Down to 79

I survived the day and we are now down to 79 players. I had an up and down day, getting my stack up to a peak of 2.7 million early, but I unfortunately ended the night on a big down swing finishing with 1.593 million. The average stack is right around 1.75 million, so my stack is still totally healthy, and it's like starting a whole new tournament today with essentially an average stack.

I built my stack early cracking a short stack with AA, making a 3rd raise preflop with KK, and then picking off smaller pots with well-timed aggression. I also flopped a full house against Victor Ramdin, holding 44 on a 994 board. I led for 100k on the flop and he quickly called. I checked the 10d turn and when Victor checked behind I was pretty sure he had either 77 or 88 and I knew that I was getting looked up on the river. The river was a 2 and I decided to overbet for value, making it 375k to go, and Victor insta-called (claiming he had QQ). Thirty minutes or so later, I took an identical line against him with 33 on a J104 (two hearts), 6c, Kh board and he mucked on the river (I was pretty sure he was trying to call me down light based on his call on the flop, and the river was a great card to bluff as hearts, AQ, and even AK got there, and he knew that I would play a flopped set the same way).

And then things starting moving in the wrong direction. I lost all the chips I had gained on the day (and a bit more) in three contested pots. The first, I reraised a fairly loose player with AdQd from the button. He made it 65k to go and I repopped to 205k. He called and the flop came down KJ4 rainbow. He checked and I thought about checking behind and giving up, but I couldn't tell how strong he was, so I decided to fire a cb instead, and led for 300k. He called and now I had completely given up on the hand unless I spiked a 10. The turn and river were blanks and the action went check check and he showed AJ (such a terrible call preflop out of position). Pretty unlucky flop for me as he can literally only win the hand by flopping a J, but the hand ended up costing me about half a million.

The second hand I badly misplayed. I raised from the cutoff with KsQs and a loose/aggressive Russian player called from the big blind. The flop came down 9d,4s,2c and he checked to me. I typically cb here, but because I raised from the cutoff I looked weak and didn't want to get check raised off the best hand, and I knew that he was very capable of check raising me here with air. I checked behind and the turn looked like a good card for me, the 10s, giving me a gut shot and a back door flush draw. My opponent led for 100k and I decided just to call, figuring a J,Q,K or spade were all good enough for me on the river. The river was a blank and he checked to me. I almost checked behind (knowing that was the right play), but the 350k pot was too enticing so I tried a value bet bluff and led out 150k on the river. My opponent called with Q10, which was a frustrating hand to see, because I could have taken the pot down with a cb on the flop, and because he spiked his three outer on the turn. Still, I played this hand very poorly.

The last pot I lost a lot of chips, but it could have been much worse. I had KK heads up in a raised pot and I led the flop for 100k on a board of 8d,7c,4h. I was hoping to get raised so that I could stick it in on the flop, but instead my opponent smooth called. The turn was the 6c, which looked harmless enough, and I led again for 250k. This time, my opponent shoved all-in for 1.1 million total. I tanked for a couple of minutes, but staring at the kid, I knew for sure he was not making a move. The cameras were there and this was not the type of player who is capable of making a bet like this with 8c9c or something. I mucked and lost another 400k or so on the hand. My brothers Zachy and Danny (who surprised me by showing up yesterday), told me that they overheard the kid talking to his boys on the rail that he misplayed the hand and should have smooth called the turn and then he would have won the rest of my stack. Z thought he said he had 55, which makes sense. If he does smooth call the turn, I probably have to check call up to 500k on the river, so I'm glad he played the hand the way he did. Still, pretty annoying that he hit his gut shot on the turn.

Action starts up today at noon, which is in two hours. I got a good 6/7 hours of sleep last night, and I'm feeling good heading into today.