Tourney: Venetian April 3rd $340 2009 Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza II Event #2 recap

Another day, another deepstack event to play just what I came to Vegas to do. Todays tournament had 340 players in it (more than yesterdays). It paid the top 27 places and 1st place was over 30k in prize money.

Early on, I made it 150 from the hijack with QJhh. The button called and the flop came J74. I lead out for 225 and he called. The turn came a 2 and I checked and he bet out 650. I called and the river came a 7. I checked and he checked behind and my QJhh was good and I was up to 12.8k. Nothing else that exciting happened in the 1st level and we went to 50-100.

I made it 300 to go with AQhh and the guy behind me made it 1300 to go. He was already kind of short stacked with only 4k or so in chips so it wasn’t worth it for me to call to try to hit so I just folded. Next hand, I found AQo again and made it 300 again. This time the BB called and the flop came 433. He checked and I checked behind. The turn came a 9 and he bet out 300, and I called still thinking I had the best hand. The river came an A and he checked and I bet 650 and he folded.

I was up to 13.2k or so and we went to level 3, 100-200 (nothing that exciting happened in the first few levels this time). I folded for the last half of the 2nd level and the first half of the 3rd level so I figured that Id get some respect when I finally came in for a raise. I raised UTG to 525 with J8cc and got one caller in EP. The flop came KQ5, all hearts and I bet out 700 at at. He called and the turn came 4h. I checked and he bet and I folded and he showed me A2hh. I mean, this sucks because 1) WTF is he doing calling with A2 here and 2) if the flop would have been any other suit, I would have just won it with my flop bet. I limped from the cutoff with 33 and there were 5 other people in the pot. The flop came down Qd7d6d and it checked around. The turn came 3d and it checked to the button who bet out 500. He got called in one place and I called as well, hoping for the board to pair. The river came a nice 6 for me to pair the board and I bet out 1200 but got no action as everyone folded (man what was a bettor and a caller doing in that hand without an A or K of diamonds?). I was up to 12.6k after this hand. The last hand before the break, this LAGtard raised in EP to 600 and got one caller. I was in the SB and found AdJx and thought about raising, but instead called. The flop came Qd8d5x and it checked around. The turn came the 9d, and I bet out 1200 with the nut flush draw hoping that they had nothing. The LAGtard folded but the caller called. The river came a blank and I checked and he bet out 3000. I thought I might have the best hand and thought well into the break about calling (not really that hard about it though, just for the sweat) but ended up folding. He showed AA, which I may have been able to move him off of with a sick c/r at the end (but from seeing him play later, I don’t think he would have folded).

After this hand, I took 10800 into the 1st break. We came back and played 100-200 25 and I played my 1st big pot of the day. The guy to the right of me made it 700 to go. He was playing pretty tight but I had seen him fold to reraises preflop multiple times before so I found AQdd and reraised him to 2250. He called (which I wasn’t really planning on) and the flop came QxTd5c. He checked to me and I bet out 3000 and he called. The turn came 4c and he checked and I pushed all in for about 5500 total. He thought about it for a really long time and decided to fold. He showed AKcc for a gutshot, an over, and a Fl draw so I guess Im kind of glad that he didn’t call and I was happy just to take the money in the middle. I was up to 16.5k after this hand. I raised with 76dd from MP and got 2 callers. The flop came J23 and I c-bet 900 and got called in both spots. The turn came a 5 and I folded to a bet of 3k or so from one of the callers. A little later, I raised in EP with T9ss. I got 2 callers (both behind me) and the flop came Ax7s4s giving me a Fl draw. I checked and it checked around (should have c-bet here). The turn came a 5 and I checked ad one of the guys bet out 1800 or so and I folded.

After this, I had round 13.5k and we went to level 5 (200-400 25). A really good player right on my right button raised it to 1050 and I called from the SB with 88. We checked down a board of QT64K and my 88 was good. I was up to 15k and my table broke. I moved tables and played no significant pots at this level and we went up to 300-600 50 (level 6).

I found TT in the BB with one limper and made it 1650 to go. The SB folded and the limper called and the flop came AsTx3s. I bet out 2050 and the guy made it 6600 to go. I thought about just calling here but I only had like 7500 behind (so the guy would probably just call with an A) and there was a Fl draw on the board plus the fact that he could have KQ/KJ/QJ (or he could even have those hands in spades) and make a gutterball without me even knowing so I decided to just move in and he pretty much instafolded. I don’t think he had anything and if I called his raise on the flop, I don’t think he was planning on continuing at all so I really don’t think that I missed out on any more of his chips but you never know. If I call there, he just might move me in on the turn. Anyway, I was up to 23.5k after this hand. A little later, I found KK UTG +1 and made it 1600 to go. I got 2 callers and the flop came A74 (obviously) and I checked and someone pushed all in so I folded. I was down to 21.5k or so. Last hand before level end, I found ATo in the hijack and made it 1600 to go with one limper. The blinds folded and the limper called and the flop came Ax2d4x. He checked and I checked behind. The turn came 8d and he bet out 1500 and I called. The river came a 9 and he checked and I checked behind and he showed QdTd for a busted diamond draw and my A was good (I need to learn how to BET A FLOP!!! Im just so damn paranoid that Im going to get raised or have him call and then bet big on the turn because the pot is so much bigger. Anyways, after this hand I was at 25k even and we went on our 2nd break.

We came back to play 400-800 75 and I literally couldn’t find a spot. It seemed like someone was all in every hand and every hand was QQ vs JJ or something like that and my 73os were not just cutting it. About 30 minutes into the level, I finally found a raising spot UTG +2 with KQo, hoping to take the blinds since I had folded every hand for the last 30 minutes. However, I ended up getting 6 callers somehow (we hadn’t even seen a flop for the whole level and when I raise I get 6 callers. . .odd) and I check folded a flop of TT6. I think I should have taken like a 6500 or so stab at the pot because I think that I might have gotten credit and won the large amount of called chips in the pot and the pot was one by a 4500 bet on the button by one of the callers. I doubt he had anything. Anyways, I was losing some of my stack and by the time the level was up, I was down to 18300.

We moved to level 8 in 600-1200 100 and I needed to get some chips moving. However, the cards would have other things to say. I had to fold for the first 20-25 minutes of this level too as I just could not find any spot whatsoever to raise it. Finally, the best I could come up with was making it 3000 in the cutoff with A6o. The BB decided to call and the flop came T83. He checked to me and I DIDN’T BET like I told myself I would and I should but I didn’t because I suck. The turn came a J and he checked and I checked behind again and the river came another J and he bet 3000 and I determined I have to call here, so I did and he showed me QJ and I was down to 10.5k or so. I suck. Anyways, I think that the dealers forgot about me as I just couldn’t find any hands at all and I continued to fold as I just couldn’t pick up any hand that was even close to acceptable to push (it got so bad I was tinkering with pushing K2 at one point). On the last hand of the level (so another 20 minutes later) I finally found QJo UTG and pushed my last 7200 or so chips in the pot (this is an obvious push because 1) QJ looked like AA at this point and 2) Im going to be in the BB after this and the blinds were going up to 800-1600 the next hand) and got called by someone who had AQ and the board blanked out and I went bust.

I didn’t win one hand in the 80 minutes that I played after the 2nd break which kind of blows. I couldn’t even find a spot to raise to take the blinds and the 2 times I did, I couldn’t even win the pot. When I busted, there were 11 tables left so I would probably say I finished 109/340. Decently deep, but still a lot of work to do to get to where I need to be. I really really wasn’t happy at how this tournament turned out because I just couldn’t get anything going once I got chips and the blinds got up there, but looking back on it, I could have hardly played it differently. Oh well, hopefully next time I am able to get some pots once I double my initial stack. Its been a pretty rough week on the poker tables so hopefully everything turns out better next week.