Tourney June 4th 2011 Venetian Deepstack Event #9: $550

Todays Venetian we started with 15000 in chips. There were 358 players paying 36 spots and 1st prize was over 40k. My table had some pretty tough players but it also had alot of very easy marks as well.

Level 1: 50-100. Early on I made it 250 with A9dd UTG +1, got 4 calls, and ended up folding on a Q65K board. A player UTG made it 275, the cutoff called, and I 3-bet to 700 from the button with AQhh. The BB flat called, the UTG player made it 3300, and I folded (UTG=AA BB=AK K high flop). I made it 250 behind 1 limper with A3hh and he called. The flop came AQ4 2 hearts and he check/folded to my 325 bet. I made it 250 in the cutoff with AQss and the button was the only caller. The flop came KK8 and we both checked. The turn came a 2, I checked, he bet 250, and I called. The river came a 6, I checked, he bet 600, I called, and he showed 63 for a rivered pair. I was down to 12500 after this hand. I was then able to make a big big hand. I found JJ UTG and made it 250, UTG +1 called, UTG +2 called, and MP1 made it 1250. I called and so did UTG +1 and the flop came a beautiful J73 2 diamonds. We checked to the raiser, he bet 2700, I made it 6100, UTG +1 folded, and the raiser went all in. I quickly called and he showed AA. The turn came the 9d giving him a flush draw but the river came the 7 giving me a full house and I got a full double. The level ended soon thereafter with me having 27425 chips.

Level 2: 75-150. The first hand after my last hand was the first hand of level 2. A player in MP made it 400, the button called, the SB made it 1625, I found TT in the BB and just folded. What else to do here? An MP raiser made it 375, I called from the button with K9dd and the blinds called as well. The board ran out AJ536 and I folded to a bet. I made it 350 from MP with 88 and everyone folded. I then played an interesting pot. A very cally type player limped in EP, and an aggro kid made it 600 in LP. I found QQ in the SB and made it 2025. The limp folded and the LP player made it 4000. I put him all in for his effective ~13k and he called showing AKo. The board ran out AJ63T and I lost the race. This dropped me back down to 13.5k. Im not going to lie I hate getting it in here but I really wasnt given much of a choice. I know the kid will just be trying to iso the limper alot of times here with his raise but I think that the 4x raise always signals strength, especially with this player (he would 2.5x-3x a relatively weak iso). Alot of times in spots like these I will just flat hands like QQ especially out of position but the fact that there is a limper makes it more difficult to do this. I cant limp QQ, see a flop like 863 and have the limper have a hand like 63 suited because I will have to pay him off. On the other hand, if I had AK here I could just call when I read strength and fold on flops where I dont make a pair (knowing that the aggro raiser is actually strong this time). Even with me knowing the kid is strong, my hand is extremely strong too so once I 3-bet I am essentially just going with my hand. I dont know how I feel about his 4-bet on me but he just decided to go with his AK here which isnt necessarily bad (I dont know how much he thought about how strong I was here but AK speaks for itself alot of times). The hand essentially played itself after my 3-bet and I was unlucky to lose the flip. Any thoughts on my play of the hand? I was down to 13550 and we went to the next level.

Level 3: 100-200. The cutoff made it 525, I flatted the button with 88 and we saw a KK6 flop. We both checked, the turn came the 4 and he check called my 700 bet. The river came a 3, he checked, I made a thin value bet of 1325 and he decided to fold after somet thought. I made it 475 UTG with 99 and another aggro kid made it 900 in MP. I called and folded the AT8 flop to his 1200 bet. I then decided it was time for me to spew off some of my chips by making a bluff attempt. I had been playing tight and showing down premiums when I got to showdown. The cutoff made it 525 and I decided to use my image to made a 3-bet to 1300 with KTss. He called and flop came A76 I decided to rep the ace by checking and he checked behind. The turn came a 4, I lead out for 1550 (repping a strong A), he raised to 3700, and I decided to keep repping the big A by making it 6800. He called and the river came a 9. I did a give up check and he went all in for around 7000 and I folded. I have no idea what he had here but I think its probably a set. I think he 4-bets big aces and folds middling ones to my tight image. I guess I dont know but my play completely failed here. I was at 7775 and we went on 1st break.

Level 4: 100-200 25. I came back from the break shortstacked and went into my tight tight shell and for the 2nd day in a row I was able to rebound for a shortstack with tight play. An aggro MP raiser made it 525 and I found KQo in the SB and decided to call. The BB called also and I ended up folding to a bet on a 753 flop. I made it 475 from the button with A8o and the BB called. The flop came A22, he checked, and I checked behind to trap. The turn came another A giving me a full house, he checked, I bet 700, and he folded. I was down to 6900 and we went to the next level (see-tight. . .2 hands)

Level 5: 150-300 25. I made it 650 from MP with A9o and everyone folded. I then decided to use my tight image to attempt a bluff. There were 3 limps (EP, MP, and LP) + SB in my BB and I checked K9cc. The flop came 655 2 spades and we checked to an aggro kid limper in MP who bet out 600. Another limper in LP and the SB folded to me and I decided to rep the 5 in a blind hand. I made it 1750 but after I did this, the EP limper snap went all in for about 6000. I had to fold and he showed A5. Ugh. . .probably would have worked if he doesnt turn up with a 5 here. I was down to 5000 or so after this. A UTG raiser made it 700 and I found AJss UTG +2 and went all in for exactly 5k and everyone folded (UTG raiser=95cc). I was at 5450 and went to the next level (see. . .tight did try a bluff but it was in the right spirit).

Level 6: 200-400 50. A laggro new kid on my right opened to 1050 in MP and I found 99 immediatly behind him and shipped my 5k and he folded. I found 99 again in EP and only had about 6.5k total so I threw out 5 yellows to make it 5k (basically all in) and everyone folded. On one of the last hands of the level, I was able to find my double-up. A super duper but extremely good aggro kid in MP (newer to the table but his presence was already being felt) made it 950 in MP, the cutoff went all-in for 6300 or so, and I found AJo in the SB. Alot of times I will just fold here but I knew that the opener was opening extremely light and the cutoff was just looking for a spot to get his chips in (every time he had folded for the last orbit he had counted his chips and shook his head after folding) so I reshipped for my 7000 stack. The raiser folded and the all in turned over QJdd. The board ran out Q5423 for the sick runner runner straight to beat his flopped 3-outer. I was up to 14700 and we went to the 2nd break.

Level 7: 300-600 75. About halfway through this level, I found a spot that was extremely similar to the previous spot. The same super laggy but good kid opened to 1500 in MP (someone actually said he had won a 10k WSOP circuit event recently), which he was doing with ATC at this point. The button, who was another LAG kid shipped all in for 13k or so. I knew that he was looking for a spot to reshove ESPECIALLY on the other LAG guy because the other guy had just laid a beat on him a couple of hands previously in a decently sized pot and this kid seemed like the type to retribution shove. The point was I figured his resteal range is extremely wide here. I found AQcc in the SB and decided to 4-bet all in shove for my ~14k stack. The original raiser tanked and eventually decided to call as well. The button shove showed KQss (was right about that one) and the raiser showed 66 (thought he might fold this one but this kid has balls). Luckily, the board ran out A3298 giving me a nearly full triple up to 42k. I made it 1325 from MP with T9cc and the cutoff and SB called. The flop came J63 and I check folded to a bet from the cutoff. I was up to 39625.

Level 8: 400-800 75. My table was playing extremely aggressive and there were 4-5 aggros at my table and I vowed to stay out of their way as much as possible until I picked up a hand. I just didnt want to get in any scary spots. Unfortunately, when I finally decided to open a pot again this is exactly what happened to me. I made it 1725 from UTG +1 when I found ATcc and the LAG guy who was the WSOP circuit winner 3-bet the button to 4350. I decided to call and the flop came A82. I checked, he fired 5050 and I called. The turn came the 5d, putting 2 diamonds on board. I checked, he bet 5550, and I called. The river came an offsuit 3, I checked, and he put me all in for my effective 25k. I spent about 5-7 minutes in the tank before finally deciding to fold here. Wow. This is why I stay out of these spots. My biggest mistake here is probably my play before the flop where I could 1)just open fold-AT is a weak hand and a tough hand to play out of position when there are going to be aggros 3-betting me light or 2)4-bet to see where hes really at since I know hell be 3-betting light especially on the button. I could have just folded to the 3-bet but I really dont want him or the other aggros at the table to see me as an easy 3-bet every time by just laying down. After that, the check/call on the flop is pretty standard (if I reraise here I am only getting put all in by worse hands and am losing value vs 2-barrel hands). On the turn I could have folded but he just bet so small (look at amounts above). The reason why he is doing this is to set up an all in on the river with fold equity (if he bets bigger he has much less FE) but I do not know if he is doing this to pull off a big bluff, or if he is super strong and just trying to make it seem like a big bluff. I decide to call and re-evalute on the river. His all-in bet on the river is super polarizing. For some reason I just had it in my head that he had a 4 here. I really really took my time here and analyzed everything he did and he looked weak (face turning red, swallowing) but I am almost 100% certain that he was giving these off as false tells because he never ever did this before or after the hand and I know he was bluffing at least 3-4 times in previous/future hands. Despite being extremely close to calling a couple of times, I eventually decided on the fold. SPOILER NOTE: After I busted from the tournament I ran into him smoking outside of the tournament area and asked him if he had anything and he told me, what I presume the truth of 43dd. . .turning the wheel with a flush draw. It would make sense and it went along with my reads/analysis of the hand pretty solidly. . .should have just 4-bet pre! Anyways, I was down some chips and took only 22400 to the next level.

Level 9: 500-1000 100. An EP player went all in for 8800 and I reshoved my 20k or so from MP with 66. He showed 88 and it was my turn to get lucky on a 7627K board and I was up to 30k or so. I made it 2300 in EP with 66 and the BB was the only caller. The board ran out AQ3J3 and I folded to a bet on the river. An MP raiser made it 2500, the hijack called, and I was in the cutoff and found 55. I had about 28k and thought about jamming (alot of times I will jam here) but I really didnt want to get called by 77-99 hands so I decided to set mine to try to get an easy double up. The flop came A94 and I folded to a bet. I was down to about 25.5k when my memorable busto hand came up. I found QQ UTG +1 and opened for 2300. The SB was the only caller and the flop came 884. He checked, I bet 3100, and he called. The turn came an ugly A, he checked, and I checked behind. The river came a beautiful Q giving me a full house. He checked, I bet 7500, he put me all in for my last 21k or so and I couldnt call fast enough. He showed 88 for the flopped quads and it was GG me. I finished 100th or so of the 358 entrants.

Overally, I felt like I really played well today. It really instills confidence when you get shortstacked, come up with a plan to get out of the hole, and make the hands to enable you to execute it. The bustout hand was a pretty tough pill to swallow but it happens (its poker) so I just have to get back on the bike again tomorrow ready to perform at my top level again.