WSOP #5 - 50k HORSE, and LOL Hellmuthaments #2 [06.29.2007]
Day three of the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E was brutal. I caught some cards early on and was the chipleader at one point with 1.1 million. I went on a two hour stretch that was just brutal. The hold�em level was 18,000 / 36,000, so even though I was at the top of the chip count, I only had 30 big bets to work with.
I lost a bunch of small hold�em pots with standard raising hands that just missed. I had built up a pretty loose image (despite using pretty tight preflop standards), so I decided I was gonna tighten up for a short while when I picked up kings. Somehow I got no action and just stole the blinds. That was one of two pots that I won over that two hour period.
I went the entire Omaha level without winning so much as half a pot despite getting ace deuce like six times.
I had an ace up in razz, when everyone else had ugly cards up. I raised. Bruno was the bring-in with a king. As he folded, I said, �wait� something�s wrong here.� Everyone looked around confused, wondering if there was a misdeal or something. �Did I actually win a hand?� It was kind of funny in the swing of things at the table. I wonder if they�ll show that comment on ESPN. That ante steal was the second of two hands I would win in that two hour stretch.
After that, I went the entire stud level without winning a single hand.
So 2 hours, with only two steals, and that was enough to bring my chip lead down to a measly 300k.
My mom and step father flew in for day 4, and I had a few friends from the house sweat me at the ESPN table which was kind of cool. I actually won some chips in stud 8, but again, hold�em was brutal.
I raised KK (my death hand) and Greg Raymer 3 bet me. I 4 bet and he called. The flop came AT4. I bet and Raymer called. The turn was a deuce. I checked. Raymer thought for like 30 seconds before deciding to bet. We were playing 25k/50k at this point, and I had 67k left, so he basically put me to a decision for all my chips. I ended up folding. Afterwards I figured that I would either look like an idiot or a genius on TV depending on what he had. He told me later that he had an ace which was a relief.
There were 18 players left at this point, and only 16 would money. I was way too short to try anything like folding into the money, so I had to hope for at least one double up just to cash, although I was never really playing �just to cash�.
When my big blind came around, I told the table I was committed with any two. Raymer raised under the gun, and Bruno cold called on the button. I didn�t even look at my cards before I shoved my chips in. Actually, I didn�t look at all until the action was over.
The board was something like A554x. I saw some relatively heavy betting and knew I was drawing pretty slim. Bruno flipped over 44 for a boat, and I peeled my first card: a seven, and I was drawing dead. The other card was another seven which means I actually put my chips in good despite putting the blind, but who cares about that, right?
So yeah, this tournament was sooo brutal for me. I went from being the chip leader on day 3, to bubbling on day 4 thanks to a super cold two hour stretch of cards. This is the one event that you do NOT want to bubble. Where else are you gonna have a bubble for $88,000? So sick. The only consolation is that I played at the ESPN feature table for about six hours, so I will get some nice TV time. Look for me on TV in October (I think).
So after that I did what any real poker player would do: I asked what tournament was next. I signed up for the $5,000 6 handed no-limit event which was rather eventful.
I played much tighter than I normally do during the first few levels, built up a relatively tight image, and took advantage of it once the antes kicked in. I stole some pots, and was lucky enough to get paid off the first time I picked up a huge hand.
Eventually I got moved to Phil Hellmuth�s table, and who was doing his usual shtick, although much to my surprise, it wasn�t aimed at me this time!
I misplayed one hand against him. I raised K6o from the cutoff, and he called on the button. One of the blinds came along as well. The flop came AK6. I C-bet, and Phil called.
The turn was a three, and I went for a check raise. This was a big mistake (although it probably ended up saving me money). Phil plays his medium hands very passively, and his most likely hand there is a bare ace. Phil checked behind, and I whiffed my check raise.
The river was an ace. I checked, and Phil bet relatively small. I ended up thinking for much longer than I should have before folding, and Phil showed the ace with the unspoken message of, �You know I had the best hand the whole time. Give me more respect�. I wanted to show the hand so bad to show him how lucky he got, but I knew that wasn�t the smart play, so I just mucked without saying anything.
Phil was to my left, and he�s a huge calling station, so I knew I couldn�t play my usual aggressive game, and I would have to pick up some hands to get the best of him. I was actually worried I would end up having to say I lost a ton of chips to him partially due to not betting big on the turn like I should have with K6. Luckily I picked up some hands against him, so the story is much better!
UTG raised, I called with KJo, and Phil called in the SB. The flop came J73 all diamonds (I had the king of diamonds). Phil Bet, the raisor folded, and I called. The turn was a king. Phil bet 5kish, and I called. The river was another jack, and Phil checked to me. I knew he wouldn�t check a jack here, and he probably wouldn�t show up with a king here (especially given that I had the king of diamonds) so the only way to extract money out of Phil would be to convince him that I was bluffing.
I thought back to my tell-filled days when I first started playing live poker, fumbled over my chips, grabbed a seemingly random amount, and pushed the chips forward as nervously as I possibly could. Phil called the 10,600 chips, and his face filled with disgust when he saw my cards. A couple hands later he was talking about how terrible his call was, so I assume he called me with a really weak hand. Shipit.
So after taking about 75% of Hellmuth�s stack, I wasn�t quite done with him yet.
I raised my 3rd hand in like 4 orbits, and Hellmuth folded. The big blind started thinking, and Phil started muttering angrily. �Fucking amateurs, raising every pot.� I politely asked the dealer to call the floor over.
I explained to the floor man that not only is that a CLEAR abuse penalty, but Phil is also trying to encourage a player in a hand that he is not involved in to play back at me, which is just as clearly against the rules. A professional player like that should know better than trying to encourage action in a hand he�s not even involved in.
Obviously the floor didn�t give him a penalty because pros get special treatment (more on this when I find time to post about how Robert Williamson angle shot me). Afterwards, Phil actually apologized for discussing play during a hand.
I told Phil that I think its ridiculous that he constantly gets away with that and no one ever says a thing. He said it was a mistake, and I told him he has done the same thing all three times I have played with him (Bellagio WPT, 50k Horse, and this event). He apologized again, but clearly showed no signs of ever intending to change his strategy.
Almost any other player would get at least one penalty (possible multiple) for that behavior, but obviously Phil gets treated specially.
He rebuilt his short stack a tiny bit before I took 50% of his chips again when I cold-called a preflop raise with aces, and bet the turn after the flop checked around. It felt good practically crippling him twice. Somehow though, Phil rebuilt again up to a huge stack.
For those of you wondering, Phil sucks at poker overall. He is a fish in virtually any cash games he plays. HOWEVER, he is bar-none, the best player in the world in these large-field small-buyin events full of weak players. Everyone plays so terribly against Phil just to have a story to bring back to their frat-buddies, and Phil does an amazing job of capitalizing off of it. Even though I�m not a big fan of Phil, he may be the most profitable player in the up coming WSOP main event. If anyone wants to prop-bet this, I�d be willing to cross book 0.1% of Phil vs anyone in the world (that comes out to roughly $10,000 if he wins).
Anyway, after this table, I just went on a tear. I took a ton of chips off Men the Master, and then I took a bunch of chips off of Jeff Madsen. I had a huge chip lead of 170,000 chips when the average stack was around 45,000.
Unfortunately I lost a bunch of pots, and doubled up three people at my table leaving me with around 90,000, but I was able to rebuild to 150,000 by the end of the day.
I drove in on I-15 N this morning, and the traffic was kind of bad so I decided to take a detour. I misclicked or something, and ended up on Frank Sinatra which is under heavy construction. I got trapped on that for about fifteen minutes, and ended up running into the Rio at 2:08.
The noon tournament with thousands of players was on a break at this time, so my plan to visit the restroom was thwarted due to the monstrous line. This afforded me just enough time to play my small blind. I sat in my seat literally a second and a half before the last card was dealt, so I made it just in time to play my hand.
I looked down at AKo, and was happy to see Jeff Madsen move all-in on the button. �I raise the minimum.� The dealer informed me that this was not a pot-limit tournament. Unsure of how to respond, I told the dealer, �I know. I raise the minimum whatever that is. Get a count if it matters.�
The big blind asked for a count. Uh oh. It�s not very likely I want a call from him if he�s asking for a count. Jeff had just about 20,000 chips, so my raise was to just under 40,000. The big blind thought for long enough that I knew he didn�t have aces or kings, so when he moved all-in for about 130,000 chips, I had an easy call. He flipped over AK of hearts, and Jeff flipped over tens. We were drawing kind of slim against Jeff, but at least I didn�t have to sweat for my whole stack since I was up against the same hand� or so I thought.
The flop came ten high with two hearts. Crap. The turn blanked, but the river was the fatal heart. I still had a few chips left after losing this 300,000 chip �Mirror match�, but they didn�t last long. I was forced into push/shove mode, and ran into a hand the first time I tried to steal without one.
This took a lot longer to write than I thought, so I�m gonna leave the 2-7 triple draw part out for now. It�s 2:45am and I have to play at tourney at noon.
-Thanks for reading!
� Justin Bonomo
