Thursday, June 28, 2007

Vegas Prep

I fly out to Vegas on Sunday and have been preparing by playing LOADS of online donkaments and playing live as much as I can.

I have put in a couple of decent live runs with a 3rd and a 4th in the last two weeks. It's been a pain to find tournies locally with semi-deep structures, as most casinos and card rooms in my area favour low buy-in rebuys with really bad blind structures and/or level times.

I feel great about my game as the WSOP approaches and I'm really looking forward to it now. I'll be playing in some different events since I changed my travel dates, so I'll keep those updated here.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Dublin Trip Report

I arrived at the airport on Saturday morning around two hours early for my flight. Normally this should have been plenty of time to check in, get through security and get myself something to eat before boarding the plane. Given that it's only an hour long flight from London, I hate the fact that the whole process typically takes over 4 hours.

The queue for security is absolutely huge. I join the end of the line and I estimate that there were probably around 2,000 people in front of me. The worst thing was that it wasn't even moving. After about an hour and a half I have moved all of 100 metres. At this point I know there is no way I'm going to make my flight. Lots of people around me are in a similar situation. I get talking to a couple in front of me who are off on a honeymoon to Barbados. 'Great start to our marriage' the guy told me in a downbeat tone. 'We only booked the Saturday morning flight so we could spend an extra two days out there' their flight leaves about 10 minutes before mine.

I'm starting to feel really bad for this couple, as a friend of mine sees me as he's walking past. 'Hello mate, how are you?' I let him know I'm a little bored of waiting in line and ask if it's always like this at the weekend. 'We have extra security down on the runways today, so we have much less staff working in normal security, the queue from here is about 2 hours, when is your flight?' 10 minutes later I'm upstairs at a different (and almost empty) security gate where I'm whisked through quickly and find myself airside. 'I definitely owe you a beer' I tell my friend. He tells me it's not big deal and I quickly let him know about the couple standing in line in front of me. I still have no idea if they made it.

I make my flight with little time to spare and board the plane to find I'm the last person on. I have no idea how all those people made it on time. I fail to believe that they all turned up 4 hours early to make the flight. I arrive at Dublin airport and meet Matt (Suited Jock) who I'll be sharing a room with. He's been waiting at the airport for a few hours now so I apologise as my flight was a little late meaning he had to wait even longer. He flashes me a genuine smile 'No worries'.

We jump in a cab to our hotel and I think about cracking a joke about his sexuality being in question at ITH and our sleeping arrangements that night. Given that this is only the second time we have met, I decide to pass. We arrive at the hotel which is surprisingly nice for what we paid. We can't check in yet so we drop off our bags and head out to the card club where the event is being played.

Before long I'm sitting at my table and the first hand is being dealt. I planned to play reasonably loose and aggressive early on and take it from there. I make a strong start and work my way up to 13,000 from a 10k starting stack. Some of the players on my table are really bad. We have two super nit types who don't seem to want to play at all, a couple of guys who call like every two hands and maybe 1 or 2 okayish players who seem aggressive and semi-decent post flop.

I really enjoy making moves in live tournaments that you would never make online. It folds to me in the CO and I raise to 3x with 56s. It folds to the BB who had played maybe one hand in the first 4-5 orbits who makes the call. The flop comes A49 rainbow and the BB checks. I bet out and he thinks a while before calling. There is something about the way he acted in addition to his image that made me make the following play on the turn. The dealer flips an irrelevant 2 and the BB bets out for 1/2 of the pot, looking agonised as he does so. I think for a while and put in a substantial re-raise and he auto folds, flashing an Ace. I can see a couple of the other players on the table making a mental note of the hand and I throw my cards into the muck.

Next orbit I make a mistake by getting a bit deep into a hand during a blind battle and end up having to show 78 on an ATK95 board. My next two raises first in are met by heavy re-raises and I'm forced to tighten up a bit for a few orbits.

In the last level before the break I feel like I have a great table. We still have a couple of really, really tight players who have played maybe 2-3 hands in the first 3 levels, one of which is the BB from the hand above. I lose half my stack when I flop top two pair from the BB in an unraised pot versus a flopped set and make the first break with 5k in chips. I manage to find Matt who also has just over 5k in chips at the break. Neither of us have seen any hands and as play resumes 10 minutes later I hope at least one of us can double up soon.

I have an M of 10 so I'm not desperate but I want to start making a move while I still have chips. First hand back after the break it folds to me in LP and I automatically make a standard raise into the tight blinds on my left. I'm absolutely furious with myself as soon as I realise I haven't looked at my cards. Both cards are still quite obviously in their dealt position and the BB thinks for a while trying an amateur stare down in the process. He eventually folds and I don't look at my cards.

At this point I decide to really take advantage of my table still being quite tight. There are two players who have been very active at the table, and between the three of us we take most of the blinds during the first level. I also place a few re-raises against the other two, one of which I have to fold when villain comes over the top when I'm holding JTs.

I'm back up to about 12k when one of the tight players flat calls in MP. I raise in LP with AsQd and Mr Nit calls. The flop comes A56 and he checks. I bet out and he pushes for about 9k. I think for a while about making the call. I really don't want to go broke with top pair against someone I know has such a small range for this type of move. He's played very few hands, and the hands he has played he's never shown any aggression like this, let alone a check/push. It's possible he's starting to think he has to make a move, but I can't give that idea enough credit to call. If I fold I still have enough chips for a little play. I fold and push my cards over by mistake, I think MP thought I showed my hand intentionally because he looked up and flipped AKs.

I slowly build my stack back up and take a 3 way pot with 99 on a low board. One hand where there were like 3-4 limpers I make a big raise with 89s on the button and it folds round. I see very few hands but manage to steal once or twice an orbit and make the break with 19k, a little above average.

I find Matt and we decide to skip the buffet, which already has a long queue, and look for somewhere else to eat. We are both determined not to eat another Burger King since we ate there at lunch, but after a short walk and no restaurants it's our only real option. We both decide to mix it up and have chicken instead of beef. Crazy stuff.

Matt is up to 23k and we talk about the next stage of the tournie. We are both in good shape now, after being short at the last break. I make it back to my table just in time for the first hand and sit down to commence battle. The next two levels are pretty easy for me, I bust Nit #1 when he pushes his short stack into my 99 with A7 and bust Nit #2 when he limps A9 in LP and calls my push with TT. Both hands hold and I keep afloat for a while picking my spots at a much more aggressive table. Matthew comes and sits behind me, He's busted after taking a coinflip.

The blinds start to get high a couple of levels after the dinner break and I'm starting to get short after backing down to a couple of re-raises. I hold AK on the button and it folds to the CO who thinks for agggesss and finally makes a raise of 6x the BB or something similarly large. I shove for the rest of my stack, the blinds fold and he calls with JJ. No help on the board and I lose my first and only race of the tournament.

We go back to the hotel, get changed and head out into Dublin. Temple Bar is absolutely heaving for the bank holiday weekend. If you ever find yourself in Dublin you absolutely have to visit this area in the evening, you won't regret it. After a long hunt for an ATM we finally make it into a bar and Matt has what he confesses to be only his second ever pint of Guinness.

After a while we head back to the card club. They stopped play at 1:30 am and we arrived just after to find the cash games in full swing. We had heard from the night before that the cash games were pretty lively, so we both sit down at a pot limit game (quite common in the UK) about 3 hands in I have AA in LP with a few limpers. I bet the pot and get two calls. The flop comes 379 and Matt bets out, the player to my right folds and I bet the pot again. I think it took us a few shouts of 'pot' to get our money it but when we do Matt looks up to me and says 'Set'.

No help on the turn or river and I need to get some more chips to sit back in.

I'm not really a massive fan of live cash games, but this one was very soft and Matt was taking full advantage. I made the money back from my earlier stackage and we call it a night. Matt is up a little over two buy-ins from a pretty short cash session.

We come back the next day with the intention of playing some more cash games but there are none. The final two tables of the event have been set up and all eyes are on the action. After a while someone sets up a SNG and we go upstairs to play where we can still hear the commentary from the main tournie.

It's a very social game and since one of the players is dealing we play 11 handed. Most of the players seem to know each other but I don't reconise anyone other than Matt and one of the nits I busted from tournie. He played much, much looser and much better than the day before. He would have gotten much further if he played this way all the time. I win a few decent pots and get HU as a 2:1 chip dog. I'm normally pretty bad HU but my opponent was worse. He hardly ever raised from the button and almost never called a raise after limping. We get it all in on a QTT board when I have Q9, he flips 55 and I hold to take it down.

The timing was perfect for me as I had to leave for the airport about 10 mins later. I go upstairs to wish Matt well in the freezeout he's waiting for and he wishes me good luck in Vegas. It's been a nice warm up but I didn't really see too much action. I had no really interesting hands and nothing that really made me think too much. I didn't see AA-JJ the whole tournie, made a few standard calls/pushes but nothing really stood out. I'm happy with how I played and feel pretty confident now in the run up to Vegas.

If I had won that flip I would have been in good shape with about 40 players left and a real shot at going deep. I can't ask for much more than that really. Lets hope I saved all my luck for the WSOP

Since this is pretty long the following is for the tl;dr crowd:
- Airports are fun.
- I meet SJ and don't make jokes about him being gay
- My table is full of bad players
- They take lots of my chips
- I get revenge by busting them
- AK < JJ
- Temple Bar is awesome
- Matt cracks my AA in a PL cash game with 77
- I win the worlds first 11 person SNG

Monday, June 04, 2007

WSOP Main Event Seat #2

Last weekend I won my second WSOP Main Event seat of the year as the ITH peoples champion. I was down to 500 chips at one point early on, but managed to get a little lucky and battled my way back to win the seat.

This means I can now use the remaining cash from my first seat (which Stars has given me already) to play in some preliminary events. I’m also still able to wear Stars gear so I get to pick up my $1k sponsorship money when I arrive in Vegas. Looking at the events available while I’m out there the following events are the ones I intend to play:

Event #47 - 06/29/07 - $2000 - No-Limit Hold’em

Event #49 - 06/30/07 - $1500 - No-Limit Hold’em

Event #53 - 07/03/07 - $1500 - Limit Hold’em Shootout

Event #55 - 07/06/07 - $10,000 - World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em

Clearly if I’m still in on day two of event 47 I won’t be playing event 49. I might also play the $1k SHOE event if I manage to win a sat. I have been playing quite a few mixed games recently and feel that once you take Razz out of the equation I have a decent shot.

I have just got back from Dublin where I played the Irish APAT event. I went out a couple of levels after the dinner break after the CO pushed JJ and I called on the button with AKs with no help from the board. I’ll probably write up a trip report today or tomorrow so I’ll post it here as soon as it’s done.