Saturday Night - Played MGM $80 nightly as a warm up and had a great first table where I was running over things and even successfully raised blind two hands in a row. I got moved and on the very first hand, I got it all in pre-flop with KK vs. 88 and and 8 hit the flop. I was down to 10bb and got knocked out a few orbits later. Oh well, shit happens.
Sunday - Played my first WSOP event of the year. I set a goal for myself 5 years ago to win a WSOP bracelet and this was my first shot. I went in to the event very confident and had a good table where I had a good read on how to beat everyone. Things were going well until I had to make a bunch of good laydowns. I kind of stalled and next thing you know I'm short stacked and I shove AK and lose a race to JJ. I obviously didn't like busting out, but I was fine with it as I feel I didn't pass up spots and made good decisions.
Sunday Night - Played the nightly $110 at Caesar's Palace and ended up winning it! We chopped it 4 ways, but I was the chip leader and got a little extra. There was a little over 100 players so that was good for $1,800. I played patient and finally got a double up that gave me enough chips to start running over the table. I abused the bubble and it felt great.
Monday - I decided to play the $120 Mega Stack event at Caesar's which ended up getting 680 players. It's a deep stacked event and I started off playing great and chipped up to about 35,000 from the initial 15,000 starting stack. I lost a pot with TT and was down a bit to about 31,500 and then had to make a big laydown with QQ. Two limpers and I raise QQ in the small blind. The big blind (who was a pretty tight player) calls, first limper folds and the button calls. The flop is a nice J45 rainbow. I bet, the bb calls and the button then raises. Normally you'd be happy to get it in with QQ here, but both of the players in the hand were tight old guys who were not capable of bluffing in a spot like this. I ended up folding and the button finally told me he had J5s! WTF? Either way, I'm happy I made a good decision and folded still having a decent stack. BUT...I then stalled and was in shove mode and lost JTs vs. AK. Again, I am very happy with my decisions and wouldn't change a thing about how I played.
Monday Night - The plan was to take a break from the pressure of escalating blinds and just grind out a cash session. We got to the Venetian and the first hand I play is AA. Once again I get into a spot where I have to fold an over pair. Long story short is an older guy donk leads into me on an KsQc8s board, I raise and someone else behind me shoves all in. Based on the strength showed in the hand before he acted, this was very likely a big hand and AA was no good. So again I show discipline and make what I think is a good laydown. This is probably the 5th or 6th big laydown I've had to make with top pair or an over pair. Unfortunately this time the guy shows....Js5s!!! What is it with J5? Regardless, I'm still happy with the fold and think I'm behind there enough where calling will be a losing play in the long run.
So that's where I am so far. I'm playing well and had a good result with the one win. I'm having to make some pretty tough laydowns, but I'm a good enough player to be able to make them. I am very confident that these are not spots where I'm nitting up and folding to pressure. My reads on these players were good and I was not folding because I was scared of losing a big pot or getting knocked out.
There's a lot of poker left to be played and I'm pumped to really win something big. I've played poker for 7 years now and it's my time to shine. It's my time to take it to the next level and accomplish the things I've been working my ass off for. I know that luck will prevail in the short-run and I have been a profitable player since I've been playing. But it's time for me to win something substantial. I have the confidence that I can do it and I'm ready. My next post will be celebrating a big win.
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