Venetian Warm-Up

Today was the 1st event of the Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza. This tournament featured 2 starting days as 350 people entered yesterday and played down to 45 players. Anyone who didn't make it through yesterday could also buy into the tournament today as a re-entry, and almost 400 people entered today, creating a prize pool of $275,000 plus, which means 1st place would be somewhere around 60k, which is huge for a $400 buy in event.

I woke up at 9:30 and got a healthy breakfast in and went to the gym to get a light workout in and start my focusing process. I made it to the Venetian and registered for the tournament just in time for the start, good timing! I'm not sure if I have good time management, or I like to be in a hurry? Needless to say, I was there on time! As I sat down at my table I inspected the scene. In poker it is important to stereotype players at first and maintain that stereotype until they prove otherwise. Younger players tend to be much more aggressive players than older players. Hold'em is played with different styles in different countries and it is important to listen and see what language people are speaking and get an idea of where they are from by how they dress. Haha, you should see some of the crazy shit these European guys show up in. It sounds somewhat horrible, but observation is very powerful, and in a game where every decision is based off of information, you must utilize every piece that you can possibly gather. Today, I noticed that many of the players at my table were younger American players and I have to assume that they have a very good idea of what they are doing. Gathering chips at that table would be hard to do but I'm up for the challenge.

The starting stacks were 12,000, and the starting blinds were 50/100 with 40 minute levels. In the 1st 2 levels I was able to get my chip stack up to about 17k mostly winning small pots and finding spots to take down the small uncontested pots which no one seemed to want. In the 3rd level, this hand went down:

Blinds were 100/200. A well-known Internet pro named Casey Jarzabek opened the pot for a raise to 425 from early position, a weaker player called the raise in late position, I had 6h8d in the big blind, This is not a good hand, but I had to call 225 to win 1150 and I didn't have to fear anyone raising behind me as I was the last to act and was closing the action. I called based on those facts. The flop came down TsTc4s. I checked, and Casey bet 600 at the pot of 1375. The other player folded. It came to me and I had absolutely nothing. But, a good player will usually bet the flop regardless of hitting or not, the flop has two 10's on it and 2 spades, so a check-raise by me here should take the flop down very often as he'll usually fold if he has nothing. Also, you can not make a habit of only playing pots when you have a hand. If this is the case, good players will learn to exploit you by folding when you play strong and betting when you play weak. I decided to try and accumulate chips by check-raising to 1500, a small raise designed to look like I wanted a call, when in fact I did not. Casey, thought for a second and reraised me to 2625. This is when my instincts told me that he did not have  hand. He likely raised a decent hand pre-flop because he opened from an early position. It is very hard for him to have a T in his hand, because there are 2 on the flop. Also, from my experience, Internet players do not give up easily and they also reraise like this as a last attempt to try and bluff. I know he is a good player and he would not give up his positional advantage on the hand if he had a real hand here or a flush draw, so my read was that he was completely bluffing. I am one who almost always follows his read, so I reraised my 8 high to 6100, which would give him only another 5-6k behind to play back at me with. I thought my raise size was perfect because I would appear completely committed to the pot, so he would not be able to put any chips in unless he had a hand. Also, I would play the hand this exact way if I indeed had a T in my hand so the bluff makes sense. Well, shit hit the fan, and he went all-in for 6k more. I didn't want to waste any time and I mucked my cards immediately. He proudly turned over his bluff, KcJc. My read was spot on, he didn't have a hand or a draw and the only way he could win was to bluff allin and hope that I had been doing the exact same thing. I think that his all-in there is more on the optimistic side. I know that I am typically only stone-cold bluffing there maybe 1 out of 40 times. The rest of the time I have 2 pair, trips, or a flush draw and will be committed to calling the all-in. I commend the guy on making a strong read and having the conviction to go with it, not many people have the balls to play that way. I can see why he's had success online. With that being said, after the hand he mentioned that he knew if he busted, he could rebuy into the tournament up until the 4th level, so it made it worth it to try and get the chips from that pot. I think it's a well played hand on both sides, the only thing working against me was that in the battle of the bluffs, he was left with the final option to fold or go allin and I wasn't. Great hand!

After the previous hand, My stack was down to 10k which is fine for the level we were at. An aggressive Internet player raised to 600 1st to act at the 100/200/25 ante level. I had AdAh in middle position. I thought that if I reraised here that most everyone would fold, maybe even the original raiser. So...I flat called the 600 with AA hoping someone behind would try to steal the pot, while also disguising the strength of my cards if we went to a flop. The player on the big blind called the 600 as well and we went to the flop 3 handed. The flop was Ac3s2s, bingo! The BB checked and the pre-flop raiser bet 1350 at the pot of 1900. I thought about it for a second and figured his bet was a bluff as I had AA in my hand and it it was highly unlikely he held an A as well, so....I just call the 1350 to allow him to continue his bluff, and he's probably drawing dead. The BB folded, The turn brought the Ks and he fired 2500 into me this time. I had 8000 in my stack, and if I call, the pot is 9600 and I'd have 5500 behind going into the river. I opted to gamble again by just calling here and trapping the bluffer as opposed to shoving allin and trying to win the pot right there. Unfortunately the river was 4s. Now four spades are on board and all the action was done. He checked and I checked behind. He showed 7d7s and won the pot with his 7 of spades. My thinking was correct, he was a) bluffing 2x and b) was drawing dead on the flop. My trap just did not work out and backfired. With that being said, the better alternative was to shove allin on the turn card when the Ks came. The pot was already almost 10k, with 5500 left. An allin is fine and I should, more often than not, be protecting my position in the tournament there by taking those chips right then and there. If he happened to have a flush, so be it, I have a huge hand and can still make a full-house on the river. Also, if the river is not a spade and he puts me allin, I'm going to have to call with my set of Aces. This is one of those scenarios where there are good plays and great plays. Anyone can be good, not everyone can be great. If we consistently make the great play we will have the best chance. The great play here was to shove allin on the turn and not let the guy draw his 5th spade and win with a 7 hi flush, playing only 1 card, in a big pot. Oh well, lesson learned!

After this hand and another small pot, my chipstack was at 3200 in the 4th level 100/200/25 ante. A short-stacked player raised to 500 and got 1 caller. I had the BB and looked down at AhKc. I basically only have 1 option here. I have a super strong hand which is usually best and if they happen to have a pair in their hand, I can hit the A or K and win the pot. I shove allin for 3200 and the original raiser also goes allin. We show our cards, he has TT. The board ran out Q high and I was out of the event.

This was a great warm-up for the next few weeks to come. We placed this event on the schedule as I haven't played a tournament in 2 months because I've been focusing on the cash games of late. I wanted to work out any kinks and calm the nerves. I'm very pleased with my play, my attitude, and my mindset going into today and I'll be working towards building off of this and creating massive momentum moving forward.

The next event is Sunday, May 27. It is the casino employee's WSOP event. This event can only be entered by people who are employees of a casino. I can enter because of my casino license through Sacramento which allows me to be a prop player at The Capitol Casino. It's been said the field for this tournament is a lot softer than others because most of the professionals are not able to participate. I'll judge that for myself come Sunday, play my A-game and see what happens.

Everyone take care, and look for another update Sunday night!

"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."