This happened.
A longer post will follow, but for now I’ll just say I’m thrilled, relieved, and in utter disbelief.
-
08Jun
-
02Jun
It’s finally here, and I’m here along with it. After playing an abbreviated schedule at last year’s WSOP, I’ve really been building up anticipation for the 2010 version for quire some time–a year in fact! And I love that there are so many smaller buy-in events this time. The schedule should set up well for some good money-making opportunities. Here’s hoping I can take advantage.
I start later today with Event 8, a $1,500 No Limit Hold ‘Em tournament that’s sure to get a ton of runners. Just the way I like it. The plan is to round into form over the next month, winning some money along the way, and to be in prime shape for the Main Event next month. I’d love if this plan actually worked. And if it doesn’t, that’s why I keep up on a lot of interests outside of poker.
But right now, poker is center stage. Keep up with my progress on twitter if you’re keenly interested in getting chip count updates every break.
-
02Jun
You may have noticed that the World Series of Poker has started. You may or may not have noticed that I am not there. Let me explain. I’m getting married next weekend, and since I really can only do about half a WSOP without getting burnout anyway, I decided to only play the second half of the WSOP this year. Rest assured, once I’m there I’ll be updating routinely in this space, as well as (God help us all) twittering updates as I play.
In the meantime, when I’m not doing wedding prep I’ve been trying to brush up on some of the games I don’t know as well. If I can manage to get up to speed on those games before I get to Vegas, then here is my likely schedule of events (subject to change, of course):
6/19: $2,000 Limit Hold ‘Em - Event 38
6/20: $1,500 No Limit Hold ‘Em - Event 39
6/21: $2,500 Mixed Games - Event 42
6/22: $2,500 Razz - Event 44
6/24: $2,500 Mixed Hold ‘Em - Event 47
6/25: $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha 8/b - Event 48
6/26: $1,500 Limit Hold ‘Em Shootout - Event 50
6/27: $1,500 No Limit Hold ‘Em - Event 51
6/28: $3,000 Triple Chance No Limit Hold ‘Em (whatever that means) - Event 52
6/29: $1,500 No Limit Hold ‘Em - Event 54
$10,000 No Limit Hold ‘Em Main Event - 57If I’m running good I may also throw in the $5,000 6-max NLHE event, but I expect that to be a very tough field, and will probably skip it. And of course, making a few Day Twos would cut down on the schedule somewhat. Just think, I could go 0-for-11 and still be $10,000 ahead of everyone who played Event 2 and didn’t cash!
Good luck to everyone already at the WSOP. Try to still have some money left when I get out there…
-
06Oct
After I’d had a roller coaster Day One, Days Two through Four were relatively smooth sailing, with nice upward trends throughout. Day Five was back to the roller coaster.
I got involved in a big pot early when an obviously knowledgable player opened on the button, and I reraised from the small blind with AJo. The big blind folded, but then the button moved all-in for about 300k more. I started thinking about it, but I was getting around 1.9-1 and “call” was the favorite from the beginning. I did end up calling, and my opponent said “good call” and tabled QJs. Someone at the table called this the “best call he’d ever seen,” but really it was a pretty standard call for me, and I routinely call for worse prices with less. Unfortunately my opponent hit a flush on the river and I got knocked down significantly from my starting stack of 1.126 million.
I was at about 700k or so going into the last hand before the first break. The “best call” guy opened from early position. He got one caller, and I called in the big blind closing the action with 75o. The flop came 752 rainbow. I checked and the raiser bet 50k. The other player folded, and I made it 160k. My opponent called, at which point I put him on a big overpair–one I didn’t think he would fold. The turn brought a six, two-suited to the board. I bet 250k, and my opponent announced “all-in” for 506k total. Obviously I was a little more worried at this point, but equally obviously I couldn’t fold getting 4.5-1 when I still thought there was a very good chance my opponent had aces or kings, so I called. Surprising pretty much everyone at the table, my opponent rolled over 87s (he hadn’t turned a flush draw). The river bricked out and I was suddenly back up to 1.468 million.
I got moved to a new table and got to tangle a little with an old buddy of mine–Phil Hellmuth. If you’ve never played with him, Phil is as big a pain to play against as you’d expect, and he’s doubly difficult once everyone is in the money (as we were), because at that point no one is allowed to wear headphones. Lord did I miss my headphones on Days Four-Six, but especially at this particular table against Phil. Phil got to the table and started shaking everyone’s hand. He got to my seat, and I was in the process of raising my button. “Play your hand, Matt,” he said. “Thanks Phil,” I said, almost inaudibly. I finished my blind steal, shook Phil’s hand, and then I don’t remember him being friendly to me again. I opened in early position with two sevens, and Phil called in middle position. The rest folded. The flop came 422 and I bet. “You know what I have, right?” Phil said. At that point, I pretty much knew he was folding. He showed two fives and laid it down. I showed him my hand, which might’ve been a mistake. A few hands later, Phil opened from the hijack on my big blind, the rest folded, and I reraised with ATo. He showed A8 and gave a long speech about how everyone always played back at him. He then folded. I showed him an ace, which only convinced him that he’d laid down the best hand. A bit later, I raised in middle position with JJ, and only Phil called in the small blind. The flop came TT7 and Phil led out small–only about a quarter of the pot or so. I raised to about four times his bet. He said, “OK, I’m gonna try to blast you off those nines. Raise it up.” This was one of those spots where I could beat a bluff but not a value raise, and had almost no outs if I was behind. I was going to move-in or fold right then and there. I strongly felt that Phil had trips, and I’d been going with my reads for several weeks at that point. So I went with my read again and folded. Phil didn’t show his cards, but he did say, “I’m only 90 percent sure I had the best hand,” whatever that means. Soon our table broke, and I was thrilled. One of Phil’s greatest strengths is his pyschological warfare, and I didn’t think I’d handled it all that well. Live and learn.
In one of my first hands at my new table, I got AA UTG, and was ecstatic when the guy to my immediate left put in a big reraise. I moved all-in when it got back to me, and he called like a shot with pocket queens. The board didn’t dare insult me, and I went to the dinner break with about 1.7 million in chips.
After dinner, the following things happened:
1) I played an unraised pot with 76s, flopped two pair and busted the guy who got it all-in with his flush draw.
2) I folded two pair–aces up–in a freakin blind-on-blind situation, after I bet the river and my opponent raised. The flush had come in, I viewed my opponent as very tight/solid, I could only beat a bluff, and I just didn’t think he had the “all-in bluff-raise against a guy who has me covered” in him. I still think I made a good fold, but if I had to pick one hand from my career where I could somehow magically find out what my opponent had, this would be the hand.
3) I got it all-in blind-on-blind with top pair-queen kicker vs. top pair-ace kicker, against a player who clearly could’ve had a hand worse than mine.
4) I raised from the hijack, and Ylon Schwartz moved in on the button for 389k total. I called getting about 1.9-1 with KQ, and Ylon showed AT. The ace on the flop made things not so interesting and Ylon doubled up. In case you haven’t noticed, Ylon has yet to bust from this event.After that crazy last level, I still managed to have 766,000 going into Day Six. This was well below average, and represented a stack size of only about 25 blinds. But I still had a positive frame of mind, and thought I had a great chance to do some damage with only 79 players remaining.
It wasn’t meant to be. After blinding and anteing off a bunch of chips, I was down to only 20 blinds when a player opened for 100k on the hijack. This player and I had been talking about Australia, where he’s from, and stoxpoker.com, the site I coach for, as he was throwing in his raise. It folded to me on the button with A7o, and I thought I had a wonderful restealing opportunity, and so I moved all-in. It folded back to the raiser who said, “I have a pair, do you have a pair?” I didn’t say anything (I never do) and he thought about it for a while before finally announcing, “call.” I said, “I guess I need to hit an ace.” But it turned out I needed to hit either an ace or a seven, as my opponent had made a gutsy call with pocket threes. After the hands got rolled over and we waited for the cameras, we resumed our conversation about Australia and Stox. Did I mention this was the same guy who slowrolled me on Day Four? I told you I didn’t hold a grudge. The flop paired high, and I had a whole bunch of outs going into the river. In fact someone said, “he has a whole bunch of outs.” The cameras were in my way and I couldn’t even see the river card, but I had a feeling it was bad when the same guy then said, “that’s not one of ‘em.” I looked over and confirmed that my fate had been sealed, shook my opponent’s hand, and headed for the payout room. Hours later I was on a plane back to New York.
I hope you all enjoyed reliving my WSOP run with me. Now it’s time to move back to the present. I’m playing the North American World Poker Tournament this weekend (assuming it hasn’t sold out or something), and will do my best to update my progress both here and on FTSweat. Best of luck to everyone playing poker this week.
-
29Sep
Day Four started with 474 players, which made the average chip count 288,776. Bearing that in mind, here’s the table I drew:
B01-1: Matt Matros - 822,500
B01-2: Mitchell Smith - 332,500
B01-3: Frank Chimienti - 175,000
B01-4: Denny Lee - 162,000
B01-5: Brian Hansen - 634,500
B01-6: Helge Pedersen - 517,000
B01-7: Eric Tom - 218,500
B01-8: Alan Jaffray - 908,500
B01-9: David Saab - 321,500Five of my eight opponents were above average, no one was short, and one of only 13 people in the tournament with more chips than I had been drawn to my table. That was bad, but it got much worse when the 2 and 3 seats busted and were replaced with David Benefield (on my immediate left) and James McManus (not the writer, a different guy), another tough player, both of whom had very large stacks. A reporter mumbled that our table had more chips than any other table in the tournament.
I thought it would be tough sledding, and I was right. The entire table, it seemed, was tough and aggressive. I played a bunch of difficult hands, but two were especially memorable. With blinds of 2500-5000 and a 500 ante, I opened for 15k with AJo in the hijack. Only the big blind, an aggressive player I’d played with a little on an earlier day, called. The flop came J86 rainbow. My opponent checked and I bet 21,000. He check-raised to 58,000. I had a pretty big hand for the situation, so I called, planning to call again on the turn and possibly the river. The turn was a deuce, bringing a backdoor flush draw, and my opponent surprised me by checking. I thought my opponent would’ve check-raised the flop for value with many worse hands than mine (worse jacks, middle pairs, etc.) and that he was probably planning to call a turn bet with them. I bet 85,000 for value. My opponent check-raised 105,000 more to a total of 190,000. Now I was in a very odd spot. I don’t like to value bet and then fold to a raise, but I’ll certainly do it with the worst hands in my value betting range. But something about the big blind’s story didn’t completely add up. Obviously I didn’t give him an overpair without a preflop reraise. He could’ve flopped two pair, but it would be strange for him to check the turn with such a vulnerable hand, and stranger still to make the small check-raise. I thought he either had a set or was bluffing/semi-bluffing. With this read, and knowing my opponent was aggressive, and getting 4-1 on my money, I decided I couldn’t justify a fold. I called, waiting to see what he did on the river. The river brought a five, and my opponent bet 210,000 into the 530,000 pot. I hated the river card. I thought my opponent’s most likely semibluffing hand was a straight draw, and 79 got there on the river. To be fair, 9T was still no good, and the backdoor flush draw hadn’t got there. I was now getting about 3.5-1 on my money, but of course my opponent’s most likely hand, based on the action, was a set. I took a long time and was legitimately on the fence about this river decision. When I’m that close on a decision, I usually go with my instincts. My instincts at the table, at that moment, were that my hand was good often enough to justify a call. I didn’t care about “maintaining my chip position,” or about “losing a big pot with one pair,” or anything else. I only cared about making the most positive-EV decision I could with the information I had. I called. My opponent said, “good call” and rolled over ATo for a complete bluff. I have to credit him with a hell of play that really almost worked. After the hand, I had about 1.2 million in chips.
The second memorable hand was a button vs. small blind confrontation. With blinds of 3000-6000 and a 1k ante, the button opened for 18k. I made it 60k in the small blind with pocket threes. The big blind folded and the button called. The flop came A54 with two diamonds. I bet 85,000, my opponent called. I thought his most likely hands were a medium ace or a flush draw. The turn brought an offsuit six. Picking up the open-ender, I decided to fire another semibluff. I bet 175,000, and my opponent called again. At this point I no longer gave him a flush draw, and thought it unlikely that he had even a medium ace. Now I had him on AK or AQ. The river paired the six. I thought this was a bad card to try to bet. If he had what I thought he had, he would be unlikely to fold after the board paired and none of the draws came in. I checked, giving up. My opponent thought for a while, and eventually checked behind me. “You must win,” I said. “No,” he said, “you win.” I rolled over my hand. Let me repeat that. I ROLLED OVER MY HAND. He said, “that wins.” I looked over at David Benefield (we’d sort of become friends over the past few hours) in shock. But then my opponent said, “oh wait, do I win?” At that point I knew I’d been slowrolled. He turned over 8d5d. He’d flopped a pair and a flush draw, turned a gutshot to go with it, and somewhere along the way forgot that a pair of fives beat a pair of threes. I never get upset at anybody, but when he tried to explain what he’d done I said, “just shut up and take the pot.” A few minutes later he tried again and I said, “dude, I don’t want to talk to you anymore.” At that moment I thought I’d be mad at the guy forever (as you’ll see in a future update, it turns out I didn’t stay mad at him). I was down to 800k again.
How did I work my stack back up? No really, I don’t remember, how did I do it? Reading over old updates…ah yes, “Aces Again for Matros.” They don’t mention that I probably played them like an idiot. With blinds of 5k-10k with a 1k ante, the button (yes, same guy) opened for 30k and I made it 90k from the small blind. David Benefield called everything cold from the big blind. The button folded. The flop came J75 with two hearts. I bet 130,000. David called again. The turn brought an offsuit deuce. I checked, intending to induce a bluff. (I don’t remember if I was planning on check-calling or check-raising, sorry.) David checked right behind me. The river brought the eight of hearts. The flush draw and several straight draws came in, not to mention that 88 just made a set. I’d had David on queens or jacks preflop, and I still thought both those hands possible. Of course, I only beat one of them. If I bet and got raised, I would be in a very tough spot against a very tough player. And if I bet, would David even call with two queens? Probably, but possibly not. I didn’t think he’d call with tens or nines. And he was certainly tricky enough to have the nut flush (I had black aces) or even T9 or 69 for a straight. I decided to check and call. David checked right behind me again. My aces were good. We’ll never know how many bets I missed.
At that point I had about 1.1 million, and our table broke. I did mental cartwheels. Unfortunately I got moved to the slowest table in poker history. It took us about 20 minutes to play the final hand of the night. I’m not kidding. And the guy who had the “huge decision” was getting some enormous price and he had an overpair. I’m not kidding. I ended Day Four with 1,126,000.
This thing took longer than I thought it would to write, so Days Five and Six will have to wait for another post.
-
11Sep
Welcome one and all to the relaunch of mattmatros.com. Actually, it’s not so much a relaunch as it is a tweaking of the design, and a renewed effort to start posting again. As most of you probably noticed, I never could keep up with the various sections of the old site (the polls, math corner, essays, etc.), and even the journal suffered from periods of neglect like that of the last two months. So in the new iteration of the web site, I’m going to focus only on the journal—and I guess I should relent and call it what it is, a “blog.” I’d be happy to add more features, or even return to the old design if people demand it. But I’m hoping and guessing that y’all will like the new look better.
Way back when, I promised a longer post about my WSOP main event experience. That seems as good a topic as any with which to start the new blog, so here goes.
For those who don’t know, I finished 78th out of 6,844 entrants in this year’s Main Event at the World Series of Poker, busting early on Day Six as a short stack, after being in excellent chip position for most of the first five days. Where to start?
I’ll start from the beginning, or close to it. I lost just about every hand I played for the first three hours, and found myself down to about 6,600 from my starting stack of 20,000. To being working my way back, I gambled a little and slowplayed aces in a multi-way pot, and I’m pretty sure I earned a couple of extra bets because of it. That got me up to about 10k. Then the worst player at the table limped for 200, two others limped, and I checked my option in the big blind with 52o. The flop came Q75 rainbow. It checked to the limper who bet 200 into the 800 pot. It folded to me, and only because I thought this guy might do something silly if I hit my card, I called. The turn, of course, paired the five. I checked, and my opponent bet 600. I made it 2,000. He made it 4,000. I had been playing with this guy since the start, and I strongly felt that he had either aces or nothing. If nothing, I didn’t think I’d get any more money anyway, so I figured I might as well just get it all-in against aces right then and there. I moved in for about 4,800 more. My opponent tanked…and eventually called with K7o! Welcome to the WSOP main event, where you can actually get paid when your opponent has nothing. The river bricked and I was back to my starting stack.
Two hands later, the cutoff opened for 600 and I made it 1,800 from the button with AA. He called. The flop came KJ8 and he checked. I bet 2,500, and my opponent check-raised to 7,500. I was worried about king-jack and 88, but I thought there were enough ace-kings and king-queens in his range to justify calling the 5,000 more, and so I did. The turn paired the eight—a beautiful card. Now I was ahead of king-jack, and 88 was far less likely. There was still some chance of jacks full, but hey, you can’t have everything. My opponent checked and I moved all-in for about 11,000. He thought for a while, and eventually called with KQ. The river bricked out, and now I had about 40k.
The very next hand. I opened for 550 in the cutoff with AJo. The terrible player from the 52o hand called in the big blind. The flop came J-7-2 with two clubs. He checked, I bet 800, he made it 2,000, I called. The turn brought a six. He bet 4,000, I called. The river paired the six. He checked. I bet 6,500. He announced all-in, for about 7,000 more. I shrugged my shoulders and called. “You called?” he said—always a good sign. He rolled over QJ, and just like that he was out of the tournament, and I had gone from 6600 to over 60k in about 15 minutes.
The bad player got replaced by a good player, and the two players to my immediate left also eventually busted and were also replaced by good players. With murderer’s row behind me, I decided to just pack it in and play a very straightforward style for the rest of the day. I ended Day One with 66,475 in chips, well above average.
What the heck even happened on Days Two and Three? (Checking my FTSweat updates…) OK, I now remember my starting and finishing tables for both those days, and at least some of the key hands. Early on day two, I got dealt KK against JJ, and actually got unlucky when my super-tight opponent laid down his overpair on the flop to me, after I’d been very active up to that point, and after I’d been caught playing 94o (or something) specifically against him. I stole quite a few pots that day, but I can’t really remember any that stand out. I do remember that at the very end of the day, Brandon Cantu was to my immediate right. I’d never played with him before, and actually didn’t know who he was at the time. He’s the most aggressive player I’ve ever seen. There was a point where he literally opened every pot for about two orbits. You hear about that happening a lot, but I’ve never actually seen it—someone opening literally every hand. I reraised him twice. Once he mucked, and once he called, and called again on the 579 flop. I folded on the turn, and he later was dying to tell me that he eight-six and couldn’t believe his good luck. Whatever he had, I ended Day Two with 191,800.
Day Three was a thing of beauty. I snapped off another big stack’s bluff early on, and then was lucky enough to have AA against GBecks’s JJ and won a nice pot. I moved to another table, and continued to accumulate chips. The other big stack called one of my raises, and then check-called a ragged flop. He then told me during the break that he’d had ace-king suited, but didn’t want to mess with me. Oh man, he really shouldn’t have told me that. Later on I opened with some trashy hand (maybe like 97s or something) and the big stack who “didn’t want to mess with me” reraised. I called in position. The flop came AA4, and because of his earlier description of the AK hand, I felt I had to steal this pot. He bet the flop and I called. The turn brought a blank and he check-folded, claiming he had two tens. I told him I had an ace, and he said, “I told you I didn’t want to mess with you.”
I can’t even describe how good I ran on the bubble. I mean, of course I was playing very aggressively, but the sick thing was that I almost always had a hand. One poor sap got a decent-sized stack all-in with me during the hand-for-hand period with ace-king, and I happened to have pocket kings. You gotta feel for that guy. There was also the usual, a short stack open-raised from the small blind and then bet the ace-high flop, and I set him all-in from the big blind. He folded ace-jack face-up, not wanting to risk elimination. Another time a player folded ace-king face-up after I’d moved him in on the king-high, two-heart flop. I had the king-nine of hearts! When all was said and done, I had 838,500 when we hit the money, almost twice as much as I’d had a level earlier. I finished Day Three with 822,500.
That’s enough for now. Next post: Days Four-Six.
-
13Jul
Well, I’m finally out in 78th place on Day Six of the main event. I made every play I saw. I went with my read every time, whether it meant calling, raising, or folding. I focused every day. I left it all on the felt. (And yes, I got good cards. You have to, to make it that far.)
I’m heading home now. Thanks to everyone who’s been sweating me the past few days. In case you’re interested, the people to root for (assuming they’re still in) are right coasters Paul Snead and Victor Ramdin, and Stoxpoker guest coach Garrett Beckman. Good luck, boys. Wish I was still out there with you.
I promise some longer posts soon.
-
13Jul
I had a bad last level today, highlighted by a 1 million chip loss in a blind-on-blind pot with top pair vs. better top pair, and augmented by an 800k coin flip defeat. Also today, I lost a million chip pot as a 2.5-1 favorite, and a half million chip pot with 77 vs. 44 vs. 22. Despite all this, I also busted two different players, both times by flopping two small pair, and I was fortunate enough to get AA vs. QQ, so I’m still in this thing. I’m down to 766k, which is the smallest stack relative to the blinds that I’ve had in the entire event. That said, I still have 25 blinds, which at this stage of almost any other tournament would make me an average or even above stack. Besides, I’m better with a smaller stack anyway. Today wasn’t so good, but I’m thrilled to be in a position to have a shot. Tomorrow is a brand new day at the office. Wish me luck.
-
12Jul
They finally gave us some downtime in this tournament, so I’ll post a quick update here. As most everyone reading this probably knows, I’ve made it to Day Five. There are 189 people left, average stack is around 725,000, and I have 1,126,000. I’m pleased with my position, but there are a ton of great players left in the field, and I have very far to go before I can even sniff the big money. I’ve run really good so far. I can’t believe the number of times I’ve been dealt aces or kings in my last two tournaments.
A few corrections for those who read about some hands in the updates. As far as I know, they wrote about three hands that I played, so it’s about right that I need to correct the write-ups for two of them.
On the AJ hand where I called 210k on the river, my opponent did not have A8 for second pair. He had AT for ace-high.
On the 33 hand, it didn’t “appear” that my opponent slowrolled. He slowrolled. I turned over my hand, he said, “that wins” and then said a few seconds later said, “oh wait.” That’s the definition of slowrolling. I never get pissed at anyone at a poker table, but when you slowroll me in a 650k pot in the main event of the WSOP, you go on my permanent shit list.
Anyway, it’s back to work tomorrow. My Day Four opponents were, by miles, the toughest opponents I’ve faced so far. I only expect it to get worse from here. Wish me luck.
-
09Jul
I’m sorry I’ve been silent in this space since my final table. To be perfectly honest, I’ve never been more exhausted in my entire life than I was after those six straight days of long hours of poker that culminated with my sixth-place finish in event 51. I rested for two days before I had to play the main event, but I hadn’t totally recovered and felt feverish and dead-tired through most of Day 1C.
The good news is I’ve had three days off since then, and I’ve been sleeping a ton, and I finally feel great. I go into Day 2B today with 66,475 in chips, safely above average, for now. That could, of course, change in an instant.
I’ll be updating my chip stacks on FTSweat, and I promise a long WSOP post when I eventually get finished out here. For now, I’m just trying to focus on my routine, and my game. Wish me luck.
Recent Comments