mneube

my 1st wsop is in the books and overall, feel like it was a success. learned a ton, made some money, and met a lot of cool CMU people. I wish i was a little more aggressive in a few spots in the main event with draws against tight players. And wish I was more patient on my final day - day 3. it was hard not to feel short stack when there's big stacks towering over you but 20 bbs is a ton of chips online so got to keep that in better perspective. looking forward to doing it again and again.

since then i've had two 2nd table finishes and 1 final table (in 400+ mtts) but no top 3 :( despite being the big stack on the final table. Cash was going well until I decided to play out of my league after a night out. How many times do I need to learn that mistake? Ugh!

Looking forward to sunday, ftops, and wcoop. I got 2 more big ones in me by EOY.

- Mickey

Day 1 is in the books and my stack was all over the place. With lots of big starting hands i could be at 0 or 150k. Ran Qs into As and Ks but also ran As into Ks. Ended day back with starting stack of 30k.

Interesting hand below:

Blinds 100/200. EP raise to 600 with 22k behind. I have ~30k and look down at from LP. I reraise to 1800 and he flat calls. flope comes . Check. I bet 2300. Call. Turn is . Then he leads out for 3k. At this point Js or rly any set look like a big part of his range. I call. River . He leads out for 6.5k leaving abt 7k in his stack. I thought he either has kings or a set but wouldn't he put in 4th bet preflop w Ks? I also knew he had to put me on at least Qs, Ks, or As. So on his river bet I felt like he wanted call from those hands. I made crying call and when he flipped over two face cards I said jacks ... then looked again, ! weird line and I took a huge pot.

 

In my first ever WSOP, $1500 buy-in event I came in 15th of ~2700 ppl. Was a blast (obviously) and very tiring. I also ko'd Jerry Buss, one day before his la lakers won the championship. somehow i think i needed the win more than he did. I'm hoping to continue the streak for me and all my CMU stakers in event 51 and the main event.

had an interesting hand come up in the $1k ftops 13 6-max. was playing at a super loose table with a big stack who had 50/30/10 stats vpip/raise/3-bet and was sitting two players to my left and another lose but not as maniacal big stack to my immediate left. 1st hand, not the interesting one but for context, i had around 1/3 avg stack. big stack min raises to ~480 utg. I push all in for ~4k w from cut off. He instant calls with . board runs out or something like that. So I got lucky making my stand! the min raise should have been a red flag.

very next hand I get and raise to 560 - 120/240 blinds, stack is ~9k, avg stack is 11k. sb reraises to 1,400. bb (the big stack w Aces from last hand) flat calls. So here was my predicament. I don't think I can ever fold J's here in pos'n but can I continue on most flops? Sb could be making move cause I just won a big pot on suckout. And bb only flat called. There's over 3.5k in pot. But I also have the benefit of position so I can see what they do and then decide after flop. I CALL. Flop comes high. Sb bets 1.7k. BB calls. At this point I'm pretty sure I'm beat and fold. SB checks turns and BB pushes all in. SB folds. I think BB range is really wide here given his 50 vpip. SB prob had or a and below. I regret not pushing all in preflop given the aggressiveness of both players in the blinds. thoughts on hand?

anyway, went deep but didnt cash after suffering from the tournament suckout. turn a staight versus nut flush draw. all the money goes in. flush on river. Fortunately, I was able to squeak into money in the turbo ftops 15 today. looking forward to the $300 rb tomorrow night. another 6-maxer.

mneube

Been really lazy and not blogging. Probably cause after a great end of March, April was a long month and I'm glad to see it go. Had 2 Sundays where I was totally shut out which felt like I was 0 for 100 in races.

Had an interesting hand 2 Sunday Brawls ago. I was big stack with one other big stack at a table where we were both taking turns stealing pots. About 60 of us left and I had been very active reraising pots. I pick up in bb. big stack raises to 9k from cutoff. we both have about 90k stacks. next closest stack is 35k. i reraise from bb to 28k and he pushes all in. i didn't think he would risk making a move when everything was going so easy for us but at the same time he could be making a stand against all my reraises. So believe it or not I almost folded ... as the mouse passed over the fold button to call because who folds Qs in an online tourney I get delivered the bad news, , and I am crippled. Did end up making decent cash but not what I was looking for.

Looking forward to FTOPS. Hope to repeat a final table during 1st event. Lightning can strike twice. Also going to play the big $650 sun WSOP quals on PS.

been running and playing really well online last 2 weeks with 4 cashes in last 8 CMU tournaments, including cashes in both the Stars Sunday million and the FT 750k yesterday ... But the final table continues to elude me. Last night had a chance to triple up in PS Million with 2 all-ins in front and a stack of only ~10 BBs I call w/ hoping to win a race. I'm delighted to see and . I'm ahead ... no need to win a race! ... But the excitement doesn't last long when the flop comes with . Oh well, still liked the way I played and I'll save the final table for SCOOP.

Re-posting from old blog.

2 big hands sent me to the rail 2.5 hours after start at the wpt 2k buyin bay 101.

the first big hand at my table came during the 2nd blind level (50/100). 2nd pos'n TAG limps , 5th pos'n raises to 600, button, and TAG call. so 1950 in pot. flop comes .

TAG checks. original raiser bets 1300, button reraises all in for 9k total. TAG after much thought calls declaring his hand better hold up. original raiser also instant calls.

TAG -
original raiser -
button -

TAG's hand holds. str8 fwd hand, although i think original raiser should have known to fold there.

so then I get into big hand with TAG a few hands later. starting chips was 10k. I had about 8k when it went down. blinds are at 100/200.

TAG raises to 800 utg. i look down at on the button and decide to call. VERY questionable call but i thought i could read and outplay TAG on flop (and I've called in position with a lot worse). flop comes .

TAG checks i bet 1100. he calls. turn . he checks i bet 1200 he reluctantly calls. the check calls and body language tell me he is weak. turn . hit j high flush. he checks again. i bet 2100 and he turns over for a full house taking down a big pot and leaving me w/ 2300 chips.

badly played by me throughout. should have folded preflop and checked river. can't believe he didnt bust me on hand . he mentioned after "thought you had since I read you very strong". So we were both right, he felt weak and I read him correctly, even though he had a monster, i felt strong and he read me correctly, even though I had 2nd (or maybe 15th) best hand. I guess we are both idiots.

with 2500 and blinds at 200/400 with 25 ante. I was just waiting for a pushable hand. 2 limpers in front of me and I look down at again. already 1400 in pot, and with weak limpers, saw my opportunity to pick up a decent uncontested pot, i declare "All in." Everyone folds back around to limpers. limper 1, young player , with hood on, and sweatshirt lifted over chin, so all you can see are his sunglasses, asks me "you want action?". I say "sure". after a quick glimpse at limper 2 he just calls. limper 2 folds. he has and hits flush. ugh!

oh well, i would welcome a drawing of these players again ... i'm not bitter or anything very sorry to disappoint my chipmeup.com (CMU) backers here. At least, I am feeling better about my chances at WSOP, given the quality of players. also, was good to talk to folks about CMU at breakfast. they hadn't heard of it and thought it was a great idea.

-mneube