Wednesday, June 06, 2007

WSOP event #9

“You learn a lot about people when they lose” Donald Trump

Yesterday I played the $1500 Limit Omaha h/l event. It was a confusing day, as we started in the overflow room which is actually a pavilion located just outside of the Amazon room (the main tournament room). It accommodates 600+ players, but because of the extreme winds that ripped through Vegas yesterday, play was not a very pleasant experience. A couple of doors actually ripped off their hinges and I was told that a couple of the roofing cables broke. There were two main lighting fixtures 30 feet high in the room (the tables were lit by individual smaller lights just above the tables) and one was just above my head and everyone was pointing at it saying that it was bound to fall sooner or later, so it was actually a bit scary. At one point I saw Todd Brunson talking to one of the dealers and pointing to the lighting fixture as the wind howled. After a few hours the winds got so bad that one guy at my table refused to play anymore and shortly after, play was stopped until they could find us all tables inside the Amazon Room. It really was kinda lame.

As to the play, it wasn’t the best of tournaments for me. The starting stack was 3000 and I never had more than that. I had a playable stack the first 3 hours, then spent the next 2 1/2 hours short stacked until I went bust. I lasted till just after midnight and busted out in somewhere around 320-330th place out of 690, it was difficult to know exactly how many were left because of the tables spread throughout and the clock problems. Honestly, I wasn’t really very happy with my play as I had trouble balancing the different levels/styles of my opponents. I paid off bets in a few spots where I could have saved chips. In particular I got a lot of trouble from Mel Judah and the player to his left (didn’t know his name but he looked familiar), both of whom I would say outplayed me. They were both aggressive and mixed up their game well. Judah played mostly solid cards, but I saw him call down the turn and river with AAxx on a JT98 board and was correct that his opponent had nothing.

It was a very tough table, as all the players commented, including one who got moved to our table who said his previous table was much easier. I could also say that I outlasted players who I saw bust before me like Phil Helmuth, Scotty Nguyen, and Chad Brown, but none of that is worth the price of admission. The other tough players at my table seemed to be Omaha specialists. There were only two players who were somewhat weak at the table, and one of them was getting hit over the head with the deck.

One way I spewed some chips was getting involved in a couple hands out of position, and calling down for half a pot with mediocre two-way holdings. I think I was a little too concerned with being perceived as weak-tight and later run over, and calling down in those spots spewed a few chips that I could have used later.

I can only remember two interesting hands, both from later on in the tournament when I was short stacked. I had an A34x on a 256 flop and wound up taking ¾ of the pot vs. another A3. Later I had A4KQ double suited in the small blind and Mel Judah had raised. The BB called also and we saw a three-way flop of K85. We both checked to Judah and he bet. I check-raised hoping to knock out the BB with a possible A3 or pair and it worked. Judah called and the turn was a 3. I bet 300 on the turn and check-called the T on the river so that I couldn’t be raised all-in in case I lost both ways, Judah showed A23x and we split the pot. I needed a 2 on the river for a scoop and he needed a 3. A break like that would have gotten me finally above the 3000 mark but that break never came.

I’m not sure of my schedule the rest of the week, I seem to be lacking a bit of confidence right now. I tried to play some cash games online for an hour or two and get it back, but lost there as well. It’s been a tough week.

Also, I’m reconsidering my WSOP schedule. I definitely think the PLO8 event June 25th should be a significant +EV for me, but I’m contemplating switching the $2000 Ohaha h/l event for either the $2500 HORSE or a Hold’em event. I’m thinking that I’ll run into less “specialists” in the HORSE and I play all the games well and can switch on and off well, but maybe I’m overthinking and I just had a tough table. If will only think about the HORSE event if I get some confidence in the next few days, cause it's on Saturday.

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