WSOP Tunica Event #3

After my quick cash game score I was absolutely stoked to play LIVE TOURNAMENT POKER!!! The tournament drew 509 players and I started with a pretty good table draw. The players there were allowing me to see a lot of flops cheap which I love to do. I was creating a very loose and aggressive table image, but my chips weren't really going anywhere as I hovered around the 10k starting stack for the first level. Then in Level 2 (50/100) building the loose image finally paid off. I raised it from the 1 hole with AJs to 350 (I told you I was playing loose), and got one caller from the SB who was also playing very loose and not particularly deep (about 5k). The flop was a beauty AJ4. He checked I bet 650 he quickly called. The turn was an 8 which turned out to be a cooler. He checked and I eyed his stack and let out a moan. He said, "Go ahead and bet your AJ, I know you have AJ." So I decided the best move would be to listen. Why because F him I've got a loose image. I bet 1150, and he moved all in for 4k total. He kept saying if you have AJ you are good, which scared the hell out of me, but I just couldn't get away from the hand. There was 7250 in the pot and only 2850 to call. I was pot stuck. If I lost the hand would have dropped to about 6 or 7k which I didn't mind. I called and he showed the dead man's hand AA884 which was crushed by my AAJJ4. I was a 95% favorite to win the hand. The river was a complete brick, and just like that I was up to about 16k.

I was pretty much stuck at that number playing loose aggressive until a crushing hand struck at Level 5 (25/150/300). After a couple of EP limpers a tall thin gentlemen with about 12k raised to to 1400. I looked down at JJ from the hijack, and decided to flat it and see a flop. I wanted to trap him into losing chips with an AK continuation bet on the flop into my loose image. This isn't a typical play for me. Usually I would make it 4k to go to prevent any other callers, but my image was so loose I didn't think it would accomplish much. I was hoping to get a heads up in position with this guy, but what happened next made the hand tough. A new player at the table with a lot of chips flatted from the Button, the BB called and the one EP limper. We were going to a 5 way flop. Crap. The flop came out 8♦ 2♦ 2. The BB checked, EP checked, and the initial raiser shoved it all in for 10250. OMG what should I do in this spot? The pot had 7400 in it before and now it had 17650. 1.72 to 1, I need 37% to call. Time to put him on a hand and make a decision. Let me tell you it took awhile. The likely hands are either AA, KK, QQ, TT, 99, AK or A♦K♦ with some total bluffs. I was thinking most likely KK, QQ or TT or A♦K♦ with a small chance he was figuring everyone missed with a small to medium pair If I called and won the pot I would have about 28k which would have given me a lot of room to work. I still had about 15k so if I lost I would still have 5k and about 17bb's. I felt like I was beat, but for some reason all my chips got pushed out into that pot. I just couldn't pass on the lure of chipping up to almost 30k. Everyone else folded and he tabled QQ. I had a 10% chance of winning the pot, and the Q's held. If he tabled AK, TT, 99 or 77 I look like a genius, but in the end I think I deserve a dunce cap. I knew he was strong, but I just couldn't couldn't fold the hand. I went against my read, against my poker sense and tried to be "that guy" that chips up early in the tournament by playing loose aggressive. Well guess what "that guy" gets bounced from tournaments just as frequently.

So I was down in the dumps, but definitely not out. I needed to find a hand and go with it as the blinds had jumped to 50/200/400 and I only had about 4100. The final hand came quickly starting with 4 limpers and I looked down at Ad5d. I didn't take long in shipping my chips into the 2700 pot. This is a pretty standard short stack move. I only have 10bb's and an M of less than 4 so it is go time. Stealing pots like these is essential unless of course you can pick up a monster to double up. The first limper thought for awhile, and eventually moved all in for only about 2k more than my total. Everyone else folded, and he tabled 66. I was in bad shape with only a 30% chance of winning. The board completely bricked out, and the 10,500 pot was shipped to the 6's. The end result was good for the 6's, but I think his decision is marginal. I think a high percentage of the time I induce everyone to fold and pick up 2700. Even if I don't then I will still probably double up 30% of the time. In the end a positive EV play, but unfortunately I was out early of my first tournament of the weekend.