In - MOAR!

Enjoying the TR so far, where's the next installment?

Subbed. Great so far. Hope it's a deep run.

Well gang, it's been a busy three weeks. I moved (and didn't have internet for a week thanks to the fine folks at Comcast), started a new assignment at work, and was out of town for a week on business. So I apologize for the lack of updates.

I woke up this morning and said to myself:
I will not Blasted this TR
I will not Blasted this TR
I will not Blasted this TR


Fortunately I wrote down notes at the time, so the accounts should be relatively accurate.

Here we go!

Level 1, Blinds 50/100, I have 30,000 chips


Level 1 got off to a predictably slow start, given my table description, as no one was getting out of line and feeling out the action.

I started out in the SB and folded to an open. The action!

A few hands later, I opened and the blinds folded. Up to 30,050 chips!

There were a few big pots early on, a couple involving the player to my left, Mark, 3betting in spots where he should be strong. He took down those pots and built a stack of 40,000 or so. An hour into the tournament the player in seat 4 still hadn't shown up but his stack had already been purchased and was being blinded off, leading me to wonder what pro might eventually occupy that seat.

I opened a decent number of hands this level, mostly because I was getting dealt above average starting hands. Most of the time I'd get only one caller and take it down with a flop c-bet whether I hit or missed.

I wish I had more interesting stories from this level but it was pretty uneventful. I got a good feel for the table. I confirmed some of my stereotyping reads (the weekend warrior types in the 8 and 9 seats), and disproved some others (the older lady to my right who was more aggro than expected). I didn't win any big pots but I don't think I lost a single one where I was the pre-flop raiser.

I ended the level with 32,000 chips. Level 2 would be much more action-filled.

Keep grinding!

-SpiderTribe

Woohoo!!! No blasted!!

Man, this guy types slowly...

getting into near blasted territory.....

Since it's about the ME, I'd say a Scansion comparison might be more on point given the pace of posting.

Level 2, Blinds 100/200, I have 32,000 chips


The blinds doubled in Level 2, the only time they would do that the whole tournament.

The first significant hand I was involved with occurred when I picked up 6 6 in the BB. The youngish player in Seat 2 raised to 600 in middle position and I called. The flop was Q 6 4. I don't see any reason to lead out in this situation with stacks deep, so I check. The raiser checks behind. At this point I'd say he has a medium strength hand, probably a pair.

The turn is the 5, completing the rainbow and putting a 3-straight on the board. There are arguments for leading or checking here, but I went with a check, hoping to check-raise to build the pot. Seat 2 obliged and bet 800. I check-raised to 1,900 and he called.

The river is the Q. This is a great card for me in part because it improves the absolute strength of my hand to a full house, but a better one because it should allow my opponent to call me more often here. If he has something like TT or a weak Q it's going to be hard to find a fold. I bet 4,000, about 80% of the pot, and he called and mucked.


A few rounds later I picked up A A in middle position and raised to 550. The younger foreign pro in Seat 1 called out of the SB and everyone else folded. The Flop came A 8 6. The is a spot where I have the board crushed, but I think too many players make the mistake of checking here. Being in the SB and also a pro are factors that may make him float me and/or more likely to have connected in some way. He checks, I bet 800, and he calls.

The turn is a J, putting two spades out there, but is otherwise basically a blank. He checks, I make a smallish bet of 1,400, and he check-raises me smallish also to 2,900. Here is the biggest decision I've had to make so far. A dream spot to be in, but one where I want to get as much value as possible. If I flat here, he'll probably continue on the river, and I can raise (or even just call if he does something crazy), but river check-raises are pretty damn strong and he should know that. If I 3b here, it still looks strong, but I think widens my range a little bit with a card to come. Stereotyping him as a Euro makes me think he could spazz out and raise again or something also. Ultimately I decide on a 3b to 4,800 and he calls.

The river is the 2, just the blankiest blank you could have asked for. If he has a real hand he still has it, and if he thinks I'm full of it, he's not folding. And I have the stone-cold nuts. There's about 12,500 in the pot, I bet 7,000, he shrugs and calls. I table the nuts and he sighs and tables 6 6 for a brutal set-over-set encounter.

Looking back at that hand, it's easy to say that I should have 3b bigger on the turn or fired bigger on the river. But keep in mind that this is Level 2 of the Main Event. The 7k bet on the river was the single biggest bet in any hand so far, and represented nearly 25% of the starting stack. I'm also not sure if there had been a post-flop 3b yet either. In any case, I rolled along through the rest of the level, and I finished it with 47,000 chips.



Level 3 coming soon...


-ST

What's your definition of soon? mid September?

My far fetched prediction: updates will stretch out to the November 9 and OP will tell us to tune into ESPN to see how the story ends.

Level 3, Blinds 150/300, I have 47,000 chips


The first memorable hand of Level 3 was one that I wasn't involved in, but I had to mention. The Euro pro in Seat 1 (from the set-over-set hand) raised UTG with about a 10k stack. Seat 7 called from the button. The flop comes QJ7. Euro pro checks, weekend warrior Seat 7 checks. Turn is a 6. Euro pro checks, Seat 7 bets, and Euro pro C/R, Seat 7 calls. River is another 6. Euro pro goes all in and Seat 7 snap calls. Euro pro tables QQ for top full house, Seat 7 rips over 66 for runner-runner quads. The pro took it well, and the dealer was kind enough to let him take a picture of the runout before mucking. I hoped to be able to avoid that kind of luck.....


By Level 3, my table image was terrific, right up there with the best it had ever been. I was opening a lot, but wasn't getting caught, and had it when I needed to. I was the youngest and most aggressive at the table, but people still were just mostly staying out of my way. Even pre-ante, this was something of which to take advantage.

On one such hand, the weekend warrior in Seat 8 opened in early middle position to 900. It folded around to me on the button with A9 and I called, the blinds folded. The flop comes down 874, giving me nothing but a backdoor spade draw. The WW c-bets 1,600 and I decide to float in position He was a straight-forward player, and I expected his turn action to reveal a lot about the strength of his hand.

The turn was the J, ending my backdoor flush draw but giving me a gutterball in it's place. As I expected might happen, the WW checked to me. I fired 3,500 into about 5,500. He looked a little uncomfortable to me, but he called, which surprised me a bit. The river was the 2. He checked again. I know I can't win at showdown and he didn't look confident on the turn, so I fire 7,500 on the river. He plays with chips and tanks for about a minute and folds. It's nice to have a plan and have it work out like it did there.

The next notable hand came when I opened 97 to 850 in the HJ. I got called on the button by the WW in Seat 8 who I perceived as a bit sticky post-flop and also as someone a little fed up with my raising his blinds. The flop came down T65, giving me a gutterball and a backdoor flush draw. I bet 900, and he raised to 2,200. I wasn't happy about this, being out of position, but there are a lot of ways my hand can improve on the turn, and I thought he wouldn't bluff very often, so I decided to peel one. I think a fair argument for just folding can be made as well.

The turn was the 4, turning my gutterball into an open-ender to the nuts on one end. Even so, I was ready to check-fold to a healthy bet from him. I wasn't going to chase too badly. But then he decided to bet only 1,800 when checked to, roughly 25% of the pot. Given those direct odds, plus the fact that I thought I could get paid on the river if I hit, I decided to call.

The river was the beautiful 8. The flush draw missed and I ran into the nuts. Based on the way I played this, calling the flop raise, there shouldn't be too many sevens in my range. Checking is bad here because a lot of rec players will check back even 2p+ here. Betting small is also bad when there are lots of bluffs in one's range. I decided to go for a big bet because of my perceived unbalanced range and because I had the feeling he would love to catch my bluff. I led out 7,850 into about 10,500 and he called in under 5 seconds and seemed happy about it. I rolled the nuts, he rolled his eyes, but didn't roll his cards, flicking them into the muck.

I won a few more small pots that level and went into the dinner break riding high with 74,000 chips.

I am happy if we can get an update every 1-2 day! Good read so far keep it up!

I would've been happy too.

MOAR GAWFDAMMIT

Level 4, Blinds 150/300/25, I have 74,000 chips


Before I talk about Level 4 table action, I must mention my wonderful parents for getting us a table at the All American something or other (restaurant near the convention center) so that I could eat and relax during break. The staff is also very understanding and the food is great. Highly recommended. As much as I wanted something else, I stuck with the chicken quesadillas and water so I wouldn't be sluggish for the end of the night.

I came back to the table feeling refreshed. By Level 4 I had noticed some bet sizing tells from some of my tablemates, and with antes out for the first time it was even more valuable to take advantage of them. The older man in Seat 4 had a very blatant one where he would raise to 800 with his legitimate hands, and would randomly make min-raises to 600 with some other type of hands.

I say some other type because they never made it to showdown because I 3bet him relentlessly. He opened to 600, I make it 2200 from the button with J9. He folded. A little later he opened to 600 again. J4? Sure, why not. I make it 2,300 from the SB. To my surprise he calls, but then folds to a bet on a T64 flop. It's plays like these that are so crucial when the table will allow it. Between just those two plays I picked up nearly 5,000 chips with minimal risk simply by paying attention and being aggressive.

One major hand came when a weekend warrior opened in early middle position to 600. A younger player flatted in MP, and the older lady in the Twins jersey flatted on the button. I'm in the SB and see AQ. I decide to put my big stack to use, and 3b to 2,800. The original raiser folds as does the first caller, but the lady on the button comes along as well. She has chips as well, so the effective stack is about 60k.

The flop comes down J83. I'm not thrilled about this flop against this player. With a player flatting the original raise and then my 3bet, the typical player's raise shouldn't be particularly strong in position. But she was a bit more passive, and I thought she had a lot of medium pocket pairs and suited connector type hands. That said, I still thought it was be best to cbet, albeit on the smaller side. I bet 3,500 into 7,500 and she quickly called. Not good, especially because she didn't fold much post-flop.

Fortunately, the turn was the A. I decided to pot control a little bit and check, both to potentially get value on the river and because I thought she would play all her sets and 2 pair the same way she had played so far. At least that was the plan. I checked, and then she bet 11,500 into 14,500, which made my heart jump a bit. I couldn't see folding though, with my underrepped hand, so I decided to just call and hope she didn't bomb 25-30k on the river.

The river was a blank. I had intended to lead a lot of rivers if she checked back the turn or had bet something like half pot. But at this point I felt my only option was to check, lest I lead and get raised and not be able to realize a hand with some equity. She quickly checked back and I rolled over my hand. She grimaced and said, "I guess I should have raised on the flop." So I guess she had a jack. Her turn bet was indicative of her play as a whole. Reasonably aggressive, but not showing a terrific reasoning for that aggression.

I finished Level 4 with 102,000 chips.


Picture around my chip peak of about 110k or so:




I kept up the aggression in Level 5 (200/400/50). A few players busted and were replaced by slightly more competent ones. This level was my swingiest of the day. In this level alone I was as high as 110k, then down to 85k, then back to right about where I started. I wish I took better notes, but I don't have any detailed hands to share.

Regardless, I ended the night as the table chip leader and bagged 99,150 chips and felt terrific going forward to Day 2.



Happy playing!

-ST

that's not bad at all dude.

updates take so long that I am already forgetting what happened before......Not sure why hero decided to take 2-3 weeks to give us an update

OP was July 8th, and here we are 60 days later at level 4. If we're lucky, maybe we'll know if he makes the money by the time the final table is played.

Nice thread, subbed looking forward to more updates, as well as getting hyped for my trip out in October!

Op needs to cut down on the large pics though. We're not even on post 50 and it's a mess.

Can almost guarantee that OP is one of the Nov 9

**** I know the delays are ridiculous ****
**** I do this for fun, and when I have time****
**** Feel free to unsubscribe (or flame away because you like the content) ****

I did some research of my table before Day 2, looking up names on Hendon Mob. A few had decent results, but nothing too major. Only looked to be 2 full-time pros at the table. One was two to my left, a young guy named Brent something, but he was the shortest at the table. No one, in fact, could put too much of a hurt into my stack. Chip average was about 45k, I had 99k, and no one else even had more than 50. So I was more or less in charge.

Level 6- 50/250/500.....I have 99,150 chips

Playing 200bb poker is fun. Even more so in a tournament setting. Effectively it was a bit less given my opponents' stacks, but it was still nice to be able to use my stack for the good.

Things started out well. I opened quite a bit, in part to getting good starting hands, and was also active in 3-betting as well. Most times, if I had a decision between flatting and 3-betting I chose the more aggressive action, at least until people started playing back at me. I 3-bet hands like ATs, 97s, AQo, and 66 and got folds either pre-flop or on the flop. I don't think I connected with many boards but it didn't matter. My table seemed to be thoroughly content to stay out of my way and I built my stack up to about 110,000 without showdown by the end of the level.


Level 7- 75/300/600.....I have 110,000 chips

A new dealer sat down. I had my chips in 5 stacks, 3 in the back and two in the front, like a pyramind with no top, with my pile of 5k chips as the front left stack. A new dealer sat down and asked me somewhat rudely to move my chips out front so all players could see them. Probably everyone already could, perhaps other than the 9 seat (I was in the 1) who couldn't see any of my chips anyway. But I complied. Another player two to my left responded, "Oh I think we all know he has some 5k chips, he's won pots from everyone at the table already I think." He said it with a laugh but the dealer was not amused. A few other people smiled, so that at least confirmed my assumption that people were aware that I was aggressive and weren't going out of their way to get me.

The first time my aggression got me in trouble at this table (or all tournament really) occurred this level.

It started when the player two to my left who replaced the young Vegas pro opened UTG to 1,500. He was the one who made the comment about the table knowing I had a good stack. He was a friendly guy in his 30s, had a wife and young child. Did not strike me as a professional, but certainly someone who knew what he was doing. Probably 2nd most aggressive at the table after me but not blatantly so.

A player in middle position flatted the 1,500, and it got to me in the SB with 22. I thought about flatting, but decided to use my image to put the pressure on with a 3-bet. I made it 4,600. It got back to the original raiser, who put in a small 4-bet to 8,500. The effective stack to start the hand was his 70k or so.

The middle position player folded. I hated to 3-bet and fold here to his tiny 4-bet so I decided to call and try to make a set and fold on most flops.

The flop came down KJ4, a whiff for me. The player to my left bet 7,800 into about 20,500. I decided to float him and called, probably a terrible idea out of position and one possibly fueled by my getting too caught up in my idea of my image. That said, I think the flop plays just as well for my 3-betting range as it does for his 4-betting range. Being out of position is bad, but I hoped I could leverage my stack advantage to put pressure on later streets regardless.

The turn was the K, pairing the board. I decided to lead here, for a couple of reasons. First, a second K on the board is a little better for my range than his I think. My 3-betting/call small 4-bet range there should have plenty of AK, KQs, JJ, and even KJs (and obviously 44 since in reality I 3-bet 22, but I don't expect him to know that). I expected him to barrel a polarized range here with his Kx hands, full houses, and maybe even AA. But the problem with my actual hand is that all of the medium strength hands he has checks behind and would likely be skeptical of my leading the river and get calls a lot of the time or so I thought.

So, with the way I'd played the hand to this point (potentially not well), I thought the best way to win the hand would be to lead. By putting in a good sized turn bet, I could probably make him make a decision--and a likely honest (unlikely to get bluffed) one--for his entire stack by him assuming I'd ship the river on a board where the river is unlikely to change the range I am repping. He had about 52k behind at this point and there was 36k in the pot. I decided to lead for 16k, giving me about a half-pot sized shove for the rest of his stack on the river (in theory, I was planning on giving up if called). He quickly made it 35k, and I fake-tanked for only about 20-30 seconds and folded.

So after giving a lesson on how to dust off 30k by calling a 4-bet out of position with pocket deuces, I finished the level with 81,000 chips.

Level 8, Part 1- 100/400/800....I have 81,000 chips


Even after a big loss the last level, I still had a lot of chips, about 100 BB to be exact. I resolved to stay aggressive.

A semi-short player with about 30k in his early 30s who seemed pretty ABC opened to 2,000 in middle position. He had finished around 200th in the Main a few years back but was not a professional. He was some kind of rancher from South Dakota and he looked the part. Big beard, skinny but muscular, the type of guy who you wouldn't get into a bar fight with. Had a wife and four kids, all under the age of 10. Didn't talk much but was friendly enough. It folded around to me and I called in the BB with J9.

The flop came down 884:. I checked to him and he bet 2,200. I check-raised to 5,500. He looked unhappy, tanked for about a minute, played with chips, and then reluctantly folded. My guess is that he had something like 99 but didn't want to play for stacks with it. With me calling out of the big blind and being an aggressive player, I'd say he made a mistake by betting the flop if he's not ready to go to the felt with a medium strength hand. I have way more 8s in my range than he does and had shown a willingness to bet multiple streets. So I added a quick 6,000 chips or so back into my stack.


The next major hand in which I was involved started with an open in early position to 2,200. An active but not particularly good Australian named Terence called in middle position, and I called with 86 on the button.

The flop came out AJ5, giving me a flush draw in position. The original raiser c-bet 4,000 into about 9,000. Terence called in middle position. I considered flatting but like to play my draws aggressively when deep, and would also love to take down the 17,000 or so in dead money immediately. I raised to 13,500. The original raiser folded and Terrence called, which surprised me a bit.

The turn was the 8, giving me a pair to go with my flush draw. If it had checked to me I would have considered checking back in position. But instead Terence fired out 15,000 into a pot of 39,000, leaving him about 18,000 behind. I thought this was pretty peculiar. The only hand I could really see him doing this with were 2p+, but if he had that he would have the perfect stack to check-raise all in, or put in a sizable bet on the turn. The other thing I thought of was flush draws, likely better than mine but possibly behind me because of my pair. He might lead those out to confuse me and to steal the pot. I decided to call, getting 3:1.

The river was a brick deuce. Now he checked. I considered checking behind, but still thought that he had the better hand most of the time. I couldn't really put him on a hand though. Eventually, I wordlessly set my stack of orange 5k chips out and put him all in for his last 18,000. The amount of tight folds with the Main Event life on the life turned out to be the deciding factor. He took a deep breath, double checked his cards, and announced call loudly. I announced "one pair" and he slammed down A8 for a turned two pair. He pumped his fist and yelled, "And that's why I checked on the river!" to no one in particular. Way to act like you've been there before, sir. His flop call to my raise with just an ace and eight kicker isn't good I don't think. Catching the 8 on the turn is the only way he gets to showdown against me I think. So I like my line here against his range, just unlucky for him to make a second pair there.

All of a sudden I am down to 35,000 chips with an hour until dinner break.

First off, thanks for continuing the TR. Better late than never. Really enjoying the read. Secondly, I haven't played any serious tourney poker in 10 years, but I don't get the last hand you posted with 86, so help a brother out.

What hand are you repping on the flop? With your image A10+ which includes JJ and AA would have raised pre on the button. So weak Ax, weird Jx broadways, flush draws or 55 is what I would put you on here.

Whether villain got here with his holding correctly or not is irrelevant. Fact is we just flat which pretty much rules out 55 from your holding because that hand would probably try to get the rest of the chips in now, and is heavily weighted towards flush draw. However, at no point do I think villain looked at his stack and thought, wow, I have the perfect stack to check-raise all in.

We are giving villain credit here for being somewhat of a thinking player. When he checks, he is happy to go to show down with the likely winning hand. When you put him in, I don't see any hands you win with unless he has been spewing chips with a busted flush draw himself.

Even if villain is a level 1 drooler, hand goes, hey I've got top pair, call. Hey I turned 2 pair on turn, bet. No flush, no straight on river, I got 2 pair, call.


I don't normally comment on strat much, because I'm probably way off base. I guess I was seeing this hand from the villain side and there is no way I am folding at any point in the hand, except maybe if you shove the turn making me think you have a set of 5's. But even there, with my awkward stack size, I probably find a call there too.

Again, please set me straight.
/strat:rant