Doc Sands

Posts - June 2009

• Refreshed and Ready to Go

  June 24, 2009

  I haven't played a WSOP event since busting day two of the 2k LHE just before the money bubble. Had a lot of fun in that touney despite running like hell on day two and busting just before the money. I lost most of my chips on two hands, both of which involved Phil H, I dont think I could have played either hand differently.

  PH raises UTG +2 I pick up kk, my first real hand of the day and three-bet. Folds around to EU guy in bb who 4 bets, PH flats as do I to disguise the strength of my hand. Flop comes QJ4 rainbow EU bets out PH and I both just call. After making bet on flop EU guy is left with 1/2 a bet. I just flat flop intending to get an addition 1 and 1/2 bets out of PH on turn. Turn is 2, EU puts in his last bet and PH calls. I read PH for weak although there inst much I can beat so I put in a raise to build a side pot. PH calls but then insta-folds the blank river showing AKo in disgust. EU guy has AA obv so I scoop tiny side pot.

  An hour or so later I have 12 bets when the following hand transpires. PH raises mid-pos and I three-bet QQ, my second real hand of the day. Flop comes T69 rainbow. PH check calls flop. Turn 2. PH check calls again. River 7. PH leads. LOL. I call altho I guess top notch limit players just muck the QQ in this spot. He flips over A8o. Pretty ironic way to lose the majority of my remaining chips since PH had been referring to me as, "the guy who plays A7 off suit" for the majority of the day.

  2.5k limit/NL today. Negreanu's charity golf tounrney tomorrow if I bust. Pretty sick weekend schedule with the 3k 3x chance. Planning to make day two of Sat 1500 and play both simultaniously.

  DS

  408 views, 0 comments

• 78k Going into Day 2 1.5k PLHE

  June 10, 2009

  I had a lot of fun yesterday, especially the second half of the day. After starting with 4.5k in chips I made a what I think was a good fold post flop of kk leaving myself about 3k. Played extremely tight for 4 hours, finding several good reshove spots to pick up decent pots without showdown. Finally go it in with 99sd v. AQhs and miraculously held have the flop of K73hhh.

  Switched gears and got super aggressive once I had 30 bb. After taking down 3 uncontested opens with air I pick up 88 and raise to 2k EP @ 400/800. "Dan Druff" repops me to 5.8k in SB and 4 ship 28bb effective having him covered by 4k. He calls with kk an I cant catch up. Back to 8 bb, sigh. Same story...shove, reshove, ext and win 4 uncontested pots. With 25bb it is folded around to me in the SB and I make it 3x with A2dd. BB flats. Flop comes JJ7dd and I check shove. Get called by A6 (wow I love this spot!) and turn the 2. 50bb now. Most pivotal hand of day takes place on following hand.

  With 50bb effective agro young guy makes it 2.7x UTG +1. I flat right behind with AA. 876 rainbow flop. He checks, I check behind. Turn 2. He checks, I bet 1/2 pot. He checks, I fire 1/3 pot and he putsin a big check raise to 9k leaving me 15 behind. I flat. River 8, he puts me all in. I tank call and he tables QJ high. Thanks. I have 100bb. Made one resteal on money bubble that didnt work. 10 of 62 headed into day 2.

  GLGL me.

  DS

  406 views, 0 comments

• Sickest Beat I Have ever taken

  June 06, 2009

  Here it is:

  Start day 2 8th in chips with 120k, guy with second biggest stack at my table has 108k. With blinds at 600/1200 I make it 3.1k from cutoff with JJ. Young kid in sb with 108k makes it 8.4k. I 4 bet to 15.5. He insa-five bets to 37k. I flat. Flop come AJ9hh. He ships it after thinking for a couple min and tables AQo after I snap call. Turn Q river A. He has chip lead.

  I actually stay very composed and win 6 or 7 shoves without getting called. I now have 17bb on button. Old guy makes it 4x in CU. I shove. SB wakes up with kk. Old guy had A8. I cant catch up with AT.

  GG me.

  Thrilled with my play and surprisingly not tilted about the sick beat. Gonna go have a good dinner, play online tomorrow and 2.5k six max Monday.

  DS

  849 views, 0 comments

• 120k Going into day 2 of 2.5k

  June 06, 2009

  Very solid day one. Felt in control at both tables, especially the latter which was littered with gray hair follicles. I three bet often in position and as expected, was often called and then given the pot after cbetting the flop.

  My chip stack was pretty average most of the day until I made a hero call of an over 4 shove with 55. Aggressive young guy makes it 800 at 150/300 (he has 13k to start the hand I have 17k). He gets flatted by 45 year old calling station in CU and I three bet to 2675 from button. He instantly moves in for 13k total. I suppose its not a huge over shove but he did it quickly and I was very confidant he didnt have a pair. I end up tank/calling he has QJcc and I somehow hold.

  45 minutes later I busted Even Mcniff whose play impressed me the whole day. We are about 50bb deep effective, he raises standard 2.7x from hijack I flat button with 66. Flop QQKhh check/check. 6 on turn he leads i just flat. River Th which makes literally every draw. He bets 2/3 pots I insta ship, trying to make it look like a move. He ends up calling after thinking for about 5 min. Not sure what he had, I think maybe the AQ or JQ but maybe he got UL and rivered a flush.

  After busting him I have 70+ bb and basically control the action the rest of the night. I had multiple very interesting confrontations with German pro Markus Lehmann. Too many fun has to go into here so Ill save them for a separate post. Gbecks has 107k so we expect at least one person from our house to final table this thing. Will update again tonight.

  DS

  306 views, 0 comments

• WSOP Update

  June 05, 2009

  I am 0 for 2 so far in series events after playing the 1500 6 max and 2k NLHE. During those two events I feel I have played about as well as I could with the possible exception of my 2k bust yesterday.

  I am consistently amazed at the frequency with which live player limp/call out of position. I played at least 5 hands yesterday where my opponent limped early/mid pos with two off suited connectors and then called my raise. Here is one example of an especially poor play that in this instance, worked for my opponent:

  With the blinds at 50/100 I have 7.5k from cutoff. HL (habitual limper as we appropriately will call him) has 5k in mid pos and CL (crazy Latin) has 8.5k in SB. HL limps, I make it 375 to go with two black kings. CL flats SB as does HL. I have a LAG image at the table as we have been playing about 1.5 hrs and I despite winning about 20% of hands played I have only showed-down one hand. Flop comes T74 with two diamond. Checked around to me I cbet 875 into a pot of 1300. CL folds and HL flats. At this point I put him on either a FD or some type of combo draw bc I think he would raise me with basically any T and prob fold any 7. Turn is a 9d, about the worse card in the deck for me. He checks in a way that screams "I smashed that turn, please bet" and I check behind. The river is a 2d. Now there are 4 diamonds on the board and about 3k in the pot, he has 4k behind. I am obviously betting here every time bc he is leading the Ad and I simply don't feel he has the K or Qd. I make it 1750 and after tanking for 2 min he makes a crying call with the 8d6c.

  So, this guys limp calls the 86s, check calls the double gutter with a FD on board, checks when he gets there on the turn and check calls river. IMO I cant play that hand any better. Maybe I should just shove river but I feel 1/2 pot bet looks stronger. Anyway, it seems like they are limp/calling me all over the place and I hope it continues. This is obv not a long term winning strategy and its something good players, both live and online never do.

  Today I play the 2500, if I bust 5k tomorrow.

  More updates soon.

  DS

  375 views, 0 comments

• Competing Priorities and a 7th Major

  June 02, 2009

  I was laying in bed next to my girlfriend Erika last Thursday night, mentally packing my suitcase for a 7:00AM flight to JFK the following morning when I suddenly went into what I can only describe as the closest experience I have ever had to a 20 minute panic attack. A wave of physical sickness and emotional insecurity washed over me as I began to think about the next 5 days… wake up at 5am Friday morning…arrive JFK 4pm…take taxi to hotel in NYC, shower, drink my face off like I’m 19 and its freshman year in the dorms… repeat Saturday night. Sleep in Sunday then take train to Princeton Sunday afternoon for three days of graduation obligations and long meals and three more nights of college style drinking with my sister and her graduating friends.

  Under ordinary circumstance I would be excited nearly every facet of this plan. The problem was that in addition to the aforementioned activities, I was also expected to attend graduation Tuesday, fly back to Vegas late Tuesday night, and wake up ready to play my first event of the series – the 1500 6max on Wednesday. It just wasn’t possible. I knew that if I went ahead as scheduled I would wake up Wednesday morning groggy, jet lagged, and unfocused. The odd part was that no matter how strongly my gut told me something needed to change I sat up, asked Erika to go check me in online for my flight which was departing in less than 12 hours, and went to pack my suitcase.

  I was about 1/3 of the way through pulling out clothes when I literally yelled to Erika two rooms away, “Never mind, cancel my flight I’m not leaving tomorrow.” I realized that by proceeding with my trip as scheduled I was totally ignoring what my instincts told me I needed to do for my own well being (resting up and getting organized to play) and instead doing something totally counterproductive simply because I didn’t want to disappoint friends and family. As soon as I conceptualized the entire string of events, I knew I couldn’t handle it, and yet I was barely able to make the last second amendment to my travel plans. The odd part was that when I thought about the reasons I was tentative about changing my plans, I knew that neither my friends in New York nor my graduating sister would be hurt by a last minute change to my schedule. After some lengthy introspection, I was able to identify the true cause of my apprehension – my seemingly unyielding desire to please my parents. I did not want to disappoint them by choosing to play poker, an activity they still don’t full support, over spending time with friends and family. It was this same paranoia that played a primary role in me continuing to hold down a 9-5 job, albeit a very good one, even after winning 3 majors for a total of over 200k in a span of 4 months.

  Only after spending a week in the Bahamas for the PCA with several good friends, Erika, and a phenomenal book called, “The Four Hour Work Week” was I finally able to locate my testicles and hand in my two week notice. Since quitting my job on February 1st I have won somewhere around 10 tourneys, never playing more than two days per week. Over the last five months my biggest wins include FTOPS # 10 for 260k, Mulligan for 52k, Sunday 55r for 33k, 50/50 for 11k, 30k 6max for 10k, as well as multiple main event packages. During my free time I golf, research investment opportunities, work on my game, and work out. I have never been happier.

  Despite all my recent success I still felt guilty about changing my plans so that I could better focus on what has become my full time job. While discussing my thoughts on the matter with Erika, she posed a truly phenomenal question. “Would I feel guilty about attending an abbreviated version of the graduation schedule if I was still at my old job?” “No, not even for a second,” was my immediate response.

  So why was the case? This is by far the most important time of the year for any professional poker player. I figure I work 50 Sundays a year, 30 Wednesdays a year, 30 days during the series and about 30 days playing live the rest of the year for a total of 140 work days. This means that the value of an average poker work day is at least 2x the value of an old work day assuming both jobs pay the same. Consider the fact that I will make at least 5x more this year playing than I did working last year, and also factor in the notion that a 1k and 1.5k at the outset of the WSOP are two of the most +EV events of the year. By my rough calculations, missing 1 day of work at my new job this time of year is approximately equivalent to missing 20 days of my old job.

  Thankfully I was able to pull the trigger and shorten my trip. I decided to muck the entire New York component and instead fly strait to Princeton Monday morning. Although I still had to miss the 1k and the first 1.5k, at least I would be able to put in another Sunday online. Furthermore, sleeping only one night on the east coast would minimize jetlag and enable me to wake up Wednesday morning feeling refreshed and ready to crush.

  Good decision Dave. I ended up shipping the 250k guarantee on Cake for 50k. My house- mate Gbecks shipped the 150r for 65k. I suppose this deserves a weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee . I also final tabled the 50k guarantee on Cake earlier in the day for 4k and finished 17 of 4000 in the 750k for 4k after losing 3 of 4 flips, holding the pair each time, with 27 or so left. Always nice when you swap 5% equity with a buddy, cash for close to 60k and he still owes you money.

  So what should I take away from all this? I think first and foremost I need to recognize the fact that playing poker for a living because I love it and because it makes me happy. I don’t do it for anyone else. In fact, I think it’s fair to say I do it in spite of a handful of people I really care about. Perhaps the hardest thing for me on a day in and day out basis is playing full time, knowing that my parents will never fully accept, appreciate and support what I do. The reason this is so difficult for me is that I have so much respect, admiration and love for both of them. Growing up I never envisioned the possibility of being so passionate and committed to a profession they dislike. I can’t tell you how many times I heard phrases like, “do what makes you happy, we will support you 100%,” or “just pursue you passion and bliss and the rest will take care of itself.” I suppose I was conditioned from a very young age to believe that they would always be in my corner to support my regardless of what path I choose, the sad reality is, this is just not the case.

  The good news however, is that I now recognize and am able to explicate the emotional baggage surrounding this issue. Even more reassuring is wonderful girlfriend who has supported my career from day one. She understands me, my passion for the game, and my love for my parents and more than any other individual on this plant. Thanks boo

  As I write I am headed back to Las Vegas excited for tomorrow’s 6-max event. After getting a good night’s sleep last night as well as three more hours on the plane I am well rested and pumped up. Really fucking pumped. I am extremely happy that I was able to both attend graduation and figure out a way to get back to Vegas feeling ready to play. The moral of the story, at least for me, is that if you want to be truly successful at something and do it on an elite level, you often have to put that thing above other things in your life you really care about.

  365 views, 1 comments