LA Trip Report - Part II

LA Trip Report - Part IIBy Scott Aigner

LA Trip Report-Day#2.

Well I made it into the money and there are 63 players left. We resume play at 3:15 pm today. I have 85k which is a slightly below average stack. Some unbelievable play at times. One guy with q-10 tried a limp call and reraise all in against the chip leader (Lee Watkinson) who didn't even hesitate to call the all in raise with K-K. The guy who gave away his chips apparently was a good money player but was too aggressive. I was biding my time and thought I had a chance to bust him but he gave away his 140k to someone else first. What was so stupid about this play is that he went out in like 66th place. Three away from the money. I guess 5k means nothing to him. Maybe he just overanalyzed the situation and thought he could get the chip leader to fold. Either way, I am very happy that we are now going to redraw for seats. There are at least 4 other players with 250k in chips though including Gabe Kaplan (Welcome Back Kotter). I have not played with the majority of players that are left in this tournament so this factor has me thinking a little harder than usual.

The guy who went out 64th had to have had a horrible night trying to get to sleep. He had about 30k in chips. There were at least 5 players with very small chip stacks including one who had just 3300 in chips left when the play stopped. Another player called the A_A all in raise and the A_A lost to A_5 when the board came 5-5-X on the flop. I also had A_A just the hand before. A player raised UTG and it was folded to me. I never even hesitated. It was the quickest all in move I ever made. I was not going to play around here. Everyone knew I had a big hand. I didn't care if someone called, but I did not want more than one player. I think everyone read me as I did everything except shout out what I had. No way was I interested in a bad beat last night especially after playing for 11 hours.

I played against Jennifer Harman all day except for the last 45 minutes or so. She was catching good on me every time we were in a pot together and I was a short stack for a long time. Later on, I won a nice pot against her when I called her down with a pair of fours and the river card finally scared her enough to check her pair of twos. She was down to about 25k late but finally caught aces vs. 9's preflop and doubled through. She went to another table when we broke and now has around 120k in chips.

We also had the biggest Maniac I have ever seen at our table for 3 levels. Padraig Parkinson took 3rd place in the 1999 WSOP. Noel Fuhrlong won it that year and Alan Goehring took second. Padraig came to our table and reeked like he was stone drunk (this actually was not true). He kept ordering double vodkas and coke but it was just coke (he tipped the waitress well too I might add). A few players fell for this ploy. It really didn't matter as he played like he could care less what anyone had. I swear he moved all in preflop or postflop on every 2 out of 3 hands. He raised 15 times in a row at one time.

When he sat at our table, he had about 90k in chips. IT WAS ACTUALLY A VERY ENTERTAINING TOURNAMENT TABLE AND EVERYONE HAD A LOT OF FUN. Jennifer suggested we play "LOSE A POT, TAKE A SHOT". I suggested that Padraig would have to accommodate us and take a 5th given that would be equivalent to a shot for me (I am not too far off here in this assessment). I had no problem playing this game and ended up drinking a Baileys when I lost around 8k with a-k v.s. Padraig's 5-4 offsuit. He actually bet the turn with 5 high into a very scary board. This was only the second or third time that he did this type of bet and the only time he bet the turn card (He was usually all in on the flop and no one would call him). He hit a 4 on the river and checked quickly. I checked too and he said one pair. The board had qc-10c-9d-8s-4c. I was expecting him to turn over a queen. He revealed 5d-4h. We all had a good laugh as I showed my a-k to the table as I was mucking.

I was a little disgusted with myself on this hand at the time but you have to understand that Padraig would have check raised all in had I bet it. There is absolutely no way to put this guy on a hand. I watched him go all in several times in the DARK. He didn't even look at them. Even Jennifer folded A-K preflop to him one time. Another player tried to raise him with A-K on the button and then folded when Padraig did his 80th all in move. He had everyone playing not to lose.
I ended up having to fold a-k to Padraig on three occasions after the flop, in about a 20 minute span. At this time I had around 42k in chips. A key hand happened when I found a-k for the 4th time. Padraig just limped on the button. I made it 3000 to go from the small blind and was expecting Padraig's move (blinds were at 400-800). The Big blind folded and Padraig didn't disappoint me. He says "I'm All In" and does the wave of the hands ploy. I called in a heartbeat. I was in real trouble this time though as he revealed the 9s-4c. I hit the king with no help for Padraig and no chance to suck out.

I later doubled through against a spine surgeon who plays a fairly solid game, but thought he could run over me. I had A-j against his A-7. He overvalued the ace hands and because of Padraig he just limped on the button. The flop came A-A-6. Padraig and I both checked and Dr. John bet 5k into the 4k pot. Padraig folded (wow!). I raised it to 20k and Dr. John moved in. I thought for a while and then felt that he had to have less than A-q here as he would have raised preflop. Even though Padraig's all in moves could have forced Dr. John to fold his big ace hand again (which he said he did a few rounds earlier when he "sensed" Padraig had a big hand that time- yeah, RIGHT)! I called and Dr. John had A-7. I was up to 125k at this point but lost about 25 k a few hands later. I will stop now as I need to get caught up on some other things.

Hopefully I will make another good run like I did today. My big breakthrough hand was another a-k (suited this time) vs 10-10. Sean Rice (2nd place in the 2k no limit wsop tournament) called my 15k all in raise and I hit the straight with the 2-3-4 flop and a 5 turn and he had no outs on the river. (wow, I finally caught a break, LOL). I never looked back the rest of the day after winning that coin toss.

LA Trip Report-Day#3.

I ended up with a fairly early dismissal yesterday. I just didn't have enough hands to make a run for it. One of the worst luck scenarios happened too which really sucked. The tournament director decided that we would redraw for seats after every table was broken. I had to double post the blinds twice in a row. I was just through the blinds and on the button and we had to redraw. I didn't even get to play the button. I end up 2 UTG. We played another round or two and again we redrew this time right after I played the button. I unfortunately was UTG again at my new table. I think that this was one of the stupidist rules I have ever seen. I ended up posting 12,000 extra in chips at a time when that represented a huge chunk of my stack. It makes a short stack very vulnerable to a call from a bigger stack when this occurs as well. I needed those hands in a late position to attempt a steal and never had the chance. In addition that did represent a standarsd raise at these levels. It just doesn't make sense to redaw like this. We played only 30 minutes between the first two redraws. I think redraws should be standardized and remain at four tables. There are just way too many short stacks with 6-7 tables left to be redrawing. It turned my chance into a crap shoot and limited my ability to read my opponents. It also completely changed the big stack positions. Let us play poker, not a chinese fire drill!

The player to my immediate right tried to bluff the chip leader (Lee Watkinson) and went out at my table from the UTG position. Lee did make several huge calls with 10-9 on a 9,8,6 flop. He was in the SB and called the preflop raise. He bet out on the flop and the UTG player raised it. Lee called the 40k raise. He check called the 60k bet on the turn. The UTG had a-10 off suit. The river paired the 8. The UTG player had started this hand with around 140k.

It also put me in the Big Blind. The time was pretty much now a critical stack situation for me as I only had around 50k left. Lee was on the button. Everyone folded to him and he made a standard raise of 12k. I was watching him and really didn't sense a big hand. I was basically relegated to deciding whether I was going to just play for a jump of 2.5k by squeaking into the final 36 or try to win this pot using the limp call and all in move on the flop no matter what comes ploy.

I looked down and saw the jh-9h. A reraise was out of the question as it was a no brainer call for the button. My only other choice was to fold. I felt that I had to go with this hand as the blinds were going to go up before I would post them again. I was not there to take 30th place anyway. I was thinking that the button really didn't have much of a hand and unfortunately the SB only had about 35k left as well and this made Lee's raise even more suspect.

In retrospect, I am certain he would have called my all in preflop raise. I think the all in on the flop ploy would have worked if he had missed the flop. Unfortunately I ran into a mack truck! The flop came k-j-4 offsuit with one heart. I flopped middle pair, a backdoor str8 draw and backdoor flush draw. Not exactly a bad flop. I think Lee would have to fold any hand that did not have a gutshot straight draw or a pair. There was no check raise possibility here and I hesitated for a few minutes and then went ahead and pushed in. I was surprised that Lee took 20 seconds before he finally says, "I call". He had K-4 offsuit, LMAO! Why he took so long to call, I cannot say. I just don't know why! If he didn't want me out given my critical stack and the small blinds stack, then why did he raise in the first place.

Leaving us in at the table actually would have been a better situation for him anyways as we could not hurt him. It would have given him time to work everyone over as there was no one with over 200k and he had over 400k. In retrospect, he should have mucked his k-4 offsuit and let us stick around. This guy is a good player but he does not have the knowledge of advanced tournament strategy in the late stages and he is very trappable given what I saw from the night before. A big chip count certainly will help him despite this lack of knowledge.

My friend Jennifer Harman went out with a-k vs. the Spine Surgeon's JJ. She was in the cutoff and had raised. He rereaised her. Everyone got out of the way and she moved all in. She said that she was pot committed and needed to see all five cards here anyway. I didn't know what her chip count was at the time. Obviously she had to go for it though based on what she told me.

She went out right after or before Chris "Jesus" Ferguson lost with a heartbreaker. He had KK vs 22 all in preflop and lost to a deuce on the turn. He had a pretty big stack too. Over 200k at the time! I do not know who the person was with the 22 but I suspect he tried to reraise bluff all in and got caught in the wrong place at the right time!

These bad beats are the ones that just don't go away easily. You play great for 3 days. You make the right plays and are feeling really good about your chance to make the final table and someone hits you over the head with a two by four. The only consolation is that you know you have the capability to be in this situation again. Poker really is a tough way to make an easy living!

All in all I had a great time while playing in this tournament. The table I played at on Sunday evening was having the time of our lives. I have to say that there are characters in the poker world that could be improv comedians. Padraig Parkinson was incredibly funny, even if he was a little drunk at the time. He said he loves America because every time he comes here, "People jist give me their mooney" (thick Irish Brogue). We don't have any mooney in Ireland. "The people there took up a collection jist so I could come 6000 ( 6 "tousand") miles to play some poker".

He said his only goal left in poker is to actually lose in a tournament when he had started with the best hand preflop. He acted like he was really devastated that his 9-4 offsuit didn't beat my a-k! He ended up to my left this afternoon and went out fairly quickly. He went all in two times. He won the first one and was up to 90k. He lost with the second hand. Both times he had an ace. He can't collect his 5k though because he" loost me passport on the trip over!" He appeared sober today and was actually playing a fairly normal loose aggressive strategy. I saw him in the hallway a few hours later and he was already partying!

Doyle Brunson ended up winning. He did get pretty lucky in the early part of the tournament. He was all in for 8k with qq vs kk and hit a runner runner flush to double through. Lee Watkinson had a 5-1 chip lead at the final table and ended up taking second again. He had a similar lead heads up at the Mirage tournament and ended up in second there as well. He obviously had some luck but can play the game too.

I watched two players make horrible moves and basically hand their chips to him. Makes the game a lot easier to play when people with a decent stack blow up! Lee did a little Hollywood acting in one situation and he did have to make a decision on a flop raise. Once he did this though, he was committed to his hand. The bluffer should have realized this and checked the turn. Lee's call was automatic, in my opinion.

All in all I had a great time and I continue to learn why there are players who can make it to the final table consistently. Each session I play is another lesson in poker tournament strategy. I have changed my strategy immensely in my play and have already seen improvement in my ability. I still understand that I am going to end up with the bad beats or make a bad play, but all in all, I have learned how to minimize them in the way I play the hand and my opponent's style of play.

The learning curve was flat for a lengthy time frame and all of a sudden it is going up at an exponential speed again as I learn to avoid the traps and outplay my opponent's after the flop or turn. I still have a long way to go but am confident that I will start to make the final tables frequently as I did in my amateur career over the last three years. Obviously, I had a fair amount of luck in my early days and no one can beat this part of the game. Now I have added the ability to play opponents based on their prior play and adjust my game to take advantage of their weaknesses. The strategy is based more on skill and less on the luck factor. I can't wait for the next tournament series at the Borgata. Add a little rush of hands in the later stages and I will have a good chance to make the top three.