Sigh...

Well I'm out of the ME. Overall it was a pretty frustrating day. I could never really seem to hit a flop at the right times and my bustout hand was pretty ugly. The Rio was absolutely ridiculous though. With all the players, media and spectators it was hard to walk anywhere, especially during breaks. It seemed like every hall was just a sea of people and if they weren't going the way you wanted to go there wasn't much you could do. So breaks weren't very useful, it basically took the whole time just to get to the washroom and the lines for food were insane.

Anyways, on to hands I guess. Level 1 I really didn't do a whole lot. I limped with a bunch of small pairs and things but missed every flop and didn't do much else. I played a couple semi-interesting hands I guess.

Hand 1- ~10,000, blinds 25/50
I make it 150 early with JJ and the button makes it 450. The sb calls and I call. Flop Axx and the sb loses a biggish pot with AQ to AK. I decide right here that the button is pretty awful.

Hand 2 - ~9000, blinds 25/50
I limp after 3 limpers on the button with 98o. Flop QTx and it gets checked around. Turn 6, sb bets 100, bb calls and it folds to me. sb has made these small bets with weak hands before, so I make it 500, both fold.

I finished level 1 with 10,300 and was fairly happy with my table. 9/10 were online qualifiers and I didn't recognize anyone. There were definitely a couple who played pretty badly.

Hand 3 - 8000, 50/100
I had a bluff that didn't work and a raise/cbet that didn't work so I was down to 8000. The raiser in this hand had about 18k to start the hand. He'd been fairly aggressive and was definitely one of the better players at the table. That said, I felt like I had a pretty decent read on him. Anyways, he makes it 300 in late middle and I make it 900 from the bb with QQ. Flop A64. I check, he checks behind. Turn 7, I check, he bets 1000 and I call, not really sure of what my plan for the river is. River T, I check and he bets 2000. If I call and lose I'm down to 4k and in pretty serious trouble. I thought about this for a while and from looking at him really felt I was ahead. The only problem is there aren't many hands he can have that I'm ahead of that he'd call pf with and bet the river with. Still, I went with my read and called. He showed KJs and I was up to 12k.

Hand 4 - 12000, 50/100
I make it 250 in late-middle with T8o. I hadn't raised in a while and the players behind me were all pretty tight. Guy from hand 3 calls in the bb. Flop Tx5h3h and he checks. I decide to check behind. Turn Ax, check check. River 8x, he bets 350, I make it 1000, he calls and I win. I almost just called this river but decided my line looked weird enough that he'd look me up with a lot of hands.

So I finished level two with just over 15k and was feeling very good. Level 3 things took a turn for the worse.

Hand 5 - 12000, 100/200
I get played back at a bunch, lose a bunch of little pots and am back down to 12k. UTG who's loose and passive limps. UTG+1 who's a little too tight but plays alright also limps. A pretty bad player limps on the button and I complete in the sb with 95o. bb checks. Flop's 553 with two diamonds. I've led once earlier with a big hand and I decide to check this one. Checked around to the button who bets 700. He's got about 4500 total and I think he'll be more inclined to lose it if I call and lead the turn instead of raising here, so I call. Folded to utg+1 who makes it 2200...uggh. Then the button pushes. I was pretty sure I had the button beat pretty badly. He was definitely the slowplaying type and the way he pushed made me pretty sure he didn't have a monster. UTG+1 though is a problem. I'm pretty sure he's virtually never bluffing here, so his most likely hands are A5s, 65s, 54s and 33. I'm fairly ahead of 2 (because we chop a lot), crushed by one and pretty far behind the other. Also I don't think he limps A5s, 54s or 65s here anywhere close to 100% of the time so I folded. He instacalled with 33 and beat the button's flush draw.

Hand 6 - 10000 - 100/200
One guy who limps a lot limps, and two people limp behind. I'm on the button and decide I'm raising a lot of hands here as I'll pick up the pot most of the time. I make it 1000 with 54s and the sb (who's too loose and not very good) calls. Everyone else folds. Flop KKx and he checks. I probably should've given up here as I think he'll often call me with pretty much any pair but I bet 1300. He pushes and shows AA when I fold...

Hand 7 - 7000 - 100/200
So my downward spiral continues. Tight old guy in the cutoff raises to 700 last hand before the break. I call in the bb with AQo. Flop AdQdx and it goes check check. Turn 8d. I bet 1200 and he calls pretty quickly. I'm sure he has something like KdK or JdJ. River Kd and I disgustedly check fold.

So I get to the dinner break with 4900 which is pretty awful. I meet mom and kurt and we have dinner at a decent cafe at the Rio. It's normally better but it was super busy and our waitress seemed to be having a panic attack. After that I went back and was looking to try to double up early.

Level 4 was 100/200/25, so I still had a decent amount of play left. I blinded down to about 4000 and then started raising a ton of pots. I didn't have any monsters, but they kept folding (either pf or to my cbets) so I kept raising. I won one decent pot that got to the river and was back to 9000. Then I raised ATo and gave up on the J97 flop and I was down to just over 8k when this hand happened.

Hand 8 - ~8100, 100/200/25
Guy who loves to limp-fold (or limp-call and fold the flop if he misses) limps in middle position. Folded to me in the sb. I actually haven't taken advantage of this guy much (I think I've only raised his limp once, and he folded) so before I even look I've decided I'm raising. The bb helps my decision by pretty much broadcasting that he's going to fold as I get my chips out. Anyways, so I raise to 1025 with T5o, bb folds and the limper thinks and calls. Flop A55!!! I look over at the guy and he's clearly thrilled with this flop too. I bet 1300. He's made a bunch of minraises before, gets ready to do that again but puts his chips back and says all-in and starts to move his chips out. Before he even gets his chips all the way out I've called and turned over my hand. He disgustedly turns over AK. So I'm about to win a 17k pot and be in excellent shape again. Turn K. Surely I'm not going to lose this pot. River K. Sigh.

Steve