Bellagio 25k Main Event [04.29.2007]
Sorry for the lack of updates! I�ve been at the Bellagio this whole month, so let�s see how concise I can make this summary.
I had no luck whatsoever in any of the preliminary tournaments. I built up one nice stack, but lost it all in a coinflip vs JC Tran. I think I wrote about that already.
I played some of the satellites for the main event, not because I wanted an entry (I think satellites are a terrible way to reduce variance), but because since I was planning on entering anyway, they were basically tournaments with $25,000 prizes. I managed to win a seat in one of the multi-table sats.
The day before the main I played a few single table sats, and I chopped one heads up.
But no one cares about that, you guys want to hear about the main event.
Day one sucked. Bigtime. We started with 50,000 chips and 50/100 blinds, so the stacks were deep. I hit two huge hands during the first level, but no one was willing to go broke that early with the stacks that deep. I finished that level at 61,000 chips� my high point of the day. The rest of the day was just brutal. I was outflopped in every single pot I played. My opponents kept calling my raises with hands that were worse than mine, but that doesn�t matter when the flop is on their side. I made more laydowns than I�ve ever made in my life, which probably would have put me on tilt, if my opponents hadn�t kept showing me their hands which helped build a little confidence for me. I was right every single time. Unfortunately, laydowns don�t build chip stacks, and I ended the day with 30,000 chips. I was almost down to half a starting stack.
Fortunately, the structure was amazing, and I wasn�t desperate quite yet. I went into day one feeling great about my chances and the way I was playing, but the way the day played out was really demoralizing. I convinced myself that the structure was solid enough that I could still rebuild, and that�s what I did.
I was to Chip Reese�s left on day two, and he played really well. He was playing very loose and very fast, but somehow, every time his hand was shown down, he was in the lead. Anyway, I left this table with around 55,000 chips (built up to that without any all-ins), and then I got moved to a table w/ Johnny Bax.
In my first orbit at the table, I pulled off two bluffs. In the second orbit, I picked up two hands. Long story short, I had 220,000 after only about 15 hands.
Day 3 was all about pwning Deeb and Hellmuth. I was at a perfect table, until Freddy Deeb got moved to my left with a big stack. He is very loose so this was a bit of a problem, except I kept flopping the nuts against him, so it was ok. For some reason, he decided he wanted to play every pot against me, which was kind of annoying.
2k/4k blinds. I raise T8s to 11k in EP3. Freddy cold calls directly to my left in MP1. Rest fold. Flop: AQ8. I bet 18k, Freddy calls. Turn: blank. I check, Freddy bets, and I fold.
Very next hand, I make it 11k again with QJo thinking Freddy won�t try to play two hands in a row against me. Wrong. Freddy Calls. The big blind shoved all-in, and it was 38,000 more for me to call. He didn�t seem like he had a monster, and I thought it was fairly unlikely that I was dominated. My pot odds were pretty good, and I didn�t think there was any chance of Freddy cold calling with a huge hand, so I called expecting Freddy to fold. Wrong again. Freddy over called. Luckily, I flopped the nuts: AKT with two diamonds. I bet 30k, making it seem like I was trying to feel Freddy out, maybe trying to get him to fold so I could be HU against the all-in player. I had about 100k behind, and Freddy moved all-in (he had me covered by a mile). I had the nuts, so I called. Freddy had ATo, and it did not improve. The BB had 88, so my read was right. I was up to almost 400,000 after that hand.
Freddy lost a couple of small pots to other people, and it became blatantly obvious he was on tilt. He even made a terrible fold w/ AKo vs a small all-in in one hand. He literally said to the table that he knew it was correct to call, but he folded because he was running so bad. Lol.
An orbit or two later, I raised to 11k, and Deeb reraised to 40k. I know how he plays, and I know this wasn�t a monster. I had 99 which was a decent hand vs the range I put Freddy on, so I called. Again, I flopped the nuts. The flop came 942, I checked, Freddy bet 45k, and I just called planning to lead the turn. I don�t even remember what the turn card was, but I led out for 65k. Freddy played with his chips, counting out the amount he was gonna raise me, but sadly, he just folded. I like the line I took in that hand, because it both looks suspicious, and gives Freddy a chance to hit if he has two overcards. If I just checkraise the flop, I probably won�t get any action.
So I guess after an ugly day 1, and a mediocre day 2, I was due for some nuts, because I flopped another joint vs Freddy an orbit or two later.
Blinds were 3k/6k, and there were two limpers in front of me. I limped JTs in the CO, Freddy limped on the button, and both blinds came along for a nice family pot.
Flop: JJ9 rainbow
It checked to me, and I wanted to get an extra bet out of someone, so I just checked hoping someone would bet the turn. However, Freddy made me salivate when he bet on the button. It folded around to me, so I made a suspicious play once again. I would never check-raise a jack there, because so many players have checked ahead of me, and there�s only one player left to act, and he won�t bet often enough for the check-raise to work, right? Well that�s what I wanted Freddy to think, so I check raised to about 2.5x his bet (sorry, I don�t remember the exact amounts). So yeah, I didn�t have the nuts yet, but I did on the turn when the case jack hit. I led for about 1/3rd of the pot, praying Freddy would think I was making a play. Apparently he did, because he quickly announced all-in. I instantly called, and flipped over my quads, and Freddy just mucked his hand. I don�t think he could have even beaten (or tied) a nine honestly. Man was he pissed! He left the table muttering about how unlucky he was.
Later in the day, I got moved to Phil Hellmuth�s table. I folded everything in my first orbit. In the second orbit, some guy raised, I called with 87s, another guy moved all-in, and the first raiser folded. I was getting like 2.3-1 to call, meaning I only have to win the hand around 31% of the time for a call to be profitable, so I called. The all-in had AQo, and I won the 40/60.
�Eight seven suited?!� exclaimed Phil. �You called an all-in with eight high?!�
I gave my typical vague response which was, �I dunno� there was just so much money in the pot.�
Phil berated me even more. �I don�t know where these guys come from that call all ins with eight seven suited.�
I jokingly responded, �We can�t all be Phil Hellmuths.� The whole table (Phil included) had a laugh at that.
However, that really set Phil off.
I didn�t think there were many �spots� at the table, so I was playing my relatively tight straightforward game. In one hand, Phil made a standard raise from MP1, and I called in the cutoff with 77. The flop came 954, Phil checked, and I bet 2/3 of the pot. Phil folded.
Standard boring hand, right? Wrong! It took about six minutes the way it played out.
After I bet, Phil started talking to me. �Did you hit that flop?�
I didn�t answer.
�I have a big hand kid. I don�t think you hit this flop.� A minute later: �You look like one of those kids that�s just gonna blow up and hand all his chips to me.�
�You know kid, sometimes I bet the flop, and sometimes I check. I don�t check because I�m weak. I check because I want to see you bet, and then I decide what to do. Sometimes I raise, sometimes I just call, and sometimes I�ll even fold! That�s what great players do.�
Anyway, after his blabbering, he finally folded face down.
For the rest of the time we were at the same table, every time I raised, he gave me some lecture about patience and what not. �You�ll never go deep in one of these things, because you don�t have any patience.�
The last thing I wanted was to have a loose image while Phil had a tight one, so I pointed out the obvious. �The funny thing is that you�ve been playing twice as many hands as me.� Phil ignored the observation.
The guy to my right said something to the lines of, �Every one of these events, two or three complete maniacs make the final table. You don�t need patience.�
Of course Phil blabbered back to me about what I needed to become a good poker player, and someone at another table overheard.
He turned his chair to Phil and loudly asked him, �You don�t know who that is, do you!? That�s internet legend ZeeJustin Bonomo!�
Another nearby table joined in and started making fun of both Phil and me at the same time. �That�s internet whiz kid Justin Bonomo! He�s won every tournament online!� Four or five different people started listing off my resume to Phil, but it just went in one ear and out the other.
I decided to remain quiet. I actually didn�t want Phil thinking I was a good player. I was perfectly happy having him think I was one of those kids that was just gonna hand him all my chips. He was even making predictions about how many chips I would give him (250,000 was his estimate) and how long it would take (15 miuntes).
After everyone told him my resume, I don�t think his opinion of me changed. �Look guys. They�ve brought half a dozen �internet legends� like this kid to me before, and they�ve all gone broke within two years. Why is this kid gonna be any different?�
Lol Phil Hellmuthaments.
Sadly, he got moved to another table shortly after, and we never had a chance to really tangle.
Overall the day was great for me, and I think I ended with 625,000 (slightly above average).
On day 4, the blinds actually started getting big. I was up to 800,000 at one point, but I lost about 40% of that when the button raised, I reraised out of the small blind with AJo, and I was pot-committed to call the button�s all-in. He had AQo, and it held up. FWIW, I don�t regret the way I played the hand at all. In fact, it was pretty standard.
During 8k/16k blinds, I made it 45k with ATo, and the big blind called. The flop came QT9, and the big blind shoved all-in for 201k. I know he�s check raising his huge hands, so I called expecting to have him crushed, or drawing to a straight. He had KT for a spicy little 7 outer. Unfortunately, a jack hit the river, and over 500,000 chips were shipped his way.
I was pretty short after that, and when blinds went up to 10k/20k, I only had 8 big blinds to work with. Scott Fischman limped under the gun, and another player limped as well. I picked up KTo on the button, and pushed all-in. The chances that one of the limpers had me dominated were very small, and I was more than happy to take a coinflip with over 60,000 dead chips in the pot (the antes were 3k at this point). Sadly, the big blind woke up with AKs, and the two aces on the flop crushed my dreams of winning $4,000,000.
That knocked me out, and sent me home with $77,000 in 35th place. Well, actually it was a lot less than $77,000 because of my trades, but that�s how it goes.
I�m not sure if I�ve written about this before, but I trade very aggressively.
I believe that you need AT LEAST a $2,000,000 bankroll to ride the variance in these tournaments comfortably, and unfortunately, I�m not quite there yet.
I have been offered backing deals, but most of them involve makeup, and since I don�t plan on being a losing player, I�d just be giving away money to take one of those deals.
The compromise I make is to trade aggressively. This works great to reduce variance, without significantly reducing my expectation, because I trade with some of the best players in the world. I was gonna list the people I trade with, but one of them specifically requested that I didn�t =( Anyway, I traded around 50% of myself, spread out between 10 of the best tournament players in the world. Three of them ended up cashing (although none got as deep as me.) I also give out 5% of my major televised tourney winnings to charity (Sens). In the end, I had 54% of myself for this event, so it was still a nice payday.
I still have one more blog to write about the HORSE tournament, so I�m gonna end this one abruptly.
-thanks for reading
� Justin Bonomo
