Timestamps

0:30 – Hello & welcome
4:34 – Satellite strategy
19:18 – Nipun Java

Winning $480 in a satellite doesn’t magically make it a good idea for you to buy into a $480 tournament any more than winning $480 in any other tournament (or inheriting $480, for that matter) would. If you win the satellite, your bankroll is $430 bigger than it was before, but still not nearly large enough to justify entering this tournament. The problem is that once you win the seat, you generally have no choice but to enter.

I’m also a bit embarrassed to see that I made a reference to “the promises of medieval alchemists to turn water into gold”. Alchemists were actually seeking methods of turning common metals like lead into gold – don’t know where I got water from. Anyway, hope you find the article helpful.

John recommends reading Unbroken, watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and learning from Carlos Welch‘s latest Two Plus Two article. If you enjoy John’s stories, check this one out too.

Timestamps

0:30 Hello and Welcome
6:50 Treating Opponents with Respect
12:09 Strategy: Fold Aces?
25:29 Interview: John the Lawyer

Gareth Chantler, whom you may know from CardRunners or from his frequent comments here at Thinking Poker, picked me up at the airport. I’ve known Gareth for over a year and we’ve spoken by Skype many times, but this was our first in-person meeting.

He was kind enough to drive me to Whole Foods, enabling me to get some milk and fresh fruit. I can’t tell you how great it is not to be wholly dependent on the Poker Kitchen and the Rio’s many fine (LOL) eateries while I’m here. I didn’t buy too much because I was expecting to have to cram things into the minibar fridge or failing that set up a makeshift freezer with the help of the ice machine, but it turned out there was actually a mini fridge in my room so that was a nice surprise.

I was also surprised to find a coffee maker, something I’ve never before seen in a Las Vegas hotel room. Not that I want their shitty coffee, but having a way to make hot water means I could have brought dehydrated backpacker meals and my own coffee along with my French press coffee mug. I nearly brought the coffee just because I hate Starbucks and resent the hell out of having to pay them $3/cup for my dark addiction, but it’s just so unlike the penny pinching Caesar’s Entertainment to provide anything for free that I figured no way in hell there would be a coffee maker. The whole thing made a lot more sense to me when I saw the sign that “K-cups” (the little pre-measured packets of coffee that you have to use with this machine) are available in the minibar for the low low price of 3 for $8.

I’m not anti-balling quite as hard as I did at the PCA, but I did bring cereal, peanut butter, jelly, packets of tuna fish, granola bars, and a few other snacks with me. Along with the milk, bread, and fruit I bought last night, I’m well-stocked to provide a lot of my own meals.

Gareth and I planned to eat dinner at Lotus of Siam, but finding a one-hour wait, we went across the street to another Thai place that emphasized its many vegan and vegetarian options. Komol had perhaps the largest menu I’ve seen at any restaurant ever, but the food and service were both quite good.

So was the company. Gareth is a fascinating guy. After dropping out of college for the third time and increasingly depressed by the harsh Canadian winter, he decided, as he put it, “to take responsibility for my own happiness” and moved to Peru. He paid the bills playing both online and in Peruvian casinos, sometimes from rented apartments and sometimes from the common room of hostels, first from Lima and then from Cuzco. His travels took him to Trinidad and then back to his native Ontario, where he spent several weeks practicing in live poker tournaments before moving on to Las Vegas for his first ever WSOP.

Having just returned from Europe myself, I was eager to talk travel with him. We discussed the stress and exhilaration of fumbling through unfamiliar situations, the best way to eat guinea pig, and the time that he was mistaken for a member of the Campus Crusade for Christ and invited back to the dorm room of another member for some gay porn. His observations about America were consistent with those of many people I met in Europe, namely that it’s a lovely country but that everyone here is really very fat and the murder rate is simply unbelievable. In short we had a great time.

Still feeling the effects of jet lag from my return from Europe, now supplemented by another three-hour shift from the east coast, I went to bed early and woke up early. The professional poker player is a nocturnal hunter, so I took advantage of the early hour and entered the $550 10 AM mega satellite. Sure enough the field was super soft, though it probably would have been anyway. The tournament was a success in the sense that I got my run bad out of the way, so now I’m ready to take on my 7th WSOP Main Event!

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 250/500 Blinds 25 Ante (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 (t38150)
CO (t19145)
Button (t46070)
Hero (SB) (t15484)
BB (t40291)
UTG (t10654)
UTG+1 (t16138)
MP1 (t29062)

Hero’s M: 16.30

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, K
1 fold, UTG+1 bets t1250, 4 folds, Hero calls t1000, 1 fold

Flop: (t3200) 4, 8, 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks

Turn: (t3200) J (2 players)
Hero bets t2468, UTG+1 calls t2468

River: (t8136) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets t6666, 1 fold

Total pot: t8136

Results:
Hero didn’t show A, K (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t8136

My guess is that he had a medium pocket pair, maybe as strong as T’s, or possibly paired an 8. My call out of the SB correctly slowed him down on the flop. I expected him to call any pair on the turn but fold hands worse than like JT on the river. It increases the profitability of this bluff considerably that he probably shoves a lot of JT-type hands and slowplayed overpairs when I bet the turn.

Oh and for those who question whether I’d actually play a big pair or similar hand this way and with this bet sizing, here’s an earlier hand from the same tournament (Villain was not at the table to witness this):

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 530 Tournament, 50/100 Blinds (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 (t9200)
MP2 (t10400)
CO (t12173)
Button (t12800)
Hero (SB) (t9417)
BB (t10750)
UTG (t18310)
UTG+1 (t7275)

Hero’s M: 62.78

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A
3 folds, MP2 bets t300, 2 folds, Hero calls t250, 1 fold

Flop: (t700) J, 8, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 checks

Turn: (t700) J (2 players)
Hero bets t567, MP2 calls t567

River: (t1834) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets t1550, MP2 calls t1550

Total pot: t4934

Results:
Hero had A, A (two pair, Aces and Jacks).
MP2 mucked 7, 7 (two pair, Jacks and sevens).
Outcome: Hero won t4934

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 109 Tournament, 200/400 Blinds 50 Ante (4 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (UTG) (t8288)
Button (t219)
SB (t4401)
BB (t17092)

Hero’s M: 10.36

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 8, 8
Hero calls t400, Button calls t169 (All-In), SB calls t200, BB bets t17042 (All-In), 2 folds

Flop: (t1569) Q, 10, K (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t1569) J (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t1569) 4 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t1569

Results:
Button had 8, 10 (one pair, tens).
BB had A, A (straight, Ace high).
Outcome: BB won t1569

Anything other than checking it down all the way here is just preposterously bad and demonstrates a really fundamental lack of understanding of satellite strategy. This was surprising because Villain is a Team PokerStars Online Pro who plays a ton of these things and had otherwise played quite well as we approached the bubble.

None of us here has an interest in anything other than maximizing the odds of busting the short stack on this hand.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 300/600 Blinds 70 Ante (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t18789)
UTG+1 (t12630)
MP1 (t35373)
Hero (MP2) (t15444)
MP3 (t15640)
CO (t6981)
Button (t16283)
SB (t3596)
BB (t42214)

Hero’s M: 10.09

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with J, J
1 fold, UTG+1 bets t1777, 1 fold, Hero raises to t15374 (All-In), 5 folds, UTG+1 calls t10783 (All-In)

Flop: (t26650) K, Q, 7 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t26650) 10 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t26650) 4 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t26650

Results:
UTG+1 had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Hero had J, J (one pair, Jacks).
Outcome: UTG+1 won t26650

The problem here is that the risk/reward is wrong for a satellite. Given our positions, Villain’s calling range is probably AK and QQ+, maybe extending down to TT if I’m lucky. That means most of the value here is coming from fold equity, and I’m probably better off pursuing fold equity with open shoves or shoves over late position raises, where the distribution of outcomes is heavily skewed towards winning without showdown. Given the size of Villain’s open raise, his range is probably weighted towards stronger stuff anyway. I don’t think this is necessarily -EV, but it’s very close, and in a satellite I can probably find better spots.

This, on the other hand, strikes me as a clear call. I’ve got a lot less to lose, insufficient chips to have fold equity on a reraise, and barely enough to get away with preflop shoving. Plus Villain’s range may well be any two cards:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, 700 Tournament, 300/600 Blinds 70 Ante (9 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO (t17609)
Button (t25540)
SB (t34493)
Hero (BB) (t6878)
UTG (t16890)
UTG+1 (t6701)
MP1 (t15919)
MP2 (t1886)
MP3 (t41034)

Hero’s M: 4.50

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, K
7 folds, SB bets t34423 (All-In), Hero calls t6208 (All-In)

Flop: (t14246) A, 6, A (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t14246) 4 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t14246) 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t14246

Results:
SB had 4, 7 (two pair, Aces and fours).
Hero had Q, K (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: SB won t14246

Half an hour earlier than I was expecting, a window popped up with my table. “Welcome to the $2000+$100 single table PCA satellite” it read, or something to that effect. Whoops.

It was definitely too late to unregister through the Poker Stars client. I quickly surveyed my opponents. They were a who’s who of high stakes sit-and-go sharks: Zangbezan, ActionJeff, busto_soon, stevie444, a few others recognized, and two I did not. Even the ones I recognized weren’t necessarily soft spots. For all I know, they could have been fantastic sit-and-go specialists. I hate the things myself and haven’t played them regularly for years. I was sure my proficiency with the proper and shoving and calling ranges was going to be rusty.

I vaguely remembered hearing about a $10 Sit-and-go player who accidentally registered for a $1000 but managed to sit out, e-mail support, and get his money refunded. I thought about trying something similar, but refunds are for wimps. To this day, I still judge a childhood friend of mine who asked for his money back when he misread his hand in a $5 pot at one of our high school home games.

No, that was out of the question. The only thing to do was take my lumps and tough it out. An hour and a half later, I had W$14,130 in my account. Ship it.

“Super Satellite
Buy-In: $665.00/$35.00 USD
585 players
Total Prize Pool: $389025.00 USD
Target Tournament #201001051 Buy-In: $14130.00 USD
25 tickets to the target tournament

Tournament started 2009/11/01 18:00:00 ET

Dear foucault82,

Congratulations – You have won a package for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) 2010 Main Event. The PCA is at the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island in the Bahamas! You’ll be checking in at the Atlantis on Monday, January 4, 2010, and checking out on Tuesday, January 12. Your hotel reservation covers you and one guest.”

I go back and forth on whether it’s even worth playing the satellites for these big buy-in international tournaments. By the time you pay travel expenses, currency exchange vig, etc., the tournaments aren’t generally such a hot investment. Not to mention the variance that comes with playing these things on my own money.

I’m usually able to convince myself that the satellites themselves are usually a uniquely good value. They tend to be some of the higher buy-in events offered on Stars, and I think my edge is particularly large in the satellite format because so many people tend to play so badly on the bubble.

At least, they usually do. The bubble in this one was actually quite tough. There were more than a few players left whom I knew to be strong, and even a lot of the names I didn’t recognize seemed to be playing at a pretty high level. Naturally there were a few weaker players, but all in all it was about the highest quality of play I’ve seen on a satellite bubble.

Well, at least I get a vacation in the Caribbean out of it ;-).

He had me covered, but barely, so it was very near to being a flip for his life. Even if he puts me on any two, which isn’t correct but not an unreasonable assumption, he’s only a 68-32 favorite. As a good player at this stage of the tournament, he’s probably got at least a 70% chance of winning a seat if he folds this hand, and of course busting me doesn’t guarantee him a seat anyway.

Thinking about this river play cheers me up a little though:

This is a pretty optimistic value bet on his part on the river, though I actually don’t mind calling the check-raise. There’s actually an outside chance he was betting to induce a check-raise, which I would like far better than value betting (funny how the same play can be good or bad depending on the reasoning), but I doubt that’s a play in his arsenal.

Anyway, for me, leading out on the river looks really strong. Not like “set or better” strong, but definitely like a value bet. I think checking is the only option for me, and between his turn check and his small bet sizing, I’m comfortable saying my hand is good 90% of the time here.

In all seriousness, though, Todd’s a bright, hungry player, and he definitely had a big score coming to him.

It’s been a big month for my former students, with Diego also winning a WSOP package and final tabling the FTOPS main event. I wish I could play so good. I guess those that can, do…

By the way, I’ve just wrapped the first group seminar, which went very well, and I only have one individual student at the moment. So if you’re interested in coaching, this is a good time for me to pick up a few new students.

Cost for individual lessons is $250/hour. I probably won’t run another group seminar until after the WSOP, but when I do, cost will likely be $100/student/hour. I generally aim to work with students for 5-10 hours over the course of a few weeks, and the lessons are designed to run very efficiently. There’s a lot of content packed into every session, ensuring you a ton of value for your money.

I’d say my target audience is cash game players currently playing smaller stakes (50NL-400NL) who want to transition into bigger games. I can help you think about your game in a new way, identify leaks, and deal with the tough spots with which the more difficult opponents at higher stakes will surely confront you.

Hit me up at foucault82 (at) yahoo (dot) com if you’re interested. Tell me a little about yourself, what you currently play, and what your goals are. Of course I’m happy to answer any questions as well.

At some point the fish doubled through him, which wasn’t ideal (I’d prefer the fish to bust and lock up my seat) but certainly an improvement. I took a shot at busting the now-short good player, but it didn’t end well:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $1000+$50 Tournament, 400/800 Blinds 100 Ante (3 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t36843)
SB (t39582)
BB (t16575)

Hero’s M: 24.56

Preflop: Hero is Button with 10, 10
Hero bets t1600, SB calls t1200, BB raises to t16475 (All-In), Hero raises to t31350, 1 fold

Flop: (t34850) 9, K, J (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t34850) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t34850) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t34850

Results:
Hero had 10, 10 (one pair, tens).
BB had J, K (two pair, Kings and Jacks).
Outcome: BB won t3485

I’m not 100% sure about this call. My range for raising the button here is like top 85%, and the fish is calling way wider than he should. I doubt he ever has a hand that calls a shove. If I am BB I am shoving any two here, and while he may not be quite that wide, he’d certainly shown a willingness to take advantage of good resteal spots before.

Then again, it sucks to gamble with the chiplead when three seats pay. But fishy as SB was, he was smart enough not to play a lot of big pots. It wasn’t as though I was going to sit back and watch the two of them automatically butt heads. I wouldn’t have called for all my chips, but since the worst case scenario is just that I have to hack it out, I went for it.

I did indeed manage to steal and then eventually double my way back into the chiplead, thanks to some godawful play from fishy:

Obviously I played this in a pretty non-standard way. Basically he had zero hand-reading skill and didn’t like to fold. So I didn’t worry about what I was representing but just tried to lay him the price that I felt would make me the most overall. On the river, I was still putting him on something less than a monster and figured he would be far more inclined to call less than all in than to call all in. Shockingly, he did the work for me with a low full house. I was also assuming that he’d be crippled whether I got the maximum or not, but that proved not to be true:

On the turn I’m hoping to get it in with the fishy short stack and get the big stack out from behind me. On the river, I’m pretty sure he hit the flush, but at this point I don’t think check-folding is an option, so value betting is best. Sucks, but what are you gonna do?

Finally, I had to take yet another coin flip against the good player:

This one occurred with 25 players left. With fewer players left, or a slightly weaker hand (JJ, even), I think it would be very close. Even here, I wasn’t happy with Queens:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $2000+$100 Tournament, 125/250 Blinds 30 Ante (8 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG (t7802)
Hero (UTG+1) (t6339)
MP1 (t5140)
MP2 (t7681)
CO (t4490)
Button (t9135)
SB (t2515)
BB (t6864)

Hero’s M: 10.31

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Q, Q
1 fold, Hero bets t666, 3 folds, Button raises to t2000, 2 folds, Hero raises to t6309 (All-In), Button calls t4309

Flop: (t13233) 3, 8, 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t13233) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t13233) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t13233

Results:
Button had K, A (one pair, tens).
Hero had Q, Q (two pair, Queens and tens).
Outcome: Hero won t13233

On this next one, I’m pretty happy with the flat call. I think TT is too strong to fold, but not strong enough to get in pre-flop. This stage of the tournament is going to force Villain to play pretty straightforwardly, and combined with my position, I think I’ll be able to realize my showdown value post-flop and avoid losing too much to better hands.

I’m actually unsure about this river bet, though. I have the best hand pretty much always, but I think I get called almost never. I’m wondering if something smaller, like 5500, wouldn’t be better rather than force Villain to risk his tournament life?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $2000+$100 Tournament, 150/300 Blinds 40 Ante (6 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO (t11648)
Hero (Button) (t12058)
SB (t7025)
BB (t6051)
UTG (t6180)
MP (t7004)

Hero’s M: 17.48

Preflop: Hero is Button with 10, 10
2 folds, CO bets t900, Hero calls t900, 2 folds

Flop: (t2490) 7, 10, K (2 players)
CO bets t1200, Hero calls t1200

Turn: (t4890) J (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets t2345, CO calls t2345

River: (t9580) 6 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets t7573 (All-In), 1 fold

Total pot: t9580

Results:
Hero didn’t show 10, 10 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t9580

There were 12 left for this last one, and I was like 5th or 6th. Villain’s raise size made me nervous, since it seemed larger than necessary, but he also may have been trying to make clear to the Button that he was calling a shove (though that should have been clear anyway).

PokerStars No-Limit Hold’em, $2000+$100 Tournament, 350/700 Blinds 85 Ante (7 handed) – Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t2982)
Hero (SB) (t12949)
BB (t17050)
UTG (t9051)
MP1 (t11756)
MP2 (t13217)
CO (t19973)

Hero’s M: 7.87

Preflop: Hero is SB with J, A
3 folds, CO bets t2100, 1 fold, Hero raises to t12864 (All-In), 2 folds

Total pot: t5495

Results:
Hero didn’t show J, A (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t5495

Thing is, big stacks are not that much bigger than small stacks, given the blinds, and if you don’t occasionally take risks like this, you can easily end up having to take far bigger risks should you find yourself short. I’ve cost myself a few seats in the past by getting too tight prematurely and underestimating just how long the bubble would take.

I planned to get dinner in about an hour, and rather than spend half that time waiting for a cash table, I decided to play a $1K one table satellite, figuring that would take about an hour. Two and a half hours later, I busted in 4th. The blind levels seemed longer than last year, which ordinarily I’d be fine with, but this time I played specifically because I wanted it to be short.

Before we got started, a loud fat guy with a deep voice and unkempt facial and chest hair collected $300 from six of us for a last longer. Two of the six were the first two to bust, which was nice, and they both busted to non-participants.

A few seats to my left was a dude from Indianapolis who owned a business selling sports jerseys. He was talking about how bad the first guys to bust had played and how the pros back in Indiana had warned him there would be terrible play in Las Vegas. In these spots, I am always torn between commiserating because he’s right or recognizing that in all likelihood he is also pretty bad.

A couple of hands later, a guy limps in with K2s, overcalls a raise, and ends up stacking KQ when he turns two pair. Indianapolis starts snickering and talking none too subtly about how bad it was to limp-call K2s.

“Oh man [chortle]. Wow. Wow, that is ridiculous. I mean [chuckle] gawd damn, K2s. That’s crazy. Whoo. Well, buddy, at least you can get one of those shirts from the gift shop that says, ‘But they were suited.’ [pause] Wow.”

I am glowering at him, and when I catch his eye, I shake my head disapprovingly.

“What?” he asks.

“Don’t talk about people who are still at the table.”

He laughs at me. “All I said was, ‘Wow.'” I sighed and turned up my Ipod. Thankfully I got to bust him when he shoved KQ for 12x UTG and I woke up with AK in the BB. I also won a big flip with JJ > AK to come into a commanding chip lead with five players remaining.

The hairy fat guy was the only other one left in the last longer, and he started talking deal. “You want to each take back our $300?”

I shake my head no. I have more than twice as many chips as he does.

“OK, OK, you take 300, I take 200.”

“Whatever. Fine.” I shrug and let him have it. He’s been going on and on about how he’s a professional parimutuel gambler and he makes so much money playing dogs and blah blah blah but he is begging for $200. Whatever.

Then we get down to four-handed, I still have a nice lead, and he wants to talk deal in the tournament. I’m not even engaging him in conversation, just shaking my head no. There’s an old Brit at the table who doesn’t want it either, so Hairy Fat Fat and the K2 Fish bond over how ridiculous and cheap the Brit Nit and I are.

Blinds go up, some chips change hands, and now Brit Nit is short but the three of us have roughly the same. “Can we take back 1K each now?”

I shake my head.

“Come on, jesus. We have the same number of chips. Just, like, I mean, psychologically, I don’t know, I don’t like to leave with my tail between my legs. Come on, man. Just take your $1K back then you’re playing for profit.”

“He’s too short,” I say, pointing at the Brit.

“Come on, that’s like $300 we’re giving him. You’re being stubborn over $300? OK, can we at least chop up the last longer?”

Jesus, will you shut up with your deals? This guy wasn’t awful, but I was clearly better than he was, and I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to play well when blinds were big either. I kept shaking my head, and the guy was getting angrier and angrier. “I’m going to enjoy busting you,” he tells me. “I’m going to enjoy coming from behind to bust you.”

Honestly, I think the retarded deals that people will make increase the EV of these satellites. But that only helps when you are on the good end of them. If you can get someone to let you take your buyin back when you are the short stack, or to chop it 50/50 heads up no matter how big a deficit you’re in, that’s awesome. But it’s annoying as hell when these guys won’t shut up about deals that hurt my equity.

Blinds jump from 400/800 to 600/1200, Brit Nit folds, and the other three of us all have 13-16K. K2 Fish open limps the button, which isn’t garbage but is far from exclusively primo holdings. I look at Q2 in the SB and decide to shove for 13K. It was the first big move I’d made, having played extremely tight thus far. Unfortunately, Hairy woke up with AJ in the BB, agonized for a while, and called.

I was hoping he would brag or express shock that I had Q2 or something, but instead, the three of them instantly started talking deal. I think my shove is perfectly fine/good, just sucks that he woke up with AJ. I imagine he calls AT and probably folds A9. As for the fishy, I don’t know what his calling standards were be, but I’m sure he folds often enough to make the shove profitable.

After dinner I played some 5/10 cash, since there wasn’t a 10/25 going. It was a more aggressive table than my 10/25 had been, but I enjoyed that. The first big pot I won, there were two limps and some Asian kid who was constantly on his cell phone or eating or getting a massage or talking to his mom and never paying attention to the game casually tossed in $50. Some old dude called, and I made it $250 with Th9c in the CO. UTG smirked at me, said “Let’s get this heads up,” and made it $500. I was 99% sure he had AA. The others folded, and I obviously called, as I was getting better than 3:1 and there was nearly $2500 behind.

The flop was Kh 9h 5h, which I was happy to see. Even better, the dude asked how much I was playing then checked. I was happy to check it back. The turn brought another heart, and he bet $300. I called with the fourth nuts. The river was a blank, he checked, and I showed my Th to win the pot. He flipped his black Aces and sighed. I feel like I may actually have missed a small value bet here, since I was so sure he had AA and didn’t think he would check the nuts on the river. People just hate to fold AA, especially live.

Anyway, the other big pot I won, there was a Mississippi straddle, and I made it $60 UTG with 43s. I think we were 8-handed at the time. The straddle and the SB calls. The flop comes Ts 4c 3s. SB checks, I bet $150, Button folds, SB calls. Turn pairs the 3, SB checks, and I think. I want to build the pot, but I’m not sure what he’ll call with. I don’t thin he’s folding top pair to me on the turn for anything, but I’m not sure how often he has that, and I definitely don’t want to blow him off of a flush draw. I opted for $250, which he called after some though.

The river brought a beautiful spade, and he led $400. Oh beautiful day. I thought for a minute and then shoved another $1400 or so. He tanked and leaned over to get a better look at me. I did my best to drop the occasional twitch or adjustment in my seat, but it probably wasn’t even necessary. Live players don’t fold flushes. He called, I flipped my boat, and he walked away from the table.

I finished up about $2000 in the cash game, $1000 on the night. The only disappointment was that I spent 20 minutes in line to register for the main event only to learn that they weren’t letting people register for Day 1C or Day 1D. Apparently they are concerned about attendance tomorrow and are trying to force people to register for 1B. Well Christ did they not anticipate that this might be a problem with having the tournament during the 4th of July? I am calling their bluff and returning to register tomorrow after Day 1B has started. There’s no way in hell they are closing registration for good, especially since they are reported to be below their target numbers already.

Poker Stars, $760 + $40 NL Hold’em Tournament, 10/20 Blinds, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

BB: 4,540
UTG: 4,630
UTG+1: 5,300
MP: 5,600
Hero (CO): 4,970
BTN: 4,900
SB: 5,060

Pre-Flop: (30) A T dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls 20, MP folds, Hero raises to 120, 3 folds, UTG+1 calls 100

Flop: (270) 8 7 6 (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks

Turn: (270) 3 (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks

River: (270) 6 (2 Players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero checks

Results: 270 Pot
UTG+1 showed Q T (a pair of Sixes) and LOST (-120 NET)
Hero showed A T (a pair of Sixes) and WON 270 (+150 NET)

Poker Stars, $760 + $40 NL Hold’em Tournament, 10/20 Blinds, 7 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

BTN: 4,510
SB: 4,640
BB: 5,180
UTG: 5,600
Hero (UTG+1): 5,120
MP: 4,900
CO: 5,050

Pre-Flop: (30) 5 5 dealt to Hero (UTG+1)
UTG folds, Hero raises to 70, MP folds, CO calls 70, 2 folds, BB calls 50

Flop: (220) 8 6 9 (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: (220) K (3 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets 200, 2 folds

Results: 220 Pot
Hero mucked 5 5 and WON 220 (+150 NET)

Poker Stars, $760 + $40 NL Hold’em Tournament, 10/20 Blinds, 8 Players

LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

BB: 4,250
UTG: 4,530
UTG+1: 5,100
MP1: 5,280
MP2: 5,000
Hero (CO): 5,220
BTN: 5,660
SB: 4,960

Pre-Flop: (30) K Q dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG calls 20, 3 folds, Hero raises to 120, 3 folds, UTG calls 100

Flop: (270) 4 K T (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: (270) 5 (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets 175, UTG calls 175

River: (620) 8 (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets 425, UTG calls 425

Results: 1,470 Pot
UTG mucked 4 Q and LOST (-720 NET)
Hero showed K Q (a pair of Kings) and WON 1,470 (+750 NET)

Poker Stars, $760 + $40 NL Hold’em Tournament, 15/30 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com – Hand History Converter

UTG+1: 9,340
MP1: 4,565
MP2: 5,180
CO: 5,395
BTN: 2,730
Hero (SB): 5,870
BB: 5,970
UTG: 6,400

Pre-Flop: (45) K Q dealt to Hero (SB)
4 folds, CO raises to 90, BTN calls 90, Hero raises to 420, 2 folds, BTN calls 330

Flop: (960) A 5 Q (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (960) 2 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (960) A (2 Players)
Hero bets 450, BTN calls 450

Results: 1,860 Pot
BTN mucked 6 6 and LOST (-870 NET)
Hero showed K Q (two pair, Aces and Queens) and WON 1,860 (+990 NET)