WSPL Goes to Vegas episode 03/08 and 03/09

I didn't post an update from last week, so I'm bundling it with the results from today.  I was pretty frustrated with the results last week.  I won a big hand early and was second in chips for most of the tourney before ultimately going out in a pathetic fifth place.  My cards were terrible and I couldn't seem to catch a break but enough bitching.  I do want to review the big hand I won early on. It was vs. Greg.

Its been a week so I may be a little fuzzy on the details, but here is how it went down.  Five handed, Greg is on the button, I'm in the small blind with Q6o.  He limps and I call.  Flop is A6A, and I make a small bet. BB folds and Greg calls.  Turn as a three.  I bet again, and he raises.  I call.  River is a four.  He makes a large bet.  Its early in the tournament and if I call, the loser of the hand is going to have a hard time not going out first or second.

It seems to me like he is trying to push me out. If he has an ace then he would be trying to get me to call with a smaller bet.  If he has an pocket pair, then I still think the ace scares him and he tries to keep the pot smaller.    I call and he turns over K7s.  He's shocked that I called him with what I.  I realize I'm not providing a perfect recount of the hand, but am I missing something. Was he representing something that I just didn't see, or was he overselling his hand like I thought?  I guess I was right so that is all that matters, but I was bothered that he thought he represented a hand that I should have folded to.  Someone else at the table concurred that they thought he was slow rolling a big hand.

Anyway.  I coasted for  a while after that, then just ran into a bunch of coin flips that I kept losing.

Here are the results from last week:  Jason M continues his dominance this season and Mark pulled into second place with his win.  Also note that despite losing that big hand Greg managed to come back and outlast me.

1. Mark
2. Jason M
3. Jason S
4. Noah 
5. Greg
6. Me
7. Archie
8. Aaron
9. Shane
10. Jason K

And for week 9....


Haaaaaaalelueah hallelujah, hallelujah.

I finally won one.  Holy crap I was starting to think it wouldn't happen.  Noah also got his first cash with a second place finish, so congrats to him.

Jasons K and S were no shows, although Jason K was nice enough to register and then get blinded out.  I wish I could set the registration period to 30 min before the tourney starts so that wouldn't happen.  Jason K would have finished in fifth if he had actually shown up and just folded every hand.

My table started out four handed and I was very aggressive, nearly doubling up by the time the tables merged after the first blind limit.  I settled into a conservative rhythm after than and started bleeding chips as has been the norm.  

The hand that put me up for good was one that I had no business playing I had T2h and entered a family pot.  Flop was king high with one heart.  Jason M made a small bet.  He's been catching ridiculous cards on the river all league long, and especially today.  Nothing against me so far today, but he's had some sick suckouts against Noah.  

The turn is another heart and Jason makes a slightly larger bet.  I think to myself "what the hell"  if you can't beat 'em, join em right?  The river is the king of hearts and Jason makes a big bet.  I push all in over the top and he calls.  He had a king, and I forget the kicker, but it doesn't matter because he finally gets rivered and I double up.

From that point on I'm never in danger.  When we get down to three players I get the sense that both Mark and Noah are waiting for the other to go out, and as a result both hemorrhage chips in my direction.  Mark fall first and then the heads up match with Noah is over in a few hands as he only has 5x BB left.



Here are the results for week 9

1. Me
2. Noah
3. Mark
4. Jason M
5. Greg
6. Shane
7. Aaron
8. Archie
9. Jason S (No Show)
10. Jason K (No Show)

And the overall standings (Total/Total dropping worst 2)

1. Jason M (72/71)
2. Mark (72/65)
3. Aaron (60/56)
4. Shane (51/49)
5. Jason S (48/46)
6. Greg (47/47)
7. Me (45/43)
8. Archie(43/41)
9. Noah (37/35)
10. Jason K (19/19)

In other news, even though it doesn't look like I'm going to be finishing anywhere near the top two, Jason M looks like he's going to win and has said that he doesn't really want to play in the WSOP event.  So I think I can convince him to let me play for him.  Mark is the other guy pushing to play for Jason, and he is now in position to win a seat outright so I might not have to worry about him.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com