$40k NL Down to 23
Well, at this point I can safely say I am having a good start to WSOP 2009. Guaranteed cash of $72k vs the alternative of being stuck $40k after the first event certainly has its advantages for the psyche. And after cashing last month in the $25k WPT Championship, it feels like a sense of relief cashing in both of the two biggest buyin NL tournaments for the year. It would feel great to final table this one, but at least the sense of relief has already been achieved from overcoming the two largest NL bubbles for the year.
So I started day 2 with slightly less than avg chips around 240k. I was able to chip up to about 400k in the first hour or two without any showdowns and then this silly hand came up. 3000-6000 500. Scott Seiver and I get involved in a hand. He is one of the growing list of internet superstars and clearly has a handle on NL on par with the best of the best. Very personable kid with a super table presence which will no doubtably serve him well as he continues his journey through poker. The table presence factor is way lost on so many of the young superstars. There are so many great young NL players in the fields today but the ones that will seperate from the pack in the future will be those that can produce a likeable and at the same time respected table presence. So Scott open limps for 6k in the cutoff. SB folds, I check with A7. Flop A74 with two clubs, I have the ace clubs. Scott has me covered as I have 392k to start the hand. I lead for maybe 15k. Scott quickly raises to about 38k. I reraise to about 115k. He pretty quickly shoves. I insta call for my stack of 385.5k. Fortunately for me he didnt have the 44, he had the A4. And I was able to double up to almost 800k with avg stack around 360k. Those cold deck gifts are so rare that I just feel so lucky when I am on the right side of one of them. It really was a miserable spot for Scott. Once he open limps, I think he played the hand optimally post flop. Just one of those things - who is luckier at this moment?
So soon after I was up to about 1.1m with no showdowns and no resistance. Now in top 4 in chips with about 50 players left. I proceeded to fold my way down to about 650k the rest of the night from 50 players down to 23. I dont remember ever folding a higher percentage of hands for a longer period. I believe I opened 2 hands in that stretch. Not due to any ‘master plan’. Strictly because in each hand the situation seemed best served by folding. Very frustrating. But I look back now and can feel confident I made the most of every situation which is really the key to winning in poker. Even when that optimal choice is to continue to fold.
Day 3 today: I enter 14th in chips out of 23. I have 670k. avg is 1.05m. I am about a 2-1 dog to make it through today and reach the final table. But one thing is for sure. It will be fun trying.
Results for Tournaments:
I played a $1,570 satellite for the 40k and did not win a seat. I had a $5k piece of Bryan Colin in the 40k.
-$6570
Results for Cash Games:
Have not played any as of yet. Also including prop bets in this section. Had 5k on the under 250 entrants for the 40k with Eli.
+$5,000