WSOP Event 11: $2500 Six-Handed

The $2500 six-handed event got off to a good start for me. It seemed like a pretty tough field overall, so I was pleased with my starting table at which there was only one truly tough player, seated across from me.

Even better, I took a big bite out of his 7500 starting stack almost immediately. Blinds were 25/50, and I called a min-raise with T8o on the BB. He bet 175 at a 965 flop, and I check-raised him to 425. He called, but no problem, I binked the gut shot on the turn. He called 800, and then paid off an overbet of 3500 on a K river.

I played my next big pot at the 75/150 level. The UTG player raised to 400 and got two calls when I found Ah Kh in the small blind. I raised to 1600, intending to call a shove from any of the players already in the pot, all of whom had 8K or so. To my surprise, the big blind cold called, and the others all folded.

He was an amateur and seemed uncomfortable with the situation. I put him pretty squarely on Jacks, with a chance of AK, QQ, or a slightly smaller pair, but thought he would certainly reraise Aces or Kings considering how many players were still to act behind him.

The flop came 557 with a heart. It’s not often that I try to bluff someone off of an overpair, but this seemed like a pretty ideal spot. There’d been surprisingly little reraising at our table, and considering the stack sizes involved, I got the sense that he’d correctly read me for strength. He’s probably playing just a few WSOP events and not eager to be eliminated in level three. Plus even if he were to call with JJ, my hand would have a lot of outs. I decided to check and see what his bet sizing told me.

He bet 1200, barely a quarter of the pot. I moved all-in for about 8K more. He tanked for a very long time before calling. I turned the flush draw but didn’t get there on the river, so it was back to the starting stack for me.

Shortly thereafter, the player to my right opened to 400, and I called with 77. The button and SB called as well, then the player in the BB, who was a relatively new addition to the table and seemed to know what he was doing, moved all-in for 6K. The original raiser folded, and I went into the tank. This seemed like a good spot for him to try to increase his stack by about a third, and while he would surely play all better pairs this way, I thought he might shove a few worse ones and quite a few unpaired hands as well.

I called. So, to my great displeasure, did the player in the small blind, who turned out to have 10s. The big blind had AKo, but once again a miracle 7 led to me raking a big pot.

On break, I stepped into the blazing afternoon sun for some fresh air. A day laborer started talking to me, and I was about to compliment him on his flawless English when I realized that it was Leo Wolpert!

The table got progressively tougher with the addition of some new players, most notably Christian Harder who landed two seats to my left. He put me to quite a decision at the 150/300/25 level, when I opened to 700 with A8o in the CO and he called from the SB. We both checked an AQQ flop and a 5 turn, then he checked again on a K river. I bet 750, and he quickly raised to 3000.

This is a tough spot because I’m quite unlikely to have a Q, and I know that Charder knows that, and he knows that I know that he knows and etc. It’s also a very plausible way for him to play a Q. The question is how many Qs he really has in his pre-flop calling range versus how many hands he’d feel the need to bluff with. I wasn’t sure what to make of his preflop range, but it seemed not at all out of the question that he could turn a pocket pair into a bluff here. I called and was good.

I picked off another bluff from a really aggressive guy who’d previously gotten the better of me in a few pots. I called his button raise with J9 on my big blind and check-called a Td 9d 4s flop. The turn was the Tc, and I bet out for slightly over half the pot. He called. I checked a 5d river, and he bet about half the pot. Against some people this would be more of a decision because their turn calling ranges wouldn’t be all that wide, but this guy hated to give up on pots. I called, and he announced 8-high, so probably he had 87 but maybe 86..

I’d been reluctant to make dinner plans for fear of jinxing myself, but with half an hour to go I finally texted a friend who’d just arrived in Vegas. I was out of the tournament within 10 minutes. First it was AQ in the small blind versus the over-aggressive guy with QQ in the CO, then AK into JJ on the very next hand.