WPT Update #1  [01.06.2006]
I flew into the Bahamas for the WPT on Wednesday, and Gavin Griffin was on the same plane as me. We didn�t feel like waiting through the huge taxi line at the airport, so we arrived at the Atlantis Resort with style � in a limo. I ran into 1,000 poker players I knew before I had even finished checking in. That�s one thing I love about these live tourneys. The high-level poker community is very small and you end up seeing the same faces over and over. It does get to be a pain in this place sometimes. The Atlantis Resort is frickin� huge, and the average walk to the casino, a restaurant, or any random place is about ten minutes, but that ten minutes can easily turn into thirty depending on how many people you stop and say hi to on the way. It�s fun though. It�s almost like poker players have raided the island and taken over.

The only game I played on Wednesday was a $900 single table satellite into the main event. Serb2127 (Nenad is his first name) was to my left, and he left the table before the first hand to check on the status of his $50/$100 NL game that was about to start up. He said that if the game started, he would just go all-in every hand. Well he came back mid level three, and it looked like his game was starting up. Blinds were 75/150 at the time, so I limped pocket jacks hoping that Serb would move in with any two cards. Much to my dismay, he folded and two limpers came in behind me. To spoil the fun, Jasson Strasser (Strassa22) pushed all-in for 4k in the big blind. I had 3k chips and since I know how crazy Jason plays, I had an easy call. He flipped up KQo, and I lost the coin flip. I think the situation is interesting because I never would have limped unless I thought Serb would just move in with any two cards.

Yesterday I played the main event. At first things weren�t going my way. I got a lot of big hands, but they always just stole the blinds. I kept getting mediocre hands after my big hands, and the players thought that meant I was raising light the second time around, so they kept playing back at me. I never made any huge bluffs, but I would just raise AKo before the flop, make a continuation bet, and have to fold to a check raise. I didn�t mind the fact that people were playing back at me, but their timing just seemed perfect.

I was down to 5500 chips during 100/200 blinds when I found AKo in early position. I made my standard raise to 600. A tight player called on the button, and the small blind reraised to 2600. I had a loose image at the time, so I wasn�t surprised to see the reraise at all. The amount was a bit awkward. The SB would never have raised that much with aces or kings. He clearly just wanted a fold. I thought there was a good chance I was ahead, but to be honest, even if I knew he had a smaller pocket pair like nines or tens, I would have pushed anyway. I just didn�t have a lot of room to maneuver with my small stack, and a big stack would have been much more profitable. I pushed all-in, and it was only 2900 more for the SB to call, so he felt committed and called with KJo. The board didn�t help him at all, so I doubled up to 12k chips.

Two seats to my right was a loose aggressive player named Brian Mogelefsky. He seemed like he could be a really good player. Although he was very aggressive, people weren�t playing back at him often, so his aggression was 100% warranted. I played a bunch of hands against him and they went both ways.

The first big hand we played was before I doubled up with AK. I raised before the flop in early position with a suited connecter, a play I like to make every now and then at tight tables when I think I�ll get respect in early position. I got two callers including Brian in the big blind and a late position player. The flop came K42 with a flush draw. The flop completely missed me, but I had a chance to represent AK, so I bet about 2/3 of the put. The late position player folded and Brian called. The turn was on off-suit ten. Brian checked and I bet about 80% of the pot. At this point I thought Brian�s most likely hands were a one pair hand like KQ or 88, or a flush draw. Unfortunately Brian check raised me all-in. I had eight high, so I had no choice but to fold. However, I thought for a while for image purposes, and the table later assured me that folding my AK there was a good laydown. I was pretty sure that Brian had a set after his check raise.

The roles were reversed later on in a similar hand. I was one of two players to call Brian�s early position raise when I had pocket nines. I hit a set on the flop and just called his flop bet. I raised on the turn, and Brian folded. He was very reluctant when he folded, and it seemed like he didn�t believe I had a set.

During 100/200 blinds (with an ante), I opened for 600 in early position with T9 of spades. It may seem like this is a play I make often, but it certainly is not. I hadn�t played a hand in a couple of orbits, and the timing seemed right. A tight player called on the button, and Brian called in the big blind. The flop came 932 with two diamonds. Brian checked, I bet 1200, the button folded, and Brian check raised to 3200. At this point, Brian�s range of hands is huge. He can have air, a flush draw, a medium pair, or any number of other hands. The turn was an offsuit ten, and Brian led into me for 5500. I had about 18,000 chips behind, and Brian had me covered. I decided that Brian�s range of hands was wide enough that I needed to push. I expect to be ahead a significant majority of the time, but at the same time, I can�t give a free card to him. He could have a flush draw, a straight draw, or a single pair with outs to trips or a better two pair. I am somewhat worried about almost any card in the deck.

I pushed all in. Brian thought for a few seconds before deciding that he had to call with his set of 2�s. The river blanked, and I was out of the tournament. I have no regrets about the way I played that hand, especially against a player like Brian. If I had won that pot, I would have probably been the chip leader with 50k. Instead, I busted. That�s poker. So far Brian is using my chips well. He finished day 1 with the 98,000 chips and the chip lead. Honestly, I can�t really say if he�s a good player or not. If he knows when to put on the brakes, he definitely has what it takes to win a tournament like this, but from what I saw, the deck hit him in the face. He never had a reason to put on the brakes. I imagine that he�s a pretty good player, but I never got to see him deal with any tough situations so I can�t be sure.

Later that night I saw at 10/20 NL with $3,000. Literally 4 hands into the session I played my first big pot. A player raised to 80 preflop, and I was one of 4 callers with 55. The flop came KK5. All 3 players checked to me, and I bet 225. One of the preflop callers check raised me to 725. The last thing I wanted to do was give a king a free chance to fill up, so I reraised 1,000 more. He pushed all-in, and I instantly called. He flipped over KJo and spiked quads to derfeat (no, that�s not a typo) my boat.

Today (Friday), I played some more live poker and it went pretty terribly. I played both $50/$100 NL (the first time I�ve ever played that big), and $25/$50 NL and dropped about $7,000 at each. I just never picked up any big hands or hit any flops.

I wasn�t planning on playing any poker today, but the weather was terrible so going to the beach wasn�t really an option. I�m hoping that the weather will be better tomorrow, but I�ve been told that it won�t be. If it�s not, I guess I�m just going to be sucked back into the poker room.

It�s 4am now, so I�m going to cut this short and go to sleep.
-Justin Bonomo

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Random Update
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WPT Update #1
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Quick Update
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