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WSOP Event 49

Date: Sat, Jun 30, 2007

I am so going to win it. And I ain't kidding this time. When I qualify for the final table of this event on Monday, it will mean I leave Vegas never having spent a full day not playing WSOP. Think about it.

Btw. getting in a cash game at the Bellagio Friday night takes roughly 2 weeks. I had to quit on them bastards.

Result edits:

Hi, guest blogger benny here. At the first break Kristian was up to almost twice his starting stack. What happened next? The guest blogger went to sleep, night fell on mainland Europe... But stay tuned for more updates, morning has rerisen.

---

Haha, nice one Benny. It's me again now. I got a nice run for my money, worked my stack up to 5 times starting stack, but busted around place 500, with prize money for final 300 or just about. Three thousand something total entrants. No bracelets for me this year. I am too exhausted right now to post in detail, that will have to wait till tomorrow Vegas time. Tomorrow I am not playing in the WSOP, and that will actually be a nice change.

---

OK, sorry for not updating as promised, I met up with a friend here, and didn't have time to post. Here is my detailed report of the event.

I probably made my biggest mistake of the entire WSOP in just the second orbit of the tournament. I had decided that I was going to mercilessly attack the table hard from the beginning to abuse all the amateur players nursing their precious $1500 stacks. The table fit this strategy better than I could have hoped, this was the worst live table I have played at ever, and it is not close. During the first orbit I picked up 4 smallish pots, and also played a couple of other hands, so by the time 3rd orbit was starting, my image was extremely LAG. A young guy to my left had made just one raise, but I had a vague read that he was a good aggressive player like me from his general demeanor. I am in SB, folded to button who steals, I call with 99. I would have raised normally, but felt like underrepresenting my hand due to my image. Now young guy 3-bets, button calls. I consider shoving briefly, but due to the weakness of my read on young guy elect to just call again. Flop comes 853 rainbow, I check, young guy shoves, button folds. His shove is about pot sized, and I have him slightly covered. I think for a long time, and finally fold.

The reason I think this is such a big mistake is my image. I deliberately played to achieve a LAG image, I exploit my image underrepresenting a good hand, but fail to pull the trigger when it is required that I put faith in my strategy. I folded because my read on young guy was so weak, and he moved in so confidently. Had he been a passive casual player, it would certainly have been a good fold. Time proved him to be an Internet pro like myself, and had I known that I would have called instantly.

As it turned out, he was the only decent player at the table, so I was pretty unlucky to have him at my left. It became quite clear that the two of us was going to battle for table control. It turned out to be me, as I sucked out on him all in preflop with 76s against his queens, and he busted later against some other guy. This allowed me to pick my spots comfortably, and I almost tripled up during the 3 hours I was at the table. Let me just clarify that tripling up is not an expected result even at such a table, I was also a bit lucky, but people were playing horribly passively and giving me free cards when I was behind, so I didn't need to be extremely lucky. I felt comfortable that any raise postflop was a big hand, and information that solid is very valuable.

The next table I played had a few good players, but still a couple of passive old timers. The guy to my right literally TOLD ME, that he would only play for his stack when he was pretty sure he was ahead. I don't think he even realized that there was a difference between pushing and calling an all-in, I believe in his mind an all-in was sort of a mutual agreement.

Anyway, this is getting long. To make it short, I had an interesting run. After tripling up to 9k, I went up another stack, then down to 6k, up to 14k, all the way down to 3k and back up to 14k again. Lots of interesting hands. I finally got moved to a new table, and spent an hour folding, so I was down to about 12BBs. I then raise ATs from UTG+1 due to my tight image, get two callers, flop comes A93, I check/raise aggressive button table chip leader who has AQ, bye bye. I busted after 10 hours of poker, with a slightly different view of what a WSOP event can be like. I must admit, I want more. Unfortunately that will have to wait till next year.

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WSOP Event 47

Date: Fri, Jun 29, 2007

Aside from my unfortunate results yesterday, it has been an awesome experience being part of the WSOP so far. I am still kid enough to get a kick out of seeing all the famous TV players, of whom there are an unbelievable amount. It seems like they are here every single one of them, merely walking among us mere mortals like they were not some kind of super humans. Phil Gordon is really tall. Joe Hachem is not tall at all.

Las Vegas is an all out assault on all senses, and playing poker in the big convention hall of the Rio is a challenge. Today my focus is on maintaining full concentration despite numerous distractions. Distractions does not only include noise from the hundreds of players in the tournament, it includes appearances from famous faces on the rail and regular announcements and crowd noise from the TV final tables in a semi secluded corner of the hall. Of course, distributing cash game players to their tables which are also in the hall must be done by loud speakers, so everyone can hear that Jimmy J. has an available seat at table 164. Being cold decked for an hour in such an environment makes it really tough to maintain focus.

Now, I will hit the breakfast buffet, and then take the shuttle bus from Harrah's to the Rio. So far, the shuttle is the only thing in Vegas that is free. I fully expect to win event 47.


Results edit:

Once again I busted 3½ hours in. Players were considerably worse than yesterday, but the cards were the same.

Notable hands:

We are close to starting stacks of t4000, blinds 25/50. I raise from MP with AQ, get called from BB. I flop top two pair, and bet t300, he calls, so pot is t1000. Turn is a J, he checks, and I check behind. My reasoning is that I won't get calls from many worse hands, and that another bet pretty much ties my whole stack to the pot. I could put in a small bet maybe, or just bet big and commit myself, but I check behind with the intention of charging a big bet on the river or maybe inducing a bluff. River is a king completing a flush. He check/calls my half pot bet, and shows AT for the runner runner straight, taking 25% of my stack.

I get my stack back to 4k, find A3s in early position, and make an uncharacteristic limp. CO+1 raises to t200, button calls, and I call. Flop is J22 giving me a flush draw. Checked around. Turn is an ace, I bet 400, 1 fold, button raises to 1100. The board takes care of my kicker trouble to some degree, so I call, given that I can't put him on a hand that beats me, except AQ. By that logic, maybe I should have 3-bet. River is a brick, we check, he shows AT and we chop. It turns out I was free rolling the turn.

My stack is around 4000 still, 100/200 blinds. 3 limpers, and I check from the BB with ATo. Flop is A25 with a flush draw. I bet 500 into the 800 pot, and get one caller, a loose and bad player. Turn is a 6, we both check. River is another 6, flush draw uncompleted. I check and he overbets 2200 into the 1800 pot. This is a critical decision, if I call and lose I am officially a short stack. I simply can't put him on a hand that makes sense. He checked behind on the turn, pretty much ruling out two pair or better, and he called the flop, so how can he have a 6 without a hand worth betting the turn? I conclude that he must be trying to bluff me off a weak ace with a missed draw. I call after thinking for a long time, and he shows 64s. He called the flop for the gut shot I suppose.

I am now a short stack, and I am all in 3 or 4 times without callers. One annoying guy comments on it, as if there was any other way to sensibly play a less than 10BB stack. The whole table is aware that I move all in frequently, when I find AQo UTG. I now have 2200 still with 100/200 blinds, 25 antes, and I attempt to show unusual strength by just betting 600. Annoying guy comments how I must have a monster. The 64s guy from last hand laughs and agrees but still calls, saying he is donating to my monster hand. Annoying guy folds saying he would have called if I didn't have such a monster. How annoying. BB comes along. Flop is T74 rainbow, BB checks, I push, and stupid 64s guy calls with A4s!!! Apparently, he wasn't kidding around when he said he was making a donation on preflop. Sadly, he made a great bottom pair hand which held up.

I don't think I have been getting much in the way of cards in Vegas so far. I am not saying I have played perfectly, but when your good hands don't hold up when they meet resistance, poker becomes really hard. One more shot tomorrow, and after that, it will be all sight seeing and cash games.

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WSOP Event 45

Date: Thu, Jun 28, 2007

Woke up really early, and got up at 7. Jet lag could become a problem towards the end of the day, but I am counting on adrenaline to keep me sharp. Anyway, it's not like I have never played late night poker before.

The structure of the event looks ok, but it is not going to be deep stacked for long. The first hour starting stacks are 200BBs, next hour 100BB, and then 50BB. In the fourth hour antes kick in.

I don't really have a specific strategy other than to play my usual aggressive style, and then adapt to conditions as quickly as possible. It will be interesting to see how different the game is from what I am used to during the first few hours. I don't have any goals either, other than not doing anything stupid.

If I bust quickly, I will head for some cash games to get into some kind of poker rythm before tomorrows event. Everyone says the cash games here are really soft. I likely won't update results until this evening. Later.


Results edit:

To make a long story short, I busted about three and a half hours in. Starting stacks were 10k, and I hovered between 5k and 10k the whole tournament.

The table was really tough, with no weak players among the starting 6. High stakes pro Eli Elezra showed up half an hour late, then spend most of his time on the rail or talking in a cell phone, while still managing to play a lot of hands. He busted early, probably not bothering to commit himself to the tournament without a large stack. Ram Vaswani (probably misspelled) took his place and played really well, and he was among the chip leaders last time I checked.

Not much interesting action to report from my point of view, I played only small or medium small pots, only a couple going so far as to see the turn. Pretty boring actually. I did get a few decent hands, but never got resistance when I wanted it, unfortunately. I busted as I tried to steal from the small blind with 56s (BB 200, I bet 600), and big blind tried to resteal (to 2000). I sensed some weakness, and decided I had decent fold equity and shoved for a total of 6600. Apparently I overestimated my fold equity and my image, and he called with ATo after thinking for a while. I picked up a pair on the flop, but turn was an ace, bye bye. I am obviously not happy with the way I busted, I obviously could have had a sharper read on what he thought of my image, and also deciding to steal from SB with 56s with only 33BBs is questionable. On the other hand, something did need to happen for me to get back in the tournament, so I don't think it was a disaster play by any means. BB was a friendly swede named Jonatan Stål, and I spoke with him at length afterwards. Sadly, it looks like he busted on day 1 also.

I then played the 5/10NL cash game for an hour. I got stacked with kings beaten by aces, and decided I had had enough poker for today. Finished up by watching some of the final table of the 50k horse tournament.

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Actuary arrived in Vegas

Date: Thu, Jun 28, 2007

Thesis defence yesterday went well, so I am now officially an actuary!

The trip to Sin City went well, so I am now officially in Las Vegas!

Total travel time: 22 hours from leaving home until entering my room at Harrah's Hotel. I must admit I am a bit beat. Already it has been made painfully clear that I can barely move in my room without it somehow costing me money. If I even touch the mini bar, it will assume I took something and charge me. To log on the Internet, I have to pay for a full 24 hours. Water from the mini bar costs $3. I am almost afraid to turn on the TV. Do you think they charge extra for using the bathroom?

Random observations from Atlanta airport: Everyone spoke like racists do in movies. Every single baggage handler was an overweight black person (observation size about 25). I did not spot a single Mike Vick jersey.

One customs officer in Atlanta told me in standard 'southern', that in the old days you could sit down and play some solid cards, but nowadays poker was all luck with all the new players and all. That means I have a chance! Tomorrow, I hit the WSOP like a hurricane.

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Here we go

Date: Tue, Jun 26, 2007

I am safely home from Greece, just as a massive heatwave descends on southern Europe. This afternoon I am defending my thesis, for which I am reasonably well prepared, so I am not too worried about that.

And then, tomorrow I am off to Vegas, to play in up to three WSOP events. The main target is WSOP Event 45, beginning Thursday, which is a six-handed $5000 event. If I bust on day one, which is obviously always the most likely outcome, I will be playing event 47 Friday, and on the same condition, event 49 on Saturday. These are $2000 and $1500 events, both full ring. Results will be posted here as soon as they are available.

It's a busy and exciting time, and a time where I could sure use a hand from sweet lady luck. Cross your fingers for me! The good part is that I don't think any off these events can go terribly wrong, I can afford to lose what I am investing in the WSOP, and I can't see the thesis defense go terribly wrong either. Anyway, win or lose, I should have some good stories to tell by the end of the week. At the very least, I understand there is a good chance I will get to piss next to a famous poker pro, as that seems to be a popular activity among WSOP bloggers. We will see.

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