And I’m Off to Vegas토토
October 13, 2022 | by Crouse Linwood
I have some nice momentum going into the 1st토토Event starting Tuesday, which is exciting. But who knows what will happen. Any bad beat or boneheaded play can knock me out. So my only expectation will be to play well. I’ll be posting every day for my legions of fans (well maybe legions isn’t the right word, maybe it should be “tens of fans”. Of course that’s probably exaggerating somewhat too, so I’ll define “legions of fans” as “my mom, dad, and girlfriend”.)
You can also check up on all of the tournaments at CardPlayer.com. And for a concise and informative preview of the WSOP, check out this link from PokerNews.com.
Hopefully my next post will have some good news!
Yesterday was shaping up to be one of those days where nothing was going right. Losing with second best hands, getting pushed out of pots, and even losing twice when all the money went in as a 96% favorite. One time all the money went in after the turn when I held AA and my oponent held QQ. With one card to go, I was about a 96% favorite. But he caught one of his two outs on the river and scooped a huge pot. Another time I held 5-4 of hearts and my openent held Kh-7d. With a flop of 7h-6h-3s, I flopped a straight, a flush draw, and a straight flush draw. After all the money went in, somehow two hearts that weren’t 8h or 3h came on the board, giving my opponent a higher flush. Just one of those days. Way down. Pissed off. Probably not playing my best. So I decided to stay away from cash games where I can lose a lot and just play some tournaments. On PokerStars, I was already playing in a $55 NL tournament and a $3.30 plus rebuys tournament (yes I know $3 sounds cheap but with the rebuys and add-ons from everyone it can become a healthy prize pool). Then I saw that there was a $33 plus rebuy event for entry into the World Series main event. What the hell why not.
With 132 players, I figured there would only be one entry given out. And sure enough, at the end of the rebuy and add-on period, there were 147 rebuys and 67 add-ons, for a total prize pool of only $10,380. But PokerStars guaranteed a spot in the main event plus $1000, so the total prize pool was bumped up to $11,000. That meant that not only would there be only one entry given out, but also that only one place would receive anything at all. Even 2nd place would receive as much as 132nd place – $0.
In most rebuy events, there are players who will go all-in on virtually every hand during the first hour just to build up a big stack. Theoretically it makes perfect sense – you want a bigger stack than your opponents during the rebuy period, so that when the rebuy period is over, you have a better chance of making the big bucks. In Phil Gordon’s Little Green Book, he tells a story of Daniel Negreanu in a $1000 rebuy event at the WSOP rebuying 27 times! It must have worked though – Negreanu finished 3rd in that event which paid out over $100k. Unfortunately for me, I’ve never been able to bring myself to play that way even though there’s logic to it. I just can’t go back into my pocket every other hand. However, I have had success with rebuy events simply because after the rebuy and add-on period is over, there is much more play once the crazy period is over. That’s because in a normal tournament after the first hour is over, the average stack is about $3000 with blinds at $75/$150. In a rebuy, the average stack is probably about $9000 with blinds at $75/$150. So much more play which eliminates some of the luck element. Anyway, I ramble – back to the tournament at hand. What was surprising was that even though everyone knew that they had to play for first, no one was playing all-in all the time. I guess everyone had a set budget. Or maybe some people wanted to be like Moneymaker and say something like, “I only spent $33 to win $10M.”
So after the first hour, I was about 27th in chips with around 6700. I won a few nice pots, then managed to double up by flopping a set of deuces against the overpair of my opponent – he paid me down the whole way, and by scooping that pot I became the chip leader. After that I played very aggressively, picking on players I knew were scared to lose their chips. The lowest chip position I was in was 5th. When we got down to two tables, my loose play got me into some trouble against one particular player who was fed up with my raises and kept firing back at me. But my loose reputation came in handy when I was dealt A-A in the small blind. With no action in front of me, I raised the big blind, and since he was sick of my raises too, he fired back at me all-in – with K-4 offsuit. I instantly called, and with no help to him, I doubled up and was able to coast my way to the final table.
When we started the final table, I had 100,000 chips (about 18% of the total chips at the table) and was 2nd to a guy with 105,000 chips. With only one place paying out, I had to be super aggressive. And I was. With K-J offsuit under the gun, I made a standard raise. Everyone folded to the big blind, who was the same guy who kept reraising me earlier. He decided to call. The flop came out A-Q-T rainbow, giving me the nut straight – and he led out, overbetting the pot. Jackpot. I figured he had already pot-committed himself, so I moved all-in and he reluctantly called with Q-9 of hearts. The Kh came on the river, giving him a flush draw, but the river was a blank, and I managed to take a huge pot and knock out the 9th place finisher. After that, it was full speed ahead. I got lucky one time when I was pot committed holding K-4 against a short stack who held A-K. But when the flop came with a 4 and no help for him on the turn and river, he was eliminated too. Oops. I eliminated someone else when he moved all-in with 4-5 and I held A-A again. Then someone else in a race – I held 5-5 against his A-K. When it came down to three players, I had 350,000 chips to their 100,000 apiece. I was pretty lucky to knock out the 3rd place finisher. On the button, I raised with 6d-3d, and he called with A-7. The flop came out A-K-7 with two diamonds. He bet, and I pushed him all-in, which of course he immediately called. The turn was a blank, but the river was a 2d giving me the flush and sending his computer through the window. Then, after about 10 hands of heads-up play, I was dealt A-K and moved all-in. My opponent decided to take a chance with Q-T. But it wasn’t to be for him, and I won the tournament and the entry to the WSOP Main Event.
So the day went from awful to great in a few short hours. I can’t wait – sure would be nice to win six or seven figures there.