 Vegas June 2018 (WSOP) |
| Day 16 - Aria...FINALLY... |
| Last Updated: 2018-06-24 11:44:11 |
| Starbucks and baking at the pool as usual to start the day and into the 11am at Aria.
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| A little different for my Saturday. "3-stud mix". Stud high, Razz (lowest hand wins, A is low, straights and flushes don't matter, any A-2-3-4-5 is the nuts) and Stud 8/b in rotation. Sitting 8 handed so game changes every 8 hands.
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| Started out in Stud 8/b, didn't have much going. Then in our first round of Razz in all 8 hands I had one or two face cards and/or a pair. We switch to Stud high and two of my first three hands are 236 and 357. I texted that to Joann and said "that's my week right there".
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| BUT I won the 2nd and 4th hands of that game. Started with wired AA, rivered two pair, two pair was good. Second one a big hand held up on a scary board.
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| I start out with split kings (one showing, one in the hole). Ace raises out ahead of me but I could already tell this guy was going to complete with the best up-card 100% of the time. I just called in case he really had another A.
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| 4th street pairs his ace, I pair my king.
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| When you are playing Stud high pairs are "king" as it were. When you are up against players who understand stud, you generally expect that most people who are raising out have a pair, and 2/3 of the time someone has a pair it involves the card you can see or the "door card".
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| 3 of a kind by 4th street is a very powerful hand. By extension, any time anyone pairs their door card you should be very, very afraid.
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| So I pair my king, he pairs his aces. He checks. He's announcing to me that he was betting his ace and doesn't really have another one.
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| I start betting, he calls every street, never raises, my KKK is good.
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| Few hands later I believe I was the bring-in with only a split pair of 5s I think but 5h showing and Jh to go with it. I don't remember if he just called the bring-in or completed and I called to see what happened...but bottom line is my board ran out 324 all hearts. At some point he started checking and I started betting. He paired 7s on 6th street, then I made a minor rookie mistake...but it worked out and earned me more chips.
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| Bottom line is when someone has a 4 flush and are betting, as I was, you can rest assured that 95% of the time they really have the flush. If you can't beat the flush and you're reasonably competent at stud, you're almost always folding on the river.
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| In theory, therefore, when they have a pair showing and (since you don't have a pair with your 4-flush) the best hand showing on the river, and they check to you (as they always will staring at your 4-flush) there is little point in betting for value because you're in theory never going to get called. They're going to fold because they can't beat the flush you almost certainly have or they're going to raise you because they can beat a flush and now you've wasted not one but two bets because you likewise have to call their raise and pay off the boat/quads they just hit against your flush. If someone has the cajones to bluff in that spot, good for them...
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| The point is that every move here should be automatic. This is supposed to check down. Flush can't get paid by anything less than a boat, boat/quads hopes flush bets out, flush is supposed to check back because you can't get paid...
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| So...when he checked I instantly bet. Bad move. He made a comment pointing out my mistake. He was right. However, even tho he didn't river a boat he did make a straight and called me down...so I did something a little dumb but got paid for it!
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| Oh and he had one of my straight flush cards, the 6h, and he did have two pair on 6th street and was in fact drawing to a boat.
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| Nothing round of stud 8/b and we're back to Razz. Fucking Razz...
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| Start out with A347...run out is KAJ and I lose to a ten.
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| Fucking Razz.
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| But I won the next one with bets on every street, caught "seventy-five" on 6th street (7-5-3-2-A). 32500 at break after peaking out around 35k in those first four rounds.
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| Saw a guy catch a straight flush in Razz! But straight and flushes aren't straights and flushes in Razz and it was a small straight flush...just not small enough. Not by much tho.
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| Things continued to go smoothly. Won a nice scoop in stud 8/b with 3-4-5-6-7-8-X. That's a really good hand...7-6 good for low, straight to the 8 good for high.
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| Then my first more serious mistake. Unlike Pot Limit Omaha 8/b where playing for half can be disastrous, in limit 8/b (Omaha or stud) it can be OK to play for half as long as you are multi-way pot preferably 4-way or are 3-way and you are positive the other two are going for the other half. Which is usually two people betting face cards and you playing 3 to a low...
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| That said, if you're going to do that you want to play a low hand that has at least some high possibility.
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| Well I'm bring-in with a 2 or 3 showing and 4-8 underneath. K completes, a Q or J calls...so I'm in with the only low draw.
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| But here's what can happen...when one person goes away on a later street you're playing for big bets just to get your chips back if you don't have a way to make a decent high.
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| Well...I catch a low on 4th, and he pairs his door card on 5th (see above!!!) and I pair up, other person goes away and I call with my pair and a low draw ... now I'm calling 6th 'cause I have to ... I miss ... and I run out two pair and no low and get scooped by a set of kings.
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| I could have given up on 5th street. But here's the big picture problem - there was enough in the pot that I was getting pot odds to call for half. The mistake was putting myself in a position where the math says call, but it's expensive to call and when it doesn't work out you take a big hit. Back down to 30k.
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| But back to Razz and I haul in a huge 2-way pot when I river a 2 for a 7-low, then catch a seventy six...so does other guy but 7-6-3-2-A beats 7-6-5-2-A. Wow!
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| Up to 46K! LOVE Razz!!!!!
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| Get paid some with QQQ, then get all in against a short stack with 99X against 55X, 99 holds and I go into the second break at 49200.
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| Build up to 70k, miss a big draw and drop down a little under 60k. Have a tough run where nothing work out for a while and I'm back down around 40k...then 30k. Dammit!
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| So I'm a little under 30K and limits are either 2500/5000 or 3000/6000...which pretty much means the next hand I play is going to involve all of my chips if there is betting on all streets. And we move on to Razz. Here are my 8 starting hands:
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- 4 up, but K in hole and someone raises so can't try
- JT in hole
- JT in hole
- JT in hole (seriously...can't make it up...)
- 9T in hole
- Q9 in hole
- K9 in hole
- 5-3 in hole! But 9 up. Ugh.
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| Down to 21k. Fucking Razz...
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| Get paid some but not enough when I catch a straight in stud high, actually steal antes/bring-ins a couple of times and work my way back up to 30k heading into the next break.
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| Back around to Razz...Ace up but 77 in hole. ARGH!
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| But...finally...get in a Razz hand and draw out a 65432. Then win another small pot in Razz and in a blink I go from desperate to a little above average at 58k.
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| Then a huge stud high hand for me. Sometimes you get lucky...
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| As I alluded to above, there are people who will bet out 100% of the time they have the best up-card. Late to act you want to do that to try and steal antes and bring-ins. Standard play. But some people will do it from any position, and some people will lead out with the second best card hoping that the best card will fold, and some will do that from any position.
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| Woman in that category completes with J up, I have a Q up and a Q in the hole. I re-pop it, she calls. I should generally assume I have the best hand in that spot! Remember, as I said, 2/3 of the time someone has a pair it involves the door card...
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| We both catch blanks on 4th and 5th streets, I'm leading and she's calling. I catch a Q on 6th. She's pissed! She calls me down...blank for me on river, bet, call.
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| She had hidden kings and drew out two pair. She knew she was losing to QQQ but had to call. She was steaming.
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| Hey, that's poker :-)
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| So now I'm at 95K, I look up at the clock and we're 10 from the money and I'm right around average stack. I believe it was 108 players, 21 left paying 11. If I'm correct about 108, average stack would have been 98k.
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| Back to Razz. 997. 55T. ATT. Wrong game!
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| But win a couple of small pots with 7 showing and 95, then a 6 showing don't remember rest of my hand...but in both cases they caught bad and I caught good. I'll take small pots!!
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| 8 from the money.
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| Another hugh Razz pot. Start with A24, board runs out with me catching an 8-perfect: 8-4-3-2-A (someone corrected me to "smooth" rather than perfect but I usually hear "perfect") and him only getting to a 9.
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| Love Razz! I'm at 125K, well above average now.
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| 7 from money.
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| Take out a very short stack in stud 8/b I think when QQ holds up against 44 (all in on 3rd street, he was that short) and nobody gets a low. 157K
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| 6...
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| 5...
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| 151K at the next break. Avg around 135K
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| Someone outdraws me in Razz, 7-low loses to a 6. Ouch! 50K gone.
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| 4...
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| Slow play hidden kings. What was I thinking??? But I get a call on 4th and then they go away on 5th. Guess I should be happy they didn't draw out on me. Back up a little over 100K
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| Then two massive pots for me!
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| Start with A2A in stud 8/b. Catch A on 4th. Bet every street, he runs out 4 low cards but not looking like any kind of straight...he calls me down and only has 2 pair, no low. Very next hand QQ66 wins high in a 3-way pot. 170k after the first one, another 60k to 230k on second one.
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| 3...
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| Fucking Razz. A234 to start, catch bad, bad, 8...and 8-smooth not good enough. Back down to 195K.
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| And we're hand for hand on the bubble.
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| Take down antes two hands in a row in Razz, one was repping a good up card, other time actually had 2-5-6.
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| Then a brutal stud high hand. Limits now 10k/20k. I catch kings up on 5th street...he catches 4s full of 2s on 6th or 7th and I pay him off. Down to 130k.
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| Antes and bring-ins painful. Still on money bubble and I drop down to 95k. But we have two micro-stacks trying to hold on...and finally the bubble bursts!
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| I can't get in a hand for a while, antes and bring-ins killing me. We go to one table of 9, then two more bust-outs and we're 7 left. A few money bumps!
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| But I can't get into a pot, blinds and antes take me down to just over 30k. Not good. Go to Razz, I'm 7 seat, 1 seat has a K and brings in. Folds around to me with an ace. I look down at AQ. But what the hell, I bet out. He hates it and folds, I show my awful hand.
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| KTT next Razz hand.
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| Then 6 showing and A4 in hole. This is it. 3-way pot, guy with a 7 showing and another guy with I think a 9. 7 gets a 2, 9 gets a 3, I catch a 5. Rest of my chips go in. 2-7 catches bad. 3-9 gets a K, I pair my 4. Dammit! 2-7-X leads out, K-3-9 inexplicably calls. 2-7-X catches an ace...not good...K-3-9 finally goes away but I only get an 8. We reveal and with one card to come I'm up against a made 7 (7-5-3-2-A) with a draw to a 6, but 3 of my outs gone (a 2 and two 3's). I don't hit my 5 outer to triple up, done in 7th place.
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| MONEY!!!!
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| FINALLY!!!
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| One day of poker left, and I get to finish off with Pot-Limit Omaha 8/b at Aria. If I could pick what I'd finish off with, that would be it! |
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