I added it up, and I spent just $1781 trying to win this seat, which is a $12,000 value (assuming I take Stars’ sponsorship deal to wear their gear during the event for $1000, which I will- I’d wear pretty much anything for $1000).
The double shootout today had a small overlay, with just 72 players entered but one package guaranteed. Adding in the sponsorship deal, there was nearly $17 in overlay, meaning that a player of average skill could expect to make about $7 playing this tournament even after paying Stars their rake.
This was a good thing, because it was a tough field. At my first table (in a double shootout, tables are not collapsed as they would be in a regular multi-table tournament. Instead, each table plays until just one person remains, and then the nine winners of the first table play together at the second table) there were three players from 2+2 (ExitOnly, KneeCo, and Crispy) and another pretty successful player named Basebaldy whom I see around a lot. I ran pretty well at this table, including winning a crucial coinflip with JJ versus AK (believe me, Stars owed me a coinflip or two in a WSOP satellite) got heads up with Crispy, and flopped top pair with a better kicker against his top pair to bust him on the first hand of our heads up play.
The final table included a couple of pretty successful players, some of them sit-and-go (single table tournaments that start as soon as 9 players have registered) pros, I believe. The names I recognized were Solody, PlayaPlz, G6Dragon, and SiVTEC.
Fairly early on, I made a play that may have been ill-advised. Blinds were 25/50, and it folded to G6Dragon on the button, who made a minimum raise to 100. I was in the BB with 24s and 1100 chips, which was an akward stack size to reraise with. However, I believed that he made this small raise precisely because he did not want me to shove in on him. Even suspecting this, I didn’t feel like shoving 1100 chips after the 175 in the pot, so I told myself I would only move in if the SB, who seemed kind of loose, called as well. The SB did indeed call, so I moved all in with the second worst hand in poker hoping that both of these guys would fold and let me increase my stack by nearly 25%.
G6Dragon folded, but the SB thought for a while and called with AQ. A good call by him, but I flopped a flush and won the pot. I assumed that the better players at the table would recognize this as a squeeze play, and even if they thought it was a bad spot for it or something, would at least understand what I was trying to accomplish. This was not the case at all, however. Solody, Playa, and G6 started going on and on about how bad I was to risk all my chips with 24 and blah blah blah. This really surprised me, but I let them go on thinking I was a fish and even encouraged them by bragging about having all the chips.
I didn’t do a whole lot after that, stole a few pots, then got KK in the BB when someone else shoved AJ.
An interesting hand occurred when we were three-handed. With blinds 75/150, Solody raised to 450 and I called with KQs on the button and about 4500 chips behind. Solody had me covered and I didn’t want to reraise him for risk of having to call his push with a marginal hand. Besides, KQs plays pretty well out of position. The flop was Q48 rainbow, and I decided that he was so aggressive I would pull out a play I generally reserve for super-strong hands like sets. There was 1050 in the pot, and I bet 565.
Basically, I’m representing either a probe bet or a blatant steal. On a board like this, it’s unlikely that either player has anything. Often, the first person to bet at the pot takes it down. However, the pre-flop raiser will almost always bet if checked to, so generally if the caller flopped something, he will wait to check-raise. Knowing that Solody would know this, however, I bet into him, wanting him to think I was too weak to check-raise and wanted to be the first one to bet so that I could steal the pot. Sure enough, he raised to 1200 (which, by the way, I think is the wrong play even if he doesn’t believe me, because he isn’t really representing a plausible hand either; he’d be better off calling and trying to take the ot later). With a pot-sized bet left in my stack, I called.
My call tells him I have something, but it doesn’t necessarily scream strength, because I wouldn’t fold anything except a bluff to that small, blatant steal raise. The turn was an another 8, which was a bad card for me, not because I thought he just made trips, but because with my weak lead and call, I’m representing something like middle pair. He could still try to bluff me off of middle pair on some turns, but on this particular turn, he is now going to have a hard time getting me to fold a Q or an 8. He wisely gave up on his bluff and checked behind.
At this point, there was 3450 in the pot. The river was yet another 8, which actually gave me some hope that I might be able to induce one more bluff from him. I made a tiny, tiny bet of 365, leaving myself exactly 3000 chips and hoping to convince him that I would fold to his all in. He didn’t take the bait, though, and folded getting 11:1 odds. G6Dragon, classy guy that he is, typed “Nice hand 24” as the pot was shipped to me.
Before long, Dragon busted, and by the 100/200 level, I was heads up with Solody, almost dead even in chips. Although he took part in the mockery early on, he was very polite here on out, and wished me good luck at the beginning of the match. Poker Stars doesn’t allow any dealmaking in these, so we were essentially playing heads up for $12,000, with second place winning nothing.
He came out of the gate very aggressively, and I let him have the first few pots pre-flop. Finally I called one of his raises out of position with JTo, flopped top pair, and check-raised him to pick up the pot and get back to even.
A few hands later, he raised to 600 from the Button, and I found ATo in the BB with a stack of 6500. This was an awkward spot for me, as my hand was way too good to fold, but if I reraised, I’d be in a rough spot if he moved all in. So, I elected to call. The flop was 259, and I checked and called a bet, thinking that I could still be good and would have 6 outs even if I wasn’t. The turn was an Ace to give me top pair. I checked again, figuring that if he didn’t have anything, this would be a good card for him to bluff. He bet, and I called again. The river put up a Jack, we checked it through, and his 66 was no good.
At first I was surprised he bet when the A turned, but in retrospect I like it. If I had a 9 on the flop, I might fold it on the turn. If I floated with overcards, I’ll probably fold those as well (but not an A, obviously). Lastly, it prevents me from putting him to a tough decision with a river bet.
With a 9700 to 3800 lead and blinds still 100/200, I got A5o on the Button. I was afraid to raise, since he had a perfect stack size to move all in, and I’d probably have to fold, but it would be a tough decision. So, I just called. Now he raised to 800, which he’d done more than half the time I limped from the Button (which wasn’t often). I decided that the possibility of folding out some hands that had about 50% equity against me was enough to tip this towards an all in, so I shoved on him for 3000 more. He tanked and finally called with 33. Unfortunately he won the coin flip and we were back to even.
We went back and forth a bit, with me getting more aggressive and him reraising me intermittently (I folded every time). With stacks nearly dead even (I had 6900, he had 6600), I got AK on the button and raised to 600. He reraised to 1800, and I paused for a moment before moving all in. He went into the tank for a loooooooong time, which surprised me because whenever I reraise with these stacks, I know how I’m going to respond to an all in. He finally called me with KJ, which was weaker than what I expected him to have. He was getting decent odds on the call, and even if I have something very strong like AQ or TT he’s in decent shape. I also wonder if the 24s and A5o hands didn’t make him think I’d be shoving kind of light here (I’d actually folded some medium Aces to his reraises previously, but he didn’t know that. I would have shoved any pair).
Anyway, he did not suck out, thank goodness. I would have found that very difficult to handle, as it would have been one the most expensive bad beat of my life. Afterwards he told me “nice hand” and “good game,” very sportsmanlike, which I appreciated.
So look forward to another trip report come July. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!