Short Update

I still have to complete the rest of my trip report, but thought I would update on what has happened since I have been home.

Cash games

I have been on a nice run. I am up a bit, mostly playing $1/$2 blind NL and $0.50/$1.00 blind NL. Some 6 max, some heads up. I have also played and won a bit playing PLO. The competition online is much, much, tougher than live play. I am a bit surprised I have not hit a downswing (as I often have after returning from live play). Thankfully I am making correct decisions.

Tourneys – Satellites

I have a bunch of stars W$. I have played several satellites for entries into WSOP satellites (the $650) or the EPT final (the $800). I have not succeeded, but came close in the $800. Unfortunately I found the right big blind to raise with junk while I still have folding equity, but the small blind picked up KK and knocked me out – refunding my buyin in 8th place when top 6 got 800 W$. I also used some W$ to enter the WSOP $160 double shootout. I played tight with little for cards (blinds go up real slow which makes this possible), but lost a flip with JJ to AQ and was bounced.

The bright spot was that I played a UB $20 turbo/rebuy satellite for an entry into their $530 Sunday tourney. I played well – then was crushed when my AJ push was called by KT and he hit. There were only 5 left, and 2 get seats. However, I was down to 4000 chips when the average was 30,000 and the big blind was 1600. My chances were very slim. However, I picked up A9 and doubled on the next hand, then stole blinds twice to get to 12K. I picked up another couple blinds to get to 17K. Then I pushed 87 from the big blind when the small blind limped with A9. He called my push and the board came 26J-T-8! I rivered the 8 to get to over 25K. Then, on the next hand in the small blind, I picked up KK. The CO limped, I raised to 8K (bb was 2K now, I think), big blind and CO called. Flop was 773. I bet 10K, big blind folded, CO pushed and I called. He showed 22! My hand held up, and all of a sudden we are 5 handed and I have half the chips in play. I cruised from there, and won 530 T$. I was going to play the event, until Toro basically told me that the tourney is populated by the best players and few fish play. I instead played the UB $120 bounty tourney …

Non-Satellite Tourneys

I played the $120 UB bounty tourney Sunday night, along with the $50 bodog tourney. The bodog tourney was a nightmare. I need to remember to play super-tight there, as the players on bodog are stupid and aggressive. It can be a very profitable place to play, but you have to resort to simple ABC poker. There is no point setting up a bluff when the players can’t think past the fact that “I have QJ on a AQ442 board – I have a pair, I must call”. My mistake on that tourney, and I was out early. The UB $120 went better. I lost some chips early, but the good blind structure and my good play allowed me to get those chips back and hang out at about the average through the first few hours. You get a $20 bounty for each player you bust, and I ended up busting 4, and finishing in the 2nd money level for a $215 cash (plus the other bounty money). I reraised AQ with an M=7.5 and blinds about to go up and was called by AK to bust. This was probably a mistake, but since I was just moved to a new table, I did not have good reads to find out whether a reraise would be a scary proposition there. Before that, I think I played some great poker, especially since I lost a bunch of coin flips that could have given me a much larger stack. I may post a great play by me that really paid off on my next post.