Back in NJ

Got home late Saturday night and was really happy to see Amy. It's funny how being away for 18 days is like pressing a reset button. The apartment feels new, the city feels new, even hanging out with Amy feels new since it's been as long as it has. It always gives me a new appreciation of what I have.

I fired up a tournament session Sunday. Ended up with $3371 in buy ins and $3012 in cashes. Additionally I was 38/71 at the end of day 1 of a $100 tourney on Stars. If you told past Dan that his first day 2 of the summer was going to be on June 18, he'd have said "but I thought I was coming home on June 17."

I had 4 mincashes Sunday at 4 different price points ($30, $75, $215, $500) and a 3rd/125 in the Party $100 daily for $1.4k. Cashed 6 of the 23 bullets fired on the day (including the day 2). I played from 5:45pm to 1:25am for a total of 7 hrs 40 mins played.

I came back to day 2 Monday at 6pm and was out in less than a half hour. 54th place for $303. I did some studying the next half hour then took the rest of the day off.

$3700 in buy ins on Tuesday with 4 cashes totaling $3831. A 28th in a $250, a 19th in a $100, a 12th in a $50, and 4th/106 in the Stars $250 for $2.6k. 4 cashes on 18 bullets. Played from 7:10pm to 1:35am for 6 hrs 25 mins total.

More of the same Wednesday with $2950 in buy ins. A mincash in a $50 tourney coupled with a 4th/83 in a WSOP $250 for $2.4k led to a small loss on the day. That $250 was one of the goofiest tourneys I've played in some time. The bubble with 16 left and 15 paying took close to an hour. I had the chip lead so I was fine with it, mashing away on the raise button. I lost a ton of hands post bubble and found myself in the middle of the pack at the FT, where the average stack was under 15bb. I win some small pots to get to 2/7 when I shove 20bb from CO with 99. BTN has 8bb and BB has 14bb while SB has CL and covers me. The button calls, the BB then tanks then calls, BTN has AA and BB has AK. It took me a second to realize how disastrous the A high flop was since I now lose a very important side pot to the BB and am 7/7.

I end up folding down to 3bb before someone busts 7th and I feel like I've won the tourney getting that ladder. I post 1 of my 2bb in the BB and am somehow dealt AQ and double vs A9. I double again and everyone is playing so absurdly tight that it was interesting trying to find the right balance. In general I hate getting tricky with under 12bb but the chip leader wasn't putting pressure on anyone so I kinda felt like I should be trying to steal blinds in spots without shoving. I somehow find myself 3/6 with like 12bb and all of a sudden I'm 3/4 after the shorties bust. Short stack doubles and I jam A2o in CO for 11bb and lose to BB's AQ to bust 4th. The tourney finished at 2:10am leading to a session of 7 hrs 10 mins for me. I was very close to not firing that bullet after having a pretty big blow up in a $250 where I had heaps, but I powered through and played the late night tourneys to almost break even on the day. 19 bullets fired, 2 bullets cashed.

After playing these sessions I looked back at them as if each of these bullets took hours to complete and the session had spanned a couple weeks. Add a 0 to the dollar amounts and they're extremely similar to my Vegas trip. The only difference is I didn't manage a $2500 cash in a $250 out in Vegas (or adding the 0, a $25k cash on a $2.5k buy in). Had I snuck one through I would've come home thinking "hm, wish I did better, but breakeven isn't bad and that was great practice for the main!" I think my head is in a good place right now and I'm going to continue working on feeling good during extended downswings.

WSOP Main Event, 2023

I'm playing 1C of the Main today. Starts at noon Pacific, so in about an hour and a half. Gonna go grab some food then Uber over; if I have time I'll buy some waters/granola bars from CVS beforehand.

Tournaments have been tough for me lately but I've got three positive things to think about going into the main.

1) I had a nice talk with Sean that opened my eyes before coming back out to Vegas. He'd read my posts on here and suggested I was bringing too much baggage with me to each tournament. He was absolutely right. Too often I'd go into a tournament with the feeling that it probably wasn't going to go well. While this is true given you often won't cash an MTT, I more had a "here we go again" feeling with me each time I registered. I played quite a few tourneys online after returning home and started to work harder on coming into the session with a clean state of mind. This made playing more enjoyable. When I dropped to 10bb I didn't "wait until I was inevitably eliminated." Instead I continued to focus and try to find any creative lines that might be available that I'd miss if I was just going through the motions. On top of all this he pointed out I might be overthinking spots. I've been trying too hard to think about what theory does in most situations. While I don't think this is a bad thing, and it's natural given I've been studying it more, there were times where I was giving my opponents credit for being tough thinking players simply because they kinda looked like they might be. Instead of thinking "what does this guy have??" I was thinking "does my range want to bet big here and check sometimes or is this board more of a small bet for range kind of spot." I played a Wynn $1100 one day yesterday and simply sat there and tried to guess the exact hand each player had in certain spots, even in hands I wasn't in. I was correct more often than I was wrong and that gave me some confidence. My ability to hand read is quite good, especially against weaker players, but it won't do me any good if I'm not trying to do it in the first place!

2) I played a bunch of online MTTs when I was home. I didn't make any money but I made a few runs in some tourneys. 3rd/125 in Party 100 on 6/18, 4/106 in Stars 250 on 6/20, 4/83 in WSOP 250 on 6/21, 7/127 in WSOP 150 on 6/23, 70/1810 in WSOP 500 bracelet (lost AA all in pre twice with <150 left!) on 6/25, 2/126 in Stars 250 on 6/27. Unfortunately none of these cashes were big enough to overcome the big buy ins I've been playing online so I still lost money while home (in tourneys). But if any of those had turned into wins, or the bracelet run turned into an FT, very big scores were possible. The variance of MTTs is massive and I'm doing a better job of accepting that lately.

3) I got some confidence back playing online cash. I was studying again and enjoying it and mostly just played low volume on my biggest stakes while I was home. Fortunately the last day of June I won a pretty absurd hand at the biggest stake that runs in NJ against a whale in his 2nd hand at the table. I open 55 btn, he 3b's SB, flop AT5 I call 50%, turn 4 he shoves 2x pot I call and beat 2 pair. T4o isn't the 2 pair I expected to beat but I'll take it. I won another half a buy in at the same stake on the other site (rare this stake runs so pretty wild to have 2 going at the same time) and booked a nice win. I 3b AJhh vs a reg SB vs MP then went xc on a Q high 2 heart board, xc on brick turn, xx on heart river and beat AQ for the biggest pot on that other table. Running good in those 2 hands is akin to running good at a tournament FT. It kinda kick started my brain into the "winning can still happen!" mode and I'll be thinking about that today.

So as the Main starts I feel pretty good. My goal today is to enjoy myself. I think I've put too much pressure on "being a pro" and grinding it out or whatever. I wanna get back to having a good time and realizing what a privelege it is to play a tournament like this. Main Event day baby!!

Go get it Dan. Good luck!!

Best of luck Dan, rooting for you from afar!

Thanks guys. I bagged 61k, will do a write up tomorrow.

WSOP Main Event 2023: Day 1C

Level One

Pre regged and got there on time for the noon start. 60k starting stack, 2 hour levels, 100/200/200 to start. I was in Horseshoe red section, one table off the rail, in the 6 seat. Tabled looked okay to start, although 5 of my 7 opponents took out passports to check in which is often not a great sign. The two Americans in seats 8 and 9 were pretty clearly recreational players. The 7 seat was a friendly Portuguese reg. I believe the 1 seat was Spanish but didn't seem much like a reg. Not sure where the 2 seat was from but definitely Europe. 3 seat was from Thailand but seemed more like an American. Learned later that he cashed the 50K PLO this year. 4 seat was Asian, I think Japanese but he didn't say anything all day so it was hard to tell.

Eventually the empty 5 seat was filled by a Euro but he had the Main Event nightmare. His day was a perfect example of how you can bust in level one of the main. It was the exact type of session that makes the "you should never bust day 1 of the main" sentiment ridiculous. First he plays a hand where CO opens, BTN calls, he defends BB, and the board runs out something like T867Q with a lot of chips in the middle. I believe he bet river only to face a shove, and it was pretty clear he had a 9 and just had to decide if button had J9 or not. If we have a 9 in our hand then opponent has 3 combos of J9s and is he actually shoving a naked 9? Is he ever bluffing?? Pretty awful spot which he ends up folding to drop to 40k. He then gets AA in vs 2 seat reg's KK and flop comes K high and he is out. Watching that unfold kinda takes the edge off because you know know matter how bad your day goes, it can't go as bad as that.

That being said my day did not start well! I open AQo from CO to 600, BB calls, flop Q87r and he donks 600. He's from the Philadelphia area and just had his first grandchild so I feel like I play vs this type of player every day in cash online in NJ. This donk bet is very often 8x or 7x and raising vs it often gets folds, so I call. Turn 9x he bets 1100 I call, river Tx he bets 1200 into 5k. I lose to a TON of hands now but getting 5:1 on a bet that represents 2% of a starting stack is too enticing. It'll also give me some info on what this flop donk range is for later in the day. He shows 66 and wins with the low end of the straight and I'm at 55k after one hand played.

Folds to my button and I open AJo to 600, the 8 seat 3b's to 2400 and I call. Another rec from California who has a 2 year old and is also playing his first Main Event like the 9 seat. Flop comes AJ2r and he checks, which is kind of surprising. In my experience everyone c-bets everything in the main event so on a board like this I'm pretty surprised to see the check. I bet 1700 and he raises to 4k. I call and the turn is a 2 which he checks. This line strongly feels like something nutted or a very random hand, and I block nutted hands as hard as I can, so I check to give him a chance to bluff river. River is a T and he bets 6k. I think it's way more likely that he has air or a random hand that beats me (KQ/TT) than it is that he has something worse for value (AT/AK/AQ) so call feels like the only option here. I call and lose to TT and now quickly have 40k at 100/200.

EP limps, LJ Spanish (I think) guy goes 600, HJ and CO call, I go 3500 with KK in SB, only HJ calls. Flop comes J33r I check he checks. I think getting 3 streets here is quite difficult as even a hand like AJ is going to be uncomfortable by river. I can certainly hear arguments for betting and I'd always bet QQ,TT,AJ, hands that need a little more protection. KK is right on the line (I'd check AA a bunch here) and I tend to take the more conservative lines early in this tourney. He checks back, turn 5 I bet 5k and he folds. I tell the 2 recs that I can feel okay busting now that I've won a hand and one gives me a fistbump . 48.9k on first break which feels good all things considered.

Level Two

200/300/300 now, I'm dealt A2o in the SB and it folds to me. Portuguese reg on my left, it's folded to me once in the SB in level one and I raised. After watching how the guy on my left plays for a level I decide I'm going to play a limp strat and just limp the top 80% or so of the deck then go from there. I limp, he takes some time then makes it 1200. I think raise or call are fine here, but I actually want to hedge to the more aggressive option in this spot. The first time he iso's my limp I want to establish that I have a limp/raise range so that he doesn't think he can raise with impunity in the future. I make it 4200, he takes some time before folding. The next orbit it folds to my SB and I look down at AA . I limp and he takes some time before checking. Dammit! I bet the flop and get it through.

The 5 seat is refilled by a chatty guy from Brooklyn, a neighborhood over from where Amy lived when I met her. He's moved to Miami and CANNOT stop talking about his business and how much money he has. He VPIPs like 6 of his first 7 hands, opening 76s in HJ, JTo in LJ then calling a 3b, etc. He is a VERY good guy to have on my direct right in the main so I'm very chatty with him and try to help him have a good time. He opens to 800 UTG, I 3b to 2400 UTG1 with KJss, he calls. Flop JJ7r he xc's 1900, turn 8c he xc's 6200, river 2c he xc's 11k and shows me 87ss after I table my hand. He proceeds to talk to me for the next 20-30 minutes about why he has to call that hand and about how it's a sick spot and how he can't give me credit for a J when I 3b pre and on and on and on. He is met with a ton of "yeah man I hear you, I know what you mean, sure I could be bluffing there" from me. Unfortunately he busts pretty early in level three. 71.4k on break 2.

Level Three

200/400/400 now, I open to 1k in HJ with ATo, SB and BB, flop comes KJ6r. SB donks 1k, I think he is now 5/5 donking flop when given the opportunity vs my preflop raise. BB calls, I raise to 5k, SB snap folds, BB snap calls. The turn is an off suit 3 and the BB checks. The facts about this spot: if the BB turned his cards over I would get no new information and I still wouldn't be sure how to proceed. The BB has a weak K. Will he fold to a turn bet? Will he call a turn bet and fold to a river shove? Will he call turn and river? I have no clue. There's 14k in the pot and my opponent has about 30k back, so I could go 7k turn, 23k ai on river into 28k, but I think this is a great example of a hand where I will absolutely go for it on day 3 but not on day 1. I have no idea if this guy is willing to fold top pair, but the deeper we are in this tournament the more likely I think it is to work. I check and we both check the river 9 and I lose to K7o.

SB goes 1200, I call As9x, flop Q94ss he b 1k I call, turn Ts he b 3k I call, river 5x he bets 10k into 11k with 27k and boy am I tempted yet again to go for it. He is repping {very good hand} but does not have {the nuts}. I haven't seen this player show down many hands but he's been playing quite solidly so far, nothing out of line to note. It's so tempting to go for it in so many of these spots. You sit around all day waiting and it's kind of exciting when you see an opportunity. But I'm still really of the mind that going for it in these spots on day 1 of the main is not the way you win this tournament. Again, you shove here when your opponent has 270k back at 2k/4k and the money bubble is approaching and he might make a crazy fold, not when it's day one and he may have simply had enough of losing pots, so I fold.

UTG1 opens to 1k I call SB with 33. Portugal has not been squeezing at all when I flat so I'm happy to call a little wider in spots to try to make a hand and win a big pot against the weaker players at the table. Flop A66d goes check check and again I'm surprised that the auto c-bet hasn't come in. Turn 3d, woah. I think this guy has a weak ace a lot when he checks flop so in the same way I don't try to bluff people off top pair, I bet quite big when I think they may have it and I can beat it. I bet 2100 into 2800 (maybe could go even bigger tbh) and he quickly raises to 5k. I'm not really sure what to make of this. I guess he can have a flush but I think recs cbet those almost always. I guess he can have AA but I think they keep trapping those by calling turn. I really don't know but I think calling is best. I call, river 9x goes xx and he shows 22 and laughs when I table my hand. I go to dinner with 70.5k.

Level Four

Not a whole lot happened post dinner for me. I chipped up pretty quickly but honestly can't remember many of the hands and stopped writing them down. I felt a lot more tired than I expected to. I got back to Vegas on July 3 and have felt tired pretty much each day I've been here so far. The one hand I do remember comes when I open A5o in CO, BB defends, flop comes AT3 and he predictably donks small; he's now like 7/7 against me donking in this setup. I call, turn 6 he bets small I call, river Q he bets small I call, "good call." I turn my hand over and he asks, "wow were you really confident with a kicker that low?" It's funny that the urge is still in me to say something sarcastic back but I think I do a good job of stomping that out and giving the diplomatic, "ah man top pair I can't help myself!" response these days. After the mini rush I got dealt 82o a looot of times. But I think I found a good rhythm that unlocked a memory that I hadn't thought about since last main. Before I looked down at each hand whenever I was tired, I kinda prepped myself to look down at a playable hand and get ready to play a big pot. When you go into a lull where you fold for an hour and you're feeling tired it's kinda easy to get in a rut of snap folding without much thought. People often make big punty mistakes when they're tired so I often hedge towards playing even tighter when I'm feeling drowsy to avoid that. In the past I think that's led to me folding marginal hands. A5s in HJ vs LJ open? Snap into the muck because I've been folding for sixty minutes. But when I lock in and do my little prep in my head about playing proper ranges, it doesn't matter how long I've been folding, I'm ready to get involved. It probably sounds goofy from the outside but it's something I think that's given me a big edge in this tournament; I'm willing to be tight and patient and not force anything, but when I'm locked in I'm not missing any close spots. I end up with 84.7k at the end of 300/500.

Level Five

300/600/600 and I really don't win many hands this level. I open A5ss UTG1, LJ calls, BB calls, flop J98ss BB checks and I decide to check to LJ whose range should hit this board pretty hard. He bets 1500 and the BB raises to 4k. Pretty awkward spot for me but I think calling isn't out of the question here. I was a bit too focused on whether to 3b or fold here since I kinda look at this spot the same way I look at facing a 3b pre when I'm not the opener. Like if I have 99 on btn and HJ opens and CO 3b's, I'm really not inclined to have a flatting range, so I'll either 4b or fold. I think I tunneled a bit too much here and ended up folding, but with the LJ being more of a rec player I think calling here is probably the play. Like if I have QT here it's the classic "ah **** anything I do looks really strong" spot. So to be able to flat something not nutted might allow me to find some bluffs later. In any case I fold and move on.

Last hand of note, I open JhTx in CO to 1500, BTN calls, flop 942hh and I'm checking range. BTN takes some time then checks. Turn Kh I bet 3k into 4500 he calls, river 9x I bet 7.5k into 11k he calls and wins with QThh. I don't love seeing that hand bc I assumed he'd bet his non-nut flush draws on flop. I felt content to bet twice here given I'm checking range on flop and I think he's somewhat capped after he checks flop, though I do expect him to have the nut flush sometimes. The 9 is not a great river but I'll still have some boats, some flushes, AA and AK. I do think if this is my value range it might make sense to bet bigger, but my goal was to make a hand like 7h7c indifferent on river; I wasn't really interested in making a K fold. I also expect to get AhQx, AhJx, etc to fold. After the hand me and btn were talking and he said something along the lines of "too bad I didn't bet flop" as in I wouldn't have lost as much. I told him I may have lost a lot more if he had . I was not folding flop and while I wasn't sure if I was going to call or raise in game, I probably would've raised and then really gone for it on turn/river. This was the Portuguese reg so I was trying to play a bit closer to theory than I would against fish. I know bluffing here kinda goes against my "play tight/don't go for it" philosophy early in the main, but against regs who I expect to play closer to theory, I can't just not have bluffs in spots, so I do try to play less exploitable unless I'm confident in a specific read. It seems like in tournaments there's more flop c-betting in these spots than there is in cash but when we're 100bb deep I'm usually just gonna play the spots as I would in cash games since I'm comfortable with that strat.

I dip below 60k for a second but then get a 3b through with AK UTG1 vs the UTG 3x and eventually bag 61k on the dot. 10 hours of play and I made a gentleman's 100 black chip per hour. Day 2 tomorrow at noon pacific. My table appears to be 5 non-Americans, 2 Michigan guys (wonder if I've played vs either on Stars), and Shaun Deeb. Last year I was all in as a bluff on river in the first level of day 2, enduring a 4 minute tank before getting it through and eventually making day 6. Let's see what happens tomorrow!

WSOP Main Event 2023: Day 2ABC

61,000 starting day 2 at 400/800/800. My table does not look great but I often tend to do better at tougher tables. I've tried to figure out why this is in the past and I think I just do less. I stop trying to get involved in pots I shouldn't and instead play solid poker. I've kept that in mind this summer when at soft tables; keep things simple. But for today we have 5 non-Americans (2 British, 1 Spaniard, 1 South Korean, 1 Israeli), 2 Michiganders (couldn't figure out if I've played with either of them on Stars NJ/MI), and Shaun Deeb.

Level Six

At first glance after getting to the table I don't get any reassurance that maybe the table will be softer than expected. I can't say for sure but there might not have been anyone over the age of 40. Everyone seemed relaxed and composed and possibly the worst sign was that a few hands went raise and take it early on. Often in multi day tournaments there's a tendency for amateurs to come out of the gates hot. They've been waiting to get back in there and they play some hands they shouldn't early on. No one here was going that route. There were no limps (outside of limping SB) the entire day. No worries though, just gonna have to play solid poker and hope for the best.

I open AThh to 1800 utg, SB South Korean and BB Englishman call. Flop KT8dd checks through, turn Qd checks through, river Jx checks to me. I think a small bet here is fine, as I'm probably going to try to bluff my smallest pocket pairs. I bet 2100 and the SB makes it 15k. The better the players are the more reasonable it is to just check back since this raise is a possibility we can certainly run into against capable players. I tank for a long time pretty torn between two lines of thought. 1) You're really trying to tell me you checked a flush on turn AND river?? And there aren't a ton of flush combos to rep here. Surely this guy just has an ace and is trying to bluff me off a chop. 2) Just fold rivers Dan, they always have it. Pretty lame spot that could've been avoided with a check back but I don't think I mind the bet so long as I'm going to have the occasional bluff when I make it. I fold and we are off on what will prove to be quite the volatile day 2.

Deeb opens to 1600 utg1, LJ calls, I go 6.4k CO with QQ, Deeb calls, flop TT5r I cb 5k and win and am on the board on day 2.

Utg2 Korean player goes 1700, LJ calls, I 7k AcKs HJ, utg2 calls, 962dd goes xx, turn 7x xx, river 7x he bets 8.5k into 17.7k. I have to imagine some of his bluffs bet turn and I'm hoping that he's not going to bluff ace high here, which only leaves suited broadway hands as bluffs. If we assume JT and diamonds bet turn, that leaves us with 3 combos each of QT and QJ and 2 combos each of KT,KJ,KQ. I think he's good enough to bet pocket pairs for value here trying to get paid by a hand like mine. He hasn't been too out of line so far so I stick with the "just fold river" maxim here and move on to the next hand.

I open AT utg1 and once again go to the flop heads up vs my Korean nemesis as he defends his BB. Flop comes KT7ss and he xc's 1.6k. Turn 8s goes xx, river 6x he bets 1.6k into 8k. Again a very lame spot where maybe I can fold but I decide not to this time and lose to KJ.

I 1800 AQ on btn and other British guy defends BB. Q96r he xc's my 1.6k cb, turn 9x goes xx, river 3 he b's 3.4k I call and beat T8. 67.3k on break.

Level Seven

I'm still not totally convinced this level actually happened. It started with me pointing out to the guy next to me that I think I see smoke in the corner of the room. He looks over and agrees and I point it out to the table. It felt like the kind of situation where no one says anything because everyone assumes someone else has it under control, and all of a sudden we're stomping on each other to try to get out of the burning building. Deeb eventually calls over a floor who tells him that they've already told maintenance who informed them that it's "just the way the lights look." For ****'s sake man. We all tell him he's nuts so he calls Effel who tells him the source is known and we shouldn't worry about it. I am still worried.

After this smoke craziness I play arguably the 3 strangest hands of my entire summer, all in level seven. If someone told me this level never happened and I was having a strange fever dream I would be inclined to believe them. Two of the hands are crazy due to how they played out, while one is crazy due to external circumstances.

Fever Dream Hand One: I open KdJh utg to 2200, BB Englishman calls. J87ddd I cb 2k, he raises to 7k, I call. I'm not betting this flop often but when I do I'm going small. I'm not surprised to see a xr as I imagine population cb's too often here and a nice exploit is to find xr's. Turn is the 9d and he checks. I now have the 3rd nuts and can kind of treat this like the turn was the 2d and I have the Qd. Could go either way between bet and check here but want to have some hands that can check turn and call river and I think this fits in nicely so I check. I'm looking at him rather than the river when the dealer puts it out, and after he bets 20k I look back to see the Td, completing the J high straight flush on board. Alrighty. He's bet pot so I'd be calling 20k to win 10k here and need to be correct 67% of the time. On a lot of boards that are 5 cards to a made hand you're often better off bluff catching seldomly. But in a spot where it's not ONE diamond or ANY queen, but exactly the Qd, I think you can get away with calling a bit more often, especially if you think your opponent is going for it a lot. Part of me kinda wanted to shove for 30k more, but I think he has it often enough that this would be a punt. I call, he hesitates than exclaims, "I have a straight flush!" which was pretty funny. He turned over what I think was black 95o (mighta been 96o, either way he had 8 outs to a straight on flop). Confirms to me that he's xr'ing a ton and my flop strat is good given I can't imagine we want to be xr'ing many hands without a diamond in them.

I open to 2.2k with KJcc from co, btn Spaniard goes 6k, I call and xf the 853r (no club) flop.

Deeb goes 2k utg, I 6k HJ with AJo, BB tighter guy from Michigan goes 16k and I fold.

Fever Dream Hand Two: I 2.2k AcQs utg2, very active Israeli opponent defends BB. KTTdd he x's, I 2k, he makes it 6.5k. This was starting to become a trend; I put chips in the pot, my opponent puts more chips in the pot. This spot I think is close? On one hand I wouldn't be surprised if once again my opponent is xr'ing quite wide to attack someone he perceives as over cb'ing (though I can't imagine a range bet from me in this setup is a mistake). I'd for sure continue with a diamond but should I continue here without one? I'm fairly sure that sims cb wide here, xr wide here, and continue wide here lol, so I put in the call. While I want to be exploitative and rely on reads more live than I want to be thinking about theory, I think it's important to fall back on theory a bit against both guys who are good players and overly aggressive players. If I think he's ALWAYS blindly barreling turn then maybe I can fold now, but I didn't think that was the case here. I call and get a tricky Jd turn. I've made broadway on a 3-flush paired board. He continues for 12k and I don't think I have much of a choice but to call. As I call I feel like I hear drums pounding in my head. I don't feel over the top nervous but maybe the pressure of the main event and possibly having to call off for my tournament in a nasty river spot is getting to me? The 3c hits the river and the drums in my head turn into some absurd music blasting over the speakers of the Horseshoe Event Center as Guy Fieri marches into the room with a marching band and a bunch of models carrying the Main Event Bracelet.

"All In!" shouts the Israeli over the blasting music. The shove is for my 34k. I look up and see Deeb smiling at me. "Fun time to be put in this spot. Take your time no one's ever calling clock here." I respond, "I think I saw this exact spot in a tweet yesterday." Chance Kornuth had tweeted about Hellmuth disrupting play and picturing someone all in for their tournament trying to decide while that went on. Well here I am! Somehow all the chaos didn't really bother me at all. I was too absorbed with the hand and this was a feeling I've had many times in the last 2 runs in this tournament. The spot is just too big to let something else interfere with my thought process. I think someone could come over and physically grab and shake me and I'd keep trying to figure out the bottom of his value range and what combos of bluffs I thought he had. A few factors eventually played into my decision. First off I will play TT (1), KK (3), KT (2...really not sure if I'm opening KTo from that seat but I don't think I was at this table), Axdd (9...I am opening every suited ace), and Q9dd/Q8dd (2) this way, so I for sure have 17 combos I'd rather call off with. I'm not sure whether or not I'd prefer to have the Ad when I have AQ. On one hand, it blocks the nut flush, but on the other hand it blocks possible bluffs. Now for this guy to be bluffing the Ad he's going to have to be quite creative on flop, possibly using AdJx and just blasting through despite pairing on the turn, or using some Ad combos that contain an offsuit 2-9. It's definitely possible and a line I really don't hate as an exploit in the main. I did a lot of stuff like that in 2021 when I had heaps on day 4 and it worked really well. But is this guy going that crazy?

These are the spots where it's a complete guessing game live and if you don't have a good idea then it might be best to fall back onto theory. But again I'm not sure what theory says here. I often like to fold spots like this in the main, but this is not a good table and it is not going to break. I can't pass on every close spot here; I'm going to have to take any profitable spots that come up, even if they're small winning decisions. In the end I go with a fold. I think I would've called with a diamond in my hand but I was quite unsure here. Looking at the sim here it c-bets 71% so it's not full range but it is quite a bit of betting. BB raises 13% of the time against b33 and 16% against b20. Against a xr after b33 it mostly folds AQ no diamond and calls AQ with a diamond, but that's also when I bet 2bb and he makes it 7.5bb. He made it 6.5bb and small chunks of AQ no diamond were already calling, so I assume it'd call slightly more against the smaller size. At the end of the day it's close, and I kinda wish I folded flop in hindsight. This guy was quite aggro and it's not surprising that he tripled off; I think that's coming more often than it would in theory. I turned the 4th best card I could hope for and still folded by river, even on a river brick. Once we call flop he's meant to bet small with range on turn but he went 2/3 so we're already kinda off the rails theory-wise. Tough spot, could definitely hear arguments for folding flop and arguments for calling river as played.

I limp/call K8o bvb then xf on AQ6. Next hand I open btn with A8o and fold to a 3b and am down to 26k. These stretches in live poker at tough tables are somewhat demoralizing for me. Playing my ranges, facing nonstop aggression and not having hands is a helpless feeling and I always feel like I should be doing something differently. The older I've gotten, the more confident I've gotten in my strategy so they aren't as bad, but that doubt still tends to creep in. Fortunately in a structure like the one the main has it's easy to keep those feelings at bay. It's fine to get ran over because there's SO much time that it's more likely a solid strategy will win out eventually.

Fever Dream Hand Three: LJ Englishman goes 2.2k and I have AKo with 26k in the HJ. I'm tempted to shove but I think my line here is gonna be somewhere around 22bb. I make it 6k. Spaniard on my left in the co thinks for a while. As he thinks, my internal dialogue is saying "good luck getting me to fold this one buddy." He must've heard me because he flats, which was the last thing I expected to see. I don't think anyone had cold called a 3b at this table for nearly 6 hours but here we are. I'd seen this guy flat AA from btn vs an open off about 30bb earlier so this is not a thrilling development. The button doesn't snap fold and he's been playing quickly all day. He's the other British player, and after quite a bit of thought he makes it 16k. What the **** is going on man?? The blinds fold and I'm very unsure about what to do now. On one hand I'm going to be getting an amazing price, 20k to win the btn's 26k, the 2.5k of blinds, the 2.2k open, my 6k, and the co's 6k, so 42.7k. I probably can't fold getting better than 2:1. But this just has to be a very strong hand no? And there's still a live range involved with the CO, though this would be a very strange spot to flat AA or KK, so I'm less worried about him.

But while I'm thinking about all this, the LJ is still in the tank, and eventually settles on a 5b to 45k. I fold and the other two fold relatively quickly. I mean **** maybe I should put this in anyway at a table like this. It didn't feel overly wild or aggressive all day but since the start of this level it was like an unspoken agreement was made to stop me from winning a pot by any means necessary. I finish the level with 16.5k going to 600/1200 and am praying to find a spot to get it in.

Level Eight

The spot does not come. I think in 18 hands I was dealt an open shove twice, and Deeb and the Israeli never let it fold to me. Deeb rarely folded and when he did there might as well have been a rule that the guy on his left had to open. I defended a BB and xf'ed twice and found myself with 8k at this 600/1200 level feeling quite hopeless. Deeb folds so the Israeli auto opens utg2 and I look down at ATo. Thank god, I can put it in. Not so fast, South Korean player make it 8k and I now need to either fold this glorious looking AT or stick it in in a spot I am probably not supposed to. This has gotta be one of the most miserable feelings I've ever had in the main lol. I think at a different table I'd have found the fold but at this one I don't expect to ever get a chance to open shove. I'm in the CO this hand so I have 5 hands until I post the BB ante. All of this leads to me putting it in. It's probably not good but the thought of folding down to one chip or something was too much for me to handle lol. Everyone folds, the LJ has JJ, and I flop an ace to get back to 21k.

Utg1 Brit makes it 2.4k, Deeb calls LJ, I defend 65o in BB. Flop 965r x's through, turn A. Not totally sure how to proceed here. I think this is a **** enough card for my range that checking everything is probably fine so I check. It checks through again and the river is a 4. I bet 6k into 9k, utg1 calls and I win to get back to 32k.



I go to dinner with 30.5k coming back to 1000/1500 with the nice feeling of freerolling the main for the third year in a row. JJ>QQ for my stack on day 5 in 2021, 88>KK for my stack on day 4 in 2022, and now JJ>AT for my tiny stack on day 2 in 2023.

Level Nine

I limp Q5s in the SB first hand back, BB checks, I xf 988r to a bet. Three hands later I open 77 to 3500 from HJ off 29k. CO shoves for a shade more than me and it folds back to me. I imagine most people would suggest folding here in the main but I made the call for two reasons that I'm quite content with. 1) This player had 3b shoved 13bb or so earlier with 33. He'd also flatted AA off 30bb or so against an open. I know he's "supposed" to shove most pairs in this setup, and so long as he's shoving 66 pure then I can feel good calling here. I think 88 is a snap for me here and I'd probably fold 66, so 77 is close, but I chose to call because 2) We have lost no one from this table and I'm gonna have 4 more hours of it if I fold. There aren't going to be any great spots later that I can pass this marginally winning one for now. So after some deliberation I call and lose to 88.

I was way more disappointed than I thought I'd be after busting. It wasn't the same desperate sadness I felt in 2018 and 2019, but it hurt a lot. I think a big part of it is how bad tournaments have gone for me for a pretty long time now. The last two years the Main helped me either get out of a funk or at least boosted my confidence; this year it added another 10k to the downer. My confidence is still with me but I'd be lying if I said it doesn't hurt to lose as much as I have been this year in MTTs. My confidence always returns in full force when I bink something, so when I'm feeling low I try to reminisce on wins I've had in the past. I also try to remember I'm still winning at a solid rate in cash and those games are arguably much tougher in terms of poker talent than tournaments are. But it still stings. Having any sort of a win in a tournament would help to get me feeling better about things but as it stands my records are a bloody mess of red days lol. I've got 10 more days in Vegas to try to make something happen so I'll give it all I've got while I'm out here and come up with a new plan if that doesn't work out.

GG Dan shake it off... You still have a week of great games to play. I do think the amount of patience you've had to display to get a signature live bink is more than what anyone would expect, i.e you're below ev... but as you know, it's high variance stuff... Just keep battling. Gonna be some awesome games out there next week so embrace that challenge. Wish I was out there.

That AK spot is super interesting. I imagine the chip ev of 3b rip vs 3b small is probably pretty similar. Absent a read the rfi is going to over 4b or someone behind is going to cold4 extra wide, I'd be happier to rip and simplify the spot. Granted I don't play mtts.

I'll admit as played my jaw dropped that you folded, seemed like a punty af fold. At first. I ran some equity and ranges and if people are not finding cold4 folds here, it's tough to construct ranges where you have more than 20% in a 3way allin scenario. Also the small 5b seems so much nuttier weighted than if he rips it. And I'm assuming there's 0 bluffs in there. However, if people are finding even a few bluffs you're required to moan this in. As played though, and given the general nittery in the main, I don't mind your fold.

Gl on the next one

Thanks man. I don't play as much live as other guys so it's not super crazy to me I've never binked anything huge, but with 2 deep runs in the main and a pretty nice sun run in a Borgata 2700 in 2019 (until I went from 2/11 to out after KK<AA vs chip leader for one of the more painful pots of my life), I've at least had some shots. And like you said, there's plenty of people who wish they could be doing this so I try to keep that in mind when I'm having a tough time.

For what it's worth, the cold caller had 40k, the 4b'er had a bunch (I don't remember exact but maybe 150k?), and the 5b'er had him covered. There had been a decent amount of 3b's at this table but I hadn't seen many 4b's so I already wasn't loving the spot when btn 4b. When LJ 5b it felt like a pretty clear fold to me since I think LJ would fold JJ and might even fold some AK. The 4b cold 4b seemed extra strong to me given he'd just seen a somewhat short stack 3b and a guy who'd been playing solid cold call. So for LJ to 5b I really felt strongly it was KK+. I think 26bb IP is just too many to shove, especially live. It's a spot I might shove if my mindset was way off and I really wanted to simplify, but I still felt very good and would be 3b bluffing some hands still, so I wanted to allow him to either shove some AQ AJ KQ type of stuff, or at least peel with dominated hands. I'll admit the scenario that played out did not cross my mind, but the very rare amount of the time that happens it allows me to escape with 20k. Like I said though I'm willing to hear other opinions because maybe I'm way off here.

GGs, always enjoy reading your writeups. Will just point out 1 thing
'I 1800 AQ on btn and other British guy defends BB. Q96r he xc's my 1.6k cb, turn 9x goes xx, river 3 he b's 3.4k I call and beat T8. 67.3k on break.'

If you nodelock spot and have BB not c/r enough (~nobody is c/ring enough value here) all of the sudden you REALLY want to start sizing up with a hand like AQ. Is maybe something to consider in these spots as a lot of EV is burned by sizing down here if the BB will not hit the value threshold in terms of c/r's

Interesting. I know a board like Q96 (really a lot of boards with 2 cards above a 9 and 1 card below) is often sizing up in cash even in theory, so it's not surprising that one of our strongest value hands wants to go bigger when villain's range is off. Generally in cash the boards need to be twotone for this to be true. Q96ss for example goes b125 17%, b75 17%, and b50/b25 only 8% combined. Admittedly I'm not gonna be great with theory in MTTs since most of my study with theory has gone into cash. But I know exploiting in MTTs is often gonna come down to betting bigger with value and smaller with bluffs, with some exceptions, so sizing up with AQ on Q96 makes a lot of sense to me!

Post Main Event Las Vegas

Long story short: I've played one live tourney since the end of my main. I'm simply not enjoying it. I'd say 90% of it is me losing quickly every time I play something, 10% is a general lack of desire to play. I played the WSOP 2500 yesterday and was out in about 2 hours. I won maybe 2 small pots, lost 2 big ones. Recently ran the first big one and it appears to be approved by the solver which is surprising to me since it felt like a very unnatural line while I played it. CO is the same Portuguese kid who was on my left in the main. We laughed when we saw we were seated together and consoled each other on our bust outs .

He opens to 900 at 200/400, I defend BB with J8o off 60bb. Flop QJ8r, he b's 800, I make it 3k, he calls, turn As I check he bets 7k I fold. Woah! Check/raise flop for value and check/fold turn that only completes one draw? When I xr flop there are a few hands I'm hoping my opponent has that I can potentially win a big pot against, the most obvious being AA,KK,AQ,KQ. There are other hands I'll get value from but on brick runouts I can get 2, maybe 3 streets vs the hands I've listed. On the A turn I now lose to AA and AQ and struggle to get more value from KK and KQ. For this reason I think checking makes the most sense. When he bets big I'd be shocked if I'm beating any of his value. There are a ton of rivers that lead to me losing to his bluffs. And even on bricks it's gonna be an uncomfortable call off on river. For all these reasons I think I'd check range on turn. Solver checking 77%. It is using 83% as it's most common sizing so props to him (he bet 7k into 8.4k). Against that size J8 is folding around 58% overall (varies based on suits). All other 2p+ has a pure continue but I don't see myself folding any of those since I do at least beat some amount of value with them (I probably would flat Q8 flop knowing how little solver likes raising top and bottom, and QJ/AQ both beat enough value on their own to continue). Kinda nice to see my line was reasonable here given how big a waste of time the tourney felt afterwards.

I was knocked out against an older guy who was vpiping a shitload. At one point utg opened off 14k at 500bb, 2 flats, old guy squeezes J9s to 7k in the SB then calls off and beats UTG's AK. I'm down to 18k to start the hand when he opens utg1 at 500bb to 1500 and I defend 54dd. Flop comes T85sss and I'm ready to xf but he only bets 1k into 3.8k. Maybe still a fold (or raise?) but when he goes SO small I decide to peel one. In theory against 20% solver mostly calls and raises some, against 33% it's got all 3 options available, calling most often, raising next, but still folding 18%. I'm not sure what the proper exploit would be against a guy like this. I'm guessing he's too wide pre and cb'ing 100%. Solver cb's >90% so he'll be fine in that department. I guess maybe it's possible that he will check some nutted hands on flop that people like to trap with so his betting range could be weaker? So maybe raise flop and give up, or call flop ready to fold most turns?

In any case turn is an off suit 4 to give me bottom 2p and he bets 2k into 6k. He strikes me as the type to bluff every time he has nothing on river so I go with call rather than raise. He's already bet 4k on a river then snap mucked after getting called. River is an offsuit 9 and he bets 15k. I count my stack and have 14.7k back. This is quite the overbet. I think I should fold now. Any other size and I have a no brainer call but when he bets *this* big I think he's simply telling me he has a flush. I'm guessing AsKc for example bets 4k. I didn't have it in me in game and called to see the A7ss. It's a pure call in theory but in practice I think it's a pretty easy fold.

I'm probably gonna mostly play online the rest of the trip. Was gonna play the WSOP $600 today but it's 10 handed and I refuse. There's a few good online tourneys today: 1k bracelet, 2k circuit, 500 online champ event, and they are all 6max. I'm not as depressed thinking about tournaments because I finally had some relief online.

Online Success

On Sunday I slept for a long time, got up and was lazy, then around 2pm said **** it let's go on a run. I ran 2.3 miles in the 105 Vegas heat while listening to The Killers. It was a borderline religious experience sweating everything out, running towards the mountains, considering going til I was at the base of one or dead. At one point "Blowback" starts up, "She's reaching for her backpack. Puts out a cigarette and gets on the bus" and it's literally happening in front of me. Then "Running Towards a Place" comes on and I almost started laughing. Eventually I stop at Walgreens and get some drinks. Homeless guy asks me for one on my walk back so I give it to him. Asks for a second one and I tell him I'm gonna pass out if I don't hang on to it. Shoulda just given him the whole ****ing bag tbh but wasn't thinking clearly with how dehydrated I was.

Got back to my room, showered, called Amy, ordered a ton of food from Fridays and walked over to pick it up then came back to the room and ate a bunch. Fired up a few tourneys and ended up with 2 sweet sweats:



With 75 left in the bracelet event I defend 86o against a UTG1 open. Flop comes 876hh and I donk 1/3, he calls. Turn Kx I check. He bets about 60% and the decision is on me. Curious what anyone reading here would do. Do you have a flop donk range? Do you use this hand on this board? Do you continue turn or check like I did? And now what? I have no reads on him given he got to the table an orbit ago, but he is from Brazil.





The 6max was a BATTLE. I can go back on the WSOP client and see the time each hand started. The first hand of 3 handed play started at 12:02:56am. Stacks were 1.45m to 950k to my 600k at 15kbb. 950k guy is a cash reg who plays the highest stakes and is on all the time. The other guy was solid but I don't know who he was. Three handed did not start well for me. By 12:10 I was down to under 300k, pretty much all of it going to the chip leader. Fortunately I was able to fight back a bit and by 12:21 stacks were 2m to 500k to 500k. Chip leader opens button to 40k at 10k/20k, I defend KK. Flop K87r xx, turn Qd I bet 1/3 and he RAISES?? I call then call a 90% pot shove on Ax river and beat 65ss. This was something I eventually noticed from him. He cb everything but the occasional flop check was frequently an open ended straight draw. Pretty strange.

At 12:26 the other 2 get it in AJs vs 55 and the big stack's AJ wins, getting me to heads up. I've pretty much got a freeroll at this point given I'd for sure take 2nd place when 3 handed started, and with how 3 handed started that didn't seem all that likely. Heads up started at 12:27:23 and ended at 1:27:17. We were 6 seconds shy of an hour long online heads up match! We played 68 hands of heads up, after playing 39 hands of 3 handed. I started down 2.05m to 950k at 25kbb. Having gone on the run earlier I was exhausted but it's been so long since I've had a shot at winning ANYTHING so it wasn't too hard to push through that. At one point I took the lead then quickly relinquished it. Later I dropped below 500k then won a few in a row to get back over 1m. But eventually I got 66 in vs QJo for 950k each at 40kbb and he turned a J to end it.

2nd for 21k was a huge result for me. Watching myself lose day in and day out was making me feel hopeless, but a 20k pickup without leaving my hotel room was amazing. I can't describe how good it felt to win all ins. It's been so long. Beyond losing all ins, shoving and getting called by better and losing again and again and again was taking a huge toll on me. Losing and busting after getting it in bad in the tournament is what's *supposed* to happen, so I felt like I was washed up and sucked at poker. But I won some all ins where I made some standard shoves and got coolered (only to suck out and win the pot), and I started to remember that THAT is *supposed* to happen sometimes too! I ran so hot early in both the bracelet and 6max, making hands and winning pots, shoving and winning all ins, etc. I start to forget it's possible when I lose enough times in a row. So with the tourneys on the schedule today, combined with the live WSOP event being 10 handed which is ****ed, I'll play online again today. I want to run too but I'm worried running too much will lead to an injury which I really don't want to deal with while in Vegas, so I'll wait another day or two.

Hey good stuff congrats!

Nice bounce back, gl the rest of the way

Thoughts for Next Summer

Some things I've learned playing the fullest schedule I ever have out here and failing:

Be more prepared to lose

I came out here "knowing" losing a bunch was a possibility, but I don't think I took it seriously enough. As the number got bigger and bigger I got more and more anxious. Over the last few days I've finally fully accepted the reality of the situation. I don't feel nearly as bad about it as I did a week ago. But it took me a full month to come to terms with the fact that losing a lot was not only possible, but somewhat likely. Next year I will be more in tune with that, which leads me to my next point...

Try to feel less pressure

As the losses piled up I subconsciously put more and more pressure on myself to get out of the hole. I need to register earlier, I need to register later, I need to eat better, I need to sleep more, I need to sleep less, I need to study sims, I need to play more by feel. I was desperate to find a way to win. In a lot of ways I think the best thing I could have done was think less about all this stuff! Tournaments are volatile, and sometimes you simply will not get to 3 starting stacks for 20 in a row. In live poker this feels like an eternity. Next year I want to be at peace with this fact. Mental prep for being 25k in the hole from the jump will make it a lot easier to handle if/when it happens. And if I don't end up in a hole early and the series starts well, it'll be a pleasant surprise, instead of me feeling like the sky is falling after a bad start. One way to take some of this pressure off...

Consider max late registering more events

I did more of this in the past week and it really relaxed me. I late regged the WSOP $600 on July 12 with 20 mins left of late reg and had 60k at 3kbb. Last hand before end of reg and a reg opens EP and I have JTs in MP. Probably not a shove but it's a smaller buy in, I can get back in, and it's fun to gamble! This sort of mentality made the game feel so much more fun and relaxing to me. He called with AA and I was off to the cage. New table at 4kbb, I end up all in with 77 for 37k and double vs AK. I win another couple hands that simply wouldn't happen at higher stakes (I stop and go 3 ways with 65o on KQ6 and it gets through, stuff like that) then get multiple shoves through. Eventually it goes EP 16k at 6kbb, next seat calls, I shove 100k with TT, EP folds, next seat tanks forever before calling 77 and flops a 7. Given the way the summer's gone I literally have zero reaction to these at this point because a small part of me expects it, but it's so much easier to handle at lower stakes and with less time invested. Speaking of lower stakes...

Consider playing more small events

There are a lot of benefits to this one. There's potential to be around less intense people, enjoy myself more, deal with softer competition, deal with smaller swings. There is a lot of good that can come from taking a 5k WSOP event off to play a $600 Aria tourney!

Stay on the strip

There have been times where being on the strip has been draining but overall it's a big net positive for me. I've been at the Rio the last 2 weeks and there are days where it's hard to muster up the energy to get an uber to the strip to play a live tournament knowing I'll have to get a car back later and I'm gonna have to be there (with no room to return to) until I'm ready to leave for good. It's a lot easier to get up and go play when the poker room is downstairs!

Possibly rent a car?

I'm not totally convinced on doing this but it's something to think about. It'd be nice to have some freedom to get away from everything if I wanted to. Whether I drive to Red Rock to hike without relying on rideshare and spotty cell service, or I just drive away from the strip to go on a quiet run in a neighborhood, a car could potentially help me relax between tourneys. But this would make less sense if I'm staying on the strip, so maybe I'd only do it if I found myself staying off strip again.

Do more recreational things by myself instead of relying on others

This is something I struggle with in everyday life as well. I want to be more independent when it comes to doing non-scheduled things out in public. I'm not one to go to a bar or restaurant on my own, to the point that I haven't even visited a pool in my 5 weeks here because I have no one to go with. I think I often rely on someone else going to do something with me, but when I make plans out here the number of times "something comes up" is very high, so I want to be less dependent on other people to enjoy myself.

Don't be afraid to play online when live is going poorly

That 20k score was huge for my mental (even though I lost it all back quite quickly lol). I had a 73rd in bracelet event after being 1/150 on the same day. Since then I bubbled a 1k ring online, bubbled a 2k bracelet online, and was close in another 1k ring last night. I've had potential for some big scores but bricked them all so I don't feel too badly about losing a bunch since the 20k score. If anything those losses help me see more clearly how easy it is to brick a bunch of live stuff and for it to feel like the end of the world because those 3 bubbles would've taken ****ing forever in the live arena.

Run on days you play online

Running in the morning will tire me out too much to play live that day. But playing online from the comfort of my room still feels fine. Running out here always makes me feel like myself again. I couldn't sleep last night so I got out there at 7 this morning and ran 4 miles in the 91 degree heat. Yes, it was 91 degrees at 7am, and it's scheduled to hit 116 degrees today. In general it'll be quite hard to run when the heat is THAT extreme, but if I can get out in the morning or run on days that are 105 or less I can typically handle it.

Last Week of Vegas

Today is my last full day in Vegas then I'll get on a plane and fly to...Fresno? Amy's been very sweet and planned a vacation for us that I'll head to directly from here. The plan is to hit Yosemite for a few days then Lake Tahoe (I think). Should be a great way to decompress after this experience in Vegas.

Two days ago I max late regged the $1500 Closer at around 5pm. 50k chips at 3kbb and I doubled with QQ vs AQ early! We play a few orbits before I open AK from EP to 9k at 4kbb and the bb defends. He's a middle aged guy who 3b/called the AQo vs my EP open earlier. Flop comes K72r I bet small and he x/r's! I call, turn J, he shoves, I call, he has KJ lol.

Venetian $1600

It's about 6:30 so I head to the Venetian where they have a $1600 day 1C running where I know reg ends around 8pm. I'm in for the 1k/2k level with 40k starting. Fold 2 orbits and have 31k with KsQc in the LJ. I used to just shove here but from earlier positions I've been a little more willing to simply open the whole range so I go with 4500. The button makes it 10k. Kinda lame but we have 2 high cards, we're getting an insane price, and I've seen him flat T9o from either the button or CO vs an open, so I go with the call. Flop comes QJ3sss! Top pair and the 2nd nut flush draw, not sure what else I could hope for. I check and he bets 10k or my 21k. I considered calling but ended up just running it, probably doesn't matter a ton. Think call is probably better in case he somehow has like A5dd but whatever. He calls and has a set lol it's been so relentless. But I wasn't here for long so it doesn't feel as bad and I can re-enter!

First hand at next table I open AsTc in CO to 4500, BTN and SB call. Neither one looks like a wizkid so I go ahead and c-bet the T86dd flop for 7k, planning on shoving brick turns (though there aren't a ton of those). Button calls, turn Jd. I go with the check and decide if he bets I'll look him in the eyes and figure it out lol. He bets non all in, 10k and I call. River Ax I check and he bets 16k of my 19.5k. Nothing to do but call and lose to...K6cc. No wait I beat that!

Next hand (my literal 2nd hand at the table) I open AK to 4500, co (same guy from last hand) 3b's to 16k, I shove my 80k and he snaps slightly covering. L8r me, no wait he has AQo! Flop comes J88 and I find myself rooting for a chop. My god this summer has ****ed my head. Turn A and now I remember that whenever I root for a chop when I'm way ahead I get scooped, so now I'm cheering for the win! Let's get greedy! River is an 8 and we chop.

Folds to the SB who shoves 10bb or something and I call and win A8o>K3o. Folds to button with a dead SB who shoves around 10bb and I call QQ. "Oh no!" he says and shows me a Q, then an off suit T lol. Quite unfortunate for him and I win another all in. Winning these easy hands feels surreal with how few of these have gone my way. The way I feel after winning these shows how bad my mental game has been for quite a few weeks now.

We play a few orbits then I 3b/call off 84k at 4kbb with QQ and win a flip vs AK. Hard to describe how good that feels after a summer of losing this spot nearly every time.

LJ opens to 13k at 6kbb off around 180k effective and it folds to my BB where I have K6o. There was a while where I was trying to get more in tune with what gtowiz ranges look like but I've abandoned trying to replicate them in practice. I'll continue trying to learn them but will play my strategy that I know well. An okay strategy executed well is way better than a great strategy executed poorly. I think gtowiz probably calls K6o a ton here and mixes in a tiny bit of 3b (as it does with many hands). For me I take the hands I'm comfortable calling here (something like A2o+,K7o+,Q8o+, something in that range) and 3b the next best hands that have the best blockers. So K6o is square in there. I make it 50k and my opponent somewhat quickly shoves. I somewhat quickly fold and he shows AQs and says he didn't believe me lol. I'm not sure what made him say that but I'd guess his shove had way more to do with his hand than his read on me. While I do like my 3b and my willingness to make it, I think this wasn't a good opponent to do it against. He was a younger Brazilian guy who reached into his bag and showed us his 34th (36th maybe? somewhere in there) place finish slip from the Main this year. Not a great idea to bluff a young Brazilian who's freerolling like that .

I open JJ from EP and face a 3b shove from 88. I hold to go from 137k to 256k. EP shoves 49k at 6kbb and I call 66 in CO. Maybe just a fold? He was a younger guy who was talking to the Brazilian in another language so I assume he was also Brazilian (I couldn't hear them clearly enough to tell if it was Portuguese or not lol). He has ATo and wins, down to 192k. I 13k AJdd utg and the 34th in the main guy flats HJ. Q98dd check check, turn Ax I check he bets 25k I call, river 9x check check and I win. I was gonna xr flop and run it but after check check and an interesting turn I wasn't sure whether to bet or not. Betting prob better with that much equity but I have so much AK AQ that wanna start betting anyway I thought this was fine to check.

Next hand I 3b shove JJ for 182k from BB vs 17k utg1 open and get the tank fold. We eventually reach the final 98 players putting us ITM and allowing us to bag for day 2. My 2nd live cash of the series and my only day 2 outside of the Main.

162k to start day 2 with 14 mins left of 4k/8k. 40 minute levels so a little time to work. I win some small pots, lose some small pots, and have 124k when the BB reaches me at 10kbb. Post the ante then defend Q7hh vs MP open to 26k, which is a little scary bc it's from a woman who just doubled and I get the feeling she's valuing her stack quite strongly. She only had around 100k to start the hand but I think Q7s is still too good to fold. Flop Q32hh and she rips it in, I call and turn a heart vs AA to get to 222k.

I open 99 utg to 27k at 6k/12k and BB defends. Flop JT2r I cb 24k into 72k he calls, turn 3d xx, river Kx he checks. I can't help but think I really want to put some pressure on Jx and Tx, but is 99 a good candidate to do it with? Part of me wants to make sure I'm bluffing appropriately but part of me wants to say **** it and bluff given I don't think there's a ton of stuff I get here with that bluffs. I think I'd check back a lot of my AK/AQ/KQ to prevent getting shoved on. I don't think I'd shove turn because SPR is awkward but maybe hands like QQ and AJ and KJ are happy to shove and get value now so that'd be fine? In any case I convince myself bluffing 99 might even be better than bluffing 88 and 77 because it blocks Q9 which feels like a hand people like to get trappy with on a river like this. I bet 90k and get called quickly by KT.

Down to 5bb I defend T7o next hand and shove on the AJT flop vs MP and SB. Maybe I should xf here off 3bb tbh, it's so hard for my hand to be good, but with 5 outs against a lot of stuff I might be getting the price anyway? Not gonna pretend I know these spots. I get called by QQ and bust in 122nd for $3620. This post is already a novel so I'll wrap it up here.

The problem with the small events is that the actual hourly playing them is so low. I guess if just playing them for a fun gamble at a bink they're fine, but they aren't worth flying out there for. Even the $1500 events seem pretty not worth it purely from a monetary maximization standpoint. Late regging them seems like a great way to do it though if you're going to play them.

Hope you have a fun post series vaca. Sounds like you have a supportive partner and that obviously goes a long way in all aspects of life.

While the hourly is low, I always consider my time in Vegas as one lump amount. So if I'm there two weeks and I'm feeling bad after four days, the best thing to do on day 5 is often gonna be whatever it takes to get my head straight and ready to go for those last 9 days. That would be the kind of day it might make sense to try to have fun and play a $600 one day Aria tourney as opposed to a 3K freezeout at the WSOP. In that example I might have a good time at the Aria, bust at 5pm, then feel good enough to go late reg the 3k anyway.

And thanks, the vacation went great! Amy's great and always helps me put things in perspective when poker is going poorly. I imagine I'm going to be begging her to come to Vegas for some amount of time next year since I always feel 100% more relaxed when she's around.

We got back to NJ yesterday at 7am after some tough luck with our flights. I ran really good with flights to and from Vegas initially then ran awful in poker, so I'm hopeful that this time it'll be the other way around .

Sitting at my computer in itself feels novel right now after being away from home for 5 of the last 7 weeks so I'm excited to get back to the grind and use the big hole I've found myself in as motivation to work harder. I might do a recap of the vacation and how I'm acclimating to being back in NJ in a few days.

August Wrap Up

August was probably my most productive month since January of this year. I put in 51 study hours and 111 playing hours for a total of 162 all purpose hours, topped only by January and June of this year. A lot of those June hours were from slowly grinding away 1 tabling a live MTT in Vegas though so I don't weigh them as heavily. I played 27k cash hands, trailing only March's 28k. I had an idea of where I wanted to go with this post, but in trying to remember how my March went I backtracked in this thread and saw the post I made at the end of that month.

I started that month down a bunch of money in cash and finished with my biggest month of the year so far. In my post I compared the old school pro to the new school pro, and while I was rereading it I realized I've been functioning a lot more like that new school pro I was talking about. From January-July of this year I marked 498 hands. From August 1 through tonight I've marked 497 hands. In March I played 95 hours of poker and studied 31. In August I played 111 hours and studied over 50! The game is consistently getting more difficult but I think I'm improving at a more rapid rate than my competition. I'm excited about the challenge instead of apprehensive about it as I used to be.

A lot of those 50 hours studying last month were spent completely hammering out my preflop strategy. And I mean the ENTIRE strategy. Exact opening range from each seat, exact range from every seat vs every other seat's open, exact strat from every seat vs 3b from every other seat. This might seem like an easy exercise but I put HOURS into it. My ranges are not perfectly GTO but the frequencies are which is most important. I've made my strategy easier to employ which is always going to be more important than remember J3s opens 20% from the BTN (I think it does anyway, I've got it as a pure fold on my custom made chart!) I'll have to spend some of September finalizing my preflop strategy with some "vs 4b" charts.

Having my ranges more vividly defined makes postflop play easier to visualize as well. When I open BTN and flop comes J high, it's nice to know J4s is the bottom of my suited Jx opening range rather than trying to speculate on exactly how wide I'm opening and wasting precious seconds thinking about my preflop range. With the preflop ranges hammered out I can put more focus on the arguably more important part of the game tree that is flop decisions. It's rare I'll mark a hand to think about a preflop spot; the marked hands almost always involve me questioning a (often rather unimportant looking) postflop spot. I'm marking hands nonstop that look like non-decisions, not because I don't know what to do with my hand in that spot, but because I'm unsure of what to do with my range in that spot. There have been plenty of hands where I get to a river with a clear value bet but am having a tough time thinking of what bluffs I'd get there with. That's a big problem against the best players! Where did I go wrong in the hand that I can't think of bluffs I have now?

A classic example is overbetting an AK5r board btn vs BB and getting the Q turn. Sure I remember to find the QJ,QT,JT bluffs on flop, but wtf do I bluff now? Now when I look at the sim, these really random hands that bluff flop (ie J4s) start to make more sense. Now on this Qc turn bringing a bdfd I've got some bluffs that are still even drawing to the nuts. But uh oh, river's an offsuit T, what do we bluff now that even J4 is a made hand? Well we've finally found the reason solver wants to overbet some small pairs on flop and turn. It's always balanced on every runout and might need those hands in case of a runout like this. 22-44 can go ahead and fire the river bluff. But what's this? On turn 22 only bets when it has a club. Why could this possibly be relevant when our opponent almost never continues with the 2c? Sure, A2cc, K2cc, 42cc, 32cc are now blocked and that's a small part of the equation. But I think the overlooked part is that 22 is a semibluff of sorts on turn and we'd rather have 2 clean outs to a set than 1. With a club in our hand our set is clean on river; without a club we sometimes get coolered set<flush.

All of this rambling is to point out that I get excited now when trying to learn new things, rather than overwhelmed. The more I embrace this challenge, the less losing hurts and the less winning is a motivator. It's all about putting my hours in and improving as quickly as I can. The understanding of these core concepts is way more important than actually remembering to bet 22 with a club on turn but check without the club.

The hands I'm marking are not solely based around theory though. Some of the most important spots come in exploiting fish properly, so I have a second type of tag I use to mark hands that I'm not interested in looking at theory over. This is where my old school self comes back into the picture. Talking through hands with friends and trying to really hammer out what to do and why vs every type of player. Normally these hands are vs fish but sometimes I'll play a hand against a reg that gets so off the rails it leads me to trying to come up with a counterstrategy to something he's just done that's clearly not theoretically sound. I'm problem solving again and I'm enjoying it!

The August results weren't anything incredible but I made money and got into a great flow of getting 40 hours in per week. Life events will come up that will sometimes prevent me from getting that many hours in but so long as I make a plan each week to adjust for everything I should be fine. For example, I have 8am virtual jury duty in 7.5 hours, but maybe I'll use it as an excuse to scope out early morning games. I'm confident about keeping this grind going and am excited to see if I can really unlock some of my potential in these coming months.

j/w, why does this matter? do you have reads like this on your opponents? (I play plo so not familiar)

For me it simply makes me more confident postflop. When I know my exact preflop range, I can get a better feel for what my range looks like on flop after betting, which gives me a better feel for what my range looks like on turn, which gives me a better feel of which combos I should bluff on river to balance out my value bets.

As far as my opponents go, some are playing a similar preflop strat to me, some are wider, some are tighter, that's kinda my job to figure out each day and in each spot.

The Best Laid Plans...

The final paragraph of my last full write up: "The August results weren't anything incredible but I made money and got into a great flow of getting 40 hours in per week. Life events will come up that will sometimes prevent me from getting that many hours in but so long as I make a plan each week to adjust for everything I should be fine. For example, I have 8am virtual jury duty in 7.5 hours, but maybe I'll use it as an excuse to scope out early morning games. I'm confident about keeping this grind going and am excited to see if I can really unlock some of my potential in these coming months."

Here we are 3 weeks later and this is my first full day of not being on that jury!! When I wrote that previous post I assumed I'd be on a zoom call for a couple hours on 9/5 and would be excused some time that morning. Instead the full jury selection process took 2 full days at which point I was informed I'd need to come to court in person the next day (Thursday 9/7) at 9:30am. Despite only being a 2 mile walk from my house, it took 30 mins by public transportation to get there. The bus proved to be unreliable during the 2nd week so that turned into 40-45 mins by taking a light rail train then a path train to get to Journal Square in Jersey City. The clear fastest way for me to get there would have been to run the 2 miles but that was logistically unrealistic given I'd need to shower and change and get my things there somehow.

Each day we reported at either 9am or 9:30am depending on the judge's schedule. We had Fridays off unless we were in the middle of deliberating. Some things I found pretty interesting about it all that I didn't know beforehand:

--Jurors cannot discuss the case *with each other* while its ongoing. I knew we wouldn't be able to discuss it outside the trial, but we even needed to keep our thoughts to ourselves among each other before it was time to deliberate.
--In a civil trial (in this civil trial anyway) there are 8 jurors, as opposed to 12, and the voting on each question needed to either go 8-0 or 7-1. So it needed to be neither unanimous nor a simple majority; instead we were allowed one "holdout" for the vote to pass.
--The standard of proof in this trial was defined as needing a "preponderance" of evidence. That is, you needed to simply be more sure than not, or >50%, of guilt or innocence.
--Objections in this case were nearly always taken care of at side bar. Instead of "objection, asked and answered," followed by the judge sustaining or overruling the objection, lawyers almost always stood and said "objection your honor, sidebar please," at which point all lawyers would stand up, walk to the side of the judge's bench, and whisper to each other anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes. Often these longer sidebars ended in the judge telling us we'd need to go back to the jury room so they could work out the side bar without us there.
--Almost zero instruction is given to the jury until we are read the charges, which is *after* the entire trial has been presented, which in this case took 9.5 days! We heard the case starting Thursday 9/7, then Monday 9/11-Thursday 9/14, then Monday 9/18-Friday 9/22, when right before lunch we were finally called to begin deliberation. The entire time I was hearing the case I was doing my best to keep things straight in my head as best I saw fit, but there was never any legal instruction given on specifically what I should have been listening for. This made me want to do research on my own, however...
--Jurors are not permitted to do ANY outside research!! Can't look up where the accident happened, can't look up the qualifications of any witnesses, can't look up the plaintiff, can't look up the lawyers, can't look up any laws, can't even look up the definition of a word you don't understand! We were instructed to never even write a note down; everything we thought about this case had to come from previous knowledge (some of which we were instructed to ignore), and things we heard during the trial. It is 100% on the lawyers to prove anything and everything they want you to know.

After 9.5 days of trial, and 2.5 weeks real time, we were finally allowed to open up and talk about what we'd all been witnessing this whole time. The plaintiff's lawyer certainly worked some emotional aspects into the trial that almost had me rooting for the plaintiff to win. However, especially as a poker player, I didn't find it very hard to ignore those feelings and go straight to looking at evidence, laws, and anything else that would lead to me making a *fair* decision based on the parameters the judge had set forth. I went into the jury room thinking I'd probably make some statement early on about all of us needing to do our best to push emotion to the side and look only at the facts.

I was overwhelmingly relieved when absolutely no one in that jury room put even a modicum of emotion into making their decision. From minute one, anyone who had an opinion on anything was immediately doing their best to back it up with evidence, and any time the group felt like a statement was made without anything to back it up, it was immediately called out. Anyone who had a differing opinion with the group was never met with hostility; rather, they were met with a healthy questioning of what they were saying and everyone was willing to change their minds when presented sufficient evidence. It sincerely could not have been a better group to work with. From around 1pm-4:30pm we deliberated on Friday 9/22. We'd answered 5 of the 8 questions we needed to and had gotten to the point where it was time to assign a dollar amount to the plaintiff, but we'd run out of time and had to come back Monday 9/25.

We arrived Monday at 9am and went right back to deliberating. We had some clear numbers for past medical expenses, future medical expenses, past lost wages, future lost wages, etc that had been provided by plaintiff's expert witness CPA. However, when it came time to give a monetary award for pain and suffering, it became clear we were all kind of dreading this part. This was the only part of the instructions that didn't give us a much of a system for coming up with an appropriate number. We did our best, answered the question, finished the last 2 questions, and delivered our verdict around 12:30pm. We read the verdict, the judge accepted the verdict, then sent us to lunch and told us to be back at 2pm???

After getting back she informs us that we've awarded compensatory damages, and since we've done that the plaintiff is now entitled to a trial for punitive damages, so that trial would begin. "Counsel, do you have an opening statement." "I do your honor."

Everyone in the jury was clearly rattled and not ready to go through this again! But being the consummate professionals we were, we sat through this second, miniature trial until 3pm when we were released. We came back Tuesday (yesterday) and heard the last bit of the trial before going back to deliberate once again. The standard of proof was now somewhere between "preponderance" and "beyond a reasonable doubt." I forget the exact terminology they used but they idea was you now need to be quite confident the defendant had had malicious intent to injure, or had not changed their ways since the date of the incident. After deliberating for 7 hours on the initial trial, we only needed 30-45 minutes to decide we didn't think the misconduct was this severe. We had one holdout who argued his case passionately and fairly, and I was probably the most on the fence of the other 7, but given I was leaning towards the defense not deserving punitive damages since the plaintiff had not provided enough evidence to show malicious intent or repeated behavior in my opinion, I felt confident there was no evidence that was going to lead me to change my mind to feeling they were *clearly* guilty, so I voted no and it passed 7-1.

Plaintiff's lawyer was asked if he wanted the jury to be polled, which he said yes to, so we each had to verbally confirm our answers. This meant the juror who held out got to officially tell plaintiff he was on his side, which kinda seemed like a nice way to wrap the whole thing up. As we left it was clear that both sets of lawyers were doing their best to thank us, which I found very refreshing given we'd just made one of their clients pay out about $5m!! The injured worker was in the court as well and smiled and thanked each of us individually as we walked out. I almost got choked up walking out of the courtroom. It was a really strange feeling that I've never experienced before. It may sound corny, but something about a group of 8 pretty random citizens having the power to right a perceived wrong, to tell a relatively large company "your negligence really kinda messed this guy's life up and you need to be held accountable for it"...it all made me feel a bit of pride in being American for the first time in a long time.

I desperately did not want to be picked to be on this jury on September 5th, but today I'm really happy I was. I'm out of rhythm with my job but I feel very in rhythm in a lot of different ways, the greatest of which is feeling like I'm part of society again in some way. Getting on the train every day and seeing just how many people are out there grinding on a daily basis was refreshing. Being part of that, even if only for a couple weeks, felt good in a way that's hard to describe. Doing my duty as an American felt good. If I was born in a different era I could have been drafted and serving my country would've meant years in the military, whether I wanted to or not. Now it means 3 weeks of sitting on a jury. When I put that perspective on this process it seems like the least I could do.

USCOOP runs until this coming Monday, and WSOP bracelet events run until 10/17. I'd really enjoyed going to bed early (usually around 11pm) and getting up early (usually around 7am). I felt like a more whole person or something. But these tournaments are must play events and I've missed so many already due to needing to be on that sleep schedule. So my sleep schedule will probably fall apart again in these coming weeks. I want to attempt to get it back to what it was this month when these tourneys are over. The idea of getting up early, maybe getting on that train again if only to explore Jersey City more and get out of the house, followed by heading home and putting some early cash sessions in...that all sounds like a healthier more enjoyable way of doing my job. Time will tell, but I hope to return to this way of life when these tournament series are over!

Great write up, thank you for your service!

Thanks! I went with the guy who was driving me home to validate his parking and when he told the attendant we were on jury duty she said "thank you for your service." All I could think about was the episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry doesn't say it to a veteran and everyone gets pissed at him

Starting October Out Right

After completing jury duty on Tuesday 9/26, I played a short 90 minute cash session on the 27th, played tourneys the nights of the 28th and 29th, then took the 30th off before preparing for a full grind on Sunday 10/1. I lost money each of those tourney sessions but I enjoyed playing them more than I'd enjoyed most sessions this year. I felt more free somehow, like I didn't need to attempt to adhere to theory or try to play "well." I could just play and have fun. I could go off my instincts and I was in no rush to make money. After all, I'd just spent the last 3 weeks playing virtually no poker and nothing bad happened, so why had I felt so desperate to win before then?

I started my Sunday session at 5pm on the dot, something I haven't done in a long time. I think there's been this subconscious "fear" of playing tourneys from the start this year. Putting in all that time just to lose felt bad so I'd start at 7pm and late reg everything I wanted to play anyway. This certainly cost me EV but helped protect me from the pain of spending lots of time on something that didn't bear any results. Once again I could call on the last 3 weeks of taking 8 hours out of each of my days, getting paid virtually nothing, and still coming out of it feeling good. Now 8 hours playing poker didn't seem so bad regardless of results!

I played USCOOP events 80-85 which ranged from $50 to $300 in buy ins, plus the $2500 high roller. I also played the weekly $100 and $320 on WSOP, the $400 WSOP bracelet event, and the Party weekly 215. I got out to a great start in the 320 on WSOP and had the chip lead at one point as we approached the money. With about $25k up top this would be a good one to win! I never built a huge stack in the bracelet event but managed to hang around a pretty long time. In the $2500 I had a player who I think had just come in for the series from another state on my direct left. He ran 32/21/16 for the 200+ hands I played with him and seemed very determined to win a lot of pots. So when I opened 44 on the button and he 3b the SB about 30bb effective, I think I had a pretty easy shove that should get through pretty often. Not this time as he snapped ATo! I was pretty surprised to see that hand in the 3b/c line there but it appears GTO Wizard pure shoves ATo-AQo in this spot, then mostly shoves A9o (small amount of 3b, small amount of call) and mixes A8o between call and 3b. Facing the 4b shove that sliver of A9o pure calls, and A8o mixes between call and fold. So from a theory perspective I guess his play is fine? GTO Wiz pure shoving 33 and 55, mostly shoving 44 with some call from my seat so I think my shove makes sense. Board runs out A high and I am down to 73k at 40kbb in a tournament that started with 1m in chips. I will not be re-entering.

The $320 eventually fizzles out for me and I finish in 36th for $1200. I bust the USCOOP Main which is always sad, but I'm hanging around in the bracelet event as we reach the money. I'm also somehow not dead in the $2500 yet as I fold the next hand then put my last 64k in at 35k with 88 and get it in vs AJ and QJ. Board runs AK768(!!) and I have a glimmer of hope with 264k at 35kbb. LJ cash reg bbissick shoves 385k at 35kbb and it folds to me in the BB with A8o. I have 210k behind if I fold and decide to do just that. I was very torn in game and after really thinking it over I went with the fold. I don't know if it's correct, but the fact that I put a ton of thought into what to do with my last 6bb, with 20% of a starting stack, after losing a flip for a bunch in a spot I kinda felt like I shouldn't have been in to begin with, was a sign that I was in a very good headspace at the time.

Next hand bbissick opens to 2.1x, CO c's, and I have 190k back now with 17.5k in the sb and 33. Another pretty lame spot and another one I decide to pass on. The blinds go up and I fold through my BB. I'm all in for my last 116k at 40kbb with Q5s bvb and beat 99 after the Q558T runout. Next hand I'm all in from the button with QJo and beat BB's A4o to get to 580k. Next hand I win the blinds with AQ, a couple hands later I get a cb through, and all of a sudden I've got 20bb with 800k at 40kbb.

Meanwhile I can't seem to die in the bracelet event and am even starting to chip up to get back near the top half of the field with less than 50 left. Back in the $2500 I bluff a river vs the out of towner who'd checked back an overpair on the turn (must trap!) and he talks some trash in chat, telling me to eat some bananas or something. I'm down to 9bb again but now I've got some more motivation on top of the fact that this event awards a trophy to the winner and I haven't won one in a while! I shove button with A6o, he calls SB with A8o, and once again I get there after the J9362 runout! I win a pot at showdown after flatting AA vs an open, then call a 720k button jam at 60kbb with KTo in bb and beat K9s to get to 2.2m at 60k. Out of town guy mins to 120k utg off 28bb and I think we've reached the stage of the tournament where people will stop trying to win literally every hand they vpip and start playing somewhat normally again, so I go for the 3b with A2o from bb to 450k and it gets through. Can't be tellin me to eat bananas man.

I open CO with TT and BB defends off 15bb. Small cb on 655r, he's all in with 76, I call and win to move to 3.5m at 80k. 3b A4s HJ vs LJ and it gets through, call HJ's 10bb shove with AJs and am flipping with TT. Looks like I'll finally lose a hand after that Q542 flop and turn, but the river is an ace and I'm now just off 5m still at 80kbb. Not a whole lot happens until one of the most important pots of the tournament for me. I open QJss utg off 4.7m at 140kbb, CO and BTN call. Flop comes 652ss and I'm inclined to check pretty much my whole range on a board like this, especially vs 2 opponents who have a bunch of pocket pairs in their ranges. CO bets 318k into 1.3m with about 2.5m behind and button folds. I think call raise and shove are all on the table but for a few different reasons I elect to raise to 840k. He shoves for his 2.8m total. One of the reasons I liked the check raise is because when he shoves like this I think I really often have 15 outs twice vs 77-TT. I think sets would probably flat my xr, along with potentially some more speculative hands like A4s, A3s, 98s, 87s. So when he shoves I'll just shrug and call, but when he flats I think I still have at least some amount of fold equity on turn if I decide to shove. He has 88 this time and the Ks turn ends the hand to get me to 8.5m. This ends up being one of those rare spots where I have the most equity when the money goes in despite having the worst hand. Very nice time to have the 55% come through given I'd have been down to 1.5m if I'd lost.

I make the FT with 10m at 160kbb and am tied for 2nd/9. 9 paid so we're ITM now with 5k locked up and 46k and a trophy up top. The FT went very smoothly until it didn't. I chipped up to 15m without much drama and still 9 players remaining. We finally lost someone at 250kbb when BTN mins to 500k off a 3.8m stack, I shove SB with QJo and he quickly calls with ATo. For the second time this tournament I'm wondering why my opponent has induced with ATo instead of just shoving pre, but this time I win the pot after the KK8Q6 runout to move to 19.7m and a commanding chip lead with 8 left. No one else has over 10m at this point. As is often the case, one FT bust out after a long time without any seems to lead to bust outs in quick succession, and a player busts 8th the next hand.

A couple hands later I defend 76dd vs a button open and a SB call. Flop 942ssd checks through, and I call a 50% bet from the SB on the 3d turn. He checks the 5s river and I go for the 1/3 pot river bet with the 7 high straight which he calls with KK(?!?). Over 23m of the 70m in play now with 7 left. I go bet check bet with 97ss on QJ4hhc5hQd after opening the HJ and get it through after the BB folds river to move to over 25m.

The first speedbump comes when I 3x Q5o from the SB against a BB who is in a virtual 3 way tie for 2nd with 7 left with 10.5m at 350kbb. He calls and I cb 1/3 on Q65r which he calls again. Turn is a 9, I bet 50% and he calls. River is a nasty looking 6 to counterfeit my 2 pair. I check and he bets 4.2m into 8m, leaving himself 2.8m behind. After a bit of a tank I go with a fold. The fun thing about these FTs is they are replayed with cards up. When I watched this one back I was happy to see that not only had I made a good fold, but the 6 had saved me on the river given he had 99. Down to 19m.

At 400kbb and 6 remaining, the CO shoves for 4m with KTss, I call QQ in SB and lose when the board runs T632K. Down to 15m. The SB (guy who flatted KK SB vs BTN...replay revealed button had AK that hand btw!!) has taken over the chip lead and opens to 920k. I defend T9o and call a 1/3 cb on K94cc. Turn 4s and he bets half pot now which I call again. River is a J and he bets 5.2m into 7.2m. The obvious bluffs that I beat have now made either a straight or a pair and I didn't feel great about calling turn to begin with so I make the easy fold. Replay revealed he had the complete airball T8o!! That was a surprising one to see. Down to 11m.

Down to 5, the guy who doubled through me with KT is all in again for 5.7m at 500kbb in the CO. I have 10m to start the hand and reshove AJhh and we're off to the races vs 88. Board runs QcTh4d3hTc and I am down to 4.2m and the clear short stack. I fold 3 hands and on that 3rd hand button gets JJ in on T87r vs K9 and the K9 gets there to get me a payjump, I'll take it! I defend T5s vs a CO open the next hand and xf on JJ8 and am now under 3m at 500kbb. I get shoves through the next 2 hands then fold through my blinds before shoving J8dd for 7bb on button and getting called by SB's KQss. Board runs J93ccc5c2h and I'm back to 8m with 4 left, still in 4th but close to 3rd's 10m now.

I open KK in CO off 8.6m at 600kbb, SB is all in for 9.4m and I'm finally able to win the all in vs his 77 for an extremely crucial pot, chipping up to a tie for 2nd with 18m while he drops to 1bb. He busts a couple hands later and we start 3 handed close to even, with CL at 28m, me at 23m, 3rd at 21m at 600kbb. I open btn, SB 3b's off 14m after chipping down a bit, BB 4b's and gets 2 quick folds and all of a sudden it's 44m to my 16m to 10m. I open BTN with TT and BB picks the wrong time to 3b and has to fold to my shove, which further separates me from 3rd. We battle for a few more orbits before BTN shoves for 12m at 800kbb with KTs, SB reshoves 88 and wins after the 9736T runout to get me to heads up trailing 58m to 14m.

It's around this time that I bust the WSOP bracelet event in 12th for 3k. Lost a flip that woulda got me back to something like 5/12. 60k and a bracelet up top in that one, coulda been the most absurd poker day of my life! But I'll still be very excited if I'm able to come back and win this USCOOP High Roller.

I manage to win the first couple medium sized pots to get some breathing room with 22m at 800kbb. I lose some small ones then open A8o off 18m. I bet small on T83r and call a check raise before the 2d turn goes check check. River is an ace and he bets 5.4m into 11m. With 13m back there *might* be a case to be made for just calling but I think our 2 pair is simply too strong. Maybe if I had something like 32s here I'd consider calling, but we can beat too many random combos of 2 pair that aren't going to fold to the jam. I'm all in and get called by a very strangely played A6o to take a small 37m to 35m lead.

Now with a 40m to 32m lead I check 76o vs a limp then xr to 2.4m over an 800k bet on K66cc. He calls and I bet 4.9m into 6.6m on the 2s turn. He raises to 10.7m. I think the *obvious* play here is to call, but I'm very tempted to go all in. I've played against enough players like this to have seen them take this line with a king then check back scary rivers (ace or club). Given the way he played that A6 I don't think he'll fold a K now. But if he's bluffing and I shove I've completely torched my shot at letting him bluff it off on river. I was very torn in game but went with the call. The river 8h quickly checked through and I beat K9

I open QTs to 2.2m at 1mbb and he 3b's to 7.4m off 23m. This size scared the **** outta me from this guy and I folded. This is a crazy fold on the surface but I think it's actually okay against someone who's letting me slowly chip away at him without much postflop fight in small pots. I'm either correct that his range is very strong and I should fold, or I'm wrong and am giving up a little equity in order to find potentially even better spots to chip away at his stack without big amounts of risk. I think this is one of the ways I think about tournaments that sets me apart from most other regs. It's possible this isn't even a good thing lol, but I can't imagine many people would fold here. Replay shows he had AKo.

Next hand he limps SB and I go 3.5m with AKss and see the Ks6h5s flop after he calls. I bet 1.8m and he calls. Turn is the worst card in the deck 6h. I check and he bets 7.4m into 11m with 14m back. Once again I'm faced with a spot where it seems inconceivable to fold. In a HU match with someone I've been cruising against I think it's an option though. I can't beat hearts and I can't beat a 6 anymore, which certainly make up a big chunk of his range. I get that vibe that he wouldn't bet this big if he was bluffing. And god forbid he is bluffing and I call and fold on a heart river when I had the best hand the whole way. However, I think one big thing makes this a continue, whether with a call or a shove. Kx. I think he's going to show up with a random K that's decided to try to protect his hand with this big bet on a scary board. It doesn't make a lot of sense for getting value, but it's similar to when he bet the A6o big after rivering an ace then called vs my shove. He's looking more at absolute hand strength than anything else. In game I went with the fold, which I really don't hate. I had a plan on how I was going to win this heads up and hero calling down was not part of that plan. When I saw on replay he had Qh8c I didn't feel great though!!! Lead down to 40m to 32m, but I chip back up to over 55m after winning a ton of small pots, making me feel good about this plan I've got. I opened button and got a 25% cbet through SO many times during this stretch, it got to the point where I was cbetting range on every board because there was no opposition being given in these small pots.

Now with a 52m to 20m lead I open AA at 1mbb and we see the J33r flop, which I check back. If he's gonna fold to every cbet I better not cbet a hand I wanna get paid with! Turn K he checks I bet 50% he calls, river 5 I bet 5.8m into 9.3m he calls with KT and the lead is now 63m to 9m. Blinds up to 1.2m next hand, he shoves AJo, I call QTs, board runs 9927J and we continue. I win 3 of the next 4 hands then shove 44 on button for 15m effective and double up his TT. Back to 42m to 30m.

Before you know it I lead 55m to 17m again (the plan was working quite well despite being 0/2 in the preflop all ins now) and I shove KJo from btn. He calls 33 and we're off to the races yet again. This time I get the board I'm looking for with the J9785 runout and I've won the USCOOP High Roller for $46k!

It was anything but smooth sailing which made the win that much more rewarding. There is a ton of luck in tournament poker but this tournament gave a few clear examples of where the skill comes in. It comes in the form of one's mental game. How well can you play when things aren't going your way? I tanked with my last 6bb with A8o facing a shove despite being frustrated I'd lost the flip to put myself in that position. I really tried to figure out the right answer and for all I know that fold saved my tournament and allowed me to make the comeback. I dominated the first half of that final table. One of the first hands of the FT I checkraise K9 on Q74 vs someone I thought was over cbetting and got A9 to fold. So many small pots like that allowed me to withstand the barrage of misfortune I had in the middle of the FT, losing with Q5 to 99 after a Q65 flop, losing QQ to KT, then AJ to 88. All of that chipping up I did early on allowed me to hang on to 4.2m at 500kbb. You're usually gonna still lose at that point, but once in a while you'll run hot and win the tournament anyway. The good play early on allowed me to survive some bad luck later, which in turn allowed me to run good after that and win the tournament. The finesse I used heads up, sometimes correct (fold QTs to a 3b vs a very strong range), sometimes not (fold AK on K656hhh vs Qh8x), allowed me to chip my opponent down without taking any big risks, and never lose the lead despite losing multiple all ins pre vs him before winning my first one to end the tournament. When someone wins a tournament they're always going to have to run hot to do it, and this tourney was no exception. But I don't think many people win this tournament in my shoes and I'm very proud of this one.