Friday, July 11, 2008

Survive and Advance

I survived Day 3 and we are now officially in the money. 666 players cashed from the 6,800+ starting field and we are now down to 479 players. I have 465,000 in chips heading into tomorrow, which is a bit above the average stack of ~300k.

I can't see straight right now and play starts tomorrow in 9 hours, but a few quick highlights from today:

High points:
1. Playing KK very well to extract maximum value from what I thought was QQ (actually JJ). I checked the flop and got paid nicely on the turn and river.
2. Big call with KdQd when a short stack reraised me all-in from the small blind. He had a large enough stack that I was not pot committed, but I was pretty sure he was on a move. I called and he showed 95. Nice when the best hands hold too.
3. 5 betting preflop with 9d10d and taking it down. The hijack, a super aggressive player, open raised to 6,000 and I made it 21,000 to go from the small blind. He then reraised 20,000 on top and I was absolutely sure that he was weak despite the 3rd raise. I then put in the 5th bet, raising another 100,000 or so and committing myself to the hand. He insta-mucked and I showed the 10 high, which paid huge dividends for me 6 hours later. He was literally talking to himself for a good half an hour afterwards, and it definitely showed the rest of the table that I was not someone to be bluffed.
4. Three levels later, the same player raised from the cutoff to 10,000. The small-blind called. I made it 45,000 to go from the big blind with JJ, intentionally overraising a bit to give the impression I was on a steal. The cutoff then insta-shoved for another 175,000. I took my time as I only had JJ, but the more I talked to and studied my opponent, I was sure I had the best hand. I called (I only had another 30,000 or so) and he flipped over 55. He had 6 outs heading to the river, but again, the best hand held up.

Low points:
1. Limping with KQ from the cutoff and then making a terrible cb on the turn after getting called on the flop.
2. Pretty pathetic bluff with ace high on the river against a calling station who looked me up with third pair.
3. Playing poorly for most of level 3. I just opened up my game too much as the bubble approached and it totally destroyed my image. I kept getting reraised and had to fold time after time. I bled from 250k down to 200 just by forcing the action and not letting things come to me.

Action starts up tomorrow at 1pm. This thing is a marathon, but just focusing on playing one hand at a time.

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