Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III - $330 NLH
Onsdag, Juli 08, 2009 17:01Having a day off is always great while in Vegas; you can head to the outlets, catch up on some sleep or play a deep-stack tournament.
Being the poker degen that I am . . . I obviously decided to play a tournament!
The Venetian Hotel
I headed over to the Venetian to play the $330 No Limit Holdem event in their Deep Stack Extravaganza, and once I had coughed up an additional $10 for the staff bonus for an extra 2,000 chips I was at my seat and ready for a long slog of grinding.
We started with a 12,000-chip starting bank and a solid structure with 40-minute levels, and early on I took a small pot here and lost one there until I decided to run a bluff with 
out of the small blind.
It was folded to me and I bumped it to 250 with the big blind defending. I lead for 325 on the flop of 
, then 800 when the 
fell on the turn and gave up on the 
on the river when I check-folded for 2,200. I finished the level on 11,475 after winning a nice multi-way pot with trips.
During the 75-150 level, I saw Aces twice, but both times got no action and headed into the next level above my starting stack. My first major hand came up when an early position player limped and it was folded round to me in the small blind – I called an additional 100 with 
and the big blind checked his option.
The flop fell down and I checked, as did the big blind to see the limper lead for 300. I called, the big blind passed, and when the 
fell on the turn I checked again, only to be faced with a 500-chip bet. I felt that I wanted to get some additional value for my hand and decided to check-raise to 1,100. He called and when I checked the 
on the river he led strongly for 2,200 – now this is where I should pull up and review my hand and realise that the only hand that bets there beats me. Yeah, I may beat a busted diamond draw or a stubborn pair of Jacks, but in the long run I’m always beat!
Of course I call and he shows me 
and I’m left with 9,875 in chips before I slip to 5,600 the next hand after calling a guy on three streets with Ace-high. I play the last five of six hands in the level and chip up to 8,000 to finish on a somewhat high after two terrible hands.
Not too much happens in the next two levels apart from winning a sick race when I called an all in out of the small blind with 
to be up against 
. The board ran out 
and I was back to my starting stack.
I moved tables and after a few orbits I found a double when I opened to 1,000 from the cutoff with 
and the big blind shipped it with 
. The board bricked out and I was up to 24,675. I pushed up to 36,000 when I took down a nice pot with 
in the 400-800-75 level. I flatted a raise of 2,000 preflop on the button and then we both checked the flop of 
, I led for 3,500 when the fell. My opponent check-called and then check-called 5,500 when the 
landed on the river. He flashed his 
and I gained some momentum.
However it would fade away just as quickly as it arrived when I pretty much folded every hand until we reached dinner break with my 16,700 stack looking very short heading into the 1,000-2,000-300 level.
View from front of Venetian during the dinner break
I pushed with 
to steal the blinds and antes, but things kept going south. In the next level of 1,200-2,400-300 I got my last chips into the middle in a multi-way pot holding 
up against and 
when the final board ran out 
.
(coming soon)
Venetian Deep Stack Extravaganza III – $330 NLH Chip Stack Graph
* * * * * * * *
Falling short of the money and the whopping $58,000 first prize, I was somewhat satisfied with my 112th placing from the 735 starters.
As you can see from the chip stack graph, it was those middle stages (again) where I couldn’t accumulate to become a force in the latter levels. If I am to get some results under my belt, I really have to start improving this area of game – as it’s definitely my weakness / leak at the moment!
