NAPT Mohegan Sun Part 2: The Main Event

My starting table was in the p0ker room. LJ and Shawn's are both in the tournament\convention room. Turns out almost all of the on-line qualifiers and pokerstars pros are in the tournament room. Everyone who bought in and satellited in late were in the p0ker room. Since pokerstars ran a ton of cheap satellites to this, it made it a huge disadvantage to be in the p0ker room. It definitely wasn't random. My starting table was full of the $5k-$10k live regulars that bought in direct. They pretty much all know each other and are talking about playing the $25k bounty tournament and shit like that. It was brutal. The worst starting table I've ever had.

I raise Aces under the gun and a guy calls and check folds a King high flop and says he folded Jacks. FML! Table change please. Alan "Chainsaw" Kessler is at my table and he is bitching like mad about our table.

I end up paying off a dude with AK that flatted me pre and flopped trip Kings vs my Jacks. I should have given him more respect. I really wasn't getting much going despite having pretty good starting cards.

Interesting hand\angle spot comes up. Raise to 550 at 100/200, 2 callers and I call on the button with Q9s. Flop comes T98. Guy cbets 10,200. With 2 5k chips and a 2 100 chips. It clearly looks like it was a mistake. It definitely could have been an angle to make it look like a mistake. We all fold and the table debates the hand for like the next 30 minutes. One guy says he folds J7 to it because its 100% the nuts. Its QJ and nothing else. And this was a very strong player saying this, not some donk. Another high stakes MTT'er says he snap shoves with JT and feels great about it. Saying it was just a mistake and it definitely could be and underpair or overs. The dude says it was a mistake and that he just had overs which just fuels the debate more.

Then, about 5 hours in, UTG+1 raises, call, call, I call on the button with 54s and the small blind calls.

Flop comes Q44dd. UTG+1 cbets small, like 1600-1800 into a pot of over 5k. Folds to me and I pop him. I'm representing like nothing, so I think there's a good chance I get action. I can't have AA, KK or QQ really. I'm really repping 44, A4s, 54s and AQ. A4s isn't in my range there and 54s is definitely not something I call with 100% there, so me having a real hand is pretty unlikely. I really think I'll look like I have a draw or some mid pair that I think is good (altho I never have either because I know raising makes me look like I'm FOS).

So he asks for my stack size and just ships it. His small cbet and ship actually made me think I might be running into QQ, but there's not much I can do if I did, I have to pay off. I double check my hole cards (since it is a $5k) and call. We flip and he has AQ. The dealer immediately burns and turns a 5 and then a Q.

It happened so fast I was a bit dazed. I muttered a few curses and just walked away. Sent out texts about losing to a 3 outer, got a beer and wandered over to the other room to see how Shawn and LJ were doing (both well at this point). Then I realize that there aren't 5 queens in a deck of cards, get a little more pissed. By the time their break is over, I've downed 3 beers. It probably took me like 15 minutes (which violates some CT law I think (Hate CT)).

I go sit at a 25 cent video p0ker bar to get a beer. About 5 minutes playing, I hit this...



...feel better about busting, but still pretty shitty actually. Hate busting out of big tournaments.

I got really drunk and the rest of the day is a bit foggy. Shawn and LJ both make day two. Shawn lost a huge flip with QQ vs AK on the river, then checked shoved Vanessa Russo on a 9 high flop with AQ. She called with Tens and celebrated her great call. LJ lost a bunch on a bluff and then lost a flip with AK vs JJ to get back into it. Shitty tournament for all of us.

NAPT Mohegan Sun Part 1: $500 Sat to Main Event

LJ won a seat to the NAPT Mohegan Sun about a month ago. I took off work and we decided to make a vacation out of it....


We left for CT Tuesday around 1:15 and got there around 4:15. We hit very little traffic, so it was a pretty easy drive. I dropped LJ off with the bags at the front desk and went to park. She checked into the room and by the time I parked the car and found my way back to the main desk and hotel elevators, it was probably 4:45. To say the parking garage isn't convenient would be a bit of an understatement, altho I did get a little lost at one point.

So after we get settled, we went down to get her seat card for the $5k the next day. I was thinking I would play a satellite if there was a decent one running. I didn't look into it before just because I didn't want to stress about getting their at a specific time. So we get to the window and find out there are two, a 5pm $500 and a 7pm $1k. I register for the $500 even tho its about 5:20. I wasn't super in the mood after just having driven 3 hours, but I wanted at least one shot to play in the tournament with Stoner and LJ.

First hand I get I raise KK and get 2 callers, cbet and get popped on an Axx flop and muck. Down to 9k from the 10k starting 2 minutes in. A few hands later some dude calls about a 17 bb shove from the big blind with 65s. He flops bottom pair, but gets counterfeited and loses to A9o.

Two hands later, same dude opens the button and I called with Qh7h in the bb.

Flop comes QJ3r and it goes check-check. Turn is the Jd which puts 2d's up there. I check and he bets and I call. I hate it a bit because a Jack is a big part of my check-behind range, but I'm pretty sure he's terrible, so I am not super worried.

River is the Td which is pretty gross. I check and he overships. I'm leaning towards calling because I'm pretty sure he's FOS. He says something like "Come on, double me up" and I go from about 60% chance of calling to 90%.

I call and he says "I have a boat."

I think "Fuck!" but don't do or say anything.

He shows 43o and says "Oh wait, just bottom pair." Pretty sure I was getting angled. I get up to 16k and really never looked back.

There was a 130 runners with 13 getting seats. I stole a lot and pretty much never got reraised. I reraised a few times and pretty much won every single one of them. I split two AK\JJ flips, the Jacks winning both times. I won big pots with JJ vs 99 and AA where a guy stuck in a ton of chips and folded on the flop. I pretty much sailed to the bubble. It might have been the easiest tournament I've played. I had a couple tough shove\fold spots, but none that were super questionable. I did get lucky when a guy made a smart fold. I shoved about 50k from the button with ATo and he folded and showed JJ and a 95k stack.

There were a bunch of shorties at the time and him calling would have put half his stack at risk when he had no need to. I make the same fold and was really glad he made it too. I could have bubbled if he called.

Some where around here Stoner and LJ showed up to rail the bubble. Neither one of them had a beer in their hand, strange. The bar in the tournament room had closed and there wasn't really a close bar near by, plus they were all about to close since it was super late (12:30).

Fucking 12:30. Bars closed at twelve fucking thirty! In a casino! At 12:30! WTF? Hate Connecticut!

Several people at the other table wanted to chop it, but the big stacks at my table were having none of it. I was in for a while, but after I picked up the blinds like 5-6 times and built up a 100k stack, I backed out as well. I busted the 15th guy when he shoved under 2bbs from the small blind and I called with with QTo, he had 8s7s. He turned a flush and I rivered a bigger one with my Qs. The bubble burst a few hands later on the other table when someone shoved some terrible hand with like 4bbs and got called by A7o. A shorty got in that had like a 1.5bb stack.

Afterwards, I go hit the mini bar to celebrate since it's the only place to get a drink. Then go to bed.

WSOP Main Event Day2

My Day One ended in decent shape, I was sitting at 42,000 and feeling decent. I got my table draw and started googling the names. A couple I didn't have to, Jennifer Harman and Theo Tran. I thought there was a chance it would be the TV table, but that was not to be. The rest of the table wasn't much better, there was a 2+2 cash game grinder with a huge stack, jburleson and a couple other tough spots. The one great thing is that my position at the table was great. I had position on the most aggressive players and the big stacks. So my table draw blew, but my seat draw was near perfect.

I ended up playing very passively on the day, which is pretty weird for me. The table was so aggressive, it just felt right. Early, this worked like a charm. Theo Tran raised the button and I defended my big blind with a call with KJ. I flopped top pair and check\called the flop and a big bet turn. I rivered top two and checked again and Tran checked behind and mucked when I showed.

Another hand I had JJ and opened and only Harman called. The flop came QQ9 rainbow. I checked and she checked behind. The turn was an 8 and it went check-check. The river was another 9 and I value bet kind of big. She thought for a bit and called and my Jacks were good. She said "I don't know why I called, I thought you had a Queen actually."

The first level, things were working great. I took a bunch of pots away from Tran, who was opening a TON of pots. The last hand of the level, I took one away from him with a flush draw. I was flashing back a couple years to when I had position on John Pham and owned him all day long. I think I finished at like 65,000 and was feeling great.

The first hand of the second level I called Tran again with a small pocket pair, fives I think. The flop came down Ace high, he cbet and I folded and he showed AQ and said to me "That’s a pretty good flop for me. I guess we are going to be playing a lot of pots together today, huh?" I dont think he was happy about it. He had someone behind him playing back at him which was ruining his plans for the day. The thing is, he should have been happy about it. He pretty much owned me the rest of the day.

The first level, I was making all the right decisions, after that it was him and I was one step behind pretty much constantly. I lost like the next 6 pots I played to end up back at like 38k. Then one hand cost me a bunch of chips. The cutoff raised and Tran called from the button and I called from the big blind with 98hh. The flop came down like KJ5 with two hearts and it checked around. The turn was a brick and I bet out about 2/3 of pot and the cutoff folded and Tran called. The river was an Ace and I bet out strong again. Tran reached for a stack of chips and made a raise that almost put me all in. Man that hurt. I mucked and he shows the "bluff" 85dd and bottom pair, which was actually good. He was bluffing with the best hand. I guess I had been check calling a ton and me betting out made him suspicious? Or maybe I am just a tellbox. Whatever it was, I was owned.

A few hands later, he raised again. I shipped him with KJo which I think is super standard giving how much he was opening. The guy right behind me reships (sigh) and it folds back to Tran who calls it all (double sigh) and says "You guys are in trouble." and show Aces. The other guy had AQ. The flop gave me a ton of life KQ9. The turn and river both bricked and I was out.

I don't really have any issues with that shove though, just bad timing in my opinion. Tran was playing great and I can't say he didn't deserve the rest of my chips, but him having Aces there is pretty gay.


The Main Event is such an awesome structure. 30,000 in chips and 2 hour levels is absolutely nuts. After the tournament I was thinking about it a lot. I survived for about 15 hours of play. Figure about 35-40 hands per hour means I had about 550 hands. I had Aces once, it folded to me in the sb and I raised and bb folded. Kings 3 times, twice an ace flopped (tho I won them all). No queens. Jacks a few times, no tens. 99-22 about 20-30 times and I flopped zero sets. I don't think I hit one draw. If it wasn't for a great structure I would have been out much earlier. I do feel pretty good about how I played. Most of things I second guessed after the tournament were all in small pots. It would have been nice if I could have had a little more to work with. Still tho, I had chances.


I definitely want to play more "big" live tournaments. I am just not sure if the Main Event is the way to go. The Borgata has a ton of $1000-$3000 tournaments with awesome structures. There is a very good chance I play the Aruba classic this year. Next year's Main Event is a long way away and a lot can change, so who knows. Hopefully the next 12 months go better (pokerwise) than the last 12 have gone.

Fun WSOP Hands

Hand 1: Bunch of limpers and the button raises it up and gets two callers. Flop is KQ3 rainbow and it checks to the button who bets out and gets one caller (some Norwegian dude). The Turn is an Ace completing the rainbow and it goes check-check. River is a Ten and the board is KQ3AT. Any jack makes the mortal, unbeatable nuts. It’s a tournament. The pots aren’t raked. The Norwegian dude bets out, the button raises and the Norwegian dude tanks. After about 2 minutes he calls and flips over QJs for the nuts. That he called with. On the river. I think you can actually get a foul for doing that in a tournament. The button had KJ and they chopped it, but that’s not even the point.

After some chuckles at the table, Norwegian dude says "I figured he would only call me if he had a Jack anyway and what if I was reading the board wrong?" You got to love it. He buys into a $10,000 tournament but doesn't trust himself to read his hand and the board.

After the break one guy gave him a hard time about it being against the rules. One internet player at the table pretending to be supportive said something like "You had the right logic, it’s just the rules that are messed up."

Awesome!


Hand 2: I didn’t see most of this hand, but I saw enough to just love it. Walking down the aisle I hear “Two All ins Called at Table {whatever number I just walked past}”. So I stop and decide to see what’s going on. I see a poor guy with AJ flipped over looking miserable and two others (a man and a woman) standing up with their cards face down. There was no more action in the hand.

The woman says to the man “What do you got?”

The guy back “What do YOU got?”

Meanwhile the poor AJ guy still sitting there getting double slowrolled.

The woman again “What do you got?”

The guy finally flips over his AK. The woman fist pumps and still doesn’t flip them over. Another 15 to 20 seconds go by and she flips over two Aces (with the ace of spades).

Flop comes all low spades, turn is a brick. AJ and AK are drawing dead.

Woman: “HOLD, HOLD, HOLD!!!!”

Just so terrible.


Hand 3: I am not sure if this was posted anywhere, but its not one I saw but was told about. I definitely could be getting the details wrong, but its pretty funny.

UTG limps, Hero limps with 66, someone behind raises it and the limpers call and they see the flop 3 way. The flop comes A-6-3. Limpers check and the original raiser bets. UTG folds and the hero goes to call puts in an extra orange 5000 chip. The dealer says it’s a raise and while they are sorting it out the original raiser goes all in. The hero didn’t hear the all in and sits there for about 5 minutes waiting for the raiser to act.

The dealer finally tells him it’s on him and his opponent is all in. Hero “Oh man, I’m sorry. I call, I have a set, I didn’t mean to slowroll you.” Original raiser flips over Aces for top set and busts the hero who basically angleshot, slowrolled and busted all in the same hand. How many can say that?

WSOP Main Event Day1

The Main Event just isn't as soft as it used to be. I am still pretty sure it is by far the softest $10,000 buy in tournament in the world tho. Getting a ridiculously soft table is just very unlikely anymore. I heard from so many people how hard there opening table was compared to previous years. The field just is just no where near as soft as it used to be. There are still definitely some fantastic donks in it and I will try to remember some of the great hands I saw.

That said, my opening table was far from tough. There were definitely several weak spots at it, which made me pretty happy. The very first hand a guy 3 barreled AQ unimproved for no apparent reason. Pretty sure he didn't have a read on the first hand of play. The first level went pretty shitty for me tho. I lost a few small pots and one big one. I flopped top pair and rivered two pair and paid off a set. My turn call was massively questionable and probably a mistake.

The second level started just as shitty and I was down to 17k (from the 30k starting stack) and not feeling very good at all. I chipped up a bit and then won my first big pot. I reraised an UTG raiser with Kings and got cold called from the small blind. I cbet a ten high flop and he checkraised me to 8k and I just shipped him. If it was AA, I was willing to go home. If he had called me with a pair less than Jacks and hit a set, I was willing to go home. I just figured Jacks and Queens made up a ton of his range. He thought for a bit and folded and I was back over the starting stack. I ended the second level at 36k.

The third level was pretty uneventful. I don’t think I played one big pot the entire level and ended at 33k.

I played one big pot on the fourth level. A very loose player opened utg+1 to 800 (150-300) and I called with AhTh, the button and both blinds called and we saw the flop 5 way. The flop came Kh Jh 6s and I flopped a gutshot royal draw. The blinds and original raiser checked and I bet 2600 into the 4000 chip pot. The small blind called and everyone else folded. The turn was a brick and the small blind led for 5500. I thought for a bit and had a hard time putting him on big hand and shoved for about 20,000 more. He thought for a bit and folded and I scooped up the pot. I ended the level at 45k feeling pretty good.

The first four levels I had played a very tight game, especially for me. The fifth level the antes kicked in and I opened up, a lot. I won a big pot early in the level on a weird hand. I think it was the only hand of my whole tournament where I hit something big. I called a raise with sixes and the button called behind. The flop came down Q52 rainbow and it checked around. The turn was the Qh which put a heart flush draw on the board. The original raiser bet and I called figuring my sixes were probably the best hand. The button called as well, which I pretty much hated. The river was a prefect 6h. The original raiser checked and it was on me. I thought this was kind of a tough spot actually. The button probably didn’t have a queen. I think his range was something like TT-77 and flushes. I really wasn’t sure what to bet and decided on half pot bet that I figured would be called a very high percentage. The button called and the raiser folded. I showed my boat and he showed KhJh for the rivered flush. I really felt like I lost value. I think I should have bet full pot. I don’t think the mid pairs were calling anyway, kind of annoying, but still a very nice pot.

I was up to over 60k with a really good table image and I started opening a bunch of pots. I four bet bluffed one hand and the guy snapped folded before I even had my chips in the middle or said an amount. I was chipping up and feeling great and then ~spewed off 18k on another bluff where I ran into a set. I am ok with my line on that hand though. I think I was just unlucky to run into a real hand there. I ended the day at 42k feeling pretty good overall about things.



I am going to do a couple more posts on my wsop. The next one will probably be the best, I will post some awesome hands I saw. Then my Day 2 recap, which will suck ass. Part of me wonders if this was my last Main Event. I doubt it, but it definitely feels like it could be. More to come….

Heading Down

to the Amazon Room right now. Cards should be in the air in about 40 minutes. sprstoner is at the table next to me, hopefully we both build nice stacks today.

Getting Back in the Game

My four best finishes in tournaments last night...

393/2250, 378 pay
66/617, 63 pay
187/1260, 180 pay
551/3555, 540 pay

Actually tho, I feel like I have plugged a couple leaks that have snuck into my game. Last night I felt like I played really strong poker (minus a couple tilt spots). I am going to try to play a lot Sunday afternoon, so hopefully I can get a little something going then.

I am leaning towards playing Day 1D of the Main Event, which means I would have 4 and half days out in Vegas before playing it. I might try to play a couple live tournaments while I am out there. Anyone else out there next weekend?