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Matt Blogs the WSOP: A Big Thank You
Thursday, July 03, 2008 Thanks to everyone who rooted me on and sweated me at my final table. I'll write more later, but I'm extremely pleased with the way I focused throughout this tournament, with the way I went through each decision carefully, and with how I wasn't bothered by any of the final table microphone and camera nonsense. Obviously I was hoping for a better result, but I really think I did my job as best I could. Let's hope I've got one more deep run left in me, and let's hope it starts this weekend (Saturday, to be precise). Matt Blogs the WSOP: $1500 NLHE Updated Update Wednesday, July 02, 2008 Yeah, I made the final table. You might be able to watch on ESPN360 tomorrow. I'm going to sleep now for a bit. Matt Blogs the WSOP: Didn't We Just Do This? Tuesday, July 01, 2008 I thought I was playing a Limit Hold 'Em shootout today. Turned out I had my dates mixed up and I was registered for yet another $1500 No Limit Hold 'Em event with 2,700 people. Well, I'm in the money again, and again I have above average chips going into Day Two (41.8K). I'm not in nearly as good a position as I was last time, when I had 113.6K at the end of day one, but you can't ask for much more than to have above-average chips going into the second day of a tournament. I'm going to try to run up my stack tomorrow and give myself a chance at the final table. Wish me luck. Matt Blogs the WSOP: Out of $1500 NL Monday, June 30, 2008 I got it to 160k after only a few hands today, but unfortunately that was the highest my stack ever got. With five or six tables left I doubled through Men Nguyen by running JT through his AK, but he eventually got more than even for that suckout. With four tables left, Men moved in for three blinds and got called. I isolated with AQs and the caller folded. Men had A9o and won. A few hands later, Men moved in on my big blind for 104k (ten blinds) and I called with 55. Men had T4s and won. Down to less than two blinds, I got it all-in blind-on-blind on the next hand with 75o vs. 74o. I lost. Though the end was pretty disappointing, I'm glad I made another run and gave myself another chance. Also, I almost got even for WSOP events with this mini-score. Almost. Also, I'm almost talking myself into playing more of the tournament circuit again after this month out here. Almost. Tomorrow: Limit Hold 'Em Shootout Matt Blogs the WSOP: $2000 and $1500 NLHE Update Sunday, June 29, 2008 I played the $2,000 No Limit event on Friday and didn't last very long. I played a bunch of hands in the first hour, didn't win any of them, and lost half my stack. Then I got the rest in with AA vs. QJ on a board of QT8 and lost. After busting, I went over to the Bellagio to play their $2,000 No Limit event. That didn't go any better. I won a coin flip to almost double my starting chips, but then later on I tried a resteal with T9o, ran into AK, and lost the showdown. The good news is that I accumulated a bunch of chips in Saturday's WSOP event--the $1,500 No Limit. I have about three times average (113,600) heading into Day Two. Wish me luck. Matt Blogs the WSOP: Two More Events Tuesday, June 24, 2008 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. Matt Blogs the WSOP: $2,000 Pot Limit Hold 'Em, Close But No Cigar Saturday, June 21, 2008 I finished 71st out of 605 starters in the $2k Pot Limit today. 63 were paid. Overall I was pretty pleased with my play, minus a few very subtle spots where I could've taken a slightly more aggressive line. I lost two big coin flips when we got close to the money and they pretty much did me in. It's frustrating to play for 12 hours, make no money, and then have to go right back to it with a measly starting stack in the next tournament 12 hours later. But that's the nature of the beast, and if you play to win, you're going to have a lot of bubble-ish finishes. Next: $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em (yes, there's another one of these already)  September 2004 | October 2004 | December 2004 | January 2005 | February 2005 | March 2005 | April 2005 | May 2005 | June 2005 | July 2005 | August 2005 | September 2005 | October 2005 | November 2005 | December 2005 | January 2006 | February 2006 | March 2006 | April 2006 | May 2006 | June 2006 | July 2006 | August 2006 | September 2006 | October 2006 | December 2006 | January 2007 | April 2007 | May 2007 | June 2007 | July 2007 | October 2007 | January 2008 | February 2008 | March 2008 | April 2008 | May 2008 | June 2008 | July 2008 | |
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