THE HORROR

I played the $500 event today at PokerStars. I have not shown good results traditionally in these huge events, but I am playing well currently and I need to be able to consistently cash in these huge field events if I want to retire young. There were 2794 runners and I played a lot of hands early on. I was getting a lot of playable hands and I wanted to get in there and hit some flops so I could get some chips.

The first chance I had to chip up was when I called a button raise with 98 in the BB. I scored a J88 flop and I led into it. He raised and I called. The turn put a second heart on board to go with two spades and I made a rather weak bet. He responded all-in and I called and won. He had QJ - I suppose he put me on a weaker jack.

I had $19k now and I duffed off most of it on a bluff that should have worked but didn't. I limped UTG with 88 and saw a four-way flop which came 653. I liked it and put some money in but got two callers. The turn was a 7 and the first guy checked and I bet a small amount to get rid of the second guy. I probably should have just checked here but I wanted to somewhat represent the straight, figuring I was up against two pair. It forced out one player but I got check-raised by the other. With the open-ended straight, I decided to call.

The river brought another 3 and he bet $2k into me with $4k behind. It was still early in the event and I thought there was a feasible chance he would lay down his straight if I pushed all in. I had two eights so I was fairly sure he didn't have the 98 straight. I was certain he had a 4 but if I push over the top of him, he should be wary that I have a full house, which would have been well in line with how I played the hand. I made the push for $4k more and he went into the tank and came out calling with 74. He flopped it. I suppose once he flopped the joint, he was just looking to get all the money in however he could manage it. I'm 99% certain Hellmuth lays down the straight there, but this guy was willing to die with it even though I was representing one of a myriad of hands that had him beat.

I was back down to $10k but it didn't take long for me to earn it back. Once I got some chips and the blinds increased, I changed gears and waited for good opportunities to move my chips. I got to folding so often that I was able to pick up the blinds once every other round with random cards on top of my legitimate raises. I was maintaining an above average stack all the way into the payout structure.

The chip leader was at my table and was feasting on the blinds/antes right around the bubble. I folded my way into the money and then looked for hands to double me up. The chip leader was raising 3x every hand and picking up a ton of dead money. I finally got AK and decided that I was going for broke preflop. He already had his money in the pot. I pushed all in which was a huge overbet, but I figured if he folds, I make plenty and if he calls then I likely have him dominated.

He called with KQ and I was in a good spot. The flop came AK7 which put me 98% to win. The only way he wins is with QQ or JT. Turn ten, river jack, I'm out. If I win that pot, I've got $166k and I'm in 30th place overall. Instead, I busted out 324th and cashed $1118. Damn the luck.