WSOP Circuit at Harrahs Rincon in San Diego. Event No 2 Aftermath

Off I went to Harrahs Rincon to play WSOP Circuit Event #2 armed with a great deal of confidence and knowledge. I wanted to play some satellites the day before the event. Instead of driving back and forth I decided to stay there, so I could wake up nice and rested.

I went to the ball room where their WSOPC tournaments are held and saw they only had 1/2 the tables they did the previous year. They moved the bulk of the tournament across their new poker room on the 2nd floor and thats where my table was... So with 10 min to go I had to go across the casino through hundreds of slot machines and players. I got lucky and was able to squeeze into an elevator and make it to 2nd floor. When I saw the room I was in complete shock. Not only was it small it was cramped with poor ventilation. Harrahs really dropped the ball on this. Their tournament in this casino went from an A+ to a C- for sure. All the restaurants are located near the old ball room. I could already tell that breaks were going to be a problem. They were and thats a whole different story.

With their local boys players of the year announcement the call of shuffle up and deal was heard, and play began.  The structure in these tournaments is outstanding. Gives you a lot of room to sit back and learn. I could already tell I was in an aggressive table. Everyone wanted to get in all the pots as cheaply as possible in order to flop the nuts. Well you don't always flop the nuts so a lot of players were spewing chips at a nice pace. After about 10 minutes I had enough of sitting back. I had all the info at the time I needed so I began to 3bet and lead out more. I began to chip up nicely and got myself up to about 14k or so.

I was in level 2 with about 15k when a player had enough of my re raising I guess and decided to play at/with me. The action started with blinds 25/50 UTG+2 player raised to 300. I looked down on the button and saw AA. Mid position player smooth calls it, and so does the High Jack. AWESOME! I got action. So I needed to weed out the weak and made it 2000. Well they were in a chip giving mood so why not over bet it a little. Sure enough the original raiser calls. Others folded right away. The flop AcXTc and while I'm very happy that I hit my set the flush draw had me a little uneasy.

The player then leads 4000 into a 4675 pot leaving himself with 5k.  He was a tight player that wasn't playing many hands so I put him on AK and is trying to protect his hand. I reraise him and put him all in. He SNAP CALLS and turns over AdJc!!! The turn brings another club and so does the river. He jumps up as happy as he can be as if he made a good play. I'm ussed to getting sucked out online and say nice hand, keep my cool, and am ready for next hand. Loosing a 22k pot this early in an MTT is not a big deal. Its a deep structure tourney that gives you chances to recover. All though I am left with 4k and the short stack at my table. I just have to tighten up a little at this point. Can't be aggressive like I was and off we go.

As play continues I wait for a while until getting TT on the button. It is checked to me and I raise, and both blinds come a long. The flop Txx rainbow. Nice! I bet again and this time the BB 3bets me and I call. Turn x. BB and I check. Another small blank on river and bb checks again, I value bet and he calls. He shows AKs and missed. He only called cause he thought I had same hand...

I continue to chip up by 3betting from late position with SQUADOOSH. This works great in live MTT's. You can get a lot of reads on players not like online. So by this point I am almost at starting stack when the following happens.

We are in level 7 blinds 50/100 25a. I had just 3bet a player pre from the Small Blind and stole the pot. In the Big Blind I look down and see KK. UTG raises to 800, UTG+1 smooth calls it. I re-raise to 3475 and only UTG calls. The flop KT9 and I kind of like it. If player was crazy like me he could have QJ and i would be in trouble. So I have 2 options here I can lead out, or check raise him.I need chips so I don't want him to fold by leading. I go with option number two and decide to check it. Sure enough he bets out 2k into a 7700 pot. I have 6k behind so I move all in. He snap calls me, we flip our cards, he see's my set, he shows AJo and he says "I thought you were bluffing and I have outs".  Thats ok with me. I want players to gamble because they won't hit their hands every time. Well the turn brought a Q and he's jumping up and down as if he had already won. A solid player to my right says "He has outs. He pairs the board and he wins". Well the river was a blank and i was out.

I was upset for about 1/2 a second but though of Matt Affleck and realized bad beats happen. I was more disappointed then anything. I had high hopes that I would do well this time around and I didn't. It was my 3rd year playing this tourney and expected bigger things from me. I am still disappointed but there is nothing you can do in those situations. I played it well and like Paul aka Coolwhipflea said to me "You made the mistake of getting it in good".

There is another MTT coming up this Friday. I might take another shot at it, at worst I am getting better and better every time I play this MTT. Its just bad timing right now as I am getting ready to be out of work. I don't know if I should be using up 10% of my bankroll for 1 tournament. I had a nice deep run last night in the MiniFtops #24 but a 2500/33k player finish didn't pay out as much as I wanted(1st). Will continue to grind it this week in hopes of getting that buy in.

Good luck me and thanks to all my friends for their great support.

Angel 'gijoe' Valdez