WSOP Day 2 - Event 18, $1500 NLH - 36th Place

June 14, 2011

Going into Day Two I was lying 11th in chips out of 490 players, with 75,900. I was kind of planning on playing my ABC game, but as the day moved forward and the levels got higher I did have to start adapting to the different players. I ran pretty bad in the way that I got changed tables about six times, so I had to adapt each time.

Pearljammer, Jon Turner, was on my starting table. He built a big stack and then I think he decided that people were trying to bluff him too much, so he started to hero call people in spots where he really shouldn't have been calling them down. I played an interesting pot with Pearljammer where I opened Q-9 of spades and he flatted out of the big blind. The flop came 10-8-7 with two spades, so basically I flopped the world. I bet all three streets but managed to somehow brick. On the river I bet 1/3 pot and was left with about 50k with the pot in the neighbourhood of 80k, but thankfully he folded.

But it was a great experience. I mean this is my first time in Las Vegas playing with all the guys I've played online and seen on TV. They're humans, you know, there's no fear, I'd play them any day.

I had an interesting hand against Laurence Houghton, "rivermanl", where I opened jack-ten off. Laurence called, somebody else called, and the flop came Q-10-5 with two diamonds. I had no diamond in my hand. I checked the flop, Laurence led for 13k, the other guy folded, and I called. The turn came another five. I checked and rivermanl now bets 31k, which is a ridiculous bet because he doesn't rep much. He really only reps quads. I call, and on the river it comes an ace. I check and Laurence leads for 58,500 leaving like 100,000 behind, which I guess he thinks looks really strong because of what he's leaving himself behind, but in my mind it just makes absolutely no sense. There's no hand he could possibly be betting in this spot. I didn't get to see what he had because he mucked it when I called, but I really enjoyed playing. I felt that the quality of play is amazing in the sense that you get so many bad players and at the same time so many good players, so that it's an interesting mix to have throughout the whole day.

Something that has to be said for the World Series of Poker is that all the tournaments are structured amazingly, and even when you get down to the final thirty-six or whatever, the structure is amazing. You play deep, and that's not something I'm used to online, where basically you're just playing shove/fold, and attacking shorties. I liked being able to play post flop against these guys because I feel that most of their skill comes pre, and I actually moved this Jordan "Jymaster11" Young off a couple of hands. In one of them he opened cutoff, I flatted the button with 8-6 suited and the flop came jack-jack-ten. Jordan made it about 12k, and I flatted. The turn came like a deuce, an irrelevant card, he led for about 20k and I bumped it up to 55k, and he folded. I'll have to play the whole series to be able to really make up my mind about these online players, but right now I think that most of them don't understand how to represent hands.

I was getting a bit frustrated towards the end with Jymaster11 to my right. I had built up to about 800k and then the catastrophe happened. I was in control except for that one hand, it was a 1.2 million chip pot, but I mean there's not much you can do. I got it in with like forty percent equity and I know the kid is good enough to be making a play, so I'd still have done it even if he showed me his hand.

It'll be hard to make a deeper run than I just did, cashing for 20k, but I'm looking forward to playing some more events and see what happens. I feel good, I mean it was my first ever WSOP event. Obviously things didn't go the way I expected, I really wanted to make Day Three, but I'll have more opportunities to get there, so I'm happy with what happened and just hope for the best for next time. It was great to have the guys on the rail. Elliott got a bit annoying, but I know he doesn't mean anything but the best, he's just pissing about. It's nice to have the support from your peers, and I know I'd be there for them 100 percent as well. Las Vegas is a great place. I'm just here to grind and as long as I get to play more poker and hang out with my friends, hopefully go out partying sometimes, it'll be the best trip I've ever had.