PCA Day 2

I went down pretty early to check out my table and had a pretty favourable draw. Only one guy with more chips (he was on my right) and only one name I recognized (he was short stacked). Early on I won a flip against a short stack, then won and lost some smallish pots. The result was I had about 90k when this hand came up.

Hand 1: 600/1200/200

I raise to 3500 utg+2 with JJ. MP calls and the big blind makes a big overbet to 18k. I've been opening a couple times an orbit and not getting all that much action. MP has called a couple of my raises, usually folding to cbets. The bb seems to be reasonably good, he made one slightly loose call in a huge pot with JJ and sucked out against AA to get a lot of chips. He has about 120k. But overall he's seemed pretty aggressive and good. I think about 15 seconds and really feel that he has AK/QQ-TT or something like that (plus AA/KK occasionally) and will fold everything but AA/KK. I push 72k more. He tanks forever and finally announces he hates to fold and calls with AKs. The second he called Ted Lawson (famous for misreading his hand for a straight in the wsop omaha tournament he won) announced that I had aces. I show my jacks and tell the guy I thought he'd fold AK, he shows AKs. The first card off is a K, flop is KT9. Turn Q!! River blanks and I'm probably top 3 in chips now with around 190k.

The rest of that level nothing major happened. I restole once in a good spot and didn't do a whole lot else. My table eventually broke and I got moved to a new one. My new table featured a couple guys I know from 2+2 and the other big stack from my first table who's on my immediate left. We both have the table pretty well covered but there are a lot of ~100k stacks.

Hand 2: 800/1600/200 (I think)

I make it 4500 utg with 9c8c. Folded to the button (a guy from 2+2 I know pretty well and he and his wife have gotten to be friends with Mom/Kurt/Nat). He cold calls. I think his range is pretty narrow here and mostly pairs. Flop comes 876, two hearts. I decide to check since most hands he gives action with are well ahead of me. He checks. Turn's the 5h. I bet 7k or something and he calls pretty quick. River's an offsuit K, I bet 15500, he calls and mucks what he later said was 55.


Hand 3: 1000/2000/300

I raise 5d3d utg to 5500. Folded to the bb who thinks and calls. Flop QT6 two diamonds. He checks and I check. Turn's an offsuit 7. He checks and I bet 8500. He thinks and calls. River's an 8. He checks. He has about 35k behind and I bet enough to put him in. One of the guys I know from 2+2 later told me he was sure I was bluffing but it doesn't really matter since this guy is never calling. He thinks a while, shakes his head and folds.

For the next while I win a lot of small pots and pretty steadily increase my stack. I get as high as about 320k before having a bit of a downswing when we get close to the bubble. With 185 left (180 pay), I start winning pots again.

Hands 4/5/6 (consecutive hands): 1200/2400/300

UTG+1 raises to 7k, he's been fairly active and seems to be pretty good. I make it 24k from the sb with 97o and he folds.
CO raises to 7k, he's a young guy who is kind of bitter because I won a couple pots from him earlier. I make it 24k with A7o and he folds.
I raise to 7k in the CO with 7d5d. Guy from hand 3 calls. Flop AsAxKs. He checks, I bet 11k, he makes it 25k and I call. Turn's a small spade. He checks, I bet 40k and he folds.

These get me back to about 340k or so.

Hand 7: 1200/2400/300

A pretty tight guy utg raises to 7k. I elect to call with AK after one other guy folds. Three others call...ugh. Flop K76r. Checked to utg who bets 20k. I think a bit and call, not really happy with my hand. Guy to my left calls too. Turn pairs the 7. UTG checks, I check. Guy bets 50k with another 50k behind. He's been at both my tables and is pretty tight but fairly decent. He did overplay a one pair hand earlier, and hasn't shown down much else. UTG folds. I think a long time and eventually decide he'll sometimes play KQ this way (as well as AK and obviously 66) and put the rest of his chips in. He looks pretty unhappy and then calls with AK and we chop.

I continue to win a lot of pots to get up close to 430k before losing a bunch of little pots and then finally losing a biggish pot.

Hand 7: 1500/3000/400

Button (young guy I've bluffed a couple times) raises to 9k with about 80k behind. I decide to call in the sb with KcTc. Flop 763, two clubs. I check and he checks. Turn's a 9 (starting a backdoor flush in diamonds), I bet 11500 and he calls. River's a complete blank. I think he has diamonds here a lot (or just ace high) and is capable of folding some pairs, so I bet 22000. He tanks a while and calls with Kd7d.

Hand 8: 1500/3000/400

Some guy mid-latish limps, which he's done from time to time. I raise to 13k on the button with 66. SB (who's been at both my tables and is a tight, solid, thinking player) calls and the limper calls. Flop is J77r. Checked to me and I bet 21k. SB thinks and calls and the limper folds. Turn's an undercard. He checks, I think a bit and bet 35k, planning on firing a third barrel if he calls this and checks the river. He thinks a long time, tells me he's folding the best hand and folds.

The rest of the day is pretty uneventful (mainly because of a 10 minute hand to end the day) and I finish the day with 408k, good for 2nd in chips. Anyways, time for breakfast now, then I'm going to go over and take a look at my table draw for the day.

Steve

P.S. Along with cardplayer, pokerstarsblog.com does a lot of updates. Also, we've been having all kinds of problems with internet and things, so I'm not sure how many more updates I'll be able to give while I'm here.