Here is my trip report. One quick note: I don't have a perfect memory like many players, but I think I got the spirit of these hands well enough. I started on Sunday, Day 1c at table 117 in seat one. As an overview, it was pretty much a terrible table for me. Bax had previously said that the play in the Main Event was like a PokerStars $10 rebuy. From what I saw on Day 1a and 1b, he was right. A lot of the play was really bad. And yet here was my table:

Seat 1: me
Seat 2: Andrew "Muddywater" Wiggins, co-owner of Cardrunners and top cash game player.
Seat 3: Over raiser (or at least I thought after one hour)
Seat 4: Matt "SamENole" Smith ... top online pro with tight reputation
Seat 5: Rock
Seat 6: Rock
Seat 7: Toto Leonidas ... top live pro
Seat 8: Rock then went insane
Seat 9: Not sure. Not a rock, but, as SamENole called him: a robot raiser ... predictable.
Seat 10: Not sure, he got low quickly and was forced to be a Rock.

One note: I'm not saying that the "Rocks" were weak. They may have been weak but who can really tell ... most likely some of the were weak and some were possibly incredibly card dead. I would have preferred that they be aggressive/weak than passive/weak.

So it was a bad table for me. Andrew played very well and, as many cash players do, he was willing to "float" continuation bets and take pots away from players later in a hand. He hit two flushes fairly early in the tournament and chipped up nicely, making it harder on me. But the other real problem, besides the pros being to my left, was that with all the pros and rocks at the table -- NO ONE busted out. We went hours and hours before a bust and then he was replaced by a shortie. Being inexperienced at live play, it didn't dawn on me how bad this was. We just didn't have enough chips at the table. Everywhere around us we're hearing "all-in and call" being shouted by the dealers. We just sat around trading chips.

The tournament started well and I won a few pots right away and moved to 22,500 chips. In the second win, I did a continuation bet after a totally missed flop against Toto (I was just figuring out who he was at the time) and he stared at me and folded. On the third hand, I had KK and showed it when they folded to my raise.

Early on, the only read I got was the player in Seat 3. He seemed to really like re-raising. He did it several time on players right away, so that made the table even worse because now I had three tough players to my immediate left. What's interesting is that Seat 3 went really quiet after the 1.5 hours, so it may have simply been that he hit some monster hands early. But at the time he looked like an aggressive player.

I lost some pots and won some. The first significant hand came when I raised with KQ hearts and Andrew flat called. The flop came Q high and I bet it ... something like 800. Andrew then put in a big re-raise, something like 2000 overall. I thought about it for a moment. I really think he flat calls with trips and he probably raises with AQ preflop. I couldn't see just calling and then letting him bet me out on the turn, plus I thought he was probably acting on his knowledge of my tight reputation. So I reraised another 2k or so, making it probably the biggest pot played so far, and he mucked. He told me later he considered shoving but he had "air" and decided against it. I told him, for some weird reason, that I had hit trips. I believe I wanted him to know that I bet out when I hit a monster hand. If he shoves I fold my top pair.

Soon after I had a mid pair and Andrew flat called my raise. The flop came KQx and I tried to keep the lead and did a continuation bet. He flat calls again and I give up on the hand. We check it down and he tables AQ. I told him he was a cash game donk who couldn't laydown second pair. The table saw my pocket 8s, which I didn't mind ... a bit of advertising for when I hit a big hand.

Not long after I got middle pair again and I called Toto's raise. Early on, Toto wasn't playing like his wild reputation at all. The flop came King high and Toto checked. This sure confused me and I tried to take it and bet out. He thought for a while, checked his cards twice, and called. Then a blank came on the turn and he checked again. This was the one hand I really regret from the day (I guess it's pretty good to only really regret one hand from 10 hours of play). I was confused by this check and everything about his demeanor read as "weak" to me. So I took a big shot at the pot, betting $2k. This was pretty bad because there really wasn't a draw on the board that Toto could be shooting for, so he had to have me. He called. The flop was another blank and he checked again. Finally I got smart checked and he tabled AK. Very nice play sir. I was down to 19k after 2.5 hours of play and again the table saw me over value a mid pair ... and again I didn't mind. In the back of my mind was Rizen's comments from his big run in the Main Event last year. He talked about being active enough to get paid off when you hit big.

The only other thing of note during this time was that SamENole was being active, often from early position. He seemed to be playing more hands than his tight reputation. Soon after I did accidentally raise to 1100 preflop with AQ (on a 200 big blind) when I grabbed the wrong chips. They all folded and Andrew wondered out loud if I was steaming or grabbed the wrong chips.

About 30 minutes later, I had my big hand with Toto. Again he raised 3x to I believe $600 from early position and I called with 33. The flop came J, 3, x. Nice! He checked and I thought this was set up perfectly. I bet out as I had mostly been doing and he flat called. The turn was a blank lower than a Jack and this time Toto bet 1200. I flat called because the board looked so harmless. The river was a 3 giving me quads! Weeeeeeeeeeeeee. Toto then did a strange thing -- he bet 4000. Wonderful. Now what do I do. When he first made the bet, I really thought he had a big hand, maybe trips. I thought he was stronger than AJ although there was no obvious two pair on the board. My option was to go all-in, bet big, or bet for value with a minimum or small raise. I decided to go with my gut reaction, which was he was very strong. I didn't want to push all in because I didn't want to scare off AJ, so I put in a big reraise to 12,000, leaving me just a few thousand behind.

When he didn't call quickly, I knew I had made a mistake. I wish now I had simply picked up my two orange $5k chips and tossed them in, trying to make it look like a steal, instead of a more calculated 12k bet. Toto sat for a long time and finally someone asked the dealer about how to call a clock. He didn't call a clock, he just asked how it worked. Toto recommended to the table to call the clock because he was exactly 50%-50% to call or not. The table finally called the clock.

I was sure that he wasn't going to call, so I leaned toward Toto and stared him down, knowing that this is a tell for weakness. He stood up then and walked away from the table and I almost asked the dealer to make his hand dead for walking away (obviously it would not have been dead but it would have maybe made it look like I wanted it dead). I wish I had now. Why not? The clock counted down and his hand was dead. He later said he laid down AJ. Because he didn't show and because he encouraged the clock, I wonder now if it wasn't all for show and that his 4000 bet was so large because he didn't want action. We'll never know. I didn't show the quads.

At 27000, then I lost a pot with a mid pair and with AK and was back down to 22,000 chips after 6 hours of play (6pm PT).

The next level was pretty card dead. I did steal blinds at least twice (maybe 3 times) with A7 and J10, to tread water. Matt complained that he had 22 five times so far and couldn't hit with them. I then got 22 in position and raised 4 times the bb (which I hadn't done before) and everyone folded. I showed Matt the 2s and said that's how you win with them. He later finally won with 22 as well!

The most interesting thing that happened during this level was that seat 8 (my original blog incorrectly says seat 6) came alive. He had been playing tight for hours. Now, after a short break, he came back firing huge. He was calling big raises preflop and re-raising continuation bets big and the next thing you know, he's almost at 40k out of no where. He had been playing so tight, we all assumed he was finally hitting. Then, he got into a small blind/big blind confrontation. He raised and the BB flat called. The flop was something like Q 8 3. He bet and the short stack in the BB reraised and, I thought, was pretty close to being pot committed. Seat 8 thought for a long time and reshoved all in and the short stack BB instantly called with AA. Seat 8 sheepishly showed 86 and didn't improve. That opened all of our eyes ... someone had jacked this guy up over break and he wasn't necessarily hitting big hands, just playing like he was.

A few hands later, Toto in Seat 7 gets involved in a big hand with the same Player 8 (also called the Rock who went insane). I don't remember the action but the final board was something like 8,7,5,4,3. I remember thinking a 6 would give someone a straight. Out of the blue Player 8 throws 8 yellow chips in for a very big 8000 bet. Toto thinks about it for a long time. Checks his cards (as he often did) several times, then calls with A4. That's right ... he called with fourth pair. Player 8 mucks. Player 8 busted soon after when he made the exact same play again (reraising a flop bet) and the guy pushed with QQ and he called with 66. Very terrible. He switched gears once and chipped up nicely, but he couldn't change gears back.

After the dinner break, around 9pm, I pick up KK and I do a standard raise to 1200 (3x) and Andrew asks to see my stack. He then reraises to something like 3k and I think about it and flat call. The flop is harmless and I check. It was one of the few times I checked and this time he bet out 4k. I pushed the rest in hoping he had QQ and he mucked. He was kicking himself for betting the flop because he knew I had a big hand after my flat call. He had a good ace. I'm at 29,000.

About 30 minutes later, after 10 hours of play, I pick up JJ. I'm pretty sure I raised and Andrew just flat called. The flop was a beautiful J, 10, 7 with two diamonds. I made a standard bet and Andrew raised 2500 or so. With two draws on the board, I reraised an additional 6000. That type of raise either makes it look like I'm on the draw or have AJ (at least that's what I believed it did). I thought if he had an overpair, he now had to push all in, which is what I wanted. If he had AK with one diamond, I'm not sure what he does ... maybe it doesn't matter. If he has something sick like AK or AQ of diamonds, they are probably going all in anyway with two overs, flush, and gutshot. For some reason, I was leaning that he had AK with one or two diamonds. He shoves and I call and he turns over KK. I'm almost a 90% favorite with two cards to go but a bastard King peels right off on the turn and a harmless Q hits on the river. Handshake, handshake, and I'm out of the room. Sigh. As I said in my original post, that's poker but it does surely suck. It would have been nice to be in the top 50 in chips or so.

Overall, it was pretty clear that Andrew, Matt (SamENole) and Toto were the class of the table as you would expect. Toto made very strong reads and Andrew seemed to get more value from his pots and just play bigger hands than the rest of us. Matt was very solid and wasn't afraid to take a stand on a hand. Player 3 did fine as well with a solid TAG style. I was pretty happy with my play overall, but obviously made some mistakes. GL to everyone who is still in, especially to Bax and other PXF subscribers playing in day 2!

mindwise