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Over the weekend I played two more short-stack events here at World Series of Poker 2008. The first was Saturday’s $1,500 No Limit Hold ‘Em event, featuring 2,700 of the finest (and not-so-finest) tournament players this side of the Mississippi. Early in the tournament I raised preflop with AA in the hijack and got two callers. The flop came QT2. I bet, and only the big blind called. The turn brought a jack and the big blind checked. I bet 825 and the big blind moved in for 750 more. I grudgingly called. He showed AQ. The river came king and we chopped.

I chipped up with a couple resteals, but then lost a showdown with A3s to 67s. By some miracle, I then ran T9o through AA to double up. I soon found myself in the final quarter of the field with a real shot to push further. Unfortunately, I reraised all-in with AQs, got called by 88, lost the race, and that was that.

On Sunday I played the $1,500 mixed Hold ‘Em event. The first thirty minutes, all Limit Hold ‘Em, went fine and I slightly increased my starting stack. Then we switched games. I opened for 75 in the cutoff (25-25) blinds with KQo, and the aggressive small blind (I say aggressive because he had raised the most during the limit round, and he had three-bet me once on the flop, only to end up folding on the river) made it 325 to go. I called. The flop came Q44. He bet 750, I thought about it and called. The turn brought a 7. He almost immediately moved in for 1525. I thought for a while and eventually called. He had AA. I thought after he moved in on the turn that there was probably about a 40-45 percent chance I had the best hand–far too much to fold getting 2.4-1 on my money. Down to 19 blinds, I got the rest of my chips in with the nut straight against a flush draw. I lost and that was that.

Some Best and Worst Plays…

Best Play From Me: In the $2k Pot Limit event, the button raised, and I defended my blind with J6s. The flop came Q74 and it went check-check. The turn brought a 5 and I led out for about 60 percent of the pot. The button called quickly. The river brought a nine and I fired 60 percent of the pot again. My opponent thought for a while, then showed 65o saying “I should’ve raised the turn” before mucking. I don’t always fire the second bullet when I should, and I did here because my opponent’s call on the turn really looked like a draw. So I was pleased with that.

Best Play From Others: Same event, getting near the money. The hijack raises, I call on the button with low suited gappers (I had my reasons), the small blind calls, and then the big blind raises the pot with QJo. This was a perfect spot for a squeeze, and the big blind recognized it, had a hand for it, and acted on it. As it turned out, he got called by the small blind’s TT and spiked a jack on the river.

Worst Play From Me: The KQ hand from above. Yes, all my decisions were reasonable, but I really didn’t have to call the reraise at all preflop. Sure my opponent had been aggressive in the limit round, but I should’ve read him for strength when he stuck in a big reraise in no limit.

Worse Play From Others: This isn’t the “worst” play necessarily, but the guy who made it should really know better, so I’ll call it the worst play. In the Pot Limit event, UTG opened for 900. A woman, playing tight, reraised to 3150 two seats from UTG+2, leaving herself 600 behind. David Singer then cold-called 3150 in the next seat. It folded around to the small blind, who decided to shove all his chips in with QQ. Now, I know queens are a big hand. But David Singer will literally never show you two jacks or ace-king in that spot, in my opinion. Even if he could have those hands (which I don’t think he can), you’re a dog to his range. Sitting at the table, queens seemed like an easy fold to me. The woman had kings, David had aces, and the queens spiked on the turn and won a monster pot.

I’m taking some time off now, and my next event will be the $2,000 No Limit on Friday. Wish me luck.