Monday Night

Yesterday I played some online tournaments and ended the day with an $18 profit. To me this was like booking a five-figure win – Sundays almost always end with red eyes, a headache, and a loss of roughly $1000. I’ve been thinking about little other than poker tournaments for the last 36 hours and I am very excited to play tonight.

I felt I may have started to turn a corner yesterday. I actually got a hold of the chiplead in the Stars $500 near the bubble, hitting a few hands but also opening it up and taking a lot of chips I normally wouldn’t. I have been studying some of the better tournament players online looking for ways to get chips and then use those chips and have learned a few things.

I have also been virtual railing the LAPC, following text messages and worldpokertour.com. I played in the LAPC the last two years and wish I was there right now. The reason I am not is financial. I do not have the bankroll to play as many $10k tournaments as I would like to. I used to play a lot of them knowing I could quickly make the money back on partypoker but that comfort is gone. Now I try to get some money squared away for the year before risking it on tournaments. If I am going to get back to playing 10k events I will have to earn it. Whether that is through tournaments, cash games, or both I don’t know. It will take a lot of hard work and some luck. I am motivated right now to improve my game, make some money, and put it into play in Vegas this summer where the fields are still manageable.

10-20

Raise Q9s on the button the second hand. The small blind wants a piece. The board of AA883 is checked down the whole way and I win. The SB called a raise out of position with T9o and never tried to buy the pot.

I recognize The_Dean221 (across the table), GhettoFabolous to my right, and martand three to my left. Dean plays pretty tight I think, and Ghetto more standard/aggressive for the online tournament pro.

The Fleet Foxes supply our first music of the night. Their self-titled album has gotten a lot of hype. I’m lukewarm on it. We’ll see if anything changes tonight.

The cutoff makes it 50, the button calls, and then Ghetto makes it 220 in the SB. I think pretty hard about 4-betting with K8o but fold.

The T9o guy to my left has quickly identified himself as the target, splashing around in a lot of pots in a nonprofessional manner.

From the small blind I call an early position raise after another call with 66. I check-dump on A72.

Martand raises UTG to 60 and gets a call. I call on the button with 55 and then the big blind makes it 360. Martand calls, the first guy folds, and I call on a pure setmine. Flop Q44 the guy bets half pot and we both fold.

15-30

I raise A9o and Mr. T9o (Vishnu) calls. Flop J96r I check-call 150. Turn 7 not my favorite card I check-call 360. River 7 check-check he has 98 I outkick and win.

Next hand I raise QTs Vishnu calls and so does the BB. Flop 552 I bet they both fold.

Vishnu raises UTG and gets two calls. I call in the BB with JTo, not an auto-call but looking to play with Vishnu. The flop comes T22 with two hearts. Vishnu checks, martand bets small, a guy named TAKETHECAN0LLIS calls, and I smoothcall too. The turn is another 2. Now I lead for about a third of the pot…and both call. Martand I have on some sort of medium pair below the ten. I dunno what Canollis is rocking. Would he call a bet here with say, two overs? It was a small bet. The river is the dreaded ace. I think a long time about some weak bet but decide to check. Martand checks also, and then Canollis bets 1085 into 1800. I go deep into the tank here. Did he really call a bet on the turn with an ace in his hand? Like AhJh or something? Could he have TT? AT? Although it seemed like a bluff spot, it didn’t feel like a bluff; I just feel there are so few hands he would call the turn with and then bet the river that don’t contain an ace. I finally fold, hoping Martand will call – and he does with 77, and loses to CANOLLIS ATo.

20-40

Dean raises and I call with KQs. The BB calls also. The flop comes K32 rainbow and they all check to me. I check on a half deception, half pot control play. Turn 7 now they check to me again, I bet 2/3 pot and both fold? Kinda funky, I was expecting at least a little action there.

The best of this album appears to be “Your Protector.” This is the only song that has gotten me excited so far.

I raise KQo MP, Vishnu calls, martand calls on the button, big blind calls. Flop Ks6d2s big blind checks, I decide to check top pair again, it’s checked around. Turn 5h checked to me I bet 3/5 pot and Vishnu calls. I decide he probably has a draw here so I check the Td river. He bets 60% of pot, I call immediately and he surprises me with KJo (I win).

I raise T7s from the cutoff. Vishnu calls. Flop TT9 I bet 200 into 300 vishnu calls. Turn 6 I bet 2/3 pot he calls quickly again. River T giving me quads, I set him allin for a pot bet and he folds quickly.

From middle position I limp 88 and a tight player makes a 5x raise. I call. Flop J43 I check not sure if I am calling a bet. He bets almost pot so I fold.

25-50

Ghetto raises UTG and I pop him 3x in next position with AQo. He quickly calls when it gets back to him. Flop Jh6s2h he checks I bet something regular he calls. Turn Qh check check. River 9s he checks, I bet pretty big and he goes into the tank. When he types “this is sick” I have a bad feeling I made too thin of a value bet. With his time bank running down he calls with KK and takes the 4k pot. Back to starting stack.

Raise ATs from the button to 150 and Vishnu makes a reraise to 450 from the small blind. He has 1k behind and hasn’t reraised preflop before this. I eventually decide to call which is not standard. Flop KJ6 with one of my suit he checks and I decide to take the free card worried that he will call allin if he has QQ or might be slowplaying KK or JJ. Turn x he fires most of his stack and I fold.

Fold A7s second position.

30-60

Dean limps and I limp KTo from the button. Vishnu calls in small blind and then the Russian in the BB, who has been tight, makes a huge raise. All fold.

Another spin of the Fleet Foxes didn’t do much more for me than it had before. I put on “I Am The Cosmos” from Chris Bell, a fringe classic rock album from the 70s. This is the kind of desperate stuff you go to once you’ve covered all the classics. I am trying to see if that nine dollar amazon.com purchase was worth it.

Fold T6s MP.

40-80

I limp 64s in the SB. Vishnu raises it 3x and I call. Flop Q65 I check-call a half-pot bet. Turn K I check-fold to a large bet. This sort of hand used to plague me in the past; I am working on cleaning it up. Against a good player it is probably a bad idea to play hands in this manner but against Vishnu I think it was okay.

A guy who has played almost no hands raises 3x in mid-early position and I look down at AQo. I think about raising or folding but call, and then Vishnu makes a 4x reraise. We both fold.

Play in LA has slowed to a crawl as they near the money bubble.

I give Vishnu a walk with J3o.

Ghetto raises and I call on the button with 98s. The flop comes 996 rainbow. He bets big and I just call trying to act like I have ace high or a small pair. Turn 8 he checks. I think about checking it back, I have a boat after all, but decide to think a bit and then bet 700 (half pot), leaving myself with 1700. He doesn’t take the bait and dumps. Disappointing, I thought I might double up there.

50-100

I have 4000 chips.

I open-fold 44 in second position. Neither limping nor raising seemed worth it.

Paul is at a table in LA with Nick Schulman, Mike Sowers, Antonio Esfandiari, Erica Schoenberg, Hoyt Corkins, and maybe one or two other big names. 10k events in LA or Vegas are not the greatest investment for a mediocre player like me. I might have slipped to negative EV with the fields the way they are these days. One of the few unknowns is this guy Dan O’Brien, who has played these hands according to worldpokertour.com:

Level 15: 1,200-2,400, 400 ante

Dan O'Brien raises from the button to 6,000, Antonio Esfandiari reraises from the small blind to 21,500, O'Brien reraises to 50,000, and Antonio folds. O'Brien takes the pot.

Dan O'Brien - 424,000
Antonio Esfandiari - 212,000

Dan O'Brien and Antonio Esfandiari continue to clash at Table #33, with both players reraising each other back and forth.

Paul Wasicka raises from middle position to 8,000, Dan O'Brien reraises from the cutoff to 23,000, and Antonio Esfandiari reraises to 71,000, leaving himself 165,000 behind. O'Brien five-bets by moving all in for a total of 410,000, and Antonio tanks for a while before he folds in frustration. Dan O'Brien takes the pot.

Dan O'Brien - 520,000
Antonio Esfandiari - 165,000

The problem is everyone can play nowadays. Players that used to stink are competent, players that used to be decent are now excellent, and top-notch players play as well as anyone has ever played the game. The Dan O’Briens of the world may not have a million in live earnings yet, but almost anyone who signs up for a 10k event these days knows how to play the game.

I get AA on the button and everyone folds to me. I make a weak-looking raise to 267 and Vishnu calls in the SB. The flop comes AQ7 with two diamonds. He checks, I bet, he folds. Why is it that I only seem to flop sets with AA and KK?

I raise KTs in third position and win uncontested.

Fold A3s UTG.

60-120

A short stack jams for 1145, I jam in the SB with AKs and beat his T6s.

Raise KQ third position no one is interested.

Raise ATs UTG Canollis reraises I fold. Canollis is showing quite a bit of game, wouldn’t be shocked if he wasn’t too strong there.

Raise Q8o on the button Vishnu calls in SB. Flop 6s6c2s he bets a miniscule 240 into me I call. Turn 5h he bets 720 I make it 1832 he instaships I instafold.

Raise the hijack with something Squirrely1 reraises I have to fold.

80-160

Down to 2700, go through the blinds down to 2444.

Fold KJo second position. The “accumulator” mode has passed, now I am in “wait for the blinds and antes to get big then hope to get lucky” mode.

The cutoff raises to 480, I jam for 2444 on the button with 77 and get called by QQ. Admittedly that guy had been real tight but I have to shove the 77 right?

My friend Brooks has potentially his last hockey game of the season tonight so I am gonna check that out.