Day 1 Trip Report

OK, so I whipped out my notes.


My chip stack ending each level:

Level 1: 12,150
Level 2: 18,325
Level 3: 19,975
Level 4: 32,425
Level 5: 30,625
Level 6: 22,975.

That's not the trend you want to see in levels 4-6. Levels 1-4: goot trend.


I majorly misplayed 2 hands yesterday. I'll get them out of the way now:

First level (25/50), Early Position (EP) opens to 150, Late Position (LP) calls, Small Blind (SB) calls and I call with Q2 of clubs in the big blind. The flop comes down 622 with two spades. I lead for 200 after the SB checks, the early position player makes it 600 and the SB calls. I decide to just call as well. The turn is an offsuit ace. SB checks, I check and EP makes it 1000. The SB calls and I just call like a momo. I can only explain this by saying that somehow I got it into my head that EP had AA. I don't know why, I don't know how, I just know that I'm a moron. The river was a brick, and SB checked, I checked AGAIN and the EP player checked behind. EP had AQo, SB had AJ of spades and I left about 4k on the table.

Level 6 (200/400 with 50 ante): My image has deteriorated behind repair. I'm getting no hands at all, I'm winning no pots at all. I open EP to 1250 with AQs, folds to the BB who makes it 7k. I called about a third of my stack, completely whiffed the flop and folded. Ugh. I think this was my only really tiltish play during those two levels. Nasty.


Those are out of the way. Let's go to the good stuff:

I river a straight early on in level one to get to just under 11k, but I fell down to under 9 within an hour after I got involved in a lot of pots (that's my style, especially early on) and just wasn't making hands. The misplayed Q2 hand got me a bunch of chips, though not as many as it should have. I was up around 13,600 at one point, but gave nearly 1k of it away bluffing a Q high flop with KT. Kings called the flop, called the turn and checked behind on the river.

Since that happened at the end of level 1, I entered level 2 planning to play a bit tighter and value bet a lot more. Naturally, 4 hands into the level I bluff push the river of a 25672 board with KQo, getting QQ to lay down. The only other big hand from the level came when I called a tight player's raise with AQ in the BB. The flop was JTx, and we both checked. I planned to bet pretty much any turn, but it was a great one: a king. I led out and he called (which seemed to confirm for me that he had AK). The river was a blank, and I thought I found a great bet that he had to call, but he made the good laydown. I showed my AQ (see? you guys should just keep folding).

Level 3 was pretty tough for me. I wasn't getting a lot of cards, and they were hitting more often. I fluctuated the whole level between 17k and 20.5k. There were no major hands that level. My table broke at the end of the level, and I moved to a new table that was absolutely nuts.

Level 4 was real, real good. I moved to my 3rd table of the day which featured an interesting dyanamic. The 10 seat had a huge stack and was playing every hand (and hitting every hand real, real hard). The 3 players around me all were short. A player across the table was pretty short. I got down to 14k after bringing a 20k stack. I lost it in two hands: I raise with red tens in EP on 10's BB. He calls. The flop was AQx, with the Qx of hearts. He checks, I bet and he calls. The turn was a baby heart (small card), and we both checked. The river was the Jh, and he led for 2000. With the 3rd nuts, I called this player - he had AK with the Kh. I also lost 2500 chips raising 10's limp and getting reraised by the SB. The SB checked blind to me (who reraises preflop then checks blind?) - the flop was Q high and I had no idea wtf to think, so I checked. The turn was a jack and he bet, and I had to lay down.

Then I went on an awesome rush. After 10 seat opened UTG at 100/200 (with a quarter ante) to 1600 (!), I found kings in EP and said "screw it" and just moved in. He went into one hell of a tank for the 13k raise, but ultimately folded. This gives me some confidence, and I start mixing it up with these players and I'm hitting the board pretty well. I take down a few pots postflop, then eliminate a player with AQ to his KK. It started as a limpfest, then the button made it 1000. I had AQ in the SB and made it 4k straight. He called, leaving himself with just a few chips. I put him in dark, he called dark and the flop had an ace. I'll take it. 2 hands later I open with 99 in the cutoff. The button and SB both call me, and hte BB moves in for a small amount more. I cover both of the players to my left and make it, in my exact words, "15 thousand to go". The button folded 88, the SB folded AT. The BB had 33. The board came T3889. Crazy.

I was feeling really good, but that was it for hands I'd hit for the rest of the day. I just couldn't get any service for the last 4 hours. It was awful. I think my patience was slightly lacking, as exhibited in the AQ hand I mentioned above. I bluffed into a set in level 5, which didn't help, but I at least held my stack for the level. Level 6 was another story.

Every single time I entered a hand it was an invitation to get reraised. I would fold for 3 orbits, then raise a hand like QTs or K4s in LP. And then I'd get reraised and fold. Clearly I wasn't as patient as I needed to be, but Jesus, that was frustrating. I did pick up aces once in level six and, as you'd expect.... everybody ran like hell. I actually was down around 15k, but I made it up to the 23k at the end of the day.

An interesting hand: The player across from me was reraising a ton. I found A9 and decided that if he reraised me I was going to tilt call him, because that's how I roll. However, the button complicated things by just calling me, and this player folded. The flop came J87 and I led out, the button thought for a second and folded. A couple hands later he's talking to the guy next to him saying "I finally picked up a decent hand, AK, I thought this guy would move in. I don't know what this guy had (referring to me), but he'd fold and I'd call with AK." I heard this and said "You know, every so often I DO have a hand." He asked me what I had, so naturally I said "Jacks. You were supposed to come over me." Ha.

My day 2 table is awful. At the end of day 1 we got our day 2 seat assignements and bagged and tagged our chips. We then went to our new table (table 80, seat 5) and turned in our chips and got our receipt. My new table has a pro whose name I recognize (but I don't think has been on TV) on my left with a big stack. On his left are 3 other players with big stacks who I don't recognize. In seat 10 is Joe Cassidy, who has been on the WPT and was runner up at the 2004 USPC, and is quite good. He's got a big stack. Seats 1-4 feature 4 players who are short. The biggest stack on my right is 16k, the other 3 have under 10k. Just an awful table dynamic. I'm going to have no choice but to pick up hands. I'm going to have to be patient and pick my spots.

I'm going to work on formulating a game plan tonight and hopefully execute it tomorrow. Being a 40 BB shortstack ninja is a distinct possibility.

Wish me luck.