Welcome to the Wynn

Today's 3k event at the Wynn was supposed to be my tournament. I thought I was playing well coming in and reading situations wonderfully. The field was extremely soft for an event of this buy-in, as most top pros are either in LA playing the Celeb Invitational or involved in the NBC Heads Up tourney at Caesar's.

I wish I could say I took a bad beat or got coolered or never had any cards but the fact is I busted out of this tournament because I got repeatedly owned by a weak player. We'll call him Mr. Mediocre.

Hand #1: 50-100 blinds. I was a bit shortstacked after losing a pot with KK against CrazyMarco's KJ on a board of JT5J4. I limped on the button with Js9s behind some other limpers. The flop came AsJ3s; a couple limpers checked to Marco and he bet 300. I made it 1025 leaving myself with about 1800 behind. Alan Goehring then flatcalled the raise from the small blind, leaving himself about 1200 behind. Mr. Mediocre then shoved in from the big blind for 400 more, Marco folded, and Alan and I both called. The turn was a spade, Alan checked, I moved in, he folded, and I lost to Mediocre who proudly said "NUTS" and turned over Ks5s.

Hand #2: 100-200 blinds. After a triple up with AK vs KK and 88 and some other good pots, I was up around 10,000. I picked up jacks in the cutoff and made it 550. Mr. Mediocre called from the small blind and the big blind folded. The flop came J5s3s and Mediocre led for 500. Against a stronger player I would just raise the nuts right there to give them a chance to make a play. I assumed he was drawing dead and didn't want to lose him, so I just called. The turn was the As and he checked. I had the Js. He checked and I decided to bet 700. He quickly made it 1800 total and I called. The river was an offsuit deuce for a board of J53A2 with three spades. He bet 2900 and I tanked for five minutes before getting clocked, probing him with questions, and finally folded. He showed KdQd.

I just didn't think he had this in him. Ultimately during the tank I decided I just couldn't see him making this play without a flush, even though the table hinted that he might be bluffing. He was calm the whole time and the fact is he had been playing such low-level poker the whole time I just couldn't see this being a bluff. What can I say, I got owned.

Hand #3: 100-200 blinds, 25 ante. I had built it back to around 10,000 with some decent hands and a big bluff when Mr. Mediocre opened for 625 in 2nd position with an 8000 stack and I looked down at sixes in the small blind. There isn't a ton of value in this spot, but I thought he could be outplayed, so I called. The big blind folded and the flop came down Q53. I checked and he checked, which made me think he had either AK or most likely a pair smaller than queens. The turn was an 8, I checked, he bet 800, and now I was almost certain he had 99, TT, or JJ. I decided to make it 2200, expecting him to call, with plans to shove the river. He instapushed for like 5000 more so I obviously folded, and he showed two jacks. A terrible play, yes, but he did have the best hand as he thought.

Hand #4: 200-400 blinds, 25 ante. I was down to something like 4400 after a long stretch without winning a pot in the new blind level and decided to raise 8s7s to 1025 in the hijack. Mediocre called and the BB called after asking for a chip count. The flop came T95 with one spade and I moved in. Mediocre moved in behind me with QJo and it came 8-7.
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I took a shot in the mega satellite at night (paying 1 seat for every 20 entries) and played very wild. I took a gross one with AK vs AT on a Axx flop and ultimately went out with 22 vs 77. I tried to play an online session at night, but that didn't work either as I quickly lost about 3k and then the internet went out, likely saving me from further losses and misery.