WPBT Summary Part 2

WPBT VI Summary part 2.

I probably should have posted part 2 first so that it would show up chronologically, but when I first started I didn’t think this would require two posts. Oh well. If you missed the first half you can find it here.

I came out of the second break in third place with 12,280 chips. Frankly, I’m surprised I’ve made it this far. I’m even more surprised that I actually have some chips to work with. Normally if I manage to make it this far, I’m clinging on for dear life just looking for a chance to double up.

Round 9 300/600 Blinds 50 Ante.

This round starts out kind of slow for me. I basically just sit there and watch my chips dwindle away. Finally I get A9s on the button and call a preflop raise to 1200. The flop is the always scary 72J, none of which is my suit. It’s checked to me and I bet 1800. Only in a blogger game can someone be worried about a 72 on the flop, but my bluff works and he folds.

It’s nice to actually have the chips to be able to take some risks and still recover if they don’t work for me. I’m finally able to get me obligatory hammer bluff in. I get 72o in early position and raise it up to 1200. I get one caller. Doh. There goes 1200. The flop is AK9, all clubs. My two is club, so I have the lowest possible flush draw, but that could be a scary flop for almost any hand that didn’t include two clubs so I bet 3000, and he folds. Unfortunately, I had it set to auto-muck my hand and couldn’t show it. You’ll have to take my word for it. I feel like I’ve passed some sort of blogger initiation and now I can officially call myself a poker blogger.

Now I really start bulling the smaller stacks as we’re getting closer to the bubble. I knocked a few of the shorter stacks out w/AQ against A5 and AT against KJ.

Round 10 400/800 Blinds 50 Ante

There are 21 players left and I’m in second place with a little over 22,000 chips. I’ve almost caught the chip leader who is seated two places to my right.

I’m dealt big slick in early position and raise it up to 2400. HonestAL1029 reraises all in for another 610. He has wired eights. The flop is bad news for him as two kings fall, and turn seals his fate as I get an ace to complete my full house, and move into the chip lead.

We are down to 19 players, and everyone tightens up even more, not wanting to be the last guy not to make the money. This works out great for me as I’m not worried about getting knocked out and get to steal lots blinds.

The railbirds keep us informed about the other tables as we’re playing hand for hand with them. They have a few all-ins, but no eliminations. Finally someone on one of the other tables goes out and we made the money.


Round 11: 600/1200 Blinds 75 Ante

Here’s where I start a little over confident. I have K2 in middle position and raise it to 2400. mirven goes all in for 2466 more out of the small blind. Mirven has KQ and doubles up. I think this is one of my weaknesses in tournament play. Once I gain the chip lead I try too hard to eliminate other players rather than making smart plays. I guess maybe I was pot committed at that point and it only cost me another 2466, but once mirven reraised should have known I was behind. One mistake like this won’t kill me, but I have a tendency to do this a lot, and with players who aren’t as low on chips as mirven was here.

After loosing that hand I start playing tighter again, hoping to let some of the smaller stacks knock each other out. Maybe I’m playing too tight, or my cards just aren’t any good but I don’t play many hands for a while. I’m starting to get a little frustrated as every time I have a somewhat decent hand it gets raised ahead of me, and I don’t feel like doubling anyone else up.

I’m moved to the other table and get A4o in first position. I raise it up to 3600. I need a steal here because I haven’t done anything for a while and I need to replenish the chips I’ve lost to the last few orbits worth of antes and blinds. A10419 calls out of the big blind. Crap. This is what I get for trying to be sneaky. I knew I shouldn’t have played this, especially from early position, but the cards I had been getting the last few hands made A4 seem like a monster. The flop is T8Q rainbow and a10419 checks. I bet 4800 and he folds. Deep sigh of relief.

Round 12: 1000/2000 Blinds 100 Ante

I start round 12 with 26,139 in chips and I’m in second place. There are 12 players remaining.

The first hand where I see any action post flop in this round is when I’m dealt wired tens in second position. At this point my cat decides that I’ve been playing on my computer for way too long without giving him any attention, so he takes matters into his own hands, and starts climbing on me, and my desk and my laptop. By the time I pick him and get him out of the way, it’s my turn to act, and I raise. What I didn’t realize was that on_thg had already raised it up to 4000 from first position, so now I had raised it to 6000. Oops. I still would have played the hand if I had known that I was entering a raised pot, but I don’t know if I would have raised it. As I’ve said before I hate pocket tens, I can never seem to play them right. This time it works out OK though as the flop was 82A and on_thg checked and then folded to my 6000 bet.

Now I’m up to 35,000 and I can really start pushing people around. Any ace or king or two suited cards are worth a raise. No one seems to want test me. Only one more player until the final table.

All of the sudden some one at the other table goes out and we’re at the final table. I’m not sure how this happened, because I don’t think I’m nearly good enough to come anywhere near the final table, but somehow I made it. I have over 50,000 chips and am the table leader. Only WAXMAN13, is close with just over 44,000. The rest have around 20,000.

BREAK 3

Round 13: 1500/3000 Blinds 150 Ante

I’m slowly building on my chip lead when I get wired sixes in middle position. It’s folded to me and I raise to 9000. PokerLife calls from the button. The flop is rags, 437, and I can’t imagine that helps him so I bet 12,000. Pokerlife calls for 9246 and is all in. One of the mistakes I think I started making here is that I didn’t take into account other players chip counts enough. I’m trying to make a pot sized or half pot sized bet not noticing that my opponent doesn’t have the chips to cover. I’m not sure if I should have been more or less aggressive with that knowledge, but I probably should have taken it into account at the very least. Regardless of what I should have done, I put him all in and he had pocket rockets. At least I had enough chips to be able to go against a hand that had me totally dominated, and live to play another. That play did knock me back to the middle of the pack however.

It this point it really only takes one good or bad hand to either put you back in the lead, or knock you out. I got a little lucky when I was dealt T7 in the small blind. A10419 had limped from early position, and I thought I could make him fold by raising to 9000. He called. The flop was T8J rainbow and I was able to take the pot right there. I moved up about 13,000 from that hand and put a comfortable distance between the top of my chips and the cyberfelt.

The very next hand I was able to win the blinds and antes with a preflop raise on the button. I had climbed back to 48,000 chips and second place with seven players remaining.

I take the chip lead back when I get big slick on the big blind. The chip leader, and my nemesis WAXMAN13 limps from the small blind, and I raise it to 12,000. He calls. I’m pretty good at misplaying big slick so I figure there’s a reasonable chance that I’m going to mess this up and go out seventh by picking a fight with the one guy who can completely knock me out. The flop goes my way however with KJ9 and WAXMAN folds to my 18,000 bet. Back in the chip lead.

Round 14: 2000/4000 Blinds 200 Ante

There are still seven of us left when we enter round 9. I’m in the chip lead with 58,000. WAXMAN13 and pokerlife are close behind.

We lose a couple players, and I climb to 65,000 in chips when the unthinkable happens. Actually, I’ve been thinking this would happen for the past three hours but it sounded like a good thing to say. I think I played this hand as well as I could. Tell me if you think differently. I am dealt 65o in the BB, and the evil WAXMAN13 calls from the small blind. I take a free look at the flop. The flop was about as good as I could have hoped for. 645 rainbow. WAXMAN13 bets 4000 and I raise it up to 12000. I guess I could have or should have raised it higher, but I wanted him to stick around. If I could knock out the second highest chip stack, I’d be almost unstoppable. The turn was a jack and he bets 12000. I figure he has a jack, and that’s it. If he had just made a set, I think he would have been more aggressive prior to this. I reraise all in. He calls with J7. I guess you can’t fault him for this call. He has an open ended straight draw and top pair, so he’s got to be think he’s ahead, and if not he has plenty of outs. He hits an eight on the river to complete his straight and I’m all but eliminated.

So I finished in 5th place, and I couldn’t be more satisfied with my results. OK, I guess if I had finished anywhere from first to fourth I’d be a little more satisfied, but either way I played way better than I anticipated. I hope you enjoyed my summary. It took me way longer than I expected to write up, so I probably won’t be writing anything this detailed again. It cuts down on my playing time too much. If you want to check out the WPBT leaderboard, you can see it here.