91.2k at the Conclusion of Day 1A

Very solid day 1. Played virtually mistake free poker while exerting constant pressure on my opponents. Was fortunate enough to get an above average table draw with no aggressive players directly to my left. Barry Shulman 4 spots to my left played pretty well post flop but was exploitable because he flatted too often from the blinds and almost never three bet. Over the course of the entire day I probably opened 30% of the pots, and took down over half those pots with c bet on the flop. Since I was only three bet on about 10% of my opens I was able to see a ton on flops and outplay my opponents when they did try to take a stand after the flop.

I got off to a quick start, building a 45k stack with virtually no showdowns. After gaining the CL at the table I upped my aggression and really widened my opening range, especially in late position as I was raising a very weak set of blinds. After stealing back to back pots pre with air, I pick up QQ and end up getting in pre for 12k effective at 100/200 v AKss. Flop comes T74ss and I still hold. Weeeeeee After that, a lot more opening, c betting and double-barreling to work my way up to 75k. With two hands left to play in the night the following big hand transpires...

At 150/300 with 25 ante, aggressive German kid with 65k makes it 950 from CO. We have had several confrontations over the course of the day and he has proven capable of making moves with air. After he opens from CO it is folded around to me in BB where I wake up with AJo. Obviously I three bet since this hand is crushing his opening range. I make it 2850 to go. He flats. Flop Q84 rainbow. I lead 3450. He snap makes it 10k total. I tell myself I have two red Aces and play the hand accordingly. I think for a few minutes before making it 26.4k to go. He folds. I show my Ace high face up and give him a cordial wink

Off to the pool then maybe to see Jay-Z later. I won't play live again until next Tuesday but will likely put in a light online session tomorrow.

Happy 4th of July. On this holiday I feel compelled to take a step back and remember why we celebrate. 250 years ago, before people in their mid twenties could make hundreds of thousands of dollars playing games, hundreds of thousands gave their lives in a fight for our Independence. I am very grateful for their sacrifice.

DS