Aruba Tournament Report [10.10.2006]
The main event in Aruba started on Wednesday. Ultimate Bet had a brilliant idea to put all the direct buyins in the same room. The idea was to give the UB sponsored pros an advantage by sticking them with the internet qualifiers, while all the people that bought in with cash in the few days before the tournament were in a different room. I think this is extremely unfair, and it may not seem like a big deal, but when you are playing mulit-million dollar events, you expect everything to be equally fair for everyone.
It was no shocker that my initial table draw was pretty tough. I knew five of the players at my table, including Ezra Galston who I was sharing a hotel room with, Gene Todd, a kid who I met in Aruba who is part of Taylor Caby's (Green Plastic) crew, a Venezuelan player named Jaime, and a tight British player who I had played with in some EPT's a while back.
During 50/100 blinds, I limped 55 utg. 4 other players, as well as both the blinds came along, and we had a 7 way pot. The flop came T52 rainbow. It checked to me, I checked, and an early position limper bet out 700. He was an older guy that seemed well to do, but clearly wasn't an experienced poker player. My Venezuelan friend Jaime check raised to 1700 from one of the blinds. I smooth called, which definitely gives away the strength of my hand, but I thought I could milk the early position player, and maybe stack him off with a hand as weak as AT. He reraised about half his stack, and Jaime folded what he later claimed to be 52 (and I believe him). EP was pretty committed at this point, so I just moved all-in, and he called with AA. The turn and river blanked, and I was up to 21,000 chips very early on. I had 24,000 by the first break, and was looking forward to a good tournament to come. I later found out that the older guy I busted was Bob Stupak who is literally a billionaire that once owned the Stratosphere Casino.
I had an unfortunate hand against Gene Todd to my left. Long story short, I called from the SB with 83s, called a turn bet with an open ended straight draw. On the river, I made my straight. The board was J7654. I bet out, and Gene raised a few thousand more. I called, and he showed 98 for the nuts. There's not really much I could have done about that.
During 100/200 blinds, it folded to the tight player I recognized from the EPT (TP-EPT). He called. I looked down and saw TT. I raised to 600, and he limp-reraised me to 2600. I thought for a minute, and decided to call. The flop came 952 rainbow. He bet out 3500. I had about 15000 left to play with after the flop.
So far, the TP-EPT has been playing pretty loose and aggressively, but it's still early on. I have played with him several times in the past, so I knew he wasn't the type of player to get out of line or bluff, so I just assumed he had been getting some pretty good cards. I decided, given our past history, that he most likely deserved credit for AA or KK here. It's also one of those spots where I have to be much more than 50% sure I'm correct in order to continue with the hand, because if I move in and he folds, I only win what�s in the pot, but if I move all-in and he beats me, I lose my entire stack. Given all that, I decided to fold.
Later, I talked with TP-EPT and discovered something odd. He no longer had a British accent. I said something to the effect of, "we played together in Deauville, right?" Nope. He said he knew my name from online. Uh oh. Turns out he wasn't the guy I thought he was. I felt like an idiot to say the least. I asked him what he had, and he said AK. Doh! I would have played a lot differently vs. him if I hadn't mistaken him for TP-EPT, but there's really not much I could have done about it. I suppose I could have talked to him a bit at the table, but to be honest, it never once crossed my mind that it could possibly NOT be him. I swear they look exactly alike. I think he ended up making the final table.
Towards the end of 100/200 blinds, I got moved to a new table in the main room. I took one look at the table, and could instantly tell it was a very soft table full of internet players. I was very happy to be there. Over the next few hours, my cards were pretty cold, and the blinds were going up very fast. I called a bunch of raises with small pocket pairs in multi-way pots, but never flopped anything. There was one hand where I called a raise with AQo, and the flop came QJ5. I don't remember the details of the hand, but I was up against JJ. I played the hand in a manner where I didn't risk all my chips, and it "worked" pretty well. My opponent had me covered, but despite having a huge hand on the river (board was something like QJ755 on the river), he simply called my small riverbet. I had checkraised a small amount on the turn, so I guess he was worried that I may have been slowplaying QQ. I was happy with the way I played the hand, because I sensed his strength, and found a line where I didn't lose all my chips, but still got to see a showdown.
I had roughly 4-5k after the hand, and after a couple of orbits, I was down to 2700 chips. It was only a couple minutes before the dinner break, and I was thinking to myself, "well this is great. Three consecutive years in Aruba, and I'm not gonna make the dinner break once." Blinds were 200/400, and a player in MP opened to 1200. I had 55 in LP, and decided to push all-in. The pot was pretty big with the antes and blinds, so I was happy to play a coinflip in that spot. He called, flipped over AJo, and somehow my hand help up despite the flop coming QT9.
Two hands later, i got KK and it folded to me in middle position. I opened for 1200, and the button moved all-in (he had me slightly covered). The time ran out on the clock, so everyone left the room for the dinner break while the big blind went into the tank. He thought for 3 or 4 minutes before folding. I tried to look as disinterested as possible; as if I already knew I was folding and just wanted to go to dinner. It didn't work. The BB folded. I called the all-in, and the button showed K7s. My hand held up, and I was somehow up to 14,000 chips, despite being at 2,700 chips 3 hands ago. I made the dinner break!
As a tournament player, one of the things I pride myself in is my ability to adjust to different tables. I am capable of playing a very tight game, as well as a very loose aggressive game, and I know exactly when each style is needed. This was a table where I needed a very tight game, for several reasons. Most of the players at the table were pretty loose, and I couldn't count on them to make any laydowns. Jean Robert-Bellande was two seats to my right, and was playing his usual loose aggressive game. I had a history with him, and knew that he loved to make thin calls vs me. He also has the idea in his head that because he is so loose, people would be reraising him a lot (somewhat correct), and therefore, he had to make very loose calls when people did this (incorrect). To further make things tough on me, Joe Sebok was playing a semi-short stack to my left, and wasn't afraid to move all-in. All of this basically meant that I had very little fold equity on any of my hands. I could only play hands for value, and this meant waiting for cards.
It seemed like they would never come, but they finally did. I was at about 22,000 chips when Jean Bellande opened for 2,500 UTG. I cold called UTG+2 with AA. The flop came KJ5 two-tone. Bobby checked. I know Bobby prides himself in his reads, so I thought back to when I was a beginning live player, and sent him a couple of reverse tells. I didn't stop and think about the pot size. Instead, I reached for a few chips and kind of fired them into the pot without letting much time to pass. Turns out I pulled out 4,500 chips. He called after a few seconds. The turn was an off suit deuce. Bobby checked, and I instantly said, "all-in" trying to make it seem like I was bluffing. It worked. He instantly called me and flipped over K7s (no flush draw). The river blanked, and I was up to about 45,000 chips.
I played a few more pots against Jean Robert, and I definitely got the best of him. I flopped a set of eights against him (although I only got 1 bet out of him), and later called a raise preflop with T9s, and then raised him all-in on the QJ5 flop, and he folded. There were around 30 minutes left in the day when our table broke, and I was extremely happy to be at 65,000 chips after being as low as 2,700.
I got moved to a new table, and made another "play" I like to make. When people are distracted, they generally don't mess around. The biggest example is if someone orders food. When their food gets there, they generally tighten up so they have time to eat. I like to do the opposite. At this table, I was busy unracking my 2 racks of chips, and stacking them up as my first hand was dealt. I got A7s in early postion (default play in this spot is to just fold), and I raised and took down the blinds.
Two hands later, the tournament director announced we would turn the clock off, and finish the day with 6 more hands at each table to prevent stalling. I despise stalling, so I liked that idea, although I would have liked to have played more hands (the number 6 was randomly chosen). With two hands left, it folded to me in the small blind. Blinds were 600/1200, and I knew just by looking at him that the player in the big blind was tight. I eyed his stack and he had around 9 big blinds. I had 64o, so when it folded to me, I made the only play I know how to make in that spot. All-in! The BB thought for around 25 seconds before deciding to "risk-it" and call with AKo (a hand that deserves an insta-call against me in that spot). Turns out my vision failed me for the second time in the tournament, as he actually had roughly 15 big blinds (although if he has to think there with AKo, my play is still good in hindsight). I lost the hand, and finished the day with 49,100 chips. Average stack was around 36,000, so I was very happy to be that high.
My table seating for day two was rough, but it was table 14 and there were only 150 some players left, so it wouldn't last long. The chip leader was a few seats to my right. Johnny Bax was directly to my right. And for the second time, Joe Sebok was to my left. I stole a blind or two before the only real hand I played at this table. Unfortunately I don't remember the betting amounts in the hand. The chip leader opened in the cutoff for about 3x the big blind. I had A8s in the BB and decided to call. The flop came TT9 and we both checked. The turn was a deuce. I checked, the chip leader bet, and I called. The river was a seven. I checked, the chip leader bet again (I think the river bet was for 15,000). I called with ace high, and my hand was good.
I have a very good ability to look at players and tell how they are going to play. This guy was a young chip leader which almost always means loose aggressive and tricky. I didn't have some amazing tell, and I didn't know for sure that my ace high was good, but his line didn't seem to make sense. If he had a bigger ace, he would just check behind on the river since his hand would have showdown value. It was possible he had a ten and was playing it slow, but I thought it was a lot more likely he missed the flop and he checked behind to avoid a check raise.
The table broke shortly after that.
My next table was an amazing table for me. Everyone was playing scared money, and I ran over the table. I raised about 4 hands every orbit, and took down the blinds a very high percentage of the time. The blinds and antes were big at this point, so it didn't take me much time to chip up to 125,000 chips without a real showdown. Unfortunately, as time passed, a few good players got moved to my table. For the 3rd time, Joe Sebok was directly on my left. A big stack was moved two seats to his left, and I was a bit worried about him.
Turns out I had reason to be worried about the big stack. I was making it obvious that I was running over the table, and he was smart enough to play back at me. He reraised me a few times, and I was certainly a profitable player for him to play against. I didn't let it stop me, because even though he was turning a profit, everyone else was getting their blinds pillaged.
I raised T9o to 5500 from late position, and the big stack in the small blind reraised me. I called sine I was in position, and I knew he had been reraising me light. The flop came down J72, and my opponent went into the tank. He stared me down, and I can't help but laugh when someone tries to get a read on me by looking into my eyes. I sat there for like 4 minutes and was wondering what was taking him so long. I looked at the dealer, "Did he check?" As it turned out, the button was misplaced and I looked like a giant donkey. The action was on me the entire time, and I was actually out of position. I checked, he bet, and I would normally consider a big raise there, but I had already messed things up by making an ass of myself that I didn't really want to make a play in that spot.
The big stack and I introduced ourselves to each other. His name was Chris and it turns out he had given me a huge beat online in the Poker Stars Sunday tournament. It was down to two or three tables, and I got my AA all-in vs his AQo. Winner of the pot would be a huge chip leader, but he sucked out on me as more than a 10-1 underdog.
My stack was fluctuating a lot, but even after that hand, i still had roughly 125,000 chips, which was more than double average. At one point I raised Q7s in EP, and a short stack raised all-in. I was pot committed, so I called, and lost to his AJo.
A few hands later, a medium stack to my right open raised to 7500, and I called on the button with A8s. We were getting somewhat close to the bubble, and he didn't seem like the type of guy to risk his chips without much, so I was planning on "outplaying him" after the flop. The flop came Q88. He open shoved into me for around 55,000. Obviously I insta-called with my trips, and was happy to see him flip over jacks. However, I was not quite as happy to see the jack on the river. I was down to around 40,000 chips after that.
I chipped up to around 65,000 chips with the same loose-aggressive style I had been playing before. I tried to neutralize Chris' reraising by doing something I very rarely do. I started open limping hands in late position. I was still able to take small stabs after the flop, so it accomplished the same thing, without risking as much preflop. It had the double effect of him giving my actual raises more respect than before.
During 1200/2400 blinds, Joe Sebok raised UTG to 7500. Two players called his raise. I had KK in the big blind, and I shoved all-in. Joe called me, and the other two players folded.
The flop came AK4, and for a split second, I had processed the ace on the flop without processing the king. I went into shock for a short instant. The turn was a 7, and I was looking to take down a nearly 150k pot.
Joe Sebok must have a lot of Barry Greenstein in him, despite not being biologically related, because the title of his father's book reared its ugly head at the worst possible time. Ace on the river. Just like that, Joe Sebok�s AK filled up, and I was out of the tournament in 62nd place (50 people moneyed)
Overall, I'm extremely happy with my play. My cards weren't particularly great. Most of my chips came from using my big stack to run over the table. At the same time, most of my chips were lost in two big suck outs.
I really feel invigorated to play every tournament I can possible play after this. I know I am capable of taking down some major tournaments if I can manage to run reasonably well. More so than anything else, I have one skill that I find very few players have. I am capable of playing a very tight game, and a very loose game, and I know exactly when to use both. Most players fall into the trap of developing a single style, and sticking with it, but they aren't able to take advantage of every profitable situation if they can only play one style.
At the same time, I do recognize some minor leaks in my game that are mostly due to the fact that I've only played 10-15 live tournaments. I really do feel like I can be one of the best tournament players in the world once I get some more experience under my belt. Expect to see me at some final tables in the near future.
-thanks for reading
� Justin Bonomo
