them. All 8 having a pair. Jesus, so much for sitting out an orbit eh. I pick up two sixes in the second orbit. I limp in early, one guy in the back has yet to play a hand and makes it 600 to go. A pretty decent raise, I was hoping he had a big pair obviously and called. Flop is 6 5 2. Yahtzee, double up incoming and 40k chips and I'll cruise to a final table! I check, he bets 1200, I make it 3600, he turbo-mucks. So much for a double-up.
After this, I can't remember in detail very many hands I played. I know I spewed a lot of chips playing poorly. Playing too weak, too loose and basically just not playing my game at all. I was too eager to get a lot of chips early and I really played subpar and this is what really disappoints me about this tournament.
The only decent pot I won was after I had dribbled down to like 11k. I call a raise with T9s and flop was 10 high, he checks I check, turn is a J he bets like 1200 I call. River is a low blank and he instantly bets 3500. This was an unusually large bet and especially for this guy who was playing fairly snug. He was visibly frustrated and had expressed his frustrations a few hands earlier when he said he couldn't get anything to work. I was pretty sure it was ace high, it didn't make sense for him to check any other hand on the flop and then immediately fire the turn. If he had AJ or KJ (didn't think he'd open KJ) by some chance I had a feeling he'd take a moment and pause on the river before deciding a bet amount. Not just haphazardly throw out a decent bet. I call, my hand is good and we go on break.
Almost immediately coming back from break I'm at 16k. I get involved again with Rainkhan, he's up to over 70k at this point and he's cruising. He's ran very well, flopped sets, made flushes, the only one busting anybody at our table and he's playing fast now. He was opening a lot of pots and he yet again opens to 1200 from MP at 200/400 blinds, the cutoff calls and I decide to call with KQ on the button.
Flop comes down K-T-4 with two spades. Rainkhan checks, other guy checks, I bet 1600 a very small feeler bet. Rainkhan immediately raises and counts out 7000 and puts it in the middle, a very substantial bet. I didn't think he was in love with his hand the way he was acting and I had a feeling it might be some kind of combo draw, pair/flushdraw, flushdraw/straightdraw and I tanked this for a few minutes. I finally came to the conclusion my image at the table is very weak I've folded to a lot of raises, my bet was very small on the flop and he was a hyper aggressive player. I fully believed he'd just use his stack to be able to take this one down with a draw and this would be the most likely line he'd take with a draw. (I may be wrong, but this is what was going through my head at the time)
I decide to call and to call off the rest on the turn (another 9k) if no spade falls. I call, the turn pairs the 4, he immediately shoves. I take a deep breath, think this hand through one last time as I would hate to be wrong and have to remember I busted from my first main event overplaying KQ. I apologized to the table for taking so much time, and then finally decide to call, completely going with my instinct. He says "Are you drawing dead? Please tell me you are drawing dead!" and bounces out of his chair. Oh fuck. That's not really what I wanted to hear, he flips up AK and I sheepishly turn over my KQ. He stands up and yells for nothing funny to happen, to keep it clean, I'm thinking jesus dude you have 60k and triple average if you lose this pot why the hell are you getting so animated? The river blanks, I shake his hand and tell him he played well (He really did, not just on that hand, but in many hands... I liked his game) and I walk off.
I found out later Rainkhan ends up finishing 6th in the main event for close to a million, I guess he ran well for a few more days. Props to him though, he plays a very good tournament game and I really think he is gonna go far in future tournaments.
So that is the wrap up, I would give my play a 4/10 and I don't regret my bustout hand I strongly felt my decision was right at the time, I regret a dozen hands I played up until the point of the bustout hand and I really wish the next time I play the main event I can go home thinking I played my best and did my best, even if I bust on day 1 next time.
I was fairly nervous and antsy about it right as I had bought in. The night before the main event I figured I would be a total wreck and completely unable to get any sleep, but to my surprise, it was quite the opposite. I was eager to play, but I didn't feel as nervous as I would expect. I fell asleep fairly easily (falling asleep is usually a task in itself for me) and I woke up the morning of the main event feeling very eager to play. I just wanted to get to the table, play with my chips and settle in asap.
I walked up to the table I drew, I didn't really notice anybody I recognized immediately. I saw a Pokerstars Supernova VIP player (so his shirt said!) in seat 1, and I am always more fearful of talented online players than I am most live tournament grinders. I found out later he was Rainkhan and that I'm pretty sure I've played Starcraft with him several years ago, anyway, he would end up giving me a lot of grief.
Then there was my fellow swedish countryman Martin De Knijff sitting two seats to my left, which I didn't like either, good players having position on me cripples me of course. I was scanning around for any other familiar faces when the guy on my left covered in a hoodie looks at me, then looks back, then takes a doubletake and goes "Swede?!"
It was a cool guy I got introduced to last year at the World Series named Greg Hopkins, I had actually talked to him the night before the main event and congratulated him on his new piece of wristwear. He won a bracelet in the 2007 WSOP in a $2,000 Pot Limit Hold'em tournament. I've been told before he's a very good tournament player and he's on my immediate left so I figured this is gonna blow balls. Greg and De Knijff both on my left. Oh well.
The structure was pretty good, two hour levels, 20k start chips and 50/100 starting blinds. So
I decided early I wasn't going to get out of line but sit out the first couple of orbits and just see what develops. Well, as usual with every other grand plan I have, this went out the window the very first hand.
I look down at 99, I raise and take it down. The very next hand 88, I raise get a caller, get raised and I have to fold. Third hand I have 66... I come in for a raise again, this time I get raised on the flop and have to fold again. Fourth hand I pick up yet another pair and I'm almost hoping I'll stop getting pairs so I don't ruin my image right out the gate and end up looking completely loose/weak as I'm not ready to play big pots with underpairs so I end up folding a lot when the flop misses me.
In the first 10 hands, I'm involved in 8 of them. All 8 having a pair. Jesus, so much for sitting out an orbit eh. I pick up two sixes in the second orbit. I limp in early, one guy in the back has yet to play a hand and makes it 600 to go. A pretty decent raise, I was hoping he had a big pair obviously and called. Flop is 6 5 2. Yahtzee, double up incoming and 40k chips and I'll cruise to a final table! I check, he bets 1200, I make it 3600, he turbo-mucks. So much for a double-up.
After this, I can't remember in detail very many hands I played. I know I spewed a lot of chips playing poorly. Playing too weak, too loose and basically just not playing my game at all. I was too eager to get a lot of chips early and I really played subpar and this is what really disappoints me about this tournament.
The only decent pot I won was after I had dribbled down to like 11k. I call a raise with T9s and flop was 10 high, he checks I check, turn is a J he bets like 1200 I call. River is a low blank and he instantly bets 3500. This was an unusually large bet and especially for this guy who was playing fairly snug. He was visibly frustrated and had expressed his frustrations a few hands earlier when he said he couldn't get anything to work. I was pretty sure it was ace high, it didn't make sense for him to check any other hand on the flop and then immediately fire the turn. If he had AJ or KJ (didn't think he'd open KJ) by some chance I had a feeling he'd take a moment and pause on the river before deciding a bet amount. Not just haphazardly throw out a decent bet. I call, my hand is good and we go on break.
Almost immediately coming back from break I'm at 16k. I get involved again with Rainkhan, he's up to over 70k at this point and he's cruising. He's ran very well, flopped sets, made flushes, the only one busting anybody at our table and he's playing fast now. He was opening a lot of pots and he yet again opens to 1200 from MP at 200/400 blinds, the cutoff calls and I decide to call with KQ on the button.
Flop comes down K-T-4 with two spades. Rainkhan checks, other guy checks, I bet 1600 a very small feeler bet. Rainkhan immediately raises and counts out 7000 and puts it in the middle, a very substantial bet. I didn't think he was in love with his hand the way he was acting and I had a feeling it might be some kind of combo draw, pair/flushdraw, flushdraw/straightdraw and I tanked this for a few minutes. I finally came to the conclusion my image at the table is very weak I've folded to a lot of raises, my bet was very small on the flop and he was a hyper aggressive player. I fully believed he'd just use his stack to be able to take this one down with a draw and this would be the most likely line he'd take with a draw. (I may be wrong, but this is what was going through my head at the time)
I decide to call and to call off the rest on the turn (another 9k) if no spade falls. I call, the turn pairs the 4, he immediately shoves. I take a deep breath, think this hand through one last time as I would hate to be wrong and have to remember I busted from my first main event overplaying KQ. I apologized to the table for taking so much time, and then finally decide to call, completely going with my instinct. He says "Are you drawing dead? Please tell me you are drawing dead!" and bounces out of his chair. Oh fuck. That's not really what I wanted to hear, he flips up AK and I sheepishly turn over my KQ. He stands up and yells for nothing funny to happen, to keep it clean, I'm thinking jesus dude you have 60k and triple average if you lose this pot why the hell are you getting so animated? The river blanks, I shake his hand and tell him he played well (He really did, not just on that hand, but in many hands... I liked his game) and I walk off.
I found out later Rainkhan ends up finishing 6th in the main event for close to a million, I guess he ran well for a few more days. Props to him though, he plays a very good tournament game and I really think he is gonna go far in future tournaments.
So that is the wrap up, I would give my play a 4/10 and I don't regret my bustout hand I strongly felt my decision was right at the time, I regret a dozen hands I played up until the point of the bustout hand and I really wish the next time I play the main event I can go home thinking I played my best and did my best, even if I bust on day 1 next time.
posted by Swede at 9:36 AM
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