Day 2 and Day1a (tons of strategic content)

Yesterday I played some more blackjack and won again. Then I played the $1,100 mega satellite to the PCA and busted when I got KK cracked twice.

I wandered around the resort in the day just checking stuff out. I'll post some pictures at the end.


I played D1a of the PCA main event. We started with 30k in chips for the $10,300 buyin. For those that don't want to read the hands, I ended the day with 26,900 in chips.

Interesting and critical hands

50/100 - 7 handed
33k effective stacks
UTG+1 raises to 300 (young Scandinavian kid), I raise 87s to 900, he calls. Flop is Qd Ts 2h, he check/calls 1250. Turn 7c, he checks, I check. River 2s he bets 1050, I tank call, he mucks.
I'm getting 5:1 to here vs a player who seems like his range is wider than it appears. I also think that he would go for bigger value with a Q, so I don't think he has top pair, and it's pretty thin to bet a Ten this early in the tournament. Besides he's a scandi.

75/150
Not a hand I played, but it sets a tone for how this guy plays.
UTG +1 raises to 450, MP1 raises to 1250, BTN (Scandi) raises to 4,000, UTG+1 folds, MP1 raises to 9600, Scandi ships it for 33k, MP1 calls with KK. Scandi has 94o and kings hold.

Scani 30k, BB 16k, I have 38k.
I raise A8d to 450, scandi calls on btn, BB calls. Flop is 866r, BB leads for 1k.
At this point I'm almost 100% I have the best hand against the BB. I really doubt he leads 99+ or 6x here, so I'm certain he has 8x or 79 or 75. I raise to 2.4k for straight value and plan to bet other streets on bricks. The BTN however folds my plan by cold calling my raise. I'm not sure what his range is here, but I think its like 6x, straight draws, and 99-TT. That's about it. So when the turn comes a 4, I check fold to his 5.2k bet. It's not beyond reason for me to have the best hand here, but I think I should just find a better spot.

100/200
UTG+1 (Scandi) 30k
MP1 14k
MP2 13k
HJ (Me) 43k
CO 25k
BB 20k

UTG+1 raises to 525, everyone calls. Flop is 8c 7c 2s. Checks to me and I bet 2500 cause CO is a nit and everyone else would lead this flop with a made hand. So my only concern is BB having some kind of monster that would c/r here.

UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls. Turn is a Ks. Everyone checks to me I bet 9500, Scandi c/shoves for 22k more. MP1 folds, MP2 makes a speech about how this is the time to get lucky now that he saw the turn (basically telling me he has a spade draw and something), and MP2 c/cs all in for 10k.

I think UTG+1 is too aggresive to check/call a set in a 6 way pot on a board that gives so many draws. Same for aces and two pair. So I think he has like JTs or other straight draw that turned a flush draw, or Kxc.
The problem is I'm certain MP2 already has a spade and straight draw, so I think Scandi has Kxc. While he is very laggish I'm pretty sure he isn't raising K5c UTG+1 or anything, so I think he has KTc-AKc, and MAYBE K9c. KJ isn't fairing too well against that range so I folded.

As it turned out, Scandi had KJc, and MP2 had 69s and caught a spade on the river.


I got hot coffee spilled on my around this time.

150/300
Effective stacks
UTG covers
CO 12k
SB (me) 35k
UTG raises to 800, CO calls, I call in SB. Flop is Qs 6s 4s, I check cause I see UTG reaching for chips and he bets 1600. CO folds, and I decide to c/c. The turn is an 8h. I check and he bets 5k. I raise to 12.8k and he calls. The river is the Ks, and I check because I'm an idiot and wanted him to try to bluff me. But there are like no hands he would turn into a bluff here. He checks behind and obv I win.

edit: I didn't say what I had. I think some of you can figure it out, but I flopped the nut flush wtih ATs.

Effective stacks
48k (I'm the shorter stack)
I raise QQ UTG+1 to 800, the HJ 3bets to 2400. He has been playing very solid (not tight just all around playing well) so far. I decide to flat rather then 4bet and put myself in a really awkward spot postflop. I would rather underrep my hand and set up a precedent for having stronger hands in reraised pots. Flop is 975r, I check, and call 3200. The turn is an 8. I check and call 5800. This was a mistake in retrospect. I think his range is simply too strong. He will have KK, AA, JJ, and TT here a lot. However he will also have hands that he reraised light with like JTo, 6x, 78o and so on.

I check/call a river bet of 7300, hoping he is going for super thin value with JJ or is just on a berserko bluff. He shows me 98o and I feel like a retard.

Effective stacks
32k (same villian)

UTG raises to 800, I call with AcKd on the button. Flop is 5h Ad 7d, he bets 1350, I raise to 4000. He calls turn is 7h. He checks and I instacheck behind. I think I'm disguising my hand as a combo draw that raised in an attempt to take down the pot and is now taking a free card. His interest peaks at the turn check, and now I think he has an ace. The river is an offsuit 6, and he checks, and I bet 10k. He now goes into the tank, and I'm afraid my overbet might lose him. He eventually calls and shows AQ when he loses.

50/200/400
UTG 55k
UTG+1 (me) 43k
CO (same villian as before) covers

UTG raises to 1200, I raise to 3400 with KK, CO raises to 7400. Folds back to me I call. I don't want to get 110bb in preflop with KK here cause when UTG raises and I reraise, we have both shown a ton of strength. The CO 3bet is also super strong, and I plan to play the hand carefully.

The flop is Qh Th 9c. I check and tank fold to an 11.8k bet. He shows me QQ. Fold of the day right there.

UTG covers
HJ 7k
ME 28k

UTG raises to 1100, HJ calls, I decide to call with 88, maybe should've 3bet to try to get it in preflop vs HJ. Flop is 842r. Checks to me I check, turn is an 6 checks to me I bet 2300, and take it down. Very disappointing.

50/300/600
BB 35k
UTG (same kid, he's on fire) 80k
MP2 21k
Me 30k

UTG raises to 1600, MP2 calls, I call with A9s on the button, the BB calls. The flop is 9c 4h 2h, checks to MP2 who bets 3200. I call and UTG c/r to 10.3k. MP2 folds, and now I'm in quite a dilemma. I know he could have hands like AKh, A5h, 56h, 89h, but do I really want to risk my tournament here on what is a coinflip? What if he decided to check raise an overpair? If I shove, will he fold TT-AA? I eventually decide to fold, but am still uncertain.

100/400/800
SB is absent
28k effective
Folds to CO who raises to 2000. I call with Kh9c on the button, since I think his range can be pretty wide here. (it's already wide in the first place)
Flop is 9h 8c 4c. He bets 2500, I call. Turn is 2c, he bets 5k, I call. River is Ac he bets 6k, I call. He has KQc for the nuts.

Not sure if I was supposed to do anything different here, I think postflop is standard. I guess I should fold pre, except I've been picking up a lot of pots postflop vs this guy.

Effective stacks
12k before my BB.
Folds to BTN who deliberates for a bit then raises to 2.2k
I shove 97o, he calls with JJ and I win. Not sure what to say here, I think his range was wide enough for me to steal. This was the first time I've 3bet out of the blinds and haven't restolen before.

Effective stacks
25k (I cover, nice change for once)
same villian raises to 2.2k from MP, I call with A8d in CO. Flop is Qd Td 9c, he bets 4k, I raise to 11k, he folds.

I ended the day with 27k.

Thoughts
I played ok. I should've folded the QQ, if I did I would've ended with 32k instead of 27k and wouldn't have shoved with 97o. Only takes one mistake in NLHE. I think I ran bad. There were a lot of hands where I was set mining in multiway pots but missed. Also got 3bet a lot, had to fold almost everytime. I kept having hands that played really poorly postflop OOP against a 3bettor, and a 4bet was simply too much risk for my tastes. My table was really aggro which is expected, but play wasn't amazing. There were 3 good players and the rest were kinda w/e. Early I was connecting on flops and quickly won like 15k. Then I just ran card dead and got in some bad spots postflop. I also let myself get squeezed twice preflop, that I was not happy about.

Oh well, looking forward to day 2. It'll be on Thursday, and you can follow updates live at pokernews.com.

Now picture time from Atlantis!
Almost all of these came from "The Dig" which is basically an underground aquarium


Jellyfish. Half the time it's smarter than I am. I am so bad at poker.


Random fish and sculptures






That black fish was HUGE. What is that anyways?



Sea Horse



What is this? I couldn't figure it out.



Eels that apparently don't mind the light.


Lobsters I think. From underneath they look really weird


Now switching to a sea of humanity. Or mostly just degenerates who play at Jokerstars. There were actually a lot more people you can't see.



I'll see across the felt.
Bryce