I guess I will be honest because it’s kinda sad to lie in your blog, right, anyway I didn’t play great in my 7 or so hours in the main event.  I can think of three bad mistakes that I wouldn’t make if I were playing my best.

Ugly #1: It was folded to me in the small blind, i raised it to 1300 at 200/400 with Q9o. The big blind, a guy who had only been at the table for 10 minutes called. The flop was AKx, we both quickly checked. The turn blanked, I bet 1500, and he quickly called. The river was a blank, and for some reason I decided he had a king and would fold to 2000 more. I should have been done but for some reason I didn’t want to give it up, anyway the guy pretended to think about folding with A8 (1 pr) before obviously calling and scooping against my idiot bluff.

Ugly #2: Another hand I ended up limping with J8 on the button and we saw a 5-way unraised flop, which was 843 two-tone. One of the first limpers bet and I called, everyone else cleared out. The turn paired the 3, he checked and I bet nearly pot-sized, which he called pretty quickly. From what I had seen from this player I felt pretty sure I had the best hand as he had been playing his big hands very fast. I thought a draw was possible but put him on a small pair not wanting to fold. This guy seemed a little nutty, anyway the river was a 7 for a board of 84337, he checks, I almost just check but get greedy and bet about the same as on the turn, hoping for a call with something like A4, 55, or 66. Instead he promptly check-raised me huge, at which point it became obvious that he had 56, which to be honest I hadn’t even considered and should have. I folded and he showed me 56. In retrospect I think a check is better on the river since 77 also is a possibility, and this player is also capable of having Q8 K8 A8.

Ugly #3: This one is the ugliest and I don’t even want to get into it except to say that I had Ax on AAQJT and called a river bet when it was obvious my cards were worthless.

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At my starting table was cash game pro Brian Rast to my direct right and also Dewey Tomko across the table. One hand Dewey was in the big blind and there was a multi-way unraised pot. The flop was AT8 with 2 clubs, checked around. The turn was the 7 of clubs. The first limper kind of weakly bet half the pot, and the player on the button called. Now back to Dewey and he makes a big raise. Dewey has a reputation for playing pretty tight, but this just smelled like an old-school muscle play to me. At this point Brian whispers to me “guaranteed Dewey has at minimum a Q-high flush.” Hmm, interesting. “OK, I’ll take that action,” I tell him. “100?” he asks and we are on. We agree that in the case of no showdown, the bet is off. To be honest, this is what I’m expecting to happen–Dewey’s a legend for a reason and I figure the other two will fold without much thought. But it doesn’t happen that way, the initial bettor calls the raise after a short think. The river is an ace, and both players quickly check. Dewey cannot beat the man’s J9 straight, and I scoop Brian’s $100.

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Here are two hands that I guess I can’t leave out..

Hand where I flop good and triple up:  New table, i’m pretty short, tight foreign guy limps, i limp with 77, twitchy internet kid makes a biggish raise from the blinds, foreign guy quickly calls, i’m probably a little too short to call but feel like gambling closing the action. flop is T76 with 2 spades, kid makes a normal bet, foreign guy immediately goes all in, I have a little bit more than him. I obviously go all in, kid is thinking, thinking, says something like “I have a big hand here obviously since I’m thinking this long,” wanting a call I say “well you don’t have the Ace of spaces, I’ll tell you that much,” and right away he nod really seriously “You’re right, I don’t.” So soon after he goes “well he has a flush draw, I call,” and shows QQ, other guy has AA, I show my hand and say “I lied, I didn’t know you didn’t have the As” I fade 4 outs twice and all is well. Kid seemed stunned by what I said, was sure I had spades, I actually surprised myself here as I’ve never used or heard that line before that I can recall and just kind of came up with it on the spot. Hope it wasn’t too out of line but was short-stacked here and the kid seemed to be leaning towards laying it down as it was obvious other guy had a monster too.

Hand where I bust, eww gross: Weakish young player raises, I am pretty short-stacked but maybe this is a leak and I call with 55, Asian guy calls on the button. I flop a 5, we check around because I want to make sure I double up here, turn is a K, betting here would be pretty strong, so I check again and it checks around, now river pairs the 8, i have a full house, raiser bets out for most of my stack, I move in without thinking too much, which I kind of regret because maybe calling has some merit here given not busting is always nice. Oh yeah, the raiser had kings.

Ugh, this post feels over.  I’ll most likely play WPT Bellagio on Wednesday with all the other scrubs.