Bluffs and bad reads...

Well, the title pretty much sums today up. Again I couldn't seem to pick up any damn hands but a couple biggish bluffs worked. I'd have a lot more chips, but two huge misreads and a poorly played hand cost me a lot. My table was alright, Steve Dannenman was to my left, as was Paul Maxfield (who finished 2nd last year). Bradley Berman was the only other player I recognized. Anyways, on to some hands...I started the day with 50k chips at 400/800/100.

Hand 1 - 400/800/100
Complete unknown makes it 3k in early, I call with AhQh. Dannenman calls also. Flop's 954 with 2 hearts. Raiser bets 6300 and I make it 26000. He folds and shows K9s.

Hand 2 - 400/800/100
I call a button raise to 2400 with Ad9d from the bb. Flop's 7c5c3x. I check and he bets 2400. I don't particularly believe him and I call. Turn's the 2c, I bet 5k, he folds.

I raise a couple more hands and people start talking about adolescents and how all they do is raise...I get reraised a couple times and decide I'd better tighten up. I don't play another hand for a while.

Hand 3 - 600/1200/200

I call a raise to 5k with 99. Flop comes 8c6c3x. The guy overbet pushes for 30k. I really don't think he wants to get called. He's done this once before, I wouldn't be surprised if he plays AK/AQ this way. I call. He sighs and turns over...TT....damn. Down around 30k.

Hand 4 - 600/1200/200

I get the aces! First time! Raise to 4k, everyone folds.

Hand 5 - 600/1200/200

Aggressive guy raises to 3600 early, I call in the sb with KcQc. Flop's Jcxcx, I check-raise all in and he calls with Tc9c. My K-high holds up and wins a 65k pot.

Hand 6 - 600/1200/200

I raise to 4k with AcQc. Three callers. Flop's Q7c3c. I bet 11k and only Maxfield calls. He has about a pot-sized bet left. Turn's a 4. I push, he folds. I hate how I played this. The turn bet sucks. He probably folds a Q to the turn push and never folds a better hand. In retrospect I think checking the turn is best.

Hand 6 - 800/1600/200
Folded to me in the sb with J8o, I limp. Maxfield checks in the bb. I check the AQ5 flop and he bets 2k. I call planning to lead the turn. Turn's a T, I bet 4k, he folds.

I'm up to 100k or so when this hand happens.

Hand 7 - 800/1600/200

Aggressive guy from hand 5 raises earlyish to 4800. I call in the bb with T8s. Flop's T74. I check-call 9400. Turn's a 4 and he bets 20k of his 40k stack. I fold and he shows KJo...damn.

Hand 8 - 800/1600/200

Ted Lawson (famous for getting all in thinking he had a straight when he didn't in some WSOP Omaha tournament which he went on to win) is now at the table and he limps. He plays a little oddly and is the slowest player in the world...it's awful. I limp with 9h7h and aggressive guy limps in the sb. Flop's 8c7c3. Aggressive guy bets 3600 and only I call. Turn's the Jc. He bets 8500. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a flush and he probably can't call a raise. I raise 15k more. He folds and shows an 8.

Hand 9 - 1000/2000/300
Maxfield is really short with about 11500. He pushes UTG. I would push here with borderline any 2, it's his last chance to buy the blinds. With the antes, there's 17.5k in the pot, I have to call 9.5k. I call with Q8o. He has 99. I river a Q. He's not happy...

Hand 10 - 1000/2000/300

I raise to 6k in mp with JTo. Berman calls in the bb, he's pretty damn tight but seems to like to lead into raisers. He bets 6k on the Axxr flop. I make it 18k and he folds.

I call/make some raises and miss, I'm still hovering around 100k.

Hand 11- 1000/2000/300

Folded to me in the sb, I limp with Q5o. Unknown in the bb with about 30k chips checks. Flop's K72r. I bet 2500 and he calls. Turn's a 4. I check, he bets 5k, I raise to 16k and he folds after some thought.

That's about it. I played a lot of pots where I called raises with pocket pairs and missed every flop. Overall, I had AA once, no KK/QQ/TT, JJ once where I lost a raise + a cbet on an A-high flop. Given that, I hadn't reraised preflop once. With a couple hands to go in the day I restole once from Berman with Q5o, other than that I never really got out of line preflop. So, I finished the day with 125k, which is probably a little below average, since we're down to around 200 players.

On a non-poker related note, Nat and I had a great time wandering around Vegas yesterday. We also went and saw the Cirque de Soleil show Ka at the MGM. That was really cool.

We start again tomorrow at noon. There's a lot of big names left, so I'm hoping for a nice table draw...

Steve