JustinSmith

Posts - Juni 2009

• $10k HU Championship, $5k PLO, $10k Stud 8, $10k PLO, Worn out

  Juni 22, 2009

  It's been a little while since my last blog, and I know lots of bloggers always say they don't have time and most of the time that's BS. However, this time, it really is true! I've been home awake for maybe a total of 4 hours in the last week. The only time I'm home is when I'm sleeping.

  I played the $25k Heads Up Championship event and beat an online NL tourney player in 10 minutes or so in the first round. I was the second winner. Second round had a little mix-up as I was playing 100/200/400 PLO between matches and arrived about 10 minutes late to find somebody else playing in my seat! There was some confusion but after all was said and done, Hoyt Corkins and I played for about an hour and I was the victor. The next day I played William Thorrson who I played a lot of 50/100 and 100/200 HU NL with about 2 years ago and had his game on lockdown and won in about an hour. The fourth round match was against a guy named "Dragon" from Slovakia I think and that match was pretty fun and over in about 5 or 10 minutes. The fifth round was against Johnny Chan who I've played a lot with in Bobby's room in all the games and had a good idea of how he would approach the match. I ran really cold and I made one mistake that probably didn't influence the outcome of the match that much. I was really setting Johnny up for something that he might fall for but it never came to fruition because I never got a hand that I could play in the way I sensed he sensed was weak. He knocked me out after about an hour and a half and that was that. I cashed for $38k in 13'th place. Throughout Day 2 of the HU Championship I ended up playing the $2500 PLO and the $1500 HORSE as well and nothing really happened in those.

  I ended up playing the $5k PLO and probably drew the toughest starting table in the tournament with over half the table being winning regulars at 25/50+ PLO on FTP. However, I picked my spots well and played okay on Day 1. On Day 2 I really made some big moves including 3 betting Bruno Fitoussi 3/4 of my stack with K732 on a J664 board. The second big move was when I limped on the button and Devilfish completed the small blind and an irish kid checked the big blind at 1500/3k level, the flop came AQ9 rainbow and Devilfish led out for 6k, the irish kid called, I made it 27k, devilfish called, irish kid folded, the turn came a 5 and devilfish check-folded for my pot allin. I ended up showing him three cards, T-7-5 which was pretty fun. I ended up min cashing in the event and as soon as I got my cash slip for $11,000 I ran over to the $10k Stud 8 Championship and arrived two hours late.

  Again, I drew the toughest starting table in the tournament with Abe Mosseri, Erick Lindgren, Chris Reslock, Jennifer Harman, David Benyamine, Mike Sexton, and a tight tight tight asian guy I brutally misplayed a hand against. I waded through the table and came back on Day 2 with just a few more chips than what I started with. I was very picky with my spots on Day 2 and found much softer spots than what I was given on Day 1. I never had more than 65,000 chips until late in Day 2 when I went on a little rush when I got moved to my third table of the day. I held that chip position and dipped down a bit coming into Day 3 which is pretty much identical to what happened to me in the $10k 2-7 NL Event, just ended up running dry very late on Day 2. I came back yesterday on Day 3 for the final 12 of the Stud 8 and couldn't even stay awake at the table so I slept between hands and grinded along winning a few pots until we reached the final table. During the short break before we moved over to the main featured final table Mike Matusow convinced me and basically dragged me outside to do jumping jacks and do windsprints. I couldn't believe the kind of energy this gave me even though I felt like I was going to die. It really did the trick and I came to the final table feeling very focused and awake. I was the shortstack for 3 hours and had to make 3 very very big laydowns which were correct each time until I just couldn't hold on any longer and went out 8'th for about $55,000 + $25,000 in side bets.

  Despite how I felt starting the day, I felt able to play one of the most important events for me which was the $10k PLO Championship. I started with one of the easiest tables and ended up losing the first 10 pots I played with nothing I could do different. When Phil Ivey got moved to my table, everything changed though and I started to win pots. I really had great focus and I made two very big plays which I don't want to talk about but I raised the turn both time and they folded both time. I also had to fold a full house to Andy Bloch which took me about 30 seconds to make on a ATT39 board and I'm pretty sure was correct. Our table broke and I got moved to a table where I again controlled the action and mounted top 5 chips until Steve Zolotow and I played a monster pot and had I hit my full wrap with flush draw, I would've had over 260,000 chips. However, I was knocked down to 70,000. I got moved from that table and chipped up to about 110,000 at my new table until a drunk Ziigmund with 220,000 chips got moved to my immediate left and raised every pot and I just played tight. Today not much happened besides making 1 really good move in a 3 way pot and getting coolered by Markus Golser on a J33 board with A663 vs AJ3x when I had 120,000 chips and RIGHT after I made a bet of $10,000 to win $260,000 with about 78 people left during break. I was crippled to 15,000 after that hand but within half an hour was back up to 110,000. I then repotted a hand with AKQT and whiffed completely and was forced to fold when I got potted into, and then I ran AA98 into 8743 flop 652 and out the door I went. Since about 10:00 tonight I've been hanging out at home relaxing and I can tell you it's pretty nice. I'm going to decide tomorrow if I feel up to playing the $2500 Razz at 5:00 which should be a pretty juicy event. Razz is probably one of my better games and most people play it poorly. Hopefully I get good rest tonight and wake up refreshed tomorrow.

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• WSOP WSOP WSOP, 10k 2-7 Single Draw NL Event Review

  Juni 13, 2009

  (Caution: Long Blog)
  I'm in full throttle WSOP mode now. I forgot where I left off, so I'll start with me being eliminated 28'th in the $10k O8 to Phil Ivey hitting a 2 outer on me to scoop the entire thing in the most disguised way possible. That's not to say a few hours before I hit a 2 outer to 3/4 Allen Kessler though. I then played the $3k HORSE and was doing pretty well the first day until the limits really got high and I was knocked out shortly after beginning Day 2 when my K high flush ran into a concealed full house in Stud 8 which there was nothing I could do about.

  The next day I played the $10k 2-7 NL event. As I believe I've mentioned before, 2-7 triple draw is one of my best games, but 2-7 single draw NL is a totally different beast. It requires the most intense reading ability of any tournament. I had to be totally focused for this one, and I was virtually the entire way. Day 1 started off with me drawing the best table in the room. I had John Hansen on my left, Kenny Tran to his left, another guy to Kenny's left, some guy from Switzerland to his left, Steve Sung to his left, and then some NL tournament player on my right. It was very very soft compared to the field. Some guys drew 3 a few times and even 4 once and made a 9 on Kenny Tran's pat hand and then raised him after the draw!!! It was so sick that when the guy drew 4 and then raised Kenny after he led out, I had to run away from the table so I wouldn't disrupt the action by not being able to contain my laughter. Kenny eventually paid it off and the guy drew 4 into a 9-7...lol. I made a really good call on Kenny when I raised UTG with 2367 and he called in position, and Steve Sung overcalled from the big blind and stood pat. I drew 1, Kenny drew 1, Steve checked, I caught a King and checked, and then Kenny starting counting out chips and bet 6500 into about a 3500 pot. Steve quickly folded and I took about 5 seconds and called him. I just knew by something I had picked up on Kenny that there was no way my King high wasn't good here. Kenny is usually very difficult to read, but this time I definitely had something solid to go on, and that is what this game is all about.

  Eventually, our table broke and I moved to a table with a random tight Australian guy, Danny Alaei, Anna Wrobleski, Jeffrey Lisandro, David Williams, and David Benyamine. I'm very friendly with all of these people except for the Australian guy who I actually ended up playing with for 15 hours of Day 2 with, so it was nice to just shoot the shit with them. As soon as I got to the table, I was very very active, with hands, and without hands. I made a big squeeze play after Anna opened UTG, Jeff called, and DB called, and I was on the button and made a big re-raise and they all folded. I also re-raised two other times and I also bet after the draw a few times and I never really got looked up when the following hand came up. The blinds were 200/400 and I had 53k and Jeff Lisandro had me covered with about 85k. He raised UTG to 1500, I re-raised from the button to 6500 with T6542 but all 4 of my smallest cards were diamonds, and since flushes count against you in this game, there was no way I was going to break my Ten. Jeff took about 3 seconds and made it 20,000 more, and I went into the tank. I didn't stop staring at Jeff and just looked for anything I could, and after about 2 or 3 minutes of being in the tank, I shipped the rest of my money in and Jeff hollywooded for less than 10 seconds and folded. I flashed the Ten to the table and David Benyamine almost jumped up in the air and hit the ceiling out of shock! LOL! For those of you unfamiliar with the game, sticking in 125xbbs with a Ten to a UTG raiser is definitely not standard. Again, I felt I had a good read and just had to roll with it. I ended Day 1 with around 85k in chips which was 5'th with about 60 left heading into Day 2.

  On Day 2, I drew another soft table. I had a french guy I had played with in the $10k 8 game on my left, Kenny Tran on his left, an old timer named Hertzel who I played 2-7 TRIPLE draw and PLO with in Biloxi during the WPT who used to play in the old UB days and is quite solid in all of those games, Max Pescatori to his left, and then an older guy from Miami, and Andy Black on my direct right. Within about an hour and a half, I had very very good reads on 3 of these players and was totally focused and honed in. I was maneuvering at all of the right points and making good reads almost every time. Not too long into the day the following hand came up: Hertzel raised UTG, Andy Black called in the cutoff, and I had 2356 on the button and called as well. Hertzel stood pat, Andy Black drew 1, and I drew 1. Hertzel led out for about half pot which was 4800 into about 7500, Andy Black very quickly raised to 15,000, I drew and peeled off the second best card which was an 8 to make me an 8-6 and now I had a big decision to make, I needed to make a read on Hertzel first, to see if he had me beat which was a definite possibility considering he stood pat and led into two people who drew 1 out of position, I decided I had Hertzel beat and put him on about 9-6 or something. Then I had the even bigger decision, did Andy Black have me beat and should I just flat call or should I ship the rest of my stack in? I tanked for about 2 and a half minutes and finally moved in, Hertzel snap folded and Andy black SNAP SNAP fistpump slammed his chips into the pot. I was very concerned now that I was beat given the action and how quickly he called. Fortunately though, 8-6 was good and he said he had 8-7. Later in the day, I raised with A4422 on the cutoff, and got called on the button by the french guy, bruno fitoussi who got moved after I busted Kenny Tran in the small blind, and Hertzel in the big blind. Bruno and Hertzel drew 2, I stood pat, and the frenchman on the button drew 1. Bruno and Hertzel checked and I bet 23,000 into about 30,000 and everybody folded and I brought "snow" to Las Vegas in the summer time and revealed my pure total air bluff! (For you folks unfamiliar with 2-7, snow is a term used instead of bluffing). There weren't any other real good hands to talk about, but I went Day 3 in about 7'th place with 10 people left and I only had about 10 big blinds and we were playing 5 handed so I needed to make some moves fast. I lasted about 10 hands and found myself in a near coinflip situation with David Benyamine with both of us drawing to a 9 and he hit gin and I caught a jack to spite for a 9'th place finish. I can't say I was the best player left in the field, so I'm not upset, but I did play really well and made some great plays. Congratulations to Nick Schulman who won the tournament and is a great overall poker player. I've played with Nick for years and he is very solid.
  

  

   

  At the final 2 tables of the $10k 2-7 NL Championship

  
  

  

   

  Day 2 of the $10k NL 2-7 Championship

  
  After I busted in the 2-7 event yesterday, I had a short business meeting with my partner(unrelated to poker) in the Aces Lounge break room, then I hopped in the $5k PLO8 Championship Event. This event was very relaxing in the way that for 3 days I had been using highly intense reads on every single hand dealt because you have to use reads in 2-7 NL Single Draw. In PLO8, it's almost the exact opposite. You don't need to pick up reads as much as you just need to play your hand accordingly to the board. It was very relaxing to just sit back and play the game, and not play the person like what I had been doing the past three days. Today I'll be playing the $10k NLHE Heads Up Event in 2 hours and that will probably be the toughest field of the year given all of the great NL HU players nowadays. I've had poor results in the $25k HU tournaments that run occasionally on FTP but I'm looking forward to changing that since I'm a pretty big favorite in this event. I'm going to go work out, walk my dog, and shower and head to the Rio. Don't forget to follow me on Twitter at http://www.Twitter.com/BoostedJ.

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• Getting better? WSOP, Cash Games

  Juni 04, 2009

  I ended up seeing the Bellagio House Doctor late one night because he was basically the only doctor available at night in the entire city of Las Vegas. There's only one 24/7 walk-in clinic in all of Las Vegas and the line was about 2 hours long. Screw that. He told me what I already knew, which was I had a sinus infection, and prescribed me some antibiotics. I'm on the 3'rd day of them now and I think I'm feeling slightly better, but if I'm not much better tomorrow I'll probably have to try and get on some different ones.

  So far I've not gotten very far at all in any of the WSOP Events. I played the $10k Stud and was doing good at first but then started finding myself in a lot of pots with playable hands but never winning many. I made two very very tricky plays against David Oppenheim who was on my right, and got caught bluffing the first time, but got paid the max the second time. I was out soon enough when my straight in 5 got beat by a higher straight. The next day I played the $2500 2-7 NL. This is pretty much the only game where I have very limited experience in. I have a lot of experience in Triple Draw 2-7, but not much in Single Draw NL, two different beasts with no question. I was able to talk to two of my friends for two hours before the event on some rundown questions with regards how to play. I had a general idea but I really think this is one of those games where experience is crucial, way more important than in other games. I basically totally botched a pot and it made me get short and had to make a play with a hand I would've normally folded with a larger stack. Anyhow, I got quite a bit of experience and I look forward to playing more of that game in the future. I'm probably going to go down in a few hours to watch one of my good friends at the final table. I will be playing the $10k 8 game mix tournament today at 5 p.m. and it should definitely be one of my best events. My full focus is going to be in tact and I still intend on doing heavy damage this summer.

  Last night I sat down in a short handed $100/200 NL/PLO half and half game in Bobby's Room. (I was twittering while I was playing, http://www.Twitter.com/BoostedJ) I basically ran over the table the entire night and only lost one big pot. Unfortunately it was the biggest pot to be played of the night, about $160k. Player 1 limped UTG, Player 2 raised before looking at his cards in the SB, I looked down to AKKJhc in the BB and repopped him, Player 1 folded. Flop came J52 with 2 clubs, I had nut clubs. Player 2 checked, I bet $4k, he check-raised me to $13k, I 3-bet the pot which was about $40k at this point, he shoved all-in for about $75k total and I called. He ended up having J722, we ran it twice, and I lost both times. I was very happy with my play, but ran sort of hot also, so I was quite frustrated I ended up only winning $10k. It was an odd feeling that I just played so hard and ran pretty good to only get beat in a huge pot and win $10k.

  That's all I got for now, I'll update again in a few days.

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