MATTMATROS.COM

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 78^th 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.