Main Event Trip Report, part 1

Sorry I haven't updated this blog in awhile -- things have been crazy
in Vegas (as usual). I played the WSOP Main Event on Monday, and here's what
happened:

The table I was started at was a lot more aggressive than I expected it to be;
people were 3-betting regularly, and it was extremely rare to see a
flop in an unraised pot. Everyone started with 20k chips with blinds of 50/100, which was great. I lost a few big pots early on, made most of
it back when I flopped the nuts one hand, then dropped back down to ~11k on a
failed bluff. This went on for the first 4-5hrs or so, then I
thankfully got moved to a new table after the dinner break.

My new table was soft as hell. All my raises got respect, and I was
able to accumulate a bunch of chips quickly. Within 2 hours my stack
was healthy again at around 20k; then the table broke and I got moved
again.

My third table was the best of them all. I arrived with just under
20k chips, and within two orbits I broke 30k without a single
showdown! One big hand I played early in my stay at the table went
thusly:

I open 99 from the hijack seat for 2k and get called by the SB (an seemingly
eccentric guy who has ~35k).
Flop: T65r. Checks to me, I bet 2800, and he thinks for a sec before
minraising. Bleh, not a good spot, but I've seen him do some stupid,
weird shit already so I thought for a bit before calling.
Turn: A. Great card for me to bluff. He checks, and I actually
decided to check behind because that's how I would usually play an ace
here. In retrospect, betting the turn was probably a better line against most opponents.
River: 3. He checks, I bet 5k, and he insta-folds.

At the time, I had no idea how insane this guy
was, but this became increasingly more apparent as the session
progressed. He was mentally unstable to the point where I was actually concerned
for his mental health. For example, he had a ~5"x5" piece of
construction paper in his pocket that he would bring out and set on
the table every time he won a pot. On it was handwritten something to
the tone of, "All online poker sites are rigged! They cheat and scam
you out of your money and cannot he trusted. They are all dirty liars;
don't believe their propaganda!" Our friend was certainly a few cards
short of a full deck, and the antics he performed later on confirmed my
suspicions.

Although the lunatic was certainly an entertaining character (and I'll
share some hilarious stories in a future post), lemme get to the
important hands I played in the tournament. I had worked my stack up to
around 40k by stealing the blinds and antes a bunch of times, which
was made possible by the other players at my table playing strictly
"by the book" poker.

For instance, I'd raise Q8o from MP with two of these basic-level
players in the blinds; one time, the BB laughed when it was folded to
him as he flipped up A9s and exclaimed, "Man, the book says to fold
here...I don't like my kicker very much." He folded, and I laughed to
myself about how easy it was to accumulate chips at this table. This was just too easy for a tournament with a $10k buyin!

Towards the end of the 300/600-100 (blind-ante) level I noticed that the
player to the left of the lunatic was visibly frustrated that he
hadn't won a pot in awhile, and he recently failed at an attempt to
steal the blinds which angered him even more. He had about 35k to
start the following hand:

The guy I just described opened for 2400 third to act, and it folded
around to me on the button. I looked down to see JJ and decided to
just smooth call in position. Both blinds folded their hands behind me.
Flop: T54r. Pretty good flop for me; he leads for 6k, which was very
unusually large for both him and for the standard table c-bet size. I
really felt like he had overcards and wanted me to fold, so I raised
to 16k. He instantly shoved the rest of his chips in the pot, which made me go into the tank for awhile to think. He had about the same number of chips as me to start the hand, so this decision
was essentially for my tournament life. After a bit over a minute of
thought, I didn't feel that he had an overpair or a set and decided to call his
~15k allin raise. He proudly turned over ATo, convinced he had the
beat hand, and looked very sullen when he saw my jacks.
The turn was a blank, but the river was another ten to basically seal my
fate in this tourney. I was obviously furious to see that river card,
and I jumped to my feet and smacked my hands together a few times in an attempt to release the massive rage inside my soul. An ESPN camera crew
happened to be right behind me when this all unfolded, so I'm sure
they got a great reaction shot of me when the ten hit on the river.
Ugh, I hate tournaments SO MUCH.

So the dealer counted out the chips, and I was left with 725 chips to
play with. After paying the 100 ante, I was allin next hand for
slightly over one BB. My A3 held up against the blinds' two
hands to more than triple me up! I more than doubled again in my BB
the subsequent orbit when a bad player with an already smallish stack
raised my blind with junk and lost to my A7s. After more stealing, I
worked my way back up to a nice 18k stack! I'M ALIVE!

Just over an hour into the 400/800-100 level, I finally decided to
stand up to the player on my right who was consostently overbetting
the pot preflop (he'd open for like 3.2k at the 300/600 level or 4000
at 400/800). He made it 4k to go from MP one round, and I 3-bet him
to 13k with KQh. He asked for a count of my remaining chips, then
thought for about 30 seconds before folding. Nice pot for me -- my
stack was now around 28k which was terrific considering my chip
position after losing that JJ hand about an hour beforehand.

The very next hand, the same guy opened for 5k from MP. I looked down
and saw two queens in my hand, so I moved all-in for about 28k. He
again asked for a chip count, then thought for ~20 seconds before
calling with aces. What a slowrolling asshole; stalling like that
before calling with the best possible hand breaks the most fundamental
rule of poker ettiquite and is strongly looked down upon by all poker
players.

My play here was correct -- he shows up here with hands like 99, TT,
JJ, or AJ almost 100% of the time -- and I was utterly shocked to
see AA played this way. I was excited, however, when the flop
came QTT! Ship it baby! The turn was a blank, and I was so excited
that I didn't notice the ace on the river to end my run in the
2007 Main Event. Oh well, gg me; I had a great time playing anyway.

There are some more really awesome/hilarious stories from the Main Event that I'll share with everyone in the coming days, but for now it's time for sleeeeep.