In keeping with my plans at the end of my last blog entry, I played a single table satellite and split the proceeds heads-up. I think I've made cash in 6 of the last 7 of these things, which is a necessity given my MTT form at the moment. This was despite Martin and Dubai sitting behind me and trying to put me off when we were down to 3 :-).
On the evening of the 6th we went for a meal in a revolving restaurant at the top of the Stratosphere Casino, 106 storeys high and perhaps the best viewpoint in Vegas. I then somehow managed to allow myself a relatively early night and woke up today at 11.30am, just thirty minutes before Event #13, $2,500 NLHE kicked off. I got to my seat one minute into the event, and found myself amongst some name players, though I had to ask others who they were. I was in seat 5. In seat 4, I'm pleased to say, was the rather distracting figure of Liz Lieu, photos of whom are worth looking at here. Not so pleased to report I had Bill Gazes to my direct left in seat 6, and Men 'The Master' Nguyen in seat 7.
Blinds started off at 25/25 with 2,500 chips on an hour clock. Men the Master was in most pots, not playing particularly aggressively but he hit lots of draws and would check/call the flop and turn with or without the correct odds and always hit. In 5 hours of play with him I think he only missed once. He got dealt into a host of favourable situations. In one hand David J Lloyd (who I vaguely know from the famously scenic Luton casino) raised his blind, The Master called and they got their deepish stacks all-in on an A-7-7 flop, The Master with K-7, David with 9-7. Not much skill in being dealt into favourable situations like that is there.
I got lucky in one pot, On a T-9-4 flop I figured a shortish stack for A-A/K-K but I called anyway with J-J (I almost had pot-odds and prayed he had A-K), an 8 turn and river Q gave me a runner-runner straight to outdraw his kings.
With blinds at 50/100 it was folded round to Liz Lieu who completed her SB. I checked Q-8o in the BB, the flop came A-8-5 rainbow, she bet 175, I flat called. Turn 2. Check check, river ace. If she checks I make a small value bet here, however instead she fired out 450 into the 550 pot. I called instantly and she mucked equally as fast.
Now I was at 4,100 chips, nearly three hours into the tournament and feeling confident. I was playing pretty tight, didn't much fancy splashing around out of position with Gazes and The Master post-flop. However, with small blinds and a nine-handed table this was no problem.
Now this is where things started to go pear-shaped. With blinds still at 50/100, the cut-off open pushes for 900. Liz folds, I'm in the SB with 4,000 chips, Gaze's has a similar stack behind me. I have K-Qo. A close decision I think here, still not sure I made the right one. The cut-off does not look happy when I'm dwelling and thinking about calling, I'm pretty sure his hand is weak. I elect to flat call. Gaze's then instantly reraises all-in, obviously I now have to fold, certain he doesn't make this move without a hand against an all-in player. But perhaps I should have reraised all-in myself, though I don't like getting 40 big blinds in the pot with K-Qo and running into a monster behind me. Anyway, the cut-off is stronger than I thought, he shows A-Jo, Gaze's has T-T. This hand is particularly galling as the final board was A-J-x-x-T, so I could have eliminated Gaze's and won a monster pot. Though I fancy if I reraise all-in he would have folded his T-T preflop.
With blinds at 100/200 I then win a small but useful 600 chip pot with a well-timed bluff, The Master limps in ep, Liz completes, I check 5-6o. Flop is 8-2-3, checked around, turn 7, checked around, river 7, Liz checks, I bet 400 and they both fold pretty quickly :-). On 3,300ish chips, I pick up 7-7 in mid-position, open raise to 550 and get two callers, The Master, (this almost goes without saying) and another player. The flop is A-Q-J, not really what I was looking for, I give this one up without taking a stab at it as a continuation bet here would use up too much of my stack, although if only The Master had called my raise I would definitely have a bet here as he could well be holding 4-6o.
2,200ish chips, blinds at 100/200 ante 25. The Master limps in early position, he now has about 12k chips after successfully chasing draws for the last four hours. I'm in the SB and complete with Q-5o (probably ahead). Flop is a pleasant Q-J-5 rainbow, I check, Gazes checks, The Master bets 600 or so, I checkraise all-in knowing he only bets here with some sort of hand (as I said he played quite passively, not as aggressive as I expected him to be). To my suprise I've read him completely wrong and he has A-A. A blank turn gives him eight outs on the river which is more than enough and he duly spikes an ace to knock me out.
So that's $7.5k down on Multi's for the trip, I don't feel like I am being outplayed particularly but I've only played seven Multi's so obviously the sample size is a bit small. People ask me do I enjoy playing with the big name players, well not really no (Liz Lieu is an obvious exception to this ;-)). I like a bit of value on the table and would much rather play on tables with complete donkeys who will happily give me their money (for this see the single table satellite area).
I departed from this multi less than two hours ago, it is now 7pm on Saturday night, I'm feeling a bit tilty, so best to have a night off from poker and a nice meal somewhere (ok so I've done this every night so far but no plans to change this formula just yet).
Still not sure on the K-Q hand. I think folding, calling, or reraising all-in are all reasonable plays in that situation, ie none of them are a large mistake. If anyone has any views I would be interested to hear.
